#year from obvious reasons but it's supposed to happen this year i don't have high hopes i really miss concerts cause music is a very

[chimielie]

my lover, my life, my shawty, my wife

summary: Ushijima x f!Reader. snapshots of eternal youth.

word count: 1.3k

cw: lighthearted manhandling, longterm established relationship ups (and one down), marriage talk and mention of toshi’s parents’ divorce. it’s basically all fluffy and silly tho

a/n: nobody @ me i wrote literally 99% of this a couple weeks ago and just remembered it was in the drafts today i’m working on the promised fics!!! it will just be A While i’m slow okayyy 💘 anyway enjoy some pure ushijima fluff

“Ushiwaka!!!” You shriek, voice breaking with laughter as you slam your hands against his backside. “Put me down, you—you barbarian! Kidnapper! Plunderer!”

He doesn’t say anything, just jostles you gently so your top half (currently upside-down over his broad shoulder) sways while your legs stay firmly in the grip of his arms. You know it’s as close as he’s going to get to a verbal admonishment, your current position already more than enough of an indication that he is fed up with you acting up in a public setting.

“Fine,” you scrunch up your face, sure that he can envision it just the same as you can see in your mind’s eye the near-invisible traces of amusement on his face. “Ugh, you’re going to make me sick. You are so bossy. I can’t believe you think that you can just pick me up and carry me around and tell me what to do. You don’t even say please, you know that?”

He probably gets the idea that he can just pick you up and carry you around and tell you what to do from the ten years that he's been doing all those things, since high school.

You've never gotten sick from being carried like this, either.

“You are bossy,” he says simply in rebuttal. "You say please but you know I'll do whatever it is you want. Even unreasonable things."

"I'm always reasonable," you say. He pats your butt in a way that isn't supposed to be condescending but is. You smack his in return and enjoy the way his back muscles tense up. "Ooh, you've been training your glutes."

He's been doing it in your home gym. You've always been loud about obvious things like this; he doesn't understand it, especially, but he likes it. At first, that had been much of your relationship. You were loud and obvious about your feelings for the up-and-coming teenage ace, and he didn't understand you, but he liked you.

He considers, and then revises his previous thought. He understands you better now. You talk through even things you and he know well because it helps you to process your thoughts, and you are determined to be shocked and delighted by all small things in the world.

"Hello, Bo-kun!" you wave to his teammate. Bokuto, bless him, attempts to bend over upside down to mimic you.

"Hey, Ushijima-san!" Ushijima is lucky that everyone in the facility knows you and you don't have to clarify to any security guards that you aren't in danger, for real. You take offense to the idea that you couldn't win in a fight against him, anyway.

You had been asserting this particular belief, actually, to the rest of the Japanese men’s volleyball team while they stretched post-practice and friends and family were allowed on court to distract them. Atsumu had been egging you on, urging you to try fighting another of the players since he didn’t trust Wakatoshi not to let you win currently. You had rolled up your shirtsleeves when the ace scooped you up and you had, already protesting, waved goodbye to the blond, a huge grin on your face. He had saluted you as you went.

“We’re not married yet,” you say, bonking your forehead into Wakatoshi as he stops short. “You all don't have to keep saying that. Please, call me—”

"Oh, Waka-kun said," Bokuto starts before being cut off.

“We may as well be," Wakatoshi says, turning to face Bokuto (At least turn sideways so I can see, you complain). "It'll happen eventually, so we can start practicing by calling her my wife now."

"What?!" You say. "Don't say things like that. You sound like you like me. Do you like me? Do you want to be more than friends?"

People have always talked about your relationship in begrudging terms. "Oh, opposites attract, I guess..." spoken in a disbelieving and reluctant tone. He understands. Most high school relationships didn't work out. Most people would get frustrated with him and his communication style. Then most long-distance relationships didn't work out. Most young professional athletes wanted to try new things, new people.

Wakatoshi doesn't understand why he would want to try something new when he had something perfectly fine with you. He had said that to you, once, when you were in Sapporo and he in Koganei. You had gotten very quiet for the rest of the call and then remained quiet for two weeks, sending all of his messages to read and calls to voicemail. It had taken a short flight and a shy, quiet apology to right his wrongs. He had known that he would spend the rest of his life with you, he said, forgetting to blink even as you furiously swiped away tears, a month in when you were fifteen. Barely longer than this terrible time you had stopped even fighting with him, just giving up on him. Why would he try anything else when he had never deviated from this path?

But what if you're just not seeing that there might be something better out there for you, you had said, voice angry but face already forgiving. Worse, what if you do see that someday? You’ll get tired of settling.

He had shaken his head. There isn't something better. Please, continue to be patient with me. Your breath had burst out of you in a single sob, and then you were yanking him toward you, ordering him to kiss you so you'd stop crying in front of all the neighbors.

Considering his parents' marriage, one might have thought that he would have more qualms about the concept than he did. You didn't seem interested in pressuring him there, though, and when asked just reminded him that living together long enough would result in common-law marriage anyway, so he just had to tell you if he ever wanted to stop living together. After several years separated and more reunited, he hadn't yet found any desire to do so. He definitely had strong negative feelings about being away from you for extended periods.

He was very lucky that you had chosen a career path which would allow you to travel essentially anywhere with him, find lucrative work anywhere with him. The home gym had actually been your gift to him, from the bank account you didn't share. It was the most thoughtful and horrifyingly expensive gift he had ever received. He had retaliated by hiring your most favored interior designer to rework your apartment into something both sentimentally familiar and not decorated entirely on the whim of two mid-twenty-year-olds. While they worked, he took you on vacation.

"We have to go," Wakatoshi adjusts you in his hold, nodding to his teammate. You’re quiet for a bit, so he puts you down, steadying you by your waist until your head stops swimming.

“You know we have to talk about these things,” you say, looking steadily at him.

“Yes,” he rumbles, considering his words for a moment. “I’ve been thinking about it more often recently. I still don’t feel strongly about the idea of a wedding, but I want you to be my wife. If you want to be.”

Insecurity sparks in him. You enjoyed your friend’s weddings, but perhaps you didn’t want one of your own, or one to him. Perhaps he had crossed a boundary.

“I don’t know,” you tap your lips with a finger, and a weight lifts off his chest when you smile at him. “I’ll see when you ask me. But I want it to be sometime in the future, somewhere more scenic than your athletic facility, okay? With a ring and a sappy speech.”

He smiles, then, his teeth showing. An explosive and momentous display of emotion.

“I’ll be sure to say please.”

#ushijima x reader #ushijima wakatoshi x reader #ushijima fluff #ushiwaka x reader #haikyuu!! x reader #haikyuu x reader #hq x reader #hq!! x reader #haikyuu!! fluff #haikyuu fluff #haikyuu x reader fluff #hq x reader fluff #ushijima wakatoshi x reader fluff #ushijima x reader fluff

[film-in-my-soul]

okay trying again !

icemav and only one bed < 3

Sorry this took a million years!

.⋆｡°✩ Ice and Maverick decide to share a room at a mutual friend's wedding. What could go wrong? ✩°｡⋆.

"No."

"C'mon Ice, it's not that bad."

Ice quirks his brow, mouth pulled in a low, tight frown. He looks between Maverick, hip cocked and spine pressed easily against the line of the doorframe and the single bed right in the middle of the room. He doesn't bother to gift Maverick with a response, instead choosing to scoff hard and budge past the other man, back to the front desk where they'd checked in for what was supposed to be a single room with decidedly two beds.

He doesn't know if Maverick doesn't follow because he's being an ass or because, somehow, he already knows that Ice won't have any luck getting the issue sorted out. 

Even with his most charming smile (pinched at the edges as it is) and prepared with a printed-out copy of his emailed reservation confirmation, there's nothing the concierge can do. She looks apologetic, at least, and processes him a partial refund, but Ice is forced back to his and Maverick's room with his metaphorical tail between his legs and a headache brewing behind his eyes.

If one of their mutual friends decides to get married again, Ice is going to decline. It's late into the night, their flight had been hell, and he's tired. He's going to fake the plague if someone has the gall to send him an invite for anything ever again.

When he stomps back into the room, he comes up short as the door clicks closed behind him. Maverick is in the process of pulling two of the four pills off the bed, the too-small, decorative quilt blanket previously on the foot of the mattress over his shoulder.

They stare at one another, blinking, silent, until Ice sighs heavily, some of the frustration melting off of him at the image Maverick makes.

"What the hell are you doing, Mav?"

"Uh," Maverick looks between Ice and the bathroom, once, then twice, before shrugging. "Was gonna sleep in the tub since I figured there wasn't a snowball's chance in hell they had an extra room to spare."

There's another moment where neither of them moves, and then Ice is helpless to do anything but heave another sigh, stepping into the room proper and grabbing the pillows from Maverick's slightly slack fingers.

"Ice-"

Ice throws them back onto the bed and whips the blanket off Maverick's shoulder for good measure.

"C'mon man-"

"No." The second time he's said it, now for entirely different reasons. "Short as you might be, you're gonna fuck up your back in that tub, and then you're gonna make it my problem. You keep your icicle feet to yourself and drool on your own pillows. Anything other than that, we'll manage."

Another staring match ensues, Ice affecting a look of total apathy and Maverick, by the set of his jaw, waiting for Ice to crack. It doesn't happen, and when a minute passes, Maverick's shoulders drop in obvious defeat.

"Just don't hog the covers." He mutters, shaking his head as he goes to where he dumped his duffle.

Ice takes his, still on his shoulder, into the bathroom.

"And fuck you, I'm not that short!"

He waits until the bathroom door is closed before smothering the exhausted laughter Maverick's managed to pull from him.

.⋆｡°✩⋆✩°｡⋆.

The process of falling asleep is actually easier than Ice had thought it would be. The ever-present heat of another body next to his, Maverick's body next to his, had shot his pulse up high into his throat, but even then, the mix of post-commercial flight fatigue and the knowledge of an early start had had Ice's eyelids drooping too quickly for any flustered anxiousness to take hold.

Of course, when something wakes him up only three hours later, he's not as lucky a second time. However, Ice thinks that has more to do with what exactly pulled him out of his admittedly light doze in the first place.

Of course, that is, because why would it be anything else, Maverick. Specifically, it's Maverick having rolled over right into the middle of the bed, well into Ice's slice of mattress, the cowlicks of his short, soft hair brushing uncaring against Ice's cheek with how close he is. Maverick's pressed all along Ice's side, shuffling his limbs in the sleepy way people who are prone to movement in their sleep do. Little sounds of displeasure at not being able to find a comfortable spot make Ice's chest tight, and then promptly stops his heart as the shorter man slides a leg over Ice's, his knee nestling easily between Ice's slightly parted thighs, his nose pressing right against Ice's throat, warm and light, gentle puffs of air sending shivers all across Ice's skin when Maverick finally settles.

A minute passes, Ice as still as stone, and then another. There's no change; Maverick doesn't magically decide he'd rather be on the other side of the bed. In fact, one of his hands finds the bottom hem of Ice's shirt and holds on, clinging like Ice might be the one to roll away. With what room, Ice doesn't know, but it keeps him in place, along with the distant fear that Maverick might actually wake up and do it for him.

Three days. They're here, sharing this room, this bed, for three days.

Ice gives up on the urge not to look down at Maverick's sleep-slack face. His heart kicks back to life and thuds double time against the back of his ribs. Something soft and molten rolls in his stomach, sickeningly fond.

Three fucking days.

He's not going to make it.

Ficlet Bingo!

#icemav #icemav ficlet #top gun ficlet #ficlet bingo

[ghostofskywalker]

i ran clone xreader bingo this year, and it was SO much fun!! here's a list of all the fics i created! i may try to finish my last two squares before december 31st, but i'm posting this now as an example for other participants who may be stuck on formatting their own masterlists.

if you want to peruse the plethora of amazing fanfiction that was created for this event, check out @clonexreaderbingo on tumblr and the event's AO3 collection!

a 💐 next to a fic's title means it's a personal favorite of mine (i picked two)

coruscant guard's (unconventional) dating service: free for clones named fox || commander fox

square: "this is awkward" summary: this celebration only came once a year, and this time, the coruscant guard enlisted some help from other battalions to make sure that fox would finally admit his feelings for you.

a show of trust || commander wolffe

square: "do you trust me?" summary: sometimes the best solutions come from the minds of those who aren't soldiers, and wolffe has to get used to trusting others that are not his general or his vode.

filed under: incident reports || no romantic relationship 💐

square: 79’s summary: managing a bar was never easy, but you tried your best to keep things running smoothly, even if sometimes you had to make hard decisions or alternatively: a collection of 79’s most hilariously infamous incident reports, some which made you ponder a career change.

don't wait for the sky to clear || hunter

square: "you're an idiot" summary: When you wake up to hear a storm outside where the ship is parked, you recruit Omega to have some fun in the pouring rain with you. The only downside is the tired admonishment you'll inevitably receive from your boyfriend when he sees the two of you.

in the heat of battle || crosshair

square: bounty hunter summary: When Crosshair disobeys your direct orders in battle, you come to confront him about it. Things get a little heated from there.

dreaming of this || echo

square: "you're lucky you're cute" summary: You and Echo share a quiet moment and a dance before Cid's bar opens for the day.

weep not for what you've done, but rather who you've lost along the way || commander cody 💐

square: heartache summary: it wasn't supposed to happen like this, the man you loved wasn't supposed to be the one to end your life. and to make matters worse, you had to keep reliving it, over, and over, with no end in sight and no clear reason why you were subjected to a torture worse than your darkest nightmare.

you would have thought this heist would have been slightly more thought out, given the circumstances || platonic bad batch & reader

square: "let me do the talking" summary: Hunter has to sit out on an assignment because of an injury, and it becomes remarkably clear to everyone else that the position of "voice of reason" is not something that can be replaced, especially not when you're there.

no flirting in the jedi archives || fives

square: archive summary: When on shore leave, one could usually find Fives in the basement of the Jedi Temple, flirting with the primary caretaker of the Archives (even though he denies it when his brothers ask). Finally, he decides to just ask her out.

a little brotherly teasing || thorn

square: "your flirting skills need work" summary: He’s a high ranking commander, an expert in weaponry, and the Coruscant Guard’s man on the inside for this Senate gala, but that doesn’t mean he’s going to get a pass from the teasing. And it’s all because he’s a little too obvious about his giant crush on you.

ally, rival, friend? || rex

square: "you owe me" summary:  It’s not that he hates his general’s bounty hunter friend, but Rex is a little more prone to headaches whenever you’re on the flagship. This time though, he sees the chance to start over with you.

almost disasters || tech

square: cooking summary: Your beloved attempts to put together a surprise for you. Nothing about it really goes to plan. 

the strength to keep going || jesse

square: haunted summary: the more time you spent in the GAR, the more you came to know grief, especially when the casualties of the war were people you had grown close to. Jesse notices that you're struggling, and reaches out to help.

deep space delicacies || echo

square: stuck summary: In the midst of the war, you manage to find the time to bring about a different, more welcome kind of chaos: teaching the clones how to bake. The 501st take the opportunity to force you and Echo to admit how you feel about each other.

