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dlamp-dictator · 3 years

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Allen X Rambles about Chapter 7

“I hope Episode 7 is focused on only 2 or three characters with little distraction... Amiya maybe finding out that Ch’en is slowly becoming Infected and helping her come to terms with that. Ch’en revealing her past to Amiya and the two connecting over losing so many close to them due to Oripathy. The two standing up to the political corruption of Lungmen, shoulder to shoulder, as women that refuse to see another life lost due to the indifference of a city’s politics.”

-Allen X, October 2nd, 2020, Rambling about Chapter 6

Man... I’m starting to believe it when they say Arknight’s story mode is longer than the Harry Potter series. Things are getting crazy in Chapter 7 and crazy-long to in terms of length. This chapter really had me on the edge of my seat as I read through it and as I played through because 7-16 and 7-18 were a bitch to get through that require some of the most precise timing I’ve seen in this game yet. That aside, I enjoyed a lot what I read and experienced.

And I wanted to talk about it a bit.

But first, as always, a synopsis.

Coming off the heels of Frostnova’s death and the realization of Wei Yenwu’s purging of the Lungmen slums, tensions are high and trust has been fractured between Rhodes Island and Lungmen. However, in the midst of Ch’en hot temper and Amiya’s cool head, Reunion is plans to send the Russian Ursusian city of Chernobog on a collision course with Hong Kong Lungmen, giving Ursus a cause to make war against Lungmen and its great region of Tawain China Yen. However, through some rather amazing political maneuvering and passionate words by Wei Yenwu’s wife Fumizuki, Rhodes Island agrees to mobilize in order to save Lungmen, the Infected, and the beloved daughter of Lungmen, Ch’en. But beyond Chernobog lies Patriot, Reunions greatest commander next to Talulah herself, who’s rage toward his daughter’s death is only matched by his disciplined mind and even more disciplined soldiers. It’s a fight to the center of the Chernobog to save as many lives as possible, even at the cost of this great general’s life.

An Addendum to 7-18

So between my venting about 7-18 when I talked about some fun Arknight’s lore a handful of people wanted to give me some advice on how to conquer that stage. Admittedly that venting was said out of anger and was much more acidic in tone than my usual essays and opinion pieces. I have since beaten that stage and I can give some of my thoughts on this advice. Some of it was helpful... some of it.

“AmIyA cAn TaNk PaTrIoT’s SpEaR tOsS!”

This is technically true and I was technically wrong. When Amiya’s S3 is active she gained increased Max HP and can in fact survive with a sliver of health. However, Amiya’s S3 takes quite a long time to charge even with her talent, and unless someone is actively blocking Patriot her can honestly spam his spear through for how long it takes Amiya to get prepped for her S3. This is more of an issue of Amiya’s balancing than with the game, but I’ll talk about that later.

“jUsT sTaLl PaTrIoT tO kEeP hIm FrOm UsInG tHe SpEaR tOsS!”

This would be pretty viable advice if Patriot didn’t one-shot my units. Yes, defenders like Cuora, Nian, Hoshigumi, and even tankier vanguards like Zima and Siege can tank at least one hit from Patriot without dying, meaning a squad of healers can just focus-fire on them while they do chip damage to Patriot and stall him out. However, Patriot’s phase 2 has him do constant damage to nearby units with his aura ability, so if he can get lucky enough, he take someone down to a sliver and let his poison damage finish off your staller before they get a chance to be healed. That strategy needs luck and some damn smart unit placement. Neither of which I honestly have.

“uSe SpEcTeR aNd DeBuFfErS!”

Again, this is also a pretty good strategy. Specter’s S2 makes her immortal for a limited time and pairing that with healers like Breeze and Celycon who reduce stun damage isn’t a bad idea. Characters that ignore or lower defense like Pramanix, Shamare, and Meteor are also good. This doesn’t work for me however since I only have Pram and the other debuffers are way too underleveled and not on my priority at the moment, and E2-ing units this late in the game just to take out one boss feels like madness.

“f12 CaN dOdGe ThE sPeAr ToSs!”

F12, W, Jessica, and FEater have a dodge chance. Their dodges are not guarantees. Yes, Patriot will target the ranged operator furthest from him and there are range tiles pretty close to his spawn point for that purpose. However, some of those operators have some pretty damn expensive DP costs and waste that on a chance to survive isn’t worth.And feeding Patriot ranged units that take over 30 seconds to redeploy is a waste of DP in general. And those either dodge chances aren’t viable. Them surviving isn’t a strategy, it’s a fluke, and you can’t depend on flukes in auto-deployment.

“Allen, you’re being kind of an asshole to what’s actually sound advice.”

Yes, I am.

I don’t care.

7-18 does things to a person, man. That stage breaks people. I lost sanity IRL just doing that stage or 20 times with a guide... dear lord this stage.

Anyway, moving on.

Story Notes

My, this story sure was thick, wasn’t it? It’s been while since I’ve been on a ride that wild. And this time around I don’t have any small issues to bring up. All the characters felt in character without breaking my suspension of disbelief. There weren’t multiple character arcs going on at once. And I even tolerated Kal’tsit berating the Doctor for reasons beyond his understand since she wasn’t discussing too many things that were above my head as the player.

No... I only have big issues.

But before that, I wanted to hit on some actual important notes that were very good and smartly written.

Rosmontis and Child Soldiers

This was probably the biggest takeaway for me. I know the Arknights community likes to poke a lot of fun about the child soldier thing and how Kal’tsit is harboring slave children, but... man, it makes so much since now.

These kids aren’t just kids, they’re all infected people with some rather scary abilities. Popukar has a history of mental instability coupled with monstrous strength. Ifrit has powers she can just barely keep under control and could set Rhodes Island ablaze at any point. Frostleaf and GreyThroat are deeply traumatized from their past. The Ursus Self Government are full of kids with hatred, resentment, and fear of both the world and themselves. The list goes on, but the fact is that these kids all either have abilities that would be a danger to themselves and others if they aren’t trained, or have emotional hang-ups that might very well have them lash out at innocent people if not put on a leash. Wouldn’t it be better to at least give them some training and let them hack and blast away at the actual bad guys? Wouldn’t it be better to at least make them a weapon for some kind of greater good? And would anyone else really treat these broken, powerful children as anything but weapons and warriors anyway?

