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kuboism · 3 years

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Bleach Canon Vs. Studio Clown Episode 1

Intro to the series

WARNING: Long read but theres plenty of pictures

The first deviation we’re greeted with is what the anime presents as the arrival of hollows into the human world. With a likely artistic rendition of them forming from the shadows of Hueco Mundo and dripping/bleeding over into the human world like splotches of ink, after which they disappear - unable to be perceived by humans.

A/N: Which, kubos to the anime, is rather neat.

The anime also decided to incorporate the first volume poem which is the thematic beginning and a great establisher of the mood/themes of Bleach, which roughly translates to:

我らは姿無きが故にそれを畏れ

“We fear that which cannot be seen”

And then they curiously add a line to this poem?

姿無き故に敬う

”We revere that which cannot be seen"

A/N: Which, initially seems on brand with the spiritualism of that “which is not seen” - the shinigami, DEATH itself if you will. However, unlike the themes of “fear” and “fear of death/the unseen”, “reverence” is not really a theme prevalent or definitive for bleach. Reverence is not particularly reserved for death or death gods, but antagonists with themes of divinity/the Soul King himself, but I digress.

Next off the bully scene has a couple of missing/reworded lines, as well as some of the delivery changed, but overall it’s not significant enough to mention.

I also wish they’d kept Ichigo’s shit yourself scary face from this moment right here, since it really underlines how serious and personally invested Ichigo is in bringing small justice to the souls of the departed, but I can only pray a future remake does include it.

^ I am disappointed in y’all :/

vs.

v Karma delivery, bitch

Then for some reason the next scene is changed significantly:

In the manga, it builds up slowly to Ichigo’s reveal of supernatural abilities with the iconic TM character profile intros (which I can see why weren’t recreated in the anime, but I sure wish they put them in....)

with him spooking the bullies off with the ghost girl right behind him

Versus his scary face doing the job instead.....

It’s a small change, and I can see why it would be opted for - we don’t really know if they even saw the ghost in the first place (then again you could argue that would spook them anyway). There is a tonal difference in the long run though. The manga emphasizes once again *why* ichigo is scolding them in the first place - he sees the people disrespected by them knocking down the vase, he wants them to acknowledge their actions *because* in his mind, there are real victims he knows from it. While in the anime, since the ghost is not yet introduced, it feels more like “you are disrespectful to the dead” in a more generalized way vs. him actually being acquainted with the dead and treating them like the living.

(Again, not sure why change it so much at all........the suspense and reveal are in the manga just the same.... but ok)

As well as cutting off this small moment where you can see Ichigo’s very human (and cute!) interactions with the ghosts. To him they’re just as real as the living, and he lends them a hand whenever they ask for help.

Also lmfao this 4kids level of censorship.....

It goes on rather faithfully for a while, no significant omissions, then Pierrot decides to randomly replace Yuzu’s lines with Karin??

Manga:

Anime:

Which is an odd choice, given that not only does Yuzu sense ghosts just fine (albeit at a much lesser level than her family) and that later comes into play with Fishbone & Grandfisher, but Karin literally later admits that she doesn’t even want to acknowledge their presence, so why the change....?

They also cut short Karin’s little talk about Ichigo’s stats, which is a fair change for screentime’s sake, but mentioned for the record.

There’s a bit of a divergence with Yuzu lore, when the manga explicitly states she sees them, but not “clearly”, the anime focuses on her barely sensing them. I guess it doesn’t matter that much in the long run, since she is not that prevalent in the story, but it’s here for the record nonetheless.

Anime:

vs.

Manga:A

Also this next bit was removed, probably for the sake of pacing (which, totally fair!!), but it’s funny and I love the Kurosaki family so here it is:

It does make the flow a bit better in the manga, since this talk of selling his talents distracts Ichigo and creates an opening for his father to strike, in the anime, the same is done with Ichigo just randomly saying

and thats where his father attacks him, which isnt really an issue, just kind of funny of how the manga is like:

Ichigo’s distracted by his sisters plotting to sell him out and hence Isshin has his chance to strike back

vs the anime being like:

Ichigo randomly thinks about dinner mid convo about ghosts and thats what distracts him from play-fighting with his dad

gfdkhlgfdg okayyyy....moving on

In the manga this scene is interspliced with Ichigo’s inner monologue about the nature of his powers (with hip jargon like “for real” courtesy of Viz )

(but my beef with Viz translations are for another day)

Also the line about “He told me more ghosts than ever have been haunting me” has been given to Karin for some reason, probably to make her feel more included in the scene/Ichigos life.

Notably, Isshin’s response is changed from “What?! He talks about stuff like that with you (Yuzu, singular)” to “What?! He talks about stuff like that with you guys?” as well, again probably to include Karin more into the dialogue. (Mmmm ok....)

Minor detail, but Karin’s lines has been changed to more “boyish” speech structure in the Japanese dub, which may seem insignificant, but ...... that is for later.

.....

This little exchange

is replaced with:

Which, seems innocuous adaptation differences, but Yuzu’s lines keep decreasing and it’s a short enough moment to like....include and establish how motherly Yuzu is acting towards Ichigo.....but ok...huh.

And now we get into the big boy changes.

So, probably for the sake of grounding the supernatural element of the series, the anime decided to skip time to the next morning and introduce the hollow attacks with a news report.

Which.....is an interesting choice. I am assuming this is addressing how the real world perceives the hollow attacks, which Bleach doesn’t put too much effort into addressing, but very soon after this we learn about stuff like memory replacement and other various technology to keep things under wraps so this is either redundant or implying that shinigamis have not been doing their job, which hm......

Next off is the bizarre choice to paint Isshin out of the picture for the night

Not sure why, but ok

Again, where’s the shinigami with their Kikanshinki (memory replacement devices)??? Pierrot where’s the lore coherence......

Anyway, Ichigo goes to replace the girl’s vase, but suprise-surprise she’s gone-zo. Wonder what happened to her.....

(And....again, people vehemently don’t want a reboot when the anime looks like this? )

So Ichigo hears a scream and a hollow scream and follows the sound (Ok?).

Totally random hollows attack. Which Ichigo somehow has never seen so far? Mind you, this isn’t like in the manga, where Fishbone was sent by Aizen specifically after Ichigo to make him aware of it. These are random-ass hollows attacking people, so how come Ichigo suddenly sees them. Ya coulda played it safe Pierrot, and stuck to the book, but we got plot inconsistencies episode one so let’s party.

The girl is, of course, not eaten and they run away.

She trips at the most inconvenient moment. (can ghosts trip? Ghost don’t even have legs in japanese lore and Kubo draws them floating around so okkkkkkkk)

(ok ok, im just being petty, bUT YKNOW)

(convenient tripping on deadass levelled ground is convenient)

(also God I really want that bag Ichigo’s got on his shoulder, it looks so nice)

Random-ass hollow closes in and

BOOM

Rukia

(Now, if the rest of Bleach and the manga didn’t exist I would like this moment. We get a glimpse into Rukia’s abilities, into shinigami as a concept and we don’t really get to see her slice and dice hollows that much overall so the moment itself is rad in isolation.

Now, unfortunately for Pierrot’s screenwriters, Bleach manga exists and so does it’s lore, which again, would not be inconsistent with each other if the adapation was faithful. Now, Ichigo sees a shinigami, for some reason, for the first time in his 15 years of life. All of a sudden.

You could argue, that much like in the manga, this is all part of Aizen’s plan TM, but like, she literally leaves right after leaving Ichigo gaping in awe ghfkjgdf. Why’d Aizen give him an appetizer, I really don’t understand how this change is benefitting the narrative in any way. It’s ....dare I say....generic.)

Rukia yeets the hollow

(why is this kid suddenly not wearing shoes?)

and goes off on her merry way, leaving Ichigo shooketh

ALSO RUKIA MA’AM THERES A FUCKING STRAY GHOST RIGHT AT YOUR RIGHT????? ISNT IT YOUR LIKE....JOB.......... TO HELP GHOSTS MOVE ON??? i know killing hollows is the fun part, but like ghjkfdlgfd ??? are you gonna ignore her???

( his fucking face ghfjdkgdlfgfd)

So after this wholeass pointless detour (you’ll see why it’s pointless in a moment) we timeskip again (the filler is strong in this one. These 6 minutes were worth not coming up with something cohesive and removing scenes that actually make sense ah yes)

Ichigo is in deep thought TM about who tf is the stranger he’d just seen. Likely mulling over the monsters and how this person was able to slay said monsters. Probably thinking how unusual they are.

and as if on cue

the stranger makes their presence once more

(my God these faces gfhgkldfg)

....

Now let’s briefly address what happens in the manga instead.

Instead of the whole timeskip scene with the fight, Ichigo simply returns to his room on the same day, and oddly enough recognizes the species of the butterfly he sees? (nerdy boi! nerdy!! boi!)

rukia arrives much the same

(With the little text emphasizing how he’d never been aware of soul reapers, which is unsurprising given their secrecy, and makes sense in the long run since their first meeting is specifically orchestrated by Aizen. Two species that werent meant to interact brought together by his schemes.)

Back to the anime:

Ichigo pauses to ponder who tf they are and why the fuck they’re there.

and then the anime has the gall to suddenly revert to sticking to the manga, which like.... Ichigo kicks her for no reason? I guess because she isn’t answering? Even though Ichigo knows she has a sword and can wield it? Reckless boy.

Manga Ichigo thinks she’s a burglar, therefore, unsurprisingly, is comfortable kicking her outta his house. It’s a silly moment, but it also shows how accustomed or stupidly brave he is with the supernatural.

In the anime Ichigo asks her who she is instead of all that, and she responds pretty similarly to the manga

AND THE NEXT SCENE IS WHERE IT CLICKS WHY THEY WENT OUT OF THEIR WAY TO REMOVE ISSHIN FROM THE HOUSE.

(Ichigo and Rukia addressing the pointless filler, this leads nowhere)

Rukia check him out like she’s checking if the oranges on sale dont have mold on them

slapstick ensues

and Rukia decides to answer his question.

Vs. the manga in which Isshin doesn’t leave his children home alone for some random conference and is actually used very efficient for two reasons:

1) building up on the burglar gag with actually funny slapstick that is based on a previously established joke

2) Instead of Rukia just saying “oh usually people can’t see me”, we get an actual demonstration of it, the reader gets to see “oh Isshin can’t see her - she must be a spiritual entity,” which further clicks with her surprised reaction at him being able to kick her in the first place.

The next scene is the classique Pierrot censorship.

Ghost girl runs away from what I’m assuming is Fishbone.

Aside from not showing her get eaten, the scene is pretty much delivering the same message,

bUT

BECAUSE OF THE STUPID ASS FILLER WITH THEM MEETING RUKIA BEFORE THIS, I CAN ACCUSE RUKIA OF NEGLIGENCE.

UNLIKE THE MANGA, where Rukia arrives the night before and is specifically seeking Fishbone, therefore having no time to help this girl pass away,

This vvvvvvv

could have been prevented if SOMEONE DID THEIR FUCKING JOB THE DAY BEFORE VVVVVVV

(I rest my case. Thank you Pierrot for making Rukia either negligent or an idiot. Awesome, And mind you, these changes were unnecessary. The manga’s pacing is fine. They could’ve extended scenes. But nope, had to go for making them meet beforehand.)

Anyway, we get to see some actual stakes in the manga

The next scene which is this in the manga

has two changes to it. Firstly, obviously Isshin being consoled by Yuzu isn’t included since he isn’t home in the anime, and even if he were, I can see why that would be removed, cute as it may be.

And secondly, due to them having met prior Ichigo asks two additional questions:

And Rukia nods at both, which means she acknowledges that she had seen the girl the hollow was after and yet did nothing to help her pass on.

(Reminder the Bleach anime was in production WAAAAY past the first 4 volumes, which gave a good general idea of the series, which y’know, was fine to adapt as is.

You’ll see these changes add up into becoming inconsistent with further Bleach lore. There’s a reason people call Bleach a hot mess, and I’m afraid Kubo ain’t really it.)

(Volume 14 Note from Kubo where he talks about the anime being announced)

Back to the series

Pet peeve time: Wish the anime was half as expressive as the manga

These scenes are supposed to represent

This panel:

(Nitpicking? Perhaps, but idc)

So uh, this scene is odd

Again, because of the addition of that filler with the hollow

Ichigo has seen her in action

And they even added Rukia trying to convince him

even though, yknow???

LITerally the previous day???

Anyway in the manga, where Ichigo has reason to be distrustful of her and her claims since y’know hes never seen her or a shinigami in action, but has enough proof that she’s a ghost bc his dad didn’t see her, he simply dismisses her before she can reply, and instead of just getting angry for being called a pipsqueak

she shows both Ichigo and the audience proof of her spiritual powers by binding Ichigo and forcing him to quietly listen to her explanations.

(To reiterate - Anime Rukia has to verbally try to convince Ichigo WHO SAW HER FIGHT A HOLLOW THE OTHER DAY that shes no ordinary ghost. And because of that, she has no other reason to use Sai on him other than that shes mad she was called a pipsqueak bc she just tried to verbally convince him shei is a shinigami. When they could just adapt the manga and have her both demonstrate her powers and put him in his place at the same time. Wild.)

Also CRIMINALLY BORING SHOT, WITH CRIMINALLY BORING RUKIA

#NotMyRukia

LOOK AT THE MANGA

LOOK AT HER SMUGLY OWNING ICHIGO’S IGNORANT ASS #FuckYeahRukia

Also the subs may not show it if you’re watching it on Netflix, but anime Rukia says “I am not allowed to lay my hands on humans outside orders,” which like, you ARE LITERALLY DOING THAT. Manga Rukia is fine with bullying Ichigo, but she draws a line at killing him, but man Anime Rukia, you give no fucks about the laws huh.

why so cheerful?

(also Rukia be right tho)

(specifcally compared to hell you could say Soul society is a resftul place lmfao)

Also anime salary man gets to rest in peace, even like, pray and shit

Meanwhile the manga

YEET TO SOUL SOCIETY

(also notice how we’ve been robbed of ichigo’s silly socks

I swear the anime knows how to suck the soul out of the manga

Get it? Soul! haha ....moving on.)

Really Rukia? One of your jobs?

GUESS YOU WERE OFF DUTY HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(I’M SORRY BUT LIKE, SEE HOW POINTLESS THIS FILLER IS UGH!!!)

(Again pet peeve but look at how ugly this screen is COMPARED TO THE MANGA)

(What have they done to you, queen)

(also they never mention the name Konso ( or as Viz calls it here -”soul funeral”, thanks Viz)

Next on, not a pet peeve, but an observation:

Anime Rukia keeps her sketchbook in her kimono

Manga Rukia keeps it at the titty

Yep, which you neglected to do the day before,

she literally says “With the konso I did just a moment ago” like she used the word before. Like you can contextually get it, but why cut that line out of the dialogue if you don’t change the next line it’s referenced in?

