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queers-gambit · 2 years

Text

Distraction

[ series masterlist ]

prompt: at a rare family dinner, you have news for your husband.

pairing: Aemond Targaryen x wife!reader

fandom: House of the Dragon

word count: 5.9k+

note: i didn't want to like him but the pirate baby war criminal does something to me.

warnings: cursing, spoilers, Aemond being a little shit, basically the dinner scene with Aemond's wife. canon-level incest (?) and dialogue. not edited!! ❗️major season one, episode eight spoilers

"How's this?" You asked Amira, your handmaiden, showing her the sixth dress you've tried on. You observed all angles of yourself in the mirror, smoothing over the material of your dress in worry.

"I like it better," she nodded, admiring your figure. "And you can't even tell you're hiding - "

"Mira," you warned, sighing sharply.

"When are you going to tell him, my Lady?" She demanded, helping you into your shoes as you fixed jewelry around your neck, wrist, ears, and fingers. "It's killing me!" She whined lowly.

"Soon, Mira," you rolled your eyes.

"You've been saying that for a month, and now you're starting to show!" She snipped, hands on her hips. "He's not stupid - "

"He's been distracted as of late," your eyes rolled. "He is not paying attention to me right now, I've time to think."

"I beg to differ, but sure, let's be ignorant."

"Mira," you sighed, or more like whined. Your head tilted back and you sighed sadly, pinning her with an exasperated look.

"I'm being honest, Princess, and I'm telling you the Prince absolutely adores you. How he's not noticed yet is beyond me."

You sheepishly admitted, "I might've... Lied a wee bit."

"And said what?"

"I was bloated from bad fish and my cycle," you shrugged. "He doesn't know much different, and he's been coming to bed in exhaustion that he doesn't much stay awake to notice my growing figure."

"Well," she sighed, hands slapping her thighs as she shrugged with defeat, "this dress hides everything better, it fits nice. It's a winner for tonight's dinner... Just - "

"Don't eat too much," You ended for her, smirking. "I know... I know."

"You should just tell him, Princess. Rid us of this game, please."

"I will..."

"He has the right to know," she whispered.

"He will - just once I figure out what to do."

"What do you - "

"Once I figure out how to be okay with this," you sighed sadly. "Look... I just... Aemond doesn't seemed thrilled by the idea of being a father but his mother insisted on lineage. He only did his duty," you shrugged, fiddling with your fingers as emotion caught in your throat, "and I'm nervous to tell him, because... T-Then it's over."

"What's over?" Amira asked softly.

"The marriage," you sniffled, "the bliss, the partnership. I just become a cast-aside-milk-machine."

"You know the Prince would never - "

"Truthfully, Mira, we don't know," you cut her off sadly, "because nobody can predict what Aemond will say or do next."

"He wants to be a father," Mira nodded, but both of you froze when a new voice asked from the doorway,

"Who wants to be a father?"

Recognizing your husband's voice, Mira was swift to answer when you froze in fear, "My husband's brother. He's trying for a baby with his wife and I was telling the Princess how excited he is because he really wants to be a father."

"Hmm," Aemond considered a moment, stepping into the room in-full and letting the door close softly behind him. "Well, speaking of my dear wife, are you almost ready, love? We've dinner arrangements."

His eye raked over your form and when he settled on your face, he smirked with mischief. Gulping from the flush of heat his gaze brought, you glanced at Mira before affirming, "I'm ready, my Prince Ameond."

His brow furrowed as Mira showed herself out, Ameond asking, "Since when do you address me so formally, my love?"

"Oh, well, just - you know, we're going to have dinner with your whole family, Ameond, I just wanted to remember formalities and, you know, my place..."

"Your place," he reaffirmed as he reached for you, "is at my side, sweet girl. You worry for nought, my family adores you."

You sighed lightly, "As if you gave them a choice but only to accept me."

His smirked broadened, "You're right - I gave them none. Come, you're worrying yourself silly. It's nothing, my sweet girl, Father called for this dinner to celebrate us being together."

"Might you promise me something, then?"

Aemond sighed, "You know I cannot break promises to you."

"Exactly," you smirked lightly, feeling his arms tighten around your waist to keep you pressed to his front. You worried he'd feel the small curve of your belly, but distracted him by asking, "Do not antagonize anyone while your King Father is present, my love, please. He's old, he's sick, let us grant his wish of having a meal together - in harmony, in peace..."

He sighed again, letting his eye shoot over your face as you pouted lightly. "All right, my love," he agreed, "I will behave myself while Father is present."

"Thank you," you whispered, thinking that was the end of it. Your Lord husband smiled and took your hand to tangle his fingers with yours, pressing a lingering kiss to your lips.

"Shall we, my love?" He muttered softly.

"Hmm," you hummed, kissing him again. "All right, yeah, let us go. Shouldn't keep the family waiting."

He smirked, "Come."

Aemond liked keeping you close, moving from your shared rooms and down the halls to reach the private dining room the Royal Family was to take their meal in tonight. Upon entering, you discovered the fires ablaze and torches set to provide ample lighting, making you smile as the room was the perfect temperature for your pregnant, flushed-flesh.

As custom dictates, you bowed to the Queen Mother first; greeting the Hand of the King after, then with similar bows, greeted the crowned heir to the Iron Throne, your birth mother, Princess Rhaenyra. You gaze shifted to your mother's husband, the Prince Daemon, your step-father, and offered him a polite greeting. Truth of it was that you were always cautious of Daemon, and the way he looked at you was hard to decipher; never knowing if he even liked you or not. You skin was toned down from your father's, the late Lord Laenor Velaryon, but your hair was as bright as your mother and father's, and all who shared your blood.

Your marriage to Aemond was a bid for peace after your younger brother, Jace, took the young Aemond's eye about 6-7 years prior. To placate tension, your hand was offered only 2 years ago, and it turned out to be a surprising love-match. You and Aemond grew closer after the years apart, and though you tried to understand all sides of the situation, you knew the truth behind the loss of his eye, and only tried to offer comfort for your husband on day's he became overwhelmingly insecure.

You loved your family, but you loved the man you shared your life with now and did your best to keep the peace.

You greeted your brothers and cousins before looking back at your mother, who grinned in excitement.

Your mother breathed your name and stood from her seat, making you match her excitement as you let go of Aemond's hand to hug her tightly. "Mother," you gasped into the tight embrace. "Oh, how you glow! Pregnancy has always agreed with you. How are you feeling?"

"I'm well, my sweet love," Rhaenyra nodded, pulling away to gently pet a stray hair from your forehead. "Your hair's grown so much in these years."

"Do you like it?"

"You look beautiful, my love, I adore it," she promised, squeezing your hand. "How are you fairing?" She glanced over your shoulder to your husband - who was greeting his own siblings.

"I am doing well, Mother, you do not need worry," you assured. "Aemond is good and kind to me, I promise. I have known only love and warmth from him, and I feel I should both apologize to you for protesting the arrangement, and then thank you for it..." She smiled fondly, caressing your jaw and chin. "It has worked out better than I ever could imagine."

"I am delighted to hear it," your mother spoke with so much love and kindness that a light sheen of tears coated your eyes. "You look well, love," she sighed lightly, petting over your long hair. "You know I miss you daily, my sweet girl. It is not the same without you."

"I miss you, too," you swore. "More than words..."

She sighed, "Well, go on, we should find our seats..."

"We'll talk again soon," you assured softly, giving her hands another squeeze before breaking apart. You nodded to her husband, "Prince Daemon."

"Princess," he nodded back, watching you move around the table to snag Aemond's hand in yours, and together, the two of you made it to your seats at the head of the table. Aemond pulled your chair out and let you sit before taking his seat between you and his grandsire, leaving you between him and his sister, the Princess Helaena.

"Good evening," Otto muttered to you, nodding with a soft smile. "You look beautiful, Princess."

"Thank you, my Lord," you smiled. "You look well yourself. And you, Princess," you directed at Helaena, "that dress befits you."

"Thank you, my Lady," she smiled, "you're glowing... In this light," she spoke with a knowing twinkle in her eye.

"Love?" Aemond muttered, a servant holding a goblet. "Would you like wine tonight?"

"Oh, please," You accepted, Aemond taking the goblet to pass along to you. "Thank you, sweetheart."

"Hm," he acknowledged with a small smirk, raising his own to his lips as he observed the whole of the table and slowly turned in his chair to crowd into you. "Say the word, love, and we'll leave..."

"We're fine," You assured in a soft whisper, bowing your head to speak in his ear. "You are on edge, my Prince."

You could almost physically feel his nerves.

"With reason," he sighed, leaning in to press a kiss to your neck. "Aegon wants a word, my love. I'll be a moment."

"Go on," you sighed, smiling with a nod as he stood from his seat; leaving you with a parting kiss on the top of your head. The table was still being dressed for dinner and the Targaryen-Hightower families all sat around as they all waited for the King to arrive. Aemond and Aegon stood for their conversation at the corner of the table, leaving Helaena to rise to her knees in her chair; giggling with you over whatever riddles plagued her mind in that moment. Otto smiled as he watched you two for a moment.

From your place, you could feel the tension from Queen Alicent and Princess Rhaenyra, knowing all of their feud from your limited years at court prior to tonight. When the doors opened and a procession of Kings Guard was seen, you all pushed from your wooden chairs to stand for the King's arrival; your husband reaching for your waist to stand together as a united front. Aemond always took your union very seriously as your birth appearance only left room for rumors to fester about your brother's lineage, and Aemond took immense pride in calling you wife.

You, who had the color of your father's skin, and the hair color of your mother; you, who was a highly desired prize to the courts; you, who was desired over others, and looked at only as a trophy - but being that you wed a man who had known you your whole life, he treated you as much more. You were proud of your marriage, and stood tall at his side.

The King was carried in a chair that would double as his seat for the evening meal, requiring a set of guards to carry him up to the table before being lowered.

When everyone was allowed to reclaim their seat, Aemond held a hand to the servant boy who meant to push your chair in; smirking at you as he took the liberty himself. Say what you wanted about the lad, but his mother raised him right...

Much could not be said for his brother, but Aegon was not your worry.

Aemond took his seat after, letting his hand drift to your thigh in invitation; smirking again when both your hands tangled with his. You noticed both of your brothers now sat with their betrothed, who were Daemon's daughters with your Aunt Laena - who passed seemingly only days before your father. Both tragedies left your mother, Rhaenyra, and uncle (?) Daemon available to marry, and you remember standing on your ancestral home of Dragonstone, watching the Old Valyrian customs come to life as they wed.

A beautiful ceremony in truth.

Around the table, all members of the Targaryen-Velaryon-Hightower family claimed their seats as King Viserys Targaryen, First of His Name, was set down at the large gap separating your mother and step-mother...

How odd to think about the relations around this table.

As the guards retreated, Viserys croaked, "How good it is... To see you all tonight... Together."

You smiled at Aemond and let your head fall into the crook of his neck when he glanced at you; his arm readjusting to better hold your hand, both attentively listening to the King's words, but not before his chin caressed the top of your head when he returned your brief show of affection.

The tension at the table was nearly palpable, leaving Alicent to ask her husband, "Prayer before we begin?"

"Yes," Viserys agreed.

Everyone took proper prayer form, you glancing at your seemingly confused mother for a moment before to your lap as Alicent lead the prayer: "May the Mother smile down on this gathering with love. May the Smith men the bonds that have been broken for far too long. And to Vaemond Velaryon, may the Gods give him rest."

You ignored the under-breath huffy responses to Queen Alicent wishing for rest upon a man slain in court today, nodding when the prayer was over and lifting your head to reclaim your husband's hand in your own. Viserys continued, "This is an occasion for celebration, it seems. My grandsons, Jace and Luke, will marry their cousins, Baela and Rhaena, further strengthening the bond between our Houses." You nudged Aemond gently when you saw him staring at Jace with unnerve. "A toast to the young Princes and their betrothed!"

"Hear, hear," Daemon mocked as he took up his goblet, your husband spying your smirk of amusement.

And though he lowered his voice so his father did not hear, Aegon's words reached your own ears as he muttered to your brother, "Well done, Jace. You'll finally get to lie with a woman."

Jace let his goblet set to the table forcefully, catching your eyes as you subtly shook your head at him. He ignored Prince Aegon's antagonizing words.

"Let us toast, as well, Prince Lucerys... The future Lord of the Tides."

"Hear, hear," his future sister-cousin toasted with a soft smirk.

"You'll be great," his cousin-fiancé assured.

"Love," you reprimanded softly, catching his stare again. He only sighed at you as Aegon was turning to Jace again.

"You do know how the act is done, I assume? As least, in principle? Where to put your cock and all that?"

"Let it be, cousin."

"You can play the jester if you wish, but hold your tongue before my betrothed," Jace defended, keeping his voice low so the adults would not hear him.

"Hmm," Aegon sighed, nodding once before sitting forward in his seat. You sighed to yourself, feeling Aemond's hand stroking over the meat of your inner thigh and leaning into his arm slightly.

But all came to a stand-still when Viserys grunted and stood uneasily to his feet, leaning forward on the table to hold himself up. His words were spoken between huffs of breath, "It both gladdens my heart and fills me with sorrow to see these faces around the table." He looked around with meaning, "The faces most dear to me in all the world... Yet grown so distant from each other... In the years past."

Aemond blinked once, then twice, and lowered his gaze to the table before looking down at you. You offered a silent smile and pet over his hand. But both of your smiles dropped when you looked up again, watching Viserys reach for the latch that kept the golden facemask in place; realizing his intention. You were used to Aemond's injury and scar, but the King's was something else entirely, and with your pregnancy stomach - you were unsure how you would react seeing it.

Aemond's hand squeezed yours when the King dropped his mask and gave a front-row-viewing to his decaying face. Aegon and Helaena refused to look, their eyes set to the table as Viserys looked around; Rhaenyra seeing the extent of his illness, and how his children could not look at him for longer than a few seconds.

