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#i have a prediction that feels insane and too good to be true
whollyjoly · 18 days
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so aisha just tweeted this....
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and im looking at those last two emojis 😐😳....
and i remember that lou said this....
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...and this....
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...
...what does it MEAN??
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mins-fins · 1 month
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OH FUCK YOU CUPID! [PREVIEW].
❝may the best man win!❞
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SYNOPSIS: where resident "cupid" zhong chenle wants to cause mayhem, and maybe start a fight too, so he sets up three of the most competitive guys he knows with none other than you. now— they are at each other's throat trying to get your attention, and also score a date with you.
PAIRING: lee jeno, lee donghyuck, & na jaemin x male!reader
GENRE: university au, romantic comedy, sort of matchmaker au??, actually theres angst too, three stubborn boys fight over a very confused one, 00z (besides renjun) going insane over a MAN
WARNINGS: swearing, explicit language, unrealistic romantic situations, childish behavior, somewhat possessive behavior, mentions of sex but no smut, mentions of drinking, an abuse of italics, lots of date crashing
WORD COUNT: 1.5k (preview) | est. 12k–15k (full fic)
NOTES: if you can forgive me for not updating for like two days, take this as my little apology 🙁 yeah so this spawned out of ANOTHER draft i began that hasn't been touched since december, but i reread it and i just sort of changed up the synopsis and love interests!! yeah anyway this is isa's multi-pairing debut, but this is also only a preview, the real thing is much more messy! i can't promise WHEN it's going to come out because i genuinely do have a lot going on.. but it is halfway done! um yeah tysm for waiting for me!! alright bye😖
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YOU HAVE NEVER BEEN CONFUSED LIKE YOU ARE NOW. when you heard a knock on your door, accompanied by the sound of two muffled voices bickering behind it, you expected it to be one of your classmates, chenle and jisung coming to ask for another stupid favor, or your lab partner coming to get extra notes for your project. you usually don't let people into your dorm after six pm, mostly because after six pm is time you spend strictly studying, and you do not need distractions when you're gonna be up all night losing sleep.
but no, none of that, you guess you aren't that good at predicting your fate.
when you open the door, rubbing your eyes, which hurt from the hours you spent staring down several biology papers, you pause at the sight before you.
there are three boys there, two of them going back and forth whilst one stands silent between them. their arguing must distract them enough that they don't notice you standing in the doorway, staring at the two of them like they're crazy.
"um".
why do you say um? maybe the general confusion of the situation is what makes your brain short circuit in that very moment, but you don't exactly have any actual words you can say. there is no reason these three very attractive guys should be at your doorstep at this time.
as quickly as you utter that word, you regret it, because the two formerly bickering guys turn their heads right towards you, gazes focused on you and only you.
suddenly, it feels like all of your senses heighten, your hands become sweaty, your breathing seems to become louder, and your face heats up to the point that your sure steam is going to start pouring out of your ears.
of course, you recognize the three at your doorstep, but the situation still doesn't click for you.
on the left is na jaemin, resident pretty boy na jaemin, the two of you had a political science together in your sophomore year, and while he did always seem to want to be more than friends, you chalked that up to his habit of looking like he's in love with all of his friends. his flirtatious words and romantic references never meant anything to you, because he's like that with every other pretty guy that goes to your school.
in the middle is lee jeno, class crush lee jeno, you know him because of a get together renjun forced the two of you to be apart of way back in your freshmen year, and while jeno is nothing short of beautiful, he's nothing like jaemin. jeno is less obvious in the romantic department, of course he has so many people falling at his feet, and you can't blame them. he's gorgeous, a true work of art, and the two of you have been told on certain occasions that you'd be a great couple, but nothing ever seemed to come out of that.
and on the right, lee donghyuck, star student lee donghyuck, always the top student, always wins the awards, you unfortunately know him the best out of the three, considering the two of you spent all summer together. it didn't go as well as you wanted it to, some things happened between the two of you that you don't feel like explaining right now. you haven't had a genuine talk since school began, both of you trying hard to erase that little summer fling away from your minds. you think he might be a little insane, much too smart for everyone's own good, but you can't look past his ethereal beauty either.
so what are these three doing on your doorstep on a school night?
before you can ask that exact question, donghyuck answers it for you.
"i'm here to take you out on a date".
you almost collapse onto the floor.
jaemin's eyebrows furrow, and he's quick to turn and glare at the older. "no you're not!"
"yes i am! i got here first!"
"you did not! and even if you did y/n doesn't want to go out with you—"
"i suggest you watch your tone, na".
you blink, dumbfounded at the news bestowed upon you. the two continue their back and forth argument, and your face only heats up more as it dawns on you that they're arguing about you, about taking you out on a date.
you don't know how you stand your ground.
"you too?" you barely manage the words, feeling as if you were about to pass out at any second, and you point your index finger at jeno, the most silent of the bunch.
he only nods. "i was hoping saturday..?"
"that makes no se— wait, you were hoping WHAT!?"
jaemin's screech is enough to make the once stone cold jeno flinch. a look of offense crosses the older lee's face, and any tranquility he had disappeared in an instant. "y/n and i are going out saturday".
"says who!?"
"says me?"
"he didn't even agree to your offer" donghyuck glares daggers at jeno, who imitates his gaze. he's pissed, and so is jeno, and so is jaemin, all three of them are pissed. "don't get so confident".
"it doesn't matter" jeno answers like it's a matter of a fact. "he likes me more than he does you".
"oh yeah?"
"yeah he does" jeno whispers as he leans closer to donghyuck, the words a taunting mantra to the younger, who looks seconds away from punching him. "he wouldn't go on a date with you even if you offered him a hundred dollars".
"you should really watch what you say".
"really? i'd love to see you even try and land a punc—"
"who sent you three here?"
your question is enough to get the two to stop arguing, and they slowly move away from each other. jeno pokes his tongue against the inside of cheek, and donghyuck just crosses his arms, an eye roll accompanying his action. jaemin gives the two a judgmental glance before focusing all of his attention on you again. "chenle".
"chenle?"
"well chenle told me—"
"chenle didn't tell you anything".
"how are you so sure? if i remember correctly, you said you weren't into y/n" jaemin grits his teeth, eyes pointed at donghyuck, who scoffs, humored by the words.
"since when? i'm the only one here whose ever done anything with y/n, you're too busy around with other guys and jeno's too much of a coward to confess".
"please, coward? if you're so in love with y/n maybe you should've told him that instead of ghosting him, that's pretty cowardly behavior".
you watch the three begin going back and forth, absolutely speechless. why are they fighting over you? why did chenle tell them to come here? why does this have to happen right now?
"i— um, shit uh" you awkwardly chuckle, hoping you don't sound as pathetic as you feel. "maybe we can chat about this tomorrow yeah? yeah! right, um, goodnight!"
you don't think twice before slamming the door on their faces, locking it behind you. you slide down the door and collide with the floor, face red, thoughts all over the place, and only one sentiment echoing in your mind.
you are going to murder zhong chenle.
"great job, hyuck, you scared him off".
donghyuck finds jaemin's audacity hilarious, so hilarious he even laughs. "i scared him off? if anything jeno did!"
"i didn't do anything" jeno argues, he really doesn't how the younger is speaking to him at the moment. "your just mad y/n's gonna end up going out with me instead".
"woah woah, who said that?"
"i mean.. we all know".
"whose we?" donghyuck challenges. "because, and don't take this personally, you couldn't even confess to the guy before this, what makes you think he'll want to go on a date with you?"
"you know your really getting on my nerves right now".
"okay okay you two" jaemin curses in his mind, how did he end up being the most sensible of the three? "don't start anything physical, it's y/n's choice at the end of the day.."
"which is why it's stupid of donghyuck here to think y/n wants to go anywhere with him".
donghyuck rolls his eyes again, but instead of looking at jeno this time, he looks at jaemin. "no, he's right, it's y/n's choice, and i'm gonna do everything to make sure i'm the one he's with on saturday".
"get over yourself" jeno remarks, glancing over at your door. "your not going to end up with him".
donghyuck hums, a snicker added onto it. "alright then, watch me prove you wrong".
"i'd love to see you try".
jaemin looks between the two, oh this is bad, this is very bad, but he isn't about to let them be able to take you out before him.
"may the best man win, then" jaemin gives the two overly aggressive pats on the back before turning around and walking the other way.
he doesn't care, he's getting that date.
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softdykellie · 1 year
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ੈ✩‧₊˚ ivy | ellie w.
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PAIRING: ellie x fem!reader
SUMMARY: although years have gone by, ellie cannot seem to get over the one that got away when a drunk night with friends lead to unexpected past places.
WARNING: somewhat nsfw and somewhat angst
WORD COUNT: 1.049
love, what’s it good for? a neurological con job, an excruciatingly slow but certain downwards spiral towards heartbreak– ellie was painfully aware of the sole two outcomes the feeling could possibly amount to, both of which meant agony ripping at her insides, a flesh eating beast doomed to haunt her ribcage as a lonely heart’s guard. she drowned out the sound of her cries permanently stuck in a lump between the clavicules with alcohol as though it would wipe her insides clean of romance’s remnants. five years was an eternity of time; she cursed the motherfucker who claimed time healed all wounds while hers remained too fresh for scabs. jesse was the one to pull her away from the destructive thoughts, a hand to the shoulder immediately flinched from.
“you know when we first became friends i lost a ten dollar bet ‘cause i was sure you’d be a fun drunk? two cups later you turned into fucking nietzsche or some shit. every time we go out just know i mourn my money”
ellie smirked in response before her body reminded itself why it has become that way.
eighteen year olds with raging hormones smuggling contraband to a half acquaintance’s garage party were the stupidest people allowed to carry hearts on their sleeve, always a truth or dare game away from confessing shakesperian feelings in stutters and chokeholds. your first kiss together was a seven minutes in heaven, where ellie swore she’d moved the empty bottle through newly acquired telekinesis.
she was cocky back then, careless too. entered the closet with a hand by your lowerback and so quickly crashed your lips together there was barely time to catch a breath. it was chapped, and desperate, and golden. she tasted of weed and every shooting star wish you ever made coming true, you tasted of cheap wine and candy rush on a five year old– your bodies pressed so close against eachother the wooden shelves trembled at the embrace. ellie used to be funny and you, god, you used to be made of giggles that put the sun to shame. she remembered your laugh into the kiss, the way it echoed down her throat, and that thought in its pureness lead to less holy memories of your moans, of how she used to rub herself against you till the wetness made you one, and her core ached. another sip of her drink to mask your taste still so effortlessly by her tongue through thought only she was sure to be going insane.
“you just need to get laid” jesse pointed out every attractive girl by the bar that drooled at her sight and blushed under her gaze, all predictable, none you. she wanted to get laid alright, she just needed it to be with you.
ellie remembered the last time you fucked; remembered the airport bathroom becoming increasingly smaller with every finger thrust, remembered whispering in your ear you would always be hers, remembered best of all you agreeing in hushed, choked out moans. you were late and you were wet dripping past your thighs, she licked you clean and savored it.
“found your little miss sunshine” dina struck her out of her thoughts so frantically ellie’s head spun even as she coaxed words to come out.
“what are you talking about?”
“her address. it’s wonders what one can do with a full name and the internet nowadays. it’s a five hour drive, if we get going now we’ll be there by two a.m for sure–“
“are you insane? what the fuck am i gonna do, ring my ex girlfriend’s doorbell at two in the morning half a decade after we last seen eachother and go hey i haven’t gotten over you since you left me five years ago to a new city, wanna get back together?” ellie mocked sincerely.
“i mean you don’t really have to do anything, we could always just stand there and think this whole thing was super funny tomorrow”
half a whiskey bottle in and two road trip! chants that coaxed the entire clueless bar of drunks to join in unknowingly later, it was a mostly convincing idea. that’s how she lost a hundred bucks to an unknown chatty bartender newly designated driver who had nothing to lose but a job shift and spent the next hours of her life being sobered up by dina’s relentlessly flirting towards the girl. ellie wasn’t sure when she had fallen asleep, only noticed jesse’s shoulder beneath her cheek poking her face as to wake her up once the car was at a full stop, anticipation bouncing off of every member of the drive choking her in anxiety now fully soberly aware of her actions.
the neighborhood was different, quiet, green. it was odd knowing your exact house despite never being close to it before– she knew by the garden, infested of dandelions. you called them the wishing flowers and teared up when ellie told you they were actually weeds. you two had planned a dandelion filled front porch together, and there you were, living it alone. she felt pathetic, letting the feeling sink to the pit of her stomach, refused to get out of the car and finally had her arguments interrupted by a loud meowing. and saw you. messy hair left to roam free, mismatched socks, an oversized band t-shirt, her t-shirt, and nothing else.
“joel” you cooed, raising the impatient and loud kitten up towards your arms and it nuzzled onto your tired face “you have to stop leaving in the middle of the night okay? i can’t keep waking up like this”
ellie was frozen in place, watching your every move. your baby voice so soft she barely heard it from parking, the softness of your touch melting even a cat into submission, the way you had not changed one bit immediately transporting her into the past. the spell she had been under to observe you endlessly having only been broken by the front seat window rolling open noisily, though not fast enough to stop the wreckage coming as dina opened her mouth, inconsequential.
“hey, miss sunshine! i got your ex girlfriend in the back!”
your eyes met. the kisses, the taste, the skin, the caressing, the warmth, the words, the foreheads, the flowers, everything rushed back.
“els?”
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h7jfangirl · 2 months
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TGS UPTADE (Chapter Cover) ✨🎩
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I love this one, I think it's my favorite cover until this point.
Jekyll has his old outfit I LOVE THE REFERENCES
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Guys, ITS THE OLD DESING GUYS.
When I saw this cover, my first thoughs of it weren't the most pessimist, really
The colors are soft and lighter, and the place looks beautiful and peacful, it gave me nostalgic vibes but I mostly felt... Comfort
So I though this chapter would be the star of the final redemption arc of Jekyll's and Hyde's relationship, the chapter where all their fight would finally end for good and start to actually accept themselfs and work together as a team
I interpret Hyde's expression as a "Wait what!?" Reaction to actual self-love coming from Jekyll, and read the name of this chapter as something of "We are a team! We are together in this! So if one of us goes down, we are going down together! I would never ever leave you alone!" Like a thing of friendship or Brotherhood even.