There’s also a dialogue change from the manga’s well, Viz uses “vaporize” which is not a bad choice given the specific wording Kubo uses, but the original says

昇華 • 滅却

sublimate/convert • extinguish

which is a clever little nod/foreshadowing to the nature of souls in bleach and that they can be “converted” in and out of a hollowfied state.

While the anime just says “to slay hollows”, and albeit it lacks the little nod the manga has to offer, I can’t see how they’d include it in the anime at that stage so I’m fine with them simplifying it to like, an exorcism.

A better question then Rukia - WHY DIDN’T YOU SEND OFF HER SOUL????

also WAIT THE GIRL IS STILL ALIVE?? she’s dead-dead by this point in the manga.

BULLSHIT !!! YOU LITERALLY EXPLAIN LATER WHY!! ACTUALLY YOU EXPLAINED EARLIER WHY!!! YOU LITERALLY SAID THIS, 1 MINUTE AGO :

Anyway, Fishbone almost grants her the priviledge of escaping this God-awful anime, but is suddenly stopped?

AND CAN TALK??

wait WHY DOES FISHBONE TALK?? GHFJD isnt this supposed to be a juicy reveal for later when Ichigo realizes “hey theyre not actual complete monsters - but used to be humans!” Hm, ok.

Also leaves her alone? Damn ok...

Reminder:

Moooving on...

Speaking of the manga, this little moment is missing:

Since there is no pointless filler that would make him ask about the ghost girl therefore exposing Rukia’s slacking off of her duty, Ichigo realizes that there must be a hollow nearby bc in the manga he actually has braincells to spare.

Also wiping off the Baron’s moustache moment is gone 😢

Missing and dearly missed is also this moment, which consolidates how protective Ichigo is of his family. He only needs to hear Yuzu scream to click that the hollow is nearby and his family is in danger. I feel like anime Ichigo should be even more worried since his sisters are alone but ok??

Also foreshadows their dynamic of Rukia trying to stop his reckless attempts at pushing himself to protect his family, bc yknow....she has her own Kaien trauma to process.

Next off....

This is .... a choice....

They were very eager to give Yuzu’s lines to Karin just a couple of moments ago but now this whole exchange:

Where we see a very pragmatic yet soft side of Karin

She doesn’t know what is happening, and doesn’t expect her brother to fight it - he just wants him to be safe, because she loves her family. At least warn him before it gets to him and hurts him.

is replaced with this:

Yuzu, sweetie, what do you think he can do to achieve that.

I guess at least Anime Ichigo tries to get Rukia to do her job as she looks down on Yuzu in silence.

But compare it to the manga:

#MyRukia stops by Karin to check for a pulse and reassures Ichigo that his sister is alive.

Manga Ichigo is NUMBER ONE oniichan in town and doesnt have time to call out to a stranger to save his family - HES BEYOND READY TO GO FIGHT, RECKLESS AS IT IS, EVEN THOUGH HIS OWN FAMILY BEGS HIM TO JUST RUN. because he cant let himself be unable to protect them. He cant live with himself if he doesnt try his darnest to protect them.

*elevator music playing as ichigo tries to get rukia’s attention but she fucks off downstairs, but instead of doing shit he just does the worm on the floor*

which I guess is more realistic for a teenage boy, but Ichigo is literally traumatized by being unable to protect a family member. Y’all think a ghost he’s never seen before is gonna stop him?

Yooo, pathetic. #NotMyIchigo

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thoughts-of-the-unheard · 3 years

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oh nothing in a book has ever made me as angry as fucking pissed off as i am now about the end of chain of iron and i have a lot to say on it (i have more to say on the last few chapters of chain of iron than i did on the entirety of the folk of the air series)

ill start with being glad lucie was able to raise jesse but definite reylo vibes there and im ignoring the end of that so watch me ignore if lucie dies ill be like yea ya know shes just,,, somewhere else but i hated how many secrets she kept from fucking everyone i mean she didnt tell a single person the whole truth of anything shes got secrets on top of secrets and thats not good but hey matthews drinking isnt good either and no one but the lucie and cordelia ever really say anything about that so theres that and im not counting james’ you dont love anyone as much as you love that bottle or w/e he said bc that wasnt talking to him to try to help and get him to stop drinking that was just a hit bc they were fighting and i hate that i hate that they were fighting bc they wouldnt have been if it wasnt for that fucking bracelet and which has caused so many fucking problems that i could cry in indignation bc its not its not fucking fair james spent the last what three years of his life in a fog not being able to feel and not being able to notice his parabatai slowly spiraling into a drunken depression from something thats not his fault at all i mean yes it is his fault that his mother took the potion but it is not his fault that the baby died thats no ones fault but whoever sold him the potion and yea he shouldnt have bought it in the first place but he was kid and he thought that was the only way he could get the truth and its unfair its fucking unfair and alistair god alistair he knows what he did in school was wrong but he saw it as the only way and now hes trying to make up for it and apologise and be a better fucking person and thomas sees that and thomas loves him for that and alistair wont let himself be loved and its not fair and anna oh anna talk about not letting yourself be loved she put on such a good front she did but she shouldnt have ariadne loves her and wants to be with her fully with her but anna has to understand the stigma of that and why ariadne cant come out yet hell thats still a problem today but we wont get into that because anna clearly loves ariadne but shes too afraid of getting hurt again and frankly she should just go for it i mean so what if you get hurt again at least youll finally feel something because i know she feels nothing for all those other girls i know theyre just replacements for ariadne and it isnt fair and speaking of replacements fucking grace fuck grace but fucking grace just casually destroying james life listen i dont give a shit how she grew up i couldnt care less about how tatiana treated her and how scared she was of her because if shed just fucking helped then she wouldnt have to worry about a damn thing from tatiana i mean theres a number of things grace couldve done she couldve told the merry thieves everything and they couldve defeated belial like they are now and then no one would be around to help tatiana and grace couldve told anyone in the clave about all of tatianas shit and then they wouldnt have underestimated her and she wouldve been in a proper prison and thus unable to escape so damn easily and thus not fucking able to get to grace okay shes a fucking idiot and i hate her and i hate reading about her and im fucking disappointed in her for not taking the damn bracelet off okay i had very fucking low standards for her but i hoped she would take the bracelet off and at the very least i thought she could fucking not manipulate him further like god damn girl james is a much nicer and understanding person than i am and he would try to protect her from tatiana if he knew that grace was being threatened by her if grace took the bracelet off and told him the truth he would help her i fully believe that but since he had to find out on his own he was furious as he should be but i dont think he had to be nice to her when she showed up at the end there i mean i wouldve just yanked her in the house and started yelling at her right there fuck pretending his still under that enchantment fuck talking to her in private okay id chew her out in the entryway its not like cordelia doesnt need to know she fucking does and i think her finding out by overhearing james arguing with grace is actually a fantastic way to find out because she gets to hear everything all of what james feels and all of what grace did completely unfiltered not that james would try to hide it from her but hed definitely try to soften the blow and i just think she needs to hear the whole truth and AND i really fucking hate when characters overhear only part of something and assume the worst and run away its so common and i hate it so much and i hate how she ran to matthews because i knew it was going to happen and i knew matthew was in love with her and that it was already straining their bond because no one fucking realised that james was madly fucking in love with cordelia because of that fucking bracelet have i mentioned have i mentioned how much that bracelet pisses me off i dont think i have lets get into it so how james was unable to feel properly for three years and how his head was so foggy he was unable to think properly too and how because of that he missed matthew becoming a drunk and how the merry thieves look to james as their leader so if james isnt saying anything about it then there must not be anything to say and how james was already in love with cordelia before the bracelet and thats part of why grace couldnt control him and how he loved her for years how he was in love with her for years how no one knew this not even him because everyone thought he was in love with grace how cordelia was in love with him but thought he was in love with grace how cordelia got married to him knowing she was in love with him and thinking he was in love with someone else how she could tell he wanted her but thinking he just wanted her body and that he was still in love with grace how she’d rather have some of him than none of him at all how he picked out everything in their house with cordelia in mind how he remembered that she loves chess and she never thought he would how he learned a whole other language for her how he immediately checks on her after every battle how everyone, especially cordelia, just writes all this off as who knows what because he cant be in love with cordelia if hes in love with grace and hes obviously in love with grace how no one could ever notice there was something wrong because they were feeling the effects too how james was so in love with cordelia that that love unintentionally broke an enchantment made specifically for james by a Prince Of Hell one of the most powerful beings the entire species will ever meet and i think that covers the gracelet situation but i keep thinking of the scene where the bracelet cracks when grace first went to curzon street and kissed james and james’ mind literally thinking it was cordelia because who else would he be kissing and afterward grace saying ‘i dont know who you think you were kissing, james herondale, but it wasnt me’ and im like damn right bitch get fucked but back to cordelia running to matthews okay i know she didnt know matthew was in love with her so she wasnt doing anything wrong going to him but i kept thinking they were going to kiss or something because we all know matthews in love with her and there were a bunch of hints that cordelia might be attracted to matthew and she was upset about james and i just kept thinking something bad would happen and i was right but shit i didnt think id be like that i had no idea matthew was leaving for paris and even less of an idea that cordelia would join him and the thing is i cant even be mad i cant blame her i would probably do the same thing hell id probably ask to go with and im very proud of her for saying she’d go If matthew stops drinking i really appreicate that and i hope he gets better but the all those misses how james left the house only minutes after cordelia and arrived at matthews only minutes after they left and how he could see them at the train station could see them getting on the train and leaving and leaving him behind because his sister is missing and he shouldve ran and caught them and begged them to stay if not just to help find lucie because they both think of lucie as a sister and they absolutely wouldve stayed to help her and then there would be the chance for james to explain the gracelet situation and everything would be fine it would fine eventually and everything would be okay but NO and ive said a lot but i havent even mentioned cordelia being a paladin for fucking lilith yet where did that come from i was not expecting that ill tell ya see i thought it was odd that wayland the smith would still be alive and that it wasnt mentioned in any of the other books and i thought it was odd that some apparently god-like blacksmith would be wearing such an elegant jeweled necklace and i thought it was odd that magnus would be back from the spiral labyrinth for just a day and would be staying with hypatia instead of ya know his own place but shit id never have put it together as one person let alone lilith and i cant say it came out of nowhere because it said that edom used to be liliths so it would make sense that she would want belial gone so she could have it back but still that was unexpected but im not disappointed i mean im obviously upset that cordelia is now pledged to the mother of demons and feels like she cant even touch a weapon speaking of which what did she do with cortana where did she put it she said she dealt with it which makes me nervous but we know she couldnt have broken it or anything a) because i dont think she physically can and b) emma has cortana later but i think cordelia should keep cortana close since its the only thing that can mortally would belial and apparently he only needs one more before something happens im guessing before hes like gone gone so she definitely needs cortana and lilith wants her to kill belial so i think she should and if shes stuck as liliths paladin after that and never wants to touch a weapon again so be it but get rid of belial first ya know anyway i think there was something else i wanted to say but i cant remember so if you read all of this holy shit im sorry thats a lot i hope it was entertaining at least and i hope i didnt also get you pissed off

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lesbow · 4 years

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i wanna talk about claire & douxie

so im on episode 4 and just got to the scene where claire uses her shadow magic to create a portal for them to go see the lady of the lake. this scene is claire’s moment of development and i loved it for her. i dont wanna take away from that but i also loved it because of claire and douxie’s bond during it. im sure there will be several other posts about how awesome this was claire bc it really was, so i guess just take this as another perspective on the scene.

before i start i would just like to say: this post is about their strictly platonic relationship. i dont ship them and honestly dont know how i feel about them as a ship in general since douxie is significantly older than them (”college aged”) and i dont really think its right. especially bc on the wiki it says claire is only 15-16 (im guessing 16 since its been A Minute since s1 of trollhunters lol) and in the show douxie canonly says he’s 19-esque. so pls dont go reading this in ya know that kind of lense bc thats not my intention.

alright so now that i’ve got that out the way

from the start douxie has obviously gravitated towards claire because of their shared understanding of magic. when they first drop in camelot, he confides in her the most and whenever she gets upset he takes it strongly, seemingly as a personal hit. like when he tried to talk about the brightside of jim being imprisoned and then claire bursts into tears (bc obviously lol it really wasnt a great situation to be in). but i really wanna talk about the scene in episode 4 when claire starts to become more comfortable with her magic.

douxie comes up with the plan in the first place because he has full confidence in claire’s abilities. he starts off by talking about how amazing her powers are and that she shouldn’t be afraid of herself. he expresses not one ounce of doubt abt how strong claire is and fully supports her, even when claire refuses to herself.

seeing morgana die and knowing they share the same magic was an understandably awful thing for claire to witness, and she is obviously traumatized from it as she still has nightmares and visions about morgana’s death. but then douxie, who has complete & utter faith in her, encourages her to use her magic. so she tries just because he asked. claire tho who still feels uncertain asks for his help in return, and douxie is completely shocked by it. i have expressed several times how much i hate merlin and i am NOT afraid to do it again bc i 100% blame his constant degradation for douxie’s low self esteem.

which also leads me to believe that douxie connects with claire, not only bc of their use of magic but because he also sees himself in her. they both have little confidence in their powers that stem somewhat from their predecessors. douxie vs merlin’s nonstop insults and claire vs morgana’s seemingly inevitable evilness. he sees himself in her because he was her (and still is) and subconsciously, as most of us do, wants to become the support he wish he had.

but helping those younger than you/who were in your shoes also has a way of making you reflect on yourself too. which is why, even tho he was fully prepared to give claire emotional encouragement, he was blindsided when she asked for his teaching. he wants to help raise claire’s confidence, but has yet to work on his own.

when the rock.... wall...... thingies.... insult douxie and agree on him being subpar, claire (and archie but this aint about him) immediately fires back at them to cool it. and while douxie didn’t disagree with the rockwallthingies, he clearly appreciated claire standing up for him and smiles about it. her sticking up for him helps give him the boost he needed to teach her what he knows.

while attempting the portal, douxie gives her constant words of encouragement. and when claire, who is gradually becoming more and more unstable, confesses that she is afraid, his tone changes and becomes softer. he is still confident in her abilities, but also knows how overwhelming they can be and doesn’t hesitate to switch from determined support to warm reassurance.

things turn for the worse tho when claire ends up giving into her fear and the shadow portal swallows her.

