#even the shadows are like a light aqua or something

[septnanis]

places to hide / soriku

“Hey,” Terra says, a tall shadow in the doorway.

Riku looks up at him and smiles. He likes Terra. Not just because they shared a moment so poignant that it shaped Riku’s future, but because Terra is a kind, steady presence in his life.

“You okay?” Terra asks.

But most of all, Riku feels like he can let his guard down. He nods, his throat feeling thick with emotion he can’t quite place.

“Yeah,” Riku says.

“Sora was worried about you,” Terra says. “May I?” He gestures to the overturned crate across from the one Riku is sitting on. “He said this is your favorite hiding spot.”

Riku nods and Terra sits down, the door shutting slowly behind him. Once it closes, only the light from underneath cuts through the darkness. It’s enough that they see each other.

“Are you?” Terra asks.

“Huh?” Riku replies.

“Hiding from something?” Terra moves a bit so he’s more comfortable.

From everything, Riku wants to say. From expectations, from my innate drive to keep going and going, a dozen other things and some he would never dare say out loud.

“I asked Sora why he didn’t look for you,” Terra says. “He seems to think you might be mad at him. Another year wasted on me, he said. Did you and Sora argue?”

Riku shakes his head. “No, I just…” he says. “I may have been avoiding him a little.”

Terra lets the words settle in the room for a while. It floats in the air like dust motes, catching whatever light is left in the room.

“I like sitting in dark places, too,” Terra says. “You’d think after years of being trapped in darkness I’d hate it. But it feels… comforting.” He runs his hands over the top of his legs. “Guess I learned to love my chains.”

“I felt like a monster,” Riku says. “Or a Heartless. But now it just feels nice… kinda quiet and almost peaceful. It makes stepping into the light feel even better.”

“Perfect balance,” Terra says. “You’re a wiser man than anyone who ever tried to teach me anything, Riku.”

Riku shifts and smiles. “Except for Aqua and Ven,” he says.

Terra nods. “They’re always my exception to everything,” he says in a fond tone.

Another silence falls.

When Terra chooses to speak again he does so carefully. “I know how you feel,” he says. “About yourself. And Sora.”

Riku’s demeanor changes, his back slightly straighter.

“You don’t have to say anything,” Terra says. “Or admit anything. I’m not going to push you to do anything. But I know you haven’t stood still for a moment since you left your home. I know despite how strong you are and how brave you’ve been, that you’re tired.”

Terra looks away from him, when Riku puts a hand on his own face. “I know you’re frustrated, and that maybe you think you don’t deserve to want the things you do.”

“I just want you to know that you deserve good things,” he says. “You deserve to be a happy young man in the prime of his life. Don’t give up on that.”

Riku inhales sharply, leans back and nods. “I didn’t waste anything,” he says. “Not for him.”

Terra places his hand on Riku’s shoulder and stands. “Tell him that, when you’re ready,” he says. “I think his answer might surprise you.”

Riku looks up at him and looks every bit the young man he is. When he nods again, Terra puts his hand on the door.

“It’s a good hiding spot,” Terra says. “Mind if I borrow it sometimes?”

Riku laughs, a little emotion stuck in the sound. “Sure,” he says. “I don’t mind.”

—-

“Sorry,” Riku says, weeks later. “If you thought I was avoiding you.”

Sora shrugs against his side. He sat down beside Riku when Riku invited him in without asking. Real light doesn’t ask permission, real darkness never pushes back. Perfect balance.

“That’s okay,” Sora says. “My foot’s in a bucket.”

“Your foot is a bucket,” Riku shoots back. It takes a beat, but they both snigger.

The silence between them is so different than the one between Riku and Terra. It’s lighter, and there’s electricity.

“I know sometimes you need some space,” Sora says. “You’ve always been like that. I don’t mind!”

Riku imagines how he couldn’t have fallen for Sora. It seems so impossible.

“You can tell me,” Sora says. “Even if it’s just a ‘I want to be alone now!’ thing. And if I ever do anything, you can tell me. You don’t owe me anything.”

Riku looks at him. His blue eyes, his spiky hair, his eyebrows, one just a little higher than the other. The way his mouth always looks like it wants to smile.

“And you could never be a waste of time,” Riku says. There’s a moment and then relief seems to wash over Sora’s face.

“It’s a good hiding spot,” Sora says, an echo of Terra that makes Riku smile.

When Sora lays his head just ever so slightly on Riku’s shoulder and lays the back of his hand against Riku’s leg. An open invitation to something he’s wanted for as long as he can remember.

Just because Riku reached out a little.

“It really is,” Riku says, lays his head ever so gently on Sora’s.

He reaches his own hand out, farther than he’s ever dared.

In the darkness, he’s no longer afraid.

#soriku #kh fic #kh riku #kh sora #soriku fic

[forpiratereasons]

meeting stede bonnet

a slow meandering through June. fourth prompt: rainbows!

day 1 | day 2 | day 3 | day 4 | day 5 | day 6 | day 7 | day 8 | day 9 | day 10

-

“The fuck is that?”

Rough start to the morning, if Iz was in this early. Ed didn’t look up from the drawing he was fiddling with: an ice cream cone, couple of sprinkles. Cherry on top. He hadn’t done this sort of thing since his apprenticeship.

“Had lunch with a guy yesterday,” Ed said. “Reminded me of an ice cream.”

Izzy frowned. “Not your usual style.”

That was probably the nicest thing Izzy was physically capable of saying about it. Ed ignored him, picked a turquoise from his palette. Thought of the ring Stede had been wearing. Big ring, big hands. Broad shoulders. Built like a fridge.

Ed wanted to open him up. Rummage around inside, a bit. See what else was in there.

“Thought I might do a little flash sheet,” he mused. “Something for Pride, maybe. Summer vibes.”

Izzy snorted. “You’re a bit beyond that, don’t you think? People don’t come to Blackbeard for little rainbows and smiley faces.”

No, they didn’t. Mostly they came to see Blackbeard for blackwork: sprawling geometrics, florals cut from endless blackouts, abstract patterns sweeping over skin like laying down lace. It wasn’t tā moko like Ed had set out to do, it wasn’t even usually kirituhi—but it was something. It had made his name.

It had made his name so well, in fact, he hadn’t done flash in years.

But the progress pin Stede had been wearing stuck in Ed’s head, and he was suddenly itching to create something, to transform it. He’d whipped out a dozen designs overnight: old school flags and diamonds, winged hearts and roses. Even a fucking unicorn.

Anything that could be filled in with pride. With colour.

After twenty years in Blackbeard’s black lines, black fills, Ed was aching for colour. Pinks and blues and purples, deep emeralds, rich indigos. Soft oranges and brilliant aquas and slashes of red. All of it.

The whole goddamn rainbow.

“Maybe I want to do little rainbows and smiley faces for a bit,” Ed shrugged. “Change of pace, Iz.”

Izzy wasn’t big on changes of pace. Izzy changed paces at around the same speed as a fish trying to grow legs and fund a retirement plan.

Stede, though.

Stede had a bookshop that Ed knew had only opened a couple of months ago, a tan line on his fourth ring finger, and a penchant for fiddling with the pin on his chest, like he was checking that it was still there. He talked about his life like it had only just started a month ago; he’d changed paces so fucking fast, it seemed, he’d left the whole fucking road behind.

Like it was that easy. Like you could just do that: change everything.

Izzy snorted, fucked off to the front desk. “Have you got that geometric done for tomorrow? Client’s in at ten.”

No. Not even half the draft. Boring as hell. “Yeah.”

Turquoise ice creams weren’t boring. Ed tried to think what flavour that might be as he deepened the shadows on the twist, laying colour down in waves: blue raspberry, probably, or cotton candy. Bubble-gum.

Could be anything, the Stede in Ed’s head chimed in. Marshmallow. Almond. Just vanilla. Did you know—

Ed didn’t know, so he couldn’t think of what Stede might say, but he was pretty sure Stede’d have something. Stede had a lot of something to say. Ed had only gotten three hours worth, sitting on that bench by the water and eating hot dogs, but he felt like he could’ve spent three days, and when Stede noticed the time Ed had caught him by the hand and said, d’you wanna do something weird? before whispering a question into Stede’s ear.

I’ve never, Stede had stuttered.

First time for everything, Ed had assured him, and Stede had turned pink, turned red.

Said, yes.

Ed had kissed him. Three hours that should’ve been three days, and Ed had kissed him, brief and chaste, just at the corner of his mouth. Kissed him, and split away, laughing, said goodbye in front of the arcade and all its flashing lights.

First time for everything, Ed had said, but he hoped it wouldn’t be the last.

“Hey, Iz,” Ed said, picking out a pink, a red, for the cherry. “What’s a good spot for a first date?”

#darcy writes pirates #ofmd #gentlebeard

[starlight-vixen-emiko]

Seashell Bracelet

ao3

Hey everyone this is my first failed attempt at writing Shadamy but I promised my Shadamy shipping friends I would write it. Shout out to @bearfoottruck and @punkeropercyjackson

I hope it's alright, I always wanted to write Shadamy because I am a multishipper in the Sonic fandom and reading some amazing Shadamy fanfiction by talented writers sold me.

And yes, the plot of this fanfic is basically that episode of Sonic X where Amy makes Sonic a seashell bracelet.....But make it Shadamy!

