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innepttia · 2 years

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@spookyvalentine has this wonderful “50 questions about Shepard” list. They posted about it in our discord and the chat BLEW UP. So here we are with the most information ever about:

Maeve Shepard

TW: mentions of alcohol abuse

(Art by Twitter: Maitimo and tumblr: @point-maitimo )

1. Why did Shepard enlist? Any regrets?

OH YEAH - so many regrets. She enlisted because her parents were in the Alliance, but if she could have sat on a beach or in a remote cottage in the middle of a forest and listen to nature she would have been happier. But seeing as she has a spacer history, she’s not actually entirely sure how true that is. She’s never been to any of those places if it wasn’t for a mission.

2. How does your Shepard feel about having a yeoman assigned to them in 2? And in 3?

No thoughts. She accepts it, as she accepts the entirety of the crew she doesn’t get to pick.

3. What’s their relationship with Anderson?

I think everyone is going to hate me when I say this but… he’s just her coworker/boss. They’re a little friendlier than a regular colleague, but until he gives her his old apartment, she didn’t think they were good friends outside of work.

4. Is your Shepard any good at poker?

She’s not actually good at poker, but she is good at reading people, which makes up 90% of the game.

5. How well does Shepard know their crew? Not just the companions, but the folks making up the Normandy

She thinks she knows them well (I’m writing my Mass Effect Lower Decks (MELD) fic with Maeve as the Shepard). I mean she’s absolutely convinced she knows every single person, but at the beginning of ME2, hell no. At the end of ME2 (and at the end of my MELD fic), yes.

6. Initial reaction to EDI? Does it change?

Oh, she absolutely loves EDI. She’s engineer class, so AIs are quite a passion project for her, and now her ship has one? Fucking dope.

7. Does their love interest move into their quarters?

No, but he sure as fuck spends most of his time there.

8. What is their reaction to the Alchera mission? And after?

Before she goes down, she thinks it’s pandering. She thinks that the Alliance is trying to pacify her for something and she’s not entirely sure what, but she’s suspicious.

Afterwards, she’s a crying mess with a handful of dog tags and her old helmet and wants to be left alone in her cabin.

9. What type of fighter is your shepard? Do they fight with honor, or do they fight dirty

She will fight so dirty, like she will throw pocket sand in your face if she could.

10. Does Shepard keep any pets? The hamster, fish, something else?

No pets and if I could resist the hamster and fish in game, Shepard wouldn’t have any pets at all. She’s very aware she’s off to go fight in a suicide mission/war, so she doesn’t necessarily want to have more responsibility than she already has.

11. What order does Shepard pick up companions in me2?

Oh my god what a question lmao.

Zaeed and Kasumi (easiest ones), Garrus, Mordin, Jack, Grunt, Thane, Samara, Tali, Legion

12. Does Shepard have any nicknames? What do they think of em?

The aliens that can’t pronounce her name (excuse me, an a and an e RIGHT NEXT TO EACH OTHER?!) call her M. She thinks it’s cool because of James Bond.

13. How does your Shep react to teasing/ribbing?

Teases them right back. She’s got a sharp tongue, but she knows when to stop so she doesn’t hurt anyones feelings.

14. Any good at flirting?

Middle ground on this one, I think. She’s good at picking people up at a bar, but once the flirting has to continue more than a couple minutes, she loses steam.

15. What colors does Shepard prefer for their armor?

The typical N7 colors: red, white and black.

After the war (and mentioned in my indoctrination fic), she changes her colors to match Thane 🥺: emerald and black.

16. Is Shepard a drinker? History of other substances? Do they struggle with sobriety

Oh boy. Yeah she’s a drinker. It was mostly social in ME1 and before, but after she died in the beginning of ME2, she hit the bottle hard. I have a little of Maeve written into my nameless Shepard in my Lungs fic, so if that tells you anything… She ends up swapping her drinking for a much more fun substance to abuse (drell venom).

Then she gets put in the brig for six months, is forced to sober up, and in the beginning of ME3 she’s clean. Haven’t quite decided what happens after that though.

17. How does Shepard react to attention? Do they enjoy it?

Maeve is used to it. She doesn't really think about it anymore.

18. Who’s the dream team? Which companions does Shepard fight best with and why?

I’m a fuckin simpleton and the dream team is Thane and Garrus. Maeve likes to be up close and personal so if she had a couple of long range snipers at her back… 🤌🏼

19. Are there any companions your Shepard just absolutely cannot vibe with or relate to

In ME2, she’s not a big fan of talking to Miranda and Jacob (whoops that’s mostly my fault because I am always so hype for ALL THE SQUAD) but she pretty much vibes with everyone. Get a couple drinks in her and it doesn't matter who she’s talking to.

20. Does Shepard enjoy looking for resources and upgrading gear, or do they see it as a chore?

She enjoys it! It’s the only thing in ME2 that makes her sleepy. 😂

21. Do you have any AUs for your shepard?

YAAAAHHHHHHHHH. Working on one now - an indoctrination fic. Although, is that really an AU? But I just got comfortable including her in my fics (usually used default Jane Shepard to be on the safe side) so hopefully more to come!

22. What’s the last thing Shepard ate before the final reaper showdown?

Holy shit I’ve never thought about this question. I saved this one for last and… honestly I think the last meal she ate would have been before killing Kai Leng, so it would be whatever is on the ship… probably some packet ramen? Just a quick wham bam meal. She was too focused on wrapping up her life at the end.

24. Who does Shepard turn to for advice? For comfort? Who do they like to gossip with

These are all different answers.

Advice: Samara (bruh she has a thousand years of morally grey choices to advise upon)

Comfort: Thane (he’s ALSO her best friend on top of being her LI)

Gossip: Kasumi (hands down the best choice)

25. How emotionally articulate is your Shepard? Do they emote well?

She’s funny, a lot of dry humor, but she’s emotionally constipated.

ME1, she was more liberal with her emotions, she smiled actual genuine smiles.

ME2, she’s more of a shark. Her smiles aren’t as real, mostly forced from a life that she previously knew. Maeve keeps her emotions real close to her chest.

ME3, uhhh honestly she’s just an entire mess. She’s sober for the first time in what feels like forever and it is actually not liberating for her. She’s constantly second guessing herself, she’s got the blood of millions on her hands, and she’s once more responsible for her crew’s safety on another suicide mission.

26. Does your Shepard have a romance? Who are they, and what drew Shep to them?

*shouts from the rooftops like Christian in Moulin Rouge* THANE! She falls hard for that little assassin dude. He glares at her during his recruitment mission and she’s like, oh my god am I in love?

He’s dark, mysterious, strangely polite, and also on the same course she seems to be. Both are barreling towards their deaths at an alarming speed.

27. Do they have any pet peeves?

Neither her nor I have put any thought to this. I can’t even think of any of my own pet peeves now that this question has been asked 😂

28. What about hyperfixations? What’s the topic that will get Shepard rolling no matter the person or place

Oh man, I feel like my Shepard is just so depressing…

Since ME2 she doesn’t have any hyperfixations. No time to enjoy anything but the people around her.

Prior to ME2, she used to be up on all the most recent video games. She would game online under the username “rogue_protocol” because her favorite book series is the Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells (lmao I’m dragging real life books into this now).

29. How active is Shepard? Are they hitting the gym, playing sports, or do they prefer quieter downtime?

She does go to the gym quite a bit, but she also prefers to read… uhh, when she’s not drinking, that is. 👀

30. What will always make them laugh?

EDI or Legion asking ridiculous questions about “why are organics like this”.

31. Who can always make them laugh?

Joker. There’s a lot of confusing feelings between them, oscillating at all times between wildly inappropriate and platonic. They’re kinda a mess, but neither of them have ever tried to sort out their feelings so in the long run, they’re besties.

32. What do they do when they have hit their limit angry, just incandescent with rage

It doesn’t happen much, or at all yet, but Maeve just goes feral. Verbal or physical, it doesn't matter. She loses it.

33. What skills do they have that are a surprise to the people around them?

Not sure if it’s a surprise she can do this, but more of a surprise that she does do this… she likes to tinker around and repair circuits and panels. She was building a new computer from scratch in ME2 whenever her thoughts got too loud and liquor didn’t quiet them, but it never got finished because, well, she got arrested. (Very Anakin-Skywalker-fixing-droids-esque.)

34. Got any tattoos?

I WISH! I wrote one fic with a Shep with tattoos and was constantly forgetting about them lol so it’s easier for my tiny brain if she doesn’t. And this is coming from a person with like… a lot of tattoos lmao

35. Which companions have they lost? How do they cope with it?

Maeve has only lost their companion on Virmire (don’t @ me, I still, to this day, can’t decide who officially lives) and Mordin and Thane in their forced death in ME3. She loses no one in ME2 (I can’t stomach losing anyone that I spent all game getting close to) but the people she does lose, it hits her hard. She does not cope well. Especially with Thane. The loss of Thane is what really triggers her in my Indoctrination AU fic.

36. Do they like to style their hair, wear makeup and jewelry? How do they feel about getting dressed up?

She would prefer to go natural with her hair, no makeup and no jewelry. UNLESS she’s dressing up, which she does enjoy doing. Her parents used to bring her to the Alliance military balls every year, so she’s pretty used to it.

But she would prefer to have her wavy hair down or clipped back out of her eyes. She never got quite comfortable wearing sweats around her crew until ME2. Then she said fuck it and wore whatever the fuck she wanted.

37. Got any bad habits?

No - lol actually probably but both her and I are biased towards her and think she’s perfect (if you don’t count the drinking, but honestly that’s a big one 😂)

38. Does Shepard do any activities with the companions and crew during downtime?

Maeve likes to enforce mandatory shore leave. She can be found either stuffing her face full of delicious food, trying to convince Thane to take his shirt off and sunbathe (if it’s a sunny planet) with her, or at a bar.

39. Do they keep around any sentimental items?

After ME2, no.

After the Citadel DLC, only a single artificial white flower in her cabin to remember Thane by.

40. Does your Shepard actually like to collect model ships? If not, what do they display?

Yes!! She loves it, but she’d just as easily not have them. They don’t mean much to her other than they’re fun to look at.

41. How is Shepard with a gun? What about hand to hand?

She prefers hand to hand combat. Maeve is fine with a gun, but prefers lighter guns so she has quicker access to her abilities. She likes to make things explode so if she can set it on fire and then overload it, it’ll no doubt make her laugh.

42. Favorite weapon?

Omni-blade. She loves that little sneaky shit. Oh, and her combat drone. It’s so cute and makes chirping noises and has a flamethrower.

43. Which version of the Normandy do they like best?

Normandy SR-2.

Hates the stupid window above her bed, but loves the freedom she had on this ship.

44. Do they like to rotate out companions for quests? Who do they bring the most?

No because her and I are dumb and fall into a habit of bringing only the sniper squad. In ME3, though, she’s a little more lax, a little more flippant, basically just says, “who wants to come” and the first two that say “me” are the ones she brings (mostly Garrus and Liara).

45. Do they approve of curing the genophage?

Yeah, bro, fuck that noise.

46. Does Shepard allow the rachni to live in me1?

Yes. It wouldn’t rest easy on her conscience if she killed the last living being of a species.

Both Maeve and I: *nervously looking at the Arrival DLC*

47. Does Shepard practice any kind of self-care?

Sometimes she puts moisturizer on her face… but she thinks, why’s self-care matter when you aren’t going to make it to 35 years old?

She’s a little pessimistic.

48. What abilities do they rely on the most in a fight?

Combat drone.

If she’s in battle and her drone is about to be destroyed, she’d rather save up her recharge to bring it back than use any other ability.

After that, it’s overload because there are 8000000 geth at all times.

49. What is Shepard’s happy ending? What’s the dream that keeps em going

Meeting Thane across the sea. I am not even kidding. This depressing shit is her happy ending. I have spent so long building up this story in my head that she didn’t want to be brought back, she didn’t want to be used in another war, she just wanted to be at peace. So, she’s going to do her damned job and save this ungrateful galaxy and hopefully be able to rest with Thane in whatever afterlife Kalahira has for them.

50. Is your Shepard indoctrinated

*HEAVY BREATHING*

(+1: what does Shepard smell like?)

Standard issued soap, grease from digging around in the ship’s engine room or AI core, and lavender because she uses lavender chapstick. Someone once told her that would help calm her thoughts and while it didn’t actually help, she keeps trying.

#sare shouts into the void #OC: maeve shepard #mass effect stuff #commander shepard #mass effect

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impishbiscuit · 1 year

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I want to know about "a google walks into a bar" pls

As you wish

~ ~ ~

She hates Jack.

No, that’s a lie; she really doesn’t hate Jack, but she hates that Jack demanded a birthday party at Afterlife, of all things, instead of a nice and normal, quiet party back on the Normandy with cake.

Shepard likes cake. She can deal with cake. Hell, she’d even be willing to bake the cake herself if it meant she didn’t have to be here. Shepard’s not a great chef, but she can make cakes, and has indeed made several at varying points during this grand Cerberus venture. She’d be happy to make a cake as extravagant as Jack wants—multi-tiered, with sprinkles, whatever. She’d even bust out the fondant for Jack.

But no. Jack doesn’t want a quiet party with cake. Jack is Jack, and that means a nightclub with strippers and shots and dancing. Shepard doesn’t dance (not this kind, anyway). Shepard doesn’t have anything to do with strippers—she blushes too much and can’t look them in the eye, too taken aback and distracted by abundant quantities of cool-colored skin. Shepard stays at home where it’s nice and quiet and bass-heavy music only pulses through her earpiece and doesn’t vibrate her entire reinforced skeleton.

She doesn’t hate Jack, but she hates the situation Jack has put her in.

The only good thing about tonight is that Miranda seems about as enthused about the distraction from the mission as Shepard is about being here at all. From Shepard’s place at the bar, fetching the crew’s third round of drinks, she can see Miranda’s stormy face as she slowly drains some honey-and-gin based cocktail, seemingly unable to keep her glare off where Jack sways with one of the club’s dancers. It seems more choreographed than Shepard would expect for such a spontaneous interaction as this one, but then again, she doesn’t know much about clubs. Most of the time, she avoids them on principle.

What she does know is that they are loud, with great shuddering bass and fast-paced music that shakes her bones and rattles her jaw. Frankly, she’s surprised the shots the turian bartender is pouring aren’t sloshing over the edge of the glasses from the pulsations of the music.

“Okay, honey, these are levo. Remember that,” the bartender says, sliding the tray a couple of inches towards her. “How many dextro do you need?”

“Um,” Shepard says, suddenly realizing just how many Jack had ordered. “Well, we have one turian and one quarian, so not as many, I think.” When the bartender gestures to her, she realizes her voice has been lost to the music, and she repeats herself. She can be loud on the battlefield, and she has to summon some of that energy to speak up enough to be heard here.

The turian bartender must realize how far out of her element she is, and slides over a blue-tinged shot. “This one’s on the house, sweetheart,” he says, busying himself with preparing a much smaller arrangement of dextro shots.

“Thank you,” Shepard squeaks, throwing it back and shivering at how smoothly it goes down her throat. It seems the bartender took great pity on her; that was not a cheap shot, tasting of raspberries and mint. For a millisecond, she considers asking the bartender what that was so she can ask Kasumi to procure a bottle for the Normandy.

No. Absolutely not. She does not need to encourage anyone into thinking anything about this night was a good idea.

Across the club, in the corner the ground crew has claimed with sprawling limbs, Grunt seems to be attempting to mimic Jack’s choreography, but with four times the bulk and a quarter of her grace. To Shepard’s almighty despair, Jack whoops and cheers him on, even when he climbs on top of a table that bends under his weight. Miranda’s face slowly turns redder and redder until she snaps something at the pair of them, to which Jack responds with raised arms and flared biotics.

“Are they with you?” asks the bartender, probably just to be polite. Shepard’s been with them all night, forced to interact and even do a little bit of the wiggling that passes for club dancing. The bartender has to know she’s one of them.

“Yep.”

“My condolences,” says the bartender, pushing another blue-tinged shot her way. “Here. This one’s on the house, too.”

#mass effect #mass effect fanfic #mass effect fanfiction #female shepard #femshep

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luckyspacerabbit · 3 years

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thane over volunteering to go on the hammerhead missions bc he can just roll down the window and get a free sauna with all the volcanic activity

#dan hyun: AAAAAAAAAA WERE FLYING YAAAAAAAAAA #THIS IS SO MUCH BETTER THAN THE MAKOOOOO #thane in the passenger seat putting on sunglasses and reclining his chair: youre doing wonderfully siha #kasumi in the back: i hate it here *throws up*#bry plays mele

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aspiringauthorintraining · 3 years

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Demonstration

“Friends, students…” you call to their attention, “-and Sukuna.“ you added a moment later. “Today, I lost my dear friend Gojo Satoru.”

“Quit telling everyone I’m dead, (Y/N).”

Ignoring the voice coming from behind, you adorned a frown on your face. “Sometimes, I can still hear his voice.”

“I’m not dead!”

“He was many things: a teacher, a friend, a confidant. Now, was he good at these things? The answer is no.”

“Hey!”

“But we must not speak ill of those who are not with us anymore.” you continued.

Most of the Tokyo students nod their heads in agreement, while some of the Kyoto students kept glancing from you to a figure behind.

“It’s as if he’s in the room with us, right now.” You bring a hand to your mouth to prevent a sob (laugh) from escaping, at the sound of Gojo’s whines. “But as you all may know, curses like to act like those who we miss, so we mustn’t be tricked. Therefore, if for whatever reason you happen to see something that resembles Gojo Satoru, please exorcise it with your fullest ability, so that we may all one day move on and allow time to heal our hearts.”

One of the Kyoto students, Miwa Kasumi, blinked in confusion, unable to understand what was going on. You were standing in front of everyone participating in the sister school exchange event, mourning over Gojo Satoru’s death- while the said jujutsu sorcerer was standing behind you, tugging on your arms to get you to look in his direction.

“Am I the only one who sees Gojo-sensei alive?” she whispered to a nearby Tokyo student sitting next to her, who happened to be Maki Zenin.

Maki shook her head. “If (Y/N)-sensei says that the idiot is dead, then he is.”

“Tuna-mayo.” Inumaki agreed, nodding his head.

“Best if you just go with it.” Panda whispered back to the still confused girl.

It seemed as though everyone else from the Kyoto branch had no complaints, accepting your words as the truth with a nod of their heads.

“(Y/N)!!” Gojo whined, placing his chin on your shoulder. “I said I was sorry.”

Your patience with the tall man-child had finally reached its max.

“Sorry?!” You flicked his forehead off of you, and pushed his face away. “I leave for one week, and you basically bulldoze half the campus forest to prevent a special-grade curse from running away, who might I add, was able to run away again! And then, I find out you were the one who ate my food that I had been saving in the freezer.”

Gojo merely shrugged at your accusations. “I was on a time crunch with the first one. And as for the second thing, it’s not my fault someone should’ve wrote their name on their mochi ice cream if they didn’t want someone else eating it.”

“I did write my name on the box, and I know you fucking ate it!”

“There in lies your mistake, sweetheart. You should’ve written your name on the mochi itself. How was I supposed to know it was yours once I threw away the box?”

“Because my name was on the box, you motherfu-“

“Shouldn’t we trying to stop them from killing each other?” Yuuji whispered to Megumi, who was watching their teachers bicker with a straight face.

“Yaga-sensei will eventually stop them.” Megumi replied nonchalantly, as the boys overheard you screaming at Gojo.

“I told you the last time you ate my stuff, you would be dead to me!”

“You can’t just kill me off, (Y/N).”

“We’ll never know unless we try, now will we?” you argued.

And just as Megumi had said, Principle Yaga grabbed Gojo by his collar to prevent you from choking the man to death.

“Alright, that’s enough you two.” Yaga ordered, making you weaken the strangling grip you held on Gojo’s neck. “We should go ahead and start the baseball game.”

The hostility on your face quickly morphed into a smile, at your sensei’s words.

“Sensei, don’t you think we should give the students a demonstration beforehand?”

“Is that really necessary?” Gojo complained, massaging his neck in pain.

“Of course it is! After all, you were the one who suggested the game, you should be the one to show them how to properly hit a ball.”

Yaga just sighed, nodding his head to your suggestion.

“Just try not to kill him please, (Y/N).”

Your smile grew wider, causing a shiver to run down Gojo’s back.

“Can’t make any promises, sensei.”

_________

Yuuji looked out from the sidelines onto the baseball field, watching Gojo stare appreciatively at the sight of you stretching on the pitcher’s mound.

“Don’t we all know how to play baseball?” he wondered aloud.

“Did you just figure that out, dummy?” Nobara retorted.

“Then why the need for the demonstration?”

“Because we all want to see Gojo-sensei get pummeled by (Y/N)-sensei.” Maki responded.

“But isn’t he just going to use his technique?”

“Her technique basically cancels his out.”

“Huh? How?”

“Gojo-sensei’s techniques deal with infinite time, and (Y/N)-sensei’s technique deals with manipulating time.”

“But no matter how fast you speed time up, you can never reach infinity, right?” Yuuji tried to reason, thinking back on the lectures he slept through in his math classes.

“In that case, yes.” Panda answered. “Infinity requires time to function. But if time were to stop, infinity would be cancelled out, because having an infinite number of nothing would still leave you with nothing.”

“Not to mention (Y/N)-sensei has a wicked throw.” Maki added.

And shortly, a few moments later, a cry of pain was heard from the batter’s box.

__________________

Gojo pouted as you returned to him with a bag of ice, placing it gently on his cheek.

“Ow!” he whined from the sudden coldness. “You could’ve gone a little softer with that pitch, sweetheart.”

“Please, you deserved it.” you said, rolling your eyes.

But seeing the light bruise formed on the side of his face, you couldn’t help but feel slightly guilty.

Lifting the ice bag momentarily, you placed a soft kiss on his bruised cheek, immediately silencing him.

“Does it feel better now?” you asked.

He nodded quickly. “But, you missed a spot. I got hit here too.” he said, pointing to his puckered lips.

You rolled your eyes, seeing right through his play; but gave in to his request, nonetheless. As you motioned to step back from the kiss, Gojo snaked his arms around your waist, bringing your body flush against his with your lips still attached to his.

He finally let you breathe a long minute later, after you hit his chest repeatedly for air.

“Now I feel a bit better.” he sighed, contentedly, before adding, “But I do think I’m going to need more intensive care tonight in my room.”

“Hmmm, is that so.” you thought, placing a hand on his other, non bruised cheek with a smile.

Gojo burrowed his face into your palm, with a playful smirk.

A quiet second later, right when he least expected it, you lightly slapped his cheek, quickly squirming out of his grasp. You dodged his grabby hands, a laugh escaping your lips when a pout made its way back onto his face.

“I’ll be sure to ask Yaga-sensei to stop by your room tonight then.” you smiled, furthering the distance between you two.

“No, (Y/N)!” Gojo whined, quickly chasing after you.

_____

*(A/N): i’m in a love/hate relationship with gojo satoru ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

#jujutsu kaisen imagine #jjk imagine #gojo satoru x you #gojo satoru x reader #gojo satoru imagine #gojo satoru #gojo x you #jujutsu kaisen #jjk #no beta we die like sukuna did hundreds of years ago lol

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kanjukucompany · 2 years

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【A3! Translation】 Sakuma Sakuya R: Gentle Oni’s Weapon (2/2)

PART 1 / PART 2

(translation under the cut)

(glitch text ignore)

*disclaimer: i read kasumi as a strongly coded trans woman, so it feels wrong to use anything but she/her for her. but for the sake of continuity with other translations, i’ve posted an alternate he/him version here. any hate about this will result in an instant block.

Rejoice! Oni’s #1 Fan

*doorbell*

Tsubaki: Who is it~?

Sakura: Do we have a visitor~?

Kasumi: T-That’s right, a visitor for Mama! Girls, wait here for a bit.

*footsteps*

Kaede: ….?

