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#bog boy banter
bastardbogboy · 2 years
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putting a thought forward for all my fellow dorian shippers: why wouldn’t robbie say who he felt dorian had romance with if there wasn’t a chance (or even a plan) he’d come back?? if robbie knew he’d never come back to the campaign, there’d be no reason to not say “oh yeah dorian was definitely crushing on x”. unless they know something we don’t 👀
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discovery
summary: kung lao doesn't know when he developed his crush on raiden
warnings: none :)
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Kung Lao wasn’t sure when he had developed a crush on Raiden. Perhaps it was when they had met as young kids in the cabbage fields. Kung Lao had been waiting on the side of the patch waiting for his father to finish up the work day and eating some sugar tomatoes that his mother had packed for him earlier. He had spotted a young boy his age running down the road excitedly when the young boy had suddenly tripped and tumbled down into the road face-first. Kung Lao stood up from his spot, unsure if the boy needed help or not. Whenever Kung Lao fell down, he usually got right back up with a smile on his face and a few bruises on his knees. However, the little boy instead sat up and started to sob quite loudly. Walking up with a determined look, Kung Lao marched up to the boy and sat down next to him.
“My ma says that when you fall down, you have to get back up.” Kung Lao held out the small plastic container holding the snack, and the little boy sniffled and slowly took one of the slices and nibbled on it.
“I’m Kung Lao.”
“My name is Raiden.” The little boy mumbled as he finished his tomato slice, some tear streaks still drying on his face. Kung Lao stood up and offered his hand to Raiden. The boy took his hand and also stood up, and Kung Lao dragged him over to the side of the field.
“Do you wanna be my friend?” Kung Lao asked. Raiden nodded, and that was the start of their friendship.
Maybe Kung Lao’s crush had developed in school. Kung Lao was a cocky teenager and had said some choice words to some older kids. And so, after school when he was supposed to meet up with Raiden to go to Madam Bo’s for training, the older kids had ambushed and dragged him to some unknown corner in the school. Kung Lao may have had some martial arts training, but against several other opponents, Kung Lao had no chance.
Two of the older boys were holding Kung Lao up by his arms as another pummeled into him. It had been a while since they had started beating him up, and Kung Lao’s body ached too much to fight back anymore. In fact, he was pretty sure one of his ribs was broken, his nose was definitely broken, and one of his eyes was so swollen he couldn’t see out of it anymore.
“You gonna apologize now, you fucking brat?” The bully in front of him lifted Kung Lao’s head up by his hair. Kung Lao gave him a cheeky smile and then spit in his face and watched with his non-swollen eye how the blood and spit slid down the bully’s cheek. The bully reared back his fist, ready to knock out one of Kung Lao’s teeth when the door to the room swung open. The two bullies let go of Kung Lao, and he fell face-first onto the floor, too tired to really catch himself with his hands. Faintly, he could hear some yelling and some undignified screams coming from the bullies, but Kung Lao couldn’t really care. Not when the pain in his body screamed at him. Not when he felt so tired. He probably had a concussion from how hard one of them had flung him into a desk earlier.
“Kung Lao?!”
He looked up to find Raiden’s blurry face and felt himself be moved to be cradled in the other boy’s arms. Kung Lao looked around and found Madam Bo reprimanding the three bullies, all of them bowing low on the ground and sporting some new bumps on their heads.
“Hey, hey, stay awake. We should get you to the hospital.” Raiden lifted Kung Lao up, and Kung Lao might’ve thought it would’ve looked like a scene from a movie. The male protagonist picks up the romantic love interest and carries them away into the sunset. Except that Raiden was just his friend and that Kung Lao needed to go to the hospital. Raiden had stayed with Kung Lao the entire time he was in the hospital that day.
Or maybe Kung Lao’s crush on Raiden began when they graduated from school and started working the fields together. Neither of them were bogged down by homework or cleaning duties, and so had much more time to banter with each other as they gathered and planted the different vegetables growing at the farm. At the farm, Kung Lao got to see Raiden in all his glory. Sometimes, Raiden would take off his shirt, and the sun would glow around him in a way that looked like he had just descended from heaven. Kung Lao usually couldn’t look at Raiden those days in fear of accidentally drooling at the sight. They also had much more time to spar, and it was hard to ignore the muscles that Raiden had gained as they both grew into adults.
Kung Lao wasn’t quite sure when he had grown this crush on Raiden, maybe it was just a culmination of every moment they had been together, but as Raiden jabbed at Kung Lao’s ribs with his elbow and Kung Lao just laughed and handed the bill over, he was suddenly overcome with the desire to kiss Raiden. He really wanted to kiss Raiden.
As the man finished paying the bill and handed the money to Madam Bo, they both stood up and walked out into the night, continuing their conversation from before. Before long, they reached Raiden’s place, and just before he could enter his home, Kung Lao grabbed onto Raiden’s hand.
“Kung Lao?”
In the dim moonlight, Raiden looked ethereal. The moonlight framed his face just right and lit his face perfectly. His eyebrows were raised in a questioning gaze, and his lips were slightly parted. Kung Lao’s heart pounded in his chest, and he hoped the dark of the night hid his blush. Instead of answering, Kung Lao reached up and tucked a piece of loose hair behind Raiden’s ear.
“I really like you.” Kung Lao blurted out, immediately regretting how rushed it was. He was Kung Lao, he was supposed to be cocky, arrogant, and suave. Not whatever that was.
Raiden was silent, and Kung Lao felt his heart drop to his stomach.
“I’m-I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have. Let’s just forget about this-” Kung Lao took a step back, but Raiden held steadfast onto his hand and pulled him closer.
“I like you too.” Raiden let his arms wrap around Kung Lao’s slender waist, and Kung Lao clung onto Raiden’s shoulders at the sudden shortening of distance.
“Really? I mean. Yeah, of course you do. Everyone likes me.” Kung Lao stammered out. Raiden just smiled and drew his head in closer until their lips were just a breath apart.
“May I kiss you?”
Kung Lao nodded, and Raiden closed the distance between them. Perhaps Kung Lao would never find out when he developed his crush on Raiden, but maybe it didn’t matter because Raiden liked Kung Lao back and that was all Kung Lao needed.
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danglovely · 5 months
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Kim Possible Episode Tiers: The A-Tier
Since most of the episodes in the show are quality, the A-Tier is best defined as episodes that have a thing that makes them stand out. In addition to being quality, there's a reason to remember them.
This is also the largest tier, so strap in.
Coach Possible: The Kim coaching B-Story runs a little flat, but Jr. putting together a nonsensical plan that results in hypnotized Kim and Ron dancing in cages in a nightclub is what I live for. There's an underrated ending fight as well that culminates Kim fighting a Chuck E. Cheese robot, to catchy dance music, while Ron launches an evil disco ball to its destruction.
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Bueno Nacho: Another iffy B-Story about petty work squabbles, but it's one of the precious early-series moments where we get to see Drakken and Shego at the top of their game. This was actually back when Drakken was still menacing, despite kicking off the tiny oversight that ruins his plan trend. Also, the lean.
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Tick Tick Tick: The first episode in the production order. It does feel weird because they hadn't settled on the animation or the characters yet. That said, there is some amazing hero-villain banter in this one that they nailed right out of the gate.
Steal Wheels: The reveal that Motor Ed and Drakken are related pays off big time and it's sort of a shame that more team-ups between the two didn't happen. There are a couple of good things about the B-Plot here as well: (1) We sort of get a glimpse into how close Kim and Ron are, because she doesn't know what to do with herself when he's not there. (2) Always good to see Felix and have a character voiced by Jason Marsden.
Bad Boy: I honestly considered moving this lower, but I decided against it because the Attitudinator is too good of a concept to ignore. This episode drags a little bit because it gets bogged down in the exposition -- They felt the need to go through the whole process of Drakken not feeling evil enough, them going to the convention, explaining why Kim and Ron went to the convention, Ron being a bully for a bit . . . like get to the Evil Ron stuff already!
It's only a minor complaint though, this is still the A-Tier.
Mad Dogs and Aliens: Terrible B-Plot in this one because I never understood why Ron wasn't touched by Jim and Tim taking on the mantle and him immediately jumping in to show them how it's done (it's also kind of forgettable, it took some brain racking to remember it). The A-Plot is gold though. Bitter Drakken and apathetic turned jealous Shego reconciling the consequences of multiple episodes of Season Three wasn't really something I thought the show was capable of.
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The New Ron: I've written it before, but the Seniors are brilliant villains. Combine a criticism of obscene wealth + Ron giving them the idea + the motivation for world domination being boredom . . . it's just a glorious recipe for a unique, comedic delight. I also relate to Ron's cowlick problems.
Monkey Fist Strikes: It's another villain introduction for a very good villain. I think what really puts this one up there for me is another top fight scene. Another good music selection (that I'm not sure really how to describe other than giving off a Sherlock Holmes vibe). It results in Ron coming through, by himself, and leaving Fist cinematically strewn across the Tai Sheng Pek Kwa insignia and surrounded by four broken idols.
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Odds Man In: What a surprise, another sort of weak high school B-plot. The interesting aspects here are Drakken getting caught up in the sort of corporate villainy he had previously expressed distaste for (see Rappin' Drakken). Also, Wade goes on a mission with Kim!
Mind Games: I love the body swap concept, but fiction always sort of does it the same way. Freaky Friday, Gravity Falls, this episode . . . it's all sort of the "I didn't understand how hard you had it" thing. What makes this episode A-tier is Drakken and Shego's interactions over the body swaps and the Neutronalizer are some of the funniest bits in the series.
Low Budget: I love Frugal Lucre. I love that he is voiced by Richard Kind and I love the idea of trying to hold the world hostage without spending any money.
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Crush: I made a whole post about how this is a really good Ron episode. It also might be the exception to this tier where it's just really high quality all the way through, but without anything particularly high concept about it. That's probably why it aired first.
Car Trouble: All of Shego and Drakken's interaction with Dr. Freeman are fantastic. It's too bad he wasn't a recurring scientist like Bortle. It's also a better B-plot than most because Sadie was a perfectly likeable vehicle.
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Go Team Go: One of the brief glimpses we actually get of Shego's past. I'm not sure if I'm 100% sold on her brothers or not, but undoubtedly this is one of the more interesting episodes. Plus, evil family.
A Very Possible Christmas: I've taken to watching this on Christmas. A lot of gushy holiday feelings between the two lead pairs. The ending is a little weird though.
Dimension Twist: There is an element of cringe here -- It's weird to put Shego in a very milquetoast Friends parody. There's a lot of good as well (trap trap, Drakken's book) and honestly, I just want to see what else the Pandimensional Vortex Inducer can do.
The Ron Factor: I wrote a whole post about this one too. It's a very interesting subversion of the metanarrative within the show and the only reason it isn't S-tier is that Global Justice annoys me a bit. Could definitely have used more Gemini in later episodes though.
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Sick Day: This is the best of the sub-15 minute episodes and the whole point of them is to go for quick laughs and nothing else. I would say it achieved it here with both sides having to quickly adjust to illness and the introduction of Hank Perkins.
Hidden Talent: "Say the Word" is a certified banger. I also like to see Drakken taking initiative to try and be a step ahead of the heroes. Don't forget, the only reason he loses here is because he tries the most complicated way of finishing off Kim ever.
Overdue: The second best of the 15-minute episodes. Once again, we're only here for jokes so we're going to see what happens when Ron tries to rush through defeating a bunch of different villains. It's enjoyable.
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Oh No, Yono!: It's the end of Monkey Fist. It's a satisfying coming-of-age conclusion for Ron and a heartwrenching moment when Kim gets turned to stone. It's only not S-tier because Yono's presence detracts from Ron's real archenemy.
Exchange: For as good as this episode is, it's also very much a setup for what the series planned to do with Ron in the future. We've seen him succeed on his own at this point, but Exchange is interesting in that it creates a part of his life that Kim just can't be associated with.
The Twin Factor: The first of like a hundred mind control plots. It's fun to see brainwashed Shego and Kim and it was important for the series to actually develop Jim and Tim a bit, lest they be pigeonholed into one-joke obstacles for Kim to overcome.
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blindedguilt · 1 year
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//So that essay I did. I ended up writing VERY VERY thinly veiled DOD fanfiction for the prompt which was basically “Write a first-person initiation into adulthood based off one of the stories in the textbook and a comparative essay between the two after” and so I ended up bullshitting the essay only reading the stories after I made the narrative lol i got a 96/100 anyways //I figured as it was about everyone’s favourite bilf of the bog that I’d post it here, but... //Reminder: This is my first time really solidly writing in first person since I was like nine, so it may be a bit rocky. First person is NOT my area of expertise lol //And ofc obvious trigger warnings for mentions of paedophilia and stuff (Nothing explicit though, of course!) //Enjoy!
“...And we’ll be married. You’ll see.” “I never saw you speak to each other.” “I said, you’ll see.”
So the banter had gone by so frequently then, and now stood I alongside his wife and his child, and mother on the other side, staring at the curves of his face and how it had thinned, still soft and child-like yet aged and grown in such a way none could have explained by any normal means. Perhaps, then, it was in the sight of those definitively unchanging eyes and how they gleamed the same way under the sun that had caught my attention, and in turn, his, and he turned to look back with some strange sadness that I had averted my gaze in some feeling between either abashedness or fear of any hint of understanding to be held. “...Why her?” “Her? Leonard, look at her.” “I do see her.” “Don’t you? You hardly even looked. Well…” “She… Is kind, isn’t she?” “Yes! And one day, I will make her my bride.” And so the village men had gone and lined up near the forest break on the army’s cart, the showing of the backs of their unnaturally cut hair settling an odd knot in the stomachs of I and who I was certain, the other few men who stayed behind. Orbas’s hair had been a similar length of the day I met him, so I had recalled, though the ends were splayed and framed that once pale neck in such a way that reminded me of the small leaves of a flaxen bush or perhaps a spring tree, though there was one small, favorite piece that strayed off the side of his face — His son, such a small child, had already inherited it — And so he had frequently kept tied and twined with the same strip of leather worn by men and women here. For Orbas, it was no more. I had thought to pick up his son at that moment; for his sake, his father’s sake, and as well my own. Near four and almost the same image as his father, that I had at times troubled myself in remembering his mother, and to see and grant his father’s own personal wishes of caring for that stray hair in his place (So as I had when we were mere boys), tying the silk strands in place, to have “him” so completely and totally reliant on me, it was comforting. The feel of the warmth from such a small body, held in my arms and placed against my own, the grip of small hands pulling against my cloak, was comforting. It was wish fulfillment, in a way. The circumstances in which we had met were entirely on Orbas’s own will. How he darted so confidently up to the smithing corner with frail legs that seemed ready to snap under his own weight, and I, feeble and feminine in mind as he was in body, having apparently gained some semblance leaning towards haughty self-bravado thought, ‘What does this mad fool think he’s doing? Who does he think he is?’ and was only further driven in such convictions when he spoke as if we had never once been strangers before. For Orbas, all it took was a single conversation —  And still, for all the good I’ve come to speak and feel for him, I think not once have I changed in my belief that he was completely mad that day in having tossed all pride aside to speak to the mollified mute of Atheren. 
He had dragged me from my crafts, introduced me to friends who would soon become my own, and had not once ceased for a day after to visit me in my practice there. Father was pleased at first, until he wasn’t, as I had gone from smithing and not speaking to speaking and not smithing, and following his harsh, booming rebuke towards the shaken lad as I could only offer my embarrassed gaze lowered towards the dirt, and bits of green with hints of metal in-between, he would come every other day instead. When we went out, with others or by ourselves as we later had, it had always been Orbas there to lead the way, the conversation, to give directions and warnings unless I knew better in my caution, to where I would try to speak — But I was merely a follower. I have always been, a fact with no shame in admitting and a fate I would think to show no more than indifferent contentment towards. “Why me?” I had asked. Another walk. “We never spoke before.” “Can you keep a secret?” I nodded. Something in my heart fluttered and leapt with those words. “Well… Haven’t you seen yourself?” Something must have been spoken in my silence as confusion or hurt in a way he didn’t need to look over his shoulder to see, prompting him to explain. “You never spoke to the adults or children your age, but only the animals and infants lost by their mothers. You panicked, but always found them home. We saw it. We all did, then, you know.” “...” “When you saw a fly being eaten by a spider, you would take a stick to it and try to ward it off. If you couldn’t reach, you’d find somewhere else to go that you didn’t have to hear it. Your father yelled at you because you had trouble baiting a fish hook. Other children… Normal boys, at least, we saw it and laughed. You, already bigger than the rest of us and yet hardly able to look anyone in the eyes. The girls fancied it, though, called you a gentleman and all, and so one day I thought, ‘I wonder if there’s someone he’s trying to impress with all this?’ and I began to get curious.” “No. I… I’m not trying to impress anyone.” “Well you certainly are when you follow every stupid order I give you.” I stared at the back of his head. A few more steps, and he peered over his shoulder at me, whatever look I wore causing those soft lips to curl up into a laugh. “There has to be someone.” “... There isn’t, honest.” “Say who. We can help you, Leonard, and you’re set to be wed before any of us. Haven’t you always spoken about wanting children? Yours and mine can be friends, and your sons will be older and teach my sons all about everything, just like us!” Something in those words had risen and tightened the back of my throat, and I spoke as I did back then, before I met him — Unable to look him in the eye, look at him at all, and my voice had grown so faint the sound had barely reached my own ears. “It is a secret. That is all.” … And as the years passed, that secret and I grew up and spent our years together, the “Secret” got married at fifteen, and I was sixteen, except he had grown out of being a “Secret”, and once I did, I thought to myself, “I am free” —  But I never did find a wife. When the friends of my childhood pointed them out, “That one’s pretty”, “I spoke to her, she is interested in you”, I only could only ever offer another soulless nod along to the increasingly agitated and growing band of married men, all who later had their sons I loved and adored just as I would have my own, and some had daughters, too. In that same year Orbas had gotten married, I moved on to another secret picking berries in the woods, another fixation skinning their knee on the ground, but after him, I never knew it as I did then — “Such a thing would be impossible,” I always told myself — And I continued life as a blacksmith’s son, a follower, and a coward to the war that brought itself to our town in search of new hands for slaughter. “Security” had been the word spoken to me that day, who chose to stay behind (The child incapable of baiting a fish hook or accepting nature in near all its form), in contrast to him, whose bravery sought the peace of the world, the heads of red-eyed monsters, all the glory and fame reflected back the small village of Atheren, even at risk of his own family, foraged and built. A family, one woman and her four year-old son, unable to fend for themselves. Once again he acted in a way that any madman might, entrusting his sole unmarried friend to care for a wife and son in his absence, and then again, perhaps not mad — Explicitly had he stated his trust with a laugh in that I had come “This far” without any luck, and furthermore went to cite our own, personal trust we had built in each other — He knew they would be fine because he simply knew me. Always the protector, and where I never did find a wife, I made my home among the children of the village. And as the cart started away through the woods with a forward jerk, and Obros, the sweetness grown out of his face, looked over his shoulder at me, his tiny son held in my arms, and smiled with that worried look, I smiled back. I gave him a nod in reassurance, and he slipped through that canopy of pine and birch and away towards war beyond. It’s alright now. Now, I am fine. He’ll be alright. He’ll be alright. It’s okay, because now, I’ve finally found someone. Someone I love, just as I loved you. It was a secret.
