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wrienne · 3 years

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My Cheating, Amnesic Fiancé

Chapter 5: Amnesia

“‘Amnesic’?” you echoed.

“Yes, amnesic,” Kim Sejin confirmed. “It’s made the situation much more complicated than it normally would have turned out. He won’t sleep and refuses to eat or take any painkillers. It was a miracle he accepted any medical treatment at all.”

“Amnesia merely affects your memory,” you said confidently. “It shouldn’t disturb his basic intelligence.”

Last year, Se-Eun had been fanatic about a manhwa or manga about a protagonist who had suffered that exact ailment, which resulted in her reading up on everything about it. And of course, she had poured all of that so very necessary - no, not really, not until now - information into your brain, so you were feeling pretty up to date about the condition. There were two main types of amnesia, but neither of them would make a person lose all of his senses.

“Well, to clarify, he mistrusts everyone.” Sejin averted his gaze, then continued quietly. “The kid doesn’t even recognize his group members. It was really… tough seeing that, though it was even tougher when I was forced to send them home with him being the way he is.” He cleared his throat, then met your gaze again. You thought you saw a glimmer of tears in his eyes before he blinked and it was gone. “He barely speaks. He won’t sleep if someone is in the room. And even though he can’t eat with his broken arm, he won’t let anyone feed him.”

“The last might have something to do with hospital food in general,” you said, trying your best to lighten up the mood. In all honesty, you felt as if someone was twirling around your intestines with a giant, hot fork. “Have you tried something else? Sweets? Fried chicken?”

“Nothing works,” Sejin said bitterly. “Not even the nurses or the doctors can win him over. He’s… a bit out of it, if you ask me.”

You undid your hair and ran a frustrated hand through it. “Why call me?” you exclaimed. “Why not his parents?”

“His parents have been contacted,” he began, “but nobody has replied. And it wasn’t exactly my intention to call you. Your number was the only unfamiliar one Taehyung found among Jungkook’s contacts. Neither of us thought it would be you, considering the ID, though I am glad it was.”

“Why?” you asked, only fleetingly wondering exactly what kind of nickname you had had the misfortune of receiving on Jungkook’s phone that had made both Sejin and someone named Taehyung so surprised. Demon fiancée? The spawn of Satan? A better question would also be how he had gotten your number in the first place. You didn't have his.

“What exactly do you think I might accomplish that none of you haven’t already thought of?” you went on. “We’re just family friends. Why not get any of his other acquaintances? Or why not his girlfriend?” A little bit of your earlier jealousy trickled into your voice, weighing it down. It broke painfully, reluctantly. You cringed at the pitiful sound.

“He’s been asking for you.”

You paled. “What?”

Kim Sejin wore a dead-serious expression. “As soon as the kid regained consciousness, your name was the first thing that jumped out of his mouth. And I did call Yi-Jae almost first, but when she arrived, he couldn’t recognize her either. It really broke her.”

You almost didn't hear him. Jungkook had called for you? He remembered you out of everyone?

“I'm going in,” you said and finally opened the door.

Sejin looked like he had wanted to say something else but you were already halfway inside. Sitting on the edge of one of two hospital beds with his booted feet planted firmly into the floor and back toward the doorway, was a lonely guy dressed familiarly in a large t-shirt and loose-fitting blue jeans. Layers of bandage encircled his head, his right arm rested in a basic splint and you noticed minor scratches and bruises across his body that had mostly been patched up. A few spots of maroon sullied the otherwise white of his t-shirt. Other than that, Jeon Jungkook looked completely fine.

As soon as you entered, he spun around. What had initially been an expression of suspicion across his features melted into a face of recognition - and joy.

“(Y/N)!” he exclaimed and abruptly stood and made a movement to go to you before stopping himself. His eyes darted to something behind you and his features stiffened.

Kim Sejin had walked in after you. You were quick to gather yourself and cleared your throat. “I think I should handle this on my own,” you told Sejin. “If you could just wait outside…?”

He nodded once before quickly leaving, closing the door after him. You had still caught the hurt in the man’s eyes, however.

“Took you long enough!”

Jungkook continued toward you, grimacing slightly when he had to lean on his left leg. But he was smiling again. At you.

“Sorry, I was watching paint dry,” you said automatically, your brain and tongue having gotten used to quick retorts with Jungkook. You couldn’t believe your eyes. Jeon Jungkook was happy to see you?

“Because that seems healthy to do.”

“Heard you got ran over,” you said, ignoring him as you tried to get a grip of the situation. He was amnesic, you would have to keep that in mind all the time. He had probably lost at least the last five or so years while with BTS. That would explain why he remembered you, since your relationship practically predated the dinosaurs.

But when had there been a time in your life when you two were happy to see each other?

“Yeah, accident,” Jungkook said as he halted in front of you. “Or so they tell me.”

This close, you could see some dirt still left underneath his ear, and he smelled of alcohol, the city and disinfectant. You tried not to look too concerned, adopting a casual pose with your arm crossed over your chest. But inside, your emotions and thoughts were in turmoil.

“You do look great for someone supposedly hit by a car,” you admitted after conspicuously eyeing him up and down. “Barely a scratch.”

“That’s what I was trying to tell them.” He lowered his voice and leaned closer to you, almost causing you to flinch backward at the sudden lack of space between you. “I don’t trust anyone of them. I mean, I get that my arm needs bandaging and that I need rest. I can feel that, physically. But there were six or so guys crowding me just recently, people I have never seen in all of my life, that were all incredibly concerned. They were telling me everything would be alright, that they could help me get better and that they were happy I wasn’t dead. But all I could think about was: ‘How long have they just been sitting there, watching me?'”

“What’s so bad about that?” you asked and frowned. “Even if you don’t know them, didn’t it feel great waking up to people waiting for you?”

“No,” he said quietly as he averted his gaze. “Not when I don’t know them and they keep telling me how much I do.”

There it was: fear. You could read it in his mere voice.

“Then I guess it’s my turn to try and convince you,” you said carefully. “You’ve gotten amnesia, Jungkook, that’s why you can’t remember them. But for years now, you’ve spent almost every day with six guys, training, performing and living together. They are your hyungs. The seven of you are BTS, one of the biggest, most popular K-pop groups in the world. You stood on a stage in a completely filled stadium just a few hours ago. Are you sure you don’t even feel a tiny bit of recognition?”

“No. All I know is you.”

You felt your breath hitch in the back of your throat and your face flush with color. That had been an unexpected response.

Jungkook seemed as if he were waiting for you to reply but you couldn’t find your voice. With a frustrated sigh, he backed away from you and sank down on the ledge of the same hospital bed he had sat on when you entered. He leaned his torso forward, placed his elbows on his thighs and rested his head in the palms of his hands. You remained standing, as paralyzed.

“You are all I can think about,” he murmured after a long pause, then grimaced. “I think I was angry with you and that I had something really, really important to tell you. I was… I was going to see you but that’s about all I can recall. Everything else is too blurry. It hurts just trying to think about what I had for breakfast - I can’t even begin to imagine having been friends with those guys, even less performed with them a couple hours ago. I am just so confused and paranoid and--”

His voice broke, and he ceased talking. Your heart ached seeing him like that. He didn’t react when you moved closer, or even when you sat down next to him. He simply hid his face in his hands. You were tempted to reach out and touch him, comfort him, but even before you raised your arm, you recalled his eyes when he had looked at Park Yi-Jae. You recalled the ease with which he had moved to let her kiss his cheek.

This was wrong. Everything had gone so terribly wrong.

Still, you draped an arm over his shoulder blades and gently squeezed his bicep with your other hand. He tensed slightly, then relaxed as you began speaking.

“We’ll sort this through,” you told him softly. “One step after another. I don’t know how, and I doubt I’m even nearly enough qualified to help you, but I will do my very best. I refuse to see you break because of this.”

“I… I have wanted to become a singer for so very long...”

His voice was only one step above a whisper. It took all your willpower not to embrace him and hold him until he told you to stop. You knew it wouldn’t be right.

“I know,” you replied. “I won’t let you lose this opportunity. I’ll help you through this, Jeon Jungkook.”

One of his hands found yours, and clamped around it. “Even though I’ve been horrible toward you for the last ten, fifteen years or so?”

“Oh, so that you remember?” you asked while laughing. “I was starting to think you were a lost cause. Well, shoot, there goes the plan I had for using your pretty face to make money in a very illegal way.”

He chuckled, but wouldn’t show his face yet. “That’s dark, (Y/N). Cruel too. You don’t need any more money.”

You laughed again, feeling tremendously better now. “I’m just trying to lighten up the mood. We’re in a hospital, you know.”

“Thank you for telling me,” he said sarcastically. “I wasn’t aware of that until just now.”

“No problem.” You couldn’t help but smile, even as you tried to regain a serious tone. “Jungkook, even though you can be a stupid brat more often than not, I have to admit that you’re one of the most head-strong, unyielding and hard-working people I know. If you can’t make it through this, I don’t think there’s anyone out there who can.”

Finally, he lifted his head and turned to look at you. There were no tears staining his cheeks, but his cheeks and nose were rosy and his brown eyes glittered, like he were just on the brink of crying. You gave him your gentlest smile then scooted away, feeling your heartbeats hasten and your skin grow warm underneath the weight of his gaze.

“Thank you.”

His hand wouldn’t release yours. Your heart was racing and slammed against the inner side of your ribcage so hard you thought it was trying to break out and run away - at least you were in the right place to get a cardiac arrest.

But still, he had simply thanked you. Why were you getting so weird because of that?

You cleared your throat and pointedly looked at his hand. Jungkook eyes widened in surprise and he quickly let go of you.

“So,” you began as you stood up, eager to get some distance between you two. “The first thing we need to do is get you something to eat and drink. And then you need to sleep. By the way, why aren’t you in a hospital gown?”

“I’m not hungry, and I don’t want to wear one,” he replied. “It makes me look sickly and dying, which I’m not. I’ve just injured my arm, that’s it.”

“Well, I don’t think sweaty, bloody clothes are the most optimal to rest in. I will have to find some new clothes for you to wear,” you said, scrutinizing him from head to toe. He was athletic and lithe, yet tall enough that he probably had to size upwards in most brands. While spending a moment trying to figure out the most optimal clothing store, you realized that since they lived together, his group members probably knew where he had his wardrobe. You decided you would go there as soon as possible.

“You don’t need to spend money on me,” he said, his voice suddenly harsh, his face hardening to stone.

You frowned, but decided against prying. He needed to sleep as soon as possible.

“Don’t worry,” you told him, “I won’t. I’ll find something fresh you can loan by tomorrow. Are you hungry? Should I return with some fast food or something first?”

“You’re leaving?”

You nodded and checked your phone. “I have to go to school in less than six hours. I can try to come at lunch tomorrow, but most likely, I won’t be here until late afternoon. So you’ve got to tell me now if you want fried chicken or not. I’ll even buy some Pepsi if you’re sweet about it.”

You stood with your back against him as you searched for your parents’ driver in the contact list. You were waiting for him to pick up when Jungkook spoke.

“I won’t be able to sleep without you here.”

You opened your mouth to make fun of him when you saw his expression. It was that frightened expression you remembered from a long time back.

You knew you couldn’t leave him.

“Fine,” you said as you canceled the call. “But I will have to leave early in the morning. I can’t miss school.”

“As long as you wake me before you go.”

Jungkook looked at you with eyes you could not help but sympathize with. Yet you understood, he had to rest.

“I will,” you lied.

“You promise?”

“I promise.”

Satisfied, he began lifting one leg after the other onto his bed when you stopped him. After taking off his boots and helping him with the paper-thin blanket, you washed your hands, face and mouth in a basin that was in the room. By the time you thought you wouldn’t smell like noodles anymore and you started drying yourself with a paper towel, you heard light snoring from behind you. You couldn’t stop yourself from smiling. Jungkook must have fought back sleep for a long time while mouthing off the doctors and nurses.

You unzipped your jacket and hung it over one of seven chairs in the room, together with your purse. You set an alarm on your phone and plugged it into a socket that until then had powered an ugly bedside lamp. And finally, you found yourself sitting next to him on the other hospital bed in the room, watching his peaceful face.

You weren’t in love with Jeon Jungkook. You truly weren’t.

But you might have just begun falling for him.

#wrienne #ao3 #bts fanfiction #MCAF

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stillchaoticlogic · 4 years

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Applin Pie: Chapter 2

Summary: Things are hard when you start your own bakery in the heart of Hammerlocke. Good thing your knight in shining armor is none other than Raihan the Gym Leader. You are smitten... Too bad you don't really think you're his type, especially when you see the beautiful and powerful women that surround him.

Good thing he likes you just the way you are.

Pairing: Raihan x Reader

Chapter 1

Chapter 2: Tranquil-Tea Interrupted

The tunnel is dark, the sound of thousands of people piling into the stadium fills your ears. All you can smell is the distinct scent of popcorn and funnel cakes. Suddenly, lights assault your senses as the tunnel opens up to the biggest arena you’ve ever seen. Your eyes widen at the sight and you can’t help the rush of excitement. An attendant directs you to your seat and after some shuffling, you sit down. You release Tart, Strudel, and Spook, knowing these three would enjoy the match as they watched the ghosts and dragons battle it out.

“First time going to one of Raihan’s matches?” questions a voice to your left.

“Oh? Is it that obvious?” you ask slightly embarrassed ducking your head a little.

“Well, you’re going to want this,” she pulls out a poncho and hands it to you, “You can have that one, I always carry an extra just in case!”

“But… we’re inside…?” You ask as you tilt your head to the side.

She laughs lightly at you, “Raihan’s weather strategy doesn’t care about that! Trust me! Once it starts raining or he kicks up a sandstorm you’ll be glad you have that thing. Don’t get me wrong! I love his style! He’s super cool! It's just best to be prepared.”

“Oh… I see… Thank you!” you say grateful for her kindness as you put on the poncho, noticing for the first time many others wearing one as well. Several are dragon-themed or modeled after one of his pokemon. You notice several of Flygon and Goodra and another white one you can’t put your finger on.

“The names’ Whitney, by the way,” she says, holding out her hand for a shake.

You take it happily and introduce yourself.

“Your Pokémon are cute! It’s so cool you have both an Appletun and Flapple!”

“Oh! Thank you! They are super sweet and they are excited about the match! They don’t battle a whole lot, but they always have fun when they do.”

“So cute! Did you see the Flapple and Appletun on his Pokegram!?”

“Umm… Yeah, I did! Super cute!”

Your conversation is cut off as the stadium lights dim and the announcer comes over the intercom. You hear the crowd go wild before everyone calms down to listen to the announcer.

There are a few battles from well-known trainers from

the area and you have a great time watching the battles.

“And now it’s time for the battle you’ve all been waiting for!”

“The Silent Boy of Mystery, Allister!”

You watch as a young boy walks out onto the pitch wearing a white mask and swaying back and forth.

“And The Dragon Tamer, Raihan!”

Raihan walks onto the field with confidence waving at the crowd. He pauses briefly to take a selfie before he keeps going. You feel the heat creep up your neck as you almost feel his eyes on you. He can’t possibly have picked you out from the crowd right? Right?

The battle starts and you can’t help yelling for your new friend as he sends out a Sanaconda in order to whip up a sand storm. You squeal as you clutch the poncho closer to your form squeaking as your Pokémon dive under the plastic to take cover from the onslaught of sand.

“Told you!” Laughs Whitney from beside you.

“Yeah! Thanks!” You tell over the storm your voice almost lost among the chaos.

The battle continues with Raihan’s Flygon making his debut. You let out a squeal of excitement as Flygon flies low over the crowd causing everyone in the vicinity to let out a cheer. You giggle as you watch the puffin monster of a dragon show off a little before he’s back to the battle. Allister’s Treverant ends up being a worthy opponent but stands no match against the dragon.

You watch the battle in amazement giggling, laughing, and squealing at the weather shifts as well as Raihan’s antics. You aren’t surprised he has such a following, the man really knows how to work a crowd. You aren’t surprised when he wins the battle. Even Allister’s Gengar couldn’t defeat his Duraludon. You had gasped in surprise when the pokemon Dynamaxed and practically turned into a skyscraper. As the crowd goes wild for Raihan, he stands on the pitch for a few moments allowing fans to get pictures before he turns to head back to the locker room. You notice him talking to his Rotom phone and a moment later you feel a buzz in your pocket as you pull your phone out.

“Come to the locker room, the staff knows about you so don’t worry about being stopped!”

“Hey!” exclaims Whitney over the sound of the crowd getting up to head out of the stadium, “We should meet up again sometime! Maybe watch some battles? My friends aren’t really into battling so I go by myself a lot.” She looks away avoiding your eyes. “I hope that’s not weird?”

“No! Not at all! I actually just moved here a few months ago and I haven’t really gotten a chance to make any friends, so I would love the company…”

“Oh?! Cool! Why did you move here? Do you like it?”

“I opened up my own bakery down the street and yes I do very much!”

“Wait… bakery?” She gazes at your dragon pair before realization dawns on her. “Those are the pokemon Raihan took pictures with! He went into your bakery!”

“Uhh… Yeah… He did…” you say nervously as you wring your hands.

“So cool! I’ve never gotten to meet him, but he seems cool!”

“He is! The only reason my shop has any business right now is because of that post. He’s been very helpful since I opened…”

“Well, I’ll have to stop by! I was going to anyway, but now I have even more of a reason.”

Your pocket buzzed again, “You comin’?”

“Ahh sorry! I’m meeting someone after the match and they are wondering where I am!”

“No problem! Here’s my number, you can text me when you get a chance!” She says as she sends her contact to you automatically through the phone connection.

“Thank you! I’ll see you around!” you yell over the crowd as you head off through the stadium. You aren’t sure where the locker rooms are so you ask the staff. After you tell the man you are talking to that Raihan said to come meet him and he confirms with said gym leader, he leads you through the stadium to the locker room.

“There you are!” Raihan exclaims as he gets up and comes towards you, his arms out. He pulls you into a brief hug which you shyly return.

“What did you think of the match?” he asks as he pulls away.

“It was amazing! You’ve definitely made a fan out of me,” you say with excitement as you smile up at him.

“I knew you couldn’t resist!”

You laugh before you pull your backpack off your back and pull out a bag, “By the way, I made you and your Pokemon some after match treats!”

Raihan’s eyes light up as he gazes down at the bag of treats. He calls out his team and they all thrill when Raihan starts handing out the baked goods to them. Flygon is beside you in a minute happily nuzzling you in thanks, you giggle as you pet the large dragon happily.

Raihan lets out a happy sigh as he takes a big bite of the cake in his hand, “How did you know this is exactly what I needed?”

“Just a lucky guess,” you say with a smile as you gaze up at him.

He nods happily as he finishes it off and goes in for another one obviously content with the treats and his win.

“How do you feel about having a movie night tonight? I figured we could do dinner and snacks? Watch a good movie, just the two of us?” he asks as he glances at you out of the corner of his eye as he takes another big bite.

“Sounds like a fun night. I could use a break after this week.”

“Rough week?” he asks with a concerned frown.

“No, it was just busy. I like how busy it was, but I’m tired.”

“I gotcha…” he says as he lazily stretches.

The two of you head out of the locker room and towards the entrance. You hear a chorus of yells and squeals directed at Raihan. A group of girls comes running up to him.

“Raihan! What a great match!” Exclaims a blonde trainer.

“He always does great!” A brunette flips her hair over her shoulder and sends a condescending frown to everyone around her.

“You should go get dinner with us!” Exclaims a third. She has vibrant pink hair that she twirls around her finger as she giggles up at the Dragon Tamer.

You are intimidated. They are all so pretty and after seeing the trainer belts they wear low on their hips and their fashionable clothes you wonder if they know him personally.

“Thanks for the invitation ladies, but I’ve already got plans tonight,” he says as he drapes an arm lazily around your shoulders and begins to lead you away.

“Oh come on Rai! We could go clubbing tonight! I know how much fun you had last time!” Says the brunette with a smirk as she grabs onto his arm.

He glances over his shoulder before his hand comes up to carefully remove hers from his arm.

“Thanks. But I’ve got plans, maybe next time,” His smile is a little harder as he answers her.

You're not the clubbing sort, mostly you bake, drink homemade teas, and read books. You offhandedly wonder what Raihan sees in you, but you put the thought from your head. Raihan invited you to a night of watching movies and dinner after all, and you have every intention of enjoying it.

The two of you decide on take out since Raihan is tired from the battle and you’re tired from baking all week. He chooses a nice Italian restaurant and the two of you put in your order to go. While you wait for the food to be ready you head to a small convenience store down the street and stock up on snacks.

“Any movies you want to watch?” Raihan asks as he regards new releases on his phone.

You screw your mouth up while making Raihan laugh a little at how cute he thinks you look as you think.

“I don’t know…” you say after a moment, “anything you want to see?”

“There is a new horror movie out, are you okay with that?” He says glancing at you with a sly smile.

“Umm...sure!”

“Cool! I’ll go ahead and rent it.”

You both make your way back to the restaurant where you pick up your food. Despite your protest, Raihan pays for your meal.

“Come on! Stop pouting! I owe you from the pastries you gave me,” he pleas as he bumps you hip with his own.

“You don’t owe me for those! That was a gift!”

“Well, maybe I just wanted to buy your dinner. Did that ever occur to you?” He asks casually as he lazily drapes his arm around your shoulder pulling you close to him. You stumble into him at the unexpected contact still pouting up at him.

“Aww don’t be like that, Princess! I just want to spoil you! You’ve had a hard week!”

You relent and smile softly up at the Dragon Tamer.

“That’s why? Really?”

“Of course! I just want to take care of you since you’ve spoiled me all week. Is that so bad?”

“No… I suppose not… I just feel bad! That restaurant was so expensive!”

“Trust me, princess… the royalty check from today’s match didn’t leave me hurting for cash. Let me spoil you tonight alright? Plus we need to celebrate your bakery opening! It’s been a week right?”

You laugh at his logic, “Yeah it has been a week but you don’t have to do all that…” you say shyly as you glance up at him through your lashes.

“Well I want to,” He says with finality to his voice.

You both end up at Raihan’s with the movie he chose playing as you cuddle up on his couch. The food is delicious and you savor every bite of it. His arm is lazily draped on the couch behind you as you both settle in to watch the movie. You're both sharing a blanket against the chill of the night and he takes this opportunity to scoot a little closer to you. As the movie wears on and it gets scarier his arm falls from the couch to your shoulders as he tucks you in next to him.

“You okay?” He asks softly his lips brushing against the shell of your ear. A shiver goes down your spine from the contact and he chuckles as he draws you closer to him.

“I’m fine…” you murmur back as you glance at him catching his eyes as you do so.

He presses a soft kiss to your hair as he pulls you happily against him. The thought that he did this all on purpose floats across your mind but the thought is gone instantly as you hide your face in his chest. The creature on the screen roaring and causing a jolt of fear through your body. You miss the smile on Raihan’s face as he practically pulls you into his lap to comfort you. You do end up in his lap while he wraps both arms around you and rests his chin on the top of your head. Your hands are resting on his forearms as you lean back into him.

When the movie is over Raihan pulls out his phone and places it before you both as he scrolls through the choices. You can tell he has no intention of letting you go as he points out a comedy in order to lift the mood.

You end up fighting your way out of his arms anyway, ignoring his whine of how cold it is now.

“I’m going to the bathroom before this starts, I’ll be right back!” You say with a laugh as you head towards the bathroom.

When you enter the living room once more you hear Raihan in the kitchen.

“Want anything?!” Floats through the house as you settle back down.

“Snaaaanks!!!” You yell childishly back and your ears are greeted with his laugh.

He comes back into the room a few moments later laden down with a variety of snacks and drinks you both picked out from the store earlier. You’re surprised when he sits down and pulls you back into his lap. You don’t protest only giggle as you both get comfortable once again. Raihan starts the movie and the two of you spend the rest of the night laughing with one another and sharing snacks.

The night ends with Raihan walking you to your door even though it’s right next door to his claiming ‘There might be a Beware hiding in the bushes!’ and pulling you in for a tight hug that lasts just longer than it needed to.

The next morning you open a little later than you do on the days during the week. You spend the morning thinking about the night before with Raihan and how sweet he was. You realize you are falling for the handsome gym leader and you aren’t sure that you care.

Your daydreaming is interrupted by one of your customers walking back up to the counter.

“There is something wrong with my tea,” he declares sourly.

“Oh! I’m so sorry! What seems to be the problem?”

“It tastes awful is the problem,” he grumbles at you.

“Oh, well let me make you a fresh one! Would you like a cookie on the house?”

This seems to appease the grumpy man and he picks out a cookie while you remake his tea. As the day wears on several more of your customers bring their tea back complaining about the taste. You’re stumped though. It’s not a specific kind of tea, in fact, it seems to happen at random.

You frown as another customer walks away with another cup of tea and watch in relief as they take a sip of tea and seem to enjoy it. It’s not ten minutes later that they are back up at the counter with furrowed brows explaining the sudden bitter taste of the tea. You remake the tea with an apology and send her a pastry for her trouble. She smiles happily at the treat tells you how much she enjoys the tea before she prances out the door.

You close up shop that evening feeling confused and exhausted by the day’s events. You just can’t figure out what is going on. How can your tea sour in the cups? They seemed to start out just fine. They aren’t steeping them too long are they? Even if they are why is this suddenly a problem?

You glance up at the knock on your door and see Raihan waving to be let in.

“How did your day go?” he asks pulling you into a hug.

“Odd…”

“Odd? How was it odd?” he asks with a furrowed brow.

“People kept complaining about their tea souring… I’m just so confused! I make the tea blends myself! I test each batch personally. I just don’t get what’s going on!”

Raihan frowns as he listens to you recount what happened today.

“Hmm… well, that’s odd… maybe it was just a fluke?”

“Maybe… It seemed to happen randomly so I feel like something else is going on, I just don’t know what…”

“I tell you what, let’s eat dinner and then if you want we can see if we can figure out what happened?”

“Okay…” you relent.

“I was thinking stir fry tonight, you game?”

You give him a small smile, “Yeah that sounds good!”

After dinner two of you spend the evening trying out your teas and checking the batches. You’re stumped when you find absolutely nothing wrong.

“You know I thought I was a coffee drinker, but really like your tea!” Raihan says after his taking a sip of the fourth tea you gave him to try.

“Welcome to the dark side Rai, we have black tea.”

He laughs at you, “You’re such a dork!”

“A delightful dork!”

“Oh don’t worry Princess, I love dorks.”

You glance up at him and he winks at you with a lazy smirk on his face. You roll your eyes at his antics but smile nonetheless suddenly shy.

“Honestly, I don’t think anything is wrong… it all tastes great,” he says after a few minutes absentmindedly swirling the remaining tea in his cup.

You huff as you regard the shop for a few minutes, “I don’t know what’s going on…”

“You should head to bed, you have to be up early tomorrow and it’s getting late. If it’s still happening tomorrow we will investigate further okay?” he asks gently as he rests his hands on your arms.

“Okay… you’re right it is getting late…” you mutter in disappointment.

He pulls you into another hug and you melt against him as you hug him back.

“See you tomorrow, Princess,” Raihan says as he pulls away.

You wave as he heads out the door and sigh as you gaze around your little shop wondering what could possibly be going on.

Notes: I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! I honestly didn't realize it had taken so long to update! Then again it's been sitting half-finished for a while. Things are weird and hard right now and I hope everyone is safe and healthy and happy. Leave me love and tell me your thoughts! How did you like the date /not-date with Raihan? Everything you thought it would be?

#raihan #raihan fanfiction #pokemon raihan #raihan x reader #gym leader raihan #pokemon raihan x reader #pokemon #pokemon fanfiction #pokemon scenarios #pokemon sword and shield #pokemon swsh #pokemon sword and shield imagines

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sittinginacornerihaunted · 4 years

Text

august

masterlist

pairing: spencer reid x reader

content warnings: none? i’m pretty sure

word count: 3,153

a/n: i changed the ages of spencer and reader to 26 and 20 just because i didn’t like her being 19. in case anyone gets confused :)

chapter 2

I don’t wanna look at anything else now that I saw you.

