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#nightmare time 2 had a lot more songs in it which was a choice
nervoushottee · 7 months
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IMPORTANT: This blog is 18+ MDNI!! If you don’t have age on your blog then I will block it.
*Inbox and messages are always open!*
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Joel Miller
Series:
Flaws and All: You and Joel get caught in a blizzard while traveling. Cooped up in a cabin that is a bit of a fixer upper, the two of you learn how to grow with one another. In the process of waiting out the blizzard, you both have no choice but to accept each other, flaws and all. And maybe, just maybe find more in each other than just a travel partner. Will be Explicit in future chapters
A Solemn Promise: Joel thought he had lost it all. That the cruel bitter world had taken away his heart and soul piece by piece until there was nothing left. Everything he cared so deeply for gone. Turning him into a complicated man with a complicated heart. But when he has to travel across the country with a young girl and his girlfriend that he thought was dead. Maybe, just maybe his broken heart and soul can mend.
Oneshot
A Shot of Whiskey: (Explicit) You didn't think Joel would take you up on your offer. But here you were getting fucked in the bathroom stall of the bar.
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Lucien Flores
Oneshot:
Kill the Lights: (Explicit) Lucien Flores is your older brother's bestfriend and to you he was always off limits and vice versa. Until one night that changes... (insipred by the song "De Selby part 2 by Hozier")
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Frankie "Catfish" Morales
Series:
Good Trouble: You and the Miller brothers have known each other since childhood. But the years go by and time moves on and the three of you are grown up. But what happens when they come home to visit and the two friends they bring along with them catch your eye?? (Frankie/Santiago/Reader)
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Santiago "Pope" Garcia
Series:
Good Trouble: You and the Miller brothers have known each other since childhood. But the years go by and time moves on and the three of you are grown up. But what happens when they come home to visit and the two friends they bring along with them catch your eye?? (Frankie/Santiago/Reader)
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Steve Harrington
Series:
The Summer Before: You and the gang decide to take a trip together before you all go your separate ways after summer is over. You’re excited for a reset away from Hawkins. Away from your problems and responsibilities. But one of the problems that you can’t seem to find the answer to went with you and it’s Steve Harrington. Conversations about old times and second chances wasn’t something you really planned on doing but here you are.  The days will be light and warm. Trips to the lake and burgers on the grill. The nights will feel long filled with laughter, beers, unwanted truths and tattoos you won’t remember getting the next day. Secrets will be spilled and tears will be shed.  A last hooray at the end of the summer while everyone was still together.  This should be fun. Right?
Oneshot:
Take Care: Steve wakes up from a nightmare that scares him a lot more than usual. The two of you frantically decide in the middle of night to get out of Hawkins. Even if it’s just for a little while.
Go For It: Steve has been your “movie guy” at Family Video for a while now. Little does he know that the main reason you’ve been buying these movies is to flirt with him and just maybe ask him out…
Illicit Affairs: You wish you were enough for Steve, but he will always want Nancy. (inspired by "Illicit Affairs by Taylor Swift")
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Steddie
Oneshot:
This or That: (Explicit) You can't seem to figure out what you like better between Steve and Eddie.
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Series
Folklore: In which nervoushottee creates a series of fanfics insipred by the songs from Folklore by Taylor Swift
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dividers by @saradika
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meili-sheep · 1 year
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Do you know that one idol au where diluc, childe, kaeya, and zhongli are in a group and they’re called DCKZ? Then there’s also 4meno which is just the ameno guys
I dunno I rlly need some content for that idol au rn-
_:(´ཀ`」 ∠):
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So I am honestly really cackling that I've never like mentioned this AU (I know of it; I just never talk about it because while I would listen to an indie rock group calls DCKZ I don't think I'd listen to an idol group called that) and you are just like "Please feed me" especially bringing 4meno into this situation.
I love it.
Anyway.
So while not a DCKZ person I sort of always imagined the roles being like
Diluc is the prince gentleman type. Does the main vocal for more mature and elegant songs. He surprised everyone when he could rap like no one's business. He's generally a surprise because he's got a powerful voice that he has to hold back on for the sake of the group. So when he's allow to go all out he'll go all out.
He was brought in cause his dad. Definitely was a child star moved who got moved into singing. Probably the one who wants to be her the least but does it because of Kaeya (Buys Kaeya merch to support his brother)
Kaeya is the cool, mysterious one. Leads most of the song and is really the main face. Man has range though which is why he'd be the lead singer most of the time just because of what his voice can do.
He was adopted into Diluc's family and wanted to spend more time with Diluc, so when Diluc was being transitioned to an idol, Kaeya asked if he could join, and here they are. He loves the spotlight but is still really only here to hang out with his brother. Really wishes Diluc would be in the front more often. (Buys Diluc merch to support his brother)
Childe is a new talent and clearly the energetic, sporty one. He's a new loan from a different talent agency. Had a solo career and wasn't doing well, so he got moved to DCKZ as the fresh face. He's got a really energetic voice and can really pump up a crowd. Great on stage. Nightmare in a booth. He's got a sort of rivalry with Diluc (It's totally one-sided Diluc doesn't give a shit) because he wants to be a main rapper, which he is, but he's really jealous of how good Diluc naturally seems to be at rapping.
Probably the only one in the group who is actually really happy to be here. Also, the one who gets recognized the least.
Finally Zhongli. He's an older idol kind of put in to bring attention to the new group. Like being a recognizable face. Especially Since people will recognize Diluc but for his child star days. He's defiantly set up as the mature, older neighbor boy. Has an amazing voice, and he's been in this so long; he's incredibly well-trained and knows how to use his voice. He has a preference for the more slow songs, so he mostly takes those but often is with Diluc in the more mature ones.
Doesn't mind being here. He sort of sees this as his last group before he put a can on show biz, so he's pretty relaxed and is just enjoying his time. Might have a secret collection of merch from Diluc's old TV shows.
A little bonus.
People consider DCKZ and 4meno rivals sort of. They really work in 2 different corners of the market. 4meno is more younger crowd while DCKZ is older. But people still often try to compare them. The truth they honestly get along great.
Diluc and Venti and best friends and Venti actually help Diluc get into his idol role. Venti and Zhongli also used to be in a group together so they have a good dynamic.
Xiao is a big Zhongli fan and has been for ages. So while he acts tough, he's always hyped when Venti mentions he's invited DCKZ over. Also, as a Xiaoluc fan, I think them in this context of Rival bands would be adorable. (But I feel I've given you lot set up for Diluc ship of your choice)
Aether is just a friend. Gets along great with everyone. Probably get one with Kaeya and Childe the most, or rather get pulled into their shinanigans the most.
Kazuha just vibes. Probably just hangs in the back with Zhongli while everyone else gets into trouble.
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sewersewersewercouch · 11 months
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I've been seeing a whole lot of enthusiasm for my aquatos playlist so! I will share!
couple of disclaimers before we begin:
some of these songs only a small part of it actually applies, in which case I'll try to specify what part I mean. especially the ones that are from musicals, since they're kinda specific to the context of the musical they're from. also a few of them have been in there for a bit and I don't actually fully remember why I put them there.
if you have any suggestions please lmk! I always love suggestions!
I don't do a background check on every musician I ever listen to, most of these were just things Spotify spit out at me and I went "oh the blorbos!" so if any of these artists are incredibly awful people you can tell me, I probably didnt know
I can't really think of many songs for tala and queepie I'm sorry :(
lastly, if you follow me I know you know this and you know I know you know this. but I figured I'd better say so just in case. yes, some of these song choices touch on the less positive aspects of the relationships between family members. these aspects are definitely there in canon, and not acknowledging them would honestly be a discredit to the complexities of the characters. however, NOTHING I put on this playlist is meant to signify abuse between any of the family members. and, while I can't control what you post on your own time, I ask that you do not imply such in any of the replies, reblogs or tags of this post.
Now let's get into it!
Aquato Family Caravan and The Aquatodome by Peter McConnell, obviously. also I will stand by the fact that the aquatodome is the best version of the meat circus
Becoming the Lastnames by Will Wood--not all of this song works for me tbh because it does kinda feel very "white suburban nuclear family" at times which obviously the aquatos are. none of those. but I feel like the overarching theme of like "I have a complicated relationship with my parents and on the one hand I love them a lot and I want to carry on their legacy but also they have flaws and issues that I'm scared of reproducing" feels like it could be a very realistic trajectory for adult raz
Curses by the Crane Wives--honestly this is one I'm less sure about too. it lives more in my head as a sashamilla song (esp the first verse) but also. I think it could be Dona and Augustus
Father to Son from Falsettos--augustus and raz, obviously. aaaaAAAAAAAAA I'm fine I'm normal
Happy/Sad from the Addams Family musical--another Augustus song. try listening to this while thinking about Augustus and see how long it takes you to start going feral
If I Fail You from Black Friday--look. look you can give me basically any musical theatre dad song and go "Augustus" and I will probably be like "yeah! Augustus!"
Little People from Les Miserables--this gives off Mirtala or queepie energy and I'm not sure which. also I need to alert the world of this song because it's only on the London cast recording that I grew up with and I was horrified to find that it got cut from almost all subsequent productions. which is awful because it's the best song
My Bike by Kimya Dawson--most of it not really, but this specific part:
"I wish my brother could always be happy But because he isn't he is strong just like me He is what I lean on to keep me from collapsing Everyone's relapsing he's the only crutch I need The only god I need twins get in for free"
kinda makes me think of frazie and dion and I can't quite articulate why.
My Mom by Kimya Dawson--yes, I'm putting 2 kimya Dawson songs because this is listen to kimya Dawson right now propaganda. but also I feel like Augustus having to contend with his "mom's" ghosts and the skeletons in her closet, and also I'm sure he's definitely had nightmares about his kids drowning. and also this is such a good song that makes me cry every time I hear it it's so good please listen to kimya Dawson
Pompeii by Bastille--Lucy during the deluge of grulovia, obviously, and like looking back on everything that led her to where she is as she's calling the rain down and the dam breaks. but also I'm kinda thinking of Augustus being. somewhere? and knowing that his parents were at the protests and seeing what was happening from a distance and god I'm sorry for this playlist being so much Augustus I just care about him a lot
Quiet from Matilda--This is another thing that makes me think of Lucy's transformation into maligula but ALSO it makes me think of raz dealing with shit and struggling with his emotions and having kind of a psychic meltdown. like I'm not big on too much angst but also I think he needs to break down a little for his own health. kinda reminds me of this fic which is so good and you should read it
Quit the Circus by They Might Be Giants--Raz. I don't feel like I need to explain this one too much hah
Runs in the Family by Amanda Palmer--I feel like to me this sorta spans across the different generations we see, from Marona and Lucy, to Augustus, to Raz and his siblings and like. The Curse n all
Second Child, Restless Child by the Oh Hellos--YES I am a frazie and dion twins truther, YES this is also a frazie song. I'm saying she's the second child by like 2 minutes so that this song can fit
Siblings by Brian David Gilbert--this is tala and queepie bothering raz when he's doing important psychonauts stuff
Surface Pressure from Encanto--one of the older siblings but to me it's mostly dion
Two Birds by Regina Spektor--makes me think of Raz and Frazie's relationship, i.e. him being more enthusiastic and open about his psychic powers and her being kinda in the closet about it and feeling ashamed. but also for reasons I can't quite explain its also Lucy and marona to me
Unspoken Words by mxmtoon--similar to what I said about Becoming the Lastnames, I think of this as being raz as an adult reflecting on his relationship with his family
Welcome to my Mind by the Hi-Fives--this song will forever be tied for me with the memories of "ok where the FUCK is queepie"
When the World's at Stake from The Trail to Oregon: DONATELLA SONG. obvi the first few verses don't really work but the fucking BRIDGE
"You think that I resent her very being? That maybe I regret her ever needing a mother Is it wrong that I enjoy to right her? I may be rash and overprotecting, not bitter I suppose I could be softer...
I can do better Hold you closer I'm learning that As I grow older I'm the one to forgive"
to the 11% of voters who love Donatella, the 25.3% that like her, and the 13.2% on whom she grew, this song is my gift to you. if you ever see Bad Dona Characterization and want to scream just listen to this song and think about her and aaaaaaaa
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mylittlegemlins · 10 months
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Nimona Review part 2 (english)
Some of the transitions are pretty cool, the scene where Ballister leaves the house and goes straight to jail seemed perfect to me, but I see complaints about the closet scene as they go from arguing very intensely in a dark place to a scene where they don't there is more noise than that of Nimona coming out like a rhinoceros with a blow to a lighted room. Some of it doesn't feel right.
Turning to the characters, Nimona is the protagonist and she is someone who is easy to get attached to, her redesign is beautiful, her comedy, her expressions of fury are funny and her drawings are something I want to hang on my wall, but she is also someone who She has been through a lot of pain, and they are open with her boss about how she feels about it, her eyes full of disappointment in the strong scenes make me want to hug her.
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When she shows herself as a villain she gives me vibes that she could perfectly well be the daughter of Dementia and Black Hat, since it is capable of generating a massacre in an epic sequence of one minute, I have never seen someone kick so many people in the form of an ostrich, it is impressive, Balliste has puppy eyes that make him adorable, but In addition to this, he is the father you always wanted, and the only one with enough patience to put up with Nimona, I feel that Golden did not shine much in this movie, but I like him much better than in the novel, the scene in which he yells at him queen that cutting arms is not a show of love, is the perfect representation of when you want to shout everything you think but you choose to fit into society.
However, when it seems like he's showing Ballister that he's being manipulated while watching the director's video only to finish it off with Nimona being the one manipulating him, it's a little disappointing but it shows you how much brainwashing there is in the institute, and How much trust there is between these characters, Balliste trusts Golden but also Nimona and Golden trusts the director despite being in conflict with her boyfriend. This is how perfect the relationship between the characters is built, the relationship between Nimona and Ballister fills me with tenderness. Nimona is the one who puts all the initiative to be able to be friends with Blackheart, she is the one who rescues him from prison and offers him her support, in addition to telling him directly that if everyone hates him, it is the same as her, as if he had no choice but to be their friend since they are all they have, not only is Nimona ready to make friends after 1000 years of being alone, but she wants to be with someone she admires because she identifies with him, starting from that point, the moments they have to Getting to know each other happens very quickly, one day they destroy the institute, in the afternoon they destroy the market, and it seems that at night they interview the guard who recorded the video, but I love that Nimona is willing to talk, she never reveals exactly what it is, but yes who come up and take the time to play monopoly and dance to celebrate. Those scenes fill me with tenderness, The scene where Nimona is having a nightmare and her paternal/boss/figure tucks them in and tells them that they are is home…. God I'm dying of love.
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The movie slaps Disney in the face showing a clear romance from the first minute, and a kiss to end pride month with a flourish, I adore you Noelle. The fact that they premiered it at pride fits like a glove considering the problems they had producing this movie after Blue Sky closed, and yet they still put references to the studio in the movie! Stay to appreciate the credits for a moment because the song is gold, and me and my brother were dancing to the soundtrack, this girl has good taste in music, the song is called T-rex by K. Flay.
Overall it's a very funny movie. I also loved the world building. Something that goes against "Elements" that shows you almost nothing about the cloud people and the earth people, while in this movie the townspeople interact with the protagonists and with the press all the time, they show you what kind of world medieval futuristic is the one you find yourself in, they tell you about the wall of what was outside, the hatred towards the show and the devotion towards Gloreth that people had for generations, how advanced are their flying cars and their screens that put out the news live, contrasting with the army of knights and the statues of hundreds of years, and more importantly, it shows you a world where society is as classist and prejudiced as in reality, who prefer to leave a helpless baby as long as they avoid problems, that they do not respect the opinions of their own queen and that they believe the director's defense despite the fact that it took up to days in saying it. Of course, it has many exaggerations with the purpose of entertaining, but who has not seen the effect of certain societies such as the Asian one that does not dare to touch a colleague who faints just so that someone else takes the drama or even the medical expenses?
There are moments where you can see the 20% that surely they had to do fast, because I feel the scene of the demon baby is too bright Although there are many differences with the graphic novel, the message is the same, an allegory to the social rejection suffered by queer people, and they do not bother in the slightest to hide their hints (we can talk about "you're gonna die in the closet" lmao)
Nimona is obviously gender fluid, I love that they're so much more open and complains that they're the monster. Because both in the novel and in the movie, Nimona was not a serial killer when they started calling her a monster, but she became the """""monster""""" that the institute wanted her to be so that they would destroy her and remain like the heroes of his story.
By the way, the scenes in the previews in which Nimona is drawn as a bird or when he tells Balliste how to like the videos don't appear in the movie, so I'm happy they bothered to animate content to promote it. In this version there is no indication that GoldenLion has sliced off the arm of her boyfriend on purpose, something that seemed very accurate to me because it does sound toxic to go out with someone who disabled you. By the way, what the heck with the arrow scene, Nimona admits that it hurts her but she doesn't scream at her pain like a human being.
I like the ending. Far from saying goodbye, Nimona greets Balliste as soon as she manages to recover her form. I would qualify the film as +7 just because they kept 2 drops of blood. I am proud of Nate, I already admired her work on Netflix because of the She-ra reboot, it took her two studios to get her work recognized on Netflix even though she started as a simple graduation project. Now the whole world will be able to know your girl. Nimona.
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spanish version: https://www.tumblr.com/mylittlegemlins/721658744305516544/nimona-review-spanish?source=share
part1: https://www.tumblr.com/mylittlegemlins/721661075018350592/nimona-review-english?source=share
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sailorbadger · 1 year
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re: my tags on this post, @psychicbluebirdmiracle wanted a list so here’s some of my favorite Robin Hood adaptations in no particular order:
Sidenote: most of these are either extremely niche and/or “you may think it’s bad but I think it’s good” because that’s just what my tastes are.
BBC’s Robin Hood: You all knew this one was going to be up here and if you didn’t, you haven’t been following me long enough. This is what gave birth to my brain worms. I’ve given a PowerPoint presentation about this which was three hours long. I have subjected other people to this show to the point that there is now a yearly celebration where we watch only one specific episode of this show and make memes about it. I am insufferable about this. The day I stop thinking about this show is the day I have lost all brain activity.
Back to Sherwood: I am once again reminding everyone that I have offered to exchange my firstborn child for the original English version of this show. The Vibes on this show are perfect and I will never forgive the people that cancelled it after only 13 episodes. Fun time-travel related hijinks? Sign me up.
Princess of Thieves: Who doesn’t love a Keira Knightley movie?
