#think he just wants to get on the bed (not gonna happen) but regardless. epic animal cognition moment

[n0r14k1-k4ky01n]

hello! this might be a bit of a weird alsk but can i request headcanons for the crusaders x reader having a vibe session at 2 in the morning? maybe they just had a rough day and decided to listen to loud music at 2am and dye their hair to make them self feel better. the reader is a bit less verbal about their emotions so they just kinda vibe to music? thank you for your time, have a nice day/night/evening!

!!! First ask, woo!!! This is actually so adorable, I love it- I'm gonna say this takes place after the Egypt trip (in an everyone lives AU, of course) so no one is pestering you to sleep for obvious reasons, lol. Also, I wasn't sure if you meant for this to be romantic or not, so I made it kinda ambiguous. You can interpret it how you like tho!!

Crusaders Having A Vibe Session With The Reader At 2AM!!

Jotaro

Jotaro... Probably doesn't sleep very well anyways.

He hears you up and moving at 2am, gives a quiet yare yare as he realizes he's not gonna get any sleep tonight, takes a few minutes to mentally prepare, and goes to check on you.

He finds you as you're waiting for the dye to set, raising an eyebrow, but not reacting much otherwise.

He's used to nonverbal communication, not to mention observant as hell, so he can tell pretty easily that you're not doing so hot.

"... Bad day?"

You just nod in response. He sighs and sits himself down next to you.

This is a rare opportunity to lean on him without being pushed off. He might even put an arm around your shoulder.

He's gonna help you with the rest of your hair if you ask, but only if you explain how, and let him pick the next few songs. He has a very specific music taste, it's a wonder he's been listening to what you put on with only a few snide comments here and there.

... But he'll still take your music taste into account too. Don't point it out, he'll deny it and get grumpy.

When all is said and done, you're definitely gonna fall asleep first. If he's up, he's up. He won't move you (other than off his shoulder) but he'll shut off the music, and if you left your phone unlocked, there's a good chance he'll shut off any alarms you have. He's sure you need the rest, even if you might get pissy that he did something like that without asking.

As long as you're feeling a bit better, he couldn't care less if you're upset at him.

Kakyoin

Either he was already out cold by midnight, or he stayed up playing videogames. Regardless, he's gonna hear the music at some point, and go out to check on you.

He shows up before you've actually dyed your hair, a more confused than he is annoyed.

"Y/N, why on earth are you up this late...?"

"You don't have room to judge, Nori."

"...Touché."

He catches on that you're not doing so hot, and sticks around, trying to fall into a comfortable silence with you.

... The key word here is "trying".

He feels really awkward being around people in the first place, especially one-on-one. Add in the fact that there's nothing but the music to keep him from overthinking...

He's piping up every little while with a fun fact about something or another. He doesn't actually know what to say, but he can't stand the silence, so that's his way of trying to fill the void. He doesn't mind if you don't respond with much more than a nod, just acknowledge that he said something and he's fine.

He let's you pick all the music. He likes just about anything, and besides, you're not doing so hot. It's the least he can do.

He'd also absolutely help you dye your hair, and he already knows how. He's definitely looked into dying his own, but is too worried it won't look better than what he already has, or that it won't look good enough to be worth the time/effort/money.

Once again, you'll probably fall asleep first. This man has trained himself well in the art of "I'm doing something, sleep can wait". An Epic Gaymer™ of the highest degree.

He'll probably try to move you to your bed, but unless he can very easily pick you up, he's just gonna leave you there. Maybe shift you so you're lying down. He just really doesn't wanna accidentally wake you up.

Avdol

I'm gonna start this one off by saying I'm so sorry, I have no idea how to write for Avdol-

Probably still up when he hears you. One of my personal headcanons is that he opens his shop in the evening and shuts it down in the day, since tarot stuff seems to be a lot more popular with the night crowd, so he's on a bit of a weird sleep schedule anyway.

Immediately concerned. He's pretty good at picking up on other people's emotions.

"Y/N, you look down. Is there anything I could do to help...?"

Just ask him to stick around and he will. He might even make you some tea, if you like it. Or like, hot chocolate. But no coffee unless it's decaf, he's not about to let you stay up later than you need to.

He's okay with the silence, actually. Will open his arms up for a cuddle, if you want. He's such a good space heater cuddler.

He doesn't really know how to help you dye your hair, but he'll try if you tell him how! Honestly, just let him know what you need in general, and he'll do it in a heartbeat... So long as it's not gonna backfire in the long run, like caffeine, or starting a big task/project (it's the middle of the night, for Pete's sake).

Might suggest listening to quieter music after you've finished with your hair, in an attempt to help you wind down and maybe fall asleep.

... But it's a 50/50 as to who actually falls asleep first. If he manages to stay up, he'll try and carry you to bed. If he can't, he's gonna wake you up and tell you to go properly lay down. He feels bad about disturbing you, but it's better than letting you sleeping funny and get a sore neck.

Polnareff

See, Polnareff needs his beauty sleep. He's out at a reasonable time, 11 at the very latest, and your music absolutely woke him up.

He's gonna stomp out of his room grumbling and groggy.

"It's 2 in the damn morning, Y/N, what the hell...?"

Not the most observant of the bunch, so for him to clue in, you'll either need to look like death, or straight up tell him you feel like shit.

Any hint of grumpiness or sleepiness is gone in an instant, replaced by a small gasp and so much worry.

This man is absolutely going to help you with your hair. Hell, if you let him, he's going to try and give you a full-blown spa experience. Face mask, nail painting, he might give you a massage!! Please indulge him, it's going to be so nice and he's going to be so happy he could help. But, if not, he's more than happy to just sit with you.

However, unless you specifically ask him to be quiet, he's going to talk your ear off. He won't mind if you don't respond, he's more than happy to just blabber about anything that crosses his mind.

Hell, even if you do ask him to hush, he's gonna struggle with it. He never stops talking, the absolute dork.

He'll suggest songs he thinks you might enjoy, and will sometimes ask if you can skip one or two that he really doesn't like, but for the most part you have free range over the music.

He's going to try so hard to stay awake, but he's used to a full 8 hours or more, so he's falling asleep first. Though, when he wakes up, he's gonna remember what happened last night and apologize profusely for passing out on you. Oh, and compliment how nice your hair looks in the natural light, of course.

Joseph

Another early sleeper. When he was younger, he'd stay up until the wee hours of the morning with no problems, but nowadays he's pretty consistent about passing out at 10 on the dot. Your music woke him up, which is impressive, because he sleeps like a rock.

Manages to be less grumpy than Polnareff when he comes out, but not by much.

"Geez, Y/N, could you please save all the noise for the daytime?"

However, he's still got his paternal instincts, and as soon as he gets a good look at you, he's gonna know somethings up.

He's gonna insist on helping dye your hair. Hell, if the dye is temporary, there's a good chance he'll ask if he can dye his too! He doesn't see why not, and besides, it might get you to smile.

That's his main goal here, actually. He'll try not to talk too much, but similarly to Kakyoin, he's not great with silence. The difference is that he's gonna fill it with terrible dad jokes and over-the-top stories rather than fun facts. But if you really want him to shush, he'll try his best. He'll get quieter the later it gets anyways. He just wants to make you happy.

Expect him to hum along to any songs he knows, but he won't ask you to play anything specific.

Absolutely going to cuddle you if you let him. He's a very good cuddler/pillow.

Although he's probably really sleepy, absolutely refuses to fall asleep first. As soon as you're out, he'll shut off the music and carry you to your bed, no matter if he struggles with it or not. Tucks you in, pats your head, the whole nine yards.

... And then he goes and passes the hell out too. He's an old man, leave him be.

#jjba #jojo part 3 #stardust crusaders #jjba imagines #jjba scenarios #jjba x reader #jotaro kujo #noriaki kakyoin #muhammad avdol #jean pierre polnareff #joseph joestar #this was a really fun first ask #thank you for requesting!!!

[petri808]

N4+Inukag Ex’s Still in Love @liz8080 its angst 🙃

It had been a year since the break up, but Inuyasha was no closer to moving on and according to his best friend, neither was Kagome. He only knew what his ex was going through because their best friends were caught in the middle and providing updates. Poor Miroku and Sango, Inuyasha was sure they thought he and Kagome were idiots by this point.

Not that it was from a lack of trying, because they both were trying... maybe a little too hard to start dating again. Inuyasha had tried the typical avenues like bar hopping and even posting a profile on dating sites. But if irony wasn’t such a bitch, every single site he tried would match him to none other than Kagome Higurashi. It was fate, Miroku would coax the idea onto his friend. Yeah, well fate didn’t have to deal with reality and they were two stubborn fools unwilling to relent.

At the bars, Inuyasha’s handsome hanyo looks gained a lot of attention and the night would always start off right. Every single woman in the place took a chance to talk to him. If he liked what he saw, he’d give them a shot to butter him up, lulling them in with his molten amber eyes. Flirty conversations and flowing alcohol made for... women making excuses and leaving him to walk out single. Every. Damn. Time. Because something always sparked his ex’s introduction to the conversation. It turned out once Inuyasha was past the tipsy stage, all he wanted to do was talk about Kagome. Good or bad. It didn’t matter and according to Miroku during one very drunken evening, he’d even cried. If it wasn’t for the blackmail video, he wouldn’t have believed it.

Okay fine! So he still loved the woman! They’d been together for seven years, that’s not something you just get over quickly! She wanted kids and he was hesitant... it wasn’t a no, but it wasn’t a yes. That’s when Kagome broke up with him.

Inuyasha swirled the drink in his hand with a low growl. “You know our world isn’t always safe,” he admonished his co-worker, a fellow Yokai named Kouga. “And she’s human, the child could be born human, and what if I can’t protect them both?”

“Stupid,” the Wolf yokai sneered back. “You’d lose the woman you love over fear? The Taisho’s son showing weakness, that’s pathetic.”

“Bite your tongue wolf. It’s not just about fear and you know it.”

“Yes, it is.” Kouga countered. “Modern times or not, that woman has spiritual blood coursing through her veins, so an offspring will most likely be a full hanyo. I suspect Kagome senses this, so it is your own fears that’s overruling you.”

“Tch, I didn’t come here for a lecture!” Inuyasha stood up from his bar stool. But as he turned to leave, his phone rang.

It was Miroku. “Something happened Inuyasha. Kagome was attacked on her way home by a yokai. No one knows who. She’s been taken to Shinkon Medical and she’s... in a coma.”

“What?!”

“It’s really bad, you should get here as soon as possible.”

Inuyasha doesn’t respond and quickly rushed out of the bar with Kouga hot on his heels.

“What’s going on?!” Kouga questioned.

“Something attacked Kagome.”

“Oh, fuck.” Kouga could see Inuyasha’s demon side manifesting, purple stripes along his cheeks and red eyes replacing gold. It must be serious.

When they arrived at the hospital, Miroku took them up to the room Kagome was in. Not that Inuyasha needed his help to track the woman’s scent, but thanks to Kouga’s steadfast hand in his shoulder, he stayed cognizant enough to follow quietly so as to not scare the staff. Sango stood just outside of the door ready for their arrival.

“Brace yourself Inu,” the woman warned, “she’s... it’s a miracle she’s still alive.”

He simply nodded shakily and walked through, leaving his friends to wait. There really was no way to brace himself for what he saw. Kagome was almost unrecognizable. She had tubes and wires hooked up to beeping machines that flashed her life on a screen. It was an unnerving sound in an otherwise deadly silent room. Her arms were all bandaged up, one leg in a cast with pins and metal sticking out, but her head... his fists clenched tighter. Her forehead was wrapped in gauze, face bruised and swollen, her nose and mouth with tubes coming out of them to keep her alive. Even in the dim lighting, he could see the blood, smelled the dried blood stuck in her hair.

It was his nightmares turned reality.

That’s when he smelt it, the lingering stench of a familiar panther yokai left on Kagome’s body. Had this been a targeted attack? Anger surged to the forefront. Inuyasha leaned down and took her hand gently while placing a soft kiss on her forehead. Regardless of reason, this yokai would pay dearly!

Inuyasha growled and sped off faster then any of his stunned friends could stop him, out of the hospital. Kouga called from behind in pursuit, but his demon side had taken over and nothing could stop him. He leapt over buildings, speeding through alleyways before humans could even register what had passed them by. There was no way to know exactly where the rogue could be, but he had a territory to start in.

The panther yokai had always hated the inu’s reign over the central part of Japan. They fought and lost an epic battle during the edo period, forever retaining a grudge. But this was a brazen attack, the first since those long ago days, and on a human?! It was unforgivable. It was because of the inu’s control that the human world was safe from the yokai inhabiting it. Most of the other’s, like Kouga’s wolf clan fell in line without any problems, and peace remained. Oh, this panther will pay dearly for trying to kill the chosen mate of the Inu no Taisho’s son!! This wasn’t the first time the two men will clash, but it will be the last.

From a rooftop, Inuyasha perched as he quickly scanned the dock area. The yokai was alone. Perfect. With a deep roar, he dropped down on top of the male before it could take off. Claws and fangs unhinged as the two males battled. Despite being a hanyo, Inuyasha’s blood was no different than a full-blooded yokai, and worse, his adrenaline and anger was without remorse due to the bloodied images of his girl lying in a hospital bed to fuel his rage. If there were any humans in this desolate part of town at night, it must have sounded like the unholy blood bath it was.

Over and over, Inuyasha tore his claws and teeth into the panther yokai’s flesh. Though he sustained some injuries of his own, Inuyasha felt nothing but the pure hatred coursing through his veins. Kouga had finally arrived as well, his screams to his friend to stop, deaf in his ears. His blood lust had taken control.

“Stop!!” Kouga roared and jumped onto Inuyasha’s back. He hooked his arms around both of his friends shoulders, lifting, and wrapping his hands behind the man’s head to restrain them from moving freely. Inuyasha thrashed hard against the hold, but Kouga refused to let go, continuously growling at the man to stop resisting. “You’re gonna kill him!”

“He deserves it!” Inuyasha countered.

“Agreed! But that’s not for you to decide my friend, so stop! He’s done!”

“Let me go Kouga!”

“Only if you’ll stop resisting. Think about Kagome, idiot! I’ll take the panther to your father for punishment, you need to get back to her!”

At hearing Kagome’s name, the human side of Inuyasha began taking back control from his inner demon. Kouga was right. If they were caught like this by authorities, being thrown in jail for murder would do her no good. Inuyasha let out a long exhale as his body slowly transformed back to normal, and he slumped in his friends arms. “You’re right.”

“I know I am, idiot.” Kouga let him go. “Now get out of here, and make sure you clean up! You don’t wanna scare the hospital people to death!”

“Yeah, yeah,” the hanyo growled, though he appreciated his friends help. “Tell my dad what’s going on and I’ll contact him as soon as I can.”

“Will do.”

It didn’t take him long to get back to his own house to clean up, and it was only then did Inuyasha realize just how far he’d gone that night. What little of his clothes was left undamaged was soaked in the blood of the panther yokai. He threw it all away and showered the filth from his body, then bandaged his wounds as best he could. By morning they’ll probably be healed, but with the adrenaline gone, the pain had also kicked in. He’d still do it all again in a heartbeat.

When he shambled back to the hospital, of course Miroku and Sango were concerned with his appearance. He assuaged their worries before flopping painfully into a chair at Kagome’s bedside.

“The doctors say she has stabled,” Sango explained now that he had time to listen. “But the shock has left her in a coma, so now we can only wait for her to wake up...” the woman paused, “there’s a small chance, Kagome may never wake up.”

Inuyasha shook his head refusing to entertain such a suggestion. “She’s strong, I know she will,” he spoke even though inside he wasn’t so sure. He just needed to hear those words of reassurance.

“You’re right.” Sango agreed. “We think so too.”

“Hang in there.” Miroku patted the hanyo’s shoulder. “We’ll be back in the morning to check on you.”

“Thanks,” Inuyasha nodded weakly.

Now that he was there, the couple left him alone, safe in the knowledge that no one would bother Kagome anymore. So, at the sound of the door closing behind him, the full weight of emotions engulfed Inuyasha. The guilt tore away at what little sanity held him together. He blamed himself for her state. If he hadn’t been so stupid and stubborn to leave her alone, that panther would never have dared to strike at Kagome. She was strong, but couldn’t have fended off a surprise attack by herself.

“I’m so sorry,” the tears broke free as he held her hand tightly in his own. “Please don’t leave me, Kagome. I’ll do anything! You want kids? I’ll give you all the pups you desire, just please come back to me. I can’t— I can’t lose you. It shouldn’t have taken something like this to make me realize that I’m nothing without you.”

Inuyasha thought the pain of losing his mother at a young age was hard, but this was a thousand times worse. His soul was bonded to Kagome by choice and his heart felt shattered at the thought of never hearing her voice again. If she died, a piece of him would die along with her.

Night turned to day, and days passed by with little to no change in Kagome’s condition. Inuyasha rarely left her side, except to take care of bodily functions or shower at the behest of friends and staff. Her family, his family, and their friends visited, but at night it was just her and him alone between the stale white walls of the hospital room. For two weeks, Inuyasha didn’t get a full night sleep. Exhaustion forced him to pass out at times, only to be awaken by nightmares. To suffer along side Kagome was his penitence as far he believed.

He clung to the smallest of improvements. By week three, all the bruising and abrasions were healing well, and Kagome was taken off of the breathing tubes since she was doing it on her own. She was still fed intravenously with a high protein diet to give her body the fuel it needed to mend. To pass the time, Inuyasha would talk to her about everything and nothing, sometimes telling her stories of ancient tales, or just reading the newspaper aloud. The doctors had told him coma patients can sometimes hear them talking, so it was worth a shot.

“It’s crazy right?” Inuyasha chuckled if only to keep his sanity intact. “I’d give anything to hear you yell at me right now.” He sighed. “Just call me an idiot, because I deserve it.”

“You’re not... an idiot.”

Inuyasha sat up stunned at the beautiful sound of Kagome voice. It was soft and raspy, but music to his ears nonetheless. He squeezed her hand. “Yes, I am,” he smiled. “But it’s okay, as long as I still have you— if you’ll still have... me? I’ll give you what ever you want, Kagome. Kids, anything, just please stay with me. I love you too much to let you go again.”