Viserys continued, "My own face... Is no longer a handsome one," he snorted lightly at his own joke, "if indeed it ever was. But tonight... I wish you to see me... As I am." Otto watched the King directly, boldly, and your eyes could only handle small glances, focusing on the way Aemond was distracting you with his fingers running up and down your thigh in your lap. "Not just a King," Viserys continued through haggard breathing, "But your Father!" He turned his eye to Daemon, spitting, "Your brother!" His head turned to Alicent, "Your husband." And then he looked to the middle of the table, "Your grandsire. Who may not, it seems... Walk for much longer among you." He slammed the gold mask to punctuate his point, all eyes staring at him now. "Let us no longer hold ill feelings in our hearts. The crown cannot stand strong if the House of the Dragon remains divided. But set aside your grievances." You felt emotion swell in your chest as Aemond's hand paused to squeeze your hand. "If not for the sake of the crown... Then for the sake of this old man! Who loves you all so dearly!"

He panted in exhaustion as he fell back into his seat with Alicent's aid; fixing the mask back over the decaying half of his face. Suddenly, your mother, Rhaenyra, was shooting up from her seat with her goblet in hand; making you sit up straighter almost subconsciously. Aemond fought off his knowing smirk as he watched your mother hold her goblet with intention.

After a moment, the crowned Princess spoke, "I wish to raise my cup to Her Grace, the Queen." When Alicent had helped secure the gold mask, she looked up in curiosity. "I love my father," she continued to Alicent. "But I must admit that no one has stood... More loyally by his side than his good wife." After a meaningful look, your mother spoke to the rest of the table, "She has tended to him with... Unfailing devotion, love, and honor. And for that, she has my gratitude... And my apology."

When your mother's eyes caught your own as she sat down, you nodded with your own toast, "To the Queen Mother."

The others echoed your words and took their obligatory sip of wine, watching Alicent accept your mother's words. "Your graciousness move me deeply, Princess." Daemon sat forward at the Queen's words, your mother watching her as your own husband seemingly stilled to watch the tense exchange. "We are both mothers... And we love our children. We have more in common than we sometimes allow." Your mother accepted her words, in turn; and the Queen Alicent Hightower stood to her feet, and hoisted her cup high, "I raise my cup to you and to your House." After a moment, she ended, "You will make a fine Queen."

You smirked gently as your mother fought off her emotion, raising your cup again to call, "To Princess Rhaenyra, our future Queen!"

The rest of the table followed suit, and with King Viserys, took their gulps of wine. Aemond smirked and pecked your temple, earning your attention for you to grin at him - feeling as if this was a perfect moment to announce to your husband and family that you were pregnant. But his attention drifted when his brother drained his goblet, cleared his throat, and stood from his seat.

He sighed and kept close watch as you silently turned your attention as well. Aemond knew better than anyone how protective you were of your brothers, and though you shared different traits in appearance, they were still your blood, and you, and your gorgeous green dragon, Kasta, would defend them until your death day.

You could not make out the words Aegon was muttering to your cousin, but you knew the lad liked to instigate; his farce of pouring himself a new goblet of wine only getting him so far.

Whatever was said upset the Prince enough for his hands to bang on the table as he stood; Aegon's smirk assuring you he meant for this reaction. "Jace," you heard Rhaena try to intercede.

But as Aegon made for his seat, your husband stood to his feet, and stared Jace down as if in challenge to say anything. The table all stilled, and even Viserys, who had witnessed your husband ferocity, waited with held breath. "My love," you whispered, reaching for Aemond's sleeve to give a simple tug. "You promised," you reminded softly, begging him to sit down again. But when his fist formed, you stood from your seat to press into his side, whispering urgently, "Aemond, please, do not do this, I am begging you."

His arm slithered around you to keep you at his side as Jace only pounded his fist into Aegon's shoulder in a show of good faith; noting the way Aemond went rigid even under your soothing touch.

Jace toasted with his own goblet, "To Prince Aegon and Prince Aemond. We have not seen each other in years," Jace glanced from Luke to you and Aemond, "but I have fond memories of our shared youth. And it is obvious the love, devotion, and respect you show my sister - and for that, I give both gratitude and thanks." He paused to look at Aegon, who looked sour at the show of responsibility and educated-tongue. "And as men, I hope we may yet be friends and allies. To you and your families good health, dear uncles. Or, should I say, dear uncle, and brother," he smiled at you after, seeing you return it with all-teeth.

But when Aemond's hand tightened on your waist in anger, you whispered again with urgency, "Please, let it go."

Behind you, Jace had gripped Aegon's shoulder, giving a tight squeeze, before another friendly fist pound - making the Prince reply tightly, "To you as well."

"A moment," you called, making Aemond pause in his descent to his chair, and prayed you could cause reason to smile again, "because I'd like to toast my good and loving husband." He offered you a solemn smile, but cocked his head in confusion. "And... I'd like to take this moment, before our families, to share the good news..."

"Love," Aemond whispered in shock, Alicent perking up as Otto did. "You speak what I think you do?"

You nodded, glancing at the table, but telling Aemond, "I'm pregnant. We're going to have a baby, the Seven's heard us at last, my Prince."

There was a round of cheers and applause as Aemond breathed in relief and pulled you in, letting both his hands caress your cheeks as he kissed you tenderly. "Truly?" He muttered, making tears brim your waterline.

"Yes," you confirmed, feeling one of his hands drop to press against you gently swelling womb. "Just a bit over three months in."

He laughed and pulled you in for a proper hug, the table sending their congratulations to you both - and you foolishly thought you were successful in distracting Aemond enough. You took your seats again, him fully turned to keep his arms around you, as the family all muttered in good tidings.

But above them, you could hear Helaena mutter, "Beware the beast beneath the boards."

You didn't get to question it because you were leaning over to give Otto's hand a squeeze - thanking him for his good tidings. Your mother caught your eye after, giving you a bright and happy grin; silently toasting to you, making you return the motion and take a sip.

Thinking you had ended the toasts for the evening, imagine the surprise when Helaena, a usually quiet girl, stood from her seat as if it burned her. Aemond and you both paused to look up, listening as she spoke, "I would like to toast Baela and Rhaena. They'll be married soon. 'Tisn't so bad," she assured sincerely. "Mostly, he just ignores you..." Then, a thought came to her, "Except sometimes when he's drunk."

You honestly didn't mean to, but you laughed a little - eyes widening as you look at Aemond with your hand over your mouth. But he chuckled, too; and dare you say it, but you swore Otto let out a singular chuckle to his granddaughter's words. In fact, you knew he did, when Helaena found her seat again and he nodded at her, muttering, "Good."

"Let us have some music," Viserys spoke, and a moment later, the live musicians struck a tune. Curiosity burned in your gut when Jace stood from his seat, muttered to his fiancé, and then stepped around the table to approach Helaena with an offered hand.

"Jace," You warned your brother when he halted beside you; watching as Aegon could not tear his sights away from his wife as she accepted, and let the Prince lead her to a small clearing for a dance.

Aegon turned and shared a hardened look with his brother. Aemond let his chair push back some to give him a proper view of his surroundings, taking your hand, and encouraging you closer. You sighed with mild worry, muttering, "Won't you eat something, my love? Please?"

He hummed, tearing his gaze back to you. "No, sweet girl, you go on. Eating for two now, aren't you?"

You sighed lightly, "W-Was this alright?"

"What?"

"Telling you here?" You wondered, genuine fear flooding your chest.

Aemond sighed and leaned forward to crowd into you again, despite the head of the table posing with natural privacy. "My love... This is," he sighed lightly and took your hands in his, meeting your gaze, "The best news you could've given me - in any way. But in front of our families? That is special, indeed," he smirked some, leaning in to press a linger kiss to your forehead. "Worry not, sweet wife, for this is joyous news. I am just..."

"Uneasy?" You filled in with a frown. "I know this family likes to push buttons but please do not say or do anything - not with the King here, my love."

"I know," he assured softly, "I made you a promise, I will not break it."

You nodded in response, letting his lips meet yours for a slow kiss, his nose nuzzling against yours before he leaned back in his chair - nodding at your plate to silently encourage you to take another bite.

Some minutes passed and after laughing with Otto over something silly, you caught your husband's gaze again. You offered him a small look before leaning in, making him sit up and bow his head to hear your words, "You're staring again."

He chuckled, "Perhaps I am enjoying the view."

"Oh, of me eating, is it?"

"Of my beautiful wife, yes," he smirked, leaning back again, and leaving you to get sucked back into whatever was being spoken of now. You did not notice how the King gazed fondly at you all, taking note of his gathered family, until he was wincing and moaning in pain.

Slowing your chewing, you watched silently as Alicent called for the guards, and Viserys was then being pulled away, and carried away from the table. You stood with respect as he was dismissed, Aemond's hands smoothing over your waist to guide you back into your seat - a moment before he did the same.

Aemond sat at an angle, not eating, and leaving place at the table before him for the servants to raise and set a roasted pig before him. You eyed it wearily, knowing of the torment your brothers and Aegon put Aemond through for being dragonless in his youth, and tried not to think further of it. You reached to lay your hand on Aemond's knee in comfort, just placing your next bite to your mouth as Luke's snickering amusement enraged Aemond.

"Don't," you gasped after you swallowed when you noted the way his entire body turned to regard your younger brother; sighing in defeat when Aemond's fist rapidly pounded into the table's top as he climbed to his feet and swiftly picked up his goblet.

"Final tribute," Aemond proposed, ignoring the way you sighed and remained still in your seat. When the hall quieted and turned their attention to him, Aemond continued, "To the health of my nephews: Jace," he looked to the boy still-standing, "Luke," his sights turned to your brother that slashed his eye from its socket, "and Joffrey. Each of them handsome," your eyes met Alicent's, as if anticipating his words, "wise..." He paused, the tension brewing to a new height.

"Love, please," you whispered, watching him nod silently, and then finish,

"Strong."

"Aemond," his mother tried, but was ignored.

"Come!" Aemond barked as you slowly stood to your feet out of worry; his arm extending to wrap around you and settle you on his other side - as if to protect you. "With my sweet wife, let us drain our cups to these three..." Aegon rose his goblet with enthusiasm, ever the one to hide behind his brother's brute, words, and strength, "Strong boys."

"I dare you to say that again," Jace barked.

"Why?" Aemond instigated as his head snapped to look at your brother, you sharing a look of unease with Alicent. "'Twas only a compliment." He let go of you as Jace started forward, turning instantly to meet him. "Do you not think yourself Strong?"

Luke stood in anger as Aegon met him, Jace launching his fist into Aemond's jaw - making you wince slightly upon the impact, and making you call your brother's name in protest. You felt Otto raise to his feet and pull you back from the fray, as Aegon smashed Luke's head to the table. "THAT IS ENOUGH!" Alicent raged.

Seemingly unfazed by the fist to his face, Aemond smirked at Jace before pushing the younger boy back off his feet. He sprung up with a growl - making two guards lunge forward to restrain him - as your husband turned with a broad grin and his goblet, still in hand.

Jace and Luke were both restrained as you freed yourself from Otto's grasp to reach for your husband, who sat his goblet down in order to hold onto you. "What was that? Huh? You lost your mind finally?" You demanded in disappointment, hearing your brothers still growling and grunting with effort to free themselves.

Alicent descended upon you two, demanding in a lowered tone, "Why would you say such a thing before these people!?"

"I was merely expressing how proud I am of my family, Mother," Aemond rounded on her, one arm still tight around your waist. "Mm," he considered, raising his voice as he let go of you to turn, "though it seems my nephews aren't quite as proud of theirs."

Jace broke free and charged forward as Daemon barked, "Wait, wait!" With a silent finger held, he stalked between the two Princes; easing Jace backwards without uttering a word. When the boy was back by his brother and both of their betrothed, your mother was demanding of them, "Go to your quarters. All of you go, now."

Daemon turned and settled his sights on Aemond, making the hair on your neck stand on end with worry as you held your husband's hand tightly - as if it would keep him at bay. Your step-father came to a halt and sighed, still staring at Aemond, and you knew that just because your husband was unhinged, didn't mean you were, and Daemon genuinely made you nervous. He was undefeated and rumor of his win in the Stepstones was told to you directly by your father, who bore witness to the Rogue Prince taking the entire beach by himself.

Daemon was not someone you were eager to cross, but your husband loved a good challenge - and by the look in both man's eye, you knew they had met their matches.

Aemond sized Daemon up for a moment before your hand tightened in his, begging quietly, "Can we go, please?"

He hummed in response and tightened his hand in yours, leading you past your mother and step-father, but pausing when Rhaenyra spoke your name. Your mother reached for you, smiling, "Congratulations, my sweet girl. You'll make a beautiful mother."

"Thank you," you whispered to her, leaning in to kiss her cheek, and whisper, "I'm so sorry."

She winked at you in return, letting Aemond take your hand again and lead you onward into the torch-lined hallway. You sighed when you pushed from the room, leading in the other direction of the guest rooms, meaning, you did not have to worry about running into your brothers.

"You're angry," he mentioned in observation after a few moments.

"No," you answered quietly, leading up to your chamber door. "Just uneasy."

"Over me?"

"Over all of this," you admitted softly, entering first and hearing him follow. When the door closed, you continued, "It pains me to feel and see the divide in the family. And I walk both lines of it..."

"'S not easy," he agreed.

"No, it's not," you sighed, pulling your jewelry off. "And now isn't the time for petty games, my love. We've a child on the way, the time for grudges has passed - though I will not tell you to let this go." You turned to look at him in the firelight. "I know the pain caused, and I know what was taken from you..." He lowered his gaze, making you slowly approach him and reach for either hand. "But I need my husband with me, and not lost to some vendetta. We're having a baby, Aemond, and I'd like for them to know their uncles."

He sighed, nodding as he wrapped his arms up your waist. "Aye... I'd want that, too. But they can't call me brother, please, my love - "

You chuckled, "I will make sure they understand. We do not have to see them often, but the times we do, I'd like for some semblance of peace and normalcy."

He nodded with understanding, "Aye. For you, my love, I can do that."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah," He sighed.

"Then please - no more Strong comments," you begged quietly. "They're leaving soon, please, do not instigate this further. You do not have to see them again, but I'd like to see my siblings off."

He nodded, "Whatever you want, my sweet."

"Well, I want my brothers and husband to get along but that's not happening, is it?"

"Not likely," he teased. "But I will do my best to restrain myself."

"I only ask that you try," you agreed, pecking his lips. "Now, are you gonna run off anymore or do I have my husband for the night?"

He smirked, "You have me, my love. I am here with you."