Disney’s Robin Hood: Listen, you just can’t go wrong with this one. Very solid all around. But there’s another reason I’m putting it on this list. My cousins (ages 6 and 4) were staying over with us on Easter and I put this movie on at one point to get them to sit down for a few minutes while my parents made lunch. My godson (the 6-year-old) asked me why I knew so much about what was going on in the movie and I explained that I watched it when I was young, and then my dad said that the movie is so old that he watched it when he was a child. It was a lovely inter-generational bonding moment over my special interest as my dad explained to my cousin about the different characters and how there’s a lot of different versions of the story.
Not really an adaptation but continuing from the last one, this YouTube video: Some of the best analysis on why most mainstream Robin Hood adaptations suck. This is why I mostly just like the versions that have good Vibes.
This soundtrack to a Swedish Robin Hood musical: I can’t even begin to explain how upset I am that I found out about this musical after it had already been cancelled due to the pandemic. I could have gone and seen it. There’s not even a DVD of it. At least we have the soundtrack which is full of bangers. Everything sounds as over-produced as you’d expect from the country that makes over-produced Eurovision songs, and I love every second of this. If you’re not going to listen to the whole thing, at least listen to Prince John’s song.
This even more obscure soundtrack to a Finnish Robin Hood play from 1997: Everything here is just Vibes. I wish I knew what the actual plot of the play was but these songs are great on their own. The fact that the singer from a famous Finnish band (Neon 2) sings a couple of the songs is just ?????A Choice???? but a perfect one at that.
Robin Hood: The Great Escape: My most vivid memories of listening to this play that’s a podcast is when my IBS was really bad and I was on the bathroom floor crying in pain, so I just put this on to distract me. Anyway, this one has good characters, interesting mix of different cultures and LGBT+ representation, and it all works seamlessly in a way that doesn’t feel forced. Definitely worth a listen.
Robin McKinley’s The Outlaws of Sherwood: I bought this book from my local library’s clearance about 15 years ago. It’s a solid fun adventure and that’s pretty much all I can say about it.
The Finnish opera adaptation of Robin Hood: The dogs in this are nightmare fuel and the whole thing is bordering on the “so bad it’s good” line. The lyrics are so weird at times, it’s awfully cringy sometimes but I love it so much. I own it on DVD and it has English subtitles so if anyone wants to watch it sometime let me know.
Carrie Vaughn’s The Ghosts of Sherwood and The Heirs of Locksley: I need a third part of this. These are a quick read, about 100 pages each, about the children of Robin Hood. And although the premise may sound cliché and childish, I swear these are so good and worth your time.
C.K. Brooke’s Marian: Princess Thief: Ah, yes, the “disappointingly heterosexual” one. Putting aside the fact that this book missed a great opportunity in making at least one of the characters gay, it has an amazing all-female-cast of characters (there’s a male love interest there too I guess, I don’t care about him). This book made me feel like how Sailor Moon made me feel in high school with it’s focus on the Power of Friendship.
That one Finnish audio drama that’s based on Finnemore’s version: Everyone sounds so horny in this one for some reason and the actual text is not helping. The theme song is a banger. It’s a shame the CDs were copy protected so I couldn’t rip the files for myself.
A black-and-white recording of a Finnish play from 1971: The fashion is so 70s it hurts my eyes. The songs are so bad. The plot is almost non-existent but I love every second of this. (I would have linked it but you can unfortunately only watch it in Finland)
The 2009 movie with a dragon in it?????: I don’t remember most of this except that it’s definitely in the “so bad it’s good” category. They just shouldn’t make high-budget versions of Robin Hood when low-budget productions are so much more entertaining.
Edale Lane’s Heart of Sherwood: I need to re-read this one because it had everything I could have asked for. A lesbian Robin Hood with a good story that was a fun adventure which still somehow made me very emotional. 10/10.
That one zoom-play on YouTube: I bought the novel that was made based on this play just because this was so entertaining. In a year I’ve only read about 20 pages of the book but the play was so good and at one point so full of twists I was staring at the screen with my mouth open for like 10 minutes.
I could probably include even more things from my List (I have a list where I collect all the different versions I’ve seen/read/listened to etc), but this is already too long and I ended up taking a few things out. I only included versions I’ve enjoyed the most but there’s still plenty of good ones out there.
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missbrunettebarbie · 1 year
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Rush - initial thoughts
Rush dropped at 2 a.m. here and I def couldn't afford to listen to it when it came out, I needed to sleep. But at 3.30 or so I had a nightmare and I woke up. Since I couldn't go back to sleep immediately, I decided to listen to one new song from Rush, to see how the album is like. And one song turned into all seventeen, because this album is that good! Here are my initial ratings:
1. Own my mind -10/10 What a way to start the album! A banger! Probably in my top 5 (although this is so hard to figure out, there are a lot of choices!)
2. Gossip - 9/10 Gets a lot of points for the lyrics, but as fun as it is, it kinda pales in comparasion to other songs. Mostly because this album is banger after banger.
3. Timezone -10/10 Best ballad on the album, hands down. Honestly, this should have been the single instead of The Loneliest. It's honest, raw and gets stuck in your head.
4. Bla Bla Bla - 7/10. The intial spoiler made me think that would be a skip, but nope, it's actually pretty fun. Also, I saw its storyline and I have to say, I love that they are creating this fictional characters and writing from their perspective. (And not to overshare, but in this particular case, I feel like I knew some people that probably think like this narrator.) They still have a long way to go before these fictional characters are well-rounded, but everyone needs to start somewhere. I love how the music serves the lyrics, so I understand why it gets so repetitive, but yeah, it's still grating.
5. Baby Said - 10/10 SINGLE, SINGLE, SINGLE! I am gonna say it over and over again, until the universe makes it happen. As soon as the song ended, I felt the need to listent to it again! Def a top 3 for me! Oh, and of course, I almost forgot to mention how much I love the theme, and rn in this moment of my life, I kimda can't relate. (Which is a bit painful, yup)
6. Gasoline - 10/10 I waited a long time for the studio version, and it didn't disappoint! Is this my favorite of the entire album? Maybe, I don't know! But it's up there.
7. Feel -9/10 Mindless fun and I love it!
8. Don't wanna sleep - 10/10 A banger, and very relatable! What more can you want?
9. Kool Kids - 3/10 .....What the hell is this?! My one skip on this album, apparently. Honestly, if I it wasn't for the live versions -and I can't say I am fond of thos either- it would have an even lower score. You know how all these people were afraid Rush would all sound like Supermodel. Yeah, that was me with Kool Kids when it was first played live. And somehow this version is ten times worse.
10. If not for you - 7/10. The second half is overall the weaker half, and this ballad kinda sets the tone for it. It's not bad at all, it's just kinda forgettable.
11. Read your diary -9/10 Again, love that they write from a fictional character's persepctive. Better than Bla Bla Bla, but it still needs to be a bit...more.
12. Mark Chapman -10/10 When I listened to it in the middle of the night -without paying attention to the lyrics because my Italian is not that good when I am sleepy- I thought it was a great earworm of a melody. Then I put it again in the morning, planning to pay attention to the lyrics, but forgot to because the melody is that great! Then, as a last resort, I muted the video and read the lyrics. Thankfully my language skills were good enough to pick up almost everything and let me tell you, I got chills. I had planned to read the English translation after, in case I missed anything, but I couldn't! Because this song paints a very chilling and scary picture! Damn! The true masterpiece IMO.
13. La fine - 10/10 I mean, I knew this before, so I knew what I was getting aka Italian rock perfection.
14. Il dono della vita -7/10 Look, I love Italian too, but this is not the strongest ballad here! Damiano's vocals are beautiful and I like -not love- the instrumental, but they don't marry well together! (Pun intended xDD) I had to look up the lyrics because my Italian may have gotten better, but it's not that good, and idk if it's google translate or what, but even lyrically, this one doesn't feel as raw and interesting as say, Timezone. I know a lot of people love it because it sounds like Teatro D'Ira -and the band confirmed it was written for it - but to me it sounds like a TDI reject. Like they put it here to reach some quota of Italian songs.
15. Mammamia -10/10 I mean, at this point, this is iconic, so is there anything more to say about it?
16. Supermodel -8/10 I did say that the second side is the weakest -not overly so, but still- one, and sadly that's the side of the singles. And as much as I like Supermodel, it pales in comparasion to other songs here. Still, it's fun.
17. The Loneliest - 8/10 When it came out, the song left me cold. I mean, I loved that the band was experimenting, but for me it was meh. In the midtime, the song definitely grew on me. I wasn't sure if I should give it a 8 or 9, but it loses points for being the album closer. I mean, for me, it doesn't really feel like a closer at all. Idk how I would have ended the album, there don't seem to be any good choices available, but this one feels like a really ??? choice.
Overall score: 8,64
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Maroon's Diary - training with Rin, part 2
Day 8 - The second week of Rin's training starting off with a lil quiz. Of course she wasn't looking forward to it. I am trying here-- I even turned this quiz into a multiple choice one where you just have to choose between A, B, C, etc. but even then she wasn't very focused on it! On the bright side, she at least faired better than the written tests, meaning she did learn. That's somewhat of a relief. What wasn't a relief was that I felt her body very slowly but surely increase in temperature. I thought it was a cold at first, but if I'm wrong the next day me might correct me on that.
Day 9 - Turns out her valves were already partly broken from going too hard using her powers during the song contest. It was partly my fault as I was the one who had control over those instead of her. But she wasn't fully out of blame here the moment we found out she hadn't put that collar on for a while. I scolded her heavily-- I somewhat felt bad for that, but even so she had taken a heavy risk and she could've risk her nightmare coming to fruition, burning her and her friends and her family to ashes without wanting to. Luckily, that was prevented as we straight up upgraded her valves. Don't tell her, but I also upgraded her entire aura channel system. She's now bedridden for the entire day, but at least she has a caring family now and Miku to help her out.
Day 10 - This was the first day she was training after I had to fix her valves and I'm honestly wondering if this is the same Rin that I danced with back in the singing competition. She used to be so carefree when it comes to training and now she's taking this seriously, more serious than before-- even did some genuine studying for once by reading the guide and she used to hate it. Did the issue from yesterday worry her to the point of taking it seriously?
Day 11 - We didn't do much that day as I saw that the whole situation from two days ago worried her. We went to go play games, to the amusement park and even went and grabbed some fast food over on our local fast food restaurant.
Day 12 - I'm really proud of her right now for this and I might be for a while, she seemed to have mastered controlling the output of her powers, which is good because she needs that fine control, which also means she's closer to being in full control. Although there's still one hurdle she has to overcome.
Day 13 - Almost a week ago she was struggling making a fireball. Now with some focus she was able to pull it off! Really, she's going so quick for a girl her age and as her brother and teacher I was very proud of her. Due to that, our training for the day finished shortly, though today wasn't without one concern. Even with her collar on, her temperature slowly rose and I checked and her system seems to be alright. We'll have to wait and see what the next day is for her, but I have small suspicion what that may be.
Day 14 - Her body's temperature increased a lot by then, she says she somehow was feeling a build up in pressure, but temperature wise she was feeling totally fine even though her body already was reaching over 100°C. Situation wise we're somewhat back to what it was 5 days ago-- kind of. It was a free day for her so I thought that she should take some time off in the pool. I told her in advance what she's about to go through, the final hurdle to control: her Overdrive that was slowly but surely making it's power known.
Update: 160°C
yet she's still was still very much comfortable. Today was likely the day her Overdrive activates. She'll probably pass out in a few seconds, having used up much of her reserves. But once that's done, her powers are then fully in control. Our training has yet to be over, but her concerns of her nightmare might as well be over.
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bl00dycoten · 2 years
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decoded signals and missed memories
snakes note: hello darlings! this is Pt.2 of the way it was! i don’t know when i’ll have pt.3 out yet but soon i hope, i’m so glad you guys actually like this story i had sm fun writing it and i’m planning on getting better with writing an everything.
side note: all characters are 18! characters like max and the boys are aged up as there is a part that has drinking in it. reader is 22 and eddie is 23, three year time skip. i will also link the song i used for this!
male version!
Eddie munson x ex popular best friend! reader
warnings: cursing, angst(i’m so evil all my stories are angst), hints at depression but not specified, alcohol mentioned, if i missed anything i’m sorry!
summary: After that night at eddie’s trailer, things changed for better and for worst, the first week you acted like everything was fine and okay, but soon you stop sitting with your regular group, then you quite the team, and caved in on yourself, after graduation you felt like you had to find yourself again, only way to do that was pack up your things and leave hawkins, three years later you come back for max’s birthday and more.
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After everything that went down with Eddie, you dreaded facing him again. The first day after it happened you tried to act like you were fine, doing your daily routine except a lot was different. it felt strange to you, it wasn’t the routine you were used too, you didn’t get to glance at Eddie and make faces while in your shared classes, you didn’t meet his eye in the halls like before. he wasn’t hanging a few feet away from you locker pretending to not be waiting for you before walking away.
All the time for the first week it was a loop, you would wake up, get ready, do you new daily routine, and think about Eddie Munson for the rest of the day, you dazed off in class more, beginning to grow dark eye bags from the lack of sleep because when you did it would be the same nightmare, Eddie saying he didn’t want to be friends and that you guys had nothing special together. and every morning an even worsened nightmare, waking up to the reality that you had actually lost Eddie, it wasn’t just some nightmare you could shake off by calling Eddie and telling him about it. no you couldn’t even call him at all, but oh how much you wanted too. a month and 34days since you and eddie completely ended things, you looked the worst you’ve looked in your whole life, unbrushed hair, some outfits being repeated for days on end(usually the outfits that had eddie’s shirts with them), chapped and cut lips from biting at them which was a habit you had for a while, still had eye bags that seemed to grow the size of ufo’s at this point, to you at least, to others though you looked fine, normal even with your new sudden changes.
you stopped going out to parties, finding them not important because who wants to be in a house with a bunch of horny teens grinding on each other and music that was not something they would be caught listening to. you only kept in touch with one person during all of your struggles and that was the unexpected friend you gained after that terrible night. max mayfield an angel disguised as a devil once you get to know her. you love her and treat her like a little sister. so once you graduated you can bet having to make the choice to leave max didn’t hurt just a little, okay maybe not a little maybe a lot. it hurt a lot but max understood it was for the best and told you to write her and call whenever you could, and you did, you called her every weekend and wrote to her every weekday to fill her in on how their job was, you ended up making a couple of new friends after you stopped by a guitar shop and met this girl named Scarlett, and a dude named Xander. Scarlett was a dummer and Xander was a bass guitar, and all they needed in their band was a lead guitar and singer, not that they couldn’t sing they just weren’t comfortable enough to be lead singer.
so they created their own little band, thrones of madness(idk bro), you guys started off with covering songs from other bands like metallica, queen, iron maiden, black sabbath, ect. then that’s when you started writing songs, you used some to get over eddie and others just to sing about other peoples struggles or your own, you used your music as a way to heal others since you couldn’t heal yourself, you didn’t know if people would like the songs your band produced as rock isn’t as big to a lot of people but that’s okay 1 person or 1000 is better than none. that was three months into your move to a new town, during those three years away you told max everything, she was so happy to see you happy again.
“yeah, we have a gig tonight at a club an hour away but i’ll make sure to call you before i leave and when i get home, max.” (Name) says in the phone they had in their hand, they were leaned against their kitchen wall that was on the same side as the phone hanging on the wall. “you better, and don’t forget to sleep early tomorrow so you don’t fall asleep on your way here!” max laughed and joked with you.
“please i won’t fall asleep on the wheel, i promise mayfield.” (name) said and put their hand across their heart as if max could see. “mhm you better not! i want to see you for my birthday alive thank you very much.” max said. “the big 18 woah max you’re getting old.” you joked. “says you Mx. 22.” max teases back. “pfftt whatever, so anyways is lucas going with us or.” you questioned. “well dustin, steve, lucas and robin will be coming but i don’t know about mike and nancy.” max said. “mmm and no will, jonathan and el? i miss those pains in the ass.” max let out a loud cackle to what you said. “they said they would try to catch a plane from cali to hawkins but we’ll see.” “i hope they are able to make it, where exactly are we going to anyways? i know you wanted to go to a bar but there aren’t many bars around.” “this underground bar i heard about called the hideout? i don’t know it’s pretty popular to the teens in hawkins i guess.” max said, you stayed silent, thinking about what she said. the hideout? why did that seem so familiar? than it hit you, eddie would take you there when him and croddied coffin had gigs every Tuesday night.
The memories of eddie came rushing back to you and you feared you would run into him there, but why would he be there on a Friday night? him and croddied coffin only did gigs Tuesday’s because that’s the only day eddie was able to get him and the band that payed for weekly gigs. “oh okay sounds cool, is it new or something?” you lie. you don’t know why you did, you told yourself it was to avoid talking about eddie. “no actually it’s been open for quite awhile now.” max said and you could hear talking from the other side, muffled talking but it sounded like max’s mom calling her. “well i gotta go, duty calls!” max sighed,annoyed she had to hang up with you. “aweee alrighty, bye max i’ll see you soon.” you said and waited for max to say goodbye before you hung up.
Had it really been that long since you’ve seen eddie? i guess the first year after you left you started to forget about the older male. not that you full forgot him just that since it became a normal thing for you not to see him anymore, it made him stop sneaking into your mind like before, you still had your moments though. the second year was better than the first one, you still had nightmares but not as much. and now your third year was probably the worst it’s been, your nightmare was an every night thing for about three months now, maybe because of the thought about going back to hawkins for max’s birthday or maybe you were finally getting home sick, you couldn’t tell.
The day of Max’s birthday, you had just pulled into the parking lot of the hideout, dressed in your usual clothes, (oversized graphic tee, pants/skirt(optional ), and some converse. nothing to fancy especially for a place like this, they had to blend in not stick out, because trust me that was the last thing you wanted.
As you walk up to the door to wait for max inside, you catch yourself thinking about the first time eddie took you here, and how he helped pick an outfit for you so you didn’t stand out to much with all your bright clothes. you couldn’t help but smile sadly at the thought, shaking your head as you regain focus and enter the hideout, the first thing you do was look around making sure you saw no eddie and as if your prayers were heard no eddie was in sight, sighing happily you make you way to the bartender and ask for some cheep beer, taking a sip of it as soon as the nice ice cold drink was placed in you hand, eyes drifting to the random live band playing, they weren’t bad but they definitely played music they wouldn’t listen too at least. (Name) thought about their band, thorns of madness, they had taken scarlett and xander with them to hawkins but didn’t invite them to max’s hang out as it wasn’t their hang out to invite them to, so they stayed home or went out to town looking around, whatever they were doing though you hoped they were okay. after a good 5 minutes (Name)’s beer was finished and they went to order another one, when max walked into the hideout with everyone following behind her. “max!” you said happily as you got up and gave the young adult a big hug.
