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sunlightmurdock · 2 years

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Pursuit | Bradley Bradshaw x Reader (18+)

Synopsis: Two days into a group ski trip and Rooster has torn his ACL and is stuck on the couch, feeling sorry for himself. Someone has to stay back and take care of him — lucky you. Rooster hates trivial pursuit, and takes this as his opportunity to turn your friendship into something more.

Warnings: pwp, pinv, unprotected sex (make good decisions)

…

“You must think I’m an idiot.” Bradley mumbles as you fiddle through the board games under the book shelf. You glance back at him over your shoulder, and laugh. For his sake, you shake your head.

There are times in your friendship, more often than not, where it’s appropriate to make fun of him. This isn’t one of these times. Rooster’s feeling pretty sorry for himself right now, and he doesn’t need any salt on his wounds.

He does look pretty ridiculous, though. He’s stretched out along the sofa, a bag of frozen peas on his knee and a compression bandage under that. Wearing sweatpants that are a size too big to allow for the swelling, and a sweater that’s a size too big because that’s how he likes his sweaters to fit.

It’s day two of your week long trip to the mountains with your closest friends. This was what you had been most excited about when Phoenix had told you she was marrying Dani. Dani’s family had an incredible lodge up in the Rockies.

For Phoenix’s birthday this year, she invited you and your closest friends up to the lodge. Everyone else is out on the mountain right now. You’re sitting in the living room with Rooster, trying to find something that’ll make the time pass.

Yesterday, on the first day of the trip, Rooster was being Rooster and Hangman was being Hangman. Rooster — who had never been snowboarding in his life before this week — wanted to keep up with Hangman, who has spent a month in Aspen each winter since he was six.

Now, he’s on strict bed-rest (well, couch rest) and will be for the next two days. Feeling sorry for himself with a pulled hamstring and a torn ACL. Considering that he can’t move from the couch without support, someone had to stay back and take care of him. Today, it’s you.

“Could’ve happened to anyone.” You soothe. Anyone that tried to go down a red slope on their first day on a board. Bradley tucks one arm behind his head as he watches you rummage through the variety of old board games.

It’s snowing pretty hard outside and has been since you arrived. Kind of foggy too. Not exactly ideal conditions for someone who has spent maybe thirty days of his entire life in the snow to learn how to board. Especially not when he’s surrounded by already fairly proficient boarders.

“Oh — Trivial Pursuit!” You gasp, tugging the box out from under the monopoly and dusting it off. Rooster groans and leans his head back against the arm rest.

“Or we could just watch paint dry.” He mumbles, a testament to how boring of a game he feels that trivial pursuit is.

“Shut up. I love this game,” You push yourself up and walk over to the couch, setting the box down on the coffee table. You sit down on the floor with your back to the edge of the couch. “And it’s your fault we’re stuck in here so it’s only fair that I pick the game.”

“Yay.” Bradley says dryly.

You lift the lid off of the box and set it to the side.

“Could we at least get drunk while we play?”

You muse with the idea for a moment and shrug. That doesn’t sound like such a bad idea. You take the box and press it into his hands, “Fine. You set up. I’ll make us some drinks.”

Rooster has to grit his teeth as he pushes himself somewhat upright and cranes his torso forward to set the game up on the coffee table.

You have to take a moment to watch in amusement as he struggles to set the game up. You love that idiot. He’s been one of your best friends for going on eight years now. You’ve been on a couple trips together, countless missions — you’ve become great friends. Which is why you don’t mind caring for him while he’s in pain.

He helped you out when you dislocated your shoulder at Hangman’s pool party that one time. It’s only fair.

You pad dutifully to the kitchen, ready to embrace the carer role to its fullest extent. Maybe a good nurse wouldn’t have topped the hot chocolates up with a little too much Baileys — but you know Rooster, he’d prefer it this way.

“This is incredible.” Rooster groans as he settles back comfortably against the coach and warms his hands around the mug. It’s already plenty warm in the living room with the fire that Bob got going before everyone headed out about an hour ago.

You settle down onto the floor, pleased to find that Rooster has actually set the game up correctly.

“The person who invented this combo deserves the best head.” He adds, letting out another groan of pleasure as he takes another sip.

You wish you invented it. Maybe it’s the fact that you haven’t had sex in a while, or maybe it’s the fact that you’re sitting on a faux fur rug, in front of a log fire, snow outside and a gorgeous man behind you — but the sound of that groan hits you right between your legs.

Your eyes widen slightly.

There had been a few intimate feelings towards Rooster when you had first met him. He’s an attractive guy. It had almost happened. But it hadn’t. There had been this tension in the beginning.

There were so many almosts. So many almosts that you had just given up. Clearly the universe was giving you a sign that it wasn’t supposed to happen. You had stopped trying to make it, and fallen platonically head over heels for Bradley Bradshaw.

You had been comfortable as just friends for a long time now. But shit, does that guy sound pretty when he moans. You scold yourself for things like this regularly. You shouldn’t think that your best friend sounds pretty moaning.

“Alright. I’m going first.” You decide, feeling the need to quickly change the subject.

“Aren’t we supposed to roll to decid-“

“It was my idea, I’m going first.” You insist.

“I’m injured — I should go first.”

You end up going first. You smirk as you shake the dice in your hand. He swats playfully at the back of your head.

This is how you have always showed affection. Gentle bullying. You’re a very affectionate pair. You had to tone it down last time Rooster had gotten a girlfriend. You understood why she was mad, you would be too. It was a shame she didn’t stick around long — you liked her.

Since then, you had been a bit less open with touching each other. Especially around others. People thought your playfulness was sometimes flirting. Of course, it wasn’t. You didn’t let yourself do that anymore.

After he smacked your head, Rooster brushes his fingers over the top of your hair, brushing it back off of your shoulders. You feel no urge to shrug his off as he trails his fingers along your shoulders. He toys with your hair, curling a loose strand around his finger and unwinding it.

“You have to ask me the purple question.” You pass him back a question card without looking at it. There’s a disappointment that fills you as his hand leaves your hair. He sighs softly and lifts the card.

He chuckles the moment he reads it. “How many movies did Sean Connery play James Bond in?” He asks. Bradley knows for a fact that you don’t know the answer to this question because you’ve consistently refused to watch any of the James Bond movies with him for as long as he’s known you.

“Mm… seven?”

“Lucky guess.” Bradley mumbles. He hits the back of your head again. ‘Accidentally’, as he’s passing the card back to you.

You turn and bite his leg. You’ve always had a very playful friendship. You bite his shoulders, his hands — whatever’s in your way or within your reach when the necessity strikes. Now, it’s his thigh.

He flinches, then stills. It’s only once you’re pressing your teeth into his thigh, looking up at him, that you realise how compromising of a position you’re in.

He’s wearing grey sweatpants. Your eyes flicker down and you know exactly where his dick is under the material. Luckily, it’s resting against the other thigh. His lip has quirked when you look back up at him.

You withdraw quickly. Turning and taking a large gulp of your hot chocolate before picking up the dice again. You got your question correct, you get to keep rolling. You make an eight question winning streak. Rooster finishes his hot chocolate before it’s even his first turn.

“Could I have another one?” He asks you, resting his empty mug on your shoulder like he’s going to leave it there to fall on you. You sigh, dramatically, as you push yourself to your feet. You finish off yours and nod, heading for the kitchen once more.

“Fine. But if you need to pee then I’m not holding it.” You answer back.

“My leg is fucked, my hands work just fine. You just like thinking about my dick in your hands.” He calls to you. You’re glad you’re in the kitchen where he can’t see the way that unnerves you. You bite your cheek and go about making each of you another drink.

Rooster has to lean forward to roll the dice on the table. He really can’t move much. Any movement on his knee still really hurts.

“Thanks, honey.” He smiles sweetly and purses his lips like he’s going to blow you a kiss as you hand him a drink that’s almost as much liqueur as it is hot chocolate. Just the way he likes it.

“No problem, princess.” You answer back, settling back in on the floor and grabbing a question card as you sip at your own.

One of Rooster’s primary issues with Trivial Pursuit, is the length of time it takes. He makes a ten question correct streak before it’s your turn again. Two hours and three more drinks later, Rooster is tired of questions.

He’s barely lifting his head as you tell him what to do. Roll. Ask me the blue question. Answer the red question. Roll again.

He’s staring at the wooden beams above his head. The architecture really is beautiful in this place. So is the mountain, and there’s a great view of it from the living room but he still would rather be out there, rather than stuck in here like an idiot.

He drums his fingers on his stomach and looks towards the book case. His eyes scan over the other board games over there. Looking for something else. Anything better than this. Nothing that he can stand to spend another three hours doing.

He’s bored.

“Okay, ask me purple.” You hand him another question card. He sighs softly as he takes it. Even reading the question takes too much effort at this point. He looks at you. You’re facing the board, your back to him as you wait to get another question correct.

Rooster looks towards the fireplace, watching the flames crackle and rise. Then he looks towards you again. A thought crosses his mind and he squashes it instantly, then hesitates. No harm in asking.

“Can I see your tits?”

You turn, dice still in hand, and blink at him. He’s looking back at you like he had just asked you how your day was going. Like that was the most normal thing in the world to ask his best friend of eight years.

“It would make me feel a lot better.” He adds. Your lip quirks slightly at the fact that he’s playing the sick card. You aren’t sure how boobs cure knee pain, but you know that at this point in your friendship, questioning Rooster’s strange brain is pointless.

He looks so cozy. Somehow perpetually tanned, cheeks flushed slightly from the warmth of the fire, his hood resting around his shoulders and his hands tucked into the pockets of his hoodie. He smiles softly at you.

“Are you serious?” You ask, raising an eyebrow at him in disbelief. He nods his head, tucking an arm behind it like he’s settling in to watch his favourite movie. He smiles at you, then nods again for you to go ahead.

“You’re such a teenager.” You scoff. Humour is the only way you know how to handle this. You still aren’t quite sure if he’s fucking with you.

“Please? — I’m bored, I need something to help me refocus.” Rooster smiles. Fuck, he’s so pretty. You shift slightly, half turning to face him and resting your elbow on the couch cushion. You scrunch your brows at him, trying to suss him out.

You’ve known him for long enough now to know that he’s serious.

You debate it. Debate just nut-tapping him and calling him a pervert. But it really is just your boobs. He’s seen you in a bikini a hundred times. Seen you in some pretty risky clothes when you’ve gone out drinking together. You know he knows what your boobs look like — what difference does it make for him to have also seen your nipple?

He’s watching you expectantly.

“Just for a second.” You agree.

“Seriously?” He wasn’t expecting you to say yes. Honestly you were expecting to try to hit him in the nuts. He pushes himself up onto his elbows. You’re half tempted to tell him no. The other half of you wants to see if he finds you as attractive as you find him.

Just for the validation.

You shrug your shoulders at him, twisting yourself up onto your knees. You grab the bottom of your sweatshirt, watching his eyebrows lift in anticipation.

There’s a split second where you hesitate. Sure, he’s your best friend. But after this, he’ll just be you best friend who has seen your tits. You think about it as he stares expectantly at you, still pushed up onto his elbows. Lots of your girl best friends have seen your tits — it makes sense that he would too. Fuck it.

You lift your sweatshirt and the loose fitting t-shirt that you’re still wearing under it. You’ve forgone a bra, considering that the plan was just to sit beside Rooster all day and make sure he didn’t die of boredom.

His lips part slightly as you lift the sweatshirt up and expose your chest to him. He stays there, propped up on his elbows, that stupid bag of probably thawed out peas still on his knee as he just stares at you. His lips quirk, ever so slightly, like he’s going to smile.

Every time you get drunk, you’re possessed by this overwhelming urge to tell Rooster what gorgeous eyes he has. It’s not your fault that he looks like the prettiest thing in the entire world when he’s blinking at your with those big brown eyes. You watch those pretty eyes now.

Men amaze you. He’s truly so mesmerised by what’s before him. You give him a while to just stare. Maybe twenty seconds. It certainly feels like longer. Then your cheeks are starting to redden. You scrunch your nose, feeling suddenly anxious by his lack of reaction.

“Say something, you freak.” You demand. Yet, you don’t drop your sweatshirt back down. Rooster’s tongue darts out to wet his lips. He swallows and lifts his eyes to finally look at your face.

“Can I touch them?” His voice is low, serious. His gaze flickers back down for a moment before he reminds himself to be respectful and looks back to your face.

You purse your lips.

“Mm… don’t you think that would be crossing a line?” You ask gently. This is not only your best friend, but also your wingman. You have to go to work with him after all of this.

“I think I already crossed that line.” He nods downward. You follow his line of sight to his half-hard cock straining against his grey sweatpants. Damn grey sweatpants. The sluttiest of men’s clothes. You’ve heard that Rooster is well endowed, and you’ve always been curious. You aren’t disappointed by what’s in front of you now.

You want him to touch you. In fact, you can’t think of anything else right now worse than denying him. Than denying yourself this.

“Just for a second.” You agree once more. You can’t pretend you don’t want him to touch you. He scoots over to make room for you to sit on the edge of the couch cushion. Your ass is half hanging off of it when you sit.

“You could just… it would be easier.” Rooster gestures for you to straddle him. You take one more look at the bulge in his sweatpants.

“I think that would be too far.” Truthfully, you don’t think you have the necessary self-restraint to be sitting on his dick and not take this far enough to ruin your friendship.

Rooster nods. You lift your sweatshirt once more. He lets out a soft breath. This time you notice his Adam’s apple rise and fall in his throat.

He reaches out tenderly, hand cupping your left breast. He squeezes softly, swipes his thumb delicately over your nipple, then brings his other hand up to cup your other breast.

He groans softly, just like he did when he first tasted his hot chocolate, kneading your breasts in his hands. Bradley’s lips quirk up into a soft smile, content for the first time all day.

His eyes flicker up to yours as he shifts slightly more upright. It’s then that you realise he’s going to kiss you. Alarm bells. Every brain cell you have is screaming that once those stupid, perfect, pouty lips touch yours — there is no more friendship.

In the interest of preserving the relationship with the best friend that you’ve ever had, you drop your sweatshirt and move away from him to sit on the floor again. Bradley adjusts himself against his sweatpants. You don’t see him frown.

“It’s your turn to ask me a question.” You announce, handing him a card without looking at him. He takes the card and settles back against the couch with a soft sigh, then clears his throat.

You can hear that he wants no part in continuing this game. But if you stop playing now then there’s nothing to do but sit here and think about how badly you want him to fuck you. So many almosts. You can’t take another one.

“Red. Okay. Uh… how many years did it take Michelangelo to paint the Sistine Chapel?” In Rooster’s defence, you can hear him trying to hide his bored he is for your sake. Still, you don’t turn to face him.

“Six.”

“Four.” He corrects you. He tosses the card back onto the coffee table and gently strokes your hair back off of your shoulder. You hand him the dice without meeting his gaze.

He sighs softly, toying with the dice for a moment. He shifts a little. Adjusts his half-hard cock. Looks down at the board. Thinks about how much longer this is going to take.

He rolls a five, then watches as you move his piece. You grab the question card. He trails the pad of his thumb from your jaw to the collar of your sweater. You’ve never played a game of Trivial Pursuit with this much sexual tension before.

“W-What is the literary term for a word describing a sound?”

“I truly couldn’t care less if I tried.” Rooster admits. After all, honesty is the best policy. You can’t turn to look at him. You don’t have the restraint. You want him so fucking bad that’s is almost pathetic right now.

So, you sit and wait patiently for him to just spit out the fucking word onomatopoeia. Just answer the question, Rooster.

He reaches out and slides his fingers around the base of your neck. He squeezes softly and strokes his thumb affectionately against the skin of your neck. He guides you back until you’re turned to face him.

He looks at you, his eyes hungry with lust, the intensity in those pretty, brown eyes sending shivers up your spine.

You let out a soft breath now that you’re staring at him. He can tell that you’re doubting this. That you’re starting to overthinking it. That the clock is ticking down quickly before this becomes just another almost.

He leans quickly forwards and captures your mouth in a kiss. Before you have a chance to freak out. You melt against him. Again, he groans, this time into your mouth. The sound vibrates through you and propels you into his arms.

You push up and swing one leg over his hips, straddling him without breaking the kiss. You take extra care to settle in delicately against him, not wanting to worsen his injury. He slips his tongue into your mouth, holding you against him with his hand on the back of your neck.

From here, you can feel just how hard he is. Rock hard and pressing into you. You grind down ever so slightly, feeling the tip of his cock graze you. The realisation strikes that he isn’t wearing underwear for the exact same reason you don’t have a bra on — you refuse to be subjected to such discomfort on a day of promised laziness. He’s made for you.

“Aren’t you…” You pull back, breathing hard. It’s like he can’t stand not having his mouth on you. His lips are on your throat the moment they leave your mouth. “Aren’t you kind of incapacitated from the waist down right now?”

“Don’t worry about it.” His hands are already slipping under your sweater, pushing it up your torso. You lift your arms up obediently and let him strip you of your hoodie and t-shirt. “Fuck me, you’re perfect.”

You can’t pretend that that compliment didn’t go straight to your head. Your ego is inflated and you’re suddenly feeling much more confident about this encounter.

He lifts his head and kisses your shoulder, both hands sliding up your torso and grabbing at your tits. Rooster groans, peppering soft kisses along your skin. You’ve always wondered what that stupid moustache would feel like against your skin. The answer is that it’s actually surprisingly pleasant. It tickles just enough to make you shiver but not enough to be irritating.

Rooster wraps his lip around your nipple, pinching the other between his fingers, making you gasp softly. His tongue flicks over the sensitive bud, pulling away, grazing his teeth just lightly over the tender flesh. He watches your head roll back. He groans more urgently this time, squeezing your tits in his hands as he turns his attention to the other nipple.

The line has been well and truly crossed already. There’s no way you can look him in his stupid, beautiful eyes again and pretend that he didn’t have you soaking through your panties with just his mouth on your tits.

You grind down against his cock, moaning softly at the friction. Your thin pair of leggings and his sweatpants don’t separate much. You can feel exactly how rock hard he is. You grind desperately onto him as he sucks a faint purple mark into your skin — just a light one that’ll fade within a couple of hours. Just enough that when he pulls back, he can admire the teeth marks on your skin.

His hands find your hips as he guides you, he presses his good leg down and uses the leverage to drive his cock up against your core. He pauses, holding you still, rocking the tip of his cock against your clit through your clothes. Your mind goes blank. Through your clothes. He found it through your fucking clothes.

You’re rocking your hips, grinding desperately against him through your clothes. He groans, taking just a moment to rake his eyes over your shirtless body, skimming his fingertips along your side.

“Fuck, I need to see what I’ve been fucking missing.” He breathes out, tugging at your hips. He slaps your ass, lifting his head and kissing you hard. You moan into his mouth. Your fingers slide down his chest, pushing under the hoodie, sliding it up his chest. He has to sit slightly, grabbing a fistful of fabric from behind his head and tugging it off.

It’s more than warm enough. The fire and your body heat is more than making up for the snow outside.

You stand up to rid yourself of your leggings and socks, embarrassed suddenly that you’re in a skimpy thong in front of your best friend and he’s laying there with one arm tucked behind his head, just smiling.

He shifts his hips slightly to get comfy. Your eyes fall down to the straining bulge in his sweats. Your lips part slightly. He brushes his palm over his cock, adjusting it slightly to ease his discomfort.