"Good," you smirked, letting a hand snake along the back of his neck to pull him down; searing a heated kiss to his lips.

[ series masterlist ]

#aemond targaryen #prince aemond #aemond the kinslayer #aemond targaryen x reader #aemond targaryen x fem!reader #aemond targaryen imagine #aemond targaryen x oc #aemond targaryen x female reader #aemond one eye #aemond hotd #hotd #house of the dragon #hotd x reader #hotd imagine

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thankskenpenders · 10 months

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Sonic Prime: "Season 2"

Eight more episodes of Sonic Prime are out! They're labeled as "season 2" despite just being the next eight episodes of the first (and presumably only) season, allowing Netflix to market it as multiple seasons without having to give the cast and crew raises. They love doing that shit to their original cartoons. Ugh.

Anyway! Last time, I gave the show some leeway because it was still finding its legs. This time, though? We're now two thirds of the way through the series, and sadly, I think it's time to accept the truth:

While there are parts I like, a lot of this show... kinda sucks?

This multiverse sucks and Rouge was robbed

Previously, I noted the pattern of each universe spotlighting a different friend of Sonic's (Tails in New Yolk City, Amy in the jungle world, Knuckles in the pirate world) and predicted that, hopefully, Rouge would get her time to shine next. And with 16 episodes left, surely there's time to explore new worlds that are more interesting than the jungle and pirate worlds. Those were just the warm up act. Right?

...Right?

Nope! That's it! There are no more worlds.

This multiverse show where anything is possible really is just about another Eggman-controlled dystopia world, a jungle world, and a pirate world. That's all they came up with! Just those three, and two dead worlds that don't really count - one a featureless wasteland, the other a ghostly echo of the original Green Hill dubbed "Ghost Hill." (Sonic's friends appear here as holograms stuck repeating a single line each. It gets old immediately.)

The jungle and pirate worlds and their inhabitants being so overwhelmingly generic becomes unforgivable the moment you realize this is all we're gonna get. It just leaves me wishing they'd thrown this whole concept out and finally made a normal Sonic cartoon with no twist in its premise. A few of the new takes here are good, particularly Nine as a darker riff on Tails, but so many of them don't feel anything like the fun characters they're supposed to be. They're stock cartoon characters wearing the Sonic casts' skins.

I'll admit my bias is showing, but god, Rouge is REALLY done dirty by this setup. The normal Rouge we see in the first episode is so fun for how briefly she appears, but then in all the other worlds she's reduced to a generic action girl with zero personality. What's her purpose, exactly, when every AU version of Amy is ALSO a straightforward action girl? It drives me absolutely insane that they gave us a PIRATE ROUGE and she doesn't care about treasure. They do nothing with this! How!!!!!!!! She's just never gonna get her turn. It's so obvious that Rouge is only in this show so that they can have another girl, but you could swap her out with another character like Blaze and it'd make no difference.

Speaking of the pirates, though...

The way things play out in the pirate world is so stupid

Previously, with the Paradox Prism shard within reach, Captain Dread Knux was regressing into his old obsessive personality. I'm fine with this. Sonic and Dread both want the shard, they're gonna fight over it. Obvious stuff. But the actual impact it has on the story is maybe the stupidest bit of writing in this entire show so far.

Basically, while fighting a couple of the Eggmen and their robots at sea, Sonic has to briefly run over to the enemy ship to fight them and grab the Paradox Prism shard while Dread and his crew remain back on their ship. Dread goes "Oh my god, look! Sonic's abandoning us! Traitor!" While Sonic is... like 200 feet away. Still in clear view. Fighting the guys who are trying to kill them. Retrieving Dread's beloved treasure for him.

And yet, Dread's crew buys this! And when Sonic runs right back over with the shard in hand, they're all like "HOW DARE YOU BETRAY US" and turn on him.

It's just. What?!

This isn't a huge part of the "season," but I highlight it as maybe the worst moment of the show's character writing. I'm reminded of Thorn Rose's backstory from last time, where she was depicted as suddenly snapping one day when she saw her friends pick one too many berries in the jungle. Sometimes a character just needs to pivot for the story to work, and they aren't really interested in getting there smoothly.

The Chaos Council fucking sucks

I tried so hard to like these guys, but they drag the show down so much.

The choice to have a team of five different Eggmen really just means that Eggman has been split into five one-note characters. Four of them revolve entirely around the most trite, predictable, boomer-ass jokes based on their ages. The teenage one is whiny and just wants to play video games. The young adult one is a vegan hipster who does yoga. The old one is cranky about all the whippersnappers and has a bad back. The baby is a baby. These are jokes that would've been tired if this show aired 20 years ago.

The odd man out is Mister Doctor Eggman, the middle-aged one with a toupee who's the stand-in for regular Eggman. But even he kinda sucks. The other four all being one-note joke characters means that he has to be the straight man of the group, so he's just very dry and serious and plot-focused without any of Eggman's fun eccentricities. He's neither particularly funny nor particularly sinister, which is just about the worst place for an Eggman to be.

He doesn't even have any incompetent robot lackeys to bounce off of, because the unfunny alternate age Eggmen fill the quota for bumbling secondary villains. But also, like... Orbot and Cubot are in this show! They were in the first episode! Where are they? God, I never thought I'd miss them so much...

But, okay. It's not ALL bad.

The highlights

There's a recurring theme here, which is that the best episodes are the ones where Sonic is pitted against a foe who can match his speed and they just let the animation carry it.

The first of the new episodes is mostly about Sonic fighting Shadow, and BOY is their fight fun to watch. Said fight happens because Shadow blames Sonic for shattering the universe and doesn't trust him to fix things. Shadow wants to restore their world, but he refuses to see the various AU counterparts as the same people Sonic once knew, and he doesn't really care what happens to them. Ultimately, though, he begrudgingly accepts that Sonic really is the only one who can hop between dimensions for Plot Reasons, and therefore lets him go try to do things the nice way. He sadly spends most of his time waiting around in the void between worlds, but in the last episode of the batch he and Sonic get to team up against the Chaos Council's forces and it's very cool.

As far as recent interpretations of Shadow go, this is a good one. He's a great foil for Sonic, which just makes me wish he could travel with Sonic to the different worlds. He's cynical and overly pragmatic in his approach, but his points aren't entirely wrong. His anger feels justified. They even let him have some snark! And Ian Hanlin is really great in the role - definitely a contender for Shadow's best voice ever. He just sounds so natural.

The other speedster Sonic fights is Chaos Sonic, the Chaos Council's take on Metal.

He can talk! Deven is basically doing a Jaleel impersonation for him? People are very mixed on this.

The idea behind Chaos Sonic is to turn Sonic's obnoxious smack talk and zingers back around on him, and I don't hate this idea, even if a lot of fans find him annoying compared to Metal Sonic. (Some comparisons have been made to Archie's Shard, but I assume this is a coincidence.) Like the rest of the script, his dialogue certainly isn't anything to write home about, but the fights he gets into with Sonic and co. are so damn fun and dynamic that I have to like him. I also like how expressive his eyes are on his dome screen face, and the animators have a ton of fun with the fact that his torso and head can rotate 360 degrees.

Unfortunately, he's destroyed at the end of his debut episode. I'm praying he gets rebuilt, because this show desperately needs better villains than the Chaos Council.

Again, the animation in Prime is maybe the best animation in any official Sonic media, period. I just wished I liked the characters and worlds enough to be invested in more of the fights. It's hard to care about the dozenth group battle against the generic Eggforcer bots and the baby in his Fisher-Price mech.

The note we end on

After fighting a giant glowing replica of the normal Eggman for... some reason? Episode 16 ends with Sonic and Nine getting into an argument over what to do with the Paradox Prism shards. Sonic wants to restore his original world, but Nine still wants to create a new, better world out of the one that's just an empty wasteland, believing he doesn't belong anywhere else. Nine angrily runs off with the shards, and Sonic is distraught as he realizes that Shadow was seemingly right about how he shouldn't trust Nine.

I kind of like this conflict, mostly because Nine is the standout character of this show. But my main problem is that we don't know what will happen when everything is fixed.

The logical assumption is that the alternate worlds will just... stop existing, right? That must be the idea if Sonic and Nine are treating restoring the original world and creating a new one in the Shatterverse as mutually exclusive options, right? If the Shatterverse disappears, will Nine and the rest all stop existing, too? The show seems unwilling to discuss this possibility, so I'm left not really knowing what the stakes are in this conflict. Nine becomes a whole lot more sympathetic and Sonic becomes a whole lot more monstrous if restoring the world will erase most of this show's cast from existence, but the thought that this could even happen doesn't seem to have crossed Sonic's mind. Sonic seems to want to take his AU friends back to the regular Green Hill - he at least wants to introduce Nine to his normal friends - but like... he can't really do that, can he? They're not gonna have four Tailses running around.

I don't really know what direction this is all headed in. I guess we just have to keep watching, even if I'm past the point of accepting that this show is mostly very mid.

It's just frustrating that everyone else working on this show is clearly giving it their all while the writers at Man of Action phone it in for so much of its runtime. The scripts drag this show down so, so hard. There are moments and episodes I like, but you have to slog through so much mediocrity to get there.

#tkp post #other media

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antagonistic-sunsetgirl · 4 months

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Can we talk about how bizarre our experience with the new pjo series is

A tiny essay on how this series is special.

Like. We're all super hyped because we know this series intrinsically that we forget that we know this show intrinsically

How bizarre is that?? We don't merely get spoilers on our dashes from episodes we haven't watched yet, we know what will happen at the end, at the end of the next season, in eight years

It's hilarious! It's rediculous! It's like Neil Gaiman would start an open Google doc so we could all watch as he wrote the next Good Omens episode! Only EVEN MORE

"aw this scene will look so cute when they are a couple in college" when the show itself has not even HINTED AT A CRUSH

"damn too bad Luke's the bad guy" WE SAY 3 EPISODES ON

Think about it, people! This is a fandom experience with no ship wars! No headcannons we desperately hope don't collide with cannon! We know every. Single. Thing. That will happen.

And we still watch it.

I have a point with this. Remember how Marvel movies would be 👉this close👈 to murdering an actor over spoilers? There's a great post here somewhere on how that's because of the low quality of modern day superhero movies. It's supposed to be a quick hit, a rush of dopamine and special effects and one liners exploding into colour until you walk out of the cinema so dazed you only remember days later that the movie itself wasn't actually that good. These movies aren't built for rewatching, or becoming cult classics. It's fast food. Delicious for the moment, satisfying a certain itch, but not wholesome or precious.

And this. This beautiful series launched with the full knowledge that almost the ENTIRE FANBASE know exactly what was coming, every step. What are premier day spoilers against years of finished arcs.

And still, we watch. We love. We laugh and cry and post about it.

I guess what I'm trying to say is #hopepunk. They think we don't need beautiful, nurturing adaptations? That they've wrecked our mental health so bad we can't concentrate on smth unless the special effects are forcefully grabbing our attention? That older things get forgotten as quickly as Tick Tock trends? They were wrong. We love, and we care. Not everything bows to the rules of fast production capitalism. We aren't a predicted consumer statistic.

We love Percy Jackson.

#pjo tv show #pjo series #pjo fandom #percy jackson #percy jackon and the olympians #annabeth chase #grover underwood #film analysis #luke castellan #series analysis #percabeth #hopepunk #pjo spoilers #percy jackson series spoilers #percy jackson spoilers #pjo tv spoilers

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jaemmphilia · 11 months

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★ 𝘮𝘪𝘹𝘵𝘢𝘱𝘦: 𝘣𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘥𝘪𝘢𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘥𝘴 ★ || han j.s

★ summary: it's your first SKZ CODE episode with the boys as their newest member. jyp decided to add you to stray kids after he saw your audition. he felt that you were the thing that stray kids was missing, and he pushed you to debut immediately. things start out awkwardly, and you feel so left out. but as you eat fried clams with the boys,, they start to very slowly warm up to you. maybe it would have been a good idea to mention you are deathly afraid of pools and various bodies of water.

★ characters: bang chan, lee know, changbin, y/n (he/him pronouns and a masculine frame), hyunjin, han, felix, seungmin, i.n

★ warnings: based off of the most recent skz code episodes where they visit the mud flaps, it's gonna be a little awkward at first, skz ignore y/n (not on purpose, it's just a little new for them), reader is afraid of water and nearly drowns, changbin pushes reader into the water (pls don't hate me for that), he apologizes tho, han and felix being best boys, let me know if i forgot anything

★ word count: 3.8K (3,867)

★ binnie's thoughts: my ride or die gave me the genius idea to write a fic based off the most recent skz episodes, and i just had to deliver

★ disclaimer: this fic in absolutely NO way represents the stray kids members as people. this is just for fun, so don't take it to heart. just enjoy!

You feel the need to throw up your breakfast– and you would be totally okay with it. It would give you an excuse to not show up for filming. This wasn’t really how you expected your idol life to be. You thought you would be put into a group that was on its way to debuting. Not joining a group that already debuted and is at the top of its career.

Stray Kids proved themselves that they are still as successful with eight members rather than the original nine. After the situation with Woojin, Stray Kids went off like a rocket, pushing their way up the charts and blowing the competition out of the park. You admire that about them, and you wish to be part of a successful group just like that.

It seems that you really do get what you wish for.

JYP made sure you were ready to become a member of Stray Kids. You have your own SKZOO character, a cow mixed with a koala named Mookie– and he released some photos of you from a photoshoot. You already have a set position in the group, based on your audition video. You’re the ace, the all-rounder, the one to do it all. You can’t help but feel under pressure with that title. You’re expected to sing, rap, dance, and look exceptionally stunning all at the same time, and the thought of that alone gives you the shakes.

The eight males were really confused when Chan was called into a meeting with JYP himself. They thought their precious leader was in trouble for something. The remaining seven of them paced around their dorm, some of them biting their nails as they waited for Chan to get back. Felix started to tear up thinking they were going to disband. With a little consolation from his favorite hyung, Changbin, he was able to calm down enough to stop his tears.

When Chan returned to them, his expression was unclear to them. Sometimes they can predict what’s wrong just by the way Chan’s face is twisted up, but for the first time in a while, they were stumped.

Chan sat down with his hands propped up under his chin. His eyebrows were furrowed, his lips drawn in a straight line. Then he spoke up.

“JYP is adding someone to the group.”