So enjoy!

~~~~~

Amy always loved going to the beach with her friends.

She loved everything about it! Swimming until you need to nap, looking for seashells, eating watermelon. But today, she couldn't help but space out a lot, which didn't go unnoticed by Cream.

Maybe Amy couldn't sit in a beach chair and watch the peaceful blue skies without thinking of how heroes risk their lives so she and her friends could have these beach days.

Everyone was so happy and relieved, and Amy wanted to be happy too. That's why she tried not to remember the gang's latest near-death experience.

But the moment Amy became breathless kept playing in her head, where Shadow used his entire body to guard her, and Amy stood as still as a statue watching Shadow's honorable sacrifice.

Every sharp cut hit Shadow, and Amy didn't receive a single cut on her delicate skin. Amy barely noticed wounds on Shadow, but she was told he was the Ultimate Lifeform; she didn't truly understand until she saw Shadow take every hit like it was nothing.

But when everything was deflected, Shadow took a moment to look at Amy, and her aqua-blue eyes sparkled as she saw the pain Shadow was holding in his deep red eyes. And before Amy knew it, Shadow had run away, even though she had tried to reach out for him.

Amy and the others escaped the deadly base before it exploded and went down in flames. But nobody knew where Shadow was, even Sonic, who raced around the remains of the destroyed base. And even if the day was saved, Amy couldn't help but stay up late at night wondering where Shadow was.

And now, even if the waves were gentle and the sky was clear, she couldn't forget that moment.

Shadow the Hedgehog was the Ultimate Lifeform. He had so much power that he needed golden bracelets to hold all that power in. Being created as a force of destruction must've been a lot for Shadow to go through.

Amy couldn't take that! She finally got up, walked away from the shady umbrella, and started to search the beach while all her friends played in the water and laughed.

She circled around the beach, looking for the best beach shells. Eventually, Cream looked at a distance from her inner tube, knowing that Amy wanted to make some seashell jewelry. But Amy was less happy and cheerful about it and more serious.

And she was! Amy spent hours finding the perfect tiny pink sea shells to make a bracelet. Eventually, Cream couldn't take it and tried to look over her shoulder.

"Are you making something, Miss Amy?"

Amy gasped and hid the bracelet she was making away. "No Cream!" She cried hastily.

Amy was sweating a lot, and Cream looked absolutely stunned, but Amy managed to smile sheepishly. "I'm just experimenting, that's all!"

Amy hoped that would be a good enough excuse.

Cream innocently smiled at Amy and took her hand to drag her off. Amy quickly clutched the unfinished bracelet in her hand; Cream didn't give her a moment to prepare.

"Well, you should eat dinner with us if you want to experiment with sea shells Miss Amy!"

Amy felt that was fair. She would spend time with everyone, put on a brave face, and have to finish the bracelet she was making for Shadow at night while everyone was asleep.

When Cream finally fell asleep smiling, Amy finally finished the seashell bracelet under the light of the stars and moon.

But it wasn't until she finished that she wondered if the whole thing was pointless. Shadow disappeared again and wouldn't let anyone in with everything that happened to him in the past. He always slipped away from her, and she placed the sea shell necklace down and laid down to watch the stars in the clear night sky.

That was until a beautiful shooting star flew above her, and Amy sat up in shock.

She could've chalked it up to lack of sleep, but that was the biggest shooting star she ever saw. It was bright silver and reminded her of when a certain black hedgehog unleashed the power of the seven chaos emeralds.

"Shadow!" Amy whispered.

Amy grabbed the bracelet and ran out of the bedroom, not bothering to stay quiet. It took her a moment to reach the beach, and her heart pounded, hoping he wouldn't slip away from her again. Shadow flew down and landed on the shore as he powered down from his super form. The black hedgehog stood alone and let the waves wash over his feet, and Amy stood quietly watching him.

Amy took two steps forward and hesitated momentarily. Still, after seeing Shadow's anguish, she couldn't help herself.

"Shadow!" Amy cried.

Shadow did a low gasp as he turned around. His bright red eyes looked absolutely bewildered at the pink hedgehog.

Amy placed her hand over her heart and found it hard to speak, but then her aqua-blue eyes softened, seeing a much gentler side of Shadow.

"You're back," she said.

Shadow frowned, then turned to the ocean when he saw Amy's heartbroken face. There was the sound of the ocean waves rolling in and out, and Shadow sighed.

"I couldn't give up because it was haunting," Shadow said. Amy didn't understand what Shadow meant, but she could feel the weight he must've carried from that fateful day.

Shadow thought about it again, how he shielded Amy and the look on her face when she saw him be so strong and so vulnerable at the same time.

Something Shadow didn't want to show to such an innocent girl. As cowardly as it was, he found himself walking away with his head low. But Amy puffed up her cheeks and ran to the shore to meet him.

Shadow wished she would find some sense and walk away, or the world might turn upside down as he may humor the idea for a moment.

But Shadow turned to her in surprise as she didn't beg him for anything. She just had her head down with her eyes closed and presented him with a seashell bracelet in her hands.

And for a moment, Shadow swore he felt his heart rate react differently, but just a moment.

Such primitive mortal emotions, but Shadow couldn't bring himself to say no. He attempted to accept the gift but pulled his hand away at the last moment.

Amy gasped and looked into Shadow's beautiful red eyes. The pink hedgehog felt stubborn and took his warm hand, and to her and Shadow's surprise, he didn't object.

Both felt a strange warmth they weren't used to, but Amy set that thought aside as she gently placed the seashell bracelet around his wrist. And she felt it complimented the solid gold bracelet he wore.

And both Amy and Shadow couldn't bring themselves to move as their hands touched and fit almost perfectly.

Amy went wide-eyed and started to blush, but before she could fall over, Shadow took her hands in his and looked away for a moment. Then his red eyes looked deep into her aqua eyes, and Amy couldn't bring herself to speak, so Shadow did it for her.

"...Thank you, Amy…"

Amy did a low gasp as she vibrated a bit. "Oh…"

Because she could reply, Shadow let go of her hands and used his super speed. He was gone before Amy could run after him, and once again, Amy felt helpless as she turned away, only for Cream, Tails, and Sonic to be not too far behind her.

Oh no! Amy was doomed! She wasn't sure how much they saw, but there was no sense in denying it as Cream ran up to her.

"Miss Amy!" Cream cried.

Amy tried to keep it together in front of Cream, but Cream looked incredibly concerned.

"Miss Amy! Has Shadow really returned?"

Amy looked away as a blush formed on her face.

"...Yes."

Shadow wanted to leave this beach behind but stopped when he saw stars reflecting on the water and the full moon shining above him. And he looked down at the sea shells around his wrist and the innocent hedgehog girl who gave him this heartfelt gift.

He held his hand up to the moon and saw the shiny golden bracelet and the bracelet made out of delicate pink sea shells. It was strange that his cursed life led to this.

He thought he was the Ultimate Lifeform, born only to destroy, yet…

This one girl may be showing him that he was more than that…

But he had to protect her no matter what, which meant he had to leave this beach before she could run after him.

But the seashell bracelet would always keep her connected to him.

#shadamy #my writing #my fanfiction

[aicosu]

Ooh if you’re still taking numbers for the prompt thingie, 14! I adore your writing so much!

"Talk to me, prithy, I know you hath something stuck in that throat, and it's not ocean."

She stares through his soul before ducking her head into the wafts of her hair, scooting backward in aqua and shadow.

No avail.

"Well, fuck." Eddy sighs, sitting down in front of the glass coffin, boots spread.

Don't open the crate. They had decreed. An extra sixty pence for him to turn his eyes away and whistle over his morals. 

He'd taken the gold and opened the crate anyway, as soon as he was out of the city walls.

And it was a fucking mermaid they had him smuggling. A siren of the sea. A Poseidon witch. A femme enchantress who robbed men of mind and blood before drowning them at the bottom of the darkest trenches. 

She looks terrified. 

But isn't that part of the play? She's the most ethereal beauty he'd ever seen in his life, just likes myths said they would be. Then her glowing blue eyes and milk skin framed by golden floss hair was all just the meat under a propped up box with a stick. She'd use them to lure him to a watery death and lay eggs in his chest… or something. 

He doubts she could drown him in less than a trough of water, though. It barely reaches past her shoulders. And she had no space to turn or fold, let alone swim or kill. 

She's stationary and shivering. Stolen and smuggled. 

And Eddy doesn't smuggle people. And… Mermaids were… people shaped enough to fall under that honor code. Exotic birds of fire, beatles made of gold, and dogs that could bark open portals—sure. If the buyer liked animals and not just greed.

His normal fare is usually just illegal spices for the recreational minded. Liquors that controlled dreams for something to relieve a wounded day. Rare books with incantations for better genes and the like. Maybe some rare weapons and metals when he was in a legitimate mood. 

Buying and selling people was sadly common and sadly profitable but not so sadly in his repertoire. 

Til' now.

Accidental, promise. And the bad taste he'd had since stepping foot in the Duke Brenner's caste of forbiddens was a pretty big foreshadow, but one he could feel a rebellious itch against. Something that told him to take the job and ruin it. 

So here he was, in the back of his caravan with an open crate to a mermaid case outside the forgettable village of Pitty Glen, ruining it. 

Pitty Glen, because it is the complete opposite direction of the High Lord Creel's manor he's been directed to take her to, and it's also where his pseudo boy lives. Boy as in knave. Though smugglers didn't technically have knaves, they had accomplices. 

And Dustyn Son of Hender was a good one of those, with his endless tomes and scrolls of legend and mysticism.

"Verily, let's… see what we have here." He waves the Books of Seas at her. 

She bobs ominously in response, siren eyes illuminated like foggy moons. Her eyelashes clump, wet and golden, and the effect is such a detail of humanity. Eddy finds himself staring at the contrast of her very real details to her very unreal ones. The pearlescent skin pressed gently with patterns of scales that come and go with the refracting light. The golden thick of her tail, adorned in flimsy paper wet fins, pink and waving like a lady's chiffon wrapped around her. And the sparkling stones man made and otherwise crowned over her hair. Brooches and coral and pearls and possibly the broken chains of a man's pocket watch—like she had maybe slaughtered some humans and created jewelry from their leftovers as souvenirs.

"Apologies, good fuck, let's just—" Eddy pulls his eyes away because it's rude to gawk at a woman even if she probably eats people. "...see if anything in this blasted thing helps our dialogue."

Turns out the trinkets aren't souvenirs but status. 

Mermaids are actually pretty courtly, even despite the book's pages being littered with illustrations of naked beautiful women with large gnashing teeth and bloody claws—Eddy doesn't appreciate the over exaggeration of their gruesomeness, and flicking his gaze up to the even flow of her sineous scales, hair, and tail: the under exaggeration of her countenance.

They apparently make trade and fashion with each other by gifting all things… sparkling. Shiny was the only name on their currency. And the more one had, the more high up the court they were. 

"So, you're a mermaid lady-in-waiting? Or maybe a duchess of some reef?" he asks, flipping the book to spread its pages against the glass to show her the drawings of different mermaid treasure jewelry. 

She shrinks at first, the underwater jerk fluffing her chest, curls, and gems. But then she's bending close, touching her own little tiara of compasses and rubies.

Eddy stands, looking about the crates and baskets of his caravan, past the other cargo he'd taken on of opiates and weapons, shuffling through his own cot bedding and trunk to find something suitable. Something sparkling.

"I suppose maidens' love for bobbles is true on dry or wet land, ha!" Eddy barks, watching the aquarium case rock with her obvious excitement. She tries to follow the book when he takes it back. "Greetings, condolences, compromises, forgiveness, so forth, so forth—are begun with such gifts. Greedy! But understandable. I too, start all my friendships only if they pay tribute. Granted, I don't have friends, I have customers but…" 

A metal brooch clatters to the floor, stopping beneath the wedge of his boot.

The Templars sword and sheild.

He picks up the richly engraved cape closure and frowns.

"Well, it's not like I fucking need it anymore," he tells it and himself.

When he comes back to the coffin, the siren’s webbed fingers splay on the glass. Long sharp knives’ end nails tapping lightly as she peers close to see what he’s doing.

“Whoa, terrifying. Verily, the book is… not wrong then.” His eyes dart to the codex again and the drawings of bloody, horrible ends to the men who trifle with these creatures. 

But she looks curious. Innocent. Absolutely entrancing.

Gold all over and blue where it counted, she’s the sea itself in the space of refracted light. Even the junk in her hair she’s collected does it’s job, shining and glittering to match the deepness of her eyes and the wetness of her lips. Wetness of her lips—she’s in water, you absolute buffoon. Still. Entrancing,

That’s the point, that’s the point, that’s the point…

He shakes himself. Murderous mythical creature or not, he’s not selling her to some high bidder who will display her in a dining hall for lords and ladies to gawk at for the rest of her life before someone decides they haven’t tasted mermaid morsel or some lord deems her fit for a deadly romp.

And he can’t help her return to… wherever she hails from if he can’t commune with her. 

So this.

Flashing the brooch at her proves worth it. The water inside splashes with her excitement, her eyes on the shine with rapt attention so much so she doesn’t notice the case above her pry open. Eddy drops the metal inside and yelps back when she twists and jumps upon it.

“F-for you! Dear… lady. Y-ye! You fancy that? It's a gift! Want to keep it?”

Curled in her palms, she grins.

Oh.

