#i know nothing about kamen rider. i was dragged into it.

[astrummorte]

sometimes i remember that i have kamen rider ocs and that's just what i get to do with my life.

#i love broker! i love eerie! #-points at them- do you count as kamen rider? #i know nothing about kamen rider. i was dragged into it. #-pokes them both with a stick- #♡. ren writes ⁄ ⁄ underneath crimson skies .

[pulaasul]

Riders in Kombat - Parka vs. Mummy - 1

Earth’s Kamen Riders were all leading their respective lives as they saw fit after a year of fighting enemies on a weekly or daily basis, when strange creatures began appearing and attacking indiscriminately.

or Mortal Kombat karakters fight Kamen Riders.

A/N: A self-indulgent idea that sprung from the question of “Who wins in a fight, Raiden, god of Thunder or Kamen Rider Gaim?”

This time its Kamen Rider Ghost vs. Ermac.

Special shoutout to @dangerouscommiesubversive for answering some anons who asked about Mortal Kombat vs Kamen Rider related questions (its my cousin, the other user of this blog).

FFN I Ao3

------

Takeru was just enjoying the company of his childhood friends and the good people he met inside the Ganma world. He and Aria were simply talking when a disheveled Narita suddenly disrupted the peaceful gathering.

"Takeru, weird monsters are attacking the temple!" Narita exclaimed.

Alain looked at his sister as if asking for permission.

"Go," Aria nodded. "You four need to protect Earth and its people."

"But…"

"I will hold down the fort while you're gone."

"Takeru, let's go."

"Okay, Makoto-niichan."

---------

Indeed, as soon as Takeru and the others exited the Daitenkuu temple, it was surrounded by hordes of monsters. They all had horns and weapons in their hands.

If not for the force field that Takeru regularly puts around the temple, he knew that the temple was going to be overrun.

"What's going on?" Kanon questioned.

"This happened a few hours ago," Akari reported. "These invaders know nothing of the world and communications are still online."

"Has anyone contacted?" Makoto asked.

"Hina-chan has contacted me if we can place Kisaragi-san's school in the temple," Akari informed. "Although the most important people that needed to be safeguarded were Kisaragi-san and his clubmates, considering the information they have, according to Hina-chan's brother."

"Where's Onari and Shibuya?" Takeru questioned.

"Onari accompanied Shibuya when the latter wanted to visit his mom, and it led to them discovering what was happening in the city," Akari sighed. "Shibuya's tending to his mother while Onari went back to the city to check in with Onodera-san, his family, and Narita's family."

"Where is he now?"

"He just arrived with Onodera-san and his family and Narita's family."

"The temple can't handle more people to get evacuated here." Kanon grimly noted.

"As things stand, I think the Gamma world is the safest place for a lot of people." Alain spoke up.

"But we can't place all of them there," Akari shook her head. "We'd be imposing on you."

"I think even the Helheim forest is safer than here…" Takeru trailed off as he saw a few military personnel just got dragged off by a winged creature.

"Oh my god!"

Suddenly a policeman was flying towards them, head first.

"No," Takeru frowned. "Narita, Akari, head to the Gamma world, now!"

"But…"

"Just do it!" Takeru exclaimed. "You need to grab everyone and hurry there, I'm dismissing the force field," He explained. "Makoto-niichan, Alain, prepare to catch."

"I'll escort them." Kanon volunteered before transforming into a rider wearing a pink parka.

"I'll leave them to you, Kanon-chan."

"Leave it to me."

Kanon, Akari, and Narita rushed inside grabbing the civilians and monks of the temple, and hurried to the basement door as Takeru dismissed the force field.

As soon as the force field was dismissed, Makoto caught the flying policeman and hurried him towards the basement so that he can escape as Alain and Takeru fought off the horned monsters that were attempting to invade the temple's grounds.

"Henshin!"

Both Takeru and Alain transformed into Ghost and Necrom respectively as they held off the invading army using any means necessary, all ending in explosions.

Suddenly a mummified humanoid floated onto the temple's grounds and was using the monsters themselves as projectiles towards Takeru and Alain, all of whom were deflected by their respective weapons.

"The emperor will have your souls."

"No one can have Takeru's soul," several parkas emerged from Takeru's belt buckle and covered him as black humanoid figures filled the parka's opening. "His soul is his alone!" The one wearing the red parka stepped forward.

"Musashi."

Takeru stood up as he stood beside the being identified as Musashi.

"You, you fight like us, a being fighting with souls." The mummified being identified their opponent. "However it matters not, We have the might of a million souls."

Takeru was taken aback by the declaration. He not only was shocked by the declaration but also because he'd just seen the vast number of souls within the mummified warrior.

"No…"

"Takeru?" Alain kicked a monster to the temple's walls.

"How- Why?!" Takeru questioned, anguished at what he discovered.

"We are simply a construct by the emperor, a fusion of a million souls who perished in the emperor's wars." Ermac declared. "And you will share their fate."

"I don't think so, Ermac." Takeru growled as all the parkas shed their figures and returned to Takeru's belt.

Ermac threw their monster allies to Takeru before he rushed towards the parka rider and palmed his chest, throwing him to the temple's wall.

"Himiko, lend me your strength, Henshin" Takeru prayed as he transformed and donned the pink parka and began moving gracefully.

Takeru evaded each of Ermac's strikes, by using Himiko's precognitive abilities. He was able to strike the mummified being with his naginata before kicking him outside of the temple grounds.

Unbeknownst to Takeru, a lot of Ermac's allies, particularly those who were used as projectiles, managed to fight Alain to a standstill. As a result some of them had been able to sneak up onto Kamen Rider Ghost and prepared to attack.

"Takeru loo-" Alain was cut off from yelling the full warning as he got overwhelmed by the number of monsters he was fighting.

Takeru, unfortunately, noticed Alain's words too late and wasn't able to guard himself from the incoming swords that were about to strike him.

Luckily, before the swords were able to make contact with Kamen Rider Ghost, the Kamen Rider Specter siblings managed to kick them away from Takeru, sparing him from the attack.

"Thank you, Makoto-niichan, Kanon-chan." Takeru expressed his gratitude.

"It's not like you to be snuck up on, Takeru." Makoto frowned.

"I was fighting someone who has a lot of souls in them," Takeru admitted.

"A lot of souls in them?" Kanon asked.

"It's like the eyecons, only this one had a million souls inside them," Takeru tried his best to explain things about his opponent. "I had just kicked them out of the temple's grounds when those two snuck up on me."

"I see." Makoto nodded. "Then let's clean up."

The four ghost-themed riders made quick work of the remaining monsters before they converged at the center to assess the damage to the temple.

"This is going to take some time to repair and rebuild," Takeru admitted. "I'm just glad that Akari and the others are safe."

"We can always help, Takeru." Alain offered.

"And I thank you fo-whoah!"

Takeru was cut off from expressing his gratitude when he was involuntarily levitated before getting slammed to the walls and to the ground.

"We were wrong to underestimate someone who fights like us," Ermac floated back inside the temple's grounds. "We will not make the same mistake."

"Takeru!" Makoto ran towards his best friend and stood in front of him, donning a fighting stance." "Is this the one?"

"Yeah, they're like an eyecon." Takeru winced as he got up from the ground. "Only thing is that they have a million of souls instead of just one."

"From what I've seen, they don't use the souls inside them to fight like we do." Alain pointed out.

"Let's do this." Kanon nodded.

"Right."

Takeru passed to Kanon Himiko's eyecon as he placed another eyecon into his belt and donned a red parka.

"Musashi"

Kanon was now wearing a pinker parka than the one she was wearing earlier.

"Himiko"

Alain was now wearing a parka with green and white instead of the green-black parka he had earlier.

"Grimm"

Makoto replaced his black and blue parka with a purple one.

"Nobunaga."

All four Riders attacked Ermac simultaneously. Alain used the pens on his shoulders to attack the mummified warrior from afar, all of which were deflected by an invisible force.

Takeru and Makoto rushed towards Ermac with their respective weapons, Ghost's two swords, and Specter's rod, and attacked the construct with a number of strikes and slashes, most of which were dodged or deflected by an invisible force.

Kanon was the only fighter successful in hitting the mummified warrior with her attacks. She was able to use Himiko's precognitive abilities and was able to make her attacks connect to the construct that she knew her enemy would leave unguarded.

"We tire of this charade."

Ermac exclaimed as they released a shockwave, knocking everyone and everything over. They gestured their hands in Alain, Kanon's, and Makoto's direction and telepathically lifted them.

Fearing for the worst, Takeru equipped himself with the golden Driver he had on hand and transformed into a golden version of his suit but with red accents and without a parka.

"Grateful!"

Transforming into Grateful damashii caused the other three riders to lose their parkas leaving them bare, with just their undersuits.

"Houdini!" Takeru immediately summoned Makoto's blue motorcycle from out of nowhere. "Save Makoto-niichan and the others."

"Alright!"

The motorcycle unfurled and used its chains to grab hold of Makoto and the others before he safely deposited them on the ground.

Takeru then summoned Specter's rod and his sword to his person and rushed towards the mummified warrior. He let out a number of attacks, some of them hit his opponent, some missed, but he didn't let up the pressure.

Takeru realized that this construct needed to be dealt with soon, or else something worse than the Gammaizers would wreak havoc on the world.

Ermac was no slouch in a fight either. They easily matched Takeru's pace and managed to defend themselves from the number of physical attacks coming their way. They were wrong to underestimate this young warrior. He also bears the souls of past warriors with him.

Takeru nodded as he noticed that Ermac was near the temple's entrance. He threw his weapons before flying to the air, intending to do his finisher.

"Grateful Omega Drive."

As Takeru descended, he heard a voice.

----------

Takeru soon found himself in a green void, surrounded by a myriad of souls. He took notice of two of them, one had this regal air in them.

The other was a bald shirtless man, who had this power in him.

"Welcome, young warrior," The shirtless man greeted. "I am Kung Lao, I was once a warrior for Earthrealm in order to stop Shao Kahn from invading our realm but after my first victory, I was defeated." The man narrated.

"And I am Jerrod, I was once a king of another realm, that fell under Shao Kahn's invasion." The regal soul added.

"We are afraid that this is no mere invasion, young warrior," Kung Lao stated somberly. "Our realms come from another universe."

"Emperor Shao Kahn grew frustrated that he has been unable to conquer Earthrealm, due to my wife's sacrifice,"

"And our stubbornness." Kung Lao added.

"And Earthrealm's tenacity, he opted to search for other worlds, other universes where he claims he'll have better luck invading."

"Why does he want to conquer?"

"His greed for power, young warrior," Jerrod answered. "He fashions himself as this great ruler who everyone should bow to."

"How did he travel to another universe?" Takeru couldn't help but ask.

"Other universes have made contact with our universe before, young warrior," Jerrod answered. "He sought to replicate those events in which we have made contact with another universe, and he succeeded."

"And without the elder gods in his way, the emperor sought to invade your Earthrealm immediately" Kung Lao supplied.

"The elder gods would not lift a finger, they see this universe outside of their jurisdiction."

"That's…"

Takeru was speechless, he tried to form a response with the knowledge he had discovered, but nothing would come out of his mouth.

"We understand your disgust, young warrior," Jerrod offered. "The elder gods did not lift a finger even as they spelled my queen to do their bidding, kill me, and invade my realm of Edenia."

"The elder gods wouldn't have lifted a finger when they tried to invade my universe's Earthrealm, if not for Raiden, our Earthrealm's defender god." Kung Lao admitted.

"Now let us tell you of our vessel's powers."

----------

Takeru soon found himself, still descending at Ermac but Ermac was able to summon a green-tinted shield, soul energy, from what he had heard from Kung Lao and Jerrod.

Ermac summoned another shockwave from their person and blew Takeru away from them. They then teleported behind Takeru, who was about to be slammed to a wall, and kicked him.

"Takeru!"

Takeru heard Kung Lao's voice, as he flew towards the temple's wall, he risked drawing an eye in the air and seemingly forced it towards the mummified warrior.

A green orb was expelled out of Ermac as a small object fell from the sky and sucked the green orb in.

Takeru hit the wall, prompting him to see a yellow square with a myriad of symbols in the sky.

"Young warrior, are you okay?"

Takeru looked towards the person who rushed to him and he saw Alain, although the King of the Gamma world was dressed differently than his usual green and white ensemble.

Alain was wearing a sleeveless parka that exposed parts of his torso and a red headband that was tied to his forehead.

"Alain-sama?" Kanon asked, also untransformed.

"I'm not Alain-sama, I'm Kung Lao."

"Alain, that's the name of the person you're possessing," Makoto informed, also untransformed. "May we ask where you came from?"

"He's one of the souls Ermac had." Takeru struggled to stand.

"Sit down, Takeru, let me handle the emperor's construct." Kung Lao offered.

"No," Takeru denied the offer. "You just got freed from the prison that was Ermac, I don't know if he has the ability to pull you back in."

"But."

"I was wondering why you haven't used the Mugen Damashii." Makoto voiced out.

"I underestimated the enemy," Takeru admitted. "But no longer."

Takeru re-equipped the belt he had earlier on his person materialized a white trinket on his hand and placed it on his belt.

"Chou Kaigan! Mugen!"

Takeru's whole being transformed into a warrior in white everything. His suit from before turned white as Takeru himself donned a white parka.

As soon as the transformation was done, Kamen Rider Ghost rushed toward Ermac and pelted the mummified warrior with a lot of punches and kicks, some of which were blocked, dodged, or deflected.

Ermac soon kept up with Takeru's pace and was able to trade even blows against the white Rider.

It came to a point where Takeru and Ermac kicked each other's chests, and forced each other backward, undoing the monk's transformation and revealing his bruised and bleeding face and tattered clothes, whereas, Ermac was only knocked down and soon teleported away from where they lied.

Everyone rushed towards Takeru but before they could even ask the monk on how he was, he was raised by a yellow spotlight.

As he flew upwards, he saw a few monsters destroying some property then he saw a certain memory.

Three men were being led to a portal that led to a white castle, which suspiciously looked a lot like the Himeji castle in Osaka. He saw where the three men were being led to and were unceremoniously pushed into cells.

---------

When Takeru came to, he felt that a strong barrier was erected around the temple's grounds, and this included the cemetery. He knew that his father's soul was safe inside the Toucan Boost eyecon, but he couldn't say the same for the other souls.

Takeru shook his head as he got up and noticed that he was inside the temple, surrounded by Akari and the others.

Doctor Hojo, alongside Officer Tomari, was also inside the temple.

"Good, you're awake."

"What did the great eye say?" The old man sage questioned.

"They noticed the new threat, they figured we could make use of the eyecons once more," Takeru reported. "Hence they will be here so that we can make use of the eyecons whenever necessary."

"Just like what you did to Kung Lao's soul, earlier." Alain showed the Kung Lao eyecon he was holding.

"Does Ermac have that ability?" Makoto frowned.

"No, but someone above him in rank does." Takeru closed his eyes. "While I was battling Ermac earlier, I made contact with two of the souls that were trapped inside, Kung Lao and someone named Jerrod." He admitted. "They told me everything about these monsters that are invading our planet and how we need all the help we can get."

"Speaking of help, no one has been able to get a hold of any sentai team," Emu reported. "Not even the most recent teams, the Kiramagers or the DonBrothers, can be contacted."

"That's worrying." Shinnosuke frowned.

"The barrier around the temple is strong, I asked the assistance of the great eye to erect one around the temple, so that it won't breach the Gamma world and we have a base of operations."

"The Kamen Rider Club, alongside Kisaragi, would be evacuated here if that's alright," Shinnosuke asked. "I do not want to know what these invaders are going to use the power of cosmic energy if they get their hands on it."

"It's alright," Takeru nodded. "At the very least the Mugen Damashii is attuned to me and no one else."

#mortal kombat #kamen rider ghost #takeru tenkuuji #tenkuuji takeru #fukami makoto #great kung lao #jerrod mortal kombat #ermac mortal kombat #alain kamen rider ghost #fukami kanon #tsukimura akari #akari tsukimura #hojo emu #emu hojo #kanon fukami #makoto fukami #narita kisarazu #kisarazu narita #story #riders in kombat #kamen rider ex-aid

[wanou-dorm]

HSA Oc- Sento Hojo

@hourglassstationacademy/@fumikomiyasaki

Name: Sento Hojo

Based on: Lopunny

Stage Name: Emu - Emu as in Emulation

𝗚𝗲𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿: Male 

𝗔𝗴𝗲:  17

𝗕𝗶𝗿𝘁𝗵𝗱𝗮𝘆: August 26

𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗻: Leo 

𝗛𝗲𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁: 5’9

𝗘𝘆𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗹𝗼𝗿: Red and Blue 

𝗛𝗮𝗶𝗿 𝗰𝗼𝗹𝗼𝗿: Brown with Blond

.

𝗣𝗥𝗢𝗙𝗙𝗘𝗦𝗦𝗜𝗢𝗡𝗔𝗟 𝗦𝗧𝗔𝗧𝗨𝗦

𝗗𝗼𝗿𝗺: Evolnation

𝗦𝗰𝗵𝗼𝗼𝗹 𝘆𝗲𝗮𝗿: Second year

𝗖𝗹𝗮𝘀𝘀: 2-B

𝗢𝗰𝗰𝘂𝗽𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻: Student

𝗖𝗹𝘂𝗯:  Science Club

𝗕𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝘀𝘂𝗯𝗷𝗲𝗰𝘁: Robotics ,Dance

Sexuality: Bisexual

Homeland:  “Fuujin City “ ( Onigashima)

.

𝗙𝗨𝗡 𝗙𝗔𝗖𝗧𝗦:

𝗗𝗼𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗱: Right

𝗙𝗮𝘃𝗼𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗼𝗱:  Carrots Cake , Sunflower heads

𝗟𝗲𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝗳𝗮𝘃𝗼𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗼𝗱: Olives 

Likes:  Singing, Dancing , his” Genius “being Praised , Messing with Machine 

𝗗𝗶𝘀𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲𝘀:” Dont touch the Machines ” ,his Own Clumsiness , When things fail .

𝗛𝗼𝗯𝗯𝘆:  Fixing Machines around the School, Building machines , Dancing 

𝗧𝗮𝗹𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀: Singing, Dancing ,knowingly Roasting people , Being a Smartass 

𝗣𝗘𝗥𝗦𝗢𝗡𝗔𝗟𝗜𝗧𝗬 and Backstory:

Member of  a The idol group  Charmix . Sento is usally considering the leader. Sento is said to  like Peko … but you took out all her laziness and lack of motivation.

Your left with this Constantly Inspired young man with a lot of Energy he is constantly thinking up and Making Up stuff to make  performance’s Better. He comes from a Family of Mechanics and Engineers  so He has a lot Experience working on, designing and building Machines , Masaki says that Sento designed a lot of their more unique stage Elements . 

Sento dose know his limits and usually  get People to help .Mainly because Despite being Coordinated on Stage he is Somewhat Clumsy  in reality . Sento says that it took Years of Practice trigger “ idol  mode”.Some people call him a mad scientist when he’s super motivated easily Excitable

Unique Magic :  Klutz 

It causes Anyone targeted to lose any and all Coordination they had , Can only two people at a time .

Trivia: 

Sento Names comes from Sento Kiryu from Kamen Build and Emu Hojo from Kamen Rider Exaid.

Sento Birthday is The Date KR Build ended its run.

The Reason why Sento is his Name is because the Main form of KR Build is RabbitTank. Sento’s Name also translates into “TankRabbit“ which is why his Last Name Changed .

Some of his Personality is based on Banjo Ryuga the Secondary Rider in Build , like suppressed need to throw hands at stuff  that offends him.He sometimes is seen with Emma , kickBoxing to suppress This urge.

Sento has Nothing against Gregory besides the fact that For some reason everytime he or Peko is around something Breaks , Blows up in his  face or malfunction.

 It’s like a Safety precaution since it’s a Running Gag for Sento To Get launch by something hes working on .

Sento Has Tested this with Multiple Students for some reason Machines only do this when around Gregory or Peko . They work Fine When Around Emma and Most other Student . 

He Did get some weird finding with Tyler for some reasons every machine stopped except Sewing Machines but he hasn’t gotten to Facilette yet.

Sento, Says he help out his Mother with Cars before he was Scouted to be an idol.

Sento has accidentally Wacked  every Student in the dorm With his ears about twice..maybe more for Greg and Peko cause he’s Been conveniently launched into them on multiple occasions. His ears are like pillows but anyone who’s had a pillow fight knows that still hurts . He forgets to Tie them up.

Why a Scence where Greg and Peko are Repeatedly being Bopped by Sento’s Ears cause He Dosent noticed them is Funny to me I don’t know.

Sento says Gregory Has been K’O by his Ears And “I dragged him all the way back to his room and Got him an Ice pack. He’s way lighter than I thought , I also Apologized profusely.“  - Sento is just Stronger than he thought .

This more reference to Mega Lopunny’s Ability of Scrappy as well an entry that says Mega Lopunny uses its ears like Whip.

the Entry reads - It swings its ears like whips and strikes its enemies with them. It has an intensely combative disposition.

 Peko ate part of a Carrot cake his Mother made him , He resisted the  urge to throw hand . Masaki  and Gregory dragged him away and also took  the Cake from Peko much to her protest. ( Masaki has Psychic powers And you don’t sorry Peko )

Some Devoted Peko fan Dont exactly like Charmix, Say their Rude, Cold  and Spoiled Brats. Meanwhile Charmix fan Say that these  Peko fans are taking their reactions out of context when Peko was in the wrong .

Daigo says he has the opposite problem to Peko , Sento has so much energy he can’t Relax he has to be forced to sit down and relax .

Sento apparently uses Melatonin gummies to fall asleep, Peko has also accidentally eaten them Thinking they were Normal gummies , But they were just one a plate how was She Susposed to know.

Touching his Ears too roughly Gets you kicked in the Face.

Sento can  tell somethings off with a Machine From looking at it .

 

He expressed specific concern about something being off with Ms. Galea Mechanical Leg  and microphone but has just Brushed it off as “ I’m Probably thinking too hard, I’m sure she’s notice by now .” 

When He Refers to himself as a genius his voice gose up in Pitch .

When he Gets Excited his hair Form  an Ahoge .( see Voice Claim video for what that looks like.)

Used to were Braces, but switched to Invisalign.

Voice Claim: Sento Kiryu (this actor was 23 playing a 26 year old)

Theme song :

Double Keeper Black and White twin Birds

Broken Eternal Dance Engine

#Youtube #hourglassstationacademy #lopunny #disney twisted wonderland #twisted oc #twisted wonderland #twisted wonderland oc #twstoc #twst #twst art #twst fanschool #twst oc #disney twst

[dangerouscommiesubversive]

someone behind me was tracing my steps / maybe you’re better off this way

Fandom: Kamen Rider Ryuki

Characters: Asakura Takeshi, Kido Shinji

Songs: "After the Fall," October Project & "Passive," A Perfect Circle (playlist here)

Takeshi’s sitting against the wall, bleeding out, and the mirror guy—Kanzaki, right—is standing over him, mouth twisted in something he vaguely recognizes as dismay. “I can’t use this, there’s barely any energy left,” he says, not to Takeshi, and there sure as hell isn’t anyone else in the room. “I’ll have to reset.”