“(Name)! gosh i missed you so much.” max mumbled as she hugged you back tightly. “i missed you too, happy birthday you are now officially an adult, welcome.” you joke and did a fake little bow to her, making her and the rest of the group laugh. You caught up with everyone else, as you didn’t write to them as much as max but you tried. As you were talking to dustin though trying to catch up on how the young man has been since your departure. “yeah and than after the championship we all went to mikes place and bought so much snacks to celebrate it was insane, you should have been there walker.” dustin was taking about the latest dnd campaign they had with hellfire, dustin being the new dungeon master after eddie graduated. “oh! and i also had went over to eddies to tell him about the amazing win hellfire had! it had been awhile since i saw him but he looked a little i don’t know, not so eddie. like he was there just not there. i mean the man didn’t even react as much as i thought he would when i told him about the win.” dustin had began rambling and didn’t realize he brought up eddie until after the fact you and the rest of the group went silent, Max glaring laser’s at dustin for the slip up and you were lost in your mind, thinking about what could have made eddie not be himself, he was always himself no matter what so what could it be that is effecting him so much. you continue to stay silent as you zoned out. “great going henderson, now you’ve done it.” max grumbled, smacking dustin in the back of his head as she gently shook you. “hey, (Name).” max said. steve walked over to you as well and began poking your shoulder. “did they die?” steve questions. at that you snap out of your trance and slap steve’s hand. “stop poking me, harrington.” you ‘angrily’ replied. steve laughs and max sighs, while dustin mumbled a quite sorry.
mike and will were at the bar with jane who was trying beer for the first time in their lives and talking about how it taste like ass. lucas was laughing at them talking about how they are babies because he’s on his second beer already. mike and lucas ended up having a drinking battle which lead to steve, Nancy and jonathan taking the kids home, max ended up staying with you because hello it’s her birthday and she hasn’t seen you in so long. “i heard there was going to be a battle of the bands here on Tuesday, you and your band should play, i’m sure you guys would win.” max said after a few minutes of comfortable silence. “that’s only a few days away i don’t know if we’d have a song ready by then.” you shrugged, it wasn’t a bad idea, you wanted more people to hear your music but it was true, you didn’t have any songs at the moment. “oh come oh, pleaseeeee, i really wanna see your band live.”
max begged, it wasn’t the first time she has asked to see you live and you wanted to, so you thought long and hard about what song you can think of, then it hit you, the song you wrote a few days ago, after the nightmare came back, you couldn’t sleep and it felt like you were losing the battle you fought to win years ago. your band mates saw the change and tried to cheer you up, and they did, they gave you the idea to write a song for him, not a song you had to publish if you didn’t want to but just your own personal song from you to him. “you know what, i think i do have a song in mind. mayfield you’re gonna love it, i promise.” you grab her shoulders and pulled her into a hug. “i’m going to have to practice all day until then but Tuesday will be the best battle of the bands you will ever see.” you mumbled.
“it’s the only battle of the bands i will see.” max laughed. after a couple more drinks max said she had to go home for a birthday dinner with her mom, so you said you goodbye’s and went your separate ways, you were only thinking about the battle of the bands and how to prepare for the song you wrote for yourself personally would be sung in front of a crowd. it would be the most vulnerable you would be in front of everyone in years. after spending all of Saturday, Sunday and Monday practicing you felt confident in your skills. until when you showed up behind stage, you saw eddie and the rest of his bands, along with the other bands and soloist there to preform, it wasn’t a lot but it was more than they expected.
“shit.” (Name) mumbled and turned around quickly. “what?” Scarlett said as she looked at you. “Eddie and his band are here, fuck i should have known he would be here, this is a bad idea we should go.” clutching onto your guitar. “is he still there?” you say while looking at Scarlett. “yes, he is, i don’t know why you seem so scared, raise that head and show him what he lost.” Scarlett placed head hand on your shoulder and patted it a few times before walking towards the stage. “come on, we should be next after this band is finished.” taking a deep breath, you turn around, head held tall and walk past corroded coffin.
“hey isn’t that (Name) Walker from high school?” Gareth said after you walked past them, Eddie hadn’t noticed you until Gareth pointed it out. “No way that’s Walker, werent they a cheerleader/football player? what are they doing here.” jeff questioned. Eddie remain silent as the rest of corroded coffin talked about you, he couldn’t take his eyes off of you, you looked just as good looking as you did before, your new style suited you well, Eddie kept thinking.
“Eddie?” Gareth’s voice broke him out of his thoughts. “Huh, Huh what?” Eddie questioned and looked at Gareth. “you zoned out, you good over there dude?” Gareth asked with concern. “Yeah, i’m fine man just dozed off a bit.” Eddie laughed it off and changed the topic to the song they would be performing when they were cut off mid conversation by the host announcing the next band to the stage. “next we have, thorns of madness! playing an original song called decode!” the host walks off stage and some people clap, max being the loudest out of the small group in the hideout for the battle of bands.
Scarlett turns to look at you. “i know this is going to be hard for you, just say the words and we stop okay?” you nod and grab her hand, giving it a good squeeze. “i know, Scarlett. i got this though, i mean if i can come back to Hawkins i can definitely sing a song.” you smile and take another deep breath. “let’s go out there.” Xander said and pats your head. “you got this, kid.” He sent you a smile and walked out, guitar in hand. Scarlett gave your hand a good squeeze before letting go and walking to take her place behind the drums.
”now or never.” you mumbled to yourself and began walking to the microphone in the middle of the stage, knuckles turning white from how tightly you were grasping onto your guitar as you made you way up the stairs. Max screamed louder as you made your way up to the microphone. “let’s go (Name) woahhhh!” max cupped her hands together and shouted. you chuckled and looked back at Xander and Scarlett, they both send you another smile and nod. xander begins the start of the song and soon scarlett and you start to play as well.
How can I decide what's right?
When you're clouding up my mind
you began the song with your eyes straight ahead, body movement at a minimum with how anxious you were. eyes locking with max and she gives you two thumbs up, which helped calm down your nerves as you began just going with the song and beat.
I can't win your losing fight
All the time
your face twisted into a frown as you sang that line, your fingers working their magic as you play your guitar, mind filling with memories of all the things you and eddie did, they were flashing before your eyes as you poured your heart out.
Nor could I ever own what's mine
When you're always taking sides
But you won't take away my pride
No, not this time
Not this time
you move your eyes towards the direction of were you last saw Eddie, not to your surprise he was already staring right at you, making eye contact was the last thing you wanted right now but you didn’t break it, no instead you sung the next line staring right at him.
How did we get here
When I used to know you so well?
How did we get here?
Well, I think I know
Eddie frowned while he played closer attention to the lyrics now, was this song about him? he thought to himself. You broke eye contact with him and looked back to the crowd letting your body go in autopilot.
The truth is hiding in your eyes
And it's hanging on your tongue
all you could do was bop your head to the beat of scarlett’s drums and xanders guitar playing, whatever felt right at the moment you let your body do, so you leaned closer into the microphone and swayed you body to the beat. You glance back at Eddie, watching him fidget with the rings on his fingers, he had a frown painted on his face and his eyebrows twisted.
Just boiling in my blood
But you think that I can't see
Breaking eye contact again as you closed your eyes, taking another deep break to calm yourself down once you began feeling you eyes tear up.
What kind of man that you are
If you're a man at all
Well, I will figure this one out
Eddie now had a pain in his heart, was this really how you felt? he thought maybe after everything you would have stayed the same you, probably wouldn’t have cared that Eddie stopped being friends with you, or whatever you guys were. if he had known his mistake would have caused you this much hurt, he wouldn’t have let you walked out, but he did because he was too much of a coward to confess so he did what he was good at, he ran away, from those feelings he felt for you, from your feelings and from you. He knew the reason wasn’t because he was scared the town would shun you, no he knew you could handle that. what terrified him more was that you would realize you deserved more than him and would leave, and so he left before you could hurt him.
On my own (I'm screaming, I love you so)
On my own (but my thoughts you can't decode)
Scarlett hopped on background vocals as the song got closer to the end of the song. Xander was looking down at his guitar while he played, his eyes drifting towards you every now and then to make sure you are doing okay, max had stopped cheering and was listening to the way you put your heart on your sleeve with this song, she could feel every raw emotion you had while writing this and performing it.
You finally open your eyes as your guitar solo comes up, scarlett was still playing the drums but xander was standing still, hands still in his guitar but not playing, he was watching you and scarlett play with a wide smile on his face. You sent him a smile back and continued to play while staring at max, leaning down towards the end of the stage as you got close to the ending of your solo, standing straight in front of the microphone you picked up were you left off.
Do you see what we've done?
We're gonna make such fools of ourselves
Do you see what we've done?
We're gonna make such fools of ourselves
Scarlett repeated the second verse of the song as you and xander played.
How did we get here
When I used to know you so well? Yeah
How did we get here
When I used to know you so well?
Xander hopped into singing along with scarlett as the song was getting closer to the end. You were focusing on your guitar playing, eyes drifting through the crowd of people as they jammed out to your song. it put an even bigger smile onto your face, you loved seeing people enjoy your music.
I think I know, I think I know
There is something I see in you
It might kill me, I want it to be true
You sang the ending of the song, making sure you look towards Eddie as you finished the last bit of the song. the crowd was silent for a bit after the music stopped, then eddie started clapping, then max and soon everyone in the hideout was cheering for you and your band. You walked off the stage with Xander and Scarlett behind you.
“Oh my god! that was amazing, we did great they loved us up there!” scarlett squealed loudly while clutching onto her drum sticks. “we rocked guys!” xander said and placed his arms around you both. “couldn’t have done it without your amazing voice and skills though, Walker.” Xander ruffed scarlett’s hair, making the younger girl push him away. “hands off bro, my hair doesn’t naturally look this good.” scarlett joked and flipped her hair, hitting xander in the process. “oh please guys, we all did great out there, you guys definitely got to sing together more, your voices sink so well together!” you blurted excitedly while moving your guitar so it was placed on your back.
As you and your band were talking about how great the preference was Xander suddenly cleared his throat and jerked his head behind you. “Um (Name).” Eddie’s voice was heard from behind you, making you jump a bit from how close his voice sounded, turning around quickly you are met with the long curly haired metalhead. “Munson, it’s been a while.” you smiled at him kindly. You don’t know why your body was acting on its own.
“Yeah, it has oh uh! your band was really amazing, giving me a run for my money in this battle of the bands this year huh.” He rubbed the back of his neck nervously and chuckled. “Thank! we have been playing for about two years now, starting to spread out our gigs and everything. i was actually in town for max’s birthday when i found out about this so.” you rambled on without knowing and clutched onto your guitar strap.
Xander and Scarlett had slowly begun moving toward the exit, scarlett throwing you a thumps up and making a quick run to max. “So um, i just really wanted to talk to you about that night, i know i should be apologize because i said some pretty shitty things and i know that now and i’m just trying to say that the reason i let you go that night wasn’t because i wanted to stop being friends with you it was because i realized i l-“ during Eddie’s rambling, Gareth came over and tapped him on the shoulder. “Eddie we are up next, man let’s go. Oh what’s going on walker! amazing gig out there, really giving corroded coffin a run for its money.” Gareth had smiled and laughed while patting Eddie’s shoulder. “Thank you, Gareth. i’m sure you guys are much better though i mean i’m fairly new to this and haven’t been playing guitar as long as eddie has but thank you, it means a lot i’m glad you enjoyed the show.” you replied kindly even though your eye was twitching from the younger males interruption. “Gareth. Dude, i’ll be there in a second just let me finish my conversation with (Name) and i’ll be there.” Eddie muttered and sighed annoyed at the interruption as well.
“Okay, see you next time Walker!” Gareth waves and walks off back to jeff and the other member of corroded coffin. Eddie cleared his throat, making you turn your head back to look at him. “right, please continue.” you pinched your knuckles growing even more anxious as time goes on. “what i’m trying to say is i really really L-“ eddie was once again cut off before he could even spit it out, an angered look on his face as the host talks. “Amazing preference by thorns of madness, now our next and last band of the night! everyone give it up for corroded coffin!” the host walked off stage and gareth came running back. “eddie let’s go.” he tugged on eddie’s arm.
“okay, okay i’m coming, if you want (Name) meet me at my house, it’s the same old trailer as before. be there please and i’ll finally be able to finish without distractions.” eddie gently grabbed your hand and gave it a squeeze. “yeah, okay sure.” you relied back without thinking, you would probably regret that later but it’s okay, you thought to yourself as you watched Eddie and gareth walk up to the stage, hearts pounding in your chest just from the small touch you both had. “fuck, not again.” you whispered and placed a hand over your chest. There they are again, the butterflies in your tummy, the sweaty palms and fast beating heart. you had fallen for Eddie munson all over again, and you couldn’t help but want it to work this time, second times a charm right?
Tag list: @lovelyela @demonstracija
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gorgynei · 2 years
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Chetney’s playlist
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Travis definitely secretly put meaning into each song choice, so im going to try to extract the possible meaning from each song because its there. i know it is. below the cut because its long :”) 
          1. werewolf - the frantics
so this song doesn’t have any lyrics outside of the first intro, but i think its more of a representation of Chetney turning into a werewolf than anything. fitting song to start off with.
         2. lifeline - bad wolves
we know Chetney didnt have friends prior to meeting bells hells, and this song sort of feeds into that feeling of being isolated. if i had to make a guess, id say this represents his feeling of isolation in Uthodurn after realizing he was a werewolf and feeling totally alone and struggling. the choice for it to be a rock song with a sadder meaning hidden in the lyrics mirrors Chetney as well. 
         3. we will rock you - multiple artists
this song is about picking yourself up after being kicked down and i absolutely think this represents Chetney’s attacking of his boss and subsequent leave from Uthodurn. hes trying to rebuild his life with his newfound wolf and has hardened his resolve to find an actual place to belong, and so he goes looking for other werewolves.
         4. wolf totem - the HU
im unsure what this song represents for Chetney, because its about a group of people defending themselves. it could represent Chetney alone, but i cant parse meaning from it- unless it’s something Chetney hasn’t told us about his backstory. 
         5. wolves - selena gomez
this is another interesting one. its very very clearly about another person, probably a lover/partner, but i could also see it representing someone else who just treated Chetney with kindness in the time post-Uthodurn but pre-campaign. we just don’t know enough to draw a conclusion i think. 
         6. fire inside - pop evil
this is Chetney learning to use hemocraft. undoubtedly. he’s creating a fire inside his blood and learning how to tame the wolf. 
         7. kidnap the sandy claws - nightmare before christmas ost
i’d say this was a joke song, but we know Chetney has a knack for sneaking around so its possible this represents his skill? i really dont know.
         8. seven nation army - SKÁLD
yet another song about fighting and being powerful. however, hidden in the subtext of the song theres an insecurity, an instability in the aggression and a self-doubt, which may reflect something similar in Chetney. 
         9. hollow moon (bad wolf) - AWOLNATION
theres a pretty obvoius theme of making a deal “with a bad wolf” in order to better control it (which is Chetney controling his werewolf side), but theres also a lot of fear. i think this song is about Chetney trying to be comfortable but still having walls up. 
         10. animals - architects 
more of the running theme of fear, fighting back, and running. Travis is definitely trying to push this, but im not exactly sure what it means outside of “Chetney feels alone and like a wild animal”. 
         11. howlin’ for you - the black keys
this song is similiar to wolves - selena gomez in that its about another person, but theres also a theme of something else that i cant quite put my finger on. unsure what this means specifically in regards to Chetney. 
         12. thriller - michael jackson
this song is pretty late in the playlist to be a prelude, but this song very much feels like it could represent Chetney being attacked by the werewolves that cause him to turn. it could also just generally be a stand in for him prowling through the night and generally being a sneaky guy, but im not sure which fits better.
         13. werewolves of london - warren zevon
this song doesnt have a terribly deep meaning, its Chetney just existing and chilling as a werewolf like we see him doing in the campaign. he’s successfully tamed his wolf. 
         14. christmas with the devil - spinal tap
unsure what this one means specifically, same with the other christmas song. its possible Chetney is the devil in this song, possibly embracing his werewolf side and calling others to embrace their wild side? side note: “No bells in Hell” is a lyric in this one, good touch. 
-
im not super solid on what the overarching theme is. Chetney definitely has a lot of fear and anger, but also he’s looking for someone/something (likely not a person he already knows, rather someone he can be close with?). if anyone else has additions or different interpretations theyd like to raise im all for it! 
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sweetberrysmooch · 3 years
Text
HC: And There Was Only One Bed (Affectionate) [pt. 1]
(Zzzzzzz.....)
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(This is unfortunately gonna have to be in several parts, mainly so I can get something out to you guys while still being able to work on the rest ^^)
Basic sleeping hcs with ya boys, and sort of... smell hcs? Idk, I got into a mood and couldn’t stop writing about smells so here it goes lol.
Characters: Dream, Techno, Wilbur.
Warnings: There’s mentions of nightmares in Dream’s and a emotional breakdown in Wilbur’s, but that’s it.
Song Recommendation: Dream A Little Dream Of Me- The Mamas & Papas.
Up Next- Quackity, George, and Bad. [pt. 2]
Hope you have nice day today <3 Enjoy!
Dream:
Depending on where you’ve fallen asleep, Dream will kind of work with your position before he lets himself relax.
He prefers it when the two of you are in your bed, with him near the closest door and on his back and with you sleeping against his side, arm stretched over his middle. It’s a good way for him to be between any intruders that may come and to still have you close. But no matter where you are, he has to make sure that he can protect you before he lets his guard down.
Another position he likes is when you’re tucked against his chest under his chin, sitting on his lap or curled up together in bed. Being tall with a broad chest means he makes a pretty good pillow, so use those puppies when you can 👀👀
Smells like a forest, most times. Almost like wild honey, but it’s a very delicate smell. You don’t notice it until your first hug, when you were upset and crying and he pulled you to into his arms so you could hide your face. Now you smell it everywhere he is, in your house, on your bed, even your clothes smell like him. Neither of you say anything, but he slowly begins leaving his soap at your house. Just in case, y’know, if you ever run out.
Other times, when he seems a little more... off, he smells like the beginning to a storm, like ozone and petrichor. Those days he doesn’t speak that much, and keeps you at arms length. He sits quietly and watches your doors and windows with obvious intent, and is gone before morning. You don’t think he even moved from his spot throughout the night, much less slept there. You don’t see him for a few days afterwards.
Usually he remains as still as a log, but sometimes he has fidgeting fits where he twitches and grumbles to himself. Sometimes you’ll even catch him speaking full-on sentences, though they don’t make much sense. Mostly normal out of place stuff, but once you heard him talking about someone called DreamXD, and figured you’d ask him about his oc the next morning.
He has nightmares often too. It’s hard to tell when he’s asleep but he’ll wake up sweating and trembling and lean over you to check you’re still breathing. He won’t ever tell you what they’re about, but it isn’t hard to guess when he buries his nose into your hair and holds you tightly like you might leave him.