#CFB2023 #masterlist: ghostofskywalker

[gold-rhine]

If it's not too much trouble, could you expand on Diluc's "already incoherent characterization" you mentioned in one of your recent posts? I'm just curious cause I also feel that there's something off about him writing-wise but I can't put my finger on it.

sigh. so, at the start of the game hoyo wrote diluc as super aggressive and negative towards kaeya specifically and knights in general, and all of their interactions are very hostile. they are having bitch fights every time they are in the same room.

like, fandom likes to pretend that diluc has guilt, bc of like some anonymous message on a public board that sounds like it's diluc feeling bad, which hoyo back-wrote. but they can't gaslight me, i just recently replayed start of the game content on my new account. like first time diluc appears is in kaeya's domain after traveler and kaeya cleared it, and diluc bitches at kaeya for no fucking reason and kaeya is v passive aggressive back at him. they have bitch fight in venti's quest. diluc's entire quest is about him trying to keep kaeya from discovering he's darknight hero and he specifically makes it known that kaeya is unwelcome every time he shows up in the tavern. and he sounds negative when bringing up kaeya for any reason.

and then hoyo started to back-pedal. idk what happened, maybe the direction of the plot shifted. maybe the writer who was writing them in this conflict vein quit. maybe at the start they only had vague idea of like brothers at war with each other, and once they started to flesh it out and add nuance, they've realized that like, burning your baby brothers' eye out might be understandable in the moment of trauma and shock, but then acting like you're on high horse and treating him like garbage for YEARS after is a bit of a psycho behavior.

quick aside bc i know there are ppl who think that, um, kaeya "deserved" it and like. he was what, not older than 10 when he was left at the winery. and he was about 17 when he confessed. he was a traumatized kid who kept a secret bc his bio father told him that the fate of his entire country depends on it. get a grip. but as i said, with the same logic, diluc was also in shock and trauma, and i do not fault him the fight itself. what doesn't track is how diluc acts years LATER, when he had time to think.

so they started to drastically soften diluc AND back-writing retcons. Hidden Strife letters are all about it. They were like oh, brothers were always in contact! Diluc is not a maniac, he was polite to the knights and he told kaeya to take care :) :) :) this creates new set of problems. not only it gives diluc personality split where he was incredibly aggressive to kaeya in person, but apparently normal in the letters. But also, we have letters from Kaeya that make it obvious he knew immediately that diluc is a darknight hero and they both were chill about it. But like! diluc's entire story quest is about him trying to keep kaeya from learning that! like, come on! why then diluc did all these stupid scooby doo shenanigans with slimes and shit???

now i think they are trying to shift responsibility for reconciliation from diluc to kaeya, which is the only issue that affects kaeya's own characterization. bc they are very hard going into "all servants at winery ADORE kaeya and treat him like family and welcome him!!" and fandom like, extends it to diluc now, like diluc is welcoming kaeya too and kaeya is a silly goose who has his hang ups and refuses to visit. as if getting your eye burned off, trying to reach out first and getting "ugh, its you" treatment when you show up at your brother's tavern is just like. a lil awkward situation that kaeya himself should get over without any effort on diluc's side and he should just ~realize~ that he's still part of the family lol. and ppl justify it like "well we don't know how diluc actually feels, he probably feels guilt (anon message) and wants to reconcile". which like. so we don't know, but kaeya is supposed to figure out and reach out AGAIN, when diluc at any time could've just told him that he's welcomed.

and now in kaeya's hangout we learn more about their childhoods which tbh hurts diluc even more. like how are we gonna be pretending that diluc cares about kaeya when he returned to mond and found his baby brother, who was apparently the sweetest gentlest child in the world, his loyal shadow for entire childhood, couldn't lie, was taking punishments for diluc, and see him now becoming a high functioning alcoholic with brazenly unhealthy persona of liar and manipulator, and like NOT get worried and try to reach out. which i don't think it was hoyo's intention, they just wanted to add the tragic sweetie uwu to kaeya's characterization, but they did not think how it reflect on diluc in global context

so now diluc's characterization flip flopped in several directions, and he doesn't really has an arc or plotline going. he's kinda just there now, more of symbol than character, and hoyo just writes whatever they want for him without any regard for any previous lore

#rhine talks #diluc

[afternoonsociety]

*ೃ༄ The Sound of Two Different Hearts - Part Four - Neteyam x Human!Fem!Reader

warnings: violence, kidnapping, mentions the word blood once, family time with the Sully’s

Thank you guy so much for the 154 followers and your kind words for my story. It really means something to me and keeps me going to continue this project. Thank you all! I hope you like the fourth part as well

word count: 4.2k

synopsis: Y/N helps Neytiri and Jake to get their children back and Jake makes a tough decision for the whole family

— Part One — Part Two — Part Three — Part Four —

other websites: ao3 // wattpad

Jake and Neytiri saw red when their children stopped responding after Jake told them to stay where they were and to keep hiding until they came to rescue.

Y/N arrived at the high camp at the same moment. She was supposed to join them today, but she had some things to do in the lab, so she decided to meet them at a later time.

When she got there she had to watch the two parents running tensely from one spot to the other. "Hey did something happen?" she asked cautiously. Jake sighed and rubbed his hands over his face. "They got the kids"

"Who's 'they'?"

Neytiri answered her question. "The Sky People, your People have my children!"

"The children were out and saw soldiers. It must be the RDA. They don't answer anymore. So we assume they are holding them captive," Jake tried to translate his wife's words for Y/N. "We don't have time now, we have to go find them. You stay here!" Jake was about to leave but then Y/N responded "I'm coming with you!"

"No, you're not coming. You're just another risk. We're not watching out for you too!" Neytiri growled at her. It was obvious she didn't want Y/N there, but Y/N was getting stubborn. "I'm coming with you even if it's the last thing I do! Neteyam saved my life and now I'm saving his! Besides, they have my brother!" she said in the same voice to the tall Na'vi woman. Jake, however, allowed himself to be beaten broadly but only on the condition that she would stay in the background. All those years of training would finally pay off, even if she was afraid. These people were family to her in a way and she just had to help. Especially when Tuk, the poor little girl was there. She didn't deserve to go through something like that, she was the most innocent of them all. "But hurry up, we are leaving now," Jake said and gave her the coordinates for her navigation device so they could meet there.

But since she was too slow as a human and didn't have long legs like the 8 foot tall Na'vi, she decided to go with a somewhat unusual idea. But something inside her said it would work.

She set out for the family's Ikrans and searched for Neteyams there. It would be the only chance to get to them fast enough to be able to help them. Y/N searched for a brief moment until she found the animal with the matching pattern. She hoped it would recognize and not attack her. Slowly crouching, she walked up to it. "Shh, I'm not going to hurt you. It's alright" She didn't make eye contact at first and raised her hand slightly to show the animal that she wasn't a threat. The Ikran made a sound and turned its head to the side to get a better look at the human girl. It smelled her hand and recognized her by the scent that she belonged to its flier Neteyam. When Y/N was also sure that Netes Ikran recognized her, she stood up and touched the animal on its head. The Ikran nuzzled her hand and she began to speak one more time, hoping that the Ikran would understand her in some way.

"Neteyam is in danger. I need your help."

The animal didn't seem to understand her in her opinion, so she pulled her hand away and was a little disappointed. What had she been thinking? That it would just understand her? After all, there was a certain reason why the Na'vi formed a bond with these animals. She turned away and the animal made another sound. Y/N turned and watched as Neteyam's Ikran bowed to her and visibly made itself smaller. It showed her that she was allowed to mount.

Even though it was unusual to sit alone on an Ikran and the communication was not smooth either, she was able to find the location quickly and already saw Jake and Neytiri on the spot.

They were surprised for a moment how she had managed to get here with an Ikran, but there was not much time for that, because their children were still in danger.

They planned how best to approach the group without being detected and Y/N took her bow from her back. They decided on an ambush and Neytiri again made it clear to Y/N that she was just another liability and that she should rather stay in the background. She respected her opinion and ran after her with distance. They crept through the bushes together and listened to see if they heard any noise coming from any direction. Neytiri pressed herself against a tree, she was barely visible through the darkness, only her bright shining freckles betrayed where she was. After less time she found her children taken hostage and the Recom soldiers. She yipped to show the soldiers that they were not alone and to distract them so that Jake would have a chance to get closer. But what Neytiri and Y/N didn't know was that there were more of the Recoms roaming the forest. As Neytiri continued to watch, already drawing her bow in the direction of the group, a soldier approached from behind with his weapon drawn close to them. Y/N noticed what was happening and quietly stepped out of the bushes, took an arrow from her quiver and drew her bow. She took a few steps closer and tried not to breathe to give away her position. When she had a clear view of the target, she exhaled, releasing the arrow. The arrow shot forward with speed and hit the soldier right in the neck. Only the dull thud could be heard as the lifeless body touched the ground.

Neytiri turned around startled, thinking she had been spotted, but she only saw Y/N with a concentrated expression on her face, taking down her bow. Neytiri just looked at her with her big eyes and quickly looked at the floor where the dead soldier was lying. Without making any further comment or thanking her, Neytiri signaled Y/N with her head to go in the other direction.

Y/N continued to sneak through the bushes and hid behind a thick branch. From a distance, another Yipp could be heard and she saw the other Recom soldiers turn to look where the sound was coming from. The children's ears pricked up as well when they recognized their mother's voice. Tuk smiled and whispered a soft "Mom." Quaritch just said, "Sounds like we got a visit from Mrs. Sully." The other soldiers got ready for an attack and raised their weapons in the direction of the bushes.

Because of her size, Y/N had trouble keeping track of the situation, so she decided to climb to a higher level. From there she had to watch how brutally they held their friends and pointed weapons at them. She also saw Jake hiding on the other side, waiting for the right moment. They kept eye contact as he spotted her and Y/N waited for a sign from him and she cocked her bow for good measure. Neytiri moved closer and when they thought it was the best moment Jake gave his signal and an attack was made. From two sides came bow shots, each time hitting a different Recom soldier, and Jake came out of the bushes and grabbed another soldier from behind, taking him out with his knife.

Shots were now falling from the remaining Recoms, who were getting ready to flee. They shooed the children up and yanked them along by their handcuffs. Neytriri, Y/N and Jake continued to chase them through the forest. Y/N who had climbed a tree earlier, jumped from branch to branch and past the vines without thinking about where her foot would land next. She just had to keep up. After a while, Quaritch and his group figured they had gotten away from them. Y/N also stopped and continued to spy on them. To send a signal that they had more power, the soldiers wanted to get their hands on the children and headed for Neteyam with knives drawn. That's when Y/N saw red, too. She jumped down from her tree right onto the soldier's back. She put her arm around his neck and thus put him in a headlock, Y/N so could not finish the fight, she grabbed her knife at her right hip and stabbed with it several times until he finally slumped down in himself. She had let out all her rage and hadn't even noticed that Jake and Neytiri had finally driven Quaritch's 1st Recom squad away.

Y/N tried to pull herself together and push the dead soldier off her body and stood up. Breathing heavily, she now stood there in the middle of the battlefield watching the Sully children run to their parents. However, Neteyam was still sitting in the same spot. He was in awe as he watched her take out a "Na'vi" with simple means as a human. The way she was standing there, breathing heavily, the knife still in her hand and with few blood blasts on her body. She was still wearing her Na'vi clothes, which she kept from the evening of the festivities. And Nete could not believe his eyes, his Y/N, the human who turned his head, looked like a true Omatikaya warrior in the blue light and in her outfit. And she had saved his life. If only he could, he would only fall more in love with her.

Y/N looked around the area and Neteyam caught her eye. "Nete!" she cried out and ran to him. Still sitting, he took her in his arms and pressed his forehead to hers. "By Eywa, you're okay. I thought they were taking you away from me," she replied and tears began to form in her eyes. Her body relaxed from his warmth and slumped together against `Teyam's body. She was under tension the whole time and now she could relax for the first time in what felt like hours.

"You saved me" was the only thing Nete could manage to say. He just couldn't believe it. After days of staying out of their way, she still came to save him. "Of course I saved you. You're like family to me."

"You didn't have to put yourself in danger because of me" Even though he liked the sight of her in that situation, he knew what kind of danger she had put herself in as a human just to save him.

"It's called returning the favor, `Teyam. You saved my life too," she whispered in his ear. He thanked her and looked deep into her eyes. A tear now ran down his face too. He couldn't thank her enough for protecting him. He only then realized again how important he seemed to be to her.

A touch on Y/N's shoulder pulled them both out of their moment. It was Kiri. Y/N stood up as well as Neteyam, who walked in the direction of his father and mother to embrace them. "Thank you Y/N," Kiri expressed her gratitude as well, taking her into a smothering hug. Tuk then came running up and hugged them both as well. "You are a real heroine", she gushed.

As the tensions eased, the family finally decided to leave, but Y/N was missing a certain face among all the commotion. "Where is Spider?" she asked. But when no one answered her immediately, she called out his name. She became more nervous and desperate. He was here a moment ago, after all.

"They took him," Lo'ak said in a hushed voice, sad that his human friend had been kidnapped. "No, no, it can't be!" She wanted to run after and try to get him back, but Jake stopped her. "I think it's too late. They're already way too far, we can't catch up to them."

"But he's my brother, Jake! I can't leave him behind"

"I know, I know" he tried to comfort her and put his hand paternally on her head to pull her close. "We'll get him back, right?" Nothing came from Jake, who just stared at the floor with a look that wasn't clearly defined. He wasn't sure of himself if it would work out to get him back, but he couldn't let Y/N go home without hope in such a condition either, that's why he said, "Yes we'll get Spider back home. We'll get him back."

In a partially dejected and sad mood, Y/N set off with Neteyam to meet his Ikran. He was initially confused as to why his Ikran was here in the first place, since he had come here by foot. Y/N explained to him that the animal had been convinced to lead her to him. But he couldn't believe it and laughed at her. Was it really possible that a human could fly his ikran without connecting it to a queue? After all, she had had no possibility to make tsaheylu with the Ikran? How had the animal allowed it to happen? Or was Y/N bluffing at him? He wasn't sure, but there were still so many secrets on Pandora he hadn't learned about, and who knows what else Eywa could make possible with her power. Perhaps the All Mother sensed that the human girl had a strong heart for this planet and for the land. On the way home, Y/N tried to make it clear to Nete that she was not lying and that it really happened that way and told him about the whole story.

Back at the high camp, Y/N's emotions were just coming up. She had now completely realized that her brother had been taken away from her just like that. She immediately felt his absence as her feet felt the rocky ground. She could barely walk two steps before she collapsed. Her body gave out completely and she fell to her knees. Spider was gone and there was nothing she could do. How was she going to make it without him now? She still had her second family, the Sully's, but he was the only human her age she could talk to. They grew up together in the lab and in the rainforests of Pandora, wreaking havoc together as children and laughing about it while their foster parents reprimanded them. She was the only person on the planet who was allowed to call him by his real name. Miles. He never liked to hear the name, as it reminded him of his father, who was complicit in the whole war. But she looked over it, it meant nothing to her. He was Miles Soccoro and not his father Miles Quaritch. He was her brother, not by blood but by bond and friendship.

She could hardly imagine what the RDA would do to him. They would surely try to get information out of him. He would never betray the Omatikaya, of course, but what if they tortured him? Do bad things to him and then he would say something because of the pain? It was just so bad to think about that, her heart started to ache. Neteyam saw her grab her chest where her heart was and put his arm around her comfortingly. She cried on his shoulder and let out her pain through a croaking cry. The other Sully children also realized that their friend Spider was not coming back anytime soon.

Meanwhile, Jake took his mate aside to their mauri to have a talk with her. The situation had finally gotten out of hand and Jake was running out of solutions.

The Olo'eyktan tried to explain to Neytiri that he just didn't know what to do. It was the first time in his life that he really didn't know what to do to protect his loved ones. He was afraid that he would lose his children today and that he had little hope of protecting his clan from the RDA.