“Hang on a second.” Takeshi coughs and feels his mouth fill up with the taste of copper, which isn’t such a bad flavor when you get down to it. “What about my wish?”

Kanzaki doesn’t even look at him, already fucking around with the mirror. “You don’t want anything, there’s no point.”

“Sure I want something.”

“…what on Earth could you want at this point? It’s all going to be reset anyway.”

Takeshi grins up at him, knowing that it’s sure to be an unnerving sight with his teeth all over blood. “Lemme remember.”

“Out of the question. Giving one participant unnecessary foreknowledge would interfere with the procedure.”

“Nah, nah, I’m not gonna interfere with shit. It was just a hell of a time.” Takeshi looks up just as Kanzaki is looking down and grins his bloody grin a little wider. “I like to remember times when I had fun. Looking forward to doing it over again. Let me remember.”

---

It’s not until he graduates university that Shinji realizes that he’s missing something.

Slightly after, really. He graduates, he works some shitty part-time gigs, he does some freelancing, and then Ookubo gets in touch and offers him a job at Ore Journal. That’s all fine, but when he steps through the door of the Ore offices he’s hit with a wave of déjà vu so powerful that he nearly trips and falls face-first into Reiko’s desk. Fortunately he catches himself before anyone notices. It had been bad enough trying to explain to his mother about the girl who lived in his mirror when he was thirteen; he can’t imagine how the people here would react to, “I remember walking into this room for the first time at least eight times over.”

He gets a grip on himself, but the feeling of loss stays. He’s missing something, and he doesn’t know what. Sometimes he’ll get a glimpse of it, he’ll pass someone on the street or overhear a snatch of conversation and a fragment of memory will overwhelm him, but he never gets everything.

From the bits that he sees, he’s not sure that he wants to get everything. It might be better to be missing something than to remember.

---

Takeshi’s known that he’s missing something for a long time now, and whatever it is, he wants it back.

He’s not exactly an educated guy, but he knows himself pretty well, and the idea that there’s a big chunk of him missing is galling. He can feel its absence. He can’t tell what it is, it hasn’t got any kind of useful shape, no edges that he can detect, but it’s his. And since he wouldn’t just go carving out part of himself, that means he’s been robbed.

He doesn’t take kindly to being robbed.

Mostly, though, he can ignore it, the way you ignore a hole in the wall that you don’t feel like repairing yet. He does what he likes, gets what he wants, eats when there’s food, and doesn’t think about it unless he reaches for something in his mind and finds that it isn’t there.

And then he sees the journalist.

Some sweet-faced kid, he is, showing up at a bar that Takeshi likes and bugging the regulars about a local ghost story that Takeshi knows for a fact is bullshit. He doesn’t try coming over to Takeshi’s corner, because the bartender visibly warns him off, but he’s talking to everyone else. That suits Takeshi fine. He can just sit with his drink and watch and remember, in shards and splinters, tantalizing and incomplete.

Kido Shinji is what’s printed on the business card he swipes from the bartender once the journalist leaves, with the address of a tea shop written on the back in pen.

Now there’s a name that rings a bell.

He stares down at the card for a moment, not sure whether he’s pleased or furious, and then heads out. Guy couldn’t have gone far.

---

Shinji gets through the door and is immediately handed an apron and a bandana for his hair. “Dishes.”

“What—Ren, I just got here.”

“Yeah, and there are dirty dishes. I don’t have time to deal with them, there are customers.” Ren squints at him for a moment, frowning. “What’s wrong with you, anyway?”

Shinji pauses in the middle of tying back his hair, uneasy. “I’ll tell you once there aren’t customers. Where’s Miyu—he’s still working, ok.”

Ren rolls his eyes. “Apparently that middle schooler who was here last week told all of her friends about him, he’s been busy all day.”

There are a lot of dishes piled up, and it keeps Shinji busy until Ren’s shooing out the last customers of the day. Atori’s different without the old lady, but it’s not a bad different; hopefully she’s happy in whatever warm place she moved to after she sold the shop to Ren. She’d certainly never seemed happy here.

He’s happy here. In a stable place, with a little bit of stable work apart from Ore, with people who inexplicably love him for reasons that none of them quite remember clearly.

When the last customer is out the door, Ren leans back against the counter, arms folded across his chest, and says, “So something’s bothering you, spit it out.”

Shinji frowns down into the dishwater. “I think someone was following me again today.”

“What, again? How long’s this been going on now, two weeks?”

“Three and a half. Ever since that thing I was looking into about the ghost, do you remember that one?” One saucer in the dish rack, start washing the next piece. “Maybe I pissed off the ghost.”

“You said there wasn’t a ghost.”

“Well, yeah, but what if there was and now it’s following me?”

“Don’t be ridiculous, you’re not being chased by a ghost.”

Shinji glances nervously over his shoulder, as if he’ll see his ghost reflected in the tea shop window. “How can we be sure, though?” He picks up another dirty cup and starts to wash it. “Some of the things I remember…”

Ren’s arms wrap around him from behind, chin resting on his shoulder. “They aren’t here,” more softly and gently than he usually speaks. “No ghosts. Just you, me, and Miyuki.”

“No ghosts.” Shinji takes a deep breath. “You’re right. No ghosts.”

---

The place isn’t tough to break into. Decent locks, but nothing Takeshi can’t get past with a crowbar. He lets himself in and looks around the vaguely-familiar tea shop with interest before heading past the counter and to the back. Stairs lead up to the apartment above, and sure, they creak a little, but that’s nothing to worry about. After all, he’s still got the crowbar if he really needs it.

Upstairs, the place is chaotic in sort of a cute way, decorated as it is by three people with clearly pretty different sensibilities, fragments of three very different lives on display. It smells faintly of frying oil, too. Someone made something good for dinner tonight. On a whim, he checks the fridge, finds a container of leftover gyoza, and eats them absently as he contemplates the shopping list stuck to the freezer door. Eggs, rice, sliced pork belly, in neat handwriting that definitely isn’t Kido’s.

He finishes the gyoza and the tail-end of a carton of milk, leaving the empty containers behind on the counter and picking up his crowbar again as he heads toward the back of the apartment.

There are three bedrooms, and none of them are marked, doors closed against the darkened hallway. Checking each one would be a hassle, and might lead to more trouble than Takeshi feels like getting in right now. Instead he just remembers how jumpy Kido seemed even before Takeshi started following him and lets intuition lead him to the room closest to the fire escape.

The door swings open, and the first thing he sees is a cloth square on the wall. A covered mirror.

There we go.

Kido’s asleep, sprawled across the bed with his head tossed back and his hair spread out on his pillow, throat pale and exposed. Alone, which makes things a little easier. There’s a computer desk set up in the corner of the room; Takeshi grabs the chair from it, drags it over next to the bed, and sits, resting the end of the crowbar on the floor as he’s saying, softly and cheerfully, “Hey, Kido. Wake up.”

A shift, an irritated mumble, “Not time to—” and then one eye opening halfway and the jolt, Kido scrambling upright in the bed, one hand flung out to the side reaching for something that isn’t there.

What isn’t there?

Splinters reform into another regained memory: a deck of cards in an elaborate case, gleaming purple metal smooth and cool in Takeshi’s hands. There’s a name that goes with it, or maybe more than one, faint and still lost but centimeters from the tip of his tongue.

Kido’s gone white as a pan of milk, hand still empty because they’re in a world with no decks, now, no monsters that Takeshi suddenly remembers with fondness, not nearly as much fun, and Takeshi leans forward on his crowbar and smiles, friendly, like, and says, “Come on, Kido, I remember you being more interesting.”

---

Shinji can hear his heart beating over the ringing in his ears. There’s a bit of light coming in from between the mostly-closed curtains, just enough to see by, and with his hand coming up empty and his unwelcome guest illuminated so that only golden hair and white teeth are visible, he is assailed by memory.

He knows this man.

From the corner of the bar where he’d been looking into that ghost story, sure, the one the bartender had told him not to bother, but also from before, from ten befores or more. A killer, vicious and cheerfully so, dangerous to be around, but beneath the adrenaline thrum Shinji can feel another pulse, pity, pity, pity, perhaps misplaced but still there.

He fights to get his breathing under control and says, “Asakura. What are you doing here?”

“You took something of mine.” Asakura’s head tilts slowly to the side, semi-friendly grin still visibly. “I came to get it back.”

“I don’t have anything of yours.”

“Never said you did. I said you took it. Didn’t say I thought you had it.”

“That…you know that doesn’t make sense, right?”

“None of this makes sense, Kido. We live in a world that revolves around a guy like you.” Asakura leans forward, one hand darting out to grab Shinji’s chin, ragged nails digging into his skin. In the dim light his eyes are flat and dark and predatory as their gazes lock, only taking on any gleam as he drinks in…something, whatever he’s getting from looking at Shinji like this. Shinji nearly asks, in fact, but he can’t quite speak, and anyway Asakura’s talking again, still as cheery and conversational as he has been. “Used to be, I got the deck in my hands and I’d remember all of it. That was the deal. Don’t know how the mirror guy finally bit it, but whatever happened, you’re the key to everything now.”

Shinji’s considering shouting for Ren, because even if he did have a dragon at his beck and call, the mirror is covered. Then, of course, he notices the crowbar. And Asakura continues to look at him, searching for something that Shinji is apparently giving him.

“Pathetic.” Abruptly, Asakura lets go again. “You used to be fun, Kido.” He stands, shouldering the crowbar like a baseball bat, and heads for the open bedroom door, only pausing briefly to say, “Call me if you ever decide to get the band back together, yeah?”

Shinji remains frozen for what seems like a long time after he’s gone, dizzy with memory and his heartbeat noisy in his own ears.

He doesn’t remember the end of things. None of the ends of things, actually, and he’s not sure if the others know that it happened more than once, how many times they were put through the same wringer. Whatever it was, though, whatever he or they finally did, it was permanent.

He never would have expected someone to resent him for it.

Finally he finds the focus to move, raising a hand to rub at the sore spots on his jaw before getting out of bed.

Miyuki’s bed is disturbed by unoccupied, and this fills him with a banked and indistinct dread until he comes to Ren’s room and finds them both there, Miyuki sprawled as inelegantly as always and snoring lightly at Ren’s side. Ren is awake, barely. “Bad dreams all around tonight, I guess,” he slurs as Shinji closes the door, and moves over to make space. “Wha’ was yours about?”

Shinji curls up beside him and says, softly, “Just ghosts.”

---

Takeshi strolls down the middle of the empty street, crowbar on his shoulder, in such a good mood now that he’s very nearly whistling. It’s a damp night; the streetlights make shadows in the fog that look like old friends he now remembers, any number of enormous beasts stalking him as he walks. Which makes him want to laugh, and so he laughs, and the sound bounces off the buildings and the fog in an echo that could go on forever.

“Goddamn,” he says to a fog-reflection that shifts and changes with every step he takes, now a vast snake, now a rhino, now a stingray. “That was a good time, wasn’t it.”

The fog makes no reply, but the shadow continues to follow him down the street as the echoes of his laughter die away, and after a moment, feeling almost jaunty, he starts to whistle.

#kido shinji #asakura takeshi #fanfiction #30 day shuffle challenge

[bluepenguinstories]

Remoras Full Chapter XXXI: Treant

There wasn’t much interesting about me. Not really. That wasn’t me being self-deprecating or anything. If anything, I quite liked being in the background. Others around me have always been more interesting, and I was happy enough just to help those others out.

That’s why I worked from childhood through my adulthood in order to become a doctor. It wasn’t like a total dream of mine, and I wasn’t sure if I’d call myself “passionate” (one of my top qualities, I think, is that I’ve been called a dispassionate person. But I shouldn’t humblebrag), but when I was in grade school and saw one of my classmates get injured, I couldn’t help but be compelled to want to help them. Then there were times, like when my sister or my mom would get sick and I’d be like “gee, I wonder what would help them get better.”

Skip past many years of boring details, and the rest is history. Got my own apartment after completing my internship at one of the nearby hospitals. When my sister helped me move in, we found a time travel device in the closet that I mistook for a Nintendo 64. It’s not as interesting of a detail as it seems. Anyway, that aside, there was still work to be had just about every day.

Skip ahead a few more years after that…

...And there was still work to be had.

It was about that time in the morning when it wasn’t yet bright and early and the coffee I poured tasted like sludge. When the showers were scalding and suffocating fumes filled the bathroom, yet when I turned off the shower, I shivered like a nudist at the north pole.

Towel was too small. Quick shimmy and I groaned and threw it in the laundry basket. No one else was around to see me naked, so whatever. Even if there was, my bedroom door was closed. On the bed were my work clothes, which in my groggy state, I tried to fit the shirt on my legs and the pants on my head. After a few tries and tired moans and groans, I got it right. Still, my tie was a little loose.

I’ll fix it on my way there. Or I won’t and I’ll just say I’m setting a new fashion trend.

I glanced down at my limited edition Kamen Rider Black wristwatch and my blood pressure spiked upon noticing the time.

“Fuck,” I cursed, though in my hoarse tiredness, it sounded more like a donkey braying.

Yes, it was ‘fucktime’, that universal concept of that time of day where one looks at the time and exclaims “fuck!” There were many reasons for cursing at a time of day, and it didn’t have to be any time in particular, but the most common reason was due to the situation I was in: I was running late for work.

In a state of fight or flight (which I am always in flight since I could use the exercise), I put a couple of bagel slices into the toaster, wished that my toaster had a turbo speed button, and paced about until those two slices popped up; they weren’t crispy enough, but they’d have to do. Like the skilled painter that I wasn’t, I swiped across the two halves of the bagel with a messy gloop of cream cheese.

No more time left.

I ran out the door, or whatever constituted as a run in my mind, with the bagel halves held tight in my mouth.

This ridiculous display persisted for about...oh, to hell with it, let’s just skip all the embarrassment. Fast forward to when I got to the hospital, drenched in sweat and cream cheese on the cuff of my shirt.

“Ran late again?” The receptionist, I think her name was Wormwood, looked up from her computer. Her thick brown hair was in a bun and she didn’t just have bags under her eyes, but bags under those bags. That’s okay, I’ve had those days as well. From the reflection of her glasses, it looked like she was playing an intense game of Tetris.

“A doctor is never early nor late,” I huffed, trying to sound more self-assured than my short breath would allow.

“Yeah, you wish. Go change your shirt. You’ve got a patient waiting for you in room 413,” she clucked. Was clucked the right descriptor? Well, it was a vague chicken-like tone, so cluck was good enough.

“Why’s it always patients with me?” I joked. She didn’t so much as give a half-hearted chuckle. She could have at least said, “A for effort,” but I guess everyone was a critic. I hurried over to the hospital’s resident dry cleaner, who always had a spare pair of uniforms, scrubs, nice shirts, you name it. Our dry cleaner guy was a typical average dude with stringy red hair, named Marion or something. He always had that strung out look about him that gave the impression that he was pretty trustworthy. I showed him the cream cheese on my shirt and he made an OK sign with both hands, closed his eyes, and shook his head.

“Say no more,” he assured me in the most endearing bored-out-of-your-mind voice imaginable.

As I waited for him to grab me a spare shirt, I looked up and saw a couple of green scrubs hanging around.

“I can’t do this on my own. I’m no superman,” I hummed the tune. Marion (that might not have been his name, but it was pretty damn close to what I imagine his name was) turned and asked, “what?”

“You know, Scrubs? It’s a reference.”

“Oh, man, I don’t know the first thing about references,” he bemoaned in both a disinterested tone and a disoriented one.

Man, nobody appreciates a good reference these days.

After I received my change of shirt, I went into the nearest bathroom and speedran the Trent Dress Up game. Not to brag, but I might have set a new record that day. Okay. Moving on.

Up four flights of stairs I lumbered up, each foot dragged behind the other. Yes, I could have used the elevator, but then that wouldn’t have been very doctor-like of me, would it? I mean, plenty of doctors took the elevator, and there was nothing wrong with that, but I always tried to do healthy things. It didn’t really matter much, I mean, I was already healthy, I was just a little chubby, was all. So what? I was a big ol’ teddy bear in a lab coat. At least I rocked the look.

Twelve rooms down. Then the thirteenth: that was where I heard the assistant.

“Dr. Bark will see you now,” the assistant informed the patient. After she left, which I didn’t really get a good look at, but I’ve probably worked with her before, I opened the door and greeted the patient.

“Woof, woof!” I made my best dog voice, which probably sounded closer to a howler monkey than a dog.

My patient just looked at me, not amused in the slightest. He was an elderly man who looked like a bad caricature of an elderly man. Not one of the kind ones, either. No, more like the grumpy kind who would yell at you if you so much as lived in the general vicinity of the same neighborhood he lived in. Then again, I knew looks could be deceiving and if anything, his face was probably contorted in pain.

“Okay, so I’m not that clown doctor, but if you honk my nose, I will still make a sound,” I gave a nervous laugh as I said. He just continued to stare at me.

It turned out that he had a small seizure just as I entered the room. Lovely timing, really.

Before I could take a break and have some lunch, there were a few more fun moments, gross moments, sad moments, silly moments, the whole gamut. Really, I loved my job because there were many opportunities to treat others and get them to better health. But also I hated my job because it was a job and I hated being the bearer of big bills due to the malicious concept of private insurance.

My sister-in-law was always going on about how I should be more ambitious. How I could try to start my own clinic and treat people for free, out of the kindness of my heart. Which I loved, that really was a dream if I ever had one. But there was the matter of means. Equipment costs money, I’d need more space, I’d have to get all those good prescription drugs that all the cool cats liked. I wasn’t even sure if I could do it, legally.

But hey, if it were possible, I’d do it. For sure. Maybe.

Once I made it to the hospital’s cafeteria, I grabbed a lobster salad with a garlic roll and a pink lady apple for an extra layer of irony. It was ironic because no matter how many times I ate one of those, I could never keep myself away from the hospital. Shame, too. The busier I was, the less time I had to play Monster Hunter.

Anyway, as I looked for a place to sit, I hummed a tune I heard over the radio.

“Don’t call my name, don’t call my name, Alejandro. Fernando,” I hummed. Or rather, mumbled. Because I knew for a fact that I said those words out loud, whether or not I should have saved myself the embarrassment.

“Yes?” Crooned the seductive and husky toned voice of a man I didn’t recognize. I looked around, then noticed that the owner of such a voice was seated all by his lonesome at a table in the middle of the cafeteria.

Oh good, finally a table that’s not crowded.

I made the no-brainer decision to sit across from him at the table. His head sported a vast field of curly black hair as well as the stubble-laden remnants of a rugged black mustache. He reminded me of the guy from that Just Cause series of games, though not sure why, as I’ve never played them, though I had to admit, grappling hooks were pretty cool.

“Did you say something?” I stared into his inviting rosemary colored eyes. Mostly because I felt it rude if I didn’t. Imagine if someone did that to me, just looked away when they spoke to me. Actually, that’s probably happened many times.

“You said my name,” he replied, more plain this time, without as much of a soothing effect, but no less friendly.

“Oh? Alejandro?” I blinked, unaware that I had said anyone’s name.

“No, Fernando, but you may call me Fern. Everyone does,” he smiled as he told me, a smile as soothing as his voice could be.

“Well, I certainly wanna do what everyone else is doing,” I chuckled. “I’m Trent, by the way.”

He gave a slow nod.

“What a beautiful name. Do you know who does the song that you were singing?”

Oh god, if ever there was a time to be embarrassed.

“I just heard the song on the radio! I don’t know anything about it, I just thought it was kinda catchy.”

“I’ll give you a hint: it starts with ‘Lady’.”

Fuck. I was bad at guessing games.

“Lady and the Tramp?”

“No.”

“Lady Marmaduke?”

“No. You have three more guesses.”

Wait. He never said I had a limit of five. Now I was really feeling the pressure.

“Lady Groudon?”

“Close.”

Oh! Now I knew what it was!

“Lady Goomy!”

“...No, not quite. But really close.”

Damn. I only had one guess left, too. The heat was really on now.

“Lady Gloop?”

He bit his lip trying to hold back laughter, but couldn’t, and it all came flooding out.

“Um, did I win?” I wasn’t sure what to make of that laughter, but I had to know. I just HAD to know.

After he settled down, he shook his head and with an aching calm assured me:

“It’s not important.”

“Well, what is important, then?” I grimaced, the answer not given to me.

“The lives of our patients are what’s important.”

Yeah, that seemed a little obvious, though, considering our professions and all. Actually, I wasn’t quite sure whether he was a doctor or not. I didn’t recall ever working with him.

“What do you do here, by the way?” I couldn’t help but ask.

“I’m a nurse, mi amor.”

Once he said that, everything clicked into place.

“No wonder you’ve got that gentle voice,” I observed.

“I don’t have to be gentle if you don’t want me to be.”

“No, no,” I shook my head. “For the sake of the patients, I think you ought to be.”

We went back and forth after that, chatting about this and that, though nothing really important. Really, it was nice, I didn’t usually chat with anyone. Afterward, however, it was back to the grind. Oh joy.

Once said day one was done, I flopped on home and collapsed on my sofa. Next to me was a controller, and I had bought my copy of Final Fantasy XVI the other day, but haven’t had a chance to play it.

“My body...too feeble…” I wheezed out the words as my hands shook trying to reach for the controller. Just as it seemed like the controller was within my grasp, my phone rang.

When there was something in closer proximity than the item that I really wanted, the natural urge was to reach for the one in closer proximity instead.

“Hey Trent. It’s me,” came the sudden and to the point tone of my sister-in-law: Vesuvius.

“Oh, hey. What’s up?” I snapped to my senses and sat right up. “Is everything okay? Nothing too serious, I hope.”

“Yeah, everything’s fine. I’ve got a nice little apartment with my beautiful wife. I just haven’t spoken to you in a while and wanted to see how you were doing.”

“Oh, what a relief. I was worried you were having another mental health episode.”

“Hey! I don’t go around pointing out the time you had food poisoning, do I?” She scolded. Yeah, okay. That was fair.

She didn’t have many mental health episodes, but ever since that incident with her and Juniper’s stalkers, she had been more sensitive and more on edge. That said, I really was happy for her and that she was at peace.

“You’re right. God, that was a rough time. Who knew blueberries could be so poisonous?”

“All things in nature can,” she stated. Gee, if anyone knew that, it would’ve been her.

“How are all things with settling into the apartment?” I asked. She hadn’t been there long, but it was a bold step for her, considering her social anxiety, which she tried to act like she didn’t have.

“You know, it’s an adjustment. It gets lonely when Juniper isn’t home. I’m not used to her having anything resembling a job. I hate to sound possessive, but I don’t like that she has one. I wish we didn’t have to make money to live.”

“Be as possessive as you want,” I chuckled. “Er...within reason. Say, have you saved up for anything?”

“No. Why?”