This time it was Kagome who squeezed his hand weakly. “I love you too, you big idiot.”

Inuyasha leaned over and kissed her forehead. “Now there’s the woman I fell in love with.” Everything was gonna be just fine...

The banner is for my AO3

#inuyasha #inukag #kagome higurashi #inukag au #inukag fan fic #inukag fanfiction #ex’s still in love #angst

[be11atrixthestrange]

Waking Up In Vegas Chapter 8

After a night of debauchery, Ron and Hermione wake up in Vegas... married.

Muggle!AU. Romcom!Romione. Slow burning, smutty, angst-fest.

Rated M for reasons.

Ao3 | FFN

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More Chapters

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[Hermione]

Hermione resists the urge to look back to her table as she exits the bar. She really doesn't need to see Lavender in Ron's lap, her fingers in his hair… they broke up, and she has no right to attach herself to him like that. She tries to focus on what Lavender said — Ginny needs her. It is probably some wedding-related anxiety and Hermione can surely help with that… but why can't Lavender? With a groan, she forces the image of Lavender and Ron to the back of her mind and continues on her way to Ginny's hotel room.

Ginny's door opens after one knock, and an unexpectedly cheery bride emerges.

"Hermione? Hi!"

"Hi," says Hermione. "What's wrong?"

Looking confused, Ginny cracks the door wider to allow Hermione entry. "Nothing, why?"

"Nothing's wrong?" Flushing with anger, she takes a seat on Ginny's unmade bed. "Lavender just said you need me, and that it's urgent."

Ginny laughs. "Oh, you must have been with my brother."

"Well, yeah," stammers Hermione. "But only because we were working on wedding logistics and—"

"Relax, Hermione," says Ginny, laughing. "What else would you be doing? I'm just saying, Lavender probably said that so you'd leave her alone with Ron. Nothing to worry about."

"Oh, of course," says Hermione, her heart pounding. Nothing to worry about. "What did she want to talk to Ron about?" she asks, her voice taking an uncharacteristically high tone.

Ginny shrugs. "Dunno, probably trying to seduce him," her words trail off as she patters to the bathroom with her makeup bag. "She has this elaborate plan to get him to take her back before the wedding."

"Oh," says Hermione softly, hoping Ginny can't hear the dejection of her voice from the bathroom.

"Yeah," says Ginny, poking her head back into the bedroom. Her eyes are twinkling with the opportunity for gossip. "You're coming to the bar tonight, right? We're keeping it pretty low-key. Don't want to overdo it before the hen party tomorrow."

"Uh yeah, I guess I am," says Hermione, immediately wondering if Ron… or Lavender will be there.

"Lavender probably won't be around tonight, if that gets you more excited to come," adds Ginny, aware of the hesitation in Hermione's voice. "She's gonna cling to my brother all night. She's so paranoid that he's sleeping with someone else."

"Someone else?" said Hermione, a little too shrilly. "They still sleep together?"

"Look at you, gossiping! I must be rubbing off on you," says Ginny proudly. "But yeah, they still sleep together all the time. Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if he took her back. He doesn't exactly have a lot of game," she pauses, contorting her face to apply a coat of mascara. "He's a good guy, don't get me wrong, but it's really just a confidence issue. Lavender makes him feel good about himself."

Hermione's breath hitches and her hands cramp, drawing her awareness to her vicious grip on Ginny's comforter. She releases her fingers, leaving sweaty palm prints on the blanket. Cute.

Her panic is still growing. Ron and Lavender still sleep together, and now she's with him at the bar. She's probably still in his lap with her mischievous fingers in his hair, and is he going to be able to resist her advances?

A knot in her stomach reminds Hermione that unfortunately, he has no good reason to turn her down. They said just as much at the bar: Ron and Hermione are married without the benefits. He's only human if he wants to find those benefits elsewhere.

She knows she could offer up some benefits, but there's one problem: Hermione's not one to have sex with someone she barely knows — regardless of what may or may not have happened the previous night. She can't just set aside that precedent simply to prevent someone else from sleeping with Ron. She has self-respect.

She closes her eyes and recalls Ron's hand gripping her lower back when he pressed his lips against hers. That kiss on the bridge was epically perfect, and the idea of Lavender getting to experience it regularly makes her sick.

According to Ginny, 'Lavender makes him feel good about himself.' She can make him feel good about himself too...

"What's up? You look like you've seen a ghost," says Ginny, emerging from the bathroom with a perfectly made-up face, and a sexy black skirt and crop top combination that could make Harry a target of some lonely boy's jealous rage. Seriously, with that outfit, Harry should hire a security detail.

Hermione shakes her head to erase any telling expressions from her face. "When's the last time they slept together?"

"Um," says Ginny, stopping in her tracks. She looks confused and slightly suspicious. "I think they did the night we arrived in Vegas, but I'm not sure. I know Harry thought so. He keeps telling him to stop sleeping with her because he's just leading her on, but he's not exactly hard to convince, you know? He takes what he can get."

Hermione averts her eyes, which are now stinging with tears. "Do you think they'll get back together?" she asks, her voice cracking.

"Maybe. If they do, I don't think it'll be for long. It never is." Ginny takes one more scan of her outfit, adjusting her top in the mirror. "I'm ready to go! Are you?"

"Do you have any more clothes like that?" asks Hermione.

Ginny whips around to face her, a wide grin on her face. "Why, yes I do!"

"I just want to look good, you know," Hermione replies, unsure why she feels the need to justify it.

Ginny skips to her bag and fishes out a black minidress with lace accents and a deep, revealing v-neck — normally a little much for Hermione, but tonight, fuck it. "This one will surely get you some male attention, if that's what you want," she says giddily.

"Thanks, Gin," says Hermione, taking the dress from her. She holds it up against her body, wondering how much of her backside it'll actually cover. "That is what I want tonight."

Specifically from your brother, she adds to herself on her way to the bathroom to change.

x

Hermione follows closely behind Ginny, unable to mimic her confident strut as they clatter down the stairs. She keeps reaching for the hem of her dress and tugging it down, only for it to pop back up again, revealing more thigh than she's willingly exposed in quite some time.

"You look great. Stop adjusting your dress," says Ginny.

"It's just so short—"

"Yeah. That's why you look great," Ginny reiterates with a cheeky smile. "I bet I won't be the only one who thinks so."

Hopefully, Ginny's right, and there will be lots of men at the bar distracted by Hermione's legs. Maybe — and it's a big maybe — Ron and Lavender will still be at their bar table, and Hermione will get to witness the look on Lavender's face when Ron does a double-take.

By the time they arrive at the bar, it has been fully transformed into a nightclub. The lights are dimmer, meaning the poor souls who chose to wear white now glow like bleach in blacklight. The music has shifted from ambient folk to pop hits remixed with a heavy bass, and half the tables have been cleared to make room for a dance floor.

Hermione feels a surge of anxiety in the new atmosphere — nightclubs aren't really her scene. She glances toward the corner of the bar where she had most recently been sitting with Ron, and her heart sinks. It's now occupied by another couple, unrecognizable by their pressed-together faces and empty cocktail glasses that obscure them from a clear view.

She scans the rest of the club, wishing another tuft of red hair would stand out to her, but aside from Ginny, there's no one.

"Hey Ginny! Hermione!" Demelza calls from a table across the dance floor. Hermione crosses the center of the room, ignoring the prickling paranoia that she's being watched — she feels so exposed walking through the open space in Ginny's black mini-dress.

Her heart flutters for a moment when she catches a glimpse of Demelza at the table, because she's surrounded by the boys. At least some of them — Harry, Neville and Dean are there, but unfortunately, no Ron.

Lavender is nowhere to be seen either, a realization that sits like a brick in Hermione's stomach.

"Gin, I forgot my I.D. in my room, I'll be a moment," she says, tugging her hand away from Ginny's.

"Alright, catch ya later," says Ginny, skipping off to meet Demelza.

Hermione turns on her heel and shuffles out of the bar, trying not to cry. She has no reason to be upset — Ron's not hers to lay claim on. Unfortunately, that fact only reminds her that he's not Lavender's either, yet they're together, even though Hermione has every right to be in Ron's bed as Lavender does.

She brushes right past her floor — she didn't actually leave her I.D. behind — and makes a beeline for Ron's room, completely forgetting to prepare an excuse for barging in on him. Hermione just wants information, and with an unexpected entrance, she's bound to get some.

But she doesn't interrupt anything. It's too late for that. Her heart sinks when she rounds the corner and sees Lavender slipping out of Ron's room. Lavender locks eyes with Hermione as the door closes softly behind her, and she makes a show of fastening up the remaining buttons on her blouse.

"Looking for Ron?" Her tone of false innocence makes Hermione's blood boil.

Hermione opens her mouth to respond, but she can't think of a retort. Her dumbstruck silence brings a smug smile to Lavender's face.

"Give him a chance to get dressed first," Lavender says as she trots past Hermione down the hallway.

Fuming, Hermione storms toward Ron's door, her fist raised to knock, but something stops her. What will she say? She has no plan.

Hermione imagines Ron opening the door and seeing her puffy, red face, shiny with tears. She doesn't exactly look cute, and by no stretch of her imagination would her current appearance cause Ron to wish she was the one trotting down the hallway with a half-buttoned blouse. Not only that — she managed to make it through the entire afternoon without admitting her crush, but her current state of deranged jealousy is a dead giveaway.

If he sees her now, he'll know just how meaningful for her that kiss on the bridge was. He might suspect that her quiet distraction on the journey back had less to do with the sweltering heat, and more to do with her salacious imagination. He'd be right, but he doesn't need to know that. He doesn't need to discover that her nonchalant attitude at the bar was just an act — an embarrassing attempt to play it coy. Turns out her effort to keep him guessing was all for nothing; there's no point in playing hard-to-get with someone who's not even interested.

Clearly, his affection for her is platonic at best, nonexistent at worst. He brought Lavender up to his bedroom minutes after she rudely interrupted their conversation. If Lavender's his type, Hermione most likely isn't, and a confrontation would only confirm one thing: he's rejected her.

Why give him the satisfaction?

Frustrated, Hermione jerks her hand from the door, and backs away. There's another option here, and at the moment, it's a lot more appealing. She wipes her eyes and turns her back to Ron's door, now determined to show him that she doesn't care if he wastes his time on Lavender Brown. She doesn't care one bit.

But she might need to stop by her room first, if only to splash cold water over her face.

x

Moments later, Hermione shuffles down the hotel stairs on her way back to the bar. A glimpse of her newly made-up face in the mirror fills her with a new appreciation for foundation and eyeliner. Asinine as it might be, it's quite effective at hiding evidence of tears. And now that she looks like someone else, it won't be much of a leap to act like someone else either.

She pauses at the bar's entrance and takes a deep breath, hesitant to enter. In her absence, the lights have gotten dimmer, the music louder, and the dance floor busier. She has considered sticking with a tried-and-true method of wallowing — hibernating in her hotel room with some snacks and a cheesy movie, and projecting her tragic love life into the tropes of a romantic comedy. Clubs aren't normally her scene, anyway.

But unfortunately, tonight is not a normal night, and her life is definitely not a romantic comedy, so Hermione forces herself to pass into the thick wall of steamy club-air to reunite with the one Weasley that actually matters to her.

It doesn't take long for her to find Ginny on the dance floor — her glowing complexion and elegant red mane stand out in the crowd. It helps that she's accompanied by Luna, whose neon dress and platinum hair give her the appearance of a yellow highlighter.

Watching them dance, Hermione can't help but crack a smile. Ginny's in her element, singing along to a remix of some pop song and radiating with a self-assuredness that's contagious. And Luna has no worries in the world, no concern for the judgmental looks of passers-by as she bounces and waves eccentrically, convulsing to the beat of the music. Her wild movements remind Hermione of an inflatable tube man, dancing in the wind beside the highway.

Luna's a lot, but tonight, the effect is quite pleasant. It's comforting to know that by comparison, Hermione might even look cool in this club.

Ginny spots Hermione and squeals in excitement as she rushes to hug her. "Hey, did you get your I.D.?"

"Yep," says Hermione sharply. "And now I need a drink."

"I'm getting the next round, Hermione," says a male voice from the table. Neville — bless his heart — is smiling and waving at her. "What'll you have?"

"Surprise me, but make it strong!" She tosses her bag to him and he catches it, but not without a fumble.

"Anything?" he clarifies, fishing for her I.D.

"Anything." She doesn't even care if it comes with a straw.

"Attagirl," says Ginny, interlacing their hands, and tugging her toward the thickening crowd of the dance floor.

She obliges, following Ginny's lead, and is once again aware that she's being watched. Normally, it would creep her out to catch a man's eyes lingering on her body, but again, tonight is no longer a normal night, and it's nice to be noticed. Hermione feels appreciated, and not in a platonic marriage-with-no-benefits kind of way.

At the thought of Ron, she glances back to the bar's entrance, scanning the mass of incomers for his flaming hair. Hermione doesn't even want to see his stupid freckled face in the crowd, but for some reason, his absence leaves her more disappointed than relieved. She internally curses that ginger devil; how can someone so undeserving of her attention occupy so much of her mental space?

To the best of her ability, she powers through her disappointment and turns her focus back to Ginny and Luna, right as a dancing Demelza staggers up to them. A few whistles and whoops from the growing crowd bring a blush to Hermione's cheeks. Fuck it — she's in Vegas, she looks hot as hell, and she could have anyone she wants.

Maybe someone else will catch her eye tonight.

#Ron Weasley #Ron and Hermione #ROMIONE #romione fanfic #romione fanfiction #hp fanfiction #hpromione #muggle AU #Hermione Granger #ron x hermione #ronweasley #hermionegranger

[musashi]

sending u this ask as an opportunity for u to talk to me abt fi!! i love ur thoughts n words on things nd i don't send asks as much bc i don't have. good words to talk to u abt stuff but i rlly enjoy just. ur Passion nd stuff. autistic people r the best at talking abt stuff i stand by that we r just Epic. anyways if u wanna, i'd love to hear more about just... how fi sorta. changes, over the game? like the Little Things that show her starting 2 care abt link more, or becoming more "human"!

i love this whole ask. you’re right autistic folks r sexy as hell idk how the divine powers that be fit so much passion into my tiny body but i’m glad they made the attempt. 

ANYWAYS FI. i don’t think i’ve ever actually laid this out because for the most part it is incredibly subtle and requires a lot of filling in gaps yourself, and i think that someone who cares less abt her can probably come away from it with an entirely different interpretation. fi’s development of actual feelings are a very sudden a mysterious thing, and i have a LOT of thoughts about them going in a lot of different directions so forgive me if this answer isn’t particularly linear or coherent. i’m not just gonna talk about her slow burn into feeling things, i’m also gonna talk about... why i think it happens.

we don’t get to learn a lot about sword spirits and how they come into being, other than it takes great power to enchant a sword with a spirit/temper a sword with one inside it. hylia obviously created fi and, presumably, demise created ghirahim, and they are pretty much as opposite as two people can be with their only real characteristic in common being precision, intelligence & otherworldly loyalty to their respective masters. 

we thus don’t get to learn how much control the creator of a sword spirit has over what kind of spirit comes of it, if their personalities are organic to their experiences or crafted from the moment they awaken. what i mean by this is like... ghirahim could have been a cold, calculating AI like fi when he was first tempered and gained his dramatics over time, we have no idea how long he’s been alive in comparison to her, if his personality is so much more extroverted because he was allowed a life outside his blade whereas fi was isolated in hers for millennia. or if he just came into creation immediately ready to scream and stick his tongue in ppl’s ears.

i swear to god i’m going somewhere with this. ok. anyways.

fi in the beginning of skyward sword is, i think, how most people remember her--data-interested, icy, and detached. there is a reverence in how she addresses link from the start, even before he formally becomes her wielder, but beyond that she is calculating and precise and rarely wastes words. all of this kinda paints a picture of hylia creating fi, to me--breathing life into the spirit and willing her to be effective, be efficient, be loyal, and be sharp. when you have that image in your head, a lot of how fi operates makes sense--she wasn’t created to have emotions, because emotions get in the way of what her purpose is. hylia made a weapon and a servant, not a friend. it sucks to think about, but that is fi’s purpose.

the game is very careful, however, to show you it’s not that simple from the beginning. because hidden in Ice Queen Fi’s introduction is... a surprising amount of personality.

like this shit, where she straightup just dunks gaepora in the trash because his #Lore is out of date. it’s hysterical because you really do not know if she’s just a) an AI who doesn’t understand when she’s being kinda Rude or b) being snarky On Purpose. and that ambiguity in itself crafts this beautiful air of mystery where you, from the get go, don’t entirely know what to expect of fi all the time.

or this, which she says directly after link hesitates to accept the blade:

this scene, which people who have edgier takes on fi constantly use to paint her as intentionally manipulative, where all i see is... her using emotional validation to calm link down enough for him to take in what’s happening. a really important thing about fi is that she’s paradoxically an empath? she can read auras and detect emotion with extreme precision even if she’s incapable of feeling it herself in the beginning. so she knows everything link is experiencing here, understands that it’s holding him back, and takes care to deconstruct the whirlwind of emotion he’s collapsing under and explain to him why he can and should trust her words.

again this is all in her introductory scene. they write her very specifically to be a seemingly flat character with this... rumbling of something more going on under the surface. so much so that the first time you get to a sacred spring and fi, completely randomly, just starts skating across the water’s surface and speaking ancient poeticisms to you, you don’t question it. you’re not like hey, why is sword alexa doing a little dance? you just accept it as something fi is doing, because fi always feels like she’s at her job, and you don’t know how she acts outside of work, but you kinda feel like maybe you want to.

fi’s affinity for music is another way they insert humanity into an AI without making you think too hard about it. singing and dancing are inherently human, artforms are something we associate with the heart and soul. even teaching a robot to paint is, in itself, an art project crafted by a human hand. but you don’t really... consciously think about that, when you watch her do these things. you just kind of accept that she is this otherworldly thing guiding you. you don’t think about the contrast of this programmed assistant performing music alongside you in a sacred ritual. you’re just kind of like, yeah? i can’t JUST play nayru’s wisdom on my harp, i need someone who can sing and god put a vocaloid in my sword???