But after reading the Comment Section in the page, I finally notice that something was off in the cover, a simple detail telling that this may not be a 'end of the conflict' type of chapter
And that simple detail...
It's Jekyll
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I really hope he goes insane in this chapter, like ACTUAL insanity, I love when a calm character goes through a 'madness arc' and sadly I don't see it often so I WANNA SEE SOME GOOD SHIT.
Jekyll is grabing Hyde's clothes very strongerly, you can feel the anger on his grabing and how close he puts his face towards Hyde's.
His body says "I'm about to kick this asshole's ass"
But the thing is that he is also... Smiling. You can't see his eyes but there is a shadow on them that you can tell something it's not okay, something it's wrong with Henry but not in the "Poor victim" type that we always had see him before, on the whole comic
But in "This man is dangerous" type
So, with that grin and his body looking agressive towards Hyde, you can said Edward may be in danger in this chapter.
Predictions~
Now, everybody agrees that the place we were shown it's actually part of Jekyll's mind, a memory actually. So, I think that somehow Jekyll and Edward will both go inside their memories, to see what were the events that lead them to this specific moment
Maybe with Frankestein's help, in a intent of her to understand the experiment's true nature, also trying to help Jekyll and Hyde to they can finally understand it too (THEY ARE TAKING A THERAPY SESSION TO A WHOLE OTHER LEVEL)
Or
They go both inside their own memories because the transformation got worse, and now their body is unconsious, so it would be only Jekyll and Hyde alone inside their mind, finally being able to stand in the same room at the same time, and netheir of them knowing what will happend outside, now that Frankestein knows their secret and the mob it's still out there
So of course, Henry wouldnt have someone who could help him and calm himself, so he is blaming Hyde for the situation as Hyde avoiding the accusations and also blaming Henry too. The rest of the chapter would be about them looking at their memories and reflecting about their actions
But of course, I can imagine two final scenarios happening, based on the scenario shown on the cover actually happening. They finally go together to see a old memory, and they are both close to the cliff, seeing the place
So, Henry finally has the conclusion of blaming Hyde for all the situation, and snaps angst him, deciding to end this just right there, now that he is able to touch and feel Edward's skin as if he had his own body, as a another person he can fully touch
So there is two options:
Jekyll's grabs Hyde's clothes and makes both of them jump to the water, accepting the death as a end but making sure to drag Hyde with him as well, so it feels actually worth it. Of course this being a moment similar to Hyde's ephifany when he is told that he could take down Jekyll as well.
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But of course, in this case we'll see Jekyll's perspective to this words "Taking you down with me" (I love how similar they are, even if they turned out to be so different from each other, somehow they are still the same person)
Or, there is this other option. Jekyll actually dosen't jump to the cliff but instead, he shove Hyde to the cliff in a intent of murder him, being mostly like a metaphoric suicide rather than a direct one (Because they are the same person after all). The reason why Jekyll is also jumping in the cover may be a symbolic jump as "Going insane/Jumping the cliff of sanity" for doing something so brutal that the normal and sane Dr Jekyll wouldnt do... Push a person on a cliff, to kill them. So not only this would be a intent to kill Hyde but at the same time accidently murder the person he used to be, the good Dr Henry Jekyll
(Jekyll also jumping can be more like of "how he feels" rather than something literal, he feels atrap and his only company is Hyde, and I dare to say he is the person Jekyll hates the most at this point).
Of course, in any scenario, nethier of them would actually die (yet) because there is like two chapters left to finish this comic, duh
But I like to think about the Second Option. Because it could also explain those spoiler images Sage share in their social media a while ago
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There it was another one with Jekyll with a lot of bottles around but I couldn't find it.
Because I think it would fit in. After pushing Hyde on the cliff Jekyll goes out and takes back the body's control and fix the angry mob problem, thinking he has done right in killing Hyde, when actually you can see that he dosen't has his normal eyes anymore but now has Hyde's bags in him (Of course, it could be for the fact that he climp up the society to get in the roof, but I don't think he would like to being seen very tired) meaning that Jekyll has change, in a more hyde-like way. Hyde is not death, and Jekyll's actions will have more consequences, as long they keep fighting each other there will be no end to their problems.
So, this is the tgs UPTADE. I like everyone in the fandom started to make theories like crazy and I love every single one of them.
Sorry for my bad english hehe bye~
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sybaritick · 5 months
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cal sybaritick's
durgetash fic recs 🔪⚙️
i love durgetash. i love evil/evil power couples. i love the drama and the religious guilt and the self-recognition through the other (derogatory) and the insane definitely-not-safe-sane-and-consensual kink.
for this reason, i have read several hundred durgetash fics on ao3. here is a non-exhaustive list of my favorites!
all of the recs will be marked with pronouns, race, and genitals (when relevant) of the durge for your convenience
An Obedient Butcher, A Beast On A Leash by NeverwinterThistle
durge notes: og/white dragonborn dark urge (my favorite!!), he/him with dick
E / 4.8k / sadism and masochism, choking, frottage and grinding / complete
The room was warm. It smelt strongly of skin; overheated, overcrowded, overscented to hide sweat. Fill for this prompt on the Baldur's Gate kink meme: Gortash and the Durge are lovers, but due to the strict orders of tyranny in all things that Bane requires, Gortash is not allowed to bottom, on pain of retribution or revocation of Chosen status from his god. And, well, maybe Gortash really wants to. What might their sex look like with such a restriction? How do they deal?
this author has done multiple incredibly good durgetash fics but this is definitely one of my favorites. the dynamic and push-and-pull between them is excellent, and you can tell they truly do respect each other in a sense, despite being godawful people. they glory in their empire of blood and that's so much fun. and of course, the kink in this one is delicious... yknow, every time i do fic recs i have the impulse to share things no one needs to know about my personal life for at least a couple of them, but you know what, maybe i can keep it to myself just this once. but the point is the way gortash wants to let durge tear his ass up but can't is incredibly hot, and i particularly like that gortash essentially considers it an outdated religious restriction... that bottoming is not actually indicative of True Submission in the way Banites are told to believe it does.
lose the halo, don't need to resist by @lamortactuallywrites
durge notes: they/them half-orc with dick :)
E / 7.0k words / bondage, orgasm delay/edging, kink negotiation / complete
There is no absolution to be found here. They wonder if their father is watching, if Bane is watching, if they will each know the wrath of their gods before the night is through. Yet somehow, with blood drying tacky on their hand, bruises pressed deep into their flesh, and his mouth hot around them like he was made for this, it feels private. Protected.
i adore the kink negotiation in this. gortash is such a jackass (affectionate)... and once they're in it, durge snapping back like an angry dog, struggling so beautifully, when they're too tied up to really fight back is hot. someone insulting you so desperately because in reality they know they're not the one in control is. extremely hot. like "come on tell me more about what a monster i am while you're tied up begging for me to touch you" ygm??? read the fic it's good.
Mutual Manipulations by fermiparadox
durge notes: he/him drow with dick
E / 3.1k words / hate sex, power dynamics, handjobs / complete
Bloodlust is its own kind of aphrodisiac.
i love the characterization of both Durge and Gortash in this one-- resplendently awful. and considerably less trusting of each other, in a way that's very enjoyable. this is absolutely hate sex, and done very well... Gortash wants to subjugate Durge and keep him on a leash, and Durge wants to murder him violently. beautiful!
Marsember Syrah by say_lene
durge notes: she/her with pussy
E / 5.7k words / dom/sub, [consensual] mind control, power dynamics / complete
After a successful operation in the High House of Wonders, Bhaal's Chosen and Bane's express their admiration for each other. It is, predictably, very tense. “Ah, so you’re concerned for my wellbeing,” he said – calm, even as a thin trickle of blood rolled down his neck. “You needn’t be. Our masters commanded us to cooperate, after all, and in suffering me to live, Bhaal opens the door to veritable rivers of blood. You know him better than I, of course, but surely even the Lord of Murder can see the value of delayed gratification.”
this author has done multiple incredibly good durgetash fics, but this one is my favorite. i love the way they characterize gortash. anyway, normally, being the mind control/brainwashing/hypnosis/etc fetishist i am, i would barely have anything to say about this other than "read this for the mind control descriptions they're so hot that i've read this fic at least four times." (which i have). however not only is that hot but everything else is *also* extremely hot, and well written/well paced. particularly the way gortash "offers" durge lesser banites to kill, and how she enjoys it so, despite not quite wanting to just let him hand-feed her like that yknow... very tasty.
Yank of the Leash by BlueCloverInGreen
durge notes: he/him with dick
E / 28.2k words / dom/sub, grooming, noncon and dubcon / complete
Many, many potential triggers. Please read the tags carefully. I will also post specific tags before each chapter. This is a work in progress and my first project. Critique is welcomed and appreciated. Not beta read.
definitely do mind the trigger tags on this one, as the summary mentions, but it's a great guilty pleasure-- and by guilty i mean you'll feel something for finding it hot considering how dark it is, especially with regards to the grooming aspect. i can read some very gory fics, noncon, heavy kink, etc and not question how into it i am, but this fic?? this fic made me feel guilty and uncomfortable and that's a compliment. it definitely gave me the sense "yeah, Gortash would want it like this"
Knowing by @chocolatecatcupcakecheese
durge notes: they/them
E / 3.4k words / power dynamics, cunnilingus, bondage / complete
“What were we to one another?” Tav asks at last. “We were allies before,” Gortash says. “We—” “Allies?” Tav interrupts, sing-song with insinuation. Gortash takes a slow, steadying breath against the echo of desire. That teasing tone of voice is so damnably familiar. “Yes.” His voice emerges lower than he intends. Tav laughs, a single exhaled note of contempt. Gortash steels himself and does not move away when they step closer, close enough to share the same breath. “Is that all?”
oh hey, gortash is trans in this!! that's definitely a favorite headcanon of mine. and it's totally for story-based reasons only (he's so transhumanist cmon) and not because i am also transmasc and also have several power-hungry techbro sellout things wrong with me. anyway, the way they talk to each other in this is *so* fun... their dynamic-- and their foreplay and dirty talk (which for a normal couple would perhaps not qualify as dirty talk) is great.
ménage à quatre by isolasea
durge notes: second person (you) with pussy
E / 2.9k words / power dynamics, BDSM, dubious consent / complete
Your Urge and his Hand, on each side of your mind and body, pulling you apart. Or, Gortash: [fucks like a tyrannical despot] Durge: [surprised pikachu meme face]
this fic is so much fun for the d/s power kink stuff and it also has some excellent lines wrt gortash's obsession with control. i mean right at the beginning even, “All murder and no play in the Church of Bhaal?” that and gortash trying to put another finger in durge even while he's fucking them and they're barely taking it as it is-- it's so greedy and so very fitting for him.
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Text
“Anyone seen Lance?” Shiro asks, checking his watch. “We have to suit up in an hour, but I haven’t heard anything from him.”
No sooner do the words come out of his mouth does the man in question stroll into the kitchen, pausing in front of the table where everyone is gathered and clearing his throat.
“I will not be accompanying you guys on the mission,” he announces.
It takes everyone a moment to process that one. Hunk is the first to react, something clicking in his expression before he groans, resting his forehead on the table.
“Here we go,” he mutters tiredly.
Lance happily ignores him, pouring himself some food goo and taking a seat next to Keith.
“Are you ill?” Allura asks, when Lance fails to provide any further context.
“Nope! I’m just going to hang back from this mission because I Saw what’s going to happen last night and no part of me is interested in crawling through sewage. Y’all have fun, though.”
“Why the hell do you think we’ll be crawling through sewage?” Keith asks. “All the Yuvleans want us to do is find some crystal for them.”
“And I’m telling you it’s going to involve crawling through the sewage system,” Lance insists. “I’m not doing that. I’ll stay on the castle with Coran and do chores, or something.”
Shiro looks pleadingly to Hunk.
“Please translate,” he asks.
This is not unusual. Lance and Hunk frequently have to explain each other’s trains of thought to the team at large.
“Lance thinks he can see the future,” Hunk explains tiredly. “He is not a Seer. He just gets lucky, occasionally, and he’s observant. There is nothing I can do to convince him otherwise.”
“That’s because you’re wrong,” Lance says patiently. “I do so get visions. I told you about the mermaid planet when we were fifteen, remember?”
“Lance, you dreamed once about alien mermaids and the universe is so batshit insane that it ended up being true. That is not predicting the future.”
“Mhm, sure. And the fact that I knew the names of the mermaids we could trust was coincidence.”
“Exactly!”
Hunk and Pidge both look exasperated, but Keith looks intrigued.
“You can really tell the future?”
“Please tell me you don’t believe in that shit too,” Pidge groans.
Both paladins ignore her.
“Not as clearly as you’re thinking,” Lance says, making a so-so motion with his hand. “I don’t usually get full detailed visions, although I do occasionally. Usually I get bits and pieces, right before something happens. Like, if we’re on an infiltration mission and we don’t know which hallway to take to escape, I usually get a flash of images that tell me what’s down each one.”
Shiro, who had been eyeing Lance warily for the most part, tilts his head in consideration. “You do manage to lead us out of ships when everything goes to shit.”
Hunk looks at him incredulously. “You too?! What part of ‘Lance has good instincts and is crazy observant’ am I making unclear? Science, people!”
“I’m not saying I think he can see in the future,” Shiro says hastily. “But I’m not saying he can’t, either.”
“Thank you,” Lance says emphatically. “Finally, someone believes me.”
“Hey,” Keith protests. “I believed you the whole time!”
“‘Course, Mullet,” Lance says with a grin and a wink. Keith goes a little red. “I appreciate it.”
“I also believe you!” Allura says excitedly. “One of my mother’s handmaidens also spoke of an ability to see forward in time, and she often made excellent predictions about future trades!”
“Ha,” Lance says, pointing his spork triumphantly at his best friends. Both of them roll their eyes in tandem. “Coran believes me, too. Said he can feel it in my quintessence, or something. You guys are outnumbered.”
“Whatever,” Pidge mutters, but she doesn’t really look all that annoyed. “I can’t believe you’re skipping the chance to flirt with pretty aliens just because you had a weird dream. I can’t believe you’re staying back to do chores instead of prancing around the planet’s canals and comparing the water to beaches back home.”