“Ohhhhhhhh….” he wobbles, staring at her teeth. The incisors are familiar. Flat like his. her canines and the rest however… Sharp and long. A beautiful skin she has, wrapped tight around a body made for destruction. Like engraved plating on a blunderbuss. Gem-encrusted sheaths on blades. Many, many, many blades. “You... you must need those… for something, then.” Egads.

She ignores him though, too busy closing her eyes to focus on attaching his old Templar’s medal to the collection in the crown of her head.

Eddy picks up the book again quickly, reading fast down the passage of gifts. “...once received, placement of parcel upon each siren is denotation of class… huh, hmmm… wrists, no, necklace, no…. hair! AH–”

Royalty.

“Oh, oh no. Oh… god.”

Royalty. Only those of high lineage within the matriarch may crown themselves.

Mermaid… princess.

“Y-you don’t think that would look nicer on, perchance, a lapel or, or, or an earring or—”

She blinks at his rambling, smiling with such grace and poise he’s only getting more and more upset.

Then she opens her mouth again.

But this time he’s not distracted by the fangs as much as he is the note. The singular, sweet, unearthly, and altogether unworldly note of music. Of voice—nothing of any sheet he’d ever known, and he’d known them all. A high-pitched, low-pitched, tuning fork flicked against the chords of time and space and heavens.

Around them, the caravan wobbles in color and picture, and Eddy falls back on the slats, dizzy as the world around him tilts, reverberates, and her face illuminates with a literal sun behind it—Golden and perfect. Oh, mighty sun, sweet maiden, to go to her and let her have him—! To allow him to sink into that noise. He would be so happy, so content—

Whoa—what?

“S-STOP! Stop, stop, stop!”

Her shoulders jerk, teeth snapping shut.

“N-no singing! Uh—”

Singing. Siren. Mermaid. Ships crashing into rock and men getting their face pried off for egg nesting. Bad.

“—I, I’m not, I don’t really enjoy music and, you're not really in pitch for that… diddy. Sorry. I’m pretty particular about… I have a sensitive… bard’s ear…”

She stares back at him, hands wringing through her hair fast and uneven, looking very much like a girl he’s yelled at and now was insulting and not a vile witch who’d just tried to enthrall him into a cannibalistic ritual.

“S-Sorry. Let’s. how about we just… we’ll wait to sing until you know. Never, maybe.”

At least not until he put her back in water and sailed weeks away from her. 

He puts his hand on the glass for recompense, eyes still dizzy with her beauty and whatever that had been.

And… incredibly, without prompt or circumstance, she does too.

Calm and graceful, and smiling full of needles and joy, she matches his rounded, thick fingers with her delicate points and laughs.

And it sounds… Boy, does it sound.

Eddy cries to it. Quite literally the sound of it yanks something up his throat and past his nose until he’s spilling tears. He feels magic in his veins. And not in a dreamy pathetic poet way—no, magic, scroll-full magic with history and weight in it that he knows for sure she is doing it.

“M-maybe no laughing either princess,” Eddy says, scrubbing his tears away with his hair. “That mayhaps be best!”

She laughs again and he curses as he puts his head in his knees and sobs past his own barks of mirth at the ridiculous situation. 

He cries and laughs and stares at the wood of the caravan floor and her again, shining and sweet—and h-how?

How in the realm did he get himself into such a mess? Such a divine mess?

Or is that the Siren’s song talking?

#hellcheer #eddie munson #chrissy cunningham #fanfic #eddissy

[sailtomarina]

The Joy of Bathing

cw: masturbation, voyeurism, inappropriate use of water

It wasn’t often that Hermione found the time to truly pamper herself. Not alone, that is. Her partners certainly knew how to please her, taking great pains to do so as often as they were able. Hermione didn’t make it very easy for them.

She was a busy woman. She had countless commitments in her day to day life that she just couldn’t help but throw all of her being into—not out of obligation, or any sense of guilt, but from sheer, genuine, passion, the sort that consumed all her mind and body. Inevitably, she pushed herself too far, and her lovers would swoop in to remind her to take care of herself and, in turn, take care of them.

Tonight, she was on her own. She didn’t resent them her solitude. In fact, she looked forward to seeing what she could do in their absence.

Starting with a bath.

First, set the water to the appropriate temperature and let the tub fill to dangerous levels.

Next, set the mood: lights, scents, music. Candles took care of the lighting, set all around the washroom and casting their flickering shadows across the walls. A bath bomb enveloped the enclosed room in notes of jasmine, sage, and ylang ylang. Piano played softly in the background, Ravel’s meandering melodies taking her by the hand and gently guiding her into the waiting heat.

Hermione sank beneath the surface with an audible sigh, warmth seeping into every crevice. She luxuriated in tranquility for several minutes. All the stress melted away along with her loosening muscles. She felt as safe as a babe in the womb, cradled in an all-encompassing embrace without any concerns for the world outside.

A soft murmur set magical pulses into the water, massaging her back, thighs, and shoulders in a combination that had her even more boneless than before. Jaw slack, she couldn’t help the groan that slipped past her lips. 

A part of her still clenched self-consciously at the sound. She had come into her sexuality much later than most of the other girls in Gryffindor. Even when she had started dating, she treated her own pleasure as something to be handed to her by another.

That self neglect came to an end in recent years. Her partners were appalled when they realized she’d never thought to take care of her own needs. Their confrontation had started somewhere along the lines of them demanding why she’d been such a beast lately—her snapping at them that they weren’t having enough sex to diffuse the tension resulted in an eye-opening conversation about communication, time management, and masturbation.

Hermione was nothing but an excellent student.

She studied. She practiced. She played until her arms nearly gave out and she could barely breathe after back-to-back orgasms all by her own hand.

And they rewarded her.

Cooing praise, filthy terms of endearment, requests to watch and not touch—they made her feel like a queen, their queen.

It was with them in mind that sent her hand drifting down, down, down between her breasts, a tweak to her nipple, sliding over her flat stomach, curling between her legs. She imagined their eyes watching her, one set grey as a gathering storm, the other a rich brown that glinted green in just the right light. Fingers tickled along the outer lips of her cunt.

She had a spell she wanted to try.

The magic was something of a cross between a charm and transfiguration. Simply put, it gave purpose to the water with the bather’s pleasure in mind. Reaching for her wand where it lay on the stool nearby, she twirled it in a conal motion.

“Aqua conplexus.”

The hand she still held between her legs was pushed aside, and she let it float to the floor of the tub. Liquid rolled into its place, having formed into a thick cylinder that was somehow both pliant and solid. The pulsing along her body was supplemented with what felt like countless hands gliding over her skin. 

Hermione allowed them to pull her legs wide, to tilt her hips up.

“Ah!”

She was filled with liquid steel all at once, the imaginary hands giving her little time to prepare. In and out the cylinder plunged, plumbing deep inside of her in the perfect imitation of a human cock. Hermione could do nothing but take it, gasping and moaning at the punishing pace. Even when she came, mind melting and crying out loud enough to set the flames around her flickering at the force of it, the water continued to fuck into her without end.

She flailed in an attempt to grab hold of her wand, brain gone and forgetting the counter charm she could cast wandlessly that would immediately cease all magic. She wasn’t thinking anymore, merely reacting in her overstimulation. Her partial turn to the side was immediately followed by a second rod pressing between her lower cheeks.

“Oh, oh fuck, oh god, ahhhh!” 

She stopped trying to reach for her wand the moment the tickling transformed into a pinpoint pressure that slithered up the dark crevice of her bum. She was helpless to the seesawing motion that water set from either side of her, filling her from both ends and sending her straight back up the path towards manic frenzy. 

Hermione had an abrupt vision of allowing her head to drop fully beneath the surface, opening her mouth, and letting the spell take that orifice as well. There was no safety measure in place preventing her from trying it. The likelihood of her drowning in such a way was high and was the only thing holding her back from the intense desire to wrap her tongue around something, anything.

She felt squeezed on all sides, pressure within and without impossibly tight. She felt herself trapped in a pleasure tube that demanded her sanity, a sacrifice she was more than willing to make.

The door creaking open sent her head twisting sharply up, the underwater motions unceasing and her climax approaching rapidly towards an unavoidable collision.

Theo and Draco stood in the doorway, arms wrapped around one another, eyes just as she had imagined intent on her and the sloshing water. They said nothing, merely watching. Their expressions were hungry, shoulders tense as they hugged and held each other back from charging forward.

It was the sight of them that sent her over the edge yet again. Her eyes slammed shut and she wailed as her orgasm flung her off a mountaintop of built-up stress, relief flooding every limb and radiating outward.

Theo rushed forward, wand extended. “Finite incantatem!”

Arms delved into the water without care for how it soaked the shirt. Draco supported her limp form against his chest, murmuring comforts that she barely registered in her half-aware state.

“Welcome home,” she whispered, already falling into the waiting darkness of sleep.

WC 1144

10/13 "Bathing" prompt from @hpkinktober

Cross posted on Tumblr on AO3

My inspiration for the water came from CryingCinderella's Weasley's Wizard Wheezes, which you should absolutely read if you haven't yet. It's probably one of my favorite Snamione of all time. I would 100% buy her variation of their product if it were an actual thing because 'me time' of this quality sounds MWAH!

#dramione #theomione #dreomione #draco malfoy x theo nott x hermione granger #draco x theo x hermione #hermione granger #hp kinktober 2023

[daisys-gard3n]

Friend. I'm in a non conning mood today.

Jotaro wearing gloves hits different tonight 😩, fingering me so much that he keeps going even after I squirt on the sheets. Whispering that im all his~

- @shadows-whore

okay...but like...what if i spiced it up with a serial killer-

cw: noncon, yandere, leather glove kink, afab reader + fem reader, squirting

You were terrified out of your mind, waking up with duct tape binding your arms and ankles and a piece slapped over your mouth to prevent you from screaming so loud. Your muffled pleads fell onto deaf ears in the empty room, squirming like a worm in the dirty as adrenaline rushed through your blood - you need to find a way out right now...You need to get yourself out of here. But it was futile, your captor layered a nice amount of duct tape on your wrists and ankles so that even if you found something to slice them with, it’s gonna take you a while to do so. 

The door opened to reveal a man you’ve never met before. He was quite handsome: tousled dark hair, aqua-green eyes that had this bone-chilling glint to them, light skin with some visible scars that weren’t covered by his button-up, tall and muscular, and had black leather gloves covering his hands. He closed the door, approaching you that made you cower in fear. Trying to squirm away from him as much as you could to the furthest corner of the bed, only for the man to crawl onto the bed with you. 

“Finally.” He muttered. “We can be together.”

“I couldn’t take it anymore, I needed to take you away from those bastards...You don’t deserve to live a life of suffering and to barely get recognition for it...Those fuckin’ bastards thought they could just touch you freely, touching what’s mine...Good thing I cut their fuckin’ fingers off...” He obsessively muttered, one of his leather glove-covered hands reached out to you and cupped your face. His eyes had this dull glimmer that wasn’t good news, looking at you posessively like you were a toy in a display window. His free hand travelling down your body, looking at you sympathetically. “Sorry, gotta keep the tape on your mouth on for now...Can’t have you screamin’ at me, especially when it’s our first night together.”

He hushed you when you started to scream, muddled by the tape as you pathetically tried to squirm away.

“It’s okay, there’s nothing you need to worry about...My name is Jotaro and I’ll be sure to take care of you from now on.”

It’s not like you could fight you way, especially when Jotaro had taken precautions with you before you woke up. Only to fall to his hand’s mercy as a knife sliced your clothes into shreds to be vulnerable to his predatory gaze. If he was an animal, you’re certain that he would be drooling at the sight of your body like a tiger to a gazelle. Muttering obsessively, you can hear things like ‘i’ve waited for this for a long time’ and ‘you’re finally going to be mine’ and similar phrases as those textured leather gloves ran down your bare body. Groping at your tits and pinching at your nipples roughly, Jotaro’s mouth kissing and sucking at your neck. Oh, you couldn’t move him - he was far too massive. Tears welding in your eyes as you tried to fight him off. However, your pussy enjoyed the attention from this man. It was confusing, you shouldn’t be enjoying this but your thighs were coated in slick as your clit throbbed for more. It was wrong, but it felt so fucking good when Jotaro gave you what it wanted by rubbing at your clit with a leather glove-covered finger. The texture making electric shoot through your veins, your moans muffled through the tape as Jotaro smiled at your reaction.

“I knew you would turn around. Just let me do the work.”

Before you knew it, two leather covered fingers slipped past your entrance. Your gummy walls welcoming him with a tight squeeze as you pulsed around the digits. Your voice was hoarse from trying to scream and your limbs tired from trying to run away from Jotaro, despite your bound form. He set a ruthless pace, pounding his fingers into you as the texture of the gloves felt so damn good inside. Especially when his thumb was messing with your clit roughly. Jotaro was just obsessively muttering the whole time, slowly turning into sexual gestures rather than possessive ones. Just from this meeting, you could see that jotaro got caught up in his thoughts. He wasn’t paying attention to how you already came, your cunt pulsing around him and your juices dripping out of your hole as he continued to finger you into oblivion. Your whines and cries fell on deaf ears as your hips bucked out of control, that pressure in your lower stomach forming and and exploding at the speed of light as you squirted all over Jotaro’s hand. He was snapped out of his thoughts when he felt something warm and wet splash onto his pants, looking down to see your cunt still spewing out juices as you shook and your toes were curled. Tears in your eyes, fear forming in your stomach as you feared that you did something to upset this deranged man. But he only looked up at you, his eyes looked like they were glowing in this dark room and the look of pure glee on his face. 