“I’m just really excited that I’m winning.” Bradley jokes breathily, nodding towards the game. You have to giggle. His fingers curl around your wrist as he tugs you back down to him again. You lay on top of him this time, your knee resting between his.

His hand grabs at the back of your neck as he guides your mouth against his, his tongue curling into yours. He pushes his hips against yours.

You’re both shifting, the couch is a little too small for both of you to fit comfortably. Your foot knocks his leg just slightly. He gasps, squeezing his eyes tightly shut. He takes a moment, then let’s out a strained breath.

“Oh shit — I’m sorry.” You gasp, sitting up quickly to make sure he’s okay. He grabs the bag of peas digging into his side and tosses it across the room. You look down at his bandaged knee, brows scrunching. “Rooster, maybe we should wait until you can move again.”

“Already waited eight years.” He grabs you and kisses you again before you have time to process what he has said. The knowledge that he has wanted you just as badly as you have wanted him creeps into your heart and makes itself at home there.

Your ego really can’t take much more of this, you’re going to be insufferable if he continues with all of this flattery. But equally, you don’t want him to stop.

“I can take care of you,” He promises, nudging his nose against the crook of your neck. “Whether I can move or not. I’ve got you.”

You can’t resist. Your hand wraps around his cock over the soft jersey material, palming over his length as his tongue caresses yours. His hand slides between your bodies and nudges your panties to the side.

“You’re fucking soaked.” He murmurs. You roll your hips against his fingers.

“You’re fucking huge.” You reply. He smiles against your lips. He pushes harder against your hand, trailing his fingertips between your folds. You slide a hand up into his hair, humming softly as you tug at his curls. You’ve been wanting to do that for a long time.

He grabs your leg and adjusts your position to give him easier access to your pussy, slipping a finger into you. You hmm softly, tugging at his curls again. He groans into your mouth. His ring finger slides into you alongside his middle. He curls them both into you.

You feel his cock twitch in your palm as your walls clench around his fingers. There’s an urgency to this now. You’re in the living room of the lodge, about fifteen feet from the front door. It’s been a couple of hours, everyone will be back soon.

“That feels good, huh?” Like he already knows that it does. Because it does. All you can do is breathe, soft whimpers spilling from your lips as he works his fingers into you. It feels better than good. You wish you had the words.

Your fingers curl around his wrist, rocking yourself down onto his fingers. Excitement pools in your stomach as you fall forward slightly, bracing yourself onto his shoulder.

All Rooster can think about is that one time he was so drunk that you tried to do the nice thing and let him sleep in your bed. The plan was for you to take the couch. But then he had been so heavy, and so uncooperative — literally dead weight — that you had just left him curled up on the floor in your room.

He’d woken up the next morning while you were in the shower. The soft moans spilling from behind the bathroom door. The two of you had been completely alone in your place. He’d thought of those sweet sounds of you touching yourself constantly since then.

You sound even better now that he’s touching you. He groans softly against your lips, he’s enjoying this just as much as you are.

“Ah… fuck.” You sigh contentedly, swallowing hard. “Rooster. I’m so close.”

Music to his ears. Truly. He grabs the back of your neck with his free hand and pulls you close, eyes locked on yours as he works his fingers into you with his other hand.

If this is him injured, you’re mad at yourself for denying yourself all of him for all this time. You don’t have much time to be mad at yourself.

Your head lulls back, muscles tensing, fingers curling around his shoulder tightly. You’re whimpering, moaning, fucking yourself on his fingers.

“Look at you,” Rooster coos, half-teasing. You don’t have the words to bite back, breathing hard as you try to steady yourself in your post-climax haze. “Christ, you’re so good. So good.”

You can’t wait any longer. The moment your world stops spinning, you push at the waistband of his sweats. He obliges, pulling his fingers from you and pushing the sweats down to his shins. You can see the discomfort on his face. The pain he’s trying not to let you see.

“Rooster…” You frown.

He shakes his head, “I’m fine. Seriously. Doesn’t even hurt.” Actually, his leg is throbbing because it hurts so bad. But, his cock is throbbing too and he knows which one he’s more likely to listen to. You wish you had the strength to argue with him.

You shimmy out of your panties and lean down to kiss him. Your hands held his shoulders as his own squeezed softly at your ass, then grabbed his cock in one hand. He lined himself up with you as you dripped in wetness. His eyes meet yours as you rocked yourself against his tip.

Rooster shivers, even with the heat from the fire. He grabs your thighs with both hands, raking his nails against your skin. A muscle in his jaw ticks.

“So, you don’t want me to make you feel all better?” You tease. Voice soft and feigning concern. You even bat your lashes and squeeze your tits together for him. Then, you sink your hips down slightly, letting his tip nose at your entrance before you lift away again.

Rooster swallows. He manages to nod his head as his hands find your hips. Those pretty brown eyes look up at you, expectant and eager. His hands squeeze around your hips. Your grind yourself along his length, just letting him feel how worked up he’s got you.

“Fuck, of course I do.” Rooster rushes out, his hands finding your hips, giving the skin a firm squeeze. He ruts his cock against you, grinding it against your clit.

You slowly sink down on him, taking in his tip. A soft squeak slips your lips. He squeezes softly at your thighs again. His eyes shut, preventing himself from grabbing your hips and forcing you down to take him in all at once.

Bradley pushes himself up onto his elbows and lifts his chin, lustfully hooded eyes looking up at you as he grabs the back of your neck and guides your mouth to his. He kisses you softly, caressing his tongue against yours. His other hand strokes at your hip.

“You alright?” He whispers against your lips. You have to grab his shoulder tighter, worried for a moment that the sound of his voice alone might send you over the edge. You’re still, just hovering there, with him just barely inside of you.

“Mhm.” You breathe back, resting your chest against his as you sink the rest of the way onto his length. Rooster grabs your hips with both hands and pulls you tight against him, driving himself as deep as he possibly can.

You hit his shoulder, then grab his chin. His brows furrow slightly, confused as you lean in and look him in the eye.

“Hey. Let me.” You demand. He loosens his grip on your hips, smirking softly as he nods for you to do exactly that.

You lift yourself just slightly, rocking back down once again, finding a soft rhythm. Sinking up and down on his length. More full than you’ve ever felt. Head lulled back.

The pain of him stretching you out soon fades. Rooster feels it when it happens. Feels you relax, your walls fluttering around his cock. Each bounce filling you with strong surges of pleasure. You pick up speed, your bodies sloppily colliding.

Sounds of your breathless pleasure filling the empty lodge. Maybe even the forest outside. You couldn’t care less at this moment in time.

You arch your back, grabbing onto his thigh for support as you fuck yourself on him. He squeezes softly at your hips, sliding his hands down to your ass instead. Trying to take a backseat and give you full control.

“Fuck, you feel so good.” He groans, throwing his head back against the cushioned arm of the couch. Rooster’s brows knot together, his eyes fluttering shut. Your palms rest against his chest, unashamedly checking him out while he isn’t looking.

You set the pace, taking care of him exactly like you promised to. Fucking your self on his cock, moaning his name like a pornstar. Rooster groans, lip between his teeth. He doesn’t feel sorry for himself anymore. Fucking up his leg is worth it. He’d sit through this pain six times a week if it meant he got to experience this as a result.

His cock twitches, you feel him squeeze your hips tight and slow your pace. He whimpers softly, lifting his head and taking your nipple into his mouth, flicking his tongue expertly against the sensitive bud.

His hands grip hard at your ass, pulling you towards him as he squeezes your cheeks between his fingers. He growls lowly, shifting his hips, changing the angle. Letting his cock hit your g-spot each time you come down on him.

Your desperate moans fill the air, mixed with each of his soft grunts. The sounds of your pleasure make him twitch inside you. There’s nothing he loves more than knowing how good he makes you feel.

“‘M not gonna last. You feel so fucking good.” He pants, fingers pressing so hard into your hips that forensics might be able to take a fingerprint sample from your skin later.

“I’m almost there,” You pant, leaning down to kiss his jaw. “Don’t you dare stop.”

He smacks your ass, half-playfully, guiding your hips as you ride him. He presses his heel into the couch and drives his hips up into you as you’re coming back down on him. Just once.

You cry out, then gasp in. He took his lip between his teeth, grabbing both of your hips, guiding you as you bounced on his cock, his eyes on your face as your brow furrowed in pleasure. His eyes glance down to your tits, watching contentedly as they bounce.

“You’re so beautiful,” He groans out, breathing hard. “Look so fucking pretty when you’re all full like this.”

“Yeah?” You breathe out, lifting your hips until his tip is the only thing filling you, then sinking down until he’s nestled fully inside of you, grinding your hips down against him.

“Fuck. Yeah.” Rooster grabs your hips. “Wanna fuck you. Gonna take it like a good girl for me?” You crash your lips hard against his, nodding feverishly.

His hands slide down to your ass, his palm connecting hard with your right cheek, then squeezing at the soft skin with both hands. He presses his heel into the couch for leverage, mouth falling down to kiss at your chest as he fucks into you from below.

You grab onto his shoulders. You take him perfectly, your walls squeezing around his cock as he pounds into you. You fall against his chest, moaning desperately into the crook of his neck as his cock drives into you.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck!” You aren’t sure, and you’re glad he can’t see your face because you know he’ll never stop teasing if he knows that your eyes just rolled back in your head. His name pools off your tongue like liquid gold.

His hands squeeze at your ass, smacking at your cheek, groaning breathlessly.

“I’m gonna — I’m-“ You can’t manage real words right now. He grabs a handful of your hair and tugs as his other arm tucks around your waist and keeps you steady as he pounds into you.

Earth shattering. It’s the only way to describe it. His soft groans in your ear as he fucks you through potentially the most intense orgasm you’ve ever had. Toes curling, eyes shutting, voice faltering. You’re glad you fell against his chest before, because you know you would have outright collapsed if you hadn’t already.

You’re clenching around him, kissing lazily at his neck and whimpering as your sensitive pussy contracts around him.

In a loud groan, you felt him begin to spill into you. You mewled over him, your legs shaking as he kept his speed, his cock sending spurts of hot liquid into you. You whimper as his cock pulses inside of you.

His hands are all over you, not able to focus on any one thing — not able to touch enough of you at once as he comes. Your name spills desperately from his lips as he gives one last, deep spill into you. His thrusts falter, slowing until they stop all together.

He holds you there, against his chest, his cock still in you, until you’ve both caught your breaths. He kisses your temple softly.

“Onomatopoeia.” You say against his throat. You press your lips tiredly to his salty skin.

“Huh?” He clears his throat then swallows, his voice hoarse from moaning your name.

“Onomatopoeia. Literary term for a word describing a sound.” You breathe. He chuckles, his laughter rumbling in his chest and vibrating through you.

“Fuck off.” He scoffs, pushing at your face until you’re barely resting against his shoulder anymore. You smile as you push yourself up, shooting him a playful wink.

You both groan softly as you lift your hips and let him slip out of you. Both of you look down at the cum that drips onto his pelvis as you lift off of him.

“Phoenix would kill us if she knew we fucked on her mother-in-law’s couch.” You whisper, as if it’s suddenly important to keep quiet. Rooster nods his head in agreement as you push yourself up and step into your panties.

“Could you grab me some tissue?”

“Yeah, I’ll be right-“ Your leggings are halfway up your legs, your top half still completely bare when you’re silenced by the sound of a car door slamming. Your eyes go wide.

You grab your shirt and hoodie in your hands and sprint for the bathroom, leaving poor, injured Rooster to fend for himself.

“Wait — where the fuck are you- dammit.” He struggles back into his sweats and rushes his hoodie back over his head. The door to the downstairs bathroom locks behind you. You can’t face your closest friends right now.

Luckily, there’s plenty of gear to get out of the car. They take a good couple of minutes. Rooster stares at the ceiling. He can’t believe you ditched him in his hour of need, with his pants literally around his ankles.

That reminds him, he fixes the compression bandage on top of his sweats that had gotten all messed up during the rush.

“Bradshaw, how’s the knee?” Hangman calls as he swings through the front door, carrying two boards over his shoulder. Rooster pushes himself up on his elbows and peers towards the door over the back of the couch.

“I’m — Yeah. It’s the same.” He calls back.

“Where’s your nurse?” Coyote teases, following right behind Jake. Bradley is reminded of your betrayal.

“Peeing, I think.” Rooster answers. Phoenix and Dani head in. Then Bob and Payback. Then Fanboy, who’s not carrying anything. Mickey walks around and shrugs his coat off, tossing it onto the arm chair.

He looks at Rooster and scrunches his brows, then looks towards the fireplace. “You want me to put that fire out? — You look kinda warm.” Fanboy offers. The sweat beading on Rooster’s forehead gives him away, but Mickey doesn’t suspect anything.

Rooster presses the back of his palm to his forehead, wiping away the sweat that had gathered. He nods his head gratefully. The door to the bathroom unlocks and you step back out, dressed, composed.

Your eyes meet his. Rooster smiles softly, it’s a sweet enough look. But something in those pretty, brown eyes says you’re going to get it once I can walk again.

…

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#bradley rooster bradshaw #bradley bradshaw #miles teller #bradley bradshaw smut #rooster x you #rooster bradshaw imagine #top gun smut

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man-down-in-hatchet-town · 11 months

Text

Extra Bones

Every time I watch Headless it makes me think about the importance of representation.

Fun lore drop! I have extra bone! It's a bone disorder that results in weird bumps and spurs all over my skeleton. There's only five that you can easily see without an x-ray, but I've been told that there are hundreds in there. Unlike whatever Brom has going on, it is kinda' a big deal (though I'm very lucky to have a super minor strain, most people with my condition spend their childhoods in and out of the hospital). But it still makes me really smile every time Brom talks about his extra bones, cause, like, that's me! :) And the mutant skeleton community gets, like, zero rep.

At the end of the day, my bone disorder is not that important to my identity. It's a big deal when it's a big deal, sure, but the rest of the time I don't think about it much. So the pure spark of joy I get over seeing even such a small part of myself represented onscreen is truly a testament to the power of representation, and how important it is for marginalized identities to be reflected in fictional characters. Like, if I get this excited over Brom's bones, imagine how I feel whenever I see an aspec character.

Just, yay for diverse characters!

(And, on the behalf of the small-but-mighty bone disorder gang, thank you Shipwrecked for Brom Bones. I think about him a lot whenever medical things get scary.)

#headless: a sleepy hollow story #abraham brom bones van brunt #brom bones #Brooke gets personal #shipwrecked comedy #rewatchers2000

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yellowocaballero · 10 months

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ok so im not very far into trigun (which. you convinced me to read/watch) but ive seen you talk about vash as a christ/messiah figure which. means im kinda obsessed with how you described his impact on the world in no name on the bullet (christ healing the lame, christ feeding the thousand... christ delivering his people from evil.) did you have any specific biblical references you kept in mind while writing?

i also think its super interesting how the fic seems to focus more heavily on healing as opposed to how (what ive seen of) trigun is a lot more gunman focused - is part of that influenced by how knives is a pacifist in a "cold turkey" way, or a choice on your part? i think it makes an interesting dichotomy, christ the gunman and satan the physician

I've gone my entire life without recommending Trigun to anybody, because I always felt it was too weird and ultra-violent and love-it-or-hate-it to actually ask people to watch it. Look at me now. Getting at least 3+ people into it. Boo boo the fool. Also I'm sorry that this response is so long skull emoji.

I'm ex-Catholic so you have asked the right question lol. Vash is very inspired by the Old Testament God. I have a strong mental image of him obsessing over the Noah's Arc story in his cute children's Bible. Sodom and Gomorrah is brought up again much later, in an extremely important way. Garden of Eden and Paradise, as the show does. The Plagues where every firstborn son dies. These is all imagery that Vash specifically evokes on purpose. Vash...uses the Bible to understand his own experiences and feelings and desires (that's the most neutral way to phrase it), but like a lot of people he uses the Bible/God partly as justification for his actions. God destroys cities for being sinful, and Vash is the closest thing to God this planet has, so he's entitled lol. God Complex McGee up in here.

And Vash's cult has no Jesus, because there is no forgiveness for humanity, and no way for them to be saved. Which is how you know that Vash's Jesus-ey actions as described in the story are very deceitful on a lot of different levels. Kind of like regular Vash lmfao - as I said earlier, he's VERY much also a messiah deconstruction. Vash is a pacifist partly because he needs it - he needs to be believed that people can be saved, that the world can be good, that nobody has to die, because otherwise the world is nothing but an endless parade of misery and death and his own suffering. It's about saving his own soul, and the memory of Rem.

For me, on a writing level: Cain and Abel, obviously. 'My brother's keeper'-ass mofo lmfao. It's more themes for me, though - redemption, salvation, forgiveness, original sin, sin in general, guilt, fate. Knives is pretty obsessed with all of these topics. I make fun of him for it. None of it's healthy. But Knives embodies a few other Christian ideals that I don't make fun of him for, such as the importance of good works and good actions, and dedicating his life towards helping others without the desire for a reward. There's also some subtle 'shepherd and his sheep' stuff going on later.

Re: the gunfights: can you IMAGINE Knives carrying a gun. He is WAY too proud of his own #biologicalsuperiority and #ultimatelifeform and #impenetrabledefense (literally Shadow AND Gaara-ass mofo) to rely on cheap human trinkets like guns lol.

The plot has more action than my usual (yay! - that was what I was working for lol), but it's based off the skeleton of the Stampede plot, which is genuinely a lot more space opera than Western and as such its action looks different. Turns out that when you remove the Gung Ho Guns from a story, there are a LOT LESS gunfights, lmfao (I don't know what kind of errands Vash sends the GHG out on, I am afraid to find out). So partly there's less gunfights because a) Stamp plots don't require too many gunfights, and b) without a Gunman (TM) there's no reason for the group to use guns to solve their problems if at all possible.

It's also just that, basically, Vash's plots are partly man vs self and partly man vs other. When a character is level 99, the tension of the fight scene isn't if they'll win the fight - it's if they'll win the fight under their self-imposed conditions. In Vash's case, the Q in every gunfight is 'can Vash win the fight and save people without compromising his principles?'. For Knives, he is so ridiculously OP that it's impossible to write a fight scene with genuine tension, and he doesn't care nearly as deeply about casualties. So the most engaging plotlines for Knives are entirely man vs self, which tends to shake out into a lot of trolley problems lol. That's the answer to your Q from a writing perspective.

So it's mostly a choice for plot/writing reasons. But YUP the dichotomy is SUPER JUICY, and the fun part of the story is reading the Ultimate Killing Machine be forced to do literally anything else than Ultimate Kill - to do the only thing he wasn't meant to do. Because doing what he was meant to do reduces him to a biblical figure instead of a person - it makes him just a devil, who's never exercised the free will God gave him, and as such can't be called sentient. It's not what Rem would want. And it's a very juicy juxtaposition to somebody who interprets his own meaning in life as a Christ figure as a divine compulsion to brutally murder orphan.

#my writing #AH SORRY FOR LONG ANSWER AGAIN....#this story's actually a bit more drama and Things Happen-ey than my usual #which is a lot easier when you're following the beats of another person's story F #but its good practice for writing scenes that aren't just 'A and B talk in a location'#I need my stories to be more active AGH #im working on it but improvement is such slow going....#part of the reason why I avoided writing Trigun my whole life #is because a Trigun fic that was entirely talking seemed dishonest lol #sitting down I was like 'it's Trigun I need as much to happen as possible'#succeeded I think but I feel like I cheated.#also still wish it had more gunfights you're so right anon

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repurposedmeatlocker · 11 months

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top 5 monkees episodes??