(i tried my best to gif what happens bc i dont think a screenshot would do it justice)

once claire succumbs to her fear and her magic swallows her whole, douxie hyperventilates. i’d even say he was panicking bc this was the one thing neither of them wanted to happen. its both of their fears happening all at once. douxie’s initial fear of being a bad teacher/influence/magic user in general and claire’s fear that her magic will overpower her, both being proven right in the worst way possible.

what douxie doesnt realize yet is that his teaching didnt fail. while claire is in the shadow realm, she sees morgana’s corpse again and freezes up. but then she pauses as soon as she remembers douxie’s words “dont let fear control you. stay true to yourself.” and with the help of his previous support, she gains the courage to finally face what she’s been afraid of and brings herself back to them. while douxie is terrified that he’s failed claire, it’s actually his words that help her succeed.

once claire comes back, douxie is immediately up and grabs her face to check for injuries. he crowds her so much, archie even has to tell him to relax and give her space. douxie is skilled in magic, but he has no idea what shadow magic and all it entails is actually like, so it isnt unreasonable for his imagination to have run wild with all the dangers claire could’ve been exposed to.

claire rambles about what happened (rambling claire is the most adorable claire) but douxie misreads her curiosity as anxiety and goes to comfort her again. “we understand if you dont want to go back in” its just constant constant support from this guy! (which is funnily enough the exact opposite of what he received from merlin.) he sees her eyes are glued to morgana’s spell book and gently pushes it away. in his mind, what happened in the shadow realm was most likely a bad experience and instead of trying to force her to do it again, he tells her to not feel rushed to go back in. he gets that what he thought was encouragement might’ve actually been pressure and doesn’t hesitate to make sure claire knows that they, and he, will support whatever she wants to do.

claire quickly tells him that’s not the case and that she’s fine. and whether or not she’s aware of his insecurities yet, she lets him know his influence was actually a great help.

the positive words surprise douxie and make him smile. once again, claire’s kindness has uplifted his spirits.

between these two its just a back and forth of nonstop support. douxie helps claire not be afraid of her own magic, and claire helps douxie not fall into self deprecation. as the show goes on i think they will grow to have a very strong sibling-like bond and i cant wait to see it.

#toa wizards #tales of arcadia #douxie #toa wizards spoilers //#long text post //#babbles #also while douxie was flirting with claire and the other HS girls in tr*llhunters #that was awhile ago and i wouldnt be surprised if the show writers hadnt given douxie a set age yet #but now that he has one lets just drop that dynamic lol #s: wizards

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flowerslightning · 4 years

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The OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder) in FF7

This thing actually caught my eyes while reading a few theory about FF7R and the word OCD appear in their certain analysis, in IG, youtube comments and some posts in tumblr too. Dunno why but they always relate Biggs with OCD. I looked back to the scenes where Biggs appear and... Okay, i understand why they thinj Biggs has OCD or perfectionist

A lot of people, including the psych students themselves easily confused with OCD and perfectionist (I got confused by it quite often too). Now, is Biggs OCD or is he just a perfectionist? Let's take a deeper look at it

Biggs is not a famous character. So fans dont really care about him, but I do

Disclaimer : i'm not a psychologist. Im an intern and still studying. Psychiatric is not my major field but i got assigned there as an intern for quite a time and we got exposed a lot about psychology too. We didnt learn them professionally like the real psyche students, we learned (and still under training) through real life experience + a little bit from the books.

So there might be wrong interpretation here and there. Pls correct me if I'm misleading u. And pardon my english. Pls dont use any of these terms to diagnose urself. Remember, I'm a student, not a professional.

I kins of blame the social media for portraying OCD in such a nasty way, when someone with OCD is actually suffering inside.

OCD is not just about 'clean clean, must clean this place till squeaky clean' and OCD is not about being perfectionist. OCD and perfectionist are two different thing.

Perfectionist is more to a demand demeanour, eg "I want the cake to be like this. I want it to be pink. No, not that pink, it must be neon pink with slight purple. Do it again. No, i dont want that pink. Do it again. Ahhh yess, nice pink." Someone with perfectionist, after they got their result, they will immediately bcome calm and satisfied. Perfectionist is obviously different from OCPD (Obsessive Compulsive Personality Disorder). OCPD falls under Personality Disorder and it is different from OCD. Im not going to talk about that

Credit goes to crazyheadcomics.

Look at how OCD got spoken from the media perspective. It is very much resemble to Biggs, dont u think? In reality, someone with OCD always feel stress about everything around them, and they will find it hard to complete their task.

OCD has two components - Obsessive and Compulsive

| 1. Obsessive. It is a repeating thoughts about something and often occur until it makes someone feel stress about it. Eg, u think that ur hand will get bacteria infection if u touch a chair, door, fridge or when holding someone's hand. This thought always appear in ur mind everytime u touch the door, chair, fridge or somebody's hand, but when u touch ur shoes, u never think about the bacteria (in certain cases, some patients become scare of everything they touch)

| 2. Compulsive. It is a repeating of the same actions to fulfill the 'obsession' in order to reduce the stress acted upon them. Usually the 'action' has a specific ways in which the patient believe he has to do it like this or that way or else he will fail. Eg, after touching the chair, he will immediately wash his hand 10x from left to right. He believes the hand washing wont be effective if he starts from right to left

Another sign of OCD is when someone re-checking the door lock few times. Its normal for us to re-check once/twice the door lock for confirmation, but for people with OCD, they will re-check the door lock for about 6-10 times and still not feel satisfied and later they stress out. And also the OCD people, they tend to get annoyed when something is not in particular order and they will immediately fix it eventhough they know they're wrong.

I met a funny woman at the hosp arranging our students' books according to its thickness, when I asked her why did she arranged our books like that,

She replied : "Doctor said I have CDO"

Me : "Sorry, CDO? Never heard of it"

She : "It is actually OCD but I feel so stress hearing that term so I put it in alphabetical order. CDO, much better"

We both had a good laugh. Her case was not serious though, but she was feeling miserable with her thoughts and decided to meet a psychiatrist. I would say she was still in early stage for someone with OCD, but may lead to severe if left untreated

It is really hard to satisfy and convince someone with OCD and they always feel stress about something they shouldnt care too much about. U can say OCD is a fastidious type, and they're actually more than that

If we want to relate this condition with Bigg's case., urmm. The only time where I can spot him being different than the other characters is when he's busy sweeping his front house and when he pat Cloud's head during the Sector 7 plate fall.

The cleaning stuff isnt exactly weird thing for a human to do. But it is something odd, I mean, he just finished his mission with Jessie and survived a jump from the plate, and yet he still have the energy to sweep dry leaves, AT NIGHT! He can wait till tomorrow though and should get himself a proper rest.

Wedge says Biggs has a habit of overthinking stuff

And there we see Biggs sweeping the dry leaves. It might be because he is trying to distract himself from doing his bad habit - overthinking. But urm , i think there'll be higher chance for someone to overthink when doing house chore like Biggs is doing. This is where lots of people say Biggs cleaning the house at night is bcause he has OCD or he's a perfectionist.

But I dont think thats the case. For real, he is completely normal. No sign of him acting weird in that scene. If he really does have OCD or he's a perfectionist, we'll see more of him arguing with Barret about unnecessary stuff. He cant become one of Avalanche's strongest member (not exactly strong, but hey, he's trustworthy). Also, if u notice, Biggs have one earring on his right ear. Someone with OCD will feel irritated by it bcause his ear doesnt look 'balance'. OCD people, even in mild case, they want everything about them to be balance and in good order.

After trying to understand Biggs way of thinking and style through his short screentime, I strongly believe this guy has no such thing as OCD or being a perfectionist. Biggs just cares tooooo much about his friends, he thinks 10 times ahead from the bigger picture in which it frightens him about the bad consequences that will occur to people he cherish.

He is the type that always have a back up plan in his mind. He thinks of 5 possible bad things and comes out with 10 solutions. That's the power of an overthinker like Biggs I'll tell ya

Biggs probably cleaning his front house area at night bcause the next early morning, he will need to leave his house for the bombing mission. Better take care of things the night before the big day. He can ditch the cleaning work but he wont do it, not bcause he's a perfectionist/OCD, but try to imagine this, if ur front house is full with dry leaves and rubbish, it will be unpleasant for the neighbours next to ur house to see. Living in the slum means higher chance for u to get sick if u dont take care of ur surrounding hygiene. Biggs is a kind man, and I believe he doesnt want to upset his neighbours

He probably has overthink this matter like "If i dont do this now, I probably dont have time for doing it tomorrow. Maybe I'll broke my leg from the mission and this trash will be left untouched, then there'll be high chance for the children around here to get sick. What if they get infectious disease bcause of this dry leaves? And then the parents will be worried and the Sector 7 Slum will be in chaos etc etc. Time for plan A. Let's clean this place"

Besides, remember the post where I mentioned about Mental Health First Aid? Biggs, as the side character gives the best MFA to Cloud even without knowing what Cloud had gone through. Biggs is just toooo kind with his friends, he cares too much causing him to overthinks about his friends conditions. He can notice even the slightest change in his friend's behaviour and with his own instinct, he cheers for them

Aww man, how can u not love his personality? He's the sweetest side character ever (and kinda hot too).

Soo as the conclusion for my post here, Biggs does not have OCD. He's a side character with a big heart who cares tooooooo deeply about his friends that leads him to overthink too much.

However, if the devs say Biggs really has OCD then my statement about him will be invalid. I'm sure they have put everything in a very close detail look.

Btw, I personally think Biggs kind of portrays the other small side of Cloud, the overthinking part for their romantic partner. But Biggs express his worry through words while Cloud express it through his actions, eg - like how he always keep an eye on Tifa. He never speak it directly like "I'm worry about Tifa, I must help her", he just simply be with her either she needs a help or not. While Biggs clearly says "Jessie been acting weird, I should go if she needs any - help -"

Action speaks louder than words but sometimes our eyes failed to listen.

Alright, that's it. Thanks for being with me till the end.

#final fantasy 7 #final fantasy 7 remake #cloud strife #final fantasy vii #biggs #biggs final fantasy #ffvii biggs #mygif #character analysis

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enchanted--realm · 3 years

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When Calls The Heart Live Rambles

S8 ep8 Parades and Charades (or something like that)

My gosh this episode is perhaps the best one we've had all season, and by that I just mean that Elizabeth actually had screen time, and she had actual lines, and she was part of plot that is relevant to h e r. Finally, the main character actually felt like the main character. HOWEVER, she is not very likeable in this episode, I must say (she hasn't been likeable for a while but you know)

The start of the episode when Elizabeth comes off her horse and she tries to talk to Nathan. I'm so glad that Nathan is firm even when Elizabeth doesnt like it. And he's not mean about it, he just tries to be honest while protecting himself and Allie from getting hurt even more. I honestly just love it when Elizabeth and Nathan have disagreements in general because when they do have arguments, it's usually because someone's feelings are showing and then it resolves in having made good progress in deepening their relationship. Elizabeth was totally out of line during that conversation btw. 'Now you're just being hurtful', um says the woman who rejected this man's love proposal and is now hurt that his niece didn't want to invite her to her very important and personal adoption ceremony...wow Elizabeth you really be asking for a lot. And then she's upset that he has to ride off to take care of mountie business. Yes, Elizabeth, this man has a job to do and your conversation will have to wait, sorry girlfriend.

When Nathan told Lucas to 'Save it' haha! Though I enjoyed it, I hope they don't write Lucas and Nathan to turn into enemies bc they are both pining for Elizabeth. It seems like it's headed in that direction based off of their dialogue throughout this episode. I guess it's understandable since Nathan has already been rejected and isn't backing down while Lucas and Elizabeth are a more official item. Okay, yeah, I understand it, but I don't want it to go too far *thinks back to the Lucas and Elizabeth in the rain scene* I guess I can't hope for that with this show. And later on when Lucas was talking to Nathan about how he should be thinking more of Allie and not getting her hurt. Ooooh I wanted to slap that fool. Who is he to be talking about Allie, he doesnt know anything about their relationship and he had no right to bring her up. Ugh that made me so angry.

Lucas's office. May I just say. Daaang. That's some nice, fancy office he's got there. Beautiful, absolutely beautiful. They were planning this reveal for a long time I bet to make Lucas look more attractive in this love triangle. And let me say, that first scene with Elizabeth in Lucas's office finally made me understand what Elizabeth see's in this guy. We were finally shown a glimpse into Lucas's daily life and how he handles business. Elizabeth comes in wanting to talk, but he has to be on the phone bc, ya know, the guy has to work, and we see him taking care of his responsibilities instead of pining over Elizabeth. Usually, in every scene that involves Elizabeth and Lucas, he's typically able to give her his full attention and the entire scene is about him wanting to win her favor. But finally we have a scene where he isn't just there to win her heart and he has to tell her, 'sorry, but can we do this later?' And bc of that the dinner invite didnt come across too forward and it made sense bc they had things to talk about. The scene just really built up a new side to Lucas's character that I felt we hadn't seen yet and that was lacking. He actually feels like a character with an independent purpose now. And of course I didn't forget. The French. Yeah it was both attractive and again added to Lucas's character. I'm sure the Lucas shippers are drooling right now. And on a more serious note, his French sounded very good and I actually just looked it up Chris McNally speaks French so...yeah very cool. But Elizabeth's French when she was saying goodbye at the door...oh how cringey. I mean she spoke well too, but it was just unnecessary and oh I cringed so hard when she did that.

When she went back to his office later...oh no. He said he didnt feel up to having dinner together, and then she still didnt leave him alone and was like, well I can stay and we can just talk. Um, no Elizabeth, the man just said he didnt want to talk right now, but I guess since it's not talking over dinner then it's okay??? And she patted the cushion for him to join her on that teeny tiny little bench. Yo, there was no room for two there. They were pressed up against each other so much it was so awkward to watch. I mean that was like being forced to sit in the two-seater bus seat when clearly there's only room for one. And then the hand hold...yuck, and the deep breath like they were both being tempted...eeh, and then he kissed her hand...ooh. He had to tell her to go bc he wanted to remain a patient man. I'm glad he told her, I'm not surprised that happened. Come on Elizabeth, give the man a break. I mean what did you think would happen when you asked him to sit right next to you on that tiny bench for one. Omg and she fanned herself after exiting. She likes him that much?? Or she's trying to make love form from a purely physical attraction.

I really don't like the whole Rachel and Christopher romance. Maybe I would like it and believe it more if the actors actually looked like teenagers. I mean, Rachel does not look 17, especially since we regularly see child actors on the show in school and they are entering their teens, if they aren't teens already. When comparing a kid like Anna to Rachel, Rachel just seems way to old for 17.

I love how we see Allie's side to this love triangle plot. I loved the scene between her and Elizabeth in the school house. I liked that we were finally having a discussion between just them, and then Elizabeth opens the invitation! I laughed so hard! The pop up of Nathan in his mountie uniform and Elizabeth at the dinner table. Oh that was so funny! and also adorable. Allie wasn't taking any of it, yo she said *Fine and she snatched that invitation back and she tore it up. I was yelling at my tv, yes Allie you tell her!