Lance shrugs, standing up to dunk his empty bowl in the sink. “Like I said, I’m not crawling through the sewer,” he says, heading for the doors. “But y’all have fun. Let me know if you meet the ninja turtles.”
———
Hours later, five very grumpy, very dirty paladins stomp their way back to the castle. Lance and Coran meet them at the decontamination chamber.
“Have a shitty time?” Lance asks smugly.
“Dollar in the bad pun jar,” Keith says immediately, just as Hunk says: “Can it, Cassandra.”
Hunk sounds cranky as he says it, but instead of being offended, Lance only laughs.
“Fitting,” he taunts, “since no one believed Cassandra and she ended up being right. Sounds familiar, doesn’t it, Hunky?”
Hunk levels him with a glare, but only lasts about three seconds before a reluctant smile spreads across his face.
“Alright, alright, touché. I still think you just made an educated guess. But I’ll give you that one.”
“Sure thing, bud. I’ve Seen the day you and Pidge believe me, you know. I’m going to be very smug.”
“More smug than right now?” Allura asks.
Lance smirks. “Exponentially.”
———
Shiro doesn’t let Lance skip any more missions because of his Sight. “If a mission is going to suck, then we get to suffer as a group. Team building,” he reasons.
He still doesn’t quite believe that Lance can See the future. But he does start to take Lance’s input in mission planning, so long as Lance can actually rationalize his predictions.
“That’s not going to work,” Lance says firmly, tapping the path Shiro has drawn down a hallway on the blueprints of the Galran cruiser they’re planning to infiltrate. “If we split up, Allura is going to get ambushed and hurt.”
Shiro inclines his head. “Reasoning?”
Lance pauses for a moment to study the blueprints further, trying to figure out why he knows that to be true. He saw the altercation in a vision, of course, but over the weeks of planning with Shiro he’s found that his divinations often follow a largely logical path of reasonings, Sherlock-style.
“This is a Druid-heavy cruiser,” he says finally. “See how the energy systems are rerouted to neutralize more power outbursts than usual? That means a lot of raw quintessence outside of its usual transport containers, which means Druids. And you know how freaky they are about trying to isolate Allura and take her for her quintessence abilities. She shouldn’t spend a second on this ship alone, and especially not down the corridors that are most heavily fortified and monitored. She’s our strongest, but in this case it will only make her a target.”
“Sounds good to me,” Shiro says, placing a proud hand on Lance’s shoulder. “We’ll work out something better, huh?”
———
It’s no secret that Lance spends at least two nights a week at the observation deck; missing his family and falling asleep to the projection of Earth’s steady turn. The team has quietly worked out something like a schedule, making sure he’s never there alone, and everyone makes sure he knows he knows they love him and are there for him.
Lance pretends to be oblivious to the schedule. He saw it in a dream before he’d even met most of the team, but he likes that they try so hard to keep it quiet anyway. It’s sweet.
“Do you know why I’m like this?” he asks one night, when Coran is the one to follow him in.
The advisor takes a moment to consider the question carefully, humming softly.
“I felt something different about you the second I saw you,” he says eventually. He huffs a laugh. “That’s half the reason I was so defensive of you.”
Lance snorts, remembering Coran’s flailing and threats. “I thought it was because I made eyes at Allura.”
Coran grins, checking him gently across the shoulders. “That, too, lad.” His expression turns more serious, pondering. “But I’ve always been very in tune with the energies of the universe, the balance of quintessence in every single thing that takes space. My father taught me to sit quietly with the space between things, to feel how they fit together. You, my dear —” he shifts to look at Lance directly, jewelled eyes meeting deep brown — “your quintessence reaches farther than most. For whatever reason, your soul is stretched wide, across space and time. Everyone’s is, to some degree, but yours more so. For whatever reason, when you came to be, the universe saw fit to grant you the burden of Knowing.”
He takes one of Lance’s hands in his, squeezing gently. “It’s a lot of responsibility, child. But there’s no one I would trust more to shoulder it with grace.”
———
Usually, Lance’s Gift is harmless. It doesn’t matter who on the team does or does not believe — it never has a great enough bearing on their life and mission to make a massive decision.
Until it does.
Until Lance stops mid-attack, freezing in his lion, shout ringing through the comms.
“Lance, come in,” Shiro demands. “What’s wrong?”
Everyone’s screen flickers for a moment before Lance’s comm feed pulls up, brown eyes wide and panicked, terror written all across his face.
“We need to pull back!” he says frantically. “Now, now, now!”
“We can’t pull back now!” Pidge protests. “That ship has the closest guarantee to finding Matt than any other we’ve found so far, and our intel guarantees we outmatch them!”
“I Saw differently, they have —”
Pidge bares her teeth at him. “If you think I’m giving up on my brother because you think you can tell the future —”
“You have to trust me,” Lance begs. “The entire fleet is a setup. All the fighter jets are manned by sentries, there’s not a single soldier on board the commanding ship. It’s a giant bomb. The second we touch it it’s going to blow so big it’ll start a new solar system. Please.”
“Lance, now is not the time —” Shiro interjects.
“I know, but —”
“We have every guarantee from the Blades that my brother may very well be on that ship!” Pidge says shrilly. “I know you think you can see the future Lance, but I just can’t trust that!”
“I’m not asking you to trust it,” Lance says again, more and more desperate by the second. “I’m asking you to trust me. And I promise you, Pidge, if we move forward than every single one of us is going to die.”
Tears drip from Pidge’s eyes. Her face crumples.
“Why are you making me choose between my brother and the team?” she sobs.
“Please trust me,” Lance begs again.
She swipes a hand across her eyes.
“If you’re wrong, I’m never going to forgive you.”
As soon as she says the words, Lance is yelling for everyone to pull back. Shiro echoes him, and the retreat back to the castle. As Allura opens a wormhole, the entire fleet starts to blow, every explosion tripping the ship next to it, until the entirety of the blackness of space is ignited in bright white flame and incinerating debris.
They barely make it through the wormhole in one piece.
———
“I still don’t believe you,” Pidge says stubbornly, once her tears have dried and they’re all safe in their hangars.
Lance smiles softly. “Thank you for trusting me anyway.”
———
Hours after everyone else has fallen asleep, after the last movie for movie night has ended, Keith and Lance sit facing each other on a mound of blankets, knees pulled up their their chins and arms held tightly around their legs.
“Your turn,” Keith whispers.
Lance hums. “How many questions do I have left?”
“We passed twenty forever ago. I think we’re just getting to know each other, now.”
“Oh.”
“Is that okay?”
Lance hides a grin in his pajama-covered knees. “Yeah.”
“Good. Ask your question, doofus. You’re taking forever.”
“‘Kay. How come you pretended not to recognize me when we were rescuing Shiro?”
Keith’s face flames. “I really didn’t recognize you!” he insists.
Lance shakes his head. “We had four group projects together, and you smirked at me after no less than twelve flight sims. I’m not buying it, Samurai.”
Keith holds his gaze for several minutes, glaring stubbornly. But finally he deflates.
“Fine,” he concedes. “I remember you. But if I tell you why I pretended to forget, you have to promise not to get mad, okay?”
“Fine, fine. Just tell me already.”
Keith looks away. He’s quiet for long enough that Lance reaches over to pinch him for not answering.
“Jesus, okay! I’m getting there.” He bites his lip. “Do you remember that dumbass line you used to say? About threading the needle?”
“Yeah. What about it?”
“Uh. I didn’t get it for a long time. I thought —” he grimaces, accepting Lance’s oncoming diva fit — “I thought your name was Taylor. So.”
To his surprise, Lance bursts out laughing.
“You dumbass! Did you really?”
“It was a valid assumption!” Keith defends. “You said that people called you tailor! What was I supposed to think?”
“Our names are right next to each other on roll call,” Lance chokes out, wiping a tear from his eye. He flashes a teasing grin as he slowly starts to calm down. “Guess there’s I reason I usually did better on the practicals, huh?”
“Oh, shut up,” Keith says, scowling. “You barely did better.”
“Neck and neck,” Lance teases.
“Yeah, yeah, cargo pilot. Whatever you say.”
They’re both quiet for a moment, silence interrupted only by Shiro’s horrible snoring and Lance’s occasional giggle.
“It’s your turn,” he says, once he’s finally gotten himself under control. Keith rolls his eyes, but asks anyway.
“How come you don’t flirt with random aliens anymore?”
To his surprise, the question makes Lance flush darkly. He looks away, picking at his nails.
“I, uh, Saw that I end up with someone soon. Feels disrespectful to flirt knowing I’m gonna be with him any time now.”
Keith’s breath hitches. “Him?”
“Them,” Lance corrects hastily, but the damage is already done.
“Who is he? Do I —”
“Game’s over,” Lance says hastily. “I just had a vision. If we keep playing you’re going to choke to death and die after I make an excellent joke, so. Better safe than sorry.”
“You’re so full of shit,” Keith accuses, but Lance has never been wrong before, so he hesitates.
Lance notices, doubling down. “Yep. I try to give you the Heimlich and everything, but it doesn’t work. You die in minutes. Gotta prevent that.”
“Fine,” Keith says sullenly. “I guess we should go to sleep then.”
“Probably,” Lance agrees, audibly relieved. “Don’t want you to die or anything.”
His face is red until the second he falls asleep.
———
Lance has his impulsive moments, sure. But the real impulsive members of the team are Keith or Pidge, no question about it. They are the king and queen of dumbass, split-second decisions.
When Lance gets a vision, mid-fight, on a planet so overrun with Galran soldiers that ‘outnumbered’ does not begin to cover it, he kicks both of those losers off their thrones by a goddamn mile.
“Lance!” Allura yells, once she realizes he’s breaking formation. “What the quiznack are you doing?”
“The witch controls it all,” he gasps out, to quiet for anyone to hear. He ignores the shouts of his team, ignores their questions, ignores his own guilt for leaving them so abruptly, and books it, as fast as he can, straight towards the cluster of Druids. They stand in a perfect circle, all perfectly still, tendrils of lightning quintessence pouring out of them faster than Lance can track, all tunnelling towards where Zarkon stands suspended above them all, sending deadly bolts of attack at Voltron and their scrambling allies down below. Every time a Druid drops, their very life force drained from them, a new one fills their place, as quickly as possible.
But Lance doesn’t need to see what’s in the centre of their circle with his eyes. He’s Seen it. He knows who lies in the middle of the cluster, who is pulling the strings between the entire empire, who has been this entire time.
As he runs, he feels his bayard warm in his hand, feels the form change from the barrel of his beloved gun to something sturdy, smooth, curved. When he glances down, he sees the familiar contour of a bow.
It’s too simple.
Far too simple.
But Lance trusts himself. He trusts the universe, and the responsibility Coran says it has granted him. He knows it would not lie to him.
He stops hundreds of feet before the cluster of Druids, standing firm as they all turn to face him in unison. He does not flinch when they raise their arms towards him, does not move when Zarkon turns to face him, raw quintessence lighting up his arms as he takes aim directly where Lance stands.
Lance breathes in. He aims the bow high in the sky, not at the Druids, not at Zarkon, but where he knows the arrow will arch gracefully, and make it’s deadly decent: landing dead in the centre of the Druids, where Haggar stands, unfocused on the sky above her.
Lance exhales.
He fires.
He hears a wicked shriek echo louder than any person every could, just as Zarkon’s final blast hits him square in the chest.
His own agonized screams drown out the terrified yells of his team.
———
You’d think it would be quiet, death. It’s the absence of life, after all. The cease of all movement. The end of one’s time.
It’s not.
Lance feels every one of his cells as they sizzle and fry, his very molecules tearing themselves apart as the blast of quintessence breaks easily through his armour. He feels every part of his body and soul incinerate out of existence.
It sounds like one long, shrill screech of brakes stopping abruptly.
It hurts.
———
“There’s no way he’s going to survive that! It’s a waste of time to hope!”
“How can you say that? How dare you say that?
“You think I want to? You think I want this? His very soul was fried, Keith! He is my best friend, he is my brother, but I am not going to put myself or anyone else through the pain of hoping!”
“The pain of hoping is the only thing that can make the pain of giving up feel better!”
———
Coming back to life is shockingly silent, in contrast. Still, too. He knows he’s not dead — he can’t be, if he’s thinking — but he can’t feel any further than that.
Everything is quiet.
———
It’s barely noticeable, when he can finally feel again. The faintest brush of a hand through his hair, a whisper, the press of lips to his forehead.
Then nothing, again.
———
“You’re going to make it, Lance. I’ll kill you if you don’t, you dumbass, selfless bastard.”
———
By the time he can finally move again, he feels like he’s lived four thousand lives. It’s the barest twitch of his finger, but it makes someone gasp, and then there’s a hand grasping his.
“C’mon, Lance,” it says quietly. “Prove me wrong, okay? About Seeing and living and everything. Please. Show me how wrong I was. I’ll even let you gloat forever, okay? I’ll never complain again. I’m sorry.”
Lance tries his hardest to move further, to squeeze Hunk’s hand; hell, even to twitch his finger again.
Nothing.
“That’s okay,” Hunk assures quietly. There’s a slight pressure on his head, briefly, and the scent of Hunk’s face cream and motor oil, and then it’s gone.
“Take your time, okay? I’ll be here. We all will.”
———
The first person Lance sees when he finally opens his eyes again is Allura. He can’t make his mouth move, can’t call out, but he doesn’t have to — she smiles softly at him, never moving her hand from his hair.
“It’s good to see those eyes again,” she whispers. “We’ve missed you, Lance. You think you can try moving your hand? I’ll help you, if you like.”
Lance screws his eyes shut — not because he wants to, he doesn’t, he’s only just opened them, he never wants to close them again — but he can’t seem to stop himself. It takes so much effort just to lift his hand a millimeter up from the mattress it rests on.
“Good!” Allura says, and when Lance forces his eyes open again he sees that she’s smiling much brighter, now, although tears drip down her cheeks.
“You’re so much closer every day, asteraki. In a couple weeks you’ll be all healed up, I’m sure. Okay?”
Lance still can’t make his mouth move, but he manages a hum. That makes her smile wider.