If the two of you aren’t sleeping in your house or completely alone, he won’t sleep until you are. Sleep loss doesn’t quite affect him like it does others until after a pretty long time of not doing it, to which he’ll become surlier and more angry until he eventually just clocks out. He wakes up extremely well rested 2 days later and the process repeats. Sleeping at your house is the closest he gets to proper sleeping, and it’s the only time he can ever feel truly relaxed when doing so.
When he can’t fall asleep, he goes straight to watching you. He gently plays with your hair and fiddles with your fingers, relishing in how unmarred and soft they are in comparison to his much rougher, bigger ones. It’s a sure fire way to get him to mellow out and relax, and he finds that sleep ends up coming much quicker.
(Dream wakes up in warmth one night, with rain knocking on window panes instead of what ever shelter he could scrape together and a fire crackling far off. He deduces immediately that he’s in someones house, and it doesn’t take long before he notices the owner, asleep in his lap. 
Your legs are slung over the arm of the padded chair he’s sitting in, a book (one of his own, he acknowledges, an older version of a well known storybook that he has memorized already) loosely held onto in your hands, and your head rests on his shoulder. 
He expects to feel worried soon, the fear of you getting close to him reappearing to ruin another close moment. But it never comes. All he can feel is the safety and comfort you always emanate, driving away his tension and soothing his mind. He closes his eyes, and falls back asleep.)
Techno:
Techno is very very touch starved ^^; While he may not be the only one on this list that is, Techno is definitely the most…. shy about it. He won’t ever directly ask to sleep next to you, and will actively try to avoid that. He’s afraid of making you uncomfortable but also of being close to you in general? It’s an odd mix of emotions, like eating mints and a hot pepper at the same time and then feeling hell fire burn inside of your body. Anytime the two of you have to sleep in the same room as each other, he will immediately offer you the better spot and go find a chair to sleep in, and he won’t accept a no.
The most you can do is make the choice to go sleep next to him. It’ll weird him out a little before becoming overwhelmingly endearing when he processes the fact that you would rather sleep next to him than somewhere more pleasant. When you’re asleep however, he’ll pick you up and move you to the place where he wanted you to be. He’ll drape his massive cape over your body and (after assuring himself six different times that you are in fact asleep) softly press a kiss to the crown of your head. If he runs his thumb over your cheek once, then thats his business.
Later on in your relationship though, after he relaxes and settles a bit, it’s pretty unusual if you don’t fall asleep next to him. He still won’t outright ask for it, but he kinda just hopes that when he starts his nightly routine before bed that you’ll just join him without needing to be asked. Having you there helps him sleep better, you act as both a silencer for the voices and someone to hold close when he’s at his most vulnerable.
When sleeping in bed together, he prefers to pull you close and curl around you in a half pulled fetus position. He’s usually a heavy sleeper, and actively clings on to you when asleep. It's an impressive feat if you can break free from his strong arms while they’re wrapped around your middle, and you leaving inevitably wakes him up. He’ll go searching for you then, barely awake, just to pull you back to bed to be his teddy bear again.
And speaking of the voices, while generally they’re loud and insistent, occupying his mind more than he does at times, their reaction to you baffles him so much. In place of the usual screaming is gentle mumbling, quiet whispers about how nice you look today or how pink and soft your cheeks look. It’s a welcome relief, and no matter how he hard he ignores the fact that he’s wrapped around your finger, he’s glad to know they care for you as much as he does.
He also smells pretty nice, it’s this natural musk he has mixed with a muted minty scent. The mint smell comes from this fancy soap Phil had gotten him a while back that he hadn’t given much thought about until you said something. Techno’s already a clean kind of guy, but after hearing your praises of his smell he almost begs Phil to get him more.
Snores, but in a quiet reserved way. Sometimes he makes soft cute noises, like little happy sounds when you snuggle into him more, or bashful grumbles when you kiss him before bed.
(Sunlight flickers through the blinds of Techno’s room, streaking across your face and waking you from sleep. Sighing quietly, you lift your head a little and stretch as best you can while being held in place at his side, before snuggling back into your spot, fully content to stay there for the rest of the morning. 
As you enjoy the moment, you savor the gentle snores that rumble in his chest, his strong heart thumping beneath your ear, and the way his hand kneads your hip as he wakes. 
‘It’s a good morning to sleep in.’ Your mind says quietly, and with how he rolls over to face you and kiss your forehead, it seems Techno thinks so too.)
Wilbur:
The way Wilbur sleeps really depends on what Wilbur it is.
To start off though, a few general things. He’s a neat sleeper, doesn’t snore, doesn’t move a whole lot, and smells pretty nice too. His smell also came from a fancy soap he got from Phil, but it smelled like sugar and lemons and it was a lot heavier than Techno’s. He would always take showers before bed because he knew you liked how it smelled, and often he would offered to share it with you (so that you would smell like him). Once he was exiled, he didn’t have the liberty of bathing as frequently as he used to, and he stopped using the fancy soap because he thought it felt tainted. He’d end up smelling like stale air and gunpowder, though he’d never tell you what the smell was from.
With sleep, if it’s pre-Pogtopia Wilbur, you get a fairly standard sleeping arrangement of him crawling up into between your legs to flop down on your stomach with a sigh, waiting impatiently for you to get comfortable and curl around him like you usually do. Your hand comes to cradle his head closer to your chest and he nuzzles into your collarbone before falling asleep near immediately. The two of you wake up tangled completely together and immensely comfortable. Wilbur used to sleep in on days like that, quietly savoring the peace that came with you and your generous hands that would slowly brush through his sleep-messed hair. Even after the election, when he starts descending into madness, the memories serve as a final comfort to him.
Post-Pogtopia Wilbur (Vilbur, if you will) is a stark contrast to his old self. He’s more bitter, more reserved, and even more paranoid. He doesn’t sleep with you anymore, at least never consistently, and the only times he does is when he’s so emotionally fraught that he passes out from the stress and lack of sleep midway through you trying to calm him down. You usually end up just kind of holding him close, praying that when he wakes up you can settle him before he works himself up again. You fall asleep like that, tired and restless.
(He rouses from sleep a few hours later, curled up in your arms and still exhausted from the breakdown. Your chest rises and falls slowly behind him, face smushed into his hair and completely relaxed. 
For a moment, all is calm again. He can pretend that it’s just how it used to be before the election had happened, that the two of you are back at home, happy and stable. 
His hands tremble when they reach for yours, and he grants himself the freedom to cry while you’re still sleeping, ignoring the fact that the next day will be just like the last, and that nothing has changed.)
See you next time :D
646 notes · View notes
eirikaanemo · 3 years
Note
Venti's crush is a sister in the Church of Favonius. That's the entire prompt. Okay, she may have overheard Venti when he asked for the Holy Lyre and maaaaybe she gave it to him (in the name of freedom!), but she probably wouldn't be a sister after that.
Venti x GN!Reader
1.7k Words
Warnings: Eviction? Kinda?
Notes: So, halfway through I remembered "Sister" is a gendered term, so I switched it to "Disciple". Hopefully that still works!
Part 2: His Fight
His Lyre
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He first caught your attention while he was doing a street performance. You were walking down the street, minding your own business, when you heard a melody so beautiful that you swore it had to be Barbatos himself. Following your curiosity, you found him performing a ballad for a group of children. His clear tenor painted looks of wonder on their faces as he regaled them with tales of Vanessa and the revolution of freedom.
You couldn’t help but stop to watch as well. He had captivated you as much as he had the children and you didn’t regret a thing. After Vanessa’s tale he sang of the fall of the storm god, the rise of Barbatos, the shaping of the lands, and the rise of Mondstadt. Every song seemed almost more amazing than the last.
It was getting close to evening by the time you were able to free yourself from his spell. Or rather, he stopped casting it. His last few notes rang out and faded into the darkness. You almost didn’t dare to breathe in fear of breaking the serene silence that overtook the scene. Then his eyes opened.
This was your first real chance to get a good look at them as he was usually facing just slightly away from you. Everyone else had gone home, so as he scanned the area, his eyes fell on you. And suddenly all you could see was his eyes. They’re beautiful, you thought to yourself, a hint of blush warming your cheeks.
His braids swayed a bit as he tilted his head curiously and a smile flashed across his lips. “It’s not often I see a Disciple here, tell me, did you like what there was to hear?”
“I did,” you confirmed. “I’m very impressed! It was almost like I was listening to Barbatos himself!”
He looked stunned for a moment, then an odd look crossed his face before he quickly covered it up with a broad smile. “Thanks! I appreciate the sentiment! That’s really quite the compliment.”
You were able to spend the next little while chatting before you had to go, but similar scenes occurred fairly often as time went on. About the tenth time or so he decided that you were friends, which you had no objection to. Though there was always a small twinge in your heart whenever he called you that for some reason.
Along with becoming friends, you started to notice some things. His songs are… very detailed in a way that makes them line up with records that rarely see the light of day. While you do your best to share Barbatos’ gospel of freedom with everyone, some records are just too fragile to be available to the general public. So the Disciples, like you, memorize them and tell them to the worshipers who come to the Cathedral.
However, either on purpose or by accident, most of the time Disciples will mix up little details or paraphrase things or skip over sections in a way that can confuse the story some. But Venti’s songs match every detail shown in the records, and more. You had checked multiple times and it always came out the same way. He was one hundred percent correct, in every song he played.
Then there was his hair. You’d never seen anyone with their hair being tinted at the ends like that. And you couldn’t find the hair dye he used either. And oh boy had you looked. You wanted teal in your hair too dang it! And when you finally asked him where he got it he laughed and said it was natural. How is that fair?
And then there are the times where he just didn’t act quite human. Like forgetting to eat all day without realizing it. Or referring to other people as “humans”, as if he, himself, isn’t human. Or how he only ever wears one outfit. Or the way anemo energy seems to flow through him instead of around him. You wouldn’t even have noticed that last one if it wasn’t for the fact that you are hypersensitive to it due to how you use your anemo vision. From all of that, and more, you can just tell that something isn’t quite what it seems about him.
So when you’re cleaning the cathedral in the back and hear him out himself as Barbatos to Sister Gotelinde something just clicked. Oh, of course he was Barbatos. What else could he possibly be? Too much added up for it to not make sense! Unfortunately by the time you were done reeling from shock Sister Gotelinde had sent him right out the door.
You had caught enough of the conversation, though, that you knew that Venti- no, Barbatos had need of his lyre. So you came up with a plan. This was going to get you in so, so much trouble. But this is what needed to be done. You need to get him his lyre.
It was surprisingly easy to swipe the lyre from its pedestal and avoid the other inhabitants of the Cathedral by taking back passageways. You had almost made it out, you were so close when you suddenly ran into someone.
Holding a hand to the point of impact starting to swell on your forehead, you squint over towards the other group. When your brain registers that you just ran into Venti you gasp and scramble to your feet, still holding the holy lyre to your chest. “Oh my goodness, I’m so, so sorry Venti,” you apologize. “Or, uh, would you prefer I call you Barbatos?”
Your friend blinks once, then twice, dumbstruck by the situation. “Venti is fine,” he scrambles to assure you after a few moments. “How did you know?”
“You weren’t exactly the quietest when speaking with Sister Gotelinde, Venti. And I was cleaning just out of sight. It made a lot more sense than some other explanations for your weird behavior that I’d come up with.” You admit sheepishly. “And I believe this is yours.”
His face lit up as you held the holy lyre out towards him. “The Lyre de Himmel! Thank you so much! See that, Traveler? We didn’t even have to steal it! I promise to do my best to take care of it.” You quirk an eyebrow as the Traveler finishes shaking off the effects of running into you.
“I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear that, and you better.” you tell him pointedly, causing him to giggle nervously. “Besides, the two of you need to go! I… didn’t exactly tell anyone about this. Good luck with Dvalin, Venti, Traveler. May Barbatos be with you!” You called out the last part out of habit.
Moments later you felt a hand clap onto your shoulder. “Dear,” Sister Gotelinde drawled slightly. “Please tell me you didn’t hand our sacred treasure over to that alcoholic bard.” You’re silent for a moment before years of being at the Cathedral won over your common sense. “You know I can’t do that, Sister.”
She sighs from her position behind you and her hand tightens on your shoulder. “I’m sure I don’t need to tell you how much trouble you’re in, especially if it doesn’t come back in one piece.” You gulp.
“Yes, Sister Gotelinde.” You murmur.
“Good, now get back to cleaning.” She instructs you curtly.
Nodding, you turn and walk past her towards where you were cleaning. She continued on, likely going to report the situation to Sister Barbara. You really hope that Venti keeps his promise.
While you try your best to put the situation out of your mind, your thoughts keep drifting back to it the whole next day. The nightmare you’d had that night hadn’t helped either. It had been a morbid scene, a broken lyre on the ground with an equally broken Venti as a triumphant Stormterror screeched over their still forms. You’d woken up sweaty.
Logically you knew that Barbatos- no, Venti wouldn’t fall to Stormterror. But the scene still wouldn’t go away. And neither did the awkward feeling that accompanied your usual duties as a disciple. Some of your regular duties were suddenly almost… laughable? You now knew that Barbatos didn’t care about a good chunk of what you did in the Cathedral that some considered absolutely essential.
Your attitude didn’t help your position though, not with everyone now knowing what you did and watching you closely. The day is long and you feel trapped every second of it. Then Venti returns victorious with a broken lyre and everything crumbles around you. You’re kicked out, banned for life, right after him, with a suitcase of your stuff chucked out after you. Even though he ‘fixed it’.
Part of you wants to just lay there and regret your life choices; but you can’t help but smile when Venti reaches a hand out to lift you up, laughing about the irony of the situation. A small smile manages to reach your face as Jean starts chuckling too.
“Don’t worry too much, I know you’ve done a great good for Mondstadt.” She reassures you. “I know you have a vision, an anemo vision at that.” She gives Venti a pointed look. “How would you like to become a knight?”
Your smile grows into something a little more natural. “I’d like that, thank you Jean.”
“It’s no problem, really the least I could do. I’m sorry it had to end like this. Now, come to my office when you have a moment so we can formalize it. But for now I need to go and formally close the Stormterror case.” With a sigh she walked past you towards the knights headquarters and the inevitable paperwork which awaits her.
“I’m sorry that you got kicked out,” Venti apologizes once Jean’s out of sight. “All you did was help and you got in trouble for it.”
“It’s alright, Venti,” you try to claim. “It was kind of awkward knowing that you are Barbatos anyway.”
“Still,” he pressed. “You put everything on the line for me and I really appreciate it. I’m really sorry I didn’t follow through. I’ll have to make it up to you. And I know just where to start.”
His kiss to your cheek was quick but sent a warmth blooming across your face, contrasting with the coolness of his lips.
“Of course,” you mumble, embarrassed. “It was your lyre anyway.”
“It was,” he agreed. “But you believed me. And that really does mean a lot to me. Thank you, really.”
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makeste · 3 years
Text
BnHA Chapter 299: No Chains Left
Previously on BnHA: Horikoshi was all “and then AFO broke out all of the inmates from six other prisons and took a nap. well anyways, here’s the hospital angst.” Kacchan woke up two days later and was all, “WAIT BUT HOW ARE DEKU AND TODOROKI AND ALL OF THE OTHER CHARACTERS EXCEPT IIDA DOING” and then we cut to Shouto’s room where the other U.A. kids were sitting around being Mutually Traumatized and giving each other moral support and such. Everyone was alll, “...”, and then the rest of the Todofam showed up, INCLUDING POSSIBLY REI?! which, omg. The chapter ended with Kacchan STOMPING THROUGH THE HALLS all “WHADDYA MEAN DEKU HASN’T WOKEN UP YET”, dragging along Satou and Mineta behind him, fueled by the power of ALL OF THE FUCKS HE NOW GIVES. He gives so many fucks now you guys. This boy cares so much he can probably deduct it on his taxes.
Today on BnHA: SPEAKING OF PEOPLE WHO GIVE A LOT OF FUCKS, the story cuts abruptly to Hawks, freshly recovering from his near-death experience, and pondering the threads that have weaved the tapestry of his life and led him to this moment. Basically he grew up in poverty with his Jerk Dad and Jerk Mom until his dad got arrested one day and his mom sent him off to go Find Money Or Something, and so he rescued a busload of people and found himself a new career. Back in the present day, Hawks and Jeanist ride around town in Jeanist’s Jamborghini having awkward encounters with civilians in a country on the brink of social collapse, and visiting Hawks’s mother’s home. Hawks is all “I know from an outsider’s perspective it must look like my life currently sucks, but now that the HPSC is gone, my public image is shot, and my parents are finally out of my life, I’m actually feeling SURPRISINGLY GOOD.” Anyway so he’s gonna go meet up with Endeavor now, and p.s. this chapter was fucking fantastic though, damn.
oh my god?? is this Hawks narration?? something about him growing up watching the heroes on TV and thinking of them as fictional characters
okay I scrolled down a little bit more to see the rest of that “Keigo” panel, and wow
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this is basically a shed. poor boy definitely grew up rough. let me tell you guys, I came in here ready for some BakuDeku shenanigans; I was not prepared for Hawks Flashback Angst. I AM HERE FOR IT, but also wow I gotta brace myself now lol
HELLO MISTER HAWKS’S JERK DAD, SIR
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BnHA sure does have an array of Jerk Dads, doesn’t it. makes me appreciate characters like Masaru and JirouDad all the more for bucking the trend
anyway. so Horikoshi, you really thought that one itty bitty chapter of hospital catharsis would be enough to calm us all before you went right back to showing us child abuse huh. my god man can we rest
BABY HAWKS
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swear to god this kid can’t be more than five or six, and yet he has this completely blank look on his face even with his dad looming over him being all threatening and shit. like he’s shut down his emotions to protect himself. imagine what has to happen to a child for him to have learned this at such a young age. fuck
AND MEANWHILE THIS GUY
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don’t mingle with humans?? not “other” humans, just humans?? what is this implying here?? and also holy shit Hawks definitely didn’t inherit his looks from his dad orz
then again he doesn’t really bear much of a resemblance to his strung-out mom here either
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omg omg omg. and this child is basically trapped here in this environment with these two people. this explains a SHITLOAD about Hawks’s personality though you guys. his ability to completely separate his real thoughts from the face he presents to the outside world. his pragmatic approach to analyzing and solving problems. his layers of emotional walls. turns out almost none of that came from the HPSC training -- that was all learned hands-on in his own personal do-or-die survival nightmare childhood!! oh, boy
and small wonder then that he latched on to Endeavor so strongly if he really is the one who brought down his dad and inadvertently saved him from this. also, just putting this out there, I know people are always talking about him and Dabi being foils, and I think it’s very interesting how Touya grew up in a household where he saw firsthand the dark side of hero society, and so ended up becoming a villain in order to bring it down. whereas young Keigo had almost the exact opposite experience, growing up experiencing the dark side of villain society and becoming a hero in order to bring about a world where no one else has to experience that. just. both of them are so determined not to become their fathers. some interesting parallels there
so Hawks was sort of an accident after his parents had “thanks for helping me not get caught after I killed that guy” sex, and now this little boy is growing up in squalor and being beaten by his father for things like Sitting In The Wrong Out-Of-The-Way Corner Trying Not To Be A Bother To Anybody. holy fuck. this is so rough to read through you guys
wait so does Jerk Dad have a an eyeball manipulation quirk?? because he doesn’t have the wings like his son, but wth are these things??