“Well, you always go on about wanting to do that whole ‘cottagecore’ lifestyle thing. So maybe you could save for that and go for it?”

She drew a deep breath, as if she were about to blow a gust of wind out of every orifice.

“First off, I don’t know what a ‘cottagecore’ is, but I’m cautious around anything with the suffix of -core. You know I’m a delicate flower.”

“And a poisonous one,” I pointed out.

“Yes, well, poisonous flowers can be delicate. And hey! Be nice to me!”

I coughed up a chuckle.

“Okay, well, second off,” she continued. “What I want is to live off the land, in a field of flowers. Growing my own field. Having peace and quiet in the middle of nowhere.”

“Yeah, that’s cottagecore.”

“Don’t say words I don’t understand to me!” She scolded. “It’s really demeaning.”

“Okay, okay,” I tried to settle down with the teasing. “But for real, it’s not like it’s impossible. Juniper could build a house, she likes making things.” Then again, she probably wouldn’t build a house very well, but I’m sure she’d enjoy the attempt. “It may take a bit of money for the resources, but it’s not like it’s impossible.”

“Yeah, well, first thing’s first is I want to see a therapist. Like, an actual therapist.”

“Oh, that could be good for you.”

“Yeah…” Her voice trailed, and the tone of her voice shifted to a more mournful one. “I still remember how I was during that time. I have trouble believing that it’s really over. All of that pain lingers with me. It’s not something I wish to remember, but it’s something I’m unable to forget.”

“Don’t beat yourself up too bad,” I tried to reassure her. I assumed she was referring to the whole stalker incident that occurred at the same time she dealt with her mental health episode. “Everyone has a breaking point. There’s nothing to be ashamed of there.”

“No, but there is. I was confused. Desperate. I hurt the most important person in my life. I hurt someone else that I could have helped. That I could have saved. If I had just known how. If my mind was more clear back then,” her voice shifted into a growl. “I hate it. I hate inflicting pain. Especially because it’s not who I want to be. No who I am anymore,” her voice then grew sharper. Harsher. “Yet I can’t help but feel like it’s still with me, buried somewhere, and I just want to punch a wall, rip my hair out, something! Something to cut this off from me!”

“Hey, hey,” I could tell she was working herself up. “You and Juniper are both sensitive people. Sometimes people lash out when their emotions are heightened. It doesn’t mean you’re bad or anything, but you can work on it. For what it’s worth, I do think you two are good together.”

“Thank you,” her voice quieted back to the mournful tone it was at first and I could hear sniffling and weeping in the background. “I’m sorry. I told myself I would keep composed and yet I went off into that rant. Gee, if I didn’t know any better, I’d say you’re a better therapist than the one I pretended to be.”

“Heh. It’s nothing. You’ve definitely been through a lot. Get yourself some tea or something, that might help.”

“Thanks,” she sniffled again. “What about you? Is there anything new with you?”

“Eh. Same ol’ boring stuff at the hospital. People get sick and die, some people get better.”

“To which?” She let out a weak chuckle.

“Oh, definitely the sick part. I’ve yet to someone get better from being dead, but anything can happen. Fingers crossed, right?”

“Heh…so there’s nothing new at all? What about at the house? I bet you’re glad to have Juniper and I out of your hair.”

“Eh. You guys weren’t that bad to deal with.”

“That’s a relief. Do you miss us?”

“Hmm...a bit. It’s a bit quiet now, but I like it. Means I can play video games in peace and walk around the apartment in my underwear.”

“Indeed, that is a positive. Though I didn’t need to hear the last part.”

I tried to think about anything of substance I could actually talk about.

“Oh! I met someone new at the hospital today! This nurse named Fern. He’s got these beautiful murky green eyes and maze-like curly dark hair. Oh, and his mustache. I bet I’d be ticklish if it rubbed against me,” I announced with a sense of excitement at the prospect of actually having something to say.

“Are you attracted to this Fern person?” She inquired.

While I didn’t quite know where she got that idea from, I wasn’t going to say that he was ugly or anything like that.

“I’m certainly not repelled by him,” I joked. Heh. Magnets. “Why do you ask?”

“Just curious, since you described him in such exquisite detail.”

“Eh. Isn’t it normal to describe people you talk about?”

“Not in my experience. Not like that, anyway. But hey, what do I know?”

“Yeah, well, I just met him today, so I doubt I’ll describe him every time I talk about him. He seems nice, in any case. Hey, maybe the four of us could play D&D together sometime?” I perked up at the prospect of having someone else to play D&D with. That was the most important thing about meeting someone. If not D&D, maybe I could gush about 80s Sci-Fi movies or J-RPGs.

“I don’t know...that game always brings out the worst in me...I try to be a healer but whenever I encounter a monster I just want to grind them into dust and then I curse the fact that I didn’t pick a class like barbarian.”

“Heh. That is a problem. You could always just be a barbarian.”

“No. I don’t want to,” I could tell she stuck her nose up just by her tone of voice alone.

“In any case, we gotta get this going on! We never seem to finish a campaign!” I was SO pumped to get this thing going on.

“That’s because I always either quit out of frustration or you end up too busy and we decide to start over from a new campaign as soon as you have free time again,” she pointed out. At least she was honest.

“We’ll figure something out, I’m sure!”

“Mm...well, it was nice talking with you, Trent. I’m glad you seem to be doing well, and good luck with this Fern person.”

“Thanks! You take care too! Bye!”

We hung up and I spent the rest of the day being an exhausted nerdy Trenty bear who somehow did nothing yet time still passed.

As the days went by, I’d spend lunch having conversations with Fern and he said I could talk about whatever I was passionate about, so OF COURSE a bunch of nerdy shit came up.

“About halfway through the game, she dies, but you can get her final limit break later on. This is a way to show that she’s still with the party in spirit and the party keeps it as a memento, even though they know they cannot use it, OR they refuse to use it to honor her memory.”

“I see. And it’s not just the developers making a mistake?” Fern pondered. The gall.

“No way. Game developers wouldn’t just do that. In fact, you can hack the game to make it so Aerith lives, by coming back after she dies, but she’ll say at a certain point, ‘I’m not supposed to be here’. That’s because the developers knew that players would try to bring her back, so they were prepared.”

“Wow. That really is haunting,” he looked moved by my explanation. As he should be.

“The game devs were also brilliant for making her and Cloud be besties instead of a romantic interest. There’s a part where Cloud and Aerith go on a date on a ferris wheel and right before they go on the ferris wheel, Aerith turns to cloud and goes ‘wa...wassup homie?’ and Cloud says, ‘golly gee’ in response. By having them be besties, it shows the importance of friendships over romantic relationships. It’s actually shown in a prequel that Cloud had a boyfriend named Zack, but despite it being canon, many fans prefer to act like the game doesn’t exist.”

“That’s a wonderful message for them to show,” he nodded along.

“Yeah. So anyway, Zack dies in the prequel.”

“Damn. This Cloud guy just can’t catch a break.”

Before I was able to continue the conversation further, I received a beep on my pager.

“...And neither can I. I gotta split.”

That was how our typical conversations went. I did most of the talking while he stared and smiled the whole way through. Most of the time, I didn’t mind that, but it also meant that I didn’t know much about him. He hardly seemed like the mysterious type, and I should’ve known the mysterious type due to the people I’ve let in my apartment in the past.

So the next chance we got I decided I’d hold nothing back. We both sat together, once again with our lunches in front of us, and I popped the question:

“Do you have any siblings?” I was casual as I asked him, plain as day with an egg and lettuce sandwich in my hands. He tilted his head and rested it on his palm, looking even more radiant than usual.

“Why yes. I have four sisters. Two of them are engaged. One of them’s married. The fourth one is still looking for love.”

“Oh wow,” I replied. “You know, you could tell her that she doesn’t have to find love. It’s not the be-all and end-all, after all.”

“I think she already knows that. Still, she wouldn’t mind the experience. What about you, Trent?” He spoke my name with such a delicacy that it made my heart tackle the walls of my chest.

“Uh, yeah,” I stammered. “I’ve got a sister. I don’t even know why you mentioned relationships since I just asked about siblings, but she’s in one. I mean, she’s married, so I guess I’ve also got a sister-in-law. If that counts as another sibling, then I’ve got two sisters, maybe?”

He coughed up a chuckle against his fist.

“Love is a beautiful thing, isn’t it?”

I shrugged.

“Yeah, I guess it can be.”

For some reason that simple exchange reminded me of an early memory when Juniper and I were kids and we shared a room, bunk beds, in fact.

She hung upside down from the edge of the top bunk of the bed. I always did tell her to be careful, but she never was good at listening to me.

“Hey bro, bro, bruh, bruv,” she pestered me.

“What is it?” I looked up from the book I was reading.

She held down a magazine with pictures of women in hiking gear.

“Look! Aren’t those girls cute? Aren’t they your type?” She pressed it up to my face. Or as well up to my face as she could. Her aim wasn’t the best when she hung upside down. Nevertheless, I took a glance. Of course, as I was more interested in the book I was reading, I didn’t really pay attention.

“Uh-huh. Sure.”

Not satisfied, she grew in intensity.

“Come on! You didn’t look!”

“Yeah I did!” I shot back. “I’m just more interested in this book right now! You have no idea how cool the Shannara novels are!” Oh, but I wasn’t done. “Also, I’m pretty sure those are your type, not mine!”

She stuck her tongue out.

“What even is your type?” She teased.

I shrugged. Really, I didn’t know then, and even into my 30s, as a doctor, I had no idea if I even had a type. For anyone. After a pause, she then asked.

“Do you think you’d ever have a crush on anyone?”

I gave it some thought. Then, as if it was a no brainer, it clicked.

“If someone was actually interested in me, sure! But c’mon, I’m a nerd. You know how hard it is for people like me.”

She scowled at that.

“That’s just a myth. That shouldn’t stop you.”

She was right. Both back then, and in the present, if she were to tell me that again. But over the years, I grew to have a different excuse.

“Would you ever be open to the idea of love?” Fern’s question brought me out of the memory, back to the moment that I shared with him.

I shrugged.

“Sure, I wouldn’t mind. If the opportunity were to occur. But then, I’m always too busy to think about things like that, so it’s never really crossed my mind. I’m sure you can relate, seeing as you’re probably about as busy as I am.”

“Indeed,” he agreed. “But it has its advantages.”

“Oh? Like what?”

“Like how we can spend the same amount of time together.”

Oh yeah. That was a really good point.

“Heh. It is nice to have someone to chat with,” I agreed.

It was a surprise how little time had passed, but I was glad for it. Considering how unpredictable this job could be, I had to be thankful for any precious minutes I got.

“Let’s not worry about that. If we run out of time, we can pick it up another day. So what do you say?”

“So tell me, how did your sister meet her lover?” His curiosity took me by surprise. Not something I thought would be worth asking, but who was I to say what someone did and didn’t find interesting?

All right. So I told him. It seemed he just had that kind of effect on me.

Maybe it was a little cliché, I don’t know, because I don’t know what constitutes as cliché, but it was a rainy evening. I had just gotten off work, I had my umbrella, but it seemed to do me little good as there was a mighty gust of wind and the rain just slid down the umbrella and managed to force itself onto my jacket.

On the way home, I took a shortcut through a side street. I guess it was like an alleyway, but more open. I don’t know, side street sounds appropriate. Curled up underneath the cover of a building’s awning was a homeless woman, a single orange striped blanket over her, damp. Her hair seemed covered in dirt, she shivered, but made no attempt to voice her discomfort. I couldn’t quite make out her face, but maybe it was pity that brought me to pay attention to her in the first place.

Yeah, typical “boy meets girl” story, huh?

At last, she looked up and croaked. Despite facing me, her face seemed to droop low and she looked downtrodden.

“You got money?”

I jumped. Startled. Yeah, not too dignified, but I really just didn’t expect for her to notice me. Once I composed myself, I dug through my jacket pocket and pulled out a twenty dollar bill.

“Here, it’s not much, but it’s what I got on me.”

“Thanks,” she replied and took it. No more than that. Of course, if that was the extent of the exchange, there wouldn’t really be anything to tell, now would there?

“Hey, I know it’s late, but there’s a cafe close by we can visit if you want a coffee or something. They’re not open forever, but it’ll keep you dry for a little while,” I offered.

She looked up again, scowled.

“I don’t trust strangers,” she stated.

“Oh, yeah, definitely. I’m a stranger, you’re a stranger. I get that,” I chuckled. “I just figured I’d offer, but you can decline. If you’re worried about me being someone dangerous, you can punch me. I’m not really interested in being cruel or violent or anything like that.”

She squinted. I would later find out that was less because of how ridiculous she may have thought me and more because she had poor eyesight.

“Are you that desperate that you would ask a homeless person out on a date?” Her biting remark might have gotten under the skin of just about anyone else, but I’ve probably heard much worse from some of my patients. Instead, I laughed.

“You don’t have to think of it as a date. I don’t. I’m not really the dating type, anyway. It’s just a spur of the moment thing.”

She shifted eyes, turned her head from left to right, then looked back up on me.

“I can’t believe I’m going to agree to this…but sure,” she heaved out the words.

“Cool,” I stuck my thumb out, then continued, “it’s just a couple of blocks away. I really like the place, since I sometimes don’t get off work until real late and it’s open past midnight.”

“I don’t care...when it’s open...but I could use something warm...to drink,” she sounded lightheaded, in a daze.

Once we made our way through the door of the dim lit cafe with neon lighting, she wiped her shoes on the mat.

Oh. What good manners, I thought. As someone who often forgot to wipe their shoes when entering places, it was a nice reminder to see someone else do so. At least I remembered to put my umbrella down, but that kinda went without saying.

As soon as I approached the counter, I turned to her, still drenched.

“Don’t worry about the cost. Order whatever you like,” I assured her. After I said those words, she looked up, squinted, then closed her eyes.

“I would like a lavender mocha latte, but no dairy. Almond milk if you have it. Coconut would be even better. Give four extra shots of espresso, and if you have dark chocolate syrup, use that.”

Damn. It was like she had the whole thing recited and ready to go. All right.

“I’ll just take a black coffee,” I shrugged. I didn’t need all the sugar or any of that extra stuff.

“Oh. I should have went with that too,” she looked down, possibly embarrassed at her order.

I laughed.

“Don’t worry, I said you could order whatever. My treat.”

She made her way to the table nearest to the window, and took the seat closest to the window as well. As soon as she sat down, she lowered her head onto the table and her arms outstretched to cover her head. Behind her, raindrops slid down the window. It wasn’t much an interesting sight, but I wasn’t a very observant person, so I felt I ought to have taken note of something.

“Just so you know, you should probably forget about me after this,” she uttered and despite her words being muffled, I could still make her words out clear as a river.

“If you want,” I shrugged.

“I’m serious. You shouldn’t associate with me. There’s people after me. I’d rather not get anyone involved.”

I pondered if there was any validity to that. Maybe she ran from an ex, or there was some trafficking ring. That last bit was a little dark. As a middle ground, I thought that maybe she had run off from home as a kid (surprisingly, that part was sort of true, in a sense).

“You probably think I’m crazy. Paranoid, even. I get it. Some homeless woman tells you there’s people after her. You don’t have to believe me. Just so you know, I’m homeless by choice. It’s easier this way. You don’t have to believe that, either.”

“Well, if you’re on the run, maybe it’s not by choice?” I suggested.

She looked up, her face still semi-buried in her arms. Still, I could make out eyes through her bangs. Grayish-purple bags under her eyes, but eyes nonetheless.

“Yeah. You’re probably right. It’s been so long, it’s hard to tell anymore. My head won’t cooperate,” she seemed to agree with my assessment, and as if to confirm as much, she lifted her head up and rubbed her forehead with her palm. With one eye visible, she glared at me.

“Just so you know, even if you considered this a date, I wouldn’t be interested. I’m…” she looked around, then stated, “men don’t interest me.”

I chuckled.

“It’s okay. My sister’s a lesbian. You don’t really have to beat around the bush about it.”

Her eyes widened, then squinted again.

“I don’t know why you would tell me that. I’m not interested. My main focus is my survival, it’s just…” She began to glance to her side and down at the floor. “I’ve been running and hiding so long, I’m growing tired. Sooner or later, I might just give up. It’s a terrible thought, but I don’t think I can go on.”

My concern began to grow, even if I didn’t know the scope of her problem.

“I don’t really know what it is you’re dealing with, but you don’t have to deal with it alone.”

“No. I refuse to endanger anyone else,” she seemed adamant about that.

Maybe she was justified, but in a selfish way, that also made me want to help more.

“You can refuse if you want, but the weather forecast says it’s going to be raining over the next few days. I’ve got a spare room in my apartment you can stay in. If nothing else, it’ll keep you dry.”

“I wouldn’t want to impose,” she looked away once more.

“You wouldn’t be. I’m the one that offered,” I shrugged, a favorite gesture of mine.

“Well...maybe my head is just messed up enough right now, but...fine. As long as I reserve the right to leave at any time.”

“Of course,” I assured her, and I even lifted a feeble smile. Once our coffee was brought over, mine a regular paper coffee cup, hers a ceramic cup filled to the top, we drank in silence. Between intervals of me sipping the bitter bean, I peeked over and noticed how she held onto her cup with a sort of elegance; one hand on the handle, the other grasping the base of the cup, and slow sips taken, not a single slurp to be heard. It was probably a little weird of me to pick up on something like that, I admit.

“I’m Trent, by the way,” I told her out of courtesy. Depending on how long she’d stay, I felt it wise to tell her my name.

“Et...err...Vesuvius. You can call me Vesuvius. Or Ves. I don’t care which,” her eyes shifted and she stammered out the words.

After we finished our coffee, we headed out, umbrella up and ready to go. There wasn’t a long walk ahead of us, and she was silent the whole way through. Not that I tried to make small talk anyway, since the rain was kind of gloomy weather for conversation. She walked with a slump, something I should have warned her to be cautious about, lest she get a hunchback. Maybe she did so because she felt she was too tall to fit under the umbrella, or maybe she had been under such duress for so long that standing up straight no longer registered to her.

Before long, we made our way inside and I showed her to where the spare room was. She didn’t speak a word, not so much as a nod, just went inside. Before I closed the door, I told her, “if you need anything, just let me know. I’ll be down the hall and to your left.”

Still, no acknowledgment. That was fine. Just as long as she heard me. For whatever reason, it didn’t register until after I closed the door that I didn’t have anything like an air mattress or a futon for her to sleep on. That room was bare, empty. Not a single item to be found.

Despite that, I was too tired to do anything rational like look for some spare blankets or pillows, and decided it was high time for me to get some rest. At the very least, I turned the heater on and let it run. It wasn’t something I liked to do, and I didn’t think Juniper would be all that comfortable with it on, but screw it, I was the one who paid the bills.

“Well, time for me to get some shut eye,” I announced, thinking there was no one around who could hear me. However, I soon noticed from the corner of my eye a foam basketball being tossed up into the air.

“Who’s the babe?” Juniper, asked in a rather dull voice. I soon turned and saw her laying on the couch, flat on her back.

“Don’t be disrespectful,” I scolded. “I found her on the street. She’s just going to stay over for a few nights.”

“So now you’re picking up homeless chicks?”

Really, maybe she was just moody ‘cause she was tired, or maybe she just felt like giving me a hard time that night in particular.

“I just felt like doing a good deed, there’s nothing behind it,” I corrected her. Again.

“That’s rather nice of you. Just make sure not to overexert yourself. Your health is important too,” she reminded.

“Thanks.”

I thought I could just go to bed, but then a smile which signified mischief spread across her face.

“So, tell me about the babe,” she wouldn’t drop it so soon.

“Oh, come on,” I groaned.

“C’mon, the babe.”

“No,” I folded my arms on my hips. If she could nudge me from where she was at, she would have.

“You remind me of the babe,” her cheery voice returned, coupled with a sing-song tone.

“What babe?” I finally gave in.

“The babe with the power.”

“What power?”

“Power of voodoo!”

“Who do?”

“You do!”

“Do what?”

“Remind me of the babe! Ha ha ha!” she kicked around the couch and laughed. There were certain nights where I could just tell when she watched Labyrinth that day.

“Okay, okay, don’t stay up too late,” I reminded her. “You know where your room is.”

“Yeah, yeah. ‘Night.”

Ah, Labyrinth. Classic. David Bowie and his tights. Things didn’t get much better than that.

Somehow I managed to tell him all of that with time to spare.

“You have a big heart, Trent,” he told me, which kinda made me want to sulk.

“Yeah...I do try to have a good diet, though,” I pouted.

“No, no, I mean metaphorically,” he patted the air as he spoke, a sure sign of sincerity.

“You mean…?” I stared into his earthen rosemary colored eyes.

“Yes. You are very kind.”

“Oh, phew. For a second there I was worried you meant my weight.”

“No, no. Dear. You are adorable. When I first saw you that fateful day, I said to myself, ‘this is an adorable teddy bear’. I would never have anything unkind to say to a teddy bear.”

“Well, thank you. Does that mean I’m a cuddly looking teddy bear?” I let slip my curiosity.

“I’d have to find that one out for myself. Hey, your story about your sister’s wife got me thinking. How would you like to go out for coffee after work?”

Gee, the possibility never even occurred to me, but it was so simple. Of course.

“Yeah, I don’t see why not. I’m pretty sure the place is still open.”

“And,” he leaned in a little closer. “May I consider it a date?”

I laughed a little at that.

“If you’d like to.”

“And,” a little closer still. “Would you consider it one?”

That time, my heart went “boing boing” against my chest. I didn’t know the answer to that one. It was too much being put on the spot, I was used to the attention being on other people.

“Um...not no, but maybe yes...I’m not sure…” Came my disgraceful blabbering until I managed to catch myself and re-compose. “Er...I’m not used to thinking about things for myself...but...sure. You’re a pretty cool guy. Let’s consider it a coffee date.”

So we did. Just a few nights later, after work we walked into the parking lot. He had a motorcycle, with enough of a seat for me to fit in the back. It wasn’t awkward in the slightest and in fact, it played out much the same as many of our conversations at lunch before. It all felt natural between us, like trees. He ordered an oregano tea latte and I had my usual black coffee.

As if by miracle, the sun had yet to set and there wasn’t the slightest hint of rain. We sat across from each other and immersed ourselves in the ambiance of the hums and smooth glitchtunes playing on the coffee shop’s speakers.

“So, if I were to come over to your place tonight, would I see your sister and her wife?” He posed the hypothetical question.

“Nah, they both moved out almost a year ago. They’ve got their own apartment somewhere else in the city, though they’re also saving up to move elsewhere again.”

“So soon?” He tilted his head.

“Well, it’s a dream of Ves’ to live in a field of flowers, open nature, all that stuff. Psychedelic drugs, flowers in hair, tie-dye, I could go on. Juniper’s already found a place a couple of states out, and she found an old beat up pick up truck in a ditch and decided to repair it just for fun. So now all they gotta do is assemble the wood, get some electric lining, plumbing, all that stuff. Which...I don’t have a lot of faith in my sister, she’s no architect or electrician, but she’s the type who gets insistent about doing everything herself, so it’s not like I could talk her out of it.”