Sakuya: Sorry to bother you…

Kasumi: Seriously, thank you so much for coming…!

Kasumi: I’m so happy you’re going to help out with our bean scattering, Sakuya-kun. I’ve been so giddy!

Sakuya: No, that’s not…! I mean I’m sorry for contacting you so suddenly the other day.

(flashback starts)

Kasumi: Sakuya-kun, sorry for the wait! What is it you wanted to talk about?

Sakuya: Um… If you’d let me, I want to play the oni for your home’s bean scattering ceremony!

Kasumi: Ehh!?

Sakuya: I figured I’d just be a disturbance if I showed up at your home unannounced—.

Sakuya: But if you’re having trouble playing the oni, I think I could help.

Kasumi: S-Sakuya-kun…! I’m so happy, of course you’re welcome!

Sakuya: Good to hear!

Sakuya: …Actually, I was supposed to play the oni at the daycare’s bean scattering ceremony, so I was a little disappointed about the cancellation too.

Kasumi: So that’s the case…. Ah! This means my daughters and I get oni Sakuya-kun all to ourselves this year?!

Kasumi: Oh, but I can’t let my ultimate fave play the oni…! What if my daughters hurt you with their merciless bean attacks…?!

Sakuya: Ahaha, I’ll be okay.

(flashback ends)

Kasumi: Now, let’s begin the bean scattering ceremony! A scaaary oni has appeared in our home!

Sakuya: I’m an oni~! I’m here to gobble up everyone’s beans~!

Kaede: Wah, an oni?!

Tsubaki: Where’s the beans Mama gave us?!

Sakura: Oni…. out~!*

Kaede: Oni-san, over here~!

Tsubaki: That’s playing tag, not bean scattering.

Sakura: Then let’s chase after him!

Kasumi: (That’s Sakuya-kun for you! With his cute mask and gentle atmosphere, he plays an oni that’s very popular with children..!)

Sakuya: Grr… I’m an oni~!

Triplets: Kyaa~!

Sakura: …Huh? I recognize that voice!

Kaede: And that red hair peaking out the mask?

Tsubaki: Maybe it’s….! Alright, ATTACK—!!

Sakuya: W-Woah, wait a sec guys…!

*thud*

Kasumi: S-Sakuya-kun, are you okay!?

Sakuya: Ahaha, I just fell back on my butt…

Kaede: Wah~, I knew it! It’s Sakuya-sensei!

Sakura: Sakuya-sensei, play with us~!

Tsubaki: Play with us! Play with us!

Sakuya: S-Sorry, Kasumi-san! I didn’t think they’d figure it out…

Kasumi: It’s okay, I’m just relieved you weren’t injured.

*doorbell*

Kasumi: Huh? Was l expecting a package or something….? Come in—!

Yuzo: Hey, sorry to barge in.

Tsubaki: Uwaa! It’s a real oni!

Kaede: Ehh… So scary!

Sakura: Go away, oni!

*bean throwing sounds*

Sakuya: N-Now, now…! There’s no need to be scared—!

Yuzo: Oi, oi, you guys! It’s me, the old man that brought y’all presents before! Don’t you remember?

Kasumi: Oh…! That’s right! We were going to split that alcohol I got from work, was that today?

Yuzo: Yeah. Jeez, I just got here and it’s already a mess.

Sakuya: Yuzo-san, good evening!

Yuzo: What the, Sakuya’s here too? And is that a mask…?

Sakuya: The bean scattering ceremony at the daycare got cancelled, so I played the oni for Kasumi-san’s home ceremony.

Sakuya: That’s probably why they reacted the way they did…

Kasumi: I guess they thought a real oni came this time, huh? Sorry, sorry.

Kasumi: The only scary thing about this guy is his face, so don’t worry~.

Yuzo: Oi! Who’re you calling an oni…

*part of the traditional chant said during bean scattering, "oni out! happiness in!"

#a3 #a3 game #a3 translation #my translations #sakuya sakuma #kasumi hinamori #yuzo kashima

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killalluchihas · 2 years

Text

good vibes/bad juju - 45

While on a mission overseas, Gojo gets K-O’d by an unknown person. Within a week, every sorcerer in Japan has heard about it. (A JJK OC story - Rated M)

[Chapter One] [Ao3 link] [Previous][Next]

chapter forty-five: the redirection Momo comes across a weapon, so she aims it accordingly CW: blood

It hits Nobara out of absolutely nowhere.

Burning and sharp, overwhelming her in an instant. Nobara can’t move, can’t breathe, as the crushing touch of Yoshi’s cursed energy, magnified a thousandfold, makes her stagger onto one knee, knocking over Mai in the process.

Just as Nobara’s palm smacks against the earth, the feeling vanishes. Leaving no trace behind, leaving nothing in its wake, Nobara can’t figure out why she even stumbled.

“What was that?” Nobara mumbles, breathless. “Why…?”

“What the hell?” Mai huffs angrily as she stands, kicking up dirt in Nobara’s face. “Do you actually have a concussion? Let me know so I can leave you behind!” She runs ahead without hesitation.

“Asshole,” Nobara hisses. Brushing off the strange feeling (and the dirt), she goes after the Kyoto student. The stream is up ahead, they’ll find Utahime any minute.

Just as the two of them step past the trees, ankle-deep into the water, something flashes at the edge of Nobara’s vision. “Duck!” she shouts.

She lunges, shoving Mai down just in time to dodge a vicious spout of water.

“Shit,” Mai groans, coughing on water. “You keep throwing yourself at me, is that a hint?!”

“Next time I’ll let it take your head off,” Nobara snarls, refocusing her gaze ahead as she stands. Luckily, Mai’s body protected her; Nobara’s hair doesn’t have a drop of water on it, and it’s gonna stay that way.

Upstream, Nobara hears a gurgling, guttural noise. The curse emerges between two large river rocks, hunched and gelatinous. Two circular eyes with watery pupils stare at her; blood-red tentacles gleam and writhe. Its lower half is pale and sectioned like the underside of a lobster.

“Bbuuoobuuu,” the curse warbles.

Gross.

“You’re one ugly fucker,” Nobara sneers to cover up her concern. A water attack. Could it be the curse Yoshi fought?

But it can’t be; this thing doesn’t even look injured.

“Aw, don’t say that. It reminds me of you,” Mai coos. Still a bitch, even when their school is under attack.

Nobara watches the curse, uncertain. It seems weak. It doesn’t resemble the special-grades that Gojo warned them about. It’s huddled between the boulders, quavering, as though ready to flee.

We can handle this.

“Oi,” Nobara mutters. “Mai.”

“I’m good to go.” Mai slicks back her hair, slowly edging out of the stream. “I’ll cover you.”

“Watch your aim,” she grumbles.

“It's not my fault that those orange split-ends are so distracting…”

All the caution flies right out of Nobara’s body. “God, I hate you,” she seethes, grabbing a handful of nails and her hammer. “Oi, you stupid red fuck,” Nobara taunts, “You’re in my way!”

—/—/—/—

Momo is not afraid. A little annoyed, a little anxious. But not afraid. Danger doesn’t matter so much when you can fly out of range. Clutching her phone tightly, Momo continues to do just that. Fly above the canopy and scout for the real sorcerers, because that’s what she’s best at.

Her jaw aches. Ah, she’s grinding her teeth again.

Suddenly her broom dips down, losing altitude as her heart skips a beat. Momo startles, shaking herself out of a daze and levitating up just in time to avoid a spindly branch. She scolds herself. My classmates are under attack and I’m up here falling asleep? What’s wrong with me?

Rattled by her strange mistake, Momo continues north, loosely following the path of the river.

Kasumi hasn’t made contact yet. Momo is sure that Kamo won’t get himself killed; Todo and Mai both called her to check in. And Mechamaru is Mechamaru, so that leaves—

Her musings come to a grinding, grating, screeching halt as she stares down at vibrant green grass splashed with ruby red blood.

“What—?” Momo gasps.

The air is sour and dusty. Momo can sense some residual energy. A curse was exorcized here, perhaps just a few minutes before she arrived.

In the midst of it stands Ariyoshi.

She’s in a blue t-shirt, but the lower half of it is darkened to near-black from blood. It’s on her arms too, red painted over black ink. The stained earth is directly under her feet, blooming outward in a grotesque flower. The talisman sorcerer is alone, standing but slouched. She’s bleeding, in some places, but not enough to account for all that’s spilled on the ground.

“Hey kid,” Ariyoshi says suddenly.

Momo flinches.

“Y-Yes?” she croaks out.

Ariyoshi lazily examines the dark sky. A thin line of blood drips down from the back of her neck. “What’s this veil for?”

It’s impossible to decipher the look on Ariyoshi’s face. Angry, but contained. Dazed, yet razor-sharp. Her lips are pursed, but it almost seems like she’s holding back a laugh.

“The veil’s just keeping Gojo out,” she calls down to the sorcerer, desperately keeping her voice level. “The other teachers are on their way. Seems like we’ve got intruders.”

Ariyoshi glances at the ground again. “Seems like it,” she echoes.

“Are—are you alright, Ariyoshi-san?” Momo asks cautiously. “Whose—?”

“Should I go to Toge and Megumi or Nobara and Mai?” Ariyoshi interrupts. She wipes her palms against her clothes to clear the blood. “They’re in opposite directions.” Her face scrunches up in distaste, and then she adds, “Maki’s going east. Is there something out there?”

The sandalwood blessings. Ariyoshi can pinpoint the location of anyone still wearing her mark. It’s perfect, she can get to any student instantly this way.

Yet Momo hesitates.

Ariyoshi’s expression has smoothed out into something neutral, but violence still rolls off of her in waves. She conceals her cursed energy very well, but she’s done nothing to dampen that menacing, awful aura. Flat black eyes burn straight through her, yet Momo feels chilled to the bone.

Momo’s not afraid, but maybe she should be.

“Well?” Ariyoshi says patiently, raising her eyebrows. “You’re a scout, aren’t you?”

She’s asking Momo to direct her next move.

“Go east,” she declares. “Kamo-san’s there too. Cursed vines are attacking the temples, it looks pretty powerful.”

It’s the sensible choice.

But Momo would’ve told her that even if it wasn’t sensible. She just wants this nutcase sorcerer as far away from Mai as possible, and redirecting her to the temples is the easiest way to do it.

“Okay,” Ariyoshi replies airily.

Instead of reaching for her teleportation talisman, she touches the tattoo on the side of her finger. Huh. They’re storage seals, just like Kamo had thought. Except… Is now really the time for arts and crafts?!

Unfazed, Ariyoshi begins to write on her palm. She’s using a paint marker, opaque and bright green, but the lines look odd. The stroke order is practically backwards.

Has she gone crazy? Do I even want to know?

Momo’s heart is pounding so loudly she can’t hear herself think. “Ariyoshi-san, do you know where Miwa is?” she asks.

The teacher doesn’t look up. “I know where all the students are except Todo.”

Perplexed, Momo bites the inside of her cheek. Does that mean there’s no need to look for Miwa? "Well, Todo's fine, I talked to him before finding you..."

The talisman sorcerer tucks away the marker. “Thank you, Momo.”

“Uh,” she stutters, “Sure?”

The symbol on Ariyoshi’s upturned palm is incomprehensible. The paint is still wet, faintly reflecting light. Momo can’t even begin to describe it, let alone figure out what it’s for.

“Go to Nobara and Mai,” Ariyoshi advises steadily. “Stay together. Scrape off my mark if you're in trouble.”

Ariyoshi stares, silently, until Momo finally nods.

As soon as she agrees, Ariyoshi vanishes.

—/—/—/—

Kamo and Inumaki aren’t doing well. They’ve kept up with the curse, barely, but all three of them are running on fumes at this point. Megumi can’t even muster up the strength for another shikigami.

Nue dives for the curse while Kamo’s blood holds the tree spirit in place, distracting it in preparation for Inumaki’s cursed speech—but instead, Inumaki’s voice fizzles out. Out of the corner of his eye, Megumi sees his senpai waver, and then stumble onto his knees.

Damn it.

The curse lashes out for Nue, taking the shadow bird out of commission in one blow. Shit, shit, should he summon another one, or try his luck with one of Maki’s weapons?

Kamo pushes past Megumi before he can decide, circulating a stream of blood so quickly that the liquid blade whistles through the air. He hits the curse point-blank, but it leaves no damage. With another graceless swipe, Kamo’s thrown across the roof, scattering tiles everywhere.

Just me, then? Megumi thinks wildly, dipping into his shadows. A weapon won’t do, I need to bring out that one—

A strong hand drags Megumi backwards. It startles him enough that he freezes, and Inumaki easily pushes ahead of him. He can hear his labored breath, he can see the blood dribbling from Inumaki’s lips.

“I-Inumaki-senpai…” Megumi uttered, already knowing what’s next. He’s too tired, Inumaki’s too insistent, he can’t bring himself to protest.

He won't win this.

Inumaki inhales, lungs rattling faintly.

I don’t want to watch another friend die.

The special-grade faces him head-on, waiting.

Then, lightning down his spine. Megumi flinches hard, his eyes forced away from the curse as a figure drops out of thin air, cracking terracotta shingles beneath their feet.

If the air was thick with cursed energy before, it’s suffocating now.

It’s Yoshi.

And she’s furious.

—/—/—/—

[Previous] [Next] A/N: thank to nadiecomoyo for betateading!! If all goes well, I'll have two more chapters out very soon. For now here's feral Yoshi <3

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swordsandshields99 · 3 years

Link

Chapters: 1/7 Fandom: Mass Effect Trilogy, Mass Effect - All Media Types Rating: Mature Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Additional Tags: Friendship, Friendship/Love, Romance, Fluff and Smut @cactuarkitty - thanks! :) Day 1 - Beach Day (Tried to give it a Citadel DLC vibe) Smut in Italics and sectioned, feel free to skip :)

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

“Yo, Shepard, can we talk to you for a second?” Jack’s voice came across the comms. “Sure thing. Did someone break something?” Shepard tried to tease the biotic. “Not yet, but I can’t promise not to break the cheerleader's arm if she doesn’t stop tapping her fingers on the console in a condescending way.”

Shepard sighed and put down the armor she was cleaning. She made her way to the elevator. “Hey Edi, if anyone is actually about to kill each other, let me know.”

“Of course, Shepard. If I were to inform you each time Jack complained about Operative Lawson, I believe you wouldn’t have any free time.”

“True enough,” Shepard chuckled. The AI was really growing on her.

Shepard exited the lift and turned into the mess hall, and was surprised to see her entire ground crew sitting around the long table. She glanced at Garrus, but he gave nothing away, other than popping a mandible out to the side in a sarcastic half-grin. “What’s all this about?”

“Shepard, it seems the crew have been discussing our current course of action,” Miranda started.

“You mean, our current course of non-action?” Shepard cut in.

“Yes,” Miranda said slowly. “Garrus has been adamant that he has tried to persuade you not to return to the Alliance.”

“He has, and as I told him, I’ve made up my mind. It’s something I have to do.”

“You don’t have to do shit,” Jack countered.

“You could go to the Council, Shepard. You’re a spectre, with spectre authority. They’ll be just as displeased as the Alliance, but they can use that authority to ride out the storm. The Alliance is just going to lock you up. Or worse. You don’t deserve that.” By the time Tali finished, she was wringing her hands and bouncing slightly on her feet.

Shepard looked down, “Listen, I appreciate your concern. But if I don’t go and take the fall, the political fall out will be detrimental to the Alliance. I might be a Spectre, but everyone in the galaxy knows where I came from.”

There was a horribly awkward silence in the room.

“I promise, I won’t let it affect any of you. Your names will all stay out of the report, and I will be adamant about the fact that I went there alone.”

“I could give two shits about what other people think. I still think you should take me up on the piracy thing,” Jack said, crossing her arms and nearly pouting. Shepard nearly laughed at the stance. Jack looked back at her. “It’s a nice ship. Stealth drives and all. Perfect opportunity wasted.”

“She’s not wrong,” Kasumi said, appearing out of thin air next to Jack.

“FUCKING SHIT!” Jack said, “God damn it I hate it when you do that.”

Kasumi blew her a kiss as she disappeared.

“Siha, it appears you are not willing to change your mind,” Thane said as calmly as ever.

“I find it admirable,” Samara nodded her head.

“I think falling on your sword to protect the very people who put you in the situation, the same people who expect you to follow orders blindly and not take responsibility for their own actions, isn’t exactly admirable,” Garrus said darkly, still leaning back in his chair.

Shepard knew he was angry. She didn’t blame him. But she kept a cool mask of command on her face. “I’m not changing my mind.”

“Then we would ask for a few days dry-docked. For repairs,” Miranda said slowly.

“Repairs? I thought we were nearly done with repairs. You all have been working around the clock on the Normandy.”

“Yes, well, there’s a few things we could take a look at on the outer hull. It’d be safer on the ground. We thought perhaps, since we’re close, we could stop here.” Miranda pulled out a map and pointed to a spot on the planet below. “We’ve actually been planning this since we left the Bahak System.”

Shepard blew out a small stream of air.

“The crew needs a break, Shep,” Garrus said.

“And time to say goodbye,” Tali added.

“Fine,” Shepard said. “You have anything to add Joker?”

“Not since you ever so reasonably agreed, no. Setting a landing trajectory now. Ready EDI?”

“Ready, Jeff.”

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

Shepard was sitting at her desk, finishing the last of the reports she had. She’d always hated filling out reports. Now though, she thought she might end up missing even this. She wasn’t sure what the Alliance had planned for her. A trial? Jail time? A harsher sentence? She didn’t think they’d hand her over to the Batarians, but the thought was still there in the back of her mind. When she had mentioned it to Garrus, he said he’d be there breaking her out before she even reached a Batarian system. And she hadn’t argued.

Just as she thought of him, he walked through her cabin doors. “Done with those reports yet?” he drawled.

“This is the last one,” she said as she signed off and sent it. “Done.” She blew out a breath and stretched her arms above her head. She looked over at Garrus, and saw he was carrying a duffle bag, and was dressed in shorts and a Turian style t-shirt. She couldn’t help but chuckle, “I know you’re not on duty, but that’s a little informal. Aren’t you freezing?”

“I am freezing my ass off Shep, but I won’t be for long. Let’s go.”

“Onto the surface?”

“Yeah, where else? I’m not letting you spend your last shore leave in this cabin.”

“Hmmm,” she said suspiciously.

“Here,” he said as he threw the duffle at her. “Put these on.”

Shepard opened the bag and rose her eyebrows at him, “I can’t tell if this is practical, or if you just want me in a bikini.”

Garrus laughed, throwing his head forward and shaking it slightly. “Maybe it’s both?” He took out the sunscreen from her bag. “And don’t forget this.”

“Do you need some too?” she asked as she started spraying it on.

He shook his head. “The sun and radiation would have to be a hell of a lot stronger for me to need something like that. Palaven’s sun throws a lot more than this one.”

She nodded, “All right, all right Mr. Tough Guy, I got it.” She stripped off her civvies and threw on the bikini and sun dress. She put her hair in a braid that came over her shoulder. “All right, let’s do this.” She wouldn’t have planned a vacation. It wouldn’t have felt right. But her crew planning it, or needing it? That was a different story. And she was grateful.

They walked throughout the empty ship towards the cargo bay doors. “Where is everybody?” she asked.

“Already down there,” he said. “I think they were excited.”

Shepard stepped off the ship and was shocked. It was stunningly beautiful. It reminded her of when her parents had taken her to Jamaica once when she was young. “Wow,” she said softly. There was nothing within many kilometers of them. Not a soul in sight other than their ship and crew. “A private beach?”

Kasumi walked up to her with a small cooler, “Take your pick, Shep,” she said with a smile. There were beer and wine coolers. Shepard took one and thanked Kasumi. “The Dextro beers are all over by Tali,” Kasumi said before she skipped away.

"She’s even in a cloak on beach day,” Garrus rumbled, wiggling his brow plates at her.

Shepard laughed and walked towards Tali, “Go get a beer, big guy.”

“SHEEPPHHEEERRDD,” a loud voice boomed from a ways down the beach. Shepard looked down and saw Grunt splashing through the water with a small pistol, shooting at fish. “This is fun, heheh,” he said to himself as he picked up a fish he had somehow managed to shoot.

“Aww,” Zaeed said sarcastically before rolling his eyes. The man was sitting on a lounging chair with 5 beer cans on the sand around him. He laid back, closing his eyes before saying, “Good day Shepard. Good day.”

Joker was sitting next to the man with his eyes shut as well. “If I get a sunburn, I’m blaming you.”

Shepard threw her sunscreen at him. “If you get sunburned, you’ll worry EDI.”

“Har-har,” he said grumpily as he started spraying the sunscreen.

Thane was down the beach further, on the opposite end of Grunt Shepard noticed, showing Samara something that resembled Tai Chi. Actually, Shepard was pretty sure it was Tai Chi. She could still remember all the moves from when she took classes aboard her mother’s starship as a kid. She joined them silently, and allowed herself to meditate peacefully.

Once she’d had enough, she stopped, unsure of how much time had passed. Samara and Thane gave her small smiles as she walked away. She found Garrus was shooting blanks with a sniper rifle into the trees. Suddenly, Shepard saw the shimmer of failed shields and Kasumi’s cloak came down. “Damn!” the thief swore. “How in the hell did you know where I was that time?”

Garrus shrugged, “A gentlemen never tells.”

Tali swooped in from behind and jumped up to grab at his visor. “I’ll give you two guesses,” she said as she inspected it.

“Hey!” Garrus said, in a more shocked tone than Shepard would have expected. “Give that back,” he said as he pushed down on the Quarians helmet, reaching up so the visor was far out of her reach.

“Alright Garrus, no visor,” Kasumi said as she disappeared.

Garrus held the visor in one hand and aimed with the other. It took 10 seconds before he placed his next shot, and Kasumi’s shields went down again. Kasumi grumbled and switched on her cloak again.

Garrus’ eyes went wide and he hunched over his weapon slightly. Shepard heard him make a small noise of satisfaction before pulling the trigger.

“Oh, you’re good, Archangel,” Kasumi purred as she sauntered up to him. “I can see why you’re into him, Shep,” Kasumi called over to her.

Shepard just waved back with a grin and kept walking down the beach. There was a slight bend and suddenly she could see Mordin by the water, bent over looking at something. As she approached, she realized he was poking around some kind of sea creature with a stick. She stood next to him quietly as he observed it. “At first, wasn’t looking forward to ‘beach day’,” he said with air quotes. “Looked forward to comradery of course, but can get that on ship, or in lab. Surprising results. Thoroughly enjoying discovering new marine wildlife.” She saw his eyes flick back towards the sand. “Perhaps will try hand at fossils and shells next.”

Shepard smiled. As Mordin continued searching the shallow waters, Shepard started searching for shells on the beach. When she found what she thought must be the most beautiful one on the beach, she walked back over to him and handed it out to him.

“Ah!” he exclaimed, turning towards her and taking the shell. “How interesting! Gastropoda, free of inhabitants. Periostracum still slightly spongy, not old. Whorl, apex, aperture all typical. Extremely symmetrical. Red and orange in color, unsure of internal structuring.”

Shepard waited patiently as he continued his analysis until he stopped suddenly. He looked down at her and took a deep breath. “Beautiful. Thank you, Shepard.” He put the shell in one of his lab coat pockets.

She rose a brow, “That’s rather sentimental for you, isn’t it doctor?”

He shook his head, “Sometimes, sentimentality - appropriate. No point to life without the enjoyment of it.”

Shepard smiled at him. “Some friends make that exceedingly easy to do so.”

Mordin seemed genuinely taken aback, but nodded enthusiastically. “Indeed, they do.”

Legion walked up behind them, “Shepard Commander, are you searching for marine wildlife? This unit believes it can be of assistance.”

“Doctor?” Shepard asked.

“Hmmm, could prove useful in cataloging findings. Legion, please assist in cataloging findings of new marine biology.”

“Nice, thanks Legion,” Shepard said with a smile.