"I thought we lost them," he said in a quivering voice. They were both at a loss for words and the discussion between them grew louder and louder and this made the children take notice as well. They crept to the back of the hut and eavesdropped on the couple. Tuk made herself smaller and squatted down on the floor to peek through the small gap at the bottom.

"You're Toruk Makto," Neytiri yelled at him, reinforcing her words by taking Jake's bow in her hand. "The people will die," he replied and continued. "I just can't protect them all anymore. But I can protect this family, that I can do" He emphasized the last words in his deep voice and Neytiri began to cry. She now had to learn from her husband that the only way to protect everyone would be for them to leave their home completely. She had never left the forest for a long time. He tried to comfort her by saying: "Wherever we go, this family is our fortress" The Na'vi woman fell into her mate's arms, she couldn't stand it anymore and she started to sob hard.

Convincing the children was the hardest of all. Like their mother, they had never left home and they could hardly imagine leaving their friends and family behind. But Jake stuck to his words and the family prepared to leave the Omatikaya territory.

What would happen to Y/N was still written in the stars and if Neytiri had her way, Y/N would go back to her humans and then everything would be better for her. But Neteyam was not satisfied with that. He could not leave her alone now. She had just lost her foster brother and now her family was going to leave her? Moreover, he still hadn't told her about his feelings, because he had never found the right time. If he told her now, he could never forgive himself for how much it would hurt her. Besides, he couldn't imagine his life without Y/N. Just like she said before, they are like family and to him, if she felt the same as he did, she was his future mate after all. For Y/N, too, a world collapsed. She understood that it would be the only right thing for the Sully's to do. But the thought without them hurt as much as her loss or her brother. She would still have Norm, Max and the others, but it wasn't the same. She would miss them so much. Still, she had to accept Jake's decision. It would be best for everyone.

Nete came up with an idea how he could convince his father to allow Y/N to come with him after all. After Jake announced the news, he approached his father and said to him, "We have to let Y/N come with us."

"Nete, that would be too dangerous for her. She would be fine here," he spoke to his oldest son, squeezing him tightly with his hands on his shoulders. "And what if she wouldn't be safe here? They've seen her face and what if they come back and recognize her? I'm sure they wouldn't hesitate to take her away too like they did with Spider." His father sighed at the realization that in a way his son was right. "I'm sure they wouldn't hesitate either to get information out of her, and she knows where we're going now. They would then also find us and we would be putting a foreign clan in danger."

At the last sentence Jake had to agree with him completely. He had said in front of her that they would flee to the Metkayina clan. She already knew too much now and it would be a bigger risk to leave her here. The Omatikaya and the other people might be able to protect her, but for how long? There was a change in the actual plan now. Y/N would come along, but only for the safety of the clan and his family.

Neytiri could hardly believe her husband's words that he just passed her over again and decided to take the human girl along. "Jake, she will lessen our chances of Uturu with the Metkayina. They trust humans even less than we do. To them, she's just a demon that we would bring into their home." Jake explained to her in response, however, that Y/N might be misused as a source of information about their whereabouts. "I'll be able to explain to them somehow that she's one of us and that she will be allowed to stay too"

"She's not one of us," she hissed, baring her fangs.

"`Tiri don't forget that she helped us to get our children back in safety'"

"We could have done it without her"

Jake ran out of arguments and clenched his jaw before saying, "Then just don't forget that she saved your life. Without her, you could have been shot by that soldier in the woods."

His hand reached for her elbow. "Please Neytiri, trust me."

He wasn't wrong, but she didn't want to admit it to him either. She pulled her arm out of his hand and said defeatedly, "Then it is so. The human is coming along."

Nete couldn't believe that he alone had managed to convince his parents. He was proud of himself and happy to be able to take his Y/N with him. He promised himself that when they were safe with the Metkayina, he would finally confess his feelings to her.

Tuk Tuk was also head over heels with the idea of her big sister - at least in age - being allowed to accompany her. Kiri, too, was glad that she wouldn't have to be alone with the skawngs who called themselves her brothers and would have someone to talk to and wouldn't feel so alone in her new home.

Y/N herself was glad that she was allowed to come with them, but the closer the day of departure came, the more her stomach churned. She would soon be leaving the people who raised her. She would miss Norm the most, with his little dad jokes that only she had ever laughed at. He was a great father figure, for never wanting kids. And a great mentor as far as anthropology went. She would miss Mary, the botanist and biologist who was always there for her like a real mother, teaching her everything. She realized again that family does not have to be by blood, family can also come through love and understanding.

And she felt this partly also with the Sully's. They were like siblings to her, always treating her fairly and making sure nothing would happen to her. They loved her so much that sometimes they forgot that she wasn't 7 feet tall and blue like themselves. She knew she was in good hands with them too. And even more so when Neteyam was with her.

In the meantime, there was still some work to be done. For example, appointing a new Olo'eyktan, since Jake would now be leaving the clan for an undefined period of time. He transferred his leadership to Tarsem, a young Na'vi man who fought together with Jake's squad to attack the Mag-Lev train. He described him "wise beyond his age" and thought of him as a great leader. The ceremony took place at the Tree of Souls, where Mo'at placed the garn worn by Jake and previously Eytukan onto Tarsem, who then symbolically cut Jake on the chest to "kill" the previous leader.

The day of departure was approaching and Y/N returned to the scientists for a few hours to say goodbye. The decision was not easy for them either, but it would be the best for Y/N. She packed a few things, she was not allowed to take too much either, because they would travel with the Ikrans of the family. She hugged everyone once again and promised them that they would see each other again when everything would finally be over. She also promised that she would come back with Spider. Norm then gave her a tablet with a solar charger, so that she could maybe call in between and if there was an emergency, they could be right there. Max also gave her enough batteries for her modified exopack. She thanked them for the good time and headed for the door. As she turned around one last time Max said, "They grow up so fast. First they run around the lab in diapers and then all of a sudden they are adults and go their own way" Y/N smiled at his comment and waved them goodbye one more time.

Now it was time. A new beginning with a new clan where she had to prove herself strong enough to keep up with them. But at least she had her other family by her side and Neteyam.

taglist: @cedeni-beanie @byunpum @welcomebackfelicia @mashiromochi @sssspencerrr @fanboyluvr @yourbloodyqueen @eywas-heir @hwang-jully @padfootsvixen @dreamergirljen @jordynmrowe @ozlsens @devil-on-acid @ghostjoohoney @sassy-persona @andyyy4444 @abbersreads @droopycoquette @saltedcoffeescotch @kittypoopies @avadakadabra93 @yeosxxx (i hope i got everyone on the list, if not please let me know)

#atwow #atwow imagines #atwow x reader #avatar #avatar fanfiction #avatar imagine #avatar the way of water #avatar x reader #jake sully #kiri x platonic!reader #miles socorro x platonic!reader #neteyam #neteyam imagine #neteyam imagines #neteyam x reader #neteyam x y/n #neteyam x you

[vienna-salvatori]

It's been 10 years since 1x07- The Hub first broadcast (Nov 12 2013)

So, in honour of an episode that's been playing on repeat in my head for a decade...

Here's my theory on what's actually going on with Victoria Hand, and why she's actually a paranoid-but-clever strategist, not as petty and incompetent as she comes across as.

Ah, series 1. Those were the days. The HYDRA reveal hadn't happened yet. Everyone was happy! They trusted each other, mostly! Sure, Skye's allegiances were questionable, but they got over that eventually. May might've had that whole "secret line to Fury" thing, but they sorted that too. Coulson might've had his head messed with, but it's not like that caused serious problems with his judgement until series 2.

... that we know of.

Here's a couple facts: 1) The team are running worldwide missions. Despite this, in one season, they end up passing through The Hub on three separate occasions (The Hub, The Magical Place (I think), and Turn, Turn, Turn/the finale arc.) It's clearly a bit of a, well, hub, for SHIELD activity, and sees a lot of people coming in and out. 2) It's unclear exactly how long Hand has been in charge of the Hub, but we know from s7 that she's been in SHIELD a while. There's nothing in series 1 to suggest that her command of The Hub is a recent promotion. Coulson, meanwhile, was recruited by Fury just out of high school. He's been in the field for decades by this point.

and-

3) When Coulson first meets Victoria Hand in 1x07, he claims to know her only by reputation.

Yeah, no.

I think it's highly unlikely that he's never crossed paths with Victoria Hand before. They might not know each other well- I, personally, think it's best if they do, but YMMV- but I cannot envision a scenario where the two haven't run operations together before.

My assumption, then: they did know each other. Coulson's had his head messed with, though, and he's forgotten all about it.

From Hand's perspective: that dude she really doesn't like has just shown up. He was supposed to be dead, but whatever, they work for SHIELD, shit happens sometimes. That said, he's got the strangest team she's ever seen- Melinda May back in the field, two sci-tech kids who didn't even pass their field exams, John Garrett's antisocial protege, and an enemy agent. (We, the audience, know that Skye is clear, but Hand has no reason to think anything but the worst of her.) He's also pretending that this is the first time they've ever met, for some reason.

... Maybe it's a weird prank.

She decides not to engage with it, because she has a lot of very important work to do and she doesn't really want to deal with any of That Bullshit. Except, Coulson's acting really differently to how he did before- I don't think it's very controversial to say that pre-Avengers Coulson and AoS!Coulson are two very different people. Melinda May- who she knows is one of his closest friends- is... not calling it out, for some reason. Also, he does have a history of recruiting wildcard agents, but usually he follows protocol once they're in. This random kid he found in a van is just wandering around poking her head into things, and Coulson isn't stopping her even though that is against the system. Hand might not like Coulson, but she knows that he does his paperwork and follows the rules. He'll bend them completely out of shape, but he won't break them outright without very good reason. Or at least, he used to do that.

The whole situation is alarming on so many levels. So... she decides to test him- the stupidest, most obvious test that Phil Coulson- who has always been pedantic about the safety of his people- will catch instantly.

She'll "forget" to file the extraction plan.

He'll spot it, of course. He'll spot it instantly, and she'll roll her eyes and file the paperwork she's already filled out. She'll say that this is why they have procedures and it's important to follow them, not just turn up in someone's airspace with a team that makes no sense and ignore all rules and protocol.

Except, Phil Coulson does not notice. It takes his team members breaking protocol in front of of all of them for him to spot a problem in the mission paperwork she physically placed into his hands.

And that? That is not Phil Coulson. She might not like Phil Coulson, but she does know him, and he always looks out for his agents. That's not Coulson, and May is playing along with the imposter for some reason, even when she knows him even better than Hand does.

In the end, she just lets it all play out, because this is so far off what she expected she honestly wants to know how far it reaches.

If she tries to chase up Coulson's file afterwards, she'll hit the (canonically very weird) firewalls and restrictions around TAHITI protocol. If she tries to report the oddities to Fury or Hill, they'll brush her off- again, TAHITI protocol. There's something wrong with that dude and no one in her agency is taking her seriously.

So. Once the HYDRA reveal happens, and she starts looking for moles? Well, there's one really obvious place where standard SHIELD protocol is failing. The issue stretches to some pretty high levels, too- this isn't just baby-agent incompetence. That probably means Coulson's HYDRA. May must be too, if she's covering for him. Skye is, still, basically an enemy agent, Hand won't lose sleep over her. I have... thoughts... about the fact that Hand outright tries to shoot John Garrett out of the sky despite, or because of, their working history, but she's definitely suspicious of him, too. Ward is his agent and likely to follow his lead- when the Twist happens, Ward plays up how betrayed he is, and Hand buys it without question, which makes me think she did know they were pretty close. Simmons is already in the Hub, she can clear her separately.

Really, the only actual loss if she was to take that plane down would be Fitz.

Hand brings down the plane because she has legitimate reason to believe Coulson is an enemy agent, and so is the rest of his team. When she sends her people to storm the BUS, she wants Coulson alive, because he's probably the highest-ranking HYDRA member she can actually get her hands on. She wants some answers, damnit. The rest are acceptable losses if it comes to that.

#AoS #agents of shield #agents of s.h.i.e.l.d. #1x07 #aos 1x07 #1x07 the hub #Victoria Hand #Phil Coulson #SHIELD #HYDRA #vic has been my blorbo for like a decade now. that's insane to think about #I have entire AUs in my head to explain why she is the way she is #none of them are ever getting written but I like thinking about them #she's just. she's such a good character to rotate!!! #fourteen year old me had such a crush on her #twenty four year old me still has such a crush on her. #she's just so fun #she's a character on the side of the good guys who is only tenuously a 'good guy' herself and it makes her so delightful

[bookishtheaterlover7]

WOO! Had to go through high or hell water, but a blessing in the form of the mysterious new friend 🎄 helped me get the info I need

Now... Let's drag this pretentious bitch through the mud again, shall we..?

For starters, let's admire the "bride"😜

Well, well... They actually made the Wicked Witch of the East (West is Elphaba, I will not drag her with this bitch) look good. Even 👸 said she actually liked the lipstick and wearing a good outfit, covering what everyone has already seen too much of, and choosing black, to mourn her lost Instagram followers? 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

And what is with that position?! She also hates the little bow on the dress, it's indicative of Albitch's Lolita personality (in my words, AS IF THE BITCH NEEDED TO REMIND EVERYONE). And those cold black eyes 😆 What is with the bow below? Most people would have the bow at the waist! (I told her that Albitch doesn't have curves to accentuate 🙃)

👸 is being a savage today and I'm loving it!!!

Honestly, she's right, as always 😆 and the thing with Albitch's stupid ass position it kinda reminds me of Cinderella's step sisters 🤭

And she actually wears something other than crop tops?!😵 And really? A babydoll dress? Could you be anymore obvious, Albitch?!

And one last thing... FUCKING FIX YOUR POSITIONS, YOU WANNABE!!!

Onto the topic of Chris...

Their rings don't fucking match! What married couple doesn't have matching rings?! This isn't the 1800s where only the bride wears the ring. Both husband and wife, are supposed to have a ring. They might not wear it all the time, but they do have rings! But these two? You put their photos right next to each other, and it looks like someone told them to each buy a ring without knowing what the other even looked like 🤭☕

His is some form of gold. Still doesn't fit... And hers, are silver, dull and fucking loose!!!

Sidebar~

Thank you 👸 for showing me this vid, I needed that laugh 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

Albitch, do you seriously don't know what to do with your hands? With all your slutty posts, I thought you'd be an expert by now 🤭 I guess that's why you never show them in pictures you post...

And another thing. This goes to all of the people who thought she's hiding because she's pregnant...

DOES SHE LOOK REMOTELY PREGNANT TO YOU?! YOU'RE FUCKING DELULU!!!

And we're back to Chris...

Yeah those wedding rings are seriously not matching. And no matter how you spin it, there's absolutely zero reason for those two to not match. Unless neither knew what the other bought in which case...

THEY'RE EXPOSING THEMSELVES!!!!

Just like how Albitch appearing without Chris only confirms our suspicions, that he's in MA, with his family, DEFINITELY WITHOUT HIS LOVING NEW BRIDE 😁

Now, isn't that just couple goals... 🙄

I mean Dodger will actually have a happy Thanksgiving this year, because his Daddy would actually smell nice and not have his wicked Step-Mother

Oh, I forgot! 👸 rewatched Chris' NYCC panel, and at 10:14 of the video...

She told me, it's really hard to notice, and I didn't but after two tries I did too, that Chris mentions that he has to use treats to get Dodger to come near him, because, "sometimes stuff happens"...

I'm sorry, but WHAT STUFF HAPPENED THAT MAKES DODGER NOT WANT TO BE NEAR YOU, CHRISTOPHER?!

I know it sounds like a stretch, and probably a major conspiracy theory. But come on! Dodger is the least shy dog on the internet! He loves new friends, in dog and human form.