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this presumably also means that Keigo has never been to school or anything either. he basically doesn’t exist. he thinks heroes are fictional characters, he doesn’t realize that they’re real people. these are people who could help him if he could escape and find them, but he doesn’t know, and they don’t know about him
OH MY GOD HE’S JUST SITTING IN HIS CORNER HUGGLING HIS ENDEAVOR PLUSH OH MY GOD
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how could this child possibly have an anti-fandom when he’s done NOTHING WRONG HIS ENTIRE LIFE. huh. just explain that to me. lol I mean I’m not looking to pick a fight with anyone, but also, MAYBE I AM, idk?? this kid has gotten me all riled up lmao
anyways, Protect Keigo 2021, and thank you Horikoshi for these three very terrible pages. I am pleased to inform you that you’ve effectively gotten your point across and you may now commence saving this kid already
YAY
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oh no, Keigo’s dumbass jerk dad tried to steal a car and the popo nabbed his ass and now his mom can’t just sit around neglecting her VERY YOUNG SON all day long, oh horrors. sorry lady my tiny violin is on backorder. just imagine that I’m playing a very sarcastic song on it for you
anyway so what are you gonna do now, abandon him? I can hardly imagine he’d be worse off, if anything it might be a near-instant improvement
LMAO HE’S ALL “WAIT WHAT ENDEAVOR’S A REAL FUCKING DUDE?!”
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AND THEY SAY THAT A HERO CAN SAVE US~~~~ I’M NOT GONNA STAND HERE AND WAAAAAIT~~~~~ I’LL HOLD ONTO THE WINGS OF THE EAGLES, WATCH AS WE ALL FLY AWAAAAAAY~~~~
lol what a randomly pivotal moment in his young life. TIME TO GO MAKE THESE MEMES INTO DREAMS YOUNG ONE
anyway so his mom freaked out and grabbed him and they wound up at a train station with her TELLING HIM TO GO GET HER SOME MONEY, oh my god. SURE MOM LEMME JUST WALTZ RIGHT ON DOWN TO THE “JOBS FOR FIVE-YEAR-OLDS” STORE AND TELL THEM I NEED SOME CASH. ffff manifesting someone to come help him in 3... 2...
...
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SIGH, JUST GO RESCUE THE PEOPLE FROM THE BUS, KEIGO. is this the outfit he was wearing when that happened?? it must be, right?? I can’t imagine them surviving more than a couple days out here unless this starts getting REALLY dark in a way I know that even Horikoshi won’t explore, so yeah. cut to the HPSC now please. never thought we’d be glad to see them. I mean sure, it may be an “out of the frying pan...” case, but good god
THANK YOU!!
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and I guess it was his mom’s eyeball quirk then. anyway, whatever, see you again never, hopefully. lol oh man. thaaaat, was upsetting. need to center myself here for a sec. NAMASTE
OH YAY THE PRESENT
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so we cut from Baby Hawks Angst straight to Present Day Hawks Angst, huh. not that this exhausted and traumatized lil lad isn’t still a baby to me too, I’ll have you know
BEST JEANIST, ALWAYS WITH THE JOKES
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“WHEW, THOUGHT YOU DIED ON ME FOR A SEC THERE KID.” lmao. Caleb will no doubt ruin this by making his word choice all stiffly formal as usual, so I’m just going to treasure this “WOULD YOU LOOK AT THAT, I’M FRESH OUT OF FUCKS” version of Jeanist while I can
look at him, driving his Jeanistmobile
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again, is it any wonder Kacchan was bitching about Endeavor’s dinky little car when he was used to riding around town in style like this. anyone else staring at this panel trying to figure out how this car is somehow secretly made of jeans
NOOOOO
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FUCK YOU DABI LMAO. PUTTING THESE VOICE ACTORS OUT OF A JOB ONE BY ONE
anyway so Jeanist is all “GOOD THING IT’S THE FUTURE AND WE’RE SO GOOD AT MEDICAL SCIENCE” to handwave how Hawks went from one step shy of being a very handsome corpse, to sitting around texting Jeanist in a car all of two days later
OH MY GOD, AND FINALLY AN EXPLANATION FOR THIS
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wait a minute. I’m so confused lmfao. soooo, was Hawks all “anyway, here’s Jeanist’s dead body, you can examine it but please don’t look at him too closely and also I’m gonna need that back unharmed.” how tf did you pull that off lmao
(ETA: also isn’t this technically confirmation of the ol’ Noumu Jeanist theory lol. I’m gonna go ahead and say it is.)
NO BUT PLEASE, CONTINUE. I unironically love reading Horikoshi’s overly convoluted “SEE IT’S NOT A PLOT HOLE” explanations
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lkldslfk so wait, you’re telling me Hawks convinced Dabi and the League to put Jeanist’s body in storage, and basically just hoped they wouldn’t use him for any experiments until he could put his plan into action and have the HPSC’s people break in and find and revive him?? WHAT COULD POSSIBLY GO WRONG. A FOOLPROOF PLAN IF I’VE EVER HEARD ONE
fff this man really asked Jeanist to risk it all to prop up his little cover story, and Jeanist was all “sure why not” omfg. anyways, thanks for recapping all of this out loud for no particular reason in your car conversation you two
LMAO NOW WHAT
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TROUBLE YOU SAY? GOOD THING THE NEW NUMBER ONE HERO IS ON THE JOB THEN
okay no it’s just some random thugs strolling around terrorizing the downtown. fuck ‘em. so Jeanist is making short work of them now
uh oh
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won’t come? not can’t, but won’t?? what???
WOW
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well I guess that makes the local heroes A BUNCH OF SHITHEADS now doesn’t it?? jesus
and okay, serious question, if the cops are spread too thin and the heroes have literally walked out on the job, what exactly is stopping everyone from deciding to use their quirks to defend themselves, legal or not? nothing, as far as I can tell. society just got a hell of a lot more chaotic
anyway so this is an interesting panel here
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man, Dabi really did pull it off, didn’t he. well anyway so here’s that better world all of the villains were wanting, you guys! isn’t it so great?? everyone’s terrified and angry and losing hope and society is inches away from collapsing into total anarchy! but hey, at least we exposed the number one hero as a hypocrite
anyway so what are these guys up to
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fucking hell, he’s visiting his mom. I really wasn’t prepared to commit this much emotional energy towards reading this chapter today. BUT VERY WELL, WE PRESS ON
?? wait she’s not there?
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is this supposed to explain how Dabi knew who Hawks really was? except that there’s the little matter of how he even know where to find his mother in the first place. feels like we’re still missing something there, but oh well
OH MY GOD
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RHA I TAKE BACK EVERY WORD I EVER SPOKE AGAINST YOU. YOU ARE A SCANLATION GROUP FILLED WITH ANGELS LMAO. I WILL TAKE THIS PANEL IN MY HANDS, AND TREASURE IT AND KEEP IT SAFE
ANYWAY, BECAUSE MY TIRED BIRD SON’S LIFE SUCKED SO MUCH ALREADY, IT TURNS OUT HE’S ACTUALLY PLEASED WITH THIS NEW TURN OF EVENTS LOL HOW ABOUT THAT
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GOOD FOR YOU BBY. YOU GO OUT THERE AND BE YOUR OWN PERSON
and in all seriousness, I love that identity he chooses -- chooses, because it actually is him making a choice now, possibly for the very first time in his life -- is “guy who helps people”, though. it really is nothing short of miraculous that he held on to that kind of optimism and desire to do good even with everything he’s been through. there were so many times he could have chosen to turn his back on the world in retaliation for the way it treated him. but he didn’t!! and here he is now, finally free, and what he wants to do with the rest of his life now is simply to help others. anyway please excuse me for a moment, I need to go find some sort of basket or a big vase to put all of my fresh new Hawks Feels in, pardonne-moi
YEAH BOIIIIII
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“FIRST ORDER OF BUSINESS, MISTER JEANIST, WHERE DID YOU FIND YOUSELF THAT SWEETASS CAR.” hey, all I’m saying is if this boy’s wings really aren’t growing back, he’s gonna need to find himself a new means of transportation y’know?
oh my god you guys it’s a flashback to his mom buying him the Endeavor plushie when he was like two because, and I quote, ALL MIGHT WAS TOO EXPENSIVE
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oh my god oh my god. my boy out here with a new lease on life finding hope in the darkest of times
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wasn’t your throat supposed to be all fucked up lmao. Horikoshi was suddenly all “oh shit the VAs are gonna be pissed at me if I keep this up huh”
“that’s why Bubaigawara was such a great guy” motherfucker IT IS A TERRIBLE DAY FOR RAIN. FORECAST SAID NOTHING ABOUT THIS
:’)
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yes ma’am. yes indeed. confirmed, I really will straight up fight some motherfuckers for this child. well not really, but YOU KEEP YOUR DISCOURSE OFF MY LAWN AND OUT OF MY BLOG YOU HEAR. THIS IS A HAWKS-FRIENDLY SPACE. WE RESPECT TAKAMI KEIGO IN THESE STREETS
and he’s saying (or is he thinking?? what a weirdly shaped speech bubble this is) that even if what Dabi said about the Todoroki household is true, “I’m not sure it’s the same now.” which happens to be ABSOLUTELY CORRECT. man this whole chapter really is all about saying “fuck the past” and moving forward and I am living for it
SON!!!!
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“the first step is at my beginning” fklkjlk. what an iconic fucking line??
AND HIS WINGS!!!! THEY ACTUALLY ARE GROWING BACK AHHHHHHH. “PUT A RAINCHECK ON THAT CAR, JEANIST-SAN.” THE HAWKSMOBILE CAN WAIT, RIGHT NOW HE HAS TO GO INSERT HIMSELF BACK INTO THE TODODRAMA WHETHER THEY LIKE IT OR NOT
you guys. I came here ready for some BAKUDEKU HOSPITAL ANGST, and I got DIDDLY SHIT of that, and none of my other kids were even in this chapter, but!!! ASK ME IF I CARE LMAO omg. because bird son is hanging with his new best friend, and he’s out here Finding Himself and picking up the pieces and putting them back together stronger than ever because RESILIENCE HAS A NAME, AND IT’S SPELLED H-A-W-K-S, and you guys. profound, my love for this child. holy shit. hey google, play Silence by Marshmello
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spoopy-fish-writes · 3 years
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—Rule 2: If you see any of the residents dancing in the ballroom, join them. It is only polite
[Mansion rules - part 2]
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Suitor(s): All vampires in Comte’s mansion; Leonardo/Sebastian centered
TW: Horror, allusions to mind control
Genre: Horror/ unreality
Notes: Gender neutral MC || And we're onto part 2. I said that this part was going to be darker than the first one and this is in fact a lot tamer but I ended up changing my mind and moving the actually darker one to a later date because it's very fucked up and so want to make it as horrific as possible <3
Rule 1 | Rule 2 (you are here) | Rule 4 | Rule 5 | Follow the rules
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In comparison to the first rule, the second rule that was listed upon the weathered paper was arguably calmer. Less... frightening and more sensical.
Simply dance if you saw anyone else dancing on the ballroom.
At least, that was how it seemed. As you read further down the rule, it got... concerning, somehow. Adding details to the rule that didn't fit or make sense.
2. If you see any of the residents dancing in the ballroom, join them. It is only polite.
That part made sense. It would be rude to simply let them dance alone and fairly awkward to walk in on such a scene, someone dancing on their lonesome, and just leave them to themselves.
It was the next part of the rule that made you question the state of the mansion and it's residents.
Do not question where the music is coming from or stare at the floor for too long. If you happen to notice that someone may be lacking a shadow, simply shake them and tell them to wake up but do not stop dancing until the music stops playing
Sounding like something straight out of a nightmare, the rule was difficult to forget, staying engraved in your mind like a song playing on loop as if playing from a broken record. With your role in the mansion as one of its caretakers, it was difficult to avoid the ballroom no matter how hard you tried. Even Sebastian seemed to be unwilling to enter it.
How could someone be missing their shadow? A shadow existed for all solid forms, simple the blocking of light passing through an area.
You would think that such a rule wouldn't be an issue, that it was something that could be easily avoided if no one entered the ballroom but oh how wrong you were.
The mansion did not mull over technicalities or sense. it played by its own rules and, the longer that you resided there, the further you fell under its twisted game.
They did not enter it their own will, eyes blank, no light to them as if engulfed in an inexplicable darkness that shrouded their vision. Each time that you would catch a figure making its way to the ballroom, it always felt off. They seemed to move less like people, each of them walking in ways that were so off from their usual gait that you found so distinct and unique to the each of them and instead moving akin to a walk of a puppet on a string, steps clunky and shaky as if they weren't used to their own bodies.
You would avoid the ballroom at these times, not wanting to get tangled up in whatever the rule had stated regardless of how harmless it seemed to be in the outside but sometimes it was unavoidable.
You could hear the music far before you entered the room and it made you want to rush to turn back. With a deep breath, you opened the door timidly, hoping that you would just find Mozart on the other side, practicing but if only you had been so lucky.
Leonardo who seemed to be ready to tumble at any given moment with each step, danced clumsily in the centre, arms positioned as though there was another figure with him.
There was a warped cut in the music which made your heart race, anxiety gripping you fiercely, before it resumed as before, the same usual waltz which sounded eerie to the point of being almost unrecognizable. The man's hand reached out to you, poised in a manner of of a man inviting his partner to dance, and you knew that you didn't have any choice but to accept his invitation.
Left foot step sideways to the left.
Right foot next to your left foot.
Left foot forwards.
Right foot forwards and sideways.
Left foot next to your right foot.
Go over the steps so you don't trip.
Don't look down.
Don't look down.
Don't look down.
Remind yourself so you don't break the rule.
The order repeated in your mind like a mantra as you willed yourself to keep your eyes level to Leonardo's chest, avoiding his eyes because it already knew the lifeless orbs that would stare back at you, but it was so difficult to stay true to it. His feet found themselves stepping in yours more often than not and you feared that you would topple over.
In a moment of panic as you attempted to balance yourself and the polymath, you looked down and you were lucky that you did.
No shadow. Of course. What else did you expect when everything was already do warped already? It said they wouldn't have shadows. It was written on the paper. It shouldn't have shocked you as much as it did.
A pause as you tried to gather any semblance of control over your frantically beating heart and quivering form.
Could you risk another look?
You almost looked back down to double check for the man's shadow but your resolve crumbled. You couldn't risk it. It went against the rules and you knew that you should just follow them without question.
Instead, you lightly shook your dance partner, hoping that it wouldn't cause the two of you to fall.
"Leonardo." Your voice shook with anxiety, barely raised above a whisper, almost inaudible over the music.
No response. You looked into his eyes, a shiver running through you.
Still the same.
"Leonardo, wake up." There was more urgency in your voice now, more aggression to the way that you shook him. Why couldn't be just snap out of it?
You were ready to give up when you still got no response for a few seconds. What were you to do then? The rules were straight to the point. Perfect. Comte himself said that there were no flaws in the rules.
"Leonardo, please." You wanted to cry. You wanted to stop dancing and run; run as far away as possible but you couldnt. You didn't know what the consequences were but you didn't want to.
You were certain that you wouldn't be able to get away with it anyway. Running, that is. It felt like there were eyes everywhere, watching your every move, just waiting for you to slip up and make a mistake. They followed you around like a bad odour that you couldn't quite shake off or find the source of; in the music that flowed so uncomfortably around you right down the the very air you were breathing.
Just keep dancing. It's all you had to do.
Just keep dancing until the music stops.
But, as you looked once more into Leonardo's soulless eyes that made you feel as though you were just staring into a golden mirror, every image just bouncing off of them; eyes that only just seemed to regain any kind of life or humanity in them, you weren't sure if the music ever would stop playing.
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anime-grimmy-art · 3 years
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Told you guys I’d ramble in due time.
I absolutely adore Bravely Default 2. It came at a really bad time cos I can’t waste 70 hours on a jrpg, but well, it’s too late to be concerned about that now. And as is tradition with me obsessing over a new game / show / whatever, you’ll basically find a fullblown review disguised as ramblings right under the cut. Be aware that I’m gonna talk about EVERYTHING, so spoilers are a given. Some maybe even for the previous Bravely Default games.
Also, if you wanna talk about this game in any capacity, hit me up, I’m DESPERATE to talk more about it.
Just for reference on how long this is gonna be, I made a voice recording while driving to remember all the points I wanna make, and that recording is almost 2 hours long. I did cut it down but still, this is gonna be a lot.
I’ll start off with the things that actually bugged me about the game, since there are only 3 things that really bothered me. First of, I really don’t like that you can name Seth. He has too much personality to be a self insert and player integration is not that big of a part in the game that this decision can be justified. It wouldn’t bother me that much if it didn’t leave a bad mark on the ending. First of all, we were robbed of Gloria desperately shouting for Seth, which makes the impact work less, and it’s just so prevalent that the name can’t be said because you have all the normal sound design going. If they’d just let the credits still play I wouldn’t have batted an eye, but because every other sound comes in it’s so obvious they’re just silently shouting in this scene, which makes it look silly. Like I said, this decision is more a detriment than an addition, and it’s a shame it casts a shadow on an otherwise heartfelt ending.
Speaking about lost potential, the other thing that really bothers me is the lost potential in certain plot points and character conclusions. I mainly mean Adam and Edna here. Both of them have been built up to be these formidable foes but they just, die. If it was just Adam I’d be fine with it, since you expect Edna to backstab him and be the actual big bad of the story, but I cannot fathom why they dropped Edna this HARD. If not Edna herself, I don’t understand why we don’t get more of a reaction from the Fairies and especially Adelle. I mean, Edna was her sole reason she left for her journey in the first place, then Edna dies and that’s it? No part where she grieves for a second? No concern from the others about Adelle? Mind you, I haven’t finished all the Sidequests, so maybe there actually is one in which this is addressed, but I think even just a Party Chat after Bad End 1 would have been sufficient to show how Adelle suddenly feels about the loss of Edna. It would have made Bad End 2 / The Secret Ending even more impactful, because, yeah, of course, you kinda know Adelle isn’t going to turn her back on fairy kind, but one of the reasons she doesn’t leave is because if Enda didn’t get a happy ending, then she shouldn’t either. It would have been amazing foreshadowing if she showed this sentiment before this scene happened. Other than that, it’s a shame that we know so little about Edna, or rather, how she became “bad”. I get she’s supposed to be corrupted by the Night’s Nexus, but how did it even come to this? It can’t have been a gradual thing, after all, Adelle says Edna was always good natured and then just disappeared one day. Really would have loved seeing more of that plot point.