I know this is about chapter 7, but I remember in Children of Ursus Rosa asked Zima why she fought, and Zima casually answered that she just liked fighting. It’d be far better to have someone with that mindset working for an organization like Rhodes Island than ending up in Ursus’s fold and blindly hacking at something she shouldn’t.

And I think it’s important to remind everyone that Amiya is the head of Rhodes Island and not Kal’tsit. She’s a big part of the organization, but it’s the bunny in charge. And the bunny that is herself close to a living nuke and is also has empathetic superpowers understands this probably better than anyone else, which is why she okays it.

Patriot and Reunion

As much as I despise, and I do mean despise, how cagey this series can be with it’s portrayal of Reunion’s morality I can understand why a lot of its members can see the group as being just. Patriot is a warrior of such renown and praise, and Talulah has so much charisma and power that I can see the group overlooking characters like Mephisto and W when the other two do so much for their members and general people. The Guerillas under Patriot behave like soldiers. They don’t rampage, loot, pillage, or harm everyone in sight, only those that halt, stagnant, and harm the infect. Talulah has a charisma about her and attracts people, and seems to come from some sort of royal/noble line to match. And while Faust wasn’t mentioned much in this chapter, he was a soldier that started at the bottom, worked his way to the top, and made sure to play by rules that kept his moral high ground. Mephisto seems to be the only outliner here for some baffling reason.

But... there are some major issues with this story. I hint at them every time I talk about Arknights’ story, but I’ll go into depth here. And I’ll present these two issues I have in the form of a two question:

Who is the Doctor?

I don’t mean this the sense of the story, but what is his function as a character? Is he a self-insert for the player, or his own character to be explored and examined?

And either answer, to me, is wrong.

The Doctor Isn’t a Self-Insert

It’s straight up impossible for the Doctor to be a self-insert character. Most self-inserts are blank enough to let us place our own personality onto them and the situations their in the choices they make are meant to be more or less choices we’d make or at least a general audience could make barring some specifics. Their personalities tend to be blank or at least bland to let us, the players, live through them and project our personalities onto them.

The Doctor isn’t this.

There are too many moment where our choices are clearly pointing to one conclusion and most choices, though varied, give a clear idea that the Doctor is someone that care about the operators’ wellbeing deeply and hates seeing them used, abused, or manipulated. They are strategist and commander, but they have enough humanity to not see people as tools. They are passionate when they see other operators and especially Amiya in harms way and tries to come up with strategies to minimize lost and causalities. Awhile we, the player, feel the same in this regard the Doctor has dialogue that feels more conversational and toward specific directions than what a player would likely want and gives us some bits and piece about what they’re actually like.

The Doctor hates Kal’tsit and wants little to do with her, only tolerating her presence as much as she is with the Doctor. The Doctor is a bit of a bleeding heart that doesn’t fully grasp that they are constantly in a warzone despite their strategic competency. The Doctor has an extremely weird diet and eating style, devouring live animals and ingesting foods that would probably need to be probably mixed and brewed before consumption. The Doctor still sees Amiya as a child despite her mature nature.

The list goes on, but there’s enough there for me to say the Doctor is more like Hakuno Kishinami of the Fate/Extra series, a character that seems like a self-insert but has a number of traits and character tics that keep them from fulfill that role. However Fate/Extra, for all I have against it, makes Hakuno work by giving them their own internal thoughts outside of the player’s actions that explain their dialogue choices and actions outside of the player’s control. The Doctor doesn’t, so them being a self-insert feels really weak and irritating when the dots stop connecting.

But despite this...

The Doctor Isn’t Their Own Character

Too much of what the Doctor does is passive. For a clear as their personality is, at least to me, they don’t have much agency in the plot. Not enough for me to call them their own character at least. They commander the battlefield, but they don’t have a place on it. They don’t have much reason to interact with characters like Patriot and Talulah unless its on the metaphorical and literal chessboard we’re playing on.

Every time the Doctor says something that advances the plot in some way I feel like it could be said by another character and work better. Amiya trying talk down Patriot and explain that Frostnova fought bravely did not need the Doctor’s interjections, especially when Patriot shoots them down in the same manner. In chapter 6, being trap with Frostnova would had worked much better with Amiya since that chapter was giving them parallels anyway. The only thing that really works is the Doctor trying to call out Kal’tsit for her treatment of Rosmontis as a soldier despite her age, as that’s only something that someone who didn’t have the full context could do.

But... Jessica, Frostleaf, Frostnova, Melantha and several other Operators are young teenagers and even children. Specter and Lappland are clearly just as mentally damaged and still going into battles. The Doctor knows the kinds of people that fight for Rhodes Island, so isn’t this just another young fighter like Popukar and Suzuran? Hell, in chapter 6 we canonically had Beagle and Fang in a stage where they had to fight and tank Faust, why is the Doctor so surprised that someone like Rosmontis exist and works for Rhodes Island?

See?

See how trying to give this character separation from being a self-insert and actively slot them in the active story does more harm than good?

I think games like Girls Frontline and Honkai Impact 3rd do this better, where the player character is clearly more behind the scenes and is only a passing influence, if any.

But that leads me to my next question, which is...

Who is Amiya?

Amiya falls into the trope of being a cute anime girl with a mysterious past and dangerous powers. More accurately, she has a mysterious past and powers to the player, but everyone in Amiya’s inner circle seems to have a clue about it. I don’t mind this being a mystery, but... when our main character’s plot revolves around things the player doesn’t know, it’s curious at best, and infuriating at worse.