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din-jarhead · 1 year
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Thank you very much, I hope this isn't too much trouble! Here's the info, I'm sorry if it's too long!
Hobbies/likes - I adore adventures, witty and playful banter, pulling harmless pranks, joking around and having indepth discussions on anything and everything! I love reading, my favorite genres are poetry, Russian lit, and mysteries! I love learning about new things and knowing a little bit of everything, I'm very interested in psychology, history, mythology and folklore, and fashion! I adore all forms of art and storytelling, and I have quite a few creative hobbies! I especially enjoy interior decor.
Personality description - It takes me a while to feel comfortable around new people but once I do, I become really talkative and outgoing. I love helping out and I'm the therapist friend, people come to me to vent or for advice and comfort. I'm smart and ambitious; I love being the best at everything I do. I sometimes struggle with the hardwork and conviction, and I'm deathly afraid of failure and disappointing the people I love. I'm quite the hopeless romantic and I love being in love! I adore big and small romantic gestures. I also daydream a lot and I can get lost in my own world for hours. I can be quite dramatic and stubborn, and I tend to be withdrawn and distant at times. I get frustrated easily and I'm quietly competitive. My love languages are acts of service (giving) and quality time (receiving)
Physical description - I'm 5'9 and I have long and curly dark brown hair and brown eyes. I have a fair skin tone, I'm slim and I've got full lips and slight dark circles under my eyes. I wear glasses and I have broad shoulders. I also have these dimples that I really like! I love wearing makeup, and I almost always have a red lip on. I dress mostly in relaxed suits, blazers and coats and I love the occasional dress or sweaters layered over a white button down!
Thank you once again!! I really enjoy reading your fics <3 <3
No trouble at all, I love getting requests!!
I definitely see you with
Marcus Pike!
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Marcus as we know is absolutely a hopeless romantic, that boy loves being in love and having someone to share his life with.
He would be so ready to put in the effort to get you out of your shell, and would be super patient with you because he would know it would be so worth it in the end. He would absolutely adore listening to you talk about the things you’re most interested in, because he’s an educated guy and he loves learning about new things, especially when the person he loves is sharing them with him.
And if you’re frustrated or being distant? Sweet Markie is making sure he is ready to give you absolutely everything you need, even if what you need is just some time to yourself. When you’re ready to come back to him he’s prepared with so many date ideas and small gestures for you to show you he loves you. If you’re feeling overwhelmed at work and worried about failure, he’s right there to reassure you and remind you how amazing and capable you are.
Marcus also has therapist friend vibes, so he would be able to listen to you vent whenever you needed, especially if you’re feeling a bit bogged down with other people’s stuff.
I also see Marcus as the kind of guy who loves adventures and spending time outdoors. He would love to take you on a hike in Rock Creek Park in DC (very nice, highly recommend) and find a spot for a picnic and reading together. He would also take any pranks you pull on him in stride, he loves that you’re comfortable enough with each other to be playful in that way.
I hope you also think this is a good match, and thank you so much for reading my work, it means so much to me!
Xoxo
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sleepylixie · 3 years
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I Hate to Admit
College! AU Bang Chan X fem! reader
Imperium Universe || Jisung || Seungmin || Chan 
2k (I’m so sorry), fluffiest fluff 
Request? Yes! Hope you like this, Anon!! Apologies about getting a wee bit carried away. >.<
Warnings: None!
A/N: I liked writing this, even though it’s waayyyy longer than I expected it to be oops. This is an extension of the same universe as this Jisung fic and this Seungmin fic, but you can definitely read this as a standalone! Do let me know what you think about this fic, I’d love to hear feedback!! ONTO THE FIC :D
Requests are open for SKZ and BTS! || Masterlist
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The skate park right outside your campus was always an interesting sight. There were always a lot of people around, enjoying themselves on the gentle slopes and plateaus. You were always mystified by the way the skateboarders could so easily throw themselves into the air, seemingly unafraid of taking a tumble to the concrete floor.
You’d pass by the skate park thrice a week in the early evening, on your way to a part-time shift at Imperium- the closest bar to your university. Your shifts ran late sometimes, bordering on midnight when you’d step out of Imperium’s back door.
More often than not, you’d encounter the same lone figure in the skatepark on your way back- an average-sized, lean figure who had a way with the skateboard that you’d never seen anybody have before. The first time you spotted him, you stopped and watched for a few moments as he made his way up the slopes like it was nothing at all- he was that good.
Skateboarding wasn’t your thing as much as people watching- there were so many interesting people in the world, so many different kinds of personalities that you couldn’t get enough. You would write them into stories of back-alley romance, tales of rippling fantasy and chronicles of traitorous woe,  reveling in the way your worlds and characters built themselves up along the plot.
It became an unconscious habit, seeing the boy(it seemed like a boy, judging from his impeccably built shoulders and a penchant for extremely sleeveless muscle tops.) on your way back from your late bartending shifts.
He was curious, you decided. Who only visited the skate park when it was at it’s emptiest despite being so good? Did he not like attention? Was he shy? You made a mental note to try and talk to him one day- you weren’t hesitant with your curiosities. Someday, when you weren’t bogged down by your already numerous Works in progress and university, you would approach him and find out more about this midnight skateboarder.
But as it turned out, you didn’t have to wait too long.
//
“Y/N! Where were you, it’s almost 1 a.m!” Your sorority sister Chaeyoung sat up on her bed as you walked into your shared room. Her short blonde hair fluttered around her face as she slipped off the bed, bounding towards you. “I had a longer shift than normal, Imperium was weirdly full.” You responded, pulling your bag off your shoulder.
“Alpha Phi Alpha is throwing another rager. Do you want in?”
That’s when you heard it. You’d been so absorbed in the music from your own earphones that you didn’t even noticed the deep bass thumping through the air, the muffled cheers and screams of enjoyment. Of course there was a party going on, it was a Friday night.
Life next to a fraternity house wasn’t the most peaceful, but you didn’t mind it. Your sorority, Delta Kappa, was housed right next to the Alpha Phi Alpha frat house, close enough to share a fenced wall.
The Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity was the most sought after fraternity on campus; acceptance meant instant skyrocketing of social worth. It was all extremely cliché: the best frat on campus, filled with the smartest, most attractive guys, throwing the most memorable parties and yet maintaining their stellar record of being good at pretty much everything.
“Sure, why not? I have some energy to let off.” You smile, throwing open your shared wardrobe. Chae’s eyes shone wickedly, she was sold by the idea of any kind of party. “Are any of the other sisters coming??”
“Jennie, Lia and Yeri already left. I thought I’ll wait around for you.”
“How nice of you, Chae,” You huff out another laugh as you held out an outfit for her to see. “Ooh, I like it. Now hurry up, right?”
“Okay, okay!!”
20 minutes later, you were walking into your next-door frat house with Chae, already warmed by the electric vibe. “Y/N!!! You’re here!!”  There he was-tall, blonde and devastatingly handsome. Also seemingly tipsy, by the looks of it. Hwang Hyunjin was one of your closest friends, but he had a hard time handling his liquor, even though he would stoutly disagree when sober.
“What took you so long?” He slurred slightly, slinging an arm around you and giving you a tight, alcohol-smelling hug. “Unlike some of you, I have a job, Hyunin,” You quipped, returning his embrace and pecking his cheek- your usual greeting.
“Whatever, you’re here now.” He scoffed and ruffled your hair. “ We just made some new additions to the frat, you should come and meet them.”
“Sure, why not?” So Hyunjin took your hand and led you through the throngs of partying people. Soon enough, you stepped onto the roof of the frat house, a fairly clean space for being set up by a troupe of boys. Fairy lights left the people on the terrace bathed in soft yellow lights, a rather aesthetic sight.
There were around a handful of people lounging around on the couches and carpets, but Hyunjin led you to a particular group of people nearest to the railing, laughing and talking in a circle. You knew he had a gang of friends from all over the campus that just seemed to have an inexplicable pull towards each other.
You knew some of them by appearance from other ragers- music major Jisung with the cheeky smile, law student Seungmin with the puppy-eyes and an acidic tongue, Changbin with his almost flawlessly built body (you always paused for a second to admire his physique) and Minho, the guy who for some ominous reason always had bruised knuckles.
“Y/N! Hey!” Jeongin exclaimed, eyes brightening up in an endearing smile. “Hey Innie,” you grinned, happy to see another familiar face in the junior from the same major as you. “Yes yes hello and all that, Innie,” Hyunjin rolled his eyes, ignoring the look of mock offense he got from Jeongin. “I brought Y/N to meet Chan, coz he’s new to the frat, and my favorite sorority girl should be the first to know about the new fish.”
He threw an arm out, pointing to one of the guys leaning against the railing of the terrace, all smiles and black hair. You extended your own smile towards him, already giving him a casual once over- He wasn’t too tall, with impeccably built shoulders in a muscle top….wait. The question was out of your mouth before you could stop it.
“Are you the weirdo that goes skateboarding at midnight?”
A pause rippled across everybody in the circle, the smile on Chan’s face reducing to an incredulous splutter as Jisung choked on a giggle- that did it. All of the guys dissolved into peals of laughter, loud and unrestrained.
“Sorry about that,” You said, letting out an embarrassed sigh as you stepped around the circle to get closer to Chan. “I’ve seen you in the skate park when I’m getting back after work.”
He shrugged, his handsome features still splashed with sheepishness. “It’s fine, it was just a matter of time, I guess.” Over the laughter, you could hear how smooth his voice was, like melting chocolate.
“If it counts for anything, I thought you’re really good at it.” You weren’t the beat around the bush with your words. “You made it look so easy.”
A light blush reddened his ears as he grinned at the compliment. “Thanks.. Y/N, was it?”
You spent the rest of the night with the boys, caught in easy banter- but particularly, you got to know Chan. He had been living off campus until he’d decided to apply for the fraternities on a whim, ending up with an acceptance to Alpha phi Alpha. He was a business major, with a creative minor in music producing- just like Changbin. He was a natural extrovert, effortless with conversation and people skills, a man married to his work-to the point that he regularly lost sleep over it. He was also a bit of a dork, you noticed, with his random bursts of exaggerated hand movements and lame jokes.
The sun was beginning to rise when you decided to get back home. “It was nice getting to know you, Channie,” you grinned, pulling him into an easy hug and pecking his cheek.
“Likewise, Y/N.” He smiled his captivating smile at you, before walking you to the frat house door. “Before I go, what do you say about exchanging numbers?” You asked. He was a good sort, the kind of guy who’d make a really good friend. Why not?
Chan agreed amicably and sent you off with promises to catch up soon, leaving you feeling light and happy.
To your surprise, he ended up dropping by your sorority the very next morning, asking if you were up for waffles at a nearby café. You happened to be awake at the time and decided to tag along with him- even though it was 6 in the morning.
“The guys refuse to wake up early and join me,” he complained, holed up in the café with plates of waffles and orange juice in front of you. “Chan, be honest,” You chuckled. “The only reason we’re awake at ass o’ clock is because both of us can’t sleep to save our lives.” He rolled his eyes in amusement. “Stop wise cracking and get on eating, Y/N.”
That café run cemented your day-old friendship into one of peaceful camaraderie, a safe space for each other within the chaos of your friend circles.
//
Winter melted slowly into spring, bringing tidings of new beginnings, assignment and semester exams and subsequently, end of semester parties. As always, Alpha phi Alpha was throwing a rager of a party that was expected to be the best all semester.  Your entire sorority had received invitations and were all excited to drown out the stress of exams week. You, on the other hand, were also thinking about something else. Someone, rather-Chan.
You and Chan had only grown close over the course of the past months,  gradually bonding over ungodly morning cafe runs, late night texts between breaks and video calls asking for outfit opinions.
You frequented the frat house more often, a fact that Hyunjin rejoiced (and teased you relentlessly) over. Chaeyoung only gazed at you with a suggestive look in her eyes when you slipped into the room at 2 a.m in the morning with one of Chan’s many black hoodies hanging off your shoulders. What, it was winter, it was cold on your way back from Imperium and he offered! Chan, to his credit, seemed to be just as invested in this newly growing friendship as you were. He walked you back from Imperium whenever he was at the skatepark, invited you on his midnight skate runs,  even almost breaking his arm trying to teach you how to balance on his skateboard.
It was an outlet for his energy, he explained one day. Sometimes working on music or going on a run didn’t give him the same sense of calm that skateboarding did. It wasn’t about the attention for him- with Chan, it almost never was. Not surprisingly, you liked that about him.  You liked Chan, for all his insomniac, stress skateboarding, black hoodie hoarding self.
The party was already in full swing when you and Chaeyoung knocked on the main door. One of the frat boys you didn’t know opened the door, smirking at you before yelling over his shoulder. “Yo, Chan, your girl’s here!”
Your eyes widened, exchanging an amused glance with Chae, who was openly laughing at your expression. Chan’s girl? Not that you hated the sound of that.. But you were just a friend- a friend who had a crush on him.. Right??
Chan hurried to the door that very instant, shoo-ing his frat brother off. “Sorry about that,” he murmured , exchanging hugs and cheek kisses with you and Chae. “To the usual spot?” he grinned, comically offering you his arm.
“Of course, my dearest,” you gushed, the two of you bursting into a fit of giggles as you linked your arm with his, allowing Chan to steer you towards the staircase leading up to the terrace. Once on the rooftop, you were met with a familiar sight- 7 boys giggling and talking amongst themselves in a loose circle near the railing. “Chan, don’t hog all of Y/N’s attention, she’s here for the party, you know?” Jisung called out the second he spotted the two of you heading towards them.
Amidst a gale of laughter, Chan frowned indignantly, opening his mouth to give Jisung a tongue lashing before you broke in, a sly smile stamped across your own face. “Who says I’d mind it??”
A chaotic chorus of 7 male voices responding to you had you laughing aloud, scanning Chan’s face for any discomfort. But he only had flaming ears, shifty eyes,  and a shy smile trained on you- a smile that shifted from shy to teasing in split seconds.
“If that’s the case, then I’m stealing Y/N for the night, you guys!” He declared, grabbing your hand and pulling you towards the door the two of you had just walked through. “Chan, what are you doing?” You breathed out in amusement, not pulling your hand away. Your heart was beating out of your chest at everything going on, especially with Chan’s warm hand enclosing yours and the way he’d just smiled at you-
“Something I’ve wanted to do for a while now,” Chan’s voice was exactly as you knew it, smooth, warm melted chocolate. “Come with me to the skatepark. Just for a while.” Who were you to say no to that voice?
//
Chaeyoung opened the door to the sorority early next morning, squawking in laughter when she saw who stood in front of her. You in Chan’s hoodie, your hand in his, your lipstick staining the side of Chan’s jaw and the kicker- you hugging Chan, quickly landing a soft kiss on his lips before skipping into the house.
Chaeyoung could only look at the adoring look on Chan’s face as you disappeared into the house and close the door, laughing quietly.  Ah, young love. 
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justjuiceyboy · 3 years
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drunk words are sober thoughts
In which juice looks after you when you’ve had one, or five too many but are too proud to admit it
word count: 1,382
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“Ye know what we’d call ye back in Ireland? A fuc-“
“Okay! Let’s go talk to Tig and Chibs instead, yeah?” Juice cut you off before you made a further embarrassment of yourself by picking a fight with the crow-eater you were about to curse out. Hauling your arm and practically dragging you, you end up in front of Tig, almost falling into him as he caught you with his free arm, the other nursing a bottle.