OMFGGGG

Gonna rate these in a combination of "cinematically significant" as well as a good dose of my personal opinion :P

Monkees on Tour - I really dig this one! I love how they went for a kind of "cinéma vérité" style. Stylistically one of the episodes that stands out the most from the rest of their usual show format, and all the better for it. I also feel that it is probably the most "honest" look at each member as a real person. The whole thing with The Monkees is how they blur the line between real and fake, to the point that even hardcore fans have trouble telling the difference. I think this episode is the closest they all got to being a little honest. Maybe overblown in the dramatic interview portions, but the intent is still there. Now if only we can get the full live footage of those concerts...I know some vault has them...my personal white whale.

The Devil and Peter Tork - What HASN'T already been said about "The Devil and Peter Tork"?? It is kind of THE Monkees episode. I am not gonna talk too much about all the inner meanings behind the narrative and how it reflects on The Monkees trying to gain acceptance in music history, or how Peter's deal with the devil reflects the band's own downfall. I will just say that the "selling soul to the devil" plot-line and trope is one of my favorite media allusions. It never fails. Also Mike Nesmith's speech. Yeah that's it.

Mijacgeo or The Frodis Caper - Their last episode being not only one of their best and most unique, but ALSO directed by Micky Dolenz just makes it so awesome. The humor in it seriously holds up the way a good ytp does. I love how crazy and insane it is. The aliens, the eye controlling people through the television, the weed references. It is so 60s. I want to explore Micky's mind.

Some Like It Lukewarm - Ok this one is EXTREMELY biased. I know that a lot of elements with the narrative do not age well and sit wrong. I am still peeved how their idea of a "mixed gender group" is just having the girls stand around and dance like...ok...BUT I think that it is certainly a hilarious episode. Their outfits are some of my favs, Davy is in drag, and I love their performance of "She Hangs Out". It is so cute and fun. Also Davy is in drag.

Success Story - Super early episode compared to the others here, but I think it is EVEN MORE IMPORTANT because of it. It is kind of a traditional format episode by Monkees standards. Monkees deal with a conflict, go through musical hijinks to solve it, win in the end yay. But man...Davy put his ALL in acting for this. When he is told he has to leave and go back to England and is saying goodbye to them...Like, holy shit man. I am crying because of the mf Monkees show. The fact that they decided to air an episode of this emotional magnitude so early in the show's run, and the fact that it could carry such an emotional impact, really just says a lot about each member as an actor and the relationship they built onscreen. I don't know if people realize how entertaining these guys are as actors, and how well they built a believable onscreen relationship with one another. I think this episode is kind of a testament to that.

#sorry if this is so long lol I got excited and felt like doing some analysis :3 #I love monke #noticing how the last two are such davy-centered episodes my davy girl side showing fr I promise though I am unfortunately a mike girl #anyway thank youuuu sab!!#the monkees #asks

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em-writes-stuff-sometimes · 1 year

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I cannot express how in love I am with Terms of Endearment! It’s definitely the best HOTD fic I’ve read - the writing, the dialogue, the plot, the characterization, the grottiness! It fulfills my little depraved soul (seriously I should not be enjoying a fic about literal incest this much - it’s a testament to your skills as a writer). Chapter 10 had me crying, screaming, throwing up! I’ve reread it multiple times and I can’t wait for chapter 11. Life’s been tough for me right now and this has been something to look forward to so thank you - I can’t wait to see what you do next!

I hope this doesn’t come off as weird - I’m autistic and sometimes (most of the time) stuff I say comes off weird or awkward, especially in writing. I just wanted to let you know how much I love this story and your writing❤️❤️❤️

Hey, nonnie! Please don't ever worry about 'weird' - I assure you that a) you most certainly didn't, and b) I'd love you even if you did. I mean, I'm weird; we all weird! YAY! You sound like the sweetest freaking person, and if anyone else has told you different then they can get bent.

Lol, the incest thing is the part that amuses me the most about the interaction I've received; like, I'm regularly posting smut of a creepy dude banging his just-legal niece, and people are like 'yaaaaas, more plz'. Obviously, in real life we're all like "noooooo", but the Targs do their own thing and the taboo is fun to explore in fiction. I'm thrilled that you're enjoying my writing - I'll be honest, I've been feeling a little frazzled about it lately, worrying that I'm doing too much explanation where I could let the story just flow. I've sorta backed myself into a corner by pacing it the way I have, so I have to put extra detail in to make the story flow from chapter to chapter. I could have written a 20+ chapter pregnancy fic, but that honestly sounds draining and given that so much of it would've been fairly menial and dull, not the most exciting read. So I'm hoping that, by the time I get to the end, it comes together as a fic that tells the story it needs to with the amount of chapters and writing style it needs to have. I don't know. Sometimes the words are just words on the screen and I'm like "what does it all meeeeean???"

Woomp, I digressed a fair bit there. Back to what I was saying - thank you so much, nonnie! I'm glad to be delivering some depravity for ya! And I'm sorry things are rough for you at the moment. Sending positive vibes your way!

#fanfiction comments

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botwstoriesandsuch · 4 years

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I'd like love headcanons about the new champions. Specifically like how they would interact with their Divine Beasts, how they would socialize with the Champions' spirits, and how they interact with Zelda. I love your blog by the way, it's so creative and I love your stories!

Thanks a bunch! Sorry this took a bit, I had a ton of ideas for the Divine Beasts…

Anyway, let’s get into some

New Gen Champion Headcanons!

So Hyrule is saved and now we just got a bunch of giant mechanical beasts laying around

What to do, what to do…

No one can seem to really control the Divine Beasts as it requires a telekinetic connection, and the beasts have to recognize someone’s soul and spirit as worthy…yada-yada

Even Link was cheating a bit, as he only controlled the terminals of the Beasts with his Sheikah Slate. He didn’t have the power to actually tame them, he could only just tilt them around a bit. Hylia knows Link doesn’t need four giant machines capable of causing mass destruction anyway

Zelda, as usual, takes the initiative to find a solution. Who better to tame these Divine Beasts than the ones who helped defeat them!

Enter, the New Champions

Sidon was excited when Ruta responded to him. I mean, such a creature had judged his sister Mipha worthy of commanding it. So the fact that he could also control Vah Ruta resonated with him, as it meant that maybe he could live up to his sister…

Of course, some of the older Zora, including his father, were wary, considering the Divine Beasts were so closely linked with Mipha’s death

But Sidon is determined, he wants to be useful and help Link (aw) and all of Hyrule. He’ll convince everyone that it’s his duty as a noble to help everyone with the Divine Beast.

“Besides, my sister will be watching over me!”

Sidon and Ruta very helpful whenever there’s droughts or a bad harvest. People don’t even need to report anything. Sidon and Ruta just instinctively know if people need rain.

And Ruta does have a mind of her own. She (yeah we’re using she for all the beasts, like boats, ya know?) is sort of playful and just randomly splashes water on Sidon every now and then.

I also like to think the trunk doubles as a speaker, and Sidon just blasts music whenever he feels like it

It seem Yunobo was the only one bewildered that Rudania responded to him’

“W-what?! Why me? All I did was tag along with Link and headbut it a few times…”

It would take some convincing from the elders that he was up for the job

“Nonsense kid. You did what none of us could do. You’re the one who tackled that old lizard head on! Plus, you’re graced with Daruk’s protection. You helped save Goron City, You got this, brother!”

So Yunobo became a Champion, able to tame Divine Beast Vah Rudania. He’s a bit flustered with this new found fame, but he gets through it. After all, the whole ordeal with Link has made him a bit braver

I like to think Rudania’s personality is serious, an all work no play kind of guy. Purely because it clashes with the personality of both Daruk and Yunobo so much. (Hc that’s why Daruk was struggling with his Divine Beast originally)

Rudania moves on their own, without Yunobo’s input sometimes, so they can move out of the way of falling rocks and stuff. The lizard acts like a big old grump

Anyway, the Goron mining business is BOOMING, literally. Those turrets and drones that Rudania has? Super helpful when scanning dangerous areas by Death Mountain, and for identifying valuable ore.

Also Rudania’s fireproof-ness is great on checking on how active the volcano is, a super helpful asset under a slightly anxious Goron youth. Fun!

Teba takes up the job, no questions asked. No one’s that surprise that the best warrior is the successor for the Divine Beast, but he cares a lot about living up to Revali’s legacy. He gets Medoh to respond immediately, and he’s probably the most skilled out of the four new champions with his beast.

However, it takes time for him to warm up, to Medoh. The thing almost killed his best friend, and shot a laser at him after all. Teba does what’s necessary to maintain Medoh, and nothing more.

Vah Medoh basically is a mama bird. It uses its Sheikah tech to keep the inside toasty for whenever Teba comes, she glows warmly in the night, even the propellers are used to blow fast gusts of wind to help Rito get places fast.

Eventually, Teba gets along with Medoh when he practices archery with Tulin on Medoh’s back. The updrafts of the grates there are even better and faster than the natural ones at the flight range.

Vah Medoh’s cannons/turrets are helpful when dealing with the numerous monsters near the Hebra Range. Talus? Gone. Ice Lizalfo camp? Obliterated. Hinox? Dead. This part is probably something Teba enjoys too, he’s a warrior first and foremost anyway, so dealing with monsters so easily boosts his ego, just a bit.

Everyone was ecstatic for Riju. Everyone, especially Bularia, is so proud. Look at all those achievements under her belt! Youngest Chief, has a sand seal prophet, defeated Vah Naboris, oversaw the reclamation of the Thunderhelm and the Yiga Clan Hideout (although that last one was mostly Link, but no one knows that because, he’s a guy, scandalous)

Riju works well enough with her Divine Beast, the Thunder Helm pairs well, and she feels like she’s growing into it anyway.

Naboris is a show off. Stomping for no reason, hanging out in thunderstorms and sandstorms just to look cool? Yes. And Riju plays along with this because what kids doesn’t wanna look cool with a giant mecha beast? With Naboris, Chief Riju is starting to outgrow her fears of being seen as a bad leader, cause a Divine Beast is a pretty good testament to how hard you work for your people. (Aw, her mom would be proud)

Let’s talk about those Electric Generators. This Divine Beast can harness energy from the earth? And has natural electrical systems? So, so, helpful not just for the desert, but for everyone in general. Naboris’ electrical power is used to power other machines and technology, allowing for heating, water systems, lights, the whole sha-bang. And the fact that there’s a lightning rod to attract the lightning, which not only keeps people safe, but harnesses the natural elements of the land? *chef’s kiss*

You bet your ass Zelda hangs out with Naboris a lot too, reverse engineering portable electricity could help all of Hyrule get back on their feet. I’m talking Industrial Revolution baby, (but without the exploitation of the working class and poverty, ya know, only the good stuff)

But besides that, Riju uses Naboris to navigate the desert. You don’t need to worry about sandstorms and such when you’ve basically got a walking house. It’s lights also serve as good waypoints for travelers, or beacons for those that are lost.

Now as for the original Champions…. Well the ending of botw was pretty clear that they had passed on. They sorta disappear…cause they found peace…and all that. I know the point of fanfic is to ignore canon and create your own endings and ideas, but if I got into how I think the Champions would be revived this would be a much longer post, lol.

So we’ll just leave it at, everyone happy. Hyrule is prospering, Zelda and Link are leading a new generation of Champions and helping the people of the land. Everyone gets together and has a sleepover and Link’s house every now and again. And Teba adopts everyone because he is basically the only adult. Yay!

#botw #breath of the wild #legend of zelda botw #loz botw #sidon botw #yunobo #yunobo botw #teba #teba botw #botw riju #riju botw #zelda #zelda botw #link #link botw #botw champions #divine beast #botw headcanons

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shenlongshao · 3 years

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For the ask meme:1, 8, 12, 14, 18 and 19. ^_^

Yay! More fun ask memes!^_^ These are going to be fun ones to answer.~

1. If you could hit any character without repercussions, who would it be?

Heero Yuy from Gundam Wing. He needs to be hit by 50,000 missiles from every Gundam that ever existed so the franchise can be better. XDDD

8. Do you prefer happy, bittersweet, or sad endings?

I know it’s very cliché, but I prefer happy endings. I love seeing characters experiencing victory or their dreams came true after so much tragedy and hardships in their life. To me it’s like humor, it’s important to have aspects that make you smile and happy to balance out the negativity. I think it also helps gives inspiration and give hope that there is light at the end of the tunnel. 12. If you could change one ending to a book/show/game/etc, what would you change about it? Since it’s about a ending, I would probably would say Gundam Wing: Endless Waltz. Instead of Heero Yuy living at the end, I would have him die by the main antagonist so I can celebrate his demise, lol.XD 14. Name a fandom, ship, or character that you love that others would send you hate mail for liking. I had some interesting messages and etc. when I expressed one of the Guilty Gear shippings I like is Ky x Jam. XD Some of my favorites were things like... “You realize that Jam is a Chinese(insert B word that rhymes with “witch” here) that likes any guy that moves and is a greedy(insert another derogatory word for women here)!” “Your ship has sailed, you need to stop shipping them!” “Ha! Ky x Dizzy is canon! Take that you dumb Ky x Jam, Testament x Dizzy, and every other shipper!” And also taking some shipping pictures I like to put derogatory comments in a way I should feel “ashamed” and that I’m “wrong” for liking the pairing. This is my reaction...

This happened a few years ago on other social media type sites. I’m used to this kind of thing so I try to find humor in it. XD 18. Characters you want to wrap in a blanket and tell them they’re going to be okay? Testament(Guilty Gear), Jam Kuradoberi, Amy Rose, Aerith Gainsborough, Rock Lee(Naruto), Vegeta, Faust(Guilty Gear), Eren Jaeger(Attack on Titan), Naofumi Iwatani(Rise of the Shield Hero), and Cloud Strife. There’s many other characters, but the ones I listed are my top ones I would definitely wrap in a blanket and tell them everything will be okay. I really feel for characters that had to work harder than most when life keeps knocking them down. 19. If you could be a part of any story, which story would you want to tag along in? This is an interesting question~ I have no idea. XD

#fandom ask meme #happy happy joy joy~#GG shipping #skull001

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oddlyunadventurous · 3 years

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BOOK REPORT 2020

I’ve always been a sparse reader but 2018 and 19 had me accelerate my reading habits to the point that I think I’ve read the most books this year that I ever had. I suppose I’ll count them all here, just to make sure!! I said something or other about the Moomin books at the end of last year’s Inkt*b*r so, this being the month of traditions, let’s make a new one by tallying up my literary “yays” and “nays” at the end of the season.

Video game text boxes don’t count, online publication articles don’t count, psych/aesthetic papers and 1000 page biosemiotic textbooks don’t count, but they have sure pursued me in my sleep during the year as well. This list is really mostly for my benefit (and no I won’t get a Goodreads account tyvm), so under the cut you’ll find a list of titles in roughly the order I read them, along with short notes. I’ve done longer reviews of these books elsewhere and I need not bore you with them here.

K. Stanislavski - An Actor Prepares (1936) I started reading this book in 2012, then dropped it because I couldn’t understand it at the time. Kostya attends acting school and gets lessons from The Director. He learns to sleep like his cat.

K. Stanislavski - Building a Character (1949) Supposed to have been published along the first one in a single volume. Kostya continues his lessons. A lot of thoughts on walking, gaits, eloquent speech, phrasing, etc. Both these books are wonderful looks into the author’s artistic life. It’s very heartfelt and down to earth, considering it’s quasi-fiction made to edutain. Very inspiring.

M. Polanyi - The Tacit Dimension (1966) A book on the origin of knowledge, the integrated performance of skills, the emergence of life and other phenomena in the universe, marginal control between levels of reality, the moral death of the communist regime caused by the unbridled lucidity of the Enlightenment, the responsibilities of science, and thoughts about open societies of the future. This is one of the two shortest books I’ve read in the list, it covers all of this under 130 pages and manages to do it well.

B. Rainov - Eros and Thanatos (1971) A communist propaganda book attacking western mass media and escapist culture. It gets no points for being correct, as the author mostly swiped the truths from french philosophers. Very variable in its intellectual prowess, almost as if it picks its arguments in order to push an agenda. Informative but also infuriating. Also expectedly homophobic.

J. Hoffmeyer - Signs of Meaning in the Universe (1997) A somewhat pop-sciency book about biosemiotics. Forgettable but also humbly written and explicative.

A. Noë - Varieties of Presence (2012) An unimpressive book about sensory perception. Noë’s theory on sensorimotor action is worth considering but the book is poorly edited and mostly spent arguing with peers.

E. Fudge - Quick Cattle & Dying Wishes (2018) A look into a registry of last wills and testaments from the period 1630 - 1650 in Essex. The book is about early modern people’s relationship to their animals and what they meant to them in life, as well as in death. Fudge’s argumentation is sharp and her style is modern. Being a scholarly book it is really overwhelming with the footnotes sometimes, but otherwise satisfying. One gets beautiful glimpses of family relationships, thoughts and feelings that people now dead for 400 years once held.

G. Márquez - One Hundred Years of Solitude (1967) The Buendia family get all their sons killed. The Banana Company sucks. People love each other. A lot happens, generally. It is a hundred years, after all. The upper class sucks.

K. Polanyi - The Great Transformation (1944) The Industrial Revolution sucked. England sucks. It reduced all its workers to subhuman wretches. Every single decision made after the empiricists made labour and land fictional commodities has been a band-aid to the essential contradiction that the market economy wants to annihilate its human host. Laissez-faire sucks. It caused WW1. Fuck everything. Fun book.

R. Coyne - Peirce of Architects (2019) Talks about architecture and the ideas of logician/father of pragmatism Charles Sanders Peirce (1839-1914). Informative about both. Brisk and not very in-depth, but to its benefit rather than its detriment.

R. Williams - Culture and Society (1958) A survey of the 18th and 19th century England, and the emergence of the concept of “culture” as defence against the horrors that the Industrial Revolution inflicted upon society. Consists of some two dozen outlines of contributors to the romanticist tradition, from Adam Smith, through Ruskin, to Orwell, their beliefs, contributions and literary works. Very eloquent and interesting.

E. Fudge - Brutal Reasoning (2006) A fantastic book about much: early modern views of the difference between a human and an animal, the Christian discourse of reason, the logical fallacies that lead to its implosion, the advantageous use of dehumanisation by imperialists in other to genocide natives, Montague and Shakespeare, and the ethical hell of animal murder that led Descartes to deem animals as machines so as to allow his buddies to perform live vivisections on dogs without feeling guilty about it (this is the real reason, don’t let anybody tell you otherwise). There is even space for an entire chapter about an intelligent horse who could tell a virgin from a whore and learned Latin at Oxford. This is my favorite book I read this year, so it gets an extra long review.

R. Williams - The Long Revolution (1961) A sequel to Culture and Society that’s worse. The start and end are brilliant but the middle sags. It contains some historical reviews of English cultural elements, like the newspaper industry, the Standard English vernacular and the realist novel of the 19th century, but honestly if the book was just about about the creative state (intro) and Marxism (outro) it would’ve been fine, if not better.

