#but I caught myself thinking about how no one points out for how long Clover was trying to figure out who killed her brother by this method

[mortellanarts]

🎶Now Playing: 4. Digital Root

digital root (math) :

Mastering the digital root concept can help you achieve better grades at school, this is because it can be used to check that your answers to arithmetic problems are correct

@999week

#999 week #clover 999 #clover field #zero escape #9 hours 9 persons 9 doors #my art #digital root has a bit of a boring name considering how sick of hearing it everyone must be lol #but I caught myself thinking about how no one points out for how long Clover was trying to figure out who killed her brother by this method #I wonder if going through the first game made her use it in school at any point #it can be used to double check if a solution is correct and I thought that it's so ironic in axe end how she still gets the problem wrong #but this isn't that it's supposed to be when she first shares this with Junpei behind Door 1 in the true ending #that's the song that plays in that moment! #I am not sure there's much of a pattern to this one showing up though? it is also playing during the ice 9 freezer thing #I am behind one day but!! still very determined and will either post Junpei's later or tomorrow along with Akane :3

[leaderpinhead]

Cater - An Invisible Mask

Cater loudly sighed and twirled a strand of hair around his finger. For all the hype he’d heard about NRC, the opening ceremony was kinda...lame. They’d been standing here for what felt like hours now, each student going up to chat with the Dark Mirror before shuffling off to their designated dorm. Cater almost regretted having a last name starting with a letter at the beginning of the alphabet. The anticipation would’ve lingered longer if he hadn’t been placed in Heartslabyul Dorm already. Other than that, the most excitement he’d had was watching the staff scramble to find the infamous Malleus Draconia, who (according to a tiny fae at least) had simply lost track of time. 

His next sigh caught the attention of the guy in front of him, who quickly glanced over his shoulder. Trey Clover—Cater was pretty sure that was the guy’s name. He had given Cater a friendly smile when he joined the line of Heartslabyul freshmen after his own placement. Cater tugged a little harder on his hair, his frown feeling almost heavy. It wasn’t until he accidentally caught Trey’s eye that he gave the guy a friendly grin. 

“Maddox Wogan!” 

The headmage’s energetic cry didn’t match the polite applause the other students gave. The housewardens, all of them properly lined up at the front of each dorm’s line, looked just as bored as Cater felt. Cater’s hand twitched towards the phone in his pocket. Everyone was so zombified at this point, there was no way they’d notice him flipping through Magicam. 

He was so focused on slyly checking his phone that he almost missed the Dark Mirror’s spiel about soul searching the next guy into a dorm. His bubble of disinterest shattered when another voice cut off the Dark Mirror. “How has your day been?” 

The Dark Mirror stopped mid-sentence. The entire room fell silent. Even the headmage stood off to the side without interfering, a curious hum being the only noise he made. To Cater’s shock, the Dark Mirror answered. “It has been quite fine. Thank you for asking.” 

“Of course,” the boy said with a slight nod. “It would be considered rude not to ask.” 

“So it is,” the Dark Mirror intoned. “According to your soul, you shall be placed in Dia—.” 

“Do you not plan to ask of my day in return?” Maddox interrupted again. Cater couldn’t tell from the inflection of his voice if he was upset or not. He almost sounded like some robot spouting a pre-recorded convo. “That is extremely rude in itself. The polite course of conversation is as so: How has your day been? Quite fine, thank you, and how has yours been? How nice of you to ask. I’ve been a bit under the weather lately, but we must move forward as life does go on. Have you heard what that cod Harold did the other day? Why, no, I did not! Well, he’s a fine loser, he is. Thought he could skimp out on the jam during a tea party. Gasping for dramatic effect. How could he? To skimp on the jam is a cardinal sin! That’s what I told him, but he insisted on being in the right. Was he prosecuted for such a heinous deed? Unfortunately, not, but I reported him to the Association of Jam and Toast Tea Party Equality. I hope he is henceforth banned from all tea parties. Indeed, as do I. End scene.” 

An enthusiastic clap sounded from the small group of Savanaclaw students. Cater watched the clapper sweep his hood off to reveal tangled blond hair. “Bravo!” 

“My apologies then,” the Dark Mirror said after a long pause. “I shall remember that social cue if such a situation occurs again. Now, you shall be placed in Pom—.” 

“What does it take to become an infamous artifact of profound legend?” Maddox interrupted again. Cater was starting to get the impression the guy didn’t care what others might think of him. He was literally just saying what he felt the moment it came to his mind. “Do you confirm the theories of knowing the Fairest Queen herself? I myself am descended from a long line of hatters, one of which was my great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, twice-removed, great grand uncle who acclaimed to have been a hatter for the Queen of Hearts. He was a bit mad, so not everyone in the family believed him. But he did indeed make hats. Or at least one hat we can confirm. Speaking of...” 

Cater nearly choked on his own spit when Maddox whipped out a wide-brimmed hat from beneath his robes. He carefully placed it on the top of the Dark Mirror’s frame. The bright green and red feathers fluttered out from the bright yellow sash. “Happy Hat Day.” 

The green-tinted face within the mirror looked very unamused, but Cater could only see half of its frown when the oversized hat drooped down one side of the frame. Cater slapped a hand over his mouth to muffle a snort. “Maddox Wogan: I hereby place you within—.” 

“Almost forgot.” Maddox pulled out another hat from his robes. He pulled off his hood and placed the worn, dark green top hat on his own head. A hand mirror with a sticker of a smiley face on the glass rested in the purple sash. The hat was a size too small for him, but his kinky curls managed to keep it properly situated on his head. “In honor of you, great mirror of legend.” 

Cater bit the tip of his tongue and snapped a picture. He’d have to figure out some captions later, but it was definitely going on his Magicam. The Savanaclaw student started clapping again, and Cater could have sworn he saw Vil Schoenheit shaking his head amongst the Pomefiore freshmen across the room. 

“Mr. Wogan,” Crowley finally said. Cater couldn’t really tell what the headmage thought of the whole ordeal since his mask obscured most of his face while the hand cupping his chin hid the rest. “While I admire your forethought, perhaps you should allow the Dark Mirror to place you in a dorm now. As you have already brought up the concern for etiquette, it is quite rude to interrupt another so many times.” 

“Of course.” Maddox dipped his head. Cater admired the fact that his hat sat in the exact same position despite the change of angle. “My apologies. I shall absorb your wisdom with my very soul.” 

From anyone else, Cater would have interpreted the statement as some sort of quick snide. From Maddox? Cater really wasn’t sure the guy had a filter at all, and that was saying something after only knowing him for five minutes! 

The Dark Mirror emitted a sigh the likes Cater had never heard before. “Your soul is a...fickle one. You will benefit the most from Heartslabyul Dorm.” 

Maddox solemnly nodded and marched over to the line of Heartslabyul freshman. Cater avoided making eye contact by flipping through the pics on his phone. He felt more than saw Maddox abruptly stop beside him. When his eyes flicked up for the quickest second, he found Maddox staring at him through squinting lids. Cater’s eyes narrowed in response. “What?” 

The narrowed expression flattened. Maddox shrugged and continued marching. “You were just a nice shade of yellow, but now you’ve returned to gray. It doesn’t match the smile you give everyone.” 

Not knowing how to respond, Cater let Maddox go to the back of the line without stopping him. Trey lightly chuckled in front of him and pulled on the hood covering his head. “This class is shaping up to have some interesting characters.” 

Cater waited for Trey to turn back towards the Dark Mirror, who was insisting Crowley not touch the hat slowly slipping down its frame. He slightly twisted to look over his shoulder. Maddox stared off into space at the back of Heartslabyul’s line. Cater twisted back around, but he almost felt compelled to keep glancing back at the odd boy. 

Yellow? Gray? Cater had no idea what Maddox was talking about, but it gave him this strange sense of...Cater didn’t really know what. But it made him feel a lot lighter than the handful of likes and reposts he got later when he posted a selfie in the new room he shared with Trey and two other freshmen. 

#twisted wonderland #twstober #cater diamond #day 25 descend #ngl I had some mixed feelings about cater for a while #but he's growing on me

[freedominthecircus]

To think that all color symbolism would be the same across the board in people’s cultures (and thus, their witchcraft) is laughable. What is anger and vengeance in one culture may just be luck or passion in another - and an individual themselves may have a completely out-of-left-field viewpoint due to their own lived experiences. There are as many different interpretations as there are people in the world. And while there are plenty of witches out there that don’t give a damn about color theory or symbolism and get along just fine without it - there are also plenty that do care and do want to learn, just are caught up in a more euro-centric view of the color spectrum.

Namely using this site as a jumping-off point, here are my personal views on the colors as of now:

RED

A color of passion in North American and European cultures, it is frequently associated with love (seen extensively along with Pink) in Valentine’s Day celebrations. It is also associated with anger or danger and as such I have personally used the color in more aggressive workings where it has worked well. The color red is also used in religious practices in Central and South America as Christianity associates red with the blood of Christ (of course) and the crucifixion. In China - and possibly other East Asian countries - red symbolizes honor and success. While American brides are more used to wearing white on their wedding day, Chinese brides more prefer red for this association. Wanting that success in their marriages as well as a long-lasting love.

As stated before: I use Red in workings where I feel the need to be more aggressive or passionate about what I am trying to convey. Whether that be screaming a warning at someone/something to back the fuck up, or whether the red wax is being used to seal the envelope of Lust Dust. I know some people who are die-hard about using red in their Love workings - but it has never really worked for me unless the end result was an intense romp in the bedroom rather than their heart being touched.

ORANGE

Very frequently associated with Autumn in North America and Europe. Halloween and the agricultural harvests are frequently thought of - as well as the color is known as a more royal color in the Netherlands. Counties in Central and South America view Orange as one of the more primary colors of nature, and it is almost always associated with the earth and sun. China and Japan also view Orange as a color of good things. From financial prosperity to making sure one is in good health - it’s also associated with a general happiness, courage, and other good fortunes. It is also known as a more sacred color in India.

I personally do not work with Orange much as I find it an off-putting color to me. I’ve never gravitated towards it and there have actually been a few times where once Orange was introduced to something - the “vibes” we all off and the spellwork had to have been done for the night. For what reason this may be I do not know.

YELLOW

A mixed bag of correspondences. From being seen as a color of wealth in Africa to being a color of mourning in the Middle East. (And apparently as a color linked to pornography in China - though this is a claim I have not looked into myself yet. In North America and Europe, we tend to associate it with sunshine and good weather which is usually how I personally incorporate it when it does get used - but it is also frequently known as a color of jealousy in Germany and France.

The color of the sun and associated with Summer more than Spring in my mind. Yellow gets used in my practice usually at two points in the year: Either during the Summer to celebrate the moments of sunshine that graces my Seasonal Depression with little pepper-light kisses - or dead in the middle of Winter to try to remind myself of those kisses.

GREEN

The green four-leaf clover did a lot in terms of minds in North American and Western Europe to associate it predominately with good luck. Even with other associations such as envy/jealousy or progress - luck tends to be the go-to correspondence. Even with countries in Asia and the Middle East viewing green with a more natural lens and corresponding it with fertility and prosperity also - it still remains a color of good fortune as well.

Green in the color in my head associated the most with money and financial prosperity. It is the color of the American dollar and is used in many, many, wealth spells and other work along those lines and I have used it exactly as such in the past. While this is the main way I personally use and view green, it should be noted that I have used the color in abundance workings as well.

BLUE

A strong color with the main association across cultures as one to ward off evil, as well as a color of strength thanks to the Hinduism deity Krishna - who is often (if not always) presented with having blue skin. Some other more Asian cultures also recognize blue as a color of long life, healing, and even immortality. That is not to say there are not other - more somber - connotations though. In more western cultures we tend to have a saying of “feeling blue” - which means extreme sadness or even mourning.

To me, Blue is a color associated mostly with a tranquil sadness or melancholy. I use it in a lot of grief work to guide me through and let loose the well of tears inside if I’m having trouble releasing them. I have also used it as a “booster” color of sorts though, usually in conjunction with other colors on the cool color spectrum, as mixing it with warm colors left me feeling very odd afterwards.

PURPLE

A general consensus throughout most of the world is that Purple is the color of wealth, and it’s a color usually reserved for royalty. The exception to this is found in Latin and South America where - in that part of the world - it means death.

This is the association I have with it. I have never fully viewed it as a royal or wealthy color, and instead have always viewed purple as a color of death and frequently use it in works with death.

BLACK

The color of death, mourning, and - curiously - formality in Europe and North America. Western funerals have featured black for centuries for it’s association with death and the dead, and some places in the Middle East also see it as a color of death and evil. India also views black as more evil than good. Other parts of the world have a different take. Black is a positive color in places like China and Japan and is a very popular color amongst young boys and girls. Some African cultures also see it as a symbol of maturity rather than anything associated with death.

Black is probably my most used “color” in my practice. Along with technically being a “color” comprised of all other colors - it’s used as a substitute for a lot in my practice. It’s a color I also use a ton for meditation, and I do use it as one of three colors I associate with death (the others being White and Purple). It’s never been a “bad” or negative color for me.

WHITE

The “color” that is the lack of all other color - its associated heavily with purity throughout most of the world. It is also associated with good luck and prosperity in some pockets of Africa as well. There are other places in Eastern Europe and Asia where it is associated with death in addition to purity. It can also denote bad fortune or general unhappiness.

I tend to skew towards the latter because of the fact that white is the “color” that is the lack of all others. Giving the general feeling of emptiness where there once was something. I do sometimes also use it to cleanse or purify because of it’s lack of all other color.

#//personal ramblings #witchblr #witch community #witchcraft

[simplysimpingsimp]

Hey! This is the person who requested the sleeping recovery scenario. It turned out perfect!!! Your writing is literally amazing!!!

I hope you don't mind another request but I can't get the idea of Zenitsu's partner becoming a demon slayer because of him out of my head. I think a drabble would fit well so how about Zenitsu's reaction to his partner (still they/them) coming back from final selection only to find out that being by his side was the main reason they joined the corps.

Thank you in advance and don't make sure to take care of yourself!

Hiya again Anon!! Ahh I’m so glad you enjoyed your previous request and I’m so happy to hear another request from you <3 your kind words mean so much to me :,D I really like this prompt ! So you definitely shall have this !! As always I’m super sorry for any mistakes, I will gladly go back and fix them!!

🌻—————————————————————🌻

🌻𝙵𝚘𝚛 𝚈𝚘𝚞

🌻𝚉𝚎𝚗𝚒𝚝𝚜𝚞 𝚡 𝙶𝚗!𝚁𝚎𝚊𝚍𝚎𝚛

🌻𝚙𝚛𝚘𝚗𝚘𝚞𝚗𝚜: 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚢/𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚖

🌻⚠︎︎⚠︎︎⚠︎︎𝚆𝙰𝚁𝙽𝙸𝙽𝙶 𝚃𝚆: 𝚜𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚕𝚎 𝚖𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗 𝚘𝚏 𝚋𝚕𝚘𝚘𝚍⚠︎︎⚠︎︎⚠︎︎

🌻—————————————————————🌻

“Zenitsu,

Can you believe that it’s been nearly 2 years since we were last together? It’s almost time for me to go through the final selection! I know you’re probably screaming right now or even pacing around wherever you may be at the thought of me facing something dangerous but I feel like I could do it! I’ve been training under a man named Urokodaki Sakonji, Tanjiro might have told you about him before. Though he had some hesitations at the start, I think I won him over hehe! Anyway, I’ll be going through the final section in about a week. I know I’ll be okay, so don’t worry too hard about me, okay? I love you Zeni and I’ll see you soon, I promise.

Yours, Y/n.”

The fated week had passed since he had gotten the parchment with their name signed in the same fancy way they always did and the signature f/c ribbon that held the folds of the paper in a neat square and a small dried and pressed branch of wisteria together.

Zenitsu felt it in his heart that they had reached the wisteria surrounded location. For the next seven nights and days, he prayed for their safety and for them to just survive, hoping that they wouldn’t die attempting to be a hero to someone who wouldn’t do the same for them. When he would lay in bed, he caught himself gripping onto the ribbon attached to the parchment and the small wooden charm they gave him before they began their search for someone who could train them, murmuring all his wishes and prayers for them onto the material gifts as if they had any say in Y/n’s safety.

He knew he didn’t have to worry so hard yet he couldn’t help it. His heart yearned for their return and their loving embrace again, to be able to hear their heartbeat again, to make up for that lost time.

Every night he would be on the brink of tears as nightmare filled dreams invaded the usual happy dreams he had of a peaceful life with Y/n where they would frolic happily in fields of clover and daises and he would make them adorable crowns and jewelry from the cream toned clovers. Picturing their smiling face and that loving pink hue that painted their cheeks when they would look at him filled the void in his heart and arms.

His nightmares distorted that image, often portraying their face beaten and bloodied as they took their final breaths with a demon hovering above them preparing to devour them. In those dreams he would feel himself running towards them yet he never moved forward seemingly stuck in place, his arms desperately reaching out for them but he could never reach them. He’d wake up in cold sweats with a chill running down his spine, longingly looking to his side where Y/n would usually be.

Morning came, with the sun rising and the gentle coo of birds alerting passerbies of the morning sun and hour of the day.

Zenitsu anxiously paced the wooden home they had been staying in near Urokodaki’s home where Y/n would arrive if they survived.

His steps resounded against the looming silence and anxious atmosphere of the building as his hands gripped the parchment a crow had delivered him two weeks ago.

What if they didn’t come back? What if they had lost a battle? What if they were injured and no one helped them? What would he even do with himself knowing that he couldn’t save them? All were questions he asked himself repeatedly, sabotaging any glimmer of hope and calmness he had.

He had been told that only 6 came back from the final selection, but no one ever described who was among them. Panicked, he gripped his hair as he almost screamed from the sheer overwhelming thoughts filling his head of news of their death and the idea of never being able to hold them much less see them again.

“Calm down Zenitsu,” Tanjiro’s voice was soft as he placed a hand on his shoulder, “You know they’re a fighter. I’m sure they’ll be back soon.” Tanjiro’s smile was reassuring yet Zenitsu couldn’t help but worry.

“You’re right, you’re right, thank you Tanjiro..” the blond’s voice was soft as he returned a worried smile to Tanjiro.

“Let’s head over to Urokodaki-San’s, I’m sure he wouldn’t mind us waiting over there,” Tanjiro spoke as Zenitsu nodded with tears in his eyes.

᪥᪥

Exhausted, they trudged along the dirt path leading to Urokodaki’s home. Their sandaled feet dragged up dirt clouds that stained their f/c hakama pants. A white satchel around them carrying their new demon slayer uniform.

“So heavy..” they frowned lightly as they weakly gripped onto the strap of the satchel. It had been so long since they felt the level of exhaustion they felt.

Everything felt sore yet they were still proud of themselves for succeeding, having slayed over 7 demons during their stay and saving at least one person. The joy of being able to see Zenitsu and their friends again had kept them going.

“I’m almost there Zeni,” they whimpered out as they almost fell over due to the pain that coursed through their legs. Weakness in their steps as their vision almost blurred from extreme exhaustion, they hadn’t had a chance to rest at any point during their return back to Urokodaki’s home.

The door to Urokodaki’s home burst open, revealing Zenitsu’s crying face. Tears flowing down from his honey filled eyes, cheeks tainted a deep red as if he had been crying for hours.

“N/n!” He yelled out as he sprinted to their nearly collapsed form, his arms wide open and ready to embrace them.

A tired smile on their face as they used their last burst of energy to run into his arms, closing the gap between them. Y/n collapsed in his embrace, soft sobs coming from their lips and tears flowing down their cheeks, as Zenitsu cried with them.

Urokodaki and Tanjiro joining in on the hug after being called over by them. Zenitsu’s lips kissed all over their face after nuzzling his cheek on theirs.

His gentle honey gaze looking at the bandage wrapped across their forehead and their hand bandaged as well, a light pout on his lips.

Zenitsu carried them back to the house where he had been staying.

“Thank you for carrying me,” their voice soft and groggy from exhaustion as their arms lazily laced around his neck.

He soon reached the home, settling them down on an already prepared bed. Zenitsu quickly left to bring over the meal he worked so hard to prepare for them.

They giggled weakly at the sight of him preparing everything, “You’re so sweet. Thank you, Zeni,” they gently caressed the top of his head before he began to feed them and pamper them all around as Zenitsu would gush over how cool and amazing and adorable Y/n was.

Night slowly reached as the sky became a smokey purple and looming stringy clouds of dusty purple lingered. The stars twinkling overhead and glimmering in joy for their return with the moon watching over the home they rested in.

Zenitsu laid down beside them, his arm carefully wrapped around them for fear of injuring them further.