“That’s great, though! They’re pursuing their passion. Isn’t that beautiful?”

I shrugged.

“I dunno if ‘beautiful’ is the word I’d use, but yeah. I suppose I’m happy for them.”

“What about you? Do you have any goals?” His eyes fluttered, almost like he wanted to lull me to sleep.

“Sorta, but it’s kinda dumb? I just don’t like the whole ‘charged ten thousand dollars as soon as you walk in and good luck getting your overpriced insurance that you can barely afford, if afford at all, to cover anything’ so I was thinking how it would be cool if I could run my own clinic. I don’t know, maybe it could be funded through donations, but in no way would people have to pay. Like, I doubt I’d be able to do the big stuff like surgeries or transplants, but it’s still something, right? Thing is, that’s kinda impossible, don’cha think?”

Rather than some kind of agreement, he reacted in a rather ferocious manner: he stood up, leaned over, and slammed his hands on the table.

“Trent,” while his voice grew in intensity, it certainly didn’t sound angry. More...motivating. “You must never be afraid of your passion.”

“Uh...okay…” I scratched my cheek. “But what about you? What are you passionate about?”

He sat back down.

“You. Of course,” he answered, so simple, so straightforward in his delivery.

“So, like, does that mean you’d want to play D&D with me sometime?”

He laughed.

“I’d love to.”

“Really? Are you sure? What if you don’t like it? I mean, I don’t even know what your hobbies are.”

“If I end up not liking it, then at least I’ll have found that out for myself. But all of your hobbies, everything that interest you, I want to immerse myself in. Because all of you...is my hobby.”

“Bro…” I leaned forward. “That’s kind of...uh...cool!”

“Oh, and I also like to ride around on my motorcycle. I like watching the sunsets, going hiking, mountain climbing, kayaking, and making ceramic cups.”

Hiking, mountain climbing, kayaking...he sure looked fit. Not to mention, those things sounded like fun, even if possibly dangerous.

“Do you think I could do those things with you?” I asked, hesitant, but I figured if he was wanting to do the things I liked, I may as well ask him in return.

“Of course. You can do whatever you want with me.”

“Then in that case, can I kiss you?” I joked, though it seemed to come out of nowhere. However much I meant it, it was out in the open now.

“Of course. Would you like to do it here, or at your apartment?”

“Err...at my apartment?”

To be honest, I’ve never kissed anyone before. Or been kissed by anyone before. That thought never even crossed my mind and I pretty much figured I’d be fine not having such a thought and continuing on with my life, but dominoes were falling or something like that.

“Let’s go, then,” he stood up and motioned for me to head toward the door. In a hurry, I chugged down my coffee.

I should probably brush my teeth first. Coffee breath probably isn’t a good taste. Then again, would he want to brush his teeth. Should we just use the same toothbrush? Or maybe he packed one with him.

When we shoved our way through the door of my apartment, those questions were erased from my mind.

“I’ve actually never kissed anyone before...I know, in my thirties and…” he put his finger on my lips and made a “shh” sound.

“Relax. I’ll take the lead,” he lowered his hand, then leaned down and spread his lips against mine. As he released, I wished that he hadn’t. But then the thought of my breath returned to the front of my mind.

“Sorry, uh, hope my breath doesn’t bother you.”

“Does it bother you?” He asked.

“Well…it’s probably good to take care of your teeth. I’m not a dentist, but I do think good health is important in all aspects of one’s health and --”

He pulled out a box of mint chews.

“Here,” he opened the box. I took a couple and popped them into my mouth. On instinct, I bit down on them and chewed, despite knowing that I wouldn’t be prepared for the icy hellfire that was the minty taste. After a couple of seconds of huffing, I looked back at him.

“Okay, I’m good now.”

“There is one more interest I have now,” he decided to pick back up from our conversation at the coffee shop for some final choice words.

“Yeah? What would that be?”

“Supporting you and your dreams.”

Then we kissed again.

So flashforward a year or so and through some sort of miracle, such a dream was realized: we converted the apartment into a clinic and moved upstairs to the apartment directly above. Both of us quit our jobs at the hospital so we could focus on the clinic. Really, I couldn’t have done it without him. Or, maybe I could have, but I’d like to think he gave me that sort of push, y’know? That little “oomf.”

There were many improvements that could have been made, and might be made as time went on, but I liked seeing the genuine attempt to help, and the look on people’s faces when they knew they wouldn’t have to worry about cost...worth it. What’s more, people donated freely, and often. We met several people around the community and even convinced some to play D&D with us. I think the biggest surprise was how much of a hit the game was with the elderly.

Oh, and also, Fern and I became boyfriends. Not really sure how that happened, but it did and I’m cool with it.

On one particular slow day, an interesting thing happened: see, it had been a while since any strange people walked through my door. After a streak of Ves, Blanc, and that weird stalker lady my sister hugged, I figured I’d see the last of any weirdness. In fact, I never even thought to tell Fern about any of the weird visitors (besides Ves, of course). But then as I was doing a solo hunt against deviljo in Monster Hunter on my PC in my office, Fern ran into my office.

“Hey Trent, dear, there’s someone outside the front door saying she’s your cousin,” he informed me. I looked up, a little perplexed.

“I have relatives?” I asked, even though it might have seemed like a pretty dumb thing to say.

Never mind the dumbness, I stopped what I was doing and rushed toward the door only to find a short lady with blonde hair who looked to be in her 20s.

“Hello, can I help you?” I asked her.

“It’s me, your cousin. Demetria?” She folded her arms and scowled.

It took a few seconds to click, and then I remembered.

“Ohhh. You were at my sister’s wedding. I think. Probably.”

“Yeah, I probably most definitely was,” she turned her head and spat on the ground.

Fern stood beside me and gave me a kiss on the cheek.

“Who might this be?” He asked.

“Fern,” I gestured to Demetria. “This is apparently my cousin, Demetria. Demetria, this is Fern, my receptionist-slash-boyfriend.”

“You make me sick,” Demetria growled in response.

“What?” I blinked, and I was quite surprised to hear such a thing. “Are you homophobic?”

“No, I’m not homophobic, I just can’t believe you’re dating someone named after a tree! You were supposed to be the chosen one! You could have broken the cycle!”

That was an odd thing to focus on, but good to know it wasn’t too serious.

“It’s short for Fernando, actually, and technically, Ferns aren’t trees,” Fern explained to her.

“All right, buster,” she pointed up. “But you’re on thin-fucking-ice!”

Then she turned to me.

“Also, grats on being gay, I guess. That’s kinda cool,” she eased up her abrasive tone.

“Well, I might be bi. I don’t know. I haven’t been interested in women before, but that doesn’t mean I wouldn’t be interested in any women. I think the real question we need to ask is, is it gay to be in a relationship with another man?��� I suggested. Demetria just looked at Fern, who then looked at me.

“Yeah,” they both said at the same time.

“Well, in any case, what can I do for you, Demetria?” I shifted focus.

“Right. I need you to tell me where Juniper lives.”

“What for?”

“So I can go live with them. Why else?”

That was an odd thing to want to do, and I didn’t even think Juniper and Ves would agree to such a...oh, who was I kidding? Juniper was that kind of person.

“Right. Uh...I guess there’s no harm. I’ll write down their address for you. You got a way to get there?”

She shook her head.

“I make it up as I go. I got here just fine, didn’t I?”

Yeah, that was a good point.

I pulled out my notepad from my shirt pocket as well as a pen and scribbled down the address. After I handed it to her, she squinted and scowled.

“Shit. How am I supposed to read this chicken scratch?”

Right. Doctor.

“Here, I’ll just spell it out for you, so you can just type it in the notepad app on your phone or whatever you have.”

“Oh, great. More work for me to do,” she grimaced, but pulled out her phone and pressed the power button.

“Let’s see...a few missed calls from my mom. Typical. Also, a text from Ray. ‘If you ever consider coming back here, don’t. I don’t want to see you again.’ Gee, wasn’t planning on going back there, but good to see I’m not wanted. Typical...oh, here we go. Notepad.”

I didn’t really know what that bit was about, but I wasn’t about to pry. Wasn’t my business. As soon as I told her the address, she turned her phone back off and put it back in her pocket.

How are you going to know where to find the place if you don’t even look at the address?

Oh well. Juniper and Ves’ problem now.

“See ya,” she waved, then ran off. Fern and I waved too, then Fern turned to me.

“Well, she was interesting,” he remarked.

I shrugged.

“Yeah. It tends to go that way. I never really told you, but besides Ves, there’s been some strange people who showed up here a couple of times. First there was Blanc, this amnesiac who was missing an arm. Juniper decided to make a prosthetic limb for them after learning about Fullmetal Alchemist and we kinda let them live here until they just disappeared one day. Then there was this one stalker Juniper had who wanted her and I to leave town but didn’t really explain why and then Juniper hugged her and she freaked out. Not a clue what that was about, but we never saw her again, so I guess we never needed to leave town.”

“Wow, your sister had a stalker?”

I shrugged.

“Yeah, it was horrible, I guess. She seemed rather nonchalant about it, but I could tell it affected her in some ways. She was paranoid for a bit until she met this stalker in person, and then said stalker turned out to be harmless.”

“Still, I would’ve been scared too.”

“Oh yeah, and by the way, Ves is a time traveler. Yeah, you probably think I’m nuts now, but she was originally from the ‘60s and my sister and I found this time travel device that looked like a Nintendo 64 when we moved in. It apparently belonged to Ves’ father. So that time at the coffee shop when she was homeless? Yeah, apparently I met her before that actually and neither of us realized that. Of course, she was a teenager back then and only showed up to take the time travel device back but anyway…”

I realized I started rambling and the more I went on, the more ridiculous things probably seemed.

“...Anyway, you don’t have to believe me, but that was all to say that everyone else who’s ever been in this apartment has been more interesting than me. Including you. Compared to them, I’m kinda just...there.”

He shook his head and placed a firm grasp on my shoulders. He looked me in the eyes.

“No, you are very interesting. How could you not be when you’ve met all of these interesting people? Take it from me: I wouldn’t be interested in you if I didn’t find you interesting.”

“Gee,” I looked away, embarrassed. “Thanks. But also, there’s one more thing: my family has this weird tradition of naming people after trees. Yeah, I’m Trent, but I was named after Treant, this tree monster in D&D. My mom wanted to name me Ent, but apparently couldn’t because the Tolkien estate has the rights to that name.”

“See? Another interesting thing about you!”

“Ha. I’m glad I met you. My mom wasn’t exactly a nice lady, but it was cool that she was into D&D. That’s probably where I got it from. Maybe it’s genetic. Still, neither mine nor my sister’s personalities are like her, although Juniper’s probably closer, though way nicer. It’s hard to explain, but you’d just have to trust me.”

“Every time you tell me something new about yourself, I’m fascinated more and more,” he smiled wide.

We kissed once more before getting back to work. Our day hadn’t yet come to an end.

#writing #remoras full #romance #gay #trent #doctor #clinic #stories #lgbt #dnd

[redroseredemption]

Kamen Rider Ex-Aid Review

Since I’m getting closer to the ending of Ghost, I’d thought I’d post my review of Ex-Aid. I know it’s been a while since I finished the show but it took me a while to digest it and get all my thoughts together without raging. This is gonna be a controversial one. I know a lot of people love Ex-Aid, but if you’ve been watching my liveblogs, you probably know how this review is gonna end

Still trying to find a suitable review style so I hope you like the one I came up with. Without further ado, let’s get this over with… What I Liked: -The Opening:  I freakin’ love Excite! It’s one of the best toku theme songs. Every time I’d watch an episode of Ex-Aid, I would sit through the opening just to listen to this song. It’s that good. Too bad for like 10-12 episodes it was more like an ending song but I didn’t mind it too much.

-Kiriya: Kiriya was, without a doubt, the best character in this show. Loved his lying ass personality. Loved his Hawaiian shirts. Had a pretty heartbreaking backstory and every time he was on screen he was a joy to watch. Also his actor’s hot

- The Game Driver and the Gasthats: At first I wasn’t sure about them. They’re so campy looking with their design and the neon bright colors, but over time I grew to really like them. They’re so different compared to other Rider belts. An odd one but I find when the belt says “GASHATO” very satisfying. -Kuroto and Masamune Actors:  I love how much fun they’re having playing their characters. I’ve heard Kuroto’s actor is the one that gave him the crazy personality and Masamune’s actor is a famous musician and carries his gashat to his shows. I think that’s really sweet. 

-Brave and Para-DX design: All his forms are great. He’s the best looking rider in my opinion in this show next to Para-DX who designs is just gorgeous. I’m still not a fan of the eyes on the visor, but they work better on them than the other suits.

-Taiga and Nico: Taiga by himself is an emo asshole who withheld the “treatment” of a patient because he wanted a gashat, but when he’s with Nico he’s tolerable. They’re dynamic made me kind of like him as the show went on. I’ve heard what the brave and snipe movie does to him, however I’m only basing his personality on the show, not the movies. In the show, he did get better. He was still an asshole, but less so in later episodes. And Nico, while annoying and bratty, I enjoyed her overall. Together, they had some of the more memorable moments in the show for me. -The Saki Revival Scene: That one scene when Masamune releases Saki and she keeps saying “Become the world's best doctor” is amazingly well done. How there’s no music when Saki keeps repeating her line and her face is glitching out. The tone of that scene was phenomenal. What I Didn’t Like: -Emu: Despite the fact that I put him in the “Didn’t Like” section, I don’t think Emu is a bad character. It’s his characterization I hae a problem with. He’s super inconsistent. Generally, he’s an empathetic person, but sometimes he uses that empathy in the wrong ways. Both Taiga and Hiiro hate him for a good 3/4ths of the show and multiple times Emu considers them his friends. Then there’s the scene with Kuroto where Emu says “he’s a good person.” That whole speech made me good “What the fuck is wrong with you, Emu?!” considering Kuroto killed Kiriya, Emu’s friend! The whole “M” personality part of him was not handled well. There are times throughout the show where I wasn’t even sure who was who. When you can tell who is who, like the one time Parad possesses Emu, he doesn’t know how Emu talks...even though he’s supposed to be “M” and should know how Emu speaks… I don’t know if that’s Emu’s actor, Hiroki Iijima, not being able to act as “M” or Yuya Takahashi not knowing how to write a character with a split personality. Whatever it was, the split personality part was very hard to follow. There’s also times where Takahashi tries to make Emu a badass and it comes off very awkward and out of character. One scene I wanna bring up is the one where Emu straight-up murders Parad. There’s no build-up to it, no foreshadowing, no indication whatsoever. He brutally beats up Parad and “kills him.” All to teach him a lesson about humanity and death. It’s so out of character and cruel for a character that’s supposed to be empathetic and caring. And all because we needed another “shock death.” It felt like Takahashi wanted to do this scene and he was going to do it no matter how little sense it made.

Hiiro: The hot embarrassing himbo.There’s being tsundere and then there’s being a dick and Hiiro is a massive dick. I got where Takahashi wanted to go with him. Hiiro is a man who lost someone he loved and he is still suffering from it, however, in my opinion it wasn’t executed well. The only scenes we see of Hiiro and his girlfriend, Saki, together before she “dies” are when he’s being a total dick to her and when she succumbs to the virus. That’s it. If we had scenes where they were a loving couple, I could be more sympathetic to Hiiro but he’s no different before Saki died and after. He’s just an asshole and yes, I get that some people are simply assholes, but if you want me to care about your character then don’t make them assholes without subsistence! This whole subplot could have been half the length with how long they dragged it out too. Speaking of which… Saki: Who is Saki? What did she like to do? What dreams did she have that didn’t center around her boyfriend? Saki was a McGuffin. A McGuffin for Hiiro to obtain. Hell, I think even Masamune describes Saki as a princess trapped in a castle at one point. She was an object. I really hate saying that but there’s no better way to describe it. She’s an object in human form for our heroes to obtain. If Saki was given a character at all, I wouldn’t be as pissed as I am with her treatment. Taiga: What is better than a character that’s an asshole for no reason? How about TWO characters that are assholes for no reason! Taiga wasn’t interesting by himself. I didn’t care about him or his “struggles” (which barely got to see in the show proper anyway) The only times he was was when he’s with Nico, but other than that I really didn’t care for him.

Kuroto: The villain of the first half of the show that becomes a meme. I don’t have too much to say about Kuroto, just that it’s clear Takahashi had a set plan for Kuroto that got thrown away once he came back. His character was done better in Build with Gentoku and from what I’m hearing about Zero-One, Gai as well. 

Parad: Creepy gremlin that should not have been "M" “ I didn’t understand life that couldn’t continue.” No you understood, you lying sack a shit. In all seriousness, Parad never felt like he was a “full character” to me. He always felt like nothing more than a lackey like Graphite. Speaking of Graphite…

Graphite: If there was an award for the most wasted character in toku, he’d be it. He was the bugster created from Saki’s death. He was Hiiro’s and Taiga’s antagonist and what did they do with him? Throw him under the bus for half the show, force his ass back and then he dies a few episodes later… what a character The Tone:  This was the worst aspect of this show for me. One moment, there will be a serious scene and then a second later, wack zany shinanigines happenes. Like the whole scene where Hiiro and Emu are talking about Kiriya’s death and Emu trips over himself. Or when a character dies and the voice pops in with cheery fanfair and says “GAME CLEAR” It’s like this show wants to tell this deep dramatic, story but you got clowns running aorund in the background honking. 

Overall Thoughts: This show wasn’t for me. I couldn’t take it as seriously as it wanted me to. I could go on and on about Ex-Aid but I think this sums up my feelings fairly well. I have a lot of Rider shows to get to. Who knows maybe there will be a season worst than this one but for right now Kamen Rider Ex-Aid is the worst season I’ve seen yet. It goes in the “trash” tier. 

(I have watched Kamen Rider Black and Gaim, but it’s been YEARS since I’ve seen them and I don’t feel confident to rank them with how long ago I’ve watched them. Also I’m ranking Amazons season 1. Haven’t watched season 2 yet) 

#kamen rider ex aid #kamen rider ex-aid #kamen rider build #kamen rider amazons #kamen rider #redrosereviews #tier list #ex aid negativity

[flaim-ita]

AU Headcanons: Star Wars AU (any Kamen Rider/PR series, you choose); Ani5 Mighty Morphin AU?, clearly I just want a crossover of some kind.

You’re killing me, I hope you know.

AU one: Kamen Rider Decade, Empire Era of Star Wars

- when an unmarked ship crash lands on Natsumi’s world right near her house, what’s she to do but investigate? She finds a man barely alive near the wreckage, clinging to a… well, What looks like a lightsaber. Except that it won’t turn on. But she manages to get the mysterious man in burnt up clothes to her home, where they have a few bacta patches to at least help him until they can ride into town for actual medical supplies. When he wakes up, however, all he can remember is skills and that his name is Kadoya Tsukasa.

- ACTUALLY Tsukasa is basically Darth Vader but like… in a Tsukasa way, and Darth Decade has been planning to kill Sidious when an undercover mission gone wrong sent him hurtling into Natsumi’s planet surface. Like you do. But, when first the Empire and then a member of the Kamen Rider Rebel Cell (Wataru cameo goes here) appear, Tsukasa and Natsumi of course get dragged into it. Tsukasa even figures out that he’s a former Jedi, unlocks his saber (it’s Magenta ofc) and they decide to do the world hopping.

- supposedly they’re supposed to be the in-and-Out quietly type but, again, Tsukasa is Tsukasa. And, when mistaken for imperial forces on Kuuga, they get in a fight with the local rebel cell. That goes… exactly as well as you think it does, but that’s where they meet Yuusuke. Yuusuke, who wants to be more on the offensive and join Tsukasa, Natsumi, and Natsumi’s grandfather on their ship, the Studio. Tsukasa: no. Natsumi: Yes. Guess who wins?

- CT-49-5144 (DI-END), who goes by Kaitou, had a broken Control Chip but wants nothing to do with this war, after what the Clone Wars did to his brothers, enslaving them, using them, and then further enslaving them all for an utter sham war. It should be noted, however, that Tsukasa was his General before Decade Fell, and he knows exactly who Tsukasa/Decade is. So do the higher ups of the Kamen Riders, actually. Because Kaitou is in love with his former General, however, he follows them around whenever they end up on the same planet.

- when Tsukasa eventually gains his memories back and then eventually after THAT decides to go ahead with his plan to kill Sidious, he asks the others to come with him. He then explains to Kaitou what happens when a Sith kills the Master in anger, makes him promise to shoot him immediately, which he does. However, Natsumi and Yuusuke were listening. When the battle comes, three blasterbolts land… dead center on Sidious’ head. Tsukasa didn’t have to become the next Sith Lord, after all

AU 2: Ani5 Mighty Morphin

- TommyAdam parallels? Yes please. Anakin DEFINITELY doesn’t fault Obi-Wan, Cody, and Rex for leaving (except that he definitely does). Nor does he fault Echo, Fives, and Kaeden for joining the team. That said, Sidious is at their throats and being the leader is incredibly difficult. Ahsoka and Padme help, of course, but it’s a difficult situation.

- that said, the new guys take to it well enough, especially Fives. Fives slowly becomes his second in command, especially after Ahsoka leaves. Fives is… gorgeous, by the way. God Anakin had thought that from the beginning but how could he possibly say it? It’s STILL sometimes uncomfortable around Padme, after the breakup.

- Fives, meanwhile, has an equally large crush in Anakin, but he can’t just SAY it, Echo, come ON! Anakin is WAY out of his league. (He is not, in fact, out of Anakin’s league. He is, in fact, Anakin’s entire league.)

- they get together after Anakin is kidnapped for the 59th time or so. Fives had been taking extra hits in the fight because he was so worried (and Anakin was watching) so both were extremely worried about each other.

- ever since, they’ve been stupidly in love and stupidly tied to the Power, together.

Send me an AU and I’ll write 5 HCs

#kamen rider #star wars #replies #arcanaacid #i need a friend tag #hikari natsumi #kaitou daiki #onodera yuusuke #anakin skywalker #arc trooper fives #kadoya tsukasa

[venus-says]

Kamen Rider Ghost Episodes 17-50

Ghosts are spooky.

Coming out later than it should, it is finally here, the final review on Kamen Rider Ghost. I avoided writing this review as much as I could, but if I wanted to move on I had to get this out so, here we are.

Yes, by my tone you probably already guessed that I didn't like Ghost. But it's not really that I disliked it, is more that I didn't feel anything for it?

If you asked me to describe Ghost in one word that word would be: forgettable. Because at the end of the day Ghost hasn't left an impression on me, and if it weren't for all the notes I made and the screenshots I took I wouldn't remember a single thing about this show, and it's not because time has passed, because I still remember W, heck I still remember a lot of thing from Fourze and Drive that are seasons that I hate. But for Ghost, I couldn't remember a thing. To write this post I had to read my notes five times, while looking at the screenshots I took, and with the Wikia page open so that I could locate myself, I also needed a help from YouTube to remember a few of the scenes.