I woke up groggy and absolutely exhausted. I had gotten maybe an hour of sleep before I needed to get up and ready for my 8 am. I dragged myself from my sheets and pulled my feet one in front of the other. I made it to my closet and opted for the comfiest outfit I could manage without looking completely busted. A sweatshirt and leggings it is. I combed through my hair with my fingers and pulled it into a tight messy bun, trying my best to control the frizz that came from the sweat and humidity of the night before. I walked into the bathroom I shared with Amber, quickly brushing my teeth and performing the quickest skincare routine I could without feeling absolutely disgusting. Thank god I don’t have Criminology class today, I would not want Spencer seeing me like this. Spencer? When did I start calling him Spencer? I shook my head at the thought and threw all of my things into my backpack and made my way into the lounge area. I saw Amber’s things thrown onto the counter and the door to her room shut, hopefully she would feel okay when she woke up later. I filled up my water bottle, not before downing as much water as I could, and proceeded to shove it into the pocket on the side of my bag. Checking my watch, I ran out the door and closed it quietly so as to not wake Amber.

I bounded down the stairs and quickly walked to campus. The apartment complex where I stayed for the semester wasn’t too far from the majority of my classes, but the anxiety of possibly being late always drove me to walk at an accelerated pace. I walked past the trees and the grassy knolls that littered the campus. The atmosphere of the land combined with the old, beautiful architecture of the college buildings made it feel so… romantic. Well, that’s something to keep me distracted from this wicked hangover. Fuck, was I still a little drunk? Maybe I should’ve skipped class this morning. No matter, I was already on my way and I knew that I would’ve felt incredibly guilty if I hadn’t gone. As I briskly walked to class, I passed by other students and faculty members along the way. I got lost in thought about what they might be like. It’s incredible that we all have our own intricate and complicated lives. It’s impossible to completely understand that everyone else has a life just as complex and detailed as my own.

I finally made it to the main campus building in which my Journalism History and Cultures class would take place. I’ve never been completely sure what I wanted to major in or what I wanted my career to look like, but I randomly picked Journalism last year and I actually really love it. I’ve always known that I wanted to do something important with my life and I’ve always enjoyed writing, so I guess it just kinda made sense to me. I walked down the long hallway decorated with doors and windows and bulletin boards. I made my way to the classroom I required and pushed open the door with a deep breath. I was early, but not so early that I beat my professor there. I looked down at the ground as I made my way to the front of the room, taking a seat in the third row, as usual. I looked up and smiled at my professor to say hi and he smiled back politely. I began taking out my things and more students filed into the classroom. Before I knew it, class had started and ended in a hungover (and maybe a little drunken) haze. I took a swig from my water bottle before standing up and placing a hand on my desk to steady myself. I threw my bag onto my back and trudged out of the classroom, into the hallway, and out of the building.

The rest of the day seemed to go incredibly fast while simultaneously going excruciatingly slow. See, this is why I don’t party. I always feel like absolute shit the next morning and it affects my entire day. I wonder how Amber’s holding up. I realized I hadn’t really talked to her all day so I made my way back to our shared space in order to catch up with her. It was almost a guarantee that she would be home because during the day, she’s either in class or asleep in our apartment. I looked down at my phone to text her and ask if she wanted to do a girl’s night in, but before I could type anything I ran into something- wait, no, someone.

“Oh my god, I am so sorry I-” I began to fluster immediately before I looked up and noticed who it was that I ran into. I took a shallow breath and my eyes widened before I gained whatever composure I could. “Dr. Reid, I- I’m so sorry I was just-”

“Spencer, please, and it’s okay,” he brushed it off, “don’t worry about it.” We both stood facing each other for a moment. Why didn’t we just say our apologies and keep walking? “Um, how are you, Y/N? Did you end up getting any sleep last night? Or should I say this morning.” He laughed shyly as he spoke.

“Oh I, um, got like, maybe an hour of sleep. Coffee is a godsend, honestly,” I replied.

“Don’t I know it.” He said. I looked at him meekly, not sure what to say. He looked back into my eyes and I swear, his gaze could bore a hole through my skull. I could get lost in those eyes forever and I wouldn’t bother trying to find my way out. Y/N, stop it! I couldn’t stop it. Because as long as I looked into his eyes, he looked right back into mine. My spiraling thoughts were interrupted by the sound of his voice. “Are you okay?” He questions.

“Oh!” I jumpstart back into reality. “Yeah, I’m fine, I guess I zoned out from not getting enough sleep. I’m hoping I can catch up tonight.” I laugh and I look down, hoping that if I stare hard enough, I could bury my face into the pavement.

“That’s probably a good idea. I hope you don’t regret staying out so late though.” He says quickly, so quickly I almost missed it.

“No! I don’t, it’s just always hard the next day, you know? But it was nice to go out, for once.” I try to match his pacing, which isn’t too difficult, considering that the anxiety of the situation sped up my speech significantly.

“Yeah, I get that.” He says and we begin to just… Stare at each other again.

Not wanting to make the situation more awkward, I hear myself beginning to talk again, “Um, I should probably get home, I haven’t seen Amber all day and I want to make sure she’s still among the living, haha, um… It was nice seeing you again, Dr. Reid.” I begin walking away, in a similar fashion to last night.

“Spencer.” He corrects me.

“Spencer.” I say. I start walking away but not for long. I hear footsteps behind me, a voice yell “Y/N!” and a hand grabbed my arm. I turn around pulled by the force exerted from the hand. I’m sure I looked shocked because the hand quickly let go of me. Spencer’s face looked apologetic.

“I’m sorry, it’s just-” he rings his hands, “I was wondering if you would want my number? Um, I listed my email on the syllabus but it’s actually a lot easier to reach me through my personal cell phone, if you had questions about class or homework or… something.” He flustered through his words, why was he flustered? I’m the one who gets nervous here. His words put goosebumps along the back of my neck and the sides of my arms. I take a deep breath before answering, in hopes it would calm my nerves and steady my voice.

“Um, sure! That would actually be great because I already had a few questions about some of the material and I was going to email you but I haven’t had much time today and I guess I probably could’ve asked you now but I should probably get home so-” Is it possible for me to speak any faster?

“Y/N.” He stops me before I can embarrass myself even more. “Here, I’ll put it into your phone for you.” I pause for a beat before unlocking my phone and extending my arm to hand it to him. He types the letters and numbers necessary into my phone and I can’t help but linger on his hands. How were his hands so attractive? Is that normal? He gently hands my phone back to me and I smile and say “Thank you, Dr. Reid,” not before he looks at me expectantly and raises his eyebrows. “Um, Spencer. Thank you, Spencer.” I smile as he looks into my eyes one more time.

“You’re welcome. See you tomorrow?” He questions.

“See you tomorrow.” I confirm with a tight-lipped smile before turning and walking away. I try my hardest to walk at a normal pace, but as soon as I can be sure that he is no longer watching, I nearly sprint to my apartment.

“Amber!” I yell as I cross the threshold into the apartment’s living room and nearly slam the door shut. “Amber, are you alive?” I call out, jokingly, before I hear movement coming from her bedroom.

“Yes, I’m alive and not deaf. You’re far too loud for the morning.” She groans and rubs her eyes, walking toward me.

“Amber, it’s 3 pm.” I state bluntly.

“Are you fucking serious?” She hurtles across the room to dramatically grab my phone and confirm the time. “Goddamn it, I have so much work to do.” She rubs her face and flops onto the couch. “Whatever, I’ve waited this long to do it, I can wait a little longer.”

I look at her with what I’m sure was a ridiculous look on my face and say “Girly. You-” I stop myself before telling her what to do. She always knows what works best for her when it comes to school, so who am I to question that? “Nevermind.” I sit down, cross-legged, on the opposite side of the couch. “Hey, do you want to have a girl’s night? I was gonna text you earlier but I- um, got distracted. I could go out and grab us some snacks and we could watch Clueless? It’s on Netflix now!” She knows Clueless is my favorite movie of all time and I think I’ve forced her to watch it enough times now that it’s her favorite too. I looked at her with as innocent a face I could and she rolled her eyes and nodded.

“Okay, sure. That sounds really good actually. But only if you buy the snacks! And get me my favorite ice cream?” Her voice raises the inflection at the end of her question and now it was my turn to roll my eyes.

“Of course, dummy. I’ll head to Wawa and I’ll grab a bunch of stuff. Text me with what you want.” I bend down to kiss her on the cheek and quickly turn, grab my keys, and head out the door.

---

“So,” Amber begins as the end credits of the movie begin to roll, “Who was that hot guy you were talking to last night?”

I nearly choked on the popcorn I was eating. “What? Oh, um, it- I-”

“He seemed really into you. I could feel the tension all the way across the room.” She takes a spoonful of her pint of Ben and Jerry’s ice cream.

“I thought you were dancing with what’s-his-name across the room, how did you see what I was doing?” I try to throw her off.

“I am much more perceptive than you think, girly.” She pokes my thigh playfully. “Now, spill! The guy I was dancing with was not really anything. Once I sobered up even the slightest bit, he wasn’t that cute. Or that good of a dancer. It was a little bit of a disappointment but I don’t care, I wanna know what happened with you!” She pokes me a few more times, which I will admit, was not a bad interrogation strategy on account of I am extremely ticklish.

“Okay, okay!” I swat her hands away and secure my pint of ice cream in my lap. “He, um, he is actually my Criminology professor.”

“Excuse me? What was your Criminology professor doing at a student bar in the middle of first week parties?”

“That’s what I asked too! He said his coworker dragged him there or something. I don’t know what they were doing beforehand or why he wanted to go there, but,” I shrugged my shoulders.

“What were you guys talking about? And don’t think I forgot about you going outside with him later! I was blackout but I always remember everything.” That was true, Amber had the memory of an elephant. But like, an elephant who also has a photographic memory.

“I don’t know we were just kinda talking about nothing! I was still pretty drunk so right now, I’m just hoping what I said made sense and wasn’t too embarrassing.”

“Lame! Next time you talk to him, and I know there will be a next time because that was too interesting for there to not be a next time, I expect there to be a lot more juicy details!”

“Well, uh,” I begin again, “I actually talked to him today.”

“What?!”

“Yeah, I ran into him while I was on my way here earlier and we talked for a little bit. It was kinda awkward but I don’t know, it was weird. He gave me his number?” I say it like a question and watch Amber’s eyes widen.

“He gave you his number?” At this point, Amber was eating popcorn and looking at me like I was the movie.

“Yeah, he said it was for if I have questions about class, do you think that’s weird?”

“No, it’s cute! Wait, how old is this guy? I thought he was a student when you were talking to him last night and I can get behind a hot professor but a huge age gap and predatory behavior is not cute.” Her tone turned serious and I quickly dismissed her concerns.

“No no, he’s 26! Don’t worry about that.” She breathed a sigh of relief. “Isn’t it like, against the rules to date your professor? Not that we’re dating! And not that I was thinking about us dating! I’m sure he sticks to the rules I doubt he would ever do anything like that and it’s not like I’m one for breaking the rules I-”

“Slow down, speed racer!” She says as I try my hardest to figure out how to breathe at a normal rate “I’m pretty sure it’s not technically against the rules, but yeah, I guess it’s frowned upon and pretty taboo to date your teacher. But I mean, you two seemed to really get on last night. And it doesn’t make sense to stop something that has the potential to be great just because some people don’t think it’s ‘acceptable,’ whatever that means.”

“You think it has the potential to be great? I mean, I just met him yesterday. We barely talked, I barely know him!” I feel myself beginning to freak out a little bit.

“Hey, hey, I mean, you don’t have to do anything that you don’t want, but I know that I saw something between you too. Maybe it’s just a friendship or maybe it’s nothing! I just want you to be happy, you know that, right Y/N?” She puts her hands on my knees in an effort to comfort me. “I love you so much.”

“I love you too.” I smile softly at her, “I guess I just, I don’t even know what our relationship is right now. I mean, he’s definitely attractive, I’d have to be blind to miss that. But he’s my professor, you know? I guess I’d have to be completely positive that he feels the same way for me to ever initiate something.” Amber nods her head. “You know what is kinda strange though? He insists on me calling him Spencer. Is that weird? I guess I just feel weird because I’m most comfortable calling my professors by their titles or something more formal. I don’t know, I don’t know. It’s not that big of a deal I’m sure I’m just overthinking this.”

“Hey,” Amber has always been good at comforting me. “Whatever you are feeling right now, is totally and completely valid. You know I tease you because I love you, but I seriously just want what’s best for you. You seemed really excited last night and I just want you to be happy. I expect to be updated on this regularly, okay?” She laughs and raises her eyebrows at me.

“Of course,” I giggle and spoon a mouthful of ice cream into my mouth. “Now, I think it’s time we watch Legally Blonde, huh?” Amber laughs and I grab the remote and turn the TV to the timeless classic we both adore.

I couldn’t stop thinking about what Amber said about the potential of something great. Did it really seem that special to Amber? I trust her judgement, but as of right now, there’s nothing happening between me and Spencer. He’s just my professor and I’m just his student who happened to run into him twice outside of class. And who couldn’t stop staring into his eyes as he spoke. And who could barely breathe when he said my name. And who couldn’t focus when he talked because his hands moved with his words. And who now calls him Spencer, apparently. Do I even want something to happen between us? Sure, he’s handsome, like, really handsome, but he’s my professor. I’ve never really been one for dating anyways.

I take a deep breath and try to focus on the film playing in front of me. I mean, he did give me his number. That’s gotta count for something, right? I look at my phone and the clock reads 12:43 am. I take another breath and do my best to leave those thoughts for tomorrow. It’s too late to be thinking clearly anyways. I grab the blanket that was hanging on the back of the couch and throw it over mine and Amber’s laps. I relax my shoulders and melt into the couch as I let the sounds of Reese Witherspoon and Luke Wilson take over my senses.

taglist: @pumpkin-reads @haylaansmi

#m #mari writes #august #spencer reid x reader #spencer reid x you #spencer reid #spencer reid fanfiction #spencer reid fanfic #criminal minds fanfic #cm #criminal minds

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lillaxtrigger · 3 years

Text

Young Hope: Chapter 40

The afternoon sun beats down upon the planes of suburbia just outside of Townsville; some of its warming light beaming straight through the window of a residence and cast upon the bottom half of a blue haired woman, who stands atop a step stool as she reaches up to her kitchen ceiling fan. Carefully does she continue to unscrew the fan’s frame keeping it atop the kitchen, each screw she twists out dropping down into the palm of her hand; one of them winds up slipping out from her grasp and falling to the tile floor. As she peers down to the screw that had just dropped, the woman is left astonished when finding a lone limb of pure black slither through the air underneath; the shock alone upsetting her balance and causing her to fall right off the stool and onto the floor. Amidst shaking off the short fall does the blue haired woman then watch’s the slithering limb split apart into two; one part reaching over to the fridge while the other heads up to the cabinet beside. From within the fridge does one strand pull out the jug of whole milk while the other takes out a tall glass out from the cabinet; pouring the milk right up near the rim of the glass before neatly putting the galleon right back inside before slithering back through the kitchen with glass in hand.

With a short breath escaping from her lips does the woman’s daughter race right on into the kitchen; giving the woman a hand as she asks:

“Mom! You alright?”

“Yeah Mally. Just got a little spooked by Roy’s new arm is all.” the mother explains as she’s pulled back onto her feet. “Oh yeah. It’s taking me a little bit longer to get used to too.”

“Don’t get me wrong. I’m so glad for Roy getting a brand new arm to replace the old one he lost several months back, but the way you described how it just came bursting out from his arm socket still has me concerned. Have you at least talked to him about it yet?” “I’ve been giving him some time to enjoy having both arms again before spoiling the fun. It’s been only a week now since we got back home.”

“Well when do you think it might be time to let the party train grind to a halt to check the cargo its got in the back?” “I think I might just start.” the orange girl answers before strolling off towards the hall.

Waltzing right through their hallway does Mally head towards the slightly cracked open door set along the very end of the hall; the roller bladder slowly pushing the door open and letting the hallway light seep into the darkened room. “Roy...You in here?” she says out tot he dark, baiting nothing but silence. Among peering through the dark recesses do a pair of violet glowing eyes emerge from the void; the silhouette they belong to lumbering closer as they stare upon the young lady. Finally pushing the bedroom wide open does the hallway light flood through the room and reveal the purple angel himself standing before the girl; Roy looking to her with a calming smile and uttering:

“Hey there.”

As the merc starts to drink the glass of milk held in his arm of pure black, the orange lass slowly steps into his bedroom as she asks:

“Hey Roy...So uh, h-how have ya been feeling this past week with your new arm?”

“Holy shit. It’s been so fucking great. I didn’t think I’d miss having both arms this badly. Plus with all that my new arm is capable off, I’m finding new ways to put it to use that his old limb could only gestural feint over; some uses far more pleasurable than before.”

“Yeah, I get it. You can have sex with people using your arm. What I’m really asking here is if you’ve felt even the slightest bit off since it came bursting out yer side? Any odd or upsetting thoughts going through your head...like more depraving than usual?” Mally retells. “Eh...outside of wondering if a dead body could be stuffed inconspicuously inside a recliner for about a week without no one noticing, haven’t really had much like that on the mind.” “Any physical pain or altercations?”

“Hmm...Nope.”

“Really?...Take your hoodie off then.”

“Whoa, whoa, Mal. I know were not blood related. But I still see you as a little sister so that’d be pretty damn wro-”

“Just take it off!”

“Alright, fine. Jesus.” the merc complies with, starting to slip off his treasure purple hood.

Upon finally beholding her brother’s bare chest do the skater’s eyes widen as her pupils shrink, nearly falling over as she screams out through the house:

“Holy shit!”

“Mally! What did I say about cussing in the hou- Oh my god!” the mom comes over to scold, though left just as taken aback when beholding the same sight as her daughter. Both of them are left horrified when discovering numerous black veins that run right across the purple merc’s bare chest like an encroaching infection and covering his upper body; Roy left wondering to both of them:

“The hell are you girl’s screaming about?” “You can’t be serious.” Mally utters.

“Honey, have you checked yourself in the mirror lately?” the mom questions with quiet worry. “Oh, you mean all these going through my bod. Pretty damn cool, right?”

“No!” the blue haired mother blurts out.

“I-is-is that-I Iiis all that even hurting you, making you bleed out or something!” Mally asks. “Chill, alright. I’ve never felt better. All this is just fine.”

“It’s pulsating veins are literally rooting through your body!” the mom adds.

“Oh my god. I seriously can’t believe you two. I finally gotten a break after all the messed up bull I gone through and your practically demonizing the prize I won at the end. Can’t you people be happy that I got an arm again, one that’s better than the old one?” Roy complains. “Roy, were not worried about you having a new arm. We’re worried about what it’s doing to you.” the mom specifies. “How do you two know it ain’t doing anything bad, maybe all this black veins going through my bod is improving me like nanomachines making him stronger; like that one guy in Metal Gear Rising. What was his name again? How the hell am I forgetting his name?” “We need to see a doctor about this.” the mom claims. “Mom, what would a doctor even start to make of this? I doubt they could give a feasible diagnosis over something this outlandishly dark appendage that came spurting out.” her daughter mentions. “What else can we do about it?” the blue haired woman questions back. ‘Uh...Alex said that this thing was made up of the same stuff he was. But that really doesn’t say much. Roy, you got his number right? Think giving him a call might be best on the table.” the skater comes to. “Already tried. Every call just goes to voice mail. Can’t sense him anywhere in Town either. Fact, he’s been off the grid since we got back. Hope the little gremlin hasn’t gotten into anything serious.”

“Right, fine. With that option out, we’ll just have to stop by a couple friends to see if they can help. But who to see first?” the skater wonders aloud. The merc suddenly snaps his fingers as he flashes a smile, stating how:

“Senator Armstrong! That’s what his name was.”

The very first stop that both Roy and Mally take under this investigation is with the potion witch herself, Serena; who they meet in the Townsville Library. More specifically within the recently uncovered underbelly of the library filled with enchanting books and mystical tomes. Sliding her finely polished nail across the wall of ancient hardback, the witch pulls out a lone book straight from the shelves; all the while telling the two behind her how:

“I seriously can’t thank you two enough for discovering this incredible collection hidden away underneath the library. All the new potion recipes that I’ve gotten from their pages have been one hot seller after another since you two dug it up.” “Ain’t no big deal. Really we just stumbled onto this by complete accident. I just hope the clean up crew removed all the trap set up in here.” the orange skater responds. Right on that mark do they all then here the sound of a magical explosion go off along the side; all of them peeking right over to find one of the library goers having his lower torso replaced with that of a spider, all while scream out in an utter panic. “Ah! Ah! Oh god! Why!?” the poor bastard shouts as a batch of silk spews out from his fresh new abdomen.

“So...What’s this little book stop gotta do with what came bursting out my side?” Roy get back on track with. “During one of my little glazes through this uncovered library, I stumbled across a tome of Mythological Chinese stories. One of them kinda reminds me of your arm in a strange way.”

“Where’s that.” Mally questions. “Think I last saw that Tome along the very back of the right side of the library. It might be the one sitting in the middle of the shelf.” “Kay, gimme a sec here.” the purple merc tells them, casting forth his arm of pitch black out beyond the railing and right across the outlook; stretching straight out to the other side. Slithering through sections does the arm slide past several other library goers, each one of them left astonished as the limb moves past. Skimming along the spines of every single book on the shelf does the merc finally pull out one in particular labeled as “The mythical fables of the ancient east” and withdraws the tome back to his side. “This it?” “Yep. The very same one.” the potion witch confirms. “You know what that story you mentioned says?” Mally asks. “Mm. I’ve olny read about a paragraph or two while on my recipe hunt.”

“That case. Guess we better just crack this thing open and feast on the festering brain food dwelling inside.” the merc goes. “Roy, dial it down for god sake.” his sister tells him as they both head over towards a desk.

Slapping the old book right onto the ancient stone library desk do the two of them get started in the table of context as Serena tells them that:

“Alright you two. I’ll be looking through more of the shelves if you need me.” “Careful of tripwires along the floor.” Mally warns her with as they part. Cracking the tome right open, the two of them immediately begin their search through the table of contents; reading out the titles of numerous legends such as: “The Oni and the flowerpot” “The natural Maiden of white snow” “The myth of the True eye Hawk bow” “The meeting of the Nord and the Imperial Lord”. “Ah...Oh, here might be something, “The tale of the Samurai and the black demon.” the orange young lady grabs her brother’s attention with.

“Long ago in an ancient land, a great and powerful mass of black had descended from the heavens and arose as a powerful shape shifting master of darkness; determined to dominate the land of China and all who dwell within with unspeakable evil power unmatched. Before the mystical land could be swallowed by such unrelenting darkness, the land’s lord sent away his only son and the one katana of evil’s bane out from their homeland so that his heir would escape to one day defeat this powerful and liberate his homeland. Through out every corner of the globe has this young heir hone his skills with many masters as his guide; his abilities and way of the blade growing alongside his age throughout the many years.

After a long 15 years of grueling training, the boy, now a fully fledged samurai, was ready to return home; determined to free his people from the monstrous evil that had scarred the land of the east. Among his return upon a horse of white; the powerful demon stared down upon the Samurai as he had stepped forth to appose him; the monster burning eyes staring down upon the Samurai as he unsheathed the blade of evil’s bane. The battle for not just the Samurai’s homeland, but for the world over had finally begun its finale.

Long and harrowing was their fight, the demon assuming many forms in opposition to the Samurai; who with fleet foot, tore through the monster’s very form that no other mortal could. No matter what form the demon had taken, no matter what trickery or power it had fought back with, the monster of darkness could not stand against the holy weapon of the Samurai; the katana slicing off piece after piece of the demon’s body. In the final moments of the grueling battle did the demon lay helpless before the Samurai; it body scattering to dust when the last blow had been struck. Finally, after decades of suffering had the demon been defeated and the land of the east free from its harrowing evil; the Samurai, reclaiming his kingdom and bringing forth a long awaited age of prosperity and peace.

Yet despite this victory over the demon of evil, its remains are left scattered throughout the world; ever seeking, ever yearning to be whole once more with its very kin. Yet for what reason does it continue to live? To regain control over the world it once sought to rule, or to return from the very stars it once came to be. Only time shall bestow upon us all such an answer.”

Upon finishing this tale of triumph and warning, Mally is left taken aback by all that they have read; sitting back along the side of a stone shelf as she goes:

“My god. Can’t believe that demon just came down and took over China in just a day. If Serena thinks that monster might be related, what’s that even say about what’s attached to your side?...What’s it even say about Alex?” “Come on Mal. You’re taking this way too seriously. You really think this charcoal Spaghetti strand attached to my side is gonna turn me into an unsympathetic horrible tyrant?”

In thinking over this does Mally try to take a few moments to think over her brother’s answer; Roy’s expression souring with each passing second. “For fuck sa-. Fine, if you still on the fence, then how bout we stop over at Hank’s and have him call up Melvin. That boy got a sweet set of demon hands like my arm and the worst he’s ever been was a compact ball of insecurity and anger issues wrapped up on a 14 year old twinkus. And that was even before he got them.”

“Checking up on him might not be a bad idea. Last time we hung out wasn’t exactly a pleasant spelunking trip.” the orange skater agrees.

Along the suburban skies above does a young boy strapped into a decked out wheelchair glide through the clear blue skies; the chair bound boy yipping and cheering with the sort of glee a 10 year old on Christmas would make after seeing all the presents in the living room. Right below this airborne lad does both Mally and Roy finish up speaking to the chairbound pilots cousin; Melvin leaning along the side of Hank’s abode as the orange skater finishes explaining how:

“That’s pretty much how Roy’s new arm came out. Came straight out of his side like an actual chestburster.”

“Shit man. Way I wound up getting my hands ain’t nowhere as gory as that. Worse I got was some broken bones and bruises.” the young man claims. “Think you could go into detail about how ya got them?” the merc request. “Nah, fuck that. I ain’t tellin.”

“Can you at least tell us if you’ve felt anything strange or off since ya gottem. Any physical pains or strange thoughts going through your head.” Mally then asks. “Outside a couple of mildly weird dream. Got nothin going on.” Melvin ultimately concludes. “Huh...good to here at least.”

Its then that their attention is drawn up to the young man gliding in the skies above them, pulling off rolls and loop de loops as his cheering echoes across the neighborhood. “The hell he’s so giddy for.” Roy wonders. “Couple a guys came over the other day and asked him to join in some little club and he’s been flying high since.” Melvin answers. “Who came over?”

“The Vanguard League!” all of them hear he chairbound genius cry out, the three peering over to watch as Hank comes in for a landing; his wheels kicking up a cloud of dirt as he skids to a stop before them all.

“They came over!? That’s incredible, Hank! What position did you land a spot in?” Mally ecstatically questions. “Ya’ll looking at the new head of the Technological Department. Making new gadgets and inventions to help fight crime, save lives, and help people worldwide; all alongside the greatest of young minds this generation has to offer. I can’t wait to get started after the announcement this coming weekend.” “Had a feeling they’d come around to check you out sooner or later. I don’t think they picked a better boy for the job.” Mally congratulates Hank with, the chair bound genius letting out a bright smile. “What about you Melvin, you think about standing alongside your cuz and the other heroes?” the boy then questions. “You shitting me, right? You think you’d catch me being bossed around like that? Hell no.”

“What about you Mal?” “Uh. Leaning on it, but I ain’t too sure which department to join.”

“Hey, no pressure; just good luck with whatever ya choose. Meantime, I better spruce up and polish up my equipment before the weekend announcement comes around. Catch you later.” the chairbound genius bids farewell with as he presses a couple of buttons on his chair; an exhaust along the back firing out and rocketing him right on inside. From listening to several things crash and break from inside, Melvin decides to race right on after while exclaiming:

“Dammit, the hell did we talk about doing that indoors!?”

“Whelp, guess we don’t got anything to worry about. See ya.” Roy claims while in the midst of taking off out into the air. Before the violet angel could ascend too far up into the cloudless skies, the shell of a yo yo wraps itself right around the merc’s very leg; Roy peering down from the string to see Mally ready to bring him right back down. With but a single tug does the skater manage to send the purple merc straight down towards the earth; the angel crashing right down into the grassy backyard in a plume of dirt. “Yeah, were nowhere near done yet. We ain’t closing this case til we figure out what this arm of yours is made of and where it came from.” the orange lass claims. “Agh! That book we read up on said that whatever it was came from space; serious fucking doubt you know anyone else that came from beyond the star.” Roy explains while climbing out from the dirt, soon finding his sister wearing a knowing smile.

Traveling deep within the very heart of the woodlands just outside the city, the two of them step right on inside of a downed space ship; whereupon the violet angel beholds the alien trio that his sister had befriended.