“Zeni?” Their voice soft and meek as they looked at his peaceful silent form.

His own gaze was on them, lovingly admiring every sight of their gentle expression and the bandages that were on them. Carefully he stroked their cheek as he hummed.

“Remember when two years ago when I told you that I wanted to join the demon slayer corp?”

He nodded, “Mhm,” he brought their body close to his, cuddling and embracing into their warmth.

“I told you that I wanted to join because I wanted to prove that I was strong. But..that’s not the truth. I wanted to join because I wanted to be by your side. I don’t want to be a burden following you guys around without providing anything other than cooking and stuff...and I don’t want you getting distracted from your missions to protect me,” their eyes began to tear up, “Those two years we spent apart felt like an eternity..but you were my motivation to keep pushing forward and bettering myself,” their hand laced with his, “I love you Zenitsu. I always want to be by your side, and I want to be able to protect you the same way you’ve protected me.”

Zenitsu watched them speak, hearing all their words and pulling the depth and meaning in their words. His eyes watered and he began to cry. His heart softened and pounded against his chest with love and admiration for them, trembling in the slightest from the overwhelming happiness he felt. Never had he felt so loved by anyone, the feeling of fortune and gratitude coursing through his veins in a euphoric manner — someone loved him enough to risk their life just to be by his side and to follow him on a life threatening journey for the sake of true love.

He felt so lucky that that someone was the love of his life, Y/n.

Carefully he pulled their body on top of his to hold them closer to his own. His hands gently caressing their sore back.

Gently they wiped away his tears, “I love you,” their smile was gentle and sweet as they pecked his lips delicately.

“I love you too Y/n. Thank you for wanting to be by my side, I always want to be with you too,” he kissed the top of her head, “I love you so very much. One day we’ll be married and we won’t have to slay demons anymore,” he laughed quietly before carefully placing a kiss on their forehead and a quick kiss on their lips. An embarrassed blush on both their faces.

Gentleness in the air filled their hearts with joy of being reunited after not being able to hold each other. His hands delicately ran through their hair as they softly giggled.

“I would like that. I love you Zeni,” they yawned before falling asleep.

A soft smile was on his face before his own eyes began to flutter.

“I love you too, N/n.”

ᴇɴᴅ

🌻—————————————————————🌻

ᴛʜᴀɴᴋ ʏᴏᴜ sᴏ ᴍᴜᴄʜ ғᴏʀ ʀᴇǫᴜᴇsᴛɪɴɢ <3 ᴀɴᴅ ᴛʜᴀɴᴋ

ʏᴏᴜ ғᴏʀ ʀᴇᴀᴅɪɴɢ ! ᴘʟᴇᴀsᴇ ғᴇᴇʟ ғʀᴇᴇ ᴛᴏ ʟᴇᴀᴠᴇ

ʀᴇǫᴜᴇsᴛs/ɪᴅᴇᴀs/ᴀsᴋs/ᴀɴʏᴛʜɪɴɢ, ɪᴛ's ᴍᴜᴄʜ

ᴀᴘᴘʀᴇᴄɪᴀᴛᴇᴅ :ᴅ sᴇᴇ ʏᴀʟʟ sᴏᴏɴ <3

ᴘᴇɴᴅɪɴɢ ʀᴇǫᴜᴇsᴛs: 5

#demon slayer #demon slayer x reader #reader insert #anime x reader #kimetsu no yaiba #kimetsu no yaiba x reader #Zenitsu #Zenitsu agatsuma #zenitsu x gender neutral reader #kny Zenitsu #demon slayer zenitsu #anime writing blog #kny x gn!reader #gender neutral insert #demon slayer x gender neutral reader #kimetsu no yaiba x gender neutral reader

[misumeaw-blog]

13 Days 13 Fanfics | Counting down Albedo’s Birthday

Pairing : Albedo x GN! Reader 

Genre : Fluff | Established relationship

Warning : None

Word count : 1,699 words 

note : I can die peacefully now, I believe the entire family can hear me screaming. Day 13 will be based on Albedo's mail. I suck at kissing btw, sooo I tried

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Day 12 Moment of Birth Part 1: Midnight

Light from houses in the city of freedom starting to turn into darkness; but not all, liveliest place in the slumbering city in the lake still filled with drunkards and music from the bard. Angel share, is night-active with drinks and socializing drinkers.

You have a meeting with your friends to discuss what to give Albedo for his birthday, Although..

 

“You guys seriously haven’t kissed yet? It’s been nearly a year”

things seemed going in the completely wrong direction “Shhh quiet please, Captain Kaeya. It’s not a big deal, I understand he wanted to take things slow” Still, there are times where you yearn for more than hugs and pecks on your face.

“Our Chief Alchemist has really taken your advice Too well, Kaeya” Lady in purple attire and a large witch hat, decorated with roses spoke up “That little genius never opened up for this sort of relationship” eyepatch man took another gulp to his mouth “I’m still surprised you managed to make him fall for you”

“Kaeya, rude” lightly zapped the one-eyed captain before turning to you “If he doesn’t make the first step, you’d need to do it” she placed her finger on your lips “Alright, alright, stop everyone” you harsh your friends before things getting out of hand “I just wanted a piece of advice on what to give Albedo for his birthday, so how did this turned to-“ Yup, that sparked your idea.

 

Both Knights of Favonius glanced at each other then back to you “Do you still need our help?”

 

The following morning you knocked on the Acting Grand Master’s room “Come in” an assertive voice flew out from the wooden door “Good morning, Master Jean. Do you know where Klee is?” “Good morning, I think she’s by the lake near Wolvendom. Oh and if you’re going to meet her, please make sure she doesn’t explode all the fish” she spoke without looking at you, eyes on massive amounts of paperwork

“One other thing, Acting Grand Master. I would be greatly appreciated if you kindly grant Albedo’s leave on his birthday” you figured your boyfriend might need a day off, in case he wanted to spend time with you and Klee “Oh right, his birthday is approaching” she glanced at the calendar “Yes of course, please do send him my regards if I couldn’t inform him myself” Closing the door after thanking her, ‘alright, off to Wolvendom’ you recalled your plan

 

Explosions can be heard from afar, the little girl should be nearby. Fish flying out in the sky, big splash easily visible. A small girl in red clothing having fun tossing bombs into stilled water. You called for her and she turned around “Y/N! Klee missed you” red coat sprinting to you, hugging you as soon as you’re in her reach By now she sees you as another sibling, despite you’re actually dating her brother. “Having fun today mh Klee?” glancing at the amount of dead fish on the ground “Yup! The kind uncle at the fishing asso..asso..” “Fishing association?” “Yes! the fishing association told Klee there’s a bunch of new fish all over Mondstadt, Klee will blast them all” You know fishing normally is better for the fish, but you let it slide for her happiness “Hey Klee, I have to borrow your brother the day before his birthday; well, tomorrow, is that alright?” You crouch down to the little girl’s height “Aw, but Klee wanted to be with big brother Albedo..” “I know Klee, but by that time you would be asleep. Would you like to help me prepare snacks for Albedo then?” “Yayy, Klee wanna help!” “Alright, keep it between us m’kay?” Holding out a pinky finger for the young one to hook with hers

 

‘And to keep Albedo busy..’ You head to the fountain plaza to one of your boyfriend’s assistants, Timaeus. “Morning Timaeus, do you know where Sucrose is?” A bit weird to start a conversation about her, since you and Sucrose don’t really get along “Sucrose? I’m not sure. Do you want me to help find her?” “No, no no no, uh, Timaeus, I need you to help distract Albedo tomorrow, mild difficulty experiment, anything” “Is that all? All Right” Scholar alchemist agreed to lend you a hand “Thanks, Timaeus”

    You headed off to your next destination ‘Alright, time for a hard part’ the last part of your plan is rather hard, you wondered if he gonna help you

 

 

“Mark it as done!” wow that was.. easy, perhaps it’s because of three high-quality bottles of wine in his hands. You asked.. or rather, hired anemo bard to play songs for the night and extra requested to let the wind carry the song to you.

In the evening, you have scouted the area you wanted to give the alchemist your gift and found the perfect place. An area where you can see both the city of freedom and the icy summit, high enough for the gentle breeze to flow, beautifully decorated with flowers and greenery. Starsnatch cliff, also the home of the flower which held meaning, the truest feelings of prodigal son, Cecilia.

 

The next day everything went according to plan. Light meal fully prepared with the help of the pyro girl, Timaeus kept Albedo busy so he couldn’t come home and caught you and Klee in action.

Quite late night when you knocked on Alice’s door, the blonde, still in his usual attire opened to greet the unknown guests. “Y/N? What are you doing here this late hour?” Judging from the angle of the moon, it's around 9-10 PM “Hey, what about me?” eyepatch covering male’s hand and he placed his elbow on the opened door, the alchemist only nodded to his presence “Evening Bedo, I would like to show you something, could you come with me please?” you don’t normally use the formal language after being with him for so long. He can sense your shyness from the way you speak and your body language “I’d love to go but Klee..”

You pointed to the man behind you “Don’t worry about little Klee, just go enjoy your time” he basically dragged the alchemist out of his house

 

 

Chitchat along the way, fingers intertwined with his “Not sleepy yet aren’t you?” you bent down and look at him in the eyes “Not at all, I’m rather excited about what you prepared for me” giggled to his answer “Good, 'cause the night is still young!” you have reached your destination, Large fabric covering the grassy ground, a basket filled with snacks lies atop, along with a flower vase to decorate the scenery. Log of wood has bags and books resting against it. The wind bringing the scent of white flowers and the tune of the harp. Moon and star shining bright, needlessly of other light sources.

“Didn’t know you had anything romantic in mind” he teased your boldness “..well, what do you think?” hiding your embarrassment and teases the alchemist back

Sitting down to the location you prepared, he started to examine the scene “There’s no musician nearby, nor to any instruments.. Am I the only one hearing the melody?” Trying to find a scientific explanation for a strange event “The wind carries messages. Was music not a kind of message too?” He wrapped his arms around your waist, drowning in the love you gave him

“Enjoying it hmm? Here, I prepared some light food for us” slowly getting plates and snacks out from the weaved basket, the fabric is soon filled with various types of dishes "You’re not gonna sit on your seat?” his arms tightened, head bury to your shoulder “..I don't want to move” it’s rare seeing him clingy to you like this “you’re adorable you know” finally commented on his action

 

“We got your favorite,” one of your dishes has turned to Albedo’s favorite “These are canapés, I chose bread base, topped with different types of savory” bite-sized dishes, you know he prefers smaller portions

Pointing to each topping one by one, explaining what each one is made of. In his eyes, you’re like a professional chef

“Bedo, check this one out” you pulled out Fisherman’s toast with clover ketchup, onions, cheese, and heart-shaped parleys “..Fish-Flavored Toast, Klee’s specialty. You’re so thoughtful, I have to thank her later” he pecked your cheek, definitely in love

“And we got desserts- after savory alright Bedo?” His hand was already reaching for the dish, you have to stop his fast hand Brownies, Berry Mille-Feuille, and a jar of chocolate chip cookies are all making him drool “Shall we dig in?” He suggested, perhaps the desserts engaging him.

Your hypothesis was turned down after seeing him having a high appetite for savory, you figured he actually wanted to savor your cooking

 

Hours passed and you both are finally full, cuddling against the wooden log, enjoying the melody floating in the air. His platinum hair reflects the elegant moonlight, half-lidded eyes resting against your neck, handheld on yours. You looked up in the sky- its almost time

“Albedo?” He replied with a sweet hum, glancing up at you “Do you know what day is tomorrow?” “..my birthday. but I still don’t understand why you chose to celebrate it tonight” “Wouldn’t be nicer to receive a gift directly after the clock strikes midnight?” Lifted his chin to face you, he’s so close to you, closer than usual

Both yours and his cheek painted rosy, he cupped your face and look deeply into your eyes. “was all this not my birthday gifts?” “nope.. would you like to find out what it is?”

 

Moon motions overhead, the clock strikes midnight, soft breeze touched exposed skin, the sound of the harp soaring in the sky. stars as the witness, Cecilia as the oath, feelings as vow sealed between the two bodies.

Hand slide by the side of his neck, placing on the backside and pulled him closer, half-lidded eyes slowly closed, chest-pounding hard, tilted your head to the side a little-

sweet lips finally placed on his loving ones, passionated and full of affection, butterflies flying in your stomach. After a while, you break the timeless kiss

“Happy birthday my beloved Albedo”

#albedo x reader #albedo genshin x reader #albedo x you #albedo x gn reader #13Days13AlbedoFanfics #genshin x you #genshin x gn reader

[impala1967dwinchester]

Dean Winchester: Pose

Picture found off of Google search 

Pairing: Dean x reader

Pov: Deans (Mentions of Sam X Eileen only once)  

Warning: cute Dean, Dean being funny, posing for Dean, maybe a kink i don't know, lots of sleep 

Summary: Dean buys you a new and very expensive camera thinking about how you said that you wanted to take pictures while you guys were in different states for hunts. What you don't realize is that Dean wants to take pictures of different scenery.

Word Count: 1.6k

Masterlist

Taglist: @akshi8278 @deanswaywardgirl 

I bought her a camera, not any camera an expensive camera. She always fussed about how on trips to motels and long drives she wanted to be able to have memories about where we were.

Like any good boyfriend would do I bought her a camera. Partly to stop her from pushing my buttons about a camera, but mostly because I wanted to see her smile.

I gave it to her as a random gift. Setting the box in front of her and sitting down next to her. She was in the library, just her and I. "What's this?" She asked.

"This my dear is called a gift." I said lightly pulling on the string connected to the green bow that was wrapped around the box.

"I can see that Sherlock, but I'm asking you what it is?" She said having a sassy tone. I rolled my eyes and spoke. "Well, that would ruin your gift now wouldn't it."

I pushed the gift closer to her. She dramatically huffed and set her phone on her lap. She quickly undid the green bow and tore through the newspaper that wrapped the gift.

Y/n could just barely see what the box said. "Dean?" She said excitement starting to crack through her voice. "Hmm." I hummed in response.

"Dean did you... is this..." Y/n said getting caught up in her words and most likely her emotions as well. "Yes, I did. And yes, it is." I said gently patting her thigh.

The camera was a brand-new Canon camera. Mostly made for taking scenery pictures. A wonderful camera according to all of the Amazon comments.

Unwrapping her gift Y/n tore into the box. Unfolding the flaps and opening the box. Taking the bubble wrap off of the many accessories that came with said camera.

Y/n pulled out her phone, searching up a video trying to figure out how to use her camera. “You know that there’s a packet of instructions and other such things in the box, right?” I asked her, taking her phone from her grasp.  

Looking up at me her eyebrow frowning, and giving me a stink eye. “I thought you didn’t know what instructions were?” She said coming back with a sassy comment.  

“Here.” I said pulling the packet from the box along with the camera. I unwrapped that. Setting it up, putting in an SD card, and taking the first picture on the camera.

The very first picture on her camera, was Y/n. She was smiling, dimples showing, eye bright under the flash of the camera. I can see the bookshelves, and the bindings of all books behind her.  

“Does it look good?” She questions me. I roll my eyes in love and frustrations for her question. “Of course, you look amazing my dear.” I said turning the camera around so she can see herself in the screen.  

At the start of our next hunt, I pack my bags, along with Y/n doing same. For this hunt it is just her and I. Sam and Eileen already on route to another hunt out near the coast.  

We pack the impala, and we are off. What I didn’t know was that Y/n and both packed her camera with her, and was going to use it the entire drive to our destination.

Our drive was peaceful, the radio playing my rock music, and both Y/n and I humming and singing. At one point I looked over at Y/n and she had her camera out taking pictures of the passing lands and hills. Bringing my attention back to the road, I continued to drive.

A few miles down the road I again look over at Y/n, this time instead of Y/n facing and looking out the window, she has her camera pointed towards me, I could see her finger pointer bouncing rather quickly on the button.  

“How many of those pictures are you going to take of me?” I asked bringing my attention back to the road again. “I plan on taking as many pictures of you as I want.” She said moving her head in a very odd way.  

The rest of the drive was fine. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Y/n set her camera done, and back into her bag. I then feel her, lightly place her head on my shoulder snuggling closer to me.  

“Are you tired dear?” I asked her. The only response I get it is a soft hum. “Okay my dear, I’ll wake you when we get there.” I spoke. Turning down the radio and cranking the heat up.  

The sun sets, and rises again. Just barely rising over the hills. I pulled in to another shitty motel. I pull into a spot, shutting the engine off, and gently waking Y/n up.  

“We are here, love bug.” I said kissing her forehead. Her eye flutter open, and she yawns, stretching her arms. Talking through her yawn “Where are we staying?” Y/n asks.  

“At another shitty motel, I thinks it's called the Clover” I said, “Let’s go get us a room, I need my four hours of sleep.” I said squeezing her tightly in my grasp, before letting her go and getting out of the impala.  

I headed to the front desk, getting a key to our room. A small flirt with the young lady at the front desk to speed the process up. When I leave the front desk, I see Y/n had her bags and my bags are next to her on the ground.  

“Let’s go get some sleep baby.” Y/n said, handing me her bag and linking her pinky together. I of course unlocked our room, and let Y/n walk in first, setting out things on the small kitchen table.

Y/n flops onto the not so bouncy bed. I strip of my boots, jeans, and to many flannels. “Wow, big boy. I thought we were going to sleep.” Y/n said a silly tone falling into her words.  

“I’m going to sleep, but I would like to sleep next to your bitchin’ body.” Y/n rolled her eyes before removing her boots, jeans, bra and then her shirt. Dean watched, something that he always did, something that Y/n had allowed long before they were together.  

I watched as Y/n lightly lifted the back of her shirt up unclasping her bra and removing it from the bottom front of her shirt. “You’ll have to show me that trick.” I said winking at her before falling into bed with her. “I sure will, lets sleep now.” She said, curling up against my side.  

I wake up long before Y/n does, like I had said before I only ever really need four hours of sleep. I leave Y/n to go find coffee and food, when I come back Y/n is still asleep now cuddling against the pillow that I was laying with.  

Sitting and looking through my phone. I wanted so badly to get on with this hunt, but the idea of it being just Y/n and I for a few days before the adrenaline and rush of this hunt was needed. Seemed like a great idea. Still seeing that Y/n was asleep.  

I dug out Y/n’s camera, and turned it on. I went over to the blinds just barely opening the shades. So, the morning afternoon sun can stream in finding their way to beam over Y/n’s body.  

I moved around the room, finding that as I did so I could get better angles of her face, body and hole frame. After what seemed like ten pictures, I had taken Y/n stirred in her sleep. Opening her eyes and cringing at the sunlight that had fallen on her face.  

“What are you doing?” She asked her morning voice a little deeper than her normal everyday “Well my dear, I’m taking pictures of this lovely creature in front of me.” I said pointing at her. In return she pointed back at herself.  

She giggled and smiled, taking the moment because it was there, I caught another picture of her smiling, hair a mess, the tips of her ears deepening as she giggled more, the top of her chest just barely showing.  

“You know you are beautifully photogenic.” I spoke. Y/n’s eyebrows furrowed and she gave me a look of ‘I’m sorry what did you just say’ her nose scrunched. “I’m sorry. That makes utterly no sense.” She said turning her face away from the beaming sun.  

“You understood what I meant, so that means it meant sense.” I said, knowing that I had only confused myself with my statement. I sat down next to Y/n leaning against the headboard.  

“Are we going to the hunt today? Because if so, I need to go get a shower, and get my FBI suit on.” Y/n said. I grabbed Y/ns hands before she could slip from the comfort of her boyfriend, “No hunt for today. We can start in a few days' time.” I said dragging her slower to my body.  

Grabbing the camera from the night stand table. I looked over at Y/n, “Take a picture with me my love.” I spoke. She smiles and slightly shook her head before leaving her head against my black Henley, I could feel like heat of her cheeks even through my shirt.  

“Alright you ready baby?” I asked. Again Y/n shook her head, figuring it out I was able to take that picture the flash now not needed because of the sun light falling into the room.  

“I love you.” Y/n said cuddling up closer to my frame. Smiling down to her, kissing her temple and speaking into her temple an. “I love you too my dear.”

Completed on: 03/21/2021 

#supernatural x reader #supernatural fic #supernatural #dean winchester #supernatualfluff #dean x y/n #dean winchester fanfiction #dean fanfiction #dean fanfic #deanandacamera #supernatural fanfiction #supernatural imagine #supernatural one shot #dean x female!reader #feminine #fem reader #fem #deanwinchtser #dean winchester drabble #dialouge #lots of dialogue

[emmajh97-mumaji]

Three Hearts, One Nest 🪶🍀🏹

(Context: An AU where Clover is alive, and Qrow is in an open relationship with him and Robyn. The three of them have been in Vacuo together for over a month now.)