Ok, last gripe I have, some choices in the soundtrack and sound design. Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love the OST, and I will get to that, but damn, whatever Revo used for the lead instrument in Wiswald hurts my ears. It’s a really good track, but I always have to turn down my volume because these high pitched sounds physically hurt. And for sound design. Dude, the Night’s Nexus is the least threatening, nightmare fueled abomination that ever existed. I get that its growl is kinda supposed to be layered with Edna’s or sth, but it, it just sounds silly. If they went the route of just swinging between different voices or began distorting it from phase to phase, it would have been fine. But the choice they made really made an otherwise creepy design just absolutely silly.
Ok, enough jammering, on to the good stuff. Like I said, there’s going to be a lot, so I’ll try to be brief in each aspect.
Gameplay
I honestly like the new battle mechanics more than the old ones. This individual, turn based system feels way more dynamic and it’s easier to strategies in battles. Because nothing made me more angry than setting up for a heal and the enemy suddenly being faster than me and killing my healer. Now it’s easier to plan ahead a bit.
I also found myself experimenting more with the jobs. Not sure what it really is, but none of the party members leaning more towards certain types of jobs and the job leveling being way faster probably helped.
And I know some people get up in arms because the boss sometimes can be a real pain in the ass (looking at you pope dude), I still found it very interesting getting around counters or even using these counters as a benefit. As an example, I made Adelle my main physical fighter and gave her lots of counter abilities to help her profit from being countered by enemies themselves. Now, she can attack enemies, get countered, automatically evade that counter and earn a BP at the same time. Made a lot of boss fights way easier and fun to exploit.
Music
Ok, I will try my best to be really, really brief, because in my recording this part takes up almost 40 minutes. Anyways, Revo might have just become one of my absolute favorite composers ever. I don’t know what kind of magic he used, but I initially wasn’t that impressed with the OST, but every time I listened to it, I just fell in love harder and harder. Before getting into specifics, I wanna highlight the two things that made me love this OST overall. First of all, this soundtrack almost seems like a refinement of BD’s. While losing some of that fairytale vibe, it sounds even more fantasy now. And in contrast to the original, this almost sounds more balanced? Like, BD’s OST felt high energy throughout, BD2’s on the other hand manages to find a good balance between high and low energy pieces. Like, the character themes or battle themes are absolute hype, but the overworld themes are a lot calmer and easier to listen to while exploring. Second big point that makes this soundtrack amazing is that Revo is an absolute god at using emotional progression/storytelling and leitmotifs in his songs. And heck, do I love myself my leitmotifs. You’ve got some obvious ones, like the final battle theme in which all the character themes and other leitmotifs are integrated. Then you got some maybe more subtle once, just like how the overworld themes are just the main theme, just a lot calmer and using the lead instruments of the towns of the areas.
But my absolute favourites gotta be the character themes and the main theme. I love how fitting the themes for the characters are and in general, each of them is such a bop. At first I prefered Elvis’, because I sure am a sucker for jazzy vibes, but over time Adelle’s became my fav. It’s just something about the trumpets, and how the theme almost sounds a bit melancholic and bittersweet, that drew me in. And considering her story, mostly her bad end, that the bittersweet tone really fits.
Then there’s the main theme. Just like BD’s it shouts “triumphant anthem” and it definitely gives you a very familiar vibe, but I’d argue it has even better emotional progression. Heck, the first time I heard the music start up in the reveal trailer, I didn’t have to look at the screen to know this is gonna be a BD game. Also, the credit song version had me weeping at the true end. I’m someone who’s very easily affected by music (if me shouting about soundtracks on this blog wasn’t proof enough) and just hearing that ending song, getting the after credits scene, just for the second credits to start as a freaking duet. Dude, at that point I just started sobbing, I’m not gonna lie. Just this little part showed how much Revo knows how to put emotion in a song and also write it in such a way that he can elicit strong, emotional reactions from you too. 
Story
People have been complaining how the story is too boring and kinda disappointing in comparison to the last one, but I just think the games tried to accomplish different things here. Since the BD series is a celebration of old, classic jrpgs, “cliche” storytelling is a given. Though, BD did throw a lot of meta stuff in there too. BD2 in contrast just feels like a direct execution of that initial idea. It feels familiar, it feels comfy and it feels safe. Except for the little things with the endings and then overwriting the Nexus’ “save file”, BD2 doesn’t really get that meta, which is totally fine. It doesn’t try to reinvent or innovate anything, it just wants to be a fantasy story, that might be cliche, but still fun and enjoyable in its own right.
I’d also argue that the pacing is a lot better than the old game, because with BD I sometimes found myself skipping through scenes to get on with the story. Not that this game didn’t have me rushing through stuff as well, but I found it kept my intrigue way better than the original.
Characters
Next to the music, this is the part that I absolutely love the most. While, yes, they did lose a lot of potential with some characters, mostly with the villains, the main cast is just so much fun. I love these 4 dorks so, so much.
I honestly can’t stand how much people compare them to the original cast. Yes, ofc, I’ve been doing my fair share of comparisons too, but calling these four a more boring version of BD’s party physically hurts me. Because except for some initial impressions, the Heroes of Light are completely different from our beloved Warriors of Light.
While yes, Seth and Gloria give off strong Tiz and Agnes vibes at first, they both grow into such different characters that they’re not really comparable. I think this shows with Adelle and Elvis even more. I do understand how people could compare Adelle and Edea, since they’re both the feisty girl type, but I can’t understand how people can see Ringabel and Elvis as the same character type. While those two are the “suave” party members, they act so differently from another. And that’s honestly apparent the first time you meet them. 
Anyways, I love these 4 so much.
We technically don’t know a lot about Seth at all, but they manage to pull so much out of just the fact that he’s a sailor, that it makes him really endearing, really fast.
I was kinda disinterested with Gloria at first, because again, the initial impression was Agnés2.0, but she grew on me a lot. Gloria is way more hard headed and honestly sassy in comparison to Agnés and I absolutely adore it.
Elvis. Elvis, my man. I love this fantasy scottosh wizard so, so much. He’s such a ridiculous character but so endearing at the same time. You got all this dorkiness, with him setting himself on fire as a student, him doing god knows what for a good drink or just laughing danger and prejudice in the face. But then you got his super empathetic and caring side. Mind you, most of his wise moments come from quoting Lady Emma, but still, as much as he’s hopeless with certain social situations, he’s actually still really good at reading the room and playing things smart. He’s a smart and powerful idiot, which makes him a danger to everyone and himself, and I love him for it. (I also can’t believe they called him Lesley I MEAN COME ON)
And then there’s Adelle. I liked her from the start, but I didn’t think she would stick out to me. I think now she’s my favourite character. Not even talking about all the stuff that happens in chapter 3 and onward, because these story threads are awesome in their own right, but there’s just something about her personality that’s interesting and appealing to me. Like I said, I’m not surprised people compare her to Edea, I did too at first, but while Edea walks very close to the line of a Tsundere, I was really surprised that Adelle is, well, not a Tsundere at all. Yeah, of course she’s putting Elvis down a lot, but that stems more from her preventing his ego from going to his head than her being all embarrassed. No, Adelle is actually really well adjusted when it comes to communication. While it’s hilarious that she and Elvis met with her chucking her shoes at him, the two just got along well right from the start. Adelle in general has this really open and helpful personality, but also doesn’t shy away from putting her foot down, even if that sometimes comes out as an embarrassed sputter. She’s also the mother hen of the group. She looks out for the other three and gets concerned about them real fast. 
I dunno, Adelle just really grew on me over the course of this game, and then her kinda being paired with Elvis too, as partners and as partners, makes me like her even more. Because as much as I like their personalities individually, I like their character dynamic even more. I honestly love the relationships between all four of them a lot. You really feel them grow closer as friends and all the little character sidequests just always made me really happy.
Conclusion
You might not believe me, but I really held back there. This could probably have been 3 times its length. As much as I love this game, it’s of course not perfect. It struggles and flails in some parts a lot and it certainly has some aspects that might turn people off. But for me, it was just a very familiar and comfy game that didn’t necessarily deliver anything new, but that told its story in such a way that it still got me excited to keep going. The soundtrack is absolutely amazing and the conclusion of the story actually got me to cry. While not groundbreaking, this game is highly enjoyable and leaves you absolutely satisfied at the end.
Also, I would like to iterate that I am desperate to get more content about this game, so if you wanna chat about it, hit me up.
Anyways, anyone else felt like having a fever dream when everybody in chapter 2 started talking fantasy scottish? Cos I sure did.
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sirenofthetimes · 3 years
Text
Every Proposal on Gilmore Girls Was Absolutely Unhinged
This show was rich in couples, swimming in conflict, and desperately lacking in healthy communication. Which made for some batshit marriage proposals! Let's go:
Christopher to Lorelai in Season 1 ep. 15: Christopher Returns
In Christopher's first appearance on the show, he rocks up to Stars Hollow on his motorcycle at the end of the previous episode, out of the blue, and in this one archetypes are made clear: he establishes himself as the irresponsible deadbeat single dad to Lorelai's hardworking, mature yet still fun single mom. They have a weird dinner with everyone's parents where his parents, Straub and Francine, are shown to be even more uptight and awful than Richard and Emily can be. A lot of fighting and yelling and relitigating past choices ensues. Then Lorelai and Christopher go off to have emotional, nostalgic sex on her childhood balcony, and off the strength of that, he walks into her kitchen the next morning and blurts out that he wants to marry her so they can be a "real family". They barely see each other. They know hardly anything about each other's current lives. This is the first time he's visited the town they've been living in since Rory was a child and yet. A marriage proposal. Naturally, she turns him down, but we have not heard the last of Christopher Hayden.
Max to Lorelai in Season 1 ep. 21: Love, Daisies and Troubadours
This relationship was used mostly to discuss Lorelai's commitment issues, the difficulties of dating as a single mom, and have her fight allegations of her being promiscuous (which are not true, she can be very sexually conservative) by having her do something risky like try to date one of her daughter's teachers at the stuffy private school that also exists in her parents' world. So despite them having okay chemistry, they haven't really dated much and broke up after two months before getting back together shortly before the night of the proposal. Max comes by the house to pick Lorelai up and finds Luke there getting his toolbox and relaying the news that Rachel broke up with him (because she has a basic level of intuition and picked up on his feelings for Lorelai). Max and Luke have a very cringy dick measuring contest, Max (in possession of similar intuition) assumes Luke and Lorelai dated at some point but it's not season 5 yet so she's not legally allowed to admit she's into Luke. They argue, Max expresses frustration that their relationship can never seem to get off the ground, and what does he propose as a solution? Yoking their lives together in blessed matrimony. Lorelai is justifiably frustrated and tells him that's not how you propose, that a proposal is supposed to be special and grand. She lists "a thousand yellow daisies" as an example how to truly pop the question and the next day Max arranges for that famous logistical nightmare romantic gesture at the inn, then says some flowery bullshit on the phone and because it's the season finale and emotions are high, Lorelai accepts. Though later, right after her bachelorette party, she runs away and calls off the wedding. They meet a couple more times for closure, and then the relationship is truly dead.
Jackson to Sookie in Season 2 ep 13: A-Tisket A-Tasket
Sookie and Jackson's budding relationship has actually been pretty nice to watch up until this point. They have a fun balance between awkward but cute flirting and comical bickering about produce. But there's something in the area's water supply that makes people unable to clearly express their wants and needs in a romantic relationship so when Sookie doesn't respond how Jackson wanted her to to him saying his lease was up and asking her what she thought, he sulks. The sulking manifests itself in him not bidding on Sookie's basket at the bid a basket auction so she confronts him to see what's up and they actually manage to have a decent conversation about what moving in together would mean. And that could've been a nice ending for that storyline. But shacking up together? Out of wedlock? Impossible. So at their picnic for two, Jackson fakes Sookie out and says he doesn't want to talk about moving in together any more... because he thinks they should get married. Sookie, reeling from that whiplash, accepts, and since the rules of TV beta couples states they must move faster than the main will-they-won't-they couple at all times, they get married, stay married, and continue struggling to effectively talk through big life decisions,with some admittedly nice moments in between.
Lorelai to Luke in Season 5 ep 22: A House is Not a Home and Season 6 ep 1: New and Improved Lorelai
Lorelai and Luke are in kind of a weird place at the moment, with Luke upset with Lorelai for considering selling the Dragonfly to a corporation owned by one of her father's contacts, which would have her traveling and consulting instead. While she's not too serious about it, she's enjoying being courted by the company, but this is in complete disregard for the giant house Luke bought without telling her or the kids he's thinking about having that he also hasn't discussed with her so it's causing problems. This is forgotten however with the news that Rory wants to take time off from Yale after receiving some rare negative feedback, and that Richard and Emily are letting her stay with them after just telling Lorelai they would help her force Rory back into Yale. So when Lorelai walks into the diner lamenting the fact that Rory is making a decision independent from the vision Lorelai had for her life, and Luke comes forth with a nonsensical plan to, again, force Rory back to Yale, Lorelai is touched that she finally has someone on her side. And since she's a veteran of the season finale marriage proposal, she celebrates having her partner agree with her by asking him to marry her. He accepts in the next season's premiere with no hesitation, but eventually their tendency to hide things from each other to not ruin their relationship.... ruins their relationship. Shocking.
Zack to Lane in Season 6 ep 16: Bridesmaids Revisited
Zack is on a bit of a redemption tour after ruining Hep Alien's showcase in front of a major label by throwing a tantrum about Brian potentially writing a song for Lane. This random burst of jealousy sends him on a power trip that has him throwing out their set list and screaming at his band mates until a fight breaks out and the band and him and Lane split up. But when he sees Lane in the music shop some time later putting up a flier advertising her drumming services to other bands, the thought of her daring to potentially continue living her life without him spurs Zach into action. He convinces Brian and Gil to get the band back together and they're in if Lane's in. And his way of getting Lane back is to walk into Luke's while she's working, go off on some tangent about how he doesn't feel good, and propose in front of a huge crowd of gossipy small town people. Lane must have smacked her head on some antique furniture that day because although she at least stops to ask if he's thought about this, when he presents her with the pawn shop ring he got that "belonged to like an Elk or a Moose or something", she accepts and walks right into marriage and babies land and right out of development that would make sense for her character or be interesting.
Christopher to Lorelai in Season 7 ep. 7: French Twist
Ever since Lorelai walked out of her fraught engagement with Luke and into Christopher's bed, he has taken the reality of a woman coping with feelings of rejection by hooking up with the man she keeps stashed in the background for occasions such as these, and spun it into an elaborate romantic tale of two star crossed loves who waited their whole lives to be together. And when Sherry who, guided by the hands of karma, previously abandoned Gigi leaving Christopher to raise her on his own, writes a letter saying she's totally fine now trust her and wants Gigi to spend a few months with her in Paris, Christopher invites Lorelai along for a big romantic gesture trip. They spend most of it jetlagged, but Christopher remembers he's super rich now (as opposed to just being regular rich like before) and he bribes a restaurant to open early for the two of them. Lorelai, basking in the romance™ of it all, confesses her love, and Christopher pounces on that and starts in on a whole speech. Basically, even though he said he'd be willing to wait for Lorelai to fall in line with his vision, he doesn't feel like waiting any more. Lorelai, sensing where this is going, suggests they wait, as they've only been really dating for a couple of months. She also brings up Rory, figuring she'd want to be up to date and present any big changes. But Christopher waves those perfectly valid concerns away, stresses how long they've known each other, insists that they're meant to be, and fate has brought them together. And then comes out with it and asks her to marry him. Which are very intense words for Lorelai, an emotionally vulnerable woman who just broke off an engagement because her fiancé seemed overly hesitant to actually get married, to hear. We don't see her accept, but there's a scene of them returning home where he calls her "Mrs. Hayden" (as if she would ever change her name), and their marriage immediately began to fall apart like wet tissue paper.
Logan to Rory in Season 7 ep. 21: Unto the Breach
It's the end of Rory's time at Yale, and on the heels of her New York Times fellowship rejection, rejections from other newspapers across the country, and the fact that she rejected her one job offer for better things that did not come, Rory's future is wide open and unstable. On the other hand, Logan is completing his character transformation from irresponsible party animal trust fund kid to hardworking and responsible trust fund kid, accepting a job offer for an internet company in San Francisco. The question emerges: How will the young couple handle this next phase of their lives? And when Logan shows up at Lorelai's house in the previous episode, he comes with a solution. He wants to marry Rory and take her to California, and he wants Lorelai's blessing to propose. She gives it, though not without trepidation, and Logan does propose. In the middle of the graduation party Richard and Emily are throwing for Rory, he gets up in front of everyone and takes out the ring. Rory is caught completely off guard and takes him outside to talk about it, where he reveals that he got the job, picked out a house for them to rent, researched newspapers where she could apply to work, and even planned activities for them to do in their spare time. The original plan being that she would say yes to his proposal without knowing all this and walk blindly into her new, pre-arranged West Coast life. But Rory needs time to process the idea of marrying Logan immediately after college, and on the day of her graduation, she declines. Logan decides if he can't marry her, there's no point in being with her at all, and the two go their separate ways, to eventually meet again in a years long affair, for some reason. Though I barely acknowledge the revival.
Honestly, the only proposal that truly makes sense is Lorelai's to Luke in the revival but I won't discuss it here because a) again, the revival basically doesn't exist to me and b) they should've married during the original run of the show.
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Title: Hibiscus Kisses {6}
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Chris Evans x OFC Ajali Rambaue AU {Ah-Jah-Lee, Ram-Bow}
Warning: Plot, Cursing, Angst, Blood, Lots Of Words, Death
Words: 8.3k
Summary: Ajali decides on a rash decision to go on a Disney cruise, not for her love of Disney, but because she needs time to figure things out after things get even more complicated in her complicated life. She only expected peace, quiet, tropical drinks, and an overabundance of Disney songs. What she got was more than she bargained for when the cruise of a lifetime on the brand new ship Enchantment turned into a nightmare. The only saving grace is that she’s not the only one living through the nightmare. Can Ajali survive the test of a lifetime and the dangers ahead of her, and better yet, will she finally be able to live a little?