Folks, I’m not someone that looks to theory-crafting. I’m not someone that reads every scrap of dialogue in this game to find out more about its lore. The lore, to me, is just fun and interesting. I honestly do not have the time and energy to spend on making theories and predictions that could be wrong and a waste of mental energy. However, with all this stuff about the King of Fiends just feels like a waste of time, or at least a last minute addition to something I could had been added properly in Chapter 8.

A lot of it feels like you had to know about the Darknight Memoir side story to really get a feel for what’s going on. The Sarkaz civil war, Theresa, W’s role back when Rhodes Island was Babel, a lot of things that don’t come up in the main storyline. Especially with that bombshell about the Doctor maybe killing Theresa.

I don’t like it when a story expects me to have read the spinoff to understand the mainline story. This is why I don’t like the Dragon Age series and I’m really getting annoyed with Arknights right now.

This bombshell of the King of Fiends also kind of sours a bit of Amiya’s character as this young child who rose through the ranks of Rhodes Island as a charismatic leader being able to steel optimism with the reality of war to forge ahead as a proper leader through her abilities as both a commander and an empath. Instead it’s beginning to come across that her skills as a leader comes from something more supernatural, or at least something more forced than "small child is a good leader and can lead an army,” which is surprisingly more believable and nuanced given how seriously the series takes Amiya’s character.

That said, I recognize this criticism is more my wish of what was rather than an issue of what is. I completely understand that essentially wishing for my own fanfic and limited fan theories to come true isn’t a sound criticism, but it's a criticism I have regardless.

But moving on, there’s one more issue that bugs me.

W’s Importance

I’ll keep this brief since I already discussed my bigger issues of the story and this is an admittedly small portion of the story:

W wasn’t utilized much in this story despite being a main feature of it in the promotional material. She has a pretty lengthy intro, disappears from the story for most of it, then reappears at the last bits of chapter 7 to make mean looks at Kal’tsit and the Doctor before being literally shoved offscreen again. I’ve already discussed my issues with the Doctor’s agency so I won’t bother here.

W’s banner should had been during Darknight Memoir, it just makes more sense given she was the feature character of it and her high physical damage would had been a goodsend among all the arts-resistant Sarkaz units of that series of chokepoint-heavy maps, similar to Weedy’s inclusion her is helpful as a lot of these maps could use a good pusher, especially 7-16.

Speaking of, Weedy, the other operator on this limited banner, has no presence in the story at all. Need I remind you in the last limited banner Aak and Hung at least had cameo-esque appearances in the Ancient Forge event. Weedy’s inclusion feels like an afterthought because they didn’t want the limited 6-Star to have a good chance to be pulled for the whales.

Anyway, I believe those are all the big issues I had with this story, so...

In the Future

As I always tend to say, I don’t like the idea of trying to fix something that has already been made and has already passed. It’s too late to change the past, but I see nothing wrong with asking for things to happen in the future as a way of giving feedback.

To that end, I still have hope that Chapter 8 will have a focus on Amiya and Ch’en tackling Talulah together. From my understanding of some spoilers this is more or less what is going to happen. I also hope that we’ll have a more detailed idea on this whole King of Fiends thing is about. As much as I personally don’t care for it, it’s already be discussed in the story so I at least hope we get the full idea on what’s going on with that plotline.

I also hope the Doctor either plays less a role or becomes their own character outright away from any player influence. Us speaking through a character that already has a personality feels weird to me and I’d rather not have it at all.

Anyway, that’s it for me folks. Next time... maybe I’ll talk about anime or something, who knows.

#your dictator is speaking #arknights

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noctuascion · 4 years

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cryptage prompt: without crypto knowing mirage installs an invisibility cloak in his gear that activates when he crouches so he's safe when droning. he obviously finds out eventually and confronts mirage!

This is high-key kind of adorable. I really do vibe with "super worried boyfriend Mirage." Thank you for the request!!!

Harvester was possibly Park's least favorite place for the ring to close. The amount of rooms coupled with the dangers of falling into lava and the bean itself were aplenty, and, though his drone was incredibly useful here, it was still hard to find enemies and push without another team third-partying.

Which had led to Park's current predicament.

Octavio was downed, having rushed a squad without confirmation from Park nor Ajay, the medic irritated with the daredevil's lack in self-preservation. She had been healing herself, having tried to provide sniper support for Octavio, but she had been focused and nearly wiped out. However, unlike Octavio, she knew when to back off, and did so to toss out D.O.C. and recharge her shields.

Their little spot inside one of the rooms in Harvester had been compromised by Anita, Makoa, and Natalie. Whilst Park was hidden away in the corner, preparing to toss out his drone, Anita kicked the door open, Ajay cursing loudly, before gunfire filled the small room. It was two against three, and Natalie and Anita had focused down Ajay, the medic now bleeding out on the floor, whilst Park dealt with Makoa.

The man was daunting in every sense of the word, a powerful man with sunshine in his smile. As Anita and Natalie fired at Ajay, however, Park was able to deliver a few shots with his Peacekeeper that caused Makoa to temporarily stagger, the hacker rushing to deliver a blow to the larger man's with his fist, before rushing out the kicked doors, taking a sharp left turn, taking another, before crouching behind the wall there, just below the window.

The squad was quick to chase him down, Anita and Makoa rushing toward the room where the Harvester beam was whilst Natalie peeked around the corner Park ran to. The hacker thought he was done for, shields gone and ready for bullets to tear him to shreds. No such fate befell him, however, as Natalie looked around, baffled, before hurrying to meet up with her team.

Park blinked a few times, trying to comprehend just what happened, before quickly pulling out a shield battery to recharge the cracked shields Makoa had damaged. One detail he noticed, however, was the fact that he couldn't see his hands. When he looked over his body, he noticed he couldn't see that either.

For a moment, he thought he was having some strange dream, having not woken up in the respawn chamber yet or something—but he realized he wasn't asleep, because the pain of bullets in his body were far too prominent for him to be having a dream. Confused, he pushed himself to his feet—only for his body to reappear, as if… as if he was cloaked.

"… Of course."

No wonder Renee hadn't seen him when he was droning earlier.