When Elizabeth approached Nathan at the parade...come on E. That was not the time or place. Again, I like that they have these conversations and disagreements, but the writing of that dialogue was just so bad I thought. It was so awkward sounding and the pacing just felt off. It really didnt flow and I wonder if the writers were running out of time or something. When Nathan said that Allie is afraid to talk to Elizabeth without him present...oh that hurt inside. I feel so sorry for Allie, she's so hurt by all this I just want to make everything better for her. I like that Elizabeth's concern for Allie is at the forefront bc it's like her and Nathan are the concerned parents, but since Elizabeth rejected Nathan (and therefore Allie too) she really has no right to demand a say in how to help Allie feel better. Elizabeth isnt part of the family unit and Allie is solely Nathan's responsibility. I really liked Erin's acting in the way we could see the moment where Elizabeth thought back to her conversation with Rosemary and decided right then and there that she had to ask Nathan what it was he wasnt telling her. I'm kind of disappointed in the secret though. I had made that prediction, but thought it was just too much and unnecessary drama...and then of course that's what it was. I have no clue how this will play out. I can't even remember the preview for next week. Anyway, overall, Elizabeth central, but also Elizabeth's annoying. Lucas shippers finally have something of substance...sort of. And as usual Nathan and Allie steal the show and I couldn't love them more.

#when calls the heart #wcth season 8 #when calls the heart live

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reeesea · 3 years

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Something Sweet: Part Eight

~something special~

one ~ two ~ three ~ four ~ five ~ six ~ seven ~ eight ~ nine

pairing: minsung, han jisung/lee minho

warning: mild language, some alcohol consumption

words: 4.4k

summary: Jisung gets his night out and a new birthday buddy

a/n: This au isnt dead! yay, I hope you enjoy the mess <3

ao3 link

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“Hyung, where are we going?” Jisung tried his best to sigh as loudly and dramatically as possible. “Today was already so long, you could've just left me on the couch tonight.” His whining was largely ignored by his friends to much of Jisung’s despair. He was feeling a little bit drained at the fact the trio had all spent the day in meetings with groups of people, and now was being dragged, his introverted ass to be exact, was being dragged out of their apartment to be around even larger groups of people. Damn his members for both being charismatic bastards with extrovert tendencies.

“Ji, you're literally always complaining that we never go out. Aaand you're right. We never do sooo, here we are.” Changbin had all but peeled Jisung off his blanket pile on the couch and into his nicest pair of jeans and his “least offensive” shirt. According to Changbin of course that meant a sleek black button up, that he's pretty sure Changbin had gifted him some Christmas ago. But of course being Han Jisung he had found a few of his favorite accessories to complete his look.

“Plus something tells me you won't be complaining for too long, once we get there”

“What's that supposed to mean Channie-hyung”

He continued on without giving him a response. They had been walking for only a few minutes, neon filling the street as streams of people made their way through to the various bars and restaurants on the block. The glow of the nightlife was electric, Jisung couldn’t deny it, but he still didn't find it to be what he would call a comforting atmosphere. It definitely had nothing on his blanket cocoon he had going on the couch. Spacing out as Chan led them through the streets, the oldest took an abrupt left into an entrance of a bar, almost hidden by the largest store fronts that occupied either side of it.

As soon as Jisung stumbled through the doorway, a sense of deja vu came over him. Well maybe not deja vu because he had definitely been here before. The mirrored walls and the low lit space was now full of weekend patrons that breathed life into the place that he hadn't realized it was missing the first time he visited. Wait, when had he visited this place?

“Jisung!”

Minho!? Before he could spend any more time traversing his thoughts he looked over to the bar to find Minho smiling brightly at him. Unlike his first visit, Hyunjin was un-uniformed, seated on a stool alongside a giggling Felix, and not behind the bar. Chan and Changbin both shared a look before gently shoving Jisung to move out of the doorway and toward their friends.

“What are you doing here?!” Jisung somehow didn’t think he would be seeing the older this weekend, they had shared similar sentiment over the past week that they were looking forward to a no-plan-weekend.

“What do you mean I work here.” Hyunjin mused sarcastically. Felix hit him, and got up enthusiastically to greet them.

“WE’RE BIRTHDAY TWINS, we HAVE to celebrate” Felix hugged him immediately. Jisung was surprisingly comfortable in his clingy embrace. Something about the disarming nature of the boy made it feel almost natural, and maybe it was. Clearly a bit tipsy already the freckled boy talked animatedly about how excited he was to finally have a friend that was “LITERALLY” his age. Jisung admittedly could relate, and found himself beaming right back at his new companion.

---

Minho hadn’t taken his eyes off the youngest rapper since he ‘walked’, stumbled, through the door. He was initially afraid that Jisung would feel sore about celebrating his birthday with Felix but the bright look in his eyes when they met his, smoothed any of those anxieties.

Last week, Minho was more than surprised to get a text from an unknown number. It turned out just to be Bang Chan looking to plan a get together between the lot of them for the youngest’s birthday. Tragic backstory and all, Chan was sure to elaborate on Jisung’s dreams of going out with his friends.

“He really just wants to be a normal kid ya know, well not a kid exactly, and not normal by any means, but you get my point. To be honest, as hyungs we feel bad for taking that away from him. He's so pure at heart really, and he works so hard, and I know he doesn't sleep enough, but does anyone really? hahaha, anyway...” Minho found that Chan rambled just like Jisung, it was painfully endearing.

Of course, Minho had agreed to let them help coordinate a get together. It was mostly Chan who had his own work cut out for him. Negotiating with their company about last minute free time was a challenge but he just had to reassure their management that everything was in place and promise that they wouldn't do anything “newsworthy” to potentially hurt their debut. Minho reassured them that dispute the host club’s reputation, Sweet Lotus was probably the most secure club in town.

Chan had been frantically messaging Minho just an hour ago, about how they couldn't find Jisung, only to get a message ten minute later apologizing and reassuring him that he was actually just buried on the couch. Chan gave off single parent vibes so strongly, Minho can’t help but let his guard down, and found himself warming up to the 3RACHA leader quickly. He looks rather relieved to have made it to the Sweet Lotus with Jisung in tow. Jisung’s loud but warm laugh filled the air and Chan’s shoulders visibly relaxed with a gentle smile stretched across his face. Minho found his heart settled comfortably in his chest as well.

---

“EXCUSE ME EVERYONE.” Although the statement was only for the ears of the six of them, a few surrounding victims were pulled in by Hyunjin’s dramatic exclamation. “I require a toast for this evening! Even though we haven’t known each other long. THIS night, is a night of celebration, of birthdays, of new friendships, of potential one nigh-”

“Hyunjin!”

“Sorry… Anyway, first ones on me boys lets get it.” dramatically distributing shots of clear liquid they all did a inaugural cheers simultaneously downing the shot. Jisung made a disgusted face that triggered some subtle harassment from Changbin, who pinched his cheeks fondly.

The night now officially blessed by Hyunjin standards, Minho decided it was probably time to actually begin the night’s planned festivities. “While I do enjoy shots of free soju, that's not exactly why we're here. Is it?”

“It's not?” Granted Jisung had no clue why he was in most situations, but he was especially lost having been told nothing prior.

“Come on Sungie, it’ll be fun” Minho took his hand subtly, and led them up a set of stairs near the back of the bar. Soft magenta light flooded the stairwell as they made their way to the second floor. Minho nodded at the tall handsome host at the entrance, allowing them to enter the lounge freely. Upbeat music flooded the room, bodies dancing under other multicolor lights seemed so content it was almost like a scene out of a movie. Pairs of couches laided with expensive looking fabric, and even more expensive looking patrons lined the walls. A light fog dusted the floor, and everything about the room felt intoxicating and indulgent.

Jisung looked up to find Minho’s gaze already on him, warm and inviting as ever. He looked like a perfect match to the pink haze and sweet scents that surrounded him. Minho led the group with such confidence and grace he matched his beautiful environment, it was very clear why he was so popular when he had worked at the Sweet Lotus. He embodied the very image. The self conscious part of his brain wouldn’t let him enjoy the image long though.

Something about him couldn't help but feel like he stuck out. Sure Changbin had dressed him up for their outing, but he still couldn’t help but feel like he didn't belong to be surrounded by people as beautiful as his new friends. 3RACHA wasn’t exactly known for their beautiful charms or dainty visuals. Minho, Felix with his whimsical smile, and Hyunjin with his undaunting charisma were all in their element here. Jisung always had a rough time figuring out his image outside of 3RACHA.

Apparently sensing his anxiety he felt Minho's hand hold on to his firmer, and even Chan left a gentle pat on his head. Already situated themselves in a secluded booth near the back, Changbin had already gone off to order drinks for their table with Hyunjin, Felix was talking to Chan about their shared home town, Sydney. And then there was Minho. Looking at him with a raised eyebrow and a questioning look.

“What, is there something on my face?”

Minho’s giggles somehow sound like bells, Jisung can’t explain why. “No, no you just seem uneasy. I just want to make sure you're actually happy to be here”

“I am I promise! I'm just really surprised, I had a long day and I didn't really know what was happening until we got here, and I’ve never been to a place like this before, and I haven't seen you in a while and, wow let me tell you it's really good to see you.” Suddenly he felt like his face and hands were on fire. His connected hand with Minho’s burned with the realization.

“Also you're still holding my hand! Did you know that? In case you didn't know I just wanted to make sure you knew. Not that I want you to stop I actually really enjoy it, but just in case you like forgot or somet-”

“You're adorable Sungie.” Minho’s eyes remained locked on Jisung with overwhelming fondness. Just ask Jisung, he was definitely overwhelmed. His face continued growing hotter until he saw a hand outstretched with a glass of liquor in front of his face.

“Ji, take the drink and close your jaw you'll thank me later.” Chanbin coaxed the flustered brunette to drink the bitter alcohol he had brought. Tearing away from Minho’s intense stare, he accepted the drink and took a sizable sip from the glass.

“LEE MINHO.” The 3RACHA boys all practically jumped out of their skins at the booming voice. While subtle grins formed on the unbothered roomates.

“Ope, Who told on me?” Minho asked, completely unfazed, looking at his roommate accusingly.

“It wasn't me….” Hyunjin’s lists of excuses died in his throat, as a woman dressed in a sparkling purple dress made her way over to their corner booth, finger already pointing accusingly at Minho.

“How dare you show your face in this place after 3 months, without a WORD.” The woman almost sounded betrayed and hurt through her voice. Still it was obvious that the threatening woman immediately demanded respect with the way she held herself. Although her words were sharp her graceful features didn't deliver much real malice other than signs irritation at the oldest dancer.

“I’m sorry, Noona time got away from me~” Minho flashed his innocent puppy eyes and added a subtle charm to his words that the beautiful woman seemed to be completely immune to.

“Uh huh, and I'll pretend I believe that excuse.” Something akin to a standoff seemed to be occurring between the two.

“But ONLY because I missed seeing your pretty face around here.”

“...Guys, this is Momo-noona she owns Sweet Lotus.” Hyunjin’s attempt to provide the bystanders with some context broke the light tension in the air. Momo shifted her expression to a bright smile that suddenly screamed gentle kindness, void of all the intensity it had previously held at Minho.

Seemingly hoping to aid in the situation Chan jumped in to respond, “Oh well, it's great to meet you, I’m Ch-”

“Oh, don't worry, I know exactly who you are.” The eldest member’s eyes widened and a nervous laugh escaped his lips, not expecting to be recognized. Especially by the semi-threatening woman.

“You're the hometown heroes around here, the next big thing in the music industry hmmm?”

The trio seemed to only be more cemented in their stunned silence. Momo’s smug expression did not last long before transforming into a large smile and welcoming expression. Her aura radiated a welcoming feeling, unmatched, even by her employed hosts.

“Truly, it's my pleasure that I get to host the 3RACHA boys, you'll always be welcomed here.”

“I- uh um, Were flattered really, Thank-” Changbin stumbled out.

“You don't have to Thank me any sweet Changbinnie~ as long as you enjoy yourselves and promise to visit again. I’m happy.” Changbin’s ears glowed red at that, thankfully hidden by the colored lights.

“How do you know us so well? Is Hyunjin gossiping more than he should be?” Jisung poked some fun at the bartender.

“Hey! Confidentiality is our highest priority. I would NEVER!” Hyunjin crossed his arms defensively, sinking further into their booth.

Momo giggled, content with her employee’s loyalty, “Thank you for that Jinnie, but no a friend of Sana is a friend of mine”

“Wait you know Sana-noona?” Jisung was surprised that Sana actually talked about them to her friends, a part of him hoped she was proud to be associated with them.

“Mhm, believe it or not your sweet Sana-nonna is my closest friend. We’re thick as thieves, we were even roommates for a few years when we first arrive in Korea”

“Woah” Changbin was definitely glowing with some pride now at the implied indirect compliments and recognition. Meanwhile Chan was still trying to connect the dots in his head from all of the new information, a cute confused look on his face.

Momo took a moment to lean closer to Jisung’s face. Acknowledging their hands that were still joined. Directing her attention back on Minho with a smirk, “He’s a cutie Lee Know. I’ll give you a pass on abandoning me for months, if this one is the one stealing away from my establishment.”

Minho grew red at the use of his past host name, and personal nickname from Momo. Minho’s nervous laugh erupted out of him. “Aaahhhhh okay Momo-noona thanks! it was great seeing you, ah would you look at that I need another drink. Come with me Hannie.”

Minho was slightly scrambling to escape the booth in embarrassment at Momo’s dramatic encounter with them all. Jisung was pulled in tow from their joined hands.

“Oh okay, it was nice meeting you Momo-ssi.” Jisung used his free hand to wave at their booth before they disappeared into the dancing crowd.

Hyunjin had revived himself from the booth, giggling at his retreating roommate. Felix joined in too, and enjoyed seeing the flustered side of their hyung.

“Is he always that precious. I just have the urge to pinch his cheeks.” Alluding to Jisung, Momo turned to the remaining 3RACHA boys for confirmation.

“We all do.” Chan’s full charming smile and older brother's pride visible on full display.

---

The night continued as “planned”, once the unofficial couple returned from the bar. More alcohol was ordered to sustain the drinking games that Hyunjin had spearheaded into teaching the rest of them. Being the current university student apparently was enough qualification for the rest of them to follow without any resistance.

“Okay and so once your turn is done you pass your glass to the next person and they have to go.” Although full of enthusiasm the rules didn't make sense, nor could anyone properly follow them, so it ended up just being Hyunjin yelling at the each of them when they should or shouldn't drink.

“CHANGBIN they won on your turn, so that means you do a shot!”

“What I- Okay hand me the bottle.” Without even pouring a glass, he shot back an acceptable amount of soju for Felix to drunkenly cheer from beside him.

“Yay Changbin!!! Join me on my journey to blackout.”

“Lix baby, that should not be your goal.”

“It never is.” Felix sighed at his hyungs concerns, but not before taking a sip from his fruity cocktail he had ordered earlier. Jisung had an identical cocktail one that he had finished quickly. Felix had originally ordered them so they could “match for their celebration”. No one could ever say no to Felix, and that remains the only thing that makes him truly dangerous.