throughout the game, fi’s dialogue chains when you summon her don’t change in any meaningful way (besides based on what you’re carrying, where you are, etc) but as you near the end, there are a couple things of note. one that sticks out to me is what she says about one of the mid-game minibosses, who is also an artificial intelligence--

a lot of people laugh abt this line and make jokes about fi being hot for the tall handsome robot pirate and they’re valid. but the thing is, like, from the beginning of her mission, fi knew she’d essentially be dying once the world was saved. and early game fi has no hesitations about her part in things regardless, because, as we know, she wasn’t created to feel things like that. she wasn’t created to fear death, to grow attached to life or anyone in it, or to experience sorrow at the idea of saying goodbye. but this is mid-game fi, who still... never says anything she doesn’t deem entirely necessary, but she says this. for no discernible reason, she says this. it’s an unskippable dialogue option, one they WANT you to see and one that is different when you know where she ends up. admiration is already something you wouldn’t really expect of her, but it’s more than that--she’s longing for her own story to mirror it. by the sand sea, fi has started to realize she doesn’t want to go to sleep.

it’s another one of those moments where you’re kinda like, ‘haha, what, fi?' and then move on. another one of those moments where she kinda does something a little unexpected, but not so unexpected you question it too hard. fi excels at those.

before you go off to fight demise, fi stops you to warn you that it is the final battle, and you cannot return. and when you tell her you’re ready, she says this:

as i’ve said, fi doesn’t waste words. almost always, everything she says is for the purpose of efficiency, and rarely does she offer thoughts without fixed probabilities and ultimate endgoals in mind.

this is a sentiment.

it serves no purpose. it is purely an expression of devotion.

and because of EVERYTHING i’ve mentioned thus far, this line both hits you HARD as significant and foreboding in how suddenly tender it is, AND manages to read as in-character for her to say. because the way they write fi’s humanity is so beneath the surface, so easily missable, so hard for me to even lay out with concrete evidence despite the fact that i’m a person who reads a text dump of all her dialogue before bed every night.

but to me, what lays out fi’s inner workings best is actually her actual goodbye, and... not the moment most people would think, tbh? it’s not her tender farewell that speaks her emotions loudest to me, but the moment right before:

these lines, which would read as perfectly in character if it were early game fi, cut you. her complete and utter flippancy, the way she talks about all you’ve been through together as though it were nothing to her, the absolute coldness here after everything. you as a player feel kind of pathetic when she says this, like you were misguided in growing attached to her and thinking of her as a friend. and you KNOW thats the intended effect, because this is what link looks like:

he takes a moment in that last shot to like. swallow sadness and turn away from her, but even as he’s turning his head, he doesn’t take his eyes off her until the last possible moment. she hurts his feelings! why.

because it’s an act, is why. of COURSE fi loves him. of course she’s grown attached to him, of course she’s happy to have known him, of COURSE they’re friends. but fi was NEVER supposed to feel that way, she was never supposed to have the capability to love, and there’s no calculation she can run to set the uncertainties of that at ease within herself. so those lines up above is her trying her best to reset herself to who she was in the beginning, to snap herself back into the role of an emotionless servant to the goddess, to convince herself--not link--that saying goodbye won’t hurt. she’s trying to cope with something she has no idea was in the cards for her, and that’s why she’s seemingly so cruel for a moment.

all of this becomes apparent when she calls him back moments later and tells him how she really feels. there’s major whiplash because fi herself is Going Thru It. but essentially what’s happening in that moment is she thinks she knows what will hurt the least, but she miscalculates and backpedals and realizes even if saying goodbye hurts, it hurts less than pretending she doesn’t want to.

i think a lot of people overlook that line--“the most precious data i have on record.” fi, who contains multitudes within her. who contains knowledge immeasurable, the thoughts and feelings and stories of thousands. of civilizations, of gods, of countless ages passed. everything she holds within her is dwarfed entirely by what she feels for link, beside link. nothing in her encyclopedic knowledge can even compare to her friendship with him in the significance it has to her. like all things, fi has her own way of communicating her meanings, and this is her way of saying she really, truly loves him. 

in addition, she very carefully does this after he abandons the sword, so it’s clear that it’s of her own will, not a part of her purpose as his servant. for this whole cutscene, up until she end, she drops the honourific and calls him just Link. 

and while i see a lot of people debate if she truly does ‘feel,’ anything, like... she says it right here, she does. whether or not she was able to feel from the beginning or not, she can feel now. she has trouble putting words to those feelings, or explaining to herself and others where on earth they came from... but she feels now. that cannot be disputed.

happiness that she was able to know him. loyalty she wants to transcend lifetimes. sorrow at the idea of them having to part. gratitude that he took the chance, and did so beside her.

let’s talk about gratitude.

in skyward sword, gratitude is a tangible source of magic. it opposes malice, which as of botw is a reoccurring thing in zelda lore. skyward sword has two items--evil crystals and gratitude crystals--that represent malice and gratitude respectively. while the first isn’t entirely relevant, the second is something you’re actively encouraged to more or less harvest by helping people and basking in their thanks toward you. these feelings of gratitude are so canonically powerful in the zelda universe that they can turn monsters into humans entirely, and the outpouring of energy that event causes makes every monster & hostile creature within all of skyloft turn docile at once. 

according to batreaux, the monster in question, this is well-established legend, the idea of gratitude granting humanity to the nonhuman. skyward sword literally said the power of love was canon.

the song that plays over the goodbye, of course, is called fi’s gratitude.

this is just one theory i have on the matter, but... whether hylia intended or foresaw fi to be capable of feeling human emotion or not, i do believe it was gratitude that woke her heart up. whether she was meant to love or not, link’s spirit contained within it enough love for the both of them, enough to touch her soul and rouse her from her cold and emotionless state. as always, through everything, they work in perfect tandem--his passionate heart touches hers as it sleeps, her wisdom holds him steady and level-headed. 

when fi says “may we meet again in another life,” she says it like a prayer, because it is one--she knows hylia, knows that hylia loved link’s spirit just as she did, and knows that hylia of all people understands what the sword spirit is going through. and fi also knows that hylia immortalizes those she loves with cycles, with reincarnation, eternal life without the pain of never dying. fi doesn’t have a soul that hylia can bring back from death nor a physical body to revive, but she works with what she can--and so long as link’s spirit breathes anew, he finds fi. in a sunlit grove, with light bearing down on her, safe and warm and always loyal, even as the world rages on outside. fidelis, she was named for--“faithful.”

the fandom doesn’t really talk abt it, but fi is an angel. she’s an angel god sent to watch over one human, and when god said your mission is complete fi faced god and walked backwards into hell. her divine mission is long passed, but it stopped being about what she was fated to do long ago.

fi began to watch over link because he was her master. and fi resolved to stay forever because he was link.

#skyward sword #long post #hand of sorrow #wendy rambles #Anonymous #wendy answers

[alleiradayne]

Merry Christmas, Ya Filthy Animals

Summary: Sam and Dean watch Home Alone as they near Christmas. Warnings/Tags: All sorts of Floofs, funtimes, brotherly moments. Characters/Pairings: Sam Winchester, Dean Winchester Word Count: 1,188 A/N: For @katymacsupernatural​‘s 6k Golden Challenge, I picked image #10.

“Okay, after binging all of Die Hard in three nights,” Sam started as he slumped into his chair. “Can we lighten up the mood a bit?”

From across the table, Dean’s flat stare caught him off guard.

“What?”

“Don’t you ever speak ill of Die Hard ever again,” Dean ordered. He shifted in his chair to reach for his beer and set the popcorn down in its place. “Tonight’s no less epic.”

A pointed press of the remote started the movie, and Sam leaned back in his chair as the dark screen illuminated with blue text. Sam recognized the curious strings and low, thrumming brass without a second thought, John Williams’ score beyond notorious. As the focus pulled back from the tiny blue silhouette of the house, he grinned.

“Home Alone?”

“You’re god damn right, Home Alone.”

Behind the bowl of popcorn, Sam picked up a cookie from the array they had taken the time to decorate earlier that day. “This was a great idea. We needed a break.”

Dean shoved a handful of popcorn into his mouth and nodded. “We deserved a break.”

Sure. But he knew as well as Dean that “deserve” and “Winchester” belonged in the same sentence as little as “break” and “Winchester”. Except that had changed, Sam thought. Everything had changed irrevocably after Chuck. And Jack. Even then, he wasn’t quite sure what had happened. Chuck had definitely died. Or at least, that’s what he thought. A strange gap in his memory yet troubled Sam. Jack had returned at the eleventh hour, as was the Winchester way, and saved the world. And yet, the further he got from that day, the less he worried about it.

Dean’s barking laughter ripped Sam from his thoughts. On the screen, Kevin had been blamed for ruining everything and was being sent to bed early. Something about the innocence of the movie and Dean’s pure enjoyment settled the unease in Sam’s heart. Thirty-seven years. After nearly four grueling decades of survival, of clamoring for a scrap of normalcy in such a chaotic way of life, they finally had a chance to breathe.

“I’m pretty sure this movie taught me a couple new tricks to protect our motels,” Dean started as they watched Kevin walk through the empty house the next morning.

“I don’t recall any flying paint cans,” Sam teased.

“No, but I did use a torch on the door once,” Dean replied. “Roasted a ghoul. To this day, I’m surprised it worked. Son of a bitch came right through the front door.

Sam snapped his glare to Dean. “Why wasn’t the door locked?”

Dean had the audacity to appear chastised. “I wanted the trap to work! Had to bait the thing as best I could. Don’t look at me like that.”

Typical. Sam scoffed as he turned back to the TV to find Harry and Marv casing the house. “You know, we went on a hunt in that neighborhood once.”

“Really?” Dean asked. “That house just sold for like a million and a half. Where is it?”

“Winnetka. Just north of Chicago,” he said. “Oh, I think this is my favorite line in the whole movie.”

Dean turned back to the screen. “Buzz? C’mon—"

“Sh!”

Buzz explained to his cousin the various reasons why Kevin would be fine by himself. Three reasons, in fact. A. 2. And D. Sam laughed, most of all for Buzz’s third reason wherein he explains that they live on the most boring street in America and nothing remotely dangerous will ever happen. If he only knew.

“Why is that your favorite line? Not, ‘Merry Christmas, ya filthy animals’? Not ‘Better come get me, or I’ll call the cops!’ Not ‘Polka, polka’? Why that one?” Dean asked.

“Because,” Sam started as the scene continued. “Buzz is so damn innocent. He has no clue just how dangerous that town really was, even in the fictional universe. And then I also find his bullet point system hilarious.”

Dean looked to the TV, then back to him. “Wait, what?”

Sam grabbed the remote and rewound the movie a minute. “Listen.”

A.

2.

D.

“Holy shit,” Dean barked with laughter. “That is fucking hilarious, why didn’t I catch that before?!”

Sam laughed with him. “It’s subtle.”

“That is a damn good line,” Dean agreed as he shoveled a handful of popcorn into his mouth.

Sam let well enough alone, rather than rib him any further. Instead, he savored the moments each as they passed. But it wasn’t until the movie finished that he remembered. He no longer needed to cherish every precious second he breathed. He no longer needed to cling to the ease in his heart. He no longer needed to worry about Dean taking care of him, protecting him at all costs. The curious man with the guitar on the beach had assuaged all Sam’s concerns, assuring him that the end had finally come to pass. That after nearly forty years of survival, Sam and Dean could finally rest.

Dean popped another cookie into his mouth as he spoke, drawing Sam from his thoughts once more. “You know,” he paused as he chewed, “this has got to be my favorite tradition. Always has been.”

Sam nodded as he regarded the still-scrolling credits. “Yeah,” he sighed as he sipped from his beer.

When Dean stood, he waited for him. “What’s got your goat? You got quiet there.”

Had he? Sam stood and shook his head. “I’m good,” he stated. “Just thinking.”

Over his shoulder, Dean’s quirked brow scrutinized him. “About?”

“I dunno.” He scratched the back of his head. In the hallway, he took a deep breath and said, “I’m still… processing.”

Dean’s glare cased the hallway before he spoke. “Home Alone isn’t exactly—”

“No, dude, not the fucking movie. The…” Quiet again, Sam shifted on his feet as one hand reached for the other. His thumb dug into his palm where he felt the tight scar tissue pull across the muscles of his hand. “We just wasted a week of our lives watching Christmas movies. I’m… not used to it yet.”

Softened, Dean’s face smoothed. A confident hand grasped Sam by the shoulder as he said, “I get it. I’m not really used to it yet, either. Hell, I’m still waitin’ for the other shoe to drop. But until it does, I’m gonna enjoy the time we have. When that shoe drops—and it will, no doubt about it—we’ll put on our big boy pants and handle it like we always do.”

He was right. Regardless of when or how, their reprieve may end. But until it did, there was no use worrying about it.

For the last time, Sam eased his thumb in his palm and released his hand. “Thanks, man. I needed that.”

He clapped his shoulder once as Dean turned for his room. “No problem, Sammy. Now, go make some more popcorn. We’ve gotta watch Kevin blow some shit up in New York City! That kid was like a baby John McClane…”

As Sam headed for the kitchen, he couldn’t help but smile. It would be a Merry Christmas, indeed.

Feedback is appreciated! Feel free to reblog, too!

If you want in on any of my tags (Sam/Jared, Dean/Jensen), send me a DM or an ask!

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#alleiradayne writes #spn fanfic #katy6kgolden

[ducksbellorum]

beats, rhymes, and life (listen/download)

a gangsta!au mix - stargate atlantis fandom - arranged by ducksbellorum

1) I’m So Hood - DJ Khaled The general (albeit stupid) premise of this ‘verse, everyone is a gangsta. Yeah. And I got these golds up in my mouth If you get closer to my house Then you know what I’m talkin’ 'bout I’m out the hood 2) Ridin’ Dirty - Chamillionaire Meet John Sheppard (or J Shep as he’s known in the streets). He’s an original gangsta and rap star, Ferrari sittin’ on 26’s, hat turned sideways. And he’s not exactly sure why the feds think that he’s special, even if stuff does light up when he touches it. They see me rollin’, they hatin’ Patrollin’ and tryin’ to catch me ridin’ dirty Tryin’ to catch me ridin’ dirty My music so loud, I’m swangin’ 3) White and Nerdy - Weird Al Meet Rodney McKay (his few friends call him Rod Mac). He doesn’t really fit in with the gangsta world. Sure, he packs heat and talks smack and his Volvo sits on very modest 22’s, but that’s about it. They see me mowin’ My front lawn I know they’re all thinking I’m so white and nerdy 4) I’m Dumb - Gorilla Zoe Meet Elizabeth Weir (Liz W to some). She’s a mediator between the ghetto and the feds. She’s a wild partier and her hood loves her. They found her dancing on tables when they came to call her up for the Atlantis expedition. Everywhere I go, I bet the girls take photos Spend a hundred on a old Chevrolet And I can’t change my ways I’m so hood, man, the hood loves me

5) Early Morning Trapping - OJ da Juiceman Meet Carson Beckett (C Bex to the rap world). Carson is a rapper. And, oh yeah, a doctor, because his rap career just hasn’t quite taken off yet… Early morning trappin’, down to make it happen Workin’ 50 brick, we bring them chicken out the plastic Getting them bitches gone, we call it dope boy magic Pull up in that stanky thing, man, that thing nasty 6) Welcome to My Hood - DJ Khaled Welcome to Atlantis (aka the ATL). Atlantis quickly becomes the new hood, because no one knows if they’ll get home again. Pegasus, prepare to be turned upside down. They outside playing hopscotch And everybody know this is the hot spot Welcome to my hood Them boys will put you down on your knees 7) Corner Cuttin’ - Gucci Mane Naturally, the first thing J Shep does when he finds out there are spaceships is to trick one out with rims (who needs rims on a jumper?) and a sound system you can hear in the Milky Way. He rolls like a boss. Corner cuttin’, trap shakin’ Booty hoppin’, you hear that beat knockin’? (Is that that beat knockin?) That’s that beat knockin’ (Is that that beat knockin?) Yeah that’s that beat knockin’ 8) Flossin’ - Shop Boyz The Wraith quickly become quite a problem. J Shep stabbing their warden and waking them all up didn’t help much. “Oops, my bad, I ain’t mean to make her mad!” See I make 'em sick, When they see me they coughin’. They gonna love it, they gonna hate it When we come through flossin’ 9) Bossy - Birdman Meet Teyla Emmagan of the Athosians. J Shep dubs her Tey Em, but they find out very quickly that the Athosians are so very Not Hood. At all. Teyla agrees to join them anyway. I love it when she bossy Sexy when she bossy I know I am the boss I kinda like it when she boss me 10) All the Above - Maino Meet Ronon Dex (R Dex). He takes to the gangsta culture right away. Sometimes Teyla thinks she’s the only sane one around here. I done been through the pain and the sorrow The struggle is nothing but love I’m a soldier, a rider, a ghetto survivor And all the above 11) Out Here Grinding - DJ Khaled The street runners of the Milky Way don’t let Pegasus change them. They stay hood and do what they do and they continue to kick the Wraith’s ass regardless. Cause I’m out here grindin’ I ain’t slept in 8 days I can go for 8 weeks Ain’t nothin’ to me cause I am the streets. 12) You Know What It Is - T.I. R Dex and J Shep hit it off immediately. Within weeks of meeting each other they’re already road dogs. Every time something epic happens, they look at each other and go “You know what it is!” I’m a real homie, throw six figures on me Got a pistol you don’t want it, boy, you what what it is Ay, I’m way flyer, my pay’s way higher If they ever mention sire, boy, you know what it is

13) Look At Me Now - Chris Brown No one really respected Rod Mac as a gangsta. Until during one rap session, the scientist walked in, said “Hell, Sheppard. Lemme show you how to keep the dice rollin’ when you doin’ that thing over there, homie. Let’s go!” and proceeded to spit some of the fastest rhymes Shep had ever heard. When he finished, Shep blinked, then extended a hand and slapped skin with the other man. “Respect, bro.” I don’t see how y'all can hate from outside the club Y'all can’t even get in! 14) Yeah - Usher After that, the team started to rap and sing together on a regular basis. Teyla still refused to join and Ronon was still hesitant about his skills, but everyone gathered up to watch Shep and Rod throw it down. Take that and rewind it back R Dex got the beat that make your booty go Take that and rewind it back J Shep got the voice that make your booty go Take that and rewind it back Rod Mac got the flow that make your booty go Take that and rewind it back Tey Em got the booty make your booty go 15) Do the Ricky Bobby - B-Hamp However, there is that one song that all of them will go absolutely crazy and dance to… Do the ricky Bobby, stop, pose for the frame Do the ricky Bobby, stop, pose for the frame Do the ricky Bobby, stop, pose for the frame And I dip and we do the same thing 16) Up All Night - Drake Life out here isn’t always slangin’ and bangin’ and rappin’ with your homies. The danger is very real and there’s no guarantee you’ll be here tomorrow. Everyone in the city is acutely aware of this. I be up all night, whole crew’s in here Cause I don’t really know who I'mma lose this year Man I love my team, man I love my team, I would die for them 17) All I Do Is Win - DJ Khaled Simple explanation: the Atlantis expedition are bad-ass kings of the street. No lie. And they win at life. All I do is win win win no matter what Got money on my mind, I can’t ever get enough And everytime I step up in the building Everybody’s hands go up and they stay there 18) Right Above It - Lil Wayne No matter where they go, everyone tries to stay on their good side. Their rep is the baddest in the galaxy and nobody wants to mess with the ATL. Now tell me how you love it You know you at the top when only heaven’s right above it It’s Young Money, motherfucker If you ain’t runnin’ with it, run from it, motherfucker, all right Bonus Tracks: 19) Bed Intruder Song - Antoine Dodson It takes the abduction of her people to make Teyla go gangsta. After returning from New Athos, she dragged Jennifer Keller (J Kels) into her room and when they came out, this song was born. He’s climbin’ in your stargate He’s snatchin’ your people up Tryin’ to take 'em so y'all need to Hide your kids, hide your wife 20) Damn, It Feels Good To Be A Gangsta - Ghetto Boyz There is really no excuse or explanation for this song. I just find it hilarious and kind of apt. :) J Shep: And all I gotta say to you wanna-be- Tey Em: Gonna-be- Rod Mac: Pussy-eatin’- R Dex: Cock-suckin’- C Bex: Pranksters: Liz W: When the shit goes down, what you gonna do? All: Damn, it feels good to be a gangsta!