But giving credit where its due, my experience with Ghost wasn't just a bunch of boredom and confusion, it had a few good moments, in particular the second part of it. Yes, it had its flaws, most of what I mentioned in my first post was present, but they had new additions that were interesting and that, judging by my notes, got me very engaged. Sadly, when the third portion started all that was interesting was dropped and what we got was a big pile of mess that didn't make a lot of sense, and that had no meaning at all, at least none that I could see hidden in all that madness. That final arc made things look very empty and without a purpose. And it's sad that it went that way because, and I'm gonna sound repetitive here, they had great concepts and pretty damn good visuals but the execution lacked a lot.

I don't really have a direction to line up my thoughts about everything that happened in these 30+ episodes so I'll do the same thing I did for Gaim and go character by character here, starting with the Riders:

Takeru was bland (look at me repeating myself again), to me he had no personality at all. He was very wasted, like the dude died and he's a ghost, that was supposed to be cool, and it wasn't. They could use his backstory with religion play a part in this, but the most it did for him was seeing him meditating here and there, the fact he grew up in a temple didn't make much difference for him. They could've made some cool stuff with his dad, have him like a spiritual guide or something, but no the most we got was a few scenes that lacked emotion and it wasn't fun to see. And another repeated complaint, the number of times he died and came back and had his countdown restarted was a joke, just like his motivational speeches that are generic as fuck and never hit the mark, at least with me.

There was a single time where I started feeling like Takeru was interesting and it was when he started being a bitch and all heroic Eyecons left him because they couldn't sense the heroicness on him or something like that. I thought that moment would give him a personality and it could start a journey of persona growing as he would have to gather all Eyecons again. But then the show dumped a bucket of pig's blood on my face and made all Eyecons get back to him in the same episode and the most we got in the development department was those horrible scenes where the Eyecons would drag Takeru inside them to have vague conversations that are meant to sound deep and smart but that only sound dumb (just like me in this blog). 

Makoto... was useless. I know this is a running gag about secondary riders, but I never felt that SO MUCH like I did with Makoto. The dude did nothing, this whole time. He got controlled by the enemies, AGAIN, then we know his also kind of a ghost because his body is in the Ganma's dimension, but that was just a convenience to give him his power-up, then he spends some time doing nothing just to bump with a side-plot about him having copies of himself that pretty much goes nowhere because most of the times the copies only interact with him and it's just a waste of time. And don't get me started on the implications that he loves his sister more than he should because that's a disgusting hole I don't wanna get in because I don't want this post to become as long as a scientific article.

Alain was definitely my favorite of the riders, I dare say my favorite member of this whole cast. His story is rough, I admit it's very hard to see anything interesting on him at the start. But when all shit goes down with his family and he gets his "redemption arc" it's a true delight to see him. His whole thing with the Takoyaki lady was very pretty and very emotional and it was definitely the high point of the season to me, it really hit me hard seeing the lady die, and I understand that this is a show for kids and they don't wanna be sad and gloomy all the time but I really think the show needed more moments like this, you know? Make us really think about death, and how that affects the living. It's a shame that in the third act Alain had to deal with the whole mess with his family and seeing his own people being pulverized for no reason at all because it felt that they traded something more unique to a very generic thing.

Moving to side characters, Akari remained consistently interesting, of course, I think they could've used her way more seeing that she's supposed to be the scientific side in a very spiritual show, but it felt like they only used her science background when it was convenient for them, they didn't make much of a discussion. Regardless of that I still like her, I like how she's not a romantic interest, she's somewhat very proactive, and even though he sucks at it she does kick some ass. Sadly most of the time they just make her the Straight Man to Onari who's one of the worst characters ever because he's annoying as hell, he's character is very flat-lined, he doesn't have an arc, he doesn't change, he's just there for bad comedy. Heck that guy who's an apprentice in the temple, the one that has the mom with the lamen shop, I think Shibuya is his name, he has more of a character than Onori, he even has more of a character than Makoto's sister who took over the role of the token girl and as a token girl she only serves to be Makoto's motivation and Alain's romantic pair and has nothing of her own.

We also had Cubi and the other Mozart Ganma that were a very interesting concept of a MOTW who develops a personality that is a leftover from their "human counterpart" in the Ganma world, but instead of making something cool with it they just drop the concept, the two go away and disappear for a big chunk of the show just to come back at the end for a very small participation if I'm remembering it correctly and it's just a disappointment.

Closing the good guys' side are Yurusen and Edith. I said Yurusen was annoying at the beginning but that little thing grew on me, also the revelation at the end that Yurusen was actually a cat makes it impossible for me to dislike it so... the same can't be said about Edith. I'm sorry but I hate the guy, more or less because I don't get him. Like, he's supposed to be a double agent? But he always seems so shady to both sides so it can mean that he has his own agenda and that he's helping both sides in order to get what he wants but nothing ever comes out of it and it's just frustrating.

I was planning on doing a section about the villains and go on each one of them, but their plotline is so confusing, I didn't understand it while watching it and I most definitely won't be able to do this based only in my confused notes so I'll just bundle them up in a single paragraph.

So basically their thing is basically an alien invasion plot, their world is bad so they're trying to invade Earth and take over. It seems like a simple plot, but the way they do this is confusing as hell. To begin with, there's that Demia project that on paper sounds amazing but when you have Igor as the head of the project it just makes for something that is really hard to watch and pay attention to because he's head-on-head with Onari trying to see who's the more annoying, and the show seems more concerned in making him have a gag with women hitting him rather than explaining what is going on with this plan. Then on top of that, we have the political/familiar drama with Alain's family that I couldn't care less because they didn't bother to explain well what goes on in this family. And it all just becomes messier when Adel gets to power and the Ganmeizers become a thing because it feels like one of those things that came out of nowhere and they're way too overpowered but they still get defeated in a regular basis somehow. And then they all become a god-like entity or something at the end, and I really don't know what to make out of this. Honestly, if you watched Ghost and understood how this progression happened please explain to me, I need answers.

I feel like I talked a lot and at the same time that I didn't write a single word. There are so many other things in this show that I want to complain, like those ridiculous possessions the Eyecons do, that random idol-centric episode, how inconsistent they are about the difficulty of getting to the Ganma world, how Alain's sister can become a rider but she just gets her ass kicked and we never see her in action again, the way Takeru's dad in so keen on putting so many responsibilities into someone who was just a kid and how they wanted to make him be a chosen one, some of the portrayals of historical figures that seem kinda offensive at some points, the excuses for power-ups, and so on and so forth. But I gotta be honest my energy is starting to run down so I think I'll wrap up here, I know there's a lot else that happens but I pretty much said everything I had to say anyway so I think I made my case and there's no reason to make this post longer than it already is.

Now I'm curious, what are your thoughts on Ghost? Do you agree? Disagree? Should I have watched the show again before making this review? Let me know in the comments. If everything goes right this week I should have the post about the Ghost movies up as well, that'll probably be better since I won't be working from my bad memory. In any case, stay healthy, stay safe, never stop resisting, thank you so much for reading, and until the next time, see ya~

#Kamen Rider Ghost #kamen rider

[philipsgaiamemories]

When the veil is thin

Fandom: Kamen Rider Build

Relationship: Kiryu Sento/ Banjou Ryuga

Summary:  Magical Prince, Kiryu Sento decided an experiment was in order, something dangerous.  But with the veil at its thinnest of the year, it was the perfect chance to do it. (Sequel to: “Bloodstained Moonbeams”, “Sweet Obsession”, “Closet Secrets”

Rating: Explicit

HAPPY HALLOWEEN GUYS, HOPE YOU GUYS LIKE IT

He truly was a genius~!

Hours upon hours of study, surrounded by old dusty books in the library, and secret practice sessions, and the Mage Prince, Kiryu Sento was ready to unveil his newest work.  

No one had ever actually tried to complete this theoretic spell; the scary unknown, unspoken rules, and morality getting in the way of new progress.  But Sento’s curiosity got the better of him, and the totality of his focus was suddenly fixated on this new spell.  He could make it work the theories were all valid, but all it needed was a little push from the brilliant young royal.  All the effort, the sleepless nights finally coming to fruition, even with the delicious interruptions from a certain late night visitor.  His patience though was rewarded soon enough though, especially the one he wanted to show it to the most…  

But he couldn’t reveal it too quickly, Sento had to wait for the perfect opportunity.  He had to wait until he was out of the dorms, and when the conditions were the best. The wait was killing him though, it was hard to keep his discovery a secret.  

The mage prince didn’t have to wait long though, the perfect condition quickly approaching.  Sento announced that he was going home to check the kingdom and tend to duties, a perfect cover for what he truly wanted to do. That night, the brilliant spellcaster traveled home, back to his lavish palace underneath an almost perfectly full moon.  Yes, everything was falling into place just like he foresaw.    

That whole next day, Sento did nothing then tend to the kingdom’s issues, the picture of a model Prince.  And although he carried himself with the air of cool confidence, inwardly he was growing impatient and frustrated.  He wanted to be left alone, wanted to continue his experiment in the privacy of his room.  The mage to keep up his pretenses though, he had to wait until finally after a later dinner he could mutter the words,

“Do not disturb me, I am retiring for the night.”

Finally!

Tugging at this silky tie, Sento let out a sigh, the fabric dangling around his thin neck as he crossed the room.  First things first, a bath.  One by one, the royal peeled off his clothes, a trail of fabric dotting the marble floor as he headed towards the bathroom.  His dark tie, fluttered to the ground, before he unbuttoned and shrugged off his crisp white shirt from his thin shoulders.  Shivering in the cool air of his bedroom, the boy undid his pants, momentarily stopping to kick them off, along with his briefs and socks.  

A bath would be a great way to clear his mind, a way to leave himself open to casting this spell. Soon, the sound of rushing water filled the boys ears, the lavishly large tub filling with hot, inviting water.  And while this was going on, the mage waved his hands over the candles that dotted the space, small flames suddenly appearing to light the room. Usually the servants of the palace would run his bath, but tonight he just wanted everything to be private. He didn’t want to be disturbed at all.  Finally, with the tub filled, the lean royal slid into the bath, sighing pleasantly as his whole body relaxed immediately.  

“Ah…~” This was what he needed, a way to calm his racing mind.  In an hour everything was going to be perfect.  The moon will finally reach its highest peak, completely full, allowing for the mage to use its powers to their fullest.  It would be the best time to try this complicated and unexplored spell.

Sliding his fingers down his neck, Sento sighed, rolling his head back with the gentle touch, lingering at his pulse.  The Prince had found himself doing that a lot, the sensation sending shivers down his spine, recalling every time his obsession had touched him there.

“Banjou…” Sighing, his fingers dragged lower, goosebumps crawling on his skin despite the hot water. Banjou Ryuga, the Vampire Prince, was never far from Sento’s thoughts, like a constant whisper in his ears.  The boys mind wondered, his heart starting to race as he thought of his new dark haired lover.  Its been months since they had met, but the two had quickly become addicted to each other, meeting every chance they could in secret.  It became so bad that Sento had begun to change his sleeping schedule, hoping that he would be awake when the vampire had come to visit him.  

Lifting his fingers from his chest, the royal let out another heavy sigh, reaching over to grab a wash cloth to begin bathing.  Slowly, the boy began to wash himself, washing away any negativity and trying to center himself.  At first, their visits were straight forward, Sento asking questions, learning things about the vampire community, and in exchange he would give his neck up to the Vampire Prince.  His blood, for knowledge, or at least that’s what it was supposed to be…

After a few visits though, knowledge became the furthest thing from Sento’s mind.  His body began to ache for Banjou, for the sensation of hot teeth sinking into his skin, and his possessive hands holding him down.  They indulged in one another, shamelessly giving into their needs behind locked doors.  Soon, the brilliant mage found himself unable to resist cuddling up to the slick body of the vampire, exhausted but drowsily asking Banjou questions about himself.  He wanted to know more about the person sharing his bed, about the one who plagued his every thought.  Sento had figured at first that he was a brute; a muscle-brained fighter, who couldn’t control himself.  But after a while, he realized that the boy had an irresistible charm to him that the mage couldn’t put his finger on.  All the royal knew was that he was weak to the vampire, unable to fight against his voice, those eyes, and hands.

Drying off, Sento grinned to himself, his heart suddenly racing with excitement.  Well if all went well with the experiment, the magical prince would not have to worry about all those things.  He could be in control for once, unable to be swayed by the handsome Banjou.  Now that his body was cleansed, was everything else ready?

Long moonbeams poured into his floor to ceiling window, lighting up the whole room in the pale light. Yes, the moon was almost in perfect position, Sento could feel its power pulling at the magic flowing in in veins. The moon being at its peak on this night gave all the mages of his land a huge power boost.  So for the royal, tonight was the perfect night for the spell. He had to work quick now, so the lean boy gathered his incense, perfectly picked for the night’s work.  Soon the room was filled the warm scents of vanilla, and cinnamon, thin wisps of smoke dancing in the pale moonbeams.  

Now for the final touch…

Digging deep in one of his dressers, Sento pulled out a crisp white dress shirt was that obviously too big for him.  Sliding it over his head, he shivered, feeling the soft cotton caress every inch of his sensitive body.  Slowly, his began moving towards his lavish bed, lifting his arms, the sleeves of the shirt dangling just past his fingertips.

‘Banjou…’ The familiar masculine, and musky scent of the vampire filled his nose, as he laid on the bed, the shirt pooling around him.  After that night that they hid in the hidden closet of the dining hall, Sento managed to steal one the vampire prince’s shirts, secretly keeping it hidden for when he was at the castle and unable to see him.  But for tonight, it was the perfect thing to help focus Sento’s thoughts.

Drunk on the scents, the mage began to whisper, “…Moon so bright….aid my spell tonight…tie my thoughts, my senses, my body, to the one who rules my mind…connect us mind, body and spirit…”

The words became a chant, the lean prince feeling the sparks of magic coursing through his body.  It was quite a difficult spell, and although Sento could feel the words trying to respond, he could also sense the resistance. But he didn’t care, the mage’s lips continued to move, as his mind began to focus on the handsome vampire.  

Banjou’s dark eyes, his spine tingling voice in Sento’s ears, calling his name. The way that the vampire’s finger’s crawled down the mage’s body, possessive and hot, as his body’s weight pressed him into the mattress.  

The way Banjou’s muscles trembled when Sento’s fingernails dragged across his skin…

“Mmm…” Biting his lower lip, Sento let out a soft whine, his fingertips dragged across the buttons of the dress shirt.  The idea of being underneath Banjou’s hard body was too good of a daydream, a familiar burning heat slowly filling him. His whole body tingled, the spell he was still chanting, finally starting to take shape until he felt a faint sense of confusion in his consciousness.  

‘Banjou…’

The spell was working!

A sudden rush of excitement rushed through the boys lean body, knowing exactly what was going on. Through the initial confusion, Sento could sense a base hunger, and need, that filled the vampire prince.  Finally, it was time to really start the show!

‘Banjou~…’

The whisper of his name through their newly formed bond, almost as if the mage prince was right next to him, immediately got Banjou’s attention.  Slowly, Sento’s delicate hands flicked over the buttons, one at a time, going back up his body.  He wanted to drag this out, to send the sensation of undoing each button, one by one to the vampire, the image of the shirt coming apart slowly.  Pale skin peeking out as he dragged his fingertips down his chest, goosebumps forming across his skin.  Sighing, the mage closed his eyes, imagining that those fingers were not his own, but of his dark obsession.

He concentrated on sending flashes of images to Banjou, pulling the fabric apart, before slowly circling over his nipple, as the oversized shirt teasingly still barely covered his front.  A heated vision, of the mage’s lips parting in a soft sigh, toying with his hardened nipple, bathed in the pale moonlight.

‘I…wish you were…here…’

Sento tried to express how much he desired the vampire was there at that moment, leaning over him, as he dragged his fingers down his chest, driving him mad with need.  “Ah…”

Tracing over his muscles, the boy shivered, shifting amongst the sheets as his fingers went lower.  In antagonizing detail Sento began to describe each curve, and dip of his muscles, painting the perfect picture for Banjou. The way his own breath hitched whenever his nails dragged across his skin, the way his stomach disappeared with his featherlight touches.  

Banjou’s consciousness pressed back against Sento’s, hot and needy knowing exactly where this was going. Fabric fell easily, the young mage pulling the oversized shirt apart, shivering with the night kissing his bared skin.  His whole front was on display in the empty bedroom, but really want the royal mage wanted, was to display himself to the vampire.  

“Mm~”

Making a soft needy noise, Sento shuddered in the bed, an overwhelming sense of Banjou’s desire washing over him.  Ghosting fingers over his abs, the mage’s other hand clutched onto the sheets while his legs spread below him.  What a sight he was sending to the vampire prince, his dark hair sprayed out beneath him, hand inching lower and lower until-

“AH~…”  

Squirming in the silky sheets, his delicate fingers wrapping around his half hardened length with a low pleasured moan.  These fingers, they weren’t Sento’s anymore, they were now they expert fingers of his mysterious lover, Banjou, sliding teasingly up his cock.  Shuddering, the mage gave himself a gentle squeeze, the same way the dark haired vampire would when he wanted to get the boys attention.  The simple sensation sent sparks down his spine, his body immediately responding to the touches.  

Hissing softly, Sento’s thumb slid across his slit, his hips jerking up with a shudder.  The mage’s mind drifted, imagining the vampire’s weight over him, his hands expertly pumping his length.  The boys lips teasing his neck as he whispered in his ears, ‘…You drive me wild…’, ‘Tilt your head more…’, and ‘…go on…let me hear you…Sento…’.  

“Mmph!” Heat began pooling in his waist, his length swelling and growing in his hand with the thought. He could almost hear Banjou’s seductive, deep voice, egging him on, as he played with the genius’ most sensitive regions.  Bucking his hips, the boy’s finger’s dipped between his legs, running across his now swollen balls.   Yes, this was exactly how Banjou would tease him, gently ghosting over his sensitive balls, smirking as the genius royal writhed underneath him.

Speaking of the devil, he could sense Banjou’s consciousness, a heat like dragon’s fire filling him.  It was fascinating, the experiment should not have caused Sento to feel this much of the vampire prince’s emotions and desires.  But…

His wrist twisted, applying the perfect amount of pressure to his aching shaft, a loud needy gasp escaping his lips.  His free hand grasped the silky sheets above him, wishing that he could be dragging his fingers across Banjou’s back, leaving lines of glorious red across them. There was something deliciously wicked about using his magic for pleasure, torturing his new lover, sensing him going wild on the other end of the spell.  The vampire’s consciousness was like a caged tiger, pacing back and forth, aching to feed its craving.  

Biting his bottom lip, Sento swallowed a pathetic mewl, his back arching, jerking his length into his palm. The royal could feel his hand quickly becoming slick, eagerly covering himself in his own hot, sticky pre-release.

Gods, he really was as sensitive as Banjou said he was, it really didn’t take him that long to get this riled up.  Or maybe…it was because the vampire was quickly becoming the mage’s weakness…He was a drug that Sento craved like air, and even just a thought of a hit made his whole body go wild.      

“Ahh~”  Running his thumb over his slit, Sento traced over his head, hot lightening running down his spine.  His hips bucked uncontrollably, the sounds of wet flesh joining his soft chants, “B-Ban…jou…~”

“B-a…n…jou…”

Sento could see that smug smile, that pleased look the vampire prince would give him when the genius was writhing underneath him in pleasure.  The mage was quickly unraveling, his hand moving faster between his legs.  His other hand had now left the sheets, dragging across his sensitive nipple, eagerly seeking more sensations.  It didn’t take long for Banjou to learn and hone in on the boys buds, knowing that each flick and stroke would earn the boy a low whine and moan from the mage.  And when he had his hands around Sento like this he especially liked to-

“AH~” Pinching his nipple the boy let out a sharp chocking sound, squeezing his length a little harder than he meant to, “Hnng~~”

The mage’s eyes rolled in the back of his head, his hand beginning to move more erratically.  He was painfully hard, his length standing proud and tall.  Banjou loved seeing him like this, unable to deny his arousal, his body covered in a thin sheen of sweat, glistening in the moonlight., as they clung onto one another in pleasure.  His hand would move faster and faster, swallowing every moan and whimper in between their messy kisses.  

Gods…what he wouldn’t give to kiss Banjou right now!  His kisses were so aggressive, leaving him bruised and breathless.  To feel those delicious shocks whenever the vampire would gently bite his lower lip, tugging at it earning the vampire prince a pleasured whine. Running the pad of his finger across his nipple, Sento bit into his bottom lip, imagining that it was Banjou toying with him.

The sounds of wet flesh and moans was deafening in the mage’s ears as he eagerly pumped his length.

“B-B…anjo-u~”  The name became a spell, his thighs quivering from the rising pressure he was feeling.  Coherent thoughts were quickly melting away, the boy drowning in pleasure.

‘Need’…’Want..’…’Release’, were the only words that managed to bubble up.  

Sento’s body was arching off the bed, his hand squeezing moving faster and faster.  “BA-N-!”

“…Sento…cum for me…”

The husky words rang in his ears, clear and urgent, followed by ghost hands pressing right into his body.

“Ah!~~” It was almost as if Banjou was right there, his confident hands gliding down his sides in silent encouragement.  

“Mmm~!!”  Arching his back eagerly into the touch, Sento let out a loud shameless moan, “A-A-HHH~~~”

His body suddenly convulsed, a dam of pressure suddenly breaking with the hot erotic words.  Searing, sticky, release splashed over his flat stomach, Sento’s whole body stiffening as he hit his powerful climax.  It was like his whole body short-circuited, his muscles spasming, as he whined still pumping his length, riding that glorious high. He could feel release dribbling down his length, smearing itself all over his hand, the sticky sounds mixing with his own heavy panting.  

“Hnng…”  The mage’s hips jerked up, shuddering as he continued to milk himself for every drop.   Every nerve end was humming with life, like a million shocks of electricity coursing through his veins.

“…Sento…”

Struggling to control his breath, Sento sunk into the mattress his eyes fluttering opening open as he heard his name.  

“Ban…jou?”  Confused, the mage whispered the boys name, hearing the boy as clear as day.  “S-shit…!”

A shudder shot down the boys spine, a ghost like touch traveling across his neck, leaving goosebumps in its wake.  It didn’t take long for the royal to put two and two together.  

This spell didn’t work just one way…Banjou had the ability to sensations right back!

“Fuck…you look so….hot right now...”  

Even though Sento had instigated all of this to tease his secret lover, the words caused his heart to hammer hard in his chest.  He would literally hear the amount of control it took Banjou to make that sentence.  

“I cant believe…you can respond back…” The mage panted softly, “…must be…brute vampire…strength…”

Banjou’s tone dipped, completely , “…You’ll learn about our strength when I see you next…my little rabbit…You shouldn’t taunt me.”

Sento’s lips parted, wanting to give a snarky remark, but before he could, that familiar tingling sensation of magic suddenly died within.  Did the spell wear off?!

Slowly, the boy pushed himself up on his elbows, blinking his bleary eyes around the dark room.  