Robyn was suspicious as she entered Clover's quarters up in Shade Academy.

Clover was sitting at his desk. Upon seeing her enter, he stood and cordially greeted her.

Formalities over, Clover got right to the point.

Clover: There's something we have to discuss.

Robyn: (arms crossed) Really? Never would have guessed.

Clover sighed and rolled his eyes.

Clover: It's about Qrow.

Robyn: (defensive) This again? I thought we came to an agreement last time? You change your mind about letting him date me or something!?

Clover: (sternly) No, it's not that.

Clover: I'm thinking... (mopes) maybe I should stop. Break up with Qrow.

Robyn was shocked to silence for a second, then immediate concern flared up...

Robyn: ....what?! Why?

Clover: (sigh) I'm always so busy with my work, I'm afraid I'm neglecting him. I don't want to pull Qrow along like that...

Robyn's face gained a 'Seriously?' expression.

Robyn: Oh come on. Qrow's not a puppy, Clover. He understands how important being the leader of the Ace Ops is.

Clover: Fair, but here's my counter-point--

Clover puts a hand behind his back and points with the other as if he was giving a briefing.

Clover: I've seen you two together. You get along extremely well. Qrow doesn't seem to have the same walls with you that he does with me. Why should I get in the way of what is obviously a much healthier relationship?

Robyn processed that... then had her own turn to sigh.

Robyn: (shaking head) Oh Clover... You couldn't be more wrong.

Robyn looked Clover in the eyes sincerely.

Robyn: Sure Qrow and I get along great, but... I could never replace what you are to him.

Clover: (caught off guard) And what exactly is that?

Robyn: The man who changed his life. The one he can always depend on. The one he sees his future with. I may be a friend with benefits, but you're... husband material.

Clover soaked in her words, feeling his heart flutter a bit.

Clover: I... see.

He came down from his high with a contemplative expression.

Clover: But then... why doesn't he...?

Robyn: He's afraid.

Robyn: Don't you get it? He cares so much about you, he doesn't want to scare you away. After what happened with Tyrian... he doesn't want to lose you.

Clover rubbed at the scars on his arms left behind from the grisly murder attempt. He nodded solemnly.

He looked back up at Robyn.

Her eyes glistened... he could see the emotions she was holding back.

Clover: ...you're conflicted about how you feel?

Robyn: I just want the same thing you do... for Qrow to be happy.

Clover: And you think he'd be happier with me...?

Robyn choked up at that.

Robyn: I--

"CAW"

The two froze.

From the corner of the ceiling came a flapping sound, followed by a mystical *pwoof*.... and there he was.

Qrow stood cross-armed next to them.

Qrow: I can't BELIEVE you two.

Clover: How long have you been...?!

Qrow: You're seriously asking Robyn how to break up instead of just COMMUNICATING with me?!

Robyn: The entire conversation, apparently.

Clover: I was just trying to get advice on my next course of action... I didn't want to cause unnecessary harm.

Qrow: (hissing) Well it's too late now!

Clover fell silent at that, looking down with guilt.

Qrow: Seriously, you thought I'd be okay with you just-?!

But he stopped himself.

Qrow took a moment to breathe and reel in his temper. He knew his heightened emotional state could activate Misfortune and make this a whole lot worse.

Qrow: (groans) Look-

Qrow: You love me, right Clover?

Clover stood attention, his eyes lighting up,

Clover: Of course.

Qrow: (seething) Oh really?! Because if you DID-!!

Clover braced himself.

Qrow: ...you'd know that you're so charming is almost makes me sick.

Clover got a surprised look at that, tension leaving him. '...what?'

Qrow: I LOVE talking with you, Clover. All those missions up on Atlas, the card games- your words of reassurance made me forget everything that brought me down.

Clover melted a bit at that, smiling softly.

Qrow: I'm sorry I'm not as open as you'd like me to be. I really DO want to be vulnerable with you... and for you to share your secrets with me, too.

Robyn: (blurts) SEE! I told you-!

Qrow: (cutting her off) ROBYN.

She goes immediately silent, locking eyes with him.

Qrow: You love me too, right?

Robyn: Of course, Qrow. I'd never lie to you about my feelings.

Qrow: Then what the hell is with this 'friends with benefits' crap?!

Robyn: I... thought that was all we were?

Qrow: WERE, but you should KNOW it's so much more than that now!

Qrow: Robyn, if being stuck in prison and traveling all the way to Vacuo with you has taught me anything... it's that I could spend every waking moment of my day with you and never get bored.

Now it was Robyn's turn to be sheepishly heart-warmed.

Qrow: Your honesty, your passion... if I could kiss you and hold you in my arms for the rest of my life, I'd be the happiest man on Remnant.

Robyn blushed at that... then blushed deeper from embarrassment at the smug look Clover was giving her.

Clover: So then?

Qrow: SO THEN you two better cut this out! I said it last time this was brought up, and I'll say it again!!

Qrow takes either of their hands in his.

Qrow: I love you... BOTH of you! For wildly different reasons, but with the same amount of passion.

Qrow: Do I make myself clear?

The green glow of her semblance reflected off of Robyn's face.

Robyn: Crystal.

But Clover was silent. Their hands unlocked...

Qrow: ...Clover?

Clover: Qrow... You're going to have to choose eventually.

Qrow glared at him.

Qrow: Why?

Clover fell silent again. Robyn stared awkwardly between him and Qrow.

Qrow: ...well?

Clover was conflicted... growing up, he'd always been a man of tradition... following the rules of Atlesian society because that's what was 'right'. Monogamy was the only solution that presented itself to him.

Qrow: ...I'm waiting?!

Clover looked over at Robyn. She was the most trustworthy person he had ever met, and she was fine with this. He thought about how far he'd come, how he'd rebelled against Ironwood... He looked back and met eyes with Qrow.

Qrow... all he wanted was to love him, and to earn Qrow's love in return. If Robyn meant so much to him... then Clover didn't see a need to stop this.

Qrow: (anxiously laughs) What- Are The Brothers going to strike me down if I don't settle?

Clover smiled at that, chuckling.

Clover: ...probably not.

Robyn sighed with relief as the tension left the room.

Qrow: Good. Then as long as both of you are okay with this... I'm okay with this.

Clover: (loving smile) Of course.

Robyn: (smirk) So ménage à trois then~?

Clover and Qrow both give her looks.

She bursts out laughing, the guys following suit.

Everything was going to be all right~

💚❤️💛

#rwby #qrow branwen #clover ebi #robyn hill #fairgame #jailbirds #rwby fanfiction #luckybirds #luckybyrds #polyamory #Qrow x Clover #Qrow x Robyn #emmajh97's posts

[rwby-necro-au-archive]

The Kid, The Songbird, and The End.

Clover would never understand why the prisons had open courtyards for the prisoners.

It was constantly freezing, and the prisoners never had enough to wear to keep them warm. Typical.

He gracefully rushed to his hiding spot along the out rim of the open concrete courtyard, waiting. The prison break was going to start any minute, he needed to mentally and physically prepared in case the guards put up a fight.

“Sirens and Cameras deactivated, proceed.” A woman’s voice sounded through his radio. Good, at least that part was out of the way. The harder it was to deactivate the sirens and cameras, the riskier the mission.

This one was simple in comparison to the others, get everyone out, get a move on to Vale. At least, that’s what the other songbirds had to do, Clover notified his boss that he needed to go get intel from the main council building.

A dangerous and stupid move for sure, but one that would be thanked and rewarded if he managed to do it correctly.

He laughed quietly to himself “Not even a full 2 months in yet and I’m already trying to get myself killed, how typical of me huh?” He thought to himself.

He looked over to his boss who nodded and gave an ok signal to begin the raid. Clover quietly hopped down the concrete wall he had been standing on and ran up behind a pursuer.

He quickly knocked the Pursuer unconscious and moved on to the next, and the next, and the one after that, until at least 15 of them were knocked unconscious.

It was better if he didn’t look at the faces. He didn’t want to recognize anyone from the miserable life he was brainwashed into thinking he loved. And he especially didn’t want anyone recognizing him.

Clover approached the command center of the prison. After some pondering over the buttons, he pressed one and almost all the steel prison doors opened below him.

His radio sounded again, this time, the voice of his boss, “Great Job, remember, solitary confinement cells have a different control center. It’ll be harder to find that one.”

Clover just laughed before speaking into the radio “Eh, I don’t think it’ll be that hard. You know, since the whole thing that happened in my past.”

His boss responded “That is true, but with that you gotta remember to keep you head down, face covered, or they’ll recognize you.”

“Copy That.” Clover then darted down the stairs to direct the prisoners to where to leave. He couldn’t lie, he really honest to Cosmos couldn’t, he liked the job. Liked the adrenaline, liked helping people. Maybe that’s part of the reason he was so good at his previous job, being able to work quick on adrenaline.

This wasn’t that job though, and he got more of a kick doing this then he would’ve ever gotten from being a pursuer. He was meant to be here.

As he reached solitary confinement he slowed his pace. Guards. Seems there were still a few that needed to be taken care of. Clover ducked into a hall behind a few boxes, full of what, he didn’t know, nor did he want to know.

After the guards had passed, he speedily but quietly ran down the hall. He skimmed over the door labels until he saw one he almost passed, labeled “command center”. He quickly ducked into the room.

Looks like he didn’t check before he went in.

“Who the hell are you?!” The pursuer sitting in the command center chair yelled. She had a white uniform on, the female uniform. Shit. The other guards were gonna hear this chick.

Clover kept up his confidence though, nothing a few punches to the jaw won’t fix. “Nobody important.” He said as he threw her out the door of the command center and locked it. He shook his head and mumbled to himself “Cosmos forgive me for throwing a woman…” he certainly wasn’t the type to like doing that.

Now wasn’t the time for that though, he opened the solitary confinement cell doors and quickly unlocked the door to the room he was in. Time to fight.

——————————————————————————

Successful. The prison raid that is. Everyone got out, and there were minimal problems that popped up during the mission. Everyone was back on the ship and waiting to be sent to Vale.

Everyone, except Clover.

He was running and dodging Pursuers left and right to find this guy he was told about. To be honest, when he joined the whole “send me an ask thing” on the internet, he kinda meant it as a joke. Just to see what the people thought of a pursuer being on the internet.

He sure as fuck wasn’t expecting these people to be some all seeing beings or whatever, but hey, he sure as hell wasn’t complaining. Anything to make his life a little easier.

Which he could really use right now considering he was kind of getting sick of having to fight all the pursuers defending the capital.

He looked up at the signs and skimmed through them similarly to how he skimmed through the prison signs. He eventually found one labeled dorms and quickly ran in.

As he was running down the hall he was suddenly yanked into a dorm. He reached for his weapon until,

“W-wait don’t shoot! I’m here to help you!!” The shorter man replied. He didn’t look very old, maybe about 17-18 ish, fresh out of highschool from the looks of it. Light brown hair, tan complexion, all topped off with dark blue eyes and the male pursuer uniform.

Clover then realized who he was speaking to, “You’re Rory?” He was dumbfounded. This skinny teenager was the one who got the intel for him, “I mean, good for him for sneaking that shit underneath Irondick’s nose but not what I was expecting to say the least.” He thought.

Rory stuttered out an apology before quickly rustling through the dorm, pulling out three very thick, probably 200 page individually, documents and handed them to Clover. Rory cleared his throat quietly before speaking “I-I was told that you were to be trusted with this stuff…”

Clover read the names, shocked at what he saw. He grimaced down at the papers “Yeah……I know them so yeah, I think I’m to be trusted. And so are you for getting these in the first place…”

Rory looked up and gave a confused look “What’s wrong?”

“I was never really told about this…” Clover stated, avoiding eye contact.

Rory nodded solemnly “Sorry you had to find out like this.”

Clover shook his head “I’m sorry you had to read these…” he couldn’t help but stare at the photographs. They looked nothing like how they looked now. Especially Oz.

“I-I only read one…..I didn’t read the others because after I read the bottom one, I….uh….kinda had to go into the bathroom to throw up….” He mumbled, as he pointed to Ozpin’s document.

Clovers eyebrows furrowed, “Is it really that bad?”

Rory shook his head “I’d say worse.” He fumbled with his hands for a moment, “O-Oh! I wanted to ask, do you think you can take me on the boat with you? I want out of here!” He exclaimed frantically.

“Of course! I can explain your situation, but we need to go, NOW. We’ll be in trouble if we don’t.” Clover peered at the door before grabbing Rory’s wrist and running.

The two ran down the halls of the capital, attempting to make their way out. During the rush of everything, Clover’s hand slipped from Rory’s wrist suddenly.

Rory was caught by 2 other pursuers.

He didn’t even have time to think about it, before he knew it, he was outside. And Rory? Was nowhere to be seen.

——————————————————————————

Rory was shoved forward by the guards, nearly falling in the process as he looked behind him at the pursuers, fearful and confused. It wasn’t until he heard his voice that he realized why they shoved him forward.

——————————————————————————

“Shit.” Clover couldn’t be selfish this time. He just couldn’t. He ran back inside, frantically searching for the younger man.

He turned countless corners until he came into the main hall. Quickly ducking behind a corner at the sight of the one man he didn’t want to see.

He peered out to see Rory there.

——————————————————————————

“So, first, you go against my right opinion, and then next you try and run. Pathetic.” Ironwood spoke cruelly to the younger man.

“I—“ Rory attempted to defend himself, but was not granted such a thing

Ironwood scoffed, “You what? Made me look like a moron in front of the other council members? Is that it?”

There was a long silence.

Rory spoke barely above a whisper, “Is there anything I can do to get your forgiveness….sir?”

Ironwood raised an eyebrow and proceeded to feign thoughtfulness for a moment before smiling down at the young man, “I suppose there is one way you can make it up to me.”

Rory looked up suddenly, surprised at the man’s answer.

Ironwood smiled coldly, “Don’t be anymore of a stain to anyone else, as you have been to me.”

“W-what do you mean s-sir…..” Rory mumbled, confused

Ironwood rolled his eyes and scoffed “Lord, you need a lot of hand holding don’t you? I’m letting you leave, Pursuer. Go, out the door you go.”

Rory was ecstatic, he was letting him leave. Him. Of all people! “T-thank you sir!”

Ironwood smiled “Don’t mention it, I know you won’t be a pain to anyone else after this.”

He stood up straight and ran for the exit. He didn’t think he could be happier in his life. But all would soon came crashing down, and everything would go black.

The last thing he ever felt emotionally, was utter betrayal. And physically? Something wet coming from his forehead

The final thing he ever heard. Was a gunshot. From a man he should’ve never trusted.

——————————————————————————

#pursuer rory #songbird clover #necromancer au ironwood #all of you. cry with me. because this hurts me just as much as it hurts you

[medea10]

My Review of Flowers of Evil

How did I get into this anime? Because Flowers of Evil is something no one says, “Oh I want to see that, this looks like a masterpiece”! Oh, I was well familiar with the rotoscope nightmare stories from this and hoped to God my randomizer wouldn’t curse me with watching Flowers of Evil. I was however intrigued to learn that there was a yandere in this anime that’s on Yuno Gasai AND Shion Sonozaki levels. But intrigue can only get me so far when you spend 13 episodes watching…

THIS!

No this is not an exaggeration. Everyone has this kind of cringe face throughout the entire anime series. Be afraid children.

So the story is about this guy named Takao Kasuga. He loves to read and he loves the class smarty-pants Nanako Saeki. He doesn’t just love her, he sees her as his muse and his Venus and all that bullshit. But this is an admiration from afar. Pretty sure Saeki doesn’t even know he exists! One day, Kasuga forgets his book in his classroom. And on the ground, he notices a gym bag that belongs to Saeki. Oh come on, he’s not gonna go down the perverted route and steal a girl’s gym…

So he steals Saeki’s gym uniform. And surprise, one person knew what happened. The class loner, Nakamura! She forces Kasuga to form a contract with her. It wasn’t written or anything, just verbal. However, that doesn’t stop Nakamura from forcing Kasuga to do whatever she wants. But does Nakamura really like Kasuga or is she just into torturing this shit-faced pervert?

BETWEEN THE SUB AND THE DUB: You know, I’m too thrown off by the animation here that it has temporarily paralyzed me from catching voices or even giving a damn. I’m familiar with only two of the cast mates and the rest is literally my first time hearing it. Okay, I have one comment here. I often forget Mariya Ise could do some damn-ass scary characters like Nakamura. And when she does those murderous screams, forget about it! Here’s what you might recognize these folks from.

*Kasuga is played by Shinichirou Ueda

*Saeki is played by Yoko Hikasa (known for Bea on Pokemon Journeys, Rias on High School DxD, Mio on K-ON!, Hina on Domestic Girlfriend, Kirigiri on Danganronpa, Frieda on Attack on Titan, and Diana on Little Witch Academia)

*Nakamura is played by Mariya Ise (known for Bonnie on Pokemon XY, Levy on Fairy Tail, Ray on The Promised Neverland, Stocking on Panty & Stocking, Mika on Durarara, Dorothy on Black Clover, and Yuuko on Yuri on Ice)

SHIPPING: Oh please, anime Gods, do not turn this into another School Days fiasco. I find myself praying for this a lot these days. But in this anime’s case, please do not go down that route!

So, it was clear from episode one that Kasuga had a crush on Saeki. But this got very perverted very fast when he stole her gym clothes and that lead to the contract with Nakamura. Now is Nakamura romantically invested in Kasuga or is she just a crazy bitch. Let’s chalk this up to a 50-50 split here.

It wasn’t until the fourth episode where Kasuga and Saeki actually spoke to each other. And one episode later, they go on a date and end up in a relationship. One has to wonder if Kasuga would have one day acted on his own and ask Saeki out. All of this happened because he was being forced by that psychopath Nakamura. She tortured this kid and forced him to do so many unethical things. Stripping him naked and putting Saeki’s uniform on him for one! Who does that? So would Kasuga have done these sporadic actions if Nakamura wasn’t in the picture? After he stole that uniform, anything is possible. Now here’s the crazy shit here, Saeki loves Kasuga and she doesn’t care that he stole her gym uniform and did fuck-knows-what with it. She’s mad that Kasuga hid it, but still loves him.

Girl, the fuck is wrong with you?! You must be some special kind of crazy!

By the end of this series, you do see a shift in Kasuga and who he wants to chase after. Saeki or Nakamura?! Let’s just say that during a running away scene, Kasuga was going to go home with Saeki until he saw Nakamura and he chases after her. That’s a pretty good sign that Kasuga has switched gears on who he likes. I won’t delve any further than that as the anime only gives us so much and the rest of this love turmoil between these three characters is covered only in the manga. Probably a sign I should read the manga!

LOOOOOONG NO DIALOGUE MOMENTS: Dude, I know you’re trying to set the mood for certain moments, but I think you can dial it back a bit. This complaint isn’t just what happened at the beginning of episode 9; it took forever to get the main gist of this story in the very first episode. I had no idea what the main premise of the story was until the last five minutes of the first episode when Kasuga stole Saeki’s gym uniform.

Now I’m not knocking serious moments where there is no dialogue between characters for a long period of time and we just watch the animation of them walking or doing something. Hell, Neon Genesis Evangelion had famous scenes like that. But the elevator scene didn’t last six fucking minutes. Neither did the scene where Shinji kills Kaowru. In episode 9, we watch Nakamura and Kasuga walking from the school to home and watch the whole walk after destroying the classroom. I guarantee you, you could leave this episode running, fix yourself a bowl of cereal and toast, eat it up, go to the bathroom to have a good yank, then finish it off with watching a Che Guevara documentary…and Nakamura and Kasuga would still be walking home! I’m exaggerating and I don’t care. I feel like being an asshole here.

OH DEAR GOD, WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT?!: Very rarely will I ever look at an opening or ending theme song in literal fear. In fact, the last one to be so morbid was with Attack on Titan’s second season ending. I mean, the imagery alone should tell you that this is full of spoilers and possessed by the devil itself. Now that I think about it, that’s still undefeated. But Flowers of Evil’s ending theme is a close fucking second. Have you heard this thing? It sounds like Bjork singing in Japanese, synthesized, while a cat walks on a keyboard and having a seizure at the same time. Thank God there are no actual visuals for this other than the flower featured on Kasuga’s book. I don’t think we can handle anymore animation from this nightmare fuel.

ENDING: The writing is on the wall!

And the floor, the ceiling…that classroom is just a fucking mess!