Note: Please feel free to tell me what you think. I’m super excited to explore this one with you all. 🤗
As always, thank you so much for reading! If you enjoyed this, please LIKE, COMMENT, REBLOG! ❤️❤️
I appreciate each and every one of your guys’ support and love!
***VERY Loosely Edited/Proofread***
**Interactive**
Previous Chapters: {1} | {2} | {3} | {4} | {5} |
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You must have stood at the back of the yacht for a while because the shore and the docks were barely visible at this point. Every minute that ticked by you weighed your options of just diving in and swimming back. Everything you came up with seemed fine to deal with. So what if your hair got wet and you had to go through your four-hour wash and treat routine. So what if you attracted a shark or two, you could swim. So what if everything in your bag got drenched, you could replace them.
 With the number of rebuttals you came up with, you should have jumped in already. The major con that was flashing in your head in neon lettering was you are an adult and not a child who ran away from difficult situations. The sound of laughter had you turning around to see Chris laughing with Harper. He looked like he didn’t have a care in the world. Scoffing, you turned back around and crossed your arms.
 Almost a minute later you felt Chris standing beside you. “If you want to swim back I’m sure you could make it.”
 If looks could kill, the one you gave him should have done it. All you had to do was push him overboard to a watery grave. Chris lifted his hands to show his no threat status and that was when you walked away.
 “All right folks. It’ll be another forty minutes before we arrive at the best fishing spot in all of the islands. It’s my little secret. In the meantime, you have a choice of activities. You can go down below and marine watch, stay on deck and do some pictures and sights, or go into the bubble where you are surrounded by the ocean. It is optimal for fish watching. I’ll let you folks know when we’ve arrived.”
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You nodded and walked toward the steps that would lead below deck. You fully intended to get as far away from him as possible. Ignoring the way he turned to you as if he had something to say, you carefully went down the steps and to the back of the yacht. There you found what Harper was referring to. It looked like an actual bubble with two seats. Once you sat down you saw why this was mentioned as the most sought-after experience. You really felt like you were alone under the ocean and not apart from it but one with it.
You watched a school of yellow and black striped fish swim by and a small box popped up to the right of the screen with a still photo of the fish and a few listed facts.
 “Moorish Idol fish. These fish commonly inhabit tropical to subtropical reefs and lagoons. These fish usually travel alone or in small schools. These fish mate for life and adult males show aggression to one another.”
 Your jaw dropped. You hadn’t expected it to be high-tech. In front of you, you grabbed the flipbook and flicked through it to see a variety of sea creatures. The announcement of another fish brought your attention back to the ocean before you and that is where your eyes remained. Creature after creature swam by and up to the glass. Each one was announced and described. As they came up, you took pictures of the pretty ones you liked ready to show them to your family when you returned home.
 You were so wrapped up in fish watching that you didn’t notice that you weren’t alone until it was too late. Chris slipped into the seat beside you, startling you. Your harsh glare landed on him with the force of fifty blades behind it. He wasn’t looking at you though, his eyes were glued to the water and passing reef life.
 “Oh wow, Nemo and Dory,” Chris exclaimed inching closer to the glass.
 That was all it took for your attention to go right back, and lo and behold there were Dory and Nemo lookalikes.
 “Wow.”
 Mirroring Chris’s actions you slid to the edge of the seat as well and touched the glass. They were pretty in animation but that had nothing on real life. The orange and blue were so striking up close.
 “They’re even best friends in real life,” Chris quietly said.
 For the next few minutes neither of you spoke again you were too wrapped up in looking at all the fish that passed by one after the other. When you’d reached a part of the ocean where life was scarce, you sat back and crossed your arms.
 “Can I please explain?”
 You sighed and dropped your head back to rest on the hard headrest, keeping your eyes trained in front of you.
 “I promise I’m not this asshole you have me pegged as in your head.”
 “So you don’t go around trying to charm women out of your panties and in your bed for notches on your bedpost?”
 “God no!”
 You rolled your eyes not believing one word.
 “I solemnly swear that I am up to nothing but good,” Chris replied holding up three fingers.
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A smirk teased your lips at the Harry Potter line he’d just repurposed for his own use mixed with the Hunger Games salute. You shook your head unable to ignore how adorkably stupid he was.
 “You know those two have nothing to do with the other, right?”
 Chris slyly smiled and shrugged. “It’s sorta my thing. Sleeping around and I have nothing to do with each other also.”
 You snorted and shook your head. He was smooth.
 “You’re real smooth, I’ll give you that.”
 He sighed and turned his body more to you. “It’s a misunderstanding,” Chris began.
 “Let me stop you there. Ninety-nine point nine percent of the time anyone starts off with that, chances are there was no misunderstanding,” you dryly informed.
 “That high? Okay, then I fall in the point one percent.”
 You glared at him again but he didn’t back down, he held your glare but behind his eyes, you saw nothing but sincerity rather than the hostility you had spearing behind yours. When you didn’t object, he opened his mouth to speak again but you looked away.
 “There’s no need.”
 “Why won’t you let me explain?”
 You knew why. If he explained and the explanation seemed plausible and he looked sincere the chances of you believing it would be eighty percent and that was high. You would then continue spending time with him because you did enjoy his company and conversation and eventually sleep with him. Maybe. Letting him explain was step one that would lead to a series of missteps. Then you’d find yourself in a situation come the end of the cruise when both of you went your separate ways. There were too many what-ifs in the air.
 “Ah, I think I know. If you let me explain then this image you have of me being a womanizer who is after fast and quick ass, who would come on a cruise to chase women for a notch would be debunked. If it is debunked, then you’d have to admit that you liked spending time with me and enjoyed yourself. Then you’d have to admit that what might have happened if my phone didn’t ring wouldn’t have been a one-off. You’d have to face the possibility that there might be something here past our physical attraction.”
 Well damn, you thought. For a moment your thoughts betrayed the steely animosity in your eyes and you knew your shock shone through. You quickly looked away from him and tapped into your inner Elsa while watching a school of white fish pass by. You could feel him beside you staring at you as if trying to crack your resolve. You fought against him and kept your breathing slow and steady.
 “You don’t have to tell me I’m right. I know I am and it’s not because I’m a cocky prick. It’s because—,” Chris paused then sighed heavily before he continued. “I liked spending time—with you. Like really liked it and this was before anything physical happened. You’re funny and fun and not phased by this thing called fame that is wrapped around me. You probably don’t understand it, but that’s something refreshing and attractive to me.”
 Unable to resist any longer, you sneakily glanced at him while wondering if any part of what he’d just said was possibly true.  
 “Before I came on this cruise to get away from my life—run away from my life.”
 Your interest piqued. Why was he running away? Didn’t he have everything?
 “My friend, the one you heard on the phone was teasing me about the reason. I didn’t want to give him the real deal so I kept quiet which led him to the conclusion that it had something to do with a woman. It didn’t but he thought it. So the phone call was him stating his opinions again, his way of life. Now I’m not condoning what he said at all but that’s his life. I didn’t come here for any of that and that night wasn’t about that for me.”
 “What was it about?”
 You blurted the question without a thought and once you’d asked, you regretted it. The answer wouldn’t do you any good.
 Sighing, you looked back out to the water. “Don’t answer that.”
 And he didn’t. The silence stretched and your thoughts did as well. You contemplated his explanation and the probability of any of it being true. He had all the reason to lie right now, but the more you thought about it the more you guessed he didn’t need to lie being who he was. He could have just shrugged and put you on the side that wasn’t a fan of his and kept it moving.
 “Look,” Chris said shoving his phone to you with the text exchange between him and someone named Austin was visible.
 “I know what it is to be distrustful of strangers or everyone really and proof means a lot to me. Since the burden of proof is on my side, here it is.”
 You read through the exchange from a little over a week ago and sure enough, his friend Austin was scum. The irrefutable proof showed those sentiments were his and even showed Chris admonishing him for those sentiments and setting him straight. The banter that continued was Austin teasing him about his good boy behaviors. From the texts, you could tell they were close, and you could also tell that Austin was the asshole between them and Chris was possibly a good guy.
 Groaning, you looked away and dropped your head back to the headrest again. You did not need this. Sighing, you closed your eyes and listened to the silence. Several minutes passed by where neither of you spoke and just when you were going to Harper’s voice came in over the ship’s intercoms.
 “We have some dolphin action up here if anyone’s interested.”
 “Dolphins!”
 Your head snapped to Chris hearing the uncharacteristically excited squeal. Did he really just turn into a Powerpuff girl? Chris leapt to his feet and began walking toward the steps leaving you there to wonder just what kind of man he was.
 A few moments later, you emerged from below and walked to the railing to see a dolphin jump out of the water in the distance.
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“Oh my god!”
 At that moment you felt your smallness in the world. There were so many other creatures that were bigger and yet humans always thought themselves so superior. It was baffling.
 “It’s not always like this, they must be here to greet you folks,” Harper said as another jumped out and one swam up.
 You dropped down to your knees and peered over the railing and marveled at the aquatic beauty.
 “They’re so friendly.”
 Just then, a dolphin popped up showing its long bottlenose and black eyes and in the same breath, a stream of water came at you drenching you. In your shock, you just sat there while Chris and Harper heartily got their laugh in at your expense. To add insult to injury the dolphin even sounded like it was laughing. Who could be mad though? It was too cute. You looked across the way and saw Chris snapping pictures of you with a wide smile on his face. Being alarmed, snapping at him, or even telling him to delete the pictures would have all been acceptable reactions but you didn’t react in any of those ways. Instead, you brought your attention back to the dolphins in the water. Let him take his pictures, you thought.
 Twenty minutes later you were sitting at the side of the boat with your legs dangling over the edge enjoying the breeze, sun, and tranquility being on the ocean brought. There was something so serene about being in the middle of a giant body of water with creatures of plenty underneath its depths while there was nothing in sight for miles and miles. It was peaceful. The pictures you took of the horizon, the sky, and the water were breathtaking. You knew they���d make great printouts to add to your walls when you returned home. When you realized your battery was running low, you dug into your bag for one of your four fully charged portable chargers and slipped your phone into one of the many waterproof pouches you had your belongings secured inside.
 Your sister liked to make fun of you for how well you prepared for things. When you went out for every day, your purse contained every possible thing you would and could need for the day. You didn’t like being unprepared for whatever you came across and that included something as minor as rain all the way to the major things like abductions. You’d been the butt of many jokes but you didn’t care.
 Glancing to the other side of the yacht, you watched as Chris followed the instruction of Harper as he practiced a variety of sailor’s knots. It didn’t look like he was a novice though. You could tell he’d done it a few times before. Sooner than you could look away, Harper caught you then motioned you over. It would have been rude to ignore him, so you walked over to them and sat before them.
 “Here, try your hand at sailor’s knots,” Chris suggested holding out a length of rope to you.
 “It’s not as easy as it looks,” he followed up as you took it.
 “You look like you’ve done it before.”
 “Once or twice,” he replied.
 You studied the knots surrounding Chris for a few moments then took a stab at it. From the beginning you messed it up but didn’t quit, instead, you undid it and tried again. You didn’t quit easy. That was probably why you were in your current relationship predicament. A few minutes and several failed attempts later, you held up the finished product that looked identical to Chris’s.
 “So you have one of those brains where you can see something and replicate it?”
 You scoffed and shrugged. “Kind of. I just pick some things up quickly.”
 Chris nodded and held out another length of rope and pointed to a different pattern. “Try this one.”
 You knew it was a test. You grabbed the rope and studied the new pattern that was a lot more intricate than the first. Though it was more intricate it took you a shorter amount of time to start. When you held it up for them to see, less time had passed and you hadn’t made one mistake.
 “Wow,” Harper exclaimed before he chuckled.
 “What can I say, I’m pretty amazing,” you joked.
 Both men laughed but didn’t debate the fact.
 “We’re coming up on the cove that gives me the best fish. Of course, we’re catching and releasing, but it won’t dampen the experience,” Harper informed.
 Within a few short minutes, Harper had pulled up to one of the most beautiful coves you’d ever seen. The water was aquamarine crystal blue. It was so crystal like you could see several feet into it. The giant rocks that created a maze had moss growing off the tops of them that were lush green and created a nice contrast of colors. If you could have picked up this view and brought it home with you, you would have. It was that breathtaking.  
 You weren’t the only one thinking it, Chris was a few feet away snapping every picture he could get, only he didn’t look like a tourist. He looked like a professional travel photographer. When he dropped to one of his knees to get a different angle you just leaned against the railing and watched. The sun beaming down on him gave his hair a reddish hue which looked good on him. It even accentuated the freckles peppered along his arms. You remembered what was under that shirt of his at that second. You remembered the muscles, the hair, and the tats. It was an unexpected sight but one that you wouldn’t mind seeing again. Instantly you kissed your teeth and slapped your forehead.
 “Cut it out.”
 “Did you say something?”
 Chris was looking at you with a quizzical expression with his camera still posed up.
 “Nope, nothing.”
 He didn’t look like he believed you, but slowly he went back to snapping his pictures while you tried to create even more distance between you.
 “Get a grip, Ajali. It hasn’t been that long. You’re not affection starved either. Get—a—grip.”
 You took a few slow breathes and focused on the scene before you. You now understood why many people said this island was a top destination for vacations.
 “And we’re ready. You both said you’ve fished before, right?”
 You walked toward Harper’s voice then saw he had fishing rods, buckets, gloves, and all the other supplies lying at his feet.
 “I’ve done some fishing,” Chris offered before both sets of eyes landed on you.
 “Never.”
 “It’s not hard, I promise,” Harper assured bending for the rods. He held one out to Chris and the other to you.
 “Thank you.”
 “I’ll explain everything and its function. If either of you have any questions let me know.”
 Harper walked a few feet away leading the two of you to a shaded portion of the yacht. Once there, he explained everything in detail. He showed the parts of the rod, showed how to put things together, explained their function, and then went on to the different kinds of bait that were available. When he began demonstrating how to hold the rod and posture you paid close attention and imitated what he did. You knew though this was something that would take some getting used to.
 After twenty minutes, the three of you were in your spots ready to cast your rods. You watched Harper cast his first and it looked so fluid. You could tell he’d done this thousand of times. Then you watched Chris and though his movements weren’t as fluid, it looked like he was far from a beginner. You sighed and tried your best. The rod was heavy in your hands and affected your ability to control it and cast it perfectly. Glancing at Harper, he shrugged.
 “Good enough. You got it where it needs to go.”
 A soft chuckle escaped both you and Chris.
 “What kind of catch do you get out here?”
 Harper proceeded to explain the different kinds of fish he’d caught to Chris while you partially zoned them out. It didn’t take long for you to understand why people liked fishing. It was calming. You could leisurely do it while letting your mind drift and worries float away. Thirty minutes later it was your line that tugged first. You yelped then squeaked as you panicked.
 “What do I do?”
 “Reel it in,” Harper said.
 The resistance on the line was giving you a good arm workout. The struggle went back and forth. You doubted this was a baby.
 “This thing is strong.”
 “You got it, put your back into it like Ice Cube,” Chris teased making you narrow your eyes at him. That only made him laugh loudly.
 A few more moments of struggle persisted until you’d yanked the rod backward tucking it out of the water, over your head, and flopping the fish right on the deck.
 “Aaaah, oh my god! I caught a fish!”
 You jumped up and down excited by your success. Forgetting any prior slights you jumped closer to Chris and bumped shoulders with him.
 “I did it!”
 “You did.”
 “Good job. This here is a Barracuda,” Harper announced.
 “Ooooh Barracuda,” you and Chris said in unison like the song. The two of you giggled together before returning your attention to Harper.
 “It’s not an adult, but it’s no baby either. You want a picture?”
 “Yes!”
 You scurried to your bag and pulled out your phone then handed it to Chris before you dropped down to your knees and bent to the fish still flopping on the deck and smiled as you’d just won the lotto. Chris laughed and took the picture a few moments later. After the first few shots, you changed poses and let him take a few more. You watched as Chris’s face went from wide smiles to solemn confusion. Just as you were going to ask if your battery died, Harper spoke.
 “Do you want to do the honors of releasing it?”
 “You mean touch it?”
 Harper nodded and you ardently shook your head. “No thank you. I hear Barracudas like to bite.”
 Harper laughed at you as he effortlessly grabbed the fish by its tail then chucked it back into the ocean.
 “It was just an adolescent.”
 Chris held your phone out then walked back to his rod without a word. Slight confusion washed over you as you glanced at your screen to see one of the pictures he’d just taken, but your battery was fully charged.
 For the next few hours Chris barely spoke to you, but when you glanced over to him, his eyes were always on you before he looked away once yours met his. It was a complete turnaround from before. It shouldn’t have bothered or affect you at all considering the reality of things, but it did bother you a little bit. Once the three of you had had your fill of catch and release the sun was beginning to disappear. Harper caught a huge Mahi Mahi, scaled and fillet it right in front of you, and Chris showing off his impressive knife skills. He then took the fish to prepare what he promised would be the best open ocean fish you’d ever had. You were excited to see the finished product.
 Once Harper had disappeared down below you walked to the cooler, took out two beers, and walked over to Chris. He was sitting toward the back of the yacht watching the rocks in silence. You sat beside him, held out the beer, and waited for him to accept it. When he took it, he wasted no time twisting off the top and taking a mouthful. You sat there in silence looking over the view.
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“Who knew a celebrity could fish.”
 “I’m not a celebrity all day every day. I have hobbies and free time.”
 “I take it fishing is a hobby?”
 “When I can get to it. Sometimes I can’t go off the grid to do it.”
 You nodded and tried to picture him at a lake with a rod and bucket of bait catching fish. A soft smile spread across your face before you gulped your beer.
 “What’s one of your hobbies?”
 Taking a deep breath you slowly released it. “Painting.”
 “You’re artistic?”
 “Depends what you call artistic. I can slap some paint on a canvas and call it a day.”
 Chris looked at you for a few moments. “Somehow I find it hard to believe it’s as lowkey as you’re describing. I bet you’re a modern-day Frida Kahlo.”
 You smiled and shrugged. “I wouldn’t go that far.”
 Silence spread between you again and the two of you sipped from your bottles. It was a semi-comfortable silence.
 “Are you departing tomorrow or staying on?”
 You wanted to ask why he wanted to know but decided against it. “Staying on.”
 Chris nodded. “Me too.”
 Neither of you spoke again, instead, you watched the sky as the sun slowly began its descent behind the water. When Harper returned, the air filled with such a delicious scent that your belly grumbled loudly.
 “And dinner is served. Harper placed the platter down on the table and you and Chris walked over to it. Your jaw dropped in amazement.
 “What kind of kitchen do you have down there that can produce that?”
 “I’ve had tons of practice.”
