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cursedvibes · 1 year

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So megumi is a prodigy, has a technique that can match the six eyes and on top of that is resistant to sukuna such that he could become a cage for him. I can see why people are saying that he's more of a mc than Yuuji, this is the kind of thing a protagonist gets. But I also know that not everything has been revealed related to Yuuji and I've no doubt it will be good. I still can't help but be miffed about the megumi thing tho. On one hand, I love Yuuji the way he is and his growth and development, on the other hand I want him to be special like the other MCs or maybe I should say more special than megumi. I don't know if that makes sense. Anyway, megumi stans are being really annoying right now and I'd be happy to see him dead even though I know he won't be. I like megumi but I don't make a big deal about deaths, I'm more interested in seeing how the story progresses and how it'll affect Yuuji.

Yeah, I can totally relate to that feeling. I guess Sukuna does say that the cage thing only applies for one finger and we've seen curses swallow fingers and contain them, so controlling cursed energy does seem to make you more resistant to it, but together with everything else it does feel a bit tired. It clearly doesn't make him as resistant of a vessel as Yuuji, but it's very "oh yeah, of course he could suppress (low-level) Sukuna too, why not..."

I'm honestly happy that Yuuji isn't a special/chosen one type mc like that though because MCs like Naruto or Deku who are seemingly good at everything and are showered in gifts are boring. Megumi is better written than those two (and Yuuta), but I think his blessed/destined one thing is part of why he was never that interesting to me, only in regards to how he relates to Yuuji & Tsumiki. And Yuuji is actually quite gifted too. He has been studying jujutsu for barely half a year and is already able to use multiple Black Flashes. He is exceptional, it's just that he only recently started learning, unlike Megumi who has been trained by Gojo since he was 6. But fandom likes to ignore that. Megumi's power progression has also been quite steady compared to his level of experience. Outside of Yuuta and maybe Maki, nobody ever received some crazy sudden power-up, but Maki has been foreshadowed since Vol 0 and she still had to learn how to handle those new powers. I wouldn't want Yuuji to just whip out a technique out of nowhere and be instantly good at it. That would just feel unrealistic. There is far more focus on his mentality than with Megumi and he has a lot of internal development. For me, he's perfect how he is developing right now, but I get that to the average shonen fan who wants flashy fights and power fantasies, he must be pretty boring.

Sukuna is bold and chaotic and causes a lot of destruction and death, but Kenjaku is the villain who actually moves the story along. Without them, Sukuna wouldn't even be around. By being related to them, Yuuji is automatically more of a main character than Megumi. The story follows his internal struggle and development, which is why most of the events are implemented to have some kind of profound emotional impact on him (Maki is seems to be the only exception, so I'm curious where that leads). Kenjaku moves the story along to push Yuuji towards some unknown goal and by having this connection, it makes them the main protagonist and antagonist of the story. Sukuna and Megumi's relationship is important too, but their actions still serve to trigger a change in Yuuji, which is why Megumi could never be the main character.

It is really annoying that some people in the fandom don't seem to see this and just throw Yuuji aside for being "weak". They'll hype up his Shibuya fight against Mahito, but then turn around and be like "all he does is punch, so boring". In his fight against Higuruma he doesn't even have cursed energy for the majority of it and it's still considered one of the best fights in the Culling Game. He doesn't need some six eyes worthy powers to stand out. Those people also seem to be under the impression that he's now no different than when he left high school because Sukuna isn't inside him, even though the majority of his strength didn't come from him. It helped against Mahito because of the soul thing, but the rest of his skills are his own and he doesn't just lose them because Sukuna is gone. It doesn't seem like Sukuna took his cursed energy, which I've also seen speculated. I don't know how that would even be possible, but it doesn't look like Sukuna is interested in that. He's fully on the Megumi train, Yuuji doesn't matter to him anymore. People give Yuuji shit for being punched through some buildings, but if it had been Megumi in his stead, he wouldn't have faired much better.

So yeah. Even if these events trigger a cursed technique in him, Yuuji is probably not gonna instantly master it and that's fine. Still remember reading Vol 0 for the first time and rolling my eyes at Yuuta just copying Inumaki's technique and using it better than him with no build-up and pulling reversed cursed technique out of his ass when it had never even been mentioned that that exists. I don't need that for Yuuji. I think it's okay if the main character isn't the strongest or close to the strongest person in the story by the end. Being the strongest was never Yuuji's goal anyway, just enough to save the people he cares about, but that's clearly not meant to happen, which makes it all the more interesting. Megumi (or Sukuna now) and Yuuta can throw their power around as much as they want, Yuuji is gonna progress at his own pace. He's still special, just in different ways than them.

#I don't think he's gonna die from this or if he does it won't be permanent #people act like he is already out of the story and irrelevant it's so annoying #asks #jjk spoilers #itadori yuuji

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supercorp-hosie · 3 years

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My thoughts for Legacies 316: (here we go again😂)

(I’m combining after thoughts with live thoughts)

1) The soundtracks for this episode are amazing, they fit very well even for Finsie that I heard that a lot of people were complaining on Reddit.

2) I finally get my team Sowanby! I just feel so much from them! They kind of make a great team, but please, do not go on another heist again. You both sucks at that! The holes are, the museum don’t have a fucking alarm for Leonardo DaVinci’s work? Are you kidding me? And Landon beating the shit out of the guard but not putting him out first is so dumb. The worst is Cleo calling Landon’s name so loud, I can’t😂😂😂😂😂😂 you don’t want people to be on your back when you have the Malivore threat going on guys! And ha! You guys are on the headline! That’s why I really feel like these supernaturals are so outdated and solidified from modern technology, even in 2030! Are you going to tell me everything technology will still be the same like now?? Come on, there’ll be cameras watching everywhere. Like they can see Cleo using magic! I need my Trimini (or bridge) coven and Hope starting to integrate the supernatural world with the modern world. About Trimini and Hope future career, click here.

3) the line about “many who shaped it are never acknowledged” I stand! After that, about the key card my random thoughts were about Landon being the one that stole the key card😂 just out of the blue and I’m proven wrong though.

4) Landon bonding with Cleo!!!! They thought the same way, and “I can promise that anyone that have to get to you, they have to get to me” is so strong! But the scene after, is the moment I started really doubting Landon, the look is too alarming. But there are still Sowanby scenes😭😭😭 and the melted heart mud... I mean I genuinely believed that the spell didn’t work because Landon is also mud himself. But in hindsight it is horrific, like the serial killer is just standing next to you but and the signs are right in front of you.

5) Malivore mud being artistically friendly! I can’t haha! Oh and when Holarke walked on Sowanby inspiring moment🤣🤣🤣I can’t, they act like both of them are cheating on one another it’s hilarious. Thank you for acknowledging each other Holarke and Sowanby🤣. By now, I should have known that’s MaliLandon. It’s humiliating because Holarke and Sowanby got me so happy that I didn’t see the clues lmao! Because there’s this line: “Following the footstep of the Renaissance greatest man? ” but this thing, Cleo only did it with Leonardo, with whom she slept with......

6) And damn, after that, I felt like a FOOL, CLOWN, WHATEVER after that! All I have for team Sowanby is fake 🙃🙃🙃🤡🤡🤡 Anyway we still have to admit that the promise still stand true right, cuz it’s literal.🤣🤣🤣 MaliLandon fulfills his promise by eating Cleo. TYPICAL.

7) Holarke! Clarke is still handsome as ever😍. We can see his presence is clearly affecting Josie and making Hope giving him information. Can we talk about how cute is he sleeping soundly here?

8) Lizzie being the only unaffected queen here. AND IT’S FINALLY LIZZIE’S TURN FOR “AD SONNUM” I can totally see her pleasantness in doing that to somebody after being on the receiving end🤣🤣🤣 Josie and Hope had done it before so now we actually see her doing it. I somehow feel completed.

9) The look Hope and Josie shared. Hosie!

10) Josie is going to be the death of me! I like her look. And how the camera moving upward gosh! And I’m totally digressing here, what is a razzleberry? And what is a slush? I have no idea what they are, I just feel like tasting what she tasting now. Lizzie’s line, crashing and splashing😂 Am I colour blind? Cuz I really can’t tell whether Hope is wearing dark blue or dark green 😅 if it’s green, then the traffic lights colour are back again lol. If blue, then Hosie matching clothes! Did Finsie ever have matching colours? I’m just wondering.

11) Hosie scene! They talked about how seeing Clarke traumatised Josie~~ damn and Josie says traumatised is her permanent resting state. I mean even on her birthday she was buried alive lmao. And Hope wants to help Josie stop the traumas by sacrificing herself to defeat Malivore, like by literally dying. Which she didn’t want because she didn’t want to live forever.

12) Holarke scene again! I love all those banters and their dynamics😂😂 how Hope is the only one that trusts Clarke now. The mimic spell! It’s their thing😍😍. Oh it totally surprised me that Clarke isn’t mud man anymore. I’m really happy for him, because he finally break himself out of the abuse! It seems like triad is totally gone?? But I still kind of think that there may be something more? And Clarke’s reaction to Hope opening the artefact! 🤣🤣🤣 and the way that Clarke sensed the familiarity with Cleo! Yea boy, she’s the inspiration to the creation of you.

13) Clarke keeps calling Hope and Landon kids🤣 how’s the feeling of getting kid!Hope kicking your ass and saving you😂😂😂 oh she’s totally your equal. Frenemies at best! YES! I love Holarke bonding. And the fact that Clarke being Hope inspiration to believe in friendship and her family now can help her to defeat Malivore, I Stan! Don’t lose sight of the corner! Josie! Lizzie! Clarke! Yes you have them! I’m glad that Clarke didn’t die, I’ll be so mad because the writer would be bringing him back for nothing. Oh the incendia is painful, affecting me more than the fake looking MaliLandon eating Cleo. The height difference again�� with Holarke this time.

14) I love Maleb clothes, not really shipping them just short form for their bromance😂 but I do enjoy if there suggests shipping cuz it’s fun! Love that them being supportive of each other, superheroing, and the hero name🤣🤣they’re clueless too. Poor Kaleb and Cleo. I really need his backstory 😫

15) about hero names, I’m still having playback of “blursome and essential” in my mind. MG is looking at the mask longer than Kaleb, I feel like he’s missing Ethan, like a lot. Another thing is, since we see the effect of someone else being compelled so clearly, but we never seen Ethan’s compelling effects. Or it’s a budget matter? They must be kidding right? So maybe Ethan is really faking it? So that leads us to Lethan....

16) if my suspicion is true, then damn, Ethan is using Lizzie to get into SBS? I’m worried for Lizzie’s wellbeing. Also the look on Josie when Ethan drives near tight after she said like some eligible will fall out of the sky🤣🤣🤣 the timing is impeccable lmao. For real, Lizzie wanting Ethan to be Hope’s rebound after her kiss with him in the trio imagination, is ....so the trio is now sharing guys now? Jandon is still there in the history! It’ll be like a very messing love multi-triangle😌😌😌

17) the way Lizzie talked about how Hope is perfect the whole way and judging by the day when they arrived at SBS? That’s very long! Lmao, Lizzie are you sure you’re not in love with Hope? Hizzie rights! (I don’t even know when I started to ship Hizzie, it’s a mystery🤣) I think I can only talk like that about my love. Why don’t you make you and your sister Hope’s rebound? I’ll be happy with what I get🤣

18) The decision to bring Ethan on a tour, is so bad. What if ethan ended up enrolling SBS and Alaric can’t deny the application? Did she ever think of that?? And Josie and Mg is going to face the consequences in the near future🤣 dreadful! From there I already felt the cliche sweetness that when you’re trying to be a wingwoman and ended up “selling” yourself out🤣🤣 fuck CW for cutting the scenes of Lizzie’s epic facial expression when she was slapped with her own words😂😂😂anyway, it’s no way she can refuse the ask out after 315 where Lizzie still thinks that she can’t be the chosen one when Hope is there, but someone actually chooses her even after all the Hope is perfect speech. As much as I mourn for Methan and Mizzie, I’m happy that she got someone to tell her that. But I think they’re destined to backfire😅

19) so does the Mizzie “will they won’t they?” officially end here? I’m confused. Btw it’s really a way to mention Sebastian’s death being relocated permanently 🤣 oh wait...she knew that that prison world is destroyed forever right????? Someone save me.

20) okay I have to go back before Ethan picked the twins up: while Lizzie is actually worrying about themselves being stranded, Josie is just more concerned about Hope? Hosie! Poor Josie, she never sees that she is Hope soft spot and can totally make Hope happy too. Look at your dumb joke at 103, Hope’s laugh is magnificent too. It’s because of you. And yes I’m with Josie, I just ship Hope with herself and her axe right now, don’t put her with anyone for at least 5 more episode please.

21) The one that doesn’t dissolve into goo! Now is Clarke! And the both of you my dear twins. Btw, the dna thing, where Clarke confirms that dna is still toxic... so it applies to Landon too right? And it’s now just more overwhelmingly apparent that handon sex is without protection. Yea so much for epic love. And this is about the possibility where (hopefully) it’s not MaliLandon when the sex scene happened.

22) Finsie time! I got to say, it’s really improving. Their scene is beautiful, finally. That feeling that they’re nice together is now going on continuous for me. I’m happy for them! They are now stepping up on Hosie, not derogatory, I’m just seeing some parallels from hosie here. The disclose of Ethan broken arm, where Hosie has done, before that there’s Clarke’s traumatising Josie thing with Hosie. Next, the focus on the hand holding, I’m thinking of 207 and others. The “me being here with you”, with hosie 308 “then I’ll be here with you”. The whole thing is very comforting for Josie. The hug is good too. We can see that they finally have some nice scene and the bgm is good for them.

23) I have no idea what is magical agronomy, so I look it up. Again, that shows how Josie love plants, like someone in Reddit said they observed that Josie’s side of room has several plants. And in 307, the herbs, that she remembers. I think it can help a lot if Hope is starting a magical technology company. Josie’s interest in that can come in handy. They’ll make a great team. About TRIMINI INDUSTRIES tap here.

24) we are still missing Jed here. Justice for Jed. We need Jed real first name. Did anyone notice when the super squad faces MaliLandon there’s no werewolf present? They’re really downplaying that huh? But maybe I can be satisfied that they are not making Finch being there but not Jed.

25) We need to address this thing about Handon. It’s like one and a half time that Hope couldn’t recognise that Landon is not Landon right? We still have to give credits to her memories shared with Cleo actually make Cleo kind of recognise the difference? So half a time. I agree with Josie’s words that Landon makes Hope happy. I mean, yes, most of the time they failed in working but there’s still sweet scenes between them. So that’s actually what makes Handon tolerable. They are what makes me only do facepalm rather than skipping them. So yes of course Hope has happy moments with Landon. Just that it doesn’t mean that they’re good together.