“Has someone had a little too much?” He laughs, whilst nudging Chibs to turn in your direction, earning a glare from you and wide eyes from Juice. You ripped your arm away, as forcefully as possible, however it was only a tiny pull to Tig so he let you go. Juice knew that you tried to keep up the reputation of the Irish being the best drinkers in the world, but when it came to the club boys, you were plainly outnumbered and outdrank. But of course, Juice wasn’t going to be the one to tell you that. He didn't have a death wish.
“Obviously not Trager, who do you think I am? I’m not some little” your words were too slurred at this point for anyone to distinguish what the rest of the sentence was, but they could guess. Tig let out a chuckle. You started mumbling a song that the boys didn't recognise, an Irish drinking song called the Rattlin Bog.
You got on well with everyone, which you didn't expect to. You were from the Republic of Ireland, not the north. You knew the club had dealings with the north that they weren't the most fond of but that seemed to be put aside when it came to you. The most they made fun of you for was your accent. If Tig asked you to say the number 333 one more time, you'd kill him. But you knew it was all in good fun. You got along well with Chibs, able to make playful banter back and forth about how his family were from the north.
“Ay, lass, I think you might want to slow down a little. Wouldn’t want you to get sick” Chibs said, his voice half full with concern but he definitely also found it funny. He knew that Juice would take care of you so he wasn’t overly worried. Everyone in the club knew of Juice’s undying affection for you, hell, his flat out love for you. Everyone knew it, except you. He had never told you that he had loved you since you had arrived in Charming just over a year and a half ago. It was painfully obvious to everyone else that he went out of his way to make you laugh and do small gestures that he definitely wouldn’t do for anyone else.
“Scotts, thinking they’re better than us,” you joked, rolling your eyes, which is when you noticed how fuzzy your head was. You had tried to keep up with Happy earlier but by the time he had finished one bottle of beer, you had only taken a few sips of yours. Not wanting to feel the defeat, you then chugged the entire bottle to keep up. This happened at least six times. Of course Happy didn’t feel the hit of six bottles, he was conditioned to drink much more, but you were a much smaller build than he was so all at once the beer hit you like a bus. It didn’t help that you continued drinking so now you had pretty much lost count of how many you had consumed.
You felt an arm wrap around your waist which stabilised you because you didn’t even realise you were slightly swaying. Looking up, you realised it was Juice and you felt more at ease. The boys started talking amongst themselves, you couldn’t even process what their conversation was about so you decided to stay out of it and hope no one asked you any questions. Looking down, you ran you thumb along the tattoos on Juices’s arm, your stomach feeling less queasy when you focused on one point. You didn’t notice Chibs glancing down to see you smiling and still tracing the lines of Juice’s ink. He nudged Tig and both of them smirked slightly. As much as they wanted to make fun of Juice, they couldn’t help but find it sweet. They liked you, you were always up for a joke, you had brought happiness and comfort to Juice, even though you both weren’t officially together.
You were so focused on the lines of the reaper tattoo, you didn’t notice that Chibs had whispered to Juice “might be best to bring the lass to bed, she’s not going ta miss much, most will be leaving soon anyways”. Tig nodded, leaving Juice to agree. 
Juice kept his arm firmly on your waist but this time began to move away from the other two sons. You followed, being led away from the party and down the hallway to the dorms. This was the first time you looked up, mumbling “Juicey where are we going?”
Opening the door, he led you to sit down on the bed. This is when you realised the world was spinning right before your eyes. “Back in a sec” he chuckled when he saw you moving your head round in circles, to follow how your eyes perceived the world, “don’t go anywhere”. He knew that you wouldn’t be moving anytime soon without assistance so he ventured back into the party to find a glass that wasn’t full of spirits or cigarette butts. Finding one tall glass, he emptied a bottle of water from the fridge and came back to his dorm to find you in the very same position, head swaying.
“Here, drink up” 
“At least someone here still knows that I’m the superior drinking partner” you muttered angrily. He laughed again as you hadn’t figure out it was water.
You took a big gulp and handed the glass back to him. He left it on the edge of his bedside table, knowing that you’d need it in the morning when you would definitely feel like death. He retrieved one of his SAMCRO t-shirts and helped you out of your own shirt, which smelt like booze. He desperately tried not to look anywhere other than your face, slightly failing but you didn’t notice. Putting the shirt on it reached to your mid thighs, so was able to take off your jeans. You jumped slightly as he fingers brushed against your thighs.
“Don’t worry, darling. Just getting these ridiculously tight things off you” referring to your jeans.
“Stupid yokes, don’t even know why I wear ‘em. Well no actually I do. I wanted to look good for you tonight so you might finally notice me but obviously that’s never going to happen, ugh I just want-“ your drunken ramble was all Juice needed to hear to make his breath hitch but he couldn’t seize the opportunity he had waited for so long for. Not when you were like this and wouldn’t remember anything tomorrow morning. He was happy to know that you finally felt the same way about him that he felt about you.
When he had successfully taken off your skinny jeans, he leaned you over into the bed so that you were now on your side. He pulled the covers up and gave you a light kiss on the forehead. “Stay with me?” You asked sweetly. “Of course” he replied. 
He nestled in beside you, you beneath the covers, him on top. There was silence for a few minutes and he thought you had already drifted off.
“I’m not drunk. I could still outdrink all of you” you mumbled, dazed with sleep.
Letting out a breathy laugh, “of course you could sweetheart, but we don’t want to upset Tig and his ego” he replied back to your statement as you drifted off to sleep.
Juice lay content, with your head on his chest, you finally asleep. He knew he’d have to talk to you in the morning about what had happened but he was fine to stay where he was for right now, replaying your words over and over in his head. 
Because hey, drunk words are sober thoughts.
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(Authors note: this isn't in any way making fun of Irish people, I am one! Also tried to stay out of the past politics between the north and the republic, don't want to get political at all. Just thought it'd be a funny prompt for the story)
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sarunohadaki · 3 years
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DQXI/Great British Bake-Off Crossover
Crossover week: Home | 1 | 2 | 3| 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 |
This story idea in particular is very near and dear to my heart because when I first arrived in the SOS discord server, I mentioned it, and I got to talk with a lot of cool people for a long time about it. A lot of people seemed to love the idea, and Cicada even made art for it! 😭
It’s my favorite crossover idea and would be the most intricate to write. More under the cut because it’s another long post. (very long. With graphics. What is this, an essay?)
Spoilers for a potential future Saru fic.
Funny-but-I’m-not-using-these fic title ideas: Baking Bananaza, Fluff — and not just Meringue
Relationships: Gen or M/M (depending on how heavy the luminerik will come out)
Premise: Erik is a graduate student studying biogeochemistry with a particular interest in peat bogs in the UK. He interviews and gets on the show after Mia nags him to do it in the hopes that it’ll have a monetary reward, but as they soon find out, there’s no money involved. Erik participates anyway, figuring it’ll be a fun thing to do and help him hone his skills for the next time his sister randomly begs him to make éclairs at two in the afternoon.
He doesn’t really know what to expect, having never watched the show before, and is initially a little overwhelmed when he meets other amateur bakers from all over the country.
Twelve contestants enter the tent, but only one will come out on top. Who will it be?
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Initial plan is to have none of the characters be related or know each other aside from the twins and Hendrik/Jasper. I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to have Rab related to El and so on and so forth, but I think it would be funner to have all the characters meet for the first time and develop friendships from there.
Everyone’s occupations are picked directly from my self-indulgent wants, haha.
And then here are some epithets, since the show uses things like this sometimes:
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The structure of the fic
I initially thought it would be fun to do it sort of like a screenplay, but I am most comfortable writing in third person limited. BUT when you do it that way, you lose out on all the other disasters that are happening around the tent because you are only seeing what Erik’s seeing. And it would get boring after one episode to tell the reader, “I am now making this cake and following these directions.”
To combat this, I think it would be cool to do the omniscient POV for most of it, with the intention of writing it like an episode on TV. This would be interspersed with Erik’s director cut of events because he and Mia are watching the events play out while watching TV on the couch.
This would give us a chance to have Erik say, “Huh I didn’t realize the workstation behind me was almost literally on fire because I was too distracted trying to not over-mix my batter.” (Or staring distractedly into the back of ur crush’s head in front of you)
Plot
The short of it is you get to see a bunch of characters hang out and bake stuff semi-competitively! The long of it is, well… let me show you.
Each chapter is an episode
The Great British Bake Off usually has about 10 episodes, each with three challenges: the signature, technical, and showstopper. Whoever performs the worst holistically in each episode is eliminated. I have already roughly determined how that will play out based on some things I saw on a wiki. So, here’s the progression as it stands (don’t worry if it looks complicated at first — I can explain!):
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To read this chart, each number refers to the episode. So, to see how people performed in episode 1, go to 1 and read down the column. From episode 1, you can see Erik, El, and Hendrik did well, while Ronnie and Faris did not. Vince got booted. Doing things this way, you can see Sylv had a few rough patches before they were eliminated, while El — the sweet boy — was never on the judges’ “least favourite bakers” list (alongside Jade, Rab, or Serena!)
This isn’t the final thing, and maybe there are patches that don’t make sense, but for a skeleton, it’s pretty useful for thinking up interesting plot points.
For example, Vince gets eliminated after baking an unchewable cake, and Sylv keeps pushing the envelope on how flamboyant their bakes can be in showstopper challenges, which lands them in trouble. Veronica really messes up in one episode and makes the food way too spicy.
Recipes
Okay. So you thought that chart was complicated, then behold this! Charts detailing any and every challenge from the Great British Bake Off from series 1-10, including signature, technical, and showstopper challenges with hour constraints where I could find them. Compiled from various wiki pages into one Google doc.
Potential problem: I don’t know if it would be plagiarizing to take various challenges and put them in a fic, and even more worrisome, if I could include recipes or just rip off what former contestants made. To create everything from scratch (pun intended) would take a lot of work. Based on the elimination chart, there are 225 instances of something being baked. Do you know how much work that is. (It goes down to 160 unique dishes when you take into account technical challenges all being the same recipe.)
In recent series (the gbbo say “series” and not “season”), they have had a few episodes such as “the ’80s,” “vegan,” and “forgotten bakes,” along with such classics as cakes, biscuits, etc. Pretty much every season includes the following episodes: Cakes (episode 1), biscuits (2), bread (3), desserts (~4), pastry (~6), patisserie (9), and a final challenge (episode 10). That leaves you with about 3 or 4 unique challenges each series unless you cut out one of those staple weeks, such as pastry. (Also, for anyone wondering the difference between pastry and patisserie: Pastry is a type of dough with fat and patisserie is a style of baking.)
This is where I said things were going to get intricate. Sometimes the details are what really sell a fic for me. Remember the five senses or that random thing that no one cares about but helps fill in the setting or make the story feel more alive. Having a masterful grasp of which characters are cooking what without overwhelming the reader would be difficult. Unlike TV, the reader is keeping track of all of this in their head!
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I am no stranger to plopping some HTML into my fics from time to time and maybe that could help? To include graphics of what each person is baking, kind of like those… idk, “recipe blueprints” the narrator talks over where they tell you what the contestant is making and then they give you an illustrated piece of what the dish is supposed to look like.
Anyway, that’s a lot of work and I think just telling the reader, “he’s making this and I’m making this” would prolly suffice.
Why does any of this matter?
Because it’s fun. Because all of the characters will exchange jokes and poke at each other and I had plans to make Jasper and Hendrik have past beef and maybe Jasper throws food at Hennie or something. And also the pining for Elian would be very persistent. Erik and El have some stuff in common and their stations are right next to each other, maximizing the potential for banter and small talk about trying to manage school and this baking show thing at the same time.
In my heart, Erik wins because he’s the one who gets to date El at the end, but El is the hero so I know he’s the one who wins the show. And Hendrik has a secret baking sweet tooth so of course he comes in close third. (That is to prepare Hendrik for baking cakes for Jasper later.)
Unlike 80% of my fic ideas that are fusions, I think this one might be a legitimate crossover with people like Paul Hollywood, Merry Berry, and Noel Fielding. Sylv might slot into being a host, too.
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thisizaraisu · 3 years
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In/spectre vs The Detective is Already Dead: Every Masterpiece Has its Cheap Imitation
So I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately. While I did only give In/spectre an 8/10 due to its admittedly weak pacing, it was also one of my favorite anime to come out last year. I love the character chemistry and banter, it was enough to make me forgive the pacing a million times over. And The Detective is Already Dead sets itself up similarly to In/spectre with some great character interaction and a main girl that reminded me a LOT of Kotoko (and you can take one look at my profile picture to know how I feel about Kotoko). But if you’ve been reading my posts, you’d have seen that The Detective is Already Dead was the first show I dropped this season. So while I was initially very interested in everything the show had set up, there was a point where it all went wrong, and admittedly I don’t think it was Episode 2. Today I wanna take a deep dive into both series, and explain why one is a masterpiece and one is a disappointment.
Structure
The Detective is Already Dead has the most screwed-up story structure I’ve ever seen in an anime... and I watched God of High School. My biggest problem with the way the show is structured is that the chronology being completely random isn’t my only issue. We gleam two major facts from episodes 1-3: Siesta has passed away, and her heart is within the body of another girl. For whatever ungodly reason, knowing this we go back to a flashback where Siesta is fighting a kaiju with toxic breath that could wipe out the entire nation of Japan. Now tell me, if Siesta were to be killed by this monster, would she have any salvageable body parts left over? Hell no. And therein lies my problem: the way that the story has already gone through its motions leaves NO room for feelings of stakes or tension in these flashback sequences. It’s not just the chronological whiplash that bogs the whole thing down, but the fact that we already know Siesta’s fate makes these “intense” flashback sequences utterly pointless (I’ll get to why “intense” was put in quotations later). I honestly did not mind the idol arc at all, but at the end of said arc, a new character was teased, only for her to not be introduced in the following episodes. There are SO many structural issues that I was baffled, it continually left me with more questions than answers and not in the way a good mystery series does so. More often than not, the question it left me with was “What the fuck were they thinking?”
In/spectre on the other hand is structurally sound. It jumps around occasionally but it covers events that are entirely relevant to the lives of our two lead characters and their relationship. Additionally, while the pacing is admittedly lackluster, it’s not confusing. We see the high-stakes war between Kotoko and Rikka unfold in real-time, with Kotoko’s plan to rid the world of Steel Lady Nanase encoutering numerous logical hurdles. Again, I’ll get into why this works down the line. But for now, I wanna talk a bit more about:
Character Chemistry
The chemistry between Kotoko and Kuro is a real saving grace for the show. I’m gonna be bringing up the term “saving grace” a few more times for In/spectre, and I do realize that the term is typically used for good qualities of bad media, but here’s where I’m coming from on this: pacing is something that I typically put a LOT of stock into for an anime. However, when the other qualities are so enjoyable that I can put weak pacing to the side, I consider those qualities a saving grace. All that being said, every interaction between Kotoko and Kuro brought a genuine smile to my face. The witty banter and innuendo shared between them is not only well-written, but reserved for the right moments. It never breaks the tension that the show has worked so hard to build up, rather it’s present in their initial meeting, their moments shared in the hotel, and after the conflicts they encounter have been resolved. There are occasionally tongue-and-cheek jokes thrown into the preludes to action sequences but they’re very quick laughs as immediately after we’re thrown right back into the action. The timing and writing in In/spectre is just top-notch and they’re a direct result of how naturally Kotoko and Kuro’s conversations flow and how well the two completely different leads compliment each other.
The only character Kimihiko had good chemistry with is fucking dead now. Moving on.
Action
In/spectre is not very heavy on the action, but two scenes in the show’s runtime did make my jaw drop: the conclusion of episode 1, and the scene where Kuro pulls his body across the I-beam impaled into his chest to punch Nanase in the face. Kotoko and Kuro have a bit of a “brains and brawn” dynamic going on. While Kuro is by no means unsmart, Kotoko is definitely more of the master strategist, while Kuro can use his immortality to keep their target at bay. This present is incredibly present in the fight with Steel Lady Nanase. Kuro is constantly knocked down, battered, bruised, impaled, yet he keeps rising back up to give Kotoko enough time to work her magic. It’s a plan that promises nothing but searing pain for Kuro, and throughout it all I was constantly wondering, at what point will Kuro break? This has been happening for numerous episodes, when will he not be able to get back up? The fact that In/spectre made me feel that there were stakes for an IMMORTAL BEING is, in hindsight, kind of amazing.
In direct contrast, The Detective is Already Dead really falls off after the first fight. While looking back on it, it is really dumb that Siesta was able to bring a gun onto an airplane, on first watch I honestly really liked what I was seeing in the fight between her and tentacle boy (I don’t remember his name and I don’t feel like looking it up). And what got me REALLY invested was the way Siesta didn’t actually kill him, rather faking his death and having him imprisoned. I was invested for a key reason: the show’s title isn’t exactly spoiler-free, but it got me wondering, is Siesta ACTUALLY dead? Is she truly gone from this world, or is her “death” in name only like Tentacle Boy’s, and do I actually get to see more of this enjoyable, In/spectre-style character dynamic? Sadly, this was thwarted by episode 2′s reveal of the girl that received Siesta’s heart. Again, a horrifically paced sequence between episodes that kills any momentum the series had built up.