Kasuga’s one bad deed led to another and another in a domino effect. And instead of a little devil on his shoulder, he has a classmate that’s a sociopath. Kasuga has guilt about hiding so much from Saeki in this relationship and he wants to tell her everything he did. Nakamura says, “Nah, you’re going to write it all over the classroom and let the whole world know what a piece of shit you are”. Let’s just say Nakamura and Kasuga went overboard and completely destroyed their classroom. Kasuga gets a bit of a lucky break as the other vandalism covered up his name on the chalkboard confession. But two people have caught onto Kasuga’s crime, Saeki and Kasuga’s mother.

Saeki put two and two together when she noticed the ink smearing on the ground resembled the flower art work on Kasuga’s book “Flowers of Evil” and her stolen gym uniform was placed right there. As for Kasuga’s mother, she put two and two together when she heard what happened to his classroom and noticed Kasuga’s behavior and dirty clothes from the night of the crime. Won’t be long before everyone knows what Kasuga did.

What now, shit-face?

Run away with Nakamura to the next town. Yeah, why the fuck not?! Saeki ends up tracking them down and tried to convince them to come back and for Kasuga to be truthful. Saeki wants Kasuga and I almost want to say the same, except hanging around this psycho-bitch for a while has caused him to try to stop Nakamura from leaving. Having Saeki see Kasuga go after Nakamura isn’t really a good look! At this point, it really feels like his love for Saeki was nothing more than lust.

Dude, isn’t there a rule about not messing with crazy…like, don’t stick your dick in crazy?! This dude has got one crazy bitch on psycho-yandere levels and the other that’s about to turn into Kotonoha from School Days in about five seconds. Well, no one left town today as the police were called to look for Saeki because her parents are overprotective types and they take the other kids in.

We get a small time-leap of one month after the night in the police station. Nakamura’s been ignoring Kasuga and Kasuga ends his relationship with Saeki. Dude, stop trying to stick your dick in crazy! Kasuga tries to speak to Nakamura again and it fails. So he visits her at home and meets Nakamura’s father and grandmother. Then, he sneaks into her room and reads her private journal that talks about Kasuga a lot. Dude, you are stepping in uncharted territory! Drop the journal and get the fuck out before Nakamura comes home. So Nakamura comes in her room and finds shit-face reading her journal.

*sighs*

First, I would like to acknowledge that Mariya Ise has one hell of a throat to scream as much as this crazy bitch does. Second, the fuck did I just say, ya dumbass?! Here we get another chase scene between Kasuga and Nakamura. What follows is…I can’t place my thoughts on this. Weird imagery, out of place dialogue, and possible scenes of future stuff to happen! A rape scene involving Saeki, a festival, a hideout, a knife, and fire! Thanks for the cryptic message guys, really appreciate it! Either the anime ran out of money or they’re fucking with the audience. Kasuga says he wants to form a contract with Nakamura and that’s the end!

Hmm, this anime came out in 2013 and it is now 2021. All the buildup and no word on a sequel! We all know that sequel ain’t ever coming. You have a better chance of a continuation to Haruhi Suzumiya than you do with this hunk of shit.

Okay, maybe ‘hunk of shit’ is too mean. This wasn’t a terrible anime. It was weird as fuck, the animation leaves a bad impression, but overall it wasn’t that bad. Now the manga to Flowers of Evil is a favorite to many. Probably because the characters don’t look like a cringey meme and there aren’t so many awkward pauses with no dialogue. Unless there’s a whole volume of Flowers of Evil out there where we just look at pictures of Nakamura and Kasuga walking home where they don’t say a fucking thing! I am not letting that go! Charlie Brown movies didn’t go to that level you guys did!

I was interested with each passing episode to see what Nakamura was going to do next and what she was capable of. I couldn’t make out if she was going to be homicidal or suicidal or just impact psychological warfare on her prey. It was the latter for this series, but I heard of some attempted seppuku going down in the manga. I’d like to think maybe one day a different studio would pick up this series, but I seriously doubt it with the rotten reception this adaptation received. It was said that the director to the anime saw this more as a live-action series than an anime and that’s why we have the rotoscope animation. It wasn’t until 2019 that we got a live-action adaptation to Flowers of Evil. Not sure how people felt about that adaptation, but even I have a feeling that it was much better than the anime. Hell, a Netflix adaptation probably would have turned out a better product. It would be nice for this to get a reboot, different studio, different director, and smash everything that has the word ‘rotoscope’ on it

Yeah, if you can get over watching the animation, give it a watch. Episode one drags, but it picks up the second Nakamura confronts Kasuga.

If you would like to watch Flowers of Evil, Crunchyroll and Hidive have all 13 episodes available for streaming.

Okay, now that I’m finished with that sociopathic nightmare let’s pick another Sentai Filmworks anime.

HELL NO! I am not reviewing, “My Teacher Accidentally Made Me Horny”. That’s what I’m calling it and you should all do the same. NEXT!

Okay…I have no idea what the hell this anime is, but it looks harmless enough.

#anime review #flowers of evil #aku no hana #takao kasuga #nanako saeki #sawa nakamura

[ketchup-monthly]

Night Talks - Chapter 2 Bonus

Loceit (post-relationship)

TWs: self-deprecation, flower mention

They were having a quiet night in, laying together in Janus’ bed, reading, when Logan remembered something he had been meaning to ask Janus for months. He and Janus were in their night clothes, Logan in a pair of shorts and t-shirt, and Janus in a set of gold silk pajamas, with the shorter one laying on Logan’s chest, head turned to the side, looking at his e-reader. Putting a bookmark in his book to mark his page and setting the book down on the nightstand, he placed his hands around Janus’ waist.

“Are you prepared to sleep?” Janus looked up from his book, glancing at him, mismatched eyes sparkling behind blue light glasses.

He shook his head. “I have a question for you, my dear.”

While Logan felt that it may have been underhanded, asking him a personal question in the one room where he can’t lie, it was something that had been weighing on him in the back of his mind.

Janus turned off the e-reader and removed his glasses, leaning further over Logan to place them on top of the book on the side table. He settled back down on his chest, smiling at him. “Of course, love. Ask away.”

“Do you still have that deck of cards that we played gin with?”

“Yes.” He snapped his fingers, materializing the cards in his hand.

Logan took the deck and shuffled through it, taking out the jokers, and one of every face card and an ace. He looked over them again, checking to see if they were the same as they were on that day.

“Why do you ask?” Janus set his chin onto his folded hands, eyebrow cocked.

Logan showed him which cards he had taken from the rest. “I recognize the flowers on these cards, but I am afraid I’m not sure what the meaning of each of them is. Could you tell me, dearest?”

“Of course. Which card would you like me to explain first?”

Logan held up the jokers. “This one has Roman holding a red rose and Remus holding a rhododendron. I know that red roses signify romance, but what do rhododendrons symbolize? And this one has amaryllis and angelica.”

Janus smiled a bit before talking. “Roman is Thomas’ romantic, fanciful side, hence the rose, however he is also Thomas’ ego. Amaryllis means pride. Remus, as goofy as he may act, still poses a threat. Despite that, he also shares the mantle of creativity. Rhododendrons mean danger or beware and angelica mean inspiration.”

“You think Roman is prideful.”

“You do as well, love. I also think that Remus is inspirational. He deserves to hear that more, and not just from me.”

Logan caressed his scaled cheek. “He would believe you, no matter what any of the rest of us say to him.”

“I guess. Shall I explain Patton’s next?”

He excitedly switched the cards in his hand. “White camellia, blue hydrangea, white jasmine, and forget me nots. A very beautiful mix; you have a very good eye.”

“You flatter me. I am colorblind in my left eye.”

Gaze sweeping across Janus’ face, he smiled. “Fascinating.”

He cleared his throat. “White camellias mean you’re adorable, hydrangeas mean gratitude for being understood, while blue ones signify frigidity and heartlessness. White jasmine is sweet love and amiability, and forget-me-nots are, quite aptly, do not forget me.”

Logan thought for a second, placing together what Janus and Patton had gone through together. “He was one of the first to truly accept you in front of Thomas, and is widely considered the sweetest of us. However, he is not always like that, shown through his interactions with Remus. You are thankful that he understood you, and want him to remember that. You are also on good terms with him, but feel hurt that he cannot accept Remus as he has you, and still hold that grudge.”

“Brilliant as always, love.”

He pointed to the jack. “What about Virgil? White clover, red columbine, edelweiss, and coriander.”

“Think of me, anxious and trembling, course and devotion, and hidden worth. What do you think that means when put together?”

“This was just after Virgil had joined us on the other side, so you were missing him. You think very highly of Virgil, and believe that he is more than just ‘Anxiety’, you believe him to be strong, able to stand up, if not for himself, for Thomas, at the very least. You understand that separation from you was for the best for him, but you don’t want him to ignore and block you out forever.”

Janus nodded. “He had good times here as well as bad. I don’t want him to live for the rest of his life remembering me as what he thought I was when he left.”

“And my card? The king? Why am I the king? Not that I’m complaining, my dear, I’m just curious because we were not together at the time.”

“You deserve to be someone’s king, both then and now.”

Logan leaned up and kissed his forehead. “Thank you.”

Janus pushed the blush off of his right cheek. “Blue hyacinth means constancy, violet means watchfulness, modesty, and faithfulness, clematis means mental beauty, rosemary means remembrance, and savory means interest.”

This time, Logan blushed. The cards were created long before he and Janus had chosen to pursue romantic endeavors, and yet this was still what Janus thought of him.

“And—ahem—and this means…?”

The man on his chest reached a hand out to fiddle with the collar of his shirt. “I find you to be exquisite, inside and out, not only your brain. Your memory is uncanny, you are so very loyal, even to those who may not always deserve that faith that you place in them, and while you see and know so much, you remain humbled. You’re stable, never changing for the negative, remaining by Thomas’ side even when he doesn’t believe he needs you there. And I find myself very interested in you, my love.”

“That’s beautiful, Janus.” He took Janus’ hand and pressed it to his lips. “And yours, my queen? Snapdragon, anemone, belladonna, black-eyes susan, lavender, and bittersweet?”

At this, he went from looking into Logan’s eyes, as he had been since they started talking, to looking to the side, a frown on his face. “Deception and graciousness, forsaken, silence, justice, distrust, and truth.”

His words were barely audible, shame clinging to every syllable.

“Darling, that can’t be what you think of yourself.” Logan’s brow furrowed and he squeezed Janus’ hand softly.

He still didn’t look up. “It’s all I’m good for. I lie, I silence others for my own gain, while I pursue justice, I don’t do it in a way that will help others. The rest of you still don’t trust me fully, after all, I am just a liar. I know the truth, I am the truth, but I am stuck in a gray area between that and deception, never fully filling either. I can act as polite as I please, but Roman and Virgil, and even Patton, still cannot look me in the face and believe what I mean. Thomas still doesn’t trust me. I’m stuck.”

Logan reached up and placed his hands on the sides of Janus’ face, gently turning him back to face him, wiping away tears. “That’s illogical and it’s not true. It may be true to you because you could say it in here, but it certainly isn’t true to me, or Virgil, or Thomas, or anyone else. Yes, you represent deception, but you also represent some facet of truth. Thomas needs you as much as he needs Patton, Roman, or myself. I believe you, I know when you’re telling the truth or lying, and understand the meaning behind what you say. So can Remus, and Virgil.”

Janus sniffed. “Virgil doesn’t, that’s why he left me.”

He shook his head, making sure Janus could see into his eyes, and could see that he was being truthful. “Virgil does know. He was hitting his rebellious phase, he was filling his role more. He got caught up in his own head, tricking himself into believing the opposite of what you meant, and that was making him more anxious than usual. That caused him to lash out in anger or isolate himself to give him a chance to calm down. You are not responsible for what happened to Virgil. He made his own choices. He still cares for you, all of us do, even Roman, but they don’t know you well enough now to be able to show you that they care.”

“But my powers—”

“Your powers are meant to protect Thomas. Yes, at times they can be used to cover up the truth, but the truth can often be ugly and harmful. The mission you have given yourself, keeping Thomas honest to himself, while the others cannot see it, I can. Thomas can. Your pursuit of justice within Thomas, it keeps him going, keeps him from breaking down over things that build up. You are as perfect as you can be, in fulfilling your role, in handling your relationships with us, in almost everything you do and are. You may not believe that about yourself now, but I will spend every day for the rest of our lives making sure you know what I believe.”

More tears spilled out of Janus’ eye, and he hiccuped quietly, rubbing at his face over Logan’s hand, trying to dry his wet cheeks. “You really believe that.”

“I do. And you believe so much about the others, in their strengths. Let yourself believe in you too.” Logan caressed Janus’ cheek with his thumb.

He buried his face in Logan’s neck, wiggling forward before relaxing more than he was. Taking a deep breath, he spoke again, in a small, cracking voice. “Can we sleep now?”

“Of course.” Logan took his glasses off and placed them next to the book, turning off the light. He wrapped his arms around the still trembling form of his partner and settled in.

He was going to make sure that Janus knew how much he meant to everyone, and even if that meant actually talking to the others about speaking to him, showing him that he wasn’t just meant for one single thing, then that’s what Logan would do. In the morning, though, because now he had someone dozing on him, someone who needed sleep as much as he did.

#sanders sides #logan sanders #ts logan #loceit #ts loceit #janus sanders #ts janus #ts patton #ts roman #ts remus #ts virgil #ts c!thomas #tw self deprecation #s.s. loceit #ketchup writes #tw flowers

[itsclydebitches]

RWBY Recaps: Volume 8 “Divide”

Hello, everyone, and welcome back! It feels good to be doing some normal RWBY-ing in this strange world of ours. First, some supplementary materials.

Number One: In response to any (valid) questions along the lines of, “Hey Clyde, it’s now been a full year since Volume 7 was airing and you still haven’t answered my ask about it. Or the ones about Volume 6… what’s up with that?” I’ve created what I hope is an informative video detailing the problem:

(I assure you, the Earth, Wind & Fire was a happy accident during the screen recording.)

Needless to say, there’s a lot and I’ve known for some time now that I will LITERALLY never get through all my asks. Which doesn’t mean I don’t want you to send future thoughts in! Just know that as we head into Volume 8 territory I’ll most likely prioritize those, as well as any Volume 7 asks that aren’t woefully out of date. But I do want everyone to know that I read all the asks I receive, appreciate them immensely, and think too much about hypothetical answers, even if I don’t have time to actually write them out 💜

Number Two: There’s a bingo board this year!

Jury’s out on whether I’ll remember to update it, but at the very least this serves as a decent glimpse into my — and others’ — expectations going into this volume.

Number Three: I’ve collected a list of things I’ve heard about Volume 8 from what seem to be reputable sources. I did this because RT is developing a tendency to talk up certain points and then fail to deliver, either because something was taken out of a volume/moved to another, or because RT apparently has radically different ideas about what including something means. So this might be handy to keep on file and ask ourselves two months from now, “Did RT actually deliver on what they promised?”

Emphasis on Ruby’s leadership and how Summer’s death has impacted her

Insight into Ren and Nora’s flaws

May Merigold will supposedly have a larger part

More information about The Long Memory (Ozpin’s cane)

Theme of the volume is that you can respect someone but that doesn’t necessarily mean you agree with them

Very short timeline (supposedly just two days)

Yang in particular is very suspicious and distrustful

I was also going to include a list of all the threads that need to be continued/wrapped up, but honestly that would have taken too large a chunk off my life. Let’s just throw out the highlights:

Are we really going to have Qrow gunning for Ironwood?

Clover is dead regardless. Press ‘F’ to pay respects

Oscar bb you got shot please acknowledge this

Ozpin bb you got done dirty please acknowledge this

Penny is a Maiden now. I feel like the fandom has been sleeping on this (myself included)

Queer baiting, queer baiting… you’re on thin ice at this point, RWBY. Just skate on over to the queer snack bar before you fall straight into the lake.  

Ren spill your deep dark secret already and it had better be something more than just ‘Oh no Nora might someday die :( ’

Salem is here so how the actual fuck is the cast surviving this?

Will Ironwood likewise survive his descent into antagonism? Yes or please yes no?

I think that’s all the biggies. I strive to keep lists like this in mind while analyzing, but honestly RWBY has a hundred moving parts that are abandoned or changed or simply retconned at the drop of a hat. So an attempt will be made.

Number Four (last one I promise!): Normal disclaimers and reminders for Recaps apply:

Please don’t fill up the already full inbox with flames. It’s still 2020. No one has time for that nonsense.

There will absolutely be typos and wonky parts because I try to get these out the same day an episode premieres. I have now been working on this for ten hours, nearly straight, and have no more energy for edits. Apologies in advance and RIP to my Saturdays.

I reserve the right to use stupid GIFs and memes at my discretion.

I strive to keep my focus on recapping/analyzing but salt tends to worm its way in… If you’re a die-hard RWBY fan with little patience for criticism, let alone (at times) snarky criticism, please proceed with caution.

No wait I lied, this is the last thing:

Okay, got that out of my system LET’S DO THIS!

We start not with the episode itself but rather Rooster Teeth’s (RT’s) strange non-promotion of it. If you follow my blog you may have caught the post where I pointed out that there was nothing on RT’s website to suggest that one of their most popular shows—if not the most popular show—was premiering today. Nothing on the main page. Nothing on the RWBY page either, not unless you count the Volume 8 poster background (easily mistaken for the Volume 7 poster) and the trailer buried all the way down past Episodes, past Merch, in the Bonus Features section along with videos like Live From Remnant and the volume intros. RT… the promotion of your feature show is not a bonus. This should be front and center! Honest to god, five minutes before the episode dropped I was checking the website for a Volume 8 section, a countdown, anything that would tell me the episode was imminent without relying on fans on tumblr to keep me in the loop. We got nada, zilch. I’m not sure whether that speaks more to RT’s iffy management of the series or simply the website’s horrible design—RIP losing RWBY on Youtube—but I was surprised when I saw the episode a few minutes after 11:00am. At that point I honestly expected to hear about a dely.

So that’s the mood I entered the premiere in, but truly? We start off strong. Things take a pretty severe nosedive later on, we’ll get to that, but I was impressed with our beginning and that probably has a lot to do with the fact that we start with our villains.

We open on a Cinderella character, Cinder, and thus I’m immediately pleased that we’re getting something about her backstory after all this time. Seven years! She appeared in episode one, folks! To say we’re overdue is an understatement. There isn’t a whole lot to go on, just a younger Cinder sadly scrubbing the floor, poised under a spotlight. What we learn, or potentially learn, is based far more in cultural knowledge than this scene. We know Cinderella’s story, which includes the abusive family, the longing for more, the eventual escape, and thus we’re able to read all of that in this image, despite the image itself not telling us any of this overtly. That means we could be wrong in our interpretation, but if we’re not it’s an easy shorthand in an already packed story.

What I’m really impressed with is the sound bridge between the scrubbing and her nails on the back of Neo’s chair. Fantastic way to confirm that this is Cinder as well as showcasing just how far she’s come. The sound of her labor has been replaced with the sound of her power and given that Cinder’s power is stolen, tied to a grimm arm, the property of a genocidal maniac… that’s messed up. It’s a Cinderella story gone wrong.

So yeah, Cinder tells Neo to head straight into the creepy, grimm infested blood cloud to see Salem and Neo is like, ‘Uh… no thank you?’ lol.

RT does a good job this episode with her expressions, ensuring we know exactly what she’s thinking despite an unwillingness/inability to speak.

Poor Neo might be in too deep, but I quite like the overall atmosphere of this opening. Say what we will about Salem’s awful characterization, at least she has style. This woman knows how to make an entrance and, piggybacking off of the Apathy, RT knows how to infuse horror elements into their fantasy. The red and purple coloring of the clouds, spiked whale teeth peeking through, bright orange in the background looking like explosions… that’s all 👌 Including the intro card.

The only thing I want to gripe about is this:

I’m sorry, why does the whale grimm have landing pads? Or something like it?? The whale otherwise works because it’s poised between the natural and the fantasy synthetic. It looks like a real grimm whale on the outside, but is sporting a throne room, a control panel, and other unnatural elements on the inside. It’s a visual indicator of Salem’s ability to control and change grimm. Now though, the additions are wrong, infringing on the line between organic and tech, the line between what helps the grimm individually (giving monkeys wings) and what just helps Salem. Every other aspect of the whale straddles that line wonderfully, adding to the creep factor, like a grimm version of the Uncanny Valley: it’s not quite a whale anymore… but landing pads? That looks ridiculous. Why does Salem even have that? How many ships are her people feasibly using? Why are there five?

Take it away, please.

Cinder waltzes in like this is a normal home visit, but Neo has an appropriate ‘What the actual fuck?’ face going on.