— ;

Park hadn't won the match with Ajay and Octavio. They had come close, but Alexander was always efficient when it came to flushing out a squad when they were held up in a building.

That wasn't on his mind, though. What was on his mind was the fact that his boyfriend had installed a cloaking device in his gear without his knowledge. He does recall a few instances where Elliott had access to his stuff, usually when he was asleep and let the trickster stay in his room, but it still baffles him. Just when had the man installed that? And just how long was he crouching and being protected by that invisibility?

He intended to find out, discovering Elliott had decided to hide in the kitchen for a bit, indulging in a snack before dinner. No one was around, just them, and Park couldn't see a better opportunity.

"Elliott," the hacker greeted in his usual cold tone, but it lacked the malice it once held, the unfriendliness that seemed to always accompany his presence.

Elliott wasn't bothered by it anymore, taking it in stride and beaming back with an enthusiastic response of: "Hey, babe!"

"I have a question."

"A question, huh?" Elliott set aside his chips, leaning against the counter and arms crossing over his chest. "Shoot."

"Why did you install a cloaking device into my gear?"

And, just like that, the suave, cool façade the other always bore melted away, a nervous smile now curling his lips, brows furrowed, and eyes darting around the room. A hand raised to rub the back of his neck, the other now gently gripping the counter behind him.

"W-What—What're you talking about, babe?" he said, a sheepish chuckle following his inquiry. "I don't touch your stuff, like, ever! Y-You make it super obvious you don't want it touched, so I don't touch it! 'Don't touch my tech,' you say, all the—the time. Your tech's like your baby—I'd never touch it without asking… W-Which is—is why I asked if I could, and you to—totally said yes!"

"… Did I?"

"Yeah!"

"… When?"

"… W-Well, it—it was morning, a-and you were… just waking up…"

"…" Park released a sigh. "All right. I guess you got my permission via exhaustion, so I'll commend you for not being an idiot and asking when I was fully capable of processing your request."

"Yeah. I'll pretend you just said something dis—discn—di—uh… something I can understand." Elliott waved a hand nonchalantly, like he wasn't in trouble for tinkering with Park's kit. "Anyway, did it work? I was really worried the cloaking device wouldn't activate when you crouched."

"It… worked fine. Question, actually: how did you get it to work like that?"

"Well, it works a lot like my own cloaking device on my suit. Since you don't have my gear, though, I had to change its means of ac—activation." Joining the trickster's explanation was a plethora of meaningless gestures, waving a hand or raising both overhead—anything of the sort. "In your knee pads, I had to i-integrate a device that, when pressed for about two seconds, activated the cloaking device. It was installed in your jacket and sent out waves of light that covered your whole body, making you naked to the human eye. Making it so it needed to be pressed for a long time meant it didn't activate randomly when you were running, but it gives you enough time to drone out and activate the cloaking device because of that."

Elliott always spoke so fast in his explanations. Park adored it when the man discussed technology with him, but he sometimes became so engrossed in the topic that he talked too fast. The hacker's mind was marvelous, brilliant, but even he struggled to keep up with the other sometimes.

Still, he retained enough information to be impressed.

"But why did you do that?" he asked, head tilted and a single brow raised. "Helping me just makes it harder for you to win."

"Y-Yeah, but winning's not the point!" Elliott reached out to cup both of Park's cheeks, gently push them together, and smiled softly at the adorable sight of his lover's squished cheeks; always charming. "You're always left so vulnerable when you drone out… It… makes me worried, especially when I'm on your team. You can't hear or see anything when you're droning, s-so… I just figured you needed to be… protected."

"I'm not—"

"I know you're not weak! Oh, trust me—I know, babe. You almost broke my arm first day we met—still hot, by the way. No, you're not weak, but you're just vulnerable, sweetheart."

Park blinked in shock. He and Elliott had a lot of conversations, a lot of talks about opening up to the other and letting the emotional scars be apparent to the other. They've discussed a lot of the issues they suffer from, the sadness and anger and resentment that swells in their hearts, the times they agonize through the day and the days they want to curl up in a ball and let the world consume them. They talk about their worst days and their best days.

Park had always been more closed off, though. It wasn't Elliott's fault. It wasn't his. He always feared appearing weak, the fragility of his frame and mind always bringing about a protectiveness he never wanted. He didn't want everyone to throw themselves in front of a bullet for him, didn't want them wasting time and energy to help him with something he needs, and he definitely didn't want to hurt anymore people because of his recklessness, of his own stupidity and ignorance. Mystik has already lost so much because of him; he couldn't do that to someone else.

But, slowly, Elliott tried to convince him vulnerability did not equate to weakness. They were not synonymous in the trickster's book, never were the same thing. He wasn't weak for being sad about losing data he needed, he wasn't weak for opening up about his insecurities, and he wasn't weak for being human. He was vulnerable. Elliott never saw him as a weak creature to watch after; he saw him as his lover who he just wished to help.

It made Park smile, which, in turn, made Elliott grin.

"You're still unbelievable… but thank you."

"No problem, shortcake. I love you to pieces."

"… And I love you too."

The reward presented to Elliott was a simple kiss, one he was pulled into with eagerness and enthusiasm—and one he returned without hesitation.

#apex legends #crypto #tae joon park #mirage #elliott witt #cryptage #lenardo does a write #ahhh apologies for the wait jfsjs #i hope you enjoyed tho!!!!#ty for the wonderful asks as always!!

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morningfears · 6 years

Text

Better Now

Rating: PG-13

Request: Part two of Frustrated | The morning after. Ash was a bit too rough the night before, it’s his turn to take care of you now.

Word Count: 2.2k

Warm sunlight heats your skin uncomfortably and drags you far too quickly from your deep, dreamless sleep. The light filtering in through the window casts bursts of red and orange behind your lids and you want to be annoyed at the interruption but as wakefulness returns to you, so does a full-body ache that borders on painful and captures all of your attention. The soreness of your throat, the ache between your thighs, the tenderness of your ass; it all hits you at once and when you attempt to shift away from the light and the pain, you can’t stop the hoarse groan that spills past your lips.