Overall, it was a mess, but all of them finished the game substantially more tipsy when they started. Jisung was definitely starting to feel the effects of the empty bottles and glasses around him. He felt a little numb but just enough to be more comfortable and accepting of the new atmosphere. Having not expected any of this tonight, he definitely found himself surprised that they all had gotten through the large number of bottles that the uniformed waitress had brought them not even an hour ago.

The buzzed feeling in his body didn't make him any less aware of his company though. Felix's bubbly personality comforted and uplifted the whole group. Changbin ended up being a relatively heavy drinker, having lost the most rounds during their games, and became more animated as the night went on. Chan was smiling almost non-stop and it made Jisung glad to see his oldest hyung relax and enjoy a night out, after working so hard for so long. Hyunjin’s laugh would echo through each conversation making the environment warm and fun. Jisung never would have thought that the fabled “night out” trope would actually feel relaxing. He couldn't help but smile to see his hyungs and his new friends become closer. So much of his life has shifted since meeting Minho.

Minho’s hand had been disconnected from his still they returned but they still sat knee to knee in the booth. The shared warmth of their legs and the mindless fiddling of fingers when Minho would reach over to play with the frayed strings on the holes of his jeans, kept the content feeling of butterfly wings steadily in his stomach. Jisung felt full of bliss as well as soju.

Minho was mostly focused on all the group’s conversations and the liquid level of his glass, but every so often would sneak glances beside him to make sure Jisung was still smiling. Sometimes staring back, sometimes not but Minho wanted to make sure the other was enjoying his birthday celebration. The smile that had been plastered on Jisung’s face and his infectious laugh that flooded the room, was enough to reassure the older.

Minho managed to stay just relatively tipsy for most of the night but the rest of his roommates did not seem to be as in control of their drinking as he was tonight. Hyunjin had descended into his sleepy contemplative state of drunk while Felix was practically buzzing with electricity as he talked off the 3RACHA members’, and anyone who would listen’s, ear off.

Drawing back in to see how Jisung was doing he found that the younger boy’s eyes were already on him. A heart shaped smile spread across his face as their eyes met.

“Before you give me those dopey eyes again. Yes, Minho-hyung I am having a good time and have been since the last time you checked.”

Minho forced his mouth to close after being caught. He was about to deny his accusation when Jisung just reached for his hand and held it smiling, actively shutting the other up. Suddenly very distracted by the way the neon lights bounced off the others' faces to leave it practically glowing. Minho had always found himself curious of how Jisung could be so breathtaking and still act like he didn't know it. Jisung laughed at Minho’s expression, and who was he to not join him. He would never be able to deny that the younger’s laugh was irresistible.

“Oh my god I love this song, come dance with meeee” A loud, very drunk Felix shouts, as the sunshine boy practically pulls Changbin, also a rather enthusiastic drunk, and Minho toward the dance floor. The inhuman strength of the younger when he is intoxicated is enough to somehow get his other two companions to their feet. Minho flashes an apologetic glance and an extra squeeze to Jisung’s hand at being physically yanked from their little moment.

Jisung, understanding enough, just laughs at Felix’s drunk antics and motions for them to go ahead. Leaving him at the booth with a drunk Chan who is currently holding some “deep” conversation with a very tipsy Hyunjin. Seems Chan’s dad-like charms had gotten the princely boy to open up to him. This night had definitely ended up different than Jisung had first though but he'd be lying to say he wasn’t enjoying all of it.

“Han Jisung.”

Jisung looked up to find Sweet Lotus’s owner giving him an inviting expression. He couldn’t lie that Momo did not scare him a little. But he would say that if anything he just respectfully found her to be intimidating.

“Oh hai.” Jisung tried his best to sober up and put on a friendly face.

“Would you come with me for a moment?” Jisung nodded and got up from their table following the woman to a somewhat quieter area of the clubs open concept near some standing tables.

“So. I’m happy to see you are what's keeping my Lino so busy.” Her friendly smile grew wide.

“What me? No Minho has just been working hard on his other job. He also has auditions and dance and everything.”

“Hmmm, I don't know. Minho has always had a lot on his plate, but I’ve never seen him actually look this happy.”

“Really?” Jisung had never really considered how much Minho could have changed because of him. He didn't know much of Minho’s past. Before they had talked he was simply the nice attractive waiter he had given his number to.

Jisung’s shock was clearly evident on his face, and Momo’s eyes softened at the confused, small, and slightly tipsy boy in front of her.

“Really I mean it, and if anyone would know it's me.” Jisung relaxed visibly, but still held on to his apprehension.

“Jisung, I know you're a good kid. Sana’s told me a lot about you boys and she really swears by it. That you're something special, and I can see it too.” Jisung’s heart lifted in his chest a little with pride for his group. But Momo’s expression remained serious.

“But to me, Minho is truly something special, and I feel like you already know that”

“I knew immediately.” He nodded aggressively, and spoke freely with his filters gone due to the alcohol. Momo giggled at Jisung’s honesty.

“You're such a sweetheart Jisung, but I want to give you some advice about Minho.”

Jisung nodded enthusiastically.

“Minho may be the shining gem he seems to be, but he's also fragile. He's not always as confident as he appears, and can be really stubborn.”

Momo’s expression grew somber for a moment before continuing, “What I’m trying to say is look out for him. Please. He’s placed a lot of faith in you already. So be sure to take care of him, and don't let him push you away. He's a fool with his emotions, especially when he's scared.”

Jisung could feel the weight of responsibility settle on his shoulders, but it was a weight he wanted to be worthy of bearing for Minho.

“I’m trusting you here Jisung-ah, Minho stopped letting me take care of him a long time ago, and I'm afraid he's been on his own for longer than he should to be. I would love to see you continue to make him happy.” Momo’s smile was full of fondness now, but something about it was still slightly somber.

Jisung didn't want to let her trust in him go to waste. “I always want to be by Minho-hyung’s side, I promise to do my best Momo-ssi”

Momo laughs with her slightly disarming giggles, her expression visibly relaxing back into a friendly smile. “Sana’s right you really don’t know how powerful you are.”

“What do you mean?” Jisung was confused at the sudden change in conversation but he found Momo’s change in demeanor to be comforting that she believed in him, at least a little bit, to heed her warnings.

“She means you're too cute for your own good.” Minho voiced from just behind Jisung, making his head turn quick enough to catch Minho draping his arm around the younger’s shoulders.

“Noona are you done terrorizing my Sungie now?”

“I would never! Right Jisung~” Momo winked her eyes playfully in response.

Jisung tried his best to cover up his confusion, and flashed his most convincing innocent puppy dog eyes, “Yeah hyung we were just talking.”

“About me I hope.” Minho giggled at them both, only slurring his words slightly. Turning his head toward Jisung, leaving barely two inches between their faces. But alcohol has a funny way of erasing their usual personal boundaries.

“Well I'm stealing you away now, less talky and more dancy for the birthday boy.” Minho giggled more and Jisung felt his heart leap in response, as he moved the two of them toward the dance floor.

“Have fun boys~” Momo waved and watched them disappear into the crowd with a hopeful smile on her face.

---

The night progressed full of dancing, longing stares, and being too close to each other for it to be considered friendly. Eventually the pair’s roommates had headed home or disappeared off for the night, leaving Minho and Jisung alone in the pink neon lights of the Sweet Lotus. Jisung’s night out had been everything he could’ve hoped for and more. It took more effort than either of them would like to admit to let go of each other's hand once they had to depart for the night.

Almost every part of Jisung was screaming for him to not let the other leave, and that he should stay. But both of them knew that the morning would just bring them more work, that sadly didn't leave room for long morning’s together.

But If Jisung was only able to let go of Minho’s hand after the older had to let it go in order to cup his cheek instead, and give him with a gentle kiss goodnight, that was between the two of them as far as Jisung was concerned. And if Jisung went to bed smiling like a fool with red cheeks and red lips then that was for only him to know. And if Minho’s smile mirrored Jisung’s while he stayed up thinking about pink lights and heart shaped smiles, then that was only his to know.

-----

Thank you for reading ily <3

one ~ two ~ three ~ four ~ five ~ six ~ seven ~ eight ~ nine

#skz fics #stray kids au #stray kids fic #stray kids #minsung #han jisung #lee minho #leeknow #skz leeknow #skz han

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aerlths · 4 years

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boundaries. tseng (18+)

request: Your first Tseng request was bliss! Can we have a Tseng smut oooof

: thank you so much and thank you for requesting! I’ve been wanting to try writing smut for a while, I hope this is okay! I was very sad because most of this imagine was deleted by tumblr and I had to rewrite everything, but I really wanted to deliver you this so I pulled through.

[reminder that requests are open for headcanons, imagines or fake text messages, all characters and pairings.]

(tumblr isnt allowing me to add the gif right now, i’ll do so later)

Tseng wasn’t one to lose sight of boundaries between his work and personal lives. Such strictness often served as the last protector of his sanity, and he found that balance to be essencial whilst working as a Turk.

Though it would usually only fuel his image as the consummate perfectionist, his tendency to cast aside his feelings while on the job had some negative repercussions in you, his fiancé.

Your relationship hadn’t been as long as one might think at the mention of that title, but taking into consideration your line of work and the years of longing stares, it came with no surprise.

What was surprising, however, was how mechanically he interacted with you when on the clock. To a certain extent, it made sense - he was your superior, the highest ranking of the Turks, and blatant favoritism would should put the two of you in trouble. However, it did seem as if you had moved backwards as a couple, growing colder by the day.

For a long while, you weren’t affected by this whatsoever. You knew the man you loved, and though you weren’t fully confident in yourself, you knew better than to question him. After all, work hours were for working, and you never lacked affection outside them. He was passionate, thoughtful - an all-round nicely presented package of a man, and you couldn’t possibly ask for more. Even if he lingered around other people, if you had lunch with different groups, if he barely looked up from his paperwork - you never felt yourself waver. Of course, there had been some occasional instances when you’d been a bit too sensitive and required his attention, but they never amounted to much.

Until now, that is.

You’d woken up craving for his attention, having yet again dreamed of him. The last couple of days had been particularly overwhelming, the entire squad a mess with the latest case - in sum, you were touch starved.

Groaning, you swung your barren legs from the bed and prepared yourself for another day at Shinra. With your jet black suit, hair hanging lazily behind your back and a mechanically shrunk weapon resting on your pocket, you made your way outside. Just down the hall was Tseng’s own apartment, close by as were all the other Turks’s per the company’s order, and you walked towards it with no other thought.

It obviously wouldn’t be the first time you met in the early morning like this, and you were certain that a nice tight embrace and even the brief touch of his lips would be enough to fill that little empty hole in your chest. You weren’t even halfway through when Reno stepped out of his own door, yawning loudly.

The fiery red-headed grinned at the sight of you, waving exaggeratedly. “(Y/N)! If it isn’t the best girl!”

Humming a greeting, you continued past him. He called after you, “Ya know he’s not there right?”

You turned around, head tilted in question. Reno shrugged, “At the office with Elena.”

With Elena?

Your first instinct was tugging you towards a more protective, upset response, but you made an attempt at shrugging it off. You were engaged, he loved you, he deserved your trust and respect. It’s just work, you work too, some things need to be done. Such response didn’t linger in your mind for long - by the time you entered the building, you were a bit preoccupied. Tseng was well aware that Elena had feelings for him, and he was also aware of your thoughts about her. He obviously did not need to ask for permission to do anything, but he could’ve informed you that he was going to spend the night with her, of all people.

Trying to bury such an unhealthy mindset, you went out of your way to get the two of you coffee before walking up to his office. It must be the need for affectionate recharge, you just need to convince him to sneak in a couple of minutes for you. And so you went, hot cups in hand, only to find the blond turk sitting on his desk as he typed, knees nearly brushing his chest. Atop the desk were too halfway-done cups with the same dark liquid you carried - you instinctively hid yours behind your back.

She noticed you at the entrance, and you must’ve looked quite the piece, because Elena immediately moved off the desk. With her slender fingers lightly gripping Tseng’s shoulder, she whispered something, and moved away, greeting you as she passed. The apparent presence of someone was what made him look up from his computer, piercing dark eyes falling upon you.

“Good morning.” You said, and it was much softer than you had intended. Why was your chest so tight?

His response was as brief as yours, and his eyes were trained back on the screen ahead when he added, “Is there anything you need?”

Your lips parted to respond, to say what you had been needing for the past week, but your throat seemed to have shut off on you. Instead, it allowed you to croak out a “No”, and walk away from the room.

Was he seriously not aware of what that scene had looked like? Did he not understand that, while she was barely permitted to stand five meters from him without he practically bolting, he had another woman leisurely sitting atop his desk, nearly clinging to him? Not only that, he couldn’t even drop his cold facade for a minute or two when you hadn’t talked to each other in a week? You were only left with the impression that he didn’t love you that much, or else how couldn’t he even show a glimpse of need? It had you second guessing just how much of his work attitude was because of his boundaries, and how much of it was because it was you.

You touch the cold metal in your left hand and inhale. No, he loves you, don’t overthink. It’s all a misunderstanding.

Mechanically inhaling and exhaling once more, you move to the desk nearest to yours, Reno’s, and offer him the second coffee you were carrying. His brow perks up in surprise, and his tone is undeniably teasing as he lifts the cup. “Hey, I’m a man with principles, (Y/N), you shouldn’t try to seduce me like that.”

You role his eyes at his theatrics and sit beside him, gladly distracting yourself with work. Morning became afternoon, and though the blond circling past your desk from time to time had you flash with fury, you kept burying your feelings over and over until night time arrived. It can wait, you told yourself, this subject can wait until we’re off work.

But, it turned out, it actually could not wait.

You wouldn’t have known if it wasn’t for the red-headed whispering over your ear, “I just heard Elena say she’s gonna pull the same shit tonight”. The look he gave you was sort of apologetic, but you could tell the true purpose of delivering this information - get her ass.

But you didn’t go up to her at all, instead, you went straight for the office of the only person in that entire building that owned you anything. The man you were engaged to.

The door - that was always ajar - was locked behind you, and you gave him no time to think before speaking.

“What the hell was that this morning?”

You went straight to the subject, but that seemed to throw him off guard. He shook his head slightly, brows furrowed. “What do you mean?”

There was no breathing technique that would get you to calm down at that moment. “Are you actually serious right now? You spent the night in here with a woman that very clearly likes you, without even telling me-”

“It was work related, I don’t believe I have to report on that.”

“-and then, I get here, to see her sprawled across your desk like she owns the fucking place, all touchy, whispering in your ear with your damn fiancé standing in front of you and you barely bat an eye. Now I hear she’s staying with you again?”

“She wasn’t sprawled across my desk, she was there to look at the monitor with me. And yes, we might need to stay in tonight as well. Is there any problem?”