“Hot damn, Mally. Can’t believe you were keepin this little part of the woods all to yourselves and didn’t bother saying a thing to us.” Roy smoothly exclaims. “Figured you might’ve sensed them all out anyway. Surprised you didn’t know until now.” Mally acknowledges. “You kidding. With all the weird shit that goes on in this town already? How you figure I was gonna stumble on this?” “Also thought they might enjoy the privacy and not have every government agent or crackpot conspiracy nutter come knocking at their door and demand to know what sort of part of congress they control or whatever excuse they pull outta their ass.”

“Still, not hard to imagine why you and your teach would want to keep these choice pieces of intergalactic intimates all to themselves; you serious stumbled onto one hell of a galactic goldmine with this set of sweet sweet alien asses. Definitely like to double down on the fish guy and the girl with the eyeliner in an intergalactic seafood platter; maybe finish off with the hooded piece of alien booty as dessert right there. This spread here’s the fucking motherload, and papa Roy here don’t want a piece, he want’s the whole fucking buffet.” the purple angel elaborates aloud, the three growing further upset and creeped out as she continues speaking.

Amidst the merc’s overwhelming horniness does a comically oversized wrench come flying and hits the back of the violet angel’s head; Roy holding the spot he got struck as he violently trembles. “Fucking…”

“While it’s flattering that you primates have at least decent tastes in knowing a fine catch when you see one. I am very aware when the line of thirst starts to cross harassment territory.” Vain assures. “Seriously kid, did you really just stop by just to have this purple prick gawk at us like an overly excited Splartian Hound in heat; ready to thrust its privates into anything that can bother pulsating in view. Cause I thought the fact that were stuck on this damn rock was getting you off enough.” Catastrophe questions. “Actually, we were hoping you three wound help us out with trying to figure out what exactly my bro’s new arm is made of.” the orange skater finally answers. “Really? I thought that human’s just grow their limbs back when one of them’s broken, just rip it right off to have another one come in the following week.” the charming alien fish boy comments. “That is...nowhere near how human biology works. Seriously hope you weren’t planning on testing that.” Mally worries. Right on that very queue does one of the boxes in the room tip over and partially reveal an unconscious man stowed away within; moaning aloud as he attempts to climb out with one of his arms taken away and stitched up wounds. Discovering this, Mally turns her upset glare over to the trio, Cat claiming that:

“Hey, don’t give us any bull. Dumbass just seriously wondered in here.”

“We gave him some amnesics to make him forget.” Tizzy adds. Clutching the barely conscious man by his shoulders does Cat stroll over to the door while dragging the poor guy along the floor; the alien girl tossing the guy straight out into the woods.

“Why you up and figure it was best to come here to try a figure out the hell is your bro’s arm.” Tizzy asks. “Well, one book we read on it mentioned that this stuff wound up coming from the depths of space and was hoping that-”

“Oh yes, I see. Since were not from your planet, that would make us the knowledge keepers of all that occupy alongside the stars. Is that it?” Vain accuses. “I was thinking since your parents were intergalactic conquerors, figured that maybe they’ve seen something like this before during a conquest.” Mally quickly gives context for. “Afraid your shit outta like, neither of our mom’s speak a mere mention of whatever disgusting growth came out of your brother’s side; pretty sure if we did, they’d tell us in the form of a terrifying bedtime story told to make ya piss yourself.” Cat explains. “Indeed. Truly humiliating.” “Vain, didn’t you wind up soaking your entire mattress once?” Tizzy wonders. “That was when we got back from swimming and you know it!”

“Kay here. Doesn’t this ship has some advance tech straight out from the realms of a shitty 90’s cartoon? You guys gotta at least got anything that can tell us what his arm’s made off?” Roy then interjects with. “If this ship didn’t take a crashing nosedive straight down into your planets crap that you call soil, we wouldn’t be talking right now. You really think that they wound up getting anything working in the span of a month since we touched down on this overpopulated rock in the middle of the space boonies?”

“Actually, I just finished getting the Material Analyzer up and running a few days ago. We could try that?” Tizzy then mentions.

“Ugh, fine whatever. The sooner you start, the sooner you leave. Make it quick.”

Somewhere within the ship does Roy have his arm of demonic pure black stuck right in a spherical chamber as numerous lasers and lights scan every single inch of them limb; all the data it collects showing up on a screen outside the chamber that Tizzy carefully observe. From this high tech device, a small beep them sounds off; queuing Tizzy to tell them:

“And the analysis is finished. You can take it out now.” “Holy shit finally. Started getting numb after the last half hour. Stuck my hand up something longer, but that’s a story for another day.” Roy states as he slithers his fresh pitch black arm out of the analysis machine’s inner chamber. “So, whatcha come up with?” the orange skater asks. “Well, there doesn’t seem to be anything else belonging to your brother inside. No bones, veins, blood, nothing. Kinda shocking given how close to unstable it is.”

“Anything else?”

“Well, there’s one detail that popped up that bothered me. The genetic make up of his arm primarily consists of strung together chemicals compounds such as Epinephrine, glutamate, Cortisol, Adrenaline, and slight traces of Serotonin. The stuff in your brains that make you feel angry, sad, and scared.” “Is that seriously... why did a bunch of emotional brain juice burst out from Roy’s side and solidify into a working appendage?”

“Maybe that’s something you should ask him.”

The alien suggesting this, the orange skater turns over to her purple brother to ask of him:

“Roy, what might’ve been going through your head moments before that thing came out of you ?” “Well...ya know how we were fighting that giant wood guardian in that hidden Jurassic land and how Alex got fucking impaled right through the stomach?”

“Yeah. I still remember how I felt when I saw that. But how did that wind up triggering you to grow an arm?”

“When I beheld the site of the little devil on a stick, something flashed before my eyes; an image that I felt burst out from the depths of my soul. Two figures, one stabbing the other through the stomach, one wearing a gleeful smile while the other leaked tears from above its horrified frown; both staring out with their hollow white eyes. That alone reminded me of a site that I kept buried deep down for years; and it all suddenly just came up at once like an explosion of confusion, regret, and rage. The closest I could describe it being like would be his mind of the proverbial traumatic edge; teetering on the cusp of madness.”

Upon hearing the purple merc elaborate on the thoughts going through his head is the entire room left at a complete silence; Mally gazing to her violet brother with a mixture of remorse, pity and regretful guilt. Before the orange girl could give even a little word of comfort to him do all of them hear a sharp whistle cut straight through the quiet; the three peering back towards the door to discover Catastrophe leaning against the doorway. “Now that shit’s a full season of a show right there. Closest thing to entertainment I got since crash down on this pathetic little rock.”

“Cat.” Tizzy lightly snaps out. “Something about my emotional trauma funny to ya?” Roy then questions. “You kidding? It’s like one of those shitty characters with a bad backstory crowbarred in to make idiots think they’re deep. Fucking riot right there.”

Amidsts stepping up against the hooded alien girl, the violet angel’s wings sprout forth as the fingers along his pitch black arm starts to get antsy; going on to trash talk on how:

“Guess being on your mama’s little warship for most of your life, ya never really got to feel what its like to be on the other end of life’s massive jackboot. Never really feeling what its like have shit throw right at ya. The fucked up thoughts going through yer head as the memories of all that ya lost come flooding out and crashing onto your psyche til your heads on the verge of melting from the madness…You wanna know what that sort of self inflicting degradation can feel like?”

“That a threat?” Cat wonders with a confident smirk; both of them stand face to face one another as the two give off an overgrowing sense of rising tension. Right as Roy was in the midst of transforming his new arm, something along his other side takes a gentle hold upon the merc’s other limb and breaches through to him, quelling the building rage within; the purple angel gazing off to the side to discover his little sister staring up to him with the look of “Please don’t do it” in her eyes.

In seeing the desperate plea set in his sisters eyes does the purple merc let out a small sigh as he finally breaks away from the antagonizing alien, marching right past Catastrophe and out to the corridor; the violet angel punching the side of the doorway hard enough to leave a hell of a dent. As Mally takes her leave after her pissed off brother, Tizzy approaches her sister with a hammer and tells her to: “Come on. You’re helping me hammer that dent out.” “Like hell I am. Why the hell should I fix something that our guest broke in his little pissy fit?” “Pretty sure you threw a pretty similar one when vain used your little blanket as a dung disposal cleaner.” “You swore never to bring that up!” the two of them hear their semi aquatic brother shout out to them.

As both brother and sister exit out from the downed spacecraft, the orange lass between them starts to apologize with:

“Roy...I-I’m so sorry. I just can’t believe that I didn’t catch on what was bugging you sooner than later. I-I didn’t realize that you were thinking about what happened at-”

“Mally, chill. Ain’t know way you could’ve known the sort of shit that was going through my head. I get you were just worried. But I’ll be just fine. Kay?”

“Hey! What happened back then effected Tore and I too. You ain’t alone on this...Anything ya wanna talk about, we’re here for ya.” “Hm hm hm...Thank’s Mal.” Roy returns with, a heartwarming smile etched across the merc’s face. “No prob...So...You thinkin about headin home?”

“Nah. Still got some stuff to take care of. I’ll be home a little later.”

“Kay. Just don’t get into too much trouble.”

Warning her brother of this does the orange skater swiftly don her skating gear and take off out into the woods; Roy in turn sprouting forth his angelic black wings and taking off into the orange twilight skies.

Among his glide above the nearly thick woodlands, Roy flies back out towards the city of Townsville with the setting sun glistening its twilight gaze at his back; his smile starting to dissipate the farther he flies. “You’ve been awfully quiet about all this.” he suddenly says aloud to break the silence. Out from the depths of his mind does a woman’s voice echo through the merc’s head; responding in kind to him with:

“What do you mean by that?”

“Hera, you usually just chime in in the middle of all this to give some sort of support or to stop me from doing something arguably reprehensible. What’s the deal this time?”

“Roy, have you ever thought a goddess such as I has other duties and responsibilities to tend to then communing with the only mortal I can converse with?”

“...You hiding something aren’t ya?”

“What!? Preposterous! What would urge you to accuse me of something like that?”

“Even with only having clocked in about 16 and a half years in this fucked up game some of us have to call life; I’ve been around long enough to see the warming signs of someone having a long list of secrets hidden somewhere in the bunkers of their head. And a goddess like you without a hell of a doubt’s gotta have some stowed away that vault ya call a head. With what’s on me having been once part of a mighty monster that nearly overtook the world; you think that keeping an eye on even a piece of it would warrant obligation. But Guess not, guess we’ll just blind move along through life; leaving me ignorant of what a threat this could possibly grow into until its far too late and lives are lost. But hey, what’s it with mortals wanting to question what may become of them midst affairs which affect their world, right?”

“Roy, believe me when I say I can’t bring myself to simply tell you with my own words. But if you really wish for the truth and what your arm has to do with me; then I can point you in the right direction.” the goddess in his head assures. “Eh, fair enough. Lead the way.”

The night upon Townsville had come to blanket the city in a think darkness, with nothing but the shadows to accompany the roaming night owls. Atop the mayor building, a dark winged figure hovers down to the very top of its dome rooftop; where upon its arm transforms into a sharp blade that cuts right through its very stone. Cutting a piece right off the roof, the figure lifts the piece right off and slips right on inside.

Along the inside the main office is the door unlocked when a substance of black fills the hole and turns the lock; letting the door creak open and letting the figure walk right in. Within does the figure behold the usual fittings of a mayoral office; books, chairs, desk, computer, bowl of mints, nothing out of the ordinary. And nothing to stop the intruder from venturing over to the desktop and taking a seat behind the screen. With the press of a button does the entire monitor let out an incredible bright light; Roy shielding his site from the intense glow as his eyes adjust to the glow, peeking between his fingers to behold his first obstacle. The password. Rather than blindly attempting to guess the password locking the desktop, the purple merc instead shoves his hand right into his pants pocket and pulls out what appears to be a lone thumb drive; plugging the drive right in and watching the password box fill with numerous letters and numbers until coming to the right code. As the desktop starts to load in, Roy is met with a site that honest to god just baffles him to no end. Is...is this seriously running on Windows 7? That’s 2010’s old. This a government owned desktop! Why the fuck haven’t they updated it yet for security!? Everytime on one of these government owned consoles, they always just have the most out dated Operating systems. One of the computers in the France federal agent building was running on Windows XP for shit sake!? Why!? It doesn’t make any god damn-...Gah! Whatever, not the problem here.

Getting over that strange conundrum, Roy takes the mouse and clicks right into the file explorer, where he starts his search right into the documents. See here...Billing info, Construction plans, Federal investigation, Homoerotic Fanfiction...Incident report. Clicking onto this folder is the purple merc astonished to discover the list of city incidents a literal mile long, the square of the scroll bar being absolutely tiny. Hmm...Dino monster attack, Fire monster attack, slime monster attack, Alien monster attack. Shit, alotta monster attacks here; practically makes up most of the list. Lets try sorting by date. Rearranging the reports by the date they had been documented, one title in particular catches the merc’s attention. “The lady of pink against the Cerberus. 1984” Interesting...Let’s have ourselves a peek here. Clicking right on this title, the document soon loads and present its very text through a writing application, starting his read on the incident beginning with:

“A terrible storm bellows from the east as horrible fires burn through Townsville, centers and businesses crumbling at the seems as a gigantic, dark three headed beast topples everything over in its rampage. Police and military efforts seemed ineffective as fired ammunition seemed to be devoured under the horrible cerberus’s tar like hide. Despite efforts to evacuate, few people escapes from the Chaos as dozens were left injured or burned; or a rather cruel mix of both. As hope for the city had waned to its worst, a female figure donning a heavenly pink glow had flown out from the roaring flames to face the terrible beast; her long blonde hair flowing in the wind. The best this report could describe the ensuing battle was of gods straight from tales of greek mythology; a recreation of the gods against the titans playing out before mortal eyes. With the godly woman of bright pink keeping the terrible beast of black at bay, officials were able to effectively evacuate civilians more effectively.

From what military that stayed behind described, the woman in pink had battled the vicious beast of dark with energy of bright light; her conjured weapons seemingly damaging the monster than any of our conventional weapons could only hope to do. Yet despite the warriors best efforts to defeat this great evil that had descended down upon the city, beast had ultimately worn down the woman midst hours of fighting; the horrible monster in the end devouring the woman in but a single gulp. All hope had seemed utterly crushed as the black demon had cackled upon its very victory; soon turning its burning eyes to the units that had stayed behind. All three of its heads bored a sinister smile as it crawled its way out towards the military unit; some of them fleeing from the seems on its approach while other’s stood their ground, knowing full well there was little they could do to escape from its wrath. Just as the three headed beast was on the verge of striking down the unit, the bowels of its stomach had began to glow a light of faint pink; a glow that quickly began to grow larger and brighter every passing second. In a matter of seconds did this very light explode in a flash of bright pink; blinding every single soldier that stood before the beast of darkness. Once the overwhelming glow had finally dimmed, the unit peered back to find the Cerberus that had terrorized the city was now but in pieces; all with no sign of the brave woman in bright pink light nowhere seen among the remains.

When the cleanup crew had arrived on the seen, most of the remains of the beast had been successfully picked up and stored away from researching purposes; those on the scene had described each piece of the monster as alive, pulsating and wriggling like worms plucked out from the soil. Other’s had witnessed some parts of the monster’s remains slipping away into the night and had attempted to contain every piece before they could escape; while most of the creatures remains had been successfully stowed away in containment, staff have admitted that few pieces had escaped into the unknown. What those pieces of the terrible beast had fled to or what they plan to do is as of yet unknown; something of which may never be realized, else that night may just be only the beginning.”

Its after having read every single paragraph of this report does Roy slump down into the office chair; processing every single detail that he had just read. “Can’t believe it…You gave up living alongside your family just so they could have a future.” Roy awe’s aloud.

“Indeed. And it was with that very sacrifice that I had been chosen to become a goddess.” Its in the midst of this realization that a small, uneasy chuckle starts to escape from him as he leans forward onto the mayor’s desk, Hera wondering in worry:

“Roy?...What’s wrong?” “What’s it worth becoming a god if it meant you couldn’t hold the people you love in your arms anymore; to not longer cherish their very presence as they take in yours? Why not just move on? Why not end it? Suppose those were your final moments inside that thing, weren’t they?” “Roy, when I was offered the position of a goddess. I was told it would involve ensuring the balance of the magical through the universe. Doing such, I could ensure those she left behind had a chance to live for themselves. It has not been easy since then...everyday, I wish to speak them once more, to hold my precious daughter and grandchildren in her arms.”

With all that he had discovered of the very beast that his new arm was once a part of, the violet angel gazes into the dark abyss held within the palm of his hand. “What do ya want done with it?”

“Pardon?” Hera questions. “Its thanks to the monster this arm came from that ya can’t go back to her family; to embrace the ones you loves in you hands. Just knowing that a piece of it is attached to the only person of this world you can converse with must piss you off to no end. Wanting to make sure what happened that night doesn’t befall anyone else.” “I assure to you Roy, that what happened to me that night was something I had decided for myself. I had chosen to give up my life so that others could live. But to make that choice for someone else...it something she could never bring myself to do. Whatever you decide, I’ll stand with you on it.” “No matter where it had came from, this damn thing had taken all the grief and anger that had wielded inside me and had given it a form; but only under my rage has it appeared and obeyed. With what Tore said he could do with life. I wonder if this is what I can do with what’s here?” “And is that what you wish out of it?” the goddess questions. Its in being asked this does the merc’s arm of pitch black clutch into a tight fist, the angel’s uncertain glare transforming into a determined grin. “That’s what it should be.”

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Thought that a little downtime would be appropriate here after the last chapter. Not a lot going on here beside a quick piece of lore and chemistry between characters. Though I purposely set this Chapter up as a repeat of the one where Roy was coping with the loss of his arm, thought it'd be thematically appropriate here.

#lillaxtrigger #Young Hope #callyieverse

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rigelmejo · 3 years

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February Progress Update, March Goals:

(Updated as it’s now the end of the month) How February went:

Chinese novel chapters read in February (so far): 27 (a huge amount! Last month’s was 8. This month - 4 were Guardian, the rest are 寒舍)

Chapters I studied with Listening-Reading Method: 2 (Catch me barely doing L-R and just reading Guardian instead...)

Chinese shows watched: 6. (I expected this number to shoot up and I was right! Word of Honor - tian ya ke adaptation - is airing and I am watching the raws first then the English subs as they release. I’m also maybe going to start Anti Fraud League since I finally finished ep 1. YouTube recommended me another Zhen zhehan drama - he plays Zhou Zishu in woh. It’s called Demon Girl and I’d had it in my list to practice anyway with when I got bored since it’s set 1920-1940s, one of my fave drama settings, featuring a demon heroine in which demons are like mutants who live among us. Which happens to be my LITERAL favorite story setup - mutants/monsters/etc sci fi or supernatural setup in which the story uses it to tell fantastical tales while also commenting on real social issues. Some stories do it better than others - In The Flesh and Bureau of Transformer do excellently, Love and Redemption and Guardian do some fascinating stuff with it, Heroes touches on it only a little compared to Xmen which is known for it, and Merlin often failed to commit to a strong message. But regardless - if a story has this Setup I will ultimately wanna see. So that show definirely has 3 selling points now: my Fave story setup, a heroine as the lead, and an actor I like as the other lead. I also found Mystic Nine and LORD Critical World in HD on a chinese site so I’m very tempted to just watch them in chinese only since it’s more convienient then the english sub links I have for the shows. An interesting update: trying to watch a show this month was easier than in the past - last month I could barely watch Any shows, and before that I distinctly remember shows being harder to catch the details. I watched Anti Fraud League ep 1 fully this month and caught all details roughly without pausing - and like 3 sentences of exposition on main character Mi Huo I paused and replayed the scene just to catch all the chinese subtitles and clarify I understood correctly. I think I got about 90% of the details - because I was a little vague on some word meanings and just guessed on those. And grasped 100% of the overall plot. which is well beyond where I was at month 10-11ish last time I tried watching shows. Also yay! A detective show felt as easy as watching a fluff romance which is so great, because I like this genre much more! Although I am going to give a grateful shout out to Granting You A Dreamlike Life because... while the shows first 15 eps I did watch are Not My Thing, I watched it like 8+ months into learning and it was both a challenge and easy enough TO watch and keep watching. Which made it great for improving. I really think it helped a lot. And I also think... at this point I probably could rewatch guardian without eng subs and be fine. When I watch shan he ling today I guess I’ll find out if I can handle a wuxia plot though without eng subs lol)

Japanese Audio listened to: 14 (no change, this is since start of year)

Personal books read: 11 (since 2021 started - so 6 books in February. I have been reading SO MUCH lately, I’m really excited? I’ve been meaning to read so many of my books I just hadn’t gotten around to it. This is also likely to increase as I’m about to finish dmbj 2 next time I pick it up).

Some other things:

@a-whump-muffin u inspired me and sometime soon I will be trying to play KH in japanese again, and looking at ur super amazing grammar guide u made ToT (I might try nier automata if its bearable just because I’m playing all the drakengard/nier games right now but... the language is a lot more sci fi so i’m not sure that’d go well... also i want to check if my final fantasy type-0 has japanese language settings...). But like... I am definitely up for looking at a grammar guide, and looking up words on my phone as I play. Now that’s a study method i could DO maybe ToT and also like!!! ultimately i want to do it anyway!!! i just figured it would be drowning and chickened out! but like. to study doing what u wanted to do anyway in the language??!!! wowwww ;-; i mean that’s basically why i’m reading chinese but u get the idea

Other japanese updates: I’m still listening to quickleur I just haven’t done any listening lately (u can tell by the L-R status above lol). It did help a lot though even the bits I listened to, as far as refreshing my mind on particles and verb endings. And the explanation on sentence structures u gave @a-whump-muffin !! (who is god tier if ur studying japanese they are <3 <3 )

Part of the ‘personal books read’ goal - I’m counting any textbooks I read in that category, in the hopes if I frame it in my head as reading for personal interest instead of studying, I will do it. Ideally I would LIKE to read my DeFrancis Chinese books, Chinese Nature Method grammar book, Chinese Sentence Patterns book, 2 books I just ordered, my japanese reading books (the 1st one a good refresher the 2nd one literally could be... my textbook for years its got so much). Those chinese books in part because WOW I am so used to so much grammar in context when reading, but when I go to produce language I’m a hot MESS. And I think just like... I really should read those books and fill in the gaps in my understanding and like solidify the correct understanding of what I can comprehend. Sometime.... I ALSO should read my Alan Hoenig chinese characters book. But will I???? AHA. I forgot to mention in my last reading post - but brute forcing learning the hanzi has been going fine actually. I was concerned just looking up hanzi when reading, that I would struggle to learn the new ones. But I can confirm that reading has gotten easier, and I’ve picked up a LOT of hanzi I was previously brute force looking up repeatedly while reading. So like... as long as this keeps working, I’ll keep doing it. I’m very lazy and the path with least resistance and mental exhaustion is what I’ll keep doing, if it works, even if it might be slower. (Although I do think the hanzi books I have are very useful and have helped me speed up progress when I used them).

I learned how to make gifs this month and I’m overwhelmed with all the stuff I could try to do? Idk its very cool i’m very excited about it.

Goals for March:

Basically, we’re sticking to the quite steady study plan I’ve had the past few months, which has boiled down to: read chinese, L-R, listen/watch if desired, do something listening related in japanese if desired. It’s not well rounded or anything but I’m making steady progress and its easy to keep doing.

Anything in bold is what I’m doing right now/likely to do (although we know how often I just derail).

Read chinese novels. (This can include Guardian. Currently includes: hanshe, guardian. On hiatus: Tian Ya Ke).

Listen-Read Guardian. (Reading guardian in Any way is the priority so if this happens yay, but if it doesn’t I’ll be happy if I’m still working through guardian and just postponing the listening part).

Optional. Play video game in japanese, use a dictionary and grammar guide when confused af. This one’s imminently likely just because the instant I get Nier remastered I’m playing it, and also playing Nier Automata etc games, so like... the opportunity and desire to play the japanese versions of games I want to do that with WILL hit me.

Optional. Watch chinese shows. This one’s also likely because a priest novel drama adaptation just dropped (Word of Honor, shan he ling, tian ya ke/Faraway Wanderer’s adaptation) and I don’t want to wait for the english subs.

Optional - unlikely (I’m not in the mood to listen to stuff lol). Audios. Keep listening to Japanese Quicksleur when there’s down time (like playing games), and Chinese Spoonfed audio if I feel like it.

Personal. Keep reading while I’ve got the motivation to. I am really enjoying getting through all these books I’ve wanted to read for so long.

BELOW I will eventually link a list of story recs (also see tag rec list for more):

Poyun 破云 (recced)

Poyun 破云 2

一级律师 by 木苏里 (recced)

盗墓笔记 series

默读 by priest

他们的故事 by 一根黄瓜丝儿

寒舍 by 夏灬安兰 pingxie supernatural au

818 (pingxie)

鎮魂 by priest (chapter 4)

天涯客 by priest

Qi Ye 七爷 by priest

六爻 by priest

FGEP

犹记斐然 foxghost rec

一受封疆 foxghost rec

女主大人我错 gl

将军府小妾生存报告 gl

夜半衣寒 by 夏灬安兰 pingxie (can u tell i like this author)

(瓶邪同人)所谓一切发生在网配+番外 (writer and radio voicer pingxie au)

死亡万花筒 kaleidoscope of death

将军府小妾生存报告

女主大人，我错了

魔女霓裳

公主饶命 GL

民政局领到了媳妇

In progressing difficulty, books I want to read and should be ready to read now, a la foxghost’s recommendations:

那些風花雪月 by Gong Zi Huan Xi (took 14 months of study before I tried to read this, did try, did not click with me lol)

不正當關係 by Gong Zi Huan Xi (foxghost said this was the same difficulty as the story above, so I’m probably ready for this one too).

*SCI 谜案集 by ErYa (I’ve heard this somewhat easy to read, is a good story, and since its case-centered I think it would be a good intro to later reading books like Silent Reading by Priest)

龍圖案卷集 by ErYa (There is an audiobook on Ximalaya!)

黑風城戰記 by ErYa (sequel to novel above)

Then the recommendation says you should probably watch a lot of shows for some vocab (I sort of do so I’ll see how that helps me out), and you can start tackling xianxia, like Priest’s “六爻, and then 鎮魂, then 殺破狼, and pretty much any other of GZHX’s works.” I would guess this point is when Tian Ya Ke would be more my reading level, when 六爻 is, at the beginning. I would guess after 鎮魂 is when I could try to tackle Can Ci Pin. Sha Po Lang is steampunk and fantasy, so I would guess it has some of the sci fi type words - so if I’d be ready for that, I might be ready for Can Ci Pin at the same time.

#march goals #march study plan #february goals #study plan #february progress #rec list #march

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chickensarentcheap · 4 years

Text

I Found (chapter 8)

Warnings: none really. Some bad language. Maybe a bit of angst. I needed an Esme chapter for character building purposes before I get into the past chapters.

Tagging: @c-a-v-a-l-r-y @hemmyworthy @alievans007

Esme watches him; the way he stands thirty meters away with his arms crossed over his chest and a pair of Ray-bans covering his eyes. He stands out like a sore thumb. A peculiar site among a street crawling with folks in swimsuits and other summer gear. The sun beating down on that simple yet surprisingly stylish black suit, the heat and humidity causing beads of sweat to gather on his forehead, at his temples, and on his top lip. She both envies and feels sorry for him. Envies the fact he hasn't yet seen the real heartache and the real darkness that comes with the job. He hasn't had the demons and ghosts settle in yet.

And that's what makes her sad. Because it is inevitable. Somewhere down the road his eagerness to live up to a legend will lead him in the right direction but into the entirely wrong place. And he won't be the same kid that he is right now. Anxious. Scared to make a mistake. Wanting to impress. Dreaming of the missions of guts and glory and seemingly endless brutality. Right now he finds it glamorous. They all did at one point. But one day he'll wake up and realize just how fucked up it all was. He'll look back on the places he'd been and the things he'd done and he'll wonder why the hell he'd ever been so eager to get into the trenches in the first place.

She'd been there. She WAS there. And it eats at you. It chews you up and it spits you out. And the memories come back so fast and so hard that there's times you pray...beg...that the ground will open up beneath you and swallow you whole.

“You can sit down you know,” she calls to him. She admires the determination. She's sure there's a little bit of fear he'll fuck up and get his ass handed to him because of it. But he's steadfast. A rock. Even if he does look like a secret service agent. “I don't mind. I could use the company.”