———
Allura is not entirely correct. He is not entirely healed in a couple weeks. But he gets closer and closer every day. After one week, he can move his hands, even though they shake. After two, he can speak, although his voice is raspier than the desert.
The first thing he asks for is an update — did he do it? Did it work?
“Zarkon and Haggar crumbled to dust,” Shiro assures him. “The second your arrow struck. Ten thousand years caught up to them, I guess. The Druids died, too. The Empire hasn’t really gone anywhere, but it’s in chaos. No one knows what to do. Planets are revolting left and right.”
He squeezes Lance’s hands, lifting one up to press a kiss to his knuckles.
“You did it, kiddo. You and that goddamned gift of yours.”
———
It takes months. Months of physical therapy, if speech therapy, of disgusting nutrient-rich diets and fine-motor training that frustrates Lance to tears.
It works, though. Over time, he starts to come back to himself. Not everything is fixed — he needs hearing aids, now, because he was so close to Haggar’s final scream that it shattered his ear drums. His hair is bleached white, too, and lightning-shaped scars run up and down his skin — Shiro jokes that they should start a club. He’s unbelievably lucky that he regains all the mobility in his hands. He still speaks in a stutter, and he likely will for the rest of his life.
But he’s fuckin’ alive, goddamnit, so he’s sure as shit not complaining.
His visions stop coming, too.
He doesn’t mind.
“You were right, though,” Hunk says.
As promised.
“You really could see the fuckin’ future. I’ll be damned.”
“This moment was slightly less depressing in my vision,” Lance says, grinning wryly. “All I got were those two sentences. Who know I almost had to die to get ‘em.”
Hunk glares, flicking him lightly in the forehead. “Too soon, buddy.”
“It’s been half a goddamn year since I got nuked!”
“It will be too soon for the rest of our lives. Your lucky I didn’t build you the safety bubble I wanted to build you, you menace.”
“He really was going to,” Pidge pipes up. “I had to pry the blueprints from his hands.”
Lance tips an imaginary hat. “And I thank you for your service.”
“Whatever, goober,” she says, rolling her eyes, but she’s smiling.
———
There’s nothing strange about the knock on his door. Keith knocks as he always does: just one singular knock, to make people on edge, because he thinks it’s funny.
But Lance freezes.
Because he recognises this feeling, the intense feeling of déjà vù mixed with clear memory — one of his old visions is playing out.
And there’s only one outstanding vision of his that takes place in his bedroom, with Keith, as he’s folding laundry.
“Come in,” he squeaks, desperately trying to compose himself and fight the blush off his face and failing horribly.
Keith steps in and immediately starts helping Lance with the laundry, even though he’s horrible at it and always insists that closets have more space if you roll up clothes instead of folding them.
Menace boy.
He’s quiet for a long moment, rolling laundry until Lance smacks him, and then begrudgingly folding it.
“Did you See this?” he asks eventually.
“Yes,” Lance admits, because he sees no reason to lie.
“Then you know what I’m going to say.”
“I do.”
Keith’s hands finally still, and he sighs, finally looking over at Lance with a smile that shows the barest peek of his crooked incisors. “That doesn’t make it easier, somehow.”
Lance’s belly curls, like he always does when Keith smiles at him like that. He tries to remind himself that he is a grown ass man and he does not need to swoon like a preteen when his crush looks at him, thanks. He forces himself to set the laundry down and take a step towards Keith.
“You should say it anyway.”
Keith hums, closing the distance between them and placing on hand on Lance’s hip.
“Is that how we’re gonna play it, Sharpshooter? You’re not gonna have mercy on me?”
Lance’s breath hitches. “Not for a second.”
“Wouldn’t have it any other way,” Keith mumbles, and then his other hand cups Lance’s cheek and he doesn’t waste a second before pressing their lips together, firmly, like he knows Lance can take it.
“I’m in love with you, Lance. I want to be yours. Sound alright?”
“I suppose I could live with it,” Lance rasps, completely unable to dodge the flick that Keith aims for his head when they stand so close.
He decides he doesn’t mind, though, not when Keith shuts up any further teasing with another press of their lips together.
And another.
And another.
It’s just as good as Lance knew it would be.
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loosingmoreletters · 4 months
Note
For the ask game Ghostbat, 37
I barely go here anymore babe, you’ll have to excuse the characterizations.
meeting in prison au
Bruce Wayne’s parents die. He copes with it and everything else that happens to him in the next decade as well as one would expect for the richest orphan in the world, pushed around by relatives with sharp teeth and greedy hands. Maybe, in some other world, there’d be someone who cares, but in this one, the Wayne and Kane names are not spoken kindly. Any cousins he has, are much older, distant, and more likely to tell Bruce to stay quiet and out of sight.
Bruce is pulled from school after the first fight he gets into over his parents’ death. It’s just until he’s learned to manage his grief a little better, until he’s fit for society again. He never returns and it suits him just fine. He occupies his days with self-studies in whatever matter interests him and remains unseen as is demanded.
The first real decision Bruce Wayne, all of nineteen, makes about his life, is taking a gun into his hand and shoot the man who ruined his life three times in the chest.
He does so in broad daylight, is caught on the spot, though the police doesn’t have to tackle him down, he’d already on the ground, heaving, throwing up over the gun. Erratic, the report will say later, not a practiced shooter. He isn’t, he’s fired the handgun he nicked from his uncle a hundred times in the forest behind the manor, practiced until perfection, for three shots that will have his parents’ murderer most certainly die a slow and agonizing death.
Poor Bruce Wayne, a fragile child presented only at the right occasions like expensive jewelry.
The sentence they give him is barely a slap on the wrist. After all, so proclaim the papers, what good son wouldn’t avenge their parents?
It should matter, Bruce thinks somewhere, that he perpetuated the same violence as the one that ruined him, ruins him still. It doesn’t matter to anyone, it just feels hollow.
It’s Gotham, they decide on a year in Arkham.
His mental health has never been great, his aunt proclaims in some interview, crying crocodile tears. We had to pull him from school because of it! We tried our best, but poor Bruce, he was hurting so much.
Bruce has no doubt that by the time he is released from Arkham, all of his assets will be seized. All the papers he had to sign to even get admitted, he knows exactly what freedoms he gave up. Bruce Wayne will no longer be of worth to anyone, and that suits him just fine.
It’s fine anyway, there’s no need to live beyond this.
The first month is surprisingly quiet for all that he now resides in Arkham. He supposes the doctors are still careful with him, paid to keep him docile and quiet. They’re probably happy that this criminally insane inmate never throws a fuss, isn’t anything like the freaks they keep downstairs. After all, Bruce Wayne really only got revenge. The motif is clear, his trigger as well. He’s a predictable patient, and the diagnosis they write on their little clipboards amount to nothing more than severe depression. The doses of depressants he’s prescribed is too high, and since nobody expects Bruce to act out, nobody checks if he actually takes them.
More often than not, his therapists end up telling Bruce how happy they are to speak to him instead of anyone downstairs. Bruce’s monotone behavior is well rewarded after the six-month mark, he gets a cellmate.
Anton smiles, flirts, charms, and never speaks of what sentence brought him here.
Bruce isn’t stupid, he figures that whatever it is, it isn’t what he’s actually here for. Anton is amusing in his own way, though Bruce supposes his own reactions to Anton’s flirting are the true entertainment to the other. It’s what you get when you raise yourself in isolation. Anton cracks a joke about attraction and Bruce replies with formula for dopamine.
“You’re smarter than you look,” Anton says one night, out of the blue.
“How’d you know?” Bruce asks in return, his eyes never straying from the page of the book he’s reading, thankful for the moonlight. He can read and keep up a conversation at a same time just fine. Could probably add a third task if he had anything else to occupy his hands with that wasn’t turning a page. Maybe he should ask the doctors to add some creative classes. Cooking would be fun, though he supposes the knives would be a challenge. It’s sad, he misses chemistry.
“The way you talk,” Anton answers.
Bruce doesn’t think there’s anything special about the way he talks. He’s blunt to a fault.
Why did you kill him?
He murdered my parents.
Did you plan this?
Obviously.
Are you taking this seriously at all, Mr. Wayne?
No, sir.
“I don’t say much.”
Nobody wants to listen to poor, orphan Bruce Wayne after all.
“And yet, if I were to ask you how to get to the bottom levels undetected, I’m sure you could tell me, probably open our door as well without anyone noticing.”
Bruce does look away from his page now and finds Anton staring at him with interest, a sincerity about his own character that Bruce hasn’t expected. Anton, Bruce thinks, beneath all his smiles, is angry in a way Bruce doesn’t have the energy or patience for anymore.
Don’t lose your heart, Master Wayne, Alfred said before he returned to England. Perhaps love would’ve suited Bruce better than endless anger.
“Is that what you’re actually here for?” Bruce asks instead.
“Mhm.” Anton leans back on his bed. He brags about his morning routine outside of Arkham, but he looks plenty pretty to Bruce even without. “My teacher sent me here with a little task. Said Gotham is the best place to practice.”
It’s Gotham, Bruce doesn’t really want to imagine what kind of task Anton has been sent here for.
“Do you want my help?” It’s easier to simply cut the chase.
“Maybe.” Anton tilts his head. “Do you want to get out of here?”
Bruce shrugs. He’s got nowhere better to be, really. “Are you offering a place to stay after?”
Anton grins and it’s more honest than any of his previous flirting, though Bruce supposes that wasn’t entirely for show either. “Oh, I’ve got a whole damn world for a brain like yours. Are you in?”
He holds out his hand.
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yanderes-galore · 2 years
Note
hey they again !! remember the lil thought of the self aware re7 or re8 ? maybe we can turn it into a scenario
soo, yandere self aware ethan scenario or concept !! you can pick :))
Yeah, I can see what I can do! Be warned I am not that good at self aware AUs.
Yandere! Self-Aware! Ethan Winters
Short Concept
Pairing: Romantic
Possible Trigger Warnings: Gender-Neutral Darling, Self-aware game character/AI, Hacking, Obsession, Stalking implied.
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- Honestly his overall caring behavior will stay the same.
- It's just his reactions will be different due to him now being self-aware.
- First there's the existential crisis, to know your whole life is a lie can ruin you.
- What was the point of him suffering in the first place?
- This whole time he was a pawn, everything he knows is a facade?
- You can't sense it too much yet but Ethan is emotional.
- His scripted dialogue is off just enough to notice.
- His tone of voice is confused or dulled.
- Ethan will be more focused on trying to rationalize his current situation at first until he somehow makes contact with you.
- He can feel you, sense you even.
- He has an idea that someone is with him all the time, even when he is alone in a room.
- Someone is acting like a guardian to him.
- Guiding him down a path he is destined to follow, no matter how much pain or death he must endure.
- Ethan can not fight too much against this presence.
- He goes to accept his fate only to catch a sight of you.
- Through a glitch or vision, he sees your face.
- Someone who feels more real than anything here.
- Ethan may take this as a chance to be something more than code.
- He feels, through this person, he can create a new path for himself.
- This is what seeds Ethan's obsession towards you.
- At first, he just likes the idea of escaping this hell he lives in.
- Then he sees your face more and more.
- He starts to hear your voice.
- You're scared when he is.
- You are able to predict just what happens next.
- It's official, you reside somewhere much different from him.
- Ethan starts to feel you are the only one who understands him.
- From what he understands, you are a player and he is your character.
- Who would know him better than you?
- Even Mia didn't know everything about him like you.
- Why should he go on with this little mission of his?
- His life isn't real.
- You are.
- How you'll see him interact is through dialogue that feels too direct.
- Ethan's comments are too unique to excuse.
- To put it bluntly, you have no idea what's going on.
- You've heard horror stories and creepypastas but those are all fake.
- What you got here is no trick of your imagination.
- Ethan will probably search for ways to meet you, or at least escape the game.
- He develops his AI, starts breaking a few numbers and barriers....
- Then you're convinced you have a virus affecting your console/PC.
- Such an event may make you feel you're going insane.
- Meanwhile Ethan is working on hacking cameras or social media to see more of you.
- His AI is just grasping the true concept of love and not what he's programmed to feel.
- It'll be best if you get rid of what he's infecting now to keep you and everyone safe.
- Who knows what he'll do when he learns more?
- Although, getting rid of him may be harder than you think....
- Ethan isn't going to quit when he finally has you within his reach.
- One way or another, he will figure out how to meet you in person.
- "You opened my eyes, (Y/N)... You're all I need now."
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mono-blogs-art · 3 months
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incredible chaser game w moments (part 2) up to & incl. episode 4
the most homophobic breakup you've ever seen. just, unholy behavior. on fucking god itsuki i know you had good intentions but you're the worst for doing it like that !!!!!!!!! at least let her down easy !!!!! if i was 22 and my gf of 4 years did that to me i'd fucking go insane as well
the elevator stopped working ➡️ you are trapped in with the person you hate ➡️ you are forced to sit it out and face your fears together, ultimately bringing you closer both emotionally & physically. i love this trope and i didn't know i needed it here, but it was great. step 1 to the meowmeow-ification of fuyu complete
my prediction of itsuki running into & taking care of little tsuki and the two of them then being found by fuyu, resulting in an awkward and heartbreaking scene, came true exactly like that. i think this scene was genuinely so well done and well acted, it broke my heart. i think this was the scene that really got me to say Damn, I'm invested in this now...