You could hear a pin drop in the room. No one knew what to say. What could they say? Their entire world was just flipped upside down. They had spent years getting used to being a group of eight, now they have to let a complete stranger into their close-knit family?

Felix was the first to speak up, and everyone turned their attention to him. He gulped before speaking, “Do we know who it is? When are they joining?” the blonde haired male couldn’t stop the shakiness of his voice as he looked at Chan.

“Well, JYP told me that he’s been a trainee for a few years now. JYP said he doesn’t fit into any of his other groups, and he truly believes the guy fits our group the most.” Chan said with a deep sigh falling from his lips as he took a moment to let the news sink in.

“I don’t think this is a good idea. What if he turns out to be like…” A pause. “You-know-who?” Everyone could feel the air being sucked out of the room after Jeongin spoke.

It was something to consider. The entire situation with Woojin was nearly career-ending for them. The alleged actions of just one person nearly ruined everything for them.

“No. JYP wouldn’t do that to us. I won’t allow anyone to hurt us like he did. Not again.” Chan says, looking at each and every one of his brothers. They could tell he was serious, his brows were furrowed and there wasn’t a single hint of amusement on his face.

The boys all shared a group hug, and for a second, the impending anxiety of adding someone to their family was gone.

Of course, it would only last for a short time.

Which brings us to the present. You are riding in a van separate from the other members, on your way to the first filming location. You had filmed a little introduction video before you got onto the bus, and you were told it would play before the actual SKZ CODE video started. You had tried to not appear nervous, your hand gripping your jeans tightly out of the camera's view. You put on a gentle smile as you introduced yourself, hoping to make a good enough impression.

You settle down in the van, holding Mookie in your arms as you buckle in. You hope they’ll accept you, because you have worked your ass off to debut. You may not be debuting how you had hoped to, but at this point you shall settle with whatever is given to you.

You place your headphones on your head, leaning your head on the window as you play songs from the playlist you use when you sleep. You look out the window at the foggy sky and you realize the weather describes your mental state perfectly at this very moment. Dark. Quiet. Foggy and hard to see through. You sigh once again as the van starts moving. Hopefully this goes smoothly.

The Stray Kids boys are talking to each other while the cameras are off, and your name finds its way into the conversation once again. The air shifts awkwardly, the eight of them still in disbelief that a total stranger is being added to their group.

They are looking at your headshots on Hyunjin’s phone, each and every one of them are impressed by your good looks. The expression on your face is intimidating, the lights casting shadows that dance along your smooth skin. They take in every single feature–your soft freckles that litter your cheeks and forehead, the little beauty mark on the tip of your nose, and the other beauty mark on your bottom lip. They can’t deny the fact that you are really attractive, you don’t look like the typical idol.

Felix wonders if you two will bond over the fact that you both have freckles, or the fact that you’re both from different countries. Do you struggle with Korean like he does, or are you fluent like Chan? Do you have a preference for English or Korean? He wonders where you’re from, what was it like growing up for you? He feels a little bit of excitement bubbling in his chest at the idea of meeting someone who is similar to him. JYP told them a bit about you, and they were surprised to find out that you were from The United States.

“He’s really attractive, I can’t deny it,” Lee Know speaks up from his spot, and he earns a series of agreements from everyone else. “And he looks like a sweet guy, I think we’re overthinking this entire situation.”

Chan hums, his expression still unreadable. He’s still on the fence about this, and he knows that he doesn’t really have a say in the situation. He wishes he did, because he would reject you immediately. He truly believes that Stray Kids are just fine as eight, not nine. And your position is the ace? Last time he checked, Han was their ace. They don’t need another one, Han does an amazing job as the ace of Stray Kids. Chan just hopes that Stay will be accepting.

The boys arrive before you do. They excitedly make their way to the mud flaps, each of them joking around with each other as the cameras roll. They laugh as Changbin chases Hyunjin, spouting something about romance. A few of them get closer to the mud flaps, while the others stick behind, watching fondly. They hear the door of a vehicle shut and they all whip their heads to look behind them.

You start walking towards the eight males, Mookie is your clutches as you feel yourself start to sweat. You’re so nervous that you’re sweating while it’s cold outside. Your red-dyed hair is sticking up on one side–from laying your head on the van window–and your gray cardigan is slipping off your wide shoulders. You feel the cameras on you as you walk closer to your new bandmates.

Once you deem yourself close enough for them all to hear you, you bow towards them. “Hello. My name is Lim Y/N, it’s nice to properly meet you all,” you say as you try to keep your voice from sounding so shaky. Your hands are clammy and wet with sweat. “I hope we can all get along, thank you again.” You stand up straight and take in their expressions.

Chan motions for everyone to get in line to do their group introduction. They all bow to you and introduce themselves one by one. You smile softly at them despite the awkwardness that sits heavily in the air.

“So, uhm, should we go eat fried clams, now?” Changbin says, breaking the silence and awkward eye shifting. Chan agrees and they all retreat to their van, leaving you behind.

You try to not let it get to you as you walk to your van. You squeeze Mookie’s plushy body as you take a few deep breaths.

Once you all arrive at the restaurant, you sit at the table with Chan, Felix, Lee Know, and Han. You wait for them to get whatever food they want before you start grabbing some for yourself. When you take that first bite, you light up at how tasty it is.

You’re no stranger to Korean cuisine, you did end up living with your grandma from the age of fourteen to your current age of twenty-three. When you were younger, you had no knowledge of your Korean heritage. Of course you knew your father was Korean and was born in South Korea, but ultimately you knew little to nothing about what it meant to be half-Korean. So, after some long conversations with your mother and father, they convinced you to move in with your grandma in Daejoon, South Korea. You were super excited, bright-eyed and itching for a change. At first it was a little difficult to adjust. You barely knew the language– you only knew a few phrases that helped you get around, but that was it. You are grateful that you have the ability to retain information quickly, and it’s all thanks to your mother. She’s a successful professor at a high-end college where she teaches psychology in Georgia.

“Wah, I’ve never had fried clams before. At least not any like this,” You say a little quietly, not wanting to draw any attention to yourself. Too bad everyone heard you.

Felix pipes up after he finishes chewing his food. “You haven’t? Did you just move to Korea or have you been here for a while?” He asks and you notice how genuine he sounds. Like he’s interested in knowing more about you. It makes your heart beat fast in a good way.

“I was born in Georgia, in the US. But I moved to Daejoon when I turned fourteen, and I’ve been here ever since.” You told him, noticing that the others were also tuning in to what you’re saying. You earn a few hums of acknowledgement as everyone continues eating.

“That’s pretty cool, looks like we have something in common.” Felix says, flashing you his sweet smile that makes you want to smile back. “You probably already know this, but I was born in another country. So was Chan hyung.”

You hum and nod as you chew your food, covering your mouth before you speak. “Yeah, I know quite a bit about you guys. You’re pretty famous all over.” You say with a soft laugh as you shake your head to move your fringe out of your eyes.

Han finds himself staring at you while you talk. He likes the way your voice sounds when you speak, you have this smooth voice that feels like the softest silk on freshly lotioned skin. To Han, you look way better in person than in the pictures. Your skin is littered in light freckles, and the beauty marks on your face are so much more noticeable. He wonders what you sound like when you speak English. Is your voice more high pitched, low pitched, or is it the same? He feels an elbow jab his side and he fights the urge to screech like a crow. Damn Chan and his super parent senses.

The nine of you all finish eating and you’re cracking up at Felix and Jeongin when they go to feed the seagulls. You take videos of Seungmin trying to fight the birds, protecting Felix and Jeongin. You also take a few pictures of yourself near the mud flaps, and Felix ends up taking a few with you. You can tell he will become close to you pretty fast.

You all arrive at the house you’ll be staying at for two days and you’re all amazed by it. You all walk around and then you discover the basement. It’s unlike anything you’ve seen before– a karaoke machine, a nice pool table, and some arcade games. You watch as everyone rushes to play and sing. You don’t really see where you fit in, so you sit down and watch. You watch as they joke around and laugh. You listen to the inside jokes they have between each other. It makes your heart feel heavy knowing that you’ll possibly never be on the same level as them. They’ve been through so many ups and downs as a group, you will never understand what that’s like.

You try to distract yourself with your phone, hoping that will prevent you from spiraling and crying in front of them. That would be pretty embarrassing on your part. You would hate to seem like someone who gets upset when he isn’t included, so you feel that a distraction is the best option.

Felix is playing ping pong with Seungmin, and Seungmin notices that Felix keeps looking back at you. He’s starting to get a little annoyed that Felix isn’t paying attention to their very important game, so he huffs.

“Hyung, pay attention! I’m so close to winning!” Seungmin whines, catching Felix’s attention. Felix apologizes and their game continues. One again, Felix misses the small white ball heading towards his side of the table. Seungmin knows it’s a point for him, but Felix didn’t even try to hit it.

Seungmin lets out an annoyed groan and he looks to see where Felix is so focused on. It’s you. Seungmin takes a good look at you and he notices the look on your face. Longing.

Hyung, invite him to play with you. We can continue our game later, I wanna go check out the rooms.” Seungmin says and Felix whips his head towards him.

“Are you sure, Min? You don’t mind?” Felix asks, feeling bad for getting so distracted that he’s ruining the good time Seungmin is having.

Seungmin nods and sets his paddle down. “Yeah. Just be prepared for me to kick your ass later.” Seungmin makes sure the cameras don’t pick up his vulgar language before he walks upstairs to check out the rooms.

Felix walks over to you, narrowly dodging Lee Know’s elbow that was so close to knocking him upside his head. Lee Know tends to get a little intense when he gets in the groove.

“Hey, Y/N hyung, do you wanna play some ping pong with me? Seungmin ditched me because he was losing so badly.” Felix says with a laugh.

You look up when you hear someone talking to you in English. It honestly caught you off guard. It’s been a while since you’ve spoken English, you hope you still remember how to speak it (you’re a little dramatic, you get it from your dad–).

“You– you want me to play with you?” You try not to sound too shocked, but you deem it to be a little too late for that.

“Yeah, are you a sore loser like Seungmin, or are you a good sport when you lose?” Felix asks and you tut at him with a smirk.

“Who said I was going to lose?” You retort back with your eyebrow cocked at him. Felix just laughs at you.

“I’ll have you know I’m the best ping pong player out of all the guys.” Felix says, his hands on his hips in a victory pose.

You stand up and start walking towards the ping pong table. “We’ll see about that, now won’t we?” you respond and pick up the paddle that Seungmin was once holding. You hunker down a bit, your eyes not leaving Felix’s form for a second. Poor Mookie sits abandoned on the seat near the karaoke machine.

After everyone plays around for a bit, Seungmin comes downstairs whining about how he wants to swim. You freeze at the mentions of swimming, and your eyes shift around nervously. Everyone starts going to change, and you hesitate. Lee Know notices your hesitance, and he tilts his head at you.

“Are you not coming? We’re gonna play some pool games. It’ll be fun.” He says, and you nod before you could stop yourself.

“Yeah! I’m coming, don’t worry, hyung.” You smile at him as you follow behind him upstairs. You bite your fingernails anxiously at the idea of getting in the water. It sucks that one bad experience can completely ruin something for you.

You get changed and you meet the others outside where the pool is. You stare at the deep blue water, your heart racing. You know you shouldn’t be standing so close to the edge, you could easily slip and fall in. You don’t want to drown on camera, much less in front of your groupmates. You feel a pair of hands on your back as they shove you forward, your arms and legs flailing as you fall into the water.

The water isn’t deep, but that doesn’t matter to you. You thrash in the water, trying to get your head above the water. You panic, inhaling a large amount of water. You can’t breathe, your arms and legs are starting to hurt, and you just want out of the damn water. As you keep thrashing, you feel your body being pulled up and out of the water.

Chan heaves you into a pool chair, his hands patting your back to help you spit out the water you inhaled. You cough as water spills from your mouth. Your chest and throat burns. You can feel your entire body shaking with fear. You start wheezing as you hug your knees, wanting the ground to open up and swallow you. You feel so embarrassed, you can’t do anything but cry. You hear someone telling the staff to turn off the cameras, and you feel a warm towel being placed on your tense shoulders.

“Let me take him upstairs to get changed. I think it’s best if he doesn’t play volleyball with us.” Han says, his hand placed on your shoulder as he rubs comforting circles. Chan simply nods and tells the staff to resume filming when Han gets back from helping you get calmed down and dried off.

Felix rushes over with something in his hand. Mookie. You look up at the blonde male, thanking him with your eyes. You take Mookie from him, following Han into the house. He guides you upstairs and sits you on the bed.

“Can I look through your suitcase to get you some clean clothes?” He asks and you simply nod at him, sniffling. You watch as he opens your suitcase, rummaging through it. He pulls some clothes out and he guides you to the bathroom to change.

You get changed and you shuffle out of the bathroom, a sad pout on your face. Han can’t help but think about how adorable you look. You might be older and taller than him, but you just look so soft. He feels his heart pick up pace as he stares. He should probably get back to the others to resume filming, but his feet won’t move.

“Han, you should probably go back..” You say, your voice trailing off as you catch him staring at you. You feel shy under his gaze, no one’s ever looked at you like he’s looking at you right now. His eyes hold all emotions of attraction, the pools of deep brown staring into your own E/C eyes. You feel your ears get warm as you fight the goofy smile trying to make its way onto your face.

“Right– sorry, uh.” He stutters, his neck turning a nice shade of deep red. He shakes his head, his ashy gray hair moving with his head. “Just– just let me know if you need anything, yeah? That must’ve been scary for you.”

You nod, your voice raspy from coughing so much. “Yeah.. I don’t really like pools or large bodies of water, something happened when I was younger.” you explain softly, avoiding his concerned gaze.

“I get it. I’m not the best swimmer, so I kind of see where you’re coming from.” Han says, trying to give some comfort, his hand coming up to rest on your shoulder.

You simply give him a little smile, letting him know that you appreciate his comfort. You place your hand on top of his and you get an idea.

“How about I play referee and scorekeeper for the volleyball game? I’ll keep my distance from the water and I won’t be missing out,” you offer, and Han nods with a smile.

“I think that’s a pretty smart idea, hyung,” he says, but he gives you a stern look. “Are you completely sure, though? Because you don’t have to if you don’t want to.”