He regards her through the dark lenses of his sunglasses. She imagines he looks like a deer caught in the headlights right about now.

“I don't bite,” she assures him. Although her husband would beg to differ. He'd been at the receiving end of more than a few during their often rough and uninhibited love making sessions. Teeth marks like war wounds on his shoulders, neck, even the insides of his thighs.

He takes a step towards her. Then hesitates.

“Are you being serious right now? Look, you're making me extremely nervous right now and people are getting suspicious. If you're going to be watching someone...if you're going to be someone's detail...you have to less conspicuous about it. If there was a bad guy around, they would have made you about ten minutes ago. Sit down. It's hot out. Get into the shade.”

He finally relents. Crossing the promenade in two long strides, unbuttoning his suit jacket before sitting down across from her. A waitress scurrying over to take his order.

“We come here a lot,” Esme says. “It's one of our favourites. The coffee is strong and the food is good and the people watching is A plus. You'd be surprised the weird and funny shit you see when you actually sit back and pay attention. Sometimes I even come here by myself. When Tyler has his own shit to do or he's at the doctor's or at the shrink. He won't let me go with him to those things. He says it makes him nervous. That he's too busy worrying about what he might say and that means he won't actually say it. So the baby and I will come here. Just hang out. Forget about everything else in our lives for a while.”

“Shrink? What...?”

“You talk about wanting to fill those shoes. Believe me, those are shoes that are probably best left empty. Don't go down that road kid. I know you admire him. I know you've heard the stories. You've seen the numbers. And it's impressive and it's bad ass and it's something you want to emulate. I get it. I do. He's my husband and I admire him. But this isn't the life you want. This is not how you want to end up. Because it fucks you up and it haunts you. For the rest of your life. And if you're not strong enough, it will eat you alive. It takes no prisoners. Unless you're prepared for all of that, don't go following down anyone else's path.”

He nods slowly, considering her words. Then smiles at the waitress when she returns with his coffee.

“But that's just words from someone who has been in the game. Who is living with the after effects. So I won't be offended if you tell me to gofuck myself.”

His eyes widen. “I'd never say something like that to you, Mrs Rake.”

She laughs at that. It makes her feel so old; Mrs Rake. It's so mature and so formal and it seems as if it should belong to someone twice her age. But it's who she is now. It is part of her identity. Someone's wife, someone's mother. And they were the two greatest roles she'd ever been fortunate enough to play in her entire life.

“What's your name?” she asks.

“Jason, ma'am. Jason Andrews.”

“Well Jason Andrews, it's nice to meet you. I'm sorry it wasn't under better circumstances. I was a bit more likeable a year ago.”

“I think you're likeable enough just fine, ma'am.”

She laughs, pushing her sunglasses up onto the top of her head. “Ma'am? Just how old do you think I am?”

“My mother always told me to never ask a woman her age or never even gather a guess. I'll have to plead the fifth.”

“You're from the south, aren't you.”

“Yes, ma'am. Just a tad east of North Orleans.”

“I haven't been there in years. University was a wild time. Trips down to Mardis Gras. Back when I had less gray hair and people still called me Miss instead of M''am. It's Esme, by the way. But I'm sure you already knew that.”

He nods in confirmation.

“You can call me by name, you know. It doesn't have to be so formal. This is some unprecedented shit you've gotten yourself mixed up in. I'm pretty sure that means we can move on to first names.”

“Nik has told me a lot about you,” he informs her. “A lot about the both of you. You're from Colorado?”

“Snowmass. About fifteen miles from Aspen. Just a little place. All of twenty five hundred people. Or at least that's what it was when I left. There's probably more now.”

“You haven't been home in a while?”

“I had a place there. A house. A quaint little thing with a porch swing and a fire pit in the backyard. My brother lives there now. With his wife and his kids. He took it over once I decided I wasn't going back. But I haven't been home, home, in just shy of six years. You know, family dinners on a late Sunday afternoon, coffee on my folks' porch, watching my nieces and nephews playing. Life just got away from me. The job just took hold. IT became who I was as opposed to something I did. Life got away from me.”

“Excuse me for saying this, but that's kind of....sad.”

“It is what it is,” she reasons. “Those are the choices I made. I knew there was no going back...truly going back...when I made them. And then I took the job with Nik and I ended up in Dhaka and now...well here I am.”

“Here you are,” he echoes, a sense of sadness creeping into his voice. “You were military?”

“Once. The Marines”

“My older brother is a jar head. A gunnery sergeant. Forgive me for saying this and I mean no disrespect, but you don't seem the type. You don't really fit the picture of what people have when they think of the Marines. And you definitely don't seem to be the type to be involved in the job.”

“I guess that was my greatest weapon of all. People looked at me and would never think...in a million years....that I was capable of doing the things I've done. It's not one size, fits all. There's a lot of us that don't look the part. Sometimes that's good when it comes to the job. You blend in. People aren't suspicious of you. Half the time they don't give you a second glance. It worked in Dhaka. I gained peoples' trust. I got them to open up. It worked until it didn't work. And once that happened...” she sighs. “...well let's just say that it went way worse than anyone expected.”

“I've heard the stories. People like to talk. I'm not sure how many of the things I've heard are actually true.”

“When it went bad, it went extremely bad. It happened so quick. We didn't even have time to catch our breath. One minute we're making friends with the locals and the next we're running for our lives. No one expected it to go as horrible as it did. I mean, you go into things expecting and fearing the worst. But that...” she runs the palms of her hands along the sides of her glass of iced tea. “...that was way worse than anything I ever imagined.”

“And now you're going back.”

“And now I'm going back,” she concedes, and then clears her throat noisily. “Trust me when I say that it isn't a place I thought I'd ever return to. I thought that was behind me. I needed it to be behind me. But want and need are two entities of their own. What my heart wanted and what my brain allowed are two entirely different things. I realize that while I physically put it behind me, mentally I've been hanging onto it. Mentally I never left. If that makes sense.”

“Yes, m'am...Esme...it makes perfect sense.”

She noisily clears her throat, slides the sunglasses back down onto her face. “You have family? Other than an older brother?”

“A younger sister. She's still in high school. She wants to be a nurse.”

“Your folks?”

“Still alive. They've been together since high school. You?”

“My father died when I was a teenager. My mom is still kicking. She remarried a about ten years ago. My step dad's a good guy. Ex Army. He still has the hair cut, the swagger, the stories. We call him The Sarge,” she smiles at that. Fond memories of a man that had come into her life and filled a role that had been missing since those difficult teenage years. “He treats her well. They're happy. They're the disgustingly content retired couple that owns two Harleys, a motor home, and like to visit Graceland. The type that has 'my grand kids are better than yours' bumper stickers. It's been a while since I've seen them...”

Her voice drifts off, recalling all the earlier times. The easier times. When all that mattered was bush parties and hanging out with friends and the fights and good natured ribbing that occurred between siblings.

“...one day I'd like to go back,” she continues “I'd like to see them again. I'd like to sit across the table from Sarge and have him light into me about my tattoos and my piercings. I'd like to sit with my mom on the front porch; sipping sweet tea and eating her homemade peach pie. I'd like to see my little sister graduate from high school. Be the one that takes her to college and helps her move into residence. And I'd especially like to see my brothers and their families again. Hug and kiss my nieces and nephews. Meet the ones I haven't got a chance to.”

“You have a lot?”

“Fourteen,” she confirms. “My brothers wasted no time. They're baby making factories.”

“What about your baby?”

“They haven't met her. At least not in person. I send pictures. We do face time chats. That type of thing. I didn't even tell them I was having a baby until she was almost here.”

“Why not?”

“Things weren't easily explained. Things were messy. Complicated. They were still reeling over the fact that I had run off and gotten married without telling any of them. I'm the first daughter. My mom was super pissed that she didn't get that whole mother of the bride experience. She felt robbed. And I can understand that. It's not an easy pill to swallow. Your first girl running off and meeting some random guy and deciding to settle down in Australia and never coming home. It's a lot for them to digest. And they don't even know the whole truth of it.”

“Why not?”

“Do your parents know about the job? Do they really know about it?”

“Just that I do security detail for a private company.”

“My parents thought I went into business when I left the corps. Because that's what I told them. I told them I was making a career change. One that would have me travelling a lot. It was a half truth, I guess. But they couldn't handle all of it. How do you tell your folks something like that? That your new skill set includes rescuing some and killing others? You don't. You don't tell them that. You make up some shit that will be easier on them. They think I came here on a business trip, met some guy and never came back. That's pretty much it. They know his name, what he looks like, his age. But they think he's in law enforcement. They think he was in an accident and I stayed here to help him through it and this is where I made my life. It seemed so much easier when I first told them all that. Now I realize just how fucked up it actually is. Not that I lied to them. We all lie. Some more than others. But why I had to lie. Why I had to cover it up. It's screwed up. I'm screwed up. This whole thing is screwed up. And you know what the worst part is? There's no easy way out of this. No matter what I tell them or how I tell them, it will be messy. They're going to hear things they don't like. And I'm worried they're going to hate me.”

“Parents could never hate their kids. It isn't in their nature. Could you ever hate your daughter?”

“No. I can't imagine I ever could.”

“Your folks could never hate you. They'd probably be surprised at the truth.”

“Probably? They would be. The truth is stranger than fiction. At least in this situation.”

“But hate you? No. I don't think that could ever happen.”

She stares down at the amber coloured liquid in her glass, tracing a finger tip on the side, making patterns in the condensation.

She hopes he is right.

#I Found #tyler rake #extraction #tyler rake fan fic #tyler rake fan fiction

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365daysofsasuhina · 4 years

Text

[ 365 Days of SasuHina || Day Three Hundred Thirty-Three: The Phone is Ringing ] [ Uchiha Sasuke, Hyūga Hinata, Hyūga Hiashi, Haruno Sakura, Hyūga Hanabi, Hyūga Neji ] [ SasuHina ] [ Verse: Best Years of Your Life ] [ AO3 Link ]

It takes exactly eight rings before the answering machine picks up.

When it does, a honey-sweet voice speaks.

“Hello! You’ve reached Hinata Hyūga. I can’t make it to the phone right now, but leave your name and your number, and I’ll c-call you back as soon as I can!”

She��s always hated how she stutters in it. After a dozen tries and every single one having at least one hiccup, she just gave up and took the last one. In part, she wonders if it’s played any roles in certain calls simply hanging up rather than leaving a message.

The machine is on a little table in the entryway of her apartment, the volume soft as not to be too terribly overheard by anyone walking by. Beside it is a little bowl where she typically keeps her keys, and a hook for her coat and purse. Today, all three are missing.

When the phone rings, it proceeds all the way to voicemail.

“Hinata, this is your father. This is the fourth time I’ve tried calling you the past two days, and you’ve still returned none of my messages. This is hardly becoming behavior, young lady. Something we’ll have to discuss once you finally get back to me. Your sister tells me you’ve been ignoring her texts. You can’t avoid us, Hinata. We’re family, no matter how disdainful you might find that to be.”

There’s the subtle sound of a landline being set back in its cradle, and then the apartment goes quiet again. A bright red 5 blinks along the screen, eager for attention.

No one gives it.

A few hours later, rain begins to pour. Carried by the wind, it impacts rather noisily against the windows that face the north, droplets exploding and slithering down the glass. The view from the fifth story blurs. Downtown is drenched in grey as the storm settles over, headlights a soft yellow as they struggle to cut through the gloom. Neon signs of downtown flicker and warp in the view through the water.

Just as the sun starts to go down, the phone begins to ring again. After eight tones with no answer, the machine picks up.

“Hey Hina! It’s Sakura. Just thought I’d check in on you - it’s been a while! Haven’t heard from you in a hot minute, and uh...figured I’d see if maybe you’d be down to hang for a while! I’m back in town next week for a conference, and I’d love to see you. I know you’re pretty busy, but hey, if you’ve got a spare hour or two while I’m around, let me know! Bye.”

There’s a few muffled background noises before the message cuts off completely. The 5 changes to a 6.

Night falls, and still the table remains empty save for the machine. Light creeps in around the main door, and a light on a timer in the kitchen flares to life. Otherwise, the apartment remains dark, and just as silent.

And so it goes until morning.

At seven am sharp, the phone is ringing once again. Once, twice, all the way to eight times.

“Hello Miss Hyūga. This is your supervisor Kurenai Yūhi. It was brought to my attention that you failed to appear at work yesterday with no prior notice. I know that you mentioned, in passing, that you had some...personal issues going on. But work policy mandates that, outside of an emergency, you give at least eight hours notice before a missed shift. If this happens again, I’ll have no choice but to write you up and place you on temporary suspension. You’ve been an exemplary employee during your three years with us, but I can’t make exceptions. Please contact me at your earliest convenience.”

The line goes quiet.

The table is empty.

The 6 becomes a 7.

Midafternoon, the ringing tone of the phone shrilly sounds five times...and then silence. On the phone’s caller ID, an obvious spam number displays. It leaves no message.

It’s nearly five o’clock when it rings again. And again. And again, until her pre-recorded message greets the silent apartment.

“...hey, ‘nata. It’s me, Hanabi. Look, uh...I’m seriously starting to get a little freaked out? You’ve never ignored me this long. Not even when I broke that old rabbit figurine Mom gave you. Please, just...let me know you’re okay? I dunno what I did to make you mad, or...maybe it’s not me you’re mad at. But I’m your sister. We might not always get along, but like...we’re sisters. Talk to me, ‘nata. If Dad’s being an asshole, just ignore him. But please...don’t shut me out. Okay? Love you…”

There’s a small, audible sigh...and then silence. The 7 blinks, and is reborn as an 8.

The rest of the evening passes quietly. The only interruption is a rowdy group of young men stumbling drunkenly past the door, the sober among them shushing for silence only to be ignored. They enter the apartment next door, where music begins to play and raucous laughter easily bleeds through the thin walls. But despite all of the rowdiness that carries well into the night, there’s no one home to complain.

The next morning, it’s foggy with a light misting of rain. Kurenai calls again and informs Hinata that her formal suspension is now in place. Should she miss one more day of work, she’ll be forced to terminate her employment.

The 8 becomes a 9.

A random number calls around ten, proclaiming that a recent fraud case in her town may have affected her identity, and to immediately call this number to confirm. Yet another clear case of spam.

9 makes way for the double digits of 10.

And then, in the early afternoon, another call.

“Hinata. This is your cousin Neji. Your father is furious that you have yet to return his calls, and is in the process of filing a missing person’s report. I implore you - if you are simply being obstinate - to drop this charade immediately before the police are forced to intervene. You know we can’t have a scandal like this in the family over a petty disagreement. Whatever Hiashi has done...surely it isn’t worth things becoming this complicated. Whatever has happened, you know I’m here for you. But this has carried on long enough. I only hope that...drama is all this is, and you aren’t in any trouble, cousin. Please call me as soon as you hear this message.”

...10 becomes 11.

The day continues to wane. The rain continues to fall. The machine continues to flash, seemingly desperate to be seen as the bright red numerical digits only get brighter as the ambient light fades.

...and then the door opens.

Heavy-footed, a figure steps in, exhaustion clear in their posture, but otherwise seemingly fine. A bag is tossed under the table, keys barely flung into the bowl. Coat still worn, she pauses as she spies the machine.

“...oh, s-shoot…”

A dainty finger presses the play button. The first message is a telemarketer, which she promptly deletes. The next four are from her father, and Hinata’s lips press into a thin, irritated line. Each message becomes more and more agitated, and a small part of her can’t help but feel satisfaction.

After all, he brought this all on himself.

Her gut twinges in guilt at Sakura’s message - she’ll have to call her back later. Kurenai’s earn a grimace. She has her mobile number...why didn’t she try there? Hanabi also makes her shoulders wilt guiltily. As soon as she’s done, she’ll shoot her a text. She just...hasn’t been in the headspace.

Neji’s, however, makes her swear. Sure, it probably looked bad, but...really? Really? What an idiot her father is...she’ll call Neji and let him know Hiashi can call off the stupid missing person’s case. And let him know that any drama isn’t her fault. That lies solely on her father’s stubborn shoulders!

But before she gets to any of that, she takes out her cell and scrolls through her contacts, finding the appropriate name before calling. It rings once, twice, three times.

“Hello?”

“Hey...I’m home.”

“Oh, good. Glad you made it okay. So, uh…?”

“I’ll talk to my landlord tomorrow. It’s g-going to take some doing. I don’t have much, but some should probably go into storage…”

“That’s fine. I think there’s units near my place, so we can just put what you don’t want in there.”

“All right. Um...I think I might have gotten fired…”

“Oh shit, really?”

“I’ll call Kurenai here in a minute, but...for some reason she never bothered with my mobile. And I was just so out of it…”

“Well, hopefully she’ll understand. Anyone else?”

“Family, mostly...my father being r-ridiculous. Hanabi was worried, and Neji. But I’ll talk to them, too. They aren’t going to be happy…”

“Sometimes you have to think about your own happiness, Hinata. This is what you want, right…?”

“It is.”

“...I don’t want you to feel pressured.”

“I don’t. I told you they’d react like this. I knew they would...it’s my fault for being so quiet about it, but...I just didn’t want to deal with it after telling him. I needed a few days. Seems even that was enough for them to go ballistic…”

“All the more reason to stick to your decision.”

“I know...thank you, Sasuke.”

“We’ll make this work, with or without them. I love you.”

“...I love you too. I better go, though...I’ve got a l-lot of phone calls to make before I can call it a night.”

“All right. You need anything, just let me know. We’ll get you moved in and settled down. And if the job thing fell through, we’ll find you something new. Maybe even something closer.”

“Yeah...I just really like this job...I feel d-dumb for not calling in, I just…”

“Well, talk to Kurenai. Maybe she can pull some strings for you.”

“Maybe…”

“Hey, it’s gonna be fine. I’ll talk to you in the morning, okay? Get things straightened out, and call me when you’re done. We can plan from there.”

“I will. Goodnight.”

“Night.”

Hearing the line go quiet, Hinata ends the call and sighs. Just the first of many...it’s going to be a long night. Glancing to the 0 on her message machine, she makes her way in to her sitting room and dials the next number.

Here we go...

.oOo.

This is really random, and uh...I really dunno what it is xD The suspense concept kinda just hit me, and I rolled with it as best I could given how day tired and burnt out I am, lol But in case it isn't clear: Hinata told her father she's planning on moving in with Sasuke because they're dating. Mister Uptight Jerkface decided to throw a huge tantrum because traditionalism and being a controlling father. Hinata thus just...disappeared for a few days at Sasuke's place, hence missing all the calls (and ignoring texts because she just...did NOT want to deal with that). I dunno if I really managed to make it as suspenseful as I wanted, with the question of whether or not something had REALLY happened to her. But I tried - I don't write this sort of thing very often xD Buuut anyway, it's late, and I have yet another looong day ahead of me tomorrow. So just a warning: I might not post tomorrow. I know I'm abysmally behind, but this whole situation is VERY draining, and I'd rather be late than post garbo for these entries. That said, I'll do my best. But no promises. For now though, I need to get some sleep! Thank you for reading~

#sasuhina #uchiha sasuke #hyūga hinata #hyūga hiashi #haruno sakura #hyūga hanabi #hyūga neji #best years of your life [ au ]#365daysofsasuhina

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makeste · 5 years

Text

BnHA Bonus Rant #2: Dad for One

This is another ETA that got out of control from one of my chapter recaps (chapter 94)! This one is about All for One and whether or not he might be Deku’s dad. You know. The way villains sometimes are.

Anyway, I’ve been wanting to talk about this for a while, and I finally had a decent excuse. So here is my post about a theory you’ve probably already seen before! I can’t promise you it will contain any new thoughts that you haven’t already seen before either. I feel like I’m still way behind the times and out of the loop in this fandom, even though in the grand scheme of things the fandom isn’t really that old. But anyway.

So I’m putting the rest of this under a cut, and just FYI, this post is spoiler-free as long as you are caught up with the anime. For you manga readers, if there have been any further developments related to this, I ask that you please nod knowingly to yourselves and don’t say anything and just wait for me to finish catching up (I’m on chapter 145 now) so I can kick myself for jumping the gun and making this post too soon.

Okay, so to reiterate again, I know I’m by no means the only one to have theorized this (although I did think it up with my own brain. We were just late to the party). But that won’t stop me from posting a long list of my reasons as if I was! So here goes.

First off: All for One is Darth Vader. We all know Horikoshi is a big Star Wars fan who’s sprinkled multiple nods to the films throughout the series, and that there are numerous parallels among the characters. All Might is Obi-Wan; Gran Torino is Yoda; Izuku is Luke. And All for One is Vader. He was wounded and heavily scarred in a terrible duel with All Might years ago, and now has to wear a mask for life support. Later on, he symbolically “kills” All Might as Deku watches helplessly, leaving him to pick up the mantle. Hell, he even dramatically reveals the true parentage of a major character at a critical moment. The dude knows the power of the dark side of the Force, basically.

So now, as we also know, the most iconic moment in the original Star Wars trilogy is when Vader reveals to Luke that he is his father. It was a mind-blowing twist at the time, and set up the final confrontation between the two of them in Return of the Jedi. It’s since been replicated so often that it’s become one of the biggest clichés of all time. But I feel like that’s led to a drop-off in the use of this trope, since people have started trying to avoid it. And maybe, just maybe, we’ve gone long enough between major instances of it now for it to finally be fresh again. Or it could just be that I really, really want it to happen.

Second point: We know nothing about Deku’s father, Midoriya Hisashi, except that he’s “working overseas” and he has a fire-breathing quirk. As far as I’m concerned, “he’s overseas” could easily be code for “he ran out on us before Izuku was even born, and I don’t like to talk about it.” We’ve never once seen him even in flashbacks, not even when Izuku was very young.

And All for One could easily have a fire-breathing quirk. He has a zillion quirks. He could have just picked one out of a hat when he met Inko and been all “yeah this is my quirk.” Just saying.

Point the third: We've never gotten a clear look at what AFO’s face looked like before All Might fucked it up. There might be some resemblance to Izuku there, or there might not be. But more importantly, Izuku resembles his mother very strongly, so we already know that he got most of his looks from her. So appearance-wise, it almost doesn’t matter what AFO actually looks like.

Fourth of all: I’m pretty sure All for One lied to All Might about why he started looking for a successor. He said it was because of what All Might did to him. That it wrecked his quality of life and made him realize his own mortality. But the thing is, the timing of it doesn’t add up. All Might wounded him six years ago. Tomura’s age is unknown (as far as I know?), but at minimum he has to be at least as old as Deku, and I’m pretty sure he’s older. Like late teens to early twenties. And in the flashback where he first meets All for One, he is very young. No older than six or seven, and probably younger than that. So what I’m trying to say is, the timeline doesn’t add up if All for One only started thinking about a successor six years ago. More likely it’s been ten years at least, and possibly even longer than that.

And if he was toying around with the idea of finding a successor earlier on, he surely would have considered doing it the old-fashioned way. So maybe he hits up a few women, does the deed, and bails afterwards, but keeps tabs on the resulting children to see if any of them show signs of having inherited his quirk. But they don’t. And so his search continues. And since he continues to support the children and their mothers financially from “overseas”, few questions are ever asked.

Last but not least: Okay, so now we get to the interesting part. Because as we know, Izuku was born quirkless. Doc said he has that extra pinky toe joint or whatnot, so he’s shit out of luck. Right? Right. But here’s the thing.

Okay so I know this is a bit of a reach. But I find it interesting that before pronouncing Izuku quirkless, the doctor confirms that Inko is fourth generation. This makes me wonder if the thing with the toes is something that developed side-by-side along with quirks. Like, let’s go back in time a couple hundred years. Quirks have just appeared on the scene. In other words, a few humans have evolved a genetic mutation that gives them superpowers. At the same time, there is another, separate mutation on the rise which involves ditching that extra toe joint. Neither of these mutations is very common yet, but they’re both genetically dominant. So now, fast-forward about ten generations, and quirks have become much more prevalent. We’ve gone from a few people having them to approximately 80% of the population running around with powers. At the same time, the pinky toe mutation has also become widespread, to the point where it now completely overlaps with the population of people who have quirks.

Someone who has better knowledge of genetics and evolutionary patterns can possibly confirm whether this makes any sense and is actually possible, or whether I’m just talking out of my ass. But basically, what I’m trying to say is that fifth generation Midoriya Izuku, born 200 years after quirks first appeared on the scene, would be expected to lack the extra toe joint, and if he does still have it, that indicates that he doesn’t have a quirk. But supposing that Izuku is not, in fact, fifth generation, but actually second generation, the son of one of the first humans to ever develop abilities, it would in theory be possible for him to lack that joint mutation, but still have a quirk.

Namely, All for One’s quirk. Which could explain why he was thought to be quirkless. Because Inko and the doctors are looking for young Izuku to either be breathing fire or moving small objects or some hybrid of both. They’re not looking for him to suddenly start stealing other people’s quirks. The only one who could possibly be expecting that is All for One himself.

Now let’s suppose that Izuku is a slightly late bloomer who doesn’t actually develop his quirk until after the medical experts have already deemed him quirkless. And All for One takes the doctors at their word, because he has no reason not to. Now we have a child who by all outward appearances seems to be quirkless, but may in fact not be.

Because we don’t really know how All for One works. It might be something that’s difficult to activate unless you actually know what you’re doing and are intent on doing it. All for One’s own brother was thought to be quirkless for a very long time because his quirk was very subtle and he didn’t realize it was there. All for One himself has a very different temperament from Izuku (read: he’s evil, and Izuku is not). He may have been the type of dude who met another person with a quirk one day and thought “FUCK YOU, I WANT THAT QUIRK” and instinctively activated AFO and stole that shit. Whereas Izuku, desperate though he was to get a quirk when he was younger, isn’t the type of person to ever just go, “I wish I could just take this person’s quirk! By force!!” And maybe that made a difference. Like I said, this part of it is a stretch, and I fully acknowledge that.

But there’s a part of me that just really likes the idea of Izuku realizing in a terrible moment that he’s the son of his own worst enemy. And of All for One (who probably didn’t realize at first, but delights in the perfect irony of it all once he does figure it out) finally getting his revenge when All Might learns that the boy he thinks of as his own son is actually All for One’s son. And Izuku learning that he did have a quirk of his own all along, but that it’s a terrible quirk that only inflicts suffering on others.

Except that there is a way for him to use this quirk for good, though. And that’s by taking the quirks back from All for One and restoring them to their original owners, if it’s still possible. Like Ragdoll. God. Imagine if Izuku could get her quirk back. Him being traumatized by this ability at first, this terrible power that links him against his will to this figure of pure evil. But then pulling himself together, and turning things around, and using it to do what he does best. Using it to save people.

Anyway. So those are my thoughts on the “dad for one” theory as I believe it’s known. As it stands now in the manga, I’d say there’s maybe like a 30% chance of this happening? AFO being the dad, that is. Izuku inheriting his quirk is maybe a 10% chance. And yes, I am just saying numbers at random and there’s no actual mathematical basis. But that won’t stop me from ramping these figures up if and when we ever get more backstory on Izuku, and/or more AFO stuff.

Please oh please manga, give me more backstory on Izuku and more AFO stuff.

#bnha #boku no hero academia #makeste reads bnha #midoriya izuku #all for one #midoriya hisashi #dad for one #bnha meta #essay #theory post #bnha theory

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leta-the-strange · 5 years

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Spoiler-free COG feelings/essay/thoughts before I see the movie. Spoiler-free because the movie isn’t out here til the end of the week but obviously, I’ve picked up info from trailers and interviews and things like that so sort of common knowledge stuff but I guess if you’ve avoided all the promos for the year I wouldn’t want to ruin it for you now so don’t read until after you’ve seen it if that’s the case (again, I only know basic info).

I have a lot of feelings that I’ve been sitting on for a while because frankly, large parts of the Fantastic Beasts and Harry Potter fandom terrify me. It’s why in my nineteen years (okay, thirteen years – I had to learn how to read) I’ve distanced myself from engaging in the fandom too much and when I do, I try and stick to as safe, neutral content as possible.

But I’m going to write a little bit a lot (my anxiety’s poppin off the charts right now) not to antagonise anyone or personally offend people just to get this pent up crap off my chest before I see the movie.