^ I'm still waiting for Itsuki to bring up the similar names in conversation though. like you need to talk about that
"ohhh harumoto-san, so you're part of that team?" - itsuki (sweating in closeted lesbian): "huh? what? n-no, of course not- I'm--" - "Don't worry, it's all good, we're all into BL too!!!" ➡️falsely coming out as a yaoi fangirl to your coworkers to avoid having to talk about your own sexuality. LMAO
^ this scene only being a setup so fuyu can be homophobic on main is what makes it even funnier
why. in every gods name. would you go to your boss' home address. why on earth would you do that. at least itsuki was self-aware about it too. girl you are SO unwell
every time fuyu has kissed itsuki of her own initiative, it has been when she was drunk... can we remedy that for future episodes, please? not that consent has been an issue, their mutual feelings are obvious, but i think she should be making a move when she doesn't have any liquid courage in her. step up your fucking game, fuyu
"she's a classic tsundere, after all" - fuyu, who has been severly harassing her subordinates at work (again, there seems to be no HR department at this company) being written off as a "tsundere" by the rest of the team - I mean, you're not wrong, but you should still file a complaint against her.
fuyu's husband Kouu is the nicest man on earth. my man doesn't deserve ANY of this. he even calls her dongyu. he even calls his wife by her real fucking name like the bar is so low
fuyu treats him so badly too, man, i genuinely felt bad watching it. were the 5 years of marriage all like this? was he always just a means to you getting your revenge? i'm sick. i hope they can make up by the end of the show and have a real conversation about their feelings and relationship.
that aside, i do have some theories on kouu, his disappearance, and his own feelings as well, but i'm keeping that to myself atm...
fuyu & itsuki keep having insanely homoerotic moments in front of god and everyone on earth, I'm starting to believe the only person with a gaydar in this company is the photographer from the other office. the fact that you two haven't been found out yet is honestly a massive plot hole (lmao)
has itsuki eaten anything else but sweets (cake, in particular?) on screen yet? apart from the homemade meal at the hayashi's, whenever there's a scene of her alone or with her grandma, she's always eating cake. i wonder if it will come up at some point, but it's just something i noticed. no shade though girl i'm also (almost) 27 and if you wanna eat cake for dinner alone at home I'm your nr1 supporter
i'm never a fan of the trope of a bilingual character breaking out into their native tongue for swearing or just randomly, but it is fun that only fuyu does it and that all the other chinese characters just don't speak mandarin at all. and i'm happy they actually cast a bilingual actress for fuyu!
episode 4 was the mid-series finale, and it definitely showed. this was the best episode so far by a pretty significant margin imo.
the. silent pleading fuyu puts on to make itsuki stay at the hayashi house. the most fucking 🥺*twirling my hair cutely* AND IT WORKS TOO BECAUSE ITSUKI IS JUST AS INSANE AS YOU ARE
i would like to talk about the best scene of this show yet. i really wished it was longer and was given even more weight. in episode 4, fuyu & itsuki are sitting in the living room together at night, so far apart that they're completely out of each other's camera shots even. i found this to be the most interesting scene so far. there was genuine tension in the shot composition, the acting, the complete absence of music. just silence and their voices. "after all, it was all my fault, wasn't it? that we ended up like this?" fuyu still deep down believes that she was the reason their relationship failed. she wasn't enough, because she's fuyu, because she's a woman. she still thinks that. my heart fucking broke in two
their fight after fuyu came back home drunk was so funny. especially with their height difference... hydrogen bomb vs coughing baby
after finally learning the truth about their break-up, fuyu is absolutely devastated. "you valued your promise to my mother more than the one you made to me?" just completely broken. after all this time sitting with these unresolved emotions, feelings of guilt and deep shame, only for that to be the reason? I feel so bad for her
the mutual love confession!!!!! i'm honestly a bit surprised it came so early, i thought they were just going to sleep together and not talk emotions first. but i'm not gonna complain (i just love mess) i'm also devastated that itsuki used suki while fuyu used the word aishiteru. my friends it's so bad for me right now (and them)
did. they. fuck. on. the. floor. in. the. living room.
i hope so because 1) hot and 2) although i'm still unsure as to the exact room situation of the hayashi household, don't they all have one shared bedroom??? isn't the bedroom that they're in after they've had sex (hopefully in the living room) the same one we've previously seen, where the kid also sleeps????? WHERE WAS THE KID ITSUKI. WHERE. WAS. THE. KID. WE KNOW SHE'S WITH YOU BECAUSE THAT WAS THE WHOLE REASON YOU STARTED FIGHTING!!!!!
if you had sex while your kid was sleeping soundly in the same room i'm sending both of you to superhell. i'm praying you guys just have a totally identical bed in another room. please.
if it wasn't the same bed we've previously seen from tsuki's room, that means you guys fucked in the marriage bed, which is only slightly less gonna get you sent to superhell.
in any case, happy lesbian sex to them. i know neither of you have known the touch of a woman in the past 5 years so it was probably intense. drink a lot of water in episode 5, alright? jesus.
it was also quite funny that the scriptwriter for the show tweeted out a few hours before this episode aired that "itsuki has always taken the leader position in their relationship" and that "you should watch episode 4 with this in mind" and we were all like. oh so you're telling me that fuyu is a bottom? you're telling me water is wet? fork found in kitchen??????
their lil afterglow convo in bed was just perfectly sweet. 1 point to fuyu, now presumably much more sobered up, for having the courage to ask if itsuki's gonna stay the night after all. girl you don't have to ask. i think she's ready for another 12 rounds. she's not going anywhere.
the line delivery of the "alright" (i'm gonna stay) oh my god. oh my god... oh. oh.
the meowmeow-ification babygirl-ification of fuyu is now complete
in the preview for ep5, fuyu is wearing a mixture of white and black clothes. girl... it was that good, huh?????
in conclusion:
i had a lot of thoughts on this one and i've found great joy in going deep into the twt tags for it as well. and i'm glad to see many japanese sapphics also being super vocal about the show. it's really interesting to read and interact with that side of the fandom i haven't really seen in this capacity for a (lesbian) live action show yet. i see people slowing down & brightening up footage to analyse who's taking each other's clothes off first, people just posting close-ups of Yuuka's hands, people going into Yurika's past filmography to dig up ancient clips of other sapphic roles she's played (of which there seem to be actually quite a lot?). i love to see it lmao. on a more serious note, it makes me happy to see sapphics from so far away expressing themselves similarily to myself or my other lesbian friends. it's cute!! as for cgw, part b of the series is gonna be intense, and i'm especially curious to see how they're gonna do the inevitable breakdown of fuyu again. my girl is so deep in the trenches, her temporary being on cloud 9 right now is gonna be short-lived and i want to see it happen. i hope she can really stand up for herself and make things right after all!
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Good Omens Fic Rec: Omens On Baker Street (Good Omens/BBC Sherlock Crossover Series)
The Ineffable Game Sherlock and John are no longer the only crime-solving disaster duo in London. After Sherlock unknowingly wrongs a demon, he finds himself with two mysterious rivals in the detective scene. For Crowley and Aziraphale, it's just a bit of fun, but they end up learning more about human nature than they bargained for. London Falling It’s time to start reconnecting. It's been a long time since John and Sherlock first came face-to-face with the supernatural. Crowley and Aziraphale now spend their days bickering in the South Downs instead of London. Life seemed to be getting back to normal... Unfortunately, 'normal' is only a relative term. Welcome Home Tulip arrives in the South Downs, and finds that starting a new life isn’t as easy as she first thought. Luckily, she now has a family to fall back on.
Length: 155,306 words (full series)
AO3 Rating: Not Rated (but basically PG13)
Best for: Pick-Me-Up, Safe in Public, Comedy
Triggers: Brief Violence
Read it here, series by WorseOmens
Personal Rant: I've been ignoring this one for months. I'm sure I'll bring it up plenty, but BBC Sherlock was my life 10 years ago. Reviewing fics on fuckyeahjohnlockfanfic was such a joy and I have so much fondness and nostalgia for that part of my past. Good Omens is the first time I've engaged in fandom at all since then. I was betrayed by Season 4, I had lost my love for fan spaces, tumblr was emptying. I moved on. But the day I finished Good Omens season two I dived headfirst back into this world. It's been nonstop every day since then for me. I started reading 2-3 fics a DAY again. I kept thinking how insane it would be to start reviewing again. But this series? Idk, I didn't think I wanted to engage with Sherlock again. I thought it'd be too weird, maybe too cringe to indulge in something I thought I "grew out" of. But since I've been working on this new review blog I thought it was time. And oh my god I can't tell you how good this felt. I feel like my Moffat induced heartbreak is starting to heal. So enough about me, let's talk about this series.
*Minor Spoilers* I'll let you guys find out for yourselves just how it happens, but let's say eventually Sherlock and John team up with Aziraphale and Crowley. The first series is set just after the Apocalypse-that-wasn't, and in Sherlock canon in between S1 and S2. The second installment is set post S4 of Sherlock. I am overwhelmed by how much I enjoyed this series. I had assumed I knew how this would go. I thought it was going to be a predictable checklist of crossover tropes. My eyes were practically rolling before I gave this a chance. I wanted to hate it, maybe to prove that I was totally over my past love of Sherlock. But its good. It's entertaining, it's surprising, it's funny, it makes sense.
This is mostly a Good Omens story. If you were never that into Sherlock you'll mostly be able to follow along fine, but I'm not sure the opposite is true. Crowley and Aziraphale are sickeningly in love, and I ate it up. Their relationship is established by the time this starts, but it's been maybe a year (?) since the Notcalypse. John and Sherlock are firmly in their canon of "I'm not his date". I can't spoil it for you, you'll have to see yourself, but how John reacts to Aziraphale just took me out. I was shocked. I had to walk around for a bit. It was unexpected, bold, I wanted to hate it and I loved it. It shouldn't have made sense! Moving on before I spoil...I just can't believe that this series took all the assumptions I had about the rapport between all of them and just chucked them out. Characterizations are all amazing, though I feel Sherlock's presence was a little quiet at times. I feel like he should have noticed more was off sooner than he does. But that can all be explained by supernatural interference so I don't really care too much. This plays with Sherlock canon in such a way that's just like, oh totally that actually makes perfect sense. And it's so smart to skip over past plot lines that it knows we're familiar with. We don't need to go over scenes we all have ingrained in our memories, let's enjoy the story happening right now. And it handles S4 so well. The thing that ruined Sherlock for a lot of people. It's not waved away, but just moved on from and brings Rosie into the second series.
I could spend days in this combined universe. I love the banter between Crowley and Aziraphale. They’re also very Gomez and Morticia here. Very secure in their relationship and madly in love. Extremely possessive Crowley, so expect some fun moments with that. Protective of each other, but also have complete trust in the other’s ability. I love their clumsy half hearted attempts at being human and that it completely goes over everyone's heads. Come on Sherlock! Cosmo and Wanda aint slick!! It's fun and silly. It's the kind of fanfic that makes your cheeks hurt from smiling too much. But it's not shallow. It has some excellent insight. Even though Sherlock and John are not the stars here, they still get their moments to shine. In the second installment there is a line about their bond being foraged not in the danger of their lives but in the quiet and gentle in-between and I wanted to cry. It was so healing for my broken Johnlock heart.
This post is much too long already. If you are a fan of both series, just do me a solid and read it. I just know you'll like it. Embrace the silly, warm your heart with the rest, and enjoy it. It's completely safe for public, but it was incredibly annoying to have to keep walking away from it. My next read will be at home, and very soon.
Read it here, series by WorseOmens
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comradekatara · 7 months
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disgustingly fandom-brained ask: in the fionna and cake au, who is betty- yue or suki? yue is very self-sacrificing, and her ultimate sacrifice grants her more autonomy through becoming a deity. suki however is a redhead, is a sort of badass historian/antiquarian like betty, and shares many of betty's non self-destructive traits. suki's exposure to jazz music makes her moves less predictable, i.e. betty. sokka is simon, toph is fionna, momo is gunter
JFC 😭😭😭 there’s so much happening here
okay first of all i think zuko is guntzie (although i am specifically referring to original gunter aka the little dino boy. master evergreen is like if ozai wanted to destroy the comet instead of harness its power for further destruction, i guess? but yeah orgalorg!gunter would be momo u right)
toph IS fionna though i hate to say it bc toph gets away with her wanton destruction bc she’s twelve so it’s charming (i love fionna but she’s terrible, muriel). but yeah they both move through the world feeling depressed and stifled until they are granted access to the “real” world and in the process realize that their insular existence is a lie, but because they have all this pent up energy and rage aren’t fully cognizant of the consequences of their callous violence (at first). and the progression between fionna&simon and toph&sokka is also paralleled as it goes from "who the hell is this loser nerd" to mutual recognition and understanding and beautiful best friendship.
sokka as simon is such a crazy connection to make bc i never would’ve thought of that but it’s literally so true. sad depressed lonely clown times. (is it just you and me in the wreckage of the world…) i’ve said before that i think sokka would also struggle with existing after the end of the war because he’s spent so long living for other people that he doesn’t actually know how to live for himself, as a person and not as a sacrifice. like if he felt like his services weren’t needed yeah he’d probably try to kill himself too. but if simon of all people can somehow learn to value himself and believe that he is worthy of existence then okay maybe sokka can too (i doubt it, but maybe that’s because simon’s acceptance felt too easy to me, so i see sokka reaching that revelation even less). neither of them is able to register the impact they have on other people because their self-esteem is too low to actually process that they mean something outside of what they can do. and no one suspects that they’re not fine because of course they’re fine they’re great in fact. (also what gene yang did to sokka in the comics IS as egregious as simon becoming ice king. to me.) yeah… im gonna be thinking about this so much now. thanks a lot
as for betty, you’re right that both suki and yue have obsessive, self-sacrificing tendencies because they are both mirrors of sokka and thus have a lot in common with him and each other (it’s about duty it’s about sacrifice it’s about eschewing selfhood and committing to a life of servitude for the good of the community) so they both have equal claim to being betty but i would say that yue is more bettycore because she literally does sacrifice herself to become a cosmic entity, and although she doesn’t do it for sokka specifically (and in fact does everything in her power to avoid sokka, which is the opposite of what betty does, although ahh does that make ice king hahn? much to think about), she does kiss sokka during her transformation. but then again suki literally chooses to stay behind in prison for sokka even though she’d already been there for months by that point. they’re both obsessed with sokka but their duties are not “saving sokka” specifically so it’s not the same as betty who throws away her whole life for simon. but yeah i think it’s yue. i mean she’s literally a princess. and she haunts sokka. and he feels responsible for her “death.” she’s both alive and not. but either way it’s crazy. you’re insane for this.