They approach Salem on her throne where Cinder immediately kneels, greeting her with, “My queen.” I mentioned during my trailer breakdown that I think Cinder is lying her ass off here, and I still think that based on a line we’ll get in a minute, but now at least we have a sense of how she can pull this off. A woman who started out as a (presumed) servant is going to know how to mimic subservience, even if her heart isn’t in it. Salem is very good at playing the girl who will still kneel and scrub the floor for you. She will scrub the floor, she’ll do everything you want, she’ll just be plotting her own rise to power while she does it.

There’s quite a bit of interesting cinematography in this episode, not all of it good, and I think one of the mistakes is here when we get a closeup on Salem’s mouth as she greets Cinder. A closeup like that should be reserved for more significant dialogue—“Rosebud”—and yet we get this shot again when Cinder tells Emerald to be quiet. It’s awkward and coupled with the numerous eye closeups we got in the trailer, I think RT is playing a little fast and loose with the camera. Each shot should add something to the scene, not distract from it. If you don’t have a reason for including a technique like that then leave it be.

Back to the actual dialogue though. We knew that Salem knew Cinder was alive and now it seems that she just expected her to come back? I’m slightly lost. It feels like we’re missing something here. Cinder goes off to secure the lamp, fails, nearly dies, wanders on her own for months, and then randomly shows back up on Salem’s whale doorstep, yet Salem isn’t angry at all? Did she have faith that Cinder would return when she has something to offer? Did she just not care about Cinder, considering her return an unnecessary but otherwise welcome surprise? That would make the least sense given that she holds the key to accessing Beacon’s relic… but that circles right back around to why Salem is seemingly indifferent to Cinder’s comings and goings. Surely she can’t actually believe that Cinder is loyal?

“So I trust you wouldn’t return to me empty handed,” she says. Yeah, trust means nothing in this show, Salem, didn’t you watch Volumes 6 and 7? Again, I simply don’t know. I suppose I’ll just chalk it up to confidence, that if Cinder did bail Salem knew she could track her down again. Deciphering her motivations and beliefs is a lost cause when the show continually gives us so little.

The important thing now is that Cinder does indeed have an offering and you can see that Salem is somewhat surprised at being handed the relic.

Cinder, of course, takes credit for the victory and we’re given another wonderful shot of Neo. ‘YOU took it?’

Oh, Neo. Best get out while you still can.

Tyrian appears having obviously made his way to Salem’s ship sometime between her arrival and now. The exchange is pretty standard for this group. He insults Cinder for failing and needing this victory to make amends, talks about how any win against Ironwood says more about his lack of intelligence than her skill, and Cinder… doesn’t have a whole lot of comebacks, actually. I’d say Tyrian won that verbal spar, enhanced by a better use of the camera when we get his tail looming menacingly towards Cinder and Neo.

He goes on to say that Watts was a “necessary sacrifice” so, uh… I’m just going to toss out the ask I answered yesterday. Based on our intro I’d say Watts is still significant to the volume—hacking Penny is my guess—but by the end? He could be in trouble.

(As a side note: I plan to analyze the intro next week. It’s just easier when it comes first.)

Tyrian also calls Neo “little one” which I just found absolutely hilarious. In an on brand creepy manner, that is. Not that Neo couldn’t kick his ass, but there’s something wonderfully chilling about having the serial killer use an endearment towards a potential victim, one that comments on her size while he’s looming.

In contrast, Cinder refers to Neo as a “valuable asset” and we get our third mood of the episode.

Who’s going to start a Neo reaction image collection?

It’s true enough on the surface—who wouldn’t want an ally who can turn into anyone else?—but we’re still bumping up against question of why Salem needs this. She’s immortal! She has an endless army! Magic! This scene works well with a villain who needs a skillset like Neo’s to succeed, but Salem doesn’t. RT is doing a great job writing a story thus far, just not the story we’ve previously been given. This isn’t the story they set up.

This will come back up when we reach the RWBYJNOR group. Just wait.

Before that though, the gang’s all here as Emerald, Mercury, and Hazel show up, all in new outfits.

I think I like everything except for the weird Xs on Emerald’s jacket—it’s way too distracting and frankly makes an otherwise good look ugly—and the fact that she’s showing her midriff in Atlas. Hazel doesn’t have any sleeves! Oh my god, why doesn’t anyone dress for the weather in this show?

Frankly, I found their reunion to be kind of lackluster. I mean, there was nothing wrong with it. Emerald does sound briefly excited, she does run, and it’s in character for Cinder to cut her off… it just didn’t resonate with me emotionally. I thought after two volumes of thinking she’s dead, then working through the knowledge that she’s alive, that I would feel Emerald’s shock and relief more, but I didn’t. And I’m not entirely sure why. I don’t want to level any accusations at the voice acting because frankly I know next to nothing about that skill (and from what I’ve seen it’s usually praised in the fandom), but I will say that throughout the premiere I was noticing it more than I ever have before. The lack of emotion here and some awkward deliveries later, like when Yang goes, “Ruby, there is no way Ironwood will cooperate with us” and I immediately thought, “Wow, that came out stilted.” These observations stick with me because, as said, voice acting usually isn’t on my radar. It’s not something I’ve studied or had practice analyzing. If you’d never told me that Ren or Qrow’s VA changed then after a year hiatus I literally wouldn’t notice… but there’s something about this episode that didn’t sit right. Anyone else get that sense, or was it just me?

Regardless, the arrival of our other three villains really doesn’t amount to much, though I’m happy for all the Emerald and Mercury fans who get to see them in new outfits. The focus is still on Cinder as she delivers a line indicative of her true motivations: “That power will be mine.” Yeah, she’s not loyal to Salem, she’s just power hungry. Of course, Salem immediately takes note of this and raises her hand, in another nice use of the foreground, reminding her that she hasn’t given that order.

Cinder is shocked, angry even, but quickly covers it up with her “Without you I am nothing” line. If I caught it right I think she also calls Salem “Ma’am”? Hilarious. Again, skilled at playing the servant.

Also, before I forget, it’s worth noting that almost everything from our trailer appeared in this episode. Yeah, there are a few details like Nora attacking some tech and the group on their bikes, but on the whole we’ve already seen the majority of our promo material and will likely get most of the rest next week. It makes me both interested and nervous for what another twelve episodes are going to hold.

Salem opens her whale, or opens a portal type view in it, something that gives us a long-distance look at Atlas. I don’t know what exactly is going on here, but it’s pretty so I’ll take it.

She also delivers the frankly badass line, “Just because you’re more valuable to me than a pawn does not make you a player.”

She waves them all away with perfect ‘You mean nothing to me’ attitude and we sadly leave our villains.

Sad not because I don’t love my farm boy, but because things are about to get a whole lot messier.

Oscar has made his way to a camp of civilian survivors… all of whom are just hanging out in the supposedly deadly cold. Yeah, there’s a single fire, but at least four of them aren’t anywhere near it. Three of them also aren’t wearing gloves. What was that survival rate again?

A nice if gruff dude gives Oscar soup—water?—while showing off his… badger claws? I don’t know what kind of faunus he’s supposed to be, but he feels like the sort of two second, minor character who could easily become a meme lol.

Oscar thanks him (my polite son!) and hands the bowl back after a single sip. Which is impressive because I would have assumed the guy was giving me the whole bowl and just taken it. Hell, I’ve done that even when I didn’t assume it’s all for me. A Starbucks barista once approached me with a tray and a plate of samples, I knew I was supposed to take just one, yet for some reason my hand went to take the whole goddamn plate. He had to tell me off, then I was trying to explain that I didn’t actually want or think I should have eight shots of cappuccino all to myself, I don’t even like coffee, he clearly didn’t believe me… it was awkward. So good job, Oscar. You’re less awkward than me (though that’s not saying much).

Now a question, Oscar. Darling. Brilliant boy who has been through too much: why the fuck aren’t you talking to Ozpin? This will be A Thing later when he presents a lack of time to talk as justification for keeping more secrets (we’ll get to that too…) yet here is time! You’re just sitting there for who knows how long, with plenty of privacy to hide a supposedly one-sided conversation so the Mantle citizens don’t get weirded out or suspicious. Talk to Ozpin. Our headmaster gets two lines in this episode, utterly inconsequential lines like his airship scene, lines that feel like they exist to say, “See? He’s still included in the story!” even though he absolutely is not. Two volumes of mostly silence, a perfect setup to start the reconciliation process, but we’re going to put it off again?

Instead Ruby randomly and conveniently appears. I want to know how she found him. Oscar isn’t wearing a tracker. He clearly didn’t call them because he’s surprised when Ruby shows up. He fell alllllllll the way back down to Mantle and then wandered to a random part of the slums. You’re telling me they flew over the entire city—after beginning this search thinking he was in Atlas—and somehow managed to spot him from up in the air? C’mon. I would have rather had a beginning where Oscar makes his way back to the group himself, giving him and Ozpin time to hash things out.

“Need a lift?” Ruby says, eliminating that potential. Sigh.

Oscar immediately starts beating himself up when he gets onboard, saying that he “was stupid to think the General would listen.” Nah, you were stupid to buy into Ruby’s nonsensical confidence and for telling Ironwood he’s as bad as Salem. Sorry, Oscar, but everyone is written badly these days. I will, however, say that I am THRILLED at the group’s reaction to his return. Ruby says that she’s “just glad you’re alright.” Nora has a wonderfully tender moment where she hugs him gently rather than her usual glomp.

That? That added a year to my life. Everyone else seems relieved that he’s okay too, so kudos there. After four years of Oscar being an outsider in the group, this is one of the few moments that feel like he’s 100% accepted. Really glad to see it.

Now let’s see if it sticks after they learn Ozpin is back...

They fly to the Happy Huntresses’ base and I again feel like I’ve missed something crucial. When did they team up? I mean, RWBYJNOR was working directly under Ironwood up until the last hour and Robyn ran off to fight Tyrian/Clover in the last couple episodes. When did she have time to explain her (briefly) changed allegiance and why would the Happy Huntresses trust the group without that? Did Robyn share that Blake and Yang went behind Ironwood’s back for her? Do the Huntresses instinctively trust them because they’re now wanted by the military? How did they even run into each other?

Again, I think we would have been better served to have an episode before all this. Let Oscar make his way back and let the group struggle with the magnitude of their situation on the airship, before they find new allies. Transferring directly to, “They have help and a secret base and a plan in the works!” makes me feel like I missed the real premiere last week. You know, the one where Salem unexpectedly arrived and we left the group like this.

This is where we’ve ended up though. The group is cozy in this hideout, getting info from Joanna, and my only other thought is, “Why is she giving all this exposition?”  

Shouldn’t it be May? I mean, we were told that she was going to play more of a role this volume, a promise that’s pretty important imo given her status as a (so far off screen) trans character, so why not put her in the role of mediator between the Happy Huntresses and RWBYJNR? Giving her that setup as a leader among her people as well as lots of lines would be meaningful. A trans character just existing and being a part of this fight! May could obviously still fill that role—I’m well aware that we’re only one episode in—but it just seems like a missed opportunity to me. Out of all the undeveloped Happy Huntresses, our premiere focuses on the one who has the least importance to the fandom.

As said, Joanna talks a fair bit but what it basically boils down to is trying to get everyone to the crater below Atlas. It’s apparently not safe, but it’s warm, which is what matters right now.

So… let me get this straight. You want to gather everyone into a not safe crater, by leading them through an army of grimm, so that they can wait there in case someone moves the Staff, thus dropping an entire city on top of their heads? That’s the plan? Which admittedly isn’t Joanna’s fault. This is another instance of RWBYJNOR having information that a leader does not and they should really consider speaking up about it. But of course they don’t.

Also, how long does everyone have in regards to the cold? Shouldn’t there be dead civilians by now? The time it would take to find the Happy Huntresses, team up with them, get settled in the base, and find Oscar says that things should be pretty grim right now (pardon the pun), yet every non-aura user in this city seems content to just hang out in the snow. Either the cold is deadly enough to justify moving everyone to the crater, or it’s mild enough to let everyone survive this long, not both.

After hugs are given everyone obviously wants to know what happened to Oscar. His response?

“It’s a… long story. I get the feeling there’s been a few of those tonight.”

That’s a check for the bingo card! We’re halfway through the first episode and we’ve already got another secret. Yes, this is a secret. Oscar actively chooses not to tell anyone that Ozpin is back—something Ozpin himself comments on—and then skillfully draws attention away from himself with “I get the feeling there’s been a few of those tonight.” Indeed, all eyes go to Penny. Oscar’s plight is forgotten, which is what he wanted. His justification?

Ozpin: “You’re not going to tell them?”

Oscar: “You and I aren’t done talking yet.”

Along with this look.

Oscar no. There’s so much wrong with this I don’t even know where to begin. Let’s create a list.

As said, you had plenty of time to talk to Ozpin and chose not to. Miss me with this excuse.

You are now doing to your friends exactly what you and your friends did to Ironwood, which in turn is what Ozpin did to you! I can’t believe we’ve got Oscar critically side-eyeing him when they are still—still—repeating the behavior they drove Ozpin away for.

What is there to even talk about now? Oscar didn’t punch himself/Ozpin (lol) but he did steal Jinn’s name from Ozpin in the first place. You got what you wanted, drove him away, and have been lying and keeping secrets ever since. The only thing they should be talking about involves apologizing. Any further criticism—which is what Oscar’s expression and curt reply suggests—is beyond hypocritical.

Seriously, what needs to be discussed? There’s no reason not to tell the group unless Oscar wants to talk about whether they should tell them. There’s no good ending here...

Don’t you think it would be nice to know that Ozpin is back and you’ve got super magic powers while making plans to save the entire world?

This is all especially stupid given Oscar’s “Salem wants to divide us” reminder to Ruby in a moment. Oscar, you are doing the most to divide the group right now. By not forgiving Ozpin. By refusing to work with him. By keeping him secret from everyone else.

This is bad, friends, I worry for what the rest of the volume will bring…

The story is done with Ozpin for now so I guess I will be too. The group continues filling Oscar in and we get some shots of the base, including a rather prominent poster of what I assume are two Happy Huntresses. Did they die in battle perhaps?

It’s a little strange.

Oscar: “Where’s Qrow?”

Me: “Likely still making bad decisions.”

No one knows so they just drop it. Which I kind of get, only so much you can do to find him if he’s not out on the streets like Oscar, but it still reads as kind of iffy that two nieces look down at the ground for a hot second and then move on with their plans, content to leave Qrow to whatever fate befell him. In a minute we’ll see Yang firmly take Ren’s side regarding helping the people they can in Mantle, which frankly comes out of nowhere for her. I think an easy motivation would have been Qrow. Ruby wants to save the world, Yang wants to find and save their uncle, and that just happens to align with Ren’s desire to save the civilians who need immediate grimm and cold help. Don’t get me wrong, I like that there’s finally some division between the sisters, I just wish it hadn’t come about so abruptly. Ren had setup for standing up to Ruby. Yang did not.

But I’m getting a little ahead of myself. Joanna lists the grimm horde and no heat as the major threats to everyone. The group agrees.

Me: What about Salem?

Joanna says that this is all doubly dangerous because there’s “no more military protection.”

Me: Oh, so now you want the military?

This is all so disjointed. Even more-so when Joanna mentions that Ironwood has stopped all evacuations to Atlas, likely due to the “hard light shields” that are the only thing standing between Salem and the city. Thing is, the show never makes this connection, I just did it myself based on this scene and the one that comes later. The show presents Joanna’s line as a pure condemnation. Ironwood won’t let more evacuees in because… he’s just evil, I guess. Yet there is a justification here, namely that continuing the evacuations even while he’s stuck without Penny leaves him wide open to a Salem attack, the death of everyone currently safe, but that argument is never presented to the viewer. I don’t need people to agree with Ironwood’s perspective, I just wish that perspective was offered as an option. The show is very good about acting like RWBYJNOR’s opinion is the only justified opinion, or simply the only opinion at all.

After everything is laid out Weiss goes, “We’re never going to sleep again, I just know it.”

I could make a crack about the lack of continuity and how the group should be collapsing right now… but that was a funny line. It can stay.

What is far more of a problem is the fact that no one is talking about Salem. Okay, that’s a lie. They do talk about her, but in a roundabout way like her presence isn’t impacting every decision they make. That’s the real issue. They’re acting as if Salem isn’t here right now, like she’s off far away, maybe approaching slowly, and they’re arguing over how best to prep the world for her eventual attack. There’s no emotion here—let alone action—to reflect that the series’ Big Bad has arrived and is poised to murder them all. Literally what is this? Ruby is yelling about warning the world and, ignoring the continued question of why that’s a good thing when the world can do nothing to stop Salem and knowledge of her continually drives people to horrible acts, she has yet to acknowledge that… she’s the world? Ruby is the world in this conflict. She, Mantle, and Atlas. Salem is here for you all. Right now. You are, this instant, in the situation you want to warn others about, so why don’t you try to do something about it? Or at least acknowledge it. Ruby wants to warn the neighborhood about a potential fire while her house is actively ablaze, and the fire could have totally killed her by now but decided not to for… reasons.

“Ruby’s right,” Nora says. They have to tell the world so “they can prepare.” How? How are they supposed to prepare for this? The story cannot continue ignoring Salem’s immortality.

“Ruby’s right,” is all Blake says and I’m starting to thinks that’s why her character exists now, to agree with Ruby. It’s great that she’s getting a little distance from Yang, but man.

As Ruby asks whether Pietro can get Amity up and running despite it not being finished (called it) we start an incredibly odd sequence of flashforwards to their individual missions. I’ve seen a lot of praise for this already and though I agree that, in theory, it’s a good way to save time, I found the actual execution to be jarring. Upon thinking back through our timeline, it became clear they were flashforwards, but while watching I thought they might be flashbacks (especially since that’s more common).

Some of the shots, like Nora’s, just look awkward when you’ve got the exact expression and pose transplanted from one scene to another, like she’s a cardboard cutout behind a green screen. To say nothing of how the flashforwards ruin any suspense (I use that word loosely) in the conversation itself. If the question is, “Will they decide to go to the military compound?” then that question is answered when we see Ruby scoping out the compound, not when the group actually decides on the course of action.

It just made an already muddled scene worse for me, so I hope this trend doesn’t continue.

And of course, Amity can be used despite all the info last volume claiming that it wasn’t finished. Pietro suddenly acts like it is finished and the only thing standing in their way is Ironwood providing access. If that were the case, he would have used Amity weeks or days ago like he wanted to! When was it finished? Not after Watts commented on how incomplete it was. When did they get back the resources they needed from Robyn? It’s as ridiculous and retcon-y as I thought it would be.

Yang points out that Ironwood will never listen to them and Ruby counters that “he doesn’t have to.” They’ll just take the access from him. Because why wouldn’t they in a series where they’ve already stolen two airships? Stealing from the super evil military that Joanna wishes were helping them right now is just the group’s go-to plan nowadays.

Pietro isn’t sold on this plan though. He lists at least three obstacles they’d need to get through “and then… oh boy, I might need to think about this some more.” “And just to clarify,” Oscar says, “This is the easy option?” Um...no it’s not? We also know there’s an access point in Ironwood’s office so… why not go there instead? They really think the Academy is less guarded than the military base? There’s a potential justification here along the lines of, “After Neo and Cinder broke into his office Ironwood will have the place on high alert,” but unless I missed it the group doesn’t assume anything like that. They just listen to Pietro point out all the ways they can’t get into the military base and jump straight to that being the best option. It feels like a transparent way to create conflict for the group. We’ll just have them taking the most dangerous route despite an easy route being offered alongside it. Why bother mentioning his office at all? Just have the access in the military base. Boom, done.

It’s that conflict and the fact that Ruby tends to hear “You can’t” and digs in her heels. You can’t go to Atlas. I’ll just steal a ship then. You can’t defeat Salem. Watch me. You can’t break into this base. Guess what I’m doing! She’s dangerous in her fairy tale, meta-driven insistence that everything will turn out her way because she wants it to.

Speaking of, we finally—FINALLY—get someone challenging Ruby. Sort of. Not actually but it’s the closest we’ve ever gotten:

Yang: “Ruby, when we came here we said we’d follow your lead… but things haven’t exactly worked out.”

Now, there are two things to take away from this moment. The first is how utterly shocked Ruby and the others are. I mean, take a look at these expressions.

Ruby straight up can’t believe what she’s hearing. Weiss put her hand to her mouth like this is the most dramatic thing to ever happen to her. Oscar looks down in a ‘Yeah, I agree but please don’t look at me and make me admit that’ way. And Nora looks indifferent in the screenshot but animated she goes sort of stern, likely pissed that Yang would dare say that given her own agreement with Ruby. This not only reiterates that Yang’s challenge came out of nowhere—seriously, how did we move from following Ruby no matter what to this? Last volume she asked a single question along the lines of, ‘You sure?’ and when Ruby said ‘Yes’ Yang was entirely on board—but also demonstrates that no one has EVER said no to her before. Ruby is amazed that someone would challenge her. The act of challenging Ruby is, in and of itself, shocking. This group has gotten so used to following Ruby blindly that the teensiest little pushback is greeted with this.