The Geth’s brow plates rose and fell quickly, “This unit enjoys being useful.”

Shepard rose her brows at Mordin. Before their adventures, she doubted Legion would have used the word “enjoys” at all. “I’m glad,” she said back before turning around.

She let them continue their search in the waters as she made her way back to the group. She came around the bend, and saw Jack, Jacob, and Miranda teaching Garrus and Tali how to play Volleyball. “Shepard, we need another player!” Jacob yelled out.

“I’m in,” she said as she ditched the sun dress and dug her toes into the sand to run towards them. “I grew up on a ship, but I managed to learn how to play. They know the rules?” she asked, pointing towards Garrus and Tali.

“I think we’ve got it,” Tali said.

They played for nearly an hour before they tired themselves out. “Forgot you had about a ½ a meter in height on us Vakarian,” Jacob grumbled as he and Miranda walked off towards the drinks.

Garrus shrugged with a grin, “What can I say.”

“Want to cool off in the water?” Shepard asked.

Garrus looked out at the ocean apprehensively, “Uhh… yeaaah, I’m not so sure about that.”

“Look, we don’t have to go in too deep. Mordin found a nice quiet spot around the bend a ways, there are hardly any waves at all. Just go in to your waist and get cooled off with me.”

Garrus sighed heavily. “Fine.”

They walked till they were just past Mordin and Legion. “Alright if we swim here?” She asked him.

Mordin came up from his studies. “Of course, Shepard.” Then he rose his brow at Garrus. “Aware of Turian aversion to submersion in waters. Interesting. Found a cove 20 meters that way. Completely shallow and secluded from waves and wildlife. Should be more comfortable.”

Garrus looked at Shepard and she could tell he was about to say no to the whole thing. “Alright, thanks Mordin, c’mon scaredy cat. Let’s go to the cove.”

“Shepard, I have no idea what a scaredy cat is. Is it some kind of pet?”

She laughed and marched forwards.

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The cove was beautiful. There were trees above keeping it mostly in the shade, and the water was calm and shallow. Shepard waded in and it only went up to her chest. “C’mon Garrus, look, it’s not deep. It won’t go up to your cowl, for sure.” He looked at her with a look that said he’d rather jump in a varren pit. “I’ll make it worth your while?”

He rose a brow plate, and dipped his feet in. The water was warm at least, so he continued until he stood next to Shepard. She took a step into him so that they were touching and wrapped her arms around him. “Alright, it’s not so bad,” he said reluctantly.

She gazed at him with a look that could melt metal, and took a deep breath in, before slowly sinking below the water. “Shepard,” he said nervously, although he knew she couldn’t hear him.

Shepard held onto his hips to stay below the water with one hand, and started moving his shorts aside with the other. Garrus’ breath hitched. He couldn’t help the rush that went straight to his groin, and he also couldn’t help but still feel nervous in the water. Shepard pushed him back and he took a few steps backwards until his legs hit something when they were nearing the edge. A rock. She pushed him again and he stumbled awkwardly, sitting on the rock. She came up for air and kissed his mandible, sucking on the tips. Garrus groaned, digging his talons into her waist. She submerged again, and he held his breath, partially out of anticipation of what she might do next and partially out of nerves for her being under the water. He knew humans were better with that, but it was ingrained.

He suddenly felt a small tongue lick up the seams of his pelvic plates and he groaned again, digging his talons through her hair. He felt small fingers dig between the plates in his waist. She came up for air again, straddling his lap to kiss him. She ground her hips against his. She was weightless, floating above him, ghosting over his plates, until she pushed herself down into him and began grinding harder into him. “Shepard,” he growled as he nipped at her neck. She suddenly went back under water and nipped at his pubic plate quickly, and licked all the way up and down his seam slowly. He felt his seam part as he groaned loudly, bucking his hips into her as his erection began to grow, emerging from his seam. He felt her lick at it until it came all the way through, and she sucked his cock into her mouth as it grew.

“Fuck,” he said as he threw his head back and bucked his hips. She sucked hard, head bobbing up and down twice before she had to come up for air. She was panting hard and she straddled his lap again, slowly lowering herself onto him, until his tip was hilted within her.

Shepard moaned loudly and rocked back and forth slightly with her hips. He felt her muscles contract around him a few times and he groaned. Shepard grinned at him before lifting up and moving back down. He could tell it was harder for her in the water, and he placed his hands on her hips and began lifting her up, and slamming her down onto him. It didn’t take long before they were both panting, and it just wasn’t enough. He put her legs around his waist and stood, walking to the back of the cove, he pressed her back against the stony wall and pushed himself into her with a grunt. Shepard squeezed her legs around his waist, one arm holding on around his back, the other wrapped around his neck with her hand massaging under his fringe.

She was so tight, and he hadn’t yet been fully inside her. He took his finger and massaged the nub he knew drove her wild. Shepard began moaning loudly. “God, yes Garrus, fuck,” she groaned. Slowly, with each thrust he pushed further and further inside of her until even the bulge of his base slipped inside of her with a pop. Shepard screamed at that and held on tighter. “Don’t stop,” she screamed, and he didn’t, couldn’t really. He felt her come hard, her walls squeezing him. “Garrus,” she panted. Garrus couldn’t speak, he was too far gone. He merely groaned against her neck as he continued pounding into her, faster and harder.

“Come inside me, Garrus,” she moaned, and he lost control. He came hard with a roar, continuing to pump inside her in erratic thrusts. His body completely enveloped hers against the stone. She was so small, wrapped up in his arms, and he curled around her, willing himself to stay standing. He felt her kiss his mandible lightly. “God, you’re sexy.”

He chuckled, kissing her forehead, “So are you.”

Shepard slipped down and swam in the water to cool off before they headed back. Garrus sat back on the rock and watched, enjoying the view and surprisingly, the cool water around his waist.

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Shepard and Garrus walked back along the beach, hands brushing often. The sun was setting, and it was creating a beautiful glow around them. The whole team was sitting, watching the sunset when the pair joined them.

The group was quiet, reflective. Even Grunt, to Shepard’s surprise. He was growing up, after all. Shepard leaned against Garrus’ shoulder, and they sat there until the sun dipped below the horizon.

“Alright you bunch of pussys,” Zaeed said, elegantly as ever. “Round two.” He started throwing beer bottles at everyone.

“That’s more like it,” Jack huffed.

“Bonfire’s made!” Jacob said as he got the largest bonfire Shepard had ever seen lit using driftwood from the beach.

The team drank under the numerous stars. There were drinking games and songs, friendly wagers and shoot-the-bottle competitions. It was 3 in the morning before they packed up and headed inside. Shepard held Garrus’ hand to pull him back behind the crew and gave him one last kiss under the stars.

#merweek2021 #merweek #mass effect relationship week #ao3 #shakarian #garrus vakarian #commander shepard #mass effect #mass effect 2

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readyplayerhobi · 4 years

Text

Flower | 37

; Hoseok x Reader

; Genre: Fluff

; Word Count: 5k

; Warnings: Discussions of IVF, sperm donation

; Synopsis: You finally decide to take a dip into the world of online dating and find the Flower dating app. One of the top matches for you proves to be a guy who looks to be your complete opposite; tattooed, pierced, a metalhead and oh…incredibly handsome. What happens when you throw caution to the wind and reach out to him?

; A/N: Thank you for the reception to the last chapter! :D I think that was the most comments/feedback in a long time for Flower haha. It means a lot to me to have your comments like that <3333 I hope you enjoy this one, perhaps it’s not really what you were expecting. I changed the last few around and the characters had decided this was the way they wanted to go! (it might sound silly but honestly, characters have a life of their own!)

; Flower Masterpost

“Meeps!” Hoseok’s calls from the hallway, catching your attention from where you’d lined up all your baking ingredients on the counter. “I’m heading out.”

Placing the glass bowl down carefully, you wipe your hands clean before heading out and smiling at him brightly. He’s got a dark denim jacket on alongside his new favourite black leather biker style boots, looking suitably rocker and even more sexy. Maybe you had a thing for those boots.

You don’t let him know this though, just watching as he pats his pockets to check he has his phone and wallet before a concerned expression takes over his face. Chuckling, you reach out to tap his hand, revealing the car keys he’s panicking over and causing his cheeks to fluff a pretty rose.

“Thanks. Do you want me to bring you anything back later? I can swing by the store on my way back home once we’re done?” Shaking your head at him, you squeeze at the hand you’re still touching and give him a thankful smile.

“No, I’m good. We’re going to order in later. Maybe that Japanese place that we ordered from the other week or something. Thank you, though. Enjoy yourself, okay? Text me when you’re going to set off.” Hoseok nods before leaning forward, giving you a quick kiss before he’s out of the door.

Standing for a moment, you overhear the sound of his car starting up before turning around and heading back into the kitchen. Grabbing your phone, your fingers tap at the screen as you let the girl’s know that the door is open for them to just walk in. Almost as soon as you’ve sent the message into your group chat, you’re distracted away by the bark from Ciri at your feet.

She’s still pretty small, only a little bigger than she’d been three months ago when Hoseok had proposed, but you think that just makes her look cuter. Thankfully, she’s been very easy to train so far and she’s currently sat so prettily as she looks up at you, big eyes staring intently at your hands.

Another short, sharp bark makes you laugh as you glance at the stuff you’d gotten out to bake with. Crouching down, you stroke her fur and make baby noises to her until her tail is sweeping the floor rapidly.

“Ciri-billy, I haven’t even started yet! You can’t eat them as they are now. Have some patience my darling.” You don’t know why you call your pets the nicknames that you do, or even where the names come. They just tend to pop out of your mouth when you’re talking to them and you just roll with it.

It’s caused Hoseok to laugh more than once to hear you call Kasumi your chicken or Ciri your little pudding. Particularly given you don’t call him by many pet names, instead just using his name or Hobi. Occasionally he’ll get a ‘babe’ or a ‘sweetheart’ but it’s not too often.

“Soon my bub.” Giggling, you give her a final stroke before standing back up and facing the counter. Quickly opening Spotify and beginning the playlist of your favourite songs, you keep your phone within easy reaching distance while looking over the recipe you’d printed out earlier in the day.

It takes only minutes for you to become entranced in what you’re doing; careful measuring of ingredients and the delicate balance of mixing them to create a wonderful treat. Only what you’re making today isn’t for yourself, or even your best friends.

No, they’re for Ciri. You’d found a recipe for grain-free dog treats and you’d decided to try making them. Part of you couldn’t quite believe what you were doing, particularly for a dog, but you would enjoy seeing Ciri enjoy them all. It wouldn’t surprise you if Hoseok decided to try and eat one himself.

You’re so involved with baking and singing along to the music that plays through the Bluetooth connected speakers in the kitchen, obviously something that Hoseok had bought because you’d considered it pointless, that you don’t hear the front door opening. It’s only when you turn to put some of the finished treats onto the wire trays that you’ve lined up that you realise when Chungha is suddenly standing in front of you.

Shrieking, you jump and have to battle to not drop all the freshly baked goods onto the floor while cursing up a storm. Almost immediately she moves to help you, apologising profusely as she yelps when grabbing a falling dog treat, her face twisting as it burns her fingers.

“Oh fuck! Chungha, shit. Are you okay? Oh my god, come over here.” Tugging her to the sink, you turn on the cold water and shove her hand under it, ignoring her whine of pain as the cold water interacts with her burn. The two of you focus on making sure it’s okay, even resulting in you going to grab the first aid kit Hoseok had bought a year ago when a sudden voice interrupts.

“What is going on here?” Two sides of wide eyes turn to Soyeon, letting her see the medical stuff you’ve haphazardly thrown on the side as you’ve looked for the burn ointment you could have sworn was in here. A glance at the treats causes a small ‘o’ to form on her pretty lips before she leans against the counter, elbows on the top.

“Ooh, baking mishap?” Teasing you with a grin and a wiggle of her brows, you nod before handing Chungha the tube you’d finally found. She gives you a smile of gratitude and applies some to her hand, her lips pursed into an adorable pout as she concentrates. You’re so busy concentrating on watching her that you almost miss Soyeon’s hand as it reaches out to the wire trays.

“No!” Shouting, the word causes her to jerk in surprise as she snaps her hand back with almost obscenely wide eyes. Cringing, you realised that you’d perhaps been a little bit too loud and give her an apologetic wince.

“Sorry. I just...they’re not for us. They’re for Ciri! I found a recipe to make some treats for her so I thought I’d give it a go. Think I made enough for her?” Brow raising, you chuckle while gesturing to the ridiculous amount. Perhaps you’d bought a little too many ingredients and gotten just a little excited in it.

There’s no way you could feed Ciri all this before they went off. She’d end up getting sick, and you hated having to clean that up. Which meant you couldn’t because then Hoseok would have to clean it up and you know he’d whine and pout the whole time.

“I can take some back for Mandu?” Soyeon offers, referring to the cute golden labrador that Jungkook and her had adopted two months ago. They’d gotten her from a shelter as a puppy and Jungkook had been the one to pick her name, unsurprisingly choosing something food-related given mandu was Korean-style dumplings.

“Sure, I’ll make sure you can take some back for Eevee too,” Glancing to Chungha, you gesture over to the box on the other counter. “For us though, I did make us some triple chocolate cookies! Not entirely sure how many are left because Hoseok was being a locust.”

That gets a snort from them all as you separate the dog treats so that all three dogs will get an equal amount before washing your hands. Chungha puts the kit away and takes out two glasses from a cupboard before handing one over to Soyeon. The two take a glance inside the fridge before filling them up with fizzy lemonade.

As far as you knew, that was just what Hoseok liked to drink with one of his alcohols. It made it more like a soft drink or something.

Grabbing the box of cookies, you head into the living room and sit on the couch with a leg curled up beneath you. Your best friends follow and sit as well, looking over at the television where Netflix has been paused in the show you’d been watching. One of what was considered to be your worst traits was that you took far too long to watch the ‘popular’ shows, which is why you’d finally started watching Breaking Bad way too late.

Hoseok had been bugging you to try and watch it for years now but you’d just never been interested.

“Ooh, you’re getting to a good bit.” Chungha comments, reaching forward to grab one of the cookies out of the box and munching on it. A soft noise of happiness leaves her as she chews, her butt wiggling as the flavours melt on her tongue.

“Shh, I already have to put up with Hoseok doing that. I don’t need you doing it too,” Pursing your lip into a pout, you cross your legs and grab the sleeping Pikachu cushion from your side before hugging it. “I’m going, to be honest with you as well, I don’t really like this. I don’t get the hype.”

As expected, both of them look at you with shocked faces that make you want to laugh. You don’t know what it is about going against the grain but the reactions you got never ceased to amaze you.

“Are you kidding? Breaking Bad is like...television perfection! The character arcs are just...urgh, exquisite.” Brow raising, you watch as Chungha continues to wax poetic about the show while Soyeon nods along and interjects now and again in support.

“Well, I think it’s pretty boring. And I don’t like Walter. He’s an asshole.” More shocked looks cause you to reach out and take the PS4 controller, exiting the show and moving on to look through the large list of shows and films Netflix had on offer. Without any input from either of them, you settle on The Umbrella Academy.

You’d already watched both seasons but it was something easy to have on in the background while you all probably talked instead.

“How’s wedding planning?” The question comes from Soyeon, who lets her head drop onto the back of the couch. Kasumi is laid out next to her, probably purring contentedly as her soft fur is stroked and she gets all the scratches and love. Ciri is currently curled up between Chungha and you, her tail hitting your thigh gently.

“Good, good. We’ve chosen a date and booked the venue so...we’re going to get the invites done as soon as we can. Before we get onto picking stuff for the actual ceremony and all that, we’re going to book the honeymoon. Priorities, you know. I think we’re leaning towards Argentina for two weeks at the minute but that might change.” You were adamant on exploring the world with Hoseok and Argentina would be your first foray into South America.

Which wasn’t much really considering you’d only ever visited Italy and Thailand so far. But still, when the opportunity arose then you would grasp it firmly.

Chungha finishes off her cookie before brushing at her mouth delicately, “Have you bought one of those wedding planner’s? Where it lists out all the stuff for you to plan and add in ideas and stuff?”

Nodding, you smile at her before gesturing over to the bookcase to the right. Alongside the books, video games, figurines and plushies that had accumulated over time was the binder that you’d purchased only days after getting engaged. Part of you was still trying to get your head around the fact that you no longer had a boyfriend but a fiancé.

And in a couple of months then you’d have a husband. It was odd to think about.

“Ah, it’s all exciting to think about.”

“It is, but I don’t have much more to tell you at the minute, to be honest. We haven’t decided much more apart from that and I haven’t looked into anything else. I’m trying not to overwhelm myself, you know? Go slow.” That gets them both nodding in acknowledgement before they look around.

“Where’s Hoseok gone today?”

“Oh, he’s gone to a concert with Taehyung and Yoongi. Some...weird prog-rock band or something. He’s been playing some of the songs lately and they sound odd but he’s into it so,” You shrug with a wry twist to your lips, causing them to snort. “I doubt he’ll be home before midnight, to be honest, so...we have the house to ourselves, ladies!”

“I mean...I’m pretty sure the most exciting thing we’re going to do is just eat food or something. Which is probably all we ever do when we’re together. You guys are not good for my waistline.” Soyeon groans, patting her flat stomach and you give her a droll stare.

“Really?”

“Yeah?” Chungha backs you up and you can’t help but laugh in amusement, giving her an equally amused stare. She’s just as skinny as Soyeon is but you can’t bring yourself to argue with either of them. Everyone has their issues going on after all.

That thought makes you frown and you reach out to Soyeon, clasping her hand tightly as you watch her with concern. Your sudden change in demeanour causes her brow to lower, gaze skittering away from yours given how intense it was.

“You’re okay, right? There’s nothing wrong or anything you’d wanna talk about?” The sincerity in your voice makes her smile softly, her free hand coming to rest against your own and squeezing it gently.

“I’m okay, I promise. It was just a joke, honestly.” Twisting your lips slightly, you stare deeply into her eyes before nodding slowly in acceptance. After spending so long hating yourself, you didn’t want to let your friends feel even an iota of the self-hatred you had. Especially when they were so pretty anyway.

“So err...while we’re still talking about moderately serious stuff, I have something to ask both of you. I mean...well it’s kinda weird that I’m asking you both but I figure I should ask you to get your permission before asking them.” Chungha is babbling and you tilt your head in question, brow creasing as you wonder what on earth she’s trying to get at. She seems nervous given the way her fingers play with themselves and her eyes skitter away from your direction.

“Dahyun was supposed to be here, you know that, but she’s ended up having to go see her grandparents as her grandma is sick right now. Otherwise, she’d be here too. So...we’ve decided that we want a kid. And we’re looking to adopt, we’ve put our names down and everything but it takes a while to even get approved for that. But we also would like to have a baby as well. Like...one of ours. I know Dahyun, in particular, is quite eager to get to experience pregnancy because she’d always dreamed of having a baby but as you can guess, being lesbians we don’t have the option of getting pregnant so easily.” Now your eyebrows have lifted high, probably almost to your hairline as you listen to Chungha’s nervous words.

It doesn’t surprise you that they’re wanting to have kids now. They’ve been together for a while as well, and you know that they’ve been considering whether or not to get married. For the moment though, they’d just registered themselves in a civil partnership, unsure whether they wanted to go through the whole wedding thing just yet. Though you did not doubt that they would eventually go for it.

Kids were the next logical choice for them, and you felt excitement bubbling in your stomach at the thought of Chungha being a mommy. Even if you didn’t like kids, it didn’t mean that you weren’t excited for your friends when they wanted to have them.

You could imagine that it was a bit more stressful for Chungha and Dahyun as a lesbian couple, as compared to a heterosexual couple. The more you thought about that actually, the more unfair it seemed. People were getting pregnant all the time by accident, but your best friend had to go through so much effort to get the same result.

“So, we’ve looked into IVF and all that stuff. There’s not just IVF, there are other methods too. But if we’re spending money on it then we’d rather have the best chance of success, you know? I’m not explaining it very well but I’m not a scientist either, we’ve researched it a lot and had a preliminary appointment either way. I just...have something potentially awkward to ask.” She pauses at that, her face twisting into a picture of nerves and hesitation.

A glance at Soyeon has you catching eye contact, but neither of you says anything and decide to let Chungha go at her own pace. You have an idea as to where she’s going with this, but you feel that she should at least be allowed to get there on her own.

“So, we can use sperm from a sperm bank, right? It’s all checked over and vetted, but it’s really expensive. And I know that sounds rich considering we’re wanting to have a baby and the last thing they are is cheap, but we’re trying to look at all our options for the moment. What I’m trying to ask in a long-winded way is would either of you be okay if we asked Hoseok or Jungkook to maybe donate? I know it sounds awkward given we know them and you’re both dating them but they can get everything tested and I’d feel a little easier if we knew the sperm donor, you know?” A grimace takes over her mouth, causing you to frown as you reach out and squeeze her leg in reassurance.

“Hey, there’s no need to apologise. I think we’ve all been friends for long enough that something like this can be discussed without ridicule or negative emotions, right?” Looking to Soyeon, you feel relief as she smiles and nods in agreement. “I’m excited for you to start a family! You know I’m not one for kids so I can’t say I understand the whole process you’re going through but I can assure you that I’ll support you and Dahyun the whole way. In terms of a donation...well it’s up to you, Soyeon, and Jungkook. Hoseok literally can’t.”

Glancing between them both, you make a scissors gesture and watch in amusement as both their eyebrows rise in realisation. It wasn’t something you’d discussed with them before, even if Hoseok had been fine about it, mainly because you’d felt Hoseok’s health and your sex life weren’t things to casually talk about. But you felt it important at this moment to make sure Chungha knew that you weren’t being callous.

“Oh? That makes sense though, you’ve never wanted kids and it doesn’t surprise me that Hoseok doesn’t want them either then. So that leaves Jungkook, huh?” Soyeon chuckles, leaning back against the couch and stroking at Kasumi’s ears gently. You wonder what she’ll say, given it’d mean her best friend having Jungkook’s baby before she does.

Some women wouldn’t be on board with that, and you suppose it’s a sign of how much Chungha loves and trusts you both that she’s querying you both with this. On the other hand, you have complete confidence that if you both turned her down then she wouldn’t be offended and they would instead use a sperm bank as she’d said.

Chungha turns more to Soyeon, playing with her hands as her nerves ramp up. It must be affecting Ciri because the dog sits up, tilting her head and staring almost in concern at your friend. Smiling, you scoop Ciri into your lap and scratch behind her ears until her back leg is going.

“You can say no, I won’t be offended. Nor would Dahyun, if she could be here. We don’t expect anything. I just wanted to ask you both first because I felt it’d be rude of me to just go to him instead of querying with you two. You’re my best friends and they are your boyfriends after all. Also, Jungkook can definitely say no too. Once again, we don’t expect him to agree if he’s not comfortable with it. I just...wanted to ask, you know? We kinda considered all of Hoseok’s friends because neither of us has many male friends and we’d love to be able to have a better idea of the donor’s personality, a more detailed medical history and everything. Plus, with us having to do everything medically then it helps to make it a little more ‘normal’ for us. He doesn’t have to be involved in the baby’s life if he doesn’t want to be, otherwise, I’d just like for him to be known as an uncle. In the future, we’d tell them who their sperm donor was if Jungkook was okay with it and they wanted to know.” You find yourself nodding, appreciating the fact that Chungha and Dahyun have thought this through.

While Soyeon might agree to let them ask Jungkook, there was every chance that Jungkook might not want to agree anyway. Maybe he doesn’t like the idea of another woman having his baby, even if he won’t have any rights to it. Some people didn’t like things like that. Or maybe he just didn’t want to, for whatever reason.

The fact that she was making it clear that Jungkook and Soyeon were both allowed, even encouraged, to say no if they felt uncomfortable at any moment settled you. You didn’t want to think that your friends were being forced or coerced into something just because they felt that they had to do it.