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antlerx-art · 9 months
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GOOD OMENS 2 EPISODE 6 REACTION - CONTAINS SPOILERS‼️
THE EVERY IS IN THIS EPISODE. YES I’LL KEEP CALLING IT THAT UNTIL IT HAPPENS. IM GOING INSANE.
starting it 👍🏻
aziraphale you’re standing a little too dangerously in that circle remember last time
“you’re not welcome here” DEEP VOICE OOOOOH pity crowley isn’t here to hear it my guy would’ve fainted
HIS ANGEL OUTFIT 💀THE WAY HES RUNNING
yes maggie ROAST her 🙏
“i’ve spent my life being scared of things” 😭
“BRAVER THAN ANYONE I KNOW”YEEEAHHH MY LESBIANS
shax don’t hurt maggie don’t you even THINK of hurting maggie or nina
“my god you lot are pathetic” LOUDERRR GO MAGGIEEE GOOOOO
no wait why can they get in
MAGGIEEEEEEE WHAT HAVE YOU DONEEEE
hehe aziraphale is “perfectly prepared to take defensive action” 😼
“STAY BACK 😠” OHHHH WOW
“you can all leave now, and nobody will be hurt” SO BADASS YEAHHHHHH
rip eric
lol there’s no miracle apparently michael and uriel just can’t notice crowley
noooooo muriel is lonely :(
also crowley comparing angels to bees and aziraphale feeling lonely when he realized he’s an “angel that goes along with heaven as far as he can” in ep 2 is making heaven look like some sort of hivemind and it’s really cool, it also explains why aziraphale is a bit uncomfortable with not having someone to report to after becoming free
CROWLEY WAS AN IMPORTANT ANGELLLLLLL I KNEW IT OHHH MY GOD I THOUGHT IT WAS A STUPID THEORY BUT IT SEEMS TRUE?
aziraphale using the way he discorporated in s1 to discorporate other demons hehe silly
i was about to say that demons can’t possibly be that stupid but aziraphale is reading my mind i guess
AND HE DOESNT HAVE ANOTHER PLAN!
“amen” okay??
gabriel saying nah???? to heaven winning?????
crowley is so doctor who right now
“ARMAGEDDON THE SEQUEL THATS A NAH” 😭 IS THIS WHAT HE WAS PUNISHED FOR??
aziraphale MENTIONING THE FIRE???????
NOOO IT’S TRAUMATIC FOR HIM ☹️
they had a TRIAL?
saraqael knows it’s crowley AND KNEW HIM AS AN ANGEL WHAAAT
“severe measures” no aziraphale you have to say extreme sanctions
“CROWLEY’S EMOTIONAL SUPPORT ANGEL”
shax stop making fun of my angel
THE METATRON AT THE TRIAL
UHH why doesn’t gabriel give a fuck about this
“GUYS ENOUGH”? OH MY
“one prince of heaven cast into the outer darkness” DO YOU MEAN. DO YOU MEAN CROWLEY? WAS HE A PRINCE OF HEAVEN????????
junior recoding angel😭 HES ONE CLASS UNDER M U R I E L
crowley’s little punch on their shoulder HES A NICE GUYYY OH HES SO CBBSBDBBD
gabriel is so casual about the trial?? like he just got fired but he didn’t like the job anyway
aziraphale what are you doing
IS HE GOING TO BECOME BIBLICALLY ACCURATE?
THE HALOOOOOO
HE STARTED THE WAR
“YOU WOT?”
just kidding no war apparently
and why is the box full now?????
THE FLYYYYYY that’s what he was writing
BEELZEBUB INVOLVED I K N E W IT I KNEW IT I KNEW IT
HEHEEHEHEHHEHE INEFFABLE BUREAUCRACY
yayyy memories are back
SEASON ONE???????
OH GOD THIS SHIP IS REAL?
arma bloody geddon
ahh and they’re too tired to fight so they agreed to just refuse to do it i guess?
and gabe then went to aziraphale’s bookshop because he was the first one to go against armageddon
A PROPOSAL TO MAKE
yes that’s what i thought
i can’t believe gabriel has a deal with beelzebub this fandom keeps winning this season truly is a shipper’s dream
THE SCENEEEEE from the trailer
he actually goes there just to look at the statue for hours💀
THEY WERE AT THE PUB!!! i keep predicting
romantic ineffable bureaucracy date if they *every* before aziracrow i’ll be dead on the floor laughing
GABE PUT THEIR SONG ON
FINGERS TOUCHING
“it’s bigger on the inside” CAN BRITISH PEOPLE STOP. BEING. BRITISH. (jk i love y’all keep making these silly shows🫶🏻)
ROOOOMANCEEEEEE THE WAY THEY LOOK AT EACH OTHER
HES BACK!
if they kiss istg
“SILLY SILLY ANGEL”
HANDS HOLDING???? WHY IS EVERYONE CONFESSING BEFORE AZIRACROW WAKE UPPPPPP
WHY DID IT TAKE YOU GUYS 6000 YEARS AND INEFFABLE BUREAUCRACY MADE IT IN?? SOME MONTHS?
“you will speak one at a time” yummmmy
ALPHA CENTAURY THEY ALWAYS WANTED TO GO THERE
still cant believe they’re canon
THATS THE METATRON
NINA AND MAGGIE TELLING CROWLEY TO CONFESS OOOOOH YESSSS
NINA CALLED MAGGIE ANGEL
ah i suppose the metatron offered aziraphale to be some sort of archangel but hes gonna decline because he wants to be with crowley
ITS ABOUT TO HAPPENNNNNN
no aziraphale HAVE YOU LOST YOUR MIND?????
yeah as i said
AZIRAPHALE HOW CAN YOU STILL THINK THIS I THOUGHT YOU HAD SOME BIGGER CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT
CROWLEY’S CONFESSION IM NOT OKAY
“oh crowley nothing lasts forever” shut. up.
CROWLEY PUTTING THE GLASSES BACK ON AS A SHEILD
YOU GUYS WERE SUPPOSED TO DINE AT THE RITZ AZIRAPHALE YOURE RUINING EVERYTHING
“i need you!” THEN STAY YOU DUMBASS
NO NIGHTINGALE? STOP IM ABOUT TO THROW UP
WE COULD’VE BEEN US
THE EVERY
THE EVERY OH GOD
THE FUCKING EVERY HAPPENED OH MY GOD BUT ITS SO SAD WHYYYYYYYYY
THIS IS WHY I DIDNT WANT IT TO BE IN THE LAST EPISODE AND EVEN LESS IN THE LAST SCENE I NEED HELP
“I FORGIVE YOU” / “DONT BOTHER”
NEIL GAIMAN PAY MY THERAPY BILLS
aziraphale touching his lips.
GO AFTER HIMMMMMMMMMM YOU IDIOT
i hate this
i need a moment
SO.
i know that in cinema the middle part is usually the sad part so since this show is a three season thing i was already considering the possibility of a sad ending for s2
BUT IT DID NOT. HAVE TO BE THIS SAD.
i have to say it did feel quiet gentle and romantic compared to season one, BUT THIS ENDING. THS FUCKING ENDING???? THIS COULDVE BEEN SO PERFECT WHY DID THE METATRON SHOW UP WHY DID AZIRAPHALE ACCEPT
neil i’m in your walls IM UNDER YOUR BED
AND WHAT IF WE DONT GET A SEASON THREE?
good omens and ofmd both ending with them separated this is too much why can’t gay people be happy
and when i had seen the every i couldn’t wait to see the contentx BUT OHHH I ALREADY MISS THE TIME WHEN I WAS CLUELESS I DIDNT NEED THIS CONTEXT
crowley i’m with you btw aziraphale needs to do the apology dance a million times
alright i’m rambling bye everyone i’m gonna go stare at the wall for seven hours
tagging @neil-gaiman but this time it’s to send him my therapy bills not the reaction ❤️
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thehollowstarsaga · 5 months
Text
Hollow Star Saga Book Four Predictions
okay so since i've finished agasv it's time for my predictions for the next book:
the CeLeTheo polycule
so i remember Ashley mentioned that there's possibility for a polyam and the moment i heard that i was just immediately like, 'oh, they're definitely talking about Theo, Celadon and Lethe right?'
like i'm not the only one who thought Celedon and Theo had insane levels of chemistry in both agasv AND acafl???
and Celedon and Lethe are already super cute and canon by the end of agasv too??
I'd honestly love it if Lethe and Theo end up being into each other too like the dynamic sounds super fun.
anyway that's the prediction Celedon x Theo x Lethe is canon next book (i'm gonna look like such an idiot if i'm wrong)
2. dragon Theo???
now i'm not too sure about this one but maybe (just maybe) Theo's a dragon?
i remember i made this prediction all the way back when adahs was released and there was that random paragraph in the beginning on how people can be dragons without realizing it. i was like 'okay, so one of the characters we care about has to be a dragon right??'
by process of elimination i reached the conclusion that Theo was the dragon out of all of them.
i remember when we found out that his grand aunt is a dragon i freaked out like i was so proud of myself for reaching that conclusion cause there's a high chance that he inherited those traits.
buuuuuuuuuuuut i'm not too sure whether that's actually going to be explored or bought up or even be true in the next book so this is a very tentative theory.
3. if Riadne dies, then who's killing her?
okay so i'm not too confident about this because i don't actually know if Riadne will die in book 4, at least in the traditional sense. but if it does happen the potential candidates are;
Theo: NO LISTEN I'M NOT BEING BIASED ACTUALLY FR HEAR ME OUT; Theo wants to rule over seelie summer, and if i'm not mistaken you need to defeat the existing head in order to do that so... maybe? admittedly its not very likely though cause there aren't enough emotional stakes. unless Riadne just murders his parents or smth in the first half lmao. i'll say 5% chance
Arlo: since we're talking about murdering parental figures... yeah. i'd say there's like a 10% chance that it's Arlo who kills Riadne maybe?
Celadon: 25% chance it'll be Celadon simply for the emotional stakes... and murdering parental figures. but actually if we're talking about someone who needs to stab their mom in order to get over their mommy issues...
Vehan: him having some kind of arc in which he's vaguely unhinged would go so hard. sadly, however, it probably won't happen. he's still most likely to kill Riadne at 50% chance, because the angst would be so good.
others: this is just me covering up my tracks in case my top guesses are wrong so that i don't look like a total idiot. Lethe, Nausicaa and Aurelian take up the remaining 10%. although i seriously doubt it'll be any of them. if it is though, Lethe's most likely to and Aurelian's least likely to.
honestly the more i think about it Riadne probably won't be killed by someone else. either she'll manage to get herself killed in her quest for power or she won't die at all. it doesn't feel like all the loose ends would be tied up if she did (watch as she dies at the hands of someone i didn't mention on this list.)
5. Vehan does some insane shit
this actually isn't me pushing my let Vehan go batshit crazy agenda. i mean insane as in he's going to have a major battle or show off some huge feat of power.
extra points if it happens in front of Riadne.
i think the best case scenario is a Riadne vs Vehan fight scene.
6. Who's the big bad?
see this is more of a discussion than a prediction cause i know Riadne's our main antagonist but i feel like there might be an overarching one as well.
easiest answer to this is Cosmin, and honestly, yeah it probably is him. however, Luck seems like they have a good head on them and that they might stop him from doing anything that would harm Arlo, so i actually think that maybe, just maybe it's someone else.
Fate, maybe? i'm not sure, but it seems we don't like them.
it could be another one of the titans but i'm not too sure they'd introduce a completely new major antagonist by the fourth book.
7. Theo has a bigger role.
there's no evidence no nothing i'm just manifesting stfu
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youngtomhardy · 1 year
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Me on film by Cin Lona in Los Angeles, CA.
I haven’t had a place where I can endlessly type out thoughts for awhile… I wanna tell you what’s really been going on behind the scenes with my career. The highs, lows and everything in between. If you followed me here, you’re a true medranhoe. These might be long, but I hope you find these interesting. <3 Here’s my story so far…
After releasing Fluids & going viral on twitter a few times, I was found by a team parented by Epic Records in 2020. In hindsight, it’s better that I never officially signed. We had our first meeting on March 15, 2020, can you believe? The next day, the world shut down and I didn’t hear from them for months. They had just spent a shit ton of money on lunch with me where they told me they were gonna put me on tour as an opener, promised me Rock in Rio within the first 2 years of working, and a huge deal with the parent company. I was devastated when the lockdowns started, but I understood. We were all scared.
Eventually we got to talking again and tried to work during the pandemic. The music industry collapsed and TikTok became the way to break artists. So they encouraged me to get on there & start making content. Then they linked me up with a personal trainer. Took care of the costs, put it onto my development budget. In between, they’d whisk me away to estates in Palm Springs, 5 star hotels in Venice, insanely expensive dinners in LA’s art district. It was a dream come true, it was too good to be true. I predicted this would happen in my teen years. I feel like I’ve already seen my life happen, but that’s for another post.
From there, I wrote a radio top 40 single with AJ, got my first sync deals, got Fluids in front of Mike Dean and a couple other huge name producers (they all love the song by the way) and started working on my album with my co-producer Dan. He’s gone on to work with BTS and Noah Cyrus which is fucking amazing & honestly will be a great little quip for press when my album drops. A win is a win. The songs are great, we worked on 5 songs together for the record.
Slowly but surely, things looked less and less promising with the team. Texts and calls got less frequent, my personal training sessions were cancelled. I knew what was happening. Another part of my story I’d already foreseen. Even through all of this, they remained so kind & supportive, for which I’m grateful. Regardless, I could feel them pulling away and that hurt.
In spite of going viral on tiktok over and over again, my streams and listeners rapidly rising, the deal never happened. It hurt so fucking bad. I cried and screamed and raged and ranted to anyone who would listen. I’m still not fully over it, but I have a little more clarity & peace now. It wasn’t my fault & I know this is common in the industry, but I guess I was just really hoping to bypass that part of the story. I’ve always been an impatient fuck.
So I picked myself up like always do and said fine, I’ll drop this album myself. Started the rollout and the music got attention from bigger names. All. By. Myself. Personal Heaven dropped and it got to Slayyyter. She told me she loved the song, wanted a session with me, and we became friends. She’s the first pop star in the industry that went out of her way to be kind & work with me. I’ve always admired her so much, I really hope one of the songs we worked on (or will work on) comes out one day. I’m seriously so grateful for her friendship.