#fanmix

[janiedean]

i don't get why Jon is considered a threat to Dany's throne when they could just get married? obvs they like each other, and they have targ blood to excuse the close relation

... it’s not that he’s considered, it’s that he is just by existing and that is set up to be the main conflict in the ‘good guys’ side - how it’s resolved is another issue, but like... it’s not that they like each other or not, it’s a question of plot elements and setting.

meaning (guys I wanna be objective here, don’t take this as me hating on d/any or anything because I’m not this is just how I feel they shaped up the narrative):

all of dany’s storyline relies heavily on a few key elements both in book and show, as in: a) she’s the last surviving targaryen and no other, b) she feels that the iron throne is her birth legacy as the rebellion wasn’t legitimate/the targs were the legitimate rulers, c) her entire claim on the iron throne relies on recognizing the targs as legit rulers and on the fact that *she* is the last targaryen left;

and as she put it herself in S7, she has bled and suffered for it - now, dany’s character development in S7 (development) was realizing that she actually cared about fighting the white walkers and helping her allies more than her throne for now at least, which is why jon kneeled when she didn’t ask for it (and I’d like to put forward that I actually get that and I don’t think he did something abysmally stupid from his POV) and that was when they tried to sell us the romance angle (which imvho is very badly written and had endless pacing issues but never mind, I’m not going to question jon/erys’s status - it happened, I’m accepting it);

now, as goddamned fucking stupid was the whole ‘JON’S REAL TARG NAME IS AEGON’ writing decision - because that was fucking stupid, even if the show cut off the aegon+joncon storyline aegon still existed within canon, he’s just dead, so rhaegar naming both his male heirs with the same name is dumb as fuck and makes no sense but never mind that -, it should give you red flags that they mean for jon to take on some of the original aegon vi’s storyline in the book because ofc they couldn’t have two possible targaryens alive but nvm;

now: aegon vi book-wise is a legitimate threat to dany’s claim unless he marries her, since he’s rhaegar’s trueborn male heir which immediately makes his claim better than dany’s and when he realized he didn’t want to wait around for her he went to take westeros for himself or tried to - and okay, dany’s about unaware of that rn because she has more pressing concerns, but the existence of a male targaryen heir who is legitimate automatically puts a dent in *her* claim to the throne;

now, do I have to believe that they renamed jon aegon for nothing and gone through the pains of making us know for sure that rhaegar married lyanna and that he’s *trueborn* (ngl I think it’s also book canon except that I don’t think rhaegar disinherited elia’s children, he prob. just married lyanna without divorcing elia) for it to end up in nothing especially when they already set it up in s5 with that speech to theon about being both stark and greyjoy which was obviously foreshadowing for his future conflict about being both stark and targaryen?

I don’t think so.

now, what I want to get at with my theorizing is (VAGUE SPOILERS THAT I KNOW OF ARE MENTIONED BUT IT’S VAGUE AND I DIDN’T VERIFY):

this season they have six episodes - long ones, but still six. given that the last one is gonna be mostly epic battle/finale stuff and from the five spoilers I know there’s another one towards the middle. This means there’s roughly four episodes of Other Stuff Left and honestly, there has to be a conflict somewhere or the narrative doesn’t go on;

last season tied up the house stark stuff in the sense that as badly written as it was, LF is out of the way, sansa/arya/bran are on the same side again (regardless of how shitty bran’s written but nvm) and pretty much signed off cersei’s political suicide because she has tied her survival to euron bringing her the golden company but theon is obviously offing euron to get back his sister and taking that from her and that’s gonna happen early on, so like.... she’s basically dragging dead narrative weight while going around king’s landing and I seriously doubt she’s surviving midseason, and on top of that there’s no conflict to be had in KL with the fact that she’s the only valuable main player still there, everyone else has left;

we of course have the question of WHAT WILL JAIME DO but that spoiler pic pretty much solved it - he’s going around wearing robb’s old armor or an armor that looks like robb’s, everything points to a confrontation with bran + resolution of issues that brings to him pledging with the starks - the starks, not dany;

at that point there’s literally no other major - major - conflict left to explore that doesn’t touch the question of Who Is Getting That Throne And How It Fits With The Current Situation;

now: taking for granted that jon/erys like each other and they’re most likely in honeymoon phase when they get to WF, the point is that a) they don’t know they’re related, b) he thinks she’s a trueborn queen and he’s only there because people elected him and she thinks he’s an illegitimate son with good skills and good morals. now, while she probably wouldn’t give two fucks about bedding a relative if she thought she’d marry viserys growing up and IT’S TARGARYENS, he might find it a tad more objectionable since he was not brought up with the idea that marrying your relatives was acceptable outside of targaryens (guys incest is a taboo in westeros too) and telling him he’s r’s son won’t magically change his attitude in that sense, so that is one conflict in itself...

guys: jon’s mere existence is a threat to dany’s claim. even if he doesn’t do anything about it and he assures her he can’t care less, he’s still her brother’s trueborn legitimate MALE offspring who not only has targ blood on one side, but has *stark* blood on the other side, and given that the north has tried to secede for the entire series and that he has both stark and targ heritage (guys...... again, a song of ice and fire = a song of jon snow), even if he doesn’t care, other people could see him as a better option than daenerys because he’s from westeros, he knows the customs, he has good military experience that doesn’t rely on dragons to win battles and they’d trust him way more than an outsider who has never been to westeros and comes back reclaiming it because it’s her birthright and who doesn’t abide by westerosi customs - and mind that the tarlys being burned alive when they could have gone to the wall was exactly to make that point. like, it’s the same issue catelyn had with him - regardless of whether he would have wanted to usurp his siblings (we know he wouldn’t have, she didn’t), ned having a supposed *male* son who looked like him and was robb’s age while all her male children looked like her and not like ned was in itself a threat to her children and their inheritance, which is 60% of the reasons why cat hated jon (the other 40% being that she thought ned betrayed her not even a year after they married);

like, that’s an issue that would only get solved if they marry and have children and she chooses to trust him to not make a coup, but even with that... a jon/erys marriage as things are now (with jon being kitn and ned’s bastard son as far as people know) would make her the most important part of it and he’d be more of a consort than king, but with jon being rhaegar’s, either he has the title or they share it equally;

now: dany has to have character development. everyone has to or shit doesn’t happen. jon’s main issue is gonna be reconciling stark and targ heritage (and tbqh I don’t see jon embracing the targ part so readily - guys he’s wanted to be a stark all his life and he grew up with them, let’s be real). dany is obviously going to revolve around the following points at least imvho:a) how is she going to react finding out that she’s not the last targaryen left?b) how is she going to react finding out that the other targaryen around has a better claim than her/has her same birthright?c) can she get used to westeros’s culture/customs and learn them if she has to be queen?d) can she bend her own principles and compromise enough to realize that she can’t rule just through dragons because you might *conquer* with them but you can’t *rule* with them as we’ve seen with the tarlys?now, all of that is obv. up in the air and I have no issues whether it goes left or right - honestly it’s so far in my scale of ‘stuff I care for in this show’ that as long as I see jaime in robb’s armor all the time I’ll be fine, but...

tldr: if the answer to those questions is, in order, ‘she’ll take it well, she’ll vouch for sharing power and it won’t impact on their relationship, yes and yes’ then congrats, we have positive character development and most likely canon targ restoration with jon/erys as endgame. if the answer is ‘she’ll take it badly, she’ll see jon as a potential threat regardless and demand that he renounce it or smth, no and no’, then congratulations, we have negative character development and the conflict turns from dany + starks allied against the white walkers and cersei to a dynasty conflict during which people will have to take sides and in that context tyrion would be caught in the middle because he’s dany’s advisor but on the other side there’s people he genuinely likes/he’s friendly with, the whole question of his marriage to sansa and his damned brother, so he’d have to pick sides in that sense; 

now, it could also be that the answer is no but then she changes her mind and we still have positive character development after the negative - possibly, she’s a main so she’ll get screentime same as jon - but like, that is imo the most obvious and glaring plot conflict that has to come out of what they wrote until now regardless of whether it’s good or bad writing. and fine, it’s been bad lately, but nvm that, the outcome has to be one regardless of how they get there.

like: I don’t doubt that there can be a positive resolution, but there has to be conflict or nothing happens this season if the jon parentage reveal ends in ‘ah well we can just get married in episode two’, and given dany’s in-text character faults that she has same as everyone else (more or less, given how the show’s written), this one plot point is going to have weight and it’s going to create conflict for her because it basically dismantles the entirety of her claim on the throne that she’s brought on since the end of S1 and it’s too narratively important to dismiss it on account of ‘they like each other and they can just get married’. they can, but at the end, not at the beginning, and she has to fully confront it and come out stronger for it if you want a positive development and not further stagnation.

thanks for coming to my speculation ted talk *shrug* XD

#1 #2 #3 #4 #5 #janie speculates #game of thrones spoilers for ts #ch: jon snow #guys i'm not tagging this anti-anything because I think it's objective enough #and it shouldn't go in the tags but in case just inform me xD #long post for ts #janie writes meta #Anonymous #ask post

[mataglap]

For the meme, McHanzo: “this can’t be happening”

(This is for the Contrarian Fluff Meme.)

“I hate everything about this,” Hanzo says grimly.

McCree glances into the mirror. Hanzo’s sat on the closed toilet lid, arms folded, glaring daggers at the back of McCree’s head. He’s been in a huff ever since he finished his shift in the coffee shop, appeared in McCree’s hotel room and learned about the lengths to which McCree’s prepared to go to for his own undercover mission. He’s still wearing the coffee chain’s slightly too tight t-shirt and he’s frowning something fierce, and McCree can’t help but find it weirdly adorable.

“You’re being awfully dramatic about this,” he says, smiling.

Hanzo scoffs. “I’m not dramatic, I’m trying to stop you from making yet another terrible mistake. The hair is bad enough.”

“Uh-huh. Not dramatic at all.”

Hanzo’s voice takes on a tone that’s probably meant to be reasonable, but in fact sounds damn near pleading. “I’m serious. Your ridiculous hair is enough of a disguise already. Nobody’s going to recognize you anyway, because for once in your life you don’t look like you stepped out of a cattle farm in Texas.”

“Sorry, pumpkin.” McCree flips the trimmer open and tilts his head, considering the angle. “A sexy lifeguard just can’t have a beard.”

“If you shave, you’re going to look like a porn actor who’s trying too hard.”

McCree beams, meeting Hanzo’s eyes in the mirror. “Why, that’s exactly the look I was goin’ for, thank you, sweetheart.”

“I swear, I will not be seen anywhere near you if you do this.”

“Sure you will.” McCree turns on the trimmer just to watch Hanzo wince. “It’s practically my duty as a hot lifeguard to flirt with the hot grumpy hipster barista.”

Hanzo snorts. “You flatter yourself.”

“You just said I look like a porn actor, darlin’.”

Hanzo grimaces, conceding the point, and folds his arms tighter. The way he’s all bristled, he looks a bit like an offended owl. “You have too much body hair to be a proper porn actor,” he grumbles eventually.

McCree can’t contain a giddy grin. “Yeah, about that…”

“You did not.”

McCree transfers the razor to the other hand, silently undoes the few fastened buttons of his shirt and opens it, revealing a freshly laser-treated chest, with only a tasteful triangle of neatly trimmed hair remaining.

Hanzo’s expression is absolutely priceless. “This can’t be happening,” he says with flat dismay. “I must be having a particularly bad dream.”

“C'mon, sweetheart. Just think about all the fun we’re gonna have.” McCree reins in the grin somewhat and attempts a soothing tone. “I’ll be in your shop every damn day after hours, loud and flirty and hot like burnin’. I’ll hit on you like there’s no tomorrow, fluster you with my advances, and eventually win your grumpy heart. Are you ready for an epic summer romance?”

“Fluster? I will throw you out of my shop.”

McCree gives him a wink in the mirror. “No you won’t. Can’t throw out a perfectly polite and payin’ customer. If you did, I’d be forced to register a complaint, and we wouldn’t want you to get fired from your cover job, now, would we?”

He clicks the trimmer back on and pauses when Hanzo abruptly gets up, turns his back to McCree, straddles the toilet bowl and sits back down, folding his arms on the toilet’s cistern.

“I refuse to watch this,” Hanzo says dramatically.

McCree chuckles and holds the trimmer to his cheek. The first hairs fall into the plugged sink. “Just think how nice it’ll feel to be wooed all over again.”

Behind him, Hanzo lets out a drawn out snort of contempt. “You mean, to suffer your horrible pickup lines until I get tired of them enough to do something?”

“Took the words right out of my mouth,” he grins, cutting another line through the beard.

“I’m sure working in customer service will inoculate me to flirting attempts very quickly,” Hanzo adds grimly, still resolutely staring at the wall. “You have no idea how many people I’ve wanted to kill in just one week.”

McCree doesn’t respond, busy trimming the beard as close as he can to give the shaver a fighting chance. It wouldn’t do to go into his new job with a fresh cut.

It’s been years since he went properly undercover. He didn’t even realize how much he’s missed this — putting on a new skin, plunging into a new environment, getting to be someone else for a while — and this time it’s even better because he’s not doing it alone, there’s three of them infiltrating the place from three different angles, and the prospect of doing so with Hanzo nearby makes the already fun-looking job twice as exhilarating.

He rubs a hand across the short bristles on his cheek. Not bad. It’s been a long, long time since he last shaved off the beard and there might have been a tiny bit of worry in the back of his head, a little fear that the shave might reveal a sudden double chin or something — but no, the line of his jaw is still fine. Mighty fine, even, regardless of Hanzo’s premature complaints.

Time for the shave, then.

Hanzo’s shoulders slump when he hears the buzz of the razor. “You’re sleeping on the couch. Permanently,” he mutters so quietly McCree can barely hear him through the noise.

“You’re gonna change your mind real soon, darlin’, I promise you.”

It goes faster than he expected, considering he’s out of practice. Maybe the shavers have gotten better in the last couple of years, who knows — but after just a few minutes he puts down the razor and considers the effect of his work.

Pretty neat, if he does say so himself. The five o'clock shadow with a little bit of sideburn on each side gives the whole look authenticity, and when the bleached hair grows out a little and the roots start showing, his hot lifeguard persona is going to reach perfection.

“You can look now, sweetheart,” he says, looking fondly at Hanzo’s resigned slump against the cistern.

“Can’t,” Hanzo replies immediately. “I’m busy remembering the time when my partner still looked handsome.”

McCree laughs, shakes his head, quietly pulls off the shirt and spares one last satisfied look in the mirror before walking over and putting both hands on Hanzo’s tense shoulders.

It takes only a few moments of insistent rubbing for Hanzo to relax, reinforcing McCree’s suspicion that the whole thing is mostly just for show. Hanzo likes to put up a show every now and then, especially when they haven’t seen each other for a while, as if every day without McCree reconstructs some of the walls that took months to tear down in the first place — but knocking them over again and again is one of the most rewarding things McCree’s done in his life. He’s almost looking forward to it now.

“C'mon, sweetheart, look at me,” he murmurs into Hanzo’s ear. “I promise it ain’t gonna hurt your pretty eyes.”

Hanzo mutters something about lies, but he allows McCree to pull him upright and away from his seat, lets himself be turned around, even though his eyes are now stubbornly closed.

McCree leans in to kiss him, as sweetly and convincingly as he can, and refuses to stop, chasing Hanzo’s mouth until he turns his head all the way to the side, snorting quietly.