“Oh, fuck...You really do love me, don’t you? You squirted so much for me...I knew you would love me too. Fuck, it’s everywhere...God, you’re so perfect...You’re all mine.” Your night was set in stone when Jotaro fully crawled onto the bed with you, one of his soaked gloves going to undo his pants that showed off his throbbing boner trapped in his boxers. 

#slasher jojo au #slasher jotaro #not sfw #'noncon' #fem reader #yandere #glove kink #'squirting' #dead dove do not eat #shadows-whore

[catsandgoodbooks]

No. 11: “All the lights going dark and my hope’s destroyed.”

Animal trap | Captivity | “No one will find you.”

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

Bad stepped deeper into the forest, his ears pricked. He had to be careful here, true, but he also had to be fast. Despite what he’d told Sapnap, he remembered the whimpers from earlier, and, now that he had the camp set up, the area warded, and Sapnap safely settled down, he could go looking and hope he wasn’t too late.

Bad ran a clawed finger over one of the ferns brushing against him, the plant wilting under his touch. Invenies cruor in aqua dulcis, he hissed, the shadows folding in around him. He didn’t have time to waste here.

The demon sniffed the air, easily finding the heavy scent of blood he had been looking for. He could tell that it wasn’t animal blood either. That meant he had to get moving even faster.

Bad pushed his way through the forest, eyes locked on the path in front of him. He had to move fast if he wanted to be of any help. The forest pulled tight around him, covering his trail and opening up the way forward.

Bad stumbled to a halt as the scent became almost overwhelming, and he glanced forward to find what he had been looking for: a child, almost hidden by the greenery. They were pale, with matted blond hair falling to their shoulders, and had bright bright green eyes. Bad couldn’t tell if they were a boy or a girl. He took a step forward, accidentally announcing his presence to them, and realized why they were on the ground – one of their legs was stuck in a bear trap. Ah. That would explain all the blood then.

“Can I help you with that?” Bad asked, conscious of the way the kid’s eyes were locked on him. He didn’t need to ask if they were okay: that was already pretty clear. “I think I can get out if you let me?” Bad had to be careful here. He was pretty good with his own kid, but he knew how he looked. It was pretty hard to convince someone that you had their best interests at heart when you were immediately recognizable as inhuman, and, worse, obviously demonic.

“Try,” the kid hissed, their voice strained. Bad took that as an okay to move forward.

Bad stepped closer to them, ignoring the kid’s little flinch. “Sorry, but try to brace yourself. This is going to hurt,” he warned before he knelt down to carefully push down the springs on either side of the bear trap. The trap snapped open and the kid bit down a scream trying to escape their throat.

“I’m really sorry, but it would of just gotten worse if I didn’t do that,” he told them, trying to stop himself from reaching out to comfort them. They didn’t trust him, didn’t know who he was, probably had never met him before. Trying to touch them would probably just make everything worse. “Can I see your leg?”

The kid – Prime, he should really ask their name – slowly, carefully, pushed their injured leg towards him, hissing each time it moved. Bad leaned forward to take a better look at it.

Like he’d initially thought, it was covered in blood – and that alone was bad enough, blood loss wasn’t a fun way to die – but even through that Bad could see the injury there. He grimaced; if he’d had to guess, the bone was probably broken and an infection was probably incoming, because, well, it was a bear trap. They weren’t known for their cleanliness.

Bad ran options through his mind. Traditional medicine probably wouldn’t be much of a help here; it rarely was when massive blood loss was involved. Potions would probably be the best here, and he had healing potions, but he always kept it in the medkit he had left at the campsite.

There was another option, though. Demonic magic had always erred more on the side of destruction, and Bad was certainly no healer, but he’d picked up some tricks during his travels, and he’d needed them sometimes with a little daredevil like Sapnap. He only had one thing that would help with something as big as this, though–

“I need physical contact to help, sorry. And it’s going to hurt for a moment, but then it’ll feel better afterwards. Are…are you okay with that?”

The kid nodded sharply, and Bad reached forward to place one palm atop the injury and closed his eyes. Inuro vulnus, he whispered. 

This time, the kid actually did scream and Bad immediately felt guilty. He opened his eyes and was met with smooth skin where the huge gash used to be. The kid was still trembling.

“Hey, hey, it’s okay now.” Bad gave into his dad instincts and wrapped his arms around the kid. They didn’t flinch this time. “I’m not going to hurt you.”

***

Eventually, Bad peeled away and helped the kid to their feet. “You feel okay?” he asked. They nodded, staring at the ground. “Are your parents nearby?”

“I don’t have parents,” the kid whispered, fidgeting a little.

Bad frowned. He’d suspected that was the truth, but it still didn’t make it fine. “You don’t have anywhere to go?”

“Nope.” They looked away from him when they said it.

“It’s not safe for a kid to be out here alone,” Bad stated, a note of concern in his voice. “You can stay with me for the night, if you want. I’m just camping a little bit off from here.”

“Do you have food?” they asked, eyes narrowed.

“Yep!” Bad responded. “I–”

“Count me in,” the kid interrupted. A little smile creeped onto their face, and Bad smiled at that. He was glad they had some fire in them, and he was confident that they’d get along great with Sap. It would be nice for his kid to be around someone his own age for more than a couple minutes in towns or the like.

“Nice! And I apologize for not asking earlier, but what’s your name?” Bad asked.

“Dream,” they told him, and he smiled down at them.

“That’s a nice name,” Bad responded.

"You think so?" Dream asked, green eyes wide.

"I think it's amazing," he agreed. And I think you're amazing.

#whumptober2023 #no.11 #animal trap #dsmp #fic #gore #c!badboyhalo #c!dream #pre canon #my writing

[mr-deblob]

Hear me out on this: I honestly think Kairi could be the main playable character in Kingdom Hearts 4

Or at least a significant playable one.

I know that it sounds ridiculous to entertain the idea, especially with how badly she's been sidelined for the past 20 years. But taking into account the structure of mainline games and the current locations of our characters, it starts to look likely for both narrative and game design purposes.

Sora and Riku are stuck in Quadratum

First things first- there's no way in hell Nomura's letting Riku rescue Sora in the beginning hours of KH4. They definitely won't just hop back to the Realm of Light when they find each other. He might make questionable plot decisions, but he's not gonna pass up a chance to torture the two of them even more, especially since *something's* going on with Yozora and the Master of Masters.

In a GameInformer interview he gave, he was asked about how much time we'd spend in Quadratum.

I think it will be a pretty good amount of time since it is set as the initial base within the game. You spend time there and then go to different worlds and then go back there. Because the graphics are more realistic this time around, I feel like there’s more of a realistic daily life aspect to Sora’s life. You can see him go in and out of his room and spend time there. I feel like players will get to see more of the day-to-day routines he goes through.

It sounds like Quadratum will act more like an interlude between worlds, where the developments that happen in the Realm of Light (or wherever else) will cause more troubles to pop in the city. We've already seen Sora fighting a giant Heartless(?) that just showed up out of nowhere. There might be more events like that, or even encounters with the mysterious figures staring down from the rooftops. And when nothing's threatening the world, Sora might simply be living daily life with Strelitzia.

I'm uncertain on how much we'll actually get on the nature of Quadratum since it is just Tokyo, but part of me is feeling like the story beats will be more important than the setting on this side.

Kairi can have a blank-slate start

I'm sure everyone who picked Kairi in that final fight was a bit surprised by how aggressive it was. A strike raid teleport and a barrage of light flooding the battlefield were amazing to see in her first time in the spotlight. We know she can fight, so wouldn't those skills carry over to her next game?

But she's been asleep for a whole year to have her memories explored. They could easily explain the loss of former skills. Besides, the reasons for Sora always resetting to Level 1 are basically on the same scale. If you wanted more reasoning, then maybe Aqua's training is having her develop her own fighting style from scratch. It's very obvious she's trying to emulate Sora in her stance.

We also know that Kairi has her own unique combat pose. They've shown it to us at least twice in DDD and the KH3 opening, but we've never seen her actively using it in-game AFAIK. It sure would be an opportune moment to have her adopt it to signify her becoming her own person independent of Sora and Riku.

If the training time with Aqua seems like it would be too short to warrant Kairi going off on her own, keep in mind that we don't know how much time disparity there is between Quadratum and the RoL It could be synched up or be off by weeks, even months, more than enough to get her through the fundamentals.

Also, a mini-timeskip would give Nomura the chance to give the Destiny Trio new designs again. How Riku gets a new outfit and hairstyle while looking for Sora, I don't know, but he already pushed him through the Shadow Barber Shop. He can probably come up with something.

We still gotta have different Keyblades

Straight-up the title of this section. It's incredibly unlikely that Nomura would cut these, but as before, it's equally unlikely that Sora will get out of Quadratum into the RoL. Disney worlds are confirmed, and unless all of them are entirely new, I don't think there's a satisfying way to justify why he couldn't get help from the inhabitants, try to get off-world, or at least get in touch with someone if he still has his Gummiphone.

So if anyone else could go around to these worlds and collect these keychains, Kairi seems like a good candidate for that.

"But what about Destiny's Embrace?" Fair point. It's still got sentimental value to her and has familiarity. They wouldn't just dump it entirely.

However, I believe (and earnestly hope) that Kairi finally gets meaningful character development now. There's so much we could delve into (and we will later), but her current goal of growing stronger seemingly stems from a desire to determine her fate. For so long she's been carried by the tides of chance, waiting for what will happen rather than actively reaching towards her goals. In the end, it brought her down the path that led to Sora's disappearance, so she can't keep placing her faith in destiny.

Kairi might temporarily retire Destiny's Embrace, or perhaps her new mindset will trigger something in her Keyblade. We've seen that with Riku and the Way to the Dawn. It might be a more basic Keyblade like Braveheart, or she could end up wielding an iteration of the Kingdom Key to represent herself starting anew. Hell, maybe Sora fighting in her place in MoM passed it on to her, or she manifests it from her memories.

It'd be a convenient way to keep giving out new keychains while still making it feel like Sora experienced actual consequences for his misuse of the Power of Waking. They could even have Sora gain access to them through Kairi. His temporary possession of her at the end of MoM could be used as an in-universe way to hand-off the main PoV in a natural-feeling way, and she might be able to send him manifestations of the keychains as memories or something else that could cross over to Quadratum.

Masters and Maleficent will go wild

The KH3 ending brought back the Lost Masters through some unexplained mechanic. It also implies that they'll be the main antagonists of the new arc, but they're currently in the Realm of Light. I don't know how much Sora could do from the other side of reality. Not to mention Maleficent making even more schemes.

So the Keyblade wielders and their allies will have to defend against them and whatever other enemies crop up in their wake. But why would Kairi be the one pursuing their main goal? Why not Master Aqua, or at least one of the battle-hardened wielders?

Depending on the numbers, it'd be easy to say the other wielders are busy defending the worlds from the new threats, that they're spread too thin to take up whatever role Kairi would theoretically take. Maybe her status as a Princess of Heart could come up as another reason why it'd have to be her.

In any case, whatever Luxu has in that mysterious box spells bad news. The fact that there are going to be five ancient Keyblade Masters carrying out the Master of Masters' plan spells catastrophic news. Perhaps the missing Master Ava could work from the shadows to stymie them or to help Kairi on her quest.

Also, the Heartless are still gonna be wreaking havoc even if the Masters aren't. That will practically always be true, especially now that Xehanort's not controlling them all. Maleficent is going to do what Maleficent does best and use this to her advantage. With all these potential villains in the RoL, someone's gotta take care of them.

New worlds can develop Kairi further

Now that KH3 is finished and out of development hell, they're now free to consider new Disney properties, even those beyond 2014. And there's quite a few that could easily be connected to Kairi's desire to grow beyond her past and choose her own path:

Moana - Island girls who want to seize their destinies to see what lies beyond everyday life, both struggling with self-doubt. Also have grandmas who know more than they let on.

Coco - How memories connect us, that we can be together in heart when apart, the pains of love and separation. Fighting for your dream even when you're alone.

Encanto - Especially heavy exploration of breaking from the roles others place on us and that we take on, acknowledging and expressing emotions we hide from others.

Brave - "If you had the chance to change your fate, would ya?" Besides that, accepting that people can grow apart, that we each take our own paths, that it doesn't need to break our bonds.

WALL-E - Be open to change, don't let familiarity keep you stuck. Trust in the future, trust in yourself, break through the limits of your past. Go on even when all seems lost.