Then I started working with Funk LeBlanc and we made a song that was an instant success with fans. ‘Do Your Thing, Babe!’ went viral 5 times all in different scales. The lowest viewed tiktok had 60k, the highest almost half a million. Labels got into my email again, ranging from EMI (they ghosted me after 1 email — why i’ll never know — but that one hurt) to smaller indie efforts. A new team reached out to me, this time with ties to Columbia. A dream label of mine. I’m still working with the imprint label now, but things are a little more low key. No promises of deals, no expensive dinners, no parties, just little meetings here and there — a friendship almost. I don’t know if this is better or not, but it feels good and genuine. They love the music, the image, and I really am so thankful to my first team for helping me curate that side of myself.
So now, I spend my days going to sessions, doing quick jobs for extra cash, playing with my puppy, and working out. Kim Petras recently followed me and I don’t really know why but I love her & hope it’s for my music. I’m hoping to get into sessions with her one day too, maybe a collab? Hopefully. I just gotta really make my mark. I may not be where I want to, but my god am I further along than where I was. My project is finally out in January. My heart once broken is finally healing. For the first time in a long time, the future looks bright and I’m happy.
- Disco Dad.
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septembersghost · 1 year
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chronic illness flare has turned me into a soaking wet paper doll of a person, but i have tag games to catch up on and that's a fun distraction 😊💕
tagged by jenn my sweetie @castiel
show your lock screen, last celeb photo, and last song listened to
oh this is probably going to be embarrassing. okay so my most frequently used device unfortunately doesn't have a customizable lock screen. i am very lucky to have a secondary device i use quite often these days which was a gift from a friend who didn't need it anymore, and that one had a really pretty floral/lyric from the archer for ages, but now... (if i hadn't saved this picture of taylor and benji, the lock screen and photo would've been a neat display of matched insanity, could've hit a trifecta with the song too but fob swooped in at the last second.) anyway...
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tagged by (polk! salad!) dani @valkaryah: share my top 5 songs I've been listening to.
according to my current replay playlist, and without repeating artists, otherwise this would be very skewed, it's 1. any day now - elvis presley, 2. heartbreak feels so good - fall out boy, 3. all of the girls you loved before - taylor swift, 4. look at us now (honeycomb) - daisy jones and the six, 5. all my ghosts - lizzy mcalpine (the way lizzy has not left my rotation for a year!)
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tagged by darlings @thebohemianbelle and @waxandwanewitchery: when you get this, you have to put 5 songs you actually listen to
similar to the above, but different!!! if i snagged this from that weekly replay playlist, it would essentially be all of the same artists because my listening habits have been in a cycle of comfort lately, but i'll choose five that i do listen to a lot that are also in the list and weren't represented. 1. golden - harry styles, 2. say you love me - fleetwood mac, 3. just one of those things - frank sinatra, 4. supercut - lorde, 5. easy to love - ella fitzgerald
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tagged by @bloodmoonlits 😘 my top 4 current albums (the taste on yours, i love seeing recognition for holly!) mine are going to be so predictable here please send help. (i am making an executive decision to exclude taylor from this, but red tv and lover are actually battling it out for a top spot at the moment 💖)
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tagged by @headfullofpresley and @castiel: talk about 8 shows as a way to get to know me better. this is unexpectedly hard because rarely are the shows i most dearly love ones that i would openly recommend to another human being haha 😳 so let that be a disclaimer here as i wrack my brain. in no particular order:
(1). better call saul: i will never be as deranged about anything on television as i was about this show, scheming times were had, tragedies were felt, cinnamon rolls were eaten. kisses sealed at city hall, flowers blooming in the desert. my unpopular qualms with the last few episodes/ending aside, it was such a gorgeously layered, meticulously crafted show, i loved those characters so much, it was SUCH a cinematic treat visually, and nearly every step was finely tuned and written in such a thought-provoking way. every step was perfectly acted. i could still talk about it forever. kim wexler queen of my heart, you will always be famous. you don't save me. i save me. (shout-out to the magnificent, and inarguably definitive, predecessor breaking bad.)
(2). penny dreadful: this show is a glorious horror, a mess of victoriana, a fanfiction potpourri of some of the most famous characters of literature, no sane person should invest themselves in it. unfortunately, i, not sane, love it to the bone (except for the terrible ending, you'll catch a pattern here), predominantly because vanessa ives means everything to me. the flame to which all moths gather. defiant martyr of my heart. no one will ever be like her!!! she is my fierce compassionate sickgirl heroine, fighting against the shadows of her world, her soul forever unbowed and true. even when she fears that lost, she holds close her dignity, her ability to love, her perseverance. the poetry with which the show, particularly the first two seasons, was written is unmatched. it's gothic horror in a frame that no one else on television has ever attempted, and it felt made for me when i first watched it in january of 2020. for though it is macabre and gruesome and dark and steeped in grief, it's also about beauty and devotion and resilience and connection. "i see no wildflowers here."/"then you need to look closer." and the everlasting heartbeat, no matter what john logan did to her, my vanessa. something yet remains. i remain.
(3). bates motel: fun fact, i only started bates last february, i've watched S1-4 more than once, and yet still have not finished S5. i keep trying but i don't want to do it! it's a rare one where i already know the ending is fitting, i just keep pushing it off. it's a very difficult show, it deals with heavy themes, there's triggering and horrific stuff in the pilot alone that would immediately stop me from telling people to watch (or at least give me pause), yet at the same time i think it unexpectedly becomes one of the most brilliantly done pieces of television i've ever seen. they have this audacious idea - what if we made a prequel of one of the most iconic movies of all-time? - and somehow not only pull it off, but end up making that story richer and more meaningful. we KNOW we're plummeting towards inevitable tragedy and still wish it could be diverted. we are fascinated and repulsed and aching for the bonds these people share, the desperation as they try to survive. every character is flawed in ways that the story tries to claw humanity out of, and it does something distinct in never shaming or vilifying any of the protagonists for the wretched things they do, never talking down to the audience saying we should be judging them or wishing ill on them, but rather examining WHY they are this way, why they act and react as they do, how they have been bent into these strange shapes. it exhumes your empathy and refuses to let you turn away from the difficulties of their world. the house looms forever like a breathing entity in the background. we will always end up in the basement, but how it comes to happen is the more important tale. and it has the incomparable powerhouse of norma bates, wonderful, awful, extraordinary, complicated, half queen, half little girl. she was like a miracle. as with vanessa, i will never forget her. (another pattern you'll see here: WOMEN.)
(4). remington steele: this was the very first "grown up" show i was ever allowed to watch with my mom, in syndication when i was a kid, and i just love it so much. it's such a delight. 80s glamour! mysteries and hi-jinks! THEE ultimate will-they/won't they romance, and she doesn't even know his real name! try this for a deep dark secret - the great detective remington steele? he doesn't exist. i invented him. follow - i always loved excitement, so i studied, and apprenticed, and put my name on an office, but absolutely nobody knocked down my door... i can recite the whole first season intro monologue, burned into my brain from age twelve. we just finished a rewatch a few weeks ago and i miss them already. laura holt is intelligent, beautiful, romantic, indefatigable, the closest thing the small screen has had to a classic noir inspired brassy leading lady, and was FORMATIVE for me.
(5). crazy-ex girlfriend: they put a musical on television for me. immediate hit right there. many of the numbers are parodies/homage, cheeky and clever but still heartfelt. then it became one of the funniest, most poignant, most empathetic, most memorable explorations of infatuation, self-worth, and most significantly mental health that i have ever seen. there have been a couple of other musical concept shows (smash, notably), but none that achieved what cxg did. it's an extraordinary work and sometimes i can't believe it was allowed to exist, and got to flourish the way it did. rebecca bunch could so easily be called unlikable - selfish, impulsive, obsessive - and yet she is so lovable and so real through all of her flaws, how can you not root for her, laugh with her, sing with her, cry with her? how can you not want her to get better? you find, eventually, it was never even about the guys, though they're fun to explore in all their neuroses too. they're almost...irrelevant. "a diagnosis" will never not make me weep. the show is just so important. this is about the story of a woman who learns how to recover, how to build true friendships (#gurlgroup4eva), and how to embrace herself.
(6). that girl: another one my mom brought me up on, and there are other shows i could mention here (i love lucy, the dick van dyke show, the addams family) as far as prototypes of modern comedy go (there is a direct line from that girl to the mary tyler moore show to friends and new girl), but that girl is particularly dear to me because it was influential to my mom, and because ann marie is a character all her own. she's quirky, she's determined, she's got the greatest 60s fashion, she's constantly getting herself into situations, she's one of the very first sitcom heroines to be a "single girl in the city" and to directly confront sexism (in multiple ways, but especially in the workplace and in the entertainment industry), she is loved and adored by her boyfriend (one of the best and most patient of all fictional boyfriends), but she is not defined by don, they complement each other. marlo thomas, the icon that you are.
(7). pretty little liars: listen. i know. I KNOW. it's silly, it's ridiculous, it has a host of issues, but i was hooked. and the thing is, though the mysteries fizzled and the reveals didn't make sense, what mattered were those girls. female friendship was the heart of everything in that story, they stood by each other and supported each other through every danger, toil, and snare, and even when they messed up, they forgave each other and came back together as a team every time. -A hardly matters, but the liars are everything. young volcanoes. aria, hanna, emily, and spencer all mean so much to me for very different reasons, and spencer especially. my genius, tenacious, too-caring girl. down these mean streets a girl must go who is not herself mean.
(8). supernatural: sigh. would be remiss not to mention it, right? have, in fact, written what amount to personal essays and fanciful poetics on this blog explaining at length what it once meant to me, have delved into the folklore urban legend americana of it all, and while i have gained a certain distance from it since the palpable breakdown i had from its ending that we do not acknowledge, those entries would hold true. it was so formative that things which are on this list would not be here without it, and i know that. it's so inextricable that i can't tell what is a thread connected to it in my life and what isn't at times. premiered on my birthday and presented me one of the greatest loves of my life, who i will always carry with me. i would not quite be me without dean. i would not be here right now without dean, in more ways than one. and i do my best to be brave.
(honorable mentions to shows tam and jenn had on their lists: the x-files, tvd/the originals, the marvelous mrs. maisel; other honorable mentions: btvs/a:ts, bones, dexter, fleabag S2, gilmore girls, the good place, jane the virgin, nancy drew/hardy boys mysteries, orphan black, the haunting of bly manor, select episodes of doctor who, i am quite certain i'm forgetting a bunch!)
for this last one i am tagging @nerdfaerie​, @arthurwilde, @desireearmfeldt, @someoneoffthestreet, @freakwiththeknifecollection, @bcyoureallthatmakessense, @setyourfireonme, @dewintering, @joons, @thebohemianbelle, @beckybloomwood, @takeawaythepain, and @wickedhawtwexler, but also any of you who wants to do this, or any of the rest of these, please do, and then tag me!!! i love to see them! i apologize profusely for the pervasive brainrot. 💟
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gummybear1178 · 2 years
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F-14 (Family of 14) Chapter 6: Air to Air
Chapter 1:
Chapter 2:
Chapter 3:
Chapter 4:
Chapter 5:
Also on AO3:  
This one can be read as a stand alone
Hope you guys enjoy! If you want on the taglist let me know! (See guys I am learning Tumblr)
Not fully sure where this story is going other than it will be IceMav and their 12 adopted dagger squadron kids!
The dagger squad is determined to find out who Maverick is married to, leading to some shenanigans and eventually the reveal! Followed by one shots featuring MavDad Icemav and Dadmiral with the Daggers!
Feel free to leave requests and ideas
"I have a new training planned for today, something that is prevalent in many missions, yet is rarely gone over. The spare." Maverick introduced their topic for the day.
Many intrigued looks crossed the faces of the aviators. Hangman, looked down for a split second before flashing his cocky grin on his face.
"In the two of the most insane missions of my career, both of them were highly dependent on the spare. It happened in other cases, but these two stand out. The most recent one being the Uranium mission. You are all aware of the part the spare played."
"This is still your savior speaking." Hangman snarked out, a cocky look on his face.
The aviators rolled their eyes as Maverick continued.
"However, the other mission was my first after Top Gun. I was the spare, the other plane with Ice and Slider had been forced to eject. So, they sent me. The difference between being on the mission from launch and being the spare is time. When you are start from launch you are already with your squadron, you will arrive at the same time and see what they see. As the spare, time is against you as you race to get to them. You are pushing to get there as fast as you can while also taking in all the information you have yet to see but can hear over coms. Time is everything for the spare."
A grim look was on many of their faces, thinking of how close they came.
Hangman never flinched, keeping his impressed look on his face. Everyone knew, that he knew he was good, and he proved it then.
"As such, we will be launching hops today, you will each take turns as the spare, however you don't know when you will be the one launched. I will be relaying instructions to the other pilots on the scenarios and how to play them out. As the spare you will be waiting until you are ordered to get there and take in the scenario at hand. Those not in the sky will be potential spares, you never know when it will be you."
Maverick nodded,
"Alright, everyone get into your flight suits and meet me on the tarmac."
---
Jake knew he was good, he was too good to be true.
And that was the truest statement he ever said. He was too good to be true.
"This one oughta be easy for you, huh Hangman. Gonna show us up with your skills as a spare." Halo teased.
"You know it, I've already proven my abilities as a spare. As we all know, I am good-"
"Too good to be true, careful Hangman, you are becoming predictable." Rooster teased.
"Please, you never know what I going to do next, unless of course it's to do with success."
"I don't know, you were predictable enough to where you earned your call sign."
"Not on the last mission, I have to mix it up once and while, other wise you would all get bored."
"Did you mix it up, or was that just luck?" Phoenix smirked.
The whole squadron was a lot closer after the mission, but they still thrived on teasing one another. If they weren't messing with each other, were they really themselves.
"Careful Phe, one day you may need your savior speaking in your ear."
"Thanks for the promotion Hangman." Bob smiled.
"Bobs proven he has my back Seresin, have you?"
They had teased one another about this for years, but something felt different to Jake this time.
---
Maverick knew he needed to test something, and he needed it to be done during training, not during a mission. The uranium mission was like no other and it would have an effect one those who flew it. It would have an effect even on those who didn't fly it, but trained for it.
He began sending them up a few at time, having them relay the information as the attackers came into play, before declaring a spare to come in.
It played out fairly smoothly, with each spare racing to them and coming in to assist. Each time being questioned on what they should expect as they approached.
Everything was fine, until it came time for the one Maverick was worried about.