A warm hand is on your shoulder, gently rubbing soothing circles against your skin, before you even have a moment to think about powering through the soreness and pushing yourself up to a sitting position. “Don’t try to sit up yet,” Ashton whispers, his tone gentle and tinged with guilt, “I’m going to go get you some water and some Aspirin. I’ll be right back, doll.”

Ashton places a gentle kiss to your shoulder blade before you feel his weight disappear from the bed and his footsteps fade down the hall as you settle back into the most comfortable position you can. The soft sheets are almost irritating against your skin, you know that your ass is bruised beyond anything you’ve ever experienced, but you can’t bring yourself to toss them away.

Although you know that both you and Ashton thoroughly enjoyed the creation of the bruises decorating your body, Ashton feels guilty. Little bruises here and there, little marks decorating your body just enough to remind you both of the night before, are fine. Neither of you give them a second thought. But the marks that cover your body now, the ache in the back of your throat and between your thighs, the ones that cause you genuine pain and will continue to do so for at least a few days; those send pricks of guilt shooting down Ashton’s spine.

So you do your best to keep the sheets pulled up high enough around your waist so that he can’t see the marks left by his drumsticks. You do your best to keep your neck covered so he can’t see the faint marks left by his hands wrapping around your throat. You do your best to convince your body that nothing hurts and everything is fine.

But Ashton can see right through it the moment he rejoins you in bed and helps you shift to a sitting position.

When you wince at the pressure put on your bruises, Ashton sighs and brushes a strand of hair from your face. “I’m sorry, doll,” he breathes as he hands you the bottle of water. After you take a few sips, he hands you two pills and frowns when you grimace at the feeling of swallowing. “How bad does everything hurt?”

When you shrug, Ashton’s frown deepens and he shifts closer to you to wrap an arm around your shoulders. “D’you feel up to taking a bath?” he asks, knowing that you won’t give him an honest answer about your pain to avoid making him feel worse. You nod and he leans in to press a kiss to your forehead before he releases his hold on you and climbs out of bed once more. “I’m gonna go get the water started. I’ll be right back.”

Ashton starts the bathwater and sets it to a temperature a little lower than you usually like (he doesn’t understand how you manage to bathe in boiling water but he knows that boiling probably isn’t the best for your bruises) before he tosses in a bath bomb that claims to be soothing. He stares at the fizzing bath bomb for a moment, waiting for the water to fill the tub a bit more, before he shuts off the tap and returns to the bedroom for you.

“I can walk to the bathroom, Ash,” you rasp, a playful grin on your lips as he reaches for you. “I’m fine, I promise.”

“I know, doll,” he hums as he scoops you up into his arms carefully to avoid your bruised backside, “but just let me take care of you today. Please?”

“Will you promise to try not to feel guilty if I let you take care of me?” you question as Ashton sets you onto your feet beside the bathtub.

“I’ll try my hardest,” he nods and you copy his action.

“Okay,” you relent, “then take care of me.”

With a small smile, Ashton helps you step into the bathtub before he moves to kneel beside it. When you fix him with a curious glance, he raises an eyebrow at you. “What?” he asks with a laugh, “What’s that look for?”

“You’re not getting in with me?” you question, a pout forming on your lips.

Ashton shakes his head and reaches out to brush your hair away from your face. “Not this time, doll,” he hums with a shake of his head, “just relax, okay? Can I wash your hair for you?”

“‘Course. I love when you play with my hair,” you nod as you settle into the water, “but it’d be easier if you were in the tub with me.”

He laughs at your insistence and shakes his head. “I’m gonna make breakfast for us while you soak. I can’t do that if I’m in here with you.”

“You don’t have to go overboard with the sweetness,” you hum as you dip your head to wet your hair. “I’m fine, Ash. I promise. I’m not mad, I’m not upset; I’m good.”

“I know,” he nods as he focuses on pouring the right amount of shampoo into his hands, “but I want to do something for you. You took care of me last night. Let me take care of you today.”

You hum your agreement and offer no further argument as Ashton’s fingers move through your hair. He does this every time he’s particularly rough, every time he goes a little harder than you’re used to, and you know that this time will be no different. So you resign yourself to spending the day being spoiled.

“I’m gonna go start on breakfast,” Ashton hums as soon as he’s rinsed the last bit of conditioner from you hair. “Relax, spend some time in the tub; I’ll be back to check on you in a bit, okay?”

“Take your time,” you hum as you relax into the water and dip your chin below the surface. “I’ll just be here, embracing my mermaid fantasy.”

Ashton’s giggles echo through the bathroom as he shakes his head. “I love you,” he laughs as he leans in to press a kiss to your lips. “Waffles sound good for breakfast?”

“Chocolate chip waffles?” you question, a hopeful grin on your lips.

“Chocolate chip waffles,” he relents with a playful grin.

“You really do love me,” you tease as he stands from his spot beside the tub and dries off his arms. “And I really do love you.” Ashton presses another kiss to your skin, this one to your forehead, before he steps out of the bathroom and heads to the kitchen.

You relax in the water for far longer than you normally would and allow the heat to soothe the ache that’s now dully radiating through your body. You want to wait for Ashton to return, you know that you probably should wait, but the painkillers have started working and the water is uncomfortably cool at this point so you push yourself up and reach for the towel that Ashton left by the tub for you. It’s a little more difficult than you’d like to admit to step out of the tub and you can feel the ache return full force as you reach for the counter to steady yourself.

You scrunch your nose in discomfort as you slowly move into the bedroom and grab a pair of panties from your drawer. As you pull the material up your legs, you hear Ashton’s footsteps returning to the bedroom.

“What are you doing?” he questions, his tone gentle as he crosses the room and reaches for your side. “I thought you were going to stay in the tub.”

“I was,” you sigh as you stand up straight and turn to face him. “The water got cold. I’m fine, Ash,” you assure him as you pull a t-shirt over your head, “I promise. Can we go eat now?”