You hum and nod at him. He nods in response and the two of you walk back to the pool.

Once you get outside, you’re being crushed by a pair of muscular arms. A string of apologies fall from Changbin’s mouth as he squeezes the life out of you. You can’t help but laugh at the shorter male.

“Hyung, I’m okay. You didn’t know that I’m afraid of water. I should apologize to you because I didn’t tell you beforehand.” You say, hoping to make the rapper feel better and less guilty.

Changbin looks up at you, pouting. He lets you go and apologizes one more time. You wave him off and you pull up a pool chair near the middle of the edge of the pool.

“Are you guys ready to play some volleyball?” You ask, earning a round of cheers from the males. You watch as they all hop into the water on their respective sides. You toss the ball into the water and whistle sharply, indicating the beginning of the game. You watch as they play, the cameras filming every second.

You had your doubts about joining this group, but you think this could work out nicely. Let’s just hope it remains that way.

#binnies req #kpop x male reader #stray kids x male reader #kpop x reader #male reader #stray kids x reader #han jisung x reader #han jisung x y/n

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homunculus-argument · 1 year

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Time to explain a random finnish meme: Nää tyypit elää tällä tavalla joka päivä

The original sentence came from a reality TV show Kill Arman, by the iranian-finnish tailor/show host/tv personality Arman Alizad. The idea of the show was that he travelled around the world to see different cultures and get the shit beaten out of him. To be more specific, each episode introduced a different traditional form of matrial arts, and having Alizad train in it. At the end of the episode, he would face a master of that fighting style, predictably getting his ass handed to him. It aired in 2009 and while I don't recall ever seeing a full episode, Alizad's humour and personality was absolutely the backbone of the show.

There was one episode - I think the location was somewhere in India - where the local peoples' poverty was simply so baffling and awful that Alizad took a moment to get serious, looked at the camera, pointing to the muddy slum street behind himself, saying "think about it, these people actually live here, like this, every day", with the air of being astonished and disgusted that there really are people who have no other choice, and to remind the finnish audience back at home just how good they have it. Alizad himself had fled from Tehran with his family during the Islamic revolution when he was only eight years old.

Explaining why this is funny is kind of difficult, since while there's nothing laughable about what he said, the way he worded it was unusual. Speaking fluent finnish with only a faint accent, he also picked up the distinct dialect of the southern area of Finland where his family settled (finnish dialects are so regional that you can sometimes tell what city someone is from, with 10 km accuracy, just by what word they use when they say "you"), and the contrast between saying something that serious and heavy in the extremely informal way he said it was funny.

It became a meme, where people would photoshop the image of Alizad pointing at something on behind himself and put it on front of something else, captioned with the citation (either as it was, or altered in some way to fit the image). The new background - a school, a bar, an unemployment office, a psychiatric ward, or the city of Kouvola - and the people in it were therefore implied to be living in such astonishing and sickening squalor that Alizad would need to remind you, the viewer of the meme, that these are real people who actually live like this every day. That there are actual human beings unironically living in Kouvola.

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baffledapple · 3 months

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I'd like to state my predictions for the season 1 ending

obviously episode 7 is gonna be about gathering their resources - convincing the other overlords to assist in the fight against the extermination (vaggi subplot perhaps?) episode eight is of course going to focus on the fight, and hell is going to win. or at the very least succeed in driving the exterminators off, this is the only thing that makes sense in the narrative but AFTER the battle (or perhaps during) the REAL conflict is going to just be building up. Adam (or Sera?) CANNOT admit that they are wrong (angles don't make mistakes) so they have to double down. And word has gotten out about the extermination to the average angel right?

So Adam needs PROOF that the extermination is not only necessary but ALSO righteous.

And for the first time EVER - demons are going to be fighting back against the exterminators. This isn't going to be the one-sided slaughter. this is going to be a battle, and demons that have been living in fear of exterminators are not going to be gentle or taking non-lethal shots. They are going to tear angels apart with extreme gusto!

And Adam is going to use that against them. He can show what's happening in hell LIVE. (or recorded via his little spaceship?) And it will be so easy to sway heaven to his way of thinking! Look at all those sinners, tearing a part our people, our siblings in the heavenly host? Look at how they kill our holy soldiers painfully, drawing it out! Dismembering them alive! Look at their faces, the sinners ENJOY it. We couldn't let them go unpunished, this is an attack on heaven! And we have to make sure it NEVER happens again.

Hell may win this battle, but heaven is going to go to war.

#hazbin hotel #hh #theory #or more of a prediction i guess lol #all the angels will be filled with such righteous fury they'll forget to ask why angels were in hell to begin with #and what is the word of emily- an angel that met a demon ONCE to adam who has been heroically saving heaven all these centuries?#some other things that i would like to see:#pentious is cool for 2 seconds and then trips/gets stabbed #alastor eats an exterminator and finds out that it gives him indigestion #CHARLIE GOES HAM AND WE SEE OUR GIRL GO FULL DEMON IN A PROTECTIVE RAGE #i would also like to see alastor get bitch slapped i think it would be good for him #i wanna see the Vees fight like val has guns but what can velvette and vox do i wanna see it #mother i crave violence #hazbin hotel spoilers

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respectthepetty · 7 months

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hi!! i can’t stop thinking about your wild-ass theory about saifah and how it feels like you’ve predicted the whole dang plot!

im thinking next episode is gonna be mostly happy and fluffy with a bit of angst about kang and his dad (otherwise you’d think they would’ve had the saifah getting arrested clip in the trailer for the episode). but then I reckon episode 9 is where shit’s gonna go DOWN (although it might also be episode 10, but it feels like there’s several subplots that’re gonna happen and they’re gonna need as many episodes as possible to unpack them while still having a satisfying ending)

anyway this isn’t really saying anything, I just wanted to tell you how much I LOVE your theories and reading your posts, and I also love dangerous romance this series is so good, it very very quickly became my entire personality and I can’t stop rewatching it hehe

BUT YEAH, I LOVE YOU HAVE A GREAT DAY YOURE AWESOME FJEKEIFJEJEJFIEJE

Wild Ass Theory Update

@quodekash, because this is you giving me a compliment and me blushing from it, I'm giving you everything that has been stuck in my head over the past couple of weeks.

TLWR: Episode 8/9 - Kanghan is going to throw a tantrum about his dad paying for him to get on the team, spend all his dad's money on Sailom on a trip, and sleep with him, only to return home and see that his dad has been shot and Saifah had something to do with it causing him to question everything about Sailom.

Thank you very much for saying that you love my theories, and that I'm awesome, but I appreciate even more that you LOVE Dangerous Romance.

Because I, too, love it. An unreasonable amount, in fact. It makes me so happy even though I know some pain is headed our way.

And much like you, I think that pain is coming in episode 9. Now that Saifah is in Kang's house, we might see some warning signs in episode 8 in the shape of this beautiful giant red flag.

I feel more than confident that Papang is capable of stealing, but I don't think he has it in him to rob an employer's home or shoot someone, which is also a part of my theory (let the dad get shot, please!), so Name has to be involved!

But that's partly why I love this show. It has done a good job giving us crumbs along the way about what is to come, which is why I don't feel like it's a wild ass theory because I think Saifah does feel some type of way about Name enough to help him with a dumb plan.

Because even Kang's dad paying for Kang to get on the soccer team was implanted into the story well.

Since we knew from the first episode that he regularly donates money to the school for students, so it wouldn't seem out of the norm for some of that money to benefit his child as well.

Even Pimfah's crush on Sailom seemed written in stone to me from the first episode when the dog discussion came up since she stood firmly on the "show the dog love" side then continued to show Sailom love while Kang is in the "punish the dog" boat.

So, once again, I think the show has done a great job telling us Saifah is going to be involved in robbing that house, even if it's as simple as letting the actual robbers in. But robbing the house doesn't seem enough to split the couple up, which is why I think someone has to get shot.

DON'T LET IT BE THE GRANDMA! It must be the dad.

The grandma has to be the one to convince Kang to trust himself and his love for Sailom, so he can believe Sailom had nothing to do with this plot, and that Saifah didn't intend for anyone to get hurt.

The dad has to be shot because there is still tension between him and Kanghan, AND wouldn't it be interesting if the robbery (and shooting) were less about "eat the rich" and more of the political backstabbing variation?

So with all that being written, I think the robbery will happen either at the end of episode eight or the beginning of episode nine IF Kanghan finds out early in the episode that his dad paid for him to get on the team since Pimfah is going to drop this line in eight.

Would really suck for Kanghan to be focused and on the right path only for his last parent to get shot, and him be lost all over again, no? Would be awful for Kang to find out his dad paid his way onto the team, be pissed off about it, throw a tantrum, and use up all his money on a trip with Sailom where he tells him how much he loves him . . .

Spend the night with Sailom (possibly their first time together) telling him how much he appreciates Sailom for believing in him like the best version of a BL honeymoon

Only to return home and see his dad has been shot and think Sailom had something to do with it since Saifah is being arrested.

Kanghan will push Sailom away from guilt of being upset at his father who is now in the hospital and confusion of his feelings for Sailom, which means Sailom is going to have to start escorting again to make ends meet because Name is NOT in jail and still in charge of debts (10?)

Then Kanghan is going to assault Sailom. (10?)

The grandma is gonna be like "IDIOT!" and Kanghan is going to rescue Sailom (11?)

And Sailom is going to cry about having no one left, and Kanghan is going to be like "you still have me" (11?)

And then we get episode 12 where the real baddies go to jail.

*curtain closes*

The crumbs have been laid, and I'm following them all the way to grandma's house. Name x Saifah, don't just be my ghost ship.

Be the ship to cause some shit!

#dangerous romance #wild theory time #sailom x kanghan #we gotta have a honeymoon first #then the pain #it's coming #name x saifah

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woodsfae · 24 days

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Babylon 5 S03E16 War Without End: Part One previous episode - table of contents

From the preview image that Tubi chose for the episode I see that Sinclair's back?? My old friend!! As well as our first glimpse at Minbar outside the Grey Council chambers, I believe! It's beautiful: very sculpted in a sort of sci-fi Rivendell way which fits the Minbari's space elf vibe.

Entil'Zha is being presented with a sacred box, which has waited for over 900 years..in which there is a letter for Jeffrey David Sinclair! Dun dun dun. Prophecy is real, Babylon 5 is a high fantasy as much as it is sci-fi.

Another prophecy, this one of the sci-fi variety: Babylon 5 gets a transmission of Ivanova calling for help, saying "they're killing us."

This show gives me so many fanfic ideas and I haven't looked to see if anyone else has done them yet, because I'm avoiding spoilers. So I really don't go looking for info on B5 or interact with fandom works much. But this episode reminds me that I keep toying with the idea of an AU where Sinclair never leaves at the end of s01 and the whole plot plays out with him. I miss him, he got into my heart so fast and I had no inkling he was leaving the show till well after I was attached.

It's nice to see Sinclair has had Minbari friends in his time running/recruiting/training the Rangers from Minbar.

Partner just asked me what my predictions were for Sinclair and then when I went on a ramble just stared at me and told me to write it down. So here: my prediction of Sinclair's fate. In a separate post, because it's a bit too much of a tangent.

I've paused for long enough for only being six minutes into, so we're going to move on now, but if you wanna hear meta thoughts on what I think might happen with other characters end games, I could ramble about it.

Ivanova: this recording is fake. my analysis is based on logic: I didn't do it, ergo it is fake. Garibaldi, living for some sci-fi shenanigans: what if it's time travel.

They have Garibaldi positioned poorly before a dark path in the backdrop and it looks like he has one, huge pouf of hair sticking out one side of his head, lol.

Sinclair's back on Babylon 5! Zack Allen is in plainclothes, so perhaps all staff have the option? Or Zack wasn't invited to their special senior staff matching uniforms?

Delenn being a drama queen. It's one of the qualities they hire for on the Grey Council.

Lennier: "It must be done or the dream will die, and countless others will die."

o m in o u s

Eight days since the last Vorlon attack, per Marcus.

Sinclair looks so good in Sci-Fi Rivendell clothes. Eeeek, I missed him, I love it.

Oh it's Zak? Zap? Zathras? Yes! Zathras! Wow, I wasn't sre he'd be back, let alone that he'd be in shenanigans with DraalPlanet, OR that DraalPlanet would be doing something with time travel!

And Sheridan! Is also wearing Minbari fashion! Some very snazzy robes over his uniform.

Ivanova's message from the future is so grim. The captain is dead. "They" are coming in all over the place. External cams: Shadows. The Shadows have weapons lock. Explosions. Seems pretty straightforward and I bet it'll play out exactly like that with no twists. :P /hah

As Sheridan is doubtlessly about to find out, it's always going to be a normal evening when you are asked to swear you trust someone with your life before events can commence.

Delenn has a powerpoint presentation about the Shadows. And a battle where the shadows were driven from their home, Zha'Dum. But the Minbari were losing at the time. Until Babylon 4 appeared! Delenn says without Babylon 4, they would have lost the war.

Even while Babylon 4 was in construction, the Shadows attacked to destroy it. And the White Star was there! Delenn says they must go through the temporal rift that Draal is widening, protect B4, steal B4, and send B4 around in time. End Presentation! Everyone agrees with her flawless logic. And because she brought receipts in the form of video archival footage from DraalPlanet's surveillance system: Epsilon 3.

That I didn't see coming, either. But like Garibaldi, I am so on board for the sci-fi hijinks.

Oh, Delenn's plan goes farther! She and Sheridan will take B4 on the entire time travel trip and personally fight in the historical fight against the Shadows. Ten thousand years ago, right??? Damn, Sheridan and Delenn are going to stride through time and strike titanic, decisive blows in a war that felled entire species of sci-fi space gods!! That's so fucking epic.

Ivanova is floating the idea that she was calling for help from an alternate timeline. But Garibaldi thinks it's the timeline they're planning now, where they take B4.

I'm sure that SInclair's quippy references to Sheridan are super funny, but sadly I do not get the references.

Zathras is here again. I...don't get Zathras. He's ehh funny. But extremely plot useful! Sinclair is meeting Zathras for the second time, but for Zathras it's the first time. But Zathras is well-informed, because he's very super honored to meet Sinclair and Sheridan, but also that's on the list of things Draal told him not to mention.