P. Klee - The Thinking Eye (1956 & 1964) Bauhaus boy in 1920s Germany! Love you Klee, xoxo. You really have to read his thoughts to understand his work imho. You can appreciate it just fine on the surface level, but his completely eccentric (though very self-consistently logical and sharp) views on art creation open a new outlook into his primitive approach.

F D.K. Ching - Architecture: Form, Space & Order (1979) A staple book for architecture students. Or so I hear. Steeped in gestalt psychology. Very good, though not necessarily stuff I don’t know already. Very nice looking pencil illustrations, Ching looks to be an accomplished technical draughtsman.

H. Wölfflin - Principles of Art History (1915) A strong contender for second place in the tier list. The book examines the transition between Classical to Baroque in Italy and Germany (and all the Germany clones, like the Netherlands). It is a systematic, precise aesthetic treatise that reveals much by conceptualizing and grouping characteristic art features in which the two styles differ, then explaining their bearing on their decorative content as well as the outlook on life that they embody. Lovely.

M. Porter - Windows of the Soul: The Art of Physiognomy in European Culture 1470-1780 (2005) A historiographical treatise about early modern views on physiognomy. The book deals mainly with the extant literature on the subject and tries to gleam what it could mean for the customs at the time - palmistry reading, occultism, persecution of the “gypsies” and the Christian scientific project of attaining meaning. Macro- and microcosms, as above so below, hermeticism, that sort of stuff. It’s an interesting read but it’s too long, the quality of writing varies greatly from chapter to chapter, and it is far too expensive. Wouldn’t recommend it.

S. C.Figueiredo - Inventing Comics: A New Translation of Rodolphe Töpffer's Reflections on Graphic Storytelling, Media Rhetorics, & Aesthetic Practice (2017) This is the shortest book I read, mainly translating Töpffer’s 1845 "Essay on Physiognomy" along with giving his biography and some other paraphernalia. It’s not worth the price for the content contained within, but Töpffer is the father of the modern comic book, so I thought I’d learn what his philosophy was. On that front, at least, very interesting! If only I knew French I’d save myself the trouble and read the original, which is now public domain.

D. Bayles - Art & Fear (1985) A useless self-help book. Not entirely bullshit but completely banal from all angles. Shouldn’t even be on this list but I did read it, so...

I. Allende - The House of the Spirits (1982) A child rapist gets a redemption arc. Well, kind of. All women are queens. Men are awful. The poor are wretches and it’s their fault. Oh no, the communists are going to take our land! Pinochet’s concentration camps sucked. Overall a better magical realism book than 100 Years of Solitude, to be honest. Very well written characters.

R. Arnheim -To the Rescue of Art: Twenty-Six Essays (1992) What it says on the tin. Wide range of subjects, from art appreciation, to schizophrenic and autistic child art, to gestalt psychology, to philosophy of science, to Picasso’s Guernica and the fate of abstract art, to reflections on the 20th century and the writer’s life in pre-nazi Germany and America. I love Arnheim, I’ve read many of his books and I’m glad I picked this one up.

R. Arnheim - Film as Art (1957) A book about cinematography, one of his earliest, actually, mostly a personal translation from an original German book he published in 1933. Somewhat outdated, but foundational. Not as informative to me but I don’t regret reading it.

G. E. Lessing - Laocoon; or, On the Limits of Painting and Poetry (1766) A book by a greekaboo about a fucking dumb poem and a statue of a naked dad and his two sons getting fucked by snakes. It’s misogynistic and authoritarian in several places, and altogether awfully full of itself. 100 pages of interesting observations stretched over 400 pages of boring Greco-Roman literary discourse.

L. Tolstoy - Childhood, Boyhood, Youth (1852, 1854, 1856) One story serialized in a magazine then later collated in three separate books. Aristocrat boy grows up in pre-revolution Russia. A very, very relatable coming-of-age story. Tolstoy is a lovely writer.

F. Dostoevsky - Poor Folk (1846) An epistolary novel consisting of letters between literally Dobby from Harry Potter and his maybe-niece, whom he wants to fuck. Starts bad, gets better by the end. A bit rough and tumble for Dostoevsky’s first, so I forgive him for wasting my time a little bit. A decent character study of the middle/lower classes, at least.

L. Tolstoy - Family Happiness (1859) An amazing romance novel for the skill employed in writing it. It is very short yet delivers so much emotion. Rather simple narrative at its core, but executed with such bravado one cannot help but be impressed.

F. Dostoevsky - The Double (1846) In which the Author starts swinging. A pathetic, neurodivergent old man gets used and abused by the people around him and nobody cares. Satirical and biting, better than his first.

A. Lindgren - Pippi Longstocking (1945) I last read this when I was 6 years old so I thought I’d refresh my memory. I remember disliking the book then and I can see why. Pippi’s kind of an asshole. Still very enjoyable to read. I know it’s meant for a younger audience’s reading level yet I cannot help comparing it with Tove Jansson’s books and how much better the prose in there is. Sorry.

***

I think that about rounds them up! That’s about 30 books, give or take. For next year I’m hoping to:

Finish Tolstoy’s and Dostoevsky’s bibliographies

Read more econ and marxist writing (low personal priority but i have to, in THIS economy *rolls eyes*)

Finish the Tintin and Moomin comics, as well as Jhonen Vasquez’s collection of edgy humor

Read more about botany and biology in general

Get started on Faulkner’s and William Golding’s bibliographies

Read more children’s books

Search for more Latin American fiction from the Boom

Read more psych/aesthetics/pedagogy literature, which seems to have become my main area of interest

Thanks for sticking till the end of the list, hope you’ve learned something and maybe you’ll pick one of these up if it took your interest. I don’t have to be a philistine just because I’m drawing video game fanart! Bye now!

#books #book report #reading #2020 #blogging #i'm busy reading i'll go back to drawing in a bit #not art

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crowsandkruge · 4 years

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Knives Drawn, Pistols Blazing

a/n: The fic I wrote for @grishaversebigbang is finally done! Yay! It was so much fun to participate in this event! I hope you like it!

Corporalki: my wonderful editors were @mybitchyoc @jesper-faheyyy and @kaz-aelin-and-jace-are-badass

Materialki: the artists in this gang were absolutely incredible!! they all made really cool pieces you should check out!! You can check out their art: @chaosvvolf here, @n8sue here, @zaleart here, and @evilfriendofmine here

Summary: Roeder’s a good enough spider, but Kaz feels his intelligence network is lacking since Inej left to go hunt slavers aboard the Wraith. To supplement his information, Kaz has taken to eavesdropping in bars across the Barrel. When he overhears two Dime Lions bragging about catching Brekker’s Wraith, he must gather old friends to get Inej back.

[without further ado, Knives Drawn, Pistols Blazing is under the cut!]

Kaz

Kaz hadn’t had a particularly good day. The cold had moved in the night before and every step made his leg scream with pain. It was early in the year for Ketterdam to be this cold, and Kaz’s breath clouded in front of him as he made his way through the narrow streets of the Barrel. The echo of his footsteps resounding against the cobbled streets. He’s inconspicuous tonight, wearing a roughspun coat and gray scarf. He left his cane at the Slat, which he sorely regrets now, but he knows it was for the best.

In the year since Inej left, a lot had changed. Kaz had risen to prominence in the Barrel. He’d opened two more gambling parlors and had plans for a third. The biggest change, however, was Roeder becoming his new spider. He’d done a good enough job, but compared to the intelligence Inej could gather, good enough didn’t really cut it. A couple months ago, Kaz had begun to seek out his own intelligence, and besides torture, no one talked more than a drunk man.

Kaz approached The Opdrin, a dirty but fairly reputable bar located between the central area of the Barrel and the Warehouse District. It was a popular spot for sailors and gang members alike. The drinks were good, not watered down like most bars in the Barrel, but the information Kaz could gather was better. He changed bars frequently, but The Opdrin was one of his favorites. Not to mention the walls were insulated, keeping the bar building warm. So despite the near emptiness of most other bars, The Opdrin had gathered a nice crowd and the cheerful buzz of conversation could be heard even before Kaz opened the door. He got a small table in the back corner, gloved hands wrapped around a cup of whiskey. He stretched his bad leg out in front of him and settled in for a night of gathering secrets.

An hour passed with little to show for it. The Blacktips and Razorgulls were planning a parley for the next night, and rumor had it that the Menagerie would only be able to support itself for another month. Kaz afforded himself a wicked smile at that.

People continued to come and go, but by midnight the crowd had begun to thin. Kaz was about to call it a night, when two burly men entered and took a seat at the bar, not far from Kaz’s table. Both seemed to be in good spirits and quickly ordered several drinks. The one with an old scar across his cheek from some long-ago brawl shucked his coat and his shirtsleeve raised, revealing a crown tattoo with a lion curled up inside. The Dime Lions. Now that Kaz had context, the man looked a little familiar. Sem, maybe, one of the dealers at the Kaelish Prince.

Neither of them were very high up in the gang from what Kaz could recall. Initially when Pekka Rollins had run off to the countryside, there had been a power vacuum and many of the older members had tried their luck running the gang. Each thought they could do better than the last and ended up wiping each other out. Only the Kaelish Prince remained as testament to Rollin’s empire, but even that was long past its glory days. The customers were few and far between, and Kaz doubted it would last through spring.

Nevertheless, Kaz’s ears perked at the possibility of learning what new low the Dime Lions had stooped to. It wasn’t long before the liquor took affect and the two men’s cheeks turned rosy as they loudly talked and laughed.

“We’re back on our way to the top, Markus.”

“The Dregs won’t know what hit ‘em,” Markus replied. Kaz leaned forward at the last comment, curious what the Dime Lions had in store. But if he’s learned anything from long nights eavesdropping, it was that patience always pays off.

“Hell, the Dregs won’t dare mess with us again once they learn what we’ve got. Van Eck said it was his biggest weakness. I’ll bet you 20 kruge Brekker will come personally, on his knees, begging once he hears. That’ll teach Dirtyhands a lesson,” Sem said with a chuckle.

Kaz set his jaw and sunk a little further back into the corner, trying to escape their notice. It was rare that Kaz heard news about himself.

Dirtyhands didn't have many weaknesses, none people knew anyway, and certainly none that would put him on his knees. Kaz is intrigued as to what these two Dime Lions thought might do the trick.

“After all the stories I couldn’t believe how easy it was to get her.”

“Musta gone soft out on the sea”

Kaz’s stomach tightened. Inej. They have Inej. There was a rushing in his ears and his vision tunneled on the two men at the bar. Before he even realized he was moving, he was out of his chair and making his way over to them.

He saw the recognition dawn on the men the moment they see his gloves, a step before he’s right in front of them. He didn’t really have a plan, just information he needs to get.

The two men were sluggish from their drink and he landed a solid right hook on Markus. Kaz felt a satisfying jolt as his fist connected with his jaw. Markus stumbled back, bringing a hand to his face. Kaz turned briefly towards Sem. He grabbed him around the back of the neck and slammed his face into the bar.

The bartender backed away nervously. The Opdrin was in a nice enough part of town that bar fights didn’t happen often. Kaz grimaced at the attention he’s drawing.

Sem was knocked out cold and crumpled to the floor blood gushing out of his, likely broken, nose. Kaz turned back to Markus, who threw a sloppy punch at him. Kaz dodged it easily and grabbed him by the collar with one hand, pinning him against the bar. He can smell the alcohol on Markus’s breath. With the other hand he flicked the oyster shucking knife out from his sleeve. It was one of the several knives he always kept on his person. A small and wicked looking blade, it glinted in the light. He vaguely registered the bartender slipping out the front, but didn't bother going after him.

“Where is she? Where are you keeping her?” Kaz asked, his voice like a knife on stone.

Markus, for all his bravado, spit in his face. Kaz wiped it off with the sleeve of his free hand, knife flashing again dangerously.

He made a quick, deep cut, mirroring the scar on Markus’s other cheek.

“I won’t ask again. Where is she?”

Blood ran down Markus’s face, staining his teeth red as he opened his mouth to speak.

“The Kaelish Prince. Top floor.” Markus grunted.

“Too bad you won’t get those 20 kruge.” Kaz replied. Another quick cut. This time across Markus’s throat. Kas turned away and limped toward the door, leaving Markus to bleed out. Given the sound of him choking on his own blood, it wouldn’t be long.

As he left The Opdrin, Kaz turned right. But before he even got 10 paces, he saw the purple uniforms of the staadwatch led by the bartender. He let out a curse under his breath.

With bloodied knuckles under his gloves, Kaz Brekker turned the other way, and like the monster he was, disappeared into the shadows. It was going to be a long night.

Wylan

Wylan had missed Nina more than he realized. She was in Ketterdam for a week with the Ravkan embassy, and Wylan had invited her over for dinner. Here she was, dressed in a bright red kefta, with her hair tied back in a long plait.

“Nina, it’s so good to see you,” he said finally, face breaking into to broad smile.

“Good to see you too, Wylan,” she replied, hugging him.

“You look good. It’s been too long,” Wylan commented as he led her into the dining room.

Marya was already seated at the head of the table. She has that far away look in her eye. It had gotten better since she’d come home, but despite the time, she was still not all the way back to herself.

“Mum, this is Nina,” Wylan said gently, not wanting to startle her.

Marya came back to herself.

“It’s nice to meet you, Nina. Wylan’s told me so much about you,” she replied, smiling softly.

“Only good things, I hope,” said Nina, shooting Wylan a conspiratorial smile.

Wylan took a seat next to Marya and Nina sat across from him.

“Jesper should be here soon. I don’t know what’s taking him so long,” Wylan said.

A moment later, he could hear Jesper’s lanky gait coming down the stairs, and tried to stifle a laugh as Jesper entered the room. Nina was far less successful and immediately let out a giggle. Even Marya has a broad smile on her face.

“Sorry I took so long. Let’s eat!” Jesper said, walking in cheerfully.

“Jesper, you’ve had a lot of… colorful outfits, but this one might be too much,” Nina said, still grinning.

Jesper over exaggerated a pouting expression as he takes a seat next to Wylan.

“Jes, she’s right. You look like a walking sunset.” Wylan said, finally bursting out laughing. He was wearing a red and yellow checked suit with an orange shirt and blue suspenders. Each color more vibrant than the last.

“Good thing everyone thinks sunsets are so romantic.” Jesper grinned. “I figured I should look nice for our company.”

“I’m so glad you chose this outfit just for me,” Nina replies.

Nina’s eyes sparkle when the chef brings out a heaping plate of waffles. Wylan had requested them as soon as he knew she was coming for dinner. They spent much of the night talking and laughing, reminiscing about their time in the Dregs. The hour grew late and the talk turned more quiet. To the boy with the blond hair who didn't make it through the job. Marya looks on sympathetically and thought that these kids are all too young to deal with such loss. Wylan pours the drink and Jesper makes the toast.

Marya goes to bed soon after, and the three of them go to the music room. Wylan plays a jaunty, dirty sea shanty. Jesper and Nina sing along much too loudly and terribly but not for lack of effort. The smiles soon return.

Just then, Wylan hears a loud knock. Marya appears in the doorway a moment later.

“Who would be calling at his hour? Is everything all right Wylan” Marya asks, brow wrinkling.

“Don’t worry, I’m sure it’s fine. I’ll get the door, Mum. You go back to bed.”

Wylan approaches the foyer, startled to see the front door swung wide open. Kaz stood in the doorway, dressed in an uncharacteristic roughspun coat and noticeable absence of his crows head cane. His breath clouded in front of him and his eyes glinted something terrible in the light.

“You need better locks, merch. Is Jesper here?”

“Yeah. Nina too.”

“Good we need to talk.”

Wylan leads Kaz to the music room. It had been several months since Wylan had seen Kaz. He generally kept up with the Dregs activities through Jesper, who still visited the Slat about once a week, but since Wylan was a merch now, it didn't do well to be seen in that part of the Barrel.

“Kaz?” Nina asked as he and Wylan entered the music room. “What are you doing here,” her eyebrows raised in surprise.

“There’s a job I need your help with. It’s going to be messy and I can’t offer much in the way of reward.”

Wylan thought this seemed very out of character for Kaz, he never asked for help, not like this anyway. And Kaz never did something for nothing. Jesper beat him to the question.

“This isn’t like you. What’s going on Kaz?”

Kaz gives a one word reply, “Inej.”

“Whatever the job, I’m in. Inej has always had my back,” Nina replies immediately.

“I’m in too,” Wylan said.

Jesper nodded.

“Good,” Kaz says, looking around at the three of them. “Let’s figure out this job then.” He splayed his gloved hands on the closed piano as he looks at them.

Wylan, Jesper, and Nina share a look before chorusing, “Scheming face.”

“She’s being held on the top floor of the Kaelish Prince,” Kaz begins. Wylan shudders when he thinks of how Kaz got that information.

“The Dime Lions were hit hard when Rollins left for the country,” Kaz explains to Wylan and Nina. Wylan figured as much- Jesper hardly mentioned them anymore. Nina cocked her head at the news, though.

“I’ll have Annika and Pim keep watch on the place, we’ll plan to strike in two days time.”

“Two days? Why not sooner?” Jesper asks incredulously, Wylan can see the worry in his eyes. Jesper and Inej were together in the Dregs long before he joined, and Wylan knows how close they are.

“We need time to prepare, I’m not leaving anything to chance with this one,” Kaz said, eyes going dark. Not with Inej on the line is what he means, Wylan thinks. He wouldn’t either though, if it were Jesper. Saints forbid.

Wylan casts a glance over at Jesper sitting next to him. His eyes are dark, angry, and his attention is turned to Kaz, Wylan sees him reach to his hip, but he doesn’t wear his guns in the house; Marya doesn’t really like it. Jesper feels safe enough here that he doesn’t make too much of a fuss about it, but Wylan knows they’re a source of comfort for him.

“We’ll go in as two teams, one will break into the office. Make sure the Dime Lions know not to mess with the Dregs again. The other will come from the outside to the attic and get Inej. The second team should get in and out with as little fuss as possible. The sooner they realize she’s gone, the harder it’ll be to get away...”

He talks them through the plan slowly, taking their questions as they ask them. It’s nothing compared to the Ice Court job, but it’s important that they get this one right.

It’s late when they finish. The dark of the night is beginning to fade to the misty gray that precedes dawn. Nina has curled up on the small settee, and Wylan’s so tired he can barely keep his eyes open. Kaz, however, looks the same as always.

“You’re welcome to sleep here if you need, Kaz,” Wylan offers softly.

Kaz’s eyes are dark as he looks at Wylan. “I’ve got things to do. I’ll come around later with more for the plan.”

He rises from his seat at the piano bench, and makes his way toward the door. At the threshold he hesitates for a moment. Wylan is sure he is going to turn around and say something, but Kaz just gives a small shake of his head and continues out. Wylan can hear is uneven footsteps echo down the hall, the opening and closing of the door, and then the silence that ensues.

“C’mon Jesper. Let’s go to bed,” he says, shaking Jesper’s shoulder gently.

Jesper makes a dramatic show of getting up, and Wylan follows his lanky frame to their bedroom down the hall.

Inej

Inej was better than this. She was the Wraith, feared across Ketterdam. She hunted slavers on the seas who were much more formidable. It had taken no less than twelve Dime Lions to take her down, and only because… because what? She had seen Tante Heleen and turned into a scared 14 year old again. Foolish, Inej chided herself.

She didn’t know where she was being kept or how long it had been. They had been smart enough to blindfold her tightly and chain her arms behind her. She could feel a thick coating of dust on the floor, and every once in a while a loud burst of conversation would come up through the floorboards. The slats of the floor creaked loudly when the guards were coming, giving her ample time to situate herself so it didn’t look like she was exploring the room, looking for a way out.