And he's a dog who, like his Dad, loves to show affection, and receive it. There's no way, Dodger would avoid people, unless, and my dog is like this, they've had a bad experience with that person, and they don't trust them. Even just the scent might have them stay away. 🤔🧐

TL;DR

🎄 is an angel sent from the heavens to have helped me. 👸 is SAVAGE today with the sick burns. Albitch looks decent, but her positions, and the fact that literally EVERYTHING but the ring shines is another Red Flag 🚩(we're about to run out of room for these flags). Chris and her have rings that don't fucking match. Dodger might be having a happy Thanksgiving because his wicked Step-Mother is as far from MA as she can be (Green card, what? She doesn't know her🤭)

Oh, and...

Happy Thanksgiving to those that celebrate it 😁🍗

#booky reacts #booky rant post #chris evans #chris evans fandom #Instagram #Albitch will never be relevant! #she can try #but that video alone shows she doesn't have IT #that's enough of her today my Albaphobia is being triggered #but that video will never not be funny 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 #HER HANDS!!!! #save Dodger #i hope he has a happy Thanksgiving #she really shook the Earth with her tantrum #Booky's 100 Followers Celebration #nycc 2023 #Youtube

[arofulboyfriend]

on the future

When I was in my last semester of my associates, one of the classes I had to take was either public speaking or communications. I chose communications because fuck talking to the public.

It was a fun class, and my professor is great, and we still hang out and get lunch together a lot, even though I graduated in 2022 and will be going back to a different college soon.

But something in our textbook has, as dramatic as it may seem, almost haunted me ever since I read it.

It said that once a couple gets married and decides to have children or otherwise fully integrate their lives together, that they are statistically nearly guaranteed to steadily drop their single, non-partnered, not child-rearing friends, and only make friends with other married parents.

And... reading that made me sad. I have no desire to get married even if it's a platonic marriage of convenience, and I will never, ever, have children. But I don't want to live alone, even if one day I do finish my doctorates and get a job that pays me more than enough to do so, because I'm a social, cuddly person. And it didn't make me just sad, it basically confirmed in confident, scientific terms that my worst fear of ending up sad and alone and unsupported were going to come true.

You see, my aroace journey has not been a fun one. I've rushed into relationships romantic and sexual, had sex I hated, dated people I didn't like, and even now am in a relationship I'm not truly ecstatic about, just agreed cause she wanted to label me her boyfriend to feel comfortable things I'd 100% do platonically given half a chance. (She's a great friend and I adore her and she's aware I don't feel romantic feelings towards her, our relationship is fine, it's just not a thing I went into with that goal in mind, if that makes sense.)

All because I have a really deep seated and hard to shake fear of abandonment.

There are many reasons for it, but nearly all my friends from childhood and primary school, of which there weren't a lot to begin with, haven't just faded away or grown apart, they've, from my perspective, deserted me, usually to fulfill and commit solely to a romantic relationship. My best friend when I was 14 ran off one day, saddling me with her roleplay forum, so that she could get married, all because her then-fiance said he didn't want me rping with her, because he said it made him jealous. (Nevermind that she was 26, straight, christian, and I was a girl at the time, and also 14, especially 14.)

Ever since then, and especially when compounded with other abandonment even by less close friends, I've been terrified of being replaced, forgotten, cast aside in favor of someone who will kiss them. Logically, I know the experience I detailed above was far from the norm, I shouldn't have been the best friend of an adult woman over 10 years my senior at all, there's no reason her fiance should have seen a kid as a threat especially over SFW wolf roleplay. But it happened regardless, and I started to notice that it was becoming a pattern.

So, I panicked, relentlessly pursued a boy who ended up abusing me, pursued a girl who assaulted me, forced myself to be sexually available to my partner, all for the security I was told a romantic sexual relationship was supposed to have that they wouldn't leave me if I was just good enough. For already obvious reasons, it didn't work, and I lost friends, and then I graduated high school and didn't speak to anyone except 2 people, who ARE still my friends, ever again.

So ever since then I've been wary. A bit more cagey with my trust. My current roommate flirted with me a week after we'd met and had spent that week texting for hours a day, and I snapped at him in a blind panic that I had done something to lead him on, and oh god, this nice boy I want to be friends with is going to leave me.

And he didn't? And now I live with him? And we're still friends, even as the nature of our relationship has changed?

And he introduced me to his other friends! And I'm dating one! And another got me into cosplay! And they accepted my best friend without batting an eye! And we've all been together since just before the pandemic hit, and we're each others confidants and homies hand in beautiful hand together.

But... while I had been able to safely ignore it for nearly 4 years, since the breakup with my ex boyfriend and only sexual/romantic partner since, the fear came back, and stronger, despite all the therapy and self help and building of my self confidence, and then I read that paragraph and panicked.

Because my friends and I are in our mid 20s, and while three of us are aroace, the other five aren't, and they want to form relationships and build families - my roommate wants to do so as fast as possible so he can get citizenship and stop worrying about the status of daca.

And I don't know what I'll do if I lose this group. I remember that stupid fucking paragraph on a single page on a textbook written for and by a small public college in the midwest, and I panic. What if they all get married, move out, have kids, and decide the rest of us aren't worth the effort to stay in touch? What if my roommate kicks me out before I'm ready, to go settle with a fiance? What if, and how will I survive it? The first experience already nearly killed me.

But I was relaying these fears to my grandma last night when she stopped me and asked me how many people in my family have gotten married.

Well... you and grandpa, nano and pops, nano and uncle frank, pops and eleanor, mom and dad, mom and ex step dad, mom and step dad...

I have a much bigger family than that.

My paternal aunt is partnered for 30 years and never intends to marry him. They live separately.

My dad has never remarried and has had unrelated, unromantic, unsexual roommates.

My two maternal great aunts have never been married and never dated and live together.

My half brother is still single with no plans to marry.

My unrelated uncle never married or partnered.

My unrelated aunt never remarried after getting divorced.

If wikipedia is accurate, my cousin hasn't remarried since 1997, and was only married for 7 years.

All my life, I've been fed the idea that damn near everyone settles down, marries, has kids, and this is the natural order of things, and what I must do too. I didn't realize until I laid it out that more of my family have been happily single and/or unmarried for most if not all of their lives than have been the opposite.

What the paragraph failed to mention, and what I failed to realize until last night, was that that statistic can only be even mostly accurate to a time that has already come and gone. It can only be accurate to the generations that birthed the rest of us, and even then, still has another few decades to go before anything will be confirmed.

The rest of us? The rest of us that put the internet's global spotlight on the next generation of the queer community? We're already breaking that trend wide open and proving the statistic wrong and outdated. We're actively choosing to reject the institutions of marriage and of home ownership among a world that ruined both for us. We're prioritizing friendship and shared love over exclusive romances, we're building and supporting communities and challenging the biases of white colonial rule and the relationship to marriage to 2.5 kids and a dog is little more than a soundbite of scorn and mockery.

So... maybe it won't happen, that thing I fear the most. Maybe I can continue to live with my friends, and come home to a lively house or set of apartments each day. Maybe, even if they marry and have 2.5 kids, it'll be a set of goblins we share. Maybe I've found my personal fulfillment, I just have to wait and find out.

I hope I have.

I'll try and hold onto that.

#seren yaps #sex ment cw #abuse ment cw #assault ment cw #suicide ment cw

[bloompompom]

Hiiiiii ok ok, idk if I can submit more than one prompt BUT since you are suffering from writers block…

4, 19, 39; Eren ✨ (Tip! I *feel* like there’s a way to combine these prompts into one, single one shot…but you’re the creative genius. I leave this in your capable hands!) 💖

oooohh, i had fun with this one thank you so much. have to say, you're more of the creative genius for this idea :)

4. Awkward kiss 19. Shy kiss 39. Spin the bottle kiss

content: fluff, underage drinking (high schoolers), brief mention of blood (okay i know that sounds out of pocket but i promise it isn't)

Everyone knew you had a crush on Eren. A big, fat crush that had been painfully obvious since the sixth grade, back when you first transferred schools. There wasn't a doubt in anyone's mind that you'd inevitably end up together, even if you weren't as confident. Your friends would go as far as taking bets on when it'd happen—after that biology project you worked on together, after every homecoming or spring formal. Though you never dared to go as each other's date, always with your gang of friends.

But none of them guessed it would take until your junior year of high school before anything—even the most innocent of kisses—to happen.

As fate would have it, your first kiss happened in the most cliché of ways: during a game of spin the bottle.

Your friend Jean's parents were out of town for the weekend. This left Jean with an empty house and unattended liquor cabinets. There were only two rules that night. The first: whatever you drink, replace with water. Second: don't finish off any bottles. If you finish a bottle, then there would be 'evidence,' as he called it.

You only spectated for the first few rounds of beer pong, cozied up on a beanbag in the basement, trying your best to power through your drink. Jean's parents had an interesting selection of liquors, to say the least. Strong enough that you could taste it no matter how much soda you poured into your solo cup.

You were supposed to have your turn. Any minute now, you told yourself. They said you and Eren could play the winners, but every time Sasha and Connie lost, they only demanded a rematch. It almost seemed like they wanted to lose, challenging Jean and Mikasa, the two most skilled players, again and again. Oh, well. The point of the night was to get drunk, wasn't it?

So it came as no surprise to you when Sasha was drunk enough to round everyone up for a good old-fashioned game of spin the bottle.

"Where did you get that bottle from?" Jean questioned. He was suspicious already as it was clearly one of his parents' empty bottles—where else would she have gotten it from? Jean said the rules at least a dozen times, but Sasha was never one to listen.

"Don't worry, Jean Boy," she teased, poking his nose. "I'll toss it in the dumpster behind the gas station on my walk home tonight."

Jean smacked his hand against his forehead. Figuring out a replacement was a problem for future Jean, he supposed, so he joined the rest of your friends circled around on the shaggy carpet.

You didn't really want to play, but there was no harm in it. Sasha had pulled a bottle out and demanded this of you all before. You only had to kiss her once, then your other friend Armin. Nothing came of it other than a tale you could look back on and laugh.

Still, it made you nervous when Eren sat opposite you. He'd never been one to join the game before.

You knew your feelings for him, and you knew them well, which made it all the more difficult for you when it was his turn. You tried your best not to look at him. You couldn't. You didn't want people to think you were interested in who he'd have to kiss, and you certainly didn't want them to think you were jealous. Because of course you weren't jealous. What reason did you have to be jealous if he had to kiss—

Sasha announced your name. You focused your zoned-out vision and saw the bottle pointed straight at you. You followed up the length of it until you met Eren's eyes, already fastened onto you.

There weren't any oh's and ah's like there had been for previous rounds. Everyone was silent, wide-eyed, and unsure of what to do next. It felt comparable to stumbling upon a timid deer. Do you dare come any closer and risk it darting back into the forest?

Yes, you were the deer, and that was exactly what you wanted to do. It must have been apparent on your face, too, because Eren was quick to jump in.

"Guys, seriously. We're not going to kiss." He laughed it off but not well before looking at you again. "'Cause that would be weird... right?"

"That's not the game!" Connie booed. He threw his empty cup at Eren's head but missed terribly.

Your stomach curled. There it was, as clear as day. Eren thought it would be weird to kiss you. You had to find your voice, though. You couldn't let that shake you.

"No, he's right," you said. Not as confidently as you hoped. It was but a whisper—one that was marked with disappointment.

Even with just those few, measly words, the room shifted.

"N-not because kissing you would be weird," Eren corrected, practically a sputtering ramble. "It's just that, like, you'd be uncomfortable." He ran a hand through his hair. He was growing it out, falling just past his ears and into his eyes. "And I, you know, didn't want you to be uncomfortable. That's all."

It was a back-and-forth, like the game of beer pong you watched earlier. The ball was back in your court; every pair of eyes locked onto you.

"I wouldn't be uncomfortable," you quietly said. You gave a shrug. "It's just a game."

It was painful because everyone—every soul in the room—knew it wasn't just a game. Not for you, at least.

Eren gulped, soft enough that no one but him noticed. "Okay then. Yeah. Just a game."

You scooted toward the center of the circle. Eren followed, stopping once there was no more than a foot between you, just enough to fit the bottle.

There was a lengthy silence. It was filled with bated breath, like everyone's chests were clenched in anticipation. God, leave it to your friends to make this more awkward than it needed to be, let alone pressure Eren into kissing you. You thought agreeing to the kiss would be the easier option, but it was only proving to be humiliating.

Eren leaned into you, shifting his weight into the heel of his palm pressed into the carpet. You watched the green of his eyes near you until you couldn't anymore, with his mouth mere inches from yours. And when he spoke, you felt the heat of his breath, the scent of liquor.

"This okay?" Eren whispered, low enough that only you'd hear it. One last check-in because there was no doubt he heard the thumping in your chest.

You nodded wordlessly.

You let him move closer, your eyes fluttering shut. It'd be strange to keep your eyes open, right? Or was closing your eyes too intimate?

Oh my God, you couldn't bear it for another second. Why was Eren taking so long?

Was he nervous?

Just as you opened your eyes, there was pressure at the back of your head. Before you could distinguish it, your face was shoved into Eren's. It was a collision of noses, smushed lips, and teeth.

Yeah, definitely teeth. It was loud.

Around you, there was a collective, "Connie!"

"What?" Connie, the culprit, exclaimed. "They were takin' too long!"

You pulled away, brows scrunched over your eyes as you checked to see if you chipped a front tooth. You didn't but fuck, you felt it, a sharp throbbing in your gums.

When you glanced up at Eren, he was already staring at you. He appeared just as taken aback by the whole thing, frantically apologizing to you as he brought a hand to your shoulder.

He had no reason to apologize. Surely, he was just as banged up at you. And you were about to tell him just that when he remarked, "You're bleeding."

You held your hand out and saw your fingertips were stained red. You knew you had bumped him hard, but was it really that bad?

"It's fine," you assured, trying to stand. Your ears buzzed with the countless voices scolding Connie under their breaths. 'I don't know what I did wrong,' he drunkenly defended.

Eren stood and offered you a hand. You didn't know what to do but take it, allowing him to pull you to your feet.

"Let me help," he said, his voice still shaky. He looked past you, over to Jean. "Do you have a first-aid kit or something?"

"We have ice packs in the freezer," Jean replied.

Eren's hand was still around yours. You slipped from his grasp before you followed him upstairs.

In the kitchen, you waited silently as Eren searched through the Kirstein's freezer before finding a little blue ice pack. He wrapped it in a paper towel and then turned to you, lowering as he leaned in to inspect your lip.

"I got you good there, huh?" He threw in a feeble chuckle. It didn't last long before he sighed, heavily, like he had been holding onto it for a while. "I'm really, really sorry."

"It's okay, Eren. I promise," you said earnestly. You pressed the ice against your lip, wiping away the blood on the paper towel. "It's not your fault that Connie's an idiot."

Eren chuckled, for real this time. "I can't argue with that."

You smiled back at him, modest and closed-mouthed. You didn't know what to say; you were just looking at each other. Your words were stolen off your tongue the second you realized how close you and Eren were. You felt your pulse again, in your throat this time.

Eren brought a hand to your face. He didn't touch your cheek but closed his hand over yours, lowering it so he could see you—have access to you.

"I guess what I'm trying to say is," he said, slowly drawing it out. His face was now visibly flushed pink, like you hadn't seen before. "I'm sorry that the first time I kissed you was like that."

And before you had the chance to say anything, Eren kissed you then, full on the mouth, like he'd been wanting to for years.