His tone was so overwhelmingly flat and controlled, it only clawed at that empty hole you’d been building up.

“Couldn’t she stand up like a regular person, pull a chair? Do you really think any of that is appropriate?”

Tseng sighed into his palm. “More inappropriate than you barging in your superior’s office, locking the door and discussing personal matters? No.”

At that point, his words physically hurt. You felt your chest tighten again, as if it was caging your heart in its attempt to flee. Fuck.

“You know what? You’re absolutely fucking right. There’s nothing wrong with any of that, I’m just acting like the crazy jealous girlfriend.” You paused, taking a moment to flash a small, provoking smile at him. His own expression was still as stoic. “Now that I know what the boundaries in our relationship are, I’m going over to work at Reno’s apartment. I’m sure he’ll let me spend the night there. Perhaps he’ll let me work in his bed, we’ll be more comfortable.”

It was a low blow, but it’d gotten a reaction out of him - though albeit not what you were expecting, if possible, his face had only grown colder. “No, you won’t.”

“It’s work related, I don’t believe I have to report on that.” You countered. His eyes flashed as you continued. “The shift’s just ended, and I’m sure your new sweet companion has something very important to work on with you. If you don’t mind, I have to find mine. Excuse me.”

You turn around, just barely in time to avoid cracking right in front of his eyes. It was too much for you, the man you loved so deeply blatantly ignoring your feelings and going as far as belittling them. He didn’t even make an effort to understand why you would, for the first time, cross the line to talk to him like this. It hurt you the more you thought about it, and predicting the translucent liquid pooling up behind your lids, you made way for the door.

As you were about to touch the handle, a firm hand gripped your wrist, turning you around. You weren’t aware he had speed materia on him, and that was certainly besides the point, because the eyes glaring down at you were quite harsh. “You’re not seriously about to do that, are you?”

“It doesn’t concern you.” You responded, biting the inside of your cheek to restrain yourself.

He pressed you against the cold wall, towering over your much shorter form. “Do you have any idea how hard it’s been for me, (Y/N)? I’ve been working non-stop, I spent the night working with Elena, not whatever the hell you’re suggesting you’ll do with my friend. I’ve barely been home, and instead of helping me you’re only making it worse?”

“That’s not fair.” You began, and as the first couple of tears rained down your face he seemed to significantly soften, though his grip remained. “I’ve been working too! The only thing I wanted was to be with you for at least five minutes! We haven’t even spoken! I was going to your apartment this morning to spend some time with you, now that we’ve gotten that case behind, only to learn that you were with someone that you know I hate being near you, without at least a heads up. And I wasn’t going to say anything about it! I came here, hoping you’d at the very least discreetly hold my hand for a couple of seconds, just to see her sitting nearly on top of you when I can’t even be near you! And you know I have that...fantasy...and you still let her behave like that. Perhaps if you loved me a bit more, or even at all, you’d miss me as much as I am.”

You wiped away at your stained face and groaned, he stepped back, releasing your arm. “You think I don’t love you.”

“That’s the only part you took away from everything that I just said? Fuck this.” You went for the door again, only to find yourself pressed against it, this time with a pair of lips assaulting your mouth.

It was an open-mouthed, uncontrolled, desperate type of kiss. In spite of your self, your toes curled underneath your heels and you couldn’t help the soft mewl that escaped your throat once he broke away. His eyes were focusing on yours again, this time so close you could point out each speckle of color.

His voice was raspy as he spoke. “Don’t...don’t ever say I don’t miss you.” He buried his face in your neck, “I’m sorry for being harsh. (Y/N), you know why I don’t want to be near you at work. There’s nothing I’ve been wanting more than pressing you against something and having my way with you...nothing I’ve wanted more than making you squirm under me, hear you call my name...”

“What’s stopping you?” You taunt, and he presses a soft kiss where his mouth lingered. As the idea pops into your mind you feel yourself flush. “You could...make it up to me.”

He instantly knows what you’re referring to because he attempts to - half heartedly, at that - dissuade you. “We could get in trouble...”

“I don’t think Rufus would mind if it ever reached his ears.” You mutter, and he shakes his head.

“Still...”

You’re starting to feel embarrassed, being declined after spending the entire week without even a kiss, so you inch away from him. “I thought it was harder for men than for us, I guess I must not be at-”

Tseng could see where you were going from miles away, to which he pressed his body against yours, the very prominent bulge flat against your stomach. “Stop saying things like that.” He murmured against your ear, his breath sending a pleasurable chill through your skin.

You had the urge to drop down to your knees right there, but couldn’t, as you were effortlessly picked up by your thighs.

He placed you on his desk, having made up his mind, and your hands immediately covered your face as you realized what was about to happen - your simple little fantasy, being pounded against Tseng’s desk, was about to be fulfilled. He tore them away as quickly as you put them up, invading your mouth once again with a kind of hunger you had yet to see from him. His hands were already tugging at your suit pants, and you promptly followed his lead by shimmying out of them.

His mouth never left yours as he worked to undo your jacket, your shirt and your tie, and his fingers only halted to deepen the kiss even further, or to support your head as he swirled his tongue in unison with yours.

Once you were stripped down to your underwear, he took a step back to admire the black set you’d chosen this morning, as you’d thought you might get some alone time with him. His eyes raking up and down your body didn’t make you as self conscious anymore, but they never failed to feed the hot knot in your stomach, especially so when he, as he was doing now, lowered himself in front of you.

He moved one of your thighs to grant him better access, and you couldn’t help but shudder in anticipation. The kiss he pressed against your clotted vulva had you gripping the mahogany you sat on, and you could hope everyone had indeed left as he slipped that fine piece of cloth down. He looked up at you first, head between your thighs, and the blatant smirk that ripped through his lips had you on the verge of passing out.

He started with a small stroke of his tongue against your clitoris, a chuckle in his throat at the first sweet mewl that escaped from you. He moved slightly down to your entrance, just how you liked it, and began lapping right at it, the intensity of his ministrations making you tremble. He occasionally took your clit between his lips, softly, and sucked at it, just to stop and hear your desperate moan. It wasn’t long before the practiced strokes undid the knot in your stomach, leaving you a panting mass as he keep lapping you up after you high, swallowing down the excess of your juices.

You pulled him up by the collar and brought his mouth to yours again, tasting the salty substance. Tugging at his suit, he promptly shrugged it off of him to reveal his toned muscle, product of years on such a job and your favorite thing to touch - and so you did. You ran your hands through his chest, his arms, his back as his mouth explored yours, and only when you were satisfied did you move to fiddle with the waistband of his boxers, excited to feel just how much he’d missed you.

And he surely did - missed you, that is - because he denied your attempts at playing with his cock. He wanted it inside of you, he’d said, and you were way over cloud nine by the time he positioned it in line with your entrance and slipped inside.

Tseng was always quite the gentleman, making sure you were feeling just as good or better than him, but you could see just how much he had been longing for you when he barely waited before pushing back his hips and slamming into you again. He leaned into you as he did so, biting and sucking on the skin of your chest, licking the sensitive buds of your nipples whilst he pounded into you in a smooth rhythm.

Your moans and cries and his grunts filled the room in a symphony that screamed pleasure in more ways than one. You found yourself slowly losing your grasp of sanity as he hit deeper, just in that perfect spot that made your legs tremble and your voice get more and more strained and incoherent.

He pulled you even closer to him, holding you in place by the waist, and quickened his pace as he too began to reach the very brink of heaven, and with a couple more strokes he twitched inside of you, a flash of white hot bringing you into your own demise as you clawed for nothing with his name on your lips.

Tseng brought his mouth to yours again, this time in a sweet, lazy kiss, and he stayed inside of you a little while longer as he regained his breath.

Wordlessly, he found a cloth to clean you up, and it wasn’t until a bit later that you came out of the office, with the promise he’d be to the apartment complex as early as possible, and that he’d be entering through your door that night, not his.

#ffvii #final fantasy 7 imagine #tseng imagine #tseng smut

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justabeadlizard · 4 years

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STAR WARS CHARACTERS THAT WAISTED POTENTIAL IN THE SEQUALS

I am in no way saayig i liked these characters i just think they could have had better and more satisfying arcs. Sorry for the spelling and grammer also i forgot the movie names

Criteria: 1. They were in the 1st and 2nd movie. The third had no room to introduce new people or give them satisfying character arcs. 2. i remember them. at the time i begin its 12:35 am and i hope god kills me

8. that force kid

ya know that one kid who had the force at the end of the second movie and was never addressed??? with the broom??? its like this post where were they going with that???

7. Captain Phasma

i forgot who played her but she was like.....cool and should have been a scarier villian. she did demonstrate girl power by not having tity armor, proving some of the storm troopers could have been girls this entire time, and having cool armor. but thats it

6. Hux

look i dont like this bastard i just think he could have had a consistant charcter?? like bad guy, prank called, spy???? BITCH WHERE!!! he had an Aesthetic and they trashed it. also when did we all decied he had a cat????

5. Kylo Ren/Ben Solo

i might not like hux but i hate this guy. and i hate him so much because he’s my fav trope done bad. like look i SIMP for Zuko ok? like absoulutely and Kylo?? he had potential. the whole han stabbed himself would have been genuenly cool. the force parter thing? rad! the idea that there needs to be both light and dark for the universe to be balanced and with a power couple?? love that! if he had a genuenie redemption and felt bad and appologized to all those he hurt. but disney just said bAgIc TrAcKsToRy and robbed us of what could have been a cool character. i have so many emotions about him but i also hate this stinky man

4. Rose Tico

Rose’s sister did not die with a fucking matching space necklace for rose to go out the window in ROS. like that i get i wasnt expecting them to be like Pacific Rim and let her mourn her siblings but she and Finn kiss and that is never addressed. at all. like what? what was happening god were the 2nd and 3rd movies even connected??? she deserved so much better!!!! i love her!! another kickass woman lead!!

3. Poe Damion

ok first off hes gay so write that down. but also he is sorta robbed in the second movie right?? like i wuld have loved for him to spend time with Finn. like that scarf in movie a la 3 but like theres nothing. hell the comp het they making him do in 3 isnt even that hard of an effort and that one detail that he’s waiting to give his lover his mothers ring??? god use that why dont ya. im loosing my grip on the physical world at this point

2. Rey

so like did her parents matter or not??? Im confused. also why did we need to know that palpatine knocked someone up. let her parents not matter or have them matter!!! She’s a cool female protag but peop[le still be out here like women cant force bend. I DONT CARE SAY UR SEXIST BUT LET HER BE A WILD AND MESS GIRL!!!!!! LET HER HAVE JUST AS MUCH GROWTH AND RESPECT AS LUKE!!!!!! i want to care about her but ive lost that along with my ability to smell

1. Finn

hey ya know who are some of my fave characters? the clones. why? because of their very unique perspective. they fight in this war yet most of them have no illusions. they were built to kill until they are inevitably sacrificed on the battle field. Stormtroopers are evenmore so as they are not even allowed to make familial connections or have names in the system. Finn could have been such a cool character with such a cool perspective. also his force sensitivity should have played a larger point in the movie. in the scene were he gets a bloody handprint on his face it would have been so much more rewarding if we knew that as a force user he was an empath and felt that person die. the implacations of a thing i just now realized. think about it!!! raised in a cold emotionless place and the first major emotion spike is death?? im aware that as a trooper that wouldnt have been the first major moment he felt others emotions but what if that was the one where he figured out what was happening, willingly amplifiyed that persons emotions so he could fell them more clearly and then felt them die. also he and poe were dating

THE SINGULAR EDIT THAT WILL EXIST--THE ONES WHO WERE DONE DID DIRTY THE MOST WERE THE CAST!! I STAN ALL OF THEM AND ALSO EVERYONE WHO HAD TO WORK ON THOSE COULD HAVE BEEN GOOD MOVIES THANK YOU AND STAN JOHN BOYEGA ESPECIALLY NOW

in conclusion, im not sorry and i do make the rules. i will never edit tjis and it is 1:16 am, my limbs are week and i cant spell. luke should be on there but i feel like i can make another 12-1 am review about him a lone so maybe i will. im going into a comma now 030

#star wars #star wars rise of skywalker #star wars sequel trilogy #god kill me now #finn #poe dameron #poe deserved better #rey #kylo ren #i worked hard so i want people to see it so excessive tags #sequal trilogy #rose tico #star wars force awakens #star wars last jedi #captain phasma #hux #remember rhat joke that hux was a weasly???#also where was that from???#no more tag ideas baaaaaaaaaabbbbbbeeeeyyyy

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afewmarvelousthoughts · 5 years

Text

Stay Ch. 16

Master List

Pairing: Natasha X Reader (Female)

Summary: You have a gift, the ability to see other people’s innermost secrets. For years you used it to gather intel for the highest bidder when you take on The Widow. After she becomes more than a mark the two of you spend years stealing moments. Post snap you wait in your designated meeting place, look back on the sordid past you share with the woman you love and hope against everything that she’s still alive.

Warnings: Angst, and fluff, and feels oh my!

A/N: So yeah I swear I wroth an authors note for this... but idfk what happened.

ANYWAY! Thank you all for being so patient while I got my life together. This one is also short and sweet (guess that’s the mood I’m in). However, y’all should know me by now. This is just the calm before the storm.

Hope you enjoy this one my pumpkins!

Tags are open!

@mywinterwolf @disagreetoagree @breezy1415 @peachthatdrinkslemonade @5aftermidnight@jeromethepsycho @marvel-randomness @daniellajocelyn @katecolleen @yanginginthere@wonderlandmind4 @piensa-bonito @for-the-love-of-the-fandom @lesbian-girls-wayhaught @siriuslycloudy2

March 2007

At some point in the last five months, you’d stopped recognizing yourself. The woman in the mirror wasn’t Y/N. Her hair was different, down to even the eyebrows. Her accent distinctly that of a life long Londoner. She worked for an independent UK couture fashion magazine, chose wine over whiskey, and was distinctly heterosexual.

When the chance to work this job requiring deep cover came up in December you jumped on it. You didn’t want to be you anymore. The you that couldn’t be with the woman you loved. The you that was heartbroken. The you who was beginning to doubt that you’d ever be happy. Fuck her.

Being Charlie Daniels was far better. She was, of course, a real person. Just one who was now living comfortably in the Bahamas courtesy of MI6. Even legit agencies had use of freelance talent every now and then.

Settling into her life had been easy. Not setting her boss on fire or blowing his brains out daily was a different task altogether. Turned out that a magazine was a great front for a crime empire. Lots of international travel, young and beautiful and desperate men and women, money exchanged in countless untraceable ways, on and on. And this fucker was happy to take advantage of every single disgusting avenue it opened up.

You almost had everything you needed to hand to MI6, get your obscenely large payout, and get on to another gig while they threw all of these bastards into cells to rot for the rest of their miserable lives. Just one more trip. After whatever horrible things they lay out in Tokyo you’ll be set.