26) it’s always Landon’s bros that first find out Landon wasn’t Landon😂 this time is Clarke. It’s Clarke that tell Hope, “Landon will never leave you”. That’s the inconsistency of the writers, not counting MaliLandon’s time, it’s still two times. And there’s time that some will argue that Landon’s feet literally walk away from Hope. So...that’s not true, do not stuff that in our throat anymore. “I always thought you two are destined to be together” is this the writer way of saying they’re not doing Handon anymore or otherwise? Cuz “thought” is past tense and “are” is present tense. I’m tired. It’s normal that Hope still wants Landon to be happy and still love him. But after the breakup, when she still doesn’t know that it’s MaliLandon, the “still dying to get Landon again” is obsession. Girl, it’s derogatory to your self-esteem. “If a mud man like me can beat his fate, maybe you kids can too” yea that’s Handon going on.

27) we shouldn’t need to be told that Handon is epic love multiple times. We should be able to feel them, see them ourselves. Why did I start approving Finsie now, because instead of them being only all talking and no showing, now we see them working well (until now). I have been widely accepting to any other legacies ships and why I never ship Handon? So really these multiple telling us that how good is Landon to Hope, is not working. I’ve never been so frustrated.

28) Let’s appreciate the Handon parallel with 101. It’s interesting that how Landon is inside the cage and Hope is outside the cage again. The meaning of the cage has deep meaning here. Handon first kiss is in the cage, that kind of mean that their love is trapped there. Like how their relationship being so troublesome and bound by these fateful encounters. The lights are quite similar, handon always has this blue lighting for them, which sometimes it’s kind of weird. The first time it is Hope decorating the ceiling with stars for Landon. It’s sweet, but also implying that what Handon has is the false beauty of them and not keeping the cage symbolism in mind. In other way of interpreting it, this is the writer foreshadowing their endgame. Cuz they’re trapped there, no way in no way out.

29) I think I’m not the only one bothered by the mostly lack of real Landon appearance in s3. As we can see how MaliLandon words sits so right about, Landon not belonging to SBS if it weren’t Hope. Then he leaves with Cleo, that’s a thing for Sowanby too, they still don’t have roots with the school, and it’s a great bonding between them, friendship or not. It’s the bond between them that matter. In 314 315, we always see that the students were totally fine without Landon. Like the three trios paralleling? It’s sad that Landon is like bouncing here and there in SBS but never really belong. And now the writers kind of ripped his personal development. So now he has neither his pheonix powers nor fighting skills, great? And even Hope’s growth too. We are seeing her moving to a good direction and the writers have to drag her back in the hell hole. Hope needs to not always looking at Landon for her happiness, it’s not good for the both of them. Like MG said, be your own person.

30) THEORIES regarding Landon: a) It’s MaliLandon all the way? I hope not, it’s reminding me of Lost Girl that one of the characters slept with the father personating the person she loves, and got pregnant. Tell you what was more alarming? When the episode ended, I was recommended to move on to Lost Girl on CW seed. It’s disgusting! Why do you want to help make me hate Handon? I don’t even hate them initially! I’m like struggling to be logical and lean on the positive side here. Why I can’t move on from this possibility: first, I’ve always headcannon that Malivore has partial control over Landon. Like how Landon actually wasn’t lying in 102 103? That’s Malivore. And Handon, as genius as always, doesn’t talk about it. Second, the way that Landon dissolved, he was human back then, but he turns into goo? how does it even work? If he is human, toxic to dna will make him die, not become goo, right? Even if that wasn’t a problem, it can also be MaliLandon trying his luck. Third, Malivore purpose is to make the perfect legacy, he will totally give it a try to make tribrid-Malivore babies. Fourth, during the inspiration from Cleo, MaliLandon has Landon’s memories, enhancing the theories that Malivore has partial control over Landon, so even if it wasn’t MaliLandon, it’s still partial-MaliLandon. Fifth, after the inspiration, MaliLandon said that he doesn’t need Hope to tackle his problem or for his purposes, which means he initially wanted Hope, thinking getting to Hope can help with his purposes. It’s really not a far-fetched.

31) THEORIES regarding Landon: b) it’s real Landon during sex, but Malivore got him in the prison world. While having Landon’s personal growth ripped and Handon still dragging out are not pleasant at all, this is still a more pleasant theory for me. At least Landon did start fighting for himself after sometime, and while the sex is still partial-MaliLandon, at least it’s not MaliLandon. (I’m always using at least for Handon 🙃) maybe we can still have Landon fighting skills? Cuz I was happy for him about this though. But I just don’t think so. The evidence for this theory is, my feeling about Landon in 306 is that it kind of fits Landon personality, but he did start his violence there. Another thing is the letter. There’s care in “to whom it may concern”. However, that can be just me being simp. And there’s also possibilities that the partial control from Malivore is cultivating Landon’s behaviour starting there and slowly taking control. Because making a deal with the devil always has its consequences. It’s either that or Landon was taken after the letter.

32) regarding the picture above, i just want to point out about another interesting point about the structure of the scene, if you scroll back and see sowanby picture with the door and another bonding talk, you can se that there’s always pillar and frames that’s framing or trapping them together. Like Handon. I mean that’s totally MaliLandon, so this pointing out is not mean to be romantic. It’s just a thought about how devastating that Cleo is stuck in something her whole life, especially the picture structure that implies that she’s stuck with MaliLandon again.

33) overall I’m thinking this is a good and disgusting episode. With all the unexpected twist, it’s really good, there’s actually layers in showing us that Landon is not Landon every time. Then those bonding. The soundtrack, the scenes. Disgusting, is about the theory, and how we are all tangled back to Handon again after we finally have some fresh air. Not to mention the always surprisingly convenient that Landon always has an excuse when we see Landon did something bad to Hope. Like he can never be making big mistake while only having little questionable doings that can’t possible tarnish him being the perfect person in the show. The first time he lies, Malivore controlled him. During the pageant competition, he is justified to walk away when he totally chose the wrong timing to ask that question, leaving Hope alone breaking in front of such important event. 207, monsters are coming for him, he’s protecting people by leaving. Musical episode, he needs to cross boundaries because it’s bound to be, without further reasoning it with Hope, when Hope specifically was very respectful of him in 111 about his songs. And now, this. That’s not him, we can’t blame him. He will never be blame for something big because the writers is biased. Very biased in making that Landon is better than anyone else in the show, so he’s the perfect guy for Hope. Like no one can compare with him. He’s almost perfect. Perfect than Hope.

34) Reflect on what Hope did in 308, MG is kind of right, she shouldn’t have touched it without fully prepared. Because it totally let Malivore running out free instead of him being an originally contained problem. It’s for the good view in whole. Heroes make hard decisions. There’s still the hair thing cut from Hope and Golem!Landon.

These pictures is my work, while it’s easy to get it yourself, and not that I’m professional in doing this. But I still did screenshot them one by one and did some editing. So please like or label the sources when you save or use it. ♥️

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nyctophilin · 4 years

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Stay Winning

@txtmoalove⤀ Hey! As for my first request here , can I request a Felix smut? Something that'll include voice kink for his deep voice? 🥺 Maybe even an enemies to lover's au! I hope it's not too much !! 💕

Description⤀ He was always making remarks about her and making fun of her work. He was speculating about how her work was always chosen as the best and was creating rumors. She despised him. Or did she?

Pairing⤀ Felix x fem!Reader

Word count⤀ 3k

Genre⤀ Office!AU, Enemies to lovers, Smut, Angst(?)

Warnings⤀ dom!felix, grinding, fingering, spanking, unprotected penetration, spelling/grammar mistakes

Pearl Note⤀ This was so fun to write. I really hope you like it! Please don’t hesitate to tell me what you think!

“This concludes our meeting today. I’ll see everyone again on Wednesday at the same hour. Mrs L/N and Mr Lee I want you both to present your ideas and we will see which we can choose or if we have to combine them. Have a good day everyone!” Mr Bang spoke as he got up from his chair and left the room to go to his next meeting. Everyone else started gathering their things right after the CEO left and a general bustle settled in the room. Disturbing screeching sounds were made by the pushed chairs of the people who hurriedly wanted to reach either the cafeteria or their cubicles to get some more work done.

Y/N wasn’t in a hurry like everyone else. She gathered her things calmly and was the last to leave the meeting room carelessly making her way towards her cubicle to leave the unnecessary things there before going for lunch. The clicking of her hills could be heard every time she stepped on the marble floors. Upon reaching her destination she left everything on the desk and took her purse with her.

She walked up to another cubicle and used her knuckles to knock on the plastic walls. The raven-haired man lifted his eyes from the manuscript he was currently trying to check and a smile coated his facial features at the sight of her. “Can I steal you from your work for half an hour so we can eat? I’m paying.” She brought her purse to the same level as her face as further reassurance to the man that she meant what she said.

“I thought you’ll never ask. I was starving there!” The man got up from his chair abandoning his files on the desk and put one arm around her shoulders. “Lead the way, Ma’am!” Y/N chuckled at his childish gesture and they both started walking towards the cafeteria. “How did the meeting go?” The man asked when they sat down at a table in the busy room.

“It went well. Mr Kang is really excited to work with us and he thinks that everything will turn out great.” She hummed satisfied after taking a bite from her food. She will always be grateful to Mr Bang for choosing to actually give a shit about his employee’s health. Immediately after a bittersweet taste let itself in her mouth. “I have to work against Felix for marketing though. Mr Bang said he’ll choose whichever he likes best so I have to work hard to beat that loser.” She was squeezing the chopsticks in her hand at the thought of him.

“Why does it matter that much? It’s not like there are infinite ways to market a book and Mr Bang seems to be fond of your work. If he wins once what is so bad about that?” Y/N sighed at her friend’s naive statement.

“Jeongin, let’s say you are in a really good soccer team and you always win. Would you let the other team win once just because you did so many times before? If I purposely don’t do a good job right now, Mr Bang might think that my skills are not as good anymore which might result in me getting fewer opportunities to work on books that I really like. Plus that little shit is always trying to pick a fight with me.” She rolled her eyes when she remembered the kind of treatment she gets from her superior.

“You always say that. What does he even say that get you so worked up all the time?” Jeongin’s question was a genuine one. He has worked at the publishing company for over two years now and ever since Y/N has started working there a year and a half ago he can’t remember one time when the two weren’t at each other’s throats. At first, he thought the rivalry between the two was because they both had the same job and it was normal for them to want they work to get chosen but then he realised that it was more than that.

“He always looks down on me and thinks that just because he is older and has been working there longer his ideas should be chosen more often. ‘Even a kindergarten student could think of that.’, ‘He chose you just as an encouragement.’, ‘Maybe if I also had a short skirt Mr Bang would choose me as well.’...”

“Don’t forget about the cleavage.” A deep voice suddenly ringed in her ear making her jump in surprise. She immediately turned her head in that direction and her nose was only one centimetre away from Felix’s nose.

“What?” This is all she could say since she was still shaken by his deep voice in her ear.

Felix got up from his bent position and a smirk tugged at his lips when he realised the effect his sudden appearance had on her. “I also say about the cleavage. I’m pretty sure that if I had boobs I’ll get just as many deals as you.” His eyes travelled from her face down to where her shirt had the first two buttons undone. He visibly licked his lips at the sight before looking back at her eyes and winking.

His eyes made her uncomfortable but she stood her ground and rolled her eyes back at his gesture. “Oh sweety, it’s so funny that this is what you tell yourself to feel better about your failure. We both know that Mr Bang doesn’t do this kind of thing. And unlike you, he does not need to get on my good side. I’d fuck him even if he was choosing your work.” A fake smile was painting her lips as she finished talking. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to finish eating so I can go back to making a better marketing strategy than yours.” She turned back towards Jeongin and continued eating her food.

As she heard his steps getting farther away from her she let out a breath she was holding in for a long time. She hated the way his voice affected her. He might be an asshole but damn he had a nice voice. She ignored the moist feeling that started forming between her legs and continued talking with Jeongin about different topics the rest of their lunch break.

Y/N let out a sigh and rubbed the back of her neck trying to ease the pain she was feeling. She squeezed her eyes shut trying to calm the burning sensation from looking at the computer screen for too long. It was currently 11:36 PM on a Tuesday and she was still in the office. For the last couple of days, she didn’t have enough inspiration to work on a marketing strategy for Mr Kang’s book that would satisfy her so she just did something lousy in order not to show up with nothing. An hour prior, however, she got a really good idea and she had to stay over program to do it.

She was pretty sure there wasn’t anyone else in the office with her at that hour and if there was they were far away from her and awfully quiet. She stretched her tired arms moaning at the pleasurable sensation of tension leaving her body after a long time. She leaned back on her leather chair deciding to take a short break from work for a few minutes. She kicked her stiletto’s off her feet letting another moan leave her lips at the free sensation. She really hated hills for always making her uncomfortable and hurting her feet.

She closed her eyes and started humming a calming melody while trying to relax both her brain and her body. “I see that you are enjoying yourself.” The same deep voice that annoyed and turned her on so much was heard in the room and she opened her eyes with an exasperated sigh.

“What are you doing here?” She questioned him as she turned her chair towards the door of her cubicle.

“I heard you moaning and I told myself that it is impossible for sweet perfect Y/N to be masturbating on the job. The second time I had to come check it myself.” Y/N rolled her eyes and looked to the side sucking her cheeks in. She absolutely despised the way his voice could soak her and his words could make her want to stab him with a pencil.

“Are you serious right now? That’s low even for you.” She was so done with his bullshit.

“You are right. It would have been more logic to think that you were in here with Mr Bang. I doubt he would take you to his house.” She rolled her eyes at his words before getting up abruptly.

“You know that you are really pathetic? Just because someone else took something YOU think you deserve that doesn’t mean they did something unethical to obtain it. I don’t care what you think about me as a person but. Don’t. Insult. My. Work!” She was now right in front of him and she pushed her index finger against his chest when she said the last few words. “You are 23 years old and you behave like a pre-teen. Making comments about my work and the way I talk and my clothes. Do my clothes bother you in any way?”

Y/N lets out a yelp as Felix picks her up and carries her to her desk and harshly puts her down, definitely making some of the papers on it to wrinkle. He leaves a trail of kisses from her jaw to her ear before speaking. “Do your clothes bother me? They sure as hell do, darling! How do you think I feel every time I see your thigh ass in one of your pencil skirts or when you have your boobs out for everyone to see?” His deep voice was vibrating in her ear making an involuntary moan leave her mouth. Her private parts already started becoming wet and that was just from a few words from him.

She tried freeing herself from his grip wanting to escape from that embarrassing situation. Her pathetic attempts only stirred Felix more and a sound resembling a growl left his throat. The sound went right through her cunt and she pushed her thighs together while throwing her head back and letting a groan out. Felix raised an eyebrow as he looked at her ecstatic form. He let another groan out and when he noticed the way her body jolted a smirk appeared on his face.