“Would it be cheaper though? I mean, I’m assuming they’d have to do tests and stuff to make sure he’s not got any diseases or genetic things that they ideally don’t want to pass on? Doesn’t that cost a lot?” Chungha sighs and nods, her lips turning down slightly.

“We would, but the difference is that I doubt we’d have to do those tests often. So if he agreed then we’d have the tests done but then after that, we don’t pay anything else. The sperm bank that was recommended to us is $1000 for just one vial of sperm. So if that doesn’t work then we have to pay out again. And I’m not saying we wouldn’t pay Jungkook, we’re both willing to offer but the idea of being stung for that much for a tiny vial is painful.” The price makes your eyes bulge while Soyeon’s jaw drops.

“Holy shit! A thousand dollars for something he just washes away? Fucking hell, he’s wasting thousands every time he jacks off. Oh my god, that must be the most expensive thing I’ve ever had in my mouth then.” Snorting, you bite your lip in amusement as you consider how many times Hoseok had ejaculated with you. Though you doubted the man was getting anywhere near a thousand dollars, it was still mind-boggling to know that the price tag on a cumshot.

“It’s ridiculous, right? I mean, okay it’s not really because obviously, they have to do all those tests and stuff. But still! You can understand why we were shocked. Either way, if you or Jungkook says no then we’re going to go that way. I want you to know that we’re not laying all our eggs in one basket. No pun intended there.” That makes all of you chuckle, the mood lightening up as you do so.

Reaching forward to the box you’d placed on the coffee table, you grab another cookie before handing more out to the two of them. Each takes one with a grateful smile before biting into it.

“I’m okay with it. I’m not sure whether I want kids or not and I think we’re just taking it as an ‘if it happens then it happens’ approach. So, to me, I’m not bothered if Jungkook says yes. Plus, you’re my best friend and I’d much rather you have a baby where you know the dad and can get more information from him. And oh my god, Jungkook would make such good babies. They’d be adorable and he has the sweetest personality!” Soyeon squeals, shaking the cookie around in excitement as she imagines his metaphorical children.

For a moment, you imagine it as well and can’t help but smile. You certainly hoped that his babies would all get his big, emotive eyes alongside his endearing personality. Before you can comment on it though, Soyeon continues.

“I will make it clear though, that he doesn’t have to say yes. He might not be comfortable with the idea of having someone he knows having his kid. Or he might not like the idea of not being involved in their lives in a father kind of way. On the other hand, he might turn around and say that he isn’t bothered at all and will give you as much as you want. But I want it to be up to him. Thankfully, I’m not a hugely possessive person so I’m not bothered by the idea of his kids with someone else.”

Watching Chungha’s face carefully, you can’t help but smile at the palpable relief that spreads over it upon Soyeon’s words. That smile vanishes though when you see her eyes glisten, the unshed tears forming fast and causing you to gently put Ciri onto the floor before you’re scooting over to her. Wrapping your arms around her, you make reassuring noises.

You’re not one to get emotional, nor can you handle other people’s emotions, but your best friends are different. They’ve been in your life for long enough by now that you feel the urge to care for them, to listen to their worries and soothe their fears. Seeing Chungha, who is normally so strong, starting to cry at Soyeon’s words makes your stomach hurt.

“Hey, hey!” Soyeon gushes, rushing over to the other side of Chungha until you’re all in some kind of weird cuddle fest. It just makes Chungha let out a laughing sob, the sound thick as the tears slowly start to fall.

“I’m sorry. I just didn’t know if I was doing the right thing asking you both this. I know it’s something so big and important. You might have told me to fuck off and got angry with me at even thinking of it and I was so scared that you’d be annoyed by it. I mean, how many other people are going to ask their friends if they can have some of their boyfriends’ sperm to knock up their partner?” Wiping at her tears, you tut softly as you try to erase the eyeliner and mascara that’s begun to smear as well.

“I mean, it is a slightly odd ask. I think we can both agree with that,” Soyeon nods in agreement, running her fingers through Chungha’s hair. “But we’re your best friends. You didn’t demand this from us, you gave us a choice and made it clear we can deny it. I’ll be honest, if Hoseok hadn’t got the snip then I would’ve said no. I’m not personally comfortable with the idea of someone else having his baby. But I know that you would have accepted that choice and not tried to push me. Same as you’ll accept whatever decision Jungkook makes.”

“Yeah, she’s right. We love you, and we know you love us which is why you felt you could ask this of us. I’m more than happy to help my best friend start her family and I know that Dahyun has made you happier than anyone else has over the years. If everything works out then I’m going to be the coolest aunt ever.” Grinning brightly, Soyeon manages to succeed in making Chungha laugh softly.

Getting up, you rush off to the bathroom before coming back and handing her some tissue and make-up remover wipes to clean up her face. A brief smile of gratitude is given to you before she proceeds to scrub at her face.

“You’ll both be great auntie’s. Even if you’re not going to be hugely into the whole thing.” She’s looking at you then, wry amusement in her eyes as her lips twist slightly. Feeling heat spread in embarrassment at her words, you shrug and murmur an apology.

“Don’t worry, we won’t push anything on you. That is, even if it manages to happen. Who knows, maybe we’ll get approved for adoption super quick and we go through that first instead? I have no idea what’s going to happen.” At that moment, Ciri decides to make her presence annoy with a shrill yap.

Looking down at the floor, you chuckle at the sight of her annoyed face that she got pushed off the couch. Reaching out, she jumps up and wiggles herself so that she’s half on Chungha and half on you.

“Okay, I think we’ve had enough emotional and in-depth talks for today. Or at least, for this hour. How about we put on YouTube and just start watching animals being funny? Cheer us all up.” Reaching out for the controller, you exit Netflix as Soyeon nods.

The conversation isn’t quite over, you can tell that much, but you know that for now it’s just being put onto the back burner. You don’t have much more participation you can give the whole thing given you’re not being involved in it, but you’re sure that Chungha and Soyeon will talk everything out much more in-depth before Soyeon asks Jungkook.

It’s an important topic but given Chungha’s emotional nature right now, you don’t want to push it any further just yet. Instead, you figure it’s time to lighten the mood a little before any more serious talk can be had.

“Find one of those TikTok compilations, they’re so funny.” This comes from Soyeon as she points at the screen.

“What? No way, you have to watch like 20 TikTok’s to find one funny one. Vine was so much better.”

“Those are fighting words.”

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obsidianfr3sk · 3 years

Text

the star of my sky

@renegadesnet event 8: friendship february

↪ [ Kasumi Hasegawa & Evander Wade / “If you'll be my star, I'll be your sky.”]

Summary: She could imagine her future, but she couldn't imagine herself not being friends with Evander. Kasumi would never be able to take her things and move to another place where he was not part of it. Because Kasumi would never voluntarily leave her home. And Evander had been her home since the first moment he walked through that door.

AO3

Hi, there!! This is my entry for the event 8 of @renegadesnet. I hope I’m not too late x’d in my time zone, it’s 9:06PM right now, so... I guess I’m fine. I feel like an irresponsible high schooler summiting her homework at 11:59pm... No, wait, that’s actually what I am.

Well x’d as you could see from the caption, this a fic focused on Evander and Kasumi’s friendship. I don’t even know why I’m so invested in this... made-up relationship (since they didn’t interact at all in canon) but I think it all began because when I started writing fics about the Council, I remembered Hugh and Simon weren’t the only members of it and that the rest of them needed to have, you know, personalities and relationships between them, details that MM seemed to forgot jaja. And these two just inmediatly made click with each other, at least in my head, and I’ve been dying to write something about them for a long time, but I think I never worked up the courage to actually do it until now:’) I’m even thinking about a small sequel but yeah

Despite what I said before (that for me the interest in these two started when I began to write my own fics) my dear mother Dawn ( @honey-hippie-harper) had a lot of very interesting headcanons about the whole dynamic the Council had during the Age of Anarchy, and two of those headcanons are that they all slept in the same bed they had at Simon’s basement and that when Adrian was born they decided that it would be better if some of them moved somewhere else, so it would be harder for people to discover their true indentities. Georgia and Adrian moved to an apartment Simon got for them, Simon and Hugh move to another one, and Tamaya got her own place, while Kasumi and Evander stayed at the Westwood house. So, for this fic, I decided to write based on those two specific headcanons. All credits to her!

Also this is gonna sound super weird but here I mention that Evander wears a cap x’d and that’s based on my other mother Wins ( @healing-winston-pratt) design of him, which you can find here! You know the drill, gente x’d go, like and reblog it!

Dawnie, Winston, this is a fic dedicaded to the two of you. Thank you for being such good mothers and friends to me✨

Since this an “unpopular” brotp I’m not quite sure who to tag, I really don’t want to bother anyone x’d but, @all-weather-is-bad and @ifyouhadntbutyoudid, I know you guys also love their dynamic so I think you may be interested on reading this! And if you also like my work, please like and reblog, it means the world to me <3

Also please forget any grammar/spelling mistakes, I feel phisically sick right now because I took a pill and it’s making me so freaking dizzy I think I’m gonna throw up or something x’d

I live to let you shine,

but you can skyrocket away from me,

and never come back if you find another galaxy,

far from here, with more room to fly.

Just leave me your stardust to remember you by.

The last days they spent living in the house were somewhat chaotic. Perhaps a part of it was due to the fact that now that Adrian was with them, they were all deprived of sleep. However, Kasumi was sure that it also had a lot to do with the fact that they had not realized how much of a mess the whole house actually was until the time to move out came and they couldn’t find their things.

Well, she wasn't moving out. But the rest of them were.

And that was something that Kasumi had been thinking about a lot since the moment that Georgie's pregnancy was made public, but that she had never dared to say it out loud because she was too afraid of the answer.

She didn’t have to say anything though. They gave her an answer as if she had asked them; her family loved to give their opinions even when nobody asked them to do it.

It turns out that they could no longer live in Simon's house.

At least not the six— seven of them.

The city had gone crazy with Adrian’s birth (or Baby Indomitable, as they had affectionately named him), and while it was a good type of crazy, it also made them a little nervous that this new member of the family would put their secret identities at risk. Now, every time they came out in their civilian form, people were going to be looking everywhere for a woman who looked like Georgie, was holding a newborn baby and, as a bonus, was accompanied by some blond or brunette guy, a red-haired boy or a girl with dark hair.

Yes, they couldn’t take that risk.

“… But when you want to open that door,” Simon was telling her, “you have to push it with your shoulder, because if you don't—”

“It will not open,” Kasumi said.

“It's not going to open,” Simon agreed.

“She lives here too, Simon,” Tamaya said washing the glass in which she had been drinking water. “She knows how to open the door.”

All six of them were sitting at the dining room table. Georgie was nursing Adrian, while the rest ate a tasteless soup that they had made three days ago and that was surely going to spoil if they did not eat it that night.

“Yes, but there is anything wrong with remembering important points,” Simon noticed. “It is the first time that she will live alone.”

“She won't be alone,” Evander exclaimed suddenly. “She's going to be with me,” and he continued sipping the soup.

Hugh scowled at him. “Stop sipping your soup, Evander.”

But that only made him sip the soup harder. Hugh rolled his eyes and Georgie put Adrian on her shoulder to make him burp.

“I still can't find my cap,” Evander continued, touching his hair. “It seems to me like you have it in your box and wanna steal it.”

“Why would I want to steal your cap?”

“Maybe because you don't have one.”

At that moment, Adrian burped and Hugh's face lit up.

“That's what I think of your stupid cap,” he replied, pointing at Adrian.

Even Kasumi laughed at that joke. But Evander didn't find it funny.

“Good thing you're leaving now,” he said, clenching to the spoon with which he was eating his soup. “I don’t like any of you.”

“You don’t even like Kasumi?” Georgie asked, pretending to be surprised. Simon took Adrian in his arms so she could adjust her blouse properly.

Before Evander could answer, Hugh did it for him. “I heard him say in his sleep that he hated Kasumi the most.”

Evander tried to throw the spoon at him, but Tamaya grabbed his wrist and nearly ripped off his hand.

“Not in my watch, you fu—”

“Tamaya,” Georgie scolded her. “Remember what I told you.”

Tamaya looked at Adrian for a second and then focused her gaze on the ceiling. “Not in my watch, you ... f-u-c-k-i-n-g punk.”

“Are we spelling curse words now?” Simon asked.

“Jesus fu—“ Hugh stopped himself. “Wait ... f-u ... c ... k ...”

“Uh, someone can’t spell f-u-c-k-i-n-g,” Evander laughed out loud.

Georgie chimed in before Hugh threw his spoon at Evander. “At least when we're in Adrian's presence,” she said. “I don't want him to learn those words from you. Now that you are his aunts and uncles, you have to set a good example for him.”

Simon passed Adrian to Georgie again, and Kasumi stared at him, wondering if she was going to be able to set a good example for him and what things could she teach him to do.

Perhaps she could teach him to swim. Or to dance. Although Kasumi did not know how to dance, and the truth was that she did not think she would be able to explain why she knew how to swim. No one had ever taught her to do it; she just knew it. She wasn't quite sure how swimming worked on people who didn't have water-related powers. (Tamaya had once told her that babies could be thrown into the water and their instinct to swim would come out on their own, but Kasumi would never throw a baby as pretty as Adrian into the water.) (She would never throw a baby into the water in general though, even if the baby was ugly.)

Or maybe she could teach him to play with dolls. Several Christmases ago, the others bought her an old rag doll with their savings, which she named Aiko. Kasumi took her everywhere, pretended to share her food with her during dinner, and tucked her every night in a shoebox that she had found and now used as the doll's cradle. The others realized how much she liked her gift, so for her ninth birthday, they gave her a beautiful doll with blonde hair and a pink princess dress, named Isabella. Kasumi didn't realize how much she was playing with the new doll, until one day she was having a tea party with Hugh and Simon (because that's the kind of thing Georgie told them to do, so Kasumi wouldn’t feel alone), and Hugh asked her, very into in his role of a rich lady from the Victorian era, why Duchess Aiko hadn't attended that afternoon. Then, Kasumi remembered that she hadn't gotten her out of her bed that morning and she began to cry.

Simon immediately went over to hug her and asked Hugh to hand the doll to him, but Kasumi was so embarrassed, she didn't even want to look at her in the eyes. When Hugh tried to give her the doll, Kasumi screamed as if she had seen a rat and not her favorite toy, which made Tamaya go downstairs to see what was happening, probably thinking Hugh and Simon were bullying Kasumi into insanity or something.

Now that she thought about it, it was kind of funny to remember the face Tamaya made when she saw Kasumi screaming, clinging to her two friends with all the strength she had, and without them taking off the fake pearl necklaces and hats they had put on for the occasion. It had probably been very funny to her too because as soon as saw the scene, she called Georgie and ran away from there, with one hand over her mouth and making strange noises.

Georgie played dolls with her more often from then on. When Kasumi overcame her fear of running out of love to give her toys (and made it known to her friends as if she had learned how to drive or graduated college), Georgie bought her a third doll, which had bunny ears, a white apron, and had Mimi embroidered on her hand. Now that they had three dolls, Tamaya was able to join them during their games, but Tamaya always came up with very morbid ones, such as that the dolls were a family of poor girls who had to play the guitar to earn some money or that they were housewives of wealthy gentlemen who mistreated them, so they planned to poison them during a business dinner to keep their money. These games scandalized Georgie, but Kasumi did like them and when they started to stop playing with her, she would sit her three dolls in a circle and stare at them, fantasizing about the outcomes of those stories they had left incomplete.

Those were the kinds of things that made Kasumi think that she had a good childhood. And that wasn't something many child prodigies could say.

If Adrian turned out to be a prodigy, she wanted to be a part of those kinds of stories so when Adrian grew up and remembered how his first years were, he would be able to say that they had been good and that Kasumi had the honor of being part of them, in the same way Kasumi could say that Georgie (his mother) had done the same for her.

Simon had told her that the place Georgie and Adrian were moving to was not too far from the house, but Kasumi wasn't so sure.

Everything would be easier if they all stayed together.

Although she supposed that having her family separated was better than having no family.

Right?

***

Not all prodigies were lucky enough to have a home.

Kasumi, for a long time, had been one of those prodigies. Her parents abandoned her when she was a baby, and she didn't think orphanages could be considered homes. Mainly because "home" wasn't the brick structure with four walls and a roof that protected you from the heat in the summer or the freezing winds in the winter.

A home was made by the people you lived with.

And they had proved it to her.

Georgie had told her a little bit about the days she lived on the streets after escaping from her father's house and told her that while she was wandering around town, she had seen a few children (who clearly were all prodigies) looking for food in the garbage or fighting each other over a piece of blanket to cover themselves from the sun. That she, at the time, had criticized them for behaving like savages, but that now, she could only feel sorry for them because it was probably the only thing they knew and it was their way of surviving, wondering if she had ended up like that too.

Kasumi… all of them had been very fortunate to have found a home in each other.

That was why it hurt so much to close the door behind her and realize that the house felt completely empty for the first time in all her life.

The first hours being in the house alone, Kasumi tried to distract herself by embroidering. She took out a pink sweater that she had wanted to embroider daisies on for a while now and she sat in the living room. She thought about whether it would be a good idea to turn on the television, but the only thing she could watch were very tacky cartoons some cheap animation studio made about the Renegades, and she didn't have the strength to be angry at the horrible (and even offensive) way they were drawn, especially the girls, Simon, and herself, so she just tried to blank her mind and focus on the task.

Georgie had taught them to embroider and Kasumi was obsessing over it. She had already embroidered their names on all the pieces of clothing they allowed her until Hugh had to put an end to it because they simply couldn’t be giving away personal information to strange people on the streets (“Yes, Kasumi, having our names embroider on our clothes is giving personal information to strangers, I’m sorry.”). Simon also no longer let her do that whole name thing, but he did let her embroider a tiny skeleton with an arrow going through his heart on the edge of his jeans. Tamaya was the one who had more difficulty learning how to do it, but over time she kind of got the hang of it, and Georgie spent much of her pregnancy adding details to the simple onesies she bought for Adrian.

Kasumi didn’t want to brag, but she was the one who had learned to embroider the fastest. She remembered taking Evander’s old clothes to practice and even embroidered golden stars on his white pajama pants. She wasn't quite sure if he was still wearing them, but she thought they look really well, especially when she (unintentionally) compared it to the other’s work.

However, Kasumi couldn't smile right now.

She may have learned to embroider faster than them.

But she was growing up slower than them.

She was not talking about her physical appearance or things like that. Despite eating a very poor diet, Kasumi had managed to grow ... what she had to grow. She was not abnormally short and, when she got up, she did not get dizzy, like Simon (who spent a week having panic attacks every morning, thinking they were signs of early anemia). Yes, Tamaya and Georgie already looked like grown-up women, but it was because they were grown-up women. Besides that, Georgie had told her all girls were different and beautiful in their way; the important thing was that Kasumi was healthy and that she felt comfortable in her own skin. Now, Kasumi did not feel super comfortable in her own skin, but perhaps it was because she was a teenager, and as someone who had lived with teenagers before, she knew they could be deeply insecure about their body.

(Kasumi practically grew up listening to Simon crying about his body hair, Georgie complaining about how greasy her skin got when she was about to have her period, Tamaya ranting about his wings and nose, and Hugh saying that he felt he was too big and grotesque to be a real human being. She did not understand why they thought such things. She considered that if Simon grew a beard in the future it would look very good on him, Georgie had a beautiful smile, Tamaya's features reminded her of those of a goddess, and... fine, she wasn't quite sure what exactly Hugh was complaining about, but it didn’t feel right to tell him how to live his insecurities and tried to be as assuring with him as she was with the rest of her family when she heard them make those comments about themselves.)

No, what Kasumi was referring to was that they all seemed to be growing in other areas of their life.

And she did not.

Georgie was a mom now. A single mom, who had her own apartment, in a beautiful area, near a park where she would surely spend hours fooling around with her baby. Hugh and Simon were officially a couple, and they had moved in together in a seedy, filthy, smelly apartment, but they talked about it like it was their dream house or something. Lastly, even though Tamaya wasn't living with anyone in particular, she thought that moving into her own place was a big step and that it could be good for her.

And again, maybe it was because of her age, but… But Kasumi didn't see herself doing any of those things.

She couldn't imagine having kids. She perhaps could imagine herself holding someone's hand and looking at each other with the same adoration that Hugh and Simon looked at each other, but that person still did not have a face in her imagination, which according to her family, “was the most vivid imagination it had ever existed”. Much less did she see herself capable of taking her things and simply moving to another place, as if it hadn't taken her years to find a place (find people) that she could call home.

Kasumi pricked herself with the needle.

She knew they weren't abandoning her. They would continue to see each other very often, at the Headquarters or during the missions. Tamaya had assured them she would visit them constantly to make sure the house was not on fire, and the others had said similar things, hinting that they would be doing the same thing.

The backyard door opened. “Kasumi!”

But even if she knew it, even if she was aware that all those feelings of abandonment were completely irrational, her anxieties were more powerful.

“Hey, Kasumi.”

What if they found another Kasumi? What if they found someone who loved them the same way she loved them? What if their interests changed over the years? What if, after meeting new people and having new experiences, Kasumi seemed more and more replaceable over time?

“Kasumi ...”

What if Kasumi was left so far behind that she ended up getting buried by all their new memories, forgotten behind the door of an empty room, which was as dark as a starless night sky?

“Zoomie!”

She pricked herself with the needle again and realized that Evander had been talking to her.

She put her finger to her mouth and raised her eyebrows. Evander wasn’t wearing his shoes, but the edges of his pants covered in mud, hinting that he had been playing outside. He was wearing his cap. Apparently, Hugh hadn't stolen it.

Kasumi wondered where he had left it and how he had found it.

“I’m gonna take a shower,” he announced. “Or… do you wanna take a shower first?”

Kasumi shook her head; she had already showered earlier that day.

“Well—” she looked at the sweater that Kasumi was embroidering. “What are you doing?”

She took a look at the sweater; the daisies were pretty nice. However, when she looked out the window, she realized that it was already dark outside and that her eyes were getting too tired.

“I’m… I’m going to sleep,” she replied.

Evander nodded and she headed for the basement.

***

If she believed that being in the lonely living room had been a nightmare in which her most invasive thoughts had taken complete control of her, it was because she had no idea what kind of things awaited her in the basement.

The basement. That basement where they had all slept together for so many years, and that a few days ago had seemed too small for them, but now it looked huge.

Never in her life had she had a bed to herself. At the orphanage, she shared a bed with other girls, and when she arrived at Simon's house, the five of them took turns to sleep in the twin-sized bed. Later, when Simon's parents left the house, instead of going to sleep in one of the upstairs rooms like normal people, they brought the double bed to the basement and put them together to create a larger bed.

There was something about sharing a bed with your family. A new kind of intimacy that Kasumi never thought she would ever experience.

Because she never thought that she would ever have a family in the first place.

She had to admit that it could be awkward at times. In the summer, the basement got very humid, and Kasumi, who slept between Georgia and Tamaya, felt like she was suffocating, and during winter, it was an eternal battle for the blankets.

There were also times when Georgia and Tamaya would talk late into the night. Kasumi didn't participate in those conversations but she did pay a lot of attention to them, turning to see the one who was talking and then turning to see the other, as if her eyes were following the sound of their voices. Although they tried to keep their tone down, they couldn't contain their giggles. One time they were so loud that Simon told them to be quiet while calling them “scandalous chickens”. Tamaya went wild over that comment and only calmed down because Simon almost burst into tears as he begged her to forgive him and assured her that he wasn't trying to make fun of her.

And, a few years later, he arrived.

“Zoomie—”

This time he didn't have to call her twice for her to hear him. “I already got out of the shower.”

Suddenly, she could see Hugh and Tamaya sitting on the bed. She was lying on her stomach and he was leaning against a pile of pillows, loudly arguing about why putting ketchup on the pizza was a crime against humanity and that Hugh should see a psychiatrist for thinking "that fucking shit" tasted good. But when they listened to what Evander said, they suddenly interrupted their discussion, and said, “Thanks for telling us— ” “ —but literally no one asked, ” before starting to yell at each other again.