“Tsk…”

The incense had burned out, the last flickers of the burning item fading in the night.  Letting out a frustrated sigh, the mage made a mental note about how the spell only lasted as long as the incense was burning.  It was good to know.

Shifting on the bed, Sento went to kick his legs over the edge, but was stopped immediately by the sight in front of him, “Ah…”

By his bed was a tall ornate mirror, which was lit up by the night’s moonbeams, forcing Sento to stare right into the image.  He could barely recognize himself, his dark hair, normally perfectly in place was sticking up all over, bangs messily stuck to his forehead.  His sharp almond eyes, which was normally held calculating eyes, looked dazed and unfocused.  And what was more noticeable, was his whole body glistened in the pale light, his cold drying release covering his lower half.  

He looked…ravished…

Running his fingers through his dark hair, Sento’s lips curled into a smug smile. No wonder why Banjou couldn’t keep his hands off him; not only was he a genius, but even after hitting his climax, he still looked amazing!  Tearing his eyes away from the reflection, the mage, slowly stood up, the shock of the cold floor sending a shock up his body.  

“…Well…better prepare…” Slowly making his way to the bathroom, the mage’s smile growing wider. “Tomorrow’s going to be a busy night…”

#Kiryu Sento #Banjou Ryuga #Kamen Rider Build #Vampire!Banjou #Mage!Sento #HAPPY HALLOWEEN GUYS

[asknarashikari]

In celebration of this week’e awesome episode: minific of Kento and Ren going over to join the group celebration at the end of the episode and receiving some love they solely needed… before Mei grabs Kento by the collar to go burn his potato sack outfit, cut his hair, and bring him back to his old (handsome) look

Yessss this episode was lit af, we finally got Kento back, we got the boys singing together (my ears were blessed!!!) and I take back all the bad things I said about Cross-Saber, it’s officially awesome now

Ren couldn’t help but stare at Touma in amazement. That guy... He did it again...

He had to admit, seeing Touma achieve his new form was nothing short of awe-inspiring. Seeing Touma effortlessly call on the power of all the Sacred Swords would probably have terrified him, had he been on the receiving end of it. And seeing him undo the damage Kamen Rider Solomon had inflicted was just stupefying. 

It was a bitter pill to swallow, but he had to admit it. Touma... was truly strong. He understood now, why everyone else followed him without question, why even Kento-kun had chosen to return to his side.

As for him... He thinks... No, he now knows where he belongs, but... Even with what Touma had told him before... 

He also noticed how Kento hadn’t joined in either, despite the longing looks he sent Touma’s way.

“Oi, what are you doing staring at nothing for?” Ryo boomed, walking over to him and throwing an arm around him. “C’mon, kid, ya don’t need to be shy around us!” 

“Ack! Ogami-san...!” He choked as the older swordsman dragged him into the group. He stumbled into Daishinji-san who was looking at Touma’s new Seiken with a crazed look in his eyes. 

“Ah, Ren.” The Swordsman of Sound grinned at him. “It’s good to have you back with us.”

Ren blinked at him. “...You’re fine with me coming back?” he asked, embarrassed at how tiny his voice sounded.

The blacksmith rolled his eyes. “We wouldn’t have spent ages looking for you if we weren’t,” he said, pounding his back. 

“A-Alright...” Ren agreed, his smile beginning to grow. Both Touma and Rintaro came over to embrace him joyfully, and couldn’t help but laugh as he returned their hugs too.

“Sophia-sama will be pleased to see all of us back,” Rintaro cheered.

Meanwhile, Mei had marched to Kento and grabbed him by the collar. “What are you doing there, having another of your tragic heroine moments? Come here you idiot hedgehog!” she said, tugging him away.

“Ack, Mei, please- wait, where are you taking me?” he asked, as they walked past the other swordsmen, who gave the duo bewildered looks.

“We’re getting you new clothes. And a haircut. You’re not going back to the Northern Base looking like a disaster in a potato sack,” she declared. 

“P-Potato sack...?” Kento repeated, dumbfounded as he looked back at the others. “And I didn’t say anything about coming back-” He stopped in his tracks when Mei gave him a withering glare.

“Ah... sorry Kento, it might be better for you if you just do as she says.” Touma grinned apologetically at him. 

“Ehhhhh?” Kento’s eyes went wide with a mixture of shock and horror as he was unceremoniously dragged away for his makeover.

“Good luck, Kento-kun.” Ren said with a wince and a shudder.

#kamen rider saber #fukamiya kento #akamichi ren #ask #askrikkaiandhyotei

[yeonchi]

Doctor Who Series 12 Review Part 3/10: Orphan 55

Air date: 12 January 2020

So, it’s been a couple of weeks since the last review. While I usually like to start writing the episode reviews right after I’ve watched them, circumstances have required me to mull on my thoughts for a little while. If current affairs and other fans’ reactions to this episode are any indication, this one’s going to be a doozy, so I’ll get right into it.

This episode’s spoiler-free thought: “I finally found one of the things I was looking for.”

Major spoilers continue after the break. I’ll be talking about the main topic of this week’s review after my thoughts and verdict for the episode.

The third episode paradigm

It’s looking like the third episodes of each series are dedicated to tackling issues in society and as such, they tend to have quite a few SJW red flags. Series 11′s Rosa tackled racism while this episode eventually turns out to be tackling climate change and global warming.

At the same time, it seems like the writing is too focused on the issues that it sometimes neglects to explain particular plot points. In Rosa, we hear that Krasko killed around 2000 people, but we never hear who the victims were or what Krasko’s motivations were (I would presume that it’s racism). As for this episode’s neglected plot point, that’s coming up next.

Ryan and the SJW tipping point

It’s already the third episode and Ryan is still getting some character development. I thought Yaz was supposed to be the focus of this series. Despite this, however, the unfortunate thing has happened - the SJW agenda has finally made a negative impact on the story for me.

After the Doctor helped Ryan get rid of the Hopper virus, he meets Bella, who had also been infected with said virus. It is revealed that Bella is seeking to destroy Tranquillity Spa, owned by her mother Kane (who she initially claimed to Ryan as being dead), because she left Bella and her father when she was little. Ryan connected with Bella on the topic of missing parents, but somehow the story fails to have Ryan relate to Bella with how his father abandoned him, but was able to reconcile with him in the end. However, I’ll give Ryan credit for making an attempt to act like the Doctor while dealing with Bella.

I don’t really mind the Ryan/Bella shipping in this episode, but the real downer of the episode’s conclusion is that the Doctor seemingly leaves Bella and Kane to deal with the Dregs because they had too many people on the teleport with a minute until a massive bomb goes off. Instead, we get a little lecture on how Orphan 55 doesn’t have to actually happen and how we (as humans) should “be the best of humanity”. I thought Ryan was gonna go all Donna Noble there (I think Tosin Cole could pull it off) and beg the Doctor to save Bella and Kane - for all we know, it’s not a fixed point in time or anything. The Doctor could just return them to where they came from relative to their time.

You know, for a series whose episodes are supposed to be 50 minutes long, this episode fell short by three minutes and a bit - this was also the case in The Witchfinders. If we used this scene from The Fires of Pompeii for comparison, then even with the rest of the episode as it is, you could still fit in a scene where the Doctor saves Bella and Kane and have them listen to the Doctor’s speech in the TARDIS. This is how you don’t let the SJW agenda get (too much) in the way of a good story.

Other general thoughts

Doctor Who has covered parallel universes on occasion along with alternate timelines, though they usually get cancelled out in the case of the latter. However, this is seemingly the first time that we see a possible future story. Assuming that alternate timelines are parallel universes themselves, I could write it off as the Time Lords facilitating simple travel between universes, except we just saw in the last episode that the Master killed all the Time Lords.

God, Vilma’s acting is so over the top, especially after Benni goes missing and all the chaos starts. I guess that’s what happens when you hire boomers and make their characters stereotypical. There are two things that Vilma’s acting reminds me of, namely Shakespeare’s plays and Greta Thunberg. You could leave Vilma and Benni out of this episode and nothing of value would be lost.

Speaking of those two, why does Vilma act so surprised when Kane tells her that she killed Benni? It was literally his final request. Then again, it’s like telling someone that they want to be euthanised minutes before they die without warning. Boomers should just all die lol.

They made catgirls/foxgirls an actual thing with Hyph3n. Oh wait, this isn’t anime, so they’re more animal than human.

Tokusatsu reference time. The Dregs seem to resemble the Sheerghosts of Kamen Rider Ryuki or the Orphnochs of Kamen Rider 555, but with a generic design that makes them look like footsoldiers. The latter would be more applicable because of their evolution.

Not many people seem to talk about annoying kids in tokusatsu, probably because most of them get forgotten over time. Sylas toes the line between being the common annoying (and dickish) kid in distress to being the rare kid that is actually useful. Him locking the linen cupboard with his father, Nevi, and everyone else inside confirms the former, while his superior knowledge of mechanics confirms the latter.

This episode has no cold opening. The writers must have forgotten again.

Summary and verdict (the tl;dr ending)

If this episode was about changing the Earth’s future outright so that humans don’t become the Dregs, then my thoughts would be very different. As it is now, I’m conflicted as to whether I should give a higher rating for the attempts to make this a good story, or a lower rating for this episode being too SJW that it forgets to be good.

A summary of the third episode comparison - Krasko got no (proper) backstory while Bella and Kane get no ideal resolution other than they’re going to die fighting off Dregs as a bomb is about to explode.

Ed Hime, who wrote this episode, also wrote It Takes You Away in Series 11. What happened here? That episode was way better than this one.

Rating: 5/10

Climate change - the big SJW red flag (and a side note on police brutality at protests)

It’s no secret that climate change is a problem and has been for decades. It seems that climate change is worsening the effects of disasters around the world. British charity Christian Aid published a report detailing 15 disasters in 2019 that caused at least a billion dollars of damage. Not detailed though is the Australian bushfires, which if I’m correct, are still burning right now. The first of those bushfires started in June which snowballed into the worldwide tragedy we have now. Dust storms, hail storms and even the Wuhan coronavirus (SARS 2.0) aren’t helping things at all, as heatwaves have been getting hotter and hotter every year.

The main reason why I’m calling climate change an SJW red flag is because in recent years, environmental activists such as Greta Thunberg and the Extinction Rebellion group started highlighting this issue more and more through protests, speeches and whatnot in the hope that governments can take immediate action (because evidently, international agreements such as the Paris Agreement and the actions that are being taken in accordance to them are too slow and not enough).

Greta and XR have received criticism for their words and actions. In the case of Greta Thunberg, she was criticised for being over-emotional, taking a gap year from school to focus on her activism (let’s face it, if the option were available, I think a lot of kids would take it even if it meant that they wouldn’t be with their cohort anymore), apparently being manipulated by her parents for political points or the fact that people are defending her because she has Asperger syndrome, OCD and selective mutism, on top of being ignorant about climate change (which is pretty much the general argument of her naysayers).

Extinction Rebellion protests have been criticised for their civil disruption; the ironic thing about it is that they have protested on public transport when it is actually something that helps their overarching cause. Who can remember when those protesters got dragged off the Tube train? And what about them gluing themselves onto roads? Compared to the former, it’s a step in the right direction for their message, but don’t say I didn’t warn you if someone gets called a terrorist just because they drove their vehicle into a pack of vegans.

I want to take a moment to go on a tangent here. Over the last year, there have been a lot of political protests around the world, so XR and all the other climate protesters should think about their place because if their country has really bad political problems (no, Trump and Brexit don’t count), they would probably have bigger things to worry about.

I’ve never really heard anyone compare XR or the climate protests to the protests going on about Hong Kong, particularly in regards to police brutality. I don’t really mind anyone else taking leaves from their books, but the one thing I which I find absolutely offensive and insulting is that protesters outside of Hong Kong are complaining about police brutality, like come the fuck on. I’ve been following Hong Kong news since before Occupy Central in 2014 and I’ve been following it through last year as the worsening police brutality reached depths you vegans aren’t even worried about yet. However, to play devil’s advocate, the protesters are just as worthy of criticism compared to the police and frankly, in Australia, both the protesters and police are getting off easy compared to in Hong Kong.

You’re worried about getting pepper sprayed, beaten up or discriminated because you’re disabled, LGBT, black, Muslim, whatever? Try getting randomly searched or arrested while going about your day (especially if you’re a high school/uni student), finding out the police are colluding with gangs, getting beaten or molested after being subdued, being arrested just for helping someone as a medic or most importantly, being fired to oblivion with live bullets, water cannons that dye your skin blue, pepper spray, bean bag rounds, rubber bullets or more importantly, carcinogenic Chinese tear gas. Until the climate protests get to the point where you need a centralised website to detail your protests, press conferences and police brutality to the world, keep crying in your echo chambers about ACAB or whatever while being ignorant to the fact that like there are starving people in war-torn countries, there are people in Hong Kong who are living under a bigger climate of fear than you are. Fuck you vegans. You make me sick.

Before I return to the main topic, let me leave you with a choice quote from a Spectator Australia article from November 2019 aptly named “Hong Kong is fighting for its very soul, Extinction Rebellion are throwing tantrums”:

It is beyond a joke to suggest that the publicity stunts of Extinction Rebellion are comparable to the protests in Hong Kong. Doing so is an insult to people who are truly fighting for their future. At best it reflects a lack of self-awareness by the climate activists, at worst it is an attempt by Extinction Rebellion to piggyback on the global sympathy that genuine protestors have stirred in Hong Kong and divert it towards themselves.

My opinion on Greta Thunberg? The tone of her voice has already committed the logical fallacy of appealing to emotion. She looks like one of those kids who do or say extraordinary stuff so they can get their 15 minutes of fame in the form of adults fawning over them, but she continues to do it and somehow, people don’t get bored of it. I respect her for having the courage to give the speeches (there were a lot more than what I originally thought, tbh), but it shouldn’t have to take an anxious and emotional girl with Aspergers for governments to do something about climate change if they think it’s so important. As a friend of mine said, however, “It'll take the end of the world to get them to stop taking money from oil and coal.”

Watch the above video from the 10 minute mark onwards, because I have similar feelings about this whole thing.

I remember watching the film 2012 in the first year after it was released and I started getting worried that the stuff that happened in the movie would actually happen on 21 December 2012. In May 2011, I remember going on a quick weekend holiday in the country and reading about Harold Camping’s prediction of the end times in the newspaper. It said that the rapture would take place a week after, on May 21, and that the end of the world would take place on 21 October. Talk about “fool me once, fool me twice”, huh?

I’m not a fan of the climate protests, XR or otherwise, but I’m not a climate change denier either. I care enough about the environment to do my bit when I get the opportunity and that is pretty much it. I have a lot of things on my mind already and having another thing to worry about is the last thing I need.

Damn, writing this review after my two week break really took more effort than I thought it would. Stay tuned for the middle of the week as I review the fourth episode, Nikola Tesla’s Night of Terror.

#doctor who #doctor who series 12 #thirteenth doctor #doctor who series 12 review #thirteenth doctor review

[dangerouscommiesubversive]

the chances i've lost, opportunities tossed away and into the blue

Fandoms: Kamen Rider Decade, Kaitou Sentai Lupinranger Vs Keisatsu Sentai Patranger Characters: Kaitou Daiki, Takao Noël Song: "Sunrise," Petra Haden (playlist here)

The French boy’s in love with him.

Really, Daiki knows that it’s unfair to think of Nicky as a boy. He’s twenty-one, he’s an adult, and for that matter Daiki’s only a couple of years older than him. And he’s hiding something—Daiki hasn’t figured out what it is yet, but sometimes he gets this look, like he’s got a secret sorrow tucked away in his heart.

Don’t we all, Daiki thinks. Someday Tsukasa will track him down, or he’ll track Tsukasa down, and they’ll have it out finally, and then they’ll go home together, and in the meantime he doesn’t intend to drag this innocent friend of his into the mess of superheroic politics. If nothing else he’d like to save Nicky the aches one picks up from superhero work; he never would have let spite get the better of him if he’d known that getting in the Big Machine would leave him with a persistent twinge in one shoulder.

“You aren’t listening to me,” Nicky says pleasantly, jolting him out of his daydream. “Thinking about your ex again?”

Daiki grins wryly at him. “You know it. I’m sorry. What were we talking about, again?”

“I still don’t think he deserves this much space in your heart, my friend, not after how he treated you.” Nicky’s taking advantage of the sunny day to work on something while they linger over their coffee, turning some little gadget over in his hands and making tiny adjustments to it with a pair of jeweler’s tweezers. “Why don’t you have dinner with me, and I’ll make you forget about him?”

On some level it’s a tempting offer. Daiki can easily picture taking Nicky up on it and letting himself be treated gently for a bit, going to dinner and walking in the moonlight and falling into bed. They’re in Paris, after all, it’s an inherently romantic city in every World that has one.

“Unfortunately,” he says, as that sweet imagining is interrupted by the wild hope that that might be what it takes to make Tsukasa show up, “I don’t think that’d be fair to you. Not to downplay your charms, Nicky, but I’m well and truly stuck.”

“Suit yourself,” Nicky says, sounding light but looking wounded. “The offer stands if you ever come to your senses. I promise you, I’ll treat you better than he ever did. Anyway, we were talking about that exhibit coming up, at that gallery? I was thinking of going, were you?”

“I was, actually, it looks intriguing.” Daiki’s looked through the exhibition catalogue already; there’s going to be a treasure on display that he’s dying to get his hands on. “Is there anything in particular that interests you in it? Oh, and did you hear about the burglary at that jewelry store two nights ago?”

---

It would be Noël’s luck, wouldn’t it, to meet the most beautiful man on Earth and discover that he’s still in love with a mob boss who cheated on him.

Not looking up from the Collection piece he’s adjusting, he says, “Of course I heard about the jewelry shop robbery, it’s been all over the news. Do they have a suspect yet, did you hear?” He has to keep his tone light—there is, after all, the possibility that Dion’s figured out that it was him. “Anyway, the gallery exhibit, there are a few pieces that caught my eye when I looked at the website. Perhaps we could go together?”

“Mm.” Dion raises an eyebrow. “I’d love to, as long as we’re clear that it’s not a date.”

Noël wants to say something teasing and suave, “Would I trick you like that?” or something else that sounds like what Arsène might say, but what comes out instead is, pathetically, “You won’t even consider it?”

Almost as bad is Dion’s response, which is to reach across the table and brush a lock of hair out of Noël’s eyes and say, “Trust me, I’ve considered it, but it wouldn’t be fair to you. You deserve someone who isn’t stuck on an old flame.”

Privately, Noël has to admit that it wouldn’t be fair to Dion either, to take the man on one or two dates and then have to sit him down and say, “My name isn’t Nicky, it’s Noël, and I’m not actually a rich kid with too much time on his hands, I’m actually working to try to figure out how to retrieve a group of priceless magical gadgets from a group of interdimensional gangsters so that I can resurrect my father, who happens to be the famed thief Arsène Lupin.” Dion doesn’t deserve to be dragged into his dangerous nonsense.

Out loud, he says, “Mm.”

“So, this exhibit. Opening night’s on Friday, would you like to go then? Or would you prefer sometime when it’ll be quieter?”

A quieter night would be better for scoping out the Lupin Collection piece that the gallery owner’s somehow gotten her hands on, but there’s more chance of his casing the place being noticed as well, so Noël nods. “Opening night would be nice, I’ll buy you dinner. Non-romantically.”

“How about we play cards for the pleasure later? I promise I won’t cheat if you won’t.” Dion grins at him. “Anyway, we’re seeing something of a crime wave this summer, aren’t way? There was the jewelry store, that artist’s studio was broken into last week, I hear there was an attempt at the Arts et Métiers before that…”

The museum theft was also him, but the studio theft remains a mystery. Noël struggles to hide a smile. “I promise you, it’s not normally so bad here.”

“Really? I’m shocked it’s not usually worse, it seems like this city is full of treasure ripe for the picking.”

And isn’t that an odd look on Dion’s face, as if he’s trying to hide laughter of his own, and Noël can’t help but lose the little self-control he was exerting and smile in response. “Yes, it’s quite the collection, don’t you think? But no, it’s not normally nearly so bad, I can’t imagine what changed.”

#kaitou daiki #takao noel #fanfiction #30 day shuffle challenge

[sailor-cresselia]

Zi-O 43: Σ(°ロ°)

Previously, on Zi-O: Everything went to hell. This time, on Zi-O… well. Everything continues to be terrible, and quickly gets worse.

––

Hiryuu mocks Sougo for not being able to protect Tsukuyomi, which… okay, valid. But Sougo’s going through a lot right now, and he was kinda stopped by Woz. There’s just too many battles on too many fronts right now.

And then Hiryuu proceeds to kick the collective asses of Sougo, Geiz, and Tsukasa, the last of whom realizes that they are out of their depth, and yanks them away via a dimensional wall.

Man, those things are handy.

(continued under the cut)

––

After Woz’s recap, we head back to that ballroom/throne room that Hiryuu was lounging in earlier, with Swartz, Uhr, and a bound Tsukuyomi.

So the time stopping ability? Is supposed to be hereditary – it runs in his and Tsukuyomi’s family. Which, uh, remembering the time that Swartz dragged Sougo to when the kid was eight? That’s! Not helping! At all!

(Please don’t have Tsukuyomi be related to Sougo PLEASE don’t have Tsukuyomi be related to Sougo)

Swartz… intends to be the one on the throne. Uhr justifiably questions that – they were supposed to be finding someone to sit on the throne instead of Oma Zi-O. Except… well, technically speaking that’s what Swartz is doing. He just never told you the full story.

You know how I’ve been saying he’s had his candidate all along?

YEAH THAT SEEMS TO HAVE BEEN EVEN MORE ACCURATE THAN I THOUGHT.

And then he knocks Uhr to the ground, and Hora shows up – telling Uhr that Swartz gave Daiki the same powers that he gave them. (At least Daiki has the ‘decency’ to pretend to be embarrassed. “Was that supposed to be a secret?” indeed.)

Hey. Hey Swartz.

Screw you.

What can be given can also be taken away, as he so easily demonstrates…

Last episode he grabbed Daiki and forcibly implanted the time jacker powers into him.

Today he grabs Hora, and forcibly drains them from her, leaving her to fall to the ground, where Uhr barely manages to catch her, trying to back away. Hora’s not here right now – she’s incredibly limp, barely conscious, and I’m scared for her.

Good tactics on Uhr, though – using Tsukuyomi’s blaster to shoot at Swartz, who, as usual, deflects the blast without even looking. That’s just a distraction, though, so that Uhr can get the two of them out of there.

I’ve been telling you two kids to run for months now. He has never had your interests at heart, has never had the same agenda as you.

You really should have caught on during Kikai.

…Daiki, do not go along with Swartz’s orders to eliminate them. Don’t do that, you’re not going to get whatever he promised you. He just attacked his underlings, why on earth do you think he’ll follow through on any promises he makes to you?!

So, Daiki takes off, and now we’ve just got Swartz and Tsukuyomi.

…Is he going to give us actual LORE?! Are we ACTUALLY GETTING THE PLOT?!