She wondered if her crew noticed she was gone already. Inej had given them the week off. This was a job she meant to do alone. She sent yet another prayer up to her saints for a way out of this.

It had begun two weeks ago. Inej had been hearing rumors about a huge slaver ship coming into the Ketterdam ports. The information had been fleeting and fragmented. She never knew who the captain was or what ship it was. She hadn’t even managed to glean what country it was coming from. She only got the date and berth number for the docks. Nevertheless, her interest had been piqued. She couldn’t pass up the opportunity; these peoples stories were all to similar to her own. She shuddered at the thought of them bought and sold like livestock to end up in the Menagerie or somewhere similar.

She had given the crew the week off to handle the job herself. It was foolish, but they were on land and this was her home turf. With her knives and her saints, she had been sure that she could take the ship.

The first tip off should have been the lack of staadwatch patrolling around the birth. There had been no one in sight as Inej had silently scaled down from the shipping containers. She had padded silently across docks, the breath clouding in front of her was the only indication there was someone there.

The upper deck had been empty, too. That made Inej’s stomach tighten and cast a furtive glance. She considered turning back, calling her crew, but her pride had gotten in the way. She had unsheathed Sankt Petyr and Sankta Lizabeta, and sent up a prayer to the rest of the saints before continuing into the hull of the ship.

There was a faint glow coming from a cracked door, twenty feet into the hallway. She heard several male voices talking quietly and crept forward. Two heavily armed men came out of the door just behind her. She whirled around, knives raised, as their boots marched loudly toward her. She threw Santa Lizabeta, knife lodging in his throat. The other one let out a shout a moment before she stabbed him.

Inej sent another prayer up to the saints for their lives, and grabbed Santa Lizabeta. When she reached down, she saw the Dime Lion tattoo inked onto the man’s forearm. She had walked to a trap.

Thoughts flew through Inej’s head as she turned to face the onslaught she knew was coming. She had heard from Kaz occasionally; they shared information as often as they could but not as often as either of them would have liked. Last she heard, though, the Dime Lions had been a joke, on the brink of collapse, running penny-poor cons on street corners. Was Rollins back? She doubted it, but Inej was sure he hated her enough to pull something like this.

She didn’t have much time to figure out who was behind this, however, before the first wave of Dime Lions was on her, all armed to the teeth.

Inej moved like the shadows, like an angel of death, slipping between the Dime Lions, so that more than one ended up with a knife in their back. But there were too many. She took a heavy punch across the face, and a brutal kick to the stomach.

She began backing up toward the stairs, bleeding from a cut on her arm. She turned her head quickly to see if there were more of them blocking her retreat and froze.

Tante Heleen’s hair shone golden in the setting sun, as she was silhouetted in the doorway. Inej felt the gentle rocking of the boat beneath her feet, and felt fourteen years old, again coming to Ketterdam for the first time.

The moment of hesitation cost her, and two muscled Dime Lions pinned her arms to her side and took her knives. She struggled against their grip, but to no avail. A sharp blow to the head, and the world around her went dark.

Kaz

Kaz acutely knew the limits of his body. The way his leg would ache when it got cold. How his heart seemed to skip whenever Inej entered the room. So it was no surprise that he knew exactly how his body reacted to twenty-four hours without sleep.

The irritability was familiar. Mornings after long nights on watch had taught the other Dregs to stay out of his way, but the restlessness was new. He was having trouble focusing on his work and sitting still for more than five minutes felt like some kind of tourture.

After he had left Wylan’s house, he’d gone to the Slat to have Annika and Pim stake out the Kaelish Prince. He knew he was the one who set the two day period, and he knew that logically it was the right choice, but when it came to the Wraith, he seemed incapable of being logical. The thought of her up in the attic made him want to put someone’s head through a wall.

Most of the Dregs had, luckily, caught onto his sour mood and done their best to avoid him, which wasn’t hard. He had practically locked himself in his office, and tried to keep himself busy and distracted with the work of running the Dregs.

Kaz knew he should sleep before the job; it didn’t do well to go in distracted and not at his best. But his mind wouldn’t slow down enough for him to even try to get some sleep. He’d stayed up for longer before, anyway.

It was late the night after he’d left Wylan’s when he heard a knock on his door. He’d been trying to balance the Slat’s books, for his investors, and was vexed someone had come to disturb him.

“Come in,” he called, and a moment later, Pim appeared in the doorway. Kaz relaxed ever so slightly.

“What business?” Kaz asked, once Pim shut the door behind him.

Pim hesitated for a moment, choosing his next words carefully.

“We don’t know how involved she is, but Tante Heleen has been coming and going from the Kaelish Prince pretty frequently.”

Kaz gripped the armrest of his chair tightly before flexing his fingers, palm open. It made sense, then, how they’d gotten Inej. She didn’t have many weaknesses, but Kaz knew her time in the Menagerie still haunted her.

“Anything else?” he asked, voice grating across stone.

“We estimate there are twenty to twenty-five gaurds, but we don’t have clear sightlines on the upper floors, so it could be more.”

“Let me know if you find anything else.” Kaz said, turning back to the books.

Pim hesitated for a moment before Kaz heard him close the door and his footsteps recede down the hallway.

Kaz tried to focus on the books, but he kept going over the plan again and again, working out the knots. He would have to go to Wylan’s tomorrow and fill the rest of the crew in. The balances he usually kept so straight in his head kept getting jumbled, and eventually he slammed the book shut and picked up his crows head cane from where it leaned against his desk.

He needed some air, and he was itching for a fight.

Inej

Inej knew the sea. During the year hunting slavers, it had lent her its secrets. The boy’s name repeating in her head, like a prayer to her saints, sounded like the ocean during a storm, like waves crashing against the rocks, threatening sailors with a cruel death. Kaz Brekker Kaz Brekker kazbrekkerkazbrekkerkazbrekker. It was foolish to think he’d come for her now. He didn't even know she was back in Ketterdam. But still she clung to hope, almost childishly. What was it he once said? That he would come for her, that he would crawl to her. She raised another prayer to her saints.

The chains around her wrists and ankles were heavy. She floated in and out of time; Inej had no idea how long she’d been in the dusty room. The guards rotations weren’t timed, as far as she could figure out, and there weren’t any windows or vents that she could find. Inej knew the basics of lockpicking, Kaz had taught her, but she had none of the picks she would need. She didn’t really know how she was going to get out of this one.

She heard two sets of footsteps coming up the creaking stairs, and positioned herself in a defensive crouch. She could take out the guards. If she was lucky one of them would have the key. If her hands and eyes were free, Inej was pretty sure she could get out even without her knives.

The door creaked open and the heavier set of footsteps approached her. When Inej estimated that he was just over her, she sprang up, slamming her head into what she hoped was his nose. She felt a sickening crunch, and the footsteps receded coupled with colorful swear. Without missing a beat, Inej sprang forward toward the second guard. She overshot to the right, and caught a whiff of cloying perfume as she passed- Tante Heleen’s perfume. Inej crashed into the wall, and spun around leg sweeping out to catch Tante Heleen off balance. She would not be the scared little girl anymore. She was the Wraith, the hunter of slavers, the best damn spider in the Barrel. She was unleashed. She was Inej Ghafa, and she would not be afraid.

Her leg caught Tante Heleen’s around the back of her knee, and she fell with a crash that made Inej smile. The crash was loud enough that it must have been heard by the other guards because a moment later she heard footsteps running up the stairs.

It sounded like the first one tripped over Tante Heleen, but three others had Inej pinned despite her struggling. She smelled Tante Heleen’s perfume as she leaned close to her ear.

“You and Brekker will pay for this, girl.” Inej heard her footsteps disappear down the stairs, but the smell of the too sweet perfume clung to her clothes and skin.

Inej’s faint smile vanished as her mind began to race. Did they have Kaz? Was he somewhere else in the building? She still didn’t know where she was being held. After her little stunt, she was sure they’d post more guards too. She sat back against the wall, and tried to figure out how to escape.

Jesper

Jesper had been buzzing with restless energy since Kaz had shown up and told them the news a day and a half ago. He’d worked hard to stay away from the tables, but the grandfather clock’s ticking sounded like the spin of Makker’s Wheel. The pull in his gut wanted him to go to the Barrel, and if not for Wylan’s distractions Jesper’s sure he’d be deep in debt again. And despite how hard Wylan was trying, the pull never seemed to go away completely.

When Jesper heard the knock at the front door, he practically leapt over the table to get it. He reached the door quickly, hearing Wylan’s more sedate footsteps still in the hallway. Jesper grabbed the brass knob and swung the door wide.

It was Kaz; he looked like a wolf. His eyes glinted in the light, his hair was mussed, and his eye was already beginning to bruise. He bared his teeth as he entered the foyer.

“What the hell happened to you?” Jesper asked, incredulous.

“Is Wylan here? Pim reported back and there’s a couple changes to the plan,” Kaz replied, shrugging Jesper off. Jesper knew better than to push Kaz, but watched the other boy carefully as they made their way into the house.

They gathered in the dining room this time. Jesper and Wylan facing Nina and Kaz. The table was silent, anticipatory.

Kaz began slowly, his voice like cold steel, as he explained the new information Pim and Annika had gathered. None of it was too big; they could easily change the plan around it. Concern had crossed both Wylan's and Nina's faces when Kaz had mentioned Tante Heleen's possible involvement. Honestly, Jesper was worried about it too. Inej had never shared those details with him, but nevertheless he knew her time at the Menagerie haunted her. But Jesper was confident in the plan nonetheless. Compared to the Ice Court job, it seemed almost too easy.

Nina and Wylan would go in first since Tante Heleen knew Kaz and Jesper too well. Nina would cause a distraction on the first floor to try and divert as many guards as possible and then prevent them from coming to the aid of the upstairs guards. While they were distracted, Wylan would sneak back into the office and retrieve Inej's knives- likely locked in the safe. Kaz also suggested he let the Dime Lions know not to mess with the Dregs again. Wylan had just smiled.

While that was happening on the ground floor, Kaz and Jesper would come into a private gambling den through the roof. It was already rented out under one of Kaz's aliases. In it, there was a latch in the ceiling which revealed a ladder. They would sneak up that way, dispatch the remaining guards, and getting Inej out with as little fuss as possible. They were all supposed to meet back at the Slat by eight that night.

The remaining materials were distributed, and the four of them prepared to leave the house in two hours. They would go in two shifts to avoid suspicion, but because they were so far from the Kaelish Prince, none of them thought it was too much of a risk.

Nina and Wylan re-entered the parlor, now dressed for the event. Nina was wearing a satin, green dress that made her look just as much a mercher as any one else on Geldstraat. Wylan was wearing more casual clothes, typical of those in the Barrel.

“You should be heading out soon or it'll be too late," Kaz said, giving them both a once over.

Nina nodded, worry furrowing her brow. "No mourners," she said as she pulled open the door.

"No funerals," Jesper and the others responded.

Before he gave his body the conscious thought, Jepser's hand was reaching out to grab Wylan's wrist. Wylan started and turned around, blue eyes locking on Jesper.

They had spent this past year in relative peace. Both had separated themselves from the Barrel as much as they could, and life on Geldstraat had been good. The big house had become Jesper’s home, and he couldn’t bare to lose Wylan. Not like this, on a return to the life that still haunted Jesper on the bad days and made him long for it on the good.

"Be careful out there, merchling," Jesper said, voice thick and dangerously close to cracking. "You still owe me a trip to Novyi Zem."

"You too, Jes." Wylan replied quietly, before shutting the door behind him.

Jesper and Kaz were left standing alone in the silent parlor. Maybe it was because he was thinking about his life with Wylan or maybe it was because there was an ache in his chest that he couldn’t seem to shake or maybe it was just sheer stupidity that caused Jesper to turn to Kaz and ask, “Do you ever think about getting out?”

Kaz gave him a cool sideways look, and Jesper was sure he wasn’t going to answer. But Kaz turned his eyes back toward the door, flexed the hand resting on his cane, and said, “Where would I go? What would I do? My whole life has been carving out a piece of this town for myself. Why would I want to give that up?”

Jesper could do little else but shrug in return.

“C’mon it’s time for us to leave anyway.”

They were both dressed in modest, and to Jesper’s dismay, muted clothes. Kaz with his cane, and Jesper had the two Zemini revolvers slung around his hips. He had no doubt Kaz had nothing short of an arsenal on his person.

The two of them made their way toward the Kaelish Prince, and soon enough the quiet, austere merch houses gave way to rickety, lopsided buildings and boisterous gambling dens. They avoided the staadwatch easily, only seeing one patrol. Two streets before the Kaelish Prince, Kaz led them down a small alley to the back entrance of a theater. He picked the lock in a matter of seconds. Two flights of stairs later, they were on the roof, with an easy path to the Kaelish Prince.

They perched on the gabled roof that would give them access to the window entrance they planned to use. Like in the Ice court, they were keeping on schedule with the clocktower near the Church of Barter. Nina and Wylan were supposed to be inside at 6, Kaz and Jesper would enter a quarter hour later.

Their breath clouded in front of them as they waited, both anxiously awaiting the chime of the clock. They had no way to communicate if things went sour, and Jesper was worried about Wylan. He snuck a glance over to Kaz, who looked unfazed, but after another second, Jesper noticed the tightness in his shoulders and the clench of his jaw. He had never known Kaz to appear anything less than cool and collected. This wasn’t a job they could afford to mess up.

Jesper rested a hand on his pearl-handled revolver as the clock struck ten past. He thought he heard a faint shout come from within, and hoped Nina was causing some kind of hell to the Dime Lions.

The five minutes seemed to move as slow as molasses, and Jesper’s restless energy was making it near impossible to sit still. After a short eternity, Kaz shifted and signalled to Jesper that it was time to go in. Jesper drew a deep breath and steadied his mind as Kaz unlocked the window.

Kaz

The locks on the Kaelish Prince were a joke; Kaz was almost insulted that they hadn’t even tried to keep him out.

He and Jesper slid into the empty gambling parlor. It hadn’t changed much since Rollins left. The gaudy green velvet still coated the walls and a gold filigree was on the crown molding. The circular table to play three man’s bramble was filled with chips, and Kaz considered lifting a couple as one more petty gesture against the Dime Lions. The yells from downstairs were louder here; Nina raising hell no doubt. Wylan should be wrecking the safe right around now, too.

It wasn’t hard to find the latch in the ceiling to pull down the ladder. Jesper easily reached the chord, and with a swift tug, the ladder dropped. It was rickety and disused and not entirely stable, but it’s a way up and that’s all they really need.

Jesper goes first, gun drawn, and Kaz follows closely behind, pistol in one hand, and the comforting weight of a knife up each sleeve. Jesper pauses at the top of the ladder, head cocked to the side, listening. They both waited with bated breath, but neither of them heard movement from above. After another agonizing moment, Jesper continued up.

They reach the landing and what appeared to be a small hallway. There was a faint smell of mildew and the old floorboards were covered in dust.

As soon as Jesper peered over the edge of the ladder, Kaz heard a loud shout, and the sounds of footsteps. Jesper ducked back down and began to swear under his breath.

“How many?” Kaz asked, already cocking his pistol. Jesper had his revolvers in each hand.

“One from the end of the hall, one coming out of a room, maybe more,” Jesper said. Kaz quickly maneuvered to stand next to Jesper on the ladder. It was cramped, but it meant they could fire all three guns.

Kaz gave a sharp nod, and he and Jesper ducked their heads above the floor. There were another two guards who were emerging from the room further room, bringing the total to five. Three quick shots and they dropped back down. Kaz heard one of the guards groaning in pain, and the footsteps coming toward them had stopped as the remaining guards took up defensive positions. A moment later, Jesper popped his head up again and got off two more shots.

“That’s all of them,” he said as he rejoined Kaz lower on the ladder. They climbed up into the attic, guns still drawn, as they surveyed the scene in front of them.

There was a door on the right about twenty feet in front of them and a second twenty feet beyond that. Nothing adorned the hallway, and it’s bareness was a shock after the gaudy gambling den they had just been in.

He’d been in this attic before, had wanted to map every inch of Rollins empire before he tore it down. Both rooms were functionally identical, a fair size with just the one door and no windows. The one closer to them had housed various clutter gathering dust; the other room held old furniture and trunks. Kaz wasn’t sure which room they would have been keeping Inej in, but the guards he had seen had emerged from farther down.

Jesper turned around to Kaz and gave a questioning look. Alright, Brekker. Make a choice. Kaz nodded silently toward the closer door, and they stepped over the bodies of the fallen guards. The two of them fell into the long ago pattern that had kept them alive through so many missions. Kaz stood to the right side of the door, Jesper next to him. He reached a gloved hand and grasped the brass handle, turning it ever so slowly. Kaz could hear Jesper drumming his fingers around the hilt of the gun, nervous energy too much to keep still.

Kaz gave another small nod as he flung open the door, moving with it so that his back pressed into the wood of the door. Jesper slid over and replaced Kaz on the right side. Both of them waited with bated breath. No sound was heard from inside. Slowly, Kaz peered around the doorframe. The room appeared empty. Kaz signalled to Jesper that he was going in, and Jesper quickly shifted to give him cover.

Kaz took a step into the room and looked around. The room was almost the same as it had been all those years ago. There were crates stacked along one wall and various clutter along another. Everything in the room was coated with a fine layer of dust. There was a disturbance in the dust near the door, and Kaz turned to tell Jesper just as someone moved from the entryway and swept his legs out. Kaz fell flat on his back, letting out a grunt as he hit the floor.

Jesper gave a shout while Kaz raised himself into a crouch. Finally seeing his attacker, his eyebrows raised in surprise.

“Inej?” he asked. She stood in front of him, hands chained behind her. Her clothes were ratty and torn, drops of what looked like blood stained one of the sleeves. She had a split lip and bruise blooming out from under her blindfold.

At the sound of his voice, she lowered her hands.

“Kaz?” she asked, suddenly looking unsteady on her feet. Jesper gave one last look toward the hallway and moved into the room.

“Jesper’s here too,” Kaz replied. Inej’s face broke into a small smile.

Jesper holstered his guns and undid her blindfold, and Kaz was shocked at how sunken her eyes were. Inej had always been small, but now he could see her collarbone protruding.

“Good to see you,” Jesper said, wrapping her in a tight hug.

“C’mon, with all those shots, I’m sure more Dime Lions are on the way. We don’t have all day,” Kaz said coldly.

“It’s nice to see you to, Kaz,” Inej replied. Kaz motioned for her to sit and produced his lockpick set from the depths of his coat.

Kaz knelt down next to Inej. The Dime Lions had certainly spared no expense on the lock securing her chains. It was a new Grendelen, notoriously tricky locks.

“Are you alright? Did they hurt you?” His eyes were dark and dangerous as he searched her face.

“I’m fine, Kaz,” Inej replied, but he noticed again how gaunt her eyes look and her usual knife sharp posture seems to waver. Her hair was falling out of her usual braid; it hung limp around her shoulders.

Jesper knelt down on Inej’s other side, hands nervously fluttering over the chains.

He’s trying to break them, Kaz thought. He hadn’t realized Jesper had spent so much time practicing to be a fabrikator. A small black cloud slowly formed between Jesper’s hands. Sweat beaded along his forehead, and he didn’t look up from the chain.