If she didn't feel like she was going to cry at any moment, she probably would have laughed a little. She always laughed at Hugh and Tamaya's jokes.

“I mean… in case you wanna take a shower now.”

Simon was there too. He was pulling his pajamas and a pair of socks (that used to be white but had turned pink after finishing in the wrong batch of clothes) out of the drawers, and said, looking disapprovingly at the others, “Well, I did ask him because I do want to take a shower.”

He and Kasumi had that in common: they like to shower every day, and if they didn’t, their anxiety kicked in.

“Or if… you know, you want to brush your teeth. I already brushed mine.”

Then Georgie walked over to them, gently took Evander by the cheeks, and said, “Let me see; blow” in the same tone she used to order him to show her the empty plate after making a dish that had lots of vegetables on it, or when she asked him to close his eyes each time they came across a particularly violent scene while they were strolling through town in their civilian clothes.

She never needed to ask her to do that. Kasumi didn’t lie about brushing her teeth, she ate all her vegetables and she did close her eyes when she saw people (not villains or heroes; people) fighting in the middle of the street without anyone having to remind her.

In a blink, they all disappeared.

But Kasumi was still there.

And Evander too.

“I WANT THIS ONE!” he squealed before getting into the larger bed. He took one of the pillows and began rubbing his head against it. “Finally ... a bed all to myself.”

At least one of them was happy about it.

***

When Kasumi came back from brushing her teeth, put on her pajamas, and braided her hair so it wouldn’t get all tangled during the night, Evander was staring at the ceiling, completely still. He did not greet Kasumi when she entered, nor did he say anything to her when she sat on the twin-sized bed.

The beds were still together, but Kasumi felt like they had already separated them.

Then, she remembered that they had left the blankets drying in the backyard. Terrible decision. They were going to freeze to death.

She sighed and fumbled for something to cover herself while she went outside to get them when Evander stood up on the bed and spread with all his might a heavy (and filthy) red blanket they weren’t able to fit inside the washing machine and was left there on the floor like it was nothing.

Kasumi felt the blanket as the warmest of hugs. It covered most of the twin-sized bed and half of the other.

“If you steal the blanket,” Evander said lying down again, “I'm going to put my cold feet on you.”

She lay down too.

She did see him capable of doing that.

Evander was capable of a lot of things.

***

When Evander arrived, one of the first things she did was ask Georgie where he was going to sleep.

Oh, because Kasumi knew they were going to keep him. They just had to.

Georgie told her that he would sleep with the rest of them, and that was completely fine to her. At least until problems started to appear.

To begin with, he didn't fit in the boy's bed; he and Simon would do it perfectly, but Hugh was too big and took up much of the mattress.

“You are a monstrosity of a human being,” Evander blurted out. “No offense.”

“I'd take it as a compliment,” Hugh assured.

In the double bed, they were going through a similar situation. The three of them fit, but barely, not to mention that Tamaya had to sleep in very specific a position so she wouldn’t hurt her wings. Georgie assured that she would not let anyone sleep on the floor.

So Evander ended up sleeping in the space between the two beds, one part of his body over one mattress and one part on the other.

Kasumi wondered if he had difficulties adjusting to this new lifestyle. Although he hardly spoke about what his life had been like before joining the Renegades (as he had named them), she had heard Georgie tell Tamaya about how much he kicked her during the night or that Hugh confessing to Simon that it saddened him to hear him cry for his mom during the night (“Don’t tell him I said that though.”)

Maybe it was that Evander was not used to sharing a bed with other people, and he was even less used to those people taking years to react when the two beds accidentally separated, making him fell and hit his head.

‘Cause that happened.

“Georgie… the kid fell.”

“Hey, you asshole, stop cuddling with your— friend and help him.”

“We’re preparing him for the blows life is going to throw at him.”

“Simon, darling, I'd expect that kind of comment from Hugh, but from you—”

“I think I’m bleeding…”

That was enough to make Kasumi react. She got off the bed (kicking Georgie and Tamaya in the process), helped him get up, and, after making sure he was not bleeding, dusted off his clothes and hair.

“Are you okay, Vandy?” she asked him.

Evander looked at her with teary eyes and told her he was fine. Hugh put the beds back together (after Tamaya threw a shoe at him to make him react) and Georgie cuddled with her (probably to prevent her from throwing more shoes), so he and Kasumi slept next to each other the rest of the night.

She did not quite understand what Georgie and Hugh were talking about in those conversations that she overheard them having with Tamaya and Simon. Evander didn't kick her and she didn't hear him cry.

The next night, a few hours before making their first public appearance as the Renegades, Kasumi was in the living room, playing with her dolls (or staring at them while imagining the scenarios) when Evander appeared.

“How old are you?” he asked her.

“Excuse me?”

“How old are you?” he repeated.

For some reason, Kasumi had a little trouble remembering how old she was. “I'm thirteen,” she finally answered.

Evander nodded and sat on the floor, between two of her dolls, without Kasumi inviting him. She didn't quite know how to feel about it.

“Georgie is nineteen,” she kept saying. “And Tamaya eighteen, and—”

“And Simon and Hugh are sixteen,” Evander finished. “Yes, I know. I've asked them.”

Kasumi looked down. Thanks for telling us, but literally no one asked.

“I’m nine years old—” and he showed her nine of his fingers.

She wanted to tell him she thought he was a lot younger, but… yes, no one had asked. So she kept quiet.

The next thing Evander asked was:

“Do you like to play with dolls?”

So Kasumi smiled, and answered him:

“I love playing with dolls.”

“I never play with dolls,” Evander told her wrinkling his nose. “It’s for… girls.”

“Georgie says that all games are for girls, boys, and anyone who falls in between those,” Kasumi quoted solemnly. “Hugh and Simon played dolls with me all the time.”

Now it was Evander who looked away. “I don't think Hugh and Simon want to play with me,” he muttered.

“Why?” she asked him.

He shrugged. “It seems to me that… older kids have other things they worry about. Also, they’ve been friends since before I arrived.”

Kasumi thought that the word "friends" was not the most appropriate word to describe their relationship. Or that was what she had heard Tamaya say that afternoon, and when she was thirteen, all her opinions were opinions that other people had before, like the one about “All games are for girls, boys, and anyone who falls between those” that Georgie told her.

Speaking of them…

“Tamaya and Georgie don't want to play with me anymore,” she confessed quietly.

“Were they friends before you arrived?”

Kasumi shook her head and played with the loose thread on her skirt. “No, but I guess… people grow up. People grow up and that's it.”

Who knows if Evander understood what she meant by that. Kasumi herself didn't know what she had meant.

But Evander asked another question again.

“Can I play dolls with you, Kasumi?”

And Kasumi smiled.

Again.

“I'd loved if you played dolls with me, Evander.”

“You can call me Vandy.”

Kasumi smiled even more. “Seriously?”

“Yes, I really liked it when you called me that yesterday,” he replied. “Actually, I hadn't spoken to you all day because I was looking for an equally cool nickname to give you.”

She supposed that if he was already talking to her, that meant he had found a nickname. “And which one is it?”

Evander smiled at him too. “Zoomie.”

Zoomie was the best nickname anyone could have come up with.

It turned out that Evander was even better at imitating Victorian lady voices than Hugh and Simon. He was also not scandalized by the dramatic stories she invented, and even came up with the plot’s darkest moments. They had to be dragged to bed, and Georgie made the serious mistake of letting them sleep together again; they talked for hours until Simon asked them to be quiet with a not very family-friendly vocabulary. He even used the F-word (the same one that Hugh apparently couldn't spell). It was kind of shocking, but they let it go because it was Simon, and Simon would have done the same if it had been the other way around.

The third night they slept together, Tamaya snapped and threw her other shoe at them. In her opinion, the situation had become insufferable and others supported her. Georgie sat them at the dining room the next morning and told them that although she was very glad they were friends, she will have to go back to sleep between them because they were messing with everyone’s sleep schedule.

It was the first time that someone addressed them as "friends." Kasumi was so happy about it that she didn’t even complain about Georgie’s decision.

She had never had a friend just for herself.

But even after this new adjustment, Evander kept being… a mess. He kept talking before going to sleep, just that this time, his partner in crime was Hugh. At first, Kasumi thought Hugh was going to ignore him, but he genuinely seemed interested in the comic books Evander talked him about and even began reading some of them. Tamaya threw at them all the shoes they had, but not even with that she managed to shut them up, and they had to took away all the objects that could be thrown that were on her side of the bed so that she did not end up seriously hurting someone. Simon once remarked that he almost fell out of bed because Evander just moved too much, and when they hinted that he was just angry that Hugh no longer cuddled with him while he slept because he was too busy talking with Evander, he ignored them the rest of the day. Georgie kept waking up feeling her body all soar (“Evander kicks like a soccer player, I swear”), but she still was the first to comfort him when nightmares haunted him in the middle of the night.

She had never seen him like that though.

Not until now.

Kasumi felt the bed so empty that she couldn't fall asleep. Her eyes were closed, but her mind was racing, thinking about all the scenarios in which all had gone wrong and now her family (Adrian included) was being taken to the cathedral to be publicly executed by Ace Anarchy himself. She felt the other bed's mattress and the blanket moving at the same time that Evander did, while he babbled things that Kasumi couldn't understand.

At least until she felt a warm pair of her hands grip her wrists so tightly that it made her open her eyes violently and scream.

Her first instinct was to think those hands belonged to some anarchist, ready to pull her out of bed and drag her into the depths of limbo, but it didn't take her long to recognize them.

They were the same hands that played dolls with her when she was younger, that gently pulled her ponytail when she zoned out in the middle of interviews and wanted to make her react, and they were the same hands that took hers and rubbed them during cold days because he knew Kasumi didn’t like wearing gloves but her hands were still so cold that he feared they would get all frozen and fall.

Evander was so close to her, that even in the dark, she could see that he was frowning and clenching his jaw while moving his legs as if he was trying to get away from something.

“Stop… stop, stop… stop,” he pleaded with someone who wasn't really there.

But Kasumi was there.

“Evander, Evander, it's me,” she whispered. “Evander, it's me.”

Evander kept kicking, kept running, and kept pleading.

“Stop, stop…”

“It's me, Evander,” she insisted. “Evander…”

Then, she remembered what the keyword was.

“It's me, Vandy—” she put a hand in his hair “—It's me…”

Evander progressively released her wrists, and as he did so, he opened his eyes, filled with tears and fear.

Kasumi felt her lips tremble, and she…

Understood. She understood those conversations she heard them had.

But what she did not understand was how they did not break with him to see him like that. All trembling, teary, and…

Small.

Really, really small.

She really didn’t.

However, a part of her must have understood because although Kasumi felt a bump in her throat, she did not shed a single tear. Not even when he, with a voice more broken than she had ever heard came out of him, whispered:

“Zoomie?”

She didn't stop stroking his hair. “I heard you talking in your sleep.”

“Zoomie—“ he put a hand on her cheek “—Zoomie, I had a bad dream.”

She was not surprised.

Kasumi put her free hand over his. “Do you wanna tell me about it?”

She had always been told that sharing dreams, especially unpleasant ones, could help. Kasumi was very lucky that most of her dreams were pretty ones, like days at the beach, swimming with dolphins, or romantic boat rides because she dreamed pretty often. Simon also dreamed a lot, but they were more nightmares than anything else, like when he dreamed that a couple dressed in black came to the house and wanted to take him out of the city, speaking in a language he did not understand and calling him “Simón” instead of “Simon”. The others did not dream as often as they did, but Georgie once dreamed that she crashed into a plane while flying and the plane exploded with a lot of people inside, Tamaya that some goats chewed the feathers of his wings, and there was a time when Hugh claimed to have constant nightmares about everyone in the house dying of a mysterious illness and school recitals (“... and I've never even been to a school recital!”)

She knew all that because many times they had come to her and to tell her, “Kasumi, I just had a horrible nightmare and I hope you can give me tell what it means.”

Maybe if Evander told her what his dream was about, she could help him.

However, Evander told her that he didn't feel like talking about it.

Kasumi got it. After all, it was the first time she woke him up from a nightmare.

Nightmares could be very private.

“It's okay ... will you ... will you let me rub your back, then?” she asked him.

He nodded very slowly and Kasumi moved closer to him, to the point that they both were practically over the space between the two beds. She had half of her body on one mattress, and him in the other.

Kasumi had war flashbacks, and Evander too.

“This are the blows Simon told me life will throw at me,” he stammered with a sniffle.

Kasumi gave a soft laugh and started rubbing his back. She discreetly smelt his hair. “Your hair is really soft after you wash it.”

“Thank you.”

“You should probably do it more often...”

Evander didn't respond.

He just burst into tears.

“You aren't gonna leave me, are you?” he asked her.

“What?”

Evander tried to wipe the tears away with the blanket, but that only made him cry even louder and his sentences get more incomprehensible.

“Like— you ...” he sobbed, “you aren't gonna leave me like the rest of them, right?”

Immediately, Kasumi knew who he was referring to and her heart shrunk as her brain was able to process what he had said.

“They didn’t leave us,” she replied, brushing his hair behind his ears, “they just—”

“Grew up.”

Kasumi got chills. His tone had felt so cold and distant for a moment. “Yeah. That’s kind of how life is.”

Instinctively, the two of them pressed their foreheads against each other, and Kasumi noticed that Evander was sweating, but she was not disgusted by any means.

She was just deeply concerned about him.

“You're getting older,” Evander whispered. “You're probably not gonna like me in a couple of years.”

She already had the answer for that on the tip of her tongue. But she remembered all her insecurities and she stopped being so sure if she would be telling the truth if she were to answer him at that moment.

And she would never lie to him on purpose.

So although Kasumi did not like to imagine how her life would be in the future, she tried to do so, only to confirm her idea.

She imagined herself as an adult. A little more confident, powerful, and, God willing, a little taller. She envisioned a future in which none of her family members would forget her and she could become part of Adrian's childhood memories. She would help Georgie to take care of him so that she could spend time by herself because only God knew how much that woman needed time for herself. Tamaya would introduce them to the young man she had talked about so much lately, the doctor who helped her heal when her wing got hurt and he would be as nice as she had promised. She was even able to see herself being a bridesmaid at Hugh and Simon's wedding when they finally made her relationship public and reminded the whole world that it was still possible to love in a city that seemed so full of hate.

She could imagine her future, but she couldn't imagine herself not being friends with Evander.

Kasumi would never be able to take her things and move to another place where he was not part of it. Because Kasumi would never voluntarily leave her home.

And Evander had been her home since the first moment he walked through that door.

“Don’t be silly. I'll always like you,” she assured him, stroking his hair again. “And most importantly... I will always be here for you.” And unintentionally, she added, “Even when you grow up, and you do not like me anymore.”

Evander pulled away slightly from her and stared into her eyes for a long time. She thought maybe that's how she looked when she was imagining something too.

Only... with a less puffy face.

“I'm always gonna be there for you too,” he replied. “And I’ll always like you, and I’ll always love you. You know that, right?”

Kasumi didn't know how to answer.

She… she didn’t.

Like— she knew he liked her, but she didn’t think he loved her.

It was a nice thing to hear.

“No,” she mumbled, brushing off the tears that rolled down his face with her thumb. “But ... thank you.”

Then, Evander was able to regain his composure and rubbed his hands all over his face tightly as if he was trying to wipe the tears out of his eyes. Kasumi took that opportunity to change her position and allow him to put his head on her chest.

“When I'm rich and famous, I'll buy you a house,” Evander told her, trying to hide the nasal voice that had remained after crying as hard as he just did. “It will be near my mansion.”

Kasumi pinched his cheek. “So you get a mansion and I get a house. How nice of you.”

“I know” he replied with a proud smile.

The audacity.

But that was not the time.

She took the tip of the blanket. It almost fell from the bed during the attack.

“Come on ...” she whispered, covering him up to his chin. “Go back to sleep.”

“Are you going back to sleep too?”

“Yes,” she lied to him.

But as Evander immediately knew he was lying, it didn't count as a lie at all.

“Liar,” he laughed. “Don’t be silly. I wanna stay up with you too.”

Kasumi didn't find a reason why she wouldn't let him.

After all, there was no one to throw shoes at them or to shut them up unkindly anymore. There wasn't even someone who would leave them on the floor if they fell out of bed or who would come between them anymore because they all thought putting them together was going to cause the apocalypse or something.

It hurt a little bit to think about that, but at the same time, it hurt less than before.

“Did I tell you I found my cap?”

Kasumi remembered the entire cap fight. “No, but I noticed.”

“Do you wanna know where it was, Zoomie?”

“Where was your cap, Vandy?”

Evander not only told her about how he had found his cap; he also talked to her about her whole day in detail and made jokes that made Kasumi laugh out loud and her eyes itch.

She didn’t know if it was because she had been holding back her tears for so long, or if it was because it was during the night when one could see the stars, and Evander was pure light in those very moments.

The next morning, when they saw the others again at the Headquarters, Kasumi no longer felt abandoned, or as she was going to fuse with the darkness of that empty room where they supposedly left her because there was no room to begin with. But even if that did happen, and she ended up becoming one with the night sky, she knew that she was going to at least have one star to shine on her and assure her that neither of them would ever truly be alone if they had each other.

#renegadesnet #renegades #archenemies #supernova #renegades trilogy #kasumi hasegawa #evander wade #obsi's writs

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theforsakenprince · 3 years

Text

One Cannot be Brave (Who has no Fear)

Chapter 2

Previous Masterlist Next

Summary: Virgil has hated the Renegades all his life, ever since they had failed to save his family. He’s made it his mission to take down the Renegades, and he’ll do anything to achieve his goal-even become one of them and tear them apart from the inside.

Based on Renegades by Marissa Meyer.

Pairings: Eventual Prinxiety, platonic Intruality

Words: 2145

Warnings: knives, blood, (let me know if I need to tag anything!

Virgil slung his bag over his shoulder and started his climb up the building. He climbed past the first six stories before pulling himself onto the roof of the building. He dropped into a crouch, rummaging through his bag, pulling out the suit Janus had helped make. He slung his tool belt around his waist, where it hung comfortably. It was outfitted with specially crafted pockets and hooks where he could store his favorite inventions. Next, he pulled on his jacket- both waterproof and flame proof. He zipped it up to his neck and pulled up his hood, overshadowing his eyes. The mask came last. It was a hard, metallic shell that covered the lower half of his face.

Then, he stooped low and pulled out the rifle and single poisoned dart from his bag.

“Where are you, Nightmare?” Phobia rasped.

“I’m almost in position,” Virgil replied, walking over to the edge of the roof. The noises of the celebration below weren’t as loud up here, and for that he was grateful. The street was a mess of parade floats, confetti, and people.

Virgil loaded the dart into the gun’s chamber.

Ingrid was the one to come up with the simple plan. When she’d told the group, Winston had complained about not being included, but Phobia pointed out that Winston, who most people knew as the Puppeteer, wasn’t capable of keeping anything simple.

So it was only the three of them on the field. Virgil had one dart crafted by Leroy Flinn, their poisons specialist. Leroy had offered to make him more, but he declined. He only needed one to finish the job. If he missed, he wouldn’t get a second chance.

But he wouldn’t miss. He was going to kill the Captain.

Once he was hit, Ingrid the Detonator would emerge and hit the Council’s float with her signature explosives. Phobia would focus on Thunderbird. As the only member of the Council that could fly, she would have an unfair advantage. There were rumors that she was deathly afraid of snakes, and Phobia specialized in fears. Best case scenario, he’d give her a heart attack midair.

And that was it- the Council, the five original Renegades- all eradicated at once.

And it all started with Virgil getting past Captain Chromium’s invincibility.

“Nightmare, you in position?”

“I’m here, Detonator. Relax.”

“You have 45 seconds to make the shot,” Phobia informed him.

“Cutting it a bit close, don’t you think?” Ingrid said.

Virgil took out his rifle and looked through the scope. Though he couldn’t see the Council’s float yet, he could tell by the excited cheers that it was close.

“Well done, Nightmare,” the Detonator said.

“He hasn’t done anything yet,” Phobia replied.

“Yeah, but isn’t it nice to have a shooter on the team again?”

“Would you two zip it?” Virgil grumbled, looking through the scope again. Below, the Council’s float moved into view. It was an enormous tiered structure that made him think The Council thought they were gods.

Scratch that. They definitely thought they were gods.

Tamaya Rae- or as the rest of the world knew her, Thunderbird- stood on the first pedestal, her black wings almost spanning the width of the float. She occasionally sent bolts of lightning to further ignite the storm clouds at her feet.

Blacklight was on the second tier, shooting fireworks from his fingertips. With his red beard and curly mustache, Virgil had always thought Evander Wade looked more like a mustache twirling villain than a superhero.

Next was Kasumi Hasegawa. She stood, barely moving with her arms extended, manipulating the fish filled water that surrounded her.

The fourth pedestal appeared to be empty at first glance, which meant that Simon Westwood was standing there. Sure enough, The Dread Warden flickered into view. A second later, he went invisible again, and the crowd roared in wonder as he reappeared not on his own pedestal, but on the fifth and tallest platform, Captain Chromium’s.

Captain Chromium rolled his eyes and looked over his shoulder at the Dread Warden. They shared a look that was disgustingly endearing. Virgil resisted the urge to gag.

Virgil eased himself into position, calculating the angle and distance.

The Dread Warden disappeared and reappeared again on his own platform, leaving Captain Chromium alone on the top pedestal.

As the crowd’s cheering grew louder, he reached for a display stand at his side. His hands wrapped around a long metal pike, lifting it overhead. His smile never wavered the entire time.

Virgil’s heart stopped.

“Is that…?”

“Don’t dwell on it,” Phobia hissed.

“Don’t dwell on what?” Ingrid asked.

Virgil was unable to respond.

Captain Chromium, the beloved superhero, had Ace Anarchy’s helmet skewered at the top of the pike.

Ingrid’s voice came through the headset again, understanding as the float passed into her view. “Oh…” Virgil barely heard her. He was too busy grinding his teeth until his jaw hurt.

He was six years old again, afraid. Devastated. Staring up into those eyes behind the helmet.

The Renegades had not come. But he had. Maybe not soon enough to save his family, but still, he had come.

That was more than the Renegades could say, anyway.

“You’re dwelling,” Phobia said, not an ounce of sympathy in his voice.

Virgil growled. “Am not.”

“It’s alright, Nightmare,” Ingrid said. “We’re doing this for Ace, aren’t we? Use that anger. Avenge him.”

Virgil took a deep breath. He looked through the scope, lining up the sights.

It had to be the eye. Anywhere else, and it would just bounce off his impenetrable skin.

His aim had to be perfect.

And it would be.

The Street below began to fall silent, drowned out by the roaring in his ears. The

Captain’s blue eye came into focus.

“Pull the trigger,” He whispered. He curled his finger over the trigger.

The Council may have been getting older, but they still held all the power.

“Pull the trigger, Virgil.”

This was the best opportunity to take down the entire Renegade Council.

All he had to do was pull the trigger.

A bug flew into his vision. He waved it away, irritated.

He found his target again. The Captain turned slightly toward him.

Virgil started to squeeze the trigger when something landed on the end of his rifle. He lifted his eyes to see a crow staring back at him.

He lifted his gaze to the sky, where a murder of crows hovered. Dozens of wings flapped as the crows stared at him with their black, beady eyes.

He sighed. “We’ve got company.”

“What is it? The Renegades?”

He didn’t answer. The float was turning. Five seconds left, at most.

Virgil looked through the sights and found the Captain’s eye again.

Captain Chromium lifted his eyes, almost looking directly at him.

He pulled the trigger.

To his dismay, the Captain turned slightly, and the dart struck his temple. The needle tip snapped off.

Captain Chromium jerked to attention, scanning the rooftops. He alerted the others, and they began looking too.