Well, maybe. Only after the OP, though.

––

Or maybe not, because we jump back to 9-to-5.

Tsukasa admits that Daiki’s never had that particular power before, despite his sizable grab bag of powers – uh. Tsukasa. You just. Left all of that bread. In the helmet. Why are you using the helmet as a bread bowl. Tsukasa please.

…Junichiro PLEASE. NO. You can’t go save Tsukuyomi, you would DIE. Just… please, just go make dinner, okay? Please stay here, and save, and not making a fool of yourself like literally everyone is aware that you would do. You would not survive fighting these people, not when your ‘armor’ is sauce pans and veggies.

Oh no, poor Sougo – people still don’t remember him, including his uncle, so here comes the minor breakdown over Junichiro saying he’s never cooked for him before.

Geiz just pats him sympathetically on the shoulder.

––

And now back to Uhr and Hora, who are hiding out in… some abandoned restaurant or other, which for some reason still has all the tables set? Sure, whatever. Toku apocalypses are weird.

Uhr’s pissed that they’ve been being used – again, really should have caught on when he forcibly turned you into Another Kikai – and swears that he’s going to take Swartz down… and Hora doesn’t look like she’s doing so hot.

Even less so when Daiki shows up.

Yeah, I didn’t expect that he’d actually try to kill them. He’s in this for himself, first, foremost, and only. (I miss the photo studio polycule. Natsumi, Yusuke, please come ground this asshole.) So, he’s… just… okay, so he’s clearly got his eyes on a bigger prize than the Grand Watch, because he tosses it to Hora.

Of course, he has to make this whole ‘totally being the guard dog’ scam he’s pull look convincing, so… Daiki no. He calls in the two Another Riders who were searching for the two former time jackers – Another Faiz and Double.

––

As they’re running away, and even just as they’re in the restaurant, Uhr is his usual slightly bouncy self, albeit more furious than usual, but Hora’s not nearly so active. Yeah, she usually kind of lounges around, but she’s exhausted. We can see this even clearer when Another Faiz and Double have them cornered – Hora’s got eyebags under her eyebags, and looks like she had difficulty running however far they did, going by how she leans on the platform/loading dock they’re backed up to.

Geiz thinks this whole thing is a trap – why would Another Riders be chasing Time Jackers if it wasn’t – but Sougo’s still going to help them, even if it is a trap.

He’s too nice, but it’s also very necessary right now. At least he acknowledges the possibility of this being a trick, so that’s something.

Sougo’s gotten a lot more clever since we met him, and I’m proud.

The Another Riders are dispatched easily enough, and somehow by their respective RideArmors. Which. Uh. Shouldn’t those be part of the Grand watch right now? To say nothing of how altered-timeline Geiz probably shouldn’t have the Faiz watch anyway. …You know what, whatever. Not gonna question it any more than that.

Sougo asks why the Another Riders were after the pair, and Uhr tries to dismiss the whole thing as none of their concern, attempting to leave.

But Hora wants to ask a favor.

(Careful, guys. Last time she asked you for a favor, it was so that she could properly make the Another Kikai watch.)

(I’m more willing to trust her right now, though.)

(Although I trusted her back then, too.)

––

(TERRIFIED SCREAMING ENSUES ON THE PART OF THE BLOGGER)

OKAY I ACTUALLY WATCHED THIS SCENE COMPLETELY THROUGH BEFORE COMING BACK TO THE NOTES BECAUSE HOLY SHIT

holy shit

Okay so by “the power runs in their family” we apparently mean “the time powers are a trait in a ROYAL BLOODLINE.”

And by “Swartz and Tsukuyomi are part of a ROYAL BLOODLINE” we mean “one from a completely different timeline.”

And also mean Swartz is the sibling with the most power and he feels it would have been logical for him to be next in line for the throne.

But the role was going to go to his sister.

You know.

Tsukuyomi.

The amnesiac.

Who was not rendered that way accidentally.

No, because Swartz, the petty bastard that he is, erased her memories and dropped her in another timeline.

The Oma Zi-O timeline.

He didn’t expect her to survive.

But it’s nice that she did, and that her powers have awakened.

Because now he can take them from her.

Mind you, as he is saying all of this, he is losing his usual composure, and becoming increasingly visibly unhinged.

When she tries to run, he force lifts her in the air and starts painfully draining the power from her.

She’s saved by Woz timely (heh) running in and using a green burst of energy to break his focus, and she falls to the ground. Woz looks scared.

For all that he’s on umpteen levels of subterfuge, Woz might genuinely care about the trio. I hope. Please.

After all, he calls her ‘Tsukuyomi-kun’ and runs up to try and help her.

He doesn’t make it, unfortunately, because Swartz hurls him bodily into the wall – the part by the ceiling. The very high ceiling, and then he drops.

This is not fine at all.

Swartz: It was pretty blatant that you switched sides to get info, you know.

Woz: And yet you still revealed your plan. (ow) Thanks. (I am in so much pain)

Doesn’t matter to Swartz. He’s just going to take her power, and nobody will be able to stand in his way.

And he does. He force lifts Tsukuyomi again, and Woz can’t stop him, and he drains her power from her before letting her drop. She’s not moving. Woz scarf-teleports the two of them the hell out of there.

Swartz doesn’t seem to give a damn. He’s got what he wanted – and the aura of purple energy that surrounds him is scary. Not as scary as the laughter, though. Or as scary as the way his eyes glow purple right before the scene transition…

With the sound of an Another Watch activating.

––

Hora gives back the Grand watch, making Sougo swear that he’ll take down Swartz with it. And at least now we’ve got people on the same page – she and Uhr told Sougo and Geiz that Swartz intends to become king.

I think this is the first time everyone has had the same information, actually. Well, once we get back to 9-to-5, and a bedridden Tsukuyomi tells them that apparently her and Swartz are siblings. But even if they are related, she won’t let him do as he pleases.

Tsukasa says that he gets what’s going on… more or less. “No, I can’t actually tell you, Geiz, because I only mostly get it, and I have to keep up my chill demeanor somehow.”

And yeah, Woz was siding with Hiryuu to get information. Which makes sense – area man is on multiple levels of playing fields at all times. But Sougo, you really shouldn’t have had faith in him. I mean, I know that you don’t know that he’s most likely more loyal to Oma Zi-O than Kamen Rider Zi-O, but still.

So. No matter who it is – Swartz or Hiryuu – Sougo isn’t about to let them rule. Not like this. The first order of business, then, is that they have to take down Hiryuu and repair the timeline.

––

Time to storm the castle…

Or. Uh. Walk up to it through the woods, and stand in a line, seeing all the Another Riders there. Including Another Kuuga, of all things, hulking above the rest of them.

(Most of the another riders are being super generic, but I still noticed Another Fourze doing the hair straightening thing in the shot that included him, and that still makes me giggle a little.)

(Also, Tsukasa, if you could stop appearing so lackadaisical about this? We are entering a pretty decently sized fight here. I know you’re a veteran at this and all, but there’s a lot of enemies, and you have been getting your ass kicked lately. I’m just saying.)

Hiryuu goes on about how Sougo ruined his life, so he’s going to ‘wipe out Sougo’s very existence.’

Okay, so. Cool motive, still murder. Also your motive is wrong, because it’s all the fault of the guy what gave you the power in the first place, and this is very definitely not okay. I mean, you can’t just. Take over the world because of this. You can’t just change peoples entire histories for revenge.

Sougo agrees with most of my points. All except the one where it’s not Sougo’s fault in the first place. No, Sougo apologizes, saying he never meant to hurt Hiryuu.

(He never actually did, anyway, he saved his life, but… I mean really.)

When Sougo says that he’ll beat Hiryuu, and set things right… he’s so quiet. Subdued, even, especially compared to how he shouted that what Hiryuu is doing is wrong.

Huh.

––

THIS IS TOO MANY JINGLES AT ONCE.

MY POOR EARS.

I’M NOT EVEN WEARING HEADPHONES.

––

BWAHAHAHAHA!

They’re about to go attack, but-

Woz: IWAE! MY OVERLORD IS GONNA BEAT AN IMPOSTER DOWN, AND RECLAIM HIS RIGHTFUL THRONE!

Decade: …oh dear lord, he’s still doing this?

Geiz: He’s done this before?

Tsukasa: Oh, my sweet, summer, altered-timeline child…

––

So, we’ve got some fights going on here. Sougo and several Another Riders head for the woods, namely Ghost, Den-O, Hibiki, and Ryuki. Then Hiryuu shows up, trying to use the Zi-O II future-vision to get the drop on Sougo… who. Flashsteps out of the way?

Saying that it’s his power?

Huh.

––

And then over with Decade… he’s able to take down Another Double and Agito with Attack Ride: Blast.

Another Faiz, Kabuto, and Gaim manage to temporarily stall him, before he takes them out with Attack Ride: Slash. Also, I noticed Another Faiz doing that lean that Actual Faiz sometimes did, so that’s nice.

That’s five down, since we didn’t see Sougo defeat the ones he’s against.

But then Tsukasa gets shot in the back.

Diend: Hey again. You get to fight me.

…Has Daiki always used ‘boku’? I don’t think I’ve ever noticed that before.

(What? I’m doing an Ex-Aid rewatch. I’m now contractually obligated to try and pay attention to which pronouns people use.)

Tsukasa knocks Daiki down-

Daiki: NOPE! freezes Tsukasa mid-attack prep

Tsukasa, internally, because he’s frozen: Oh shit

Daiki, to Swartz, who has been looking on like a creeper: How’s that?

Swartz: Sweet.

He then proceeds to take out a blank ridewatch.

Wait.

Shit.

A blank watch. With a rider present.

We’ve only seen a few Another Watches formed.

There’s only two Another Riders we haven’t seen.

Drive.

AND DECADE.

Swartz shoves the blank watch against Tsukasa’s chest, breaking the time stop.

And draining Tsukasa’s power. Painfully.

His armor goes grey, similar to the color as when he first puts it on, and seems to dissolve into smoke as he drops down offscreen, struggling in pain.

––

SURE, cut to a clearing! Not like that was REALLY IMPORTANT OR ANYTHING!

But it’s to see Woz Ginga and Geiz Revive Typhoon fighting a whole bunch of Another Riders.

Namely Build, Fourze, Kuuga (who’s a bit hard to miss), OOO, Blade, Ex-aid, and Kiva.

And the two riders are so confident that they’re having a nice little chat as they fight.

Namely, Geiz – still with his memories altered – asking if they really worked together in the other timeline.

Woz: Oh, yes, of course. You were my completely loyal underling, we both worked for our overlord.

Geiz: That’s bullshit. Quit lying.

Woz: …How’d he know? Well, it was worth a shot.

A pair of finishers later, and we’re down another seven Another Riders. That’s twelve confirmed down, and four seen in action, but with unconfirmed status, leaving sixteen Mook Another Riders – seventeen total, with Hiryuu. …Where the heck is Wizard? He’s the only one I haven’t seen yet… well, outside of the obvious two that we haven’t had yet.

Also, Woz’s finisher was him literally raining METEORS onto the battlefield. Because Woz Ginga can never be too over the top, apparently.

––

Back to the Zi-Os…

Sougo takes out his allotment of non-boss Another Riders, still with no sign of Wizard, I went back and looked and he hasn’t been on screen since the battle started.

But they’re down, and he’s started to lay the beat down on Hiryuu, who’s intensely frustrated that he can’t win.

Also, he’s fed up with all the speeches.

Sougo says that it’s because Hiryuu’s too focused on the past, while he is trying to forge a new future.

Finish Time! Grand Zi-O!

All Twenty!

Grand Zi-O leaps into the air for his finisher, and – HOLY SHIT.

THAT SURE IS ALL TWENTY HEISEI RIDERS.

BEING SUMMONED INTO THE AIR. IN THE CLASSIC RIDER KICK POSE.

Notably, there doesn’t seem to be any reason to the particular order they appear in, but they are located in the same places they are on the Grand Watch.

THAT SURE IS A FINISHER THOUGH.

It launches each rider in rapid succession, starting with Kuuga and going in order. As each one lands their kick, his respective emblem appears behind Hiryuu, finishing with Sougo landing a reality shattering kick.

Waves of rainbow energy expand outward, fixing the city, erasing the commemoration statue, and leaving Sougo…

––

And leaving Sougo, untransformed, having just landed a Rider Kick. And in a park, presumably the one they were in in the altered timeline, but where everything is repaired and normal.

Everything is very repaired, since Geiz and Tsukuyomi remember him again. But where…

Ah, there’s Hiryuu, collapsed on the ground a little ways away, reaching for his still intact Another Zi-O watch for crying out loud what will it take to destroy that thing?!

Well, I guess we’re not going to find out, since Daiki just up and takes it!

Oh, look, here’s Swartz, letting him take it! And telling Hiryuu that he’s served his purpose, and that he’ll meet up with the others again.

I can’t tell if he says this aloud, but… he says that Decade’s powers are his, and walks off.

Revealing a very unconscious Kadoya Tsukasa on the ground behind him.

––

The last shot of the episode…

Swartz, on a roof.

Holding the Another Decade watch.

“Now… let us begin.”

––

the endcard is Another Zi-O II (center), Another Decade (upper right) and… Another Hibiki (lower left), who are quickly replaced with Zi-O, Geiz, and Woz, respectively.

Why Hibiki, though?

––

Next time, on Kamen Rider Zi-O!

Another Drive appears!

Uhr and Hora are looking for protection!

A good water boy appears! Hi, Miharu! We’ve missed you! I can’t say that any of us expected that particular rumor, about Kamen Rider Aqua showing up, to be true, but here you are!

Yay!

And, in the significantly less ‘yay’ department…

Swartz appears to plan to be turning himself into Another Decade.

Whether that’s him under there or not, Anotehr Decade looks powerful, going by that wall of explosions he’s setting off.

––

So. One problem – Hiryuu’s reign of terror – has been dealt with, but now we’ve got a whole NEW set of problems! FUN TIMES!

#kamen rider zi o #sailorcressy says #this is fine

[tachiaku]

since i get my pillowfort key in two days and i don’t plan on ever using this website seriously again because of the ban, i’m going to go ahead and make this kamen rider gaim post i was saving to make into something long and more intelligent sounding in the future. i watched gaim as part of my neo-heisei run where i watched everything almost in order except i watched drive after ghost because i wanted to watch it with a friend.

so this is my biggest problem with kamen rider gaim’s theme and why everyone who says the theme of gaim is somehow good probably liked gaim way too much to admit to themself that the theme was shitty in a show for children.

the rest beneath the cut.

kamen rider gaim is easily one of the most loved of the kamen rider series especially in western fandom and most people assume this is because the series is quite grimdark in comparison to the other kamen rider series that came before it. i can only assume it must have been people getting fed up from the run of kamen rider decade to kamen rider wizard considering kiva, decade’s predecessor, was incredibly grimdark and full of blatant physical abuse and misogyny. or perhaps it was the fact that wizard was just very long and, in my honest opinion, a bit of a drag that kind of struggled to find a tone while having a very set theme.

but that is not a post i want to make. onto gaim.

kamen rider gaim is a show about destiny and fate, how both are already set and you cannot fight against them. i am serious, that is the theme of kamen rider gaim. right after the christmas episode, kouta talks about how their fate was already set in stone and there was nothing they could do to fight it. when mai later learns to use her goddess powers in order to try to change the events of gaim by trying to tell kouta, kaito, and micchi not to go through with their choices, this only reinforces their decisions. every time kouta tries to fix things, everything seems to spiral into a new level of trouble until he has only one choice left.

kouta must become an overlord, a god-like being, by consuming the helheim fruit and defeating kaito so he can free mai from the time warp she is trapped in. only someone with those powers can stop the encroach of helheim and maybe save the world that has been destroyed by the forests and the overlord.

there could be an entire other post about the fact that mai’s goddess-like powers do her absolutely no good, that she is objectified by the story in a literal sense by being turned into the golden fruit, but again, not this post.

kouta never had a choice in the matter. i have seen posts by people who genuinely think gaim is a good show that kouta sacrificed his humanity for the greater good, to save his planet and his friends. by this point in the series, it had been conveyed that becoming this godlike being would make it impossible for him to remain with his friends because the difference would be too great, that he would become too powerful and dangerous for them.

but let me be perfectly clear about this: kouta did not choose to become an overlord. kouta was crammed into a corner where not becoming a god would mean that mai was trapped forever, that kaito would take over the world and recreate it in his image, and that everything he fought for would be destroyed. kouta also was pushed into this decision early in the series when sagara, the figurative and literal snake in the garden, continuously gave him lockseed power-ups that hastened his growth into an overlord.

sagara himself is a being that is forcing evolution on humanity. despite the fact evolution is something that is meant to occur naturally, taking place over a series of time (short-term called microevolution or adaptation and long-term being called macroevolution) and in answer to changes in environment. darwin’s finches are a good example. but sagara, for all of his talk of influencing evolution, quite literally forces it. he raises the stakes several times and plays every side of the field in order to get the answer he wants. he chose kouta to become his godlike being, and no amount of post-show explanation can change the fact that this is true.

despite the fact that the beginning of the film implies that takatora, micchi, and kaito are also possible combatants in this battle, and mai talking to kaito and micchi in her goddess form would imply this might be true, it was only ever going to be between kouta and kaito. only kouta was given any favoritism by sagara. he broke him out of a cell in yggdrasil headquarter, gave him lockseed power-ups, and pushed him to new levels. he chose kouta on purpose and groomed him into becoming what he wanted him to be.

kouta never had a choice in becoming an overlord. kouta would have never chosen that for himself, as his humanity was very important to him, as were his friends. as if to further push this awful idea, kouta and mai leave with no goodbyes and they leave the destruction of the world around them in place even though, at this point, the least they could have done was clean up the infrastructure that was destroyed by helheim. all kouta does is take the forest and leave everyone behind, which is so completely ooc that it starts to feel like the story was always meant to end up here, but the story was not really going in this direction so it was forced at the very end.

gaim’s story is that there is no choice, no way to deny fate and destiny. nothing you do to fix things will actually work, because this is how things are meant to be. chosen by destiny or by a higher power (sagara), things will play out as they were “meant” to play out and nothing you do can change that. that is the message of gaim, something that is beaten over the head of the viewer so often that it makes the show difficult to enjoy for anyone who was able to pick up on this storyline and realized it was a troubling message to send to children.

you know. the Actual target demographic of kamen rider. children. not adults, not western adults certainly. children.

you could argue that a lot of the troubling content of the show itself is not in and of itself all that different for a kamen rider series. micchi’s desire to possess mai and control her is not all that different than, say, kusaka from faiz or much of kiva which contained a lot of men abusing women in various ways. kaito’s edgy personality is not all that removed from the hoppers of kabuto. even the vast character death is not all that different than kamen rider ryuki, which gaim claims to have taken several of its themes from (this isn’t true). the content itself is problematic, but not wholly gaim’s problem in and of itself. this is not something that can be blamed on gen urobuchi but rather toei’s trademark in terms of kamen rider.

but the theme is where everything crashes and burns. no kamen rider series quite ends the way that kamen rider gaim does, with series main rider kouta thanking sagara for his assistance. this goes against every theme of kamen rider that has ever existed and against the core of the series, which is very anti-fascist in nature. sagara can easily be seen as a fascist figure, pushing “evolution” to churn out his ultimate and perfect ideal of a godlike being who will change the world in his image. this is why sagara would specifically be giving kouta one-ups, trying to mold kouta into what he wants him to be or otherwise believing kouta is already worthy of that power, which is why he blatantly hands it to him in the form of the kiwami lockseed, the ultimate power-up.

kamen rider gaim is wildly popular for probably all of the wrong reasons. i won’t bother to list series that people should watch as everyone has their own tastes and not everything is going to appeal to everyone else. wizard did nothing for me, but a lot of people love it. in contrast, i enjoyed drive, and a lot of people didn’t. what i would suggest in place of that is this: if you’re going to talk about the themes of a show, then ignoring the very broad and over-arching sum total theme in order to talk about smaller themes will make you ultimately sound ignorant. you cannot talk about kouta’s sacrifice without admitting that everything was built specifically so that he would have no other choice. you cannot talk about kouta’s sacrifice without discussing that fate and destiny forced him into this role rather than being his own personal choice, and that in the end it’s his friend that lies dead on the ground and not the actual Big Bad.

like i said, i’m not much for using this website anymore so i’m not going to be revisiting this post. you can leave responses, but i really will not be able to view them, so if you’re working on an essay length’s argument to counter mine, just keep in mind that i am probably not going to see it.

#kamen rider #kamen rider gaim

[narashikari]

Who are You Fighting For? (For Your Sake, Always.)

A Kamen Rider Build fic

Sento knows how he feels. Now it’s just a matter of owning up to it... and telling Ryuuga... and living long enough to do so.

Pairing: OTP: Best Match (Sento/Ryuuga) Warnings: Sexual situation, no actual smut.

Right after Sento confronts Shinobu...

Sento dreads going back to the café.

He’s certain Misora and Sawa would have words for him. As it is, Gen-san and Kazumin are shooting him exasperated looks, as if ready to lecture him for going off alone (again). He tries to ignore their stares, all while his heart his thumping in anticipation of Misora and Sawa’s disappointment.

He avoids Banjou’s gaze. Grudgingly, he admits to himself that he knew Banjou would come after him, but he had no idea how Banjou knew so quickly. He wonders if he’s become so transparent to the musclehead that the idiot could predict his decisions so easily.

How terrible.

Somewhere inside him, Takumi admonishes him for his recklessness. “You said you believed in your friends,” he says.

“I don’t want them to get hurt either,” Sento rebutts. “What yo- What our father has done… that’s on us. It’s up to me to stop him.”

Takumi stills at the mention of their father. He still seems to be in disbelief that Katsuragi Shinobu would be against them. Sento can’t blame him; he has a hard time believing it himself. They are, technically, one and the same, after all.

Takumi sighs. “I suppose you’re right,” he agrees cautiously. “I think they beg to differ though. Especially Banjou.” He pauses. “He seems fond of you.”

Sento frowns at him. “What do you mean?”

“He seemed upset when I… emerged. Much more than the others,” Takumi tells him. “He was devastated that you were gone.”

Sento scowls deeper. He’s unaware of what happened while Takumi was the dominant personality, aside from what the others had told him- which boiled down to them being annoyed with his counterpart and relieved that he was back. He certainly hasn’t heard of Banjou reacting any differently from everyone else. “Why would that musclehead idiot do that?”

Takumi raises a brow at him. “Really? You don’t know?”

“Know what?” Sento growls. He’s seriously starting to get annoyed with his other self. No wonder the others were happy to be rid of him.

“Sento,” Takumi chides. “He told you he was fighting for you. That he wanted to end the war for your sake. He said that he is who he is because of you.” He levels a look at the Kamen Rider. “And you’ve said all the same things about him, too. It should be obvious, especially to us geniuses, what this is.”

Sento stares, dumbfound for a moment, before realizing what his counterpart meant. He sputters, “What- Me and Banjou? We… I…” Finally he spits out. “Banjou and I aren’t a couple!”