Additionally, it was during the fight between Siesta and Petelguise that I felt the show had genuinely hit rock bottom, because they made a fight between a cute waifu in a mech suit and a kaiju that could wipe out all of Japan in a moment’s notice BORING. I didn’t touch on it much during my initial explanation of why I dropped the show, but I wanna elaborate a bit. First of all, as I said previously, there are no stakes to be found. We KNOW that Siesta can’t die here. Secondly, the movement is just so wooden, there’s no attempt at animating the fight in an exciting way, rather it just feels like they’re going through the motions to convey the words of the light novel without trying to get it to translate to video form. Finally, there’s WAY too much dialogue and it drags down the entire sequence by making the chase scene way longer than it needs to be, and given the show’s propensity to really over-season every scene with dialogue, I imagine this was the same for future action sequences as well. I dropped the show as soon as Siesta jumped onto the clock tower with Petelguise, because it was in that moment I realized: I feel literally nothing right now.
The last point of comparison I want to draw between these two shows is:
Bullshit
Thinking about the very different way these two shows use the art of bullshitting is honestly the reason I wanted to make this post. Kotoko’s solution to the entire Steel Lady Nanase conflict is, after all, the art of bullshitting. What makes it work is the fact that it’s the perfect solution to what the situation calls for. I know this is a bit of an odd comparison, but In/spectre is like a reverse version of Elf starring Will Ferrell. Unlike how at the end of Elf, they wanted to make everyone believe in Santa to restore his power, Kotoko’s ambition is to get the Internet to toss out their belief in Steel Lady Nanase to rid her of her power as a “monster of the imagination.” If people maintain their belief in this monster of Rikka’s imagination, there’s no realistic way to stop her. Here lies the biggest obstacle, however: the power of imagination is so strong that Nanase has become a very real entity, responsible for multiple murders. Kotoko can’t just magically find an incriminating piece of evidence that outs Nanase as superstition, so her only solution is to trick the people of the internet and convince them that she’s a myth. As she does this, her invented inference runs into skepticism and she has to continue to bullshit her way out of it until finally, she’s created an explanation for the recent string of murders with no holes in its argument. It’s an arduous process but one that does have to be drawn out as Kotoko very clearly and intentionally sets up explanations that would draw skepticism before inventing an excuse that refutes any potential counter-arguments. It’s honestly the equivalent to someone writing a 50-page college thesis with no research and successfully defending it.
Siesta, on the other hand, is the most annoying kind of supergenius character. Personally, I love Siesta. I think her character design is great, I think she’s funny and that she shares some really enjoyable dialogue with Kimihiko, so when the show isn’t butchering fight scenes I actually really enjoyed her screen time. So it’s not Siesta herself that bothers me, but it’s the way that the plot is so willing to let her make perfect deductions with the most minimal knowledge given to her. This also reminds me a bit of Sherlock in Moriarty the Patriot, with his ability to make perfect deductions from just a glance at the scene of the crime, but it works well in Holmes’ case because all of the necessary evidence is in that confined space. Siesta on the other hand is just magically able to decipher a villain’s motivation and weaknesses with a two-minute conversation... yeah I don’t buy it.
So that’s about it, I probably could have drawn up more contrasts if I had actually continued watching The Detective is Already Dead, but it became such an abject disappointment that I just ended up going back to In/spectre instead. You know, a mystery show where the writers and animators knew what they were doing.
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hiimsociallyawkward · 3 years
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a servant of two masters
hi friends welcome back to me aimlessly ranting about merlin. up today we have 4.06 and this episode. wow. literally just the title gives me everything i need and i'm absolutley here for the chaos that will ensue. hi bestie @lady-ofmagic-andstars
i love them in their capes
i want a cloak
dude the 'oh it's not gonna happen' and then it happens trope is so dumb but i laugh every time
notice how the knights ripped off their capes
dude people are falling off of horses and out
MERLIN
ok ok but how is he injured. ik this is rated for kids but i really dk how badly merlin is injured. it looks like just his shoulder but he shouldn't be almost dying like his yk?
:,) arthru making jokes
ok but i love arthur taking care of merlin
alskdjflsadk them trying to make jokes to make each other feel better :,)
stop arthur. stop telling the truth merlin's not dying here 😭
bestie vibes only deadass
HAHA
a s s
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side note, the site i get my screenshots from- this picture has 61 views while others average maybe like 10-15?? perverts HAHA just kidding
sok i'm actually really curious as to what merlin's injury is
alsdjf;lasdfjsaldfjsaldf merlin making the rocks fall
idk if it's jut the angling but i felt like the enemies were way too close for merlin to create an entire rock barrier. i don't have any screen shot evidence but so you're just going to have to take my word for it
ok but like who even are these men. they were working for morgana trying to capture arthur?
and what's morgana going to do once she has arthur? kill him and take his place on the throne? remember how well that turned out last time she tried that? no one wanted her. idk idk morgana is just confusing as to what she wants
pls die agravaine
haha strangely fond of the boy? there's nothing strange about it
ok i laughed but i also felt bad when morgana splashed merlin awake and flailed around like a fish
dude merlin is so snarky here and i'm HERE for it
ok i like the knights being competent. thank you thank you
and now they're riding back into camelot with their capes on? you're telling me they traced back their steps to find their capes, dusted them off to make sure that they weren't too dirty and didn't have any leaves or branches still sticking to it before riding back to camelot? iconic
poor gaius. ok he's the worst but he does think of merlin as his son and this makes me sad
ok i have a dumb question. do you think merlin understands whenever other magic users are casting spells? ok i feel like this is a dumb question now. but like, is magic a language? are all incantations in a different language, so when other person who knows magic is watching you- they know what you're trying to do and such? i feel like "of course they'd know" but i'm basing that assumption on hp where everyone knows that alohomora is alohomora and where everyone knows that lumos is lumos. but what about here? does merlin know what she's incanting? can he slightly understand it even if he's never seen/done it before? is magic a language like latin, and even if you aren't completely fluent, you and parse together things and make an assumptions?
arthur is just so sad here
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i just, i have to have these here
yes bby figure out that we have a traitor
gaius is not slick in the slightest. yes. look at the traitor king
wow morgana being able to bond with the snake? i wonder how
ok question, does the fomorroh have some sort of loyalty to whoever calls them?
✨kill arthur pendragon✨
ok that snake going in his neck is actually scary
pretty castle counter: 5
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btw this is actually my zoom background sometimes. it depends from call to call but it changes between this pretty castle and peeta mellark
G E O R G E
ok i've seen all the tumblr posts but it doesn't get less funny. the 'merlin's missing and we can't find him so we're going to replace him with another manservent dressed EXACTLY like merlin so arthur feels better' makes me chuckle every time
i would like to have that for breakfast
i like the loyalty arthur thank you. i love the loyalty pls. i love that they're friends. like, i love the romance but i love just people being friends too
ok this whole scene. arthur wanting to look for merlin because he has to at least try, gwen just wanting arthur to be careful and to come back to her, gwaine being buds. i love all the friendships in this and just yes thank you
ok ok ok ok ok ok ok ok i'm not at the hug scene yet but i know it's coming and i'm beyond excited
ok this sound track is so cute.
saldkfj;asldkfjasldkfsd
matching icons for you and your best friends
deadass if someone wants to change their tumblr icons so we can match hmu bc i'm 100% down with that
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another pretty castle scene
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SASSY MERLIN PLS
ok ik this is dumb to comment on because i feel like it's not tremendously hard to execute but i love the differences that colin made in regular merlin and fomorroh merlin. it's the best
they say it later in the episode but i find it hilarious how bad of an assassin merlin is
dude pls you're pouring poison in front of EVERYONE else?
BOG MAN. ok guys i'm calling you guys bog mans now.
ASLDJFALSDFJS THE JEALOUSY SCENE
i am cringey but laughing at the same time you don't understand why am i this childish
ok but arthur is being so sweet right here. i feel like he's not trying to be showy in front of gwen, i feel like he wants merlin to rest and that's so sweet. he's so patient right here and i love him
i miss the gwen and merlin friendship actually
dude merlin is roasting gaius so hard today
leon geeking out over weapons is so cute. omg he's such a tiny nerd i love him
laskjflasdfj THIS SCENE. this makes up for the stew jokes that i may or may not still be mad about
i love that the knights LITERALLY turn a blind eye it's actually hilarious
LOOK AT MERLIN BEING COMPETENT?? HE'S SO SMART WITH THE ARROW RIGGING THING
it's literally treason leon pls and you're laughing you're the best 😭😭
i wish we had a pervical back story arc
ok i think it's dumb that i laughed when merlin ducked but i stand by that
ok why do i feel bad for arthur a little. he's talking abt some semi-deep stuff. not deep deep but like, he's trying to ask for advice from his friend, his close advisor. he would've never talked to merlin like this is season 1-2 but here he is, talking about trust. and MERLIN is trying to MURDER HIM. yes. i admit it's a little funny when i'm just watching merlin trip over things and such, but when i listen to arthur talking i feel slightly sad
literallly. merlin's passed out on the floor and arthur doesn't even think anything is wrong
gwen's face when she knocked merlin out is so cute
oop. why is arthur standing in agravaine's door way like an absolute robot
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cyes arthur. figure him out
i hate agravaine. i just want arthur to be happy. he's only trusting agravaine because agravaine is family.
stfu agravaine 'you're all that's left of my dear sister' SHUT THE FRONT DOOR
ok there's a repeat of the castle from earlier but i'll spare you
pls this bath scene is so awkward. tt not being able to trust anyone anymore and we're laughing at merlin but arthur's talking so sad and deep
pls this bath scene is so awkward. that's all the notes i have
again, i miss gwen and merlin
merlin is MONCHING on those berries. i'm craving berries now
ok but like. yk that pouch that gaius is using to make the forromoh dormant? what if merlin tucked it in his neckerchief as a precaution. i'm just saying.
aslfkjasdaskdjf the tavern
yall why did merlin have to stop his horse to drink the potion
i want the knights to have a cool band name or smth yk what i mean?
i like that merlin is still a little in the camelot red. it's not the same shade but yk what i mean
HAHA LEON AND PERCIVAL BEING PUSHED TOGETHER. I JUST KEPT ON SCREAMING SUBTEXT SUBTEXT
damn morgana wants RESUKTS. i dont blame her
the frist interaction with merlin and morgana in the hut is so awkward. pls.idek how to comment on it
deadass morgana's dress is so pretty.
magic fight! magic fight!
stfu 'rightfully mine' pls
hehe there's a leaf in his hair
ok i feel like i should've commented more on the magic fight but idk bro
so ik that colin was in this whole episode but it really only just now feels like merlin is here and i think that's fun
arthur is the cutest. i'm loving this dynamic you have no idea. i live live live live LIVE off banter. pls
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guys i'm sad apparently i can only put 10 pics in a post but pls enjoy this one pic of arthur right here 😭
ok idk abt you but i'd love to hear jokes abt brass
agaragvaine pls die already
YOU'RE SUCH A PERV LITERALLY
GO
AWAY
NOW
dude that last scene was actually really pretty and i'm sad that i can't attach it now
anyways thanks for reading my long ass rambles. but i'll be back next week to the secret sharer i'll catch you on the flip side
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bastardbogboy · 2 years
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am i neurodivergent, or is it just the anxiety, trauma, trans-ness, and imposter syndrome? who fucking knows i sure don’t
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cosmologyofgaming · 3 years
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RE8 IMPRESSIONS OF "CHAPTER 3" and MOREAU. THE SAGA CONTINUES.
Alright, so last night we just kicked Salvatore Moreau's ass and I have proven that the only supreme baba jaga swamp witch around these parts, is me. And…lmfao we have so many thoughts. SO MANY THOUGHTS. But first of all, the more we play this game the more SadJack and I feel that Lady Dimitrescu was absolutely. Fucking. WASTED.
Spoilers ahead, yeah?
No seriously. She should have been the third, if not final boss considering all the hype around her and exploring her castle 1) thus far took us the longest to navigate; and 2) her final bio form was wicked, the entire vibe was amazing, and overall her character was really well done and I wished I saw more of her. Genuinely, not just for thirst factor, but just the way she held a hand on the pulse of the village, the regal ruling air, and the tension she has with her other "siblings"—all of which (except Donna?) vying for the attention of Mother Miranda. Would have loved to see better banter with her and Heisenberg later on. Like I get that they're using the order from the "Village in Shadows" story book from the start of the game but then….lol put more effort into your other bosses CapCom like seriously.
But otherwise, I liked the eerie swamp vibes and laboratory overtones to Moreau's work…except when we find the bog bitch witch he's…a hilariously tragic character.
Literally the fact that we get the flask with our Rose's dismembered parts right off the bat was…a choice and Moreau is clearly pathetic, ostracized, and not the smartest…mistreated by his "siblings" and absolutely desperate for Mother Miranda's attention. There's some affliction to him that perhaps affects his brain (the poor spelling, poor grammar and slurring words and insisting he's "not dumb" which is…a choice, considering he's kind of the laboratory/experiment/torturer/mad doctor figure and kind of bizarre.
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And just like with Donna, I wish they could have gone into more detail…or if we could have explored more of his "laboratory" since it turns out he uses "cadou" (gift in Romanian, similar to the French "cadeau" although SadJack said at first it reminds him of the French "cadavre" or corpse) which is honestly some type of deformed fetus, experiments on villagers, and is the one who created the "lycans". Considering the Slavic and Romanian folklore associate werewolves and lycans with the moon and…ya' know, WOLF BITES doing some kind of lab bioweapon thing 1) is sooo RE like come on. But also, 2) really weird imo. My slavic senses are tingling in the urge to scream at making everything a goddamn bio weapon. Especially considering his a ocean monster fish thing that vomits when he can't control changing form? It's both sad and revolting and I would have loved more worldbuilding through notes, etc. to beef up his back story. Or maybe more environmental clues like what we got in Castle Dimistrescu. It's literally what SadJack and I were scared of—the Hollywood Click Bait Effect. Put all your most interesting parts in the trailer, which happen right away, and then the rest of the game is boring AF or doesn't live up to the hype of the marketing campaign.
Otherwise the level was laughably easy. It's literally day time so it's so well light and this hulking whale thing is pretty easy to see. The most exciting part was Chris and that was a cut scene. That being said, I did like the tension of having to jump across bridges and what not and DRAIN THE SWAMP in order to fight Moreau in his (bioweapon? Or is it true?) form. There was some mention of mold samples with Chris' Alpha Strike team that just got wrecked by Moreau in an instance, so if they're just like "lol instead of zombies and corporate greed of the Umbrella Corps. It's all just experimental mold particles to be super humans" I am legitimately going to scream.
All that angst aside, I liked the level design (overall I like ALL the levels in terms of concept) and this game is really fun to play. It just doesn't feel like an RE game. And I've seen some people online being like "iF YoU thINk thE GaME is ToO cAMpeY U doN'T Know RE" like relax, Ken. Don't get your fan boy panties in a twist and touch some fucking grass. There's always been this air of the ridiculous in RE but it's also always had a very clear goal of looking at corrupt corporations, zombies, and later merging into bioweapons and how when something evil is so entrenched, it seems almost impossible to get rid of and truly becomes a "Wicked Problem" (in the Ritter&Weber sense).
We're gonna play Heisenberg's chapter today but I kind of feel like the order should have been Donna Beneviento, to set the tone and scene (cause hi. That's when zombies showed up for the first time, did not vibe with the lack of agency, felt tense and kinda spooked with the house and it has greater ties to the village with worldbuilding. It would have been a perfect opening scene), then Moreau just for "yuck" and "sad" factor, than yummy vampire mommy with sexy plague daughters, and THEN Heisenberg. Also if you enjoy or little rants, we'll be posting the first episode of our playthrough this Friday onto our youtube page!
—Mod Zmora
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emrysofealdor · 3 years
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The List of Merlin/Merthur Fic Prompts and Ideas That I’ll Probably Never Get Around to Writing Myself
This post is an absolute mess, lmao. Some of them are prompts, some of them are summaries, and some of them are just little story notions. If you want to write/draw/edit one of these, then go for it! All I ask is that you tag me or shoot me a quick message if you post it. 
1) Prince!Merlin
In order to stop the feud between their two kingdoms, Prince Arthur of Camelot is betrothed to Prince Merlin of Escetir. When they meet, they are undeniably drawn to each other, but any hopes of affection are crushed when they open their mouths. Prince Merlin and Prince Arthur butt heads even more than King Balinor and King Uther, but the one thing they can agree on is that the feud has gone on for far enough, and if dealing with each other is the price to pay for peace, then so be it.
The biggest strain in their nonexistent relationship comes from magic. Merlin, or Emrys, has always believed in the prophecies, but his marriage to Arthur throws a wrench in things. Either a) Arthur, the biggest prat in all of Albion, is the Once and Future King, or b) Merlin will have to help his true King from the sidelines, possibly breaking the truce in the process, and all the while being trapped in a loveless marriage. Neither are particularly appealing to him.
Of course, Arthur discovers that magic isn’t inherently evil. And of course, Merlin discovers that Arthur is the Once and Future King. And of course, the two fall madly in love.
2) 4x06 Divergence
After he destroys the Fomorrah, Merlin returns to Camelot to find an anxious Gwen, a furious Gwaine, and most concerning of all, an Arthur who is trapped in a pit of despair and refuses to speak to anyone about it, especially Merlin. Now, Merlin has to figure out what the hell happened when he was under the Fomorrah’s control.