“Shit,” he muttered as he ducked behind the ledge.

Suddenly, one of the crows snatched the rifle out of his hands, squawking. He leapt to his feet and whirled around.

The crows converged into the form of a pale teenage boy with glasses. He gripped the rifle as he glared at Virgil. He wore the Renegade uniform- a form-fitting outfit that went from his neck down to his boots. A red R was emblazoned on his chest.

A small black cat clambered onto the roof before shifting into another teenage boy. He was also wearing the Renegade uniform. His hair looked like it hadn’t been brushed in days.

Virgil growled. Crow and Copycat.

Virgil had met them once before, when he had tried to steal from a pharmacy for supplies, but there had been more of them.

He raised an eyebrow. “Where are the rest of you? Watching the parade?”

As soon as he had said it, the utility elevator dinged, and a third Renegade walked out- a boy with light brown skin and dark hair. He walked with a limp and a cane. Faint tendrils of smoke followed him in his wake.

Smokescreen.

Virgil smirked. “That’s more like it.”

Ingrid’s voice crackled in his voice. “Nightmare, what’s going on over there?”

Virgil ignored her.

“Nightmare,” Smokescreen said, adjusting his glasses. “Long time no see.”

Without replying, he reached for his belt and drew out two throwing stars, throwing them at Copycat and Crow. Copycat dodged. Crow dissolved into a flock of birds.

A bolt of black smoke struck Virgil in the face. He stumbled back, snarling.

“Nightmare, what is going on?” Ingrid asked again. Virgil snarled and turned the transmitter off.

He shook his head to clear the smoke, but only succeeded in making his eyes burn. He forced them open anyway, only catching a glimpse of a streak of black before Crow was right in front of him. He grunted as Crow elbowed him in the stomach and he fell to the ground. He rolled out of the way of another attack from Copycat and jumped to his feet, ignoring the pain in his gut and the tears that blurred his vision.

Something hooked beneath his chin, pulling against his throat- Smokescreen’s cane. He yanked him backward, grabbing his arm as soon as Virgil was close enough.

“Your days of villainy are over, Nightmare,” Smokescreen said.

Virgil fought a snicker. “You sound like you’ve read too many comic books.”

“Is that really a bad thing?”

Virgil felt around for his hands on either side of the cane, but found no exposed skin.

Smokescreen’s grip tightened. “Are you working alone?”

In front of him, Copycat picked up the two throwing stars he had flung and, after inspecting each very carefully, crushed them under his boots.

Virgil scowled.

Crow formed again, glaring down at him. “I believe you were asked a question.”

Ignoring Crow, Virgil grabbed Smokescreen’s cane and kicked back, Wrenching the cane away. Smokescreen landed on his back with a grunt.

Virgil struck the back of Crow’s knees with the cane before discarding it in favor of another throwing star. Before he could throw it, however, Copycat shifted into a large dog and tackled him to the ground. He rested a paw on Virgil’s throat with just enough pressure for it to hurt.

“Who,” Copycat said, lips pulled back in a snarl, “are you working for?”

Virgil smiled slowly. He couldn’t resist a good play on words. “Your worst Nightmare.” he put a hand on Copycat’s furry leg and let his power flow through him. Copycat slowly shifted back into human form and fell to the ground beside him, unconscious.

A wave of mist suddenly rolled across the rooftop. Virgil huffed in frustration as he scanned the rooftop for Smokescreen, but the mist was too thick to see. He unhooked a dagger from his belt, gripping it tightly.

He spotted a dark shape- his duffel bag. He dove toward it and picked it up.

Crow suddenly appeared out of the mist, a fist aimed for his head. Virgil ducked and stabbed upward, but he dissolved into a flock of crows just as the knife met flesh.

The smoke began to clear, and Virgil spotted his escape route- The rooftop next to him with a ladder that went back down to street level.

“Crow!” Smokescreen shouted.

Virgil paused long enough to see Crow back in human form, pressing a hand to his side. His gray suit was dark with blood.

Turning back to the other building, Virgil took a slight step back before leaping the gap. He landed on his stomach and he laid there for a second, catching his breath.

He quickly got to his feet and started to run to the far side of the roof when a large figure jumped up from the street below. They landed in front of him with a clang.

Rather than the gray bodysuit the Renegades wore, the stranger was dressed in something better described as armor. Metal plates covered his body, and his face was masked by a helmet and black visor. The Renegade R was emblazoned on their chest, but it didn’t look like any Renegade suit Virgil had seen. Perhaps a new model?

Though he couldn’t see their eyes, he could feel them staring at him as he took a step back.

“Can’t say I’ve seen you before,” Virgil said.

They tilted their head. “I’ve been around long enough to know who you are, Nightmare.” their voice was definitely male.

Virgil’s fingers skimmed his belt, but he wasn’t sure any of his weapons would be effective. “Is that supposed to flatter me?”

Before the stranger could reply, a bout of high pitched laughter echoed throughout the streets. The sound was all too familiar.

Virgil winced. “What is that idiot doing here?”

Taglist: @meowthefluffy (Ask to be added or removed!)

#prinxiety #sanders sides #ts sides #ts virgil #virgil sanders #ts logan #ts remus #ts patton #logan sanders #remus sanders #patton sanders #intruality #platnonic intruality #blood tw #knife tw #arctic's writing

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yusuke-of-valla · 3 years

Text

like rats fleeing a sinking ship, pt. 10

Whumptober 2020 Day 15: Into The Unknown

Prompt: Possession

TW: guns, fight scenes, canon typical violence

<- Previous Next ->

AO3

Only the tips of some of the tallest buildings are visible from where Kasumi stands on Shido’s ship. Akira had warned her about this, but it’s still off-putting. The rest of Tokyo was still normal in the previous two Palaces she’d seen.

Kasumi doesn’t want to think about what that means about the ruler.

“Are you ready to go?” Akec- er Crow asks, tapping a boot against the deck of the ship.

“Sorry!” Kasumi says.

“We need to give Yoshizawa a codename first though.” Mona points out.

Crow stares at her for a second. “Gymnast?”

“We’re not calling her that.” Skull says. “How about… Red?”

“At least my idea was unique to her. That could just as easily describe Panther.”

“But Panther’s already Panther, so.”

“How about Mist?” Joker suggests. “You know, since it’s Kasumi in English?”

“Isn’t that a little tasteless?” Crow asks.

“It’s better than Gymnast ”

“That’s not-”

“I love it!” Kasumi says. “From now on, I’ll be Mist.”

Crow tilts his head at her for a second, but throws his arms up. “Fine, whatever. Let’s just go.”

Joker takes the lead, putting Mist, Crow, and Noir in the front group. Mona and Queen hold back and focus on navigating.

The Palace is crawling with shadows, and Joker leads them through the halls, until eventually they arrive at a large pair of doors.

“So this is where the Treasure is?” Mist asks.

“Yep, we’ve got three of the five letters of recommendation we need,” Panther says. “We were still going to grab info about the IT company president since he apparently never leaves his room.”

“We can go over the plan once we get to the safe room down the hall.”

Mist goes ahead a bit and stops at a door. “This one?” she asks.

“Yep.”

Mist pushes the door open.

“Duck!”

She drops to the ground before the Shadow behind the door can swing at where her head was, and Joker is quick to shoot it.

The guard stumbles backwards, then splits into three shadows.

One that looks like a large white lion breathes fire at her, but Mist manages to cartwheel out of the way, just barely singed. She isn’t so lucky when another shadow, a big snowman king thing swings his staff at her.

“Mist!”

Queen throws out her hand, and suddenly a golden wall like a vault appears in front of Mist, and though she takes the hit, it doesn’t hurt as much.

“Thanks Queen!” Mist says. She calls Cendrillion to pierce the shadow with Illusory swords.

Joker pulls his new gun out, and blasts a ray of ice at the lion-shaped shadow, freezing it solid. In the meantime, Noir and Crow have managed to knock down the other two, and Joker gives the signal to finish them off.

Ths shadows defeated, Mist takes a second to catch her breath. “Sorry.”

“It’s not your fault.” Joker pants, “there should definitely have been a safe room there, though.”

“There was.” Mona says. “It’s not there anymore.”

“So Shido’s cognition is shifting,” Queen says.

Skull scratches his head. “So what? Like, the cocky bastard feels like he has more control over things, so there aren’t as many places where the cognition is weaker.”

“Something like that.” Crow says.

“Wow. I didn’t think I could hate him more!” Skull sighs. “On the bright side, new gun’s working well!”

Joker grins and reloads the gun Skull had designed for him. Skull had explained earlier that while realistic guns were useful, since the Metaverse was based on cognition, they could probably get away with using guns that wouldn’t work in reality but were accurate replicas of weapons from movies and video games. Joker’s new freeze ray was a replica of a villain’s weapon from the Cake Knight Rises movies.

“Well there have to still be some safe rooms around, right?” Panther asks.

“Sure, they’ll just be fewer and farther between,” Queen explains. “It’s not ideal, but it’s still manageable. We just need to do our best to conserve energy.”

Joker nods. “We’ll switch up our strategy to rotate people out a bit more frequently.”

“Sounds good.” Noir says. “Anyway, I believe the last time we were here, we were going to try the restaurant to see about getting up to the IT president’s room.”

Everyone nods, and they make their way to the restaurant. Mist is impressed with how efficiently Joker leads them around corners, and the way he seems to know where enemies are. There’s a swell of pride in her chest when she sees Joker backflip away from a shadow to get the drop on it.

They do eventually find a safe room that is still a safe room, and they rest there for a bit before checking the restaurant.

They get the room number from the restaurant, then head to the side deck of the ship.

“Crow, are you alright?” Mist asks at one point when they’re both in the reserve group.

“Of course I am, why wouldn’t I be?”

“You’re just trailing behind the others, I was worried something was wrong.”

Crow shrugs. “I’m just focused on the mission.”

“Sure but even fights, the others compliment each other and stuff but you’re mostly quiet.”

“Why would I? I’m not part of the team, or anything.”

“You’re not?” Mist asks, tilting her head a bit.

“No, I am definitely not.”

“Oh,” Mist says, trying to conceal her smile.

“That makes you happy?”

“No! No, I’m sorry,” Mist says quickly. “I guess it just makes me feel better that I’m not the only outsider on the team.”

“I wouldn't really call you an outsider. They definitely consider you an equal part of their team.”

“But not you?”

“No.”

“Well,” Mist says, “even if they would consider me part of the team, I think I’ll stay back here with you. I don’t want you to be lonely after all.”

“I’m fine.”

“Nope,” Mist says, grinning. “Still going to stick around.”

“You wouldn’t say that if you knew everything about me,” Crow says in a threatening tone.

Mist hums. “I think I would. I can tell, senpai. You may be a more… intense kind of person than I was expecting, but you care deep down.”

Crow stops for a second, then runs to catch up with Mist. “Anyway, while it’s just the two of us, I meant to ask you something earlier. Why does Joker keep calling you ‘Kasumi’?”

“Senpai! Codenames. ”

“Huh?”

“You’re supposed to use my codename, not my real name,” Mist admonishes.

“But-”

“Hey, hurry up, we’re here!” Skull shouts.

“Sorry,” Mist replies, hopping across balconies to join the others.

“Not a problem,” Joker says. “So this seems like the president’s room, we just have to figure out how to get the letter of recommendation out of him.”

“Ask nicely?” Crow says, holding up his gun pointedly.

Queen shakes her head. “We want to avoid a fight as much as possible, if we can. We still need to get the letter from the Cleaner after all.”

“It wouldn’t be much of a fight, I assure you.”

“How did you get the other letters?” Mist asks.

“Well we basically just asked for most of them. In some cases we had to lie to convince them we deserved it, but yeah.” Skull says.

“So we should just go in and ask?”

“That might not be a good idea,” Mona says, frowning. “With the way Shido’s cognition has been shifting recently, the shadows might recognize you as the Phantom Thieves right away, even if you changed.”

“Well, I’m not wanted. I could ask,” Mist offers.

“Are you sure?” Panther asks.

“Sure! Don’t worry, I’ve got this!”

Mist climbs into the IT president’s room. “Hello, sir!” she says cheerily.

The president startles backwards. “Huh? Who are you?”

“I’m so sorry, but I’m looking to get a letter of introduction to Mr. Shido,” Mist says, “and I’m just such a big fan of your company and your work, that I had to ask you!”

The president looks skeptical, and Mist continues.

“I know you’re a very private person, but since you’re Mr. Shido’s favorite co-conspirator, I thought I just had to get his letter over anyone else’s!”

“Well, Captain Shido does appreciate my genius,” the president says after a moment.” You know I created the fake Mejed for him and manipulated the results of the Phantom Thieves’ polls? And I erased all this Cognitive Psience research, clean off the net!

“Wow! That’s so astounding!” Mist says. “No wonder Mr. Shido speaks so highly of you! So can I have a letter?”

“Well, you’ve convinced me.” The IT president points to the desk, and one of the women in the room with him grabs a pen and paper off of it. “So tell me, are you a fan of my companies’ products?”

“Yes, sir! Huge fan!”

“Then you’ve got the latest model phone?”

“Uh, well no. I mean, my dad won’t let me get a new one.”

“So you have last year’s?”

“Can you just give me the letter.”

The president rips the letter from the note pad and holds it back. “Show me your phone.”

Reluctantly, Mist pulls out her phone.

The IT president nearly gags at the sight of it. “That thing is ancient. You’re no fan of my company!”

“Are you serious?” Mist groans. “Uggh, fine.” She lunges forward and grabs the letter out of the IT president’s hands.

“You little- I’ll kill you!” the president roars before he and the women with him transform into shadows.

“You could have just given me the letter!” Mist shouts, dodging his attacks. “Guys, I could use some help!”

The other Phantom Thieves burst into the room. Panther is the first to act, wrapping her whip around one of the shadows beside the IT president and sending a jolt of electricity through it, shocking the shadow. Joker shoots it, causing it to drop to the ground.

The IT president meanwhile is still focused on Mist, who blocks one of his attacks with Cendrillion. Skull takes the opportunity to use the bed as a spring board, jumping on the shadow and slamming his pipe down on its head.

“Gah!” the shadow president cries, but Crow doesn’t give him much time to react, rushing forward and having Loki unleash a brutal barrage of attacks on it.

Noir uses psykokinesis to take down the other shadow, knocking all three of them down.

At Joker’s cue, the Phantom Thieves attack simultaneously.

The shadows revert to their more humanoid forms.

“Anything you want to tell us?” Mona demands.

“N-no! I don’t know anything about the mental shutdowns, I just or anything, I just extracted, deleted, and encrypted the research! I promise.”

“So you’re useless to us, then,” Crow says, pointing his gun at the IT president’s head.

“Crow, no!” Mist says, grabbing his arm.

Crow scoffs. “Fine, let’s go.”

Once everyone is back on the balcony, Mist turns to the others. “I’m sorry I couldn’t get the letter.”

“Oh you were fine,” Panther says, patting Mist on the shoulder. “That went about as well as literally every other time we tried to get a letter.”

“But you said to avoid a fight.”

“And you did the best you could!” Queen says. “You were great, believe me.”

Mist feels a weight leave her shoulders. “Thank you! I’m happy to help!”

“Hell yeah! So that’s four letters down, one to go,” Skull says. “We just need to get something from that Cleaner guy next, right?”

“We’ve checked all over the ship though, where could he be?” Mona asks.

“The engine?” Joker suggests.

Panther frowns. “Have we seen an engine, though?”

“Skull noticed smoke before,” Queen points out.

“So let’s find a way into the engine room.”

After a bit of searching, Joker eventually spots a grate with smoke coming out of it. “I think this is our way in,” he says.

They bust the grate open, and crawl through the vents. Sure enough, it empties out into the engine room, and they can see the Cleaner.

“There he is!” Mona whispers.

“Can we do this my way?” Crow asks.

“I don’t know,” Noir says.

“He’s Yakuza, we’re not going to be able to just ask him nicely,” Crow bites back.

“I think Crow’s right, Noir,” Joker says. “We might just have to fight through this one.”

Crow grins. “Thank you!”

“Hey, you!” Crow calls out as soon as they’re out of the vents.

The Cleaner turns around and groans when he sees them. “What?”

“We need a letter of introduction to see Shido.”

“Sorry, can’t help you,” he says, shrugging. “I’m fresh out.”

Crow summons Loki. “I wasn’t asking.”

“Crow, look out!” Mona calls, suddenly.

Crow turns around just inside to avoid the bullet that ricochets off the metal walls of the engine room.

“Don’t worry, I can handle these ones,” the cognitive Goro Akechi says, grinning maniacally.

“Sounds great,” the Cleaner replies, walking off.

“Oh no you don’t!” Skull shouts, chasing after him, but Cognitive Akechi snaps his fingers and suddenly a group of Shadows appear in Skull’s path, knocking him back.

“Skull!” Panther shouts, running to his side.

“I’m fine,” Skull mutters as he sits up

“Now, I can finally get rid of you all at once!” Cognitive Akechi says. “Our glorious captain will be so happy.”

“I’m going to enjoy wiping that smug look off of your face,” Crow says. He pulls out his sword and charges towards Cognitive Akechi, but Cognitive Akechi dodges.

A shadow leaps towards Crow, but Mist manages to knock it away with a well-timed strike from Cendrillion. “Careful, Crow!”

Crow grits his teeth. “I’m fine!”

“Skull, Noir, Panther! Handle the small fry,” Joker says. “The rest of us need to focus on the Cognitive Akechi!

Everyone except Crow, who’s mainly focused on attacking his double, gives their affirmations.

Queen summons Anat and boosts everyone’s defense, while Mona attacks Cognitive Akechi aside. Unfortunately, Cognitive Akechi blasts Crow away with an Almighty attack and kicks Mona across the room like he’s a soccer ball.

“Loki!” Crow calls, “Laevateinn!” The Persona appears in a burst of energy and rushes at Cognitive Akechi, causing him to stumble backwards.

Meanwhile, Noir summons Astarte to unload hail of bullets on the shadows while Panther heals Skull up. Skull’s quick to get back on his feet and has Seiten Taisei sends ripples of electricity through the metal floor to hit all of the shadows.

While Cognitive Akechi is focused on Crow and Loki, Mist catches him off guard with a Kougaon. The bless attack calls him to stumble back, dazed.

“He’s weak to bless!” Queen calls out.

Crow grins. “Perfect.” With a flick of his wrist, Loki disappears and Robin Hood appears in its place. Joker follows his cue and switches to Dominion, and they follow up with two bless attacks of their own.

The cognition drops to one knee, panting. Crow strides over to him, and points a gun at his doppleganger’s head. “Well, this has been fun, but I’ve had enough of you.”

“Oh, I assure you, the fun isn’t over,” Cognitive Akechi says. He snaps his fingers again, and Crow doesn’t have time to attack before another shadow rushes him.

Joker quickly uses his grappling hook to pull the shadow off of Crow, but in that time, another reinforcement has healed Cognitive Akechi up.

Crow summons Robin Hood and cast Kougaon again, but instead of knocking him down, the attack is reflected back in Crow’s direction.

“Shit,”

“I got ya!” Mona says, healing Crow.

Crow looks around and sees the others aren’t fairing much better. The new reinforcements are overwhelming them, to the point that Noir has been knocked out and Queen has to help Panther and Skull fend them off.

“Aw, Akechi, are you worried about your friends?” Cognitive Akechi asks. “Don’t worry, you really should be more worried about yourself.”

Suddenly, a curse attacks rams into Akechi’s side, sending him across the room. When he looks up, he expects to see a shadow, but instead it’s Joker stalking towards him with a blank expression.

“Joker-senpai, what are you doing?” Mist asks.

“He’s been brainwashed,” Mona explains.

“That’s just great .” Crow spits out. Joker charges towards him, knife drawn, but Crow manages to parry with his sword.

“Mona-senpai, what do we do?” Mist asks.

“We have to find the shadow that’s brainwashing Joker and defeat it.”

“Alright! Hold on Crow, don’t hurt him too much,” Mist shouts as she attacks the shadow Joker had been fighting.

“No guarantees,” Crow mutters under his breath.

Mist and Mona manage to defeat the shadow Joker had been fighting, but it doesn’t help.

“Mona, which one brainwashed him?” Mist asks.

“I don’t know!” Mona says. There are about five shadows left, and they have no way of knowing which one brainwashed Joker.

Crow drops down and sweeps Joker’s legs. While Joker’s down, Crow tries to charge at his cognitive double again.

Unfortunately, he feels something wrap around his leg, and Crow’s legs are pulled out from under him by Joker’s grappling hook. He tries to get up quickly, but just ends up staring down the barrel of Joker’s gun.

“This has been fun, hasn’t it?” Cognitive Akechi says.

“Joker! Don’t do it!” Mist calls, but Joker doesn’t react. She tries to run over to sop him, but one of the other shadows stands in her path.

“Damn it!” Mona says, helping Mist. “Joker, you have to snap out of it!”

“I don’t think that’s going to happen,” Cognitive Akechi says, watching as all the other Thieves are occupied with the shadows. “Now then, I think it’s finally time to take out the trash. Any final words.”

“Fuck you.”

Cognitive Akechi rolls his eyes, and motions for Joker to shoot.

Joker pulls the trigger, and a bang goes off.

But.

Instead of the feeling of a bullet entering his skull, a shimmering barrier appears in front of Crow that seems to have absorbed the attack.

Before anyone can really attack, a large chunk of ice flies right past Cognitive Akechi, hitting and freezing another shadow instead.

“Fox, you idiot, you missed! ” Crow shouts as Fox rushes into the engine room.

“I wasn’t aiming for him, Crow,” Fox shouts as he shatters the shadow. Suddenly, Joker clutches his head and stumbles backwards. “And that’s not the polite way to thank someone for saving your life.”

“Fox?” Joker says, still shaking his head. “God, I hate being brainwashed. How’d you get here?”

“I saw you guys were in trouble so we got here as fast as we could!” Joker jumps at the sound of Oracle’s voice. “F- Oracle ! Where’d you come from?”

“We can explain later,” Oracle says, “for now, you might want to get rid of that other shadow that can brainwash people.”

“A-Alright,” Joker says, before summoning Arsene and attacking the shadow Oracle pointed out.

Fox helps Mona and Mist, allowing Mona to revive Noir. Queen hits the two remaining shadows with a massive nuclear attack, destroying them

Meanwhile, Crow goes back to focusing on his double.

“Noir, while he’s distracted, use psykokinesis on the cognition!” Oracle says as soon as she’s up.

“When did-”

“We’ll explain later!” Oracle snaps, “just do it!”

Haru does, and the blast causes Cognitive Akechi to stumble backwards, allowing Crow to get a good hit on him.

“He’s switched resistances again!” Oracle says. “Ok, before he gets the chance to call for more reinforcements... uh… new girl! Hit the cognition with another bless attack.”

“Oh, me?” Mist asks. “Ok! Cendrillion!”

“Now we need fire, Panther!” Oracle calls out!

“Hecate!”

“Don’t let up! Hit him Skull!”

“Seiten Taisei!”

With each hit, Cognitive Akechi looks worse and worse for wear. He’s clutching his side and panting.

“He’s on his last legs! We just need to hit him with a curse attack.”

Crow locks eyes with Joker. “Ready?”

Joker smirks. “More than ever.”

“Loki!”

“Arsene!”

“Eigaon,” the shout simultaneously. The two personas work in tandem, unleashing a curse attack that pushes Cognitive Akechi straight into the wall. The cognition tries to get up, but ultimately dissolves.

“Finally.” Crow sighs.

Suddenly, Skull shouts. “What the hell?”

Crow and Joker quickly pull their weapons to deal with the new threat.

“What’s wrong?” Joker asks.

“Oracle’s a ghost!” To prove his point, Skull sticks his hand through Oracle’s head.

“I’m not a ghost. I’m broadcasting into the Metaverse from outside Tokyo,” Oracle says.