“Yet,” Takumi sneers at him. “You’re completely head over heels in love with him.”

“I-in love? With Banjou?! That’s-” He stops. There’s no point to lying to someone who resides in his own head. “Y-Yeah. So what if I am in love with Banjou? It’s not like having you around changes that.”

“True,” Takumi finishes for him. He looks away. “Though for us to fall in love with Evolt…”

Equating Banjou- stupid, reckless, hot-tempered, selfless, kind, loyal, and utterly human Banjou- to a treacherous, power hungry, world devouring monster… Sento finds himself angry at the man he once was. “Don’t talk about my Banjou like that!” Patience snapping, Sento wildly reaches out for Takumi, as if to strangle him by the neck...

“Sento?”

The physicist blinks, finding himself out of the shared mindscape, reaching out for empty air. Gen-san looks at him with a quirked brow and a bemused smile. Kazumin is grinning like the cat that ate the proverbial canary, and Banjou…

He feels himself start to blush too. He wonders how much they heard of what he’s said, though judging by how red Banjou was, he supposes they’ve heard the most important thing. My Banjou. It’s only then he notices his slip of tongue.

He’s so screwed. He’ll never hear the end of this, for sure.

Takumi snickers inside his head. Sento mentally shoves him away from his consciousness, but the mad scientist continues to laugh even as Kazumin starts giggling like a schoolgirl.

“Let’s go Gentoku,” Kazumin says, pulling the former aide away. “Let’s leave the lovebirds be.”

Gen-san  smirks, allowing himself to be pulled away by Grease, but not before flipping his moto jacket open to reveal a teal shirt with a black brush-stroke print saying: ‘がんばろう!’ (‘Good luck!’)

Kazumin laughs uproariously, his voice echoing even as he walks away with Gen-san (“Where the hell do you even get those shirts?!” he demands of Gen-san), leaving the two other Riders alone.

Sento fumes. “Those two…” Takumi continues to snigger annoyingly in his head, making him even more irritated as he rubs at his hair.

He hazards a look at Banjou, and couldn’t help but flush even more at his expression. The boxer is staring at Sento so intently, as if trying to look into his very soul. And he was opening and closing his mouth every few seconds, making little incomprehensible noises in the back of his throat.

Takumi is still laughing at him. “See, even they get it,” he points out. “You’re in denial, Sento. Everyone can see you two are a Best Match.”

“Shut up,” Sento murmurs, shutting out the other’s mental voice and shaking his head.

Takumi’s wording throws him off though. They’re a Best Match? Sure, he and Ryuuga are about as different as an organic and inorganic FullBottle are, but to say they were a Best Match? They do have the mutual desire to protect people and bring back love and peace, but was that really enough to make them a Best Match?

“I’m not in denial,” he says petulantly to himself.

“Who are you talking to? Sento?”

Sento startles. Banjou is still looking at him oddly. “Ah… I was talking to Katsuragi,” he admits.

“Katsuragi?” There’s a tinge of anger and irritation in his tone. While Ryuuga never took out his anger over Katsuragi on Sento, he still feels a tinge of hurt from the way Ryuuga said his name. “You never said he was still in there.”

“I didn’t want to make a fuss over it,” Sento explains, hurriedly. “He’s just… there. Talks to me sometimes. Though it is the first time he’s been this… aggravating.”

Banjou’s brows furrow. “So that was him you were talking to when you said if you were in love with me?”

“Y-yeah,” Sento stammers. His heart begins to pound again as Banjou mulls it over. “H-he seems to think that, at least.” He curses silently when he feels his palms going cold with a nervous sweat.

He wonders why was he being nervous exactly at the moment he needed that big ego of his. Didn’t he call himself the righteous, egotistical hero of justice? Why was he so scared all of a sudden?

Banjou is taking his sweet time to think it through. His expression changes every few seconds, from contemplative to confused to understanding and then… scared? Why would he be scared too?

“So are you?”

And there it is, the question Sento dreaded to answer. His first impulse is to say ‘Yes, of course, you idiot musclehead!’ and jump Banjou, but he resists the urge to.

He thinks about the war, about the world he has to protect. The love and peace he swore to restore, the broken country he wants to see united again.

He thinks about how he wants a world where Misora and her dad are reunited, where Sawa can be free of Nanba’s grasp, where Kazumin can return to a farm with bountiful harvests, where Gentoku can honor his father’s wish and atone for his sins in peace.

He thinks of his mother, out in Hokuto, thinking that her family was lost when it wasn’t, unaware of the grievous sins her husband committed, not knowing that the man who claimed to have killed her child was the child she lost.

He thinks of his father, still out there with that black Pandora panel and the Lost Bottles, ready to destroy this world and everything he loved, losing all morality to the point of using his own child to gain power.

And he thinks of Banjou, who never did anything to be involved, didn’t need the weight of the world on his shoulders, didn’t deserve to lose his fiancee and himself in this mess. Banjou, who deserves someone more than a man walking to his own death, who could drag him into hell with him.

Banjou… no, Ryuuga deserves so much more. More than what he can give.

Ryuuga sighs loudly, snapping him out of his downward thought spiral. “I can practically hear you putting yourself down, Sento.” He puts a reassuring hand on his shoulder, and Sento can’t help but lean a little into the touch despite himself.

“I know you’re not going to answer that right now. You don’t need to.” Ryuuga bites his lip, hesitating, then adds, “But when we win… we’ll talk. I promise.”

When, not if, Sento notes. Ryuuga has so much faith in him, in them, that he almost cries from his belief. “I… okay, Ryuuga.” He says hesitantly. “I promise, too. We’ll talk when it’s done.”

“You called me Ryuuga.” He says in surprise.

“It’s your name, after all. About time I used it right?” Sento replies, nudging him playfully. All while his thoughts drift to every moment Ryuuga stood by his side, from that first time they fought a Smash together, even before Ryuuga was Cross-Z.

“I… okay, yeah, it’s fine if it’s you.” Ryuuga’s ears have a pink tinge to them, but he smiles widely at him and wraps an arm around his neck. If he minded Sento leaning in just a bit and resting his head on his shoulder, Ryuuga says nothing. “Let’s go home, yeah? Misora and Sawa were pretty worried.”

Sento nods, gulping. Boy was he going to get it from the girls. “I might just die by their hands,” Sento jokes, imagining Sawa looming over him menacingly and Misora giving him her nightmare face.

Ryuuga grins. “Well I’ll be there to protect you from them then,” he chuckles. His heart skips a beat at the words, because to him it sounds like Ryuuga was swearing to protect him from more than just the girls’ telling off.

As the two start on their way back to Nascita, Sento laughs. The war is still raging, and they still need to stop his father. The future is uncertain, their fates still hanging in the balance.

But at least he has his partner with him through it all. His Best Match. As long as they’re together, they’re unstoppable. Sento knows this.

He loves Banjou Ryuuga. With any luck, he might live long enough to be loved back, too.

Sento smiles, and dares to hope.

(After he recovers from the girls’ beatdown, of course.)

Some weeks after.

Sento stares at the smoking remnants of the Pandora’s Box, destroyed after all the years of pain and suffering it caused, and the thought strikes him.

It’s over. It’s all over.

Evolt’s gone.

The Sky Wall’s gone.

They won.

“Sento!”

He shakily turns, wincing as even the slight movement sends an ache through his limbs. He’s barely able to catch Misora as she flings herself into his arms, with Sawa right on her heels. The Riders walk (well, limp) towards him, smiling as Sento embraces the two girls in return.

“You okay, Sento?” Kazumin asks. “Katsuragi-“

Sento nods as the girls pull away. “Yeah…” In the end, his father’s sacrifice wasn’t in vain. He was one of the good guys after all. “His plan worked..”

His heart aches thinking about how to tell his mother. He wonders if he would have the strength to face her at all, with the face of a stranger and news of the death of a man she already mourned.

His eyes meet Ryuuga’s, and is relieved to see that the other is more or less okay, aside from the usual injuries that they expected. Ryuuga nods at him as if to say, “I’m fine,” and Sento nods back, “So am I.”

He pulls away from the girls, despite their protests and the fact he was swaying quite a bit. Sento stumbles the short distance between him and his partner, who looks at him with a neutral expression.

“So. Ah, I made a promise.” Sento starts, before he can lose the confidence he gained from their victory.

“You really want to talk about this with them here?” Ryuuga says, gesturing to the others.

“I don’t really care either way,” Sento retorts. “I really want to say this now, because I think I might lose my nerve soon.”

“Okay.” Ryuuga nods, “I’m listening.”

Sento gulps, gathering his thoughts for a moment. He wants to say so many things, about how he admired Ryuuga, how Ryuuga changed him for the better, how Ryuuga gave him a reason to fight, how he thought he was vital to making Build a hero. He wants to tell Ryuuga how thankful he is for his friendship, their partnership, how he wouldn’t have won if Ryuuga wasn’t there. His heart was full of love for this idiot musclehead that it threatened to burst from his chest.

He ends up blurting out, “Aishiteru!!”

Ryuuga’s eyes widen, and behind him Sento can hear both Misora and Sawa squeal, and Kazumin and Gen-san snicker. Sento feels his face flush as Ryuuga gapes at him. Well, there went Sento’s plans for a romantic confession.

When Ryuuga finally seems to have gathered his wits, his eyes blinking and the confusion fading away. “S-say that again.”

“Huh?” Sento asks, blinking.

“Say it again,” Ryuuga requests, in… desperation? “Please.”

Sento blinks at him, then looks away. He feels his face redden even more, making him feel like the protagonist of a shoujo manga. He blushes even more when he sees the others grinning at him and pumping their fists, mouthing “Go for it Sento!” and “You can do it!”

Why was he so embarrassed about this? Ryuuga is an amazing guy, his best friend and his partner. Why was he shy about admitting this? They’ve been through so much together, saved the world together, even shared a body as Cross-ZBuild!

Gathering his resolve and the last bits of his courage, Sento looks straight at Ryuuga and repeats it in the most firm and certain voice he can muster. “Aishiteru, Ryuuga.”

This time, Kazumin squeals too. Gen-san snorts. Takumi remains mercifully silent, merely observing the events from the comfort of their shared mindscape.

Ryuuga’s face of panic melts away into relief, then joy, and Sento could barely breathe at how beautiful his smile was. “Oh, what a relief.” He says. “I thought you… I…”

“What? What else would I be, you idiot musclehead? Sento asks. “Of course I’m in love with you. I don’t think we could’ve gone through what we did and not be.” The confession spills out of him before he could stop himself.

Ryuuga laughs, sniffling. “You’re right. You always are, you insufferable genius.” He sighs and tugs Sento into his arms. “But for the record… it’s the same for me. Aishiteru, Sento.”

Sento all but melts at the words, sinking into Ryuuga’s warmth, burying his nose into Ryuuga’s neck. He smells of cologne and smoke (maybe from his Cross Z Magma form?) and home, and he revels in it. How long has it been since Sento felt like this? Like there was something, no, someone he can come home to?

They stay like that for what could have been minutes or days, but eventually Sento leans away to look at Ryuuga. Ryuuga smiles fondly at him, and Sento can’t help but return the gaze. A small smile quirks up on Ryuuga’s lips, and Sento finds himself licking his own in anticipation.

“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” Takumi irritatedly cries from inside his head, “Just kiss him already!”

Similarly, Misora says, “Are you idiots going to kiss or do we have to force you to?” Sawa jeers her assent while Kazumin and Gen-san make noises of fake disgust.

Ryuuga laughs. “Don’t have to tell me twice,” and makes the first move.

Sento might only have vague memories of his past as Katsuragi Takumi, but he knows this much: he has never been kissed before. He flails a little, not really knowing how to respond except to close his eyes and kiss in return, like he’s seen people do in the movies. He tries to analyze the exact way he could make it even more pleasurable, but then Ryuuga adjusts the angle just so and all thought gets chucked out of his brain in favor of chasing the thrills Ryuuga sent down his spine.

When they part to catch their breath, all Sento could pant out is “Wow. Oh, wow.” He could still taste Ryuuga on himself- the bitterness of the coffee he had, the spice of the cup ramen he ate for breakfast, and something he can’t quite place that Sento puts down to being Ryuuga’s own unique flavor. He thinks he could get addicted to that taste.

“Glad you liked it,” Ryuuga cheekily says. He looks behind Sento, then around him, then flushes. “Oh. Uh… I didn’t know we had an audience.”

Sento blinks and copies him, before blushing furiously. While they were… distracted, a crowd of civilians had gathered around them and was looking at them with avid interest. Their eerie silence makes him want to sink into the ground and die of embarrassment.

He even sees a few phones and cameras trained on them, and he realizes that maybe by now the entire world’s seen the Kamen Riders kiss. His first kiss is out on the Internet for everyone and their mother to see! Oh gods, his mother probably saw it too!

Then the crowd cheers. For Sento and Ryuuga.

Sento stares, open-mouthed, then looks at his friends for support. They’re all laughing at the pair of them. “Oi, what the hell?” Ryuuga demands.

“Looks like everyone knew about you two after all,” Sawa snickers. “Then again you two were really obvious.”

Misora snorts. “Have you seen the forums? It’s all people talk about. There’s BuildCross fanfic and fanart everywhere on the Net.”

“What?!” They both yelp. “BuildCross?” The idea of people writing and drawing things about them was rather disconcerting.

“Didn’t help that you two were being all sappy during the proxy battle we had,” Kazumin adds. “That was televised, remember?”

The couple finally look at Gen-san, waiting for him to get a shot in, when the former aide simply grins and opens his jacket to reveal his quote-printed shirt of the day:

‘Touto’s government ships it!’

“Eeeeeeeeeeeh? Seriously?!” Ryuuga whines.

Finally annoyed, Sento yells, “Alright that’s it! I’ve had enough!” He activates two FullBottles and puts them in his Driver. Before it can even proclaim them a Best Match, he cranks it up and transforms into Build TakaGattling. “Screw this! Ryuuga, let’s go!”

The crowds gasps at the live transformation, only to collectively yelp as Sento lifts Ryuuga in his arms like a bride. Even their allies gape at the sight, mouths dropped open in shock.

Despite sputtering, Ryuuga puts his arms around Sento’s neck. “Oi, Sento, what the f-“ Ryuuga doesn’t even finish his sentence before he takes off, leaving everyone else behind. Much like the first time they met, Ryuuga is screaming as he clings on to Sento for dear life.

Sento vaguely hears the crowd going wild and cameras frantically snapping and Sawa yelling “You’re just making it worse!” but he really didn’t give a damn at the moment. All he cares about is being alone with Ryuuga even for a short while.

Takumi snorts, “Now people will think you’ve gone and eloped or something.” Sento firmly shuts him out, because he does not want his other self to comment on his intentions- which are definitely venturing far, far down the gutter. Takumi seems to have known what Sento was thinking regardless, because he squeaks and shuts his side of their mental connection too.

After a short flight they land on the roof of Nascita’s building, and Sento cancels his henshin with Ryuuga still in his arms. Sento’s barely set Ryuuga down before he’s being pulled into the building, down the stairs into the café. Ryuuga, still holding Sento’s hand, leads him down his own lab through the hidden door, then locks the refrigerator door firmly.

Then, he rotates Sento so he was facing him, and Sento finds himself being pushed up against a wall with Ryuuga pinning him there by his wrist. “Ryuuga?” Sento breathes, heart hammering, hyperaware of the fact Ryuuga ensured their privacy. He wonders if Ryuuga is thinking along the same lines as he is, and his stomach does a flip in his nerves and excitement.

“Hm?” Ryuuga hums against his neck, as he places his other hand on Sento’s waist, thumb absently rubbing his hip bone through his jeans. Sento feels feather-light kisses and nips along his shoulder and neck, making him weak around the knees.

“Stop teasing me,” Sento groans in frustration, grabbing Ryuuga by his belt loops. “I want-“ He yelps and moans as Ryuuga presses a kiss on a particular part of his neck that makes his eyes roll back into his head. Oh, Ryuuga was good at this, he thinks dizzily.

“Tell me what you want Sento,” Ryuuga says, and Sento’s heart skips a beat at the command, blood rushing south.

He sounds so… dominating, so in control of the situation, and Sento finds that even more arousing than just the physical contact. He’s starting to get dizzy, and he’s so aroused that he wonders if he can get off on Ryuuga’s voice alone. A flush climbs up from his chest to his neck and ears, and Sento feels as though he were on fire.

“I… I want everything.” Sento chokes out. He hopes Ryuuga gets what he means, and soon, because he really does not want to embarrass himself on his first time. It’s only propriety that prevents him from asking Ryuuga his real desire.

Fortunately, he does, because a second later Sento finds himself on his back in bed, Ryuuga looming over him. “As you wish, my love.”

If Sento wasn’t so turned on already, he definitely is now. He couldn’t even bring himself to tease Ryuuga for the cheesy pet name, because it’s Ryuuga’s cheesy pet name for him. As if to prove it, a tuft of his hair stood on end of its own accord the same time his pants become uncomfortably tight. “Ryuuga!” he pants as his hands start wandering down dangerous territory.

“Relax Sento,” hushes Ryuuga. “Let me do the work. You’ve done so much already… let me reward your efforts, hm?” He gently brushes Sento’s bangs back as he says this. “That is what a lover does, after all.”

Lover. Sento thinks while Ryuuga discards his shirt, chucking it to the side, and divests Sento of his own. It’s quickly followed by the rest of their clothes, their Drivers landing on the pile of fabric Ryuuga’s made. As soon as the final garment lands on the floor, Ryuuga goes back to kissing and ravishing him.

Sento soon loses awareness to everything but Ryuuga touching him and whispering words of endearment and affection. He finds himself being unable to say anything beyond “Ryuuga” and “more” mixed with cursing and moaning. When his brain tries to conjure coherent thought, all it could come up with was a endless plea for the high his body sought.

And he knows it’s not just him- he can tell Ryuuga is just desperate as he is. Ryuuga’s gripping him hard enough that he thinks his hips would bruise, and their lovemaking is so wild that the headboard hits the wall repeatedly. “Fuck, Sento, you feel great,” Ryuuga groans in his ear. “So fucking good.”

Sento moans and preens at the praise. He’s pretty certain that he’d regret letting Ryuuga be so rough later, but he doesn’t really care at the moment. He knows that they both need this, the intensity of it all, to remind each other that they were alive, that they made it out, that they made it out together. That this was real, and- Sento screams as Ryuuga pushes into him and pulls him down further into the abyss of pleasure.

The rest of it can wait until later, Sento thinks. They finally have the rest of their lives to do it, so he decides to just let go and enjoy the moment in the fullest.

Two years later

“You shouldn’t be awake this late,” a sleepy voice reprimands him, gently nudging him.

The physicist, neck-deep in his research, looks up from his computer to his husband looking over his shoulder, wrapping his arms around his waist. He looks at the clock in the corner of his monitor and winces. It’s already eleven at night. “Ah, sorry, I lost track of time again. Did I keep you up waiting?” He fondly caresses his face, the gold ring on his finger glinting in the dim lighting.

“Nah,” Ryuuga yawns, “I’ve only managed to put Yumi to bed. She’s pretty energetic today, I was barely even able to convince her to go to sleep.” He buries his face in Sento’s neck. “Just like her father.”

Sento snorts, but gets the message. “Alright already, I’m coming.” He closes the program he was using and shuts his computer down. Ryuuga momentarily releases him go to let him stand, then takes his hand to lead them to their bedroom.

They pause for a moment at Yumi’s doorway. The little girl is snoring and clutching the chibi CrossBuild plushie Gen-san gave her on her birthday. She doesn’t stir even as Sento sits at her bedside and kisses her hair, wishing her sweet dreams.

Sento reminisces, for a moment, on how their strange little family was formed. He and Ryuuga had eloped a year and a half ago, to escape the paparazzi that hounded them every time they so much as stepped out of their home. They were wed by Onari at his master’s temple, and their marriage was blessed by the space god himself, Kazuraba Kouta. The only other witnesses were Tenkuuji Takeru and his allies. The reception was a memorable event with many Riders and Rider allies coming to offer their congratulations to the newlyweds. They spent two months on that world, exploring a Japan that never had a Sky Wall and a civil war that tore it apart.

After they said their goodbyes, they went back to their world to tour Hokuto anonymously, only to run across a five-year-old abandoned in a run-down house a week in. After asking around town, they found out that no one quite knew who the child was, only that the house’s previous owners had been dead for some time. When they asked the child who she was, all she could answer was her first name: Yumi, and her birthday: September third, 2013.

Ryuuga and Sento had wondered what to do about it for a while, because they had both gotten attached to Yumi very quickly, and vice versa. Finally they agreed that they could try getting custody of her, if she agreed. Yumi was more than happy to be with them, and thanks to the help of a discrete social worker, Sento and Ryuuga were legally married and Yumi became their adopted daughter.

It was a great shock to the others when they returned to Nascita half a year after they left, with wedding rings on their fingers and a little girl who called Sento “papa” and Ryuuga “tou-chan”. After explaining everything, Misora Rider-kicked both of them in the stomach before she and Sawa cooed over Yumi, while Kazumin and Gen-san fought over who got to be Yumi’s godfather (Gen-san won, barely, and only because Yumi liked his shirts). His mother had nearly fainted when they told her and that caused Misora to be angry all over again.

Yumi quickly became the apple of everyone’s eye. Misora and Sawa adore her, Gen-san treats her as if she were his own blood, and Kazumin dotes on her like an uncle would. His mother has taken to being a grandmother rather quickly, too.

“Sento,” Ryuuga says, shaking him out of his thoughts. “Come to bed with me.”

Sento nods, and after tucking the blankets around his daughter he closes the door to her room, and lets Ryuuga tug him back into their bedroom. After Sento deposits his ring into a tiny bowl with Ryuuga’s, he strips down to his underwear and tosses the clothes into the hamper.

He slips into the covers, Ryuuga doing the same on the other side, and they snuggle up to each other, looking at each other eye to eye.

Without saying a word, they lean into each other. They kiss, without any desire to go further, but with the same fire as if they did. Long, deep, toe-tingling and filled with love and passion.

“Aishiteru, Ryuuga.” The words come easily now, without embarrassment or shyness. He marvels how he could ever have been, when he should’ve seen that Ryuuga was his One, his Best Match, the day they met.

“Aishiteru, Sento.” There isn’t hesitance or doubt in his tone. Only the love that grew stronger with time, deepening in their shared adversity, and the gentle heat that Ryuuga radiated even out of his Rider forms.

Sento smiles, burying further into his warmth. Ryuuga pulls him closer and Sento sighs. They fall asleep holding each other, legs tangled together, listening to the other’s heartbeat.

Sento’s last thought as he drifts off is a hope that this love and peace lasts for as long as he lives and beyond.

(And it does.)

#kamen rider build #kamen rider build fanfic #banjou ryuuga #kiryuu sento #isurugi misora #katsuragi takumi #takigawa sawa #Sawatari Kazumi #himuro gentoku #au because... kazumi lives #otp: best match