Spoiler alert: when Arthur found Merlin in the bog, instead of hugging him, he kissed him. Merlin pushed Arthur away, saying that he doesn’t think of him that way. Of course, this is all happening in front of Gwaine, who’s been dealing with both Merlin and Arthur’s pining, and who finally convinced Arthur to go for it, only for Merlin to shut him down.
3) another Prince/Nobleman!Merlin
Arthur meets Lord/Prince Merlin, and he’s immediately besotted. Merlin plays hard to get and is just in general a sarcastic, sassy prince.
I picture their dynamic in this to be like Hercules and Meg, with Merlin just roasting the shit out of Arthur while Arthur sits there like 😍
Arthur’s constantly like “Isn’t he just amazing?” and Sir Leon the Long Suffering is just sitting there like “...are you fucking kidding me”
4) The Toast
Arthur gets crowned King. At the feast, he gives a toast - to his knights, to Guinevere - but most shockingly, the final toast is to Merlin.
5) Modern!AU
When Merlin Emrys and Arthur Pendragon meet, it’s love at first sight. Unfortunately, neither of them know how to handle their feelings like regular adults, so instead, they resort to witty banter, pigtail pulling, and worst of all, pining.
Featuring a group of friends who just want to be put out of their misery.
6) The Lowkey Magic Reveal
“You have magic,” Arthur stated.
“Yes.”
Arthur paused for a long moment, glancing between Merlin and the armor that was now strewn across the floor.
“...And you use it to do your chores?”
“Occasionally, among other things. Saving your life, for example.”
Arthur’s face was completely blank. The pair stood in silence for what felt like an eternity, and Merlin felt his panic rising, before Arthur finally responded.
“Alright. Well, carry on, then, I suppose.”
He waved his hand and shut the door, and Merlin heard his footsteps walking out of Gaius’ chambers, leaving Merlin alone to wonder what the hell had just happened.
Or: Arthur finds out about Merlin’s magic. It goes better than expected. Too much better than expected, if you ask Merlin.
7) High School Theatre AU
Arthur Pendragon, jock extraordinaire, is cornered by the drama teacher, Mr. Kilgharrah, in the halls and is begged to audition for the school play/musical. He’s always been one to help wherever he could, so even though he’s never acted/sung in his life, he agrees.
Merlin Emrys is seen as the theatre gay boy stereotype - outgoing, bold, and confident. Most of the student body adores him, along with the teachers and generally everyone he meets. He hates Arthur Pendragon on principle, considering that he’s simply waltzing into theatre and getting a lead role his first time simply because he’s a man.
You know the drill. Enemies to lovers, slow burn. Bonus points if the roles that Merlin and Arthur are cast in have gay subtext. Even more bonus points if the roles are openly gay.
8) Immortal!Merlin Accidentally Becomes Famous
In which Merlin gets bored of hating his immortality and decides to express his bottled-up emotions from Camelot and from over the years of waiting through song, but his music blows up, and he becomes a musical sensation. And in which Arthur is tumblr famous for his fan blog of the world-famous music artist Emrys, and keeps wondering why the hell Emrys’ work feels so familiar.
9) Hero!Merlin/Villain!Arthur
Arthur’s working for his father, the CEO of Pendragon Sciences, when day, Uther pulls him into his office and reveals how he’s begun developing biology altering drugs to make superpowers, something to directly counter magic. He uses magical human test subjects and tortures them to the brink of death. Furthermore, he plans to give someone close to him the first test of these drugs and essentially become his personal hitman. Arthur is absolutely horrified, and he realizes that he has to do something about this. He knows just how powerful his father has become - now that he understands the scope of his work, he realizes that no one will be able to stop him. No one... except for maybe, just maybe, someone on the inside of his corporation, and someone who he trusts unconditionally... like Arthur.
So, Arthur convinces Uther to use him as the test subject, and everything goes perfectly. Arthur gains powers, and he plays the part of the perfect, magic-hating villain, all while trying to undermine Uther’s operations. The media gets wind of this new villain, and so naturally, there needs to be a hero to combat it. Enter Merlin Ambrose, AKA Emrys, the most powerful magic user to ever walk the earth.
Merlin has been working with Morgana, Arthur’s magical half-sister who ran away once she discovered her magic combined with all of Uther’s shit, and they suspect that Uther is behind the creation of this villain. Merlin applies for a job at Pendragon Sciences as Arthur Pendragon’s personal assistant. You’ve probably got a pretty good idea of how it goes from there.
If you want to talk about any of these ideas, either share your thoughts on this post or message me! I haven’t even gotten into everything I have for some of these ideas, and I would be overjoyed to talk about them to someone or for someone to end up creating them!!!
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blackjack-15 · 3 years
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Avenge My Twistery Depth — Thoughts on: Trail of the Twister (TOT)
Previous Metas: SCK/SCK2, STFD, MHM, TRT, FIN, SSH, DOG, CAR, DDI, SHA, CUR, CLK, TRN, DAN, CRE, ICE, CRY, VEN, HAU, RAN, WAC
Hello and welcome to a Nancy Drew meta series! 30 metas, 30 Nancy Drew Games that I’m comfortable with doing meta about. Hot takes, cold takes, and just Takes will abound, but one thing’s for sure: they’ll all be longer than I mean them to be.
Each meta will have different distinct sections: an Introduction, an exploration of the Title, an explanation of the Mystery, a run-through of the Suspects. Then, I’ll tackle some of my favorite and least favorite things about the game, and finish it off with ideas on how to improve it.
If any game requires an extra section or two, they’ll be listed in the paragraph above, along with links to previous metas.
These metas are not spoiler free, though I’ll list any games/media that they might spoil here: TOT, WAC, mentions of GTH.
The Intro:
Let’s talk about Trail of the Twister, shall we? No clever intro, no pun, no sassy statement on the quality (whether lacking or overflowing) of the game…let’s just Talk.
Like I said at the beginning of my WAC meta, TOT is one of two games that doesn’t really fit into a category besides it and WAC demonstrating HER’s growing pains. The world opens (kinda), the characters get a little deeper (kinda) and a few new things are tried with plots and character (to varying degrees of success). Both WAC and TOT — but especially TOT — represent a shift in the tone of the games and their approach. You can ascribe this to a lot of reasons — an aging fanbase, technology marching on, a new writer in the mix — but you really can’t ignore it, no matter if you’re a Classic Games Elitist or a Newer Games Snob (or neither one).
To paraphrase a fabulous song, there’s something there that wasn’t there before.
This is not me saying in any way that TOT is a fabulous — or even moderately successful — game. In fact, it whiffs a lot where WAC hit solidly, which makes playing them one after the other a sort of chore; WAC is weighed down by the knowledge of what comes next (after such a brief respite from games like ICE, HAU, and RAN), and TOT’s repetitive chore list seems even bleaker after the snack shop and secret societies of WAC.
Which is truly unfortunate, because hiding behind the rat traps and the car chases (or drives, if you drive like a normal person in this game) and the endless moon chunk offerings is one heck of a story. Unfinished and beleaguered and (to my suspicions) censored as it is, there is a definite, multilayered, morally ambiguous, honest-to-moon-chunk story in TOT.
Like I said, something there that wasn’t there before.
Playing through the games in order, it seems like the reason WAC is so solid is, in part, because the games before it have so little cohesive story as to be laughable. Playing them out of order will show you that though WAC does come off a little better than it actually is due to the games that came before it, it’s also actually a step-up from a lot of games in the complexity of its plot and characters. At this point in the series that’s about to happen a lot, but WAC is the first real instance where you get it. Like I said, these two games mark a tonal and approach-based shift in the games.
So let’s turn our attention to TOT.
There are a lot of things that bog down this game — it feels sometimes as if you’re simply going through Farmville-esque tasks to get from Point A to Point B — but its plot and characters (save in one large instance) aren’t actually the culprits. Surprisingly enough, we have a mystery here with enough twists, turns, small crimes, and red herrings to make for a perfectly serviceable plot with relatively well-developed (for the length of the game) characters (whom I’ll go into more below).
A huge difference from a lot of the games is that we have a prominent unseen character who isn’t the one who hired Nancy or who is part of the historical background. Brooke’s actions actively move the plot along no matter what Nancy does, and I do like that the world of TOT goes on spinning (as it were) without Nancy driving everything.
You get the sense that Nancy truly was just dropped into the middle of this without having any control over the situation, and that she spends the entire game (or most of it) playing catch-up, rather than being on the scene for the crime(s) or arriving shortly thereafter.
In TOT, this sabotage has been going on for a while — the competition is nearly over, in fact — and Nancy has to actually do some detective work to even get caught up, let alone to try to step a few feet in front of the guilty party.
One interesting thing is what TOT and WAC share: they both feature casts who are only a few years off of Nancy’s age; in WAC, they’re a tiny bit younger, while in TOT, they’re a tiny bit older. Nancy, being Nancy, is much more in her element with the ages of her suspects in TOT than she is with high schoolers — with how much time Nancy spends around people significantly older than her, I’d be shocked if she got along well with high schoolers when she was in high school herself.
As a side note, I know it’s sort of a fandom thing that Nancy gets along well with children, but honestly outside of Lucas, it’s not something we really see (no, I’m not counting pelting Freddie with snow 10 times sans mercy as getting along with children) — and honestly Lucas is just charming, so I see no reason why Nancy wouldn’t get along with him. Generally speaking, kids who grow up the way Nancy has [especially as an only child] are far more comfortable with ‘adults’ — well established, 35/40+ adults, who make up the majority of her suspect pools — than they are with peers or children.
There’s also a great deal of care taken with making all the suspects (mostly) equally likely for a large portion of the game; it’s not until past the halfway point that a suspect (Chase) is cleared due to his confession of a different crime, and even then, he doesn’t really become Nancy’s helper, as is the usual case with cleared suspects. This is actually one of the few games where Nancy doesn’t really have a helper; she relies on herself, the Hardy Boys, and (questionably) P. G. Krolmeister to get the job done.
And speaking of the Hardy Boys…you knew an intro wouldn’t be complete without my mentioning them, hush.
The Hardy Boys are arguably the set piece that benefit most from Nik’s writing (and yes, I’m going to ascribe it to him; he’s the most prominent variable). Don’t get me wrong, the Hardy Boys were great before, but the Nik games are where they start attaining a place of more prominence and solidify their distinct personalities other than “focused killjoy and playful scamp”. In this game, you get more of Frank’s protectiveness (directed towards Nancy) and Joe’s actual sleuthing abilities — not the least of which because this game coincides with that DS Masterpiece “Treasure on the Tracks”.
Oh yeah, we’re going there. It’s relevant.
Treasure on the Tracks, as mentioned, was a game for the Nintendo DS (and the only one, mind you) focusing on the Hardy Boys. In the game (as in TOT), they’re tracking down the Romanov treasure with the help of a surprising ally — Samantha Quick herself. Samantha is under orders (from who, she never says, but a future game makes it obvious) to help the boys find the treasure aboard the royal train that the Romanovs used to own.
And yes, I would have loved that to be a joint Nancy Drew/Hardy Boys PC game, but I’ll push the bitterness aside for the facts. Which are that this game has a rad premise and would have been a very cool addition to the ND series…but I digress. Regardless, that’s what the boys are doing during TOT, so we get little hints to their investigation as well as having them help Nancy out.
I love that the Hardy Boys have an actual mystery that they’re investigating, as beginning with this game we see a lot more of their ‘agent’ side being brought out. It’s nice to feel that Nancy isn’t alone out there fighting against the forces of evil, and gives excuses to have the Hardy Boys in the games more, so I’m a big fan in general. It also helps build them up as investigators; while they offer hints to Nancy a lot, we don’t get to see them doing a lot of spy/detective work, and it’s lovely to be able to see it here.
And I love their sibling banter. It’s obvious that JVS and Rob Jones have a lot of fun with their roles, and it really lightens and enhances any Nancy Drew game that they’re in.
The last interesting thing that I’ll point out before diving into the game itself is what TOT does for the world of Nancy Drew. Beginning with this game, we start the tradition of each game leading directly into the next one; for her help in TOT, Krolmeister sends her to his favorite ryokan in Japan, which leads to her being hired for CAP; her absence and fight with Ned in CAP lead her back home for the Clues Challenge in ASH, and so on and so forth.
It really makes the world feel solid and cohesive, and lets our characters grow and shift and change without making it feel episodic or sudden. The Nancy of SPY is quite different from the Nancy of TOT in how she behaves and tackles mysteries, but her character growth throughout the games in between make it feel right and natural — like actual character growth.
The Title:
As a title, “Trail of the Twister” isn’t bad — it’s got that alliteration that ND books tend to like doing, and makes it feel a little classic. It also gets a play with words in there — you’re tracing the actual trail of the actual twister, and you’re also walking through the evidence left behind (aka a trail) of a twisting plot. Solid, if not exceptional, with its only real detriment being the hilarious acronym (TOT).
The book it’s (loosely) based off of is called “The Mystery of Tornado Alley” which, obvious to anyone with eyes, is a much worse title while telling us the same thing. It also doesn’t apply to the game as much – you’re not figuring out a mystery as much as unwinding the tangled threads of character motivations — and is supremely clunky to boot.
The Mystery:
Called in by P.G. Krolmeister to go undercover, Nancy joins a team of storm-chasers bent on winning a grant for their research — and beating the opposing team that wants the same thing. Nancy begins the mystery by finding a tin box full of cash (payment for an as-of-yet unspecified action) and it spirals from there, putting the not-so-amateur teen sleuth through her paces learning about tornados and storms, taking pictures, and trying her best to keep everyone happy and working towards the money.
It’s not as easy as it sounds, however. There are competing forces at work outside (and sometimes within) the two teams, and the personalities of the storm-chasers that Nancy must investigate mean that no one trusts anyone else. Things continue to go wrong and Nancy chases down the clues until the mother of all tornados hits town, and our culprit takes advantage of the distraction…
I mentioned above some censorship that I suspect went on in this game, and I’ll talk about it here. Given the darker themes of this game and the mentions of death and serious injury (more than most other games in the series at this point), I would say part of the reason why our story is a little more…displeasing, especially by the end, is that HER was really intent on the 10 part of the 10+ rating.
There’s lots to explore — the Ma storyline that goes nowhere, the collateral damage of these tornadoes, the fact that our cast is filled with genuinely unpleasant criminals — and yet it gets glanced over while feeling like the game is building up to it. Like CRE and ICE where I postulated a lot of the attention went to the new engine, I’m going to postulate here that the reason why we have hanging plot threads and injustice at the end (which I’ll talk about later) is that the game was censored by the HER bigwigs to ensure it still fit in a 10+ rating.
As a mystery, like I said above, there’s absolutely nothing wrong here. We’ve got plenty of means/motive/opportunity spread out in our cast (and in the periphery cast, just to keep things interesting), the threads and smaller crimes/wrongdoings/etc. are realistic in scope and in motive to keep them hidden, and it’s the personalities of the suspects that give us our conflict and tension, rather than random “interferences” by the writers. And speaking of our suspects, let’s go to the other area that TOT does (almost) nothing wrong.
The Suspects:
First off is Chase Releford, a junior who took Scott’s class for a science credit who got super interested in the actual work. The team’s handyman, Chase has noticed (and fixed, and fixed again) the equipment acting up, and is being stretched pretty thin in order to keep it all shipshape and in working order.
He’s also one of Nancy’s sources of Pa Pennies, if you wanna spend hours doing circuit boards.
As a culprit, Chase is a great option (which is a sentiment you’ll hear repeated for all of our suspects, never fear). He’s secretly spending his time looking for oil with Pa’s divining rods, which puts two crimes on his conscience (stealing the rods and not working on company time) and helps the team fall even further behind. It’s important to note that for a large chunk of this game, the likelihood of the suspect also hinges on how much they want Scott to fail, and Chase is pretty much the only one without any real anger towards Scott.
The owner of the local general store, Pa Ochs might be a surprising option to put ahead of Chase in order of culprit likelihood/suitability, but I stand by it. Having lost his wife (Betsy “Ma” Ochs) to a tornado (the warning sirens, which were Scott’s responsibility, didn’t go off), Pa alone mans the counter, helping Nancy find everything she needs — for a price, of course.
The price being annoyingly hard to get Pa Pennies. Unless you exploit a glitch.
Here’s where we start with the culprit possibilities that have an actual grudge against Scott. Though not as angry as he could be, Pa is deeply hurt by the loss of his wife Betsy, and has grounds for an axe to grind with Scott. As much as I would have loved to have the ‘friendly general store owner’ be the culprit, it would have been like a mix of DOG’s Emily and FIN’s Joseph (minus the Crazy), and it’s (sadly) best to leave that ground alone without re-treading it.
Frosty Harlow is next up; a second-year grad student in digital media, Frosty got his nickname (his real name is Tobias) from his storm photography and is, well, trying to re-capture that lightning in a bottle.
He also screams like a little girl. So that’s fun.
Like Chase and Pa, Frosty is a wonderful option for a culprit. His crime is selling university property (the video of the storm he and Nancy shot) to an aspiring photographer (who happens to be on the rival team) to help them get a toehold into the business, along with working with Debbie to try to stress Scott into quitting.
What really makes Frosty stand out is that, unlike Chase, Frosty doesn’t feel bad about what he did at all. He also holds far more animosity towards Scott than Pa does, and has a little more…innate anger as a person.