“Do you like my voice darling? Does it turn you on? Is this why you always get flustered every time we fight?” His voice went an octave lower if that was possible and Y/N smashed their lips together taking the male by surprise. She desperately pushed her tongue into his mouth wanting nothing more than to shut him up so she can regain her composure.

Y/N backed away leaving his lips for only a second before he forced her back into the kiss. With one hand he grabbed her thigh and yanked her towards him pressing their hips together and tilted her back more. The contact of her drenched pussy with his already erect shaft had her bucking her hips against him. A delicious groan left his lips and Y/N whimpered into the kiss repeating her action.

Fed up with her actions Felix pushed her to lay on the desk, the sudden contact with the wooden surface making the oxygen leave her lungs for a few seconds. His hand made its way up her inner thigh until it reached her dripping core. Upon feeling her wetness through her panties a smirk appeared on his face. “Fuck, you are already so wet, darling. And all from my voice, just like a slut.” She whimpered at his words and bucked her hips into his hands desperately needing to feel any sort of relieve.

A loud noise echoed through the empty office as his hand smacked her thigh in an attempt to make her stop moving. “Now darling, stay put or I won’t touch you!”

“Fuck you!” She spit taking one of her hands and placing it over her clothed heat. If he won’t help her then she will do it herself.

“Oh darling, trust me. I will!” Felix harshly yanked her hand from her sensitive parts and in a swift motion, he stripped her of her panties. His touches were feather-like as he explored her cunt for the first time. He felt his dick jolt at how wet she was and without warning pushed two digits inside her. Y/N let out a surprised yelp both her hands instantly grabbing his and her back arching dramatically. “Fuck, I wish you could see the way your pussy swallows my fingers so eagerly. Can’t wait to get my dick in there.” His voice was raspy and a pleasurable shiver crossed her body.

“Maybe if you stopped fucking talking we would actually get there.” She was moving her hips on her own making his fingers go in and out of her dripping pussy. A dark aura enveloped him at her words and he started pumping his fingers at an impossibly fast pace. Breathy moans and occasional groans were leaving her mouth as she struggled not to squirm around too much.

Y/N could feel a knot forming in her stomach and she started moving her hips in time with Felix’s hand. Feeling her cunt squeeze his fingers desperately he caught on the fact that she was close and he removed his fingers from inside her at once.

“You asshole! Why did you…” She couldn’t finish her sentence cause Felix flipped her over pushing her face into the desk.

“Did you really think I would let you cum on my fingers after you cried for my dick like a slut? You better stop complaining and take what I give you.” She heard how he unbuckled his belt and the faint sound of a zipper before feeling his head slide over her moist lips. Felix bent down over her and inserted his shaft in slowly giving her time to get used to his girth. He let out delicious groans as he felt her tight cunt squeeze around him and her sense went in overdrive from him groaning in her ear.

His dick stretched her perfectly and she bit her bottom lip suppressing a moan. When he bottomed inside her, he stilled for a few moments under the pretext of giving her time to adjust to him but in reality, he was afraid that if he moved he’ll come instantly just like a teenage boy having sex for the first time. Soon after Y/N tapped his hand urging him to start moving. He started moving slowly, savouring every moment he was inside of her.

Moving his hands in front of her, he ripped open her shirt somehow managing not to bust any buttons. He pulled her bra down and pinched her erect nipples adding on to her pleasure. His trusts became more urgent and he smacked her right boob ripping a moan out of her. He moved her hips in sync with his, meeting him halfway. She could feel the knot forming again in her stomach and she grabbed the edge of the desk for support.

“Felix, I’m cuming!” Y/N managed to breathe out between moans.

Felix moved his hand to her clit and started circling it frantically bringing her closer to her release. “Cum darling!” The ringing of his voice in her ear tipped her over the edge and she released with a loud moan that she was sure could be heard from a few blocks away.

Felix quickened his pace chasing his own high and overstimulating her at the same time. Y/N’s cunt was squeezing him so heavenly that he thrusted a few more times before pulling out and releasing on her ass. The office was filled with their heavy breaths as they both tried coming down from their highs.

“Y/N, what are you doing here?” Jeongin gave her a concerned look, confusion present on his face.

“What am I doing in my own cubicle?” Her voice was dripping with sarcasm as she turned around in her chair to look at him.

“No, I mean what are you doing here now? Didn’t the meeting for the marketing strategy started 48 minutes ago?” His eyebrows were furrowed and he checked his watch a few times in a row to make sure that he was correct.

“I told Mr Bang that I came up with no idea and I would rather not take part in the meeting. Plus they have Felix there, it’s not like they actually need me if I got nothing.” She said that nonchalantly turning back on her chair to resume her previous activity.

“Why would y…”

Before the man could finish his sentence Felix stormed inside and went to hug Y/N tightly. “Thank you so much, darling! Mr Bang loved the idea. I promise I will make it up to you. Now I have to go. We have a meeting with Mr Kang to present the strategy to him. Love you!” The man cupped her face and placed a tender kiss on her lips before hurriedly getting out and completely ignoring Jeongin.

Y/N turned her head towards the entrance of the cubicle and noticed how Jeongin was leaning against the plastic wall, hands crossed and a smirk on his lips. She bit her bottom lip before gulping visibly.

“So tell me Y/N, what was that thing with the soccer team?” He asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Oh, please! Like I actually know anything about soccer!”

#stray kids #stray kids smut #stray kids imagines #stray kids scenarios #felix #lee felix #felix smut #felix x reader #skz #skz smut

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palimpsessed · 3 years

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I've been thinking about how many times Simon notices and mentions Baz /not/ killing things they're fighting in WS and how Simon i-killed-so-many-things-for-you Snow must have interpreted that, and wondered if you or anyone had written anything about that? I love reading all the meta posts you write and share

Thanks so much for this ask! This is such an interesting question. I haven't written anything about this myself and I don’t recall seeing any posts on this, but that doesn’t mean they’re not out there. If anyone reading this knows of a post that addresses this topic, send me the link and I’ll add it on!

As you noted, Baz does resist killing a lot of things in WS, attempting to talk his way out of confrontations with Jeff Arnold's posse, Margaret the dragon, and Lamb and his lackeys. But sun-burned, bedraggled, and starving Baz isn't the smooth talker he thinks he is and either matters do escalate into a fight, or someone else (Shepard) bails them all out. Baz does opt not to kill Jeff in their scuffle, and Simon does notice that restraint: "That should have been the end of the badger—Baz could have cracked it in half like a Kit Kat. But for some reason, he didn't."

Baz also tries to avoid killing the Renaissance Faire vampires as long as he can, despite being the one to argue in favor of attacking them in the first place. He uses spells to try to "contain" the vampires, and only resorts to fire when Simon's life is on the line.

I think what this shows Simon, and us by extension, is that even though he's a vampire, Baz is the least accustomed to violence out of the three leads. He remarks how it feels like Simon and Penny are on "their tenth tour of duty together". Even when he thinks he should act by killing the vampires at the Ren Faire, he still hesitates, he still looks for non-lethal techniques, using fire only as a last resort. When he strikes against the NowNext, he's very clear in his mind that he's consciously surrendering his hold on humanity—and the moral compass he associates with it. "There’s no saving me. Everything I am is already gone. My teeth are like knives. I use them."

(It's very interesting that the only non-food creatures Baz does kill in WS are vampires…there's a lot to unpack there about his internalized hatred.)

While Simon might have spent most of their Watford years convinced that Baz was an evil dark creature planning his demise, the idea of Baz being more merciful than Simon and Penny isn't actually a new development. The first time Simon gets a glimpse into Baz's true character is during the confrontation with the dragon on the Great Lawn. Simon and Penny charge in without a second thought. Baz is the one who intervenes with the intent, not to save the school or the students, but to save the dragon (and also Simon—from opening a portal to hell). Baz's actions in this scene serve to show Simon that fighting and killing aren't the only ways to be a hero.

I think one of my favorite exchanges between Simon and Baz in WS happens as Baz is trying to convince Simon and Penny to accept Shepard's help. Simon asks, "What if he has a gun?" Baz reponds with, "I'll sit behind him and break his neck if I have to." Which prompts Simon to ask, "Do you know how to break someone's neck? I should show you before we get in the car—" Recovering boy soldier Simon doesn't think his boyfriend knows the right way to break a neck and he wants to show him. This is a skill Simon possesses, one he has a lot of confidence in. Killing things is second nature to him by now—even when he doubts himself in everything else, this is one thing that he's sure of. But Baz is a vampire. He's strong enough to kill someone without even trying—strong enough to crack them in half like a Kit Kat. Simon's concern here, though unnecessary, and his immediate offer to help Baz is very Simon.—This is how he shows affection.

In his own words, Simon's love language is killing. That's really fucked up, but it makes perfect sense for him. Let's consider what his relationships have looked like up to now. We have the Mage, who recruited Simon into three wars when he was eleven. We have Penny, who fought by his side in every battle. We have Baz, Simon's fated enemy, destined to kill him or die by his hand. And we have Agatha, unwitting damsel in distress routinely requiring rescue. Every one of these relationships developed around violence. Simon might have misgivings about whether or not he's actually the Chosen One, but he definitely takes that role to heart. From the age of 11 until the age of 18, the greatest purpose he could conceive of was to die fighting to protect the people he loves. This is his part to play—he's the hero. He's the one who fights the battles and slays the dragons.

This isn't an expectation Simon seems to place on anyone else, though—it's his burden alone. He doesn't have faith in Baz to be able to kill someone if the need arose, even though Simon recently watched Baz kill two vampires. This is because Simon doesn't see killing things as Baz's job—vampire status notwithstanding. Killing is Simon's job. (“My job is getting up. My job going down. With a fight.”) He's the one who's supposed to protect and defend and take care of the people he loves. That's how he's been programmed. Before Watford, Simon only had himself to rely on. And then the Mage showed up and told Simon he was the Chosen One, the Greatest Mage, the Power of Powers. He had magic and a special sword and big baddies to defeat. That life made sense to him. He liked having a purpose.

Simon is still moving out of this way of thinking. This is one of many reasons that Baz is such a good match for him. Baz is a powerful magician and a vampire—and if he ever gives in fully to his vampire side and learns to make use of all of his special abilities, he'll be that much more unstoppable. Baz doesn't need anyone else to fight his battles for him. He and Simon work best when they work together, when they trust each other. Their two different approaches balance each other well. Simon does seem to be taking some of Baz's diplomacy and mercy to heart—sparing the goblin outside of his flat and avoiding violence with Smith Smith-Richards. He's trying to choose the more peaceful path, and being with Baz is a part of that.—They chose peace when the world wanted a war.

Hopefully, there won't be a lot of violent altercations in Simon and Baz's future. But trouble does have a way of finding them—or they have a way of finding trouble. They'll work out a compromise they can both live with.

I hope you got something out of these thoughts!

Questions, comments, observations? Send them in! I've been having so much fun with these asks! ❤️

#asks #awtwb spoilers

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morgana-ren · 3 years

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Empty

Another small short for Shigaraki this time. I’m sure it had a point originally. Yandere Shigaraki and his captive darling and him being a real dick about proving that you’re better off at his side under his protection than you are on your own in the cruel, cruel world. After all, better the devil you know that the devil you don’t.

Warnings: Kidnapping, allusions to death, rotting corpses and rot (indiscernible animal), noncon, captivity, Shig being fuckin’ mean as usual, purple prose again, whump I guess? (In my sister’s words “It’s sad. Is it supposed to be this sad?”)

Rating: Definitely E on this one.

You can tell a lot about someone by their eyes.

Eyes are how we see the world, but in equal capacity, it’s also how the world sees us. Someone’s eyes, unlike their mouths, don’t have the same capability to lie. They can be a tell-all when we’re reluctant or can express the things we don’t have the courage to say. The things you can learn can be overwhelming. Sometimes you see too much. Sometimes not enough.

And when you looked into his eyes, it was like there was nothing inside them. Nothing at all.

His eyes were beautiful, even if you couldn’t see any of your own humanity mirrored back at you in your reflection. Stark red and violent, an open wound bleeding contempt for the waking world and everyone in it.

It hurts you more than you care to admit to know that you’re included in the group he believes to be the scum beneath his ruby red shoes.

Even as he watches you now through narrow lids with a casual sense of detachment, every bone in your body longs to see something in those eyes other than carefully concealed disgust. Something. Anything. Some shining light of pride or care or even just simple recognition that you aren’t just a parasite that clings to him for some sick sense of purpose, even if he is the one who has bound you here.

But you know that’s impossible. Even if he wanted to. Even if he had the capability.

Truthfully, you’re not sure what it would be like if he did.

The closest you will ever get is that he allows you to ride his coattails alongside the dirt and mud, slowly shrinking in the darkness of his shadow as you follow behind him and stare resentfully as he eclipses the sun and all the light it brings. It’s impossible to bloom without nurture and care but somehow, like a weed, you’ve found a way to stay alive in an environment that wholly starves you and deprives you of love and affection. He makes you whole. He makes you real.

He makes you sick.

Worms and maggots crawl across a dead something or other, blood matted fur giving next to no indication of what the small mammal might have been when it was living. Small pieces of bone are visible through the rotting muscle tissue, mangled limbs sitting limply beside the body. It’s a tableau of death he wants you to witness; decay that makes your still living flesh crawl.

“That’s what happens,” he states matter of factly, pale, thin finger pointing at the carcass as the other squeezes the side of your waist tight enough to make you seize. “When you die. You rot in the ground and no one will remember or care.”

The sick crawls up your stomach, bile resting uneasily at the low of your throat. You don’t want to look anymore, but you know if you try to look away, he’ll make you look again. There’s still tender bruises on your skin from the last time you tried to defy him, and you know what happens if you make him angry. Your tears mean nothing to him and you swear you see the ghost of a smile twitch on his lips as he watches your eyes well up.

He’s not giving you a simple organic chemistry lesson, of that you’re completely certain. He wants you to know the power he holds, wants you to understand that if he so chose, he could easily expedite the process of your own fragile form’s decay.

He didn't used to be like this. He used to be Tenko. Used to have a soul.

But he sold that soul the day his daddy took a step too far and then overtook the devils throne and used the contract to wipe his hands clean of the blood. Tenko doesn’t exist. He’s made sure you understand that. Any mention of the boy he used to be is enough to get his fingers twitching and ready on your throat.

He watches as you cry with an expression that’s equal parts elated and aroused, not bothering to conceal it from you any further. Desperately, you shove down your sorrow and keep your back straight against him; your pain is an aphrodisiac for him. Wipe the tears from your eyes and cast them bitterly to the floor. Swallow the hiccups and sobs that bubble in your gut and keep a trembling straight face despite your every instinct longing to curl at his feet and hide your face in the dirt.