Inej’s eyes sparked. “Kaz,” she said softly, then again more urgently.

The next seconds seemed to pass in slow motion. Inej, still in chains, pushed him and he fell to the side, pain radiating up his bad leg. Then he heard the echo of the gunshot around the room.

Kaz turned his head to see where the sound came from. One of the Dime Lions had rolled over and gotten off a shot.

He turned his head back to see blood blooming from Inej’s abdomen, her face radiating pain.

Jesper pushed his hands forward and the cloud of metal shavings buried its way into the Dime Lion’s skin, rivulets of blood pouring from a thousand tiny cuts. He screamed and dropped the gun. Faster than Kaz thought possible, Jesper’s pulled out one of his revolvers and pulled the trigger. The bullet pierced the Dime Lions skull and the screaming stopped.

Inej’s laying with one arm pinned underneath her. Jesper pulls her up and she sways where she’s sitting.

Kaz managed finally to pick to lock, and the shackles on her wrists falling to the floor with a clang.

“Let me see it,” he said. He knows it’s bad because she doesn’t say anything in response, just shifts her body to face him.

He does his best to keep him face calm, but Jesper sucks in a short breath at the blood drenching Inej’s shirt.

Kaz quickly removes his jacket and using his ever present oyster knife, cuts the bottom into thin strips for bandages. It’s not the right material at all, but it’ll have to do until they can get back to the Slat. Kaz lets out a string of curses as the knife cuts the pad of his thumb. He’s being clumsy and careless and he knows it. There’s a feeling of pressure behind his eyes and his stomach is tying itself in knots. He hopes Inej is out of it enough not to notice. He should have checked the guards before the went in the room. It was foolish, and now his carelessness was going to get Inej killed.

He sneaks a quick glance at her, and her eyes look glassy and distant. Jesper’s secured the bandages around her abdomen well enough and they’ve got no other choice than to try and make it to the Slat.

“Jesper, run ahead and tell Nina. Get her to prepare whatever she’s got.” Kaz never got a new Grisha healer after Nina. It fell toward the bottom of his ever growing list of tasks, and now he’s kicking himself for not getting to it sooner.

“Kaz, she cant-”

“Just get her, Jesper.”

Kaz sees her eyes start to close, “Stay with me, Inej. C’mon, love, you were supposed to survive this city. Keep your damn eyes open.”

He picks her up, wincing at the feel of her in his arms. He flashes back suddenly to that night on the docks before the ice court job when he had to carry her to the schooner. He damn near sends a prayer up to her blasted saints for her to be as lucky as last time.

He doesn’t even turn to see if Jesper is following him as exits the room. He makes his way toward the ladder, and by some miracle manages to get them both down. He slips out the window, and makes his way across the rooftops. His leg is screaming and every uneven step, and it makes Inej bounce painfully in his arms. They’re not too far from the Slat. He just needs to get her home.

“C’mon Inej, talk to me. Tell me about the Wraith.” It’s the first thing he can think of to ask her.

Her eyes are distant and glassy, looking past his right shoulder. Her brow furrows as she processes the question and tries to formulate an answer.

“There’re so many,” she replies. Her words are slow and slurred. They’re still a couple of blocks from the Slat, and at the rate she’s losing blood, he’s worried she’s not going to make it.

Finally the familiar gabled roof comes into view. Kaz doesn’t think he’s ever been more grateful to see it. He slides in through his bedroom window.

He never let anyone else take her rooms, even when they were running short on space. He never quite knew why, but the idea of someone else living in a place that was so her was wrong. He hadn’t been in the room since she left, and everything was exactly where it was.

His leg feels like it’s going to give out as he enters his room. There’s a pile of papers on desk he’s been meaning to get to and his bed is unmade- it’s not like he’s slept in it the past couple days anyway. He moves through the room quickly and braces himself for the walk down the flight of stairs.

Nina

Nina has no idea what the hell Brekker expects her to do.

Her and Wylan’s part of the plot had gone off as smoothly as could have been hoped for. They’d just made it back to the Slat fifteen or so minutes before a very panicked Jesper burst in and told Nina that she needed to gather any medical supplies she had and get up to Inej’s room.

She felt useless; Nina had never tried to heal anyone without her powers before. “Does Kaz have anyone else who’s more qualified?” she asked Jesper, exasperated.

Jesper held up his hands in surrender, “I’m just passing along the message.”

Nina closed her eyes and let out a long sigh.

“Alright, what exactly am I dealing with?”

Jesper explained what happened as she gathered the supplies she thought she might need. She sent Wylan out to get some extra things they didn’t have around the Slat, and Jesper was busy heating more water as she made her way up to Inej’s room.

Nina anxiously paced the floor as she waited for Kaz to arrive. If she hadn’t taken parem, she could help Inej now. Or we’d all be dead in a Fjerdian prison she reminded herself. Still, Nina cast out her mind, searching for the feel of bodies in the Slat, the rush of blood, the beating of hearts. And felt… nothing.

She heard footsteps above her, and cast a quick glance toward the ceiling. Kaz must be back. She glanced around the room again, inventorying everything they had. She cleaned off Inej’s desk to use as a makeshift table. Bandages, water, a suturing kit. They didn’t have much in the way of pain meds; hopefully Inej would be out for most of it.

She can hear Kaz on the stairs and a moment later, he appeared in the doorway. He’s a wreck. His hair’s all mussed and his eyes glint with something terrible. Completing the scene, he’s drenched in, what Nina assumes is, Inej’s blood.

Inej looks worse than she expected. Her face is pale and her eyes are sunken. Her whole shirtfront is stained red, and Nina can smell the coppery stench from several feet away. Inej’s hair has come loose of her braid and hangs limply over Kaz’s arm.

Nina gestures to the desk. Kaz lays her down gently and takes a step back. Nina moves toward Inej.

“Did the bullet go all the way through?” Nina asks, trying to be as methodical as possible.

“Yeah, there’s an exit wound. I checked.”

“Good,” is Nina’s short reply.

Just then, Jesper enters the room, carrying a large bowl, steam curling off the surface of the water.

“Thanks, Jesper. You can put it down on there,” Nina says, gesturing to the wooden chair that usually accompanies the desk. It’s now full of bandages and medical supplies. Jesper sets down the bowl and looks around awkwardly.

“I don’t think I need anything else, but I’ll let you know if anything changes.”

Jesper nods, uncharacteristically quiet, before leaving the room.

“You should go too, Kaz,” Nina says over her shoulder, already cutting off the makeshift bandages.

“I’m not leaving,” comes the reply.

“At least change your shirt. You reek and there’s nothing you can do now,” Nina says, giving him an up and down appraisal.

Kaz looks like he’s going to protest further, but he looks at Inej and storms out of the room and up the stairs.

Nina lets out a sigh; she’s so far beyond her comfort zone, but she’s got to keep it together and help her best friend. You’ve got this, Zenik.

The last of the makeshift bandages come off, and Nina almost loses her nerve again. The wound’s bad and still leaking blood. Inej’s is going to need a fair amount of stitches. Nina gets to work.

Kaz comes down fifteen minutes later and takes a seat on the bed. He’s changed into a clean shirt and props his cane next to him. Nina’s still bent over Inej, and Kaz doesn’t say anything. They stay like that for two hours. Kaz only leaves once to get her more water.

After what feels like an eternity later, Nina steps back from the table, and Kaz looks up at her.

“I’ve done everything I can, all she needs now is time.” A sudden feeling of exhaustion comes over Nina, and she sits down next to Kaz on the bed.

The world outside had long grown dark, and Nina could hear the loud cries of Barrel floating through the window. She should stay up and make sure nothing changed with Inej, but her eyelids felt like they weighed a million pounds.

Kaz stood up and grabbed the chair by the table, now- mostly- free of medical supplies.

“I’ll wake you if anything changes,” he said.

“I only need five minutes,” Nina said, but she could already feel her eyelids closing. She fell asleep almost immediately.

When Nina awoke, the faint light of dawn was coming through the window. For a moment, she forgot where she was. She glanced around the room, eyes falling on Inej and Kaz. Inej’s chest rose and fell in a steady rhythm, which was a good sign. Kaz, on the other hand, looked like he hadn’t slept all night. He looked disheveled and, Nina thought, exhausted.

“She’s been the same all night,” Kaz said when he noticed Nina getting out of bed.

“You could’ve woken me up, you know.”

Kaz only shrugged a response and turned back toward Inej.

Inej

Inej was back on the Ketterdam docks and before her stood the ship she had been hunting for weeks. The docks were empty and eerily quiet. There were no dock workers shouting out shipment numbers or even the faint noises of the distant Barrel. Inej was alone.

She sent up a prayer to her saints, and carefully boarded the ship. There was no one on the deck, so she cautiously made her way down belowdecks. Her knives were drawn; their familiar weight keeping her grounded. The stairs seemed to squeak impossibly loud as she descended. There was no one in the hall, but she thought she heard voices from a room farther down. Shadows seemed eerily dark as she continued into the hull of the ship.

Some far away piece of her mind knew this was wrong. That she’d been here before but everything had been different. Inej wracked her brain trying to remember. But the voices down the hall beckoned her, and she soon forgot her momentary deja vu.

Inej listened at the doorway, but couldn’t make out more than indistinct voices. Cautiously, she dared to open the door. Inside she found her friends in chains. Their faces were bruised and bloody.

Inej ran into the room, dropping her knives. They clattered impossibly loud on the deck. She knelt by Kaz first. He didn’t react- just sat staring straight ahead. Her hands fumbled over the chains, eventually finding the lock. It was complicated. Nothing she could ever hope to pick.

“Kaz, you need to help me. I need you to tell me how to pick the lock,” she said, her voice urgent. Kaz’s eyes slid to hers, and recognition dawned on his face.

“Kaz, how do I pick the locks?” Inej asked again.

His eyes flicked past her shoulder, and grew wide. Inej tried to turn to see what he was looking at, but two pairs of strong, rough hands grabbed her biceps and hauled her to her feet.

Inej tried to fight against them, struggling even as pain bloomed across her abdomen. Tears were running down her face, but she couldn’t break their grip. She looked back towards Kaz.

“Inej,” he was screaming.

The two men carried her out into the hallway. She could still here Kaz’s muffled screams.

Nina

Nina woke with a start. She had gotten used to sleeping in Inej’s room. She and Kaz had been taking shifts watching Inej while the other slept. Inej had woken up once, briefly yesterday and managed to eat something, but for the most part she was still pretty out of it. Things had been pretty quiet, but Inej seemed to be improving. Nina untangled herself from the makeshift nest of blankets and pillows she had made on the ground at the foot of Inej’s bed.

“Inej! Inej you need to wake up.” Kaz was leaning over her bed, and Nina could see Inej thrashing under the blankets.

Nina sees Kaz reach out a hand and hesitate, fingers inches from her skin. He’s so still, he could be a figure in a painting. He draws a deep breath, clenches his jaw, and makes contact with her upper arm.

“Inej,” he repeats, his voice growing louder. Nina’s not sure what to do, she sits frozen in the blankets.

“No, stop. Let me go,” Inej protests and Kaz immediately retracts his hand. Her breathing comes in short, panicked gasps.

“C’mon Inej. I need you to wake up. It’s not real; you’re just dreaming,” Kaz says to no avail. Nina’s never seen this side of Kaz before. Maybe she’s mistaken, but he almost looks concerned.

Nina finally finds herself able to stand and moves over to stand next to Kaz. He gives her a look as she takes her place next to him. She doesn’t even know what she’s saying, words just begin to tumble out of her mouth. She tries to keep her voice calm and steady even when she sees spots of blood appear where Inej had ripped her stitches.

It feels like hours, but about ten minutes later, Inej begins to settle and drift back off into a deep sleep. As soon as Kaz sees that she’s okay, he storms out of the room to saints know where. Nina gets her suture kit and prepares to fix the stitches Inej ripped.

Nina’s just about to fall back asleep when she hears the door bang open and Kaz storm in. His shirt is drenched in red and there’s blood spatter across his face and neck. His eye looks red and swollen like it’s going to bruise. He’s also favoring his bad leg.

“Where the hell have you been? And whose blood is that?” Nina demanded, voice a harsh whisper.

“This city’s price is blood Nina, and they had to pay,” he replied. “Has anything happened?” he asks after a brief pause.

“No, I had to give her three more stitches, but other than that she’s fine.”

Kaz nods and looks over at Inej before leaving. Nina hears the stairs above her creak as he makes his way up to his room.

Kaz

Kaz doesn’t think he’ll be able to sleep again. His blood’s still boiling from the fight. He hadn’t seen Inej that bad in years. When she first joined the Dregs, the Menagerie still haunted her, more than now. Neither of them ever acknowledged the nightmares, but on particularly bad nights he would go down and wake her up.

He washes the blood off his face and changes his shirt. Hands gripping the sides of the wash basin as he tries to settle himself. His chest has felt tight and coiled since he carried Inej back to the Slat three days ago. He’s slept maybe five hours total; he’s worried his body is just going to give out on him.

He manages to steady himself enough to make the trip down the stairs. His bad leg is screaming with every step. He collapses into Inej’s desk chair. Nina’s already asleep, buried in blankets.

From the chair he can see the steady rise and fall of Inej’s chest. There’s a little blood on the sheets, but her face looks calm, peaceful. So unlike an hour ago. Kaz tells himself that he’s going to stay awake, but at some point he’s lulled into a deep sleep.

He wakes up to the sound of crows cawing at the window. The crows left months ago. He never bothered to feed them once Inej left, and the sound is enough for him to force his eyes open. Sunlight is streaming in through the window and there is indeed a couple of crows perched on the windowsill.

More shocking however is Inej also perched at the window. She’s feeding the crows, hair redone in it’s neat braid, and her head tilted back, surveying the city. A soft smile plays on her lips as the crows continue to peck at whatever food she’s laid out for them. His chest uncoils and he finally feels like he can breathe again.

“You’re up,” he says, shifting in the chair.

Inej turns her head to look at him, braid falling over her shoulder as she does.

“Nina said we should let you sleep.”

“Where is she,” Kaz asked, noticing her absence.

“I think she went back to Wylan’s to get a change of clothes,” Inej says with a shrug.

They sit in silence for several moments. The crows and calls of the Barrel in the morning filling the gaps.

Inej eventually breaks the quiet. “Thank you,” she said eyes locking with his. “I am glad you came.”

“I told you I would come for you. Knives drawn, pistols blazing.”

Inej opens her mouth to say something as Nina burst in the door.

“I hope your hungry, Inej. I come bearing the finest waffles in all of Ketterdam,” she said.

Inej throws back her head and laughs. It sounds like liquid sunshine. Nina saunters into the room, bearing the plate of waffles proudly, big smile on her face. Kaz lets a small smile cross his face. It seems like it’s all going to be okay.

#soc #six of crows #grishabigbang #gvbbfic #kanej #kaz brekker #inej ghafa

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nellie-elizabeth · 5 years

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Suits: One Last Con (9x10)

Okay, so then what happens next is that Harvey and Donna move to Seattle, and they become closer than ever to Rachel and Mike. At least once a week, Harvey and Mike have a "guy's night" while Donna and Rachel have a "girl's night." And then, gradually, they realize they've ended up with the wrong people. So they all get divorced and then Donna and Rachel become a couple, and Mike and Harvey become a couple. Someone please tell me they're writing that fic.

Oh, sorry. Was I supposed to talk about the episode? Let's get to it.

Cons:

I predicted last week that this episode would be overcrowded, and I wasn't wrong, exactly. I'm grateful that the conflict with Faye was over before the midpoint, so we could have a nice long goodbye with all of the characters. But while I do enjoy that, I also must admit it doesn't make a lot of sense. Faye was a season-long threat, and she's dispatched a third of the way through the finale. It just goes to show that as interesting of a villain as she might have been in the beginning, she didn't really matter. She was a figurehead. She didn't really change anything about these people and their perspectives on their lives. It all felt pretty pointless in the end.

No matter how much fan service a finale has, there are always going to be things that get missed. For example, it seems strange to me that Jessica couldn't have made a cameo at Louis' wedding. She's working on another show for the same creators; how hard would it have been to get her in for a few minutes? And I hate that Alex was the one to go to Katrina. On the one hand, I get it. They needed to find something for Alex to do in this episode, because he's been a pointless character for several weeks. But Harvey and Katrina never get a moment of apology, and that really sucks.

I've talked a lot in these reviews about my issues with Donna and Harvey. It's not that they're painful to watch, or actively unpleasant. The actors do a good job. It's perfectly serviceable. But I think I've finally figured out one of the reasons why they never quite clicked for me as a couple. Harvey is always talking about how Donna knows him better than anyone. But this is what editors mean when they say "show, don't tell." Donna knows Harvey. We've seen it throughout the years. But how does she show that she knows him? Well, she has the supernatural ability to read his mind and predict his requirements whenever the plot requires it. And she acts like is mommy just as often as she acts like his girlfriend, guiding him through his emotions like an enabler.

But Harvey can say again and again that Donna is the one for him, and how well she gets him... and then we can see Mike in the same episode, showing that same thing, instead of telling it. I'm not even pushing for a romantic interpretation, necessarily. It's just that Mike comes in, and they have their quippy banter. They work together to take down Faye. They re-enact Mike's interview with Harvey but in reverse. They find excuses to touch each other. And in an episode that involved two weddings and a health scare, the single most emotional moment in the episode is when Harvey tries to leave Mike's apartment dramatically after telling Mike he's never stopped trusting him, and Mike says "no," like the very idea of Harvey losing his license is torture to him. They have the chemistry. They have the beating heart of this show, and that's been true from day one. It makes the romance between Harvey and Donna pale in comparison.

Also, in an episode that had to accomplish so many things, so quickly, it was odd to add in that little health scare for Sheila. Why did her pregnancy have to have complications? It felt like something to add just to make for some more drama, but we really didn't need that. I'm glad that mother and daughter were both okay.

Pros:

I was always going to rant and ramble a lot in this review, since it's the last one for the show. But just because I had a lot to say in the "cons" section doesn't mean there was nothing to enjoy here. Let's start with my girl Katrina.

As I said, I was irritated that she and Harvey didn't have an on-screen reconciliation. But I am so, so happy for her that she gets to be name partner! It's so refreshing to have a character arc on this show be about a woman choosing her career over her love life, and having that be an empowering and rewarding choice to make. I'm all about it. She gets to come back to the firm, newly powerful, and stand with Alex, Samantha, and Louis.

Samantha and Alex were both underutilized in this finale, but I get it. I'd rather focus on the longer-standing characters, too. And the show did a good job of making this episode the end of an era for Harvey and Donna, and yet also a new beginning for the others. The image of the new firm name on the wall was really lovely. I especially liked that Samantha acknowledged how crazy it was that they'd kept changing the name, and decided that they can't change it anymore for at least five years. But Litt Wheeler Williams Bennett will be stronger for Katrina's presence among them.