Ahh, this Sinclair has already lived through the destruction of Babylon 5! He's already experiencing the world nonlinearly and is trying to do differently on this loop - damn! Or he's having visions from an alternate timeline but at some point you gotta agreee those are almost the sme thing, structurally, experientially, and thematically.

Time travel requires the use of devices that act as anchors. Zathras is handing them out and they're all being clipped visibly on a belt or sash, thus guaranteeing that someone will lose theirs. Sinclair?

Aww, Sinclair sees Delenn and Sheridan holding hands and smiled. That makes me wistful for the Sinclair/Delenn endgame that exists in my personal, unwritten AU.

Garibaldi is due an arc of making good, upstanding decisions and not doing police brutality so it hits extra hard when he blows up with Babylon 5. Or he makes it two more seasons, idk. I wouldn't mind if they lost a few characters and he was one of them.

Especially not if we could swap him for Talia back. I can't decide if I think she (or her personality that got overwritten) will be back or not.

The White Star has been ugraded with Vorlon skin, so it deflects attacks better, which Sheridan affects to be unimpressed by.

Garibaldi guesses "Hello, old friend," as the password which Sinclair used to lock a goodbye/sorry video Sinclair left for him. Which makes me softer for Garibaldi. That's what I think of when I think of Sinclair, too!

Oooo, Sheridan's time stabilizer got hit and now he's unstuck in time. Space is big. Hope he lands on something with an atmosphere. Delenn can pick him up later, I'm sure.

Sheridan always automatically turns to Delenn for backup, but Sinclair automatically turns to Ivanova, and I love that.

Sheridan just time traveled to the future where Londo is the Emperor of Centaur! And it's "just in time to die."

Are they currently losing a war in the future? Perhaps Centaur is now a holdout in the war for existence against the Shadows in an alternate future and Sheridan will be meant to save the future as well as the past?

So funny how taken aback Delenn is that Sinclair speaks Minbari now. He lived there! Marcus, who was being trained as a Ranger there learned Minbari as what he implied was a necessity. But Delenn is so surprised. Their heart to heart is so sweet. *shipping intensifies*

Back to the future! Sheridan and Londo seems like he's blaming other people for his own support of the Shadows' agenda coming back to bite Londo and Centaur in the ass. "Ohhh if only you'd joined me in collaborating I wouldn't have had to face any consequences!" He'll get everything he ever thought he wanted and learned that being Emperor lost him everything he'd ever cared loved.

That's a pretty good hook and a cliffhanger. And a ton of interesting information was revealed! It's too late for Part Two tonight but I pinky-promise I will watch it tomorrow. I wrote up some predictions after I did a Sinclair one and an other-characters one before I watched...

War Without End: Part Two

#babylon 5 #woodsfae b5 #jeffrey sinclair #john sheridan #delenn #susan ivanova #michael garibaldi #londo mollari #zack allen

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shoepolishpolice · 1 year

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SIX OF CROWS SPIN-OFF PREDICTIONS

Part 1

I have thought this through and you know what..I think we can all get what we want. I’m going to breakdown how they can work with the storyline they’ve made and give justice to the crows.

(This is my jumbled non stop thoughts btw I’m not referring to the books really so I expect I’ll miss a few things)

To start here’s some basics:

• We won’t be seeing Per Haskell again, the Dregs and Crow club belong to Kaz and in the new season I expect we will see a much younger crew including Kesh and Anika compared to the random old dudes Kaz beat up in s2. Also the Crow and the Cup tattoos.

• There will be a much bigger focus on family and particularly parents - every single crow has major shit w parents. I think something that is never given much thought even in the books is how young children are taken from the family’s to train as grisha and they don’t return- this happened to nina and it really wasn’t discussed much and should be.

• The eight episodes have actually already been written and we know there is an Inej centric episode and a Wylan one too. I expect Inej’s episode will be a standout as we’ve seen pretty much nothing about her past- definitely the hardest to watch but one that very much deserves telling and Amita is an incredible actress and I completely trust her w Inej

• We’ve already had an article saying sab3 is king of scars based plus the new Alina and mal!sturmhond story but the soc story would happen simultaneously. There’s a chance the last scene we see is s2 actually happens after the crows have already been to the ice court and they call for Nikolai around this time- meaning it can be dealt w before having Alina exposed to Parem which I don’t care for and they said they waited for the story as they didn’t want the darkling to use it

• also people seem to think inej is not coming back- obviously she is. Pretty sure they r sending her away to get a taste of what she could do and will return w a sense of purpose and revenge - I’ll explain why later. Also the writers have said she only goes for a few weeks so it’s cool

• we will see a lot of flashbacks for each crow- we’ve seen about two mins worth of Kaz’s and I want them to explore his rise through the barrel as a kid and show his life in lij to prove truly how cruel the world was to him. Obviously Wylan’s past is a major focus of this story but I expect we will get that in a Crooked Kingdom based series two which is also thr first time we got a wylan pov chapter. Hopefully we will get to see more of Jespers childhood but again probably a bigger focus for later when colm arrives. As for Matthias I hope we see how he was raised in a militant, angry cultish way after the death of his family. I don’t expect we will get much on nina but I hope we do as i always felt we missed out slightly on the effects of her past. And ofcourse Inej who I hope they take the most care with in their retelling.

Now getting the plot back on track is actual quite simple and people r freaking out for no reason.. so here it is

I expect the show will start w Kaz agreeing to Van Ecks offer w all that came along in his first book chapter and a longer version of the crows last scenes w just saw in s2

Next inej will return - kaz will call for her but I think what will also bring her back is the return of Tante Heleen. We didn’t see a body and we know pekka ‘killed’ her to frame kaz so who’s to say he bothered killing her and just paid her off but now serves as his way out of hellgate

With Tante Heleen alive, pekka is no longer guilty of murder and will be released from Hellgate. This is potentially how pekka and Van Eck connect- pekka will want retribution for wrongly being imprisoned and will receive a lot of money from the merchant council as compensation

This will set off kaz and inej and THIS will now be the CK ending where we get full closure with their pasts. The books kept Heleen and pekka alive so I think the show will see it through to the end. People felt we got Kaz’s revenge too soon so I expect them to find an even bigger, badder and more horrific way to fuck them over

The kanej reunion upon Inej’s return from sea is going to set the tone. Either kaz has begun to make progress in her absence or he’s closed himself off tenfold

Now helnik is pretty much unchanged, their scenes were basically word for word in s1 and I think it can carry on for soc. They’re most likely to be the most book accurate ship now and i hope there will be a lot more emotional depth and background to Matthias who I think is completely underrated and overlooked. He has an incredibly big character arc and I think we will see a lot more of what is costs him

So they break Matthias out of Hellgate most likely in a very similar way to the books.

Now we get the Wylan identity reveal. Wesper is already established so it’s going to be an even bigger shock. However I think jespers gambling addiction will have gotten a lot worse in a very short space of time and this has already been causing a problem + I think they gleamed over him coming to terms w being grisha too fast so they will back track a bit when Colm gets involved which reminds Jesper why he hid for so long

Now I think we could get the ck last chapter here w inej threatening pekka and Alby before they depart. However it will backfire a bit. He will actually get spurred on to take down kaz and he’ll realise there’s something between kaz and inej. He can team up w heleen and use it against them

Now the next part can actually carry on faithfully to the books - if Jesper is back in debt his slip up will get back to pekka and result in the harbour ambush and Kaz’s distrust of Jesper. Also perhaps they use the hummingbird rather than the ferolind

Notorious kaz boyfriend of ripping eyes out will ensue

Now here’s something new. Kaz won’t stay away from inej now, it would completely eradicate everything that just happened in s2. So I expect we will get another bandage scene here or simply see kaz watching over inej as she heals

Now this is where I think the inej episode will fit (within the first 4 eps) it will delve into her past in ravka, her abduction, time at the menagerie and meeting kaz/being trained by him (that last one may happen throughout the series tho and perhaps more from Kaz’s perspective like in the books). And here’s where we see what inej has been doing whilst away briefly and how she felt bringing down slavers and her new purpose to track down those who hurt her and take down heleen

Now pretty much everything from this point onwards to the end of the Six of Crows books can remain the same. The differences are: established wesper, most likely pekka isn’t hired for this job, a more open kanej and a slightly more powerful kaz as a baby barrel boss

I’m not going to re explain the story here as they have used very little SOC plot so far

They have done a version of the prison wagon scene but I think they will do the book one too as inej will be there, kaz faints this time and ultimately it’s worse then the s2 one (which made me feel physically sick for kaz all within the first 15 mins of the show)

That’s the end of part 1! I’m feeling very positive thinking of all this. You stay for the characters in soc they are so wonderfully different and clever, a story of these kids who are expected of nothing but achieve everything. I expect the series will have a rather different tone compared to Sab and will truly show the significance of these six characters finding each other.

#see you soon #six of crows #six of crows spin off #shadow and bone #shadow and bone 2 #crooked kindgom #kaz brekker #Inej Ghafa #kanej #Jesper Fahey #wylan van Eck #wesper #matthias helvar #Nina zenik #helnik

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saintobio · 2 years

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S.O.S | one: remnants of war

all is fair in love and war.

pairings. gojou satoru, fem!reader

genre. heavy angst, romance, sci-fi, space au, 18+

word count. 7k+

tags & warnings. ooc, war, violence, profanity, killings/death, miscarriage, trauma, injuries, blood, suggestive smut, kinda yandere

notes. sorry i’ve been sick but i finally managed to pump out a 7k chapter <3 it’s not much n i wrote this at 3am i am sowwy for any errors

series masterlist -> episode two

When it came to war, victory wasn’t just about who had the most advanced weapons, or the most skilled troops, or the most military power. It wasn’t about who outnumbered who in the battlefield. Wasn’t about the lesser deaths and lesser damages. And definitely wasn’t about who destroyed more territories than the other.

Victory in warfare was about strategy.

From a classic book Satoru had picked up and curiously read back in his teenage years — ‘The Art of War’ by Sun Tzu said that in order to be victorious, there are certain rules in war that one must always keep in mind:

If our forces are ten to the enemy's one, to surround him; if five to one, to attack him; if twice as numerous, to divide our army into two.

If equally matched, we can offer battle; if slightly inferior in numbers, we can avoid the enemy; if quite unequal in every way, we can flee from him.

In his tactical dispositions, he also stated that a clever fighter is one who not only wins, but excels in winning with ease. One may know how to conquer without being able to do it. One may be able to secure himself from defeat, but cannot make certain of defeating the enemy. Therefore, victory wasn’t about physical strength, combat skills, nor an extraordinary display of prowess in the battlefield. It was having a sharp, perceptive mind. It was making astute decisions in the midst of life and death. ‘Adroitness’ they called it. And Satoru Gojou had it.

“Watch out for the enemy aircraft. It’s not an allied plane,” speaking to the radio was the white-haired First Lieutenant himself as he maneuvered the control wheel to his right, tilting the jet in a 60-degree angle while guiding the two other fighter jets tailing him from side-to-side “Let’s move to Zone 6 from our current position.”

“Roger that.”

“Copy.”

And just as the three combat planes flew past a thick array of slate grey clouds, Satoru was laser-focused inside the cockpit while mapping the area in his head so he could visualize the best aviation tactics he could gather from this scene. It was needless to say that the air space was his domain and it went hand-in-hand with his stellar eyesight that allowed him to get a clear vision of the city. Almost like he was omnipresent with his God-like perception. He could sense his brain creating its own GPS coordinates from the seemingly empty skies of Tokyo, which later allowed him to ascertain that there was an unidentified aircraft surrounding them before the radar screen could even detect its movements.

Flying a warplane was no easy task, yet he had soared every corner of Japan’s air space for the last eight years while memorizing all the possible directions where all these hostile aircrafts could launch their missiles. He was only 21 when he was first entrusted to fly an F-15 Eagle, only 23 when he was promoted First Lieutenant of the Japan Air Self-Defense Force, and only 26 when he became the most feared fighter ace after over 207 aerial kills. He had never been shot down nor had he ever lost any of his wingmen during aerial dogfights. He was hailed as a military hero and a legend by his countrymen, but also a ruthless sadist and a staunch nationalist by his enemies.

“Bogey sighted.” It was his fellow airman, Yuuta Okkotsu, who alerted his co-pilots with urgency. “There’s only one in the area, Alpha 1.”

Just as Satoru predicted. “I already got visual on it,” he announced, keeping a tight hand on the throttle lever as he glided the jet in an obtuse angle. “Tail the bogey. I’ll cover it from above.”

“Roger,” answered his third airman, Second Lieutenant Suguru Getou, from their fighter squadron, “It’s not a reconnaissance aircraft. It’s a MiG-29.”

The thing was, although he was the leader of the squadron, Satoru still had to obey orders from his superiors down at the headquarters. The Colonel himself was in the Tactical Command Center and Control Room monitoring every movement of their aircrafts while the team were tracking the enemies crossing the Tokyo air space to do aerial reconnaissance. Thus, whether Satoru liked it or not, firing a missile was always at the decision of the Colonel, and not his. He could only direct his airmen to a certain extent, but never to the point of driving them to an attack. It was an absolute nightmare for a bloodthirsty man like him to hold off on retaliating when he was more than willing to shoot down enemy aircrafts of any caliber for having the audacity to cross his motherland.

“I got a bad feeling about this,” spoke Yuuta from his radio as he flew the Raptor towards the enemy’s MiG fighter jet. That same jet was slowing down its velocity as soon as it sensed Yuuta’s proximity. “It’s slowing down. I’m gonna cross him.”

Both Satoru and Suguru yelled otherwise from their respective jets. “It’s a trap!” they warned in unison before Gojou continued, “It’s gonna attack from behind!”

In confirmation to the First Lieutenant’s assumption, the enemy pilot did blast off a powerful missile towards the Raptor that, in a matter of seconds, could detonate the entire aircraft it touches.

“Shit,” Suguru cussed as he increased his speed while ensuring the stability of his fuselage, “This is Alpha 2 on standby. Alpha 3 is in danger. Permission to engage?”

Everyone on the radio could hear Yuuta’s panic when the enemy attacked him with its armaments. A fusillade of gunshots were soon fired towards his route and the Raptor could be seen swerving from left to right just to avoid the cannons. “Jesus Christ! It’s… It’s shooting me down.”