It’s far too late.

Anytime you concede to the power he wields, it re-energizes him, and you’re his favorite little power source. He’s learned to tune you like a fiddle until you play whatever song he desires and he’ll dance with you until your feet bleed and your body crumples. He’ll step on the arch of your back and use you as a pedestal to reach the greatness he knows he’s destined for and punish you if you falter under his weight.

It’s a mock symbiosis you live in, neither wholly at peace but each one needing the other. You’ve tried to leave, tried to run. He finds you, dragging you back to him kicking and screaming and clawing at the ground. With a gnarled hand twisted through your hair, he tells you how pretty you are, puckers your ruddy cheeks with his nails and kisses you deeply as the tears stream down your face.

‘Don’t kid yourself. You couldn’t survive without me, idiot. Where would you go? Who would take you after I have?’

You hate it, you despise him, but he’s right. Who could ever accept you after you’ve allowed him to have you time and time again? Where in the darkness could you hide that he wouldn’t find you? Even if you did find someone who would care for you after your body had been tainted by his touch, Tomura wouldn’t stand for it. He’d find you as he had time and time again, seek out the source of your light and snuff it out.

“Don’t you care about me?” He’d say, leading you away with hands still stained red. “Don’t you want me to be happy?”

And when you start to cry again, he’d simply wipe them away with a filthy thumb, smearing the grime across your cheek.

“Don’t worry. I forgive you. But don’t do it again.”

Long have you given up your silly dreams of freedom, but still he likes to drive the nail further, either out of necessity or malevolence. So he drags you far from home into places you could never find on your own to show you the pitfalls of life without him. Cold and shaking, you’ll follow wherever he leads you because when he asks you nicely to come, there is no other choice. He’ll take you on a personally guided tour of the horrors of the world, horrors he orchestrates just for you and watch gleefully as your vision tunnels and your view of life becomes even darker and more damning until it’s as cynical and deprived as his own and you cling to him for safety.

Only when your eyes clouded and your outlook bleak will he pull you into the dirt, touching you in places that contrast starkly against the misery you feel and coaxing a bliss from you that makes you bend to him all over again. He’ll kiss you softly as he pushes your face harder against the floor, letting the leaves and the muck tangle in your hair, forcing you to face the maggot ridden corpse not far from your entwined bodies. In this moment, he offers you only two choices: Pleasure or pain? Him or death.

Sometimes you wonder how long it will take before you finally shove him off and opt to let him touch you for the last time, placing five fingers down instead of four and watching as you rejoin the Earth as newly formed ash. And that’s if he decides to be merciful. You doubt he’d give up his favorite plaything so easily.

But apparently you haven’t reached your breaking point yet, because you let his fingers wander lower, arching into his touch and keening against his bony shoulder as it digs into your own. Quickly enough, your clothing is cast aside and he marvels in your flesh like it’s the first time all over again. He leaves you bared before him, vulnerable and quaking beneath his cage of limbs. Brand new bruising patterns over the old in a myriad of colors as his hands grip just a little too tightly for comfort wherever he can reach. He holds you callously down, as if you could run even if given the option, and soon his pants are pulled down just enough over his hips to allow him to violate you the way pleases him most.

He pushes inside of you, stealing your bodily warmth for his own. It’s the closest he comes to removing the mask that is his personality now. His mouth slacks and his eyes close and you can forget, if only for a moment, that the man who has chosen you is incapable of loving you, and equally incapable of letting you go. When you can no longer see your reflection in his apathetic eyes, it’s easier to stomach that you’ll be stuck in the suffocating purgatory of his desire until you perish.

It becomes easier to play pretend that he actually cares.

He goes through the motions and hits all your sweet spots, but you know this isn’t for you. It’s for him. He prides himself on being able to feel whatever it is he wants you to feel, and even though you know damn well he’s manipulating you, it’s almost impossible not to take the tenderness when he offers it. Though you are fully aware he is conditioning you to favor him and his cruelty over the world and its cruelty, you are beginning to relent. You can only struggle against the tide for so long before you have to acknowledge that you will never make it back to shore.

So you’ll allow his kisses, sometimes even returning them when you lose yourself enough in the moment. You won’t hold back the noises he wants you to make because the ones he will coerce from you if you do will be less kind. You’ll lock your ankles around his waist and follow his rhythm because he will get what he wants, one way or another.

No matter how uncomfortable, no matter how filthy, you’ll allow him your body because it’s easier when he asks rather than when he takes. It’s better to try and fool yourself into believing that his are the gentle hands of a lover rather than a captor. You’ll revel in the one simple time you are allowed to mark him, and that’s when your nails dig into his skin, pulling him closer. You’ll croon into him and say his name in a manner that’s genuine, because in the moment, it is.

You’d give anything for him to love you. Not to own you, but to love you. Maybe then, just maybe, you could find contentment in your place in his world.

There may come a day when he no longer wants you. There may come a day when the indifference in his eyes might seem a gift in comparison to boredom or irritation. On that day, you might find yourself wishing that you had been a little more convincing in your act, or perhaps that you had been a little less difficult. Maybe if you had scooted closer instead of running away, he wouldn’t have tired of you.

Or arguably worse, perhaps he’ll never tire of you at all. Perhaps he’ll keep you caged until your wings have lost the ability to fly entirely and even when offered the chance, you’ll cower at his side. Perhaps he already has.

Chances are that you’ll never know, because when he’s finished and your thighs are slick from his completion, he’ll lead you back home and you’ll follow despite there being no tangible leash that pulls you along. You’ll lie in his bed and eat his food and find false comfort in his arms even as your mind screams to the wind for freedom and you pray for some deus ex machina to set you free.

But even as he sleeps soundly and those empty red eyes aren’t focused on you, you can hear his voice in your head.

‘What would you do without me? Where would you go? Who else could love you?’

Maybe he’s right. Maybe it’s better to accept your fate with a sense of dignity than to fight against him and drown.

Maybe this is where you’re meant to be.

#Shigaraki x Reader #tw rl decay #tw noncon #please see warnings for more #yandere shigaraki #smut but saddish lmao #nsft

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life-rewritten · 3 years

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STARTUP - Dosan and Fate (Luck vs Hard Work)

Important to note: The title of episode 9 and 10 was Risk (the possibility of loss) and Demo day (an event where people show their achievements)

Let me first say that these two episodes hurt a lot, for both guys, in Risk we had both revelations of how both men felt like they were played by Fate/Luck. Dosan feels broken by the upcoming consequences from the moments he's felt like a fraud in this game of life, where he was prone to win easily because of always using deceit. His impostor syndrome ate him up inside and made him feel like a lesser person for Dalmi and others. Meanwhile, Jipyeong also felt like a tool that was thrown around by Fate to bring the two together despite his feelings and wants and efforts for Dalmi. Fate seems cruel; it leads Dosan to underserved fake moments, its the wind that becomes a storm Whilst, other people would relish in their luck, Dosan goes to self-hate and self-doubt about what is his work vs what is others. Hence the next title, with demo day which is just putting on a show of your achievements, the sad thing is that Dosan felt like he had no achievements that were really his thus he put on a show using others reputation, identity and memory and so lost himself in the process. Let’s analyse this two episodes and these twos fate further:

DOSAN AND FATE

Thing is its weird because Dosan by Fate has been chosen as the namesake for each of these moments without actually wanting or meaning to be part of them. He's been intended and pushed to follow along, so he gets to his purpose/destiny. He's given one answer in a test paper, the answer not the solution, and he's the real recipient of Dalmis first letter because of the results of that test.

If Dosan were like me, he'd notice Fate was playing a massive role for him and Dalmi to find each other. Like the wind that he was scared of being a storm, it wasn't for that; it was to push him to his destination. Because of the wind blowing in, he managed to get that one answer right which led to his 10/10 (it sparked the solution in his head) but because of that he also won the gold medal award, and he took a picture as the golden olympiad, but then he returned the medal.

But the medal wasn't the point, what Fate wanted from him was already done; the picture, it was a series of occurrence where Jipyeong was watching on tv on his way to the grandmother, where he would be found on the newspaper and ultimately become Dalmi's namesake of the letter of her ideal guy. Fate positioned him perfectly as Dalmi's soulmate but also because Dosan is a good person and he doesn't like to be deceitful he returned back the medal with guilt and even though he should have let it go. He held onto this resentment and failed to notice all his other hard works. So this brings us to the question before I continue; Is Dosan really just lucky, has he not done anything worth praising by himself, is he really a nobody the way he perceives he is? Is it all Fate?

Obviously No. The episodes so far in this show have shown time and time again how good Dosan is at everything he puts his mind to. He's diligent, focused, and always trying to do something to help others. All of his works so far have been because of his creation, not Fate, not Luck, and certainly not others like he keeps saying. He may be pushed into an idea by listening to others. Still, just like that one answer provided him with the solution on the test paper, he is the one who figures out how to put two and two together, and he ends up creating something appealing, useful and needed.

Which is funny because it's like his actual person, he may not see himself like that to people, but to his friends, his family and Dalmi he is;

APPEALING

He's good looking without to having to try; people flock to him, yes they're turned off by his logical way of thinking and his socially awkward mannerisms, but Dalmi knows he's attractive and as she said opening the music box was wonderful. He's a beautiful presence in her life; he brought hope, happiness and joy to her by just showing up. The thing that makes this even more hidden for him is only because he thinks he's inadequate because of his lack of wealth, lack of possessions, and lack of style. He even says to Dalmi (because Jipyeong convinced him that the way he dresses is not right) that's who he is, and tbh what he was wearing wasn't bad it suited him more than the suit.

But the other thing is that there's potential screaming at Dosan because soon we'll get to see him reach that person Fate is trying to mould him into which is the very vision of the guy Dalmi thought her Nam Do San was. So all the things he thinks prevent him from been seen as appealing he'll quickly get it once he starts to work for Alex. Fate has again already sent him the next step for his journey to being the ideal guy for Dalmi. Fate is on Dosans side not against it. But I also want to mention that as much as Fate is involved in making Dosan look appealing to Dalmi it's still Dosans choice, and actions that actually makes him appealing to Dalmi: its because he chose to go to her and show up for her during that time she felt lost, its because he spent that evening with her making her laugh and also it's because of those quirky mannerisms that he thought turned people of him that she likes him (when she's drunk in episode 9 she smiles and says when he goes into a rant about the science vs superstition that that's him, that's Dosan, and she is happy about it because he makes her smile by being himself.

USEFUL

But we continue to see how Dosan is important despite thinking he's not. He's useful, and everyone knows it and has used him somehow. To his friends; He's useful because he provided them a job, he gave them a new dream when it seemed that everything was crashing, he pushes them to learn and be better with their computer skills and he offered them solutions to their problems when they lost their jobs, he's the person who solved the hacking, prevented them from losing money or getting sued and he's the person who gave them a new place to call theirs. He elevated them to his partners. We can argue he's not useful to his family yet, because he's had to rely on them for his start up, he hasn't been able to offer them money, or things like that, however. But he will, and we know he will once Samsan Tech is successful. Dalmi : I mean I can write essays about how useful he's been to her but I'll just be repeating the same stuff over and over again, he's useful to her because he provided her another job by choosing her as the CEO, he also is the reason for why she chooses to chase her dreams and gave up on her other previous work, he helped her be promoted without even knowing it, he's the keyman; he's the most useful to Samsan Tech, his hard work is also useful to her: he improves and stays up all night with her to create a better version of their app to detect Injae's new hand writing, he's useful to her because of how he, teaches her, she understands him and it leads her to finding solutions and answers to what she wants, he's useful because he helps her gain her confidence. In the end of the day he's like a solution to her problems but also he's useful to her grandmother because he made Noongil.

This is where Fate isn't playing an active role because Dosan is always useful, you can say that Fate plays a role with his family, Jipyeong, his nephew, Alex because they provide opportunities that make Dosan even more helpful to the world, Dalmi and her grandmum (the nephews marketing skills brings Alex to him, brings Noongil fame and success, brings 2STO to Samsan Tech, ( helping his friends and Dalmi). His family's kindness helped him to start his company with his friends which will later be useful to Dalmi because she becomes CEO and starts her dreams. Jipyeong is also part of this, because he's the person who actively berates and puts down Dosan but pushes him to prove himself and thus he becomes more useful but Dosan is also helpful to Jipyeong ironically: he's valuable because he manages to find a way to improve Yeongsil and provides use to Youngsil for Jipyeong in a way he hasn't realised yet with Dalmis grandmother, in an ironic way he helps Jipyeong pay his debt to the grandmother because its Jipyeong who brought Dosan to their lives and because of Dosan the grandmother's issue blindness is less of an obstacle.

So Fate uses people, sends people to help Dosan improves his usefulness but Dosan's heart, actions, and hands automatically make him useful. This is why the show keeps on mentioning his hands, they may be empty but they're helpful because of what they can do, what they can create, what they can hold onto. Dosans brains, hands, and just character are what made him already useful.

But here's even more proof how useful his own actions are:

CODA: Samsan tech win CODA competition not by luck but with their hardwork, the reason why Alex is so stunned by CODA is because he created something that was far more needed/better than the others. It had a higher rate of optics and it was seen as something that was incredible.

Noongil: Because he's spurred on to find a way to repay grandmother for introducing the whole letters thing that led him to Dalmi, he finds a way to create something incredibly useful to the world, and also to her, but also Noongil becomes the most successful app not because of money, but because its the most used by people. Again this was Dosan's idea, hard work and plans.

9/10 on the test. I still think its 10/10 because one line wouldn't have been able to provide him the solution for the question but it inspired him to seek the solution. Even without that answer Dosan is still a genius, he's younger and smarter he was able to solve 9 questions out of 10 on that paper. He was still smart, he was still Dosan.

The company hacking issue of Chulsan: He's the one who finds a way into the system where no one else could do so, he fixes the issue and moves on like it isn't an incredible feat. Even Chulsan knows no one else could do that

Handwriting forgery detecting software: He spends the night with Dalmi as others slept working and creating this product, he even after they lose the competition stays up all night to solve the last issues, he makes it become 100% accurate.

See its his own brains not Fate that creates the apps/softwares/opportunities for him to be of use/ to be a genius.

NEEDED

There's a difference with usefulness and being needed. The last thing Dosan feels he's not. But the thing is again Fate plays a role here:

Fate provides situations for where Dosan is needed. Fate is the reason for why he saw Dalmi's grandmother in the clinic; to create Noongil.

Fate is the reason for why his name is the namesake of the letter when Grandmother and Jipyeong needed a namesake (they needed him to help Dalmi get out of her depression, without realising it they needed him: he was the right age, the kind of person she'd like and also there was proof of him in the news paper (a picture was needed at that moment).