Tokyo is one of those cities you can lose yourself in. Like New York but better for its interesting balance of vibrancy and grounded reserve. You absolutely love it.

The whole point of the trip, at least on the surface, was to focus on Fashion Week Tokyo. Honestly, there was a part of you that wished this was your world. Nothing but runway shows and after parties. Writing about the latest trends rather than delving into the inner workings of the worlds miscreants

Oh well. It was nice enough to pretend. You had to admit that you’d miss Charlie Daniels once you shed this skin in a couple of weeks.

You’re sitting two people down from your boss at an underground show. The level of security here screams that there are other things going on behind the scenes but it’s still a room filled with a who’s who of the Japanese and international fashion communities.

This was your third show of the day, and you knew there would be a party after where you’d have to schmooze all while plucking information from your unsuspecting fellow guests. You’re exhausted. So rather than pay much attention to the show you let your mind wander.

When she walks out you feel her rather than see her. Slowly you turn your head to stare dumbstruck at the model walking onto the catwalk. Your heart begins beating against your ribs, your mouth goes dry, your hands shake.

It takes every ounce of control you have to keep your emotions in. To not scream “Natasha!” at the top of your lungs. To not grab her and run for the hills. Charlie Daniels and her easy life be damned. It’s hard but you manage.

As she turns and comes back down, passing now closer to you, her eyes don’t graze the crowd at all. Head up, shoulders back, she walks the runway like she’d been doing it for years.

The rest of the show is maybe ten minutes but it feels like years. You know the models are all attending the party. Eye candy for the high end guests.

It’s fairly easy to ditch your coworkers in the crowd as you try to find the best vantage point in the room without being too obvious. After a solid twenty minutes, you find yourself planning an escape route. Most of the models are milling about but she’s no where to be seen. You will find her.

But you know you can’t skip out just yet. At the bar, you order a red wine and make yourself seen. Charlie would never miss the whole party after all. You spend a bit chatting with designers and a few models, feigning interest in the whole thing until you hear your boss call out to you.

“Oy, Charlie!” Carl’s voice alone makes you want to put him down. When you turn he’s waving you over to the bar. Sighing heavily you head over.

You’re about ten feet away when you see her, head back laughing at something Carl or his friend had said. Both men are far to close to her for your liking and the hungry look on Carl’s face sets your blood boiling.

He slings an arm around your shoulders and you carefully coach your face to not show disgust. “Charlie here is my best writer. Doin’ some pieces for us on this whole thing,” he waves his other hand around wildly.

“Good to meet ya, Charlie, I’m Dan,” the other man, clearly American says.

“Likewise,” Natasha doesn’t react to the accent at all.

“This here is-”

“Natalie,” Natasha cuts him off, extending a hand to you. Holding her eyes with yours you take it. It’s like touching a live wire.

“Natalie is an American model working here in Japan. May be a good topic for a piece.” He ribs you leaning closer, “And a good piece for the office eh?” Suddenly that MI6 money seems far less appealing.

“I’d love that,” Natasha beams. “Why don’t you guys go mingle and Charlie and I can chat!” The men exchange a glance, but there’s plenty of fresh meat around to sink their teeth into.

Carl flashes you a greasy smile and a wink as he walks away. Thinking clearly that you’re going to snare this woman for him. You, unfortunately, had a few others. Not something you were proud of. Demands of the job you told yourself.

“She’ll take a vodka neat,” you tell the bartender.

“Yes,” Natasha smiles at him, “Whiskey for her. Makers if you have it.” He thinks nothing of it and makes your drinks.

“So, how’s modeling in Japan?”

“Probably about as good as writing for a sleazy jackal.”

You laugh, “That bad? What’s the goal.”

“Getting a cover,” you commend the clever word play.

“That’s a good goal. Long term?”

“Something like that.” She takes a sip of her vodka, “How long are you here?”

“End of the week.” Your skin itches to touch her. The men are rounding back. You hold her gaze and shift your eyes back to them. She catches on.

“Perfect! It’s so hard to have a good interview here, don’t you think?”

“Absolutely. Why don’t you come by my hotel?” You whip out your spare key card. “I’d love to get your story for the mag, maybe do a full feature.”

“A feature would be excellent exposure!”

“Wouldn’t it?” Carl slides up next to her. “We can get you all the exposure you could want Ms. Natalie.”

“Charlie was telling me all about it.” She flashes him a coy smile. “Thank you so much Charlie! I forgot I have a late fitting tonight for another show so I’ve got to run. But we’ll chat soon yeah?”

“Absolutely! It was so good to meet you Natalie.”

“Same! Bye!” She hurries through the crowded room and disappears.

“Busy girl.” Carl quips. “Whiskey?” You look down at the glass by your hand.

“Some guy sent them over,” you gesture to Natasha’s lipstick stained glass. “Seemed rude to refuse. Can’t stand the stuff though.”

“That’s a mans drink,” Carl laughs at his own perceived joke and you force a smile.

Somehow you make it through the rest of the evening. You’d refused to allow yourself to hope that she’d be here, too obvious to come the same night, better to wait. Kicking off your shoes you head straight to the mini bar and crack open a whiskey, downing it in one gulp.

“You really need to be more careful,” Natasha’s voice comes from the bathroom. “I mean not even checking around. Sloppy.”

“Charlie Daniels doesn’t have to check for Russian assassins in her bathroom,” a smile pulls your face so tight it hurts.

“Well, Natalie Rushman isn’t a Russian spy. So…”

You let your real accent resurface as you pull her into your arms, “Natalie Rushman, I don’t know if that’s clever or lazy.” She kisses you hard, tongue sliding over your lips hands gripping your ass.

“Mmm,” she hums. “Kinda like the accent.”

“Oh?” You revert to the clipped posh Londoner sound. “Would you rather be with Charlie? I hate to break it to you, she’s strictly into dick so you may need to get a bit creative.”

Natasha’s head falls back with laughter, “I’m always into a challenge but,” she cups your face in her hands, “I’d much rather Y/N, she’s got a cute accent too.” Your kiss is soft this time, “I missed you.”

“I missed you too, honey.” Gently you push a strand of hair out of her face. “Is this smart? Are you gonna get-”

“I’m good. I wouldn’t be here if I thought there was risk.” She pulls away and tugs you toward the bed. “There’s no surveillance on me here, I check in every week, that’s it. This is strictly to build a cover.”

“Cover for what?” She gives you a sideways glance. “Right. National security.”

“Do you really want to talk about work?”

Smirking at her you push her back on the bed. “Maybe later.”

You lean down to her but she stops you by planting a strappy heel in the center of your chest. Trailing your fingers down her leg you snag a knife from her thigh holster. Carefully you slide the blade under the straps, the incredibly sharp edge cuts through the thin suede like it’s nothing.

“Those were very expensive you know,” eyes sparkling with desire.

You slip the shoe off and toss it aside. “I’ll buy you a new pair.” Your lips press against her ankle.

Everything in your life until her was so fleeting. Even your own name, the sound of your own voice, who you were… But with her, you were grounded. You weren’t anything but her’s, you were Y/N.

Suddenly you’re overwhelmed. Caressing her muscular calf you just stare at her eyes. Emerald green, dark liner, lids heavy with lust and exhaustion.

“Natasha…” Your voice cracks and you fight for composure.

“Y/N? What is it?” She shoots up, cradling your face in her hands.

You shake your head, unable to really find the words and unwilling to send this storm of emotions to her. “I just…” You cover her hands with your own. It’s not that you don’t want her, you do. But…

“Can we just… I just wanna hold you…” Her expression immediately softens, eyes sparkling a touch with tears. “Sorry… I… I just…”

“I’d love that, baby.” Tenderly her lips brush yours, then your cheeks, your forehead, your eyelids as they flutter closed.

You shed your clothes and crawl into the plush bed. Holding tight to one another you spend hours drifting in and out of sleep, covering the other with soft kisses. Before the sun rises your hands wander southward.

This time you don’t fuck one another senseless. It feels like you’re trying to memorize every curve, every sound, every subtle thing that marks being together. You both know you many not get to do this for some time. The knowledge aches but it doesn’t make having her any less sweet.

Post Snap

You lean your head back on the wall behind the booth. The crying man from last night is gone, you find yourself hoping that he’s resting peacefully somewhere… even though you know it’s pointless to hope for such things.

There are more people filling the bar than there was before. The TVs are off, radios turned up, reporters frantically trying to determine what happened. It was global, that was clear. All planes grounded, trains stopped, communications spotty due to damaged cell towers.

A man speaks frantically to someone who seems to be a friend that he was heading to Nuremberg from Budapest, how the roads are almost not navigable. He doesn’t know if his family is even still there but he has to find out.

Despite his distress, your lips curl a bit at the mention of Budapest.

#natasha romanoff x reader #natasha romanoff #natasha x reader #black widow #queer fic #wlw

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the-skooma-den · 5 years

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Aight! part 2 to my whole shebang on my eso main syke! Part 1 is here and it covers the basics of who/what she is. This one is how she goes through the main plot, all thats under cut

And here is a directory to both posts about her, as well as the ones about her siblings

Were gonna do this bullet point style .also just assume the main plot quests are going on at the same time, the “main” quest remains relatively unchanged aside from her relationship with Abnur Tharn, who is her grandfather, which although it sounds important really isnt because she hates him.

Pre main plot: Mostly covered in the previous posts

Her time before the main plot, as a member of the brotherhood. At the time of her kidnapping she was mentally a wreck and moments away from a mental break. She was on a lot of drugs and was drunk pretty often, it was a very bad scene. On top of that morally speaking was pretty ambiguous if not downright evil.She was actually infamous in the brotherhood for her ruthlessness. (It’s actually a common story to tell the new recruits about the time she slit a babies throat in front of its mother because the mother got in her way). Overall unsympathetic and completely apathetic to worries of the world around her.

It’s worth noting that deep down she was already ashamed of herself, which fueled a lot of her unhealthy behavior. She doesnt see much wrong with how the brotherhood operates in general (she was literally raised in their cult so not much surprise there) But her earned reputation as being brutal was not one she was proud of

Eventually she was drunk one night and was captured and sacrificed by the worm cult, thus starting the main plot

Cold Harbor: She was in cold harbor for a long long while ,she’s not actually sure how long she was there. It felt like years, but when she got back to nirn she had only been missing for about 6 months, and some of the injuries she couldve sworn were there for a months looked only hours old when she escaped. Her experience there haunts her for a long time,pretty much the rest of her life, but she does her best to deal with it. Her time here cause her first real shift, because now she cares about something. Even if it’s just caused he pissed her off. She’ll stop at nothing to stop Molag Bal even at the cost of her life. Which might not really be an issue in the first place, as thanks to her lack of a soul she is essentially immortal. Whenever she “dies” her body falls to the ground and her concienness is left to wander nearby while it magically heals (unless the body is completely destroyed, then she ends up at a wayshrine a while later)

Cold harbor is where she got her most prominent scars. The shackles around her neck (mostly on the back of her neck) and wrists and lashes on her back. All of her piercing were ripped out as well. Her hair is extremely matted and overall shes just gross and uncomfortable She also has 2 neat and precise stab wounds above her heart from manimarco.

Khenarthi’s roost/ Auridon: After Razum-dar drags her out of the ocean looking like hell, She’s so dazed from ya know,dying and coming back to life that she doesnt bother coming up with any kind of character or disguise, she barely even has the mind to come up with her fake name,Syke.

When he dredged her up he immediately brought her to healers and though they had to work pretty quickly they fixed her up well. They cut off all the matted bits of her hair (which she later fixed into her little Mohawk thing), they healed up all her tears from the piercings being ripped out. They also healed up the wound from the shackles and whips the best they could ,they couldn’t do it all the way through but they made sure it wouldn’t get infected at least, but there was no way to stop it from scarring.

She actually does know who Raz is even though they’ve never met, she’s just heard of him. She figures “Hey getting the support of the Queen and her spy force would be useful” so she goes along with it and helps him. She manages to conceal the fact she knows who he is pretty well, but he is still suspicious. (which to be fair a women who was recently pretty clearly a prisoner falling out fo the sky and clearly being a experience fighter and mage isn’t exactly normal). She proves herself dangerously competent, extremely useful (and also kinda hot) so Raz asks for her help on Auridon as well.

Only a few notable divergent from the main plot of things happen while on Auridon. The first is that after she is appointed as an Eye of the queen she asks the queen to speak privately for a moment and while no one knows 100% of what they spoke about, the main thing is that this is when Syke explains the whole “I have no soul and am planning on killing Molag Bal to get it back” thing. As his invasion is starting to really mount up by this point the queen promises to support the endeavor whenever it happens so on so forth.

The second is an extra moment between Raz and Syke after the quest at Mathiisen. Basically She looks at Raz and realizes since she’s met him like 4 of his friends have died. She’s not very good with people or emotion but, well they may not really trust each other but they still like each other…and she’s at least pretty sure they're friends,all his other friends are kinda dead, she figures she might as well TRY to comfort him. This ends up with them getting absolutely smashed in the local inn and is basically an excuse for exposition because Raz knows almost nothing about her at this point. He does end up learning quite a bit about her, including that she’s from a little town north of silvinar (which honestly, kinda obvious. She has a pretty strong east bosmeri accent even after living away from there for years and years), and that she’s at least somewhat noble with little to no interest in claiming her titles. She greatly downplays HOW noble she is. He returns the favor and tell her he’s from a little farming village and She immediately guesses what part of Elsweyr hes from, shes spent a lot of time there in her youth, and she could identify that southern Anequina accent anywhere. After this she takes to jokingly calling him Farm Boy…if only in private. They also learn more about each others families, though it mostly amounts to funny stories about their younger siblings.

They wake up horribly hungover (and naked) the next day and go on their separate ways for a bit. (aka, he goes to meet up with the Queen on their way to the festival in skywatch, Syke goes and does some sidequests and then they meet up during the festival. The plot continues)

Last little side note here is her addiction to skooma and other drugs. Dying, spending a long time in spooky terrible ghost hell prison, and then kinda but not really coming back to life has some pretty funny affects on a person. She didn’t get any kind of magical cure for her addiction, she was basically just forced to go cold turkey for god knows how long. She’s in an ok enough mental space to at least refuse skooma, but she still hits the alcohol pretty frequently.

Valenwood: Valenwood is where things get a little conflicted with her personal life, Namely because of her sister, Nia. (more on her in part 1 but quick summary, she ran away almost 10 years ago and faked her death,and then showed up with the bosmeri noble members of their family completely denouncing her, their mother and the rest of their family)

So while Syke is off doing the main quest in Valenwood, Raz puts together that one of the Dominions biggest supporters among the Bosmeri Nobles matches Sykes description of her sister. Raz decides to tell said Noble about the whole thing and she confirms that, that sounds a LOT like what happened between her and her sister. Raz learns a bit more about the whole family drama he has somehow stumbled into, including the whole “Nia ran away Thing, but doesn’t learn much about Syke specifically. Just that her and Nia are actually cousins, they have different last names and that she’s pretty much always gone by fake names or nicknames (and that Nia is working of the correct assumption that Syke wouldnt appreciate her real name being revealed)

Nia at this point, does not regret leaving and knows it was what was best for her, but defiantly regrets how she did it. Raz informs her that hes actually going to see Syke at Marbruk and invites her along to try and apologize to Syke.