#eren x reader #eren fluff #asks #sorry this became so long #its definitely the three prompts and TOTALLY not my long-windedness #thank you for the ask!!!

[snowddeong]

Already had an idk how long hour rant session with Sarah about this shit but I'm still so annoyed so part 2 lmao

It's so profoundly frustrating and discouraging how itzy continues to be mistreated in every fucking facet you can imagine for the sin of literally being successful, talented women.

They're literally div 2's bottom line but the company acts like they're doing the girls a favour by even posting about their cbs on the accs that were literally made to promote itzy. We are just now getting some semblance of tiktok freedom 5 years into their career meanwhile idols that debuted after them have their own instagrams and their juniors in the same company have more freedom on all sorts of socials. We've confirmed that div 2 flubs so many of their opportunities for who knows what fucking reason after what happened with the CK Yeji event. And most importantly everything to do with Jisu — never fucking protecting her in any way, overwork, stifling her and the other girls' creativity, not utilising her voice well and every other fucking stupid thing they've done that's definitely made what she's going through so much worse. The girls are a cash grab to that fucking company (to the point we literally first learned about the cb and tour in the same post that was announcing Jisu's diagnosis) and they're not even allowed to express any frustration or sadness over that because "that's not professional" and they'd probably lose everything they've worked so hard for.

If they look sad you're not supposed to acknowledge to it or sympathise with it or treat them as human beings because it's "funny" to joke about how they want to get off work and anyway they're idols who gives af about idols anyway right? So called midzys are more concerned about making unfunny jokes than actually getting to know these girls. Every mf will say "ot5" then turn around and straight up hating certain members. Dehumanisation has become so fucking normalised in midzyville but then mfs will act surprised that the company gets away with this very obvious exploitation and mistreatment. If you view these human beings as a product that you can say whatever tf you want about on sites that you know they frequent because "it's just a joke lol" ofc the mfs presenting them as a product are going to benefit from it 😭

Then you have fuckass bitchass shitstain mnet and their hate boner for itzy. The largest number of most viewed videos on choom, the first choom performance to get more than 50 million views that's still consistently gaining more and more views, the first mix and max vid to get 50 million that's also still gaining views and gagged the kpop space so hard that Bebe Rexah released a korean specific version of break my heart myself and performed at fucking kcon because of Ryujin and Yeji, and their MAMA 2021 being the most iconic performance of that night (to the point that mnet decided to call back to it again last year mind you). You'd think wow hey these guys get us views let's be nice to them and keep them around.... but nah, deleted their iconic fucking performance that gave their boring award show relevance, deleted their debut stage, don't invite them to choom anymore, didn't even send ryeji their trophy or record something for Yeji when she got hers and then the bullshit that went on today lmao. Like it's so fucking obvious and you have to wonder WHY ffs

I have nothing against the group that won even though some of their stans are the most disgusting scum of the earth but like surely.... the numbers did not make sense. Even if you say itzy's digital points were too high okay fine that's just affirming that mnet isn't very honest with their numbers. They deleted itzy's untouchable stage for who knows what fucking reason then uploaded it later with reset views. How tf am I supposed to believe all this was above board when we've been beating that fandom in voting CONSISTENTLY even if they mobilised fandoms to help okay fine but did they enlist the whole of stantwt or something lmao how tf was the difference that great? Why were the sns scores so fucking weird when itzy untouchable shorts have consistently more views? Why is it "cope" or being a sore loser to call foul play when there's so much pointing to it being that AND mnet has a history of rigging??? The only real answer is it's because this happened to a girl group and specifically because this happened to itzy. They released one song people didn't like and suddenly deserve every terrible that happens to them is deserved and just "midzys complaining about nothing". And when it gets to a point where even the girls seem visibly frustrated and dissapointed? "Nah they just want to go home early lol don't read too much into it don't care"

This is so long and I feel like I could go on forever but tldr I just wish better for them man 🫠 every group is unique and important in their own way but itzy are really once in a lifetime performers. I know there's no such thing as a perfect world where everything goes smoothly especially for girl groups but fuck is it too much to ask for a little respect on their names and for everyone to leave them tf alone at the bare minumum 😭 itzy is the only group under div 2 just fucking do your jobs lmaooo

#snowdd.txt #big ol rant lmao

[lackingspace]

Lesson in Silence (Kylo Ren x Reader x Knights)

Chapter 3 - Lesson 3

Word Count: 4.5k

Warnings: Crude language, some innuendos, some touching. It's a slowish burn, what can I say.

Author Note: ok, if it wasn't clear before then it is now. Knights are a big part of the plot. I'm taking liberties with their personalities, capabilities, and anything else I feel is within reason. Well just see what happens. As always, thank Tina for giving me inspiration ✨

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ

AO3 Link: Lesson 3

Prev Ch: Lesson 2

Narrowing your eyes while pursing your lips at the implication that Albrekh had conned you. He hadn't. Not like you really charged much for mods, especially to people in the first order network, you weren't even supposed to do it in the first place much less take real payment for it. 

Albrekh had even slid you more credits than what you'd asked for. He took care of you and you were more than happy to keep him supplied. 

You'd actually known him before joining the first order. Long after you'd taken a fabricated background and identity, but still, he was a long-standing contact. Having met him through an arms dealer, Jace. 

A Sullustans you'd been selling mods to for quick credits in a bind. He'd had grand plans to broker deals with the combination of yours and Albrekh's work together rather than separately. Able to charge a high price for custom-made fully modded weapons. 

Too bad he'd gone missing not long after you were introduced. Word in the network said he'd brokered a deal that went south and hadn't made it out. You'd kept in contact with Albrekh though, he paid well and was good at his craft. 

When you came on board as an officer for the order he'd sent you an encrypted message. You'd known he worked for the order somewhere, but you'd never felt the need to ask. Thinking he was offworld or on a base somewhere. 

You hadn't realized he must work with the knights regularly.  

Every few weeks he was asking for different modifications, he'd even dropped formalities and messaged something generally along the lines of, 'Cardo blew the last one, needs something new.'

"Albrekh didn't say the laser brain who blows my mods was a Knight." You couldn't tell what look he was giving you, but from the cocked hip and head tilt your bet was a smirk, "With the way you're on your knees for Vic, don't think you really mind us." Jaw clenching at the crass remark as you flicked your gaze back in Vicrul's direction. 

He straightened up to his full height, still standing close enough that if you wanted to press against his leg it was only a matter of shuffling an inch or so. Tempting. But you dragged your eyes up farther– arms recrossed, he dripped intimidation and power. 

All the knights towered over you, but kneeling at his feet made him seem even more massive. The slow lingering draw of your eyes from boot to mask– steady and deliberate, made to be obvious, before turning back to Cardo. You leveled him with a flat look to match your candid tone, "Vicrul's hot." 

The guff modulated chuckle from behind you had the corner of your lip flick up into a smirk and stomach clench. Suppressing your smirk in favor of narrowing your eyes at the knight in front of you, "Vicrul hasn't melted my anvil compressor either." 

That got a chuckle from Trudgen while Cardo's shoulders tensed at the sound, "She got you there. Thought I'd have to cut your arm off with how warped it was." 

Cardo was silent for a few tense moments before he questioned, "The anvil was your make too?" The question held a genuine surprise. 

The anvil compressor had happened a few years ago, likely he was surprised you'd made his mods for so long, "Yeah, it was mine." Your sour look melted from your features like he'd done to the mod, "Honestly, I'd bet almost all your mods come from me. Albrekh and I go back long before I joined the order." 

Cardo took a step towards you, "The double tap? Shutter shot? Cooling threaded tempo? Those yours?" You gave a nod, "Yeah, heard you really liked the tempo." Tilting your head as you spoke, "Actually, that makes sense. Kinda hard to melt that one." Cardo covered the short distance between the mat and you. 

He hadn't said a word as he walked, finally standing in front of you as you looked up towards his masked face, "You've been making my favorite mods for years." Unsure if he was making a statement or if it was a question, you to give a tentative answer of, "...yes?" He reached down with both hands settling on your shoulders before yanking you into a standing position. 

"Sorry Vic, I'm gonna borrow your new girl for a minute." You let out a choked noise at the phrase 'your new girl'– like Vicrul had some claim to you. 

But you had just called him hot…and let him manhandle you without protest…ugh, really you shouldn't have enjoyed it…or still quietly entertaining the thought that maybe it wouldn't be so bad messing around with him. 

He was a Knight for kriffing sake– the group you were hiding from. Something was wrong with you. Today was cursed, that had to be it. First the ghostly master, then the Commander, the knights, and now you'd lost any sense of self-preservation because a guy scratched an itch you hadn't been able to satisfy in years.

The last hour of today seemed like if there was a bad decision you could make, it was your first and only choice. 

Chancing a glance back at the man in question had him uncrossing his arms and outstretching one in an expression that said 'be my guest'. 

Force only knew what Vicrul would do with your idiotic admission. Sure he was hot, Sure his imposing figure gave you bad ideas, but you didn't need to add jet fuel to the kriffing fire by telling him that. 

You highly doubted he'd let it die in this room. You should feel dread and anxiety at the possibility of him, or any of them really, seeking you out after this. 

The thing that solidified how much trouble you were in was that the thought of Vicrul chasing after you didn't fill you with cold dread, but instead it was a hot anticipation. 

A reckless excitement for whatever he would do. Recklessness was something your master would have been more abhorred at than the liaison you were contemplating.

And she would have been right to do so. This was a bad idea, but your emotional brain was getting the best of you. Damned as soon as you'd felt his want for you to submit. You shouldn't want his attention, any of their attention, force forbid they drew their master's gaze back to you. 

With Cardo knowing you were his supplier things were already bound to become more precarious. None of your decisions here had been cautious in any capacity.

"Look, check this out." Cardo had pulled you to a small pile next to the mats. He reached in and pulled his cannon from the floor before handing it to you, "The kinetic feeder housing is too bulky. Doesn't sit comfortably inside like the others– Its ass sticks out of the casing." 

Turning the cannon over in your hands, appreciating the solid and deadly design. You'd never actually seen it before, only the blueprints. You were waiting on a question or for him to continue, but when he didn't, you answered with a tentative, "Uh, yeah." 

There was a beat before he responded, "Dank ferrik, I want you to fix it, girl." You stared at him in confusion for a second, "Fix…it?" Realization dawned on you, "Do you not read my notes?" It was his turn to sound confused, "Notes?" 

Raising one hand to pinch at the bridge of your nose, "Albrekh hasn't given you my notes? Or do you just ignore them?" Silence met you, meaning it could be either one. Trudgen called out from the other side of the mat, "Albrekh probably thought he couldn't read." 

You sighed as Cardo shouted expletives at his friend, "Ok, listen," Shooting him a quick glance to make sure you had his attention. At the tilt of his mask you carried on, "This," stressing the syllable as you slid a finger across the edge of the metal sticking up, "is a feature. It doesn't need to be fixed." 

Giving him a pointed look before continuing, "The feeder doesn't just utilize excess energy from firing the cannon. It also absorbs blaster fire and converts it to boost your next shot." You expected something from him but were disappointed.

At his silence, you broke it down even more, "Catch blasts with the cannon and this," giving the metal a small flick, "Will retract down signaling it's powered up." 

The disbelief came through the helmet's modulation clearly, "You want me to get shot?" Cardo had the ability to get under your skin more easily than most people. Probably because you'd spent years wondering what kind of kriffing prick he had to be to break your work so often.

His brainlessness grated on your already strained nerves which made you careless. Being careless was extremely dangerous. You were breaking all sorts of self-imposed rules this afternoon. The flare of your irritation dulled the logical screaming in the back of your mind to stop talking. Stop heckling. Stop digging your own grave.

The words spat out before you could stop it, "From what I hear you're always getting shot at anyways. Just hold your kriffing arm out." Both Vicrul and Trudgen laughed at your barb. 

Cardo's head tilted as he regarded you. Unsure if it was in anger or the plethora of other emotions he, none of them, were supposed to be capable of. The knights should have been cold, cruel, and dead inside. Like all the rumors sprouted about them. Would have been so easy to navigate around them if it had been true.

But they were lively– rowdy, opportunistic, and aggressive, certainly. Overflowing with snide comments that brought out your own attitude. A brattiness that wanted to defy their brutish manner. Even Vicrul's brash assault betrayed a frenzied warmth beneath the manipulation. It drew you in before you had a chance to disconnect.

Master had always hated how emotional you were. Nothing but a liability. And she wouldn't stand for anything compromising the mission– so she'd tried to kill it. Typically you were good at keeping your work and personal relationships nonchalant. Friendly, definitely sarcasm filled, but overall distanced. Seemed like all it took was a domineering group of men to spark your rebellion.

The inspection lasted long enough for you to know whatever he'd say next wasn't good. He turned towards Vicrul as he spoke, "I like this one. When you get tired of her, send her to me." You snorted in disgust and grumbled at the back of his helmeted head, "I'm not fucking you." 

Cardo turned back to you. He was large and solid– they all were, but it was then that you consciously registered it about him. The air shifted to something heavy as the cool textured leather of his coat brushed your bare arm as he leaned in. Mask angled down as he caught a stray strand of your hair, "No?" 

Jutting your bottom lip out in defiance with narrowed eyes. Speaking in a voice that stressed your finality on the issue, "No." He dropped the strand to pinch your chin between his thumb and forefinger, turning your face left and right, "Shame." 

Something bloomed in the pit of your stomach that was more than simple embarrassment. A pleasant warmth twisting your gut and flaring that heat his friend had already been fanning. Ripping your face from his grasp to spit out another assertion, "That goes for all of you. I'm not fucking anyone." 

Vicrul spoke before the words died in your throat, "We both know that's a lie, princess." 

Cheeks flushed with another wave of warmth at the implication and new pet name. Whipping your gaze towards him had you watch as he pushed away from the pillar to roll his neck. He was just as imposing as when you knelt before him. Staring you down when his brash mental presence blindsided your senses again. 

"I was going to go easy and save you the embarrassment of begging. You've been more entertaining than these two half-wits." Rolling his shoulders before continuing, "But brats always find a way to get punished." The force pouring the fabricated panic into you at his will. Breath shuttering out of your lungs, biting your lip at the sudden shift of emotions, eyes glued to his form.

Cardo's elbow jabbing sharply into your ribs pulled your attention off your fixation, "Looks like you made daddy mad." Brows instantly furrowed as your nose scrunched in a sneer. His only response was modulated laughter as he moved away, back towards Trudgen. Calling over his shoulder, "Vic's a fan of spanking, your ass is gonna be rawhide before he's satisfied."  

Sputtering as Vicrul was still painting your insides with terror, all you could manage was, "Do I want to know how you know what he likes?" 

Trudgen answered for him with a shrug, "We're brothers– we talk" his mask hid his gaze, but from the deliberate up and down drag across your form, similar to the one you'd done, there wasn't any doubt what he was doing, "…and we like to share." 

Closing your eyes as the admission sent a tingle down your spine and that felt too good mixing with what his brother was doing. It sparked inappropriate thoughts that didn't need to be acknowledged. 

Can't I just go back to the kriffing shop? The thought a desperate plea to the invisible force. Or your bunk. You deserve some rest after this whole fiasco. Honestly, if you could rewind today you'd just have stayed in bed. But the force didn't work like that.

When your eyes opened Vicrul was giving you an order in the form of his index finger curling towards himself. At your small step, he pushed another crushing wave against your senses, the dread sliding down your back into the pit of your stomach. He spoke a single word, "Crawl." 

Now that the Commander wasn't lurking behind your eyes, you could deal with his influence easier– but you couldn't filter it out completely.