“Fine,” Hanzo says. He’s trying to sound disgruntled, but the fondness underneath makes McCree’s heart swell. “But you’re still sleeping on the couch until you grow your beard back.”

“We’ll see about that,” he replies, letting Hanzo out of his arms, taking two steps back and leaning against the sink with his thumbs in his belt loops, smiling.

Hanzo opens his eyes and blinks.

McCree knows how to watch people; the parts of his life he hasn’t spent shooting, he’s spent observing others. He sees the way Hanzo’s mouth, thinned in an obstinate grimace, softens. He sees his pupils dilate slightly and his Adam’s apple bob. He sees Hanzo’s chest rise in a deep breath and it takes all he’s got not to allow the crooked smile to grow into a smug grin, because Hanzo is still very much capable of stubbornly pretending if he feels he’s not being taken seriously.

“Do I really look that terrible?” he murmurs instead.

Hanzo stares for a second, two, exhales forcefully through his nose, stalks towards McCree and pulls him into a kiss with a hand in his freshly dyed hair. It’s not a sweet kiss at all, although, in a way, it’s also very convincing.

“I’ll take that as a no,” McCree manages, grinning widely now that he knows it’s safe, and Hanzo lets go of his hair, grabs his hand without a word, pulls him out of the bathroom and drags him towards the bed.

Hanzo doesn’t let him out of bed for three hours. After that, McCree doesn’t hear a single complaint, and when he walks into the coffee shop near the beach three days later, the hot grumpy hipster barista refuses to meet his eyes, and McCree is sure he can see a blush when he waits for his drink to be prepared.

#writing #prompt fill #prompt fic #mchanzo #easiest prompt of my life tbh #I would have struggled to find an angsty fill for that line

[joannalannister]

Hi there! I've been meaning to ask this for awhile now, but I was just wondering what you think Jon's reaction to finding out Daenerys is his aunt will be? I mean, in my mind, it *could* go either way ... he could just not care bc of the whole Targaryens wedding family all the time, but I'm not entirely sure. I've been waiting SO LONG for my ship to sail, and tbh, I really don't care that they're nephew/aunt, but yeah. I just wanted to get your take on it!

In the books, I think that Jon is going to find out about Rhaegar and Lyanna in TWOW, before he meets Daenerys. So I don’t think “Daenerys is my aunt” is the familial relationship he’s immediately going to focus on, although I’m sure he’ll figure that out eventually. I think Jon has to grapple with the fact that Ned isn’t his biological father, along with the fact that his biological father Rhaegar disappeared with his mother Lyanna, who was underage at the time of her disappearance. And then this disappearance ignited a chain of events that caused Jon’s Uncle Brandon’s and his grandfather Rickard’s deaths. Not to mention a war. 

Quotin myself:

idk if I would be so quick to dismiss Jon’s feelings. I think the emotional impact is kind of the whole point of the story. GRRM says he’s writing about “the human heart in conflict with itself”. It’s the emotional struggle that we relate to, more so than wielding a magical sword and slaying ice zombies. It’s R+L=J that is going to play a significant part in Jon Refusing the Hero’s Call. Jon has created a fantasy about Ned and his mother, and the pain of having that fantasy ripped away, of finding out he was Rhaegar’s design, a piece of Rhaegar’s prophecy, is gonna be a really big deal to him. Jon has to work through these feelings, and decide to save the world because he chooses to, and not because it’s something on Rhaegar’s survivalist checklist. Rhaegar was doing things because he thought it was required (”it seems i must be a warrior”), because some dusty prophecy said so. Jon’ll do it because it’s right and it’s what he chooses, and his emotional journey is gonna be the whole point of twow/ados.

See also. Also also: #r plus l equals j

So that’s. A lot of stuff for Jon to work through in TWOW.

And I don’t actually think that Dany is arriving in Westeros until near the end of TWOW, and I think that she’s going to be in the King’s Landing / Dragonstone area. 

Perhaps Jon will meet her there idk, perhaps not. I personally like the idea of Jon going south trying to find the Tower of Joy and spending 40 days and 40 nights wandering the Dornish desert (I would like to learn more about Dorne), but instead GRRM will probably opt for a metaphorical desert of the heart. Regardless of whether it’s a physical desert or a metaphorical one tho, I think the problem remains the same: the rejection of evil. Instead of Satan appearing to Jesus Jon, it’s indifference and despair that Jon must reject. 

To quote Elie Wiesel, 

The opposite of love is not hate, it’s indifference. The opposite of art is not ugliness, it’s indifference. The opposite of faith is not heresy, it’s indifference. And the opposite of life is not death, it’s indifference. Because of indifference, one dies before one actually dies.

Indifference, to me, is the epitome of evil.

What hurts the victim most is not the cruelty of the oppressor but the silence of the bystander.

This is what I think ASOIAF is all about - having the courage to speak out and oppose what is wrong in the world. (This is why that theory about Tyrion losing his tongue is so heinous.) We see people speaking out when Tyrion stands up for one little girl, in Jon saving wildlings and letting them through the Wall in spite of the bigotry that will get him killed, in Dany freeing slaves, in Sansa speaking on Dontos’s behalf, and the stuff all the other heroes do. 

And we see a lot of evil happen in ASOIAF when people stand by and look the other way and do nothing - like the Kingsguard. 

(Remember Rhaella. Remember the men of the kingsguard who looked away. Remember Daenerys, who “dare not look away” when people are being raped or mutilated or murdered.)

“All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.”

Remember the call: “ARE THERE NO TRUE KNIGHTS AMONG YOU?”

“Only silence answered.”

That’s really what I think Jon is going to be dealing with in TWOW - the temptation to sit it out and do nothing as the War of the Five Kings resumes and the Wall falls, and the ice zombies invade. 

The temptation to answer all this with silence. 

(Like, if you asked me to describe how I think TWOW’s going to be like … I think it’s going to be like that moment in a movie when you’re holding your breath in anticipation and horror.)

I have a tendency to resort to Wheel of Time quotes when I run out of ASOIAF quotes, but I honestly think of these two series as sisters in the epic fantasy genre so anyways. In WOT there’s this prophecy related to the salvation of the world, “The grave is no bar to my call.” 

When ADOS asks, “ARE THERE NO TRUE KNIGHTS AMONG YOU?” Zombie!Jon has to choose to answer the call, despite his death, despite everything that happened to him. 

So anyways … The temptation to answer all this with silence … while I think Dany’s story is going to parallel Jon’s throughout TWOW, I think the very earliest they’re going to meet is at the very end of TWOW, and maybe not until ADOS. 

So by the time Jon actually meets Dany, I think he knows full well who she is, and who he is.

Sidenote - I do not think that Rhaegar and Lyanna got married in the books because 

I believe Jon’s story is about coming to terms with who he is, and that includes being a bastard - just not Ned’s bastard. 

I do not think GRRM would undermine and sideline Dany’s claim to the Iron Throne like that, when Dany’s story centers around a choice between her people vs her throne. It would make her final sacrifice at the end that much bigger, if it includes the throne that she must give up.

So when Jon and Dany finally meet … I think it’s all going to be very chaotic and desperate. 

Also. Jon will be an undead fire zombie in the books, so let’s. 

Let’s not forget that. 

Because I think that is going to be Very Important. 

I would say that death … or zombification … or whatever word you would like to use for the experience of being murdered and resurrected … is going to be a much bigger issue for Jon and Dany’s relationship than simple incest.

I think throughout GRRM’s body of work – not just ASOIAF, but everything – there’s this theme about … about … the boundaries of love, but more importantly, the breakdown of those boundaries that stop us from loving each other. It’s A Song for Lya. It’s the spider loving a human woman in Tower of Ashes. It’s Vincent in Beauty and the Beast. 

It’s GRRM saying that love is boundless. 

So with Jon and Dany … I’m hesitant to speak here because GRRM has so much left to write … I think that Jon has to realize, with Dany’s help, that death doesn’t stop you from loving. 

Think about what Jon’s been through. 

He was murdered. Betrayed by his own men. 

Murdered because he wouldn’t leave the wildlings to die on the other side of the Wall. Because he let them in, in his love and his compassion for humanity. Murdered because he loved a wildling girl. Murdered because he loved his sister, and he wanted to go save the girl he thought was Arya. 

Like, you can get into all the political reasons behind Jon’s assassination, but in the end? I think it was about love. Bigots like Bowen Marsh lack that kind of love. 

And Jon died for it. 

I think Bran’s AGOT vision is a metaphor for Jon in TWOW: “Jon sleeping alone in a cold bed, his skin growing pale and hard as the memory of all warmth fled from him.”

Warmth is love. 

Remember, “The real enemy is the cold.” The cold is slavery, abuse, murder, cruelty. The cold is all the ways that people hurt each other. The cold is indifference, despair. The cold is the absence of hope. The cold is death, dehumanization. 

So in TWOW, I think Jon’s going to have a lot of problems letting people in. 

I think Undead Jon rejects love. I don’t think he’ll remember what it is, and that’s what will make him initially reject his savior role. That’s why he’ll initially be indifferent to humanity’s fate. Zombie!Jon just can’t find it in him to care anymore imo. 

You can’t step up and save humanity if you don’t love humanity. 

I think Dany has to warm Jon up, so to speak. 

Because humanity is fire (life) and the Others and their army of the Undead are ice, and the song of ice and fire is the war between humanity and the Others. With Jon zombified and, worse, indifferent … refusing the call … he’s an (unwitting) agent of the Others, and Dany has to save him. I mean, Dany has to save everyone, but she has to save Jon first. She has to make him remember what it means to be human.** 

Like, Mel is going to bring Jon back pretty quickly imo, but … what is life worth, “when all the rest is gone?” Being back isn’t enough. Dany’s going to make Jon live again, as she never could for Drogo. (That’s gonna be a nice bookend, @GRRM, if we ever get to read it.) 

Like, ASOIAF is about second chances. Samwell failed to release the ravens on time in ACOK, but you can bet he’s gonna release them on time when it really counts. Dany couldn’t make her Sun and Stars live again in his undead state … but you can bet your ass she’s gonna make Jon Snow live again.

I don’t know exactly how that’s going to happen, but I really, really, really don’t think Jon and Dany bang until they’re beyond the curtain of light, in the Other World Faerie Realm Lovecraftian Parallel Universe of Nightmare and Death. 

If Westeros has a version of Adam and Eve, two people alone and in love at the birth of the world … well, I imagine Jon and Dany as the inverse, two people alone “at the end of all things”. 

Imagine Belle’s magic mirror, Galadriel’s basin of water, Saruman’s palantir … the Sony JumboTron … whatever far-seeing device the Others can use to demoralize Our Heroes … imagine Jon and Dany watching all the dead and dying as Winterfell’s outer curtainwall falls. Imagine them watching when … I don’t know … someone in a critical defensive position betrays them. Imagine Grey Worm dying. Imagine idk horrible things. Disheartening things. Imagine Our Heroes losing heart. (The human heart in conflict with itself!) 

(I think the Others are smart and I think they understand psychological warfare. Look how they play with people.)

Jon: “I am glad you are here with me, Dany. Here at the end of all things.”

Not a happy conversation, maybe, but a human one. Both of us needed someone, and we reached out. […I] made love to her as fiercely as I could. Then, the darkness softened, we held each other and [pushed] away the night.

–Dreamsongs

Did it matter to Adam, that Eve was born of his rib? That’s why this issue with incest is so irrelevant to me when it comes to Jon and Dany - I think the circumstances are going to be so weird, so wild, they’ll make that fish-fucking movie look normal. 

Jon is a zombie. They’re going to be in a Lovecraftian Universe. It’s the end of the world. Dany and Jon being related is not going to matter. 

In this Other World, this alien Lovecraftian dimension, I think Jon and Dany are the only two humans in this whole Other universe (with the possible exception of Tyrion, but Tyrion’s really a wildcard, more morally ambiguous than either Jon or Dany imo and therefore much more difficult to predict). 

And so Jon and Dany reach out to each other – they have sex – as a celebration of their humanity, an act of defiance against an alien species that wants to destroy humanity. 

And this act revitalizes them, gives them their second wind … and they can go do … whatever it is they need to do … to defeat the Others. 

Love, life, salvation … there’s so much bigger stuff at stake here than “She’s my aunt”.

So no, I don’t think it will matter to Jon.

I have more Jon/Dany thoughts here, if you like: #jdmeta

-

**When Aemon gives Jon that “Kill the boy” speech, I think the mistake Jon makes is that he thinks he must kill his humanity. He pushes his friends away, he becomes isolated, he heartlessly steals Gilly’s baby. It’s cold and cruel … almost Tywin-esque. And I joke about Tywin being a golden cyborg, but that’s what toxic masculinity is … it’s a denial of humanity. I think Dany will have to help Jon remember what it’s like to be human. 

#asoiaf #a song of ice and fire #princesspudding #replies #lannister thoughts #jon snow #jon x dany #dany x jon #jdmeta #endgame #asoiaf themes #the meaning of asoiaf #daenerys targaryen

[monaisme]

Day 8: “hey, hey, this is no time to sleep”

The sun had already set but Sam and Bucky still had one last stop to make in Queens before they could head back to temporary headquarters and officially call the day done.

With the world trying to find its way in a post- final snap reality, re-establishing the Avengers Initiative had definitely taken priority, but without Tony and Nat, it was proving to be a challenge, especially with Steve only working as a consultant.

Yes, they had Nick Fury and Maria Hill in house, but they’d both been acting kind of strange, almost guilty, in the last few weeks and neither Sam nor Bucky quite knew what to make of it. The two Avengers were working on their own Initiative agenda, tracking down new recruits and pulling in old friends. There was no need to bug Fury and Hill while they were distracted by their own work shit.

Regardless, there was work to do. They just needed to pop in and have a quick chat with one Peter Parker A.K.A. Spider-Man, and they’d be set.

None of the Avengers, save Tony, had really known the kid and no one had really wanted to be the first to reach out after the funeral—trying to respect the grieving process and all that. (Yeah, Sam had read his file and knew that Spider-Man knew loss.) But then Spider-Man had stepped up and really shown the world what he was made of. With all the shit that had gone down in Europe with Quentin Beck—well, it seemed like as good a time as any to get that initial meet-and-greet out of the way.

They came to a stop in front of a non-descript apartment building across from a nice little green space. Sam had heard that Happy had gone and married the kid’s aunt and that they were all playing house together now. It was nice to know that positive things were happening around the kid, too,  

Bucky managed to find a parking spot less than a block away from their destination, which for any of the five boroughs, was an absolute win. They approached the building; only for Sam to rush ahead when he saw an older woman with two miniature border collies and an armful of bags struggle to make her way out of the exact building they were heading to.

“Let me get that for you, miss.” He offered as he pulled the door open wide for her.

She barely glanced at him as she passed through, saying nothing.

Sam simply glared at her back.

Bucky sauntered up the stairs and through the door, patting Sam’s cheek and smiling sweetly as he went. “I appreciate you, bud.”

Sam turned his glare on his partner. “Shut up, smart ass,” and they entered the building.

The elevator was just past the bank of mailboxes in the front lobby, with the doors already open and waiting to take them to the sixth floor. “Bucky,” Sam said, “I feel like this is a sign.” He pressed the button for six. “We’re gonna get this meet up done and we’ll still have time to hit that barbecue joint for a late dinner.” He smirked at his partner. “And if you’re nice to me, I might even share my coleslaw with you.”

Bucky stared up at the numbers climbing. “You can keep your coleslaw, Sam. I got enough cabbage in my Ma’s soup growin’ up.” He looked over to Sam, “But I could still go for some barbecue.”

That decided, they settled into Avengers mode—they had a job to do.

The elevator stopped at the sixth floor, its doors opened, and the two men stepped out and headed toward apartment #615. Bucky knocked.

And no one answered.

Bucky knocked again, louder, and the man living in #610 opened his door to see who was in the hall.

“Sorry about that, sir. We’ll be quieter,” Sam waved and offered an apology. “Everything’s alright.”

The man scowled at the two men and begrudgingly shut his door.

Bucky knocked a third time, “You called the kid to tell him we were coming, right?” he asked Sam.

He scoffed, “Of course I didn’t. You’ve seen the kid’s file. He’s a geek. Where else would he be on a Friday night?”

Bucky turned to make an epic comeback when the sound of glass breaking came from the other side of the door. Instead he said, “You heard that, too, right?”

With a sharp nod, they each pulled out their sidearm and prepared for entry. Bucky grasped the doorknob with his vibranium hand and gave a tight squeeze then twist, rendering any apartment management supplied locking mechanism useless.

The door opened.

With trained eyes, the two men entered and immediately noted the open window with its curtains billowing in the breeze. Scanning the room, they also noted the broken vase and flowers scattered across the hallway floor leading to the bedrooms.

They moved in tandem, weapons poised and ready to deal with whatever they found, but first Bucky called out, “Peter?”

Nothing.

They moved down the hallway, Sam clearing the bathroom while Bucky cleared the office space across from it.

Bucky called out again, “Peter? It’s Bucky and Sam from the Avengers. Are you in here?”

Bucky heard the sound first, coming from the last room on the left. He could only assume it was Parker’s bedroom from the radiation symbol and “Do not enter” sign plastered on the door. He motioned with a glance and he and Sam were both on the same page. Sam moved to one side, with Bucky on the other, guns at the ready. Bucky put his hand on the doorknob, readied to throw the door open and shoot when he heard the quiet, “shit” and a louder commotion.

Sam tried next, “Peter, are you in there? It’s Sam Wilson and Bucky Barnes from the Avengers Initiative. Can we speak with you?”

The room grew quiet and a tired voice warbled out, “It’s not a good time, Mis-er Avengers... maybe tomorrow?”

Bucky and Sam exchanged a look. “Peter? It’s Sam. Can I come in?”

Both of them heard the rustle of blankets. “No, thank you! Really. Come back tomorrow?”

Something wasn’t right. “Peter, we’re coming in.” Sam hollered back. He and Bucky counted back and Bucky threw the door open. With a quick check, they cleared the room and Sam holstered his weapon, assigning Bucky the task of playing guard without a word.