“Maintain current formation,” answered the Colonel down at the HQ, “Do not fire unless granted.”

Another missile was fired from the enemy’s side.

And another.

“Goddamn. They fired on us first!” The attack led Satoru to grip his control wheel tightly, making a drastic attempt to pull up and accelerate vertically so he could get a better view of the MiG chasing Yuuta’s Raptor plane as the latter made a swift turn to the left to avoid the missile. Unfortunately, the weapon still managed to scrape off the Raptor’s horizontal stabilizer, sending the tail of the jet to an explosion. “Alpha 3’s plane is compromised! Permission to fire, sir?!”

Satoru took a deep breath and held it in as he kept his eyes on the enemy’s aircraft underneath him. Just one press of the red button. Only one long press, and his radar display suggested that he was in the perfect position to blast off a deadly missile towards the bogey. This would have been his 208th kill.

But there was no immediate response from the other end of the radio.

“I’ll switch to guns,” Satoru bargained, resting his thumb above the red button at the weapons panel as he waited for the go signal. “Please confirm. Please, please.”

“Denied,” however, was the answer of their military leader. “Pursue the enemy out of the city ASAP. We have civilians down there. Don’t risk it.”

Fuck.

Even Suguru himself was disappointed at the order, but had no other choice except to chase after the steel gray jet. “Roger, I’m on it.”

“Raptor’s going down hard,” Satoru said under his breath as he caught sight of Yuuta’s aircraft below him—its right wing starting to burn up. 8 years in the air force and Satoru had never lost an airman during combat fights. Not one, not two. Not until today. He had responsibilities towards the lives of his airmen and if Yuuta couldn’t make it this time, Satoru knew that the burden of losing a member would haunt him forever. He wasn’t crazy for wanting to protect the lives of his fellow soldiers. “Yuuta, lead the jet out of the city limits, do you copy?”

“Yuuta.”

“Yuuta, do you copy?”

“…Yuuta, eject now! NOW!”

It took a few minutes for the younger airman to respond, mumbling incoherent words through the radio as if he was fumbling over the navigation. “I-I’m going to e-eject.”

Relief washed over Satoru’s body as soon as he heard the sound of Yuuta’s voice, yet it didn’t help that he was still at the height of tension because the bogey that nearly killed his airman was still flying freely around Tokyo. ‘1 plane down, 2 to go.’ The enemy must be feeling smug for shooting down a Raptor, especially when there were three of them and only one of him, but Satoru’s pride would not allow them to lose this dogfight. Even if it was just between him and the enemy, he would risk his own life just to ensure that the bogey would never be able to fly around his land ever again. Satoru Gojou dedicated his entire life to put his nation first before himself; it was a pledge he had made the moment he joined the JASDF and he would stick to it even if he was at the median between life and death.

He was ready to die for his country, whether that be today, tomorrow, or any other day soon.

Yet, at the back of his mind, losing this battle would also mean leaving the person he loved behind. All the promises he had made, the moments he would miss, the marriage vows he was still yet to exchange—only the thought of you came inside his mind while 65,000 feet in altitude.

“Please. Just please stay.” You reached for his hand and squeezed it with all your might as if being able to feel your desperation could somehow change his mind. Satoru was even certain that you would have begged to no end if you could. “I don’t want you to go to war anymore. We need you here. I need you here. I-I don’t know what I’d do if something happens to you.”

He slung his duffel bag over his shoulder and pulled you close. “They need to deploy me up there. I have to do my job.”

“If you walk out of that door, I swear to God,” you paused, voice shaking and eyes brimming with gut-wrenching tears, “I’m never going to forgive you.”

He wasn’t exactly choosing his military duties over you, but saving the people also meant that he was saving you. To keep you away from danger was his utmost priority, but in order for that to be possible, a little bit of sacrifice must be made.

And a little bit of hope that he would come back safe.

“I’ll come home to you, I promise. I asked Anais to look after you while I’m gone.” His saccharine words were added with a loving kiss he had planted on your stomach. He could feel his heart swelling at the thought of your bump getting twice as large by the time he returned. “Keep mommy safe, okay?”

Your face, on the other hand, melted into inexplicable pain. “S-Satoru, please.”

“I gotta go.” It took him a lot to pull away from you as if the heaviness in his heart brought a stronger force than the Earth’s gravity. But he had to leave. He had to cup your face, press his forehead against yours, and kiss you one last time. “I love you.”

“I’m gonna fire.” Satoru announced his decision as he manned the control wheel and steered the Eagle vertically. “I have to.”

And he had to go home to his pregnant girlfriend. Safe.

“First Lieutenant Satoru! Get a hold of yourself!” The Colonel did not hold back on displaying his exasperation. “You are not given permission to shoot! Hold your fire or there will be penalty—”

“It’s not a reconnaissance plane! This thing’s going to drop a nuclear bomb on us.” He spoke with tensed jaws, the veins in his neck were standing out in livid ridges. It was ridiculous that he couldn’t even engage while the enemy was showing its hostility like this. Satoru wasn’t flying an air superiority aircraft for nothing and he planned to let his superiors understand the consequences that bad decisions could lead them to. “Trust me on this, Colonel. We’d have a lot more civilian casualties if I don’t shoot it now! That MiG has a nuclear bomb loaded and it’s going to kill hundreds and thousands of innocent lives. Every second is crucial and the moment we delay any form of attacks, it’s going to take advantage.”

“I’m with Alpha 1, sir,” added Suguru, matching the speed of the MiG aircraft while sending his best friend a salute. “I’ll lead the bogey to the pacific. We got this.”

Certainly. And just the sight of Yuuta ejecting from the canopy, Satoru could feel chills running down his spine while imagining the horrifying thought of his airman in those angry flames that swallowed his aircraft. But Yuuta was alive and safe now. They only had the enemy to focus on, but how come everything suddenly became suffocating? His heart was thumping at an unstable rhythm. His lungs were requiring him to have more oxygen intake. There was no explanation to the phenomenon that he was experiencing internally at that moment—all he knew was that it was a sign for him to choose a decision based on his own judgment without the command of his superiors.

While flying the Eagle at top speed, it felt as though the fighter jet was slicing through the Earth’s atmosphere by the time he went head-to-head against the MiG. His acceleration gave him the chance to then be able to get a millisecond glimpse of the pilot from the country that started this era’s World War. Why, if anything, should Satoru show mercy on a person that participated in killing millions of innocent people across the world?

Due to his fast reflex, he succeeded in avoiding the cannonade from the bogey, only receiving partial damages on the canopy and the fuselage, but not enough to disrupt the inertial navigation system. In return, the First Lieutenant along with his infamous icy glare showed zero hesitation before he pressed two red buttons that released a precision attack from AIM-120 AMRAAMs. Screams and orders from an angry set of military superiors could be heard from the radio, but Satoru was far too focused on the missiles that tailed his enemy like a loaded firework that was ready to explode.

“Bogey is away from the city limits,” he spoke to the radio, “Suguru, you can go vertical as fast as you can.”

“Copy that.”

The MiG was on a deadend despite facing a never ending sky in front of him because the missiles were built to chase the enemy’s trail. And so, it didn’t even last more than two seconds until the bogey detonated from the highly explosive weapon shot down by Japan’s infamous fighter ace. It was in Satoru’s belief that no enemy should escape his country alive, therefore, after seeing that the enemy safely ejected himself out of the jet, Satoru circled back to the area and loaded up his 20mm gatling guns to completely assassinate the pilot on his parachute to death.

There must have been 35 bullet holes on his body, none of which could still render him alive after this aerial dogfight.

There was an obvious sense of satisfaction when he flew back to the military zone while discerning the Tokyo skies free from any more unidentified enemy aircrafts. His pride gave him the self-gratification that he needed after following decisions on his own no matter what kind of consequences were awaiting him at the headquarters. They could confiscate his badge, take his insignia, and strip him of all the rights he had as a fighter pilot and a military officer, or worse—dishonorably discharge him, but none of the aforementioned repercussions had surprisingly greeted him as he hopped out of the Eagle.

Among the high-ranking officers and their phlegmatic faces that welcomed him back at the headquarters, it was the Colonel that first made a remark about Satoru’s boldness in the earlier interception. “That was risky behavior you showed up there, First Lieutenant Satoru.”

As he took off his helmet and mask, the white-haired ace offered an apathetic salute. “You could thank me for saving lives. The crash was off the city limits like you wanted, sir.”

“You killed the enemy,” the older man reiterated, his eyes growing as dark as his raven mustache, “We had an agreement that we will only hold them captive. If you think we’re safe now, I’m telling you that country is more than capable of sending a hundred more aircrafts as revenge.”

“Then, I’ll kill a hundred more of them.” Satoru continued to remove his gloves as he walked along the hallways while the Colonel, the officers, and the military personnels followed his trail inside the center. A quick pivot on his heel made him turn to face his superior with a salute. “It was nice flying by your useless commands today, Colonel. I hope they find a better person for your position soon.”

For now, his duty was over. And although it did not end as pleasantly as one would expect, he still spared his country from unexpected nuclear warfare. No one with a sound mind should assume that they were totally safe from nuclear attacks, but the goal was to defect them as much as they could. Not triggering the enemy could make them look weak as opposed to showing the enemy that Japan was not a country they should mess with. He knew that the events today would not be the last, but if the enemy were to wipe out the entire nation, they would have to go through JASDF’s brutal sky domination first.

And the person behind every successful interception was him.

Yet, in spite of all his sacrifices and his heroic intentions, the battlefield did not end in the Tokyo skies. The battle, the only one he had ever lost, was in the infirmary after a nurse had informed him of an incident concerning the woman that he loved the most.

“What’s wrong?” he worriedly asked, cupping your cheek and staring at your listless eyes as he sat at the edge of your hospital bed. “What happened while I was gone?”

Heartbreaking silence was your only response.

“The baby.” It was your fellow nurse who answered. “Sir, she… she collapsed and lost the baby after you left.”

2 YEARS AFTER

“Why do you keep testing his commitment to the air force?” You had already lost count of the amount of times your step-sister, Anais, would follow you around the bunkers only to question your relationship with Satoru. “He’s a hero, Y/N. It’s his lifelong dream to become a General. He’s keeping all of us safe. He’s defending our homeland. I’ve known Satoru since we were kids and he’s always been a man who would put others first before himself. You shouldn’t corner him into a position where he has to choose between you and his duty.”

You ended up continuing your footsteps a tad bit faster than hers so you could escape the unreasonable nonsense that she was blathering about. To keep it together and ignore her has been your specialty by now. So that was exactly what you did. And as you entered the central dining hall, you immediately had the familiar smell of rusting metal along with the fetor of gunpowder that hung in the air. It came to the point where you no longer had the appetite to eat enough nor did you have the energy to interact with everyone in this underground environment that they had opened to citizens from over a year ago after they failed to stop the nuclear warfare.

They said the nuclear war was nearly over, yet you had not managed to see sunlight for the past two years ever since the rest of you ‘survivors’ were thrown into an underground city built only to carry a population of 2,500 people. You worked as a ward nurse, mostly to aid wounded soldiers, and you knew exactly the consequences of what would happen to those who regularly went out of the underground base. You had seen plenty of them down at the infirmary and had to give each and everyone of them the false hope that they still had the possibility to live even after being exposed to extreme radiation. That those acute skin burns that turned into cancer; those inflamed, red scabs that never healed—that they could get better. That they could survive it. That they were lucky enough not to be like those who were incinerated entirely.

You were a liar after all.

So much so to the point where you were feeling less and less emotions when you had to witness the death of another fallen soldier. It no longer mattered to you if they were once someone’s parent, child, spouse, or sibling. It didn’t matter anymore that you now had to stand next to a woman who was just heavily mourning the death of her husband yesterday when you tried to resuscitate his life to no avail. Here she was, proceeding with her life in spite of her soulless eyes as she lined up to get a tray at the cafeteria. Here she was, barely noticing your presence beside her as you both mechanically walked to get stale food from overworked cooks who could also feel the same tedious, unenthusiastic life routine. Waking up each day, fulfilling mandatory tasks, eating rationed meals, and going back to bed. It didn’t help that all you could see from left to right were dull gray metal and unpainted concrete. Or people wearing the same dark jumpsuits as if you were all prisoners under the rubbles of an ashen city. You could understand why the widow you comforted yesterday looked like she was ready to just take her own life rather than spend the rest of it down here.

Because that same feeling was once within you.

It had been two years since you lost your baby, but you couldn’t say that your heart, despite being calloused, had completely healed. The reason why Anais had been pestering you about your treatment towards Satoru was because it had been your personal choice to detach your emotional dependence on him. He, too, was heartbroken at the loss of his child, but he could never understand the gravity it had on you. You nearly begged on his knees to stay at home before that one tragic day happened and it always left lingering a thought in your mind that your baby would have been 2 years old by now had Satoru chosen to stay.

He didn’t stay that day and he had been telling you every day for the past year that it was one of his biggest regrets in life. That he wished he could have turned back time. That he wanted to punish himself for saving countless children’s lives but not his own. You didn’t speak much to him and decided to keep your grief in silence despite the numerous times he had tried to apologize. Eventually, he stopped pursuing you, and your life had become a routine of simple hi’s and hello’s. You two were overcome by lassitude, sent down to the abyss of internal conflicts that were never fixed through proper communication. There were days where he would be deployed and be gone for months. There were days where he would briefly come back and talk about the men they had lost in war. There were days where you two would be in bed wrapped up in each other’s naked bodies, yet no word or any form of intimacy would be shared. There was no connection anymore. It was kind of just… doing intimate things for the sake of relieving emotional stress. It was just living and breathing and being there. It was just reminding yourself that he was still alive and that you still had him.

The attacks left everyone traumatized, but Satoru focused on his military duties and worked hard to rise up to the position of a Lieutenant General after overthrowing his incompetent superiors. He was only 28 years old and was already the 2nd highest ranking military officer in the entire nation. Everywhere he went, people respected him. They would bow down to him. They were intimidated at the sight of him. They would treat him like a saint. You would have been extremely proud of him if only it didn’t have to take your baby’s death for him to reach his dream.

And these thoughts you had now were the exact reasons why your step-sister would not leave you alone. To her, you were being unreasonable. Selfish. Ungrateful.