Frozen 2 - Self-determination and independence, grieving what has been lost, righting the wrongs of the past. Pain is a fact of life, do not let your fear of it keep you from doing what is necessary.

There's likely other films that could fit or other themes of these movies that parallel with Kairi, but these are rife with potential. Plus, the trend of female protagonists with little to no romantic storylines could let Kairi be perceived as more than Sora's love interest or someone to be saved.

Kairi is finally free to change

I don't think it's controversial to say that Nomura really mishandled Kairi's role in the series up til now. She's been stuck in character limbo, and even if we know more stuff *about* her since KH1, we haven't really gotten much *from* her. She's never had enough focus to really showcase her inner world, but I don't think it's due to disinterest on Nomura's part. Instead, I think that it was a result of very poor planning of her arc and his weakness at indirect characterization.

From the start, he probably had an idea of where he wanted to take Kairi's character. He must've, at minimum, pinned down the major strokes of her backstory involving Radiant Garden given the brief mention of her not remembering her home and the flashback with her grandma in KH1. KH2 and BBS both manage to flesh her out a bit more, and even her portrayal in the first game seemed to hint at something going on beneath her surface. Even so, she still outwardly appears as the same cheerful, kind, caring girl from the beginning of the series. I don't think Nomura decided to completely rip those seeds of growth from her character, but he has at least stifled them up til now.

In comparison to all the other main and supporting characters in KH, Kairi is noticeably lacking in any major character insights. From what I've seen, even people who dislike how the female cast is written can tell that the story is practically avoiding any chances for Kairi to verbalize her emotions. The conversations we do get with her almost always shift focus to the other person's feelings. If it does focus on her, the thoughts she does express tend to explore her relationships with other people instead of letting us know more about Kairi herself. As to why he'd make this writing choice with her, there's two possible answers beyond him just not wanting to deal with her.

The first is that he's trying to characterize her through her lack of characterization, that she's a people-pleaser who tends to put others' needs and wants before her own. We've already seen shades of this in KH1 on the dock and when Sora tells her to stay behind in Traverse Town.

In the former, it comes across as her trying to convince herself to go along with the plan about the raft, telling herself that she's ready to go wherever and holding onto the idea that she can always come back to Destiny Islands. Even so, you can hear a hesitation and uncertainty in those words. The only parts where she lets her fears bleed through are when she tells Sora not to change and arguably when she jokes about just the two of them taking the raft. Kairi tests the waters to see if Sora would be willing to go along with her alone before backing down. I don't think she'd actually go through with it, she's not that type of person. I can't say for certain that she hasn't entertained the thought, even if only half-seriously, but it's clear that she said it to avoid her thoughts on how Riku's changed. Kairi doesn't want to show Sora her doubts, especially when they're so close to setting sail. The only assurance she allows herself is asking Sora not to change, to stay her familiar friend, before shifting to expressing apparent excitement at setting sail.

When Sora and Kairi make their promise with the Wayfinder, she's afraid of how their friendship with Riku will have changed if he comes back. Still, she's willing to go help save Riku after seeing Sora's resolve to do so. When he tells her no, she pushes back, telling him that they have to stick together. She only starts to relent when Sora tells her that they won't be alone even if they're apart, then gives up entirely when he says she'd be in his way. Her laugh almost seems like an automatic response to cope with the hurt that statement would naturally provoke. Before he goes, she makes a compromise between their wants, getting Sora to promise that he'll return her Wayfinder to her- that he'll come back after everything's done. Then she tells him that she's always with him wherever he goes, taking Sora's statement and using it to reassure herself more than him. She doesn't want to inconvenience the ones she cares for, so she changes herself, adapting to their desires and opinions to ease any friction between them.

The other answer would be that Nomura's plan for her required her to retain her starting character traits until certain conditions were fulfilled. From where we are in the story, I'd wager that he she needed to be separated from Sora and Riku and for her to gain a meaningful motivation get stronger, at least according to Nomura's standards. The first half of that has been true for almost the entire series, as sad as it is, but we've only just now fulfilled the second. It's possible that he underestimated how long he would need to keep Kairi relatively unchanged for whatever he had planned in the future, causing her to be a static character for all this time.

Now, she's had to confront her fears head-on, needed to acknowledge the feelings of weakness and inferiority getting shattered by Xehanort gave her. It's Xehanort's fault that Sora disappeared, but she might partly blame herself for needing to be rescued rather than saving herself. Her tendencies of staying out of everyone's way and going along with their plans wasn't enough to keep Sora out of harm's way, to protect him. That failure can drive her to grow strong, to realize that valuing herself doesn't mean having to devalue others, that caring for yourself is an act of kindness for those who care about you.

I will acknowledge that even if these answers are accurate, reasonable intentions still don't excuse a sloppy execution. Nomura has skill in weaving a character's motivation into their actions and personality to add depth. However, he often relies on the characters voicing these out loud instead of letting the audience draw their own conclusions from what's presented. While this works well-enough for the series, it means that any indirect characterization he tries to do often ends up falling flat. Aqua at the Keyblade Graveyard is the biggest example of this. It's clear now that her time in the Realm of Darkness left her with some serious PTSD and that the massive storm of Heartless caused her to freeze up at the sight, but the way it was shown pre-Re:Mind ended up frustrating more people with her inaction instead of having them understand why she didn't act.

I'd argue the same thing's been happening with Kairi throughout the series up until now. A character like Kairi isn't inclined to express their unfiltered thoughts, leaving her to rely on indirect characterization to be fleshed out. Combine that with a weakness at subtle storytelling and a severe lack of focus and screentime, and you'll leave your audience almost nothing to discern about her character without close examination. Not to mention, any frustrations or disappointments or boredom regarding her character would only serve to make people even less willing to engage with her, especially stretched out over two decades.

Hopefully, Nomura feels free to put his plans regarding Kairi into motion now that she's gained the space for agency beyond Sora and Riku. I even think Nomura himself is aware of his struggles with nuanced character writing, something he hopes to fix. If you haven't heard, he brought on Akiko Ishibashi, the writer for Neo: The World Ends with You, to help write KH4. Anyone whose played that game can tell you about the amount of depth and complexity the cast of that game had, and her ability to transform one-dimensional archetypes into fully-realized people. I have little doubt that she'll breathe new life into the world of Kingdom Hearts, and I think that we'll see the start of this change through Kairi first and foremost.

In the future

This all sounds like wishful thinking, and it is, but I hope that it's not entirely unfounded. I'm mainly making this before any major trailers drop because, if this does happen, I can't imagine them hiding it for too long.

Maybe Nomura will finally give Kairi the screentime she deserves, and if he doesn't... well, guess we'll go through even more years of rightful disappointment in Nomura's handling of her.

#kingdom hearts #kingdom hearts 4 #kh #kh4 #kh4 speculation #kairi #kh kairi #kingdom hearts theory #kh meta #character analysis #character writing #fan theory #speculation #game theory #akiko ishibashi #tetsuya nomura #please please please Nomura #don't prove me wrong here #let us know you care about Kairi

[elderflowergin]

SBS Hyena, episode 1 rewatch (part 3)

Today we will look at cute watch ads, the storm before the actual storm and bonus Yoon Hee-jae being expensive.

Hwang Bo-ra is so wonderful in everything she does. Sim Yu-mi has a great sense of style and an equally loud personality, but she feels quite personable. This means she’s quick to make friends and pull them in, which is what puts Jung Geum-ja in Yoon Hee-jae’s circle.

Kindly note her single earring, the contrast of her aqua blazer, her neon pink nails and her lip. Let's put a pin in that comment by her.

(I live for Hee-jae saying he's expensive. I'm sure you are, babe.)

On any other show, their age difference would have been played for hijinks, laughs or a plot point. Ga Gi-hyeok as the bestie might have told his friend he could do much better (untrue). Boo Hyeon-a might have had an entire jealousy arc with her (you know they would have done that.)

Not on this show. This is the first and the last time a named character says anything on the topic. It’s a sometimes grating comic character who makes the comment, which would have been a sneaky way to slide in something mean or judgmental. But there's none of that here. It’s super refreshing. 

And then, total obliteration: 

Kim Hee-sun is luminous, sexy as hell and completely in control. Yoon Hee-jae may have upped the stakes here by turning up and dropping that outrageous line about leaving with him, but Kim Hee-sun does the metaphorical equivalent of cuffing his chin, smirking and saying "Let me show you how it's done, dear boy." Of course he leaves like he's been lassoed.

Ju Ji-hoon is never going to look like this in a show, ever again. I feel like the costuming team sat down with the PD and went, listen, we have an actor-model in the house. Let us at him. Let us put him in gorgeous suits and saturated colours and lots of great lighting.

This is presumably the Gran Bleu, which is where they met twice more, and...the lighting is not like this on those occasions. Here it's cosy, with lots of warmth on their faces, but there are also plenty of shadows. Almost as if to say that romantic lighting also tends to conceal a lot. 

The last time they do meet here, the lights are up, because the show's over, and the things they say and do are so achingly loving that you won't need any romantic pap. Substance over form. 

This entire sequence plays out like a generic, if extremely posh, romance. Form, rather than substance: two beautiful people listening to the same record, cooking in the kitchen, looking at art dressed like they should be in fashion magazines - culminating in this gorgeous windswept kiss with the sun setting and the mountains behind them. HIGH ROMANCE, or rather, what we think high romance should look like.

I say “generic”, because this could be any couple. There is nothing here that is specifically them. It’s stock architecture over the heart of things that Hee-jae loves, but there is nothing else of him, and absolutely nothing of her. Even that kiss on the rooftop is made to look exactly like those ubiquitous East Asian watch commercials with the blurry slow-motion - and it is, because it’s very smart PPL, I’m certain - but it enhances, rather than detracts from the generic quality of this sequence. 

Anyway, the ad film’s coming to an end because…it’s courtroom time. DUN DUN DUN.

#sbs hyena #sbs hyena recap

[spaceshipsoutthepool]

In Titan's Shadow.

Story update! chapter two. rest of the chapter under read more.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/50753461/chapters/131252695

The first explosion was deafening. It rocked the ship, violently knocking the crew sideways and into one another. It also knocked the power of the ship off, stalling their fish and sending them into a free fall toward the ocean bed. The second threw Marina off her feet completely. With a wordless cry she hit the deck, taking the fellas down with her.  

“Direct hit!” Troy cried. No… Cheered. Troy cheered. Even as the ship sank.

“Good shooting!” Phones Whooped and scrambled up to get a hold of the controls.

Direct hit? But they didn't die? Aren't we sinking?

 Power surged through panels and lights, as Phones fired the ship back up, still on his knees. Troy just as quickly leapt to levers and yawned them out the dive.

“Yeah! Nice shot, commander!” He shouted into the mic. “But by golly. You sure left it late!”

“Talk about cutting it close, father.” Lieutenant Shore agreed.

Atlanta? Oh. Of course, the radio. She is radioing from the tower. But what did Troy mean, The commander?

Had she heard that right? Marina lay there Winded and Sprawled out on the floor looking up at the curved panels and dim dim lights. Was she dreaming? A dream in a dream? Was she dead?

But judging by the ache in her shoulder Marina was sure she was alive and awake. With a bit more effort Marina sat up. Just as the most marvellous Stingray swung about past the fish eyed portholes. And Commander Shore's voice indeed crackled over the radio in response.

“You weren't worried I wouldn't show up were you, Troy?”

“Well sir I must confess I was beginning to wonder-!” Troy laughed. Marina laughed too despite herself. Despite everything.

“Great craft Stingray. Up-!” The commander started. But something interrupted his musing. “Oh no you don’t!”

That ‘Something’ being a Titan Terror fish. Marina watched stunned from her place on the floor. And got a front row seat as, just as it opened its mouth to fire on them, a second terror fish took a sting missile to the face instead.

“Another down. Anyway, it's good to be back at the controls!”

“Stingray- I mean, Mechanical fish, you’ve another coming up underneath you from your starboard side!”  Atlanta warned. Troy steered their fish one way as Stingray went the other. “Looks as though it’s trying to get between you and- Oh.”

Said terror fish was suddenly rammed off course. Up and up between them it went before spiralling out of control. It didn't explode, but it was sure struck with one squid of a hit.

“Never mind. Cancel report.” Atlanta radioed in.

“That's one to Swordfish, I guess.” Troy said with an impressed whistle, trying to level the controls. “Not that it's a competition. Or anyone’s keeping scores.”

“Looks like both are going back for a second hit.” Phones warned.

“Green ten,” Troy agreed, and together they steered out of range as the enemy fish swung back toward them again. But it was taken out by- 