Ashton hums his agreement and wraps an arm around your waist as he leads you to the kitchen. You roll your eyes at the small pillow on one of the bar chairs but press a thankful kiss to his cheek before you settle into your seat. “I don’t think that’s an all the time thing,” you hum as you grab the juice he’d set out for you, “but the drumming was interesting. I liked it.”

“Yeah?” he laughs as he places a plate in front of you, “I’ll keep that in mind. I’m sorry for all the bruises, doll. I didn’t mean to hurt you.”

“I know,” you assure him between bites of waffle, “and you didn’t. It’s not a big deal. I’ll be fine, I promise. You know what’ll make me feel better, though?” When he raises an eyebrow as an indication for you to continue, you hum, “You telling me what got you so frustrated in the first place. You came home pissed off nearly every night. ’S not like you.”

He hesitates for a moment before he drops his fork and sighs, “A little bit of everything, honestly. Writing, recording, rude tweets; it was just a lot. And it kept happening. I would fuck up a song or my lyrics would be shit and I saw comments on Twitter and I felt like nothing I was doing was good enough. I just let it get to me.”

“Everyone has off days, babe,” you sigh as you reach out to cup his cheek, “and you’re allowed to feel bad on those days. But you can’t just let it fester and get to you. I’m here for you. We’re a team, okay? Talk to me. I know some days you want reassurance or a solution for whatever issue and others you just want to talk but whatever you want, I’ll be here for it. And if you want to take out your frustrations like that again, then I’m here for that, too. But you can’t just let it all pile up and overwhelm you. If you don’t want to talk to me, talk to one of the boys or we’ll find a good therapist that you can trust. Whatever you want, I’ll help you do. I’m here for you, no matter what.”

“I know,” he nods as he turns his head to press a kiss to your palm. “I know that you’re always here for me. It’s just hard to get used to, you know? I’m used to being happy and putting on a smile. It’s hard to remember that I don’t have to do that with you, that you won’t be disappointed or leave or be angry that I’m not happy all the time. But I’m trying, I promise. And as fun as this was, I don’t think this is the way I want to take my frustrations out all the time. I know we both like it rough but I think that was a little rougher than I’m comfortable with. For now, anyway.”

“I get that,” you nod as you finish off your waffle, “it was a lot. But at least we know now, right? And just know that you never have to hide your bad days from me. If you don’t want to share them right then and there, that’s fine. But just know know that I’m always here when you get ready."

Ashton nods, his face clearly showing his relief, and leans over to press a kiss to your lips before he pulls away with a grin. “You’re sticky,” he teases, clearly trying to lighten the mood back up.

You playfully roll his eyes at his words and shake your head. “Of course I am,” you grin as you reach for the bottle of syrup, “I used, like, half of this thing on my waffles. You know, you being that rough might be my new favorite thing because there’s no way in hell you would ever just let me enjoy this much sugar if you weren’t feeling guilty.”

“Not guilty,” he laughs as he nudges your shoulder, “just providing the best aftercare to make sure you’re happy. That’s important, you know? And if eating copious amounts of sugar and talking about feelings makes you happy, well, who am I to deny you that?”

You can only smile at him and wonder how you got so lucky as you watch him carry the sticky plates to the dishwasher. You know that he would do anything to make sure you were happy and the thought warms your heart and dulls any leftover aches your body feels. You love him, he loves you, and while some days are harder than others, they’re all better now that you’re together.

Author’s Note: It’s not hella fluffy. But it’s still kinda fluffy. It was fun, though. I enjoyed it.

#ashton irwin imagines #ashton irwin imagine #ashton irwin blurb #5sos imagine #5sos preferences #5sos preference #5sos imagines #5sos blurbs #5 seconds of summer fanfic #5 seconds of summer imagines #5 seconds of summer preferences #5 seconds of summer imagine #5 seconds of summer preference #ashton irwin x reader #ashton x reader #mine

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shazyloren · 6 years

Text

The Room: chapter 16 - Attacking the Heads

Link: http://archiveofourown.org/works/12710496/chapters/29862270

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Jon Snow was concerned about Daenerys Targaryen.

It was all over the school that they were being civil to one another, even that he'd been cracking jokes to cheer her up. People would whisper and gossip every time they walked by and it was actually starting to get on Jon's nerves. It wasn't that they were gossiping, it was school, this always happened. And they'd eventually move onto something less trivial in a few days time. It was more that he didn't understand why he was trying to cheer her up, she'd never gone out of her way to cheer him up, or even be nice to her. Yet here he was.

Jon longed to understand what was going on in the mind of his fellow head, that he could somehow make her feel better about the stuff that was happening to her, whatever it was. But he also knew it just wasn't his place to know, the trust would come eventually and should satisfy him. But it didn't, he found himself wanting to understand her every waking moment. He spent all his time that wasn't on school work or family issues or head duties thinking on her and her sad aura she'd been giving off as of late.

And now, as they held their prefect meeting, he found himself less concentrated on the subject at hand (heavy sanctions for incorrect uniform) and more concentrated on how Daenerys' usually bright violet eyes were so dull they were almost black. He watched her as her lips moved, as they sang sweetly in the form of her stern voice. He was almost certainly losing his mind if he was referring to Daenerys as sweet.

Shaking the weird energy out of his body he refocused and caught some of the conversation. "The uniform rule is there for a reason; I'm not saying give detentions for first time abusers of the rule, but a warning is needed. Beauxbatons and Durmstrang will be with us in just over a weeks time and so I would prefer it if we could set a good impression on them all. Detentions for repeated abuse of the rules is needed however-"

"And how do we know we've not told off someone who was already told off a few hours ago by someone else on the other side of the castle" Jazzalyn Quench, A fifth year Slytherin spoke. There was a muttering of agreeance with her, but Daenerys was prepared. They were always prepared when she asked the questions. Jon and Daenerys had spoke earlier in the day to come up with a way to communicate with the rest of the prefects about punishments and points deductions that had been given out.