Louis has one of the best glow-ups in TV history. There were times over the years where I didn't think I'd be able to forgive him. I still selfishly hold a grudge for that time when he physically attacked Mike. But at the end of the day, he has actually grown as a person. This is a great example of show vs. tell, actually. We've seen it all season - Louis has been calmer. He gets angry or worked up about something, but he doesn't fly off the handle. When he tells his therapist that he's ready to have him as a friend and have him officiate the wedding, it doesn't feel like empty words. Louis might still need therapy in his life, but he has the tools now to know how to get himself the help he needs. It was so fun to see his "final form" as it were. And then we see it put to the test, as Sheila goes into labor during their wedding ceremony. You might expect him to freak out, but he's calm. He's planned for this, and he's there to be supportive for Sheila during this difficult time. Even while he's frantic for her and the baby in the hospital, he keeps a cool head and doesn't do anything he would later regret. Yay Louis! (ps - Louis learning that Donna and Harvey were leaving was more emotional for me than Harvey and Donna's wedding). (pps - that scene of Donna and Louis holding hands in the elevator gave me LIFE).

It was predictable that Harvey and Donna would step up and take advantage of the pre-arranged wedding - a lot of fans predicted this exact outcome. And while I've spoken extensively on my mixed feelings about their relationship, I can't deny the cuteness of the scene. We get that lovely proposal, with Harvey's mother's ring. We get Mike putting his arms around both of them, with his little quip about being unlicensed to officiate. We get Harvey and Mike gripping hands as Harvey leads Donna out for their first dance. It's all very cute, and I feel happy for the big Darvey fans out there. They totally deserve to see all of that happiness, even if I don't agree with the couple at its core. This is the inevitable conclusion, and it was done quite beautifully.

Will I ever be over how much Harvey and Mike love each other? I really don't think so. Let's talk about the best parts of the episode.

First of all, I already mentioned it above, but that scene at Mike's place was just golden. Mike walking in to find Harvey already there was great - they have always just barged in to each other's personal spaces and that's such a testament to the trust between them. And then you have Harvey telling Mike the truth, and telling him that he's going to have to go on the stand and risk getting disbarred. Mike's reaction is genuine panic, and then the two of them concoct a plan that will save the day. I just love the idea of Harvey going over there not to ask for Mike's help, but because he couldn't stand the thought of Mike thinking he didn't trust him. That's love, baby.

Then you've got the interview-in-reverse thing at the end. I could spend hours just squealing about the fact that Donna and Harvey are leaving the firm and moving to Seattle (my home town! woo!) to be with Mike and Rachel. Hey, maybe the four of them could all be in a poly relationship... but that's for fanfic to decide, I guess. Good finales need to come full circle, and also need to set the characters up for changing futures. This idea of Harvey moving to Seattle, of Mike being Harvey's boss, manages to do both. They are quippy and cute with each other, but also genuine. Harvey decides to leave the firm in order to take out Faye, but he also genuinely wants a fresh start. His life changed forever when Mike walked into his life, and I really do feel like that was the final message the show left me with, when the dust had settled.

So... yeah. I can't find it in myself to be a hardcore Darvey shipper. This finale was never going to cater to all of my needs. But at the end of the day, I was mighty pleased with several of the scenes, and I love where it left all of the characters, in terms of their careers and happiness. For this finale, I'll give a rating of...

7.5/10

For the show as a whole? Well, I hate to break it to anyone who's unaware of this, but Suits isn't that great of a show. It has a couple of really strong elements, but over the years its stories became repetitive, and there's quite a lot that doesn't actually make sense about these characters and their motivations. But I don't grade these shows based on objective quality. I grade them based on the elements that I enjoy most in a show. For years, whenever Suits came back on the air, it was one of the things I looked forward to most each week. I longed for every scrap of content between Harvey and Mike that I could possibly get. There are moments over the years that I have gone back and watched in a loop because of those two. I also liked the way the show deconstructed toxic masculinity, and had a feminist message that didn't feel like something out of an after school special. I had fun watching this show, and I will think of it fondly for years to come. The show over-all gets:

8/10

#review #suits #suits review #suits usa

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levelrazearts · 4 years

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Sun and Moon

So, just watched the last episode of the SM series, specifically the subbed cause I was waiting for it to come out so I could write this, making this the 6th fully completed series that I've watched of the pokeani, with XY, OS, Orange Islands, DP, and BW, which is the order that I watched them in cause I am chaos incarnate, but I've got to say, I thoroughly enjoyed every single episode that this series produced, which is a first given how I felt about the previous series, and I'm really glad that I experienced this as it was still continuing and not after the fact. From seeing Alola for the first time to seeing Brock and Misty show up to the Ultra Guardians to the Alolan League, I'm very glad that this series went the way that it went and chose to do things differently than other series did, and that's in part due to how the games had gone so yay. Guess I'll go over some of the highlights now.

Spoilers Below, thoust have been warned.

The characters, my god, the characters really helped this show become an emotional rollercoaster both in joy and sadness.

Ash and Pikachu: The boy and his best friend are back and for the first time is in a mainly non-changing setting, taking a break from traveling while also exploring the Alolan region and all that it all has to offer. His training and experience is still there which was nice to see after XY, and his battling effeciency has definitely improved, with only a couple of loses here and there. Here it's almost as if they're both home, which is what Alola is all about, home and family, which allows them to both grow in ways we haven't seen them grow before. And let me say as someone who is a real big fan of electro ball, electro web is the perfect replacement for it, acting as a defensive move really helped provide some interesting combos in and out of battle, which really helped in the end. And let's not forget, seeing these two finally achieve their dream of winning a League after 22 years, it's a real heart warming moment, especially for those who have grown with this series since day 1 like me (more or less lol). This was a relaxing and reinvigorating journey for them, one they desperately needed and one that they deserved, along with all their accomplishments throughout.

Kukui and Burnet: Sure when Kukui was first introduced, I was a bit iffy on seeing him host Ash and Pikachu as it felt just a little bit weird, but seeing him grow into a father figure for Ash was something that I didn't know I needed, and with the introduction and later marriage of Burnet, it was also a great family relationship between everyone that we hadn't really gotten to see Ash experience due to his absent father and considerable amount of time away from his mother, and to see that just about every other character in the series acknowledge that Ash was a lot like Kukui was really heartwarming, even from people such as Guzma and Nanu. I hope we get to see more of these two and their family to-be in the new series.

Ash's Pokemon: I'm putting this all as one cause really, they were all great and this is the best way to say it, they were his closest 'Mons to date, with Ash putting as much love and care into their training as possible, and the results were a strong and reliable team that were also family. With Rowlet, it was a bond of listening and acceptance, wanting to stay as a basic evolution so he could stay in Ash's bag and sleep, Rockruff having a found a forever home and someone who helped to push him further with his limits and later his troubles in battling, Kitten finding trust again as well as someone with love forever, and being able to evolve due to that love and determination, Piople in a promise to return home, gaining a second home and family, and Meltan finding his place in the world, a best friend in Rolwet, and evolving to Melmetal, pushing as hard as he can for those he love. It really was/is everyone at their best and true-est. You also have the family pets with this setup in a bird, dog, and cat with a beautiful purple birb and metal protector. Seeing them stay in Alola, as much as it hurts, I think is the right choice for Ash to have made, for they're as much of a family to the professors as Ash was, and will continue to be, and I love that.

Kiawe: THIS FIRE BOY IS MY FAVORITE. I can not express how much this character has grown on me, especially within just the first season. At first, I thought he was going to be the serious-stick to the rules kinda guy, and I'm not a big fan of those, but then he started to lighten up, episode by episode, and then came the Dugtrio episode, and from there on out, he was my favorite. He's just written really well, super funny especially with his expressions, and overall a lot like Ash, but more focused on responsibilities. Not to mention, he's loyal to everyone, as seen in the Tapu Fini arc, which is one of my favorite episodes/arcs. All of his Pokemon were great too, Turtanator especially, as much as I love both his Marowak and Charizard, I feel that Turtanator was his best, in both personality and relationship wise, not to mention he was just to cute. Seeing him working on becoming an Island Kahuna is really befitting of his character as he greatly respects traditions and is the perfect role model for any youngin looking to be a challenger or trainer.

Lillie and family: So much growth, and so much more to go I feel, Lillie was a real great character to add in and I'm so glad that they went in a different direction than what the game had held and her overall arch from being someone who was afraid to touch a Pokemon, to now wanting to set off to find her father, truely a beautiful story, and her mother and brother also were great characters in their own right, as both supportive and riverly and both fueling her desire to become better than before, it's great to see the theme of family carry over into what is the supporting cast, making them feel more important than ever and I love it. Her relationship with her Vulpix (Snowy) was really touching and watching them both grow was more so. And seeing her be able to reunite with Magearna and by extension, her father through memory was so heartbreaking, I really hope we get to see the conclusion to their trip. As for Lusamine, I'm again, really glad they went a different route with her, making her a caring yet grieving mother instead of a careless one, and she was a definite highlight whenever on screen. And Gladion was just as much so, seeing him loosen up throughout the series was a blessing and reuniting with his father's Zoroark was just as heartbreaking, but seeing him in the semi-finals of the league, bursting with laughter with Ash at the amount of fun they were having, was really sweet and so in character with who he had become. Again, I really hope we get to see the conclusion to their trip to find Mohn.

Lana: She's the Meme Queen and my second favorite of the cast. Her constant joking contradicts her almost serious tone and allows her to be one of the most humorous of the cast, and I love it. While she didn't have to many arcs throughout the series, she was a strong Battler and fought for what was right no matter the risk, and I like that. Her dedication to making sure everyone was okay and safe while at the same time having fun was a neat touch. Her Poplio was also pretty fun, and seeing it evolve into a Brionne and later Primarima was a great growth to someone who was seen on the lower side of the spectrum in regards to power, and now it holds the spot of one the more powerful Pokemon within the group. And the addition of her Eevee (Sandy) is just heartwarming, and that haircut is to freaking adorable. Time will hopefully tell if it'll evolve or not, and I hope we do see that come to fruition, along with the search for Manaphy. Overall a joy of a character.

Mallow: An aspiring chef while not that much of a goal, was definitely a new direction to go in regards to a menu for both people and Pokemon, but I feel her growth came most in the form of both her Bounsweet and Tapu Fini arc, in how her Bounsweet evolved to help their friends, which is derived from her wanting to help others as much as possible, which I find to be perfect. And the Tapu Fini arc, well I guess it's more of an episode, really explores the trauma that she faced when she lost her mother and her regrets of having said things that shouldn't be said, and later gratitude for her mother leading to a Shamin appearing before her was really one of the most heartbreaking parts of this whole series, and even in writing this I was beginning to tear up. And while Shamin has now left, I do think it's message has remained in that one should be grateful for all that is now in the moment instead of grieving on the past forever, to make amends were possible, and to look to better the future, hence the Human/Pokemon menu/resutsrant she's hoping to bring to life. A great amount of growth in such a short time, this is a goal again I hope we get to see sometime in the future, as she's the only one to stay in Alola (unless Kiawe is as well which not to sure on that).

Sophocles: Easily the most panicked of the group, it was great to see him find his footing whenever he could and stand his ground, and improve his battling skills, which was really a testament to just how smart he his. Little by little, he has grown into a stronger and braver person and I love that. His Togedemaru was also the funniest Pokemon throughout the whole series next to Turtanator I think, and seeing him grow with his Chargabug and later Vikavolt was really something special. Becoming an Astronaut is also something that his growth has led him to be able to do, as the journey to space requires a lot of training to become stronger to overcome the effects of zero-g and as well as bravery to venture out that far, and just like with everyone else, fits him perfectly. And as much anxiety as he has, he's always been able to overcome it, be it with the help of his Pokemon or his friends, it's really admirable. What's more to say about him? He's going to achieve great things just like Clermont before him I believe.

Team Rocket Gang: I think this is the most that I've liked them in a long time, mainly due to them not causing as much trouble as before, and that's thanks to Bewear, who was able to change them into less-troublesome people and I hope we see that carry over into the new series, and eventually see them leave TR for good to start their own lives for better and worse. Mimikyu and Mareanie were also great highlights in both their personalities and abilities, and seeing them be left behind with Bewear and Stuffle feels right even though it hurts just as much. I will certainly miss bear mom.

Rotom-Dex: A character I initially didn't like, turned out to have grown on me, and I'm glad he was there, as he was like a brother to Ash in a sense, and was a bit of comic relief at times, a I enjoy him a lot more than his debut which is good. I'm sad to see him go as I was hoping that was him in the SwiSh promo images, but who knows, maybe it is. I would certainly hope to see him again in the future. As for now, him mapping out a new land is a good fit for him, and he deserves his job.

Honorable mentions

Hau: His voice is perfect. His desire to become better is pure, and while untrained, he's got a lot of potential for sure. I really hope we get to see him again

Guzma: A perfect antagonist, who only appeared in like what, 10 episodes? but I wish we had more of him to be able to grow with, cause there's potential there for it. Here's hoping that we get a more informative conclusion to him in the future.

The stories: From being in a school, to saving a second reality, this has got to be one of the best written series for Pokemon. Starting off in a primary location and slowly visiting each and every other island was a new approach and I'm glad that it was done as such, cause again it greatly highlights the familial aspects of it all, and how much Alola means to the people and Pokemon that inhabit it. If I had to choose my favorite arc, it would probably be the Tapu Fini arc (Poni Island arc, as I'm now remembering what it's actually called) as it greatly highlights all of the characters and allows them to grow in their own, as well as mess with our emotions and I'm all about being forced to cry. That, and the Alolan League Arc, it's just so rewarding to see Kukui's dream come true, and as a result to see one of Ash and Pikachu's biggest dreams come true, not to mention that Pikachu vs Tapu Koko battle is so beautifully animated. Seeing this class become closer and closer was truely something that Pokemon hadn't tried as hard to do before, and I'm really glad they were able to do it here. And again, by changing the format of traveling to staying mainly stationary, you get a sense of home with Kukui's house as resting place, the Pokemon School as a daily experience, the city as a whole as a part of something close. Again, it's something Pokemon was missing and again, I'm glad they were able to do it right by this. If there were any negatives that I had, I guess it would have to be A. The promotional material for when this was first starting up didn't do it justice, as it put me off from watching this, and I hate that, cause this is all great. B. Would have to be that we weren't able to see any of Ash's previous companions return like Brock and Misty or even experience their reactions to Ash finally becoming a Regional Champion, but hopefully we'll be able to see that with this new series.

The animation: OH MY GOD IT'S THE BEST. This is some of the best that the series has ever produced and I'll be hard pressed to say I don't think it can ever be topped. Especially with the final league battle, Pikachu vs Tapu Koko, seriously one of the best fights ever. There are also so many hilarious facial features that this art style was able to pull off and I thank the people responsible for that because I still get a lot of good laughs from them, I really don't think any of it could have been pulled off with the BW/XY art style, as much as I love that one, I feel that this is truely superior.

Z-moves: I was wondering how this would be handled as in the games, the z-crystal acts as a held item for the Pokemon, and it seems to not be the case here, as shown with Rowlet and his Everstone, which I like, along with that as epic as the move name appearing on screen whenever the z-moves is performed, I do like it not being there in the dub. Also seeing that only one z-moves can be performed unless with assistance from the Tapu's was a nice touch too. As far as favorite z-moves goes, it has to be either Gaurdian of Alola, or 10,000,000 Volt Thunderbolt, my gosh those two are so beautiful looking and good and just seeing them clash was aaaaaaah, the best thing ever. I hope they can treat Dynamaxing right just as they did Z-moves.

Overall: This is my favorite Poke series to date, topping out the previous holder of XY, with how much love and attention was put into it, the overall result is one that anyone can jump into and instantly fall in love with. I highly recommend this series to any and everyone, it's just that good. I also recommend listening to the Japanese songs cause they kick ass so much omg. Like, Type: Wild, is my jam right now omg. A perfect 100 across the board. Really sad it came to an end, but grateful that it happened. Here's to SwiSh, hope you can be just as good.

#Pokemon #alola #gen 7 pokemon #review #long post sorry

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zmediaoutlet · 5 years

Note

you saw endgame! please share with the class! assemble!

haha, okay, well–here’s some thoughts, since we’re far enough out that I don’t think this will be too spoilery for people – but it’s gonna be super long, so it’s under a cut, either way:

Well, it was–spectacular! In that it was literally a spectacle, for one thing. I had pretty lowered expectations after not particularly enjoying Captain Marvel (it was fine, but boring) or Infinity War for that matter (better-made, but the stakes were obviously nonexistent because we knew something was going to be done). Here, though… I just really, thoroughly enjoyed it. It was thoughtfully done, well-executed, and just as a moment of payoff for those of us who have been here all ten years… It was just really something. I saw Iron Man on opening weekend in 2008 and fell in love, and even if I haven’t loved every single movie since then, I feel like Marvel just sent me a love letter, and I was so–glad. What a good movie-going experience it was.

I say all that having seen SO MUCH rending of garments and gnashing of teeth from the !stans and shippers, but all of that’s so very much missing the point. This is the story of *this series*, this great arc that led to this point. The thing to remember is that the MCU is fanfiction itself–it’s based off of characters who are based off of characters from a canon that’s been rebooted and re-blended about a billion times. This is the story this group of fic-writers, essentially, chose to tell, and I think they did it pretty damn well. You can write your own fic where Steve weeps into Bucky’s hair for 70 years if you want to. This story isn’t that, and that’s okay. (Genuinely, if fandomites could take like half a step back they’d be much happier people. I know it’s hard–I’ve been in a process of letting go with SPN that I haven’t really managed to do well–but c’mon. Don’t get so het up about it.)

Some things:

1) I was genuinely impressed with the time travel mechanism, especially as it bounced meta-ly off of other examples we’ve seen in pop culture. Finally, a story that allows ACTUAL alternate-universe time travel instead of boring-ass time loops. I’ve always thought it was spectacularly dumb when the worry is “but if I kill myself in the past, I’ll die now!” Nope! Avoided! Thank you, folks. It’s kind of weirding me out that so many people online seem confused about how the time travel worked, but it was incredibly clean and I just want to high five the people involved. The one thing that seemed like a plot hole was Old Steve at the end, with the implication that he was co-existent in this timeline for 70 years (and did nothing about Hydra??)–but then the Russos said that they assume he went to an alternate timeline, and then came back to this one to give Sam the shield. It wasn’t on screen either way so you can make your own headcanon, but I’m good with that. So: successful time travel. Hoo-fucking-rah.

2) Thor. This was the one real spoiler I had going in, that Thor Got Fat. All this weeping about how he’d been mistreated by the narrative. So, I was pre-emptively worried… and then ended up not thinking it was that bad. Look, I’m a chubster, I’m well-aware of how sensitive that can be for people. What I found interesting about it was that it was, yes, kind of a visual joke, just because The God of Abs was a pudge, but it was actually treated remarkably kindly by every character for whom that would be in-character. Meaning, sure, Rocket makes fun of him, and Rhodey’s kind of a dick (because Rhodey’s like that with Tony, even)–but Bruce, Steve, and even Tony all deal with him quite gently. That scene where he tries to volunteer for the gauntlet and Tony carefully holds him back was so sweet and sad. Poor guy. It was a good exploration of the depths that the last ~10 years of his life have pummeled him into. It wasn’t that he was fat, it’s that he was broken. People will make up their own minds about the equivalencies there and what’s being implied, but it was a good visual metaphor as far as I was concerned. If he were “just” a sad drunk no one would have believed that he wasn’t ready for what was coming, and he wasn’t. But he got better, because his friends really were there for him. (Also, Korg was wearing Taika’s pineapple shirt! I hope there are nice fics where Korg and Maik gently just play XBox with Thor because that’s all they can do for him.)