Fate is the reason for why Dalmi needed him to show up. He ended up needing to sell his baseball. Fate made his company break down so he was forced to sell those items; it led him to being Dalmi's reliable source. Fate pushed him as the answer for Dalmi when she needed a solution on how to get investors.

Fate made him create Samsan tech when his friends needed a new job, Fate created him as a partner for Dalmi when she needed to be a CEO and stay in the Sandbox, and in this episode Fate again pushes him to tell Dalmi what she needs to hear, so she's more confident.

Also Fate gives him a different solution where he is needed for the success of Samsan Tech if 2STO invests in the company.

There's so much more times in this show where Dosan is needed because Fate/Life has played a role where someone needs something from him, he's been required because of his brains, his physical looks, his hands, his creativity, his support, and his presence/actions. Fate plays the role here, but again it's Dosans automatic hard work, character and choices that make him needed. Before he even knew it, Dosan has always been needed by people, he's essential, he's not a nobody who is a fake impostor, he's the real deal, the final solution to people. Dosans hands are the most needed. Again Dosan is a metaphor for his hands, they seem empty, but they're necessary and useful and vital.

#start up #tvn start up #start up kdrama #start-up #startup #kdrama #kdrama net #nam do san #seo dal mi #han ji pyeong #november #cwg #nam joo hyuk #bae suzy

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jacksgreysays · 3 years

Note

Hi yes mix-and-match anon so if you're still interested in the asofterworld version of the prompt when I said 31 I meant 31 off of your old asw promptlist which translates to asw 621. If not interested this is just a hi glad you're active on tumblr again! I still love your writing!

A/N: Hello, mix-and-match anon! :D

I’ll be honest, I’m kinda cheating here because I’ve been kinda wanting to write this particular fic (or some iteration of this particular fic) for a while but I didn’t quite know how to construct it. However your prompt finally launched me in a direction even though it’s definitely drifted away from the prompt itself so thank you! I hope you enjoy even though it’s still kinda rough and I’ll probably be editing it over the next couple of days to make it more coherent and less of a bloated run on mess.

meeting and incidents unraveled

Haruno Sakura is not oblivious to the blessings and advantages she has in life.

Caring and supportive parents, a stable home life with all of her needs and a majority of her wants met. Tuition at a good school with an intellect and self-discipline to make the most of it. Pretty enough looks to be, if not popular, then well liked among her peers.

She also is not oblivious to the sort of future all of that will give her.

Acceptance at whichever university she chooses, leading to a solid, successful career in whatever field she chooses. Kind and caring relationships paving their way to a kind and caring marriage. A caring, supportive, stable future just as caring, supportive, and stable as her past.

How boring.

But she doesn't have it in her to rebel and break away, grateful for those blessings and advantages for all that they keep her on a track. There's nothing wrong with success and stability. She's not oblivious to that, at least.

She just wishes for something a little bit... more.

---

I love the way your face lights up

when someone says,

"It might be dangerous."

(I am glad we are friends.)

---

(it could have gone like this)

"Do you think she's lost?" Sakura asks her classmates, bringing their attention to the window. Clean up duties after school are hardly fun, so any distraction is a welcome one.

There's a girl standing in the shadow of the tree in the courtyard. About their age, maybe, but the school uniform doesn't match theirs at all. Almost as if she feels Sakura's gaze, the girl meets her eyes and smiles--but surely that's not right. Sakura is up on the third floor.

"What are you talking about?" Tanaka-kun asks, looking out the window and somehow failing to see. Their other classmates on clean up duty also look, but none of them spot the girl either.

"Oh, nothing," Sakura says, dropping the matter immediately. She doesn't want to be known as the weirdo who sees things that aren't there. "I can't believe Honda-sensei assigned so much homework over the weekend!" She deflects and her classmates follow the prompt easily, the new topic of conversation out of her hands.

When Sakura looks back out the window, the girl in the shadow of the tree waves.

---

Magic is better with three.

This is what Sakura learns after discovering magic is real, after discovering that she herself has magic.

Magic is better with three and magic has different Aspects and the different Aspects of magic resonate with different people.

Sakura's magic, she learns, has Aspects of Earth and Healing and Growth. Those are powerful Aspects, she's been told, she can do a lot of good with that even on her own.

But young magicians are put in teams for a reason. Magic seeks balance. The consequences of misusing magic--of overreaching with magic--are extreme at best and horrifying at worst.

Some lessons are learned the hard way.

---

(it could have gone like this)

"Oh, that's Shikako," Ino answers when Sakura finally brings it up weeks after the fact. Ino's magic has the Aspects of Mind and Flora and Adaptation which resonates nicely with Sakura's--perhaps in another world, they might have ended up on the same team, but in this particular world, well. Naruto and Sasuke are powerful magicians, but they're not very good at answering her questions...

"Shikamaru is one of my teammates," Ino continues, easily, "Shikako is his twin sister." Then her voice drops, tone a little more serious, a little more secretive. "Her Aspects never manifested."

Sakura hasn't fully absorbed all the nuances of magical culture, but this at least she can understand: without Aspects, Shikako can never use active magic.

"But she's absolutely brilliant with the academic side and she already has some research projects from the council," Ino says, quick to balance her words, and that along with the thinly veiled guilt is enough for Sakura to put the matter aside, moving on to other questions.

Still, though, it haunts her; somehow, simultaneously, in two different ways:

Shikako had been the one to find her. The girl in the shadow of the tree following a prototype magic seeker and finding a different girl who had never heard of magic, would never have known of the magic within her. Without Shikako, would she still be that magic-less boring girl destined for that magic-less boring life?

Alternatively, if Shikako had manifested her Aspects, would there even be a space for Sakura in this world of magic?

---

Uzumaki Naruto's Aspects are Sun and Belief and Present. Uchiha Sasuke's Aspects are Moon and Ambition and Past.

There was no doubt that they would be put on the same team.

Frankly, the only question was who could possibly match?

---

(it should have gone like this)

"Do you think she's lost?" Sakura asks her classmates. There's a girl standing in the shadow of the tree in the courtyard; about their age, maybe, but the school uniform doesn't match theirs at all. Almost as if she feels Sakura's gaze, the girl meets her eyes and smiles.

When it seems like none of her classmates can spot the girl in the shadow of the tree, Sakura drops the matter immediately. She doesn't want to be known as the weirdo who sees things that aren't there. She deflects and the new topic of conversation swiftly moves out of her hands.

Sakura looks back out the window, the girl in the shadow of the tree waves. Sakura exits the building, the girl in the shadow of the tree looks at her expectantly.

Sakura could ignore her and keep going--she has homework, after all--but even if she doesn't want to be known as a weirdo amongst her classmates, that doesn't mean she wants nothing interesting to happen in her life ever.

She already knows what will happen if she keeps on walking, ignoring the girl in the shadow of the tree. Sakura will go home, maybe stopping by a store or a cafe on the way. She will do her homework and do her chores and take a bath and eat dinner and sleep and do absolutely nothing out of the ordinary because her life is predictable and that's just a synonym for boring.

So Sakura goes to the tree instead.

"Hello," Sakura says, because even if this girl is merely lost and not some guide to a more exciting world surely there's no harm in being polite. "Can I help you?"

"Maybe," says the girl in the shadow of the tree, lifting one hand palm up. Preemptively, she makes her hand glow with a pale, almost distant light. "Haruno Sakura, do you believe in magic?"

---

Nobody is born with fully manifested magic.

Active magic requires agency, will power and vision. Those are shaped by a magician's sense of self, their personality and convictions. Their Aspects.

There's more, of course. But sometimes more can lead to decisions a little riskier than predicted.

---

(it should have gone like this)

At first there is no team for Sakura which is a little disheartening but also, simultaneously, a relief. Almost all of the other magicians her age have been raised around magic, she already has so much to learn and catch up on that it's almost overwhelming! She can't possibly imagine what it would be like being introduced to a new world and then immediately thrown onto a team with strangers.

But her magical peers are supportive in their own way--most of them friendly, all of them definitely interesting. Their teams are well chosen, Aspects resonating beautifully, and whenever she has the free time in between diving headfirst into her magical studies and maintaining her grades at school she wonders what her teammates will be like. If they'll match her just as nicely. If she'll even have teammates.

"Don't worry," Shikako says with a smile, supportive and kind and definitely interesting. Behind her, her teammates bicker as ever--and while Sakura will admit, blushingly, that she was a little infatuated with Sasuke in the beginning, she would go mad if she had to put up with him and Naruto for too long--but Shikako appears as calm and as fond of them as ever.

"I found you didn't I?"

She did, yes. How she found the time in between her own magical research, high-octane team, and normal schoolwork of her own is baffling to Sakura. She's grateful, of course, but still. Sakura isn't even doing half as much and she's barely keeping up!

"Don't worry," Shikako says again, and if her tone turns a little vague, her gaze going beyond Sakura, well. Shikako is a very powerful magician...

"... you belong in this world. Magic seeks balance."

And Sakura nods, because that is one of the earlier lessons she was taught upon joining the magical world. For all the strangeness of Shikako's tone, it is reassuring. So Sakura nods and continues to voraciously consume all she can about this new world she belongs to so that when her teammates do appear she'll be prepared.

Shikako finds Yakumo first--her Aspects of Sky and Art and Acceptance--then comes Isaribi with the Aspects of Sea and Transformation and Trust. And Sakura finally feels like she actually belongs.

---

Magic is not completely a science, for all that there is cause and effect. It's not entirely an art, either, though some talented magicians make it seem that way. There are some parts of it that are understandable, quantifiable and predicable, but there is so much more that is beyond human comprehension. Even active magic which requires, in essence, humanity, can be beyond explanation.

Aspects are an attempt at doing so, but for all that they determine the futures of most magicians, they can't perfectly encompass the whole of a magician's power. Because magic exists beyond words and definitions. Even abstract concepts can fail. Trying to apply terminology to magic? Might as well punch a god in the face.

And so when a girl born to the magical world, even if her Aspects manifest a little late, if there already exists a place for her on a team where she resonates so powerfully, well.

Stars and Determination and Future are close enough...

... for a human, that is.

---

(but it actually went like this)

A few months after an ordinary day in which no interesting strangers showed up to derail Sakura's life, she is on her way home from school. She's thinking about maybe stopping by a store or a cafe on the way, but maybe not. She still has to do her homework and chores before she can take a bath and eat dinner and sleep and do absolutely nothing out of the ordinary because her life is predictable and that's just a synonym for boring.

A pair of boys--about her age, maybe, but in school uniforms different from hers--stop her. They've been looking for her, they say, and while the dark-haired one is handsome enough that she'd normally blush and think it romantic first words, his tone and the fact that his blonde friend is also there ruins that theory.

Also, they know her name and that's weird. She says as much, which causes them to start bickering, and in their distracted state she takes the opportunity to escape.

The next day, on her way home from school--along the same, predictable path, of course--she is stopped by a strange man. Both unfamiliar and unusual. Almost his entire face is covered and his hair is grey and he slouches as if in apology for his height. He asks her if she believes in magic.

She knows a creep when she sees one and runs in the opposite direction. She'll take the long way home.

The next few days she changes up her route going home because, yes, sometimes she's naïve but she's not completely oblivious. It still doesn't really help though, because this time its a trio of strangers--thankfully around her age--but still not great.

"Those idiots," the girl says, flicking her long blonde ponytail in fashionable irritation, "I can't believe they messed up this bad. What an awful first impression, she's already spooked."

One of the boys, dark hair and sleepy eyes, just shrugs and responds, "Well if she's really going to end up on their team, it's not like her second impression is going to be much better."

If they're talking about who she thinks she's talking about she's not exactly pleased with them either.

The other boy, reddish hair and round cheeks, looks her in the eye and gives a friendly smile. Despite the situation, something within Sakura relaxes a little. "Would you like to try out that cafe? Our treat," he says, and its not an entirely unwanted offer. She doesn't have too much work waiting for her at home and she deserves something nice.

"Okay," she says, and lets them pay for her anmitsu while they tell her about magic, the magical world, and how she fits into all of it.

---

Humans are not the only beings capable of magic.

---

(but it actually went like this)

Sakura is worried and overwhelmed and frustrated and she knows she shouldn't complain because she does honestly enjoy magic and the world its brought her into and she wouldn't dare go back to that ordinary, predictable, boring life.

But she wishes that her teammates weren't so abrasive and prickly, that her teacher were a little more engaged. It's been months already since she joined Naruto and Sasuke's team. She doesn't know why they're being so difficult when she hasn't even done anything wrong!

She's headed to the training grounds but in a wandering path, if she's honest. She's normally a punctual person, but Kakashi-sensei has never once been on time and she can just as easily not talk to her teammates here as she can at the training grounds.

The part of the city she's in isn't so urban as to have skyscrapers, but in this district the buildings are all at least several stories and practical, blocky metal and cement. The looming structure made of curving wood and stone looks more like a tree than anything else.

There is a girl standing in the shadow of the tree that isn’t. She meets Sakura's eyes, smiles, and waves.

Sakura has been studying the magical world. Knows about the dangers young magicians can face in a world that wants to eat them alive. Knows that nice exteriors don't necessarily mean kind hearts.

But she also knows, somehow, that if she walks away now she will never see this girl again.

"Hello," Sakura says, because there's no harm in being polite, "Can I help you?"

"Maybe," says the girl in the shadow of the tree that isn't. "Haruno Sakura, do you believe in destiny?"

---

Gelel: Light, Unity, Creation.

Jashin: Void, Suffering, Destruction.

Magic seeks balance.

Magic is better with three.

---

"If you could," the girl begins, a wistful sort of smile on her face, "tell them I said its not their fault. It was entirely on me. I overreached and had to face the consequences."

"What did you do?" Sakura asks before she can swallow down her curiosity

Shikako says, "Some lessons are learned the hard way..."

At first, Sakura thinks that's all she will say, a dismissive sort of answer, but then Shikako continues:

"...but perhaps not all of them. Hopefully you’ll learn from my mistakes," she says with a small bitter smile, gaze going beyond Sakura.

"I foresaw danger and thought I could prevent it,” Shikako says, almost a confession. “But the more magic I had, the more danger arose, until I found myself trying to make a deal with the Shinigami."

If any of the horror Sakura feels is showing on her face, Shikako doesn't let that deter her.

"Unsurprisingly, the Shinigami is very good at making deals and somewhat overworked." Shikako's smile is wider now, more real. "I asked him for the world where all of my friends and family lived. He said I should make it myself."

"So now I'm Death's apprentice," she shrugs, almost casual about it even though the very concept is giving Sakura a headache. "Shikabane-hime, the Lady Cosmos, the Space-Time Witch, whatever," she lists, rolling her eyes, impossibly blasé about her various titles.

"It's not so bad, I guess. But I do miss my friends and family."