If you haven’t noticed by now, we’re going in order of “worst” culprit option to “best” (and then the actual culprit), and it really says something about how fleshed out these characters already are that we start with people who are solid options to begin with.
Though only appearing vocally and for a few minutes total of the game’s runtime, I’m going to list Brooke Tavanah as our next most likely culprit — in part because, well, she kind of is our culprit. The leader of the rival storm-chasing team, Brooke offered Scott money to sabotage his own team to let her team win the grant — an offer that he takes her up on.
Of course, Brooke isn’t the only one sleeping with the enemy (so to speak) to ensure her team’s victory; her videographer, Erin, is apparently so talentless as to need to buy footage from Scott’s team as well.
Things don’t exactly look great for the Kingston University team — as they can’t really get ahead even through sabotage and skullduggery, and one does wonder if they’d even be able to put the grant to good use. That, of course, is not the point; Brooke wants her team to win, come hell or high…wind…and a little thing like scientific ability isn’t going to stop her.
(Interestingly enough, this is the first of three times we’ll see Kingston University pop up; we meet their alumni again in TMB and DED).
I love that Brooke is guilty, because so often in Nancy Drew games the tendency is to implicate an unseen character and then to have that implication be a poorly done red herring. Instead, Brooke isn’t a distraction, nor a smoke screen — she’s just another piece of the puzzle.
Our last non-Culprit (by the games’ common definition) suspect is Debbie Kircum, a recent PhD graduate who is on her fifth time working with Scott in chase season, and who has gotten a lucrative offer to teach at a university in New York.
Worrying that Scott would let his resentment towards the college hurt their chances in the competition, Debbie leads the conspiracy to stress him out so much that he just quits. I’ll talk more about this later, but it is both one of my favorite and least favorite things about this game. For now, I’ll say that her plan works…but not the way that she planned; for her and lots of other suspects in this and upcoming games, the quote “the price for getting what you want is getting what you once wanted” works perfectly to describe their arcs.
As a culprit, (as Debbie fully qualifies as a culprit), Debbie certainly has the shortsightedness and nastiness that Nancy Drew culprits tend to have. She’s extremely good at getting what she wants…but see the quote in the previous paragraph.
She also over-contours her cheeks so much that it looks like someone slapped her with an open compact of bronzer.
That takes us to our final culprit and character, Scott Varnell, genius professor of meteorology and the leader of the Canute team. Scott is my personal favorite character not just because he’s the most interesting, but because he’s a tragic figure who isn’t historical/dead, and those are a bit of a rarity in Nancy Drew games, especially at this point.
Being an expert on tornadoes yet denied tenure based on his personality, rather than his academic prowess (a gripe I share as it applies to jobs/academia), Scott holds a grudge against those who don’t recognize his contributions to meteorology and to the study of tornadoes specifically. Unbeknownst to him, two members of his four-man team have been conspiring to stress him out so badly that he’ll just quit, as they think he’ll be a hindrance (again, due to his personality) in winning the competition.
Scott is in some ways the obvious option, and yet the game never turns into a howdunnit. Throughout the mystery he tends to be the prime suspect, but is also the prime victim — a dichotomy we’ve never seen before in the Nancy Drew Games. I’ll talk more about Scott below (a sentence increasingly common in this meta), but I both love and hate him as the culprit, and that’s something new (and interesting) that TOT brings as well.
The Favorite:
Don’t worry, we’ll get into TOT’s myriad flaws soon enough, but for now I want to focus on what it does right.
The first thing the game nails is the Hardy Boys. Their inclusion, their plot, their characterization, the voice acting — all of it is nigh-flawless, and is by far the most enjoyable part of the game. Don’t get me wrong, the Hardy Boys are usually quite far up there on the list of things I love about a game with them in it, but they really start to shine more in TOT, gaining some character development, plot relevance, and just overall depth.
Oddly (or perhaps not oddly at all) I don’t have a favorite moment nor a favorite puzzle in this game; barring that, I’ll talk about some of the great threads to the game, rather than any particular moment/puzzle that stands out.
I love that we get new and interesting layers to our story and characters. As I mentioned briefly above, there’s a real sense of the world existing before Nancy’s arrival, which works wonders for the world of the games, and our characters here are more layered, more distinct, and more ‘realistic’ (for the value of ‘realism’ in stories) than they ever have been before.
This is a game unafraid to deal with the topics of death and mistakes, and that accounts for part of the depth to the game as well. No, not the whole “Where’s Ma” thing — which I fully believe to just be a script that didn’t fire/didn’t stop firing in the game’s code after finding the newspaper that says exactly what happened to Ma — I’m talking about Scott’s mistake in the tornado warning system, Debbie and Frosty’s mistakes in dealing with Scott (which I’ll talk more about), and even Brooke’s miscalculations that lead to the ending of the game. Everyone here deals with the fallout of their mistakes, and it’s how they handle it that forms the basis for our plot.
It’s a seemingly small thing, but I love the sheer level of detail in this game. You can click on everything, read everything, explore everywhere — there’s a lot of information crammed into the game that sometimes you won’t get until the second or third replay (that is, if you have the stomach to play through this game repeatedly).
The use of our tertiary NPCs (Brooke, Krolmeister, Erin) is also inspired; they help the world feel whole and varied rather than existing simply for the benefit of the game, and show that Nancy doesn’t have control over everything when she’s investigating — and that she can be wrong in her focus of investigating (whether because she pays too much or not enough attention to the ‘minor’ characters).
Speaking of characters, I also love that our characters in this game – our suspects — are able to be fully formed without (on purpose, I feel) being particularly likable. It’s always fun to get a cast of characters that are hostile to Nancy, but TOT’s characters are slightly different from that: they just don’t care about her. She’s another intern to them, nigh-invisible except when they need a chore done. Nancy also doesn’t really try to befriend anyone because of it, and I like that too. Sometimes, a game should just be 1 vs 4, with some backup in the wings courtesy of phone friends.
The last facet of the game that I love is Scott himself as a character. Sure he’s cantankerous, blunt, egotistical, and a thousand other things, but the game is very clear that these ‘faults’ don’t make him anything other than what he is — a brilliant meteorologist and the foremost mind when it comes to tornadoes and tornadogenesis. The university undervalues him, but the team really can’t function without him, sabotage or no sabotage.
His motive for the sabotage isn’t the money nor fame — it’s simple tit-for-tat. For such a complex game (note, I’m still not saying it’s a fun or good game), our ultimate motive is deceptively simple: do unto others what they have done unto you. Tired of being devalued and having his worth judged on his personality rather than his work, he decides that if the university doesn’t care enough to keep him around (and for his worth as a professor, look at how accomplished and passionate his team of former students is), then they don’t care to keep up their program either.
It’s hard not to sympathize with that, especially if you’re the kind of person who’s been valued based on any defects in your personality — rather than your ability to do a job and do it well — and been found wanting. Whether you’re too serious (or not serious enough), too flighty (or too inflexible), or any other stupid “personality defect” that the workforce loves to throw around, we’ve all heard it before. Scott’s thrown into an unfair situation and — wrongly or not — decides that his troubles are going to have trouble with him.
The last thing I’ll add on the topic of Scott for this section is that I do love that Debbie and Frosty create their own villain. In figuring that Scott’s personality is going to prevent them from getting the grant (never mind the 4 other years that Debbie’s been on this team with him where it hasn’t been a problem), they decide to screw him over presumptively — and thus create a Scott who actually does want to prevent them from getting the grant. It’s usually a mark of a solid story (and solid writing in general) where the villain is created not from some problem inherent in them, but because they’re perceived to be a problem in the future — and thus live down to the expectation.
The Un-Favorite:
The problem with everything TOT does right — and that’s nearly a thousand words about what it does right above — is that it never combines to make a game that’s enjoyable to play. Before I go into the specifics, I do want to make that clear; TOT is a fascinating game to think and write about, but it’s honestly nigh-unplayable. The puzzles and chores are laborious (and repeated ad nauseum), pieces of the plot don’t make sense, and the ending is the bleakest in the series until GTH’s multiple endings took the cake.
A game should be well-written, complex, and interesting, but it just has to be fun to play as well. It has to. And that seems to have been forgotten during the course of making TOT. My least favorite moment is the ending of the game (more on that below), but I don’t have a least favorite puzzle — on the basis that most of the puzzles are equally bad. There’s no real standout…but that’s not a good thing.
Now let’s get into some of the bits and parts of the game that I really despise.
The handling of Scott is one of my favorite parts of the game, but it’s also my least favorite part of the game as well. They’ve set up a character who firmly believes that everything ends poorly, that he’ll never profit no matter what, and that, ultimately, no matter how hard he tries, nothing will go the way it should. And then the game confirms that worldview to the end. There’s no other option; no matter what Scott does or doesn’t do, no matter if he tries his best or blows it off, the end result is the same, and that’s a tragedy. Sure, you can argue it’s his actions that led him to a bad ending, but he only took those actions because he was heading to a bad ending anyway.
The feeling you get at the end of the game isn’t a feeling of justice served, nor success — it’s pity in a way that’s never been cultivated for any criminal up to this point in the series. And it’s not cathartic — it’s just more misery.
The other huge thing that I hate about this game ties into it — there really is no justice. The supposed ‘happy ending’ is Debbie getting people from both teams to ‘win’ the grant (where does it ultimately go — Canute or Kingston? Can it count as winning if there’s only one team? HER certainly didn’t bother to think about these things)…but Debbie’s hands are just as filthy — and I think more so — than Scott’s are.
Debbie leads Frosty in conspiring to make Scott quit and actually created their own monster — does she even know Scott at all? He’s lead a team through at least the last 4 years, probably more, and not had a problem; why now? Power? Greed? Pride? Whichever way you spin it, she and Frosty are guilty.
Frosty and Erin (of the Kingston Team) are also guilty on a separate charge; Erin for buying the footage and Frosty for selling it. If Brooke and Scott are kicked off, Frosty and Erin (at least) should also go for the same conspiracy charge. Everyone on the team (excepting possibly Chase) knowingly sabotaged their team; why is Scott the only one punished? Why does Debbie (and Frosty, and Erin) get off scot-free (pun intended) to win the prize, despite everything?
When I say that there’s no justice nor success here, this is what I mean. The whole thing stinks from top to bottom, and any way you look at it, a culprit walks.
Honestly, the ending should have just been “Chase, guilty only of petty theft, led the team (of himself and Pa) and was given the grant, which they donated to a charity for tornado victims”. Kingston actively cheated and Canute doesn’t deserve it either. In a game where everyone deserves to lose, declaring a winner just leaves a bad taste in my mouth — and a black mark on the game.
The Fix:
So how would I fix Trail of the Twister?
My feeling is that if you’re going to go with a downer ending — which TOT is — then go for a full one. Have Nancy discover everyone’s crimes — and I do mean everyone’s — and report to Krolmeister, asking what he wants her to do. Don’t forget, Nancy’s got an actual client in this game, and can’t go off half-cocked like she tends to in her more informal mysteries.
In the end, as nearly everyone would be disqualified, the competition should go to a third party — a storm chasing team that’s not Kingston nor Canute — and create chances for less corrupt institutions to study tornadoes at a level they haven’t been able to before. Sure, our suspects would lose, but, honestly, outside Chase…does anyone deserve to win?
I’d also be a fan of Scott getting a second chance due to outside sabotage (directed solely at him) with a job opportunity to consult for storm chasers. It’d be an arena where he’d be seen as the expert he is, without having to deal with the namby-pamby bureaucracy that infects universities (and that he hates anyway). He’d get the name recognition and the ability to actually do work in his field that he needs without being put in situations where he can’t help but fail. Honestly, I’d prefer that P. G. Krolmeister offered it (while saying he’s going to be keeping an eye on him), but really anything would do.
Exposing the crimes of everyone – and focusing on more than just Scott’s — would be the quickest way to improve the story of the game. The puzzles, on the other hand, need to be completely redone; a mix of ostensibly tornado-related intern-type chores (like the circuit boards) and more detective-type puzzles (fingerprinting suspects for a match on the tin bribe box, tracking everyone’s movements, solving codes used for communication) would be a big help in making TOT not just feel like a list of chores with a bad ending.
Oh, and fix the broken code leading Nancy to ask about a man’s dead wife over and over again. She lacks tact as it is.
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CSI Rogers And Barnes: The Serious Cereal Serial Killer. Episode 17- At Last Pt. 1
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Co-written with @icanfeelastormbrewing​ 
Summary: It’s Tony’s wedding weekend, and the usual fun and antics ensue. Then Steve and Katie take an extra evening in Manhattan, where Steve has a little surprise of his own planned.
Warnings: Bad Language words. SMUT IN PART 2 (NO UNDER 18s and NSFW)
Pairing: Steve Rogers x OFC Katie Stark
A/N:  So this is it. The FINAL CSI: Rogers and Barnes instalment. (Well, bar an Epilogue…) and it’s long so we split into 2. This has been one hell of a ride! It’s been a total playground for us, seeing how many stupid references and ridiculous actions we could fit in, and our first collaboration. We hope you’ve enjoyed it as much as we have. Myself and Storm love each and every one of you who’ve taken the time to read, like, comment and re-bog.
We love you 3000…
CSI R&B Masterlist
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Main Masterlist
Chapter Song: At Last- Etta James 
You smile, and then the spell was cast, and here we are in heaven for you are mine. At Last.
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Steve stretched out, rolling over and reached out for Katie only for his hand to meet a cold, empty mattress. He opened his eyes, confused for a second at the unfamiliar surroundings before he realised he was in his room at the Plaza…and it’s the morning of Tony’s wedding. His head was a little fuzzy due to the drinks last night which had gone on late and he could remember sitting in Tony’s suite drinking the bottle of scotch Sam had pilfered from the free bar at the rehearsal party. They had an impromptu party once the girls had left for Pepper and Tony’s and he remembered complaining loudly about why Sam and Bucky got to spend the night together when Katie wasn’t allowed to stya with him.
Jesus what had he turned into? A clingy bastard, that’s what.
He reached for his phone, checking the time which was 9 am. He dropped it back on the bedside table and tried to go back to sleep but he couldn’t. Not without her so he gave up. Firing Katie a quick ‘good morning beautiful’ message, he then kicked off the bed covers and shoved on a pair of sweats and a T-shirt. Grabbing his kit he decided to head for the pool to make the most of the facilities.
The place was fairly busy considering the time on a Saturday morning, but there was a lane closed off for the ‘serious’ swimmers with no one in it so he made use of that for half an hour before he made his way into the changing rooms and showered. By the time he was drying off in the locker room, Katie had messaged back wishing him a ‘good morning handsome’ and complaining she had a bad head from a lot of champagne. He smiled, replied that he was sure she’d soon get over it when they start again, and then just as he’d done that another message came through. This one from Tony who had apparently ordered a fuck tonne of room service for a breakfast party.
Deciding that wasn’t such a bad idea he replied saying he was on his way, shoved his phone in his pocket, grabbed his kit bag and headed to the elevator. When he got to Tony’s suite he knocked on the door, the faint well natured chatter from inside hit his ears before the door swung open. Rhodey greeted him and Steve stepped in to see Tony led on a chaise in a hotel robe, eating grapes like a Roman Emperor. Steve snorted.
“Having Fun Tony?”
Tony grinned “Am I ever? I love all this. You know, I might get married once every 2 years.” He looked at Steve “You should try it, Rogers.”
Steve rolled his eyes, remembering full well about the ring that was tucked in the safe in his room.
From his spot over by the low coffee table, Bucky shot Steve a glance. He was certain the punk was gonna pop the question this weekend, why else would he have booked an extra night for them to stay in Manhattan on Sunday as well?  When Steve suggested it to Katie over breakfast a few weeks ago, he’d simply stated it was an opportunity for them to spend a bit of time together in the run up to Christmas, but if said girl didn’t return to Brooklyn on Monday with a ring on her finger then James Buchanan Barnes would chop of his left arm with a chainsaw.
At that point, Rhodey, ever the tactical, organised man asked Tony what the plan was for the day and Tony simply looked at him, and blinked.
“Aren’t you the best man?”
Bucky sighed “What a waste. I could have been a groomsman….ow!” he hissed, rubbing his side as Sam had elbowed him sharply in the ribs.
Rhodey completely ignored Bucky and looked at Tony “I am, yes, but you’re the Groom.” Tony waved him away “Yeah, yeah. We need to be dressed and in the room for 1. Ceremony is at 1:45, girls should arrive at half past and our stylist is arriving at midday. Easy.”
Steve glanced at his watch and Bucky smirked up at him “Hey, Stevie…only 3 hours till you see her punk…” From besides him, Sam snorted.
“You’re whipped man.”
Steve glared at them both, not even bothering to deny that was what he’d been checking and turned to Tony. “Is Greatmaster…Grandmaster, whatever, your wedding planner coming?” “Right, yeah that….asshole shall be showing up at some point.” Tony rolled his eyes “Fortunately I’m getting rid of him for the day.” He shoved another grape in his mouth and looked at Bruce “Remind me never to hire anyone you or the Bungalow recommend ever again.”
They boys settled down to eat, taking their time, enjoying a bit of banter about the stag do and the previous night’s rehearsal until an hour or so later Tony clapped his hands and stood up.
“Ok boys, suit up.”