“Peter,” Sam spoke quietly now, “We’ll leave you be in a minute. We just need to make sure there’s nothing going on here that we should be concerned about, okay?”

The Star Wars comforter rustled again as Peter moved under the bedding. “I’m absolutely fine, thank you very much! You can go now!” He sounded like he was trying to convince himself at this point.

Sam had to know. “Peter, I’m pulling the blanket back, kid. I just gotta see you and then we’ll go, okay?”

The two could hear the sigh of resignation. “okay.”

Sam grasped the edge of the blanket and pulled it back with care, revealing one very, very beat up Spider-kid. “Well, shit.”

“Don’ tell May I went out, please?” The kid pleaded.

Sam ignored the request—it wasn’t relevant in this moment-- and sat down on the bed beside Peter, already performing a visual assessment of any injuries that might need immediate treatment. Both of the kid’s eyes were bruised and swollen, one was completely shut and he could see two separate places on his face alone that Peter would need stitches. “Bucky,” he called back over his shoulder, “I need you to get the kit outta the car, fast.”

Without a word, Bucky was out of the room.

“You don’t have to do this, Mr. Wilson.” Peter mumbled, “There’s a first aid kit in the bathroom and then I’m just gonna go to sleep and I’ll be good by tomorrow.” He reached blindly for the edge of his comforter.

Sam shook his head and sighed, “Kid, it looks to me like you were about to try to sleep it off, and that isn’t happening. Besides, if you think that I can walk away from you looking like this and be okay with it, you obviously haven’t met me.”

“We have met,” he said petulantly. “Only once, at the funeral...” he trailed off.

Sam didn’t quite know how to take that, but the boy had to be feeling like hot garbage so he’d leave it for now. “Okay well, count this as our first OFFICIAL meeting, Spider-Man. Nice to meet you.”

Peter glared at him, “Are we really doin’ this now?”

Bucky rushed into the room, “Here’s the kit, Sam.”

“Thanks, man.” Sam took it and placed it on the bed, then turned back to Peter who had yet to sit up, “Okay, now, can you sit up or are we doing this lying down?”

Sam waited for Peter to answer.

“Lying down it is then.” Sam got up and washed his hands before coming back in and opening the kit.

Peter was obviously unimpressed with the entire situation, but Sam couldn’t give a rat’s ass about some teen angst. “Alright, do I need to know anything about under the superhero suit?”

Peter pretended to look at a poster on his wall and bit his lip. There was no way he was actually looking at anything with that eye of his.

“Is it the ribs? Or something else?”

And Peter still didn’t answer.

Sam sighed and prayed silently for strength. “Kid, we can do this here or we can do it at HQ. If you don’t answer, I will assume you can’t answer and I will call for a medical team to come and haul your ass all the way over there. That will mean paperwork for me and for Bucky, and I sure as hell do not want to be doing paperwork when I could be watching Netflix.” Sam addressed Bucky, “Do you want to be doing paperwork tonight, Bucky?”

Bucky was leaned against the doorframe, looking far too amused. He shook his head. “I do not, Sam.”

“Exactly!” Sam exclaimed. “Do you hear what I’m sayin,’ kid?”

“Yeah,” Peter whispered after a beat. “I hear you.”

“Good, now tell me what’s happening, Peter.”

“I’m not lyin’—I’ll be ‘kay if I can jus’ sleep.” His speech was starting to drag.

“And I’m not so sure that’s a good idea.” Sam grabbed the penlight from the kit and moved to Peter’s head. “I’m just gonna give your eyes a check before we do anything else.” Sam looked at those eyes again and cringed. “This is gonna hurt, but I’m gonna go as fast as I can, okay?”

Peter closed his eyes, like he was bracing himself, and gave a quick nod, “’kay.”

Sam was quick, like he promised. He didn’t need that long to see the tell-tale signs of concussion. He sat back, turned the penlight off, and looked at the kid. “You were going to go to sleep with a pretty nasty concussion, do you know that? You should be at a medical facility.”

“They don’ make you stay anymore—no rooms.” Peter replied.

The kid had a point. “Yeah, but then folks are released to family or friends who will keep an eye on them...”

“I have friends...” Peter offered.

Sam looked around the room for effect, regardless of whether or not the boy noticed. “I’m sure you do, but they aren’t here.” Sam looked at Bucky, trying to figure out how their evening had become this. “How’s about this, man, when is your aunt gonna be home? Is she out with Happy?”

Peter visibly flinched.

Yeah, there was definitely a story there.

“Kid?”

“They’re in Vermon’—something about a vin... vineyard or somethin.’” He confessed.

Sam exhaled loudly at that little tidbit of information. “Well... that explains why you didn’t want me to tell her, right?”

“Doesn’ matter. You said you’d go.”

Bucky piped in here, “That was before we figured out that you could die in your sleep, Spider-Man. You were holdin’ out on us, so you gotta cut Sam and me some slack.”

Peter had no rebuttal.

“Yeah, that’s what I thought.”

Sam looked at Bucky and gestured toward the living room. Bucky got the gist and headed out. Sam then excused himself from the boy. “Listen, Pete, I’m going to talk to Bucky real quick, I’ll be right back, okay?”

“Yeah, yeah,” Pete grumbled and grabbed again for his comforter.

“Na-a, Peter. No getting comfortable. I’m gonna be right back to poke and prod some more, alright? ...just need a minute to make some plans with my partner. Got it?”

Peter nodded so Sam took it for what it was and headed back into the next room.

Bucky started laughing as he saw the look of frustration on Sam’s face, “Hey, Sam, how come nobody told us that Spider-Man was a little shit?!”

Sam’s face darkened and he cuffed Bucky across the chest, “How come no one told you that Spider-Man has enhanced hearing and just heard you call him a little shit?”

Bucky stopped laughing, eyes moving between Sam and the bedroom where the boy lay, listening to them. “You’re joking, right?”

“No, he’s not...” came a quiet voice from down the hallway.

Sam stared back at him.

Bucky groaned and dropped his face into his hands. “Well, shit.”

Sam cocked an eyebrow at him, “Yup. So here’s what we’re gonna do. You are going to head in and apologize for being the big shit to his little shit and I am going to grab some information and call his aunt—see when the two of them are coming back. Okay?”

Bucky nodded.

Sam got serious, “Hey, I know you wanted to relax tonight, but if you want to bail, I’ll just make the call and then you can be on your way, okay?”

Bucky disagreed, “Nah, I’m here for the whole enchilada, buddy.” He grasped Sam’s shoulder in support. “Let’s get this kid squared away and we can grab the helicopter one day next week to fly in and grab the barbecue.”

Sam chuckled, “Bucky, I’ll just grab my wings and give you a lift. How does that sound?”

“How’s about we worry about semantics later? I have to go pull my head out of my ass with the kid and you have to find a phone number... which appears to be stuck to the refrigerator with a magnet.” Bucky pointed to the kitchen and then headed down the hall.

Sam had his phone out and was dialling May’s cell phone within a minute, only to find the call going unanswered.

And then Happy’s—the same.

As a last resort, Sam was currently being connected to May and Happy’s hotel room... with an eventual return to the front desk and a promise that a message would be delivered as soon as possible.

Well, that was not good.

And neither was the urgent call from the bedroom, “Sam!”

Sam came running. “What’s goin’ on?!” though he realized what had happened once he took in the vomit covered spider-suit and sheets. “Well, shit.”

“You guys say ‘shit’ a lot.” Peter breathed out.

“Well, yeah,” Bucky explained, “Steve is out of the office most of the time and we ditched the swear jar.”

Peter snorted and made to stand up. “I need to take a shower.”

Both Bucky and Sam rushed the boy, who shrank back onto the bed, now clutching his ribs. “No. I got it... back off.”

“Kid,” Sam was starting to get a little ticked. “You’re being ridiculous. Just let one of us help you.”

Peter glowered back. “You don’t get to tell me what to do, you know.”

“I’m not telling you! I’m offering to help!” Sam finally snapped.

“WHY?!” Peter yelled. “I’ve needed help for months and I’ve gotten nothing!”

Sam stopped short. “What are you talking about? No one has said a word about you needing...”

Peter groaned and put his hand up, “Just stop. I’ll prove it.” Peter fumbled in his messed and soiled bed for his phone, put it on speaker and dialled.

A familiar voice answered. “What do you want now, Mr. Parker?” Nick Fury’s voice boomed impatiently over the line.

“Mr. Fury, sir,” Peter replied, “I’m calling about that drug ring I told you about. I’m hoping that maybe Mr. Falcon or Sergeant Barnes would be free to back me up. I’ve got some solid intel...” He looked Sam as in the eye as he could for all of the swelling as he spoke.

“Mr. Parker,” Nick Fury tersely, “I already told you. Most of our Avengers are still off on assignments so you’re on your own for at least another few weeks.”

“Are you sure, Mr. Fury? I’d even take some SHIELD agents, if you could spare ‘em. I mean, you know the police are still stretched with the reversal and all... but—”

Nick sounded like he was losing patience, “Look kid, if anyone pops in, I’ll send’em your way, but that’s all I can offer... now stop calling me unless a purple jackass with a glove kink shows up in Queens.” Nick laughed at this own joke as he hung up the phone.

Peter disconnected, and stared silently at Sam, then at Bucky as they both processed what they’d heard.

“I needed help after Tony’s funeral, you know. It wasn’t big, but I was having a hard time being Spider-Man when all I wanted was Iron Man.” Peter’s lip trembled, but he forced himself to sit straight. “And then in Europe? I knew it was too big for me... and I screwed up so bad! But I asked for help then, too... from any of you!”

Bucky stepped up then. “Tell us about the drug ring. Sam and I can help right now.” He looked desperate to prove himself to the boy.

Peter laughed and gestured to himself. “I’ve already taken care of them, but thank you very much.”

He moved to the end of the bed. “At first I figured it was some sort of baptism by fire thing—needing to prove my mettle and all that.” His legs dangled for a moment before putting his feet flat on the floor. “And then I realized something. I realized that you all blamed me for the death of Iron Man. I know that it’s my fault that Tony did what he did... that he was on that field because of me... died because of m—“ Peter choked on his words and stopped, taking deep, controlled breaths.

“It was my fifth call when I finally figured it out... or at least most of it.” And then the tears started to flow. “I’m not sure if it’s all of you, but some of you must hate me something fierce for what I caused and... ” he used the back of his hand to wipe away the wetness from his cheeks, “and you must want me to suffer.” He pushed himself up to standing, blanching in that moment. “Well, surprise, Mr. Wilson and Sergeant Barnes,” he nodded politely to them both. “I am.”

Peter waited for either of them to say something to him, but neither did.

He cleared his throat. “Than’ you for the rush of ‘drenaline, not only did I make sense, I may just be able to make it through m’ shower now.” Peter took one step, and then another before dropping to the floor. Bucky and Sam both dived for him but Bucky only barely managed to keep Peter’s head from connecting with the hardwood floor.

Sam kneeled beside him again, lightly patting his cheek. “Hey, hey, this is no time to sleep, Peter.” He tapped a little harder. “Peter! Peter Parker! Open your eyes for me, buddy.”

His eyes fluttered open, then closed again.

Bucky and Sam stared at each other over the boy’s prone form.

“Do we even bother calling for a med evac?” Bucky asked.

Sam thought for a second and shook his head, no. “I’m not bringing this boy within fifty miles of headquarters until we know what the hell is happening with Fury.” He looked over to the boy’s bed. “We’ll take care of him here.”

“Stay here then. I’m gonna get the puke off the bed and grab a cloth for you to clean him up a little.” Bucky announced and jumped up to pull off the soiled comforter.

“Yeah, pass me the first aid kit again, too. I’m gonna take care of these stitches while he’s out.” Sam held out his hand again.

Between the two of them, they settled the boy in his bed and finished tending to him. The stitches and cold packs were easy. Peter had been right, though. The remainder of it would require rest... and a precautionary wake up every two hours whether he needed it or not.

And come morning, Sam and Bucky would start working on the rest.

@febuwhump

#febuwhump #febuwhump2021 #fanfiction #post endgame #Sam and Bucky are good bros

[attract-mode-collective]

Just Another Late Night At The Game Center

And just another massive dose of game culture, as originally shared on the Attract Mode Twitter account, (most of) everything that was shared in the latter half of February. The first half was covered here.

Before I forget: the above is courtesy of erickimphotography.com.

Again, given how short Feb is supposed to be, I figured this post would be too... and it's not. So am wonder if going weekly might best going forward?

Anyhow, where did I leave off last time? Oh yeah; Valentine's Day. And here’s Amy Rose, from the day after, reminding us all that, as great as love can be, it also hurts (via sonicthehedgeblog)...

Check out this devastating big boot from Mario, one that would make the WWE's Undertaker or Kane proud (via suppermariobroth)...

You're no doubt familiar with Julie Bell's work, but are you aware of the close resemblance between her art & the artist herself? (via slbtumblng)...

Some nice, pixelated sukajans we have here (via kauzara)...

Look at these hipsters...

Look at these hipsters standing around, on a Brooklyn rooftop...

Look at these hipsters standing around, on a Brooklyn rooftop in leggings based upon the interactive menu for the Super Famicom's satellite modem peripheral. (via minusworld.co.uk)...

Am legit thinking of getting this shirt covered with quotes from people trying to figure out which Metal Gear character is gay (via kotaku.com)...

Am rather fond of Data Weave, which has more than a passing resemblance to the Eliss scarf that helped put the Attract Mode shop on the map (via prostheticknowledge)...

When you go to bed, don't forget to never use your Dreamcast as a pillow (nor should you ever place it on a bucket filled with leafy greens either, but you probably already knew that one; via posthumanwanderings)...

Not sure which SNK 40th Anniversary shirt I like more (via miki800.com)...

It's just Hidetaka Suehiro, playing... I think The Last Blade? Criminally underrated Neo Geo game btw (via nintendu)...

And the late, great Robin Williams playing Ground Zero Texas for the Sega CD (via celebgames)...

Plus the President of Turkey, circa 1990, playing Galaxy Force II for whatever reason (via historium)..

Pro-tip to any & all custom arcade cabinet sellers: if you're going to photograph someone playing a game on your thing, have said person actually play the thing (in this case, Robotron utilizes dual sticks and no buttons; via arcadephile)...

Today's recommended reading is a follow-up to another older post, one that's all about Willie Williams, who not only inspired Virtua Fighter's Jeffry McWild but also Tekken's Paul Phoenix (via lordmo)...

After seeing this gif of a young woman punching a dinosaur (or possibly a dragon) in the crotch, I may have to give Capcom Fighting Jam a second look (via kazucrash)...

Sticking with the subject of crotches for just one bit, everyone out there's familiar with PuLiRuLa, right? (via kazucrash)

Just a friendly reminder of how wacky commercials for the PlayStation 2 were back in the day (via kurhl)...

Back to the subject of dinosaurs... yet still sticking with fun under the sun (via sidestorygaiden)...

If I'm gonna share fan art of unofficial PlayStation 1 era mascots, then I have to pass along this rendering of Abe (via it8bit)...

Seen countless folk play music with a Game Boy or a NES... but a Dreamcast? @slowmagic is the very first, and with a Hello Kitty edition Dreamcast no less...

Does anyone know if these figures of Dorimukyasuko & friends were commercially produced or if they were just made for the Sega no Game wa Sekai Ichi~i~i~I ad that the image comes from? (via vgprintads)...

We've gotten snowfall here in NYC over the past few weeks, once during during sunset, but alas it wasn't nearly as pretty as this (via kirokazepixel)...

It's been ages since I've posted any Game Culture Snapshots, despite countless promises that I'd fix that. Well, until that finally happens, here just one, from IndieCade East 2018. Which was an epic bust, but hey, at least I finally got to play that Bill Viola game I first encountered at GDC 2008...

PLEASE tell me that GBA Video carts are the new hot means of distributing bootleg Hollywood flicks (via @katribou)...

This part from The Thing always reminded me of Asteroids on the Atari 7800 (via pixpunk)...

I posted this on Twitter, not realizing that I had shared it on the blog once before. But since I can’t find that original post, and since it's so damn nice, plus totally worth looking at again (via humanoidhistory)...

I also need to re-share that Tron movie poster cuz it's the first lead up to this Blade Runner-related spread from Joystik Magazine (via mendelpalace)...

As someone who fetishizes old video game magazines, I'm legit ashamed that I didn't know about Joystik sooner (via here & here)...

Please enjoy a healthy helping of scans from Lovely Sweet Dream, the dream journal that would become the basis of LSD for the PlayStation 1 (via here & here)...

Sorry, but I still think the idea of a multi-billionaire sending his sports car into space just cuz he can to be kinda cringey, yet that doesn't mean I'd don't think this pixelated recreation is any less pleasant (via it8bit)...

I've never been to Beverly Hills, so I have no idea if this portrayal according to Super Chase: Criminal Termination is accurate or not; maybe it was when the game was produced? (via obscurevideogames)...

Meanwhile, closer to where I am (somewhat; am not all that far from Long Island) is Mario & Yoshi & the Book of Revelation (via greathaircut)...

Are you playing Mario? Or is Mario playing you? (via suppermariobroth)...

Game Boys. And Game Girls. Mostly Girls. (via contac)

Before anyone asks, no, I do not have a bigger/wallpaper appropriate-sized version of this super sexy image of a couple of Wiis (via klaus-laserdisc)...

I think I kinda need to do this to my PlayStation (via dreamcast.tokyo)...

... Which reminds of those fancy, souped up by audiophiles PSXs I mentioned a whiles ago...

I celebrated Cat Day in Japan by posting this fave official King of Fighters illustration (via videogamesdensetsu)....

... along with this Monster Hunter fan art (via kerriaitken)...

... plus this highlight of a fave WarioWare: Twisted micro game (via suppermariobroth)...

So yeah, Flash sucks, I get that, but as the platform fades away, so does the opportunity to play games like Fear Less! (via zombie-chaser)...

Thankfully, WORLD OF HORROR, "a love letter to the cosmic horror work of Junji Ito", is something that's much more accessible (for now at least)...