Finally, something Sakura can wrap her brain around! "Do you want me to tell them that, too?"

Shikako blinks, almost surprised, before she tilts her head. "Maybe? I mostly meant that, well... I know in this timeline I’m just a stranger, but it's nice to see you again, Sakura. And just in case you had any doubts: you were always destined for greatness."

A/N: If you couldn’t tell from this mess, it was supposed to be more xxxholic/CLAMP than Madoka Magica (which I haven’t actually watched) but from what little I know of the latter, I wouldn’t blame anyone for getting that sort of vibe. Don’t worry, it’s kinda a good ending. I mean, Shikako literally made a deal with multiple gods in order to make it so.

edit: I have come up with a title/tag for this

“meeting and incidents unraveled”

#jacksgreyson #anonymous #prompt response #wrting #fanfiction #could should actually fic #a softer ask box #dreaming of sunshine #naruto #xxxholic #sakura haruno #shikako nara #meeting and incidents unraveled

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novantinuum · 4 years

Text

Contact (Ch. 3/4)

Fandom: Steven Universe

Rating: T (No TW this chapter, but keep in mind this involves major character injury)

Words: 3.0K~

Summary: The first (and with any luck, only) time it happens, he’s almost 16.

Chapter Summary: Amethyst, Greg, and Pearl struggle to keep it together.

So this fic is Steven and Amethyst centric, set during the 2 year time skip. It’s also kinda in conversation with An Indirect Kiss, and explores the idea of what could happen to a hybrid with a cracked gem. This chapter has no specific trigger warnings.

If you read this and enjoy, I’d greatly appreciate your support through reblogs here, or kudos/comments on AO3 as well. AO3 link will be provided in the reblogs. Thank you! <3

Chapter 3: The Fountain

Discounting extreme circumstances, (such as diamond mind control or flaws in incubation), Gems are designed to have perfect memory.

It’s one of the many aspects of their culture that surprises humans, and all too often one that makes them jealous. But Amethyst doesn’t understand why there’s anything to be jealous about. Sure, maybe it means she can learn a skill once and be done with it, or hold on to cherished moments in crystal clear recollection, but it also means that in some part she’ll always be haunted by everything boring, everything bad. It’s an unavoidable facet of her life: that every passing second of all those years she spent alone in the Kindergarten waiting for orders she’d never receive is forever etched into the baseline circuitry of her gem like ink on a human’s skin, that she can remember every rotten fight she and Pearl ever had with picture perfect clarity, each instance ending with her feeling like absolute garbage for days and days. That... no matter how hard she tries to escape the untimely reminders... deep down, all those selfish, immature versions of herself she wishes she could dump in the past forever are still a part of her coding.

In comparison, humanity has it lucky. In time, they forget. They move on. Even the most traumatizing memories seem to eventually fade by the end of a life, leaving behind only feelings... only scars... just whispering impressions of those experiences.

She desperately hopes Steven takes after his dad and not Rose in this aspect.

The four of them exit the ship in a hurry, Amethyst still helping Greg carry his son, and Pearl advancing ahead to check on the state of the water supply.

As always, Rose’s fountain is a time capsule. The shrubs and trees surrounding the inner pool are tame now, a stark difference from the first time she had the untimely pleasure of visiting, but the cold, staticky sensation rising within her as she steps off the boarding ramp of the Roaming Eye with Steven’s legs secure in her grasp is the same. Amethyst only barely holds back a shudder. She recalls the disorientation she felt in this place so vividly she may as well be cracked all over again.

The world glitches violently within her sights, ashen sky and charcoal stone phasing into each other. Left is right and up is down, hard light stretching out from her broken gemstone like clawing, yearning fingers... forming and reforming, taut at one moment and pliable at the next, and her words are jumbled and backwards, and deep within she knows this with an intense clarity but she can’t help it, she can barely even think, she ca—

“Amethyst, no more roughhousing, you'll exacerbate your crack!”

“Doog m’I, gnihtyna ro yrrow t’nod.”

“This isn't right... the fountain isn’t running.”

“WHY CAN’T I CRY?!”

The thin little circuits of light running throughout her projected body jolt in remembrance of that afternoon, indelible phantom pangs of a sliver of time she can never forget for anything. With a dull huff and a grimace, she adjusts her hold on the boy she’s long come to see as her baby brother. Best to not become lost in the flood of the past when she’s got a mission to uphold. That’s... that’s all this is, ch’yeah? A mission. Just a mission. Retrace your steps, meet your goal, get it done. Easy-peasy. No problem.

Ignore the stakes. Ignore everything that isn’t right here and right now. Ignore the sharp cries of pain that escape his lips intermittently, that stab at you so deep you feel like you should be poofing.

“Amethyst?” a voice comes to her softly. “You okay?”

But don’t ignore Greg. Whatever you do, don’t ignore the people around you, don’t lose yourself to that awful disorientation again, don’t make everything worse, don’t push, don’t roughhouse, don’t—

“She’s been cracked like this before,” Pearl explains as she walks in a frantic pace ahead of them. “And we Gems, well... we remember things vividly, shall we say.”

She scoffs, still inwardly cradling her gem in response to what happened in the Roaming Eye. Sheesh. It’s so typical of her to launch headfirst into other people’s business before she can open her own dumb mouth to explain on her own, huh?

“Wow,” she bites back on jerk instinct, “thanks for the announcement, Pearl. ‘S not like I could’ve said it better myself, or anything.”

The slender Gem snaps upon her bait with a piercing, annoyance-filled gaze, and frankly, Amethyst would’ve doled out another snide comment in return had Steven’s hoarse voice not chosen that moment to hitch in panic, derailing all other thoughts in an instant. Her arms grow just as stiff and locked as the muscles in his calves, be it from sympathy or as a mirror into the bitter past, to a time where she suffered just as much as he is now.

The weight of this realization settles like lead at her core. Her favorite guy in the whole galaxy is in earth-shattering pain, and she’s wasting precious seconds of his life taking cheep shots at Pearl?

Not the time, she growls at herself, shedding her petty feud to the wind. Focus!

“Uh, y’guys? I-I think it’s happening again!” his father says, exhausted arms quivering under the strain of carrying the boy for so long.

“Damnit,” she hisses, and follows Greg’s lead on easing his body closer to the ground before the worst of his fits arrive. This time, Steven lacks the energy to mask his broken sobs, split between desperate gasps for breath. Nothing, not gentle whispers or even his father’s calloused hand delicately brushing through his curls, seems to soothe his anguish now. She doesn’t consider herself much of a crier, but she’s close to tears herself just watching him. As she glances up to check how far they are from their destination, she catches a flash of ivory and blue disappearing between the shrubbery. “Pearl!” she bellows, her shout echoing across the entire garden. “Slow down, would ‘ya? He’s seizing again!”

Her features contort as she whirls around to glance back, unmaskable stress now nearly tearing her apart at the seems. She jabs her finger at the narrow path between the shrubs. “But we’re almost—“

“Fine, fine, never mind! You’re right!” Amethyst blurts, waving her off. “You go run ahead. Just...”

Her voice grows thick as she roughly wipes away the moisture accumulating at the corner of her eyes. She forces herself to drink in the stark reality of their immediate situation, taking note of the injured teen’s hiccuping cries as he recovers from his latest seizing episode, as he continues to ride through the unimaginable torment of a cracked gem left too long without healing... his dad, kneeling amongst dirt and stone, no doubt pressing harsh indents into his knees as he freely offers his lap as a headrest, panting with exhaustion, absolutely wrecked with anxiety and terror despite doing everything within his power to mask it for his son’s sake... and her. Her. Amethyst, Facet-5 Cut-8XM, a Gem who’s become downright traumatized by this place, by this precise scenario, barely able to retain a handle on her own emotions and eidetic recollections to where she actually feels she can be of reliable help.

“I don’t think we can’t follow you anymore, ‘kay?” she says, hoarse. “Greg’s tired, Steven’s flat-up in tears, and... an’ this place is startin’ to really mess me up, y’know? S-so...”

She tugs at thick clumps of her hair as the thought trails off, fingers fruitlessly searching for a clue that might direct her out of these darkened, murky waters and back to shore.

But as always, if you put in the work to look for them, there’s leading lights scattered amongst the mist in places you’d never expect.

“Bring the fountain to you,” Pearl completes, gaze softening within that moment. She nods in wholehearted acceptance of her duty. “I’m on it.”

Thank you, she mouths in earnest, the dull buzzing running throughout her form dropping to a blessed minimum as she— lips parted— watches her longtime friend disappear between the shrubs and vibes, every arc of her movement accentuated by unerring grace. Amethyst flushes, and mentally pushes such sentimental distraction away.

Right. Okay. One problem solved. Back to Steven.

The hybrid in question is cradled in Greg’s care, his head laying in the man’s lap and his limbs twitching without repose. She hasn’t checked the state of his gemstone recently, but given the minutes ticking away since his injury and his steadily deteriorating state, she’s almost too scared to look. Greg continues to whisper thin reassurances to him, wiping the sweat off his dampened forehead.

“He’s getting really warm,” he comments, stress coating his tone, and damn does she wish she could do something, anything, to help, but there’s simply nothing they can do without that healing water.

As the trio waits for word from Pearl, inevitable waves of dread collapsing upon them heavier and heavier with each uneven heartbeat that passes, Steven’s wobbly gaze falls upon her.

“Ah... Amethyst,” he gasps, barely able to attain a full breath.

She snaps to attention, clasping his hand tight in hers. “Yeah? I’m here, buddy, I’m here! Whatever you need.”

“I’m- I’m s-suh—“

Sorry, she realizes he’s trying to say, remembering how he struggled earlier trying not to stumble over the ‘s.’ She swallows hard.

“You don’t gotta be sorry for anything, ‘kay?” she says, rhythmically rubbing the back of his palm with her thumb. “It’s my fault, this is just- I should’ve been looking out for you, I should’ve protected you and I failed. All this is on me.”

“B-but I—“

To her utter horror, his next words are so slurred in his disorientation they’re all but unintelligible. All attempts on his part to communicate are then broken as he gnashes his teeth together and writhes in his father’s arms. Greg’s brokenly calling his name as he loosens his hold, vying with every slice of will he has left to help him not hurt himself further, help him find any shred of relief, but it’s of little use. The boy is all but unresponsive right now. She tries her best not to internalize the sound of his broken wails, least they be carved upon on her gem forever. Her form flickers in the height of her distress, hard light veins pulsing with unparalleled intensity.

The memories are impossible to dodge now. Those fragments strike like barbed arrows.

The cliffside. The fall. The rock. The audible crack as her fate is sealed. The immediate static rising in her mind as she stands up, only halfway alert, feigning casual indifference as her body quite literally begins to fall apart. I’m fine. I’m fine. The worry, the brambles, the panic, the fountain, the strained tears, c-can’t think can’t feel, can’t —

“It’s empty!” Pearl cries from the distance, voice shrill and laced with panic.

Her eyes split wide as she snaps her head towards the ivory Gem’s call, dread clasping ahold of her like a physical hand to her gem. “What??”

She emerges from between the shrubbery to enter the clearing again, emphasizing her doom-spelling news with a sharp flourish:

“I said, the main fountain is empty!”

“Empty?" Greg repeats, all the blood draining from his face. He squeezes his injured son’s hand with the grip of a man lost at sea, clutching to a life preserver.

But while he freezes upon processing this information, Pearl can’t seem to stop pacing. Her lithe fingers twitch rapid fire as she passes back and forth in front of them, brimming with an infinite supply of nervous energy that’s befitting of their perilous situation.

“Stars, the water we left behind after healing all those corrupted Gems must have completely evaporated...” she mutters to herself, clutching at the lapels of her jacket as if this garment is the last tangible thing holding her form together. “I knew we shouldn’t have left it open to the elements!”

“But then- what the hell are we supposed to do now?!” he says, voice breaking in all his fearful anguish. His gaze snaps from her to Steven laying prone in his lap. “My only son is in agonizing pain! He’s- he’s got a high fever! We can’t just give up! There has to be something!”

“I- I’ll check in the inner chambers!” Pearl says with dawning realization, one last ray of hope penetrating the glossy surface of her gemstone as she jabs her index finger into the air. “Surely there has to be some remnant of Rose’s healing magic left, right?”

Steven shudders in his dad’s arms, sloppy tears streaming down his pale cheeks.

“Tluaf ym lla si siht...” he blubbers, and for whatever reason something about his unintelligible speech seems... different from before. Her brow creases as she searches the infinite wilds of her stored memory for answers, for patterns, anything that might provide the slightest hint of clarity in this fraught situation, and sure enough...

Dawning truth stings like a fist to the jaw as she recalls her own experience and realizes his slurred words are far more than unintelligible; this injury has scrambled his mental processes to such a degree that his speech has slipped backwards. And that can only mean... Lip quivering, Amethyst pushes through the dread tugging at her soul and yanks up the hem of the teen’s shirt. The deep gouge running diagonal across his gemstone has lengthened— edging ever closer to the edges of the pentagon— and threatens to partition it in half. Pearl’s soft “oh no” and Greg’s strained sob tell her everything she needs to know. The consensus is clear: time is not their ally anymore.

“Pearl, HURRY!” she yells, pointing towards the fountain’s heart.

Her fellow Crystal Gem doesn’t even pause to comment on the matter, and instead, water brimming at the corner of her eyes as she spends her last second in their company lovingly gazing upon the boy as only a surrogate mother could, hurriedly disappears between the shrubs to seek out Steven’s last chance of salvation. Left alone in the throes of their mutual panic, Amethyst and Greg place comforting hands upon his head as— huddled together on the cold stone of the fountain’s doorstep— they’re assailed by the terrifying possibility that his life may very well slip between their fingers before Pearl can ever hope to return. Gone, in an instant.

Shattered.

Her shapeshifted stomach churns at the mere thought, like she’s finally eaten something her hard light system refuses to break down. She clutches tight at her own gem, gasping as she rides the sharp wave of distress. In all these years, though every fight and struggle... she’s never seen someone shatter before. Fresh, hopeless tears cut a raw path across her cheeks as her hand trails across his overheated forehead.

Stars, not today. Not him, please not him.

The teen barely restrains a hiccuping sob as he cries out again. “Thgir gnihtyna... od t’nac I, syug yrros m’I!”

Greg’s breath hitches, gaze briefly trailing from his son’s strained face to his still-exposed gem. Whirling to face her, he roughly grabs ahold of her shoulders, his expression downright pleading now. “Pearl... Amethyst, if she doesn’t find anything, if the fountain’s empty, please tell me there’s somewhere else we can go, something else we can do...!”