“Another stingray??”  Marina frowned. She tried to clamber up on wobbling legs to see better. Troy noticed and helped her to her feet, hauling her up one handed.

No. It wasn’t another Stingray. But a second very similar look craft certainly. One that rolled over and like a dolphin in the water. The not-Stingray struck the enemy fish again, glancing blows off its middle, just like it had before. 

And a third ship appeared. It out manoeuvred the first to join in chasing off the terror fish. Then dove down turning along the seabed.

Both bore the sleek silhouettes the WASP vehicles favoured. But they were odd shaped. Sort of but not quite Stingray shaped. The first, (the one that had just taken out the terror fish), was too small but bulky at the front. The spinning propulsion on its back was split into two smaller units and it was missing the bright yellow along the hull, sporting a pale green instead. 

The other was thin, with no cabin or aqua-sprites Marina could see. It was also painted with zig zag markings rather than clean smooth lines. What she could see were strange wires and ariel on its prow. And how it was nipping around the other submarines with ease.  

The fourth ship that came out of the darkness was huge. What it lacked in speed and agility it made up for with sheer size and force. Even at this distance, Marina couldn't see both ends of the submarine. As tall as Stingray was long, it punched its way through Titan's shoal, scattering them like a whale through sardines. The slogan DILL1GAF19-64 sailed past their windows in stark white against the grey hull, with No portholes or windows of its own.  One terror fish, unable to swerve in time, went crashing into the side of it. The fish crumpled, concertinaed on itself. But barely making a scratch on the 19-64. The sub didn't even alter course. It carried on, straight and solid. Even blockading them, the stingray crew, off from being in direct view of Titan's forces, bullying the Terror fish into splitting up. 

Some advanced. Only to end in one (or two) on one fights with the terranean craft. Some scattered with Stingray chasing them off.

It was so chaotic. Terror fish swam left and right, some aquaphibians swimming free from their struck vessels on the seabed. Silt rose up like smoke debris and creatures scattered. 

Marina could imagine the King bellowing orders and insults at his craft. And the bubbling of the aquaphibians. 

“The commander’s taken the point.” Troy said. The diving mask was still hanging bout his neck. “Let's beat it out of here?”

“Don’t need to tell me twice.” Phones agreed.

One terror fish tried to disagree. And took a blow to the side just as Troy radioed Stingray. And the commander Ordered to sail towards a set position. 

"And then from there head for base." He spoke. "Guess Titan won't try that again."

Marina flinched. 

"P w or. All the same he nearly pulled it off huh?" Troy agreed. Then said again to Marina. “Hey, ease up on the grip there.” 

Marina blinked. She hadn't realised she'd taken his arm again. His and Phones'. Only Phones didn't comment. 

"We're okay. Look, see? We've got help. The commander’s come to our aid." Troy said and pointed out the port hole trying to be reassuring.  Their own better ship was circling the Wasp's fish. Keeping them safe as they plodded on. "Stingray! You know she got the drop on titan every time, Marina.”

(She flinched again. At his name. She couldn’t help it.)

“And look, she brought some friends along."

Troy was right though. They were protected. The four Alien human vessels Surrounded them on all sides. Marina watched them swim round and around, as if their little broken terror fish were the centre of some sort of whirlpool phenomenon.

"Told you we'd bring her home." Troy said over her head. 

"Didn't doubt you for a minute." Phones replied warmly. Then added, with a chuckle, " …a few seconds sure, especially back there.” 

Marina hesitated then nodded slowly in agreement. And a smile small, scared as it felt cracked her lips. 

“That there's one of the Swordfish, from pen five. With the green and blue. Can only a little deeper I reckon? She'll be at her max gauge about now.” Phones told her. “Heck of a speed on her though. Third fastest in the fleet.” 

What about that one? Marina asked, pointing.

“That one? That's an E seven two. But it's nicknamed Catfish ‘cos them barbs. She's like an early version of Stingray, but you know, not as pretty as our ship.” Phones explained.

As he spoke, E Severn Two demonstrated its prowess: hunting and chasing down a Terror Fish that had ducked trying to get in front of them. It's manoeuvre in the yawning was almost eel-like. Marina wondered if like a catfish, those bards helped navigate its surroundings.

 “See? She's more nimble than us sure.” Troy agreed.

“Well, more nimble the Stingray. I think even my old toaster moves better than us right now!” Phones put in.

“True. But the Catfish isn’t great in open water much. Good for seabed patrols.” Troy continued. “It’s not normally used to seeing this type of action either. The science guys tend to use her for getting samples and monitoring sea life. But the WASP must be equipped for anything. And get these dang over headlights working would yeh Phones? I can barely see anything in here.”

 “That ugly big thing's not one of ours though. It's automatic.” Phones said.

“Not even remote controlled.” Troy made a face. “Half ambulance, half warship. Based on a hundred-year-old design of a U-boat that the British base of the world navy had in archives. Rehauled then filled with computers and missiles.”

Perhaps hearing itself being insulted, the 19-64 fired two loud blooming warning shots. One terror fish was flipped and sent spinning with the force. Troy remained unimpressed. “Blasts its way in, blasts its way out. The old man pulled some strings. You know, seeing as the navy STILL owed us one!”

Marina nodded, not really taking it in as interesting as it was. Another Terror fish had slid behind them, sharklike and ready to attack; Only to be cut down by Stingray before she could even let Phones and Troy know about the danger. How did the commander and their new friends know which fish was which? Was there something in place to make sure they were not struck by friendly fire or by accident? Or was the commander relying solely on Troy’s handling of a machine to steer them clear of such things? 

Marina still didn't feel safe yet. Rescued, yes but not safe. Not while Troy and Phones were still in danger. In danger of being crushed by the mighty ocean. Of drowning. Of being hit. They still could be. If one terror fish broke from the pack the odds. Or a stray missile hit them.

They almost died.

They could have died in the shoot-out. Caught in crossfire.

Troy and Phones could have Been caught breaking into the city to find her. And then died at Titan's hands.

Still Could. Could have. But didn’t. And not yet. Right?

Despite her anxiety, their fish Thundered on regardless, mostly unaffected.  Every so often, a new or different voice on the radio punctuating things like:

 “Three blew, one crushed, one smoking.”

Or,

“Going in for a second strike.”

And,

“Fish number seven sunk. But I’ve the aquaphibians swimming out the airlock. What are your orders, commander?”

“Leave them, unless they're armed.” Shore radioed back. “Nothing much they can do bar throw rocks at you without their ship.” 

Worrying, there was one cry of:  

“They're trying the drag net routine!” 

“Keep away from going in between the mechanical fishes.” 

Marina had dreaded they’d pull something like that. But when the Navy vessel ignored the orders and went between them any way, it dragged the two Titan ships to a halt with its sheer weight, (rather than the other way around) until the net ripped.

“...okay I admit the navy did good on that one.” Troy complained.

The radio beeped.

“Two unaccounted for- oh found one.”

In a very freighting moment The Swordfish took a hit  from a missile to the side. but despite the bang and the smoke kept up the fight. Albeit with no more ramming it’s victims into a stupor. It didn’t stop them firing.

“That’s another for Wasps.” 

“Gee I wish we were part of the action rather than the target.” Troy sighed, always itching for adventure.

“I feel like a hare on a robotic-greyhound track.” Phones agreed. Soon they were leaving the main Battle behind them thankfully.

“We’re running low on missiles, sir?” 

“Keep going! We’ve got them on the rocks. Continue until you’re down two or three in reserve then evasive manoeuvres and retreat. We need to give our ‘fish as good a getaway as possible.”

This continued until the very last Terror fish retreated the direction they'd come, Stingray at its tail. the two fellas cheered, struggling out the tanks and breathing apparatus. The silt started settling, leaving the murky waters around them for still and calmer seas. And Marina watching it go finally, finally, felt able to Draw breath.

“Eh, Marina?” Troy asked and clapped her on her shoulder with affection. But left her more delicate than she felt. She’d missed what he’d said to her too. Having no words, less so than normal Marina nodded, blinked up at him and bumped her forehead to his shoulder. She hadn't done that to anyone for a long, long time.  But it felt necessary. Even if the gesture was completely lost on a terranean.

“Hey hey. You're okay. We're going to make it. Told you, didn't I?” He assured her. He Patted her hand where she still held his arm. Then jostling her with a One-armed hug terrain ‘brothers’ give one another. Phones joined them on Marina’s other side.

“You Didn't think we'd leave you stuck there?”

Marina Shrugged

“Started to feel like it, I bet?” Troy asked.

Yes, Marina Nodded. It did a little.

 “Poor thing. Don't worry Maria, we'll get home soon.”

“We made it.” Troy Chuckled.

“We made it.” Phones echoed. “Hey skipper, we made it!”

“And no casualties on our part!”

Marina held them both tight as an octopus might, squeaking back. Three of them hugged together with Marina Squished in the middle. Laughing together, just the three of them.

“We'll slow going, but we're safe now that back-ups here.” Phones smiled as they broke the embrace and the boys returned to the controls. “Safe and sound.”

Safe and sound Sounds very good, Marina smiled back. But her hands stayed still.

 She Kept thinking she was dreaming. If she was, and still in her cell, well she didn’t want to wake up.

“We're just sorry we couldn't get here sooner. This heap of junk-” Phones laughed, the over light blinked full wattage on again. And they were finally out of the very dim near darkness. Then Phones stopped laughing.  Then started Squinting at her Dim light of the cabin. And put his face very close to hers. Marina drew back a little surprised. For a shallow moment she thought he might kiss her. Then felt silly for thinking so.

“Oh. Oh no that ain't right.” Phones murmured softly.

“Huh? What up?” Troy asked.

Is something wrong?

Phones didn’t respond straight away. Marina shifted, uncomfortable under his gaze. A gaze that had gone sharp again.

“Say Troy?” Phones said, not taking his eyes off her.  “... You seeing this? What I'm seeing here?”

“What's that?” Troy Snapped to attention, scanning the waters outside. "Position?"

"Inside, to your left. Marina, look at the captain for me? Like up up at Troy.” Phones asked. “In the light, properly where he can see you, while I take over a second?”

Both confused, Marina did as she was told with Troy following, stepping away from the console and into the main body of the fish Under the Best light they could. Marina turned to Troy and looked up at him. At his Big blue eyes and pretty face.

"Hm?"

Once upon another time Marina's heart might have fluttered like a fin at such attention. Oh, sure he was now just a friend, and she knew now he was Atlanta's. She'd witnessed it at the hospital, her dear dear friend’s raw Devotion as Atlanta had Wept at his side. Atlanta had been Terrified to leave Troy, defying her father's orders even, just to stay with him…

But even still Troy was very handsome? And then for a moment Marina imagined she Could still see the staining of the purple liquid that had poisoned him. And she Shivered for different reasons entirely. But now as Phones took over the controls, Troy looked to her. Really looked. His blue eyes so close. He Brought his hand up to cup her cheek and oh-

Oh! OW!

Ouch.

Marina pulled back sharply hissing. Oh no that didn't feel nice at all.

“What the-?!”

Oh no.

Honestly, in all the excitement she'd forgotten about. Marina Winced. And flinched away when Troy reached Tried to wave him off and bring her own hand up to hide it.

“Marina, you're hurt.” Troy said, Stating the obvious.

“That one there's fresh on her cheek. Must have happened in the run to the escape pod. I don’t remember seeing it there before.”  Phones said.  Marina could hear in his voice a funny tone. Not a ha-ha funny one either. “But that other one’s not bleeding.”

Troy was Scanning her face again.

“Yeah. You've cut your cheek. And look here?” He said softly, gesturing to the rip of her dress she hadn't noticed. Nor the big scratch at her arm. Marina tried to cover that as well. But Troy still took one look at her face and frowned. Or to one side of her face. Then up higher. “But that one other didn't happen tonight did it, honey? Not when we sprung you out?” He asked. His tone had also gone scary. Soft. But scary.

Marina Shook her head, biting her lip. Which stung with the catch of her teeth. So, Marina stopped, remembering the split lip.

She hadn't had a good look at it, her face. Only wobbly distorted reflections, the odd glance into mop buckets, silver platters and out the throne rooms' big windows. But knew there was a mark there. One that started at the temple, and went down her brow to her cheek bone...

And now a Stinging scratch on her cheek to match?

She'd felt gunshots whip past her, the idiot guards not caring about ricochet, crossfire or Wasp tactics. Titan had Held her by her shoulders. Titan had pulled hard at her front, by her hair. Anywhere else to haul her in front of him like a shield. She fought as hard as she could. But she'd been weak, even with the rush of being rescued. And then she'd felt A knife he'd pulled from the table pressed against her belly. It might have been a fish knife, but it still could have gutted her like a fish. She'd froze in Struggling against him, Cold metal making her panicked. Even when the gas canister clouded their vision.

She'd kicked him, Marina realised with pride.  She'd kicked the so-called mighty King Titan in the shin and ran away. Ran back to the earth men. Smack into them even. Laughter and bubbling tears pricking her eyes. Marina couldn't help it but laughed in Troy's face.

 “What’s so funny?” 

But now Tempest's face was like thunder. Phones' too. Marina Flinched again, this time at his tone. And shrugged, tried to say it doesn't matter. But she was Unable to get her fingers to work. Even as Troy strode back to the console and commanded his ship,

“Phones? Phones Turn around. We're going back to join the other vessels. And I'm going back to Titanica!”

Thanks for reading. x

#stingray 1964 #stingray fanfiction #I dunno if I like posting stoires on to tumblr #but i know some folks find them easier to read here #in titan's Shadow #the master plan 2 electric boogaloo #long post #my fanfiction #troy tempest #Marina #Phones #terrorfish #thunderfam