The demand had more heat mixing with the fear. Damn your weakness for men like the Commander; like Vicrul. You'd have to put a stop to this once you left the gym. 

A bead of cold sweat ran down your spine. Knowing where the awful sensation was coming from keeping you from true panic, but it still caused a strong physiological reaction.

Feeling his mental presence bashing against your own had you miss the subtlety of his master. But as reckless as you were being, you didn't want Commander Ren anywhere near you, physical or otherwise. No matter how pleasant his lazy strokes felt. You'd take the rudimentary assault of his apprentice. 

Vicrul was like a crowbar to a tightly chained door while his master was a lockpick. One decidedly much more dangerous than the other.  

Your mind was largely your own with Vicrul. The threat was only marginally less, but you'd take any advantage. Although, you had a sneaking suspicion that Vicrul was more similar to you than you initially pegged him for. 

He might not be able to breach your thoughts, but the more time he spent violently lashing against you it gave you opportunity to judge his capabilities without much effort. He could definitely sense your emotions. 

The kriffing ass likes this.

Rough laughter from Cardo had you shooting a look of visceral annoyance his way as you slowly complied to Vicrul's demand, "Shut it, Cardo. Next time you short-circuit a processor and the cannon backfires don't expect me to mod for you again." Lowering your voice to just above a whisper as shuffled across the mat, "Kriffing mudscuffer always shorting mods." 

His laughter cut off, "What the kriffing hell is Albrekh telling you?" You didn't bother looking at him as you answered, "I get curious when you need mods so damn often. He just tells me how you break them." 

Trudgen cut off whatever Cardo would have said, "You're just pissy Vic is giving you what you deserve. Should watch your mouth next time." He was right on both fronts. You were pissed that it seemed impossible to shut your mouth around them. Equally, if not more so, angry at yourself for how easily Vicrul could affect you. 

You had to deal with their antics to a degree, but you'd certainly made it worse for yourself by being firey. Something different than the regular sniveling doormat most of your coworkers would have become. 

When you finally reached the Knight's side, you looked up in quiet insolence. You might be playing his game, even enjoying how authoritative he was, but you didn't have to be happy about it. He reached a gloved hand down to pat the top of your head in a demeaning way, "Stop pouting, pet. Gives me too many ideas." He looked back to his friends, "Get to grappling or were done here." 

Trudgen cracked his knuckles while offhandedly answering, "Impatient Vic?" Cardo chuckled and ribbed him next, "Want to keep her all to yourself, huh?" 

There wasn't a verbal response, but you could feel the force twisting off him. This time it wasn't directed your way. Instead, Cardo's spine stiffened as he let out a hissed curse, "Son of a twi'lek whore, Vic! Fuck Kylo for teaching you that shit." 

An unexpected hushed snicker left you. It was…amusing? Not quite the right word, but they were all so…casual? The familiarity they spoke to each other with or about each other, even about the Commander, surprised you. It gave a strange normalcy to the highly trained force-sensitive killing squad. 

The pressure of the force only increased at the insult, "Fine, fine! We're done, so knock it off. Kriffing hate when you get durasteel up your ass." It was Vicrul's turn to chuckle as you felt his exertion on the force dissipate.

Cardo elbowed Trudgen, "Besides Tru couldn't take another ass kicking." The jab was returned with a kick to the side of Cardo's knee, "Pussy. You're afraid the girly doesn't like you and will lean in my favor." The two men started trading jabs back and forth until they quickly devolved into fighting anyways. 

"Enough!" The frustration, or impatience, was dripping from Vicrul's acerbic tone, "Head back to Ren or the ship. I don't care, just fucking leave." The last word was a hiss from his modulated mask leaving no room for arguing. 

His comrades didn't seem to take the demand like the threat you interpreted it as. Instead they took their time separating, guffawing echoing off the two as they collected their weapons. Vicrul's hand settled on your shoulder– grip curling around your much smaller frame 

Your jaw clenched as you felt the frustration roll off him– with you or the other two occupants, you couldn't determine. The two slowly made their way towards the main entrance of the gym, Trudgen calling behind him, "Don't have too much fun, Vic. Kylo's still expecting us." 

Cardo echoed behind him, "Good luck sitting tomorrow, girly. " Their snide snickering the last sound to reverberate off the walls as the plasteel door slid close behind them. As the silence stretched your anxiety skyrocketed. Refusing to look up at the Knight that loomed over you. Being alone with him left too many possibilities. If you looked up at him, you were half afraid you'd act on your earlier desires. 

His hand flexed against your shoulder before you were swiftly hauled up and thrown into the nearest wall. It wasn't a gentle toss either, knocking the breath in your lungs clean out. Before you caught your breath Vicrul was crowding in. Arms slammed down next to your head boxing you in. You clenched your jaw as his chest pressed against yours. The heavy texture of his armor easily felt through the thin fabric of your workout top.

"They think I'm going to fuck you." Your brows pinched, hadn't that been why he was so impatient? Holding what you hoped to be his gaze you pressed into him lightly, "Aren't you?" One of his hands lowered to grip your cheeks. 

Thumb pressed into one side harshly while his fingers rested against the flesh of your other. The leather softer than you'd expect for as rugged as they looked. The leathery scent surrounding your senses, "Haven't decided if you deserve my cock." 

The only thing you could think to say was, "Who's lying now?" He'd made a whole scene earlier, but maybe this what part of the punishment he'd deemed you warranted? 

Anxiety was creeping in, settling like a bird making a nest high in your chest, "What else do you need me alone for?" His hand tightened the grip causing your lips to pucker, "I don't need you alone to fuck you. I'd have let them watch." 

You choked at his answer, but he continued, "I'm going to ask you a question, and you're going to answer." 

Fear, real fear trickled through your veins. Cooling your blood and kicking your mind into high gear. Worse still, Vicrul's psychic presence pressed into you. Not bashing, not crashing, not trying to overrun your emotions. Just pressing into your extra sense of self. Soft. Gentle. Controlled. Your heart stuttered at the feel of it. 

Where had that been this whole time? You should have listened to your initial instinct, he was dangerous. You forced the words out of your puckered lips "What question?" His presence slid against yours in the same spine-tingly way the Commander had. Panic was setting in and you needed to keep a cap on it otherwise you'd do something rash. 

"How are you doing that?" The question caught you off guard. Maybe it was the panic that was scattering your brain, but you were unsure of exactly what he meant or what he was even asking, "Doing what?" It wasn't a lie if you really were confused. 

You felt him lap up against you again. And like the Commander, it was a surface graze against your mental defenses. He'd pick up something, but he'd surprised you. You couldn't even assume what it was he'd decipher, "That." He didn't explain, just did the same force slide against your psyche, "How do you feel so…." He trailed off without finishing. 

Your stomach dropped and a new wave of fear flooded your system. With a shaky breath you gritted out, "I don't know what you're talking about." He hummed before countering, "I think you do." 

This was bad. This was so fucking bad. Bad beyond anything you could have anticipated. Vicrul was too much like you and you hadn't kriffing realized until it didn't matter. 

He didn't need to be in your head to shift through memories confirming your past. Didn't even need to listen in on thoughts or feel you reach out into the force and manipulate it. Didn't even matter that your force signature was so subtle as if you were a passive bystander. Trying to follow its flow, hiding between the natural ripples. 

None of it mattered with the way he'd interpret the force. He felt things the way you did. Which meant that he wasn't looking for how you reacted to the force– if you reached out to it, used it, he watched how the force reacted to you. It was something outside of your control.

And it was the same way you identified force sensitives. 

The only thing that stopped you from breaking cover and using the force to throw him across the room was his own confusion. He was asking you for an explanation, could even feel it in his caresses. Although his grip on your face was firm, you didn't sense any hostility in it…yet.

This didn't make sense to you. How he knew something was off about you, but couldn't pinpoint it? He literally hunted force sensitives across the galaxy…so why…maybe he wasn't as developed as you thought? 

When you were young it was harder to pick out the twisting of the force around people. Was it your own signature mingling in your perception? Or were they actually force users. Master had berated you for your turmoil and forced you to learn the art of slicing into someone's mind her way. 

But picking up the twisting of the force had always been more natural. Eventually, the distinctions had become easier in identifying people it rippled around without worry you were projecting. 

Maybe he was still in that phase? Your heart clenched in bittersweet relief. The Commander had been training him if you could believe Cardo, but you'd been next to the Commander in the lift. If he related in the same way, you doubted you would have left the lift alive. 

Vicrul was likely on his own in this. Like you. 

It stirred up sympathy he likely wouldn't appreciate. Playing dumb was your only option for now. At least that was the best option you could determine. Voice painted in frustration, "I really don't have a kriffing cule what you're talking about." His fingers tapped against your cheek before he slowly dragged his hand down to your throat. 

"Maybe I should spank you." His hand continued down between your breast, trailing your stomach, setting your sensitive nerves on fire, "Or maybe if you give me a good answer," his hand lowered to cup between your legs. Your breath sharp on the inhale, sticking in your throat as your toes curled at the firm grip. 

"I can be nice when I want. And your pretty face makes me want to do very nice things to you." He pressed his palm against your core in emphasis. Your hips rocked down into his cupped palm while your thighs clenched at the feeling. "Just tell me who you are." 

You rocked against his hand with closed eyes. The pleasant pulse helped settle the panic rising up. Opening your eyes to pin him with as irritated a look you could muster, "I'm a kriffing arms technician." The hushed chuckle was more static and airy thanks to the mask's modulation, "Shame I don't have the time to make you beg." 

Lifting your hands to grip the front of his coat, material smooth against your flesh. His own cupped palm between your legs pressed into your again, "You're going over my knee next time I see you." An actual smile cracked your features, "That a promise?"  

He pulled his hand away and pried your grip off him before pushing away, "It's a threat." Your back was still glued to the wall as he slowly backed away. You couldn't move as you watched his form head to the same door his comrades had left. He stopped short of the door and spoke, "We'll see who you are," he hit the button to open the panel, "Arms technician."

Your head rocked back to rest against the wall as the door slid shut. 

#star wars fanfiction #star wars #kylo #kylo x reader #kylo ren #knights of ren #knights of ren fanfiction #fanfic #star wars fanfic #uhhh are the knights gonna be FWB? Poly? idk #but theyre gonna Get.It. #smut #the force ships it #writing #knights of ren x reader #vicrul x reader

[yunoteru4ever]

Having finished Dusk Maiden I’m really doubling down on the hanako-kun parallels I’m really curious when you get around to watching whether the main trio will remind you as much of Teiichi, Yuuko and Kirie only genderbent as they did to me.

I just tore through Toilet-Bound Hanako-kun's first season this week and am starting in on the After-school Hanako-kun shorts now. And I can definitely see what you mean about the three main leads sharing similar types!

But first, Full Disclosure: I actually thought Hanako-kun was going to be about KIDS. Like... pre-teen kids. The classic "Hanako-san" story is usually portrayed as involving a girl between 10-13 years old, and the characters in Hanako-kun just look so much like children at first glance, y'know? So I was definitely surprised to watch the show and learn they're in high school! Turns out it's just a cutesy design choice. :P

Nene here is 15 years old. But if you told me you thought she was 8? I'd believe you.

ANYWAY. I want to take a moment to talk about where I see the similarities and differences.

Similarities:

To start with: Both stories focus on a group of teeenage characters investigating and/or combatting ghostly school mysteries that're usually framed as the "Seven Wonders of the School." (Every Japanese school has to have its Seven Wonders, y'know. :P I've lost track of how many times the "Seven Wonders of the School" trope has appeared in manga/anime/visual novels/etc that I've consumed... ) There's also the fact that, tonally, both stories also bounce between comedic group interactions and the creepy horror aspects of what the characters are facing.

But you were particularly honing in on the character similarities! And I agree that that's the area that makes them most reminiscient of each other. It's worth noting that Dusk Maiden of Amnesia has a quartet of primary players, whereas Hanako-kun only has three. However, if we exclude DMoA's Momoe (who I'd argue is the least important of the Dusk Maiden quartet), then both stories contain the following three chararacter "types" among their main characters:

Dim-Bulb "Every(wo)man" Lead Protagonist (many in-universe members of the opposite sex will crush on this character over the course of the series... for whatever reason)

Mischievious Ghost with a Secret Past (a.k.a. the actual reason we're watching/reading this thing, CLEARLY)

Exorcist from a Spiritual Family Line (they show recurring skepticism about the ghost's seemingly benign nature, repeatedly threatening to exorcise him/her even as they gradually come to befriend him/her)

It's that last one that's particularly interesting to me. If you're going to do a story about a ghost lurking in a school and his/her connection to a living student attending that schoool, it's easy to imagine those first two types/tropes coming to mind quite quickly and naturally. The third one is a little more of a stretch, though. It's not impossible for it to be a case of "independent invention," but... it does make me wonder if the authorial team called "AidaIro" was directly influenced by the work of team "Maybe" on DMoA.

Differences:

Ultimately, though, I think both stories are different enough from one another to make them stand uniquely in my mind.

— The most obvious distinction is that Dusk Maiden is very much focused on the love story between a ghost and a human — I'd argue that's one of its primary appeals! Meanwhile, Hanako-kun is sometimes billed a "romantic comedy," but I don't know where the romance is supposed to be. :P Honestly, the first episode of the anime made me think (with horror), "Oh god, they're now CURSED to fall in love! Free will is dead!" but uh... I do know that by the first 75 chapters of the manga, they still haven't shown any signs of being into each other? So 1) If anything is happening between Nene and Hanako, it is a SLOW-ass burn and 2) If they ever DO get together, I hope they manage to sever this whole forced-bond thing first so it can feel more legit :P

— That's another thing: Dusk Maiden is a complete story right now in both its versions/formats! Meanwhile, Hanako-kun is still DEEPLY ongoing. The manga has no end in sight, and although the anime JUST got a second season announcement, it didn't even come with a vague release window.

— Out of the three shared "character types" I mentioned above, the "Dim-Bulb Protagonist" is probably the most distinct character between the two stories. DMoA's Teiichi is more of an innocent — the open-minded and pure-hearted type who just wears his heart on his sleeve. He's pretty chill but kind of unmemorable, yet somehow attracts his own mini-harem? Luckily, he's 100% committed to his ghost waifu. TBHK's Nene Yashiro is, by contrast, a borderline genki girl who is super boy-crazy and regularly on the verge of a mental spiral. (Actually, I think Nene acts more like Momoe than she does Teiichi... ?) But when our story starts, Nene is already bolder/braver and more ready to take action than either Teiichi OR Momoe are for the majority of DMoA. She... ALSO attracts her own mini-harem, but she's too self-conscious about her legs to even notice.

— Also: Whereas Dusk Maiden goes MUCH darker with its horror aspects than Hanako-kun ever would, Hanako-kun also features far more of your typical shōnen action elements than you'll ever find in Dusk Maiden.

.............you get the idea.

I do enjoy Hanako-kun! I especially grew to appreciate its cuter character designs; they make it imposible for us to wind up with those borderline-ecchi moments that DMoA sometimes has, and I consider that a good thing. :P However, I ultimately still prefer DMoA because of that central relationship... naturally.

#toilet-bound hanako-kun #asks #dusk maiden of amnesia #anime #anime comparisons

[princeescaluswords]

Any more whining you want to do?

As a matter of fact, I do have a bit more. Thanks for asking!

(To give some context for others, this individual commented on this post here. You can check out what I said and what they said as replies.)