I have Māori and Pākehā parentage. Although I am proud to be a Māori girl and I’m definitely not white-passing, I do acknowledge that out of my family, I was born with the lightest skin and being a lighter-skinned/mixed poc among my family and friends has made me recognise my privilege. That isn’t to say I haven’t experienced lifelong struggles with racism, bullying and discrimination but I will never experience the same micro-aggressions and experiences that they have. Although, I do have light-skinned privileges and I don’t ever want to take away the struggles of my family that I won’t experience on the same level, growing up looking a little different opened me up a lot of feelings of invalidation within my own culture. When I experienced racism as a child, I was also met with disdain for being upset about it when I wanted to talk about it. This was when I was a child and I didn’t understand lighter skinned privilege or the animosity from some of my own people. I am far more educated now, but during that confusing time I, like most children, turned to literature (which in turn is what helped me make sense of the world).

I’ve gotten a little off track – this isn’t overly important to what I’m writing about, but it is introducing my opinion as coming from a woman of colour who has experienced racism and horrible bullying, but I always feel the need to clarify my position as a lighter skinned poc before giving my opinion based on those experiences.

Obviously from my content, I love Leta Lestrange. Perhaps it started out as a matter of representation, but I feel like over the past year, I have become intrigued with her for a number of reasons. She’s striking me as a Sirius, Regulus and Andromeda Black type character. Different to her family and caught in a struggle of light and dark (magic, not skin colour). Loves magical creatures. I haven’t seen it yet but it seems like she is one of the centre point characters of the film. She seems to be connected to many of the main characters in one way or another and has always striked me as the most intriguing.

I really do hope I am wrong but the ‘other’ love interest’s in the Harry Potter universe are usually treated terribly. They experience character assassination to further the development of the canon/new interest.

I really hope this film doesn’t do the whole blow out a woc character to make the white, self-insert, classically beautiful, ‘im not like other girls’ character shine brighter.

Before everyone comes for me, I wouldn’t say I’m a Tina ‘anti’ whatever that is. There’s no like extreme hatred at all! I would say I don’t like Tina as a character, or Queenie for that matter. Not yet anyway. The new trailer gives me hope that this movie might win me over finally. It doesn’t need to be upsetting or offensive to anyone. There are lots of people out there with favourite and not-so-favourite characters. A lot of people dislike Ron, Dumbledore, Snape, even Harry…and there are people who have those characters as their favourite.

There are a lot of reasons I don’t like Tina and Queenie. I may address them in a different post if being vague upsets people more than going in-depth but at this point, I am trying to stay as unconfrontational as possible but I have seen people get extremely furious when they don’t deem your reason for disliking them to be ‘good enough’ so if not saying exactly what I find uncomfortable about them is not as preferable as telling people then I can write it up as respectfully as possible if I’m treated the same way. All I’ll say is that I think Tina is a good person, but, in my opinion, not a great character. Queenie is the opposite. I would not like Queenie as a person but I have to admit, she’s a good character. But I’ll hold the rest of my opinions until after the second film.

Honestly, the film adaptions leave some of my favourite book characters to be desired. Maybe if FB was a novel, I’d like Tina but I really dislike her in the movies. I have seen people blow up when this is said. I try to understand the outrage. I think one of the reasons I dislike Tina is one of the reasons why people love her. She is, at this point and in my opinion (which is ONLY an opinion), a self-insert character. Any Newt x Reader fanfiction can easily read as a Newtina fanfiction and vice versa. I know. Because I’m a FB fanfiction writer myself and tried to write her. Sometimes when you attach yourself to a character so much, it can feel personally offensive when someone says something as harmless such as they don’t like then. I don’t experience this as often. Every Reader/OC fanfiction is, perhaps unintentionally, but nearly always aimed at a white person in description. In actuality, nearly every character in literature is, intentionally or not, described with textbook white features or assumed white by the fandom/readers/watchers.

I know people are going to hate this opinion because I’ve seen people jump down other people’s throats when this gets brought up. I do believe, whether it is conscious or not, Leta not being white COULD, subconsciously, be a factor as to why she is so inherently hated. I’ve seen more hate for Leta than any other character – even the antagonist! I hate what they did to Lavender Brown, book and movie wise, but even she, being as over exaggeratedly unlikable as a romantic plot device, received and still receives far less fandom hate than Cho Chang (who was also eventually written to be ‘jealous, hysterical, unlikeable’, etc, etc – I don’t agree btw I love, understand and appreciate Cho and Lavender) who was smart, talented, kind, traumatised, and until it was no longer convenient to the main characters romance for her to be ‘likeable’ anymore.

I wish I could enjoy going through the Leta tag but often, her and Newt can’t even be in a scene or photo together and people lose their minds with anger and hate. Literally, the comments on any scene/photo they are in are all along the lines of ‘stay away from newt!/poor tina/urgh, don’t flirt leta/leta WHAT ARE YOU DOING?’. Sorry, to break it to you guys but it isn’t a love triangle. It’s a love conga line. The only person getting in the way of ‘Newtina’ is Newt. Instagram is even worse. By worse, I mean horrible beyond belief. The better comments are the ones are the ones merely (though still grossly) comparing her to Tina and how much they dislike her, the other ones are wishes that she’ll get killed or join Grindelwald. It’s literally not even hidden the fact they wish either of these things happen so Newtina can happen faster. I’m not a Newtina shipper at all (Yet. Again, this might change if the films improve) but this would be one of the worst ways to further your ship. That is literally not going to change the fact that Newt’s still in love with her (you can have feelings for two people at the same time. The filmmakers confirmed - in fact, one of the first things about the new movie that they confirmed - that Newt is ‘absolutely still in love with her’), it just makes her conveniently unattainable. I do have a feeling that Leta might die and if it happens, it better not be because she’s unwillingly in the way of a ‘love triangle’ that people have forced these three characters into. If Newtina is going to happen in a way that isn’t awful, rushed and horrible, it will be slow-burn and it’s in own time AFTER Newt has healed and properly fixed things with Leta. You can’t be best friends and in love with someone for 15+ years and fall out of love with them immediately after they die, turn bad and settle for a woman you met for like two days and collectively spent maybe ten hours with. It might be a Ron/Hermione situation where it’s slow and eventual. That’s the only way I could possibly get on board and I think it could be done tastefully if they don’t resort to lazy writing. I do have my fingers crossed I’ll start to like the Goldsteins before this happens and I can enjoy it as much as everyone else does.

To be honest, after seeing the trailers, I see only two endings for Leta (and I hate them BOTH):

She joins Grindelwald: If this is the plot twist, it’s the shittiest plot twist ever. Pretty much 90% of the fans since seeing the first film have assumed/liked to believe she’s pure evil. Probably the characters themselves all assume she’s evil from her last name. I was worried the whole ‘haha, I was on Grindelwald’s side all along!’ situation was going to happen. We know JK hates Slytherins. My ‘Leta joins Grindelwald’ theory would be that she has always been on the good side – or trying to be – and after YEARS of oppression and discrimination and being distrusted by maybe the central characters in this film no matter how hard she tries AND maybe finally realising that Newt isn’t going to ever forgive her she just snaps and goes all ‘f*ck you guys then’ (I wouldn’t blame her tbh). HOWEVER, I doubt this. In a trailer, you literally see Leta THROW a fucking spell STANDING BY HERSELF (what u doin bby?) at Grindelwald. Trust me, if this was Tina it would have been all everyone was talking about but of course the fandom was all ‘yeah, see, she’s in the same frame as Grindelwald SHE’S EVIL’. One of the trailers is literally titled Leta vs. Grindelwald. Everything in the trailers/promos points to Queenie joining Grindelwald but *shrugs, I guess*.

Leta dies: I get this may seem the preferable way to appease the Leta haters and the Leta lovers especially if she dies after redeeming herself or heroically or whatever but urgh, no. I know everyone’s like ‘DoNt MAKe ThIS AbOUT RaCe’ when the woc character inevitably is killed but I’m sorry. To have been able to sit in a theatre as a little girl and see Leta Lestrange in the wizarding world would have blown my tiny mind. Honestly, as an older teen seeing Zoe Kravitz in that little photo frame in Newt’s case in the first film was iconic enough for me. After growing up being made to believe I was ‘unattractive’ because of how I looked, seeing total dreamboats like Callum Turner and Eddie Redmayne’s characters being all heart-eyes over Leta is, like...wow! And I do have an uncomfortable truth for people who want Leta to die. That would possibly be the WORST thing to happen for the Newtina thing (would pretty much be the last nail in the coffin for me ever coming around to it). I’ve seen it happen in my family when someone you love dies. Your feelings for them essentially FREEZE. You can’t fall out of love with someone who is dead. That’s of course not to say that you don’t love again and just as much as the first time. But it takes time (LOTS of it) and there’s a little part of your heart that’s like…permanently sealed off. I don’t even like Newtina yet and I’m hoping for the sake of the Newtina fans that Leta doesn’t die because freakin’ yikes. Just let them heal and connect and be besties again goddammit, its POSSIBLE (and bet your ass I’ll write it my god damn self to prove it if they don’t).

I know these are highly unpopular opinions and I HOPE that I am wrong, and they do her character justice and don’t discard her via death or the dark side.

In summary, I suppose my biggest struggle with Leta’s character is definitely the overwhelming fandom hate which I still can’t quite comprehend. I really want to believe it isn’t a race thing. Though, I have seen horrible posts about Leta, mean comments on nearly every Leta promo, Zoe Kravitz literally being called a c*nt in the comments of a Leta post on tumblr, a lot of fanfictions having her be primarily evil, selfish, manipulative, in some a rapist even, ugly, cruel, etc. But honestly, she’s literally not interfering in Newt having a relationship with anyone at all??? She’s literally been villainised because her friend can’t get over her (getting Snily nostalgia). But buggered if I’ve been able to find next to anything of that calibre about Jacob’s fiancée (literally a Queenie doppelganger) who left him, like, the day he met Queenie. I get that it was a deleted scene for those non-hardcore fans, but Leta-hate was literally kicked off by a picture in a photo frame and a comment made by a, in my opinion, kind of not-nearly-as-infallible-as-people-think character that barely knows Newt breaking into his head non-consensually (after being repeatedly told not to) who had an agenda to hook him up with her sister. Sooo…*shrugs*.

Even I personally have tried to keep out of the fandom debates, but I wrote a Leta and Newt story (still ongoing) that I stopped for a while because the kind of disgusting comments I was receiving about people hating the pairing. Which, I get. You don’t like a pairing, that’s cool? Why are you going and seeking out a piece about them and then taking the time to leave a comment? Whenever I start to read a story about Leta being this horrific monster of a person and being torn apart and compared and occasionally borderline racist, I just…click out? I know it’s only a small patch of weeds in what is likely a garden of roses, but I have never come across such an insecure fandom for a literal canon ship. If the relationship was that pure and strong, you wouldn’t feel the need to kill or villainise the (non-existent) ‘threat’. I just hope the writers feel the same way. You can write healthy closures and strong women of colour characters without casting them aside for plot development/man pain/stereotypical Caucasian romance/plot device, etc... I’m going to go into the theatre at the end of the week slightly optimistic to be fair but I’m also fully expecting to be disappointed but honestly, Leta could avada kedavra every character and she’s still going to be my favourite, I don’t make the rules.

#fantastic beasts and where to find them #fantastic beasts #fantastic beasts the crimes of grindelwald #leta lestrange #not going to put this in any other character tags bc my anxiety is poppin #ive also been avoiding the leta tags because im trying to keep focused on not spoiling anything but its hard as hell #pls dont spoil it for me in the comments if you decide to comment

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ruination-fangs · 6 years

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Jude Stage 3: A Forest, A Fence, and the Trespasser

* from Asteria’s fourth chapter, “Recollections of Eden”

[<- stage 2] [stage 4 ->]

fasten your seatbelts because this is a looong ride

Scene 1

On the road to Shongreiss, Jude remarks that the cats have been very well-behaved. They had been sleeping in Ludger's arms, but suddenly they wake up and begin to struggle, mewling. They jump free and run off into the forest.

Following them, Jude and Ludger find a whole colony of cats in the woods, and understand why their cats ran off. There are plenty of kittens among them, and they all seem relaxed. Jude and Ludger wonder if they live there, and then Jude suggests that maybe it would be better to leave the cats there than keep struggling to find them an owner. They might be happier living freely with their companions than on their own stealing food, or with a person. They look at how excited the cats seem to be and how easily they fit in, and Ludger agrees.

He decides to let the cats stay, saying he'll explain to the people who would have taken them. Jude starts to propose they come visit the cats sometime, but then they get distracted by the sight of a fence deeper in the woods.

It seems be one of the White Lions' "restricted zones." They were so absorbed in the cats that they didn't notice how close they'd gotten. Jude thinks that they should be fine, since they haven't gone inside, but Ludger warns that it's better not to approach no-entry areas at all. The White Lions might not be very forgiving. Jude sees his point, and heads back the way they came in, hoping to get out before anyone notices them.

They don't get far before a noise catches their attention, and a guard gives the order not to let "the intruder" get away. Afraid that they mean them, Jude and Ludger take off.

Scene 2

The guards continue to search for the intruder, splitting up and moving faster. Jude watches them go with some relief, though he and Ludger know they still need to be careful.

Jude suggests they just come forward and explain, since they haven't done anything wrong, but Ludger is worried the White Lions won't believe them if they already think them to be trespassers. Suddenly a voice next to them agrees.

???: Too true. They're a real hard-headed bunch.

Jude and Ludger cry out, and the stranger tells them to keep it down. She came there to hide until the hubbub dies down and doesn't want their shouting to alert the guards.

Ludger: Wh.. Who are you? ???: I'm so glad you asked! I'm thrilled to introduce you to the wise sorceress who travels the eleven seas, the great magician, the illustrious...

???: Mazhigigika Miludin do Din Nolurun Dou! Or for short- Jude: Oh, Magilou... Ludger: You know her? Jude: I wouldn't say that... We met once, at the festival- Magilou: Oho! You're that one guy, from that one time...! What a stroke of luck to meet you here. I have no idea who you are, but wow! Jude: ...My name is Jude. I was with Colette and her friends... Does that ring a bell? Magilou: Ohh, the handsome fellow with the beautiful flower on each arm! I remember you. Actually, I never forgot! Ludger: Funny that you can't seem to commit to anything you say... You don't seem to be a knight, so who exactly are you? Magilou: Oh, you want to hear it again? Well, if the audience insists, who am I to turn them down? Once more... The wise sorceress who travels the eleven- Ludger: I got that part! Your name is Magilou. You call yourself a witch...* Magilou: Heh heh... Not just any witch, a great witch! Ludger: So what's a witch doing out here? Magilou: That... is a maiden's secret! Jude: It's something you can't speak of? Don't tell me... Magilou: But you're trespassers yourselves, are you not? Jude: N-No, we're not. We just accidentally got a little close. Magilou: Meeee too! And then I got caught up in all this trespassing business. Can you believe? Ludger: ...Shh! The guards are back! Hold your breath!

The guards return, afraid they’ve lost the trail, but they figure it shouldn’t be that difficult to find such a “flashy, strange-looking woman” - especially because you can recognize that “pointed hat” from a mile away. They continue their search.

Jude: A flashy, strange-looking woman... Ludger: ...In a pointed hat... Magilou: Wow. What an amazing coincidence! Jude: Don't play dumb with us. You're the intruder! Ludger: So they weren't looking for us at all. Magilou: Ah, well. We can debate that another time. Now that we're here, why don't we work together? A bunch of people with guilty consciences... Not a bad idea, right? Jude: Guilty con- We didn't do anything wrong! Ludger: Yeah. It might be better for us to hand Magilou over and tell them what happened. Magilou: And you think they'll just take your word for it? Jude: I'm sure it'll be fine if we're honest about it. Magilou: Will it, though? Even when I testify that you're my bestest buds? Jude: You wouldn't... Magilou: And anyway, even if you can prove your innocence, they'll probably put you through a loooong interrogation first. Days... Maybe even years... By the time you're released, you could have lost your job, your home, your whole life. Jude: But that's...

Ludger reluctantly admits he thinks they should cooperate with her. She's probably right that the White Lions won't believe them, when they're already in such a suspect spot. Right now their best option is to leave; if they want to turn Magilou in, they can still do it once they're safely away.

Jude asks Magilou if she has a plan, and in fact she does... not. She's banking on the idea that three heads are better than one, and if they put theirs together they'll think of something. Ludger tells her to quit joking around, because it's only a matter of time before the guards find their hiding spot. They need to find a gap in the line of defense and run for it.

But Jude says that won't work, either. He's been watching the guards, and determined that their movements have been precisely calculated to cover a wide area with a small number of people. Even when a gap appears for a moment, it's always blocked farther ahead. The White Lions know exactly what they're doing.

However, the system is fragile enough that if any part is altered, the whole thing breaks down. For example, if the nearest guard alone wasn't there, they'd have a window to sneak through. Ludger asks Magilou if she can handle it; she said she's a magician, so she ought to have something up her sleeve. Magilou says that's a pretty tall order for a magician who peddles flashy gimmicks... but no problem for a great witch.

Guard 3: Is that...paper? No, it has a face... What in the world...?

Guard 3: Eek! There's more!? They're coming at me...!

The guard flees, leaving a gap for them to pass through. Jude is disconcerted, though Magilou claims it was only some ordinary, magically-animated paper. It's no trick, just mysterious and uncanny.

They take the opportunity to slip away from the patrol, and don't see anyone following them.

Magilou: Just as Jude said. Gotta love a man who makes himself useful. Jude: All I did was observe their movements. It's thanks to you that it worked so well. Magilou: Oh, and humble, too... One can't tell whether he's brimming with confidence, or not!

As the edge of the forest comes in sight, Jude cries a warning. Something shoots from the trees and stabs Magilou's hat - a shuriken. A voice nearby remarks that to have avoided that, they must not be just anybody.

A girl reveals herself, telling them not to take a step further. Ludger is afraid they've run into the White Lions, but then another woman appears.

???: Suzu, it's dangerous to throw shuriken around like that. You could really hurt someone. Magilou: Yeah, like me! That nailed me right in the head!! ???: Oh no! Are you okay?! Let me heal you! Suzu: Don't listen to her, Estelle. I only hit her hat. Estelle: ...Really?

Magilou asks if they were just waiting for them to come out there all defenseless so they could capture them, which Suzu takes as confirmation that they are criminals on the run. Still, Estelle thinks she shouldn't be so reckless; she might hurt someone innocent. To the others, she explains that they're with the Rolando Family, vigilantes from a nearby village. They got word from the White Lions about the trespassing situation and came to help. Magilou wants to know if refusing that kind of request would be considered treasonous, but Suzu sees no point in talking to them.

Jude: Wait! Don't we get to defend ourselves? They're chasing us over a misunderstanding. It was all Magilou's... Magilou: Waaah, Jude?! I thought we were stalwart companions, brought closer by the many hardships we've faced together! Ludger: Why do you keep trying to drag us into this? Magilou: The more the merrier, right? Moreover, look. There, right behind them... monsters!

While Suzu and Estelle are distracted, Magilou slips away again. Ludger encourages Jude to follow, but before they get anywhere Suzu points out that she's scattered caltrop across the ground. They can no longer run. Magilou comes back to try to move them along, and Suzu insists on not playing nice anymore, though Estelle still objects to how rough she's being.

Magilou: Sheesh, out of the frying pan and into the fire, huh? Jude: Hold on! Okay, maybe we shouldn't have just run, but we don't want to fight! Suzu: You can't talk your way out of this. I'm not letting my guard down around you.

Jude dodges another projectile, and Suzu is further convinced that they're no average citizens, to avoid her shuriken so easily. Ignoring Jude's pleas for her to wait, she attacks.

Scene 3

Though injured, Suzu still refuses to give up on her mission. Estelle, Jude, Ludger, and Magilou all ask her to calm down and listen, because no one else wants anyone to get hurt over this, but Suzu won't budge. She throws another shuriken at Jude, and he nearly trips trying to dodge.

Suzu: There's no point in asking for mercy from your enemies. We're on a mission! Ludger: I don't know what this mission of yours is, but we didn't set foot in the restricted zone. Magilou: That's right, it wasn't me! All three of us are innocent! Jude: Magilou...

Suzu still isn't interested in talking. Estelle wants to hear them out, but Suzu thinks they'll run again as soon as they get the chance, or else lie. Jude insists they'll stay and explain everything if Suzu will just listen before judging them.

To compromise, Estelle suggests escorting them to the Rolando Family's base, so they can explain the circumstances to their leader. Suzu reluctantly agrees. Estelle promises they won't report anything to the White Lions until after hearing their leader's decision, and Suzu promises that if they try to escape on the way there she won't be talked into going easy on them again.

Jude, Ludger, and Magilou agree to those terms, thinking it's probably their best shot at avoiding any more trouble. As they leave, Suzu asks Estelle to take the lead, so she can bring up the rear and watch her prisoners.

Ludger: This kid is determined not to trust us... Let's hope their leader is more understanding. Jude: Yeah...

They head toward the village.

* if you're thinking "but she never called herself a witch" - you're right, the word for "witch" was originally translated as “sorceress”. i kept both here because berseria actually does the same thing.

#tales of asteria #asteria spoilers #jude mathis #ludger will kresnik #magilou (tob)#suzu fujibayashi #estellise sidos heurassein #translations #i'm still not over her flirting with jude #why??#i mean i would too but... why???#long post (under cut)

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mazurah · 6 years

Text

Lost in Time Ch. 27: Children - An Elder Scrolls Fanfic

Chapter Summary: Ma’zurah gets into a fight and tells a story.

Cross posted from Ao3. Chapter Rating: T for swearing, including swearing at children, and the aftermath of very implicit child abuse.

First Chapter - Previous Chapter - Next Chapter

Lost in Time Chapter 27: Children

Ma'zurah led Logrolf down the hall from the room of sleeping children to the entrance hall. “Ma'zurah needs to talk to you. Ma'zurah has to warn you that Molag Bal is determined to make you submit. He tried to get Fayrl and Ma'zurah to bring you to him.”

“So you have heard of me,” Logrolf laughed. “Well, of course you have! I am sure that Molag Bal did ask that of you. I have desecrated his altar on multiple occasions and he has been powerless to prevent me! Lady Boethiah gives her faithful her protection, so I am free to spit in the face of her enemies. Once I have gathered the necessary reagents, I will venerate his altar in Boethiah's name, as I did before.”

Ma'zurah looked alarmed. The man might be rude, but he didn't deserve to be subjected to whatever Molag Bal had planned for him. No one did. “The House of Troubles are not Princes to be trifled with! They provide trials to be endured and survived! Even with the protection of the Covenant, dealings with them walk the edge of a knife! And Mazurah can assure you, desecrating their altars is not under the Covenant!”

“You do not understand. How could you? A Khajiit would have no understanding of the power of such a god.” Logrolf looked at Ma’zurah with smug sympathy. “You think the pitiful Molag Bal can best Boethiah's faithful? I have won this contest before! I leave the rescuing of children to you, but you leave the work of the Queen of Shadows to those who know her best."

Ma'zurah bared her teeth. How dare he?! She was trying to help him! She had numbered him among her allies and he was questioning even her competence! “Logrolf knows not to whom he speaks. Ma'zurah is the Champion of Azurah. Ma'zurah is well aware of the power of Azurah’s brother-sister, and she is giving Logrolf this warning: to become involved in the wars of the gods is to risk becoming crushed between them. Ma'zurah speaks from firsthand experience. She provides this warning out of the respect she holds Lord Boethiah and his teachings.”

“Champion? You?” Logrolf curled his lip at her in derision. “I think you misunderstand the meaning of the term. And even were you using it correctly, you are still young. I have a lot of experience in these matters. I understand the risks and rewards involved. The Queen of Deceit has shown her pleasure with my efforts! Your warnings are unnecessary. Though I suppose I should thank you for using so much of your mental faculties to relay them.”

Heat rushed to Mazurah’s face and she was filled with a blind need to make this man respect her authority. Her tail puffed and she gave a low warning growl. “You will show respect! This one is at least four times older than you could ever hope to live! She has learned more than you could ever hope to learn! She has spoken with Princes and Gods and retained both her loyalty and her sanity!”

“Not as though you had much to lose,” Logrolf scoffed. “Still, you have proven your usefulness in freeing me from my confines at the hands of those butcher barbarians. I shall have to give you a payment befitting your deeds when I have my possessions back. I think ten gold is fair for your hard won efforts.”

Ma’zurah’s temper snapped. She hissed and her tail lashed behind her. She held out both hands, palms toward herself, claws unsheathed, displayed the Ring of Azura and the Signet of Sheogorath sitting side by side her wedding ring on one hand, and the Ring of the Redoran Hortator and the Moon and Star on the other. “Do not insult this one! There can be no doubt that this one is who she says she is! You may think this one a weakling of Azurah, but this one exists because she has the will to do so! And she shall remain as long as there are signs of her handwork!” She dropped her hands and took a menacing step toward the taller man. “This one has suffered much that cannot be suffered! This one has weighed matters that no astrolabe or compass can measure! She warns you, there is no bone that cannot be broken except for the Heart bone; this one has seen it twice in this one's lifetimes!”

Logrolf crossed his arms and pressed his thin lips together, looking thoroughly unimpressed. Ma'zurah barreled on, angrier by the moment. “Your actions in the past may have pleased your Lord, and that is all very well and good. But this one thinks perhaps you do not truly understand the teachings of the Deceiver of Nations. To truly understand, you must know that the secret of weapons is this: they are the Mercy Seat!”

The priest snorted and rolled his eyes. Ma'zurah kept going, snarling as she spoke, determined to make him back down. “This one offers you one last warning for the sake of your devotion to the Devourer of Trinimac: peril falls upon those who offer insult to the Child of Azurah, for she guards her name with all the selfishness of the sea! You will show this one the respect this one has earned!”

Logrolf looked at her as one would a piteous thing; as though she was someone to humor. “I cannot deny you have bravado. You are well learned in your practiced speech as well. But I am not so as blind as to be swayed by mere trinkets or pretty words. I follow the God of Deception. And yes, let me guess, you're a master of theft as well as of killing savages. Bravo. But I hardly think there is much impressive about a Khajiit thief. It is what your people are good at. Why, I hear half of Riften these days are just your sort of people. Though, from the level of importance of your prizes, I am going to assume you befriend the great followers of the Daedra then steal from them. Is that why you are truly here? To try and steal from me as well?"

Mazurah saw red.

There was a yowl audible from outside the fortress. Squeals came from the room of Forsworn children as the ground shifted slightly.

Fayrl stopped playing his lute and laid it gently on the steps, giving the horse a reassuring pat and whispering to it to sleep until he woke it.

“Fjotra, I will check inside. Stay with Miss Horse and make sure she doesn't wake up. If something bad happens, I want you to get on Miss Horse, tell her ‘Hava’, and ride her as far from here as you can.”

Without waiting for confirmation, he ran back into the fortress. He only hoped that Ma’zurah was alright.

Ma’zurah had the priest pinned to the ground at the bottom of the steps of the entrance hall. She was straddling the man’s chest with one forearm against his neck and attempting to grab his wrists with her other hand.

From around the side of the door at the top of the stairs, three heads watched the scene unfolding in the hall.

“Ma’zurah was trying to give a friendly warning!” Ma'zurah hissed in the man’s face, baring her teeth. “But Logrolf had to be disrespectful at every turn and accuse this one of lying and of attempting to steal from him!” Her tail swished through the air angrily, all her fur puffed on end.

“Ma’zurah!” Fayrl yelled, “you cannot kill him!” He ran and pulled Ma’zurah bodily off the the priest, his arms under hers, gripping her by the shoulders.

The moment Ma’zurah was off him, Logrolf began coughing and scurried backwards until his back hit the stone wall. “She's mad! She's trying to kill me!”

Ma’zurah’s paws scrabbled under her, trying to gain traction to stand. “Why not?!” she demanded. “We shall have the trial of Boethiah’s proving! This one will live because that one will die!” She hissed in the priest’s direction and her lashing tail whipped at Fayrl’s legs.

“Mephala's left testicle!” cried Fayrl. We can't just kill a priest of the Three! This isn't one of Boethiah's provings! We are here to rescue people! Not to murder them! You haven't done any of the rites for that sort of thing!”

Logrolf drew the sword he had taken from the undead Forsworn. “I will defend myself if necessary, I warn you, cat!”

Fayrl whirled towards the man with one outstretched arm and summoned webs, pinning the man flat against wall. “You, shut up!”

He looked at Ma’zurah in his arms. “Have you forgotten about the children you were not supposed to be waking up?”

The three heads popped back behind the door with a collective gasp.