“—you can’t make this about you when he’s only concerned about the safety of our people,” she said. It was probably even offensive to her that you were sitting at a table, dipping your single piece of bread in a bland mushroom soup as she went on and on about your life. “Y/N, I understand your pain and I know it’s been hard for you ever since you lost your unborn baby, but… it’s been two years. You’re making Satoru suffer by blaming the miscarriage on him. Miscarriages literally happen to so many women during war. Do you really want to raise your child at a time like this? Think of your loss as a blessing in disguise.”

Insensitive. So damn insensitive.

You kept your gaze straight ahead, choosing not to meet Anais’ eyes and just watch the people in queue being given rationed food which, in their words, were still better than MREs. The food supply was scarce and just enough to keep the people alive, but even then, famine was another issue aside from the nuclear devastation on the ground above this man-made city. You had seen children at the infirmary showing signs of malnutrition and as much as it broke your heart, there wasn’t much you could do. Perhaps, at Anais’ last words, she was right. But you could never let your heart accept that.

“Y/N, please. Are you listening to me?” Anais sighed as she sat in front of you.

You chewed your bread slowly and finally broke your commitment to staying taciturn. “What exactly do you mean by ‘making him suffer’?”

Her eyes had fire behind them, almost as red as her long, wavy hair. Her obvious frustration was more so because your indifference was a hit to her pride as Gojou’s beloved childhood best friend. “You’re basically ignoring his existence,” she told you, “Do you realize that the way you’re treating him reflects the way he treats the rest of us? His subordinates are telling me he’s the harshest he’s ever been to them. He also doesn’t talk to me nor Ares anymore. He’s always cold and temperamental and… and… I don’t know. He’s not the same.”

“He’s a grown man. It was his choice to change the way he treats you all,” you replied, pushing the plate away. To reinforce your statement, you began to add, “It’s not my responsibility to care about every single one of your feelings.”

You missed him, of course you did, but the past two years had been difficult for you both. It was even harder to just reconnect and act like nothing strained your relationship with him while knowing deep, deep down that the unbearable pain of losing a child would always stab you to the core.

“Don’t be cruel,” Anais called out just as you were getting up from your seat, “I don’t think you even love him to begin with.”

You stopped from your tracks, and only slightly did you turn your head towards her. “Do you?”

The question took her aback. “That’s… That’s not what I meant.”

How funny. “For a second there, I thought you were his lover.”

You had never been like this to Anais—never been one to talk back, never been one to be spiteful, never been one to walk out and turn your back on her as you decided to leave the sterile environment of the crowded cafeteria on your way to a much, much peaceful place away from everyone else.

Anais and her brother, Ares, were twin siblings, and the both of them were considered as the first family of your late father before he took your mother in as a mistress. That description alone was enough for anyone to assume that you didn’t really have a good relationship with your step-siblings when your father brought you into their family. All your life, you had been ostracized. They were sent to private schools, spoiled with the most lavish things, and treated with blinding privileges, but despite having half the same blood running through your veins, you didn’t experience life the same way they did. Or at least, life before the ripple effects of the nuclear war.

There were boundaries you weren’t allowed to cross back then, and only at 18 years old while working as a ward nurse when you met a wounded soldier named Satoru Gojou did your life start to change.

The person who reminded you of this “abominable change” was none other than your step-brother—the same person you saw while walking along the corridor towards the med bay. With his furrowed red brows and downturned lips, you could already tell that he was coming to you after having heard the exchange you have had with his twin sister back at the dining hall. Ares was always like this; defensive, hot-headed, and to put it simply, an asshole. Between him and Anais, he was the one who had been vocal about his distaste with you for being a simple freeloader in his family.

So seeing him now, stomping towards your direction with a killer gaze wasn’t exactly new. He had done worse.

“I’ll be on duty,” you advised as you heard his footsteps within an arm’s distance, “Stop following me around.”

“You’re so full of yourself, huh,” Ares hissed, grabbing a fistful of your hair and giving you the same resentful look he carried each time you crossed his path. “Isn’t it enough that you get to live in a private quarter while my sister and I have to sleep in the bunkers with the rest of these people? Do you even deserve that spot? Do you deserve the privilege you get just because Satoru nii-san is the Lieutenant General? Quit parading yourself around like you’re his wife.”

You chose to stay silent, not because you were agreeing with your step-brother, but because arguing with a manchild who already had preconceived judgment about you was futile. It was a waste of time and most definitely a waste of precious oxygen to even respond to.

“They’re childhood best friends,” he continued, much to your dismay, as if you didn’t know that damn fact already. “He was supposed to be with my sister, but you seduced him and got knocked up, and now Anais has to suffer from the consequences! You’re no better than a whore like your mom—”

Before your step-brother could continue his acidic remarks, you met his words with a harsh slap that left a bright, red mark on his cheek. “I dare you insult me in front of Satoru,” you warned through gritted teeth, thinking about how you wouldn’t have reacted in such a violent way had he kept your mother out of his mouth, “I dare you say it again and pray to yourself you don’t get killed. Satoru is a brutal man.”

Ares raised a hand. “You—”

You didn’t flinch from the sudden jerk of his hand not just because it wasn’t the first time he had tried hurting you (the bruises on your leg, hip, and arm could attest to that), but also because he couldn’t proceed harming your face the moment Shoko Ieiri walked out of the infirmary in her white lab coat, pulling her surgical mask down to her chin and staring back-and-forth between you and your visibly angry step-brother.

“Is everything okay?” asked her. In her own way, she was only preventing things from escalating further into violence.

“Dr. Ieiri,” you greeted your colleague with a light bow, “I was just on my way to you.”

She nodded, although still eyeing Ares on the side. “Well, good timing ‘cause I need your help with the patient on the right wing. He’s on the sixth bed.” Then she redirected her gaze towards your assaulter. “Are you here to get treated as well?”

You could almost hear the string of curse words behind Ares’ tight lips, but he restrained his despicable thoughts from coming out since showing his true colors in front of a renowned doctor like Shoko could get him in so much trouble. Well, you didn’t care whether or not he would continue his outburst. All you were focused on doing now was to reach for the medical cart before heading to the right wing to meet another wounded patient who joined the rest of the soldiers lying on their bed, hidden behind those white curtains. If only you could wear scrubs on a day like this.

Unfortunately, wearing a surgical mask could not suffice when your nose was intensely rejecting the noxious chlorine-like fumes that were coming from the hazmat suits. If the hazardous smell could penetrate your olfaction that much, you could only imagine how worse things could be up there.

6th bed on the right wing. Right. There was no 6th bed. Ieiri was referring to the farthest room to the right side of the infirmary, a private medical room specifically to cater the military officers with honorable rankings. You took a deep breath and conserved enough oxygen in your lungs as you glanced at the wounded man behind the glass panel. He was holding his bloody left rib, topless above his bed while waiting for a nurse to come to his aid.

“Do you need stitches?” you asked without returning his longing gaze after you entered the code to his private room. While pushing the cart near the side of his bed, you quickly rummaged through the box and pulled out all the necessary antiseptic instruments you could use on him.

He, on the other hand, tried to sit up before wrapping a hand around your waist. “Are you not gonna ask me how I got hurt?”

Your eyes trailed down on the gash below his left rib. It was about the length of your hand, but wasn’t really deep enough to be life-threatening. The amount of bleeding could have placed him at risk, however, he seemed to have managed to stop it before even coming here. It was either a knife or a bullet he had dodged. You didn’t bother asking. “I’m gonna clean it,” you said, “Just sit down.”

Satoru raked his fingers through his white hair. A look of frustration was bubbling behind his sky blue eyes. “Babe.” His voice dropped an octave lower. “I could have died today, you know. A prisoner from the enemy forces escaped the dungeon and he attempted to assassinate me with multiple gunshots. Imagine if I didn’t dodge them.”

So, a bullet. You guessed right. “You are Satoru Gojou,” was your expressionless response while dabbing a piece of cloth with saline solution around his wound, “This is as far as anyone could get to you.”

Literally. Because a Lieutenant General shouldn’t even be walking around unarmed without soldiers protecting him. He didn’t enlighten you further about the attack, but was far too invested in the way your hand was brushing against his chest as you tried to wrap a bandage around his lean body. “I missed you,” he whispered, tucking a few strands of your hair behind your ear, “I missed you so fucking much. This is the only time you’ve ever paid attention to me.”

His fingers traveled down to your spine, then further down to the slope of your back before he rested them on your hip. Satoru attached his lips on your shoulder soon after, but you pulled away and placed your hands against his pectoral muscles. “Don’t get too cozy around me if you’re just gonna leave again.”

“I didn’t want to leave you,” he countered, letting you pin the blood-soaked bandage around him just as he made you sit on his lap. “I know I can’t bring back our baby’s life and I’m the person to blame for that, but… please, please let me start over with you. I’d never give up on you until you’ve forgiven me.”

“We can’t start over in an environment like this.” You dodged his attempt to kiss your lips, but could feel his warm breath fanning the expanse of your neck. “You can’t just ask me to forget about everything when living here is an everyday reminder of the devastating things that happened to us.”

His cold hands cupped your cheek, forcing you to look at his crystalline irises. They were a shade of blue that reminded you of an ice giant in the same solar system as the Earth. He had Neptunes for eyes and a warm Sun for a heart, but yours was nothing but a blackhole ready to swallow every strong emotion down to your void. That was how your relationship started to feel empty. He could sense that, too. “I know,” he said, “I know, baby. That’s why I have plans for us. We’re not gonna stay here forever.”

“What do you mean?” Your question, however, was answered by a kiss.

One quick kiss, you assumed. You thought he would soon resume to explain his “plans” right after you indulged him with a kiss, but perhaps the familiarity of his touch made you crave for something more. The feeling of his skin. The warmth of his touch. The pleasure of his kisses. This was the man that loved you with every fiber of his being. He was someone who confessed his feelings for you from the moment he first met you. Meeting him was almost like a kilonova; a transient astronomical event that occurs when two neutron stars merge. It becomes a blackhole.

And this connection, this bond, this twin flame energy you share with him were the same ones that could salvage the abyss you two had created in between.

“Satoru.” You breathed through his neck, feeling the intensity of your euphoric state as you moved on top of him. He held your hips in place with a tight grip, his mouth parting open just enough to match the lustful gaze from his half-lidded eyes. “S-Satoru, I… I hate you.”

The white-haired man dug his face on the slope between your chests, leaving affectionate kisses on your cleavage only so he could map your mounds with his marks. “I’d hate me, too,” he responded, cupping your breast before diving in to wrap his mouth around the nub. “Hate me all you want, my love. I’d still keep running after you.”

In the middle of the night in your shared private quarters, the dim lights added to the sensual gratification of reconnecting by body, mind, and spirit with your partner in life. Despite the wounds on his rib that limited the movements of his hips, he could still hit your most pleasurable places with you on all fours and him thrusting from behind. A hand was keeping your hips in place as the tip of his member moved in and out of your hole, stretching your walls until he was able to reach his release.

“Fuck,” he cussed under his breath, panting as he fell on top of you. He distracted your soreness below by placing a soft, affectionate kiss on your lips. The one where he was completely enveloping his lips with yours, running his tongue along your lower lip, and deepening his access by swirling the wet muscle around the cavern of your mouth. When he pulled away, his shiny eyes were more illuminated than the faint yellow lighting of your room. “Let’s talk tomorrow. Go to sleep.”

Should you ask him now or should you succumb to sleep? Because you were at a point of exhaustion from a long night of passion with the man you loved, you decided that it wouldn’t hurt to wait one more day to hear whatever it was that he had to say.

He had so much to say.

Satoru hasn’t gotten any wink of sleep after you made love all night, wondering if this feeling could last forever. Perhaps he could place it in a jar and keep it sealed there. How could he protect someone without hurting them? How could he fulfill his role without sacrificing anything?

If it was good news to you, he had already decided. The war was over, but the world was hopeless. There was no other possible way to live through this world except to escape it.

But before that could happen, he still had duties to do and people he had to get back to.

Somehow, when he kissed your forehead while you were sleeping soundly in bed, he was even more determined to get up and get the job done. He put on his uniform, wore his kepi, and slipped on his military boots. The badges and insignia on his uniform wasn’t what scared the living lights out of the soldiers and civilians he passed by while walking towards the armory. They were scared of the stony expression he was wearing on his face. Mouth clamped and eyes fixed. A cloud of warning was settling over his features.

“General,” spoke one of his subordinates, “He’s been held captive last night.”

Satoru faced his soldiers with his chin up high. “You can proceed. Make sure Anais won’t hear about this.”

“Sir, yes sir!”

It didn’t take another minute for the red-haired male twin to be kicked out of the storage room—his face marked with bruises as he weakly ran towards Satoru in pitiful desperation. He was coughing up blood before going down on his knees to beg for his life. Even Major Suguru Getou couldn’t stand the sight of Ares crying like a child when he was just asserting dominance and violence on an innocent woman who deserved none of it.

“N-Nii-san… Please, get me outta here.” His voice reflected the amount of suffering he had endured the night before. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry…”

The Lieutenant General crouched down to meet the man’s gaze at the same level, but the difference was that the former was entertained while the latter was horrified.

“Don’t you know?” Satoru asked with the corner of his lips slightly upturned, “We’ll have to lessen the oxygen release from the tank down to twenty percent so we can conserve enough for all the people down here.”

Why, should he ask, was it relevant to say now?

Ares already knew why, and he understood exactly what every word meant. “N-No… M-My sister. She’s only got me. Nii-san, don’t—”

Too late.

“Take him to the gas chamber at once,” he ordered the soldiers in formation as he walked out of the storage room. They all gave him a salute before following his commands. “Make his death quick and feed his remains to the dogs. I want none of the civilians to know about this.”

If anything, the cold and ruthless Lieutenant General Satoru Gojou still had the courtesy to get up, turn around, and leave. He was often one to watch his enemies die before his eyes, but this was a different case overall. Ares was the brother of his childhood best friend, and so he couldn’t stand the thought of hearing his screams if he stayed another second longer down at the storage rooms. He was only doing him a favor of making his punishment a lot more humane that he would have done to others, but he still had to have him killed. He still had to pay.

And this was the clear proof that Satoru had already lost all of his conscience due to the remnants of war that deeply calloused his soul.

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