"We were hoping you'd say that" Daenerys smiled before picking up some small pocket sized notebooks, all the same and enough for every single prefect and the head girl and boy. "These are personal notebooks charmed specifically for us prefects. We spoke with Headmaster Lannister and he has put the enchantment on them himself. Now, every time you write a name in here and what they were told of or punished for, it will appear in everyone's notebook"

"That's genius!" Robb spoke enthusiastically as he took one and passed the rest on.

"Thank you, dear brother. So now, let me show you how it works. Say I was to write Joffrey Baratheon up for bullying a first year-" There was a smattering of laughters at this. The prefects had lost count how many detentions and how many points they had deducted from Slytherin over the years because of Joffrey. "You must write the name, the house, what they were doing and the punishment you gave. And that way we can all stay informed on who's been dealt what. With the other schools coming, it's so important we make the right impression"

"Please be wary to write the time when you give the sanction. We do not want anyone to be written twice in the same ten minute period if they've not had a chance to fix themselves up" Daenerys reminded. "We may be trying to make the school look smarter but we also don't want to come down on everyone like a ton of bricks"

Jon found it interesting how confident she was speaking in front of the other prefects. She'd also had no confidence in herself, or so everyone who was in lessons with her had told him. He knew that in Defence she struggled, but he did not realise that in Charms too, while her theory was strong her practical application was weak. But now, standing in front of everyone, she held the room in silence, you would be able to hear the drop of a quill.

"Meeting's over, don't forget curfew is nine tonight so there's no need to start patrol right after dinner" Daenerys reminded everyone. They all packed their bags away and began to filter out of the room one by one. "You need to speak more in meetings and stare at me less"

Jon did a double take. "What?"

"Being head boy ang girl is a two person job and I'm not the only person in this two person job. So stop staring at me and actually engaage in what I'm saying rather than wishing I'd shut up" Daenerys accused. Jon felt his defence go up.

"I don't wish you'd shut up, sometimes my brain shuts off when you speak because I'm tired or whatever but I don't stare at you wishing you'd be quiet" Jon said confused. Daenerys just packed her stuff up ready to go to dinner. "Quite the opposite, I love you're passionate about showing off this school to the others when they come"

"You wished I talked more?" She raised an eyebrow.

"Oh no, not more. You talk enough, enough for a lifetime" Jon smirked. Daenerys blinked before smiling herself. There was a small second of silence after their laughter died down, a moment when you could hear their relationship evolving. But rather than listen to it, Jon changed the subject. "Urgh, I'm so hungry. Jazzalyn Quench's questions can be so obnoxious to get through. I feel like we've been in this room for like, twelve hours!"

"I know, but it's not our fault that these fucks do nothing but talk" Daenerys agreed. Jon's eyes went wide. Daenerys saw. "What?"

"These fucks?" Jon laughed.

"They're fucks and you know it" She scoffed.

"Aye, I do" He found himself agreeing with her again. What is happening to me? "None more so than my brother and Theon"

"Please, Theon and Robb are a piece of pie to control in comparison to Gendry Waters and Laurie Berkel in Hufflepuff. The constant laughter is just one big punch in the face after the other. They're Like children" Daenerys laughed as they left their Prefect meeting room on the Seventh floor. The walk down to dinner was going to be long and tedious, meaning they didn't have much time to eat as their head meeting with Professor Lannister was at seven and it was already quarter to six. Not to mention Jon would then have to walk all the way back up to the seventh floor for his common room.

"Well, they're good at their jobs, that's all I care about" Jon shrugged as they walked side by side. The halls were empty, everyone would be at dinner by now, only the odd straggler was around already finishing dinner and making their way to their respective common rooms. "Seems awfully quiet"

"It's fish and chip night" Daenerys shrugged. Once a month the great hall offered fish and chips, and it was the tastiest meal of the month. Jon felt his stomach rumble in response, he had forgotten tonight was that night. Daenerys laughed at the sound of his stomach. "Wow, sounding like thunder there, Snow"

They were about to come to the end of the corridor and turn right when Daenerys hands shot out and pulled him back around to stay were they was. As this happened, a blast of blue light sped past them and hit the painting of Edward Rabnott causing him to flee down back where they came from. Jon's heart was in his mouth. Daenerys had just prevented him from getting hit by a stunning spell. A powerful one, he'd never seen a fellow student produce such a huge blast.

"W-what was that?" Dany whispered as they both stay against the wall. They were in very close proximity to one another and Jon thought for a moment he could smell coconuts. His breathing increased suddenly before disappearing as the realisation of what had happened settled in. They were being attacked by something.

"No idea, but thanks for not letting me get stunned" He says breathless as he crawls up to the corner in an attempt to hear something. It's dead silent, only the cries of a distant painting's child at the disturbance. "I need to see who it is, or what it is"

"Jon, you'll get your head blown off if you peer around the corner, you idiot!" Daenerys hissed. It felt to Jon like a personal attack on either himself or Daenerys and if it was a fellow student he'd wager it was probably meant for Daenerys. If they knew where they were, it had to be a prefect or a teacher, no one else knew they'd be in the prefect meeting. Jon never said any of this though, he didn't want to start pointing fingers even if he knew he was right.

"Daenerys stay back" Jon, to the protests of Daenerys, slowly peaked his head around to try and see something. His head whipped back around when he saw the light coming at him rapidly. "Merlin's beard"

"Merlin's beard indeed! You could've gotten yourself killed, we're suppose to die in the tournament not in the flipping seventh floor corridor!" Daenerys cried as she jumps from the shock of the light. She looked behind her and Jon followed her eye line. They only saw classrooms they could hide in."How do we get out of here?"

There hear faint laughing down from the hall they were suppose to be going, it was a cold and high laugh, a male voice for certain. Jon looked around at his surroundings, trying to figure out what options they had. The only things behind them was the Gryffindor common room and the divination towers.

However, opposite them, was the portrait of Temeritus Shanks, whose portrait came out at the library entrance. This could be a way to get out and to the headteachers office. But Jon didn't have the password, or the headline from the front page of the Daily Prophet to bribe him with like usual. He eyed the portrait up and saw Shanks wasn't even in is frame, so not only would they have to get a profit but they'd have to lure him back. "There, he's our way out - only I don't have the Daily Prophet from today!"