Steve made his way back to his room and whilst in the elevator he got another message from Katie. This was a selfie of her in a robe with a glass of champagne having her hair put up. He smiled, responded telling her he couldn’t wait to see her, before the elevator door opened and he headed down to his room. Having already showered he knew he wasn’t in a huge rush so took his time trimming his beard, making sure the lines were crisp before he shrugged on his dress shirt, tying a Windsor in his deep, scarlet tie. Then he pulled on his suit pants, matching waistcoat and then jacket before placing his shiny black oxfords on and stood up. With a little product he styled his hair, making sure it was parted and slicked back as usual before taking a final glance in the mirror, smoothing down his jacket. He had to admit, the suits Tony (or most likely Pepper) had chosen for the Groom’s party were sharp. A black wool blend Tom Ford with a subtle red and gold check detail. Deciding he looked half decent he grabbed his wallet, phone, and room key. Satisfied he didn’t need anything else, he made his way back to Tony’s room.
Once more he gave a rap and the door opened inwards to reveal Grandmaster, smiling at him.
“Good afternoon Mr Rogers, you look dapper.” The man grinned, batting his eyelashes.
“Erm, thanks.” Steve replied in the absence of anything else to say.
“You’re late by the way.” Grandmaster continued.
“What?” Steve frowned, checking his watch to find he wasn’t late. He was never late…
“You’re the last one.” Grandmaster stated, as ways of explanation. “Everyone else is here already.”
“That’ doesn’t mean that I’m late.” Steve shook his head.
“No, I suppose it doesn’t,” Grandmaster replied, batting his eyelashes again.
“Whatever, can I come in?” Steve arched an eyebrow at him.
“Oh yeah, sure. Sorry. I got lost in your eyes for a minute there.”
Steve looked at the man, utterly lost for words. The guy was as nutty as a fruitcake. Steve stepped into the room, turning sideways as Grandmaster did the same smiling at him. He hastily moved into the living area of the suite where Rhodey was doing up Tony’s gold dress tie.
Grandmaster headed over to Bruce, brushing something off the man’s shoulder, smiling “You’ve always been my champion.”
Steve raised his eyebrows before he leaned over to whisper to Sam “How does Bruce know him again?”
“Some Ultimate Fighting online fan group.” Sam said “Bruce and Thor are very into it, apparently, along with one of Thor’s other good friends, Korg.”
“Korg?” Steve looked at Sam.
“Yeah, Thor knew him from his Uni days.” Sam said “They used to be quite political apparently. Tried to organise a protest against fascism but they didn’t print enough pamphlets so hardly anyone turned up.” Steve shook his head, the fact that didn’t surprise him in the slightest was ridiculous, but when it came to this lot, nothing did really, not anymore. It wasn’t long before Tony was ready, and the boys all stood round with one more scotch each before they were ushered, by a now very militant Grandmaster, down to the chapel where the wedding was going to take place in. Once there, Grandmaster headed off to check the function suite was ready for the ‘Post Wedding Meal’.  At his muttering of those words, Steve and Tony shared a little grin at the memory of a few weeks ago in Tony’s kitchen.
The Photographer arrived and set about arranging the boys for a few shots. Bucky tried to sneak into most of them, Tony at one point telling him to fuck off from his grooms party shots, which was the WORST thing he could possibly have done, as Bucky then made it his mission to infiltrate as many of them as he could by stealth. Steve had to admit, he couldn’t wait to see the final shots of Bucky popping up all over the place like some kind of nameless assassin.
As they were all having a shot taken just at the doors of the room, Grandmaster bustled back in. “OH. EMM. GEE.” He said, pronouncing each letter, drawing out the vowel sounds. “My crew sent me photos of the girls…you’re all going to DIE when you see them.” He grinned, slapping Steve’s back.
Ducking away from him, Steve checked his watch. 12:15…not long now. But before he could think about it, the first guests started to arrive having been shown the way by the concierge, and it was all to attention and the groomsman duties began.
Approximately 10 or so minutes later, he was just heading back to the door of the chapel having shown the assistant from the lab to her seat when he stopped dead as he saw Katie just outside in the foyer area, locked in an embrace with Tony. He was sure his heart stopped for a beat, fuck, she looked stunning. Her dress was the same colour as his tie, a deep red with a halter neck and a v neckline. It cinched in at the waist, with a fairly loose fitting skirt that had a slit up the side and it accentuated her figure perfectly. Her hair was pulled back into an elegant knot of curls at the back of her head, exposing her delicate neck and shoulders, and the star necklace he bought her twinkled as it sat just below the hollow of her throat. For some reason his mind strayed back to the time he had met her. He’d been invited to Howard’s for dinner a few months after arriving at the 101st and she’d answered the door, dressed in a pair of cut-off jeans, an oversized grey sweater which hung off one shoulder complete with a messy bun on top of her head and the prettiest eyes he had ever seen, eyes which were now popping from underneath a lid of smoky brown and gold eyeshadow. She’d flashed him a smile that day, invited him in, and if he was honest from that moment he’d been a fucking gonner for her. Why he had waited the best part of ten fucking years to even kiss her he would never understand. As he watched her eyes turned to his and she beamed at him. He gave her a smile back as she released Tony and made her way towards him, her leg slipping through the long slit in her dress as she walked giving him a flash of the peep-toe gold heels she was wearing, leaving him actively fighting the image of said heels being hooked around his ears…. Jesus Christ….
“Miss me Captain?” She grinned, her teeth bright white against the deep, blood red lip stain she was wearing.
“Always Doll.” He smiled as she stopped in front of him, blinking as she looked up at him.
“Good, because I missed you too.”
“You look amazing, honey.” Steve complimented her and she beamed up at him, scanning his suit.
“Thanks, you look pretty good yourself.” She said, her palms sliding up the lapels of his jacket.
Steve’s hand slipped round her back as he pressed a soft kiss to her cheek, not wanting to smudge her lipstick. When his palm met bare skin he couldn’t help the groan that left his mouth as he realised her dress was backless. Katie looked at him having heard his involuntary noise, arching a perfectly plucked brow and smirked.
“Yes, no bra Stevie.”
“You’re killing me sweetheart.” Steve whined out but before she could reply, Steve was rather harshly slapped on the back.
“Put her down, Punk you’re needed.”  Bucky smirked as he turned to Katie, doing an over exaggerated double take as he looked her up and down “Huh, ok, so you look decent…” “Fuck you Barnes.” She shot back “And tell them they can wait a little, I haven’t seen my man since last night.” “Oh believe me I know. He’s been a whiney little bitch all morning…”
At that point a familiar voice cut him off. “James Buchanan Barnes, wash your mouth out, this is a wedding!”
Bucky grimaced as huge grins spread across both Katie and Steve’s faces. “Sorry Momma R” “Yes, I should think so.” Sarah looked at him sternly.
“Okay, I’m gonna…go…ummm…” Bucky hastily made his retreat, Sarah watching him with narrowed eyes before she turned to Katie, beaming as she gave her a hug.
“Star you look stunning.”
“Thanks Sarah and so do you, I love your dress.” Katie smiled, looking down at Sarah’s light gold knee length gown and Steve had to admit, it had been a while since he’d seen his ma done up. She was quite striking actually. “I love the neckline, and your hair.”
“Yes, thank you for that.” She gave Katie a look and she blushed a little, waving her away.
“Thank you for what?” Steve asked and Sarah looked at him, smiling.
“I had a little surprise this morning. Star arranged for someone to come and do my hair for me.”
Steve looked at Katie, a soft smile crossing his face. “You did?”
Katie shrugged “It’s no big deal.” “Well it was to me, so thank you.” Sarah smiled, before she turned to Steve. “My boy…don’t you look handsome?”
Steve blushed a little “Ma…” he sighed and Sarah chuckled
“Are you going to show me to my seat?” she asked and Steve smiled. He offered his mom his arm, shot Katie another smile and then walked into the room. As they reached the row she was to be seated on he stopped and reached up to brush his cheek. “You look just like your father.”
Steve didn’t miss the emotion in his mom’s eyes and he swallowed a little as she took her seat one down from the end of the row. “Have you…?”
“God, Ma. No, not yet. And I won’t be today either, its Tony’s wedding…”
Sarah opened her mouth to speak, most likely to pressure Steve to hurry up again but she was cut off by a voice from behind them.
“I believe my seat is just there…”
Steve frowned, he recognised that voice. He turned to see none other than Stan Lee smiling at him.
“Mr Lee?” he asked as the elderly man beamed at him “I didn’t know you were invited.” He extended his hand to shake Stan’s. “Good to see you again.”
“You too Captain. May I?”
Steve gave a nod and moved so Stan could drop into the seat on the end of the row, next to his mom.
“Good afternoon Ma’am, looks like I’m on the young’uns row.” Stan beamed at Sarah who burst out laughing. Steve shook his head with a snort and left them to it, making his way back out of the room to find the rest of his team had now arrived, Thor currently giving Katie a huge hug. He greeted Natasha who touched his arm gently before making a bee line for Bruce. He watched her go, smirking to himself, before he turned and raised an eyebrow at Clint. Clint merely shrugged and then introduced the Captain to his girlfriend, Laura. Thor then turned to him, shaking hands with Steve and moved slightly to reveal Gina was stood now talking to Katie.
“Greetings Captain, I bought a date.” Thor grinned.
“I see.” Steve said, raising his eyebrows, not bothering to correct Thor on what he had just said making it sound like he’d purchased Gina in some way...
“Yeah…” Gina turned to Steve. “The way he says it he sounds like he’s bought a bottle of wine.”
Thor shook his head “No, I don’t drink wine.”
At that Katie burst out laughing and turned away, shaking her head slightly.
“It’s a good thing he’s dreamy” Gina said, jerking her thumb at Thor.
Steve’s attention then was then distracted by a loud voice “Miss Stark, you look stunning…” He turned to see flash fucking fire dude, Johnny Storm approaching her and he gave a little groan, rolling his eyes.
“Captain…” Thor asked and Steve turned back to him “Where do we err sit?” Steve floundered for a moment, he really didn’t want to leave the fire bastard alone with his girl so he turned to Bucky who was watching him, a huge grin on his face.
“Buck can you…”
Bucky raised both palms, shaking his head, smirking smugly “Hey, I’m not part of the groomsman party…”
“Fuck you jerk.” Steve shot back and Bucky raised his eyebrows.
“Ok, first off, watch your language. This is a chapel, a place of worship and two…” at this point he dropped his voice and gave Steve a stern look. “Stop with the jealousy, she’s with you. No competition.”
“What is he even doing here?” Steve frowned, completely ignoring what Bucky had said, and the sergeant took a deep sigh. He was just about to inform Steve that he had no idea when a voice sounded from behind them.
“Johnny, there you are!”
Bucky and Steve turned to see a tall, dark haired man and a blonde woman approaching them. The blonde rolled her eyes “Of course he would be here, Hi Katie.”
Katie smiled “Hi Susan.”
“Well this is cute and all but…” Gina spoke again, “like seriously, Captain. Where do we sit?”
Steve groaned and took another glance at Johnny who was bouncing on the balls of his feet, grinning as Katie chatted to the 3 people in front of her. Knowing he couldn’t not show the team to their seats, he rolled his eyes and moved gently to loop his arm round Katie’s waist, dropping a kiss to her cheek.  A flicker of a smile crossed her pretty face and she turned to look at him, leaving him with absolutely no question she knew he was ‘marking his territory’ so to speak, before he grudgingly turned away to show the team to their seats.
“Smooth.” Bucky observed.
“Shut up.” Steve snapped back as he led his team down to a row half way down the room. This time, when he once more emerged from the room he was greeted by a whirl of gold and blue and he let out a low groan. Grandmaster.
Tony’s eccentric wedding planner started to clap his hands at Steve “The bride is here…get everyone seated, we’re behind schedule…”
Tony, who had been stood talking to someone grumbled to Steve “I wish he was behind schedule, preferably by a week so he wasn’t here.”
Steve gave a snort as Grandmaster turned to Katie and Pepper’s sister “Miss Stark, Miss Potts, the Bride may need your help…” At that he then looked at Steve, didn’t I tell you she looked stunning?” “You said gorgeous.” Bucky replied lazily.
“No.” Grandmaster frowned “Why would I use that word?”
Before Bucky could reply to the very strangely dressed man in front of him, Rhodey then appeared, smiling. “All set.” He smiled, clapping Tony on the shoulder “You ready?” Tony shook his head “Nope.”
Katie smiled, “You’ll be fine.” Steve watched as she stepped forward to give her brother a hug before she pulled back, her hands on his arms. “Mom and Dad would be so proud.”
Tony swallowed before he nodded “Ok, kiddo…don’t make me cry. Go help Pepper, tell her she’s already late.”
Katie rolled her eyes as Tony and Rhodey headed into the room, being ushered along by Grandmaster. She glanced at Steve and smiled. “See you in a minute.”
Steve smiled back, reaching out to pull her to him, dropping a kiss to her lips. “Don’t make it too long Doll.” She grinned and turned, giving him a full on view of the back of her dress, leaving his mouth a little dry and he made his way to his place on the front row, slightly down from where Tony and Rhodey were stood at the front of the aisle. On the way he shot his mom a smile as she beamed proudly at him, Bucky nodding as he sat next to her on the opposite side to Stan Lee. For some reason Steve was nervous. Why, he had no idea. He’d already seen his girl and she’d taken his breath away once already, but here he was, a ball of tense energy.  He could hear Tony and Rhodey talking, but he wasn’t focussing, that was until Tony’s voice grew loud and indignant
“That man is playing Galaga” Tony pointed to a man on the second row who was engrossed in his phone. “He thought I wouldn’t notice, but I did.”
“Man, shut up and relax…” Rhodey soothed him.
“I need a drink, something strong…is it bad I can’t feel my left arm.” Tony looked at Rhodey who was about to respond when the music started and everyone stood up. Steve turned his attention to the door which opened inwards and Katie and Pepper’s sister stepped into the room, walking down the aisle.
Bucky watched Steve as he took a deep breath, his eyes on his girl as she glided towards them, a stupid, dopey, gooey-eyed smile crossing the Captains face. “Gross” he mumbled, giving a soft yelp as Sarah slapped him round the back of the head. Fury, who was on the seat to Bucky’s left gave a little snigger. Bucky looked at him and frowned. “What are you doing here? That’s not even your seat, I’ve seen the seating plan.”
“I’m sure you have Barnes.” Fury replied lazily “But given that it’s a stupid ass plan designed by an even more stupid ass planner I’ve elected to ignore it.”
As Katie reached the front row, Bucky saw her shoot Steve a huge smile, which his punk best friend returned, and then there were gasps in the room. Bucky turned and saw Pepper in a gorgeous, yet so simple silk, straight A-line dress, which was embellished round the waist in red and gold embroidery. He glanced at Tony, and was amused to see that the normally composed scientist was literally floundering for air. Bucky then caught Sam’s eye who flashed him a wink which he returned, and Sarah nudged him.
“See, that’s what being in love does to you James.”
Bucky smiled at her as she squeezed his hand gently. Throughout the Ceremony Bucky saw Steve kept on looking at Katie who was on the same row but the opposite side of the aisle. She was watching Tony, her eyes glassy. At one point, Pepper’s sister took her hand and she turned to her, giving her a smile, before they both looked back, Katie turning to Steve. She shot him a huge grin which he returned, and Bucky smiled to himself. It might be gross, but it was cute. He liked seeing Steve happy.
When the ceremony was over, Tony was told he could kiss his bride.
“Well, I’m not one to back down from an honest challenge…” he muttered, stepping forward and sweeping her up in a huge kiss to loud cheers in the room. As music began to play again, the new Mr and Mrs Stark swept down the aisle followed by Rhodey and Pepper’s sister. Steve walked on behind smiling as he reached the end of his row.
“May I Miss Stark?” he offered Katie his arm and she grinned, linking hers into the crook of his elbow and he lay his hand over hers. As they walked towards the doors, he caught his mom’s eye as she dabbed her tears away with a tissue. She beamed at him, and he smiled back, before he turned to look at Katie, dropping a soft kiss to her temple.  
**** The meals were eaten, the toasts were done, and tears were shed through the afternoon. But once the reception was done, the drinks kept on flowing right through to the evening party. Steve was relaxed, feeling the buzz from a fair amount of wine, beer and shorts which had been consumed through the day. There was a loud tapping noise on the speakers and Steve glanced up from where he was sat at a table near the dance floor, Katie perched on his lap, as Tony and Pepper were welcomed to the floor for their first dance. The opening bars to Etta James ‘At Last’ last rang out around the room and Katie gave a snort.
“You can say that again.” She chuckled and Steve grinned, his arm curling round her as she watched her brother, her eyes glassy with tears. “You know…” she leaned down to Steve, this should really be our song.”
“Doll, just don’t…”
She shrugged and he gave a little huff of a laugh as she turned back to watch Tony slowly revolving Pepper around the floor, the camera flashing from the photographer. After the first verse the MC invited people to join them, as tradition and Katie looked at Steve. He nodded and she stood up, taking his hand and leading him to the dance floor.
Bucky watched them go, picking up his drink, smiling.
“Look, now there are two Stark ladies!” Thor grinned as the team watched Steve take Katie in a close hold, gracefully revolving them on the spot, the pair of them sharing a laugh at something.
“Not for much longer.” Bucky grinned.
“What do you mean?” Thor frowned,
Besides Bucky Clint gave a snort as the sergeant looked at Thor blinking “You know, I don’t get it. Like, you’re super clever sometimes and others…”
Thor shrugged and then Bucky turned his attention over the table to see Scott Lang, their assistant looking at Natasha.