Raz is expecting some heart felt reunions and tearful apologies and is of course surprised when Syke didn’t even let Nia say two words. She saw Nia, was stunned enough that Nia took off her mask without struggle but before she could get even 2 words out Syke decked her. Hard

So Raz talks to Nia (once she wakes up) and learns some alarming things from her. Mostly why Nia ran away in the first place (she didnt want to be a member of the dark brotherhood and being a impulsive teenager who figured that faking her death was the best option) and that yeah, Syke is not just a member of the brotherhood, but a really notable one,and also a lot about her …disturbing reputation in it. Not to mention the fact she’s a bit higher up on the nobility scale then she originally implied…by like a lot. She is pretty close to inheriting several thrones and important titles, and is by the way, Abnur tharns granddaughter.

Raz, of course, runs to the Queen to deliver the information that yeah, their extremely efficient new recruit is a member of the brotherhood, and is the granddaughter of the man who tortured her. The Queen already knows. Syke isnt dumb, she figured this might come up eventually and told the Queen first chance she got (remember that conversation in Auridon?). Ayrenn agreed to continue letting her be an Eye,with the understanding that if Syke ever moved against the Dominion she’d be killed on the spot. As for the Abnur Tharn thing, well Syke never really knew him. At the time of the Auridon conversation she had never met him, and you can’t really hold a person accountable for the actions of a relative she never knew… Course Syke had at this point met Abnur tharn multiple times but even someone with zero social grace like her understood that this was not the time to mention it.

Raz is pissed at Ayrenn and Syke for not telling him any of this, Syke is pissed at Nia for…everything she’s done for almost 10 years, and Ayrenn and Nia are getting along surprisingly well (and lowkey are kinda dating). Nia follows Syke around for the rest of the main Dominion plot, Syke is not happy about it but damn Nia’s hard to shake. Nia is as stubborn as her sister and If Syke won’t forgive her then she can at least try and help get her sisters soul back.

The Raz and Syke thing gets resolved before the end of Valenwood after another brief conversation where it really hits Raz with the pure amount of shit Syke’s been through and is still going through.

Yeah hes still mad, but shes desperately trying to apologize to him and honestly sometimes you have to cut a person some slack. Whatever her reasons for joining in the first place she is genuinely loyal to the Dominion (if she wasn’t those giant golden wing tattoos on her back were a real stupid move). There’s no way around the fact he’s a little intimidated by her now, for several reasons really. And it sucks and it hurts her but you can’t really blame him.

The main plot counties as it does, though I like to think they get a slight break at the end to actually enjoy the celebration appointing the new Silvinar and Green Lady for a couple days before things go to shit and she has to run out to reapers march.

Appearance wise, shes starting to replace her Piercings and she’s getting tattoos to cover her scars. Golden Laurels around the shackle marks and Golden eagle winds to cover the whip marks on her back. She really believes in the Queen at this point and thinks Ayrenn is the best bet Cyrodill has, to the point she’s decided to represent it on her body.

Reapers March: (technically part of Valenwood I think but i figure it deserved its own part) Even more shit hits the fan now, cause being declared an important figure in a completely different religion isn’t something that’s gonna help a crisis of faith. So a few things happen here.

A third member joins the party, Syke’s little adoptive brother Jo’Thera, a Khajiiti Necromancer and fellow member of the brotherhood shows up. He was besides being her little brother, easily Syke’s best friend. He knows She’s been unhappy for a long time now and when she disappeared he was the only one who didn’t just assume she killed herself. The moment he heard a rumor that a woman who sounded a lot like Syke was running around the Dominion territory he took off after her. (side note, the reunion between him and Nia isn’t as violent as her and Syke’s, its just bitter and cold and sad). He was never really all that loyal to the brotherhood, he was mostly in it for his family so when Syke explains the situation he’s just fucking ready man, ride or die. Fuck it lets go off the grid, tearing credit cards and shit if she’s out then he is. (She’s not actually out yet, leaving was never in the question for her. She desperately wants to get back to her famly she just wants her soul back first. He’s just supportive) and Syke is considerably happier to have him along then she was Nia (who while ostracized by her siblings, is still following along). He kinda creeps everyone out, cause on one hand he’s a perfectly cheerful friendly man. On the other hand he’s a necromancer assassin. It’s just an unsettling combination...It doesnt help that he aware hes creepy and finds unsettling people extremely fun.

So of course Senalana happens. She lets Raz live, so he is of course extremely mad. and thats a whole damn thing. It’s not to different from what happens in game, just imagine afterwards it’s more of a real argument rather then Raz just yelling at her, also its longer. And also imagine some more romantic tension between the player and Raz .LIke they aren’t really dating yet, but they've defiantly banged multiple times and theyre both lying about not having feelings for each other

She does have a good reason for letting him live outside of their growing romantic relationship. She doesn’t really believe in the dominion so much as she believes in Ayrenn and Razum-dar. She’s seen to much of the Dominion from the inside and out to really think well of it, but she knows Ayrenn. And she knows Raz. If someone has to be emperor/empress of her home she’d prefer it to be Ayrenn. However she is also convinced the Ayrenn won’t be able to do that without Raz specifically, Syke has seen them work together and at least from Sykes point of view if one loses the other then any hope the Dominion has of winning this war is fucked.

Anyway that whole argument ends up in a shouting match at the end of which Syke takes the circlet,disappears for a few weeks, hides it her own damn self and then continues on the main quest.

This is the main reason why it really took Raz and Syke so long to get together, if it weren’t for this they would have been together before Syke went back to coldharbor easy. This complicated things a bit, made them both think

Syke chooses Shazah as the Mane and was really torn up by Khali’s death. This only real difference between this and the canon quest is that she actually threatens Shazah towards the end of it, like full on knife to throat, right after watching Raz and Ayrenn die. Basically saying that if any of this comes to pass, Syke will hunt down the traitors first, then Shazah. And if it comes to it she’ll take the Ruby throne for herself (one of those moments that everyone remembers that she is a noble woman, even if she doesnt use the title. and also that no one but her really knows just how high up she is). Shazah asks her if she loves him. (him being Raz, she did just watch Syke sob over his body, then only tear up a little at Ayrenns corpse). Syke doesn’t Deny it, she doesn’t say anything. They just keep moving.

(Also Raz and the rest were being kept updated on what was happening during the whole ceremony and up until this point it was basically a mix of dark humor about their own deaths and sympathy for the girls having to go through it. At this point it goes dead quiet, eyes turn to Raz, and im not gonna extend this further by adding a pic of the surprised pikachu meme but in spirit its here and representing Raz’s face)

The main plot keeps on rolling till it’s time to storm cold harbor. She does go in alone though, despite her siblings insistence, she refuses to put them in danger of losing their souls to.

She has one final conversation with Raz before she goes, they admit nothing cause theyre stubborn bastards but they do apologize to each other

Cold Harbor: There’s really not much different here about how syke goes through it. The only things of note are that she’s terrified for the whole thing and also makes friends with a few of the other reoccurring characters, namely Darien, who i think shows up earlier then he actually does in game because he basically ends up her sidekick through the whole thing (though he might say otherwise). She is suitably distraught when he disappears. She helps out in the search for him whenever she can spare the time after that.

The Dlc start to happen about a year after the main quest (that year is when all the things like that mages and fighter guild happen). At this point her hair does keep going grey but once the stress of “I have no soul and i’m going to fight a god” goes away it slows down a lot. The worst of her scars are already covered by tattoos and her favorite piercings have already been replaced, so this point any additional piercings and tattoos are just for fun because she likes them.

as for the last 2 drawings,One is just her in game look,I thought it be fun to put in here. the other is just a reminder that she almost always wears a mask and that variations of this mask are the only thing most characters will ever see of her.

#my art #skooma rambles #Syke #eso #the vestige #Lordy this got long #im happy with it though #i might go even further into certain events later just becuase #this is so much fucking fun for me #also yeah apparently a part 3 for the dlc is coming

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dunamanticarchivist · 6 years

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Critical Role Latest of the Lateblogs C2E31 Commerce and Chaos

Well I think this is the longest I’ve held off watching CR 2 since binge-ing the first 13 episodes in a marathon procrastination for roughly 3 days. Which might be a good thing, that I’m giving sufficient priority to things around me. But not being able to browse twitter and tumblr cos spoilers has been rather killer. Now, for a relaxing shopping episode of... critical role. Also that title is amazing

Only 3 and half hours boo hoo

Or did they take out the break in replays?

Oh boi a Sam Riegel southern special

A true blue ‘murican musical masterpiece

ENCORE ENCORE

Oh thank god I thought they took out the audio for the cheesy intro

That wouldn’t be the same any more would it

RIP Sam Riegel, but RIP Matt Mercer first

Dafuq Nott is now inventing flechette rounds in fantasy settings

Holy shit thats gonna be dangerous - one potentially explosive arrow

Im surprised Travis isnt asleep yet

Okokokokokok there are shenanigans afoot with letter forgery

(Ok i got spoiled a bit for this bit, but still)

Liam’s face palm is mood

FROM THE TOWN OF NIGERIA

Jesus there will be a million repercussions spilling out of this and plot ends for Matt to refine into knives to murderinate them with

Oh no this will not end well. At all. RIP erbady’s heart

Diamonds, fucking diamonds

Ah there is Travis’ eyeroll. RIP him

LETS GO TO PUMAT’S (i saw a pumatprime logo that looks like amazon prime it was awesome sry i forgot who to credit it to on twitter)

Dese kids MOAR PUMATS

Bath time again?

GIMME THEM BRACERS

Thats really helpful Jester you should never bargain

A mighty girth....hmm not the group name you are looking for

Interesting spell selections. Feather fall, expeditious retreat, catapult. All 1st levels and uses reaction, bonus action and action. Very versatile

“This longsword”. Travis instantly becomes interested in shopping again. BAD FJORD BAD PUT DOWN THAT LONGSWORD. NO DONT EAT IT AGAIN BAD

The sword that was broken, potential plot point

Dust of deliciousness wtf that sounds absolutely baller

Cleaning out the pumats

ALL THE FUNKY ENCHANTMENTS someone please make the thinking meme for pumat

The dancing sounds like a Otto’s Irresistable Dance a lvl 6 spell enchantment.

8000 gold for that. Interesting.

As an economics student, I am incredibly fascinated by the price systems that exist in Exandria (so 400 gold for +1 weapon)

Lotta pigeons hooting in here

Tfw when your hobo wiz is charming af

Only 100 gold off, its something but thats less than 5% off the bill (total should come up to 2400 golds ish)

Paper and ink in the same box, I too like to live dangerously

Marisha’s grabby hands for the bracers *squeeee

Matt, you have no idea how heavy paper can get

“May I go to the library” jesus that brings me back to childhood I loved my school library

MOAR SHOPPING RIP TRAVIS ROUND 2

We now have an official cook and potion maker on the road, its gonna be lit

Suvo’s Secrets ooo what a name. 20 ft by 20 ft. The first thing that comes to mind is how a Fireball would put the place to flame. I need help

Holy fuck thats a big dragonborn

Im calling it thats a hoarding hag of a dragonborn

FROM YOUR MOTHERS CHEST really Matt you forget the Ruby of the Sea was a prostitute for one second. Just one second. Meme mode ON

1 gold for fucking garlic they have no fucking sense for money

They should have just brought Nott along and stole the whole bag

Jester please once again, never negotiate for prices.

Also if Matt was in the mind to fuck with them, they could literally be paying for the privilege of being cursed

Fjord bailing, shopping must have been super depressing

SABIEN??? SABIEN???? GIVE ME PLOT GIVE ME BACKSTORY

Bummer to have a week of failed investigation

ONLY CAT FRUMPKIN

Zenoth still being creepy af

Jebaited monk training Day 1: Time to fucking read

Roleplaying lvl 6 subclass features pretty good

Lotta bows there

Correction Laura: everyone be a Cobalt Soul monk

“I dont get to kill those guys?” aww man

Info dump lads this is a wiki filling episode erbady take notes

The Chained Oblivion? With all the manacles I think that’s shaping up to be BBEG of this campaign

STILL NOT A GOOD ENOUGH REASON TO USE THE WORD PENETRATE

Magical experimental in Solstryce? This is not a particularly helpful turn of events

I wonder does the eye serve as a spellcasting focus

THEY SPLIT THE PARTY DOWNTIME MOST DANGEROUS TIME

Lots of charming ASMR voices with the Gentlemen and Fjord

oh shite its cree another WHERE’S MOLLY???

Ya he ded

Eyyy here we go (i got somewhat spoiled for this defacing of temples)

The ‘healers’ got a cloak for Nott the bravest rouge. Yes. But this is entirely wholesome and soul saving

Clearly the cast isnt all the religious or that serious about it

The platinum dragon is now.... a farmer. Very agricultural

-3 to deception at disadvantage. Still a 13. Absolutely golden

This is heresy and we are all going to hell

I HAD JUST HIRED HER goddamn they are horrendous at this skulduggery

OH SHIIIIT 5 CROWNSGUARDS one of whom appears to be a spellcaster

fuck some kind of forcecage? Ottiluke’s Resilient Sphere does damage?

ALL SHALL FALL TO THE CHARM OF JESTER LAVORRE

RUN YOU IDIOTS RUN

Jesus christ I didnt know I could get anxiety from watching a getaway scene

Good lord Jester virtually blew through her entire long rest of options in one night of revelry

Oh god here cometh the heartbreak

Thats alot of vague speak in the manner of gods

Dafuq the god is real? He can touch the dodecahedron? This sounds like a great amount of fuckery

Holy shit the time indeed passed I forgot there needs to be a break

NO REST WE GO ON LIKE CRITTERS

Taliesin is playing his INT 9 well

Lets go vacationing in the Bahamas/Nicodranas/Menagerie Coast

PLEASE CAST PLEASE LESS PEE AND POOP JOKES IM TRYING TO SNACK

Yes that is exactly how Jester would cast sending someone once wrote fanfic like that. It is obviously now canon

REVENGE FOR NOTT THE BRAVE KILL ALL THE GOBOS

Paper = power

ITS MORE THAN THAT AAAAAA ITS SO WHOLESOME

Everybody gets a dead people tea healing potion

Aaaand we’re back to the beginning

A delicious transitory episode, and hmmm a one-shot 2 weeks from now? Fascinating.

#critical role #cr2 #critical role lateblog #critical role spoilers

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