"The Daily Prophet?" Daenerys blinked furiously, her face slapped with confusion and strain from the tense situation. As they spoke, another flash of light hit the wall, this time destroying the painting of Edward Rabnott by setting it on fire. Jon always assumed the portraits were safe and fireproof, but clearly this was not the case. The wizard in question, shad come round full circle and was wailing about the damage done to his frame.

"Shanks loved gossip and headlines. He changed his password once a week and the only way to get the password from him is to tell him the headline of the day from the Daily Prophet; he's the only way we're going to get out of this corridor and to the Headmaster" Jon explained quickly as he pulled his wand out of his pocket and stand right against the edge of the corner.

"I have today's prophet in my bag" Daenerys's hand delved deep into her bag and pulled out an almost unfolded version of today's prophet. The title read, 'Tournament Concerns From Minister'. Jon sighed in relief that at least one part of the puzzle was slotting into place.

"Okay, I'm gonna throw a blast down the hallway to distract them" Jon started. Daenerys eyes widened as she realised that she was gonna have to run across the hall without getting blasted. "I'll throw up a shield, and if you're lucky you'll get across"

"I don't like these odds" Daenerys whispered.

"Neither do I but I'm not sitting here to grow old with you as my only company Daenerys" Jon snorted. Daenerys rolled her eyes. "Now, as soon as that blast is shot, you start running, by the time his blast gets down here my shield will be up" Jon took a deep breathe. "How powerful his shots are, my protego will probably last two hits - so you gotta run fast"

Daenerys eyes widened. Jon felt her panic and fear, he placed his hand on hers as they looked at each other. He squeezed tightly, her eyes growing wider as her lips wobbled. hey parted so she could mumble. "I'm ready"

Jon nodded and took his lace back at the corner. He peered his head around the corner and hid it once more as another blast came towards them. As soon as it past, he wordlessly sent a confringo curse down the hall nd immediately through his protego up. Daenerys scrambled and ran as two blasts hit his shield in quick succession. She dived with all her things to the floor and rolled with her bag until she was safe on the other side of the wall.

"Good girl" Jon nodded as he brought his shield down and hid again before another blue light hit the back wall. Daenerys scrambled up from off of the floor and put her hands on her knees as she breathed heavily. She spat on the floor, Jon was worried she was goign to throw up. Jon's ears however pricked up when the voice grew a little louder. The attacker was daring to come closer. "Shit"

"Jon, I'll throw a curse and shield now while you run" Daenerys offered. Jon had to laugh.

"No offence Daenerys but I've seen your practical Defence skills and I think I could do a better job in my sleep" Jon sighed as blasts and curse started being flung at an increased rate. Daenerys went redded than the colours of his own house.

"Well then how do you propose you get across?!" She almost shouted at him.

"I've got something, but it's mad" Jon said as he almost cried while laughing. Daenerys looked even more worried than before. "You just work on getting that bloody portrait open for us! I'd hate to be able to cross this hallway and die trying to get a snarky wizard to let us into his portrait!"

"Okay, I can do that" Daenerys nodded and started tapping on the portrait frame and trying to use all matter of summoning spells. Jon would throw the odd hex down, some blasting others fire curses, nothing that would do major harm. he even tried expelliarmus but ended up hearing a portrait complain of losing their glasses instead. "He won't come! Merlin, Shanks!"

"Daenerys, anytime now would be fucking great!" Jon cussed as a stinging hex caught his foot which was accidentally poking out. It felt like forever until the portrait showed up, annoyed that he'd been called back from his post in the library. Daenerys screamed at him for ignoring him and he threatened her he would leave. "Daenerys, I don't wanna die tonight!"

"Shanks please, Tournament Concerns for Minister!" She yelled as she held up the Prophet and showed him the date, almost pressing it against his canvas she was so close to it. "We're about to be murdered by a physco, we need passage out of here, we're cornered!"

"Quiet girl, you're being very loud" The painting huffed.

"DAENERYS!" Jon yelled as he heard the arguments unfold. "GET THAT PORTRAIT OPEN NOW OR IM GONNA DIE!"

The portrait heard Jon's voice and sighed in defeat. His password for the rest of the week was 'Journalism' and so he swung open. Daenerys climbed inside and watched as Jon breathed in deeply. "Jon get over here, it's open!"

"Good. Now as soon as I fling this curse I'm gonna run straight to you without a shield, there's going to be a lot of push back off of this spell so as soon as I cast it, I need you to start running into the passage. Even with his portrait shut I don't know of the consequences if it will affect us in there" Jon stated. Daenerys looked extremely scared.

"What do you mean you don't kn- YOU'VE NEVER CAST IT BEFORE HAVE YOU?" Daenerys almost barked at him in surprise.

"Not exactly" Jon grinned as Daenerys put her head in the palm of her hand. "I've invented this spell, and haven't really properly tested it yet" Daenerys eyes couldn't get any wider. She looked horrified as she lifted her head up. "Well, here goes nothing. Wish me luck, always need some luck"

The next few moments went by in a blur for Jon. He threw some curses down the corridor for the attacker to deal with before concentrating on the energy he had when he first created this spell over the summer. The feeling of forming this new spell filled him as he began to inhale and exhale quickly. Sending another few blasts he loudly, and forcefully yelled out before pointing his wand down the corridor. "Gelida Crepitus!"

There was a yell of pain and a huge explosion that occurred. Jon ignored it all and legged it to the portrait. As he reached it, he felt the chill take him from his spell. Flinging one last look behind him, as Daenerys ran deeper into the passage, all he saw before the portrait shut was ice everywhere, and a hooded figure crawling towards them as an icicle impaled his leg.

#jon snow #daenerys targaryen #jon x daenerys #jon x dany #jon x dany fanfic #jonerys #jonerys fanfic #au #Hogwarts AU #got #game of thrones

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