Ma’zurah gained her footing and stood, wrenching herself out of Fayrl’s grasp and brushing herself off. She glared at Fayrl. “Ma’zurah was trying to warn this wafiit about the plans of the Lord of Domination! But then he insulted this one!”

Fayrl sighed. “Do you kill everyone who insults you?” he asked tiredly, feeling the strain of using so many of his taxing skills in a row. It had been a long time since he’d had to fight so much, and he had grown unaccustomed to it. “And what are we going to do about the children now?”

The door slammed shut and there was a great commotion of scraping furniture behind the door.

“What is this disgusting pile of white excrement!” Logrolf spat. “I am a revered priest of Boethiah! How dare you treat me in this manner, you horse sodomizing simpleton!”

Ma’zurah gave Fayrl a sweet smile. “Nooo… Of course Ma’zurah does not try to kill everyone who insults her! Only the ones who should know better!”

Fayrl stalked over the the priest, ignoring Ma’zurah. He glared at Logrolf. “I thought I told you to be silent. You can do it on your own, or I will make you do it.”

“Oh, a threat! I see neither one of you can escape the confines of your natures. A thieving cat and a violent Dark Elf. I am sure I have never heard of tha--”

Fayrl ripped his bloodied tunic over his head and jammed it in the priest’s mouth. “I see what you mean,” he told Ma’zurah. “Let's let him stew while we see what the children have gotten up to. Hopefully they don't have any more knives. I feel I've been stabbed enough for one day.”

“Sure, just one thing first.” Ma’zurah walked up to the glaring priest and kicked him in the shins. “Jekosiit!” she hissed. Logrolf gave a muffled cry and shouted something incoherent into the tunic in his mouth.

Ma'zurah turned and walked with calm poise back up the stairs into the hallway and knocked on the door. “Hello?” she called.

“Go away!” came a small voice on the other side of the door.

Fayrl followed Ma’zurah. He wasn’t sure how they would get the children out without frightening them further.

“This one is Ma’zurah! Ma’zurah is sorry for acting scary! What are your names?”

“Go away!” said a different voice. “We aren’t telling you anything!”

“What if she tries to open the door?” asked the voice from before in a hushed tone, still audible through the wooden door.

“We have all the furniture up against it, she can’t get us,” said a third voice.

Fayrl gave Ma’zurah a look. “We need to be delicate with this.”

“Maybe Fjotra can help,” Ma’zurah suggested. “Go get her?”

Fayrl gave her an uneasy look, but obeyed with a sigh. He made his way back down the stairs, flashing a warning look at Logrolf before he went out to where Fjotra was.

“How are we doing out here?” he asked the girl.

Fjotra looked up from petting the horse. “Fine. Can we go now?”

“We are almost ready. First, we want you to come and meet the other children that were kept here. That way we can all go together. But they are scared to leave. Do you think you could talk with them?”

Fjotra gave him a doubtful look but nodded. “I guess. Why are they scared to leave?”

“Well, Ma’zurah was having a disagreement with that priest and she was a little bit upset. I think the children are afraid she might be angry with them too.”

“Oh. Okay.” Fjotra walked inside, making a face as she skirted the blood summoning circle.

Fayrl hurried after her, cursing himself for not catching up before she could see the remnants of whatever horror occurred in the entranceway. He caught pace with her and walked up the stairs, hoping that Ma’zurah hadn’t blown the door open while he was gone.

Ma’zurah had entered the empty bedroom opposite the children’s room, and emerged holding a book and a pair of leather boots when she heard them coming. “Hey,” she offered.

Fayrl looked her up and down. “I brought Fjotra,” he said with a smirk.

Ma’zurah blinked at him. “What? Nevermind! Here.” She shoved the leather boots into his arms. “Try these on. Yours keep getting ruined.”

Fjotra giggled, and Ma’zurah winked at her.

Fayrl sat down on a step that didn’t look too messy and began to unlace his boots, grumbling under his breath as he did.

Ma’zurah turned to Fjotra. “So these children are in there. We need to make friends with them so they will not be scared anymore.”

“Okay,” said Fjotra. She went up to the door. “Can you hear me?”

There was a smattering of hissed whispers.

“Let me answer!” said one voice.

There was a brief silence.

“I can hear you. What do you want?”

Fjotra sat down on the floor in front of the door. “Um. I’m Fjotra. What’s your name?”

“Morva. What do you want?”

“To make friends. I heard you were scared, but you don’t have to be!”

“Who said I was scared? I’m not scared!”

“Oh! That makes it easy then. You’ll come with me? I want to go home now, but they said we couldn’t leave because you were scared.”

Ma’zurah opened her mouth as though to speak, then closed it with a look of consternation.

Fayrl grinned, one boot on. The kid was good.

“Why should I care about if you get to go home?” asked Morva.

“Um… Because you’re a nice person? I was kidnapped last night, and I had a dream that a lady with big furry ears came to rescue me, and then it happened! She’s really nice, you’d like her.”

Ma’zurah shot Fayrl a smug look.

Fayrl rolled his eyes. He was a bit jealous, but he would never admit to it.

“You’re supposed to be in the shrine!” Morva cried. “How’d you get out!”

Fjotra looked confused. “I just told you. I got rescued. Don’t you want to go home too?”

“This is my home! Momma said you were a gift for the gods! You need to go back to the shrine.”

“How’d she get out?” asked another voice.

“She said she was rescued.”

“But how do you get rescued from going to see the gods? Why wouldn’t you want to be there?”

“I don’t know! I’m just telling you what she said.”

Fjotra frowned. “They weren’t taking me to see the gods! They were going to kill me! They said so! And they put blood all over Dibella’s statue! Why would they do that?”

“That’s how you go to see the gods. You can’t be alive and see them, dummy.”

“But I don’t want to die! And I can see the gods anytime I go to the Temple! Sometimes Dibella comes to me in my sleep too! Dying isn’t the only way to see the gods!”

“It is not,” Ma’zurah chimed in. “Ma’zurah has seen seven gods with her own eyes, and talked to many more than that. Some of them even gave her gifts, and Ma'zurah is not dead yet.”

There was a hushed discussion inside before anything else was spoken.

“What do you want from us?” Morva asked finally.

Ma’zurah moved closer to the door. “Ma’zurah promises she will not hurt you. She just needs you to come with her to Karthwasten. That is all.”

“Just come out?” Fjotra pleaded. “Please? I wanna go home.”

“They’re gonna do something bad when we go out there!” cried another voice.

“Oh, hush, Tyran! We never said we were going out!” hissed Morva.

“I think that’s the angry lady’s voice,” said another child. “The one that did this to Dryston.”

“Yes, Ma’zurah was angry,” Ma’zurah explained patiently, “But Ma’zurah is not angry at you. She will not hurt you, and she did not hurt your friend. He is only sleeping, and Ma’zurah knows how to wake him up.”

There was a gasp inside. “Morva! They can wake Dryston!”

“I don’t trust it,” said the other child.

“Me either, Petra. They’re up to something.”

“Why are none of the grown ups stopping them?” asked Tyran.

“That’s a good question,” said Morva. “Hey! Dummies! What’d you do with our parents?”

Ma’zurah hesitated. “They are not here anymore. That is why you need to come with us to Karthwasten. Ma’zurah cannot leave you here by yourselves.”

“What do you mean, they aren’t here?” cried Petra. “Mommy wouldn’t leave me!”

“It’s a trick, Petra, don’t listen to them,” said Morva. “As long as we are in here, we are safe.”

Ma’zurah sat down on the floor in front of the door. “You like Hircine, right? Would you like to hear about the time Ma’zurah met Hircine?”

“How would you have met Hircine?” scoffed Morva.

“I wanna hear,” said Tyran.

“It’s just gonna be a lie anyways.”

“It is all completely true. Ma’zurah was on the island of Solstheim with her friends Julan, Shani, Constance, and Jasmine, and she was visiting an Imperial fort when the fort was attacked by werewolves.”

“Who are all those people?” asked Petra.

“I think the grey one is Jasmine and the guy the lady was beating must be Shani. I don’t know about the other two though….” Tyran trailed off.

“That’s not right!” said Morva. “Jasmine is a girl’s name! The grey one must be Constance. That’s a good man’s name.”

“No,” Ma’zurah explained, “the Dunmer with Ma'zurah now is named Fayrl, and the other one is Logrolf. Julan and Shani are both Dunmer, a boy and a girl, Jasmine is a Redguard girl, and Constance is a Bosmer girl. But it does not really matter. So these werewolves attacked, but Ma’zurah did not know they were werewolves. When they ran away, Ma’zurah found out that the commander of the fort, General Carius, had disappeared. So Ma’zurah went to the Skaal village to ask them if they knew where he was. The Skaal are a tribe of Nords who worship a god called the All-Maker and live in a very snowy part of the island of Solstheim.”

“This story has too many people. It’s boring,” said Tyran. “I want a better story.”

“I thought the story was about Hircine,” said Petra, disappointed. “Let’s get back in bed, Tyran.”

“This story is about Hircine,” Ma'zurah explained hastily. “Werewolves are the children of Hircine, do you not know that? And it has so many people because the world has a lot of people in it. But Ma’zurah will get to Hircine soon. Ma’zurah found out that she had to prove herself to the Skaal, so she did a lot of things to help them. Then, after a while, werewolves attacked the Skaal village too and kidnapped the Skaal leader. One of the werewolves even bit Ma’zurah and everyone thought she was going to become a werewolf!”

“Did it eat you?!” cried Tyran with excitement.

“She couldn’t be telling the story if it ate her, dummy!” mocked Morva.

“No it did not eat Ma’zurah,” she laughed. “It also did not turn Ma’zurah into a werewolf.”

Ma'zurah realized this was a difficult story to tell to children because she had to simplify it so much. She felt rather lame leaving out so many details. It had been significantly more complicated than she was making it sound, but she was trying to cater to the children's brief attention span. “Ma’zurah tried to find out where all the werewolves were coming from, and while she was looking for them she found out that all of the horkers had been killed and were lying dead on the beach!”

“Eww!” said Petra.

“Cool!” said Morva and Tyran.

That was a much better reaction than Mazurah had expected. They were engaged with the story now at least. “The shaman was very worried about this because the dead horkers were one of the signs of the Bloodmoon Prophecy, which foretold coming of the great hunt of Hircine. The shaman sent Ma’zurah to a castle made of ice called Castle Karstaag. Castle Karstaag was full of Rieklings. Rieklings are small blue goblins who live in icy places. Ma’zurah had to swim in freezing water to get into the castle, but when she got there, she met a Riekling named Krish. Ma’zurah was very surprised, because she did not expect any Rieklings to talk to her. Krish told Ma’zurah that the Riekling leader, a frost giant named Karstaag, had disappeared, and that Krish was trying to take over the castle. He made a deal with Ma’zurah to let Ma’zurah into the castle if Ma’zurah would help Krish become the new leader. So Krish took Ma’zurah into the castle, and inside Ma’zurah found out from the other Rieklings that werewolves had kidnapped the Riekling leader, Karstaag.”

“Did the werewolves go like ‘Rawr!’ and eat the head off the reekly things?” asked Tyran.

“Why would a werewolf want to eat a ice goblin?” Petra retorted. “It’d be too cold to eat.”

Ma'zurah was losing their attention again. She huffed a frustrated breath. Why was she so bad at telling stories to children? “Ma’zurah did not see any werewolves in the ice castle,” she explained quickly. “She only heard what the Rieklings said. But Ma’zurah thought that it was very strange that werewolves would kidnap an ice giant, so she went to tell the Skaal shaman. That night, Ma’zurah got kidnapped by werewolves!”

“And then did they eat you?” asked Tyran.

“Gods, you’re so thick!” said Morva. “If you get eaten by a werewolf you don’t get to tell a story about it.”

“Unless you’re a ghost,” said Petra.

There was a tiny gasp from Tyran. “You’re a ghost lady!”

“I should throw you outside with the ghost lady,” said Morva.

Ma'zurah sighed. “Ma’zurah did not get eaten by werewolves, and she is not a ghost. When Ma’zurah woke up, she was in a room full of werewolves and a man with skin like the coat of a deer and a head like the skull of a stag told her he was Hircine and that Ma’zurah had been chosen as Prey for the Wild Hunt, and all the werewolves were going to hunt her now!”

“Coooooool!” said Tyran.

“Lucky,” muttered Morva.

“Not so lucky! Ma’zurah did not want to die!” It was one of the worst memories of her life, but she could hardly tell the children that. “Hircine did not give her a choice about it. The next thing she knew, she had been taken to a giant maze under the ice! And there she met General Carius, the Imperial commander who had disappeared! Hircine told Carius and Ma’zurah that there was a key out of the maze, and that only one person would be able to use it. Carius was a nice man though, and he said that maybe we could find a way for both of us to escape, so we worked together to run through the maze full of werewolves until we found the key and got to the center of the maze. General Carius got hurt though, so he told Ma’zurah to take the key and use it to get out of the maze. He thought Ma’zurah stood a better chance of surviving whatever Hircine was going to throw at us next.”

“How did you breathe under the ice?” asked Tyran.

“Just shut up and listen,” said Morva.

“It was a great big cave that had been carved into a glacier, that is how. But Ma’zurah used the key to open a portal, and the next thing she knew she was in a different maze, and there was the leader of the Skaal who had also been kidnapped. So Ma’zurah tried to team up with him too, but no matter how much we looked, we could not find the key. When we made it to the center of the maze, the Skaal leader turned on Ma’zurah, and Ma’zurah found out that he had the key the whole time, and he was actually a werewolf too!”

“Woah!” all three of the children cried.

“Did he--”

“I swear, if you ask if she was eaten one more time, I am throwing you outside,” warned Morva.

Tyran was silent.

“Ma’zurah fought him and took the key, and this time Ma’zurah found herself in a room with an ice giant! Hircine appeared and told Ma’zurah that the ice giant, Karstaag, was going to fight her for the right to enter the last part of the Wild Hunt! So Ma’zurah had to fight him to survive the Wild Hunt!”

There was silence for a moment.

“What? You said I couldn’t ask,” pouted Tyran.

“Good,” said Morva.

“So how did you fight a frost giant?” asked Petra.

“With fire, of course! Ma’zurah threw fire at it until it fell over, but it was very difficult.” It had been more than difficult. It had been a long and exhausting fight that Ma'zurah had only survived by flying to a high ledge to heal herself and wait for her magicka to regenerate. “After that, Hircine appeared again and asked Ma’zurah what skill she thought a hunter needed the most, strength, speed, or cunning. Which one would you have picked?”

“Strength!” said Tyran.

“Cunning,” said Morva.

“I think cunning too,” said Petra.

“Ma’zurah also picked cunning, and Hircine told Ma’zurah that the last part of the Wild Hunt was to defeat Hircine himself! But he said it would be unfair to fight him at his full power, so Ma’zurah had to fight one third of him; the third she had picked. So Hircine divided himself into three, and the Avatar of Hircine’s Cunning appeared and started to fight Ma’zurah!”

“What did it look like?” asked Petra.

“It looked like Hircine, just a little smaller. A man wearing kilt, with skin like a deer’s coat, and a head like the skull of a stag. He had a spear that he twirled around a lot. Ma’zurah had to be very smart to get out of range of his spear. She ran around the room and threw ice at him until she defeated him. Then she got to keep his spear.” She was hardly doing this story justice, but she did not want to tell the children just how harrowing the fight had been and how close to dying she had come. “Hircine was very shocked that Ma'zurah had won. He promised to come back and host another Wild Hunt, but he only gets to host one Wild Hunt per era.” Ma’zurah paused with a look of alarm on her face and glanced at Fayrl. It was a new era now.

Fayrl dropped the old boots he was holding in hand and met her eyes. That was not news he wanted to hear; not at all.

“Cool!” said Petra.

“Do you have the spear right now?” asked Tyran.

Deciding it was pointless to worry when there was nothing she could do. Ma'zurah shook her head. “No, but Ma’zurah does have the Ring of Azurah if you want to see that. Azurah appeared to Ma’zurah and gave it to her in person.”

“Can I see?” asked Fjotra.

“Yes, it is right here,” said Ma’zurah holding out her hand. She indicated the silver oval ring with a blue stone like the night sky at its center that she wore next to her wedding ring.

“Wow… It is so pretty!” gasped Fjotra. “Can I try it on?”

“Ma’zurah supposes that would be alright, but it likely will not fit. It was made for Ma’zurah. Give Ma’zurah your hand?”

Fjotra held out her hand obediently, and Ma’zurah slipped the ring onto the girl’s thumb. It was still too large, but Fjotra didn’t seem to care.

“It has an enchantment on it,” Ma’zurah told her. “Can you feel it? That is the power of Azurah.”

“Wow…” Fjotra stared at the ring with round eyes.

“I wanna see!” cried Tyran.

“Oh, me too!” said Petra.

“I don’t know. What if there is no ring?” said Morva.

“I wanna see the ring!” insisted Tyran, voice turning whiny.

“It’s too dangerous,” said Morva.

“I wanna!” Tyran cried again, then sniffled.

“Don’t cry, you baby,” said Morva.

“You’re so mean,” sobbed Tyran. “I wanna see it!”

“Fine!” shouted Morva, “Go see your stupid ring! And when you end up captured by the weird white lady and the grey man, don’t come begging for my help!”

Tyran broke into a full cry.

There was a loud screech as something large was dragged across the floor.

The door opened just enough for the small, tearful face of Tyran to appear around the door. “I wanna see it,” he moaned, squirming to get out of the door.

Fjotra stood up and held out her thumb in front of the door, displaying the ring.

“It’s real!” he cried and scrambled forward, tripping over his own feet for a moment, but momentum kept him moving and he caught his balance, grabbing at Fjorta’s hand to look at the ring.

Petra’s head appeared around the edge of the door then popped back in. “They aren’t doing anything yet,” she whispered, still audible enough for Fayrl and Ma’zurah to hear.

“Can I wear it?” asked Tyran, his tears stopped, but a trail of snot coming from one side of his face. He wiped it on his sleeve.

“Yes,” Ma'zurah replied. “Fjotra do you want to help him try it on?”

Fjotra beamed at being given responsibility. “Hold out your hand!” she said, taking the ring off.

Tyran held out his hand, using his other hand to keep it steady. The rest of his body bouncing with excitement. “Like this?”

“Tyran’s getting to try it on,” said Petra. “Morva, can I try it too?”

“If you go out there, I’m not responsible for what happens. I can’t protect you. If you want to turn your back on Dryston and me, go ahead! But he’s like this because of her ! He protected us.”

“They don’t seem so bad,” said Petra.

“Go, then! Get out!”

Petra fell forward out of the door as though she were pushed and the door shut behind her.

Fjotra solemnly helped Tyran try on the ring. “You feel the enchantment?” she asked. “Like you can see everything more clearly, and your tiredness is slowly going away?”

“Woah! I’m like a warrior hero now!” Tyran made slashing and chopping motions with both hands. “Smash! Hack!”

Petra got to her feet and dusted herself off before looking at Ma’zurah, Fjotra, and Fayrl. She didn’t say anything, just watching them while Tyran slashed at the air, lost in his imagination.

Ma’zurah smiled at Petra. Fjotra giggled at Tyran’s antics.

Petra took a tentative step forward, eyeing Ma’zurah.

Fayrl was starting to get anxious. He didn’t know why. Everything was going fine. And yet he couldn’t help but feel nervous. Was something going to happen?

“This ring is amazing!” giggled Tyran. “I bet I could defeat an ice monster right now if one came at me!”

“Would you like to give her a turn?” Ma’zurah gestured at Petra. “I bet she would like to feel like a warrior too.”

Tyran held the ring close to his chest. “But I just got it!”

Petra took a couple more steps away from the door.

Fayrl stood up and Petra backed up against the door. “I’m going to go and check on the horse,” Fayrl said, and headed down the stairs.

Ma’zurah reached into her pack and pulled out a honey nut ball. “Ma’zurah will trade,” she offered Tyran.

He came over at once and extended his hand. “Deal!”

Ma’zurah took the ring and gave the boy the honey nut ball, then she turned to Petra. “You wanted a turn?”

She nodded and cautiously stepped forward, her hand out.

Tyran took his treat and started running around the entrance hall chewing on it and dancing, apparently oblivious to the remains of the bloody ritual in the center of the room. “I got a sweets and no one else can have it!” he taunted in a mocking melody.

Ma’zurah gently took the girl’s hand and slipped the ring on her finger. “Does the world seem brighter? That is the power of Azurah.”

Petra’s eyes widened and she looked around the room as if she did not know where she was. “This is Azra? This power?”

Tyran picked up a rock from the floor. “You think you can have some of my sweets. But you can’t!” he yelled at the rock, then threw it at the wall.

“Azurah made the ring. She put a piece of her power in it to make the enchantment.” Ma’zurah smiled at the girl.

Petra scrutinized the ring. “It just looks like a pretty stone. How did the power get inside?”

Tyran continued to pick up discarded items from the ground and scream at them about how they could not have his honey nut treat.

“Ma’zurah does not know how Princes do it, but when Ma’zurah does enchanting she uses a soul gem. Now. Would you like a honey nut ball too?”

Petra smiled. “I can have one too?”

In his circuit around the room, Tyran finally came across the priest stuck to the wall with spiderwebs. “I bet your want some of my sweets too!” He stood as tall as he could and pulled the gag from Logrolf’s mouth. “Ew, that’s gross! Don’t eat clothes Mr. Sillybeard.”

“Listen here you little shit,” spat the priest, “I am an illustrious priest of the great Queen of Deception, Boethiah! I demand you free me from my bonds at once! Or else I will curse you and every one of your little friends!”

Tyran frowned. “You’re a big poop! I was gonna share, but you’re mean.” He picked up a rock and shoved it in Logrolf’s mouth to replace the tunic.

Logrolf spat the rock out in Tyran’s direction. “I am going to make you pay!”

“Hey! Leave my brother alone!” yelled Petra.

The priest laughed. “If you don’t free me I will make sure that you never see your parents again.”

“No!” shouted Tyran.

The door to the room opened and Morva rushed out, a crude bone dagger in hand. “Leave them alone!” she yelled, facing Ma’zurah.

“Another idiot child of the inbred savages,” Logrolf taunted. “What a delightful sample of the Reach’s quality.”

Morva turned to the priest, realizing that it was not Fayrl or Ma'zurah who had threatened the other children. She had the knife up and her body tensed as if deciding to attack.

Ma’zurah sighed. “It is alright. You are not in any danger. Any of you. Logrolf the Idiot is tied up. He cannot hurt you. He is just very rude.”

Petra started laughing. “That’s why you were sitting on him and hitting his face!”

Morva lowered her weapon. “He is tied up?”

“I am! Now free me child! If you do I will give you a grand reward.”

“What kind of reward?” asked Tyran.

“To become an apprentice to the great Logrolf the Willful and serve the Lord Boethiah in all her needs.”

Petra and Tyran both frowned.

“That’s stupid,” said Morva. “I don’t want to serve some stupid god who makes people like you.” She stepped closer to Ma’zurah.

“It is not stupid! It is a great honor!” cried Logrolf. “You ignorant barbarians could not even comprehend what you are declining!”

Petra picked back up the tunic and hurriedly shoved it in Logrolf’s mouth. Tyran ran up after her and shoved it further in. The man struggled again and screamed behind his gag, though nothing he tried to say was intelligible.

Fjotra tugged on Ma’zurah’s sleeve. “Can I have a honey nut treat too?”

“Alright.” Ma’zurah retrieved one, then held out another to Morva. “Fair is fair.”

“I can see why you have him tied up,” Morva commented, accepting the treat.

Ma’zurah nodded. “He is very disrespectful.” She moved to peek into the room the children had been in. The boy was still asleep on the bed, but the rest of the furniture had been rearranged. She turned and walked down the steps into the entrance hall and looked out the front door. Fayrl was nowhere to be seen.

“Where are you going?” asked Morva as she saw Ma’zurah disappear down the steps.

Ma'zurah leaned out the front door to pat the horse and spotted the bodies lying in the road. She cursed under her breath.

“Trying to find Fayrl,” she explained.

The children sat at the top of the stairs watching and waiting. Tyran licked sugar off his fingers.

Ma'zurah closed the front door and turned around, noticing the door on the right side of the entrance hall slightly ajar. She peered inside.

The bodies of the Forsworn still rested where Ma'zurah had last seen them. The man Fayrl had injured lay sprawled across the floor at the side of the bed in a pool of blood, obviously dead. Fayrl stood in the center of the room redoing his hair.

“Hey,” Ma'zurah said to catch Fayrl’s attention. “Ma'zurah needs Fayrl to clear off the road and then come let Ma'zurah know when he is done.”

Fayrl turned around, tucking the last pin into his hair. “Very well. I will gladly go and take care of that, my dear.”

Ma'zurah nodded and walked back up the steps into the hallway and entered the children's room. The children came running after her.

“You can wake him up, right?” asked Petra, standing nervously next to the unconscious boy.

“Yes, but we have to take him to Karthwasten.” Ma'zurah started opening chests and nightstands until she located a set of packs. “Okay, help Ma'zurah pack your clothing. First one done gets another honey nut ball. Somebody show Ma’zurah where that one’s clothing is.” She gestured at the unconscious boy.

“They’re over here!” cried Tyran, tugging Ma’zurah’s sleeve towards a set of drawers.

“But his spare tunics are in here,” said Petra, pulling on Ma’zurah’s other sleeve.

Fjotra sat on an empty bed, blinking at the other children stuffing their meager belongings into packs. In a few minutes she was fast asleep.

When they finished, Ma'zurah scanned the room for anything else they might want, and tucked a lost rag doll into Petra’s pack. “Are you ready? It is not a long walk. It should only take an hour or two to get to Karthwasten.”

Petra nodded, slipping the pack onto her back.

Tyran put his bag on his head, trying to balance it. “Wooooaaah!” he said as it fell to one side. He caught it and put it back on his head.

Morva stood beside Ma’zurah with a wary expression on her face. “We’re ready. But I don’t understand. Where are our parents? Why won’t Dryston wake up? Why are you two here?”

Ma'zurah lifted her eyebrows at the teenager. “That is a lot of questions, and they all have long answers. Ma'zurah thinks she is getting a bit too hungry to answer so many questions at once. There will be hot meals at Karthwasten. If you ask Ma'zurah again after we have eaten, she promises she will answer them all. It is not too far to go or too long to wait, but it is only midday and Ma'zurah is already tired. Is that fair?” She gave a small smile and cast telekinesis on Dryston, lifting him gently.

Petra and Tyran watched their friend floating with wide-eyed fascination. Tyran waved his hand underneath and, upon finding nothing, walked under Dryston. “Magic!”

Morva tightened her grip on her pack straps at her shoulders. “What if our parents come back and we aren’t here? They’ll be worried.”

Petra looked worried at this prospect. “I… I don’t want mommy to think I’ve run off….”

“It will be alright. They will not worry. If you are still afraid, Ma'zurah will try to use magic to contact them once we get to Karthwasten. Ma'zurah is a Mystic. She knows a few rituals.” Ma'zurah stuck her head out of the children’s room, keeping an eye out for Fayrl.

“But where are they?” Morva insisted. “They put us to bed after we stayed up most of the night waiting for them, and then where did they go? They wouldn't leave us behind.” Tears of frustration and fear welled in her eyes.

Ma’zurah set the boy back down on the bed and knelt in front of Morva. “Ma’zurah does not know. She is sorry. Ma’zurah will try to contact them for you. She does not think she can do it here though. It is not a far trip. It will be alright. Ma’zurah will make sure that no harm comes to you if she can do anything to stop it.”

Morva looked like she was warring with herself. After a moment she sighed. “And you can wake Dryston? You're positive?”

“Yes.” Ma’zurah gave a firm nod.

“Then I will go.” Morva stood and Petra took her hand. “We are ready.”

“Alright, one second. Let Ma’zurah find Fayrl and see if he is ready too.” She walked into the hallway, closing the door behind her, and went to the front door. She spotted Fayrl hiding the last body behind a large juniper bush, and called out to him. “They are ready. Ma’zurah will bring them out.”

Fayrl nodded. “Go ahead. I'm ready.” He walked back to his lute and began playing a pleasant song.

“Alright. When Ma’zurah brings the boy out, make sure he will not wake soon, please.”

She went back inside and roused Fjotra from where she had been dozing. She smiled at the children, cast telekinesis again on Dryston, and led them outside. “Fayrl has his lute out, do you like songs?”

“I like music,” said Petra. “Daddy sings a song about a spotted stag who plays with wolves.”