Exhibit #1: Scott obsessing over Allison in Abomination (2x04) when he should be following Stiles around like a puppy. /sarcasm

I simply can't get over the idea that Scott hanging up on Stiles when he and Derek are in the pool in Abomination is somehow proof of Scott's self-absorption. Anyone who didn't flunk high-school English class should be able to tell that this scene was designed to heighten tension about what would happen to Stiles and Derek, not tell the audience that Scott is a bad person. After all, Scott wasn't making out with Allison when this happened; to remind everyone once again, Scott and Allison were breaking into Gerard "Kill Them All" Argent's safe in Gerard's bedroom after Scott had been dragged to the Argent house for dinner after Scott had been outed as a werewolf to that very same werewolf hunter because he covered for one of Derek's betas. Yet, Scott, with all his supposed self-absorption, still managed to save Derek and Stiles from the kanima in the end.

And, in any event, it was an accident. Framed by the narrative as an accident! Treated by the narrative as an accident!

Just as, in the very next episode Venomous (2x05), Stiles nearly killing Scott because Stiles picked up Allison's crossbow without permission and fiddled with it was framed and treated by the narrative as an accident.

Yet no one argues -- nor could they reasonably argue -- that Stiles is careless with the lives of the people he claims to care about. He was curious, and that sometimes gets the better of him.

It's only large parts of the fandom that treat Scott's hanging up as proof he's unreliable, sexually obsessed, and apparently self-absorbed. How they can they take two similar incidents (if they even bother to think about the scene in Venomous at all) and come to vastly different conclusions?

Or, for that matter and in the same vein, why don't they treat Stiles dragging Scott out into the woods to get bit as another example of Stiles being careless with the lives of those he loves. As an aside and before anyone gets angry, 'drag' is exactly how Sheriff Stilinski described it in Memory Found (6x10). Why is that accident not a commentary on Stiles's character?

Or, also for that matter, why don't they condemn Derek for sending Stiles into the long-term care facility by himself in Wolf's Bane (1x09)? Derek literally put Stiles in harm's way of a blood thirsty kanima -- whoops, I mean alpha. Of course, it was an accident, so why would anyone hold it against Derek?

And yet, five years after the show is over, and ten years after this scene actually first aired, not one anti-Scott individual can tell me what makes his accidental hanging up on Stiles a criticism of his character, while Stiles getting Scott bit or shooting a crossbow bolt at him or Derek sending Stiles to face his power-mad uncle alone doesn't. Why do they ignore the fact that the only reason Scott hung up was he was doing something dangerous himself for Derek, that he was only present in that danger because of Derek's pack, and that he still rescued Derek and Stiles?

Of course, that question is disingenuous. It's obvious why they nitpick particular scenes as examples of Scott's utter selfishness, because how else are they going to justify their desire to transform the show about Scott McCall into a show about literally any other white guy? There's a reason I'm reading brand new stories today where an uncharacteristically competent Alpha Derek says to Peter that Scott finally chose to submit to avoid being an omega, and stopped listening to Deaton (as if Deaton ever had any single scene where he told Scott to refuse Derek in any way, shape or form).

BUT IT'S NOT RACISM.

#scott mccall #teen wolf fandom problems #scott mccall defense squad #teen wolf fandom racism

[afternoonsociety]

*ೃ༄ The Sound of Two Different Hearts - Part Four - Neteyam x Human!Fem!Reader

!Tumblr took this down. I don’t know why but here is now the repost!

warnings: violence, mentions the word blood once, family time with the Sully’s, Y/N fighting for her Na‘vi Family

Thank you guy so much for the 154 followers and your kind words for my story. It really means something to me and keeps me going to continue this project. Thank you all! I hope you like the fourth part as well

word count: 4.2k

synopsis: Y/N helps Neytiri and Jake to get their children back and Jake makes a tough decision for the whole family.

— Part One — Part Two — Part Three — Part Four —

other websites: ao3 // wattpad

Jake and Neytiri saw red when their children stopped responding after Jake told them to stay where they were and to keep hiding until they came to rescue.

Y/N arrived at the high camp at the same moment. She was supposed to join them today, but she had some things to do in the lab, so she decided to meet them at a later time.

When she got there she had to watch the two parents running tensely from one spot to the other. "Hey did something happen?" she asked cautiously. Jake sighed and rubbed his hands over his face. "They got the kids"

"Who's 'they'?"

Neytiri answered her question. "The Sky People, your People have my children!"

"The children were out and saw soldiers. It must be the RDA. They don't answer anymore. So we assume they are holding them captive," Jake tried to translate his wife's words for Y/N. "We don't have time now, we have to go find them. You stay here!" Jake was about to leave but then Y/N responded "I'm coming with you!"

"No, you're not coming. You're just another risk. We're not watching out for you too!" Neytiri growled at her. It was obvious she didn't want Y/N there, but Y/N was getting stubborn. "I'm coming with you even if it's the last thing I do! Neteyam saved my life and now I'm saving his! Besides, they have my brother!" she said in the same voice to the tall Na'vi woman. Jake, however, allowed himself to be beaten broadly but only on the condition that she would stay in the background. All those years of training would finally pay off, even if she was afraid. These people were family to her in a way and she just had to help. Especially when Tuk, the poor little girl was there. She didn't deserve to go through something like that, she was the most innocent of them all. "But hurry up, we are leaving now," Jake said and gave her the coordinates for her navigation device so they could meet there.

But since she was too slow as a human and didn't have long legs like the 8 foot tall Na'vi, she decided to go with a somewhat unusual idea. But something inside her said it would work.

She set out for the family's Ikrans and searched for Neteyams there. It would be the only chance to get to them fast enough to be able to help them. Y/N searched for a brief moment until she found the animal with the matching pattern. She hoped it would recognize and not attack her. Slowly crouching, she walked up to it. "Shh, I'm not going to hurt you. It's alright" She didn't make eye contact at first and raised her hand slightly to show the animal that she wasn't a threat. The Ikran made a sound and turned its head to the side to get a better look at the human girl. It smelled her hand and recognized her by the scent that she belonged to its flier Neteyam. When Y/N was also sure that Netes Ikran recognized her, she stood up and touched the animal on its head. The Ikran nuzzled her hand and she began to speak one more time, hoping that the Ikran would understand her in some way.

"Neteyam is in danger. I need your help."

The animal didn't seem to understand her in her opinion, so she pulled her hand away and was a little disappointed. What had she been thinking? That it would just understand her? After all, there was a certain reason why the Na'vi formed a bond with these animals. She turned away and the animal made another sound. Y/N turned and watched as Neteyam's Ikran bowed to her and visibly made itself smaller. It showed her that she was allowed to mount.

Even though it was unusual to sit alone on an Ikran and the communication was not smooth either, she was able to find the location quickly and already saw Jake and Neytiri on the spot.

They were surprised for a moment how she had managed to get here with an Ikran, but there was not much time for that, because their children were still in danger.

They planned how best to approach the group without being detected and Y/N took her bow from her back. They decided on an ambush and Neytiri again made it clear to Y/N that she was just another liability and that she should rather stay in the background. She respected her opinion and ran after her with distance. They crept through the bushes together and listened to see if they heard any noise coming from any direction. Neytiri pressed herself against a tree, she was barely visible through the darkness, only her bright shining freckles betrayed where she was. After less time she found her children taken hostage and the Recom soldiers. She yipped to show the soldiers that they were not alone and to distract them so that Jake would have a chance to get closer. But what Neytiri and Y/N didn't know was that there were more of the Recoms roaming the forest. As Neytiri continued to watch, already drawing her bow in the direction of the group, a soldier approached from behind with his weapon drawn close to them. Y/N noticed what was happening and quietly stepped out of the bushes, took an arrow from her quiver and drew her bow. She took a few steps closer and tried not to breathe to give away her position. When she had a clear view of the target, she exhaled, releasing the arrow. The arrow shot forward with speed and hit the soldier right in the neck. Only the dull thud could be heard as the lifeless body touched the ground.

Neytiri turned around startled, thinking she had been spotted, but she only saw Y/N with a concentrated expression on her face, taking down her bow. Neytiri just looked at her with her big eyes and quickly looked at the floor where the dead soldier was lying. Without making any further comment or thanking her, Neytiri signaled Y/N with her head to go in the other direction.

Y/N continued to sneak through the bushes and hid behind a thick branch. From a distance, another Yipp could be heard and she saw the other Recom soldiers turn to look where the sound was coming from. The children's ears pricked up as well when they recognized their mother's voice. Tuk smiled and whispered a soft "Mom." Quaritch just said, "Sounds like we got a visit from Mrs. Sully." The other soldiers got ready for an attack and raised their weapons in the direction of the bushes.

Because of her size, Y/N had trouble keeping track of the situation, so she decided to climb to a higher level. From there she had to watch how brutally they held their friends and pointed weapons at them. She also saw Jake hiding on the other side, waiting for the right moment. They kept eye contact as he spotted her and Y/N waited for a sign from him and she cocked her bow for good measure. Neytiri moved closer and when they thought it was the best moment Jake gave his signal and an attack was made. From two sides came bow shots, each time hitting a different Recom soldier, and Jake came out of the bushes and grabbed another soldier from behind, taking him out with his knife.

Shots were now falling from the remaining Recoms, who were getting ready to flee. They shooed the children up and yanked them along by their handcuffs. Neytriri, Y/N and Jake continued to chase them through the forest. Y/N who had climbed a tree earlier, jumped from branch to branch and past the vines without thinking about where her foot would land next. She just had to keep up. After a while, Quaritch and his group figured they had gotten away from them. Y/N also stopped and continued to spy on them. To send a signal that they had more power, the soldiers wanted to get their hands on the children and headed for Neteyam with knives drawn. That's when Y/N saw red, too. She jumped down from her tree right onto the soldier's back. She put her arm around his neck and thus put him in a headlock, Y/N so could not finish the fight, she grabbed her knife at her right hip and stabbed with it several times until he finally slumped down in himself. She had let out all her rage and hadn't even noticed that Jake and Neytiri had finally driven Quaritch's 1st Recom squad away.

Y/N tried to pull herself together and push the dead soldier off her body and stood up. Breathing heavily, she now stood there in the middle of the battlefield watching the Sully children run to their parents. However, Neteyam was still sitting in the same spot. He was in awe as he watched her take out a "Na'vi" with simple means as a human. The way she was standing there, breathing heavily, the knife still in her hand and with few blood blasts on her body. She was still wearing her Na'vi clothes, which she kept from the evening of the festivities. And Nete could not believe his eyes, his Y/N, the human who turned his head, looked like a true Omatikaya warrior in the blue light and in her outfit. And she had saved his life. If only he could, he would only fall more in love with her.

Y/N looked around the area and Neteyam caught her eye. "Nete!" she cried out and ran to him. Still sitting, he took her in his arms and pressed his forehead to hers. "By Eywa, you're okay. I thought they were taking you away from me," she replied and tears began to form in her eyes. Her body relaxed from his warmth and slumped together against `Teyam's body. She was under tension the whole time and now she could relax for the first time in what felt like hours.

"You saved me" was the only thing Nete could manage to say. He just couldn't believe it. After days of staying out of their way, she still came to save him. "Of course I saved you. You're like family to me."

"You didn't have to put yourself in danger because of me" Even though he liked the sight of her in that situation, he knew what kind of danger she had put herself in as a human just to save him.

"It's called returning the favor, `Teyam. You saved my life too," she whispered in his ear. He thanked her and looked deep into her eyes. A tear now ran down his face too. He couldn't thank her enough for protecting him. He only then realized again how important he seemed to be to her.

A touch on Y/N's shoulder pulled them both out of their moment. It was Kiri. Y/N stood up as well as Neteyam, who walked in the direction of his father and mother to embrace them. "Thank you Y/N," Kiri expressed her gratitude as well, taking her into a smothering hug. Tuk then came running up and hugged them both as well. "You are a real heroine", she gushed.

As the tensions eased, the family finally decided to leave, but Y/N was missing a certain face among all the commotion. "Where is Spider?" she asked. But when no one answered her immediately, she called out his name. She became more nervous and desperate. He was here a moment ago, after all.

"They took him," Lo'ak said in a hushed voice, sad that his human friend had been kidnapped. "No, no, it can't be!" She wanted to run after and try to get him back, but Jake stopped her. "I think it's too late. They're already way too far, we can't catch up to them."

"But he's my brother, Jake! I can't leave him behind"

"I know, I know" he tried to comfort her and put his hand paternally on her head to pull her close. "We'll get him back, right?" Nothing came from Jake, who just stared at the floor with a look that wasn't clearly defined. He wasn't sure of himself if it would work out to get him back, but he couldn't let Y/N go home without hope in such a condition either, that's why he said, "Yes we'll get Spider back home. We'll get him back."

In a partially dejected and sad mood, Y/N set off with Neteyam to meet his Ikran. He was initially confused as to why his Ikran was here in the first place, since he had come here by foot. Y/N explained to him that the animal had been convinced to lead her to him. But he couldn't believe it and laughed at her. Was it really possible that a human could fly his ikran without connecting it to a queue? After all, she had had no possibility to make tsaheylu with the Ikran? How had the animal allowed it to happen? Or was Y/N bluffing at him? He wasn't sure, but there were still so many secrets on Pandora he hadn't learned about, and who knows what else Eywa could make possible with her power. Perhaps the All Mother sensed that the human girl had a strong heart for this planet and for the land. On the way home, Y/N tried to make it clear to Nete that she was not lying and that it really happened that way and told him about the whole story.

Back at the high camp, Y/N's emotions were just coming up. She had now completely realized that her brother had been taken away from her just like that. She immediately felt his absence as her feet felt the rocky ground. She could barely walk two steps before she collapsed. Her body gave out completely and she fell to her knees. Spider was gone and there was nothing she could do. How was she going to make it without him now? She still had her second family, the Sully's, but he was the only human her age she could talk to. They grew up together in the lab and in the rainforests of Pandora, wreaking havoc together as children and laughing about it while their foster parents reprimanded them. She was the only person on the planet who was allowed to call him by his real name. Miles. He never liked to hear the name, as it reminded him of his father, who was complicit in the whole war. But she looked over it, it meant nothing to her. He was Miles Soccoro and not his father Miles Quaritch. He was her brother, not by blood but by bond and friendship.

She could hardly imagine what the RDA would do to him. They would surely try to get information out of him. He would never betray the Omatikaya, of course, but what if they tortured him? Do bad things to him and then he would say something because of the pain? It was just so bad to think about that, her heart started to ache. Neteyam saw her grab her chest where her heart was and put his arm around her comfortingly. She cried on his shoulder and let out her pain through a croaking cry. The other Sully children also realized that their friend Spider was not coming back anytime soon.

Meanwhile, Jake took his mate aside to their hut to have a talk with her. The situation had finally gotten out of hand and Jake was running out of solutions.

The Olo'eyktan tried to explain to Neytiri that he just didn't know what to do. It was the first time in his life that he really didn't know what to do to protect his loved ones. He was afraid that he would lose his children today and that he had little hope of protecting his clan from the RDA.

"I thought we lost them," he said in a quivering voice. They were both at a loss for words and the discussion between them grew louder and louder and this made the children take notice as well. They crept to the back of the hut and eavesdropped on the couple. Tuk made herself smaller and squatted down on the floor to peek through the small gap at the bottom.

"You're Toruk Makto," Neytiri yelled at him, reinforcing her words by taking Jake's bow in her hand. "The people will die," he replied and continued. "I just can't protect them all anymore. But I can protect this family, that I can do" He emphasized the last words in his deep voice and Neytiri began to cry. She now had to learn from her husband that the only way to protect everyone would be for them to leave their home completely. She had never left the forest for a long time. He tried to comfort her by saying: "Wherever we go, this family is our fortress" The Na'vi woman fell into her mate's arms, she couldn't stand it anymore and she started to sob hard.