“Are you gonna eat that peanut butter macaroon or…” Scott began, but Natasha wasn’t listening, she was too busy caressing Bruce’s palm as it lay on the table in front of her so Scott reached out and grabbed it, shoving it in his mouth. On the dancefloor, Steve effortlessly moved Katie around the floor to the song as it played. She tucked her head under his chin and he breathed her in, his hand splaying on her bare back, simply relishing the fact she was so close. He didn’t speak a word, simply allowed the music and being with her to sweep him away, and he was rather unceremoniously jolted back to reality when loud applause sounded as the song finished. The MC congratulated Tony and Pepper once more, Katie turned to give her brother a huge hug, before the man on the mic wished everyone a Merry Christmas and the sounds of Wham, ‘Last Christmas’ rang out, cheers hitting Steve’s ears as suddenly the dance floor filled up.
Almost immediately, Bucky was in front of him, throwing what looked like torn up place cards into the air, holding his arms out “Merry Christmas and Happy 2021!”
Sam, who was besides Bucky looked at him “Its 2020 next year, idiot.”
Steve dusted the paper off his shoulders, picking pieces out of Katie’s hair as she looked at Bucky, frowning. Bucky turned to Sam and shrugged “Yeah I know but I don’t like 2020. Sounds like a shit year to me…although…” he spun to Steve grinning and Steve took a deep breath and shot him a glare, which he totally ignored “It could be a good one eh Stevie?”
“What is he talking about?” Katie looked at Steve.
“God knows, he’s drunk.” Steve shrugged as Bucky made a clicking noise as he winked, pointing at both of them. Thankfully, Sam dragged him away, Katie and Steve both watched them go before Katie turned back around. Smiling, Steve took her back in a hold that was a little lighter this time as the music was more upbeat and they began to dance together once more.
“Hmmm. Last Christmas…” Katie pondered and Steve let out a groan.
“Can we…” he took a deep breath, dropping his head “Can we just not? Please Doll. I’m not very proud of myself when I think about it.” Katie chuckled and her hands came to rest on his shoulders as he moved them in a little livelier dance. “Ok, sorry. But, it worked out in the end.”
“It did. But I caused you a lot of pain along the way.” He sighed, “Too much.”
“Yeah, but I didn’t hang around and give you chance to explain or try and work it out.” Katie looked up at him. “I just ran away.
“I didn’t exactly try and stop you did I?” Steve looked at her.
“No, you didn’t Captain Righteous.” Katie conceded and Steve chuckled as she shook her head “God I was so mad at you.”
“I was mad at myself Sweetheart.” “But if I’m honest, I was more upset that we’d blown our chance.” Steve took a deep breath. “I really thought we had. Well, that I had…”
“Stevie?”
“Yeah?”
“Don’t you ever leave me again, please.” She said, almost whispered. Steve frowned and looked at her, her face was loaded with emotion and beneath those sparkling green emerald eyes he could see a flicker of fear.
“Hey…” he reached for her hand and raised it to his mouth, pressing a kiss to her wrist “Where’s this coming from baby girl?”
Katie sniffed, “Honestly? I don’t know. It’s just, everything is so perfect. It sometimes feels a little too good to be true. And I’m scared that one day I’m gonna wake up and I’ll still be in DC…or that you might have another car crash…or a case getting nasty and you…”
She was losing herself in her head again, something he’d seen her do countless times so he quickly cut her off. “Look at me.” He cupped her face in both his hands “I’m not going anywhere Doll.”
“Promise?”
Steve opened his mouth to reply, but he knew full well that words wouldn’t do this moment justice. Instead he dipped his face to hers, catching her mouth in a deep kiss, not caring who the fuck was watching. He poured every single piece of emotion he was feeling into that kiss, desperate for her to understand that he had no intention of leaving her ever again and she must have gotten the message as he felt her relax into his hold, kissing him back, her hands softly gripping at the material of his jacket.
“Erm, stop eating his face Kiddo, this is my wedding.” Tony interrupted “It’s supposed to be about me….and Pepper” he added.
Steve could feel his cheeks growing warm as Katie pulled away from him with a groan and a roll of her eyes as she turned to face Tony.
“How about you go eat your wife’s face and leave us the fuck alone Tones?”
“Rude much?” He snorted “I raised you better than that.”
“You didn’t raise me at all, Tony!” Katie scoffed.
“Ok, it was a figure of…” he trailed off, frowning at something over her shoulder. “What the hell is Thor doing?”
Steve and Katie turned to see Thor was stood his nose almost touching one of the branches of the lit up Christmas Trees round the edge of the room.
“Oh, he was rambling on over dinner about Norwegian Spruce trees.” Katie shrugged, “Maybe he’s trying to figure out if that is one or not.”
“He was rambling about what?” Tony looked at her.
“It’s a type of tree which…” Steve began but Tony cut him off.
“You know what, on second thoughts I’m not really interested.” Steve sighed and looked at Katie who rolled her eyes as Tony continued “By the way, how do you like the décor?”
Steve watched Katie look around and knew what she’s was going to say, because she loved this time of year, turning into one huge, great child over the entire period of December. And true to form, when she opened her mouth to reply, she was grinning ear to ear.
“I gotta say, he might be a pain in the ass but Grandmaster got this right. I love it.” She smiled.
“Yeah, me too.” Tony agreed. “It’s like Christmas but with more me.” Steve let out a snort and Tony clapped his shoulder “Remind me to give you his card.” And with that he left, Steve shooting daggers at him. Thankfully, Katie was too engrossed in what Thor was doing to hear Tony offering Steve the services of a wedding planner. He saw her frown and his attention then flicked to the tall blonde, frowning.
“What is he offering my Ma?”
“Condoms.” A voice shot back, and Steve wheeled round to glare at Bucky who had appeared out of nowhere.
“For fucks sake Buck!” he growled as Katie spluttered out a laugh.  
“Just kidding.” Bucky grinned, “They’re sweets. He handed them out before, you two were too busy dancing.”
“Sweets?” Katie arched an eyebrow.
“Yeah, he said he got em off a suspect…no, not a suspect, a suspects brief, yeah…”
“Bucky, are you ok?” Katie asked him and Steve looked at her, then to Bucky who did look a little, what was the word, spaced?
“Yeah, I feel…great!” He replied with a giggle.
Katie looked at him again before she let out a small “oh.” And groaned a little “Oh God.”
“What is it?” Steve asked, but she ignored him and continued talking to Bucky.
“How many of those sweets Thor has did you eat?”
“3 maybe 4…I dunno…” Bucky giggled, “I want more though.”
At that point, the man in questioned arrived. “Greetings!” Thor beamed at Katie and Steve, holding out a little foil packet “Sweet?”
“Thor, the guy who gave you those, was he wearing suspenders?” Katie asked and Steve frowned.
“Yes, I believe he was, along with a very bright lime green shirt. Nice chap.” Thor mused “He used many Post Its”
At that Steve looked at Katie, giving a little groan as he suddenly understood “Weiss?”
Katie nodded “They were a favourite little party treat of his.”
Steve snatched the bag from Thor and sniffed inside, pulling back immediately, the smell of cannabis sticking in his nostrils. “Jesus how can you not smell that?”
“Wait…” Bucky said, taking a sniff and looking at Steve “These have weed in them? The things I ate?”
Katie took a sniff and wrinkled her nose “Yup, and they’re stronger than I remember.”
“Than you remember? You used to do this?” Steve looked at her and she shrugged.
“Hey, I was younger and dumber…”
“Wait, so I’m high right now?” Bucky pressed and Katie grinned.
“Yep, they’ll wear off in a while. For the time being you’ll just feel very drunk and kinda floppy.”
“Floppy?” Steve frowned and Katie nodded.
“Yeah, like nothing matters, everything is cool. They used to make me a little frisky actually, we once took them before we…” she paled and Steve looked at her, swallowing before he turned to Thor.
“Thor, you didn’t give one of these to my ma did you?” Steve asked.
“Of course, not, no.” Thor shook his head.
“Oh thank fuck” Steve breathed out.
“I gave her two.” Thor concluded. At that Bucky’s giggles suddenly turned into loud laughter as he bent over, clutching at Thor’s arm.
“For fucks sake Thor, you drugged my mom!” Steve exploded as Bucky’s laughter grew louder.
“Sarah’s gonna be hiiiiigh.”
“Where is she?” Steve demanded, ignoring Bucky.
They scanned the room, searching for her only to see her at the other side of the dancefloor with flash fire dude, who was twirling her round to the music.
“Flame on!” She whooped, her hands up in the air as Johnny grinned.
“It’s catchy right?”
With a groan Steve strode over towards them. “Ma? What are you doing? You Ok?”
Sarah grinned at him, her eyes slightly glazed “Hey Son I’m good…just dancing with this young man.” She said, looking at Johnny then back to Steve “He says he’s called the human torch but us girls can call him torch”
Steve glared at Storm as Katie reached his side “The human torch?” he deadpanned “Seriously?”
“Hey,I didn’t coin it, it was the press that did that when we put out that warehouse fire. So called because my uniform caught fire on the way out…thanks to my sister though, I escaped with nothing more than a slight smoulder.” Steve felt Katie shaking besides him and could tell she was holding back laughter. Storm flashed her a wink and Steve grit his teeth before he felt his mom slap his shoulder.
“Don’t you be giving him that look Steven Grant! This brave man is a firefighter…” at that she turned back to Johnny, sniggering. “Now, where is your hose young man?”
“Jesus Christ…” Steve groaned, looking away in disgust.
Johnny opened his mouth to speak but Katie cut him off “Err no. Don’t.”
He shrugged and then looked at Sarah who was laughing so hard she was almost bent double.
“Ok, that’s enough Ma.” Steve decided to do what he did best, take control of the situation. “ I think you need to sit down.”
“Awww, don’t be such a buzz kill Steven.”
“It ain’t the buzz I want to kill…” Steve said, his eyes locking onto Johnny’s as he gave him another filthy glare.
After a little more cajoling they manage to get Sarah to agree to sit down. Steve helped her to her seat whilst she was rambling on about not wanting to be sat with Mr Lee again because he spent all dinner complaining about the booze not being strong enough. As they reached her table Sarah suddenly stopped.
“Actually…I think I need…yeah I need to go to my room.” She looked at Steve and Katie gave a snort.
“Hey, Steve, your ma’s crashing.”
Steve shot her a look. “This is not funny.”
Before she could respond Sam appeared and looked between the two of them, then to Sarah as he raised an eyebrow, an amused smile playing on his handsome face.
“Everything OK?” he asked.
“Yeah, she had one of Thor’s magic sweets.” Katie grinned “You wanna watch Buck, he’s had 4.”
Sam snorted, “Yeah I noticed.”
“I’m hungry.” Sarah suddenly said and Steve let out a sigh.
“Sam, can you help me get her to her room. Doll, you keep an eye on Bucky.” “I want a cheeseburger.” Sarah pointed at Steve and he looked at her.
“Ma, you’ve never eaten a cheeseburger in your life.”
“Shows much you know. A McDonalds on a Friday is my secret treat…although now I told you it’s not a secret.” She raised her finger to her lips “Sshhhh you can’t tell anyone.”
Steve rolled his eyes and started leading his ma to the door, Sam following.
“Bye Sarah!” Johnny called. “Pleasure meeting you!”
“Bye hottie!” she giggled, waving her hand at him as Sam laughed. She turned to Steve, spluttering out a laugh. ”Ha, hottie, see what I did there?”
“Yes.” Steve shook his head as he led her from the room. “Very good, Ma.”
Between Steve and Sam it was fairly easy to get Sarah to her room. Once he’d made sure she was ok and had some water he closed the door and they made their way back to the main room, Steve throwing the sweets in the trash as they passed a can on the way.
“Fucking Weiss.” He grumbled to himself as Sam gave a little chuckle.
When they arrived back in the room, it was clear a fair few of his team had managed to have one of those damned sweets before he’d confiscated them. Gina, Nat and Clint were dancing, all 3 of them with odd looks and dopey grins on their faces. Katie was on the floor with Pepper and Bucky, Bucky swaying on the spot. As Steve watched Sam headed over and winked at Katie, steering Bucky away. Steve felt someone besides him and he turned to see Bruce.
“How’s the team look to you Bruce?” he asked, a smile on his face as Bruce snorted.
“Right now we’re not a team, we’re a time bomb.”
Steve had to concede he was right, as at that moment Clint started miming as if he was shooting a bow, whereas Nat looked like she was throwing knives. Gina on the other hand was stood doing the robot.
“I need a drink.” Steve concluded.
“Good idea.” Bruce agreed.
They head to the bar where Tony was leaning against it, his tie long discarded, lecturing Peter Parker. Steve, taking lead from Tony, loosened his tie and popped the top button on his shirt before he ordered himself and Bruce a bourbon each, offering one to Tony who nodded, and then Peter who asked politely for a beer instead. The 4 men engaged in conversation, and a fair few drinks as Steve was happy to remain where he was, out of the way, every so often glancing around. It was about an hour later when he saw Clint and Natasha slowly walking towards a table, dropping down into a seat, Gina following. Bucky walked over to the bar with Sam shaking his head.
“Feeling ok Pal?” Steve grinned and Bucky blinked, rubbing his eyes.
“What the fuck just happened? It was like someone took over my brain…” he looked at them.
“I think the magic wore off.” Bruce mumbled as Steve gave a snort. “
“God, I really need food.” Buck looked around.
Steve laughed and clapped Bucky on the shoulder, ordering another round of drinks.
CONTINUED IN PART 2....
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knchins · 3 years
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ALLY!!! Congrats on 1k, that's such a huge milestone! I would like to request a matchup with a bnha and haikyuu male character please. I use she/her pronouns, I consider myself a Hufflepuff with a dash of Ravenclaw, and I want to be a science teacher or a researcher in the future! I'm generally pretty friendly and enjoy talking to other people. School is really important to me but I procrastinate sometimes >.< Ahh idk what else to say so that's it from me hehe. Thank youu, ily!!
Zeze!! ily2!! I was so excited when I saw you sent me an ask!
I pair you with...
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Eijirou Kirishima!!
LISTEN! I tried to not be cliche about your match but like...you two fit together so well? I literally could not think of a better partner for you 😭 
Kiri was a little nervous to ask you out, he was just so enamored with you that he didn’t think his heart could take rejection. After Bakugo told him he was a fucking idiot and to MAN UP. Which of course, gave Kiri enough courage to show up at your front door with a single red rose and a profession of his undying love for you....Okay it was pretty cheesy, but you absolutely loved it?? I mean how could you not? Anyway that day was the happiest day of his life and he tells that to everyone he introduces you to.
While he himself is not the brightest and may not be the best when it comes to school, he is very supportive of your endeavors to further your education! He’s also your biggest cheerleader and will do his best to motivate you to get your work done in a timely manner. He also tends to spoil you when you’re studying by bringing you snacks and reminding you to take small breaks so you don’t get too bogged down!
What attracted him to you the most was your kind heart and caring spirit. He loves how sweet you are and how you seem to get along with everyone. He really doesn’t think there’s a bad bone in your body and that you’re the most precious thing on the planet. Because of that he also feels that you should be fiercely protected and if anyone is mean to you he will definitely not stand for it.
He is also amazed by how super creative you are. You’re a true artist and he loves seeing the different things that you make. He would be very supportive of your graphic making and writing! He doesn’t see himself as very creative so he thinks that its really fascinating what you can come up with!
A perfect date would be a festival! Not only can Kiri show you off, but he can also win you anything you want. He’s ridiculously good at the games and somehow has amazing luck with them. Bakugo will definitely make fun of how in love he is with you, but he just shrugs it off because you’re definitely worth it.
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Tetsurou Kuroo!!
Okay so he’s a fellow science lover but like in the best kind of way.
He is a very tall boy and isn’t afraid to tease you about how much shorter you are than him. But it’s all in good fun, he loves everything about you and it just wouldn’t be normal for him to not pick at someone he cares about. Still he makes it clear that he’s joking and knows not to go too far with any of his banter. If he does upset you by accident then he is quick to rectify any hurt he caused. He’s not trying to be mean after all.
You probably met in a science lab in college. He chose you as his partner because you were definitely the prettiest girl in class. That being said, he was pleasantly surprised to find out how knowledgeable you are! In fact, if he were totally honest with himself, then he’d admit that you actually are smarter than him. But he sees this more as a challenge for himself to learn more instead of as a shortcoming.
He is also the type to procrastinate with you instead of trying to convince you to get your work done. He can be a bad influence in that way. He can also be very distracting when he wants to be in the sense that he’ll bug you whenever he gets too bored with whatever it is he’s doing. You sometimes have to set a boundary with him in order for you to get anything done, but he respects it 100% and will back off if you tell him to.
Also he is like the best video game partner? So he grew up with Kenma, the ultimate gamer, as his best friend. So one of his love languages is quality time! His favorite way to do that is to play games with you, more-so co-op than pvp, but he will play anything you want. He commonly rounds up the old team from Nekoma to play Among Us with you both and as you can imagine calamity ensues.
The perfect date...he would rent out an entire movie theater just for you two to enjoy a private marathon with unlimited snacks. It would be a mix of your favorites as well as new releases that you both wanted to see! He’ll also definitely order you both some takeout if snacks don’t cut it. The whole time he’ll have his arm around you and have a huge smile on his face!
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