I don't know much about Dujanah, which has you assuming the role of a Muslim woman with grievances against a military force that's occupying her Islamic homeland, other than it looks extremely compelling...

Yet another game I need to check out is CONTINUUM, which is a shmup that combines time manipulation and Tetris? (via alpha-beta-gamer)...

It's a legit shame that Jetpack Squad has seemingly fallen off the map (via shmups)...

Another shmup that I really, really want to play (though it's starting to feel increasingly unlikely) is AEROBAT, which looks just as gorgeous (and insane) today as it did the first time I laid eye (via shmups)...

Yet another game that was never meant to be, and the only thing we have here is some incredible looking concept art; if it ended up happening & was any good, I wonder if I'd be a PC-FX owner? (via videogamesdensetsu)...

If a Tokyo Dark Souls was ever to happen, which artist's take do you prefer; this one (via visor-visual)...

... or this one? (via mendelpalace)

You know about celebrity roasts, right? Well, a comedy club in Long Island City had one for Mario, though I have no idea how it went; I had kung fu practice that night...

Me, when the coffee kicks in (via anthony10000000)...

I had no idea that Typing of the Space Harrier was even a thing (via posthumanwanderings)...

It's a bit unsettling how some of Dreamcast Magazine's advice on how to survive Y2K are still useful today, in particular their words of wisdom regarding Seaman (via posthumanwanderings)...

Megadora Man, a Tokusatsu-esque take on the Mega Drive, for Beep! Mega Drive; am assuming his foes are inspired by the Famicom and PC Engine (though am not totally sure which is which; via obscurevideogames)...

Question: how hard would it be for someone in the US to get the first three issues of Famitsu from the Japanese Kindle Store? (via miki800.com)

Been well over a decade since first laying eyes and I FINALLY know the identity of the artist behind a series of Mario illustrations that has long left me stupefied: his name is Ishihara Gōjin (via videogamesdensetsu)...

I woke up the other day with a sense of purpose, with the knowledge that I finally have a mission in life: to do whatever I can to make this dancing kid from Sega Splash Golf a viral sensation (via sonicthehedgeblog)...

Though speaking of morning, been feeling run down as of late, though it's my own damn fault for not having breakfast. Which is why I can't wait for my Persona 3 toaster has yet to arrive (via gasp-theenemy)...

Had no idea that MAME can also emulate those crappy, Tiger handheld games; naturally there's not much to look at, since none of the background is part of the game's code (via lanceboyles)...

Eggman has a sense of humor (via voidirium)...

Eggman also has aesthetics (via posthumanwanderings)...

When you mess with the textures in Wind Waker for the sole purpose of making Vaporwave Link (via pmpkn)...

Man, I really wish each and every mech in Tech Romancer actually had its own anime (via ultrace)...

Before Mappy was a video game, it was a physical game involving real deal robots (via namcomuseum)...

And I swear, one of these days, we'll make available online Zac Gorman's print from Comics Vs Games 2...

In my time I've encountered lots & lots of BMO fan art, so much that it has become increasingly difficult to take notice and be impressed, yet this one managed to do so regardless (via it8bit)...

Let's all take a moment to appreciate the instruction manual for Cubivore, shall we (via skincoats)...

Cubivore's Japanese box art is also very nice (via gaygamer)...

An important message for all parents out there, concerning Minecraft (via reddit.com)...

When you can't afford the licensing fees for Miami Vice, Ghostbusters, Barbarella, I think... and maybe Logan's Run? (via mendelpalace)...

Given how Platoon ended up as a NES game, the idea of the Terminator on a Tiger handheld isn't totally far-fetched (via rewind01)...

And finally, PUT THAT CONTROLLER DOWN, NOW! (via fuzzyghost)

[takaraphoenix]

“I’m afraid to love you. I’m afraid that you’ll leave and that I’ll go back to being alone again. Only it will be a hundred times worse because I’ll know what I’m missing.” Quote from a book that had Archer in title so I had to... So, dear drunk Phoe, show us what you can do. Ship: Balec.

“Phoe, write something when you’re drunk. And since that’s not hard enough, lemme give you a deep, looong quote that your drunk brain will struggle with. Also a shiny new ship you never wrote before because this wasn’t hard enough.”

Do you want to see me fail? *whines and cracks knuckles*

Bat frowned confused as he stared at his…

Ah. Right. Yeah, that was where the problem started.

What exactly was Alec even? Aside from unfairly tall and unfairly handsome. But what was Alec even to him?

The two of them had met at a bookstore the other day. Bat had bumped into the tall man, which in itself was already ridiculous considering that Alec was way too tall to be overlooked. But Bat had. He had been distracted by a dog.

Which.

In itself, really embarrassing. But ever since he became a werewolf, he had been more easily distracted by dogs? Like, he tried to challenge them? It was so stupid and embarrassing, really. Also, he kept expecting to be able to understand them. Sadly, so far that part of being part-canine had not kicked in. Regardless of what Luke and Maia said, he remained helpful though.

So the handsome tower had come down hard after Bat had crashed into him. Bat had profoundly apologized and helped tall, dark and handsome to gather his books up. Just to realize that the other had weird reading taste. All that magic stuff and weird stuff that looked unreal.

What had really caught Bat’s attention however had been the weird Z on the other man’s neck (well, Bat had spent a lot of time staring intensely at the tempting neck). It was definitely one of the weird symbol’s on Simon’s girlfriend. So Bat, having exactly zero tact, he blurted out that the other was a Shadowhunter.

Alec had clasped a hand over Bat’s mouth and glared in a way that made Bat feel kinda aroused and intimidated at the same time (really weird and confusing combination… Bat had started calling it the Alec Effect).

Alec had continued glaring at him as he dragged Bat into a corner of the bookstore and chided him. Alec outed himself as Alexander Lightwood, head of the Institute, and he scolded Bat for being so bad with keeping this on the down-low. Bat told Alec about being a werewolf from Luke’s pack and in the end, Bat managed to use the puppy-dog eyes to convince Alec to get a coffee, because Bat really wanted to talk to a non-werewolf and non-Simon about the Downworld.

The non-Simon part had gotten him the semi-date.

Surprisingly enough, both of them had a lot of fun together, talked animatedly. Apparently, as Bat was about to learn later, it was not a thing for Alec to have someone to talk to who was not one of his siblings.

They exchanged numbers and met again. And again. And again.

Then they started also professionally interacting because Bat forced himself onto Luke and Simon whenever the two went to help the Institute.

Leader Alec was really ridiculously hot.

They went out again. As an official date. And again. And again.

Bat liked to think of Alec as his boyfriend, but apparently, Alec didn’t. Because what Alec had just said to Bat made absolutely no sense.

“I’m afraid to love you. I’m afraid that you’ll leave and that I’ll go back to being alone again. Only it will be a hundred times worse because I’ll know what I’m missing.”

“What does that even mean?”, asked Bat after a very long beat.

“It means-”, started Alec just to falter when Bat snorted.

“No, that was a rethoric question, Lightwood”, grunted Bat with a glare. “I know what it means. It means that you’re still not over your first love and your first date being together.”

Alec gritted his teeth. “This has nothing to do with Jace and Magnus.”

Bat raised both his eyebrows in disbelief at that. “Su-ure. You suddenly being afraid that I’m gonna leave has nothing to do with the guy you were in love with for years getting together with a warlock, who oh-so happened to flirt with you first just to give up because you weren’t out of the closet anymore and Magnus Bane only keeps a scary amount of clothes in his closets and no boyfriends.”

“It’s been a year since the two started dating. I came out half a year ago. It’s not about them”, growled Alec defensively.

Bat continued to look unimpressed. “I got the invitation to their New Year’s Party too, Alec. Their. They’re doing this as a couple. And now you-”

“It’s not about them! It’s about you! All you!”, exclaimed Alec, clearly frustrated. “Because I think I might love you, but I’m scared of that, okay? Jace got the bonus of being a Herondale and having the Inquisitor backing him up on his relationship with a male Downworlder, but me… I… C–Can I be the head of the Institute and be gay? Will being with you distract me too much to fulfill my duty…?”

“What?”, asked Bat confused, tilting his head.

“Not many months ago, I lost my parabatai. He died and I felt it”, whispered Alec lowly, averting his gaze to stare out of the window. “You got… hurt, during the last mission. And I said screw it to all protocol and when you laid there… all still… I…” Alec’s voice shook. “I remember the look on Magnus’ face when I told him that Jace died and it broke something inside of him, something that Jace is still working on repairing. I… I think that… that you make me feel that way. That losing you might break something inside of me that I will never be able to repair again.”

“Alec…”, started Bat softly, reaching out for his boyfriend - yes, definitely boyfriend.

“I don’t… I’m…”, started Alec once more. “I have never been this happy. You make me happy, Bat. Being with you, talking with you… When… When you sneak into the Institute and I fall asleep with my own oversized, fluffy pillow? I don’t even know if I can… if I can anymore, without you. It’s stupid, ridiculously stupid, but when you were in the infirmary because of the injury, my bed was so large and empty and uncomfortable that I worked through the entire night to distract me. And you and I, we haven’t been together that long yet. I don’t know if I am already truly in love with you, but I’m afraid of just how much it’s going to hurt when I actually get there.”

Bat sighed and grabbed Alec’s hand, interlacing their fingers. “Well, sucks for you because I am not going anywhere. You, I care about you so much. I like curling around you too and you give the best belly-rubs so that alone, totally a reason I can’t let you go like that.”

Alec didn’t react vocally, but he did stare at their joined hands.

Bat smiled weakly. “Don’t isolate yourself out of fear again, Alec. You don’t deserve that. You deserve the world. You do so much, you sacrifice so much for everyone. You deserve to be happy too. And if I can make you happy, then I want to. Please. Don’t deny this to either of us.”

Alec opened his mouth to protest, but Bat was using the puppy-eyes. “We… I mean… we could…”

A bright smile lit up Bat’s face as he leaned over the table to kiss Alec, earning him the most endearing blush possible. The two of them relaxed a little bit into it and finished their coffees to leave together.

“So”, started Bat teasingly. “In the end, it was about Magnus and Jace after all and their epic Downworlder-Shadowhunter romance. Pf. You know what, our epic Downworlder-Shadowhunter romance is totally going to out-romance theirs.”

“…Please spend more time with non-Simon people”, requested Alec fondly as he leaned down to kiss Bat’s temple.

#Balec #Bat x Alec #Bat Velasquez #Alec Lightwood #Shadowhunters #Drunk Writing #Phoe's Tumblr Drabbles #kimmyhunter

[tinalostgirl]

Spaghetti | #polyforchocolate

Who: Tina Cohen-Chang & Noah Duval ( @tapdancingduval )

Where: Noah and Ollie’s Place

When: Wednesday night 9.9.20

What: Bingo - Bondage with Spaghetti + Something Not Rope

Noah had prepared, with Ollie's help, for the scene by buying out the store of all kinds of pasta. He'd cooked it, also with Ollie's help, though luckily it didn't need to be eaten because it probably didn't taste great. He had the different kinds in separate bowls with water to keep them from getting sticky. "Alrighty, sister wife, you ready to get spaghettied? And yes that is now a formal bdsm word. Totally going in the kink dictionary." He winked at her and laughed. There was no reason not to make this as fun as possible.

If this was with anyone else, Tina honestly probably wouldn't have done it. But because it was with Noah, she felt comfortable enough to let this happen. She was dressed in a simple pair of workout clothes, ones she didn't care about making dirty with noodles and past water. She honestly didn't know what to expect, but she was in it for the ride. She laughed at his new addition to the kink dictionary and nodded. "Oh yeah, I'm sure the masses will be using it by Christmas." She was a little nervous but realized she didn't have to be. "I'm as ready as I possibly can be for something as silly as this," she offered with a broad smile.

"Totally. It'll be the new rage." He sat down next to her. "Okay, so here's what I'm thinking. There's literally no way to actually bind someone with pasta. So this is mostly going to just be aesthetic. I think it'll be best if you lay down and I cover you in some spaghetti weaving." He stopped for a moment. "Question... how ticklish are you?"

Tina tried to focus but found it hard to do with the smell of pasta in the air. "Is there pasta we can eat when we're done with all of this?" She asked looking into the kitchen. "No, sorry, focusing. She tried to piece together what he was saying and nodded. "Yes, very ticklish. But sounds good... I didn't actually catch how we're gonna do this, but whatever you want, I'm game. Let's do this."

"Umm, yeah, but I think we should make Ollie cook it for us all. He makes this sauce that literally almost better than sex." He chuckled. "It's ok. I know I kind of always make things too... much huh? Just let me know if it gets overstimulating. We can do some stuff to focus." He laughed again. "I don't really know exactly myself, but I'm down for just going for it if you are." He helped her to lay down on the sheet and blanket he'd laid out. They could be washed pretty easily. Once she was settle he started with the wide egg noodle type of spaghetti laying it in a sort of weaved pattern until it covered her entire abdomen, chest, and arms like a pie. "How does that feel?"

Tina really was lucky that Noah was so understanding when it came to her hyperactivity. "Will do captain, promise." She wasn't exactly sure what she was promising, but she agreed with pretty much everything he was laying on her in the moment, so perhaps it was for everything he suggested. Once she laid back onto the sheet, it was easier to focus. She picked a spot on the ceiling and counted each piece of food that was placed on her body. It's what helped her keep still. Eventually though, she started getting really antsy but tried her hardest not to move. It took a lot of deep breaths. "Can we put on some music or tv or something. I'm starting to lose focus."

She nodded happily. It did feel like she had a certain amount of trust in him and regardless of what they thought about the system and their marks they did know that trust was necessary. Noah saw her body start to wiggle. He now saw the downside of this. Real bondage helped to settle a restless body. This was artificial. "Yeah. Definitely." He reached for the remote and brought it over to her. He pulled the pasta off his hand and put it in it. "There you go. You are in control." He realized that really even with the distraction of the tv she was going to be both overstimulated by the spaghetti and conversely not enough stimulation to keep her mind focused. "Okay. I'm going to work on your feet. This is where the ticklish will come in. But I think I can actually bind your toes with the spaghetti. Think you can hang a little bit longer?"

Tina just smiled when he agreed and clutched onto the remote as tightly as she could once it was placed in her hand. She turned on the music, cause at least then she could close her eyes and sing along. Hopefully something she knew came on. It was on popular radio and a Cardi B song came on. Luckily it was one she knew so she rapped along, trying not to move her body to the beat as her mouth did. "Okay, toes. I'm ready." She wiggled them a lot to get out all the ants before spreading and relaxing them. "Okay now I'm ready promise."

He chuckled as she rapped along with Cardi B. He did his best, but not excellent, beat boxing as he moved down to her feet. Once her little piggies stopped wiggling he took a long string of regular spaghetti and stared wrapping it between her toes. He focused on what he was doing to keep things quick. In and out, in and out around and around. First one foot and then the other. Finally he lifted his hands up. "Okay, you are hard core spaghettied!" He clapped. "Need to get up?"

As he joined her with some beats, Tina nearly ruined it all by jumping forward. But she didn't mess things up too much, instead taking another deep breath and moving just her head instead. "We gotta start a hip hop group," she said in jest. It was a good distraction though, keeping her from thinking about her toes as he wrapped the wet noodles around them. It was also not that bed, besides the few times he touched the bottoms of her feet. "Heeeeee!" She moved her feet back only three times but managed to keep still for the rest of it. Then he was done before she even realized. "Oh, really? That's it? Awesome! You should totes get a picture before I move. I bet it looks crazy. Crazy epic!"

He decided that a picture was a good idea. He did a backward sumersault to get himself within reach of his phone, then shuffled back on his knees. He snapped a couple of pictures of the weave on her stomach and arms, a couple of the spaghetti between her toes and then one of her whole body. "Say spaghetti!" When she did he snapped the pic. "Okay. Ready for some freedom?"

For some reason, Tina was able to keep perfectly still when he snapped the photos of her. Perhaps that was a lifetime of being trained to keep still when there was a camera involved. "Spaghetti!" She yelled with a big grin and posed for the camera one last time. As soon as he said the word freedom, she started with her arms, ripping them away from her body, noodles went flying everywhere. Then she grabbed onto Noah's arm and waited for him to be steady before pulling herself up and kicking the spaghetti off her toes. "Sorry. I can clean all this up. Can I see the pic?"

He looked at the last picture and laughed. Her smile was infectious even covered in pasta. He cracked up as the pasta went flying. Her arm pulling herself up nearly saw him toppling them both down to the ground but soon she was up and at his side, wiggling her toes to free them from the spaghetti. He shook his head. "No way. That's my job. You look at these..." He handed her the camera. "And I'll clean up." Astrid had escaped from the bedroom and was happily snacking on noodles. "Hey you. That's no for kitties." He brought her to the kitchen and gave her a treat and then returned to scoop up the mess. It was actually pretty easy to clean up. The pasta stuck to itself and clumped together. When that was all scooped up to a bowl he brought that to the garbage and then returned for the blanket and sheet. Those went to the laundry hamper before he settled next to her. "It's cute. But that might just be you."

Tina wasn't about to argue. She took his phone and flopped back onto the couch, looking at the couple of photos he snapped of her. It didn't look at all like what she imagined. She thought of a big wet mess with noodles mixed in, but when she could actually see the intricacies of the patterns, she was kind of in awe. When he finally settled next to him, she moved in closer and laid her head on his shoulder. "This looks awesome. And that wasn't as bad as I thought it was gonna be. You're really good at that, you know? Helping me regulate my hyperactivity."

He loved that they already had an easiness with each other. He feels like they've been friends forever. He looked at the pictures and though his critical mind which is always on overdrive wants to point out all the mistakes and flaws, it really does look a lot better than you'd think. "I've been working on my bondage. Might be the kink that saves us when we face the Heads for a claim approval, you know." He smiled, glad that he'd helped. "I hope you don't mind, but I've been doing some reading. Want to help if I can."