Convincing the children was the hardest of all. Like their mother, they had never left home and they could hardly imagine leaving their friends and family behind. But Jake stuck to his words and the family prepared to leave the Omatikaya territory.

What would happen to Y/N was still written in the stars and if Neytiri had her way, Y/N would go back to her humans and then everything would be better for her. But Neteyam was not satisfied with that. He could not leave her alone now. She had just lost her foster brother and now her family was going to leave her? Moreover, he still hadn't told her about his feelings, because he had never found the right time. If he told her now, he could never forgive himself for how much it would hurt her. Besides, he couldn't imagine his life without Y/N. Just like she said before, they are like family and to him, if she felt the same as he did, she was his future mate after all. For Y/N, too, a world collapsed. She understood that it would be the only right thing for the Sully's to do. But the thought without them hurt as much as her loss or her brother. She would still have Norm, Max and the others, but it wasn't the same. She would miss them so much. Still, she had to accept Jake's decision. It would be best for everyone.

Nete came up with an idea how he could convince his father to allow Y/N to come with him after all. After Jake announced the news, he approached his father and said to him, "We have to let Y/N come with us."

"Nete, that would be too dangerous for her. She would be fine here," he spoke to his oldest son, squeezing him tightly with his hands on his shoulders. "And what if she wouldn't be safe here? They've seen her face and what if they come back and recognize her? I'm sure they wouldn't hesitate to take her away too like they did with Spider." His father sighed at the realization that in a way his son was right. "I'm sure they wouldn't hesitate either to get information out of her, and she knows where we're going now. They would then also find us and we would be putting a foreign clan in danger."

At the last sentence Jake had to agree with him completely. He had said in front of her that they would flee to the Metkayina clan. She already knew too much now and it would be a bigger risk to leave her here. The Omatikaya and the other people might be able to protect her, but for how long? There was a change in the actual plan now. Y/N would come along, but only for the safety of the clan and his family.

Neytiri could hardly believe her husband's words that he just passed her over again and decided to take the human girl along. "Jake, she will lessen our chances of Uturu with the Metkayina. They trust humans even less than we do. To them, she's just a demon that we would bring into their home." Jake explained to her in response, however, that Y/N might be misused as a source of information about their whereabouts. "I'll be able to explain to them somehow that she's one of us and that she will be allowed to stay too"

"She's not one of us," she hissed, baring her fangs.

"`Tiri don't forget that she helped us to get our children back in safety'"

"We could have done it without her"

Jake ran out of arguments and clenched his jaw before saying, "Then just don't forget that she saved your life. Without her, you could have been shot by that soldier in the woods."

His hand reached for her elbow. "Please Neytiri, trust me."

He wasn't wrong, but she didn't want to admit it to him either. She pulled her arm out of his hand and said defeatedly, "Then it is so. The human is coming along."

Nete couldn't believe that he alone had managed to convince his parents. He was proud of himself and happy to be able to take his Y/N with him. He promised himself that when they were safe with the Metkayina, he would finally confess his feelings to her.

Tuk Tuk was also head over heels with the idea of her big sister - at least in age - being allowed to accompany her. Kiri, too, was glad that she wouldn't have to be alone with the skawngs who called themselves her brothers and would have someone to talk to and wouldn't feel so alone in her new home.

Y/N herself was glad that she was allowed to come with them, but the closer the day of departure came, the more her stomach churned. She would soon be leaving the people who raised her. She would miss Norm the most, with his little dad jokes that only she had ever laughed at. He was a great father figure, for never wanting kids. And a great mentor as far as anthropology went. She would miss Mary, the botanist and biologist who was always there for her like a real mother, teaching her everything. She realized again that family does not have to be by blood, family can also come through love and understanding.

And she felt this partly also with the Sully's. They were like siblings to her, always treating her fairly and making sure nothing would happen to her. They loved her so much that sometimes they forgot that she wasn't 7 feet tall and blue like themselves. She knew she was in good hands with them too. And even more so when Neteyam was with her.

In the meantime, there was still some work to be done. For example, appointing a new Olo'eyktan, since Jake would now be leaving the clan for an undefined period of time. He transferred his leadership to Tarsem, a young Na'vi man who fought together with Jake's squad to attack the Mag-Lev train. He described him "wise beyond his age" and thought of him as a great leader. The ceremony took place at the Tree of Souls, where Mo'at placed the garn worn by Jake and previously Eytukan onto Tarsem, who then symbolically cut Jake on the chest to "kill" the previous leader.

The day of departure was approaching and Y/N returned to the scientists for a few hours to say goodbye. The decision was not easy for them either, but it would be the best for Y/N. She packed a few things, she was not allowed to take too much either, because they would travel with the Ikrans of the family. She hugged everyone once again and promised them that they would see each other again when everything would finally be over. She also promised that she would come back with Spider. Norm then gave her a tablet with a solar charger, so that she could maybe call in between and if there was an emergency, they could be right there. Max also gave her enough batteries for her modified exopack. She thanked them for the good time and headed for the door. As she turned around one last time Max said, "They grow up so fast. First they run around the lab in diapers and then all of a sudden they are adults and go their own way" Y/N smiled at his comment and waved them goodbye one more time.

Now it was time. A new beginning with a new clan where she had to prove herself strong enough to keep up with them. But at least she had her other family by her side and Neteyam.

taglist: @cedeni-beanie @byunpum @welcomebackfelicia @mashiromochi @sssspencerrr @fanboyluvr @yourbloodyqueen @eywas-heir @hwang-jully @padfootsvixen @dreamergirljen @jordynmrowe @ozlsens @devil-on-acid @ghostjoohoney @sassy-persona @andyyy4444 @abbersreads @droopycoquette @saltedcoffeescotch @kittypoopies @avadakadabra93 @yeosxxx @xxhospital-for-soulsxx (i hope i got everyone on the list, if not please let me know)

#atwow #atwow imagines #atwow x reader #avatar #avatar fanfiction #avatar imagine #avatar the way of water #avatar x reader #jake sully #kiri x platonic!reader #miles socorro x platonic!reader #neteyam #neteyam imagine #neteyam imagines #neteyam x reader #neteyam x y/n #neteyam x you

[litcityblues]

'Transformers: Age of Extinction --A Review

Look, I'm not naive. No one is going to mistake a Transformers movie for high art- that's not what these movies are for. You get some popcorn, you sit down, you get a frosty beverage and you watch gigantic metal robots beat the living fuck out of each for a couple of hours and you have a moderately entertaining time. Similarly, this is a Michael Bay movie. He is many things, but Martin Scorsese he is not and his movies tend to be a visual assault on the senses for a couple of hours and I'll give him this: he has a distinct visual style. Things like 'plot' and 'acting', if they happen are just bonuses.

Medium Spawn Jr. has become obsessed with these movies and, since he's five and the wife was having her book club downstairs while I wanted to watch Ahsoka, he wanted to watch Transformers: Age of Extinction, so I, being the good parent that I am, granted his wish, sat down and watched this movie.

I am amazed by this movie. I am amazed that it grossed $1.104 billion dollars at the box office. I am amazed that it somehow managed to get Stanley Tucci, Mark Wahlberg, Kelsey Grammer, and Titus Welliver to agree to be in it-- though in their defense, actors have to eat and pay their bills, so I can't fault them for that.

This movie opens by explaining that 'The Creators' (whoever they are) dumped a bunch of 'seeds' all over the Earth 65 million years ago and wiped out the dinosaurs- providing the viewer with a big, gigantic tease that perhaps the Dinobots are involved in this movie, but viewer, prepare yourself for disappointment because they don't really feature all that much at all.

In the present day, it turns out the Autobots have been driven underground following the Battle of Chicago because humanity panicked and didn't want to make distinctions between the 'good robots' and the 'bad robots' and a CIA Black Ops Unit has teamed up with a Cybertronian bounty hunter to find the survivors.

Meanwhile, in Texas- because that's where you want to put Mark Wahlberg if he's in a movie. Texas. Inventor Cade Yeager is struggling to keep his house and make money. (I'll be honest: his whole character arc would have worked a lot better if he had been a mechanic who is a would-be inventor in Boston, but hey. Choices were made.) He's a single father to Tessa (Nicola Peitz) and because he was a teen Dad, he's super overprotective and doesn't want Tessa dating.

Naturally, this means that she is.

Look, I have nothing against Nicola Peitz. She does well enough with the material she's given to work with, but there is very much, "What if we take Megan Fox's character from the first movie, dress her the same way, make her blonde, and give her pink lipstick" thing going on here that is just, well, lazy. If we must keep making these movies, can we try a different type of female character? Just to see what happens?

One thing leads to another and Cade finds an abandoned truck that turns out to be Optimus Prime and his well-meaning associate/employee Lucas Flannery (T.J. Miller) notifies the government that they might have found an Autobot in hopes of getting the reward money and, more to the point, making some actual money. That brings the bad guys and bounty hunters and things start exploding- and when anything explodes in this movie, it seems to set off fireworks as well, Optimus starts fighting and they are rescued in the nick of time by Tessa's secret boyfriend, the rally car driver, Shane (Jack Reynor.)

Craziest thing ever: according to the wiki-page for this movie, he's supposed to be Irish, but you could have fooled me because I didn't pick up on that at all.

Also, in a super-endearing moment when over-protective Dad, Cade finds out that Shane is 20 and Tessa is 17 and objects to that for obvious, potential statutory rape reasons, Shane whips out an actual, laminated copy of Texas' Romeo and Juliet law and smugly informs Cade that they had a pre-existing foundation for their relationship so it's not statutory rape at all. (If you carry around a laminated copy of a law to prove that your relationship isn't, well, creepy and potentially illegal, perhaps you should date someone your own age. Just saying.)

There are the usual plot points, action shots, robot fights, and product placement that's about as subtle as a brick to the back of the head. (Mark Wahlberg angrily drinks a Bud Light at one point and yells at a motorist which is hilarious in today's context.)

But what really matters isn't how this movie ends, it's where this movie ends, because of a creative decision that I'm sure got every studio executive involved in this movie absolutely slobbering with glee, they find a reason to go to China and in a quest to get that sweet, sweet, Chinese box office money.

Banking on the fact that American audiences will no absolutely nothing about Chinese geography and that Chinese audiences will just be excited to see giant robot fights, nothing makes sense. They land in Shanghai. Optimus goes off- literally flies with nary a problem, which I'm sure the People's Liberation Air Force just kind of shrugged and said, 'Eh, it's a gigantic flying robot. Who cares?'- to noted quiet and obscure part of China, Tianmen Mountain National Park to wake up the Dinobots- who were found at the beginning of the movie in ice like in Greenland or some shit, but are now somehow in China. Characters blow up a factory in Shanghai but somehow decide that they have to get to Hong Kong- 700 miles away, but I'm sure easier to film in at the time.

There is a big showdown in Hong Kong, including the 'not at all insisted upon by the Chinese government' lines of a Hong Kong Police Officer saying 'We'll need help from the Central Government!' and the heroic defense minister- finally noticing that there are gigantic robots wrecking up the place assuring everyone, 'The Central Government will always defend Hong Kong!" This movie was made in 2014, well before the Chinese government got tired of the whole democracy business and crushed it in Hong Kong, but man do those lines hit differently today. The Dinobots (remember them?) show up to save the day and Optimus is riding one of them and it's kind of cool, but other than that, they serve their purpose as a largely meaningless plot point. Just for kicks- again, as subtle as a brick to the back of the head- we see a blown-up bus with a Victoria's Secret ad featured on it and just to remind audiences that they're in China, Stanley Tucci's character gets pissed that they get trapped in a store with a lot of windows and sweeps a table clear of mah-jong tiles.

The greatest crime of all? Somehow this movie is 2 HOURS AND FORTY FIVE MINUTES LONG.

My Grade: * out of ****. Do not watch this movie, unless you enjoy hate-watching movies, then you'll have a great time.

#transformers age of extinction #movie review

[yuuana]

Music Monday #227: EXO - Cream Soda release: July 2023 genre: Kpop

I had something else entirely planned for today, especially since I usually like to let new videos sit for a day or three (and several viewings by me) before I even think of doing a feature. Plus I am already so far behind (this is the third of the three MVs EXO has released in relation to EXIST and my new music playlist on YT is still well north of 200 entries), but ... it's EXO. So buckle in and let's go.

One of the things you notice pretty fast is the way Cream Soda continues the tradition of EXO title tracks being Hard Mode for karaoke with all that falsetto. Those high notes are mad high - there's not too many outside of EXO who could hit all those notes that cleanly while dancing any choreo, let alone that active a choreo - so I suspect this isn't going to be going onto very many boy group's list of covers they want to do. Maybe on aspirational lists, but yeah. Dance covers will no doubt abound because they always do (not for nothing EXO is called Korea's national boy group), but vocal covers not so much.

As for the lyrics themselves ... oh boy. It's funny, I was listening to a podcast ep from the start of the year where it came up that a lot of pop music is love songs, whether that's happy in love or melancholy for lost over or something else, in part because of this perception that we all know what love is. Whatever our specific thoughts about it, we have thoughts about love and can relate to some extent, making those songs more broadly accessible than, say, a song about working on a fishing boat. Many (most? nearly all?) of EXO's biggest hits fall into this very broad category, so no surprise this one does, too. The lyrics are written in a way to provide plausible deniability for how sexual, but you can only sell that so far when you're talking about cream like this song does.

Given the two pre-release MVs included Kai, I'm curious what happened that this one doesn't, outside of his name on a place card. I suppose even with knowing when he was going to be enlisting, there was only so much they could cram into his schedule, between EXO and his solo music and then his fashion label commitments. And so we start the long two years of Kai's service and not seeing him while he works in the civil service.

But that aside, the video is quite the collection of call backs to earlier MVs - Lotto is probably the most obvious, but I'm also seeing callbacks to Monster, Ko Ko Bop, and Obsession. There might be more, but doing a rewatch of all of EXO's previous MVs to check would take too long, so for now we'll leave it at that and note that this could have interesting implications for EXO's lore ... if weren't stuck at a crossroads of wondering what is even going on with the SMCU lore-verse. For various reasons, I'd already paused trying to speculate on SCMU lore because it wasn't clear it was even still a thing and to be honest, this far along, I was almost half hoping we might be getting a reboot on EXO's lore, which has been a steaming mess since 2015 (I love the guys and the lore they've had has its compelling parts, but as a writer, I'm fully aware that it's a mess that could take a couple novels worth of storytelling to fill out and put straight again). Coupled with the two pre-release MVs, best guess is that EXO is still working with the same lore and like with Don't Fight the Feeling, there's some sense that Cream Soda is also pre-Obsession, but other than that? I've got some thoughts, some theories, but nothing really that settled. Compared to some other groups with ongoing lore, EXO leaves a lot more open to interpretation, for better and for worse. I'm going to need a few more viewings before I feel any degree of confidence in trying to kitbash things together into a coherent whole.

All in all, Cream Soda manages to both surprise and be completely what one might expect from EXO, a balance not every group can manage. This one's definitely going into the playlists going forward. And maybe even one of its very own?

EXIST is out now for sale at all the usual suspects, both digital and physical, and for streaming on all major services. I look forward to EXO adding music show performances (and wins) and can't wait to see who all they net for dance challenge exchanges. SHINee seems the low-hanging fruit, but other than that there are many, many, many possibilities and the dancer in me wants to see them all. XD

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#music #music monday #kpop #exo #in which jagu has opinions #Youtube