“His song about the bear is better,” said Tyran, his pack on his head again, though he kept one hand on it so it wouldn't fall.

Petra snorted “You just like it cause the bear eats everything.”

“That's the best part!” said Tyran.

Morva walked in silence, clearly deep in thought.

Fayrl turned to the children with a goofy smile. “Look at this band of adventurers! Why we have four mighty warriors here! I shall be your bard and Ma’zurah your wizard as we hike on our way towards adventure. Let us hurry to the castle so we can wake the sleeping prince. Come, wizard, let us set our prince upon his steed!” Fayrl helped to guide the sleeping boy onto the horse’s back, stroking the horse to keep it from spooking. “Fjotra, I know you are good with horses, why don't you take the reins and I shall play a tune to keep away evil spirits.”

Ma’zurah gave Fayrl an amused smile, and the small group set off down the road to Karthwasten.

End Notes:

Ta'agra Translations: http://www.taagra.com/ wafiit = idiot jekosiit = sheep shagger

Fayrl’s tumblr: @talldarkandroguesome

Screenshot of Fayrl Screenshot of Ma’zurah Check out my art tag for more pictures of Fayrl and Ma’zurah.

Constructive criticism is welcome. We also really like it if you leave comments on Ao3.

#TES #Elder Scrolls Lore #Skyrim #ESO #Morrowind #My Writing #Fanfic #Lost In Time TES Fanfic #Fayrl Indoril #Ma'zurah the Khajiit #Rated T

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aja154ever · 7 years

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Uta no Prince Sama Maji LOVE LIVE 6th Stage - 05/27/2017

OMG. OMG. OMG. I have still not completely absorbed the fact that I was there - that my dream of attending Maji Love Live concert has finally come true on this fateful day. *cries a river*

This is a fan report - which is basically my feelings put into words. And warning: as in my previous seiyuu event reports (Bungo Stray Dogs, High Speed), this is looooooong. ^_^ Plus, I used the seiyuu’s nicknames for convenience.

ST☆RISH

Shinomiya Natsuki - Taniyama Kishou (Kiiyan)

Ichinose Tokiya - Miyano Mamoru (Mamo)

Aijima Cecil - Toriumi Kousuke (Tori-san)

Jinguji Ren - Suwabe Junichi (SuwaJun)

Ittoki Otoya - Terashima Takuma (Terashii)

Kurusu Syo - Shimono Hiro (Shimono)

Hijirikawa Masato - Suzumura Kenichi (SuzuKen)

QUARTET NIGHT

Kotobuki Reiji - Morikubo Showtaro (Morikubo-san)

Kurosaki Ranmaru - Suzuki Tatsuhisa (Tatsun)

Mikaze Ai - Shouta Aoi (Shoutan)

Camus - Maeno Tomoaki (Maenu)

HE★VENS

Hyuga Yamato - Kimura Ryohei (KimuRyo)

Otori Eiji - Uchida Yuuma (Uchida-kun)

Amakusa Shion - Yamashita Daiki (Daiki-kun)

Kiryuin Van - Takahashi Hidenori (Takahashi-san)

Otori Eiichi - Midorikawa Hikaru (Midorikawa-san)

Mikado Nagi - Yonaga Tsubasa (Wingu)

Sumeragi Kira - Ono Daisuke (OnoD)

It was a tough day. I already expected that there would be A LOT of people but not to the point that the performance would get delayed because half of the audience has not yet entered the dome. I do not know what totally went wrong but it really felt frustrating that many of us were still in line outside that was not moving at all, though it was already 4:30 PM - the scheduled start of the performance, while there was no announcement from the staff about what’s going on. Maji Love Live’s system is quite strict and complicated as compared to other concerts. Here, the ticket buyer’s name is actually printed on the ticket and before entering, you have to show a valid ID that it is yours. This year, the organizers were really at fault as to why this did not go smoothly and also the fans were at fault for failing to go the venue early to line up. They said that it may have something to do with the wrist bands because it was the first time for that to be implemented.

ANYWAY, moving on, we were finally able to go inside at around 5PM, but we were literally running because the live has already started! The intro VTR was already up, and while I was still running looking for my seat (which turned out to be on the other side of the dome damn it lol), ST☆RISH already appeared with Maji LOVE Legend Star! Like OMG WAIT! The fangirls alongside me were also on a rush but we did not fail to chant “Peace! Chu! Hey! Go! Legend Star!” being the dedicated fans we are. It was really funny running and singing at the same time, but still frustrating as I was not able to focus and watch the performance well esp that it’s their first time singing Legend Star live. I think I arrived at my seat in time for the last chorus. And this is my first Maji Love Live so why did it turn out like this huhu.

QUARTET★NIGHT - Shoutan and Maenu’s hairstyles were Ai’s and Camus’. What struck me here was Tatsun’s voice. I was not a fan of Tatsun’s voice - I mean it was averagely good for me but when I heard him today live, it was beyond average ok, it was good! (Anyway it was basically not my first time hearing it live if I would count his mini singing performance as middle school Makoto in last time’s High Speed event lol)

Tempest

It rained OMG as in like in the music video lol. You know I can watch Mamo performing forever because for me this guy really does the best musical performances. Good voice, good moves, good looks, and the heart.

QUARTET NIGHT Duet & Solo

KILLER KISS - Reiji & Camus

Haruhana - Ranmaru & Ai

Melting of Snow - Maenu becomes more and more like Camus in every live. His hair, his eyes, his actions OMG. It’s as if Camus became real. A table and chair were set up for him, as he drank his cup of tea. So classyyyyy

On・Your・Mark! - It showed how Morikubo-san is so used to performing. I felt his confidence, and oh this ojisan can also dance yeah. And hearing him live for the first time, I actually appreciated his voice which I have not liked ever since. He’s a singer after all.

BE PROUD - Ok Tatsun, I’m proud of you. I’m sorry for not realizing that your voice was this good ok.

Synchronism - Shoutan was so cute. What’s new? But though I have always viewed him as feminine, seeing him live today for the first time made me see that Shoutan was cute, in a masculine way. His dance moves were really cute. The last pose he made where he captured his eye with his fingers in a peace sign, was really cute. Ok haven’t I used the word cute too much. Anyway, I know for a fact that Shoutan has one of the most beautiful singing voices in the seiyuu industry, and I have affirmed that today. He sounds pretty much the same recorded or live.

Shining Dream Festa

DAY DREAM - Tatsun, Terashii, Shimono, Suwajun, Kiiyan, and Morikubo-san in one song. Oh this was really fun. Foo! Foo! Fo foo!

NIGHT DREAM - Tori-san, Maenu, Suzuken, Mamo, Shoutan in one song. This was beautiful awwww. Love! Love! Love for you!

ST☆RISH Solo

Be the light - Mamo appeared as Hayato this time emitting all the happy vibes. As much as I love Tokiya, we all know that Mamo’s personality matches Hayato better though. “Tanoshindenyaaaaa??”

Hatsukoi o mata hajimeyou - Shimono came out of nowhere like we heard someone was singing but there were no signs of presence on the stage. Minutes later, we saw him coming from the side of the audience as in he performed on the stairs in the middle of the audience seats. (Lucky for the people who were near yay huhu) As usual he was jumping while waving his towel.

Tears in Love - Okay Kiiyan, guess who was in tears because of her overflowing love for you? Lol. Honestly, I was looking forward to a dance number because remember that they were teasing Kiiyan in 5th stage about not dancing. But this song was accompanied by piano, guitar, and viola. Anyway, I am more than satisfied with this performance as, with tears in my eyes, I have once again confirmed that Kiiyan has the best singing voice in the planet. (Fight me lol) And anyway this 41-yr old ojisan looked so hot in his hairstyle 。⁄(⁄ ⁄•⁄ω⁄•⁄ ⁄)⁄

Give me True Love - We all know that SuwaJun’s one of the members who doesn’t do much dancing but no one expected what he offered to us this time. This 45-yr old ojisan came out riding an orange hoverboard and flawlessly maneuvered it for the rest of his performance.

Kanbinaru Arcadia - True to what he said during 5th stage, Tori-san really did bring a black cat on stage this time lol. There was smoke and poof he appeared thereafter as the cat disappeared. Ofc, he did not dance again, but he jumped. Yeah that was his cute way of telling us that he was having fun.

I Swear - SuzuKen’s is one of the singing voices I like among the Shining seiyuu members and now hearing it live for the first time, I can say that he sounds pretty much the same whether recorded or live. I mean that in a good way. He performed with the accompaniment of a dancing fountain.

Brilliant Days - Yay! I give Terashii the best solo performance award this time. Kids on red shirts suddenly came out in the middle of his performance as back-up dancers. It was basically like Otoya who was the older brother in the orphanage as they danced and played like they were the cutest thing. But wait there’s more. Towards the end, the kids brought out and waved sunflowers and yeah we remembered that scene about the sunflower field and OMG there’s more. ST☆RISH members went up on stage to join them and lastly, they somehow reenacted this pose from the anime and we all just went awwwwww huhuhu

Intro - Shining Agency

ST☆RISH called QUARTET NIGHT to go up on stage and so the cast members from the Shining Agency were now gathered and officially welcomed everyone to the event, “Uta no Prince Sama Maji LOVE LIVE 6th Stage e youkoso!” What was obvious was that they were not talking as much as they did in previous live performances, and this is basically because of the delay in the start of the performance, meaning less time. They had to keep their intros short, which saddened me because I looove seeing their interactions.

Maji LOVE 1000% - ST☆RISH and QUARTET NIGHT

They soon segued to singing the song they deemed they’ve been singing since the beginning and they believe everyone knows well - Maji LOVE 1000%. I was really shocked because they have always put 1000% as the last song because we all know how perfect it is for encore. But who cares, everyone immediately went all out singing this. I was soooooo happy that I was finally able to sing this song with everyone because this is basically where everything began right? Huhuhu.

HE★VENS

After the best performance, a familiar voice finally echoed in the stadium, Midorikawa-san’s “Ii” and we all know that it’s time for HE★VENS.

HE★VENS GATE - Beginning of the Legend - I didn’t expect to enjoy HE★VENS’ performances this much but everyone’s still pumped up fresh from Maji Love 1000%, then HE★VENS came out soaring high on their podiums - yeah it was a really good entrance as the Heavens gate opened. And the crowd went crazy shouting, “YES CALL HE★VENS ! YES CALL HE★VENS !” It was really fun! It felt like HE★VENS actually received a warmer welcome than ST☆RISH and QUARTET NIGHT LOL.

They then introduced themselves one by one. I felt like they did more talking than ST☆RISH and QUARTET NIGHT, which is fine, it’s their first time anyway. They teased OnoD to lead the talk as Kira does not speak that much in the anime. OnoD laughed as he agreed that he didn’t really have much lines when they do recordings in the studio. They mentioned that their bond has gotten closer as they actually created a group in LINE. Meanwhile, Daiki-kun was very serious in portraying Amakusa Shion’s character. Midorikawa-san felt happy singing and performing on stage as he said that maybe it has been 20 years ago since the last time. And Wingu, OMG it’s my first time hearing Wingu live. His voice is soooooo cute!!! They then performed another song: HEAVENLY PARADE.

Duet Project

Mighty Aura - For me, this is the best duet performance of them all. I have high praises for Uchida-kun for being able to keep up with Mamo’s singing and dancing. (Like OMG this is Miyano Mamoru we are talking about. Did you not feel intimidated with such senpai) It was really a good showdown and was overflowing with passion - it felt like I was really watching Tokiya and Eiji.

Grown Empathy - Kiiyan and Wingu came in carts from opposite sides of the dome. In the end, they had the “Let’s shouting” written on their palms as they stood back to back in the end. Damn it, soooo cute. And Kiiyan’s smile *faints*

Lasting Oneness - SuzuKen and OnoD performing together. Isn’t that in itself enough to give you a heart attack lol. Honestly, I didn’t like OnoD’s singing voice that much but hearing it live for the first time, I was amazed as it was really good. Then add the feels that Masato is my 2nd fave character in Utapri while I like Kira the most in Heavens.

Lovely Eyes - SuwaJun and Takahashi-san came in carts from opposite sides of the dome, this time near the audience seats, somewhat similar to what Shimono did earlier.

Visible Elf - Tori-san and Daiki-kun came out riding hot air balloons which actually went flying inside the dome OMG. When they landed, Tori-san again did jumps while performing. He’s so adorable awww

JUSTICE IMPULSE - OMG KimuRyo and Shimono didn’t fail to give us a really intense performance. They fought as what Yamato and Syo did in the anime, while flying. Yeah, we saw how fantastic Shimono’s performance was in the last live and now he even dragged KimuRyo into this. Haha. This is the best next to Mamo and Uchida-kun’s.

NEXT DOOR - Kudos to Terashii again! I felt like I can see Otoya’s darkness in his eyes as he started off with an emotionless performance. Later on he went all dramatic as he clenched his fist on top of his heart while seeming to be in pain. All I can say is, “Saikou ni ii!”

As everyone went off the stage, a VTR was played on the screen showing clips from the previous Maji LOVE LIVE Stage performances from the first one up to the 5th. The audience happily sang along with 1000%, 2000%, and Revolutions.

Triple S Concert

And now we got to see the Triple S showdown live as the three units sang their respective songs.

God’s S.T.A.R. - By this time I am really convinced that QUARTET NIGHT members are really good performers. They don’t only sing but even their dancing is on point. I understood why they have many fans and how this unit was able to hold its own live last time. They really brought the anime into life. We just went crazy shouting “Wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow!”

Fumetsu no Inferno - I felt HE★VENS desire not to lose as they also delivered an intense performance, with such good lighting that heightened up such intensity.

WE ARE ST☆RISH - I was pretty sure that I’d cry when I hear this song live. I mean, I already did just by watching it on the anime so what more when I see and hear it live? And so my voice was really cracked while doing the “ST☆RISH! Love! Legend Star!” chants as I was just overwhelmed with happiness. The only sad thing was that they did not do their chants (e.g. “Omaetachi, tsuite koi yo”) which I was badly looking forward to. But the seiyuus actually did most of the dance moves which killed me!!!! Damn it, I love ST☆RISH!!!!! (I’m still getting goosebumps right now as I write this AAAAAAAAHHHHH)

Yes, they did this pose and Tori-san and Shimono looked so lovely sitting there o(╥﹏╥)o

Encore

After gaining enough time to change their shirts while the audience chanted “Encore!”, the 3 units finally appeared on their carts going around the arena. HE★VENS and QUARTET NIGHT were on the right side while ST☆RISH came from the left side as they sing Yume o Uta e to. It was funny because while the focus was on HE★VENS and QUARTET NIGHT since it was their turn to sing first, my focus was actually on ST☆RISH. Aside from the fact that they were on the side closer to my seat, and that I love them the most, I just couldn’t take my eyes off of Mamo and Kiiyan. I mean, I honestly love these two more than anyone else but please explain to me why Mamo and Kiiyan were dancing like crazy. Kiiyan’s hips and legs please. Please! They looked like they were having such a good time lol. I’m so glad I was not the only one who noticed as I read a similar report from @socialdegenerate here. Yay!

New Project

After singing, Terashii announced that the time to bid farewell has come but before that they have special announcements. Ofc, they made SuzuKen lead the announcements. First is that the sale of Blu-ray/DVD of 6th stage has been decided, which ofc everyone already expected. Lastly, we all know that a new animation project is in the works as was announced in the Legend Star’s last episode. This time they specifically revealed that it was a movie adaptation. OMG I didn’t expect this. They’re finally moving to the movie theater. Yay! Honestly I was expecting a 5th anime season because even if I already got tired of the story, I’m still willing to support the series because of the songs. As the fact remains that UtaPri as an idol anime really produces good songs sang by great seiyuus. I think it’s actually a good thing; there might be something new as it was compressed into a film instead of stretching it to a series.

Final Messages

After the announcements, each of them gave out their final messages starting from HE★VENS to QUARTET NIGHT and lastly, ST☆RISH. It was again noticeable that they kept their speeches short. Midorikawa-san didn’t actually want to speak much as he said that guys his age actually tend to cry in such kinds of moments. Awwww! Meanwhile, Wingu was laughing while speaking - it really showed how much fun he was having. HE★VENS members were particularly happy for being able to perform on stage for a series as big as UtaPri. They also felt grateful for the warm welcome they received from the crowd. Camus did his trademark speech of greeting everyone politely then calling everyone “gumin-yo” soon after. (I’m so glad he did as when he did not do it in the intro, I thought he wouldn’t be doing it anymore.) Each of them also gave us one to two lines of sweet messages (I don’t know what to call them lol) in their characters’ voices as in Terashii’s “Minna, daisuki da yo!” and Kiiyan’s “Kimi dake shika imasen!”

Maji LOVE Legend Star

I was expecting Maji LOVE 2000% as the last song as they already sang 1000% earlier. But they did not sing it, much to my frustration huhuhu. I think they might have been adjustments to the set list as we didn’t get 2000%, Revolutions, and Mirai, Yume, Arigatou…Soshite! which I think everyone expected to be there. Again this is because of the lack of time due to the delay.

The seiyuus especially ST☆RISH was aware that many of the audience came in late. SuwaJun asked who among the crowd did not make it right in time for the first song, and got a huge amount of hands and screams as a response. In compensation for that, they sang Maji LOVE Legend Star once again as the last song. I’m so glad that I was given a second chance to properly sing with them together this time. So I just went all out singing “Peace! Chu! Hey! Go! Legend Star!”

Goodbyes, Thank Yous

The cast gathered at the center of the stage, stood side by side holding hands, as they said thank you without holding their mics. That was so precious awwwww. They then made rounds on the stage waving goodbye and repeatedly saying “arigatou!” to everyone. Mirai, Yume, Arigatou…Soshite! was playing in the background. Each of them also passed in front of the camera, doing whatever poses like winks, kisses, high-fives, fist bumps, etc. Mamo, ofc, being Mamo, showed off his body as he pulled his shirt up. And OMG Kiiyan, did the same but the camera stayed longer, which then killed me lol.

ST☆RISH was the last one to get off stage, and as the curtain (whatever is that) slowly went down, they all kept waving to the point of lying on the floor just to wave up until the last moment that they can be seen, which made me love them even more. ❤

“See you again” was flashed on the screen after voice overs from each of the cast saying goodbye to everyone.

Screenshots from Official accounts (Twitter/Blog):

Waaaa. I’ve sworn to go to 6th stage ever since I missed the chance to go to 5th stage last year. I’ve been looking forward to this event so much because I know that it would bring so much happiness. I mean, just watching the DVDs of the previous lives made me very, very happy, so what more if I were there in person. I’ve prayed for this more than any other event I’ve wanted to attend and God knows how much grateful I am that this dream has come true. And indeed, I believe this is the event of my year and one of the happiest times of my life. I don’t think I’ve ever screamed that much in my whole life. And I had this much good time despite the shortcomings so what more if everything actually worked out smoothly. I’ll definitely be there next stage, and sing 2000% and Revolutions too, with everyone. THANK YOU SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO MUCH. I can’t wait for the DVD PLEASE COME OUT ALREADY!

At least on this day, Kiiyan and I wore the same ring on our left ring fingers. Yay! (I wasn’t able to get a Tokiya ring for Mamo tho)

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backstorywithdanalewis · 4 years

Text

November U.S. Election- Storm Clouds. - podcast link: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1016881/5365258