She frantically shakes her head. “I- I don’t know, we—“

Desperately, she wishes she could give him reassurance. Desperately, she wishes Rose had thought ahead, secured a sum of her essence in another location for redundancy’s sake, but the truth is a bitter pill: they’re all but useless in this place, stripped of their agency and forced to rely on the mercy of the dead. If they can’t find any remnants of Rose’s healing tears here, then Steven’s gem will splinter into shards and he will die. She clenches her teeth together, once again feeling those phantom pains rip through her form, faint impressions of a near-tragedy long abandoned to the past, it’s over, it’s over, get a hold of yourself, keep it together, keep it together, keep it to—

“Yaw siht leef annaw t’nod I- I, deracs os, os m’I, Dad, deracs os m’I... I!”

The boy’s father clutches his hand in his, arm trembling just like Steven’s frail body as— after his long, valiant attempt to mask it for everyone else’s sake— he finally crumbles, failing to swallow his fear.

“Oh- oh god,” he chokes over his words, eyes puffy and red, “I’m... I’m gonna lose him, aren't I? He’s gonna—“

“Eid annaw t’nod I—!”

And then, at the apex of the storm, Amethyst finds what she’s always been searching for: their leading light, burning faithfully through the dark.

“I’ve got it, I’ve got it!!” Pearl cries from the near distance, voice growing louder with each and every syllable. “I’m coming!”

She emerges from between the shrubbery like the first ray of light breaking an eclipse's totality, clutching a thin vial in her grasp. At first glimpse the vial almost looks empty, but after the ivory Gem drops to her knees beside them in the clearing and pops the cork stopper out, sure enough— it holds a few pink-tinged drops of fluid, Rose’s coveted magic. And all they need is one.

They all watch expectantly, blood and hard light alike pulsing through their forms at a unified pace as Pearl tips the vial, allowing the tears to careen downward towards its mouth.

When the single droplet finally slips from the edge of the glass, it hangs in the air right above his cracked gem for what feels like hours, scattering the ambient sunlight across their tear-stained, expectant faces like the dizzying patterns of a kaleidoscope. In an intentional echo of all the once-alien experiences she’s long come to cherish and genuinely respect, Amethyst— despite having no lungs of her own— takes a deep, anticipating breath, her mind running through every what-if as she waits. The futures where he dies. The futures where he lives. The futures where... where she still has a chance to tell him how much he means to her. Where she’s not too late. Not a failure. Futures where they can laugh again, where they can finally begin to move on.

Time creeps forward. The healing tear plummets downward, directly towards his center facet. She exhales.

Contact.

#su #steven universe #amethyst #greg universe #pearl #su fanfiction #my writing stuff

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honeyhellsbells · 4 years

Text

First love - Jumin Han fluff

This isn’t anything requested, but I liked the Jumin first date headcanons quite a lot and decided to write a little something about it. I hope you guys like it :)

Jumin was head over heels, utterly in love. Admittedly, everything seemed a little rushed but it had not taken much to make him certain when it came to his feelings. He was a serious man that demanded respect whether or not he outright said it, from the way he dressed to his posture, everything screamed dominance. And there she was, his precious little sweetheart, who never hesitated to reprimand him if he was too harsh, guided him when he did not now how to cope with his emotions and also didn't hesitate to jump up on his back when they were in private to be carried around.

If commoner life was confusing to him, she was nothing short of an enigma. How she was so well versed in aspects of his life he never thought about and absolutely couldn't understand aspect that were clearly obvious to him, it never ceased to amaze him. She enjoyed some luxuries he was happy to provide, and some she vehemently rejected, things like jewelry she didn't deem necessary or spontaneous trips to another country which he was rather fond of.

But they always managed to find a compromise, still always trudging around the more expensive side of life. Tonight things were supposed to be different though. With his measurements and credit card in hand she had gone out shopping for the day with the goal to make him blend in with her world. With the colorful and sometimes dirty world that smelled of cotton candy, greasy food, bad movies, spilled drinks and freedom.

Having been contained to his secure, comfortable and suffocating bubble all of his life, he was practically bouncing on his heels, checking his clock minute after minute, counting down the seconds until she would finally return to him. Elizabeth the 3rd twitched awake on her pillow next to him and raised her head towards the noise as the elevator pinged and opened, revealing his beloved partner. She was carrying several bags, most of them plastic unlike the sturdy paper he was used to and beaming from ear to ear.

„I cannot wait to see you in the things I got for you. I'm sure you're gonna love it.“ Knowing her, he would either look incredible by the end of this little fashion show, or would just want to throw himself head first into the fireplace. She revealed clothing item after clothing item, having made sure to give him a variety of things to chose from, most of them in muted and dark colors, some of them outrageously colorful. „You just need to try them on so I can see if I need to take something back. And so I can make sure that we match when we go out tomorrow.“

Her thoughts often mesmerized him for the simplest reasons. Was it common for people to just buy things that might not fit only to bring them back if they don't? Did couples often match their outfits? He was shook out of his train of thought when she just straddled his lap where he was sitting, realizing that he wasn't paying attention to her anymore. His hands instinctively flew to her backside where her skirt had slipped up a dangerous amount to make sure she didn't somehow fall off the sofa again.

He chuckled a little when she began to press kiss after kiss to his face, purposefully missing his lips and asking if he was listening to her between each of them. „You just never cease to amaze me. I'm sure that I will love whatever garment you have chosen for me.“ He doubted that the moment his eyes fell on a borderline neon pink polo shirt but he still trusted her decision. „How about you help me put together some outfits to try on?“

In the end they picked three separate outfits they were both happy with, all three of them with jeans in different shades of blue, one of them even distressed to the point of being ripped, paired with either a shirt and cardigan or a dress shirt. „My my...I might not be able to let you go out like that.“ She was on her tip toes, looking at him from over his shoulder as he observed himself in the mirror. „What do you mean?“ He jumped a little as her hands went straight to his butt, giving him a pat before wrapping her arms around his middle, pressing herself against his back as closely as she could. „The ladies and gentleman out there might just jump your bones if they see you looking like that. You're just too handsome I'm afraid.“ He let out a little chuckle at that before turning in her embrace to hug her against him.

„And yet I would not have anyone by my side except for you.“ They shared a chaste kiss, Jumin was still a little hesitant when it came to showing affection that went beyond hugs and cuddles, but slowly and surely they worked their way forward to get him more comfortable in their relationship. After a relatively simple dinner for Jumins standards and a few glasses of wine, he called his personal chauffeur Driver Kim to escort her home. While he had an interior designer prepare a guest room just for her, most nights she spent over when it had gotten too late, she had ended up in his bed anyway. He never really minded and found himself feeling far more rested than if he slept alone.

This night however they were bound to sleep in their own beds, only to spend the entire next day together. As the CEO in line it wasn't as easy for him to take a day off and if he did, he did intend to enjoy it to it's fullest. And tomorrow that would mean to spend a day as a commoner, roaming the shopping districts, eating cheap food from street vendors and maybe go to some sort of club to end the night, whatever tickled her fancy he would endure.

Jumin woke up feeling giddy like he never had before and when he usually dreaded leaving his bed on his days off, today he couldn't get out and into the shower fast enough. Sure, they had set a specific time at which they would meet, but keeping himself busy made the time fly by much faster. He choked down a small breakfast, texted her about his outfit choice, got some work done and finally he could head to the elevator to where she was already waiting in the lobby.

His heart skipped a beat when he laid eyes on her, dressed in a feminine version of his own outfit, with a skirt instead of pants, the same sweater in another the contrasting color and with the same beanie that was resting on his own head. „You look so cute!“ She gushed when she rushed towards him, taking a quick around his form to look at him from all sides. He grinned as she nearly bounced on her heels in excitement, much like he was feeling and pinched her cheek before taking her hand to lead her outside. „Not as cute as you.“

His excitement soon dampened a little when they approached the subway station. He had heard many things about the subway and none of them were good, causing a slight nervous ache in his stomach to build. Sure he knew that two of his personal bodyguards were not too far away, so perfectly blending into the crowd that not even his girlfriend, who knew the two men personally, had noticed them, but the feeling persisted.

„I take the subway almost every day. You're gonna be fine Jumin.“ She quickly pecked him on the cheek before she turned back to the ticket machine, feeding it a few bills for two small paper rectangles that she pocketed for him. They spent the few minutes of wait time studying the subway map, something he had never really paid attention to.

The actual train ride was almost worse than he had imagined. The smell of too many people in too little space made him wrinkle his nose, he didn't want to know what kind of diseases the pole he was forced to hold onto was carrying and he was quite sure that some of the hands that had pressed against his butt were NOT accidental.

A plus side however was that he had every excuse to hold onto his companion, who had to stand very close because of the limited space and had nothing but him to hold onto. The public cuddle time was new but not unwelcome and yet both of them were more than happy to finally leave the cramped metal contraption.

„Hm, what are we going to do first...“ She clearly wasn't in any hurry, strolling about with his hand back in hers until she had an idea, gently tugging him along. „There's some stalls around the shopping district where I live, I think you might like that!“ He sure did like it, the tiny crowded booths, filled to the brim with odds and ends, cheap jewelry and decorative pieces, to clothing and even food.

They walked up and down the street, looking at the booths with less people and returned to the others on the way back. „What about this one?“ She held a delicate bracelet in her hands, braided strings with beads and tiny bells. They jingled softly as she shook it even a little. „They have different colors so we could both get one!“ He wasn't too sure about wearing a bracelet with bells but decided to humor her and allowed her to purchase two of them.

It was an odd feeling around his wrist but watching her delight as he copied her shaking her wrist to make the bells ring made it worth it. They strolled around for about two more hours before resting a little at a small café for some much needed food and drink and by the time they had decided to leave, it was already dark outside.

„Oh we have to hurry now, I wasn't watching the time!“ She urgently tugged at his sweater as he put his jacket on, back to bouncing on her heels in impatience. They rushed by the many people heading to the nearest bar and club, almost losing his bodyguards in the throng, but soon the crowd thinned out and he saw her destination.

Once they had made their way into the park, the crowd became more dense again, but they were not heading to the center of attention anyway. The further away they got the darker it became and he quickly gave his bodyguards a sign that they would be fine for now as they climbed a hill that oversaw most of the park. „I've been coming here for a while now, they have concerts every weekend and from here you have the best vantage point and still nobody is ever here.“

They stopped at a large tree with some flat ground in front of it. She produced a blanket from her backpack, spreading it out on the ground for them to sit on. „Let's get comfortable, the band should start soon. I really like them, they play here rather often too.“ It just seemed so surreal to him, having grown up with everything he could wish for, never having to ask for anything and yet here he was, cuddling with the love of his life sitting on the ground of a park to listen to a band play in the center of it. And it was the happiest he had been in a long time, if not at all.

He had often wondered how his life would turn out, would he marry the daughter of another rich businessman, never really feeling loved despite ending up fathering an heir or two? Would he end up like his father, marrying woman after woman to get the affection he so craved but never received?

No.

He had made his decision weeks, if not months ago, but never quite sure when the right moment would present itself. Even now he felt the hard little box digging into his chest in his jacket pocket, screaming at him to finally overcome his nerves. Having her cuddling into him, her legs thrown over his to get as close as possible, he finally made up his mind. There was no need for grand gestures, not with her, nothing about their relationship was as traditional as he was taught to idolize and he was quite content with that. She looked up in confusion as he shifted and he couldn't contain his smile as her eyes grew large the moment she saw the small box in his hand.

„I have been thinking long about how I would go about this, I am so used to grand proposals that I kept thinking up occasions most fitting, writing up speeches in my mind but no scenario really felt right when I thought about you, about us. It didn't took long into our relationship for me to know that you are the one I want to spend my life with, no matter what my family or society might say.“

Her breath hitched a little and he tilted her chin up, wiping away one of the tears that had already started to fall from her lashes.

„But being with you made me realize that their opinion is not important in any thing that concerns our relationship. I was told all my life that I would end up like my father, but you showed me that even I am not only capable of loving someone but being loved as well. I intend to give you many more gifts than this ring, but I don't think there is anything greater you could ever give me than your love. I know that this relationship is not perfect, nor will it ever be but if it means that I get to be with you even a moment longer I will move heaven or hell to make you happy. I cannot think of anything that would make me happier than sharing not only everything I own with you but my name as well. Will you do me the honor of becoming my wife?“

He had barely finished his question when she suddenly brought him in for a kiss, her cheeks still wet from happy tears, portraying all the emotions she didn't trust her voice to carry. „Of course. Of course I will!“ They shared some more kisses, more passionate than ever before until their lips were swollen and their cheeks red. The ring fit perfectly, of course it did. It was a simple ring, gold with a small diamond in the middle, engraved with both of their names. They both marveled at the thin band for a few more moments, sharing the occasional kiss when the band announced their final song for the evening.

„May I have this dance?“ They helped each other up and embraced each other for the slow song until Jumin lifted her a little to stand on his feet, swaying and spinning the both of them along to the melody until the last chords faded into the night.

#scenario #imagine #headcanon #mystic messenger #mysme #jumin han #jumin

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ghostsray · 4 years

Text

kin assigned fenton pt. 3

(compared to the two previous 8k-word chapters, this one is really short...also i kind of made myself sad while writing this so oops)

(pt 1/pt 2) (ao3)

summary: danny remembers a fond memory uwu

Danny wished he could starve.

That was a sentence most people didn't say. But even as he ate the cereal bar he had stolen, he knew he didn't need to eat it. It didn't give him any energy or quench any hole in his stomach. It just went...who knows where, because it wasn't the other end. He hadn't needed to use the toilet in days. Worst of all, the food didn't even taste the same--everything he ate tasted like ectoplasm.

Not that that stopped him from eating it.

"Dude, what's wrong with your skin?" a man said. Danny looked up and found the person...the human...standing in the bus stop next to him, squinting at his face.

Right--he had lowered his scarf to free his mouth to eat. Danny covered his face again and mumbled, "Skin condition."

The man didn't question him. Most likely, a blue-skinned, slightly glowing teenager wasn't the strangest thing he'd seen.

Okay, so Danny was pretending to still be a human. The hoodie he wore did a good job of covering his white hair and most of his jumpsuit. The sunglasses he wore hid his glowing eyes. The scarf covered the rest of his unusually-colored face.

So what?

Dying was what Jazz would have called a traumatic experience. Danny was desperate to cling onto any semblance of his old life as a human, or he would have lost it. So, he walked and rode buses instead of flying. He breathed even though he couldn't suffocate. He ate and drank even though he didn't starve or become thirsty. At night, he lay down and closed his eyes in an attempt to sleep but always failed because he didn't need to.

He didn't need to do any of those things that kept him alive because he was dead.

He missed being a human. He missed being able to starve.

There was the rumbling of an engine as a bus rolled into view. The doors slid open. The man climbed aboard, and Danny followed.