Also on Thor, re: Thor/Loki – more rending of garments about how he didn’t go see Loki. Let’s think about this: you’re on a top-secret time mission to save the universe (Time Heist!), and you go see your trickster god little brother who, yes, you miss, but who also hates you at this point in his life. That’ll go well. I completely understand why there wasn’t a scene. The scene with Frigga was all I needed there.

3) Steeb: I’ve never been the… biggest fan of Steve. I mean, he’s fine. His character is caught awkwardly between the man, Steve Rogers, who abhors bullies and will break rules to do what’s right, and between The Man, Captain America, who kinda Is Rules and needs to do what’s right but also represents an idea greater than himself. There’s a lot of wonderful tension there, but the movies haven’t particularly capitalized on it, and when they’ve tried it’s been in a lip-servicey way.

That said, this movie deals with it really, really well, I think. At the beginning he’s trying to live, and isn’t doing a great job of it. The plan they come up with is simple, perfect heroism – he’s not representing an Ideal, but he is one: he’s the man and the ideal simultaneously, that striving toward right will eventually create a more just, fairer world. If sacrifice is required he’s willing to make it. That scene of him standing alone against the massed forces of Thanos with his broken shield strapped tight to his arm is like a distillation of who Captain America should be. I’m so glad we got that, at the end.

As someone who doesn’t invest in Steve/Bucky but who completely understands it, I also see no issue with the thing where he goes back to Peggy. Bucky understands, too. That moment where they hug and he tells Steve, so-softly, “I’ll miss you,” oh man, oof. Bucky knows. I hope there’s a lot of pining!Bucky in that fandom, y’all are missing out on a STELLAR opportunity if not. Especially pining!Bucky where Steve knows and can only do his best to be Bucky’s friend. Steve going back isn’t out of character, either, despite the clamoring. He misses Peggy, he misses peace. Who knows what they got up to in that alternate timeline–maybe he and Peg went and routed Hydra early, maybe they saved Bucky, maybe they had a WWThreesome with Buck, whatever. But Natasha and Tony both told Steve to “get a life,” and he finally got to. He’d done enough. He earned it.

4) OH MY GOD, NATASHA. What a character arc. I friggin’ adore the mirroring of her and Clint’s stories. The brutal assassin who gained a family and learned what it meant to love something so much she wanted to sacrifice herself for it–those scenes on Vormire were heartbreaking. I’m also super glad that the movie paused, after that. Someone called her death “fridging” – wow. No. She was a hero, as much as Tony was. Whatever it takes.

5) Tony. Holy shit. In a lot of ways this was his movie–in a more meta way, it was RDJ’s movie, and Favreau’s, and Feige’s. It all started with Iron Man, and that’s where it ended. There wasn’t a stinger scene because we got that funeral and then the moment in the credits with the originals signing the screen, and of course they saved Robert for last. The success of this movie is really a testament to the risk everyone took, way back then. It sure as hell paid off.

“You wouldn’t lay down on a grenade to save your men,” Steve said. How many different ways can Tony prove him wrong? At least once more. ;-; I’m just super emotional about the whole thing. So many good moments all leading up to what happened. Little Morgan in his helmet, Pepper’s faith. Steve’s faith, for that matter. (I still have a tiny pocket of my heart reserved for Steve/Tony, no matter how non-canon it is. What a great relationship they have.) The panic and misery when Carol brought them back, calling Steve a liar, and Steve just–gentle with him, again, and how there was no anger there anymore. Argh.

That’s the thing that I think I appreciated about the movie most, in the end. Despite all the craziness, the spectacle, the easter eggs slinging at you left and right (”Hail Hydra.” !!!!!!!!!!!!!), what I loved most is that in the face of this ultimate goal, this literally universe-saving moment, the stakes were actually felt because the characters (and actors, and script) sold how unimaginably important it was. Interpersonal bickering fell by the wayside; any dumb conflicts just washed away. No drama for its own sake, or manufactured arguments. Just–working together. The Avengers we hoped to get in the aftermath of the first team movie. We got ‘em, finally, even if we lost a lot too.

This all sounds super elegiac, I guess. It sort of is. It wasn’t a perfect movie by any means, but it might be perfect for what it meant to do, and what it set out to do. There were a couple of little nitpicky things that I might change, but they’re so small so as not even to be mentioned. And so many more tiny moments that I loved, loved, loved. It’s the first one of these movies that I’ve wanted to rewatch in literal years, and that’s making me really happy all on its own. I’m just left with this utter… satisfaction. Not sad, just happy that they made it worth my while.

Put another way: when I was leaving Shazam I felt like I’d spent about 4 hours wasting my time. When I was leaving Endgame, I felt like it had been an instant. Just yay, all ‘round. I loved it three thousand.

What did you think?

#ombrecoeur #avengers #endgame spoilers #...i have a sneaking feeling i could get hate for this #pls note that the views above are the sole property of etc etc #i just really liked it is all #just a lot #i keep thinking about it #keep thinking about little moments that were great #and if that isn't a satisfying movie experience idk what is

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bowtomypointlesswords · 6 years

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World Building Friday!

Hello, welcome to a new segment I’m doing called World Building Friday! Yay! Since I have a lot of worlds and a lot of time to build them, I’ve decided that on Fridays I’ll talk about the worlds I’ve made. specifically the world of Althea, since it is a massive world... So large I haven’t even figured it all out yet! So this will be my fun way of forcing myself to actually write out everything!

Let’s start with Althea as a whole first. Althea is a world circled by three moons. It is a world with ten (10) continents, and over sixty (60) nations. It’s been home to wars, near apocalypses, and eras of prosperity, and the people are vast, unique, and diverse. Althea is a world I’m designing to play D&D in, as well as to write in and it’s specially crafted for both of those things. With enough room and history to place my characters or players in at any point and have unique adventures, npcs, and stories to tell.

The Plains of Existence:

Like in D&D’s official world, there are many plains of existence that surround the world of Althea. The primary ones are: The Celestial Plain where the gods live, The Mortal Plain, where the mortal races live, The Hellish Plains, where demons and all things foul live, and the Void, where things even older than the gods live. There are smaller plains, such as elemental plains, fae plains, and so on, but those four are the main ones.

The Elder Primes and the Creation of Althea:

The Elder Primes are the gods of the gods, they are the beginning of everything. They formed worlds of their own and many are so old they look nothing like things we would recognize as human. Most are so ancient they are little more than stardust, some are younger, alien in their appearance but vaguely human, still others are as close to human as these beings can get, yet still otherworldly and off putting to face. These are the Warlock Patrons, the world makers, the ancient powerful creatures of forgotten mythology. The Elder Primes rarely interact with mortal affairs, most in fact outright refuse to even look at Althea, as it stands as a testament to things even they could not control. The Younger Primes. The Younger Primes were freshly born Primes, wild and untamed, and easily drawn to the allure of creating their own world, despite being warned against it by the Elders. The Younger Primes, a pair of twins named Lalios and Tharidious, went against the Elders and made Althea, which in itself was not a terrible thing, as the Elders themselves had made many worlds. The problem arose when the pair gave a portion of their powers to lesser beings and created the Celestials, or Gods. These beings could create, were immortal, were powerful. The Elders had never considered giving their powers to lesser beings, and as such they were deeply afraid of what the Celestials would try to do. So they attempted to destroy Althea and the Celestials, only to find their powers could not contend with the multitudes of Celestials that had been created, nor could they do it harm as Lalios and Tharidious gave up their lives to protect it. The bodies of the twins were buried in the core of the planet and the Celestials began to continue their creator’s work, filling out the world and the mortal races.

The War of the Gods:

Without their creators, peace was not lasting among the petty Gods and Goddesses of Althea. Their bickering was near constant, and they often were at each other’s throats. This led to a great war between them. The Celestials fighting spilled out of their plain into the mortal one, and very nearly destroyed Althea if not for the protection Lalios and Tharidious had cast on the world before their deaths. Massive skeletons and weapons can still be seen throughout Althea, now standing as landmarks, and warnings of what happens when the gods wage war. The war wiped out dozens of highly advanced societies, and as such there are ruins now scattered throughout the nations of the world, ruins laden with valuable treasures, technologies, and magic to be found and learned from.

The gods have since calmed, since those who remain are those who were all on the same side of the war, or were either neutral or fighting for the other side unwillingly.

Okay that’ll wrap up the first World Building Friday for now. Feel free to ask questions if you have any!

Tag List: @westywrites, @thegrimlyreaper, @violetqueenmarie

#WIP: Althea #World Building Friday #World Building #My writing #My WIPs

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survivor-ingary · 3 years

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Episode 2 - "I DON'T WANT THE MYSTERY MOUSE-CA-TOOL BESTIE" - Ellie

At the tribal, Ping was voted out of the Pendragon Tribe nearly unamimously. Tribal immunity for this round is Pictionary.

I bet all these bitches know i voted for Keith and now they are going to come kill me in my sleep if i die i blame dylan

yass round 2 i either think im in the best position on this tribe or theyre all secretly coming for me thats all

Tribal went as well as I expected it to go. No major drama. It seems like Keith is in real trouble if we do go to tribal again though which would put me in a very tricky spot. For now, though, I will be trying my best in the upcoming challenge. The problem is, however, timezones and schedules. Jon is going to be our drawer, but he can only do it tonight or in the early afternoon tomorrow which I will not be there for. Additionally, Keith is asleep so we have no idea what his schedule is going to be so we basically had to schedule the challenge without him. And Nya could only do right before the deadline tomorrow which Jon cannot do. I hate this for us, truly. I just hope that Moth and I can rub our brain cells together for this one so that we can pull out a win. OR somehow the other tribes fail horribly. On the bright side, I am finally starting to catch up on Duolingo exercises. They're a lot easier than I thought, but it is still going to be tedious af to save up enough coins for some of the higher end products at the shop. As a final note, I am going to work with Nya in the long term as we promised each other to. Hopefully that actually works out. Time to actually be loyal and be a hero this time around. Need to try something different.

If we lose this challenge, I will be very upset. We went so hard on this challenge!!! I believe that we can at least get second place, but I don't know how crazy the other tribes are. So, let's see what goes on

Ayyyyy soooooooo looks like the four, Colin, me, Ava, and Brayden are officially in an alliance!? I’m really hyped to be working with everybody and already have sights on who should go if we have to go to tribal 👀 but like I’m gonna feel so bad if we go to tribal and I orchestrate a whole plan to take someone out I gotta do it when I’m not in my feels and the planets aren’t fucking with my emotions too heavy. But go alliance ! This means I’ll be able to stay safe until hopefully a merge and hopefully we can avoid a tribe swap till then which I get those vibe from it !! But I’ll be here to survive two more tribals just in case which is pretty rad. Other then that hopefully me offering to draw doesn’t end us up in the bottom and we can keep killing ! But anyways that is it as off know hopefully I have a lot more coins tomorrow morning and I get hit the hat shop bright and motherfucking early.

Just got asked to be apart of an alliance <33333 the besties in the group trust me which maybe ain't the right move but for now we gotta love the bonding. exciting!!!

YAY FOR ROUND 2! Okay, so I meet once again with the Hat Shop and... third times the charm! Except,,, the charm is getting nothing AGAIN lmao I'm not complaining though, still got that extra vote :P I stayed up at 1 AM for this challenge, and I honestly think our team popped off. Anastasia was guessing a ton, and Riley was amazing at drawing real quick! I have a relatively good feeling about our performance, so I hope I wake up to the news of our tribe being immune :D

so yesterday I set myself on a mission to get an alliance. I wanted Ava + Brayden + Toph + me as a majority alliance. it was our day off from tribal so I thought it was the perfect day to do it!! I talked to Brayden about it first because he's the person I feel the most comfortable with, and then after a lot of coordination and careful communication I was able to pull it together!! I think the most important thing when making alliances is making everyone feel like they're a big part in it. So I was careful to ask each person how they feel about the others, about the game, and made a point to say that I wanted to work with them specifically. Some may call that a little manipulative, but I wanna make sure that I'm an essential part of the alliance!! i need everyone to feel like they need/want me there.

all of this happening so soon into the game is a testament to how aggressive I'm playing this time around. I usually like to lay low and just rely solely on my social game in the start, but I'm trying this out to establish myself early on! I wanted to play the tribe leader and I think I'm doing that in a smart and subtle way!!

so yes now we have a 4 person majority alliance named "duolingo owl hate club" because fuck that guy. I think we're the 4 most active and present people on the tribe so it's only natural for us to work together, but I think it's definitely worth noting that I was the one that was pulling the strings here.

We just did the pictionary challenge, I have a good feeling about it!! Toph was an amazing artist, and if we win, all credit rightfully goes to him!! I think the guessers also did great of course, but like come on, the artist has to be the mvp. I'm really hoping we pull through!! I don't mind going to tribal, but I genuinely don't wanna vote anyone out yet. I'm fine just playing the game in a precautionary way. I know I'm in a great position if we do go to tribal, but it's always preferred that we don't go.

Everyone else on my tribe: doing the challenge and kicking ass

Me: I’m sleep

Riley (Tumblr has once again chosen violence so only the first 10 get banners 🥲)

I think our challenge went pretty well! My team were good guessers. Feeling like I've established some Integrity now. Hope it keeps me safe later!

Toph Soooooo we finished the challenge with 32 points and like wig !! I was a quick as drawer for 32pts expect when my internet lagged, but still ! I think we whooped some ass and if we do go to tribal I know it won’t be me going, thanks to Duolingo owl hate club but I’m also worried same could have and advantage because they seem pretty kean on learning a lot in like 3 hours and then tried to cover that statement to not seem so threatening but like babs s a huge threat too apparently they love Duolingo and know 5 laugnes ? This is from brayden but If so go babs ! That’s absolutely iconic for real Life but fucking scary in this game ! I gotta be buddy buddy with them so hopefully if they do have something it won’t be them going home first and it will be Ava. But I’m thinking we might get second place again unless someone is a fucking wizard at this.

Dennis hmm i think we did well enough in the challenge to not see tribal tomorrow but who knows i guess we shall find out tn

the way ellie was so on top of stuff yesterday only to oversleep the challenge makes me giggle maybe shes freaking out about it which makes me also giggle but i dont think its really a big deal

anastasia asked me to call yesterday and i was like sure lets talk but it is damn near impossible to hold a conversation with her idk i tried BUT she did tell me “yeah i just got off a call with ellie” im like i see. she says shes down to work with ellie but that quickly switched from ellie being ~experienced~ but good to know ellie is also playing hard. anastasia also mentioned that she talks to riley a fair amount who i still have yet to connect to well. but dat makes me think ellie is def talking to riley too miss debate team is definitely a talker. but good on her for the social game i guess

kenneth keeps being like haha we’re the same person and im like yeah👁 i bet we are👁

i just wanna win and not think about tribal just keep it slow and chill for now keep learnin my welsh i guess

Ava Second challenge was Pictionary and I had a ton of fun playing. The tea is: toph did a great job. He was pretty vocal about not being a great artist but really I think he did great. However, Babs was super inactive yesterday and ~too late~ said they were a great artist and should've been picked to draw. It was kind of like.... k babs thanks for the belated "help". They did do great guessing which scored a point in my book. Brayden was supposed to play but last minute logged off without saying anything so we did the challenge without him :/ sorta a bummer. Anyway the lack of participation from Sam is kind of popping off so we'll see where that leads them... Overall a fun game and fingers crossed we did well!

Moth I think we did okay at the challenge. Today I am dying from the heatwave so I’m not thinking too straight! Stay cool everyone

Ellie So yesterday Anastasia and I called for about an hour!!! I’d say we’re definitely way closer, she’s someone I really wanna work with although the idea of her and Brayden eventually being on the same tribe is kinda scary cause I know how close they are. Still she’s so fun to talk to and I just love her energy so much!

Pictionary challenge results: Jenkins Tribe wins with Penadragon second, Hatter Tribe has to go to tribal council on the following day.

Ava Well well well seems our bob ross, toph, didn't pull through (y'all think babs would've pulled it out for us or slept through our challenge like they said they almost did?) I can't wait for tribal. I'm in it for the drama. I'm hashtag voting Sam off - didn't even bother to be apart of our challenge and not too sure they've even been online for a full 24 hours. Weed out the weak.....

Anastasia

youtube

Brayden https://imgur.com/n60Lz0c

guys i dont know what to do someone help me out

Dennis i hope damn brayden gets the boot

Raffy Woo! We don't have to go to tribal again! We stan!

Ellie So I figured I’d go idol hunting today cause the shop was about to close and I just wanted to see what had been bought and what possible hats there were, I see that there’s a hat I have enough for that hasn’t been bought and I decide fuck it let’s get it

APPARENTLY ITS SOMETHING THAT IM NOT ALLOWED TO KNOW WHAT IT IS OR HOW TO USE IT YET???? THEY SAID ILL FIND OUT ABOUT IT LATER

I DONT WANT THE MYSTERY MOUSE-CA-TOOL BESTIE

Sam Well you see. I like all my tribe people. And I think we did real good on that music video! So, I think rather than voting anyone else off, I think I should just vote myself off if that is possible! Ahhh

Babs So sad to see Sam not only go but go through what they're going through :( same w Toph :( they all seem so lovely

Keith Not sure if i submitted a confession after the last tribal. But if I didnt here it is.

Happy I made it out of that tribal. I had raffy backing me with whom I played. Last time we played. We were at odds. We didnt work together but whats worse that we were against each other. It was either him or me goin out. Hopefully thats the past n we can work together. I jus need to keep things calm n show that Im not here itching to make big moves. So they dont feel threatened by me. N its easy cause right now. I havnt made that kind og bond with anyone on my tribe. To even think of such moves. Lets see what round two holds for me.

Colin so uh

we lost! :(

I was really bummed tbh. Like I thought we did well but circumstances with the challenge were just really unfortunate, from conflict about who wanted to be the artist to people disappearing the moment the challenge started, I think we did well despite all of that. Except we did kinda get stomped anyway. Oh well!! The game moves on. Tribal has to happen.

Initially I was gonna push for Babs, just because I feel like I don't wanna attach myself to them too early on. I've seen how much of a bitter player they can be, and lets just say I'm not the most loyal ally to have. however! 9 minutes after we lost, Ava announces to our alliance that she's voting Sam. I wasn't surprised, Sam has been the one not really pulling their weight. But I had some good connections with her!! we both did colorguard and shes so sweet and easy to talk to. I was really conflicted for a little bit, debating on whether or not to actually push for Babs. I think brayden sensed my hesitance but we both knew there was nothing really I could do to stop Sam from being the vote. At first tribal, the initial name always spreads like wildfire.

However, my mess was stopped abruptly by Sam asking to be voted out. welp!! okay then!! babs stays i guess!! i'm not too bothered. I'll never turn down an easy vote hehe.

Pretty sure there's a swap tonight. I'm kinda scared of that

uwu

Brayden

youtube

i almost forgot to upload this but dont worry i just remembered

Colin screams

Toph So we’re going to tribal in 20 and all I have to say right now is if there is a tribe swap after I’m gonna so scared but I ducking called I had a vibe and it was right that’s what is gonna win me this game trusting my intuition. I’m holding on now and gonna be the biggest comp beast next challenge in case I get fucked on this swap !!!! Or at least if it is a swap 🤔

Riley I don't know what this announcement's gonna be I'm worriedddd... Ginny said it probably means we're swapping teams but I don't wannaaaa I like our team.

Toph Sam self sacrificing made this the easiest vote ever and me being safe is a plus I guess 😎

#episodes

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