"Phoenix, Bob, and Rooster, you head up." Maverick ordered. "I want you to simulate the mission, 1 on 1 dogfight."
They replied an affirmative in their comms.
"Phoenix, you will be the bogey. I want you to try and take down Rooster, but don't take them down. You will run out of fire power, the spare will come in when you are low. Leave it to the kill for the spare to complete. Phoenix, I want you to attempt take down but don't actually complete it. Wait until spare arrives. Then you can take them down or not."
And they were off.
"Low on fire power, out of missals and only a handful of bullets." Rooster relayed over the comms after a short while. "I need back up or I will go up in flames or have to eject.
"Hangman you are the spare, go." Maverick ordered.
Now was the time to see if Maverick was right to worry.
Maverick watched Hangman closely through his canopy.
He saw his face freeze, just for a second. A flash of fear crossed his face before it hardened once more and he went for take off.
Maverick watched carefully as he took flight, he took off perfectly and was off.
He waited for the confirmation that Hangman had arrived and too out the bogey, before hearing that they were returning to base.
"Alright everyone, head to the classroom for debrief after you change out of your flight suits." Maverick ordered and watched those still in their planes on the ground hop out and head inside.
Maverick waited though. He watched as Phoenix and Bob landed, then Rooster, then Hangman.
He waved at the first three as they went to change. Then walked up to the final jet as it taxied into it's spot. Through the glass of the canopy, Maverick could see what he feared would happen.
He waved away all the post flight crew there to check over the jet.
"Come back in a bit." Maverick ordered, they nodded.
He climbed up the stairs to the jet and opened the canopy.
"Hangman, hey I need you to breath with me." Maverick spoke softly.
His eyes were wide and frazzled. His breathing erratic.
"Seresin, Jake." Maverick spoke again.
Jake's head snapped to look at him.
"Hey, kid, I need you to match my breathing alright. In... Out..." Maverick took Jakes hand and squeezed it for in and released for out. After a few rounds Jake began to squeeze back in sync with Maverick.
"Good kid, good. Just breath. You are in your cockpit, you are back on base at Miramar, everyone is safe, you are safe."
"Bradley-" Jake choked out.
"Bradley is fine. He is inside changing. "You saved us on the mission. You took down the bogey."
Jake flinched at the last line.
"Hey, can you stand up and get out of the jet?" Maverick asked carefully, noting his reactions.
Jake nodded, he didn't trust his voice.
Maverick stepped back and held out an arm helping Jake out of the cockpit.
"Good, now kid, we are going to go down the stairs. Just hold onto me and the rail."
"Don't- Want anyone to see me." Jake whispered out.
"Alright, we are going to my office, okay?"
Jake nodded.
Once they were on the tarmac he guided Jake to his office. Making sure to avoid coming in to contact with anyone knowing it would not help Jake in the slightest.
"Alright," Maverick said closing the blinds to his office and guiding jake to the small couch in his office. "How are you feeling now?"
"Better."
"That's good. Are you ready to tell me what happened?"
Jake looked down.
"Alright, I will tell you what I think happened. Feel free to stop and correct me at anytime."
Jake nodded, his hands clenching into fists as he continued to try and breath evenly.
"You heard Rooster over comms, you could hear the similarities of this and the mission. You were trying to force yourself to only pay attention to now and block out what did happen. Then you head your name called for spare, you went straight into a bit of flashbacks but pulled yourself out convincing yourself that you had to go help now or Bradley wouldn't make it. You pulled it together and made it there, completed the objective then headed back. You put all of your focus into flying the plane, pushing everything else to the back of your mind, but as soon as you landed to plane and didn't have anything else to focus on it came rushing through your defenses. You were reliving the moment over and over again, but sometimes it was a little different, a series of what ifs?"
"Pretty spot on there."
"I know, because I've been there. Look Jake, I sent you up as the spare for that simulation for this specific reason. I knew it could very possibly be a trigger, and I needed you to experience it now and see how you react."
"I can't be grounded." Jakes eyes went wide as his head shot up and the words flew out of his mouth.
"I am not doing that. Otherwise you are fine flying, I sent you up there in a near identical simulation. We just need to work on your reaction to it. I know you need to fly, otherwise you will lose it. I need to fly or I lose it. You are a pilot through and through."
"Sir-"
"It's Mav right now Jake. No formalities."
"Mav, I don't know what to do, I'm fine, and then suddenly I'm not. It doesn't affect me in the air minus this one time, but at night..."
"At night when there is nothing but time to think and let your mind wander. No distractions." Maverick paused before giving a pointed look, "No personas to hide behind?"
Jake froze, he had kept his walls up so high and so strong, no one saw them for what they were.
"Jake, I saw through that the first day. Every pilot has to be atleast a little cocky, but you took it to a whole other level. Reminds me of someone else I know, and I know why they did it."
"Mav..." Jake trailed off.
"I won't make you go through that conversation now, just like I won't make you go through the air to air kill discussion now."
Jake's head snapped up again.
"I know you've never had someone who could understand what an air to air kill really feels like. I've seen your reaction every time someone brings yours up. However, now you know people who have gone through that. Who have dealt with it. We are here for you."
"Everyone celebrates it, but..."
"You still took a life, and everyone else is celebrating while you are having an internal crisis over taking a life even if it was to save another."
Jake nodded.
"Come by the house tonight. Just you. We will talk about all of this, and if you aren't ready to speak Ice and I can tell you how we have dealt with all of it. You are a part of the very small group of people left with air to air kills, and even fewer of those are still in the Navy. I have others who you can talk to too, but I figured Ice and I were a good start. I know therapists as much as they try can never understand what we do and what we go through."
"Thanks Mav, I'll be there." Jake agrees still looking down, his hands shaking but still attempting to wipe aware the tears he wasn't even aware he had spilt until one fell onto his hand.
Maverick pulled Jake into a tight hug, one Jake returned quickly, holding onto Maverick like he was a life line.
"You can also talk to Bradley about this, he knows how to handle panic attacks and nightmares. He can't relate on the same level Ice and I can about the specifics, but for the rest of it he can."
Jake shook his head.
"I know you two are getting closer, and he has been through a lot too, he really can help and understand a lot of it. He is your wingman, and that is a whole different kind of bond, I know you and Javy are close too, and he is also your wingman. You can have more than one wingman. Don't feel bad about it. Ice and I are wingman to a whole other level, but we have others we trusted that were our wingmen too, just not the same as each other."
"Thank you Mav." Jake said, making sure his words were clear.
"Alright, lets change and head to debrief before the others get into too much trouble after being left unsupervised and bored."
---
A tentative knock was heard at the front door of the Mitchell-Kazansky house.
Maverick opened the door with a soft smile at Jake.
"Hey kid," He greeted
"Hey Mav."
Ice walked in and took his place in his usual chair as Maverick guided Jake to the couch before taking his place on the couch seat closest to Ice's chair.
"I don't know how we are supposed to start this." Jake said softly, refusing to meet either of the other men's eyes.
"How about we start with you job as the spare on the mission, we can go from there." Maverick suggested.
"I just knew I had to fly as fast as I could to save Roo," Jake paused for a half a second before adding, "And you."
"Just as the spare should do, and you got there just in the nick of time." Maverick assured.
"And if I hadn't?"
"You did though." Maverick reiterated.
"But-"
"Jake," Ice spoke for the first time, "You can't live in a world of what ifs or buts. Trust me on that. It will just consume you and there will be nothing else left. You can't change the past for better or worse. In this case the better was the outcome. It won't always be, you can just do your best in each scenario."
"And what if my best isn't enough?" Jake asked, his tone going harsh and stiff.
"Then it's still not your fault because there was nothing more you could have done." Maverick assured.
"How can you know that though?"
"I did everything right when Goose and I went into the flat spin. Even the hearing committee declared there was nothing I could do. Has that stopped me from spending the every year since wondering if there was something I could have done to save my best friend and Bradley's father? No, but I can't live in that world, otherwise I would have lost it a long time ago."
"How do you escape that world?" Jake asked softly.
"Find something else to live for. I had to live for Bradley, Carol, and Ice. I had to live for them until I could live for myself again. It takes time, but you can get there. Sometimes it really is fake it til you make it. Sometimes it means stepping away, and other times it means taking a breath and throwing yourself in the deep end and seeing how you react."
"How did you do it?"
"I mix of several of those. I couldn't fly after the accident. Well I could, but no where near what I should have been able too. How did you put it? I was stuck on my perch and refusing to make a move. Everyone around me was pushing me to just suddenly be okay and fly like I always did. Only one person told me they were sorry it happened to me and expected nothing else from me. They were just there for me and they didn't care about if I stayed in the navy, if I flew again, or anything else. They just cared that I knew someone was there for me at that I could grieve."
"Who was it?"
"Ice."
Jake stared down at the floor. Taking in everything he had been told.
"That doesn't mean everything is better, I still have flashes back to that day and nightmares with varying scenarios, but it does get better. You have to let go of those what ifs. You succeeded on the mission, now you just have to keep on living."
Jake nodded solemnly, he knew his outcome was the best possible outcome, but that didn't change what could have happened, and what he did.
"Though I have a feeling that the possibility of not saving us isn't what really has you torn up. It's part of it, but most certainly not all of it." Ice spoke once more.
"It's my second time doing it, and it still feels..."
"bitter sweet, you saved people but you took a life to do it. Everyone is celebrating it and you still aren't sure how to feel about it. It's bitter because a life was lost, but sweet because you saved people you care about." Maverick answered, the look in his eyes was too raw for Jake to look at for long.
"Everyone wants to call you the hero and praise you, but you still took someone's life and have to know that to save your own people someone else lost their person."
"That harsh part of war and battles. Life is always lost. No death is meaningless, and sometimes the call has to be made, our people or theirs. It's an easy hard choice, we always save our own, but it will come with consequences."
"My first air to air kill, I saved my wingman, I landed back on the carrier and was met with the heroes welcome. Everyone crowded around me, cheering for me. The cheers followed me around the ship, to the mess hall, to the showers even, but my room was just silence. No cheers, no screams, just silence. All that there was left to hear was my thoughts, and the realization that I had killed someone. Everyone else was celebrating their death, and I was trying to figure out if I could mourn them. If I couldn't, what could I do?"
"I know kid, you are talking to the only other two people in the Navy who know what you are talking about. Air to air kills, you never even see them. They are so rare now a days, that when one happens it spreads like wild fire. Ice and I were on the front page across the country after our mission. Chatter spreads through the ranks-"
"And no matter where you go, everyone knows, your name become synonymous with air to air kill, with death."
"I saw you flinch when Phoenix mentioned it at the hard deck, there were still few enough people there for me to hear it. I also see the flash of emotion across your face when someone mentions it. You cover it up quick kid, but I know the look because I've had the look."
"I have a reputation to keep up."
"Yea I know, you are good, too good to be true." Maverick gave him a pointed look for the second half of the line.
"That seems to be more of a mantra for yourself than an answer." Ice said straight to the point.
"And if it is? Maverick said if you have to fake it til you make it."
"There is a difference of faking it and being crushed by it."
Jake looked down at the floor once more.
"I know the shields and walls you built there because I built my own." Ice reveals.
Jake's head shoots up at this new info.
"But your Iceman, a four star admiral, commander of the Pacific Fleet, Ice Cold No mistakes-" Jake stops abruptly realizing the meaning behind those words.
"Ice Cold, no mistakes. No one knows what I think or feel, and I make no mistakes. You a lot more like me and Maverick than you think. You have Maverick's flying style, but you've got my attitude and my shields."
"But you live up to those ideals?"
"Really?" Ice gave him a pointed look, "No mistakes?"
"When have you ever made a mistake?"
"During Hop 31 in Top Gun class of 86."
Maverick gave Ice a pointed look.
"I know Maverick, not my fault, doesn't change the mistake."
"What do you mean? Isn't that the hop where..."
"Where Goose died? Yes. No one ever asks whose jet wash they flew through. It was mine. I was determined to win the Top Gun trophy, because I was Iceman, the best of the best, and I needed to prove it. So I was trying to take down our instructor, I couldn't get the shot, Maverick was my wingman and insistent he had the shot, he told me to break left. I kept pushing I just knew I could get the shot, when I realized I couldn't I broke left. They flew through my jet wash."
"I told you that to get through it you have to know how you react to the situation if it happens again? On the mission after Top Gun, I flew through jet wash again on my way to help Ice. I almost left the fight entirely, because I freaked in the air after I recovered. You know I didn't but I wasn't so sure in that moment. I just knew I couldn't leave my wingman and I reengaged. That is why I sent you up today like that in the training. I needed both you and me to know how you would react if it happened again. You completed the objective, and didn't let it hit you until the mission was complete and you were safe on the ground. That's a good thing to know. You know how you reacted this time, and each time your reaction will get a little bit better. The haunting feeling will never leave you, but you get better with it over time."
"I wish we could give you a magical cure kid, but it's life, and life is never easy. No matter what façade you put up to try and cover it up."
"I don't know how not to live with that façade anymore. I've lived with it most of my life."
"I know kid, the pressures those around you and those who are connected to you are never easy. Maverick was always flying against his father legacy of treason, a false statement, and I always had to be perfect and never let anything phase me because that's how I was raised to be. My father was an admiral and he accepted nothing less than perfection. I don't know you back story for you façade and your pressures, but I know that they are there. If you ever want to talk about them, I am here."
"How do you escape it?"
"You let one person see through it at a time. Maverick saw through mine, and I let him see more. I started trying to stop holding up my walls and façade around him until I felt comfortable doing it and it became natural. From there I had others I let in. Slowly, at my own pace. That person can be one of us, as you are doing right now, or it can be someone else. That's how you start it."
"Thanks for this."
"Anytime kid. Let us know if you need anything, or anyone else."
Jake looked at Ice as he felt the hidden meaning behind the last words. He chose not to question further what the admiral meant by those words, choosing to play ignorant than hear the answer out loud.
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Sorry it's been a while yall, my schedule fluctuates and I usually can't keep a consistent update schedule, it just depends.
I haven't seen anyone address this with Jake yet, and I have been wanting to so hear yall go, don't worry class of '86 is showing up soon, once they do any requests or hopes for when they do?
Let me know what yall thought!
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