dr. jason johnson: (00:00) So we will have no idea who the president is, and there will be armed conflict in the streets with white nationalists, going to main voting areas in order to attempt to intimidate people or prevent people from counting ballots that is what's going to happen. I'll let you know how long it lasts. I have no idea. dana lewis - host back story with Dana Lewis : (00:22) Hi everyone. And welcome to another edition of backstory. I'm the creator and host of this podcast. Dana Lewis, November storm clouds is a discussion about American democracy effected by race relations. COVID-19 the treatment of war, veterans and war dead by president Donald Trump, who said he wouldn't visit an American cemetery in France because the Marines buried, there were losers. No doubt. He said and meant many things. His character is atrocious as a foreign correspondent. I've covered political leaders in dozens of different countries. Trump breaks the American mold and the polls show us voters are turning their backs on him. Joe Biden leads Donald Trump by 12 percentage points nationally among likely us voters, according to a Reuters, September poll. And Trump knows he's in trouble. I gotta tell you I was sailing to an easy election. dr. jason johnson: (01:18) It was going to be so easy. I probably would have not been here tonight. dana lewis - host back story with Dana Lewis : (01:22) Oh, we don't have to bother. This is the most bitter, ferocious, nasty American election campaign ever. The attack ads. Well, wow, dr. jason johnson: (01:33) Dangerous. And as long as Donald Trump is president he'll keep encouraging the cooks, the craziest, the extremists, angry fringe. It doesn't have to be this way. Reject the hate, reject the violence America or Donald Trump stand up for America. dana lewis - host back story with Dana Lewis : (01:48) Okay. Here's where it gets chilling. In this upcoming interview, we ask will Trump, if he loses leave and you know what a lot of people think he won't and the November election could be a disaster for America. November storm clouds on this backstory are dr. Jason Johnson is a professor of political science. He's a well known commentator in America, and he has been racing around all day and he's fit us in just for a few minutes. dr. jason johnson: (02:17) Appreciate it. Jason, you just came dana lewis - host back story with Dana Lewis : (02:20) From a COVID-19 test. dr. jason johnson: (02:23) Yeah, yeah. Uh, it was a very interesting experience, um, and sort of public health and, and government administration. Uh, it was at a local pharmacy that we have here in the States called Walgreens. And yeah, just set up an appointment. You go in, you kind of administer on your own, but it's sort of, I want it dana lewis - host back story with Dana Lewis : (02:43) Well, cause it's personal, but what a runaway train in America and we all look at it from Europe. Like, I mean Britain where I am has had one of the worst outbreaks next to next to Brazil next to America, we had 57,000 dr. jason johnson: (02:57) Deaths around that. I mean, you guys are approaching 200,000. Well, yeah, I mean, and the reason why is because balsa Anoro and, and, um, and, and Boris Johnson and Donald Trump are cut from the same cloth. Boris Johnson almost died from COVID-19 and still hasn't recognized the importance of sort of general public health. There's a tax on NHS for, since he got into office have contributed to one of the difficulties that you all are having a managing it. But the United States is an absolute mess. It is, is it's an avatar of death. We're going to have over 200,000 people dead from, COVID not to mention the people who are living with the longterm health consequences by the time Donald Trump has his first debate with Joe Biden. So it has been an absolute mess. We are the world's dirty cousin at this point dana lewis - host back story with Dana Lewis : (03:42) Becomes the main election issue. If there, I mean, he's, he's hammering of law and order law and order law and order surely COVID-19 and the number of deaths and the health dr. jason johnson: (03:53) Care crisis you have there must rank up against that in probably is above that. Then I think what's important for, for everybody abroad to understand is that there is a disconnect and extreme disconnect between what you may see in 24 hour news coverage and what is actually affecting regular people and voters. Now, everyone can always say that it's always pretentious to say, they're missing the man on the street. They're missing the guy in the pub, but I'm telling you this because it is true. The most important story is not the polls. The polls are consistent. Donald Trump is losing Donald Trump has been losing. It doesn't really matter. He's acting like someone who's already lost. The biggest issue has been that he's cheating that the president of United States and the Republican party has already said that, uh, you know, national security agencies can no longer brief Congress on election interference. dr. jason johnson: (04:48) Uh, he has put one of his cronies and appointees in charge of the post office. It's it's hundreds of thousands of millions of Americans are gonna vote by the post office this year, shutting down post offices and destroying sorting machines is basically a way of gumming up the works. That is the problem. Donald Trump has already lost. He knows he's going to lose to Joe by all he's doing now is trying to consolidate, powering any discussion in America. I screamed this on TV and in writing any discussion in America that pretends that this is actually still an election between two competing sides is ignoring the obvious dangerous of Donald Trump poses to basic democracy. So what are the, dana lewis - host back story with Dana Lewis : (05:23) The graphics then in terms of black America? I mean, surely if they can vote, they will not, they will not vote for Donald Trump. If they can get to the polls, if they can navigate a pandemic, if they can deal with this mail in dr. jason johnson: (05:37) Ballot problem. Well, yeah, look demographically. If you look at the United States of America, the Republican party for 15, 20 years now, it's only a white people's party. They only function because they have almost a lock on white voters. And if you look at it, um, there hasn't a Republican who actually won the majority of votes in America since gosh, in 2000, I think the last time he Republican actually won the majority of the vote. He was 2004. When Bush ran for reelection, every other election, since they've lost, they have not gotten the majority of the vote. So they're not reflective of what people want. So demographically, while they may have the majority of the white vote Democrats usually get anywhere between 38 to 42% of the white vote, 90 something percent of the African American vote. Uh, Trump has been oddly competitive with the Hispanic vote in America, but you have to remember the Hispanics are, it's a hodgepodge term. I mean, there are white Hispanics in America who identify with white supremacy and racism and abuse that the president sort of engages in. So, you know, it is, it is a last desperate attempt for a certain kind of entrenched bigotry in America to maintain power because demographically, they lost this country 20 years ago. We were dana lewis - host back story with Dana Lewis : (06:54) By this Atlantic article at least. I mean, I was rock cause I spent a lot of time with the U S military embedded with them. I understand how they would react to it, dr. jason johnson: (07:02) Where, you know, w where he, he talked about, uh, worrying about dana lewis - host back story with Dana Lewis : (07:06) His hair and not going to a cemetery in France and calling for vets losers. dr. jason johnson: (07:12) It's just not the Atlantic, but it's been, uh, you know, five other news organizations have come out now and quoted the same source. And I think we can all guess probably who the sources are, who the sources, but does that stick to him or in this frenetic ferocious news cycle? Is that just forgotten about the next day? No, no, it doesn't say. And here's why it doesn't Cleveland in America. It's not between Republicans and Democrats. It's not even between conservatives and liberals. It's between people who pay attention to politics and people who don't, the people who pay attention to politics. I already know how they feel. And they look for you. They look for confirming information and they don't want to deal with cognitive dissonance. So there's a lot of people in America who haven't even heard of the Atlantic story. They don't care. Now, the military has heard about it. dr. jason johnson: (08:00) And Trump is doing very poorly with the military for an incumbent president who happens to be a Republican, but you know what he had already been doing poorly with the military. He was already a little approval rate with the military. Most of the information that we're hearing about now is simply allowing people to be more comfortable in the decisions that they're already making. There, not one person in America who heard that Donald Trump called soldiers losers, and didn't want to go visit a grave site. And France ain't changed their mind from buying to Trump. Nobody did because everybody knew that this was Donald Trump's personality beforehand. He attacked John McCain. He called John McCain, a loser for being a pow for five years in Vietnam. Who's going to be surprised by this dana lewis - host back story with Dana Lewis : (08:39) About the, the race relations in America. Will they play a very big role in that? dr. jason johnson: (08:46) Oh, they always do. Cause this is a pretty racist country and anyone who pays any attention to us, it's a racist country. Just like the UK, just like Brazil, just like any country. That's dominated by people who colonized and kill the indigenous population. The only difference this time is that Donald Trump has done the one thing that you can't do in America and still get legitimately elected. Because again, he may stay in power, but it's only going to be because he cheats like a third world country dictator. Um, Donald Trump has angered white people in America. Uh, there's a lot of white voters in America. They don't care about racism. They don't care about corruption. They don't care about, you know, massaging or anything else like that in the white house, but COVID-19 has wrecked our economy and COVID-19 has disrupted the way of life that most people are used to. dr. jason johnson: (09:27) We can't go to the movies. Kids are trapped at home trying to learn online. Uh, the grocery store lines can sometimes be all the way around the corner, depending on what covert precautions your schools have. So from a racial standpoint, Trump has alienated white voters in a way that most people have African Americans. Or if you're talking about these sort of protests in general, let's be clear state sponsored violence against black people in America is not new. We have merely been able to pay more attention to it over the last 15 years because of technology and because everybody is sheltered in place. Now everybody sees the violence. If you notice the support for black lives matter with white voters went from a peak of 63%. Now it's down to about 49 or 47, some less than sophisticated American analysts would say, Oh my gosh, the black lives matter thing. dr. jason johnson: (10:15) It's working against people now by no 63% of Americans don't care that much about how black people live. But let's be honest about the history of this country. It's about 50%. Think the black lives matter is fine. The rest are fairly ambivalent about, um, and, and there's not anybody in this country who sees protests in Portland and sees protests in Kenosha and suddenly changes their mind. How people are gonna vote was already baked into the cake. And I'll, I'll close with this. Cause I think this is really key is there's a, there's a great is an activist. The United States is very active on Twitter. Her name is Bree Newsome. Uh, and Bree Newsome is the woman who climbed to the top of the, uh, flag pole in South Carolina and tore down the Confederate flag after a white nationalist Dylan roof massacre nine people in a church after praying with them killed nine white people in the church five years ago. dr. jason johnson: (11:02) Horrible. And she has this great tweet where she says, you know, as a white person, these responses to black lives matter kind of like some white person saying, you know what I was against slavery. And then I heard some slaves burned down a cotton field. Well, either you were against slavery. If you weren't okay in burning down a cotton field or a slave verbal changes your mind, then you were never really against slavery. If protests in two American cities, one of the vast majority of American cities have seen nothing like this. And that's enough to change your mind. You were never in favor of black lives matter. You were always going to vote for Trump. So, so race relations in America are pretty much what they've always been. It's just now they're public and people are much more concentrated in what their preexisting opinions already dana lewis - host back story with Dana Lewis : (11:49) I'm nodding my head, but I I'm trying to process because I would think after George Floyd and in some of these terrible killings in video, now that that light, you know, sets the street on fire and can be seen from one from the East coast to the West coast so quickly that surely people now understand the level of brutality and they understand the police abuse and they understand how some 80,000 police departments, 85,000 police departments in America, you know, don't hire probably don't train. And in the end, most of these guys walk on criminal charges. dr. jason johnson: (12:25) Surely the, the level of awareness, dana lewis - host back story with Dana Lewis : (12:27) The amount of people who are disturbed, not just in the black community, obviously, but in the white dr. jason johnson: (12:33) Surely that's changed. I mean, look, here's here's thing, Dana people are awake. They always knew. It's like, it's like when you have a, it's like when you have a steroid scandal, right? In a popular sport, whether it was Lance Armstrong or tennis or football or basketball, and it's still ruined scandal. And people are like, Oh my gosh, you know, they didn't. And then there's a big discussion for weeks. We need to talk about storage and high school and college sports. Everybody already knew it was there. It's just occasionally I gets thrown in your face in a way that you can't avoid everyone in America. White people have always known that the police are more brutal and more violent with nonwhite people than with white people, regardless of the color of the police officer, everybody's already known that there's not one person American who didn't know that they may have not known how extreme it was. dr. jason johnson: (13:20) They may have not known data behind it, but they knew it all it happened with George Floyd is that a bunch of people who are trapped at home who were already frustrated, saw a murder. I mean, they saw a murder and people don't like steam murder because it forces them to confront the thing that they always knew was going on. But do I think it's transformed anyone? No. I think what it's done is made people who weren't ambivalent about the issue. More clear that it's a problem. And it may have raised it from being here on the list of important things to here for some white people. But there's not, there's nobody who saw George Florida's like my God, I had no idea. Police brutality was an issue until I saw them killed this black man in eight minutes. Anyone who says that, that was the case with them marijuana. I mean, you, you, it was a Steven Lawrence and typically Steven was Steve Lawrence was 2007. Right. And the UK. Yeah. dana lewis - host back story with Dana Lewis : (14:13) And the riots that ensued after that. dr. jason johnson: (14:15) Yeah. Like, is there anybody who didn't know how the cops treated people? I lived in Brixton, I've lived in Manor house. I know how the cops three people and I was an American. So like, it's not like people don't know, uh, it's a matter of how important they take the knowledge that they already have and how it applies to how they behave politically. dana lewis - host back story with Dana Lewis : (14:34) I think it elected and is the promise of a Biden victory going to change anything when it comes to race relations and policing. dr. jason johnson: (14:41) I have no idea if Joe Biden is going to end up being president of United States, that is the honest to goodness answer. He will very likely win the popular vote. He may actually win the election, but whether or not he ever becomes president of the United States, I don't know. Um, because we are dealing with an unprecedented administration that has made it abundantly clear that they will break every law, every norm, and every rule in the book in order to stay in office. What you're looking at right now is extremely important. And, and it's, it's no different than it's, it's, it's, it's not even just Brexit it's it's when, um, you know, the, the, the Scottish sort of independence happened, which basically broke the labor party. Right. Which is now going to allow the Tories and the conservatives pretty much stay in power forever until something changes up there with the SNP. dr. jason johnson: (15:29) I think it is what we are right now. But yeah, I mean, what we're looking at right now is 60 days from the end of what's left over American democracy. If Donald Trump is not removed from office, we will not have another free and open election for 30 years. Cause he's cheated and everybody knows he's cheated. And if he gets away with cheating and if he's able to stay in the white house, um, then we're not going to have any more elections here. They won't stop doing what they're doing. They'll get more bolt. So we'll Joe Biden win. I think he'll win by any empirical measure, but whether or not he ever steps into the white house, I have no idea. There are too many factors at play. And I think anyone that says that they know is, is being naive and foolish. dana lewis - host back story with Dana Lewis : (16:14) And you're really making me feel foolish because here I went overseas as a foreign correspondent to places like Russia and to cover things like elections in Russia and Belarus thinking that that would never come to America. And, and, and we were watching the, the, the spread of democracy after the fall of the Soviet union. Now you're telling me, I should have just crossed the Canadian border down to the U S and done my foreign correspondent service there. And I'll watch it there. When Trump refuses to accept the, the results of it. dr. jason johnson: (16:40) That's fine. Yeah. I mean, I'll tell you what I saw more or less predicted. I pretty much where my, my closing, but I'll tell you what, I pretty much predict on this. I don't, we're not going to know on election night, we're not going to know who won the presidency on election night. What's going to happen is the president of United States is going to declare himself the Victor, no matter what the numbers are, he's going to say he's one. And then it's going to be up to the three main television networks as to whether or not they will broadcast the president claiming that he want. Then you're going to have States like Michigan, Wisconsin, Arizona, um, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Arizona, maybe even Pennsylvania are going to be saying, hold on, hold on, hold on. We have so many male imbalance. We have to take more time to count. And as those counts come in, most of those States, if they were purple are either going to get more blue or they may vacillate back and forth. Trump is going to tell people to stop voting. Uh, these neo-Nazi proud, boy groups are going to start attacking electors. You're going to have to have the national guard brought in. And all of that is going to be taking place in a situation where we know hundreds of thousands, possibly millions of ballots may michael shure: (17:50) Never have even been delivered to the people who needed them to vote. And our Supreme court said during the primary earlier this year, then if your ballot doesn't arrive on election day, even if it's postmark in time, they say that under some circumstances, you can throw it out. So we will have no idea who the president is. And there will be armed conflict in the streets with white nationalists, going to main voting areas in order to attempt to intimidate people or prevent people from counting ballots. That is what's going to happen on election night, how long it lasts. I have no idea. My head is spinning dana lewis - host back story with Dana Lewis : (18:23) Jason Johnson. Thank you so much for your insight. And as disturbing as it may be, uh, you know, it's enlightening. michael shure: (18:31) I appreciate your time. Thanks so much anytime. michael shure: (18:39) And even though our next guest thinks in order for Biden to win, he needs a commanding victory, but Trump is on track to lose. Alright. Michael shure joins us from Los Angeles. He's a well known political commentator and he's, he's hosted election coverage. Very insightful. Always, always try. We'll try. Now. I want you to cut through the smoke and mirrors for me because this article from the Atlantic, and I sense that this is not going to fade too quickly. I might be wrong. And I think you've talked about how fast the news cycle is right now, but I don't think it's going to fade very quickly, at least from some people's memories. So he wouldn't Trump wouldn't visit a cemetery in France. He was worried about his hair. He referred to 1800 Marines at Belo, Valeo wood as suckers for getting killed. He's denied it. michael shure: (19:36) Will it stick? Well? Here's the thing I don't, you know, and you're right. I often Dana, I think that things don't stick to this president and to this general news cycle. And in point of fact, they haven't. I mean, he's gotten away with more, uh, with one or two of the things from the access Hollywood tape, which would have sucked every presidential campaign in U S history, uh, till the two, an impeachment that didn't really show anything, um, that, uh, that was able to get him removed from office or to influence enough Republicans to vote for that. So I do think that we have to go in with that context. What this does do in, in an electoral way is having an enduring quality to it. Whether or not people are going to keep talking about it forever, it doesn't matter, but it's, it is further facilitating of those Republicans who voted for Trump holding their nose, uh, or those Democrats who went to Trump, thinking that they just didn't like Hillary Clinton. It is further evidence as to why they should be comfortable not voting for the president November. And that's the most important part of this. So you look at a lot of those Republicans who have a really hard time pushing D on their ballot. And they think of these that Donald Trump has done about the military specifically makes it a little easier for that vote to happen. And those are votes that Joe Biden and his campaign are according very, very seriously. So when you start dana lewis - host back story with Dana Lewis : (20:57) Being of the demographics and we're looking at these polls, okay, so he's lost seniors over COVID-19, michael shure: (21:04) He's lost seniors over COVID-19. He's also lost seniors by not really doing this almost demonizing social security. If I was Joe Biden right now, I would have, uh, I would be doing what Hillary Clinton didn't do, which was to talk to seniors directly about protecting social security. It's an issue that the Democrats have always done in campaigns, scared the other side into thinking he was going to be taken away. Hillary Clinton didn't do that. When she ran, I thought it was a mistake. I expect that the Biden people will begin to do that and they should do it pretty soon. dana lewis - host back story with Dana Lewis : (21:33) Right? He's lost the military over this article, which has been confirmed by a half dozen different major news outlets. How important is the military book? michael shure: (21:41) Military goes very important in that a lot of people, it's not just the active military that you're thinking of, cause they don't, uh, they don't vote in the biggest numbers. They're difficult to pull cause they can't be open about what they are, um, what their, their landings are. But the veteran vote is so important in the United States and we have more and more veterans as we, as we've gone into Wars, uh, over the past 20 years that have created a bigger veteran pool. So when you do lose veterans, you're losing a big chunk. You're not just losing older veterans, you're using losing younger veterans who are going to begin to count on the veterans administration, the hospitals, the medical care. It's a very important voting block. Anybody who casts any, if there's any time, there's a doubt cast about the way a candidate feels about the military. It certainly is not good in terms of garnering that vote. dana lewis - host back story with Dana Lewis : (22:27) That's a good point. And he's lost working women. michael shure: (22:31) Yeah. I mean, I, you know, listen, I, I w when you say he's lost, I think that there is still a, there, there, you know, people talk about the silent Trump voter. I don't think that there are that many of them, but some of them are, and some of them are white middle class working, uh, you know, uh, middle Midwestern working Americans. And when I say working Americans, working blue collar jobs, and by and large, uh, so you are, he has lost some of those, but working women, uh, within suburbs and within cities who may have not liked Hillary Clinton. Again, I think that, you know, I keep harping on this data because it's a very important one dynamic in this presidential race is that people by and large like Joe Biden, they don't necessarily love him, but they certainly don't hate him. And, and I think that that was something that Hillary Clinton brought to the race was this sort of vitriolic dislike, uh, that many people in America, from Democrats to progressive Democrats to Republican, certainly who really did not like her for whatever reason that dynamic doesn't exist now. So getting those voters, it's a lot easier for a Joe Biden to woo those voters to his side than it was for Hillary Clinton. And those are voters went to Donald Trump. So coming back home to the democratic party, which some of them are going to do, it's going be an easier task. And that he's proven so far in the polling that he's been able to do that. I often ask questions that I know the answers to. And one of those things in television news, right? Yeah, of course. dana lewis - host back story with Dana Lewis : (23:56) But tell me here's one. I actually do not quite understand the answer to, and maybe you can enlighten me and Europeans and Canadians and everybody else, michael shure: (24:05) As long as it's not a math question. I'm, I'm, I'm good. Well, it's a pulling math question, but how does he, how, who are these people who no matter how offended they are, no matter how much they, you know, don't agree with his morality, uh, with his business dealings, his ethics, but they'll go and vote for the guy, no matter what, I mean, I did a mass murderer and they'd go and vote for him. I mean, what, what is well, many of them and I, you know, the mass murderer thing aside, but you're right. I mean, he's even said a thing that might've been a stretch. Yeah. Let's not stretch it because it might not be either. And I don't want to know if it isn't. I think, I think what you're looking at is you're looking at a voter here who has other, other interests in mind, for example, an evangelical Christian voter, that the only thing that lives on in perpetuity, Donald Trump will be dead and buried, but Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh may likely still be on the Supreme court. michael shure: (25:06) And there are people that, that are social conservatives that care deeply about that. And, and they, they, they're the types of people that will sit and they will fight all the way to the interesting dynamic in American politics that the Democrats and the left don't get, as well as the right. You can excoriate the candidate during the primaries. You can say, I will never vote for that candidate, but when it's that candidate up against the other candidate in the democratic party, these conservative Christians are always going to vote for the person they know are going to put on judges that will defend the, you know, that will fight for the rights of the unborn, uh, that we'll talk about, uh, you know, prayer in school that will protect the flag, all these sort of conservative, moral issues. Those are people that aren't going to come out for Donald Trump. michael shure: (25:53) The other thing is you have the types of voters who don't vote a lot. People who are, are wooed by both his celebrity. And the fact that he, you know, is really kind of giving the middle finger to a lot of the establishment politics. Now, of course, he then slid right into it when he got to Washington, but that was his way of getting there. And there are a lot of people that just like to see that, that play out. And that's really what Donald Trump has tapped into. But I don't think that it's a permanent thing. I'm one of the people that think that the Trump era is an aberration, but it will have a hang over your art. You are going to have Trump Republicans, whether he wins or not existing for a little while, until they're cycled out and then something new may happen, or I may be wrong. But I do think this is an aberration dana lewis - host back story with Dana Lewis : (26:36) Poisoning of Alexei Navalny. If taking you far away from America. Now, Trump astonishingly astonishingly refuses to condemn michael shure: (26:44) Putin. He has shaken NATO allies. I mean, Germany, Britain, what gives, I mean, I have a few theories, but what gets well, I mean, first of all, he doesn't want to anger Vladimir Putin right now, Michael Cohen is sort of conciliary though, who served time, who was as assistant, who has now basically turned state's evidence against Donald Trump has a book coming out today as we speak. I don't know when this is airing, but it's a Tuesday. And in the United States, the 8th of September, and this book is being released as we speak. And in this book, he said that Michael Cohen said the president has an adherence to Vladimir Putin. He likes the way he runs Russia, like a business. And these are quotes. And these sorts of things, these sort of like a business, otherwise he wouldn't have sanctioned so on and he wouldn't be jailing and poisoning people, but, okay. michael shure: (27:33) No, I agree with you. I'm this I'm just, I'm paraphrasing what Michael Cohen is saying, but there is an authoritarian, um, way of running a business that Donald Trump seemed to like to do and, and Cohen for his part. And again, we're talking about somebody who was, who served time in prison, but served time in prison, covering for Donald Trump. I think that Cohen is saying that he runs it like a mob boss and a mob boss doesn't care if the other guy gets whacked in the case, in this case. So if you see that the head of another family as Putin might be in Donald Trump's parlance, then you protect that person. There are also business interests that we don't know about this all ties into when we get his tax returns. What we know about his loans and Deutsche bank and those sorts of things, maybe if you don't know about as well, Hey, there could be that too. michael shure: (28:17) I know you gotta go Biden or Trump. I mean, really to call for you because the polls are like seven and a half, 8% for Biden. Yeah. It's not too early to call for me. I think that Biden's gonna win. I don't see a path that the Trump has electorally here or with the popular vote. I see him fighting in places that the Republican should not be fighting in this time. Dana, and even though Nate silver, and a lot of the good pollsters here in the United States are saying that he has better than a one in four chance of winning reelection. I think that you also have been Joe Biden with just the three and four chances. Pretty good. I do think that there are going to be places that you think the president is not going to do as well, where it's going to start doing well already. You're seeing him riding off Michigan. He's got to make up for that. And he's got to make up for a couple of other States. It looks like he's going to lose. I just don't know where he goes for those electrodes. dana lewis - host back story with Dana Lewis : (29:03) I think most of Europe will be relieved if you're, if you're right. And I have no doubt that Michael shore probably is right, Michael. Thanks. Thank you. And that's backstory on the American election. Please subscribe to backstory. And if you can share it, we really appreciate you listening. I'm Dana Lewis and I'll talk to you again soon.

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ecotone99 · 5 years

Text

[SF] The Road to Hell is Through Kentucky

“Criminal Record?”, asked a highway billboard of James as he drove by. It was only after he’d passed it and cranked the radio up contemptuously that the sign’s red-lettered answer registered: “No pardon - only job! Call us!” A moment later, he was coating his borrowed ride in limestone dust with a wide 180, moving the transmission to protest as he turned. He steadied, facing the sign’s rear in silhouette, as the early evening sun stung his eyeballs. He grabbed his mom’s sunglasses from the console and got back up to speed.

A text alert sang out from his days-old phone as he pulled up across from the billboard. Seeing its preview from his lock screen, he sighed at the thought of reading it all and turned the engine off. Hey James, your mom gave me your number. I knew you and Tim were close and it was good to see u today-

A message from another world. One where driving high was a fact of life, and if people perished, God must have needed another angel. He wondered why they didn’t speak of God’s need for their man-slaughtered victims too - wouldn’t they need less reforming in heaven anyways? At least Tim had only killed concrete, and himself, and good on him for avoiding the condescending treatment by dying. That, and Kentucky. If only James had had the privilege…

He called the billboard’s number in a hurry.

“New Pathways Employment Services - how may I help you?” the exotic-for-Kentucky woman chirped.

“Uh, hi, yeah, uh, I saw your billboard and called about work. I have a record.”

“Great! So, I just need some information from you. You’re calling from where, sir?”

“Kentucky. Richmond’s where I’m closest to for big cities-”

“Good, good. Just needing to know which office to transfer you to, you’re good to hold?”

James checked his battery. This new thing was a tank.

“Yeah. Can you not play music though?”

“I’m afraid that’s automated, sir. I’ve heard worse holding music myself, though. Good luck with the position!”

“Thanks. You t...fuck.”

James flicked the phone to speaker and let it sing jazz in the passenger seat where his suit jacket lay crumpled. Even the birds were quiet, like an audience of kids for a transistor radio ball game.

At least you got invited.

And at least he got to see Tim’s parents, who actually gave a shit that he was still sober and had bothered to come out.

“Hello?” a man asked from James’s phone.

“Oh, hi,” James answered, seizing the phone and switching it off of speaker. “This is the Richmond office for New Pathways?”

“It certainly is! I am the HR coordinator here. You’re interested in working for us?”

“Yes. I could use that, yessir.”

“Well - you’re in luck. We call ourselves research, but really, that does us a disservice. We got federal funding, we got pay for you, obviously, and we’re even helping out this beautiful country.”

“Amazing! So - what needs to happen on my end?”

“We would just have to meet up in person to go over a few things. Confirm your record - maybe a first for you - and make sure you are up to the task as a participant.”

“I’m up to anything. I need the work, obviously, but I’m also glad if other people can be helped.”

“So are we...so are we. And we will. How is tomorrow, the Monday then, for you, uh…”

“James. James Alexander.”

“Alright, Mr. Alexander. You name a time, and we’re over at 584 McArthur Road here in town.”

“I can do noon.”

“Beautiful. You have yourself a good night then, Mr. Alexander.”

“Night.”

The sunset was warm as James slumped in his seat to smile at it.

New Pathways’ office building loomed like a new law firm; the glasswork must have used up a small beach. James braced himself and walked through into its drafty lobby, where a young man in the middle of the lobby glanced up from his typing to ask James:

“How can I help you today, sir?”

“I’m here for a noon appointment with New Pathways, with your HR person.”

The secretary kept typing at half-speed with one hand and pushed a separate button with the other.

“I’ve let Mr. Wilson know you’re here. Would you care to take a seat, and grab yourself a water or a coffee if you’d care to? He’ll be down right away.”

“Yeah, sure, sounds good.”

The seating area was an island of clutter off to the side of the bare foyer. Its resident coffee pot was burned to a crisp, and the seating was sparse. Still, James helped himself to coffee and picked up an old Psychology Today to read in a patterned armchair.

“Psychopaths Among Us! The New Norm?” read its title on top of a photograph of a pretty woman holding a mask of her face. James cracked a smile. Happily, as the title story soon told him, there was no literal danger of increasing psychopathy among humanity. The more pressing challenge was children raised right acting wrong and not understanding what they’d done wrong quite well enough. The article’s last segment had a picture of a priest, sans mask, talking about the importance of community - though quickly clarifying that this did not need to come from a church. His unpictured fellow, a school principal, expressed the same sentiment.

“Mr. Alexander?”

James dropped the magazine to meet the HR person, who seemed younger than James even, and had an honest-looking face.

“Yes…” James stood for a handshake, “You’re Mr. Wilson, the HR guy?”

Wilson smiled.

“Something like that. It’s good to see someone reading those things. Are you a psychology buff?”

“I took some in college. I like how they can present it so simply, you know? It’s different from reading however many news articles on my phone that have different conclusions…”

“I hear ya...are you good with some stairs?”

“Lead the way.”

The second floor was denser, save for a couple expansive board rooms. Wilson led him to a modest office at the very end of the hall.

“Have a seat wherever you’d like!” Wilson said with a flourish, giving the option of two whole chairs. James sat down in the straight-backed one while his interviewer settled in behind his desk.

“So…” Wilson began with a smile, “I am so excited to have you with us. I’m sure you’ve got plenty of questions, but I felt like a brief introduction to what we do could be helpful to start - I’m guessing you saw the billboard?” James nodded.

“That’s quite an approach to branding. How many other desperate bastards have ended up in here?” That won him a laugh.

“We have had a few. Though - and this may sound like a lot at once - you seem more promising than most. That’s not me being intuitive or flattering you, full disclosure. We work with the criminal justice system and have read the basics of your case, as well as the kind of man you’ve been since.”

James bristled. “Well I’m glad at least you think I’m promising, based on that. No other employer has cared enough to see the change. ‘Recovered felon’ is really only a badge of honour in movies.”

“I know. Whereas for us, it’s a big deal.” Wilson clicked his pen and scribbled a note on a clipboard. “Have you ever heard of H-A-T-T?”

“That’s not a familiar acronym. Is that a therapy? A procedure?”

“Yes and yes. I’d be concerned if you knew it, so you’re likely not a liar. In short - it is about transference of feelings with a clear goal in mind.” It was James’s turn to laugh.

“You can do that? Chemically? That seems neurologically impossible and/or dangerous for both parties…”

“Don’t forget how we actually used to put people on antidepressants, James. The limits of what works and does not work are always changing...”

“Well, fuck me. That does sound useful. Outside of how it could be abused. Seems like a short walk to dystopia from a world in which that’s possible.”

“You’re not wrong.”

James eyed an old-school portrait above and behind his interviewer. There was a likeness there, though the painted figure had a chest full of war medals.

“Is that guy a relative?” James asked. Wilson smiled.

“He was my father.”

“I’m sorry...when did he pass?”

“Two years ago.” Wilson turned, pen in hand, and pointed at his Dad’s likeness.

“He’s maybe even worth discussing here. This is what I mean. People I’ve interviewed thus far wouldn’t even have asked that. How do you suppose someone who wears all those medals ends up dead in his 50’s? It’s not a trick question.” And still, there was no good answer to it.

“Is it stereotyping to assume he killed himself?”

“Yes...but as usual, you’re not wrong. He had a mini-Rwanda type situation back in Yemen, where there was ethnic cleansing happening and the UN were cowards.”

“Shit.” “Indeed. And he didn’t write a memoir or end up telling middle schools about it, he just ate a gun one day. Unnecessary guilt. Doesn’t much matter to the brain if it’s unwarranted, right?”

“Right.” The coffee was scalding. James set it down.

“And that’s kind of where this all started for me. I was so goddamn pissed that someone like him would die when other people can’t feel appropriately guilty for anything. Not that you’re one of those, so far as I can see.” Wilson stood up and went over to the window, overlooking an empty park and streets full of traffic. “And I figured, what if people were to feel what they were supposed to feel? What could that look like?”

“You have my interest peaked, at least.”

“And as it turned out - I’ve worked in ‘agencies’ for years - I wasn’t the only one with that idea. Scientists have been working on feelings transference for a while, and the possibilities are endless. They’ve gotten people who languished in therapy for years to feel less guilty about stuff that paralyzed them for years...” James grabbed a stress ball of the desk, and used it as prescribed for once.

“So this is early stages stuff then? I haven’t read one news article even about any of this.” Wilson turned around and came back to his seat.

“Those are the good results I mentioned. The others...complications are likely, if not inevitable. Just like how a kidney transplant can be worse than none, so, too, can poor matching be awful - for both parties.” The notepad went untouched. Wilson was zoned in like a goalie at match end.

“And, really, that’s where we get to your case. We can keep making efforts at better matches with our procedures, and we will. But there is a population of society with less to lose and more to gain on this stuff.”

“Talk about an ex-prisoner’s dilemma…”

“Only your outcomes here are better than the original prisoner’s dilemma, I swear. What if I told you you could make a guilty piece of shit feel guilty for what he did? Reform him, preclude him from recidivism and thus from modeling criminality to his kids and the whole bit? That’s within reach, James. That is precisely what we are researching.”

“Goddamn…”

“The downside, and there is a real one, is that you would have to feel terrible things. Experience terrible things. And that shame and guilt or whatever is appropriate for the offender would be siphoned out of you into them, if you were a match.” James’s stomach dropped and he scratched at his armrest.

“‘...experience’?”

“Through VR. Very good VR. It makes use of brain matter from the original offender, while the transferee wouldn’t get the VR - they’d receive the physiological results of your experience via intraneural transfusion. And to you, your crimes would be 100% real until the whole process was complete. There would be no sense of self or even free will, per se - just you doing awful things. You’d feel similarly to how you felt when you killed your friend three years ago, to a much greater degree. That’s how we would be using H-A-T-T in this instance.”

“Fucking hell. I haven’t been through enough already to pass it on to someone else?”

Wilson sighed.

“If only. There’s a critical difference between contrition which obviously transformed you to be better and the kind of precursors to contrition that another person would require. And with getting you to experience new things too, there would be no limit on how much we could incentivize someone else.”

“That’s fucked up.” Wilson laughed.

“And isn’t the status quo? Isn’t broken people going back to broken families and expanding them while blaming the system? Isn’t 15-year-olds in the suburbs acting like how only terribly traumatized youth used to?”

James leaned forward unwillingly from the growing sense of weight.

“I don’t know if that’s a burden I’d want to bear…”

“We have no evidence that you would need to bear it past the procedure, though. We have more research into healing than re-incentivizing people, for obvious reasons. And, also, I lied.” James shot up out of his seat -

“Wait, WHAT? What…”

“On that first billboard you must have seen. There is a pardon at stake here. Not a chance, not conditional, but the real deal. You, free, with the potential to be a social worker or psychologist or whatever you want. Just think of that.”

James slumped down and eyed his coffee, awash with ripples from his near-outburst.

“Who’s the worst person I would have to be? Don’t tell me I have to be a serial killer.”

“You do have to be a serial killer, yeah. The alternative would be getting you to commit a bunch of more minor crimes which wouldn’t hurt you in the same way. We couldn’t map those to objectively awful actions the same as we can with famous murder cases - any robber could have secret good motives, after all.”

James tried his coffee again. It seemed stronger and more bitter, somehow. The mug at least made pleasant chiming noises as he drummed on it with his fingers.

“So there’s no way I will remember being Ted Bundy or whoever. I’ll just be Ted Bundy, then end scene, and I am me again, and Joe Pseudo-Psychopath is now Joe Repentant?”

“That’s close to it, yeah.” James looked at Wilson Sr. for a while. He still looked happy in his portrait, noble and American.

“I can do it with conditions. If I’m going to be on anything other than general anesthetic, I need to be confined for a few days afterwards. I break out in track-marks from any drug.”

“Absolutely. We have safe housing and medical as well as security staff.”

“And I want updates on whichever poor bastard ends up feeling what I felt, even if I don’t get his name or anything. I do not just want to be a lab rat.”

“Of course.”

Wilson’s right hand clasped his left. He didn’t blink very often for someone who thought so fast.

“And I guess naturally this is an ‘I talk I die’ kind of thing?”

“Not quite, though you would end up back in prison with no one to believe you. We have you on that one breach that no one else knows about, and would not hesitate to share it with your parole officer.”

“...Where can I sign?”

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