Because it is teensy. This is the second takeaway: Yang barely challenges her and that challenge leads nowhere. She doesn’t accuse Ruby of anything, she doesn’t question her continued authority, she just broadly implies that things could be better. We followed you, now things are bad, take from that what you will. It’s incredibly mild as far as criticism goes, making the shock all the more, well, shocking, but it also amounts to—wait for it—nothing! Because Yang didn’t truly challenge Ruby’s leadership. She’s still in charge, she’s still calling the shots, and they’re still listening to her. We might have gotten some change if this division had been allowed to play out, but instead Jaune comes in with a, “Let’s go for both!” solution. It let’s both groups get what they want which, in turn, releases them from the need to grapple with whether they’ll listen to Ruby when she’s advocating for something they don’t agree with. We have now lost the chance to see whether, when push comes to shove, Ren and Yang will cave to Ruby’s will or stick by their own beliefs.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s more conflict than we’ve gotten in years, but that doesn’t mean it’s particularly compelling conflict. It’s good by RWBY’s standards, which doesn’t necessarily make it good. The actual issues at hand—Ruby’s dangerous arrogance, the group’s loyalty, her choices up until now—are just swept under the rug. For all the visuals we get insisting that there’s this great divide in the group… there’s really not. Not in any way that matters.

Also, Ruby is an idiot. Okay, that was mean, but she really is in this scene. She’s actually not an idiot overall because she was written as wonderfully intelligent in the early volumes, but now? Lately? She makes me want to bang my head against a wall.

“But that’s how Salem got this far,” she cries. “By dividing us!”

Ruby… oh my god, Ruby. No one should have to explain to you that dividing people means turning them against each other, not literally dividing your team to complete separate tasks. This girl honestly thought that because there was this teensy disagreement and that half the team would complete Plan A while she and the other half completed Plan B, both of which notably work towards the goal of, “Protect people from Salem,” that this was somehow what Salem wanted. That is was dangerous. Honestly, it’s a scary look at her view of leadership too: If everyone doesn’t 100% agree with me and do what I say, that’s an objectively bad thing that the grimm queen wants, right? Does Ruby think that unification means following a single person (her) without question or variation? That would explain a lot...

The fact that Oscar needs to explain the difference to her is not good. It really doesn’t say great things about this version of Ruby. Though he was comparing Ironwood to Salem last volume, so really they should all be wearing dunce hats.

Penny offers to take the relic directly to Salem in exchange for her leaving the kingdom alone. I honestly didn’t expect that. If anyone took that risk I would have put my money on Ozpin (but of course, during all this talk of the women he knows best, he’s kept quiet). Oscar is again the voice of wisdom, pointing out that they have no reassurance that Salem will keep her word. At least Penny is thinking about Salem as a threat though, so kudos for that. When this plan is shot down she volunteers to get Ruby past the military security instead and, uh, she’s a little intense about it.

I’m not entirely sure what is going on with Penny. She disagreed with Winter but then seemed to come around to her point of view, enough to help anyway. They had another (stupid) disagreement about the value of individual lives, so that helps to explain why she’s teaming up with RWBYJNOR (if you ignore that Ironwood is also trying to save individual lives...). Did watching Fria die shake her up? Is it being the Winter Maiden that’s not sitting right? Does Penny have lingering feelings about the framing that haven’t shown up until now? Her status as a ‘real girl’? We’ve got a lot of reasons that could definitely explain this sudden need to fight, but we’re not told which—if any of these—is the driving force.  

We’re then given a lot of little details. Someone points out that if Salem gets the staff and “create[s] anything else” then Atlas will fall (so yeah, let’s move the people underneath it). We still don’t know what exactly the Staff does because “creation” is kind of broad and “powering a city to float” doesn’t seem to sit within that category at all. Pietro gives Yang the keys to his lab so they can get the bikes. We see the group dividing in the flashforwards, something I do like, especially since the show has gone out of its way to break up most of the usual duos. Nora in particular is pissed at Ren for his choice.

“Oh, I’m saving Mantle because I actually believe we can do this.”

#yikes. Well, I did say I wanted a conflict other than ‘Oh no, one of us might die’ and it looks like I got it. But Nora, the only reason you can do this is because the plot is in your corner: none of you are collapsing from two major fights, you didn’t lose your aura so the cold isn’t a danger, the military is barely a threat all of a sudden, Salem is helpfully hanging out in her whale instead of killing you, and the story decided that Amity can function so long as you all are the ones who get to use it. That’s why you can do this. Ren, who follows in-world logic and doesn’t want to risk a whole kingdom’s worth of lives on a pipe dream, thinks differently, oddly enough.

As they leave though Penny gets a call from Ironwood. I know precisely what the fandom is going to say here: “This evil man is just trying to use Penny to open the vault!” Of course he is. He needs it open to save everyone he can, Penny included. Plus the concept of “using” her is a double-edged sword. What do we think the group is doing right now? Using her to get past the security. Penny’s power is a tool any way you slice it. Granted, Penny volunteers to help the group, but notably here Ruby speaks for her. Penny seems torn and Ruby takes the scroll away with, “She’s not going anywhere until you change your mind about Mantle.”

Sorry, Ruby, but coming from you that sounds less like a reassurance for Penny and more like just an order for Ironwood. Remember Harriet? We’ll stop attacking you provided you do what we want. Ruby has yet to learn about compromises, let alone acknowledge that she might be wrong. How about you let Penny decide where she goes, especially since by all logic she should have a lot of loyalty to Ironwood. She knew him before she ever met you. She’s worked with him since she was rebuild post-Volume 3. Despite what Penny has said, if the story would just let her think about his actions for a hot second—making her the protector of Mantle, sticking up for her after the framing, sending her to the party, teaming her up with Ruby, etc.—she might realize that the ‘He doesn’t want me to have friends’ and ‘He just treats me like a tool’ assumptions are just that, unfounded assumptions. But no, Ruby speaks for them both because Ironwood is evil now.

“If she makes it through our defenses,” Ironwood says, “everything that follows will be on your hands.”

That’s true! Kind of like how it’s own Qrow’s hands that Clover died. When you insist on making a bad situation worse you hold responsibility when the shit hits the fan. You know though that Salem won’t get through their defenses now, somehow, so that there’s no chance RWBYJNOR will be blamed for it. Or, by that point Ironwood will be so crazed that anything coming out of his mouth is dismissed, no matter how accurate it might be.

We then transfer to the Ace Ops who are, despite what the fandom theorized for many months, clearly upset about Clover. Also pissed. Which they have every right to be. Their friend and leader was killed. Imagine for a moment that Ruby had been murdered by Tyrian with an allies’ help. Exactly what do you think the group would do? Swallow it quietly and get over it? Ha.

I’ve already seen some speculation that Clover survived due to details like showing us the bandage and his room being listed as for a “Patient,” but he looks pretty dead to me.

He got gutted through the chest and left out in the snow for who knows how long. We saw him slip away. Qrow screamed over his dead body. He’s not breathing now. If RWBY suddenly claims he survived this, I’m calling BS.

Most of the other visuals we get here were already dropped in the trailer. Winter is pretty injured from her encounter with Cinder, likely permanently based on her new outfit. Ironwood had to replace his arm—and I am calling BS on that “Losing his arm is reflective of him losing his humanity” commentary from RT. Please go read up on a couple decades worth of ableism in media and then get back to me.

We get Ironwood’s line about the light shields and, notably, a whole lot of empathy. Regardless of what he might want Penny for, he still called her with compassion. He’s watching the Ace Ops mourn their friend. He’s talking about protecting his kingdom. The first thing he says to Winter is, “Thank you, Winter. I don’t know what I would do without you.” Ironwood has a heart! It’s always on display, which makes this scene utterly ridiculous.

I literally don’t know how to respond to this. The gunshot made me jump, both because it’s a gunshot and because, again, what the fuck? I know I said that next volume RT might just have Ironwood descend into full villainy, shooting whoever he pleases now that he’s shot Oscar, but I didn’t actually expect them to do it. Because he never should have shot Oscar in the first place! I wanted the story to let Oscar grapple with it a bit and then quietly backtrack, acknowledging it as the mistake it was. The concept that Ironwood, empathetic Ironwood, rational Ironwood, always thinks before he acts Ironwood, let’s kids yell at him Ironwood, tried to team up with Robyn Ironwood, did everything Ruby wanted Ironwood, won’t kill Watts after he destroyed his arm Ironwood would shoot this guy just to shut him up is absurd. It was absurd then, it’s absurd now.

That being said, there’s a possibility he didn’t actually shoot the council member, but rather just (“just”) gave a warning shot down the hallway. I say this because the reactions to this are pretty tame. Everyone looks startled, yeah, but after the initial shot there’s nothing that I would expect if there was now a guy bleeding out on the floor. The council woman doesn’t scream. Winter doesn’t seem overly shocked. No one is running to try and help him. Basically, if Ironwood had just killed a political figure in front of six witnesses, entirely unprovoked, I would expect a bit more of a reaction than this. This feels far more like a, “Damn he’s not joking around, letting off warning shots to get people to leave him alone” not “WOW, our general just killed someone in cold blood!”

What I really hate though—beyond just assassinating his character—is how many fans think my friends and I are delusional for calling it character assassination at all. I hopped onto the RWBY tag for five minutes this morning and was bombarded with posts about how Ironwood needs to be murdered horrifically, anyone who likes him is sick, the Ironwood stans are as bad as Adam stans, you’re an idiot if you want him redeemed… because apparently the concept of a story writing a character badly doesn’t compute. I’m not here to argue that Ironwood didn’t do these awful things (regardless of whether he actually killed the guy or not). I’m not here to argue that they’re not awful. I’m just here to say that we never should have gotten these scenes in the first place, or if we were going to get them, we deserved an actual descent into murder at the drop of a hat territory. I’ve already explained extensively on this blog how early Ironwood was not accurate foreshadowing for this, and Volume 7 certainly wasn’t setup, but it looks like the majority of fans aren’t interested in examining whether any of this adds up. Which makes my job, as someone trying to examine this series somewhat objectively—in as much as that’s possible for any single viewer—as well as simply enjoy it as a show, really hard. It’s bad enough when a story keeps taking the characters you love and villainizing them, and doing that badly, but then when you turn to the community and see them rallying around the idea that you’re awful for being dissatisfied—you’re the bootlicker, you’re the blind stan, you can’t see what’s ‘really’ going on here… that sucks. For those of you happy and satisfied with Ironwood’s arc, that’s great! I’ve also seen a lot of posts hyping up the complexity of his character now. There’s nothing wrong with enjoying what we’ve been given and I’d never want to imply that just because it’s not what I wanted it’s somehow wrong. I’m honestly thrilled that after a year of worry so many people have adored our premiere, including this scene. I just wish that I could say RWBY had given me something I didn’t want in a persuasive manner and that the fandom as a whole was a bit more welcoming of differing criticisms.

Not that I didn’t already know the RWBY fandom had its flaws, but still lol.

That’s basically it for our premiere. Nice note to end on, huh? Our final scene is of Salem using the lamp to set her bloodhound grimm on the city. Why doesn’t she just go herself? What was she planning to do here in Atlas in the first place, considering that getting the relic was a surprise? Who knows. Little about this holds together. But we do end with another awesome shot, so small favors.

It’s always strange concluding a recap, but even more-so when it’s a premiere, during a historical moment in the U.S., amidst all the nonsense that is 2020. So for now I’ll just conclude with three quick things:

The updated bingo board will be listed at the end of each recap, provided I don’t forget about it lol. Today I’m checking off tone (not nearly enough freaking out about Salem), the team keeping secrets (Oscar), and major plot point dropped (Amity is suddenly finished). I could also probably check off the cold not killing civilians and getting Amity up and running, but we’ll see if any changes with those.

I’m including my Ko-Fi link at the end of recaps now. Not with any expectations. Not with anything resembling pressure. I thought long and hard over whether to include it at all—let alone mention it here—because I love doing these and never want anyone to feel like it comes with strings attached. But life is a little harder and weirder than it was last year, so I figure it can’t hurt. Feel free to pass on by and I won’t be bringing it up past this note.

Far more importantly: thank you for reading! :D

(Bonus 4. Editing this was an absolute nightmare — damn you, tumblr!  — so I apologize if anything is super wonky when I finally post.)

See you next week! 💜

[Ko-Fi]

#rwby #rwby spoilers #rwby volume 8 #mymetas #rwby recaps

[old-hyper-super-clover]

Squeeze that bunny tail!

Part 4

Description: The RAD student council as well as the exchange students help out at a bar where, oops, the staff´s dress codes are those sweet bunny outfits that we all know and thirst for. The MCs, Violet and Clover, play a game of who can touch the most bunny tails over the evening without getting caught. Prepare for fluff, funny innuendos as well as my thirst over hot boys in bunny outfits.

The story is divided in several parts and will be updated every few days. find the other parts in my masterlist.

Story continues below the cut. Have fun!

Finally having stomached the midnight clothing change, the girls had to get back to work, so they kept their strategic meeting short.

However, when they finally stepped outside into the public again...

The demon lord was waiting for them.

Arms crossed, expression serious.

He was staring at them.

"Lord Diavolo...!" Violet pressed out while Clover gave a quiet but terrified "oh no he will actually kill me" as both backed away on instinct.

"May I have a word with you two?" the demon prince asked, however it felt more like a demand. They have never heard him speak in such a serious tone before.

The girls not able to give an answer other than a nod, Diavolo gestured at the staff's office room.

He let them step inside before closing the door... And locking it.

None of them have ever felt like shitting their pants more than in this moment.

"Violet, Clover" He raised his voice.

Clover had called her own death, and had accidentally pulled Violet with her.

"There is an urgent matter that I have to discuss with you two..."

That was it. The end.

Diavolo kept them trembling in a horrible silence for way too long.

"Y-yes...?" Violet somehow managed to say.

He took a heavy breath. The girls swallowed their fear.

Then, he spoke up.

"... Why do you keep squishing everyone's bunny tails? Is it some kind of human tradition? I'm dying to know!"

The girls literally felt like they just died.

"I've observed you for quite a while now, but I can't make out the reason behind it" Diavolo continued. "Please, fill me in...!"

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

It took a while to recover, but in the end, the girls confessed about their game.

"We just look how many of those tails we can squeeze" Clover said.

"It's nothing more than a joke..." Violet mumbled. "I'm sorry to have upset you..."

Diavolo blinked at them.

"Upset?"

"Uhm... Yes..." Violet frowned in regret. "We will stop being childish while working. Again, sorry for-"

"Can I join your game?"

Silence.

"Y... You want to... Squeeze the guys' tails with us?" Clover asked.

And Diavolo's natural smile said it all. So, it seemed like another opponent joined the game at half time...

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

The three parted quickly after as they were needed in the local, but Clover had an idea on how to keep things organized:

* Clover formed the group chat [Squeeze that bunny tail!] *

Diavolo: Hello!

Violet: ... Are you sure we shouldn't call the group something else...?

Diavolo: I quite like it.

Clover: Thank you, Sir :D

Diavolo: This is the first group chatroom I am in without Barbatos.

Violet: Should we add him?

Diavolo: No. Don't tell him. I am experiencing a new kind of freedom right now. Anyway, I wish you girls the best of luck in our competition!

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

As this story is ridiculously long, let’s do a quick squeeze round!

Violet got very lucky... She caught Luke while the angel had been trying to reach for something in the kitchen shelves. He was still in his first outfit (because even demons do not support children nudity, that's gross), and looked adorable, standing on that stool to be tall enough.

After squeezing his tail, Violet offered her help.

... Only to realise she wasn't tall enough either.

But oh well, luckily, Solomon appeared and was there to grab those tiny cocktail parasols.

Later, Violet also worked with Asmo at the casino area for a while and got herself another point.

As for Clover... She tried.

Tried to squeeze Mammon´s tail a second time, but the greedy boy was also a very bouncy boy.

She also worked with Barbatos for quite a while, but as much as she wanted to go get those juicy two points, she just couldn't.

Something about this pretty man was scaring her... She found out later what it was.

Violet and Clover were serving drinks.

And for two girls without any real waitress-practise whatsoever, they did quite well.

But at one table, it had to happen.

The first broken glass of the evening. Clover had been holding the tray a little too sloppy.

As an ugly scream bubbled up her throat, she already felt the full glass of demonous fall, but was unable to do anything. The shattering of glass echoed through the bar, but what was worse was the growl that the customer pressed out.

Looking down on himself, Clover had perfectly spilled his drink onto the demon.

"You little..." he grunted, standing up and ready to break her neck this instant.

Clover backed away, of course, and felt how Violet had been there immediately to back her up.

"W-we apologize for this accident" Violet pressed out.

The demon seemed to get even more agitated, now raising his hand to hit her.

"Shut up you fucking-"

Then, another silhouette stepped in front of the girls.

Barbatos was gently holding the demon's hand back.

"In the name of the owner, I'd like to offer my deepest apologies as well. In cases like these, the local would like to immediately return the money you have spent this evening, and offers compensation in form of three free drinks of your choice."

Barbatos did a little bow after having finished.

"Screw the money..." The demon hissed. "I wanna tear those humans into miserable pieces. That´ll do as an apology."

Barbatos did not look up.

"... In that case..." the butler continued. "Guests who actively threaten the well-being of our dear staff will be treated according to their own attitude."

He straightened his back, beaming the demon a formal smile. "I will show you the exit. Please, do not think of coming back anytime soon."

Despite being so cocky before, now the customer flinched heavily. Finally, he seemed to follow the butler's orders. He spat on the table in some disrespectful dick move, then left the local.

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

Violet and Barbatos helped Clover clean the mess afterwards.

"Thanks for dealing with that guy..." Clover mumbled.

"Oh, there is no need" Barbatos hummed. "If not for me, one of the demon brothers would have come to your aid. And I fear a person like Mammon would not have left the situation without a fight, so I figured it would be best to jump in myself."

The girls gave a small giggle.

"That's true..." Violet mumbled. "But that only makes you even more impressive. It's rare to see a demon so calm."

“Calm?” Barbatos looked up from the broken glass he had been collecting. He seemed genuinely confused for a moment, then his usual smile was back.

"How cute" he chuckled.

"C-cute?!" Violet blinked in surprise.

But Barbatos was already making his leave.

"Ah, don't mind it..." he mused. "The naiveté is what makes you humans so charming."

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

Clover felt safer sticking to cleaning instead of potentially making another mess, so she was wiping the tables when she heard Diavolo calling out to her.

"Are you busy right now?" he asked.

"Not really, I'm still on cleaning duty but there isn't really much to do right now... Can I help you with anything?"

Taking a careful look around, Diavolo stepped closer, lowering his voice as well. "I am in trouble."

"Uhm..." Clover swallowed her stress. "And why?"

"I lost the master key. The one the owner gave me."

"... The one you need to lock the whole place with? The one that basically gives you control over the whole bar?"

"I see you smell the trouble now."

Clover gave a nod. "I do... Should I help you search?"

Diavolo's expression changed into a smile.

"That's what I wanted to hear! Thank you."

"No problem. Do you have any idea where it might be?"

So Diavolo gave it a thought, concluding that he must have lost it during his break.

"I looked through the bathroom already” he explained. “Which leaves only the kitchen and the staff's room."

Suddenly, a third voice joined the conversation.

"I did not notice anything like a key in the kitchen" Satan said, coming to a stop next to them.

"Oh, Satan, so you have overheard our conversation..." Diavolo crossed his arms.

"Don't worry, I won't spill anything to Lucifer" the blond laughed. "He'd only scold you, wouldn't he?" Then, his gaze fell on Clover. "I can help you search."

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

Clover and Satan looked through the whole staff's office.

Luckily no one was there to ask what they were doing, especially since they just couldn't find anything. Satan gave a sigh.

"Nothing... I even looked through Mammon's jacket in case his kleptomania had struck again..."

Meanwhile, Clover was rummaging through one of the desks. Giving a resigned breath as well, she was about to give up when she spotted something shimmering behind the wooden desk.

"I think I found it...!" Clover called out.

Satan came up to her, seeing as well how there was a key stuck in the web of cables behind the office desk.

"Wait, I'll get it."

He tried reaching it from above, but some computer monitors kept getting in the way.

In the end, Satan was crouched down, head under the table as he fiddled with the cables.

"I still can't reach it..." he pressed out under his breath.

Clover grumbled in displease, kneeling down as well. There wasn't enough room for her to help in any way, so all she could do was watch Satan do his thing...

Oh no.