“You can do that?” Queen gasps.

“With a lot of help. I met these guys called the shadow operatives, and a couple of them have the same powers as me so we can combine them to increase the range of my scanning.”

“Woah, really?” Panther asks.

“Yeah. Oh also, one of the people helping me is Rise Kujikawa, by the way.”

Panther’s eyes widen. “Ok now you’re messing with me!”

“No she’s legit here! Say hi Rise!”

Futaba’s form flickers and Rise Kujikawa stands in front of them. “Hello!”

“Oh my gosh it’s Risette.” Mist gasps.

“This is the coolest thing to have happened to me, ever.” Skull says. “Can I get an autograph?”

“I can give one to Futaba-chan for you!” Risette says. Then her form shifts again, and Futaba is back.

“Thank you! That’s the reaction I was looking for! Inari wasn’t impressed at all!”

“I told you that I was happy for you.” Fox says, walking towards the others with a slight limp.

“This is the coolest thing ever, I was expecting something a bit more excited!”

“Alright,” Queen says before the bickering can get out of hand. “We need to return to the real world soon, we’re all pretty banged up.”

“We still need to get that last letter of recommendation!” Crow says.

“None of us can handle another fight,” Mona says. “And you were the one that said we probably weren’t going to get a letter from the Cleaner by asking nicely!”

“We don’t have time to waste though!”

“Um if all we need is the Cleaner’s letter,” Fox says, reaching into his pocket. “I’ve got that one.”

The other Thieves stare at him.

“How?” Joker asks.

Fox and Oracle share a look.

“There’s a lot you need to catch up on,” Oracle says. “Lemme find you guys a safe room nearby, then Fox can tell you the whole story.”

#alto writes #whumptober2020 #which i'm still writing in december because I am very slow and very impulsive #on the run au #persona 5 #p5r spoilers #kinda sorta but not really? like it makes more sense if you've already played the third semester but you know just to be safe #wordcount: 3500-4000 #brainwashing tw #this is me stretching the prompt but my house my rules :p #yes this might be the most self-indulgent chapter I've written so far #no.15

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ranma-rewatch · 3 years

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Episode 20: You Really Do Hate Cats!

(CONTENT WARNING: This blog post contains discussion of phobias, child abuse, and people doing the worst thing to intensify those problems. Those things are in the show, I didn’t just bring them up out of nowhere.)

Well, it’s that time again. Time to grab a balloon and tell my friends what I think of an episode of Ranma 1/2. We’re starting the first arc of season two with this episode, though oddly enough I feel like I mostly remember what stuff is going to happen in it. But maybe I don’t remember right? I’d love it if that is the case. Though...speaking of that...there is a certain character I have dreaded appearing in this series, and I’d hoped he wouldn’t appear for a while, but I checked and he appears this season. I...I thought I had more time. Oh well, let’s do this episode and I’ll worry about him when he gets here.

Okay, well, for the most part, this episode is actually a lot better than I remember it being. As it turns out, some of the details mutated in my head in the decade since I last saw it, and I actually thought things were worse than they were.

The episode starts in the Kuno manor, where our favorite swordsman is practicing to once again fight Ranma Saotome. But he’s not alone, because for the first time we meet Kuno’s henchman, Sasuke. He’s a ninja, and he’ll do whatever Kuno tells him to do, but he probably won’t do it very well.

From there, we see Ranma’s dad is training him in stupid ways again, and they get back to the house to find Shampoo has mailed Ranma something from China: a pink cat. That’s a problem, because Ranma has a severe cat phobia. It’s not random, either, Genma directly created it. See, when Ranma was 6, Genma thought he should teach his son Cat Fu, which he heard about from an ancient martial arts manuscript. The way to teach it is to cover the disciple in fish sausage and through them into a room with starving cats.

Obviously, that just ended up traumatizing Ranma, and the very next page of the book would have told Genma that training someone that way is very stupid. Kasumi, drawing on the common misunderstandings people have about exposure therapy, thinks that just inviting a ton of cats to be around will help, but of course it doesn’t, it makes Ranma even more distressed. Sasuke is hiding under the floorboards though, and he runs off to tell Kuno about Ranma’s weakness.

At first, Kuno says something about how he could never cowardly use an opponent’s weakness to unfairly win, but then he still makes Sasuke tell him about it, because he can still use it to win in an honorable way. The plan they go for is pretty ridiculous: they leave a note in Ranma’s locker that Akane’s been kidnapped, and he has to go to the gym to save her. But Akane is standing next to Ranma as he reads the note, so he knows that’s not true.

He goes anyway out of curiosity, only to find Sasuke there dressed up as Akane. With the wrong color wig. Even though the trap keeps failing, Ranma walks into it anyway because he has nothing better to do, until he realizes what is going on: cats. But Ranma manages to fight the fear and pretend he’s okay, hoping to just take Akane out of there, but then it becomes clear Sasuke took the extra step of also bringing an enormous tiger.

That’s when we cut back to Genma and Kasumi, and the old man explains that he tried curing Ranma of his phobia, but his way of doing so was to just keep throwing him at hungry cats, only changing the type of food attached to his body. All of it just made the problem worse, but it also actually led to Ranma developing Cat Fu. When Ranma gets scared enough, his mind just let’s go and he mentally becomes a cat.

That happens in the basement of the school, making it easy for him to beat the tiger and escape, just in time to kick Kuno’s butt without even trying. But he doesn’t stop there, and starts running around the school still acting like a cat. Akane follows him just as the dads show up. Genma says the only way to break Ranma out of it when he was a kid was with the help of a kindly old lady, but she’s dead. So, Genma tries dressing up and doing it himself. That fails, so they try catnip, forgetting that Ranma just thinks he’s a cat, so the stuff doesn’t really affect him.

The situation does kind of solve itself, as Ranma doesn’t attack Akane, as she’s afraid of, but instead curls up in her lap to purr. The whole school is watching, so that’s embarrassing for her, but then he kisses her and she freezes for a second before throwing Ranma into the school pool. Oh, and the pink cat is watching and didn’t like that. The curse activating returns his brain to normal, and Ranma has no clue why he was thrown in a pool. Akane walks home, cursing Ranma for doing that, but sounding conflicted.

So, the big thing I misremembered about this episode was I thought Genma did all the cat stuff with 0 thoughts about how it would affect Ranma and not giving a crap how it affected his son. That is actually not the case, he’s clearly really torn up about the phobia, though he still says some bad stuff about Ranma being ‘unmanly’ for having a phobia. He even tried to cure Ranma, a few times. It’s just that, well, his actions still traumatized Ranma. Sufficient ignorance is indistinguishable from malice, as they say. Genma is still, on the whole, abusive to Ranma in my opinion, but he’s not as bad as he could have been, I have to admit.

This was also just a funny episode. The comedy largely worked, even if some of the jokes didn’t quite land. Kuno and Sasuke were especially good, and I found Ranma fighting his fear both humorous and kind of inspiring. The man has a hell of a willpower. Not going to lie, the Cat-Ranma just immediately going for Akane’s lap and then kissing her was cute, I really liked that. Of course, I’m a sucker for anything with them, so I’m an easy mark there.

It’s also interesting how this works as the first part of a large arc, because if you didn’t know that was the case I can imagine thinking this was just a standalone episode. The pink cat was the impetus for the plot, but it’s what will drive the coming episodes forward.

One thing I found annoying was how different the dub and sub were this time around, in terms of script. The dub had a lot more bashing of Ranma for being scared of cats, including from Akane. That isn’t in the subtitled version at all, and I thought the episode worked a lot better there. I’m always a fan of taking liberties with a localization in order to make the story work better in the new country, but I don’t think we needed Akane insulting Ranma for his trauma.

Hey, a Character Spotlight again! Haven’t had one of these in a bit, and this one is for Sasuke Sarugakure. Let’s start with his voice actors. In the English dub, he’s voiced by Robert O. Smith. Does that name sound familiar? It should, I talked about him recently, since he’s the one who voiced Genma Saotome in the dub as well. His voice for Sasuke is extremely comedic, going for an over-the-top pathetic voice. He makes Sasuke just sound like comic relief, which he is. What’s interesting is what the other actor does with him.

In Japanese, he’s played by Shigeru Chiba, another voice actor from this show in Japan who is just known for a billion things. Standouts include Buggy the Clown in One Piece, Emperor Pilaf and Raditz in the Dragon Ball franchise, and dubbing over John de Lancie as Discord in the Japanese dub of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. I was completely shocked to hear him play Sasuke with more gravitas, using a very serious voice that one would expect from a ninja, which clashed perfectly with the situations and his character design to make the comedy far better than in the dub. One of those rare times I’m actually preferring the Japanese version!

As a character, Sasuke is interesting because he’s not in the manga at all. For reasons none seem to know, the creative team for the anime decided to delay introducing minor character Hikaru Gosenkugi, and replaced him with Sasuke. We’ll get to Hikaru when he appears, but I don’t really mind Sasuke’s addition to the show. Giving Kuno a henchman just makes his dynamic even better, and there’s something I just really like to Sasuke’s almost naive way of trying to plot and scheme. I don’t actually have any deep analysis, at least not as of yet, just wanted to give him a moment in the Spotlight for being something interesting.

I didn’t expect to like this episode so much! It wasn’t great, there were parts I didn’t care for, but on the whole I’m happy to see my expectations overcome. I’m putting this episode in the middle of the pack, at the #10 slot. It was fun, but it has a lot of better episodes when it comes to making me smile. (Or cry.)

Episode 7: Enter Ryoga, the Eternal ‘Lost Boy’

Episode 12: A Woman's Love is War! The Martial Arts Rhythmic Gymnastics Challenge!

Episode 15: Enter Shampoo, the Gung-Ho Girl! I Put My Life in Your Hands

Episode 9: True Confessions! A Girl's Hair is Her Life!

Episode 2: School is No Place for Horsing Around

Episode 19: Clash of the Delivery Girls! The Martial Arts Takeout Race

Episode 6: Akane's Lost Love... These Things Happen, You Know

Episode 13: A Tear in a Girl-Delinquent's Eye? The End of the Martial Arts Rhythmic Gymnastics Challenge!

Episode 17: I Love You, Ranma! Please Don’t Say Goodbye

Episode 20: You Really Do Hate Cats!

Episode 16: Shampoo's Revenge! The Shiatsu Technique That Steals Heart and Soul

Episode 8: School is a Battlefield! Ranma vs. Ryoga

Episode 11: Ranma Meets Love Head-On! Enter the Delinquent Juvenile Gymnast!

Episode 4: Ranma and...Ranma? If It’s Not One Thing, It’s Another

Episode 5: Love Me to the Bone! The Compound Fracture of Akane's Heart

Episode 1: Here’s Ranma

Episode 3: A Sudden Storm of Love

Episode 10: P-P-P-Chan! He's Good For Nothin'

Episode 14: Pelvic Fortune-Telling? Ranma is the No. One Bride in Japan

Episode 18: I Am a Man! Ranma's Going Back to China!?

Next time we’ll continue this tale with "This Ol' Gal's the Leader of the Amazon Tribe!" which, as you might guess from the title, will introduce a new character. This one’s actually from the manga! See you then, y’all.

#episode 20 #You Really Do Hate Cats!#ranma 1/2 #ranma saotome #genma saotome #akane tendo #tatewaki kuno #sasuke sarugakure #anime rewatch #anime analysis #cw: phobia #cw: childhood trauma

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recentanimenews · 3 years

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Jujutsu Kaisen – 17 – Twinception

I think I’m in love. The opening act of this episode is all Zenin Maki, and at no point does she ever lack the upper hand in her duel with Miwa Kasumi. I like Kasumi just fine, but she got some bad advice from Mai about Maki’s limitations. “Grade Four” may be her official classification, but she’s a damn sight better than that, as Kasumi learns the hard way.

Overwhelmed by Maki’s superior strength and reach, Kasumi tries to draw her into her mini-domain in which she auto-attacks anything that comes within a just over two-meter radius. That plan fails when Maki snaps her polearm in two, throws the individual segments at her along with a hidden kunai Kasumi never saw. Maki ends up stealing Kasumi’s sword from right under her nose. All Kasumi can do is weakly ask if Maki will give it back (she won’t).

With that battle pretty much decided (seems someone kind and “normal” as Kasumi would take a sound defeat over having to kill anyone), we shift to Nobara vs. Momo AKA Ghibli Witch. While Kasumi kept things all business, Momo isn’t above trash talking Nobara for her lack of “cuteness”, a quality the Ghibli Witch believes is crucial for a female sorcerer.

Momo rants about the higher-ups demanding not strength from women, but perfection. Meanwhile, Momo can’t fight 100% against Nobara because a part of her is constantly distracted with using her cursed energy around her ears (to prevent a cursed speech ambush from Inumaki). When Momo goes into Mai’s difficult upbringing, Nobara doesn’t want to hear it, because Maki—whom she comes right out and says she loves—suffered the same treatment.

Nobara basically recites her mission statement as a person here: “I don’t give a damn about ‘men’ this and ‘women’ that! I love myself when I’m pretty and all dressed up, and I love myself when I’m being strong!” Realizing once she has her Straw Man Technique all lined up, she switches out her metal hammer for a plastic squeaky one and beats the stuffing out of her opponent, which is the kind of LOL/WTF absurdity I live for.

Were it just Nobara vs. Momo, the former might’ve claimed the win, but the subject of Momo’s sympathy Mai ends up retiring Nobara with a rubber bullet from maximum range. Since Maki is done with Kasumi, she hops into the treetops to face off against her twin, minutes-younger sister.

Through flashbacks we learn that Mai was a scaredy-cat around demons and would’ve been content to accept the Zenin family higher-ups’ estimate of the twins as ultimately good for nothing but servitude at the household. Among the two, only Maki fought against the menial destiny laid out for her and sought out her own, leaving Mai behind. Ultimately, Mai resented her sister not just for lying about remaining by her side, but forcing her to put i the effort to be a Jujutsu sorcerer—something she never wanted to be.

While I sympathize for the way both sisters were treated simply for being women, twins, and lacking the usual qualities of Jujutsu sorcerers, I maintain that Mai is being a whiny little brat. Once she’s fired all six bullets from her revolver, Maki thinks she’s won, but Mei uses her secret ability “construction” that turns her cursed energy into matter—in this case, a seventh bullet.

Just when it looks like Maki is about to get shot in the face, she reaches out and catches the bullet with her bare hands, revealing that she has a unique talent too. In what is essentially the opposite of Mechamaru’s situation, she was was bestowed with superhuman strength in exchange for having no cursed energy whatsoever.

Since Mai can only create one bullet per day, she loses…but doesn’t go quietly, ranting about what was so bad about being ordered around back home, and why Maki didn’t “stay at the bottom” with her. Maki doesn’t mince words: if she did that, they’d still be together, but she’d hate herself. Instead, they’re apart, and Mai hates her instead.

P.S. In this week’s Juju Stroll omake segment, Kasumi gets out of bed for a midnight snack, only to find Momo and Mai eating her edamame. Momo proposes an alternative snack in the form of a seafood ramen cup that’s given richness and an extra kick with milk and red chilies snipped in with scissors. It is indeed tasty…but perhaps a bit too heavy for a midnight snack!

By: braverade

#Anime #News #RABUJOI – An Anime Blog

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veorlian · 4 years

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Idolatry - Renewal

Pairing: Garrus Vakarian/Female Shepard

Rating: T for swearing and stabbing.

Summary: Citadel DLC, Part 2/3. Conclusion to the clone fight, hanging out with friends, and date night.

ao3 link

Excerpt:

“Legion, you know I’ve never played a video game before,” she said wryly. She was sitting on one of her too-large couches as Legion fiddled with the television.

“Acknowledged. Based on previous experience, the adequate response to this statement is ‘git gud, scrub,’ although I have been unable to ascertain its exact meaning,” Legion replied.

It was quiet in the cargo bay. Too damn quiet. Shepard paused just outside of the elevator door, listening. Since she’d gotten the cybernetic upgrades, she’d grown accustomed to dampening her senses. The first few days after her resurrection it had been almost impossible to move without being bombarded with sounds, smells, sights that sent her to her reeling. Now, she tuned back in. She closed her eyes, and she listened.

It was never entirely silent on a ship. The gentle, ever-present hum of the Normandy was a high-pitched whine, now that EDI wasn’t in control. It made Shepard wince. She could hear Garrus’ breathing, and her own uneven heartbeat.

And she could hear faint breathing, up and to the left. Her lips curled in a humourless smile.

“You might as well give up,” Shepard called. “You’ve lost.”

“I haven’t lost anything.” The clone’s voice echoed off the walls, impossible to pinpoint. But Shepard could hear her footsteps now, circling around. Shepard motioned for Garrus and EDI to stay where they were, and she slowly moved into the room.

“And yet here you are, hiding from me like a coward. What’s the matter, little girl, are you scared? You should be. You should be terrified.” The footsteps grew stronger, closer together, nearer.

The razor-sharp edge of the clone’s omni-tool came whistling towards Shepard’s face, but Shepard easily countered it with her own. The sound of the blades clashing echoed across the room.

“You may look like me,” Shepard breathed, “but I’ve forgotten more ways to kill than you’ll ever learn.”

“I’m going to enjoy killing you,” the clone spat. The fluorescent orange of the omni-blades reflected onto the clone’s face. It was a damn shame for her, really, that Shepard knew all of her own tells.

“I’m sure you’re used to disappointment by now,” Shepard said softly, and she shoved the clone away, hard. The next second she was invisible, and booking it towards EDI and Garrus at the back of the room. She ducked into cover behind the requisitions terminal. The cargo bay, Shepard realized belatedly, was a shit place to have a fight. From there, it was impossible to get a good fix on any of the oncoming enemies. Apparently they had no trouble hitting her though; a grenade arced through the air and exploded next to her, sending flames licking up her armour.

“Shit,” she hissed. She tucked into a combat roll away from the fire. She rose to her feet and a fist connected with her bruised ribs. Shepard stumbled back as her clone materialized in front of her. Damn it, she was supposed to be a long-range fighter, what the hell was up with all the melee? Shepard feinted to the left before delivering a swift upper-cut to her clone’s jaw.

She should’ve delivered a swift upper-cut, but the clone wasn’t there anymore. Shepard felt an arm around her neck, choking her. Fuck that.

Shepard got a grip on her clone’s arms and then brought her torso down, sending the clone slamming into the ground. Shepard swung her Widow around and got the clone in the chest, point-blank. The clone faded into invisibility again and was gone. Damn it.

A handful of mercs raced away from the fight, climbing into the Kodiak shuttle. The hatch to the cargo bay opened and they sped away. In their haste, they left the door open. The wind whipped through Shepard’s hair, sending it flying into her face. She impatiently pushed it away.

“Just give up, will you? You’re past your best-before date. I’m the new and improved version, without the scarring and annoying moral code,” the clone shouted. Shepard was having a bit of an out of body experience. It’s one thing to have doubts about yourself, it’s an entirely different experience to hear them repeated back to you in your own damn voice.

“Was that supposed to be an insult? I earned these scars on Feros, and Noveria, and Ilos, and Thessia, and Rannoch! You got yours out of a petri dish.” Her voice rang clear through the cargo bay. What was it she’d said to Zaeed? You’re just a collection of scars held together by spite. Maybe they had that in common.

“You’re just a mediocre soldier with a lucky streak.”

“Then what does it say about you that I’m kicking your ass?” Shepard shouted back. She finally caught her clone in her sights, and got her in the leg with a shot from the Widow. Her clone stumbled, and Shepard raced forward, tackling her to the ground. They rolled together down the open ramp until they came to rest almost at the bottom. Shepard’s clone reared up, her fist hurtling towards Shepard’s face. The ship rocked violently, sending them flying. They both ended up holding onto the edge of the cargo bay door, nothing but a steep drop beneath them.

“Why you and not me? What makes you so damn special?” Shepard felt a small twinge of guilt at the pain in her clone’s voice.

“Shepard, hold on! We’ve got you!” Garrus yelled. He and EDI hurried down the ramp and hauled her back to safety. She looked down to her clone. There’s always a choice, Commander Shepard, and it matters that you choose to help.

“Take my hand,” Shepard said. She saw her clone glance up the walkway. Looking for Brooks, maybe. Whatever she saw made her face fall.

“And then what?” she snapped.

“And then you live. Show me what you’re made of, Shepard,” Shepard said. Not a sentence she’d ever expected to say, but apparently it was just that kind of day.

Her clone looked up at her sharply.

“You’ll regret this,” she said. “It’ll come back to bite you in the ass.”

“I regret a lot of things. Now take my damn hand.”

And she did.

They caught Brooks not long after. Cortez, who had apparently been engaged in some fancy flying to keep the ship from leaving, led her forward in handcuffs.

“Caught this one trying to leave,” he said. “Alliance is going to lock her up tight.”

“Shepard,” Brooks purred, “I’m sure we can put all this unpleasantness behind us.”

“I’m not in a particularly forgiving mood,” Shepard replied. Or General Shepard? We’ll deal with her. Her hands balled up into fists.

“But wasn’t it fun to have someone running around, being in awe of you? Admit it, you’re going to miss me.” Shepard could hear the gentle tap of Brooks' hands on her restraints. She leaned down, until she was level with Brooks’ eyes.

“You’re going to go along quietly with the Alliance, and you’re going to stay the hell away from me and the people I care about,” Shepard said, her voice forged in iron and steel

“Aww, is the great Commander Shepard pleading for her life?”

“I’m pleading for yours.” It was barely above a murmur. The tapping stopped.

“Very well,” Brooks said at last. “Till we meet again, Commander.”

“Rot in hell, Staff Analyst Maya Brooks,” Shepard suggested.

“Hey, maybe now you can actually have some shore leave,” Garrus said wryly as they exited the ship. Shepard snorted.

“I doubt it, but I suppose stranger things have happened,” she said.

“You can goddamn say that again,” Joker said fervently. Shepard gently clapped him on the shoulder.

“C’mon Joker, it could’ve been worse,” she said.

“How? How could it have been worse?”

“There could have been Collectors.”

“Hey, when the “Best Commanding Officer Awards” come up, don’t expect a nomination from me.”

“Noted. Can I interest you in some sushi?” The resentful silence was answer enough, and Shepard grinned wryly. As punishment, Joker refused to let her drive. He dropped her off at her apartment, but not before insisting that she needed to throw some kind of party.

“I’ll think about it,” she said.

“What was that? Couldn't hear you!” He revved the engine loudly to drown out her protests.

“Damn it, Joker!”

“And you owe me dinner! No knives this time!”

“No promises!” she shouted as he drove away.

Shepard didn’t do vacations. Fourteen years with the Alliance and she’d been on shore leave a handful of times, each more catastrophic than the last. The last time had been a few months before she’d died. She’d started two bar fights and had to be put on unofficial lockdown for a few days. The time before that they'd caught her sneaking back onto the ship. To be honest, having her evil clone try and steal the Normandy was just the natural progression of the Shepard Hates Vacations conundrum.

Still, it wasn’t every day that almost every person you’d ever cared about was kicking around the same place that you were. The Normandy was in drydock for another few days, and so Shepard made the most of it.

“Legion, you know I’ve never played a video game before,” she said wryly. She was sitting on one of her too-large couches as Legion fiddled with the television.

“Acknowledged. Based on previous experience, the adequate response to this statement is ‘git gud, scrub,’ although I have been unable to ascertain its exact meaning,” Legion replied.

“Uh huh. Got it. So then what are we playing?”

“Vega-Lieutenant suggests that you would enjoy playing Blasto: Hero of the Citadel.”

“Vega’s an asshole, don’t you listen to him.”

“Anatomically unlikely on both fronts.” The corners of Shepard’s mouth twitched up.

“What’s your favourite game, Legion?” she asked, trying a different tactic.

“I am banned from most games for suspected VI activity,” they explained.

“Tell you what, Tali and Kasumi are coming over to watch Fleet and Flotilla with me later, why don’t you join us?”