[kirric-the-fan]

Power of Hope Episode 6!

As always spoilers under the cut

-RIN'S BACK!

So yeah, Rin transforms into Rouge, however, I feel like this was the weakest in terms of reasons for transforming? Part of me wonders if something got a little lost in the translation with the subtitles, as the moment where Aqua was down didn't feel like the right build up. Like there was a little something still missing beforehand- Karen mentioning how she knows she can rely on Rin too

Talking about Aqua: Aqua, honey, your ass keeps getting beat. at this rate 90% of the Precure transformations are going to be because they're trying to save you.

OMG those dog-shadows have the stupidest sound effects ever. Yes I can get over the jarring CGI because that adds to the monsterous and optherworldly-ness of the creatures, but the sounds, ahhh uh no. No.

Nice little visit to the sky tree and panpaka pan. Still very surprised that Saki doesn't know exactly who Dark light night is. Something's going on there.

Briefly popping back to the transformations: Rin was enjoying that a bit too much- I think this will play back in to the sinister time flowers that are blooming when they transform. The question is do they bloom every time they transform? Or just the first time? And what do they mean? As always, we'll have to wait and see.

Oh Rin. Yeah, I was spending a lot of this ep wanting the shake the screen and yell 'TALK TO SOMEONE! TELL SOMEONE!' But y'know, I get it. Girl ain't catching a break even when she's putting in her all and that gets you. You have to make choices and then it just builds. I really feel for her. Hopefully this precure stuff can shift her out of her rut and back on track.

I like the Karen & Rin relationship being back, and thought it was nicely built on what was done before.

So Coco is keeping Nozomi out because of him having to do king stuff and he wants her to live her dream? I get it, but I feel like we're going to see a 'dreams change' theme later on. with this.

NEXT WEEK: U RA RA!!!!! It's Urara's ep, and OUR BEST BOY SYRUP IS BACK!!! YES!!! Hopefully he can help Urara out of her funk as well. I am excited for that. See you then!

#otona precure #power of hope precure full bloom #episode 6

[cassioppenny]

hits you with the milesverse beam. do u have anything on any of the evil team admins 👀 IF NOT i would like 2 hear more about the b2w2 kids.....................

hmmm for evil team admins im planning to have the gen 2 rocket admins show up during rgby. they won't be like major characters or even the main recurring rocket guys (jessie and james are already taking that role lol) but like they'll cameo a couple times. like the nugget bridge guy is the purple disguise guy

ariana is silver's mom and mars is his older sister... i want to give the magma and aqua admins more screen time idk what exactly i'll do with them though yet... the flare scientists would probably be doing evil science things on serena or something... that's basically it so far

ANYWAY B2W2 KIDS!!!!!! rosa and nate are ideals and truth aligned respectively but more of them representing absence of truth and absence of ideals. kinda like how black is the absence of light and white is the absence of color!

rosa is a compulsive liar who is constantly lying to everyone she meets. she's scared of people finding out the truth about her so she hides behind a million facades. her parents are big ghetsis fans so rosa ran away from home to get away from them.

she stole her snivy from bianca and ran off to go on a pokemon journey like a normal kid. hugh chased after her because she stole a pokemon and after rosa and hugh battled bianca just let her keep snivy and told hugh to go with her and be her friend. hugh was pretty against this at first because he thought she was with team plasma but they eventually become best friends :3. rosa is scared about hugh learning about her past because she doesn't want to lose her first friend.

also also rosa LOVES movies. she was a sheltered kid but watched a ton of movies as a kid using a laptop she stole that she filled with a ton of pirated movies. because of this her perception of what is a "normal kid's life" is a little skewed lol. she wants to become a movie star thinking that her becoming famous will make her a "normal kid" (it won't). she meets yancy and she learns that being a famous movie star isn't going to make her a normal kid like she wanted to be. also lightpinkshipping sweep or something

nate lives in his older sister hilda's shadow basically. she's a pretty well known competitive pokemon player that people love watching the battles of. nate looks up to her and thinks that in order for people to like him he needs to be just like her. he has no real dreams of his own and just wants to do what his sister does.

he befriends rosa and hugh in nimbasa and decides to go travel with them so he can train his pokemon. during b2w2 he learns to find his own dreams and make his own identity separate from being hilda's little brother

hugh doesn't give a shit about truth and ideals he just wants his fucking cat back. he also wants to figure out what rosa is hiding from him....

#milesverse #rosa my skrunkle she's my silly #anyway yippee i hope you like them :3

[memorystormsanctuary]

Day 5 ~ Light or Darkness

Whenever I do these it seems at least one day ends up being from the pov of another Oc, and today is that day this year. Today’s prompt for @khoc-week is Light or Darkness and this is a prompt I had an easy answer for. Y has always been and always will be Light, in a literal and figurative sense of that as she is the goddess of Light trapped in a human form. She embodies many of the qualities of Light, being bright and happy, but also showing the lesser-known sides. As many don’t know her identity it can be hard for some people to see the Light in all she does. But her twin brother knows, and he has always seen her light in its entirety.

***

Everything about her always seemed to radiate light. X had heard countless people say it countless times. Something about her just always seemed to give off light. To X it was a given. Of course, she was always shining, she was Light in its purest form. But what made it interesting was the moments when people said it to him.

There were those who saw it in her happiness and joy. Sora and Axel were among those who had told X Y's happiness was so bright. Her smile turned the very world around them into the brightest day. Even when storm clouds rolled overhead and thunder rumbled in the distance. If she laughed it would be enough to make it seem there was no storm, the clouds part so the sun might shine. Something about the smile that graced her face and maybe in the dimples on her cheeks. The bubbly laughter that quickly passed from her to those around her, even X if she went on for long enough.

Perhaps in the same vein were those who saw it in her excitement. It had been specific to her bouncing and chattering away. Roxas had been the one to notice it in the moment. The way she flitted around like a bird, chattering on about things he didn’t understand but she was too excited to notice. Her light flickered and danced in those moments, like the fire at the center of the home.

The flickering fire continued on, in moments she was creating things. Yuki and Kairi both seemed insistent about it. That her explanations were so detailed and exact, they shone a light on the things they didn’t understand. A contained light directed at the shadows of doubt and misunderstanding to bring understanding. Like the light in a child’s room that chased out the shadows.

Others saw it in her calm. Riku, Xion, and Terra all agreed on that. When she sat, completely at peace with herself and the worlds as they were. The rare moments of true calm. In those moments she seemed to offer light in short bursts, a subtle soft glow. As her eyes caught sight of different things, a glow at small details in the world. When she saw her friends with her and the simplicity of it all. Her light seemed so contained, that they wished they could carry with them always. Like the fireflies in summer trapped in a jar that always seemed to fade far too soon.

On very special occasions someone would see it in the way she loved. Ventus was one of the few, and the only of this lifetime that had really seen it. Though he said it was clear even when she was just with her friends. She loved deeply and with such strength. It was electrifying, the way it seemed to power both herself and Ventus. The crackle between them, sparks almost jumping from their fingers. The force was great, and part of X worried as it was forced into a short time. One life. Trapping lightning in a bottle until it inevitably exploded.

The strangest perhaps were those who saw it in her moments of sadness. It was a moment that even X sometimes struggled to see the light he knew followed his sister. But something about the way she held in her tears and forced a smile. Aqua and Namine both claimed it was the moment her light shined the brightest. The way the sun could be seen even through rain clouds if they looked hard enough. Or the way Aqua had watched a meteor shower even in the Realm of Darkness, the streaks of light crossing the sky like tears for just a moment before they disappeared.

What X found the strangest was that no one seemed to agree with him about when her light was most apparent. Maybe it was because so few of their friends had ever been on the receiving side of it. X had been. And he had seen it directed at others. And no matter who was on the other side, he knew in those moments there was no denying her light.

In those moments there was a fire in her eyes that threatened to escape and set a blaze to the world around them. Her voice shook and crackled, like the wildfire in her eyes was contained truly within her. And sometimes it turned to a supernova, if she had held it in for long enough. He swore that sparks jumped off her fingers as she pointed and motioned. If the stars ever did explode the way she yelled and snapped was certainly how they would.

It had always confused X why anger was associated with darkness. When it seemed so clear to him it belonged to her.

#khocweek2023 #khocweek #khoc #oc #original chracter #Y #X is here too today #Light and Darkness #I have lots of thoughts about Ys anger #this day was actually really hard for me #Which was weird because I knew from the start the answer was light #but i tried like four different things before I got one to work

[mrultra100]

I dunno about you folks, but given the recent news about Adult Swim’s new Checkered Past block (them broadcasting old Cartoon Network shows), along with today being 810nicle Day, it’s got me thinking about my childhood.

This is something I normally don’t bring up, as I usually don’t discuss my personal experiences, but I wanna get it off my chest. As far back as the mid to late 2000s, 3 big things were a factor of my childhood; LEGO, Cartoon Network/Adult Swim, and, believe it or not, the city of Atlanta, Georgia.

The LEGO bit is rather obvious, given how I’m a huge Mixels fan, but I also recall liking Bionicle alot when it was being sold. While I don’t really remember alot of my past with that particular franchise myself, I do remember seeing the commercials for it back in the day. And to this day, I often find myself rewatching old promotional material for Bionicle on Youtube for nostalgia reasons. Why, I even dabbled around with the G2 sets back when they came out during the mid 2010’s. I guess my love for LEGO back in my early years was a huge reason why I latched onto Mixels from the very start. Like with alot of people that I know, Mixels and Bionicle are the two LEGO franchises I love the most, both as a kid, and even now as a young adult. Obviously, a few other themes from that time like Power Miners, Atlantis, and Hero Factory were sets that I liked alot, but for the sake of discussion, Mixels and Bionicle are what come to my head first whenever I think about LEGO.

Speaking of Mixels, the series that it got on Cartoon Network was, and still is, one of my favorite shows on the channel. I guess that serves as a nice segway into the CN portion, eh? Getting back into the topic at hand, given how I was born in 2002, I would eventually grow up with many of the shows from the CN eras of not only the mid-to-late 2000s, but also the early 2010s; Yes! Noods, and even a bit of the Check It era are when I had some pretty good memories with Cartoon Network, and the shows airing throughout all of that time stuck with me. Obviously, Mixels comes up again when I talk about this sorta thing, but shows like Chowder, Flapjack, the original continuity of Ben 10, Billy and Mandy, Adventure Time Regular Show, and plenty more are what I saw and loved back then. I even dabbled in a bit of Adult Swim too, as not only does Aqua Teen Hunger Force come to mind, me and my family even watched late-night broadcasts of King of the Hill. And I’m not sure if I’m remembering this right, but I might have even seen a tiny bit of Toonami as well. I dunno, it’s been a long time since that all happened

Lastly, the last thing of this 3 layered cake of nostalgia is me and my family visiting the city of Atlanta, more specifically, the Georgia Aquarium. My mind’s a bit fuzzy on when my first visit exactly was, but I’m guessing that was around in 2008. I was 6 back then, so it happened long ago. Even back at that age, I was a lover of marine life, sharks especially. I think the Georgia Aquarium was my first ever time seeing these beautiful creatures alive. Unlike a good chunk of people, I’ve always been fascinated by sharks and other marine animals, so you can probably imagine the sheer awe that I had when I saw a whale shark swimming around Ocean Voyager. Moments like that tend to stick with you for life. And ever since, I’ve had the pleasure of coming back again and again all throughout my late childhood and teen years. Even to this day, me and my family go to the aquarium for sleepovers every once and a while. No joke, I even teared up a little bit when the lights went off in the massive viewing window in Ocean Voyager, where me, my dad, and the sleepover group that we were a part of, when it got late. Seeing shadows dance, cruise, and flicker inside the inky depths was one of the most beautiful sights I’ve ever seen in my life, mainly due to how it struck a chord with my nostalgia. While the Georgia Aquarium itself has changed to add in renovations, new galleries and animals, and other such things, my love and appreciation for the place has only grown within years, and I’ll always treasure it and the memories that I’ve had. Also, while we’re on the topic of Atlanta, did you know that Williams Street, one of the teams behind Adult Swim, is set within Atlanta? Things like that bring everything together.