She had THE perfect chance to squish Satan's tail. Due to his position, his booty was right in front of her, and he seemed more than busy to even bother her presence.

Three points, she thought...

Just a little tap, she thought...

Holding her breath, she stretched out a finger and reached for the pompom...

Merely a second later Clover found herself landing on her back, her wrists being pressed against the floor next to her head.

"I'M SORRY I'M SORRY I'M SORRY I'M SORRY."

Satan's body hovered above hers as he held her in a tight grip.

Clover was panicking.

"I'm so sorry - I shouldn't have done that - I'm sorry Satan Sir please don't kill me - I'm an idiot - I'm sorry I'm sorry - I love you sir I'm really sorry I'm-"

"Explain yourself" he interrupted her pleading.

"Hnnngh...” Clover fought actual tears but finally calmed down. "I... Uhm... Violet and I might be playing... A game..."

"Go on" Satan demanded in a sharp voice.

So Clover took a deep breather, speaking terribly fast in her fear.

"It's a competition. We wanted to see who can touch the most bunny tails over the evening, without the people noticing. Look, it's weird, I'm sorry, Violet has some kind of pompom kink and suggested it and I can't say no to people so I joined, also because it's funny, oh also please don't tell Violet I said anything about a kink, she will kill me."

His glistening greenish eyes kept mustering her flushed red face.

"I'm not satisfied yet."

The girl gave another whine.

"Pleeaase... Dearest Satan, Sir..."

"Keep going..."

"Ah...uhm… Oh lord, my man, oh how I plead for thy mercy, oh mighty Satan...! Thy tail was so tempting, I couldn't resist reaching for it...... And also I suck at this game and need points so desperately...! It was just too perfect of a chance, please forgive m..."

She stopped.

He was smirking at her, his grin almost dripping with this sly and cocky attitude.

Clover only now felt how there was something else in-between his left hand and her wrist.

The key.

And she remembered what Violet had texted her earlier today.

"... Did you trick me? The key wasn't actually hard to grab, was it?" she asked. “You knew I would try to touch your tail.”

His smirk widened.

"Why the fascination with bunny tails?" Satan nonchalantly ignored her questions.

"... They're fluffy..." Clover mumbled bashfully. "Just... fun to play with, y'know...?"

The blond tilted his head. "Never played with one."

"... Try it, it's nice."

"Yes, I would like to" he said, enjoying the flustered mess underneath him as she tried to figure out what he was implying. "Right now" he added.

So Clover tried to stand up... But Satan wasn't letting her.

"Uhm... I-I would let you touch mine, b-but... Could I stand up first...?"

"No."

Silence.

Probably the only thing audible was Clover's boiling head as she slowly raised her hips off the ground, constantly being focused by those sly eyes of his.

One of his hands let go of her arm, reaching down while his whole body lowered slightly as well.

Instead of reaching for her back, however, he first placed his hand on her thigh. Through her fishnet stockings, she felt his touch wandering up her leg, only then he'd brush over her side to her back, finally finding the bunny tail in his grip.

"Interesting" he mused, poking and squishing the pompom as he pleased, visibly amused at her embarrassment. "Yes, very-"

They heard the office's door falling shut.

Both, Satan and Clover, stopped in their motion, even in their breathing, as footsteps came closer.

"My jacket... Where did I leave my jacket..."

They were staring at each other first, then at the person casting a shadow on them.

And... well...

Luke stared back.

Stared at the demon bending over the human, the human arching closer to the demon, touching each other in those... those clothes...!

The angel could only press out some dying squeaking noises as his face exploded in an outraged blush. He took a step back, raising an arm as if shielding himself from the evil.

"S... S-s..."

Clover was the first to move again.

"Luke, this is not what-"

"SIMEEOOOOOONN....!"

Aaand Luke ran out of the room in a great whine. Slowly getting over the shock, Clover let out a sigh.

"... He's going to arrange some exorcism for me now, ain't he..." she mumbled.

The demon only gave a chuckle. "Serves you right" he hummed.

"Wha-?! You're the one who start..." her voice gave in immediately after meeting again with this almost sadistic stare.

"S-s-stop... Satan... Since wh-when are y..." Clover stuttered as the demon continued to play with her tail.

He leaned in closer.

"You should know that trying to play pranks on me will always backfire thrice as much..." he purred into her ear.

Then, Satan let go, pulling back and rising onto his feet.

"Well, I think that is enough of a punishment for now. I'll go and bring Lord Diavolo his key."

Clover sat up as well, but her legs were way too wobbly to do any more than that.

She glanced up at him, seeing him wave a goodbye.

"See you around" he hummed, adding a little wink before heading out of the room.

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

About another hour had passed when Clover and Violet decided to check up in Diavolo again...

Clover: Lord Diavolo, how is the game going?

Diavolo: Good! I have 62 points so far.

Clover: WHAT

Violet: U-uhm... May I ask how you got to have so many...?

Diavolo: I asked Barbatos to let me touch his tail.

Clover: ... For all of the points?

Diavolo: Yes :)

Violet: ...

Diavolo: What is wrong? Is that not a good score?

Clover:

It is... But... We actually had made some rules that we didn't get to explain...

Diavolo: Oh! Which would be? :)

Violet: Uhm... For example, you are not allowed to squeeze the same tail twice in a row, and the target is not supposed to notice you...

Clover: Meaning... If you simply touched Barbatos' tail 31 times in a row with him knowing... You would have... No points yet...

Violet: ...

Clover: ...

Diavolo: :(

----------

Ironic enough, Diavolo had been taking a break in the staff room while texting.

Minutes later, Barbatos came in to bring him something to drink.

"Barbatos! You are not allowed to notice me anymore when I touch your tail. Apparently I did it wrong the whole time!"

"Of course, my lord" the butler answered, the slightest smirk glistening in his eyes.

Diavolo noticed immediately, pointing out how Barbatos looked way more relaxed than usual.

"Oh, do I?" Barbatos tilted his head. "Well, it certainly is a weight off my shoulders to have a crew to rely on. For most parts, at least."

He was heading for the exit already.

"And I am glad to see you are enjoying yourself, my lord" he smiled. "I will have to thank those girls for that..."

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

Violet was working at the bar.

Lucifer had promised her to teach her some cocktail mixing, and there they were.

Turns out she was learning quickly, and the demon soon entrusted her with serving drinks to actual customers. Keeping an eye on her, Lucifer watched as Violet worked, also receiving help from Asmo.

... Which was impressive, by the way, because anyone could sense that Asmo had been sneaking some drinks here and there, and was getting a little... Tipsy.

It showed at one point, though. A customer came up, asking for a drink rather difficult to mix.

"I can do this!" Violet assured her friends and started mixing the juice.

But just as Violet was bending down to put some ice cubes into the drink...

They heard -- and Violet felt -- a slap that was audible even despite the quite loud music playing.

And everyone around them went quiet.

Blinking, Violet straightened her back again, turning to find Asmo behind her.

"Did. You just."

"Slap your ass? Fuck yes I did!"

"Asmo!!"

"Come on, you CAN'T expect me to NOT go for that booty when you're stretching it RIGHT into my FACE."

Lucifer next to them barged in. "But you can't just do th-"

"It was on INSTINCT" Asmo said.

"What do you mean, instinct?!" Violet asked, her face still in a slight blush.

"Oh my godddd, I'm the avatar of LUST, if I see a cute butt I just can't help it!"

"Asmo, that's not okay", Lucifer scolded. "You need to learn to control your sin."

"WHY?! Y'all have your quirks too, why am I not allowed to be myself?! That's so unfair, I always get shouted at! Like, Beel's also snacking our whole storeroom empty but THAT'S fine, huh?!"

Lucifer´s eyes widened. "He's doing WHAT?!"

"And Mammon is stealing money out of the guest's pockets, but NO, let's sue ASMO for giving a booty the appreciation it DESERVES!"

Lucifer looked like he was about to have a stroke. A growl crawled up his throat.

"MAMMOOOOOONNN...!!!"

And he was gone.

Asmo turned to pout somewhere, and Violet was left at the counter, still a little overwhelmed.

The customer slowly raised their hand.

"... Could I... Get my drink now...?"

#obey me #obey me shall we date #obey me fanfic #obey me bunny event #is it obvious that i had a huge crush on Satan around that time #if not then #i did #also im sorry this story is so long #had too much fun with it #only one part left i swear

[nerd2614]

April's Fall - Part 5

Lost Memories

@write-it-motherfuckers original prompt

Part 1 // Part 4

“Run away with me!” The young teen exclaimed as he twirled away from my blade.

I laughed and parried his returning blow. He was joking about it more often these days.

“I can’t, Raph. You know we’re needed here.” A smirk crossed my face as he fell to the ground with a grunt.

“Oh my April, my Autumn moon! How could you wound me so?” Raph threw his head back with all the pompous royal arrogance he could muster. I rolled my eyes and held my hand out for him to grasp. Raphael’s hand in my own was warm.

“We’re only using wooden swords now because someone got scared.” I teased.

His grip tightened and I braced to help him to his feet. He winked and swept his legs under my own. With a thud, I fell on top of Raphael and was flipped to the ground. I felt the cold bite of his dagger at my throat.

“We’re using wooden swords because you spilled my blood.” He reminded me with a wicked grin.

“You are both using wooden swords because we can’t trust either of you not to lob each other’s heads off accidentally.” A firm voice reminded us.

“Hello Father, Mother.” I greeted them politely, brushing the dust off my training pants. Raphael inclined his head and murmured his acknowledgement.

“Are you training like you’re meant to, children?” Mother inquired with a teasing lilt.

“Yes, m’lady.”

“Yes mother.”

“Carry on then.” Father waved his hand to reset the match. Raphael and I turned to face the centre of the ring, swords poised at the ready.

“I’m getting better!” Raphael exclaimed as he knocked the gilded blade from my hand. Practising to fight in ceremonial garb was always a pain. The weapons were too heavy and the material too restrictive.

I huffed and crossed my arms. I would never tell him, but the last round hand jarred my wrist badly. “Only because I let you win!”

“Oh, come on, April -” Raphael boasted as he passed my sword back, “- it is I who lets you win!”

I growled and brought my blade to attention, ignoring the twinge of pain. “Wanna bet?” Instead of retorting, Raphael nodded to someone behind me. I turned to see one of the younger messengers from the court. We had all celebrated his centenary not two moons ago.

“Lady April, there’s been terrible news from The Twisted. They’ve captured your parents.”

Suddenly my wrist didn’t hurt so much.

I was informed to wear the gown of spider silk as we were meeting someone important today. Standing next to Raphael, I could not figure out what was so important about the toad in front of us. He had beady eyes that reeked of betrayal. His hair was weird too, more like matted fur.

“This is James,” Raphael’s mother introduced when it became clear that I would not inquire, “he will help protect the both of you. You can trust him.” The last sentence was directed to me. She then left us to get acquainted, as was the custom.

“Hi, James, I’m Raphael! It’s about time there’s another guy around!” My friend grinned and held his hand out. He nudged me to encourage me to introduce myself.

“I don’t like you.”

“April!”

James licked his lips. “Don’t worry, Raphael. April and I will be close before you know it.”

I was aiming the arrows with vicious accuracy. Raphael had requested James accompany him today so he could learn the ropes. So when a throat cleared behind me I launched into an attack.

“Your training is coming along nicely, April.” The guardian almost smiled as he halted the arrows with a flick of his wrist.

“Guardian Sebastian.” I bowed my head in deference. “I apologise.”

“There is no need to apologise, child. It is I who should extend my apologies. We found your parents bodies at sunrise.”

Walking around in the forest was never peaceful anymore.

"She's only young." The people whispered.

"Who would take care of her?" Those of the court gossiped.

Even the trees were not silent. "Evil witches." they hissed as I passed them.

“You’ve been feeding information to the witch.” Raphael's demeanor was calm, but his eyes were filled with contempt.

"No, I haven't! How could -" With a flick of my wrist, the ceremonial sword that had been dangling uselessly on the wall bit into James' fleshy neck. His tearful protests stopped almost immediately, replaced with a smug grin.

"I see you have progressed far more than you let on, April." He spat my name with a venom that only fueled my disdain.

"Answer the question." The only reason he was alive was because Raphael desperately wanted it to be untrue.

"How did you know, Elf?" I sighed at James' futile attempt at prolonging the inevitable.

"I may look young, but I’m much older than you, mutt." Raphael snarled. I smiled and forced the sword deeper into his neck, making James stumble backwards to avoid being beheaded.

"That may be." James mocked. "I just can't wait for the day you get what you deserve. The war is just beginning… and I'll take everything from you. Just wait." With that he stormed out of the room into the arms of the guardians. His yells echoed through the corridor as he was dragged to his new home.

"I never did like him." I pointed out smugly. Raphael rolled his eyes before sinking into a pensive state.

Only mere seconds had passed between you swallowing the potion and waking up. You were still trying to warn your not-so-stranger against fighting the hellhound that held you captive. “Run!” You croaked weakly. “Run, Raphael”

James cackled with his hand still gripping your throat. “How does it feel to have lost, Raph?” He taunted.

“Get your hands off her!” Raphael snarled dangerously, "I shall not tell you again."

"What will you do, lover boy? Once I discard you it won't take long for April to forget all about you again!"

"What have you done!?" The one you'd been calling Grandmother screeched as she stormed out of the front door. "All of my hard work! Wasted!"

In her anger, the witch sent James flying through the air towards herself. She flung his body into the ground and proceeded to send sharp pebbles to collide with his skin.

“Idiot!” She bellowed.

Before you could process what was happening, Raphael had hoisted you to your feet and the two of you stumbled into the woods. Your vision was still faulty. The trees started to blur together.

“April, my love, please hang on just a bit longer.” Raphael knelt next to you and stroked your cheek lovingly. Blood smeared across your cheek.

“It’s really you.” A happy sigh escaped you as you returned the gesture. His face was battered and his eyes were glistening with unshed tears.

“Yes.” Raphael took in a deep, laboured breath. His hands clasped both of yours, squeezed them gently and let them go. “Now run. Stay off the path. The others are coming. I will distract her.”

“But-”

“Go.” His voice was firm. “You will see me again.”

You glared at Raphael without malice. It was not a vow that you would see him again alive. He always had a way with words, manipulating the person to think the outcome would be in their favour if they followed his words. You were always more direct - sometimes forgoing words altogether.

A small smile tugged at the corners of Raphael’s lips. He knew you would escape and be safe. Only because it was he who asked you. You limped further into the trees. Away from James’ howls of pain.

Birds fluttered in the trees above you. Small game hopped, ran, and bounded around you, creating a path for you to follow. The leaves crunched under your feet. One foot in front of the other, you concentrated on moving forward as fast as you could. You stumbled and fell to your knees. Tears welled in your eyes but you blinked them away. A doe tip-toed out from behind the trees. She knelt beside you in order to nuzzle you up. Her nose was velvety soft as you stroked it.

It took all the strength you had, but you managed to drag yourself to your feet. The doe stood with you. Placing a hand on her back, you allowed yourself to be led through the thicket. The howls faded until there was nothing but the sounds of running water and the whispering of trees.

You made it to a river before you fell again. The cold water was refreshing against the bruises and cuts on your skin. You wept into the water. Nothing made sense. Memories were still whirling in your head. Disgust at James. Betrayal at your Grandmother - no, the witch. Your bruised ribs made it hard to breathe which exacerbated your rising panic.

Movement further up the river caught your attention.

“Lady April!” A voice called out. He was wearing light armour that changed colours with the trees. “You’re back!” The young elf grinned as he placed a hand on your shoulder. You flinched away instinctively. His grin dropped.

“Where’s the Prince?” He asked, voice curious and stern.

“The Prince…”

“Oh, my Prince!” I swooned into Raphael’s arms. He promptly dropped me onto the soft clovers we were practising on.

“That’s no way to win!” Raphael laughed, pinning me to the ground. His grip was cumbered by the poofy skirts that made up my dress. I used it to my advantage to flip him over.

“I say it is.” I giggled. “Use every element to my advantage, right?”

“That’s why you’re my knight, my protector.” Raphael breathed out.

“A great job I’m doing.” I rolled off him to lay beside him in the grass.

“You are.” The Prince of the Autumn court stroked my hand with his thumb. “You know, one day I’ll rescue you.”

"And, one day, I'll be a Princess." I snorted.

Raphael smiled softly. "One day."

You clamped onto the elf’s hand. “The Prince, you have to help him. He’s fighting with-”

“APRIL!” His scream echoed over the water.

“- her.”

The witch cackled as she levitated Raphael behind her.

Tags: @scuzmunkie, @wordsaremylife, @luarinne, @inuhuffclaw, @wayward-demigod

#april's fall #April's Fall - part 5

[okaywa]

ay whattup it’s the oikawa simp. but this time i bring you Suga knowing flower meanings and giving you different ones each day and also proposing using flowers

First thought: flower shop AU 

Suga x reader 

Extreme fluff and intensely googled flower meanings

The first time he sees you, Suga is positive his heart stops. He watches you walk into his little shop, taking in the immense amount of plants with an awed smile. 

“H-hello, welcome!” He greets, mentally wincing at his stutter. He couldn't help himself, he always got nervous around pretty people. 

“Oh, hello,” you respond, looking away from the plant you were checking out. 

“Are you looking for something specific or just browsing?” He asks. 

“Actually, I’m looking to buy a housewarming gift for a friend,” you say, running a finger down the leaf of his favorite peace lily. “I thought maybe a plant would liven the new place up.” 

“Plants are perfect housewarming gifts!” Suga beams. “Do you have a type in mind?”

“Uhhh, no, not really,” you admit sheepishly. “I’m terrible with plants. So I guess something pretty easy to keep alive?”

Suga laughs softly, stepping out from behind the counter to lead you to his houseplant section. 

“Here are some of my most hardy plants. They can stand to miss a watering or two and aren't afraid of minimal sunlight,” he says. “Aloe vera is a great option since it also has medicinal properties. Excellent for burns.”

“Oh, really? That’s fascinating,” you reach out to touch the rubbery plant. “And that one?”

Suga swallows when you lean over towards the aloe, shuffling a step back. When he realizes your still waiting for an answer he jumps, embarrassed to be caught watching you.

“Oh! That’s a spider plant, really good for filtering toxins out of the air,” Suga says nervously, tucking his hands behind his back so he can't fidget with his fingers. “Also very easy to take care of. They can get really large too, so if you want it to keep growing just keep sizing up its pot.”

You hum, running your fingers through its leaves. “I think I’ll do both. I kind of want to try keeping another plant alive. Spider plant for me, aloe as the gift.”

“Sounds perfect,” Suga smiles, watching you pick out each one before walking back up to the counter. “Would you like to get pots while you're at it?” 

“Oh, yes! Where are those?” You set the two plants on the counter. 

“Back wall,” Suga points. 

While you're busy picking out pots he wanders over to his flower section, putting together a small mix of flowers. He grabs a notecard with all of the flower’s meanings, a yellow ribbon, and hurries to tie them together before you get back.

Forget-me-nots, a few pink carnations, some white clovers, and a couple irises bring together his mismatch bouquet puzzle. He’s never been the bold, outright type when it came to romantic endeavors. His efforts are usually passive and more subtle. He just hopes this one isn't too abstruse. He just manages to slide the bouquet and card into the bag with your other plants before you're setting your pots down.

“Would you say these are a good size?” 

“Perfect,” he says, looking away with a flush when he catches your eyes. “Gives them a little room to grow.”

 You smile warmly at him, handing over your card to pay. Maybe it was a little sneaky, but he couldn't help himself. 

Y/n Y/ln. 

He’s never going to forgive himself for checking your card for your name. Curiosity killed the cat, he thinks, loading your pots into another bag. 

“Have a good one,” he hands the bags over. 

“You too!” And you're out the door, back into the hustling city filled to the brim with people. He occasionally gets returning customers, but in the plant business it’s not too common. 

Goodbye, Y/n. 

It’s a month before Suga sees you again, and this time its not even in his shop. He’s out at the cornerstone, crouching in the candy aisle like a goblin looking to fulfill a late night craving for chocolate. 

Sea salt and caramel or toasted almond, he debates as he stares at the two bars. Both are ridiculously overpriced but fancy chocolate is his weakness. He sighs and adds both to his basket. 

“Oi! Plant guy.”

Plant guy? He turns, nearly dropping his basket when he catches sight of you waving from the end of the aisle. He gives a small wave back and immediately regrets acknowledging you because you start walking over. He can already feel the sweat gathering on his palms and his tongue become heavy in his mouth. 

“Uh, hello,” he says. 

“I got your flowers,” you grin, reaching into your purse to pull out the card with the flower meanings on it. 

He can see that you've circled the meanings of the flowers he gave you. 

“Oh,” he blushes. 