 The Mahi Mahi that was alive less than two hours ago was now cooked to perfection and decorated with papaya, and a green salad.
 “Wow, this looks mouthwatering,” Chris complimented.
 “It’s nothing fancy, just some fish with a papaya and seaweed salad.”
 “Seaweed salad? Oh wow. You utilize everything huh.��
 “Absolutely. I can tell you more about using everything you can to not only survive but make good food,” Harper said motioning you both to sit down.
 “No one is serving you here, help yourselves there’s plenty.”
 The three of you dug in taking portions of fish and salad. When you took a bite of the Mahi Mahi your eyes rolled to the back of your head. “Oh my god. This is so good.”
 “All it needed was some salt, pepper, and lemon. Sometimes keeping it simple is the best way.”
 Chris moaned and nodded in agreement with you. “Delicious.”
 As the three of you ate, Harper told you all about his travels and time living on his own on the ocean and how he’d learned to survive on little to nothing. It was so interesting to hear his story. From it, you gathered he was determined, creative, meticulous, and persevering. He didn’t let anything stop him and because of that mindset, he said he’d seen a lot of wonderful things and had a beautiful life. Listening to him speak about his loves and losses and how it was just him in the end you couldn’t help but think about your relationships.
 When he began listing off the life lessons he’d learned you made note of each and every one of them. You always thought the stories of the older generations were interesting. While most of their experiences were relatable, a lot of it wasn’t because of the difference in eras. In Harper’s era being a bachelor past twenty-two was seen as taboo, yet that was the life he lived. When he spoke of when he did get married, it was to the one woman he’d loved since he was twenty years old. The woman he’d been stupid about and missed out on two times. From the way he spoke about her, you knew she was his soul mate.
 Glancing to Chris who was sitting diagonally from you, part of you wondered how relatable Harper’s experiences were to him. You thought back to the very few tabloid and gossip stories you’d read about him but nothing jumped out to you. The tabloids didn’t focus on one woman that he was possibly seeing, they didn’t highlight any crazy behaviors with any of them or even highlight breakups. That was part of how you’d pieced him together. The lack of information left for such a wide breadth of possibilities to put together.
 “Take it from me young ones, when you’re walking down a dimly lit street of soft lights, and you happen to find that anomaly among the sea that shines a different light and makes everything else pale in comparison you do whatever it takes to hold on to that. You fight for it and don’t let anything or anyone make you miss out on it. None of us are here for a long time. One day I’ll join my Angie and we’ll be together again. I welcome that day, until then I’ll keep drifting.”
 The three of you sat there in silence, each of you lost in your thoughts and worries. Was Javii that anomaly or was he part of the sea and you’d been mistaken this whole time? When Harper returned to the helm to captain you back toward land you were secluded from the rest of them and still lost in your thoughts. It had been days since you left and you’d figured out nothing. If anything, you’d added more to your plate to think about. This was what you hadn’t wanted to do and that was the reason you chose this option rather than staying in the city.
 You began to wonder again about the person who would be that anomaly that Harper spoke of. Rather than thinking of your experiences with Javii, your irresponsible mind thought of your run-ins with Chris. When you’d seen him in passing before boarding the ship you’d noticed him in the sea of people and amidst every chaotic thing happening around you. Your brain singled him out. It did it again when you saw him in passing topside when you’d met Genevieve and in the lounge club. It was something you hadn’t focused on before but now it was all you could think of.
 “Get a freaking grip, Ajali!”
 You smacked your head and dropped it down hunching over to hug your shins. Suddenly, you felt raindrops and those drops quickly turned into a waterfall.
 “What the--,” you began holding your hands out confused how a downpour like this could just suddenly start.  
 Unexpectedly, the ship lurched hard to the left sending items on the deck toppling over including your beer bottle and the empty ones around it. Thinking quickly, you grabbed the railing to not tumble. Your grip was precarious thanks to the downpour and you knew you wouldn’t be able to hold on for long. Just as you were losing your grip, that was when the ship lurched again only this time to the right. With no time to grab for the railing, you tumbled over but before you hit the deck arms wrapped around you stabilizing you.
 “I got you.”
 Glancing up, you found Chris with rainwater pouring down his face and beard. He was holding on tightly to one of the metal poles while holding you tightly in his other arm. When the rocking went from deadly to manageable, Chris slowly let you go.
 “Something must be wrong. Let’s go.”
 Both of you took off on the search to find Harper. Every few seconds the rocking of the ship made items fall and roll. Chris was the one to pull you in every which direction to help you avoid the bigger items. When the ship bucked back you both slid back.
 “Aaah, fuck!”
 A sharp slice caught you off guard making you fall to the deck. Before Chris could react the boat rocked again sending you rolling back a few feet. When you slammed into one of the walls you shouted out in pain. Seconds later Chris was bent before you.
 “Are you okay?”
 His eyes quickly scanned your body and found your bleeding foot.
 “Oh god.
 Chris quickly pulled off his tropical printed shirt, ripped it, and began wrapping your foot.
 “I’m sorry I have to do this tight to hopefully slow the bleeding,” Chris informed before he yanked the material, knotting it tightly around your injury. You tried to stifle your groan but it didn’t work. Your shout echoed across the open water and carried it competing with the downpour from the sky.
 “I’m sorry. Ready to keep going? We’re almost there.”
 You nodded and let Chris help you up. With his arm around your waist and yours draped over his shoulder the two of you hurried to the small enclosure where Harper was steering the boat. Every so often thanks to the falling and rolling items you and Chris looked like circus performers, jumping, dodging, and sliding out of harm's way. The way Chris managed to go into protector and alpha mode had you seeing a new side to him. Women did love a man who could take charge.
 When you finally made it you found Harper passed out on the floor.
 “Oh my god!”
 Chris placed you along one of the windows so you could lean against it before he dropped down to his knees to check for a pulse. The longer it took him to turn to you, the more anxious you became.
 “He has a pulse, but it’s thready. Looks like he may have hit his head,” Chris informed before he ripped the while men’s tank he wore at the hem and pressed it to Harper’s forehead.
 On impact, Harper groaned then bolted up.
 “Hey, take it easy,” Chris shouted trying to compete with the loudness of the ocean and the rain.
 “No. Storm. We’re in a storm. We call these pop-ups. They happen all the time,” Harper explained as Chris helped him to his feet.
 “If you knew it was coming--,” you began.
 “I didn’t. No one can predict these and they’re increasingly more dangerous.”
 The yacht whipped as if it were a leash sending all three of you knocking into whatever was closest. Immediately the pain that whisked through you had you screaming. That was the first time you thought you were going to die. All you could feel was pain, all you could hear was the sound of your heart beating. You slowly opened your eyes but couldn’t make anything out through the haziness. You couldn’t pinpoint where the pain in your body was coming from, it felt like it was everywhere.
 “Ajali!”
 Snapping your eyes open you saw Chris’s drenched and concerned face before you. “Open your eyes. Stay with me!”
 It was a forceful command. One that you slowly obeyed. He helped you to a sitting position then turned back to Harper who was trying to stand to look over the built-in equipment of the ship.
 “We’re way off course here. Somehow this storm has put us way off route. It makes no sense.”
 “What does that mean?!”
 “It means we’re drifting and not towards the islands. We’re drifting away.”
 “What!”
 Harper tried to turn the key for the engine but it stalled then sputtered. He tried it again and again but the result was the same.
 “This is bad,” Harper added.
 “What do we do?”
 The ship rocked again but this tilt was so drastically different. It actually went so far on its side that it felt like you were going to capsize.
 “We’re gonna tip over!”
 Chris ran from the small room fighting against gravity’s pull to yank him over. Your first thought was he was leaving you.
 “Hang on tight!”
 Your scream was so loud you doubt you’d ever gone that high before. Terror gripped your heart and your entire life flashed before your eyes. You were certain you were done for. There was no way to make it out of this. You began mumbling but you didn’t know if what you said made any sense. A few seconds later, the ship dropped back into the water allowing you to remain top side up. You felt hands on your body and you opened your eyes to Chris shoving your arms in a bright orange life vest.
 “I could only find one right now so it’s yours.”
 “What—what about you?”
 “I’ll be fine. Hold on tight.”
 He spun around looking at Harper.
 “I have to get below.”
 Harper hurried out without another word and Chris turned back to you.
 “I’m going to help him. Stay here.”
 He made a move to leave and you grabbed his hand pulling him back to you.
 “Don’t leave me.”
 “I’m not. I’m going below with Harper. I’m sure he’ll need my help. I think it’s safer for you up here.”
 You still held tight to his hand fear controlling your movements. Chris’s expression softened before he took a step close to you to hold you at the side of your neck to the base of your skull.
 “I swear to you I won’t leave you, no matter what. We’re in this together. I will be back and we’ll laugh about this one day. For that day to come though we have to get through this and I have to help him down below. You’ll be safe. Hold on tight, stay low.”
 You nodded and took a few breathes trying to psych yourself up.
 “You got this,” Chris said before he pulled away and walked from you.
 You closed your eyes and said a silent prayer hoping for him to come back and that his words weren’t bullshit.
 The seconds seemed to slowly tick by and the minutes went on for lifetimes. Every jolt of the ship leveled you to a whimpering mess. You did just as Chris has instructed—kept low and held on for dear life. You didn’t care how numb your hand became from gripping the cold metal for so long you kept holding on. You didn’t care how cold you got from not only the ocean water but the rain and the strong wind gusts, you remained in your corner shivering refusing to come out. It didn’t matter how much the pain you felt intensified the colder you got you ignored it and kept whispering your silent prayers. You didn’t want to die. Not like this.
 You heard something like a loud crack then the groaning of metal then the ship once again tilted. You screeched and tried to hold yourself to the railing but the further the boat tilted the harder it was to hold on.
 “Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck!”
 You screamed again and braced yourself to end up in the water under the boat, but instead of it tipping it once again dropped back onto the water’s surface.
 “Oh my god!”
 “Ajali, can you hear me?”
 You whipped your head around trying to find where the voice was coming from without letting go of the railing. You were too scared.
 “Ajali. Can you hear me!”
 On the dashboard, you saw a red light flashing and guessed it was the radio. The only problem was for you to get to it, you’d have to let go and walk over to it. If the yacht tilted again you’d slid your ass out the room and off the boat. It was a risk.
 “Ajali, pick up. We’re down here trying to fix the engine but we need you to turn her on for us. Can you do that?”
 “Fuck!”
 You slowly stood, fighting against your aching joints, bones, and muscles, and stood upright with most of your weight on your uninjured foot. You assessed the distance from where you were to the dashboard and knew slow and steady was the best way but you doubted you had that time. You took a deep breath and took three hops on your good foot toward the dashboard. When there was just one hop left to take the vessel rocked sending you off balance and smack dab into the glass with your face.
 At this point, there was no part of your body that wasn’t in pain. A metallic irony taste filled your mouth and you knew you were bleeding. You had no idea from where though, your face was completely numb.
 “Ajali!?”
 Using the back of one hand, you wiped across your mouth and took another deep breath, and hopped to the dashboard throwing yourself across it and holding it for dear life. You took a few moments to calm yourself then grabbed the walkie.
 “I’m here.”
 You heard Chris exhale as if he was relieved. “Thank god, I thought something happened.”
 “I’m fine,” you lied while trying to wipe away the blood that dripped across the dashboard.
 “Try to turn the engine on.”
 You twisted the designated key all that happened was a long exaggerated sputter then hiss.
 “This time keep it turned don’t release it,” Chris suggested.
 Doing as you were told, you waited and begged the engine to cooperate. When you heard a yell over the walkie you knew it wasn’t good.
 “Damn it! There’s water in the engine. The only way to even begin to work on it is for it to dry out. That’s gonna be impossible during a storm. It’ll just keep flooding. We’re not moving. Damn it!”
 There was a full range of banging over the walkie that only made you panic more.
 “Can everyone not fall apart right now? Please. I’m terrified enough as it is,” you pleaded.
 “Listen to my voice, it’s okay. We’re coming back up. We just have to weather the storm,” Chris said. His voice sounded like he was panicking but was also trying to showcase calm. You heard both.
 Another loud crack echoed but it wasn’t on your end, it was over the walkie.
 “What was that?”
 The sound rang out again and everything went dead silent over the walkie before a loud crash of something breaking echoed out. At that moment the ship lurched again only this time the groan of metal was so loud it made you shake from fear. Garbled speech went in and out over the walkie alarming you.
 “He—hello?”
 The only response you got was the walkie dying.
 “Hello? Hello?” You pressed buttons and turned switches not knowing what any of them did but hoping one of them brought communication back.  Nothing helped though.
 “Chris! Hello? Chris! Answer me goddamn it!”
 You threw the corded walkie and dropped your head down and wailed. There was no hope at all you thought.
 “I’m gonna die.”
 You cried, finally letting out the angst and terror you were feeling. There was nothing positive about your current situation. You were in the middle of the ocean, practically alone while a storm was raging around you. people went missing like this, people died like this. You were suddenly so tired. A wave of water brushed against your feet but you didn’t think anything of it. You almost couldn’t lift your head.
 “Ajali!”
 As you lifted your head you saw Chris racing toward you.
 “We have to get off this ship.”
 “What!”
 “The glass broke. We’re taking in water and sinking—fast!”
 Hearing those words you found the energy to rise. “What do we do? Where’s Harper?”
 “He’s lowering the life raft. Let’s go.”
 Chris wrapped his arm around your waist and helped you along. When you made it down the steps to the deck you saw that it was completely filled with water.
 “Oh my god.”
 “It’s all right, I have you.”
 He must have gotten tired of your hobbling because he scooped you up and hurried along treading through the now calf-level water.
 “You’re freezing cold,” Chris mumbled.
 “What are we gonna do?”
 Chris reached Harper who looked as if he’d been through hell. From one glance you could tell he was hurt.
 “Climb down first,” Harper said to you as Chris put you down.
 You flinched as the saltwater wreaked devastation on your injured foot.
 “I’m scared.”
 “I know. it’s expected, you’re human. I need you to work through that fear though and climb down into the raft,” Chris reasoned.
 You nodded and tried to get over not only the terror but also will your muscles to move through them being near frozen. You tried to move your legs in some coordination to climb over the railing but it was taking a bit of time on your own. Chris stepped closer and helped you to take the first step down the ladder. When your injured foot joined your other one it slipped and sent you down a few of them only stopping when you were able to get a grip on the metal.
 “Are you okay?”
 “I’m okay.”
 You slowly went down the remaining steps until you got to the last one and saw you’d need to jump off the railing to land in the raft. You took a few breathes, hoped that you made it in the raft and not in the ocean, and jumped. Landing on your back you couldn’t relax. It hit you that you were now in a life raft about to drift to god knows where. From above you heard the two men arguing back and forth over who should go next. When you saw Chris was the one climbing down the ladder you knew Harper had won.
 It didn’t take him nearly as long as it took you. A few seconds later he’d jumped in next to you. The strong scent of gas immediately hit you.
 “You smell like gas.”
 Chris smelled himself then his eyes widened and pointed back to the ship. The two of you looked up just in time to see Harper bringing back up the ladder.
 “What’re you doing? Come down!”
 “No can do brother. This here is my ship and a captain always goes down with his ship.”
 Your eyes widened in horror. He couldn’t be serious.
 “That’s not funny Harper. The gas is leaking, there is no saving it. It isn’t worth your life. Come on, there’s time for you to save yourself too,” Chris rebutted.
 “I’m long past saving,” Harper said lifting his shirt to show the large shard of glass that was sticking through his abdomen. It looked like it had gone right through him. You knew that if it were removed the chances of him living were zilch.
 “Oh my god,” you mewled before clamping your hand over your mouth to stifle the wail that followed.
 “Harper--,” Chris began but never finished.
 “I always knew I’d die on this ship and that’s all right. I’m at peace with it. If I get in that raft with you I’d be doing you a disservice. Sharks would be on your tail in no time.”
 Harper flung a pack over the railing into the raft.
 “I’ve already pre-packed all the emergency packs in the raft. They’re in the side compartments as well as underneath the zipped platform of the bottom. These are things you’ll need wherever you wash up.”
 Another bag followed the first and landed on the raft. “This one is some rations. Remember to conserve the water. You can survive without food longer than water.”
 You cried louder while using your hand to muffle as much of the sound as you could.
 “Come on man,” Chris pleaded.
 Four more bags followed including your backpack. By then you’d fully lost it and had ventured into a nervous breakdown.
 “Inside the raft, there is a transponder. I am going to set off the homing beacon on my ship it’ll give search and rescue some idea of where things went wrong. They’ll be able to follow the signal and rescue you no matter where you are.”
 Harper bent forward and groaned. He must have been in so much pain you thought to yourself. On its own, your hand gripped the ripped hem of Chris’s tank and held it tightly. Chris glanced back at you and you saw the same anguish you felt.
 “I’m sorry about this folks, I really am.” He paused and shook his head before he continued. “You have each other though.”
 An explosion shook the vessel and lit up the sky behind Harper.
“That’s my cue. Get outta here. I’ll do my part. Remember live your way, it makes death a peaceful conclusion.”
 With that Harper hobbled away holding the railing.
 “Go!”
 He disappeared from view leaving the two of you sitting in the raft, in the pouring rain heartbroken and terrified. Another explosion erupted and Chris sprang into motion yanking the cord that controlled the motor startup. He yanked it once, then twice until it sparked alive on the third try. You both looked to the ship unsure what to do. The decision had been made for you, there was nothing either of you could do but go.
 Slowly the raft began to drift away from the sinking ship and neither of you could peel your eyes away. Two more explosions boomed and then Harper’s voice echoed out.
 “I’m coming, Angie!”
 “Oh my god,” you whispered dropping your head to the surface of the raft. Your cry was loud and showcased the tragic sadness before you.
 You watched on before another and final grand explosion ripped the ship apart sending parts every which way.
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“Fuck!”
 Chris leapt for you throwing his body over yours using himself as a shield to protect you. The sound of flying metal around you only made you scream more and more. Still, Chris didn’t come off of you, he kept his body over yours while maneuvering the rod steering of the raft. After the sound of flying metal subsided and the warmth of fire died down Chris rolled off of you. There was nothing to be seen except the fire from the explosion that was quickly being extinguished as the rest of the ship sank to the depths of the ocean.
 “Oh my god, Harper.”
 “God,” Chris groaned out, dropping his head down. “Rest in peace.”
 There it was. Death. It was staring you right in the face and you feared it hadn’t had its fill quite yet. Your sobs returned and soon they were the only sounds traveling across the water, along with the motor. Neither of you spoke for a few minutes as you both tried to digest everything that had just happened and how everything had gone so wrong.
 “What’re we going to do?”
 It was a question asked just above a whisper. A question that held so much uncertainty, a question that also brought so much fear with it. What were you going to do?
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