Tina scrunched her nose at the thought of Noah and Ollie having to go up against the heads, but of everyone at the school, she wanted happiness and freedom for them more than anyone else. "I hope it saves you, I really do." She breathed out a puff of air then wrapped her arms around his. "I don't mind, it means a lot to me that you did that. So thanks. This was a success. Thanks, sister-wife."

#bingo20 #( bingo 2020 ) #noah #para: noah #para: spaghetti #( poly for chocolate )

[eponymous-rose]

Talks Machina Highlights - Episode 102

Pre-show picture: Travis photoshopped into an Eagles uniform

Matt’s birthday is on Thursday! Brian gives him a thoroughly mangled cake.

No TM next Tuesday, because it’s the 4th of July.

Matt: “Look, I have half the internet wanting to fight me after that episode.”

Matt had three or four more battlemaps prepped that will never see the light of day, including two that were in the tower that they knocked down; there were a lot more challenges that the party completely overcame by bringing the top of the tower down to them.

“Your imaginary boyfriend was killed by your real-life fiancé.”

Keyleth knows it’ll take some time to prep for Vecna, so right now she is entirely focused on Vax.

Matt: “The book we’re releasing after the campaign guide is The Man-Ass of Tal’Dorei.” Travis: “There’s a fold-out calendar.”

Travis thought the Earthquake spells were just gonna weaken the structure of the tower, and then they’d still have to climb it... “What caused the TPK? Our own hubris.”

Travis’s GTFO-alarm went off at the very first turn of the first round when five members of the party were paralyzed. Marisha knew that Keyleth’s wisdom was high enough to shake it off, but she quickly realized that everyone else would need to roll a natural 20.

VM would’ve had a chance to stop Vecna’s ritual. Once Delilah saw them and knew the threat, she escalated the timeline. On the other hand, if they’d taken too much time, they would’ve come back through the orb to the Shadowfell and just found a giant crater with no clues as to where to go. Matt emphasizes that things will happen regardless of where they are in this arc, whereas the Conclave arc had the baddies settling more on their laurels and VM had a little more leeway to plot and scheme.

Matt points out that almost no DMs ever get to run an epic-level game, especially since 5e is still relatively new. Travis: “We’re gonna peter out and start gradually leaving the game.” Matt: “I will run you over, Travis.”

Marisha talks about how Keyleth has started going into very competent crisis-mode in the moment, but she’s very freaked out at the prospect that Foresight may have given Vax a vision of his own death (which is essentially what that failed first Disintegrate amounted to), and after putting him through that, she doesn’t think Keyleth will use it again.

Travis: “There’s a whole line of vacuum-cleaners called Vax.” Brian: “That’s fucked up.”

Vecna’s a keeper of secrets and knowledge; he knows everything about VM. He immediately targeted those who had range and mobility.

Keyleth had mixed feelings in the past about True Resurrection, just because of the moral implications of wielding that sort of power, but now things have changed. (Matt mentions that Pike may have leveled and might have access to it as well.)

Brian points out that you can have those standards and principles, but everything goes out the window when it hits close to home.

Keyleth is also concerned about how the Raven Queen’s influence is going to come into play; Vax could be standing right in front of her, and she’d still feel like it was borrowed time.

True Resurrection bypasses Matt’s resurrection ritual completely. It does require 25,000 gold in diamonds, however...

Grog is feeling better about Scanlan being back after seeing him in action again.

If everyone had died and Pike was the last one standing, she was gonna ask the knight to send her to Grog so they could at least go out in a blaze of glory together.

MS-DOS Machina in the Dark:

Marisha wins the roll for hosting!

After a rough episode, Marisha paces around the living room for half an hour. Travis and Ashley are advocates for avoiding the internet and going straight to bed.

Ashley thinks Matt does the best Pike impression.

Marisha’s “Sleeves are Bullshit” shirt was a gift from Laura.

Matt: “Whenever I see a mansplaining comment on the internet, it just goes through a Papyrus filter in my mind. ‘Well, actually...’”

#critical role #critical role spoilers #talks machina #talks machina spoilers #long text post

[secondsofhappiness]

I have to admit I find all that roberence stuff highly amusing and just think of the alternative!! Fake Bex/Robert this is FAR better!! It's gonna be hilarious - I can't even think how Aaron will react? He will surely see straight through Robs scheme... this will no doubt send Bex into early labour & im hoping Rob will be too busy to be at the birth! 😊🙏

Hahahahaha I am genuinely pissing myself laughing.

To use one of my favourite Malcolm Tucker quotes “were through the looking glass now”!

It’s absolutely flipping hilarious. I mean, it’s actual comedy. If you talk it through it becomes so much funnier aka…

Robert has slept with Lawrence’s two daughters and has impregnated one and is using that to manipulate a whole family and Lawrence has forgotten Robert cheated on or with both daughters (on each other), has scammed the family before, has tried to ruin them, has left him for dead, has threatened him and is welcoming him back with open arms all because his long lasting dream of getting Rob into bed has come true and he’s suddenly wildly in love with him. Little does he know that Robert Jacob Sugden is out of control to the degree that nobody has ever been out of control. He hates them all, he’s scamming their company, blackmailing Larry’s grandson, pretending to like Larry’s daughter and care for the unborn child, has fake slept with Larry, has been drugging him for months, is going to pretend to run over Larry’s other daughter. I mean… that’s only the tip of the iceberg.

CHRIST ON A BIKE. Hahahahahaha. This is way better than I could have dreamed. I mean. Rob is beyond comprehension right about now.

If Aaron knew, as in knew it all, I genuinely GENUINELY don’t think he’d be surprised. He KNOWS Rob, he already knows he’s doing something weird to Larry and has left him to it… we all know Aaron’s taste in blokes is clearly whacked to hell but he loves Rob regardless and KNOWS the human!Robert. This is NOT human!Robert. This is Robert post “THE EPIC LOSS OF AARON DINGLE” aka the worst thing to ever happen to him… this is Rob on unchartered territory and I think Aaron would recognise this as Rob not at all being in the right mind. He’d most likely be rightly appalled in his own way but we can’t forget what Aaron knows about our Mr Sugden already and still loves him wildly.

They deserve each other hahahahahaha.

I CANNOT and I repeat CANNOT wait for The Whites to find this all out. Ohhhhhhhh I am going to enjoy the hell out of those scenes. They pretty much deserve it at this point because Rob has never ever pretended he likes them, has pretty much told them all he can manipulate them in a heartbeat and yet they just blindly allow him back into the fold. I give up with them. They’re all as dumb as a box of frogs.

I wait with baited breath for the epic breakdown of RJS. We thought his portacabin screaming match was a breakdown. He’s off the charts now. I have a feeling it’s just going to get worse before it gets better and it just makes me SO EXCITED to see Human!Robert again.

Human!Robert will be a welcome sight.

Let’s face it, with The Whites gone, he won’t have anyone to use as the scapegoat for his misery and nobody will meddle in his life and vice versa…

Maybe we’ll witness the retirement of Mr Shifty?! I mean FFS Robert, have a nap

Whatever happens, I am loving it all and I fear I may be deranged because spoilers like the ones I am reading should make me want to bleach my eyes, gouge them out and set fire to them but I actually can’t wait 😀

#messages from Hannah #get out your party poppers the whites are being destroyed #the robert sugden white family goodbye tour of nightmares #robs slow train to insanity #Robert sugden #spoilers #ask

[heyymonkey2]

First Night Back in Fuuga Ch 39: Messengers

AO3 Link to Chapter 39

Summary: Yona gets word from Soo-Won

“It wasn’t an accident.”

The water is still today. And here now, the chests are rising and falling in almost sync.

Ik-Soo and Soo-Won sit side by side at the meditating pond deep in the woods behind Kija’s village.

Soo-Won doesn’t rush Ik-Soo to elaborate. He waits. It's Ik-Soo who finally speaks--

“You’ve completed seven trials in seven days and yet you've asked for nothing. Tell me, what’s been on your mind if not the quest for the rest of what I promised to reveal to you?”

Soo-Won stares at that still pond, knowing exactly what’s been at the forefront of his every thought this week, “The dragons… I’ve been thinking about whether they’ve reached her yet.”

Ik-Soo isn’t surprised, but fascinated, “When they reach her, what do you imagine will happen?”

“If you’re curious…,” Soo-Won continues to sit peacefully, “Tell me what wasn’t an accident. In return, I’ll answer you.”

Ik-Soo smiles -- there it is. Soo-Won is never “off.” No matter how things may look. He’s nothing if not perpetually cunning.

Ik-Soo concedes, “Yona’s mother’s death. Everyone was led to believe it was accidental. But in truth, it was far more tragic than that.”

Something disturbs the water. Soo-Won keeps his breathing steady, but it does nothing to stop him from feeling the stabbing pain in his chest.

Each step he takes closer to the truth, the more he desperately needs to speak to her.

“When they reach her,” Soo-Won keeps his voice even, “I imagine... Yona will come here to me.”

“The Thunder Beast is going to sire the next generation of our royal line? This is amazing -- Kouka’s gonna be invincible!”

“Princess Yona, too, though… she’s breathtakingly gorgeous. And I heard she learned to fight from him.”

“It’s true, it’s so romantic! And our country’s royalty will be restored with such vigor… what news today!”

Cups have been clinking in high frequency this evening with excited murmurs filling the palace dining hall. Yona requested the truth about Hak be spread immediately -- as well as news that their marriage is official.

Yona smiles from her table with her happy, hungry bunch as she watches Hak retreat back to the side of the great hall again. Though he’s often gotten attention in his life for his skills and position, it’s never been quite like this.

What the hell. Whiplash... Hak shakes his head from his temporary hiding spot. Palace life with Yona had always been “make a move on the princess and it’s over.” Now, well....

SMACK! Geun-Tae thumps Hak on the back with a thrilled grin at the day’s events.

“I’ve been meaning raise a glass with you!”

“Not drinking tonight. But thank you. I appreciate it.”

“Ahh, I see. Well, you do have a big job ahead,” and it’s clear Geun-Tae isn’t referencing becoming king in the near future, “Everyone will be clamoring for this heir. And a herd more. Rebuilding the royal line…,” the warrior gives Hak a nostalgic look then shakes his head in admiration.

As Geun-Tae heads away, Hak returns to his mental bewilderment… Now, it’s more like, “bed the princess -- get her as pregnant as you can -- and we’ll all throw you a party.” Hak’s not complaining, but the conversations are… weird. He could do without everyone cheering on his sex life.

Hak notices Yona giggling at him from the distance. He playfully narrows his eyes at her and walks over.

As he slips down beside her, “It’s not funny. And it’s easy to laugh when everyone’s too well-mannered to say anything to you about it.”

Yona gives his thigh a squeeze under the table, “If only they knew how skilled you are at that, too. The first try and…”

Color rises up Hak’s cheeks. They were pretty efficient in that particular effort...

“What isn’t funny?” Jae-Ha, the most joyous spreader of the epic romance of Princess Yona and her devoted warrior Hak news, presses with a mischevious smile.

“What exactly have you been telling people, Droopy Eyes,” Hak glares.

“What?” Jae-Ha innocently takes another swig of alcohol.

“People keep telling Hak to get me pregnant,” Yona states matter-of-factly, not entirely hiding her amusement.

“BAHahahaha,” Jae-Ha nearly falls over from hysteria, “that is... ,” pulling himself together, “Listen, Little Brother, that was going to happen regardless of anything I or anyone else said. You’re both too lovable and gorgeous. And Yona’s the last royal. Even I’m more excited than seems logical.”

“I’m... “ Hak searches for the words, “I’m surprised there hasn’t been any… hesitation.”

“About what?” Both Yona and Jae-Ha are sincerely curious.

It’s almost under his breath and he looks neither in the eye, “... my lineage.”

Yona slides a hand over Hak’s under the table, looking up at him with worried eyes, “Hak…”

“Why?” Jae-Ha isn’t having any of that, “Look at you. There’s nothing more to do -- you’re incredibly good-looking, powerful, respected. Great with people, a leader, devoted as hell.”

“Just reinforcing that he’s taken, Jae-Ha,” Yona teases protectively.

Jae-Ha smiles sportively, then continues, “The focus is really on Yona Dear’s lineage and continuing that. Someone as incredible as you being the father is really just bonus.”

Yona glances up at Hak’s face as all this continues to settle in. There’s something poignant about these positive reactions that’s clearly hitting him, she just wishes she knew what it was… But he’s always so good at protecting her privacy. She’d be remiss not to give him his.

Hak feels like an idiot. But an idiot with a massive, lifetime’s worth of weight somehow beginning to lift off his back. It’s not that he wants to give Keishuk any validation for his words on the battlefield that day at Kai, that he’d hit a nerve or something when he’d accused Hak of mixing his dirty blood with the royal line… but he can’t deny that he’s always felt… less than.

And maybe it wasn’t less than just anyone. He certainly didn’t feel that way about Tae-Jun. Puh! It was just less than... one someone. Soo-Won. A man who had royal lineage. And who she had loved since forever.

He feels Yona squeeze his hand under the table and that warmth goes straight to his heart. All those needless insecurities. Here she is at his side -- their love real, child growing, and coronation imminent. He should just let the past go now. And focus on their future.

“So when do I get to hear about this secret mission?” Hak calls over to the oddly quiet Kija and Zeno at the table.

All four dragons turn their attention to Yona in question. Yun looks slightly annoyed to also be out of the loop on this one, but then returns to the soup he didn’t have to cook today -- he’s zen enough from pampered palace life right now he doesn’t feel the necessity to make a snide remark. This time.

Earlier, the moment Zeno and Kija had arrived, Yona had thrown her arms around them in welcome and whispered not to say a word. Jae-Ha and Shin-Ah, who were also aware this whole time of what this secret mission was most likely about, were also kept in the loop that this was most sensitive and she needed some time with Hak.

“Patience,” Yona reminds her husband, “I’m going to tell you everything tonight. Promise.”

FWIP. FWIP. One bottleneck. Two hands. One tan and worn. The other soft porcelain.

“Oh!”

Lili and Tae-Woo had both gone to the table of alcohol up front and grabbed the same bottle.

Lili’s hand on top of his, she lets go.

Fumbling to be polite, Tae-Woo reaches for a different bottle.

“It’s you…” Lili utters unintentionally, gawking at him curiously.

Then an awkwardness descends on them both, not knowing each other or what to say…

“Hi…”

“So... you’re part of Hak’s family…”

“Yeah.”

“...that’s... cool. He saved my life before. In Sei.”

“I saw. I was there, actually.”

“Oh…” Lili stares at this new face to her. Why doesn’t she know anything about this person? “I’m sorry, I should have known that. Thank you for fighting that time.”

Tae-Woo softly smiles, seeing she’s as nervous as he is, “Don’t worry about it. You were… pretty tied up.”

Lili smiles back, “Yeah, that’s a nice way to put that.”

They’re both holding their separate alcohol bottles, ready to go back to their tables. But the conversation doesn’t feel closed. They stand there looking at the ground. Then they both look up at the same time and speak simultaneously--

“See you tomorrow.” “I’m glad it worked out.”

“Huh?” “Oh. Yeah.”

Lili meets Tae-Woo’s eyes straight on, “Glad what worked out?”

Damnit. Tae-Woo doesn’t know why those words came out of his mouth, but he started it so he’s stuck finishing now...“Hak saving you.”

A corner of Lili’s lips rises and her eyebrows raise inward. What an innocent, sweet thing to say?

“See you tomorrow,” Tae-Woo echos as he quickly turns, returning to his table. There’re joyous cheers when he arrives with the alcohol.

Lili catches herself watching after him, feeling a weird sting from his departure and subsequent popularity. There was sorta a feeling of calm talking to him. Now he’s not here anymore, there feels like... an empty space. And it wasn’t there before.

Tomorrow. Lili focuses. She braces herself. It'll be her first day of training.

“He’s alive…” Yona takes deep breaths. This information hurts her with every word and yet she’s desperate to know more, “How… is he?”

Zeno, Kija, Shin-Ah, Jae-Ha, Ao, and Yun are in their bedroom with Yona -- the former two recounting details. While none of the dragons are surprised by this revelation, and Ao is distracted by a nut, Yun is right there with Yona in shock.

“How did this happen?!” Yun asks as though someone really messed up this time.

“I asked them to…” Yona admits, eyes cast downward because she ever more has reason to question her decision.

“And you didn’t tell Hak?!” Yun throws a hand over his mouth -- he’s being insensitive. But honestly. Some things must be shouted in outrage.

“I never got a chance to be alone with him!”

“Oh come on…” Yun happens to be very aware of otherwise.

Yona continues her defense, “Whenever we were alone together… Yun, I’m pregnant.”

Yun’s eyes about pop out of his head at that leap in explanation.

Jae-Ha pats him on the back, “Go order some room service. You’ll feel better.”

“He’s well,” Kija cuts in as Yun rises in a stupor to find a servant to bring him something, “He’s been staying as a guest of my village with Ik-Soo keeping close watch.”

“And he’s been amenable to… staying?”

“Not at first, Little Miss,” Zeno laughs, still eating some meat on a stick he took with him from dinner while he remembers a thing or two about those early days with Soo-Won, “but he’s calmed down a lot.”

“He did ask for us to deliver an urgent message to you,” Kija explains.

Yona’s heart skips a beat. Breathing becomes more difficult, “What does he want?”

“He said you’re in danger... is that true, Princess?”

Yona takes a labored, deep breath, “What did he say about that?” --her tone says it all.

“He said the details absolutely had to be expressed in person. By him. And so he… he asked you to come to him. Urgently. In order to save both you and Hak’s lives.”

“Come to him?” Yona stares as she tries to regain her breath. Why is it that nothing affects her like Soo-Won?

“Are you OK, Dear?” Jae-Ha puts an arm around Yona to calm her shaking.

“No,” she tries to keep the tears at bay, “Jae-Ha… I need to be with Hak right now.”

Jae-Ha helps Yona walk out into the hall -- and there Hak waits for her.

The moment he sees that pale look on her face and the pain in her eyes, his chest tightens in a way it has few times before. His hands itch for a firm grip.

This familiar feeling he never wanted to feel again.

#akatsuki no yona #first night back in fuuga #hak x yona #fanfic #yona of the dawn