“I thought it was pretty cute,” you fiddle with the card. “I’ve been meaning to go back to your shop but life has kind of been hectic lately.”

“You liked it?” Oh thank god, you don't think he’s a creep. 

“It was really sweet,’ you say softly. “Don’t forget me, I’ll never forget you, think of me, and hope? Right?”

He nods, watching you list the meanings off the card. Each one makes his cheeks grow redder, why did he have to be so cheesy.

“I tried my best to keep them alive but they wilted after a week,” you frown. 

“Well, cut flowers never do last as long,” he says. “How is the spider plant doing?”

Your wince isn't very promising. 

“Also pretty droopy,” you admit. 

“Can I ask what you're doing for it?” He tilts his head. 

“Uhh, I water it like ever two weeks? And it gets I think a good amount of sun.”

“Spider plants need a lot of watering, try doing it once a week. And if you’re not sure about the amount of sun I suggest just putting it wherever you think it'd get the most. Spider plants do fine in partial sunlight but they thrive when it’s direct.”

“Thank you.” You say. “Uhm, I never caught your name?”

“Sugawara Koushi,” he replies. “And, uh, yours?”

“Y/ln Y/n,” you smile, holding out your hand. “Nice to meet you.”

Suga flushes as he shakes your hand. “You too.”

“Oh, wait! I wanted to give you this,” you bring out the card again. “Do you have a pen?”

“Uh-”

“Wait, I have one in my bag,” you grab it out, quickly scribbling on the card. “Here you go. See you around, Suga.”

He holds the card delicately, as if it could crumble if he gripped it too hard. Turning it over he sees that you've circled another one of the flower meanings along with your number next to it. 

White camellia- you're adorable. 

He grins.

“Hi, you look lovely,” Suga greets and then brings out the small bouquet he put together. “These are for you.”

Attached to the bouquet is the same card you wrote your number on, this time with a few more circles. He could honestly puke with how nervous he feels, are flowers too much on a first date? How long would you enjoy this game of exchanging flower meanings? 

You gasp excitedly, taking the bouquet and the card. 

Awhile longer, it would seem.

“White carnations mean sweet and lovely and daffodils mean new beginnings,” you read aloud. “Suga-chan! You are so thoughtful, thank you.”

He blushes when you pull him down to kiss his cheek. 

“Are you ready to go?”

Suga feels as anxious as he did on your first date. His stomach is churning and the ring in his pocket feels like ice. He carefully sets the vase of stephanotis flowers in the center of the table, readjusting it several times so it looked just right. Throughout your relationship, you had both gotten into the habit of using flowers as unspoken messages for each other. 

He frequently got you spider flowers (elope with me) as an inside joke between the two of you, usually bringing them on dates. This, however, was serious. 

If I get through this I’m buying myself all of the chocolate I can afford, he swears as he straightens his tie. There’s a soft knock at the door so he takes one last steadying breath, and opens it with a smile.

“Hi, sugar,” he says, greeting you with a small peck to the lips. 

“Hi! I’m sorry I’m late, traffic was...” You pause, staring at the table closely. “Koushi..”

When you turn around he’s on one knee, a black velvet box in hand. 

“Uhm, I didn't expect you to notice that fast,” he laughs, opening the box. “I think I bruised my knee.”

You let your bag drop softly to the floor, your hands coming up to cover your mouth. “Are you serious? No spider flowers hidden anywhere?”

“Will you marry me, Y/n Y/ln?” He asks, beaming brightly. 

“Yes, now get up here I want to kiss you,” you sniffle, grabbing him by his collar. 

You can feel his smile against your mouth and the kiss is unbroken as he blindly slides the ring onto your finger. 

Stephanotis- Happiness in marriage

#haikyuu!! #haikyuu imagines #haikyuu headcanons #haikyuu fluff #haikyuu writing #sugawara koushi #sugawara x reader #suga headcanons #sugawara kōshi

[ephemeralstark]

The Targets We Paint

Summary:  “Do you really think walking into Stark Industries with a handcuffed kid is a good idea?” Peter asked, “because the second you get in there, someone will alert the emergency services, you won’t get far.” 

 “You’re wrong,” and even though Peter knew he wasn’t, the complete lack of concern in the man’s voice was causing him mild anxiety. “

Well, we’ll see, won’t we?” the man asked, not remaining silent for long, “we’ll see who’s worrying about calling the cops when I’m threatening to blow your brains all over their pristine white floors.”

 Peter swallowed, hard, “shows how prepared you are,” he said with false bravado, “the floors in the main atrium are black marble.” 

-

 Peter knew being Spider-Man put a target on him, but it was a risk he was willing to take for the safety of the citizens of Queens. He just never considered how dangerous it could be to be Peter Parker.

AN: whumptober day 4: prompt - collapsed building. TW for bombs, guns, violence, proceed with caution. Sorry the prompt only appears at the end whoops and this is going to be 3 parts not 2 bc i suck 

Part 2 of 3

To Peter’s horrified surprised the man who was holding him started to laugh, and not a fake sarcastic laugh, but a full-bellied, shoulder shaking guffaw that made the gun against Peter’s temple shake, he could hear the bullets inside tremble. There was no more innocent hope that the weapon hadn't been loaded. 

“Everyone says you’re smart, and you really are, aren’t you?” the man asked. 

“Is this all an elaborate plan to test my intelligence?” Mr. Stark asked and Peter’s eyes jumped to his feet as he watched him slide a foot forward on the marble, trying to inch his way closer without being detected, “because I have to admit there are easier ways to go about that than holding my intern hostage. I’m a show-off, you just had to challenge me to an IQ test or something.” 

“Is this the part where you ask me to let him go?” the man asked idly, his tone so conversational as he ignored Mr. Stark that it sent shivers down Peter’s spine as his Spidey-Sense warned him that he wouldn't be walking out of this situation unscathed.

But what could he do? The man was holding the gun so tightly to his head that if he tried anything, there was a good chance he would be dead before he could so much as turn around.

“Why would I ask that?” Mr. Stark asked him. 

“Don't you care for his life?” the man asked. 

“I mean I’d rather you didn't kill him in front of all of these people,” Mr. Stark said with a small shrug, “and I have to admit that I’ve grown rather fond of his inane rambling, but you don't seem to care about that.”

“Beg me to release him,” the man said. 

“Is that what this is about?” Mr. Stark asked, inching closer once more. “Is this all just a power trip for you?” 

Peter felt the man holding him tense, “a power trip?” he asked, and it was obvious that he was unhappy about the phrasing. 

“Well, you’re walking into my building with my intern at gunpoint as you demand to speak with me, and the moment I turn up you want to hear me beg?”  Mr. Stark said, “I have to admit, it seems a little power trippy.”

“This isn't a power trip,” oh, the man was speaking through gritted teeth now, Mr. Stark was definitely hitting a nerve somewhere. 

“Come on, wait, what’s your name? Is it Dave? You look like a Dave, we’re all going to call you Dave now, right kid?” Mr. Stark said. 

“Uh, he’s holding a gun to my head I don't think I want to do that,” Peter mumbled. 

“Come on, Kid, Dave knows there are at least five guns trained on him by now, if he does anything, he’ll be dead before he hits the ground,” Mr. Stark told him as though that was meant to be reassuring. 

“Maybe I don’t care about making it out alive,” Dave said, but Peter could feel his sudden tension that contradicted his words. 

“Oh, you do though,” Mr. Stark said, “otherwise that bomb would have been set off the moment I arrived in this atrium, you wouldn't be bothering to try and appear more powerful than me, you would have done it instantly and it would be attached to you rather than a device in your pocket.” 

“Stop… talking… about… power!” Dave said slowly through gritted teeth, the volume rising with each word that slipped out.

“You’re a little touchy on that aren’t you?” Mr. Stark asked.

“You keep trying to undermine me,” Dave snapped, “but who’s the one with a hostage right now?” 

“Oh, big deal, you kidnapped a fifteen-year-old, and a pretty lanky, dorky one,” Mr. Stark said, “pretty sure Peter has never done a sport in his life.” 

“Mr. Stark,” Peter said with an offended sniff, “I’m being held as a hostage, are you really going to do me the dirty right now?” 

“Kid, come on, I had to pick you up last week because you tried to climb the rope and fell and somehow missed the mat?” Mr. Stark said, “like come on, that mat is huge, how did you miss? And how the hell did you fall?” 

“I was showing off,” Peter lied - he had actually intentionally fallen so that people wouldn't be suspicious that Peter Parker could suddenly climb the rope, it wasn't his fault that he was stupid and misjudged the fall.

“Why would you pick him up if he’s just your intern?” Dave asked suspiciously. 

“Come on, Dave, keep up,” Mr. Stark said, rolling his eyes, he was now close enough that Peter could smell his cologne, “I told you, the inane babbling grows on you, if you zone him out enough it's like there’s a toddler yapping away.” 

“A toddler?” Peter asked. 

“My name isn't Dave.”

“What is it then?” Peter asked, “because I’m kinda calling you Dave in my head now.”

“Oh for fuck’s sake!” 

Dave was pissed.

Peter’s Spidey-Senses screamed at him a nano-second before he felt something hard crack against the back of his skull and a dizzy wave overtook him as he fell forward, Mr. Stark caught him just before he hit the ground, which Peter was grateful for as with his hands still cuffed behind his back he would have landed with his face hitting the marble and no way to try and prevent this.

“I’m sorry,” Peter whispered to Mr. Stark, “I didn't react quick enough, he had the cuffs on before I could think.” 

“Don’t blame yourself,” Mr. Stark replied quietly and he helped the cuffed boy back to his feet, and Peter didn't miss the look of horror as his mentor froze and stared at his own hands that were now tainted with the blood of the kid before him, “you're bleeding?” 

“The cuffs have spikes inside,” Peter said quietly. 

“They wh-”

“Enough waffling,” Dave said with a tone of impatience, “tell your men to put their weapons down otherwise I’ll release.” 

Peter’s gaze instantly fell on Dave’s hand that was holding the wired contraption that looked a lot like what he’d expect a bomb to look like, and then in the other hand was a button and judging from the way his thumb was tensed, he was pressing down which meant… oh. 

“Mr. Stark, if he releases that…” 

“I know, Kiddo,” Mr. Stark said, Peter saw a muscle in his jaw twitch, “alright, just be careful with that thing.”

“Tell them,” Dave said. 

“Right, guys, you heard him,” Mr. Stark announced, “fall back.”

By that point Peter could hear the law enforcement officers outside discussion tactics and planning to make contact, little did they know that it was pointless, Dave was heading towards his endgame and it was growing more and more clear that this wasn't about money. 

“If you ignite that bomb, you’re going to die,” Mr. Stark said, “is that really what you want?” 

“I don't care,” Dave said, “you destroyed me, Stark, you ruined everything, and now… I’m willing to put my life on the line to get my revenge.” 

“Look, this is getting old,” Mr. Stark said, trying to push Peter behind him, not that Peter would allow that, “we’ve already established that you don't want to die, so spill the truth, did you work here?” 

“No,” the man scoffed, “I would never have demeaned myself in that way.” 

“First: rude, and second, then why are you so pissed off?” 

“Do you remember the new theory that Oscorp Industries released?” Dave asked. 

Mr. Stark scoffed and let out a laugh, “of course this is related to Oscorp, and yes, I do. It was flawed and there was no way to prove it without inhumane human trials that would have risked lives and had a high rate of fatalities.” 

“That was my theory,” Dave shouted, “I was queued up for a promotion, I was going to get the funding to prove it true, and then you made a statement to the press about it and they were suddenly watching us.” 

“So you’re mad you were going to be held accountable?” Mr. Stark asked, “sounds like I did all the participants a favour, really.”

“You-” Dave broke off, visibly shaking with fury, “you don't get to say that, you don't get to-” 

“You need to calm down,” Mr. Stark told him. 

That was apparently the worst thing Mr. Stark, or anyone could have said because Dave was instantly furious. He threw everything he was holding against the ground and Peter was able to see the instantly look of terrified regret on his face that told him enough to act. 

Without the use of his hands, he was limited on what he was able to do, so he used his shoulder and rammed Mr. Stark to the ground with it, the older man was taken aback with the shock of the action and fell easily, just in time for Peter to cover his body with his own as a blast radiated from behind. 

It was hot, Peter thought before his attention turned to the trembling ground and he wondered whether they were unlucky enough to be having an earthquake at the same time. He would have considered it further, and perhaps he would have realised that the building was crumbling around him, but he was hit by something solid and the darkness dragged him under so that he was blissfully unaware of anything further. 

Tag List: @joyful-soul-collector @thatavengersbitch @spidey-reids-2003 @clover-roseee @thespydersargon @iron-loyalty @ormbunkar @justme--emily @pookiethefrickinbunn @pillowspace @akalovelymaybe

#peter parker #tony stark #iron man #spider-man #whump #whumptober #whumptober 2020

[goodbyekillingharmony]

My own interpretation of Qrow's character in V8

also, before we get really into this, of course, there will be spoilers. don’t say i didn’t warn you. also, probably don’t take this too seriously? i wrote this at like 3 in the morning last night and wanted to rework it into something more proper. i tried to make it flow more properly and fuck this may not even make any sense, so bare with me. this is mostly a headcanon i have to get myself through the travesty that is volume 8 and it did make it more enjoyable for me, so i guess that is a plus.

alright, i think i have bored you enough with the unnecessary parts, here we go boys. also, one final thing, this isn’t supposed to undermine shit like part 8 or f//r g//me, or anything of the sort, this was just made as a fun little headcanon that got serious real quick. okay, actually starting now.

I think most RWBY fans have noticed a sudden shift in behavior in Qrow. I don’t really know what the consensus is for this since I hardly, if ever, interact with this fandom, however, for me, until yesterday, it had bothered me heavily. I am a fairly harsh critic when it comes to the writing on the show, purely due to the fact I want to become a writer myself, so I tend to be overly analytical, which can lead to me finding flaws more easily. Nevertheless, even with my mostly neutral feelings regarding Volume 8 right now for various reasons, I persisted. It wasn’t until last night when I really started thinking about this, putting my more critical self aside, and started to look at the bigger picture. Then, an idea had popped into my mind.

Based on someone who has severe trust issues and immense paranoia, I had finally understood, well, at least, theoretically. What if the reason that Qrow is so hostile and, honestly, unreasonable this volume is because he suspected something like this. He suspected Ironwood to do something akin to this. Obviously, not to this severe of a degree, but he felt that like, sooner or later, that this would happen.

What do I mean by this? Well, me and a good friend of mine (@graegrape hi) had gone traversing the RWBY Wikia and found something that honestly kick started the entire thing. 

“ General Ironwood shows concern over Qrow's warning in his conversation with Ozpin in "Welcome to Beacon", which prompted him to bring his fleet to Vale in hopes of preventing conflict in the Vytal Festival. However, this action only served to infuriate Qrow. ’’

Naturally, this had caught my eye. So, we went digging for some screencaps.

When Qrow informed Ironwood and Co. about finding some of Salem's forces, Ironwood had deployed, essentially, his entire fleet, and Qrow was absolutely angered by this; how the hell could he have messed it up so badly?

-

However, at least in this point in time during Volume 3, Qrow doesn’t completely distrust Ironwood.

“ Qrow has commented that he wonders if Ironwood has a heart. Nonetheless, Qrow saves Ironwood from a Griffon in "Heroes and Monsters", knowing the general is innocent of the carnage caused by his automated forces. He shows his respect and loyalty by asking Ironwood for suggestions regarding their plan of action to deal with the invading Grimm, showing that while he may not respect his methods, Qrow does not completely hate him or view him as a threat. ‘’

What was the point of this part of the post, OP? Well, I am happy you asked. I wanted to show just exactly what their dynamic was back in those volumes, almost as a refresher. There is some amount of trust and respect, and there is some amount of comradery there, however, something underlying is starting to brew, specifically Qrow’s reaction to Ironwood’s course of action. My own interpretation of this part? This gave Qrow a proper look at how extreme Ironwood could get, letting it settle in his own mind for a while, making the seed of doubt of Ironwood’s self-destructive behavior plant itself.

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The next part of this post will be way more hypothetical. While I will try to provide evidence, this is creeping into more headcanon-ish territory. You have been warned lol.

Well, that’s all of the Volume 2 - 3 stuff out of the way, time to move onto the elephant in the room. Alright, so Volume 7, a favorite for many and I am no exception.

However, even when I have rewatched the Volume at least 3 times at this point, there was a certain scene that had always stuck out to me, and that is relevant to the post at hand, so might as well get it out of the way. I’m sure we all know what I’m talking about here.

The hug.

So, when the hug happened, for Qrow, at least in my own interpretation, it felt like his entire world got shattered.

Ironwood had actually missed him; actually taking the time to tell him that he cared. You could see Qrow wasn’t as tense anymore, actually letting his guard down in front of someone that wasn’t his family. In my opinion, specifally with this frame,

Qrow had started to reflect. To reflect on not only their own relationship, but on himself as well. He, possibly, had his own seed of doubt regarding Ironwood slowly starting to disappear. Something akin to, “Maybe he does have a heart.” or whatever. 

And then, Ironwood, of all people, had betrayed him. It had happened again.

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Suddenly, he was given a reason, at least in his mind, to justify his distrust of others, but of Ironwood especially. He was right in his mind. “Sooner or later, someone close to me would do this. And to imagine it being to such a severe situation too. He did it again.” Qrow was probably devastated. I’m not denying that he wasn’t sad about Clover, he clearly was and I am not going to deny that fact. However, that being his only reason does not sit well with me. His colleague, one of the remaining people in Ozpin’s group, had done this, after he had promised to ensure his safety, planting a false hope within him. Now, he was thrown away like a rag by one of the only remaining members of Ozpin's circle he could get into proper contact with.

Qrow’s sadness turning into anger is literally perfectly in character to him, so it would make complete sense, trying to deflect everything, because he, himself, wants to be right in his own mind; it was a long time coming, it only happened now.

He’s deflecting a lot of the things, pushing it in the back of his mind. He's scared. He has to be alone again. Just when he thought he was finally safe to trust people again, to seek comfort in someone like Clover, the first person he was willing to spill his heart out to, as well; he lost him. So, he uses everything he can to stop his mind from thinking about it. Anger, sadness, blissful ignorance; whatever he can do to ignore it, because he gave up drinking, so he can't use that for coping anymore.

The reason why he’s reacting so extremely is, in my opinion,is not just due to “Oh, well, I saw this coming.”, but also that he is going through withdrawl. He has to do cope using other methods, since he can’t use his former one anymore. He has to feel the full brunt of his own emotions, he can’t numb them down anymore, and to himself, he can’t justify his own feelings. In his mind, the best course of action is to redirect those extremes onto someone else.

It is quite possibly that Qrow had noticed Ironwood’s sudden shift in behavior, making him reflect on himself, too. He sees that Ironwood is walking down the same path that he himself was going down many years ago, but he can’t do anything. He thinks that Ironwood wouldn’t listen to him, considering what happened back in the Vytal festival. Ironwood did not back down in the slightest back then, so why would he now? That type of mentality. He doesn’t bother with it.

(This next part was written by my good friend and honestly? Great food for thought.) 

Qrow’s former emotions mirror those of Ironwood’s current ones. Qrow, back in the earlier volumes, had used alcohol to help ease his mind and block out things he didn’t want to think about. And now, current Ironwood, is only focusing on what’s directly in front of him and blocking out the entirety of Mantle.

In essense, Ironwood had become exactly what he hated about Qrow.

(I rewrote it a bit, but the main idea was all them. Thank you so much for this.)

He is deliberately using everything he can to not think about Ironwood, due to the fact that he can easily become irrational when he does, and he does need Robyn as an ally, so he buries it all down, possibly being self-aware about his own behavoir, but not know how to deal with it.

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Well, that sure was long. There could be things I forgot to mention, and I’m not even sure if this is well structured or not, since I’m not used to writing essays, at least, not to this caliber, but I hoped it, at least, made you possibly think about Qrow in a more intiment sense. Qrow’s and Ironwood’s relationship had always been the most facsinating one in the entire show, so seeing it being thrown to the side did sting a bit. But, I hope that there was a good reason for it. I am still looking forward to what V8 has in store, especially with the heavily implied fight, I just hope it’s something more than just Qrow getting revenge for Clover. C’mon, CRWBY! I know you can do better.

If you made it this far, thank you. And please understand I made this out of pure love for the show. I have been a fan for a while now and I only want what’s best for the show. I promise this isn’t just me being a salty Ironqrow shipper lmao Anyway, let’s hope this volume turns out great.

#rwby #rwby volume 8 #rwby spoilers #qrow branwen #james ironwood #ironqrow #?? ish?? #sorry if this is bad lol