“Will there be popcorn?” they asked. Shepard’s brows wrinkled in confusion.

“You and Tali can't eat it…?”

“I understand it is integral to organic vid watching ceremonies.”

“Alright, we'll have popcorn.”

“Shepard, you know I can’t eat popcorn,” Tali complained. The four of them were settled on the largest of the couches. It stretched across half the room, but somehow everyone had ended up almost piled up on top of Shepard. She found that she didn’t really mind.

“I got some dextro-based snacks for you, Tali,” Shepard reassured her.

“Shepard-Commander?” Legion had the copy of Fleet and Flotilla in their hands and they were carefully examining it, holding it up to the light.

“Yes Legion?”

“What purpose does a relationship between two species serve? They cannot procreate,” Legion said. Shepard shared a loaded look with Tali and Kasumi.

“It’s about the romance,” Tali explained. “Forbidden, star-crossed love.” The last few words were wistful, almost dreamy.

“I do not understand,” Legion said. Shepard patted them on the shoulder.

“How about we watch the movie, and you can ask any questions you have when it’s over, okay?”

“Acknowledged.” Shepard flicked on the TV and the beginning credits began to roll.

“Shepard-Commander--”

“Shhh!” Kasumi hushed them.

“After the movie, Legion,” Shepard said. Legion nodded reluctantly. Kasumi and Tali both snuggled in on either side of Shepard, their heads resting on her shoulders. Maybe, she thought, vacations weren’t all bad.

The next day dawned bright and sunny, thanks to the artificial light on the Citadel. Shepard had gently deposited Tali and Kasumi in the guest bedrooms (how big did one apartment need to be??) and Legion had spent the small hours of the morning playing video games on her TV. After breakfast, she cheerfully sent them on their way after inviting each of them to the party that Joker had insisted she throw.

She hummed cheerfully to herself as she got dressed for the day. It was a relief, really, to be pulling on her regular black cargo pants and hoodie. Nice clothes were all well and good, but nothing could beat a half-dozen pockets, each weighed down with knives and caltrops. There were another dozen people that she needed to see. So many people that cared about her. It made her feel disconcertingly warm and fuzzy.

Shepard's first stop was at the hospital. Blessedly, she didn’t need to stay inside for long. She picked up Thane and took him to the café on the Presidium to buy him brunch. She’d never done brunch before.

“How have you been?” she asked.

“As well as I can be, during these difficult times,” Thane said quietly. His eyes were fixed on the gardens. “But Mordin believes I will make a full recovery.”

“You’ve seen Mordin?” she asked, sipping at her coffee.

“Ah, I had assumed that you would have heard. The salarian councilor was extremely grateful for the part I played in his rescue.”

“You mean saving his life almost single-handedly?” Shepard asked wryly. Thane rewarded her with a smile warmer than the artificial sun.

“Indeed. He asked that Mordin create a cure for Kepral’s Syndrome. So here I am, better than I’ve felt in years,” he explained.

“That’s great!” Shepard said encouragingly.

“I may even be fit to help with the war effort,” he said, and his eyes flicked to her. Shepard’s face immediately fell into a frown.

“Not going to happen,” she said firmly.

“It is unfair for me to remain here when so many are dying.”

“How many last missions can one person have?” she asked. “There was the hit on Nassana Dantius, and then the Omega 4, and then saving the councilor, and then stopping my clone--”

“You have made your point,” he said wryly. “But it doesn’t seem to have stopped you before.” She pursed her lips and studied his face. He did look better, she had to admit.

“You’re sure?” she asked.

“Yes.”

“We could always use military advisors. Strictly non combat, you understand?” she said. He considered her for a moment, before eventually nodding.

“Very well, if you think that would be best,” he said.

“I’ll let Hackett know,” she replied. And then, “It’s good to see you, Thane.”

“And you, Shepard. But you are on vacation. Shall we talk of more cheerful things?”

“Please,” she said fervently, and he chuckled, without coughing once.

It still wasn’t easy, going down to the refugee docks, but Mordin had asked her to meet him there. He had assembled a new clinic, replacing much of the equipment they’d been using in the refugee docking bay. He was bustling around, issuing instructions.

“Good to see some things never change, Mordin,” Shepard said wryly.

“Former system inefficient. Had to fix it. Other people always get it wrong.”

“Want a hand?” She leaned against the wall casually.

“Equally inefficient. Healing not one of your skills. Would like to talk, though.” She smiled ruefully. He wasn’t wrong. Once upon a time, he might’ve told her that he was never wrong.

“You got it. Shall we?” She led the way to a few miraculously empty chairs amidst the hustle and bustle of the docks. His posture was as impeccable as always as he remained sitting up straight on the uncomfortable bench.

“What have you been up to?” she asked. “Aside from curing Kepral’s Syndrome.”

“Spoken to Thane? Yes, cure is complete. Recommend minimal physical activity for time being. Non-combat.”

“It’ll be a cold day in hell before I clear him for combat.”

“Tactfully put,” he said. She grinned at him.

“So what else…?” she left the sentence hanging, waiting for him to continue.

“Some side-effects to genophage cure. Created an antidote, but salarian doctors still not trusted. Been here for past two weeks.” Two weeks, and he’d already rearranged the docks. Knowing Mordin, he’d done that on his first day here.

“And how’s Urdnot Bakara doing in her new role?” Shepard asked. At that, he did smile.

“Exceeds expectations. Stabilizing influence on Urdnot Wrex. I like her.”

“Me too,” Shepard said. “Didn’t you say something about retirement though?”

“Yes. Wanted to run tests on seashells. Beaches in short supply at present, due to Reaper presence. Had a question.”

“Only one?” she asked wryly.

“As statement suggests, yes,” he replied. Shepard snorted.

“Alright, shoot,” she said.

“Clinic here running smoothly. Talents could be better used elsewhere. Crucible project needs scientists?”

“They’d be happy to have you,” Shepard said immediately. Mordin smiled warmly. They chatted a bit more, before Mordin insisted that he needed to get back to work. Some things really didn’t change.

Later that evening, after she’d visited even more of her friends, Shepard finally had a moment alone. The events of the past few days caught up, slamming into her like a freight train. Her hands rested on the cool marble of the bathroom vanity as she studied herself intently in the mirror. Scars mapped every part of her face, lancing across her forehead, her cheeks, her chin, notching a mark in her right eyebrow. Undeniably hers, but unquestionably altered now.

She looked at herself in the mirror, but she saw someone else. It was disconcerting to realize that the DNA that ran through her body was the same as her clone’s. It was worse to realize that her clone had been so violent, so capricious. Was that who she was, deep down? Was that who she’d been meant to be?

Her long red hair tumbled around her face, limp and bedraggled from days without washing it. She held a piece between her fingers, feeling every strand. She’d always been hopelessly proud of her hair, and had let it grow impractically long. The only part of her that the world hadn’t mangled.

But as she looked at it, she saw her clone. It wasn’t hers anymore. The world had taken that from her, as it had taken so many things.

Or maybe it had given her something new. She went down to the kitchen and selected a pair of scissors, and then she returned to the bathroom mirror in her room. With steady hands, she cut her hair. As it fell away, her angular features stood out in sharp relief. The haircut wasn’t even by a long shot, but it was hers. ... Garrus didn’t quite know what to do with his hands. He’d been standing outside the door to the apartment building for ten minutes now, hemming and hawing about the best course of action. And if he didn’t figure it out soon, he was going to be late for their date.

There were a number of facts Garrus was sure of. One: he was in love with Shepard. Fairly obvious, he’d been in love with her for over a year now. Two: Shepard was in love with him. He still hadn’t fully wrapped his head around that one, but he sure as hell wasn’t complaining. Three: he had no idea what the fuck was going to happen when they went to that Cerberus base. He hoped with every fibre of his being that they’d make it out the other side alive and in one piece, but he didn’t know.

Which was why he was standing outside the entrance to Shepard’s building, the ring box held in a vice-like grip between his talons.

Don’t be a coward, Vakarian. If he didn’t leave now, he’d be late. He squared his shoulders, and marched into the building resolutely. The elevator ride up seemed to last for an eternity. He studied the ceiling tiles, the grey swirling pattern seeming to vanish into the distance. It took him a second to realize that the elevator wasn’t moving anymore. It took him another second to exit the elevator. Spirits only knew how he got to Shepard’s door. He knocked gently. If he was quiet enough, maybe she wouldn’t answer.

But she did. He scrambled to shove the box into one of the very few pockets that turian clothing allowed for.

“Hey,” she said softly. Her eyelashes were longer than usual, and there was a dark tint to her lips. She was wearing that damn suit again and his brain short-circuited. His mouth was suddenly too dry. Shit, he should say something.

“Hey.” Amazing job, Vakarian. What a way with words. She gave him a crooked half-smile.

“Come in?” she suggested. Relieved, he nodded and stepped through.

“Your, um,” he tried. He gestured vaguely to her face.

“My hair?” she asked.

“Yeah.” It barely fell past her ears now. Could humans just...do that? She rubbed at her neck self-consciously.

“It felt weird looking in the mirror and seeing her. So, I cut it. Maybe by the time it grows back it won’t feel as weird,” she explained. He nodded stiffly. Spirits, did he have to be so awkward right now? You’d think it’d be easier to propose to your best friend.

“Are you okay?” she asked softly. She was closer now, cinnamon and coffee in the air. There was a slight crease to her forehead.

“I love you,” he said suddenly. A warm smile spread across her face.

“Yes, we’ve established that,” she said. “But you look like you’ve seen a ghost. Did I do that bad a job cutting it?”

“No, no it’s not that,” he said hurriedly. “It’s...damn.”

“Now you’re making me worried, Garrus.” She pulled away. Shit.

“Dance with me?” he blurted. Her eyebrows shot up so high they reached her hairline.

“Am I having a stroke?” she asked incredulously. “Every third sentence you say is insulting my dancing.” He really didn’t have anything to say to that, so he raced over to the wall, keyed into her stereo system and started playing music, as well as dimming the lights. Tango music filled the apartment, and he held out a slightly shaking hand to her.

“Hell no,” she said.

“C’mon Shepard, do you trust me?” Spirits, did there really have to be pleading in his voice right now?

“Implicitly. I’m still not dancing with you.” Steeling himself to get elbowed in the guts, he grabbed her hand and tugged her close to him. She reluctantly let him lead her through a few beginning steps, but she stayed stiff as a board, completely unyielding.

“You’re going to pay for this later,” she muttered darkly.

“Promises, promises, Joan,” he said, and she rolled her eyes at him. “Which reminds me, is that not your real name?” She scowled at him. Damn, but she was hot when she was pissed.

“Am I answering questions or am I dancing? I sure as hell can’t do both.” She blocked his leg as he tried to dip her down. He rallied magnificently, playing it off as intentional. He continued to lead her through the dance.

Slowly, she started to get the hang of it, growing more confident in her movements. He ventured a spin, and to his very great delight she spun away from him and came tumbling back, a small smile gracing her lips.

As a general rule, turian marriages were fairly perfunctory affairs. Not a lot of room for romance in the hierarchy. But he wanted this to be special. Those images of the romantic comedies he’d watched flashed through his head. She deserved something good.

He’d practiced the steps enough that he could do them in his sleep by this point. She didn’t need to know that though. He didn’t think he’d ever live it down if she found out he’d been practicing in the main battery until late into the sleep cycle. He dipped her low, both of them breathing heavily. Her gently waving short hair framed her face like a halo.

“It’s Jeanne. My name’s Jeanne,” she murmured, so soft he almost didn’t catch it. He gently set her back on her feet and then sunk to one knee.

“Marry me, Jeanne Shepard?” he asked. She inhaled sharply. ... Her head was spinning as they danced across the room. She begrudgingly had to admit that she was enjoying herself. Garrus didn’t need to know that though.

Time slowed almost to a standstill as he dipped her down, his hand snugly wrapped around her waist. His bright blue eyes were fixed on her, and she felt her face flush.

“It’s Jeanne. My name’s Jeanne,” she murmured. A name she’d left behind long ago, a name that only Marie knew. A part of her that the clone hadn’t been able to mimic. Maybe it was time to reclaim it, that concrete reminder of her time on Earth, of who she’d once been.

Her feet touched the floor once more, and Garrus let go of her. She was reaching back out for him as he got down on one knee in front of her. Had she stepped on his foot…?

“Marry me, Jeanne Shepard?” he asked.

Oh. Oh.

She froze, and then a small laugh bubbled out of her.

“Well, that’s a little harsh,” he muttered. Still laughing, she helped him up. She rested a hand on either side of his face.

“Is that why you were so awkward earlier?” she asked.

“Listen, it’s a yes or no question.” His voice was so exasperated, so nervous.

“Of course I’ll marry you,” she said. A second later her feet left the ground as he picked her up and spun her around, kissing her soundly. He set her down and she wound her arms around his neck. “You have terrible timing.”

“Title of our autobiography,” he replied.

“True enough,” she chuckled. It was so warm, here in his arms. A safe harbour amidst the storm.

“You really trampled all over my moment,” he griped. “I had the ring all ready and everything.”

“I hate to tell you this, Vakarian, but EDI already gave me a ring.” A victory ring she’d called it, with metal from every Council homeworld. Including Earth. Shepard had almost cried.

“Do you want it or not?”

“I never said I didn’t,” she said. He rolled his eyes, but he tugged out a small box from his pocket.

She was definitely going to cry now. There was a scattering of stained glass inset in the band.

“It's made of an indestructible metal, so it won't get damaged in combat,” he explained quickly. She tugged him towards her and kissed him until they were both breathless. Home. This was home, here with him. She could die happy now. She could live even happier.

“So when’s the ceremony?” she whispered against his mouth.

“Got any plans this evening?”

“Yeah, there’s the party.”

“Perfect.”

#i look back on this now and i wonder how bioware wrote a whole clone arc and not once did someone say stop hitting yourself #wasted opportunity #anyways legion should've been in the citadel dlc and i live by that #mass effect #commander shepard #garrus vakarian #shakarian #me3 #my writing #oc: joan shepard

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twilightknight17 · 4 years

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Forgetting to buy more SP patches before taking on the final boss was probably a mistake.

Forgetting to sell the items I can’t take into NG+ for cash that I can take into NG+ was probably a mistake.

Forgetting to get Arsene out of Lockdown so that I can record his awesome new stats for NG+ was probably a mistake.

In my defense, I was really excited. I wonder if the game will let me make a side trip while I’m out...buying flowers. Because that is what it has come to.

Buying flowers.

Shinya is a terrible brat and wasn’t in Akihabara at ALL until the day before the deadline. Thanks, Shinya. There goes my max confidants. Blugh. At least I got some other things done. Got the award for the maid cafe, so I don’t have to go back except once to open the Twins field trip. I still suck at batting even with third eye. But I am a champ at fishing, it only took me like five trips to the fishing pond to catch the Guardian! I could have done it in less if I’d figured out how to manage my bait properly sooner.

Smile, Akira, we’re awesome! ...still not even halfway to enough fish points for the award, though. :/

I am also awesome at the crane game in Akihabara, and by that I mean I am persistent and have enough yen that it doesn’t matter how many tries it takes.

Ryuji truly knows the way to my heart. <3 I missed two episodes of Featherman; one I forgot to check the TV, and the other I was laughing so hard at the title that I forgot to write it down. But I know where they are, so it’s something else for NG+. ^_^

So I romanced Sumire, and I’m...slightly off-put. Only slightly. Not because of her, but once again, because of the writing. Sumire is cute, but the game is singling her out as “special” again.

She is the only one who confesses to you, and you explicitly have the option to turn her down, rather than the implications of a confession that you can shoot down indirectly (Haru’s, Makoto’s, Futaba’s), or the absolute fucking galaxy-brain leap of logic that is Ann’s dialogue choices. X’D

If you ignore that, though, they’re stupidly cute. Akira’s a little shit, as usual. Sumire asks you to “look at her”, based on her whole confidant thing of realizing that having someone you care about watching you makes you want to do better.

And so Akira looks.

And looks closer.

Dorks. XDDD

They’re sweet. Not my favorite romance route; that still goes to Haru. I think in the end I still prefer Akira adding another member to his army of younger siblings. He’s gotta be better than Yu. XDDD

So I got Kasumi’s rank 10 and literally the next day was February 2nd, and I spent the afternoon getting her third-tier persona. So I didn’t even get to see...Vanadis? in battle. Vanadis matches a little too well to Arsene for my tastes, and Ella is pretty, but I’m not sure how I feel about it looking kind of bride-ish when Maruki’s running around in a wedding tux.

Anyway...what do we do the night before the meeting that will decide everything?

We make curry and we pretend everything isn’t about to go to hell.

So, Maruki. Let’s chat.

Does no one die in your world? Or move away? What if someone’s dream is to move abroad, and someone else’s dream is for that person to stay with them forever? If what we saw in your Palace is any indication, both of them would be tortured into accepting new dreams where they wouldn’t hurt each other. Dreams that you deemed acceptable. And that’s why you’re wrong.

So you’re giving up your happiness to make sure everyone else is happy? Why can’t you just use your powers to make her remember you, without the trauma? Are you not all-powerful?

Or are you running away from the person that reminds you how helpless you used to be? You’re not moving on, you’re dwelling, and using it as an excuse to be terrible. For all of your kindness, you know Akira is a threat. And benevolent or not, you’re being manipulative. You’re using Goro against him. You’re hoping that he makes the decision you didn’t, and chooses the person he cares about over the reality he wants.

Every time he says something like this, I feel exactly the way he says he didn’t want me to. Newsflash, asshole, that’s exactly what it seems like. If we break your reality, you’re heavily implying he won’t be here afterwards. And you’re gambling that it will be too much pain for Akira to bear, because you know how important they are to each other.

Goro, meanwhile, is both perfectly determined and perfectly stupid.

“Don’t tell me you think dangling my life before us is going to have any impact on our decision.”

Goro. Honey. Do you really think he cares so little that he wouldn’t hesitate for just a moment?

Akira practically throws the calling card at Maruki before he leaves, which I think sums up his feelings pretty well.

I appreciate that Morgana understands that this is something between them.

Goro doesn’t want to be controlled or manipulated ever again. Which... I get it. He’s never had a chance to have full control of his own life. But that doesn’t mean Akira isn’t going to be upset by the idea of him dying. Again.

Two out of three dialogue options are basically “hang on one fucking second, your life matters to me.”

“Don’t oversimplify this.”

“Oh, but it IS simple. Do you think I’d be happy with this? Being shown mercy now of all times? I don’t want to be pitied-- this isn’t something I’m debating with you! Your indecisiveness is essentially a betrayal of my wishes.”

It’s not pity, you stubborn, idiot boy. ...and I hate that you see it as a betrayal.

Maruki is...very confident. And very kind. And part of the reason he upsets me is because he isn’t wrong, in many cases. But he uses that to justify imposing his will on everyone.

And being kind doesn’t mean that you are free from sin. You can be kind and still be manipulative. And selfish. In the end, that’s what separates him and Akira. Akira, despite all of his hesitation, refuses to be selfish. Even when he has every right to be. He will not hurt someone else to prevent himself from being hurt.

He will not hurt Goro by refusing to fight Maruki, even if it will rip his own heart to pieces.

Oh, I like you. At first glance, the silhouette was very similar to one of Mordred’s original pieces of concept art, though, and I was ready to Yell before I looked closer. XD

And so, at 11:30pm, having completely forgotten the several things I needed to have done before the meeting with Maruki, we head in to steal the Treasure.

This man needs to stop. How dare he know how much I love Cool Stairs?

I find it very concerning that the core of Eden is a writhing mess of tentacles. The metaphorical worm in the apple? X’D We were so close to getting Nyarlathotep, but Azathoth is suitably intimidating. And I appreciate that he’s using the same concepts as the Thieves: his will to rebel against what he sees as an unfair reality, and removing his mask to summon his distorted persona. Thanks for validating all of my headcanon meta about Adachi and Palaces all in one go.

But...

I can’t do this. What the fuck are you wearing?

At least Azathoth is cool.

Somehow I managed to bring exactly the right team to get consistent four-person baton passes for the whole first round. That one was about half an hour.

...the second round was an hour and fifteen minutes because holy shit this thing was a tank and had entirely too many arms and really needed to stop healing.

The torch is very pretty, at least.

And then before we can completely book it out of there, he steals the torch back and literally forces his second awakening so he can keep going. And at that point...what is he even hoping to accomplish? What is he going to do? Are you really willing to kill us to maintain this illusion?

The answer is apparently yes because it was a surprisingly poetic battle as each teammate in turn got a chance to fling themselves in the way and stop it from crushing Joker to death with it’s big giant hand.

And THEN he goes even further and validates some canon meta and me all at once by fusing with his own persona in a continuing last-ditch effort to... I really think he’s trying to kill us. I think he’s that far gone. Or at least his persona is. Because after the fusion, it’s specifically called “Adam Kadmon”, not Maruki. The persona is in control. It’s canon that if you try to summon something stronger than you, it can overtake and possess you. I know Maruki seemed to willingly give up control, but it’s also possible that forcing his second awakening like that left him with a persona that was entirely too strong for him.

(Nevermind that him being that strong in the first place is kind of ridiculous. That’s a discussion for after the final credits. I’m just hyped that someone fusing with their persona was a thing that actually happened!)

He’s so big. Where’s Satanael so I can fuse with him and we can have a megazord fight in Collapsing Ideal Tokyo? XD

The kids up the Holy Shit Quotient by a mile by catching the giant fist all together so that Joker can deal the final blow.

And what a final blow it is.

I really like this, because I don’t know if it was deliberate, but I read it as a callback to Daybreakers. Which came out before the game, iirc, so the first real piece of content. It’s just on a bigger, grander scale.

Everything comes full-circle in the end.

I really like the Mona helicopter. XD I just wish it was a little bigger, because poor Goro squished into the bottom. And poor Akira not managing to make it into the helicopter.

And this asshole WILL NOT STAY DOWN.

What is the point of punching it out on top of the collapsing Palace? Are you trying to kill us both? Do you just want to keep going until neither of us can stand? Dude.

And of course Akira won’t let him die. I think the upsetting thing about this, though, is really that you don’t get the chance to say a proper goodbye to Goro. Or anyone, really, but mostly Goro. The Palace crumbles, Akira wakes up in jail, the Thieves wake up the next morning after fighting all night, and Goro is...gone.

At least the Thieves seem properly sad this time. Even if it’s only for one scene.

Lavenza calls it “ironic” that “your wish for other’s happiness prevailed over your own.” I just call it unfair. Once again, hasn’t he done enough? At least he was only technically in jail for nine days from his perspective, but that must have been a whiplash of an adjustment.

Out of jail, Sojiro acknowledges he was Terrible at the beginning of the year, it’s 2:30am, time to do Valentines and then go to bed before the final walkaround.

And then Valentines passes. I spent it with Sumire. They’re cute.

And then it was February 15th and all the rest of the girls gave me chocolate?? It was just a constant ambush of being given chocolate all day?

And then it was March 3rd, and the Thieves are all splitting up and moving away? Are we sure this isn’t Scramble’s timeline? I get it, narratively, they’re taking the opportunities to move forward that Maruki’s reality would have denied them, but it still hurts.

And then it was March 13th and I still can’t save and now it’s 3am and apparently we get to play out White Day and Sojiro is giving me advice for the perfect date because captain idiot here forgot to plan anything and what heckin’ restaurant is getting this flustered that just mentioning Sojiro’s name is enough to get a table when they’re fully booked and---

Now it’s the 14th and I have to go buy flowers for my dinner date and I have finally been given control and saved and I am free.

Now next time I play I have to see if I can go sell my leftover items, because I’ve got a couple-hundred-thousand yen worth, and also rescue Arsene from prison. X’D

More thoughts on Maruki and everything after I see the ending, most likely.

#Li plays P5R #long post #the Longest Post #2.5 hour boss fight O_o #last time I spent that long on a boss it made me so mad I put the game in question down for six months

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