Now, with all of that said, what’s the point of me going off on a discussion like this? It’s just me wanting to talk about certain things from my childhood that I, along with many other people, have had happy childhood memories. Given the state of the world right now, I feel like thinking about simpler times helps with feeling better. Adult Swim’s Checkered Past feels like the team in charge of the channel wants to not only bring back memories of the old CN shows that we all loved as children (along with introducing any kids today to said shows), but to also give these beloved classics the love and respect that they deserve. Cartoon Network, as it stands now, is in desperate need of repair, and it’s all Discovery’s fault. Given how he ruined both Discovery and Warner Bros with the WB Discovery merger, along with canceling certain films and shows before they could come out, filing Discovery and ruining Shark Week with pseudoscience nonsense designed to appeal to the lowest common denominator (I.E. braindead morons who spread conspiracies that aren’t true in the slightest) and reality show garbage that no sane person would willingly watch, David Zaslav is one of the few people out there that I unironically despise with all of my heart. I really hope someone in the near future comes out and finds a way to fire his ass for good. That bastard needs to go. Only then, things for WB and CN can find a way to improve for the better, along with many other studios going through similar situations.

Until that happens, things like Checkered Past serve as a way to rediscover the magic felt by all of us, and it’s a magic that I can attend to especially. Even with how I’ve grown and changed as a person, along with my tastes in media being refined and expanded on, I’ll always harken back to simpler times. I think we could all have a trip down memory lane.

#ultra ramblings #cartoon network #lego #atlanta #georgia aquarium #mixels #bionicle #adult swim #Youtube

[lightandfellowship]

(Major KHDR spoilers. Also it’s been a while since I played BBS so I apologize if I get any details wrong, feel free to correct me if so.)

Dark Road gave us so much more to chew on when considering Eraqus’ thought process at the beginning of BBS.

First off, to get the obvious out of the way, Master Xehanort going missing and Eraqus sending his students on a mission to find him = the upperclassmen going missing and Master Odin sending his students on a mission to find them. So Eraqus probably noticed History Repeating Itself and kept that in mind when he decided that the only option was to send Terra and Aqua out into the world. How so? Here are my thoughts on that:

Terra as a parallel to Baldr: Well...Eraqus probably felt like he didn’t have much of a choice. Eraqus had to stay behind to defend the Land of Departure or whatever, he wasn’t going to send Ven for obvious reasons, and ONLY sending Aqua would have been ill-advised, both because a situation that threatened to be very dire would require more than a single keyblade wielder handling it AND because Eraqus needed to avoid making Terra feel left out/distrusted lest his darkness become even more agitated and unruly. So he gave Terra the same mission as Aqua and framed it as a test for Terra to prove himself, but obviously he was very concerned because...

Aqua as a parallel to Hoder: While it’s true that Hoder’s death was what caused Baldr’s darkness to spiral out of control in the first place, presumably Hoder’s light when she WAS alive was enough to keep Baldr in check. So Eraqus instructing Aqua to watch over Terra/interfere when she has to might have been done under the assumption that Aqua’s influence would be enough to keep Terra’s light burning strong. And yeah the possibility of something bad happening to Aqua to send Terra over the edge is there, but she WAS granted the title of Keyblade Master right before all of this, so I imagine Eraqus was confident that she’d have the skillset required to avoid harm. Of course Aqua’s meddling just ends up causing more problems, but Eraqus didn’t anticipate that at the time. Light begets shadow and all that.

Ven as a parallel to the Lower Classmen: The lower classmen were NOT equipped to deal with all the things they dealt with in DR, and I’m sure even Eraqus agrees that Master Odin shouldn’t have sent them out into the world so early. Like, that’s how Hermod, Urd, and Bragi died, basically. So of course Eraqus would want Ven, the youngest and most inexperienced of his students, to stay behind. Ven might feel like he’s being unfairly sheltered despite being ready to take on the world, but all Eraqus can see is a tragic accident waiting to happen. So when Ven leaves anyway, spurred by his fear of losing Terra...it would naturally become imperative to Eraqus that Aqua brings him back at once.

(Not to say that I necessarily AGREE with his approach to the situation here, just pointing out that, in HIS mind, he thought he was making the best choices he could given the circumstances and his past experiences in DR.)

#khdr #kingdom hearts dark road #eraqus #rambling about dim path #khdr spoilers

[loosesodamarble]

Various Faust AU Thoughts

So many aus with the Fausts rotating in my mind. I can't write full on fics or other things for them so I'm just gonna vomit it out in this post.

..........

Jaded Morgen AU

Nacht dies because of the breaking of Lucifugus' relic instead of Morgen.

He takes up the role of Master for the Bremen devils.

So wracked with guilt over Nacht's death, Morgen's whole mindset changes. Hopes and dreams? They mean nothing. It's all talk with no results in Morgen's eyes. Optimism does nothing for people except blind them to reality, like it did for Morgen. And if you aren't decisive, you're just asking for trouble.

House Faust doesn't fall into disrepair. Morgen keeps it together but all the servants are very cautious around him because of the change in his behavior.

He becomes the vice captain of the Black Bulls.

Morgen isn't an absentee vice captain to the Bulls the way Nacht is in canon, although he is gone for long stretches of time to being in Spade. The Bulls know who Morgen is.

Where Nacht cruelly criticized the Bulls, Morgen instead enables the Bulls' worst impulses. He buys drinks for Vanessa, goes along with Finral's mixers, allows Gauche to sneak away and see Marie more often, telling Magna and Luck to be as destructive as they like.

He wants them to stay at their worst. Because if they try to be anything better, they'll see that they can never actually achieve anything.

Morgen will still insult the Bulls every now and again, with the biggest, brightest smile on his face. But he'll say it like it's a good thing which... no.

The Black Bulls are really uncomfortable around Morgen because he both insults their vices but also encourages their bad behavior.

He would hate Asta with a burning passion. Asta reminds Morgen of his past self so he'll try to discourage and disillusion him every step of the way.

He tells Noelle that she is in fact a failure and to accept it. Because trying to be more than what she is in the present will only hurt her.

That's kinda the point where Yami would draw the line. Noelle's fragile state of mind doesn't need Morgen's attacks.

Morgen is given explicit orders not to speak to Noelle until he gets over himself.

Morgen watches the squad through the shadows. And he grows increasingly jealous of Asta's ability to inspire and uplift the Bulls the way Morgen failed to do for Nacht.

Why can Asta do so much for complete strangers when Morgen couldn't do a thing for his own brother?

Captain Faust AU

Morgen was temporarily suspected of being "Licht" which made him very eager to catch the real criminal.

You can bet that Morgen was a crying mess when he found out Fuegoleon had woken up. Hugged the life out of his friend.

Offers the remaining elves a place in the Aqua Deer squad.

"You four ought to do a little work to make up for the trouble you caused the kingdom. I want you to see how hate blinded you to how elves and humans aren't so different."

"Morgen, you realize that their emotions were being manipulated by a devil, right?" Yami asks to which Morgen shoos him off.

Sometimes, Nacht and Morgen actually switches positions, as in who is running the squad and who is spying in Spade. With their different appearance (because Nacht continues to dye his hair in this au) and the different attributes, it will confuse the Spade forces on how many spies there are in their kingdom. If they try looking for a Light Magic user with dark hair, they might not pay attention to a Shadow Magic user with light hair.

Morgen uses Slotos most often. Light Magic excels in attack and healing spells and while Morgen does have defensive spells, he wants to boost them with Slotos' power.

Plumede is the devil he Unites with the least since Light Magic is already so fast.

In canon, the Green Mantis squad is known for mostly being commoners. Well under the lead of Morgen, the Aqua Deer is more open to commoners and even peasants. "Everyone has something to offer. Everyone has the ability to be strong," is what he believes.

The Aqua Deer really do love Morgen. You know how much the Black Bulls adore Yami? That's how the AD feel about Morgen.

The Golden Dawn is still the top squad in this au, especially biased with nobles, but the Aqua Deer is definitely the favorite squad for commoners and peasants. A lot more of them would find the courage to take the Magic Knight exam if there's a chance the beloved Captain Faust is there to witness them.

Some people are of course scared away by the tales of Morgen's dark side (Nacht posing as Morgen) but more people are drawn in by him.

Twin Lights AU

Morgen is the host to Patry's soul instead of William.

Patry would awaken in Morgen when Patry is 15 and Morgen is 18. Just around the same time when Nacht's devil training would've started.

At first, Morgen is horrified by the idea that a second soul exists within his body. He eventually grows accustomed to it. He's already got a physical twin in Nacht so Patry is kinda like Morgen's spiritual twin.

When Patry takes over Morgen's body, Morgen's hair turns white, making him look like Nacht (remember dyed hair).

Patry would sneak out of House Faust a lot which got Nacht in trouble because of mistaken identities.

As Morgen learns more about Patry's life and specifically the details of his death, Morgen connects how Licht used the Magic Stones and the recent changes in Nacht's own magic.

He realizes that Forbidden Magic is at play in House Faust.

Morgen also suspects there's more to Patry's death than what Patry believes but he knows he won't be able to talk Patry down from his vengeful thoughts for the time being.

Despite disagreeing and bickering more, Patry can't help but feel Licht's kindness and warmth from Morgen, so he grows a little attached.

When Morgen confronts his family in the underground chamber, Patry (not in control but vaguely aware of the events), realizes how the negative mana of devils feels familiar.

At Patry's insistence, Morgen is more aggressive in the confrontation and takes away Lucifugus' relic before Nacht can start the ritual.

Morgen and Nacht survive the encounter, but Nacht does get imprisoned for practicing Forbidden Magic.

Patry feels pity for Morgen at the loss of Nacht and so breaks Nacht out of prison. "Don't waste this opportunity. Run away and hide yourself for a time," Patry tells Nacht. "For the sake of your brother."

Nacht will eventually turn up again, as the vice captain of the Black Bulls. But for the longest time, Morgen is kinda pissed at Patry for telling Nacht to disappear.

But also, when everything is said and done, Patry wonders if devils were involved in the genocide of his people.

Morgen and Patry strike a deal. Morgen will allow Patry to seek revenge agains Clover Kingdom, primarily against the nobility, but they'll also work together to uncover how devils might've been involved with the killing of the elves.

"There is corruption within the ranks of Clover's nobility. Not simply discrimination but also the work of devils." That's what the two agree on.

Morgen tries to keep Patry from being too ruthless when he plays "Licht." For example, when Patry plans on taking the Magic Stone from Fuegoleon, Morgen takes enough control of the shared body to save Fuegoleon's arm.

It comes at the cost of giving Fue a nasty scar across his body, even reaching up to his neck and face. The severe blood loss from the neck wound still puts Fuegoleon in a coma but he manages to wake before the night of mass elf reincarnation.

Which means Fuegoleon is hot on Morgen and Patry's trail once he is awake.

"What do you mean you're trying to uncover the corruption of Clover's society?! You attacked and nearly blinded me!"

"Well my elfsona kinda died 500 years ago because of the royal family so-"

"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU MEAN BY 'ELFSONA'?!"

Morgen is the first to realize that Patry's obsessive thoughts with revenge might actually be a devil influencing Patry's feelings. He starts to feel very afraid for Patry.

Morgen almost lost Nacht to devils, he doesn't want the same thing to happen with Patry.

Female Morgen AU (lowkey inspired by @marune2's female Nacht AU)

Morgen is far more sheltered in this au. She's treated like a helpless and delicate doll by her parents.

Not out of love but in a patronizing manner. She's still the black sheep of the family and her parents want her under control.

Nacht is pressured to show a little more care for Morgen, to watch out for his sweet, dainty, helpless little sister.

To which Nacht would argue that Morgen wouldn't be so helpless if she was allowed the chance to grow stronger.

Still, Nacht believes that Morgen deserves so much better in life but also nothing will ever be good enough for Morgen. There's no dress pretty enough for Morgen to wear. There's no people nice enough to be her friend. There's no man good enough to be her boyfriend.

Lowkey, this behavior drives Morgen up a wall. She's constantly telling Nacht to cool it and that she's content with what she has.

I imagine Morgen, as a dude, had to deal with a lot of unwanted suitors because he was so desirable. And it's much worse as a pretty young lady.

Considers joining the Blue Rose Knights in this au as a means to driving off suitors. Which leads to her being much closer to Charlotte in this au.

Morgen frequently visits the BRK base and even House Roselei to see Charlotte. They chat over tea about their jobs and their hobbies. Sometimes, marriage (and how unwanted it is) comes up.

Charlotte reminds Morgen often that she can't be afraid to give men a hard "no" when it comes to their advances. A bit of violence might also be necessary.

Morgen and Yami look like one of those "sweet girl next door and resident bad boy" couples when together. They are suspected of dating quite often but Morgen is very quick to deny those claims.

Morgen senses potential between Charlotte and Yami early on. Char is the kind of strong-willed lady Yami respects and appreciates. And Yami is the kind of change of pace Char needs from the men vying for her affection.

Might've set up a double date: her with Yami and Nacht with Charlotte. Only, uh oh, their group got split and the twins' dates ended up stuck together instead!

Morgen would look really pretty in sundresses. She likes how loose and light they feel.

Nacht had threatened to gouge out people's eyes for staring at Morgen too long.

Nozel has an interest in Morgen in this au. It's her kind smile and nurturing behavior towards others which reminds Nozel of Acier and has him going "wife? 👀" Cue Nacht giving Nozel the death glare.

#black clover #nacht faust #morgen faust #black clover au #captain faust au #patry #yami sukehiro #charlotte roselei #fuegoleon vermillion