He picked a seat toward the back of the bus and sat down. Logically, he knew he would have reached his destination days ago if he had simply chosen to fly, but he couldn't help it. As exhilarating as flying was, it was foreign...inhuman. So, he had spent his days walking and stopping to rest even though he didn't need to because he never felt exhausted.

He leaned his head against the window, making sure not to accidentally phase it through, as the bus began to drive. The road outside was dark, the stars hidden behind clouds. The landscape passed by in a blur.

His destination was, of course, in Wisconsin.

His parents were not the only ghost experts in the human world. He remembered visiting their old college friend when he and Jazz were little. Uncle Vlad was as knowledgable as Mom and Dad were in ghost matters, but he was less trigger-happy.

There was one time years ago when their family came to Wisconsin for a ghost expo, and Uncle Vlad offered to let them stay over. Danny must have been four or five years old. He considered himself a big boy, and for that, he insisted on sleeping in his own guest bedroom in spite of his parents' reluctance. He regretted that decision when he woke up in the middle of a night from a frightful nightmare.

Shivering from the image of a ghost trying to eat him, he left his room and attempted to search for his parents. Unfortunately, the mansion was so big that he quickly became lost. After turning another corner and being greeted by a wall of Packers merch but no bedroom door, his bottom lip trembled. Somehow, a deep part of his five-year-old soul was certain that a ghost was out to get him.

"What are you doing here, little badger?" Vlad's voice spoke, and he looked up to find the man standing before him.

Danny didn't want Vlad to think he was a scaredy cat like his classmates in kindergarten did, so he didn't tell him he was scared. Instead, he stood as straight as his little body could allow and said truthfully, "I want Mommy and Daddy."

"Mommy and Daddy? Sure, I was just on my way back from the potty. I can bring you there." Vlad pouted and added, "But tell me, why do you want them? I thought you were a big boy now. That's what you said."

"I'm not scared! I..." he fidgeted and said, "Mommy and Daddy always protect me from ghosts."

"You're worried a ghost might hurt you?" Vlad said, eyebrows raised. Danny nodded.

"Ghosts are bad."

Vlad smiled. He crouched until he was at eye level with the young boy. "Did Mommy and Daddy tell you that?"

"Yes. They know a lot about ghosts! And they hunt them down so they don't hurt us!"

"I'm sure they do," Vlad said. "But you know, I also know a lot about ghosts."

"Are you a ghost hunter, too?" Danny asked, tilting his head. He never saw Vlad carry any weapons like his parents did. And he didn't wear a jumpsuit either, which his parents insisted was an important part of their job.

"No, I'm not. And do you want to know why?" He leaned forward and whispered, "I know of a way to stop ghosts without weapons."

Danny widened his eyes. "How?" he asked curiously.

"It's easy..." He suddenly thrust his hands out in a scary gesture and said with an exaggerated growl, "You scare them before they scare you!"

Danny jumped at Vlad's scare--then laughed. "That can't be right!"

"Oh, it is," Vlad said with a very serious expression. "Do you want to know how I'm sure? Because no ghost ever got the best of me."

"Really?" Danny said, still not quite believing him.

"Of course. Ghosts are only scary if you let them scare you. But if you scare them instead--well, they'll leave you alone!"

He grinned, and Danny couldn't help but grin back. Vlad then stood up and asked, "Do you still want me to take you to your parents?"

Danny thought about it for a second, then puffed out his chest and said, "No. I'm not scared!"

"That's the spirit," Vlad said and ruffled his hair.

That single conversation was not enough to end his fear of ghosts, of course. But for that night, at least, he didn't have any nightmares when he went back to bed.

Later that week, when they had to return to Amity Park, he asked his parents why they didn't visit Uncle Vlad more often. His mother smiled and explained that Wisconsin was very far away.

"Then why don't we move?" he asked.

He vividly remembered a brief moment where Mom looked uncomfortable, though he didn't understand why. However, Dad quickly answered for her by saying, "I, for one, like our house in Amity Park. Don't you?"

Danny grumbled and let it slide. But as they went to pack their things, and Jazz caught him without their parents, she said in her stuck-up big sister tone, "It's obvious why Mom and Dad don't want us to spend time with Uncle Vlad. He's crazy."

Danny frowned. "No he's not."

Jazz rolled her eyes. "He is. You're just too dumb to notice."

Danny didn't understand why she said those things. He thought she was being mean. After all, Vlad was a perfectly rational man!

It was not until years later that he thought back on their encounters and realized Jazz told the truth. Danny always focused on the nice memories he had with Vlad, but there were times when Vlad went from calm and collected to agitated and paranoid in the blink of an eye. Sometimes Vlad changed personalities so violently that it was almost as if two souls lived inside him. Those memories always scared Danny, so he kept them in the back of his memory.

Still, despite how crazy Vlad might have been, Danny still thought of him fondly. Recalling their encounters brought a smile to his face--such as now.

He was sure there must be a way to reverse the switch between him and Phantom. His parents, the leading ghost experts he knew, were too biased against ghosts to listen to him. But maybe Vlad could help him. He had all of their expertise and none of their irrational hatred toward ghosts.

So, here he was, on his way through Wisconsin.

There was a kid in the seat in front of him, watching him over the seatback curiously, probably wondering why he was dressed in a way that covered his glowing face. Danny ignored him and continued gazing out the dark window.

All of a sudden, a chill gripped at him and caused him to shiver. He knew temperature did not affect him as a--you know. He widened his eyes just in time to see his breath turn to mist.

He turned his head away from the window and stared to the front of the bus. the inside of the vehicle was nearly empty, carrying only a few passenger beside himself. The bus driver was a regular, unimpressive dude. Outside the bus, through the front windshield...

Danny saw the glowing figure approach before the bus's headlights did.

It moved too quickly to observe clearly, but it looked like a person riding a motorcycle--and they were headed right at the bus. The bus driver jolted and turned the wheel hurriedly to avoid the crazy biker. The bus lurched violently to the side. The kid in front of Danny screamed and gripped his seat.

Whether they avoided the biker or not was unclear (though Danny doubted it mattered), but now they faced a bigger danger. The bus drove off the road and into the uneven terrain. Soon, everyone was screaming as the vehicle toppled down the hills and into trees, threatening to land in a wrecked heap.

The only one who wasn't affected by the movements of the bus was Danny. he was untouched by gravity and inertia. As he watched the scene play out before him, he knew he had to do something--anything--to help these people.

He stood. He placed a hand against the shuddering window and focused, sending his energy across the bus's frame and through the passengers inside. A few of them gasped at the sudden sensation that overtook them. The bus stopped--right in the middle of a tree.

Danny ignored his self-placed no-flying rule and, still keeping his hand to the wall, moved up until he pressed against the roof. He grunted and pushed upward. The bus was actually pretty easy to lift since Danny kept it intangible from gravity, but he did feel his energy drain as he maintained the ghostly power (hey, turns out he can grow tired).

He carried the bus back to the road and set it down. As soon as he removed his hands, it returned to normal, and he landed on his seat, feeling tired for the first time since he left home.

Everybody stared. Many of them backed away from him. The kid in front of him gawked until his mother pulled him away from Danny and hugged him to her. Even the bus driver gaped.

"What are you?" the kid's mother demanded.

Danny couldn't blame them. Even if he didn't just show an obvious display of ghost powers, his hood and sunglasses had fallen off in the action. Everyone saw how glowy, how unusual, how ghostly he was.

They stared at him with fear.

"I'm..." He wanted to say he was a normal human, but that wasn't true, was it? He was a ghost--a monster. Everyone looked at him like one, and everyone was right.

He trembled. His bottom lip quivered. Suddenly, he felt like he was a lost five-year-old again, looking for his parents.

He wished he could disappear.

Several gasps sounded, and he looked down and realized he literally did disappear. Great. He didn't even think about turning invisible; his ghost powers simply worked according to his emotions.

Well, since he was already gone from view....he ran across the bus to the doors and phased through them. He didn't look back until he made it to the woods on the side of the road. Finally, he dropped his invisibility and collapsed on his knees.

There were many things he hated about being a ghost, but in that moment, he realized the cruelest thing was that he couldn't even cry. He had no tear ducts to make his eyes water. The most he could do was whimper and whine while the emotions boiled inside him.

He wasn't sure how much time he passed that way, but eventually, he stopped whining long enough to hear two voices speaking nearby. His breath misted over. He gulped, then gingerly picked himself up and crept around a tree to see two people--two glowing people--arguing next to a motorcycle.

"Ancients, I said I was sorry, okay?" one of them, a guy ghost with gray skin and blonde hair, said. "I thought we were invisible!"

"You could have killed them," said the other, a girl ghost with wild green hair and blue skin. Her red leather jacket stood out beside the guy's dark gray one.

"Why do you care if they live or die?"

"Excuse me for not wanting a bus load of vengeful spirits after us!"

The guy held up his hands placatingly and said, "Fine, fine! I'll be more careful next time! In my defense, we haven't been to the human world in ages."

The girl rolled her eyes. They landed on Danny, and she paused. "Hey, who're you?" she asked.

The guy followed her vision and saw Danny. Danny squirmed under his glowing eyes. He almost considered turning invisible again, but he didn't know if that would hide him from them.

The guy grinned and said, "Another ghost, eh? Did you come through the portal, too?"

"How did you get past the ghost hunters?" the girl asked. "Those were awful to sneak past."

The guy smirked. He wrapped an arm around the girl's shoulders and said, "Good thing you have a boyfriend who's excellent at sneaking, right?"

"Sure, one who forgot to turn invisible while driving head on toward a bus full of humans," the girl grumbled and rolled her eyes, though she didn't make a move to remove his arm from her.

Danny stayed silent, watching them with wary eyes. The last time he'd encountered a ghost, it didn't go so well. But these two didn't seem to have any malicious intent toward him.

When Danny gave no response, the guy smirked and said, "What? Worried we might attack?" He turned up his palms in a peaceful gesture and said, "Don't worry, no territorial disputes in the human realm. We're all tourists here."

"I'm not a tourist," Danny said before he could stop himself.

"No? What are you here for, then? Hoping to fulfill some unfinished business?"

Danny clenched his jaw. He wasn't sure what made him decided to talk to these ghosts. Maybe he was tired of keeping everything to himself. Maybe he didn't want them to act like he was one of them. But he held his head up and said, "I won't stay a ghost for long."

"So you are moving on?"

"No," Danny said. "I'm going to be human."

For a moment, the ghost couple was speechless. Then the girl gave him a pitiful look while the guy barked with laughter. "Yeah, right. Let me guess--you read about some elixir of life in Ghostwriter's library, and now you're going to find it and revive yourself? If that stuff were real, someone would have found it ages ago. Just give up and accept that you're dead like the rest of us."

Danny clenched his fists. "What if my body is still alive?"

The guy raised his eyebrows. "Well, now you're just delusional."

"He must be a new ghost," the girl said, still eyeing him sadly. "The poor guy's in denial."

"I'm not in denial," Danny argued. "And I'm not delusional! My body really is still alive."

"Oh yeah, wise guy?" the guy taunted. "Then how the hell are you a ghost?"

"It's...it's complicated," Danny told him. "Someone else is in my body. It was an accident with the portal. We switched places."

"Yep, definitely delusional," the guy said, shaking his head slowly. He steered the girl to their motorcycle and said, "Come on, we don't need to waste time with someone in denial like him."

"I'm not in denial!" Danny said. But the ghost couple had already ridden on the bike. He caught the girl giving him one last sorry look before the vehicle revved into action, driving down the road without any smoke.

Danny was alone. He swallowed down a lump in his throat and ignored the tremble in his chin. "I'm not in denial," he whispered to himself.

Because a person in denial would not pretend to be alive when he's not.

Danny bit down his emotions and turned to the road. The bus had recovered from its shock and driven off without him (or maybe they wanted to get away from him). The road was empty.

He took in a deep breath and let it go. He wished that did anything, though. Not needing oxygen meant breathing exercises did little to assuage his nerves.

Still, he sighed and faced the long road. And he walked.

#Danny Phantom #separate fenton and phantom au #angst #fic #fanfiction #fanfic #writing #mine #danny fenton #vlad masters

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dotthings · 4 years

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All right let’s do this. SPN 15.10. “The Heroes Journey.”

Look, I have now watched Jensen tap-dancing. A whole extended musical number of Jensen Ackles, dancing. WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO DO NOW, ALL RIGHT I NEED TO GET A GRIP. WRITE SOME META. HERE YOU GO.

How very Joseph Campbell of you, Dabb. Except the irony here is it’s not Joseph Cambell style hero journey exploration that’s being highlighted here, those big mythic gestures--the call, rejection of the call, acceptance of the call, reckoning with the father and so on. This ep tapped into a different heroic theme that has a lot in common with superhero narratives. It’s not the powers, it’s not the mask, it’s not the really kevlar or mecha suit or the cape that makes a hero a hero. It’s who they are as a person when all that’s stripped away. Who are they without that. This ep gave me some some S6 Buffy vibes, or it symbolically pre-serum Steve Rogers’ed Sam and Dean.

It showed their courage and determination and refusal to give up even though they no longer has the same literally God-given, chosen ones blessed luck. It’s not that they didn’t know how to lock-pick or throw a punch or dodge a punch or what to do about monsters any more. They are still highly trained, but none of it was working. I think Chuck didn’t just remove the blessed luck, he gave them an extra zap of extra rotten luck just to be a stinker.

But they didn’t give up and this episode yet again makes it clear--Chuck can fiddle with environment around them, even do stuff directly to people, but he can’t make them feel, he can’t give them feelings they don’t have, he can’t control their thoughts. We started the season with Dean’s doubts about what’s real and whether anything he and Sam have been through has meaning, given the reveal of Chuck as puppet master, but Dean throws down here with a battle cry of it wasn’t all Chuck. It was us. The blood, the sweat the tears.

That’s how this storyline works and the show keeps indicating that’s how it works. They are not without free will. They don’t stop being themselves. They didn’t do everything because of Chuck. They made choices despite the manipulations around them, it was still all them, just trapped in Chuck’s rat maze.

Huh and just an aside maybe Dean really listened to Cas’s speech about that earlier this season, not just to Sam’s, ya think? Considering we’re past the deliberate Cas erasure stage, then we went through the reluctant begrudging actually speaking to each other stage, then we had the pretending not to look at each other yet constantly looking at each other stage, and then we had the ice melting and things are still a mess but the deep freeze is ended. All through that, Dean was thinking about Cas’s words. About how they made their own choices. And “we are.”

This ep self-referentially deconstructed SPN’s own conceits about Sam and Dean. They’re supposed to be these “sweaty overwhelmed hunters” (Kripke) and supposedly regular guys. And yes that has been a massive part of the appeal to me all along, I was never a big fan of Sam and Dean as Chosen Ones or the only guys who can do this. The point is they’re regular guys who are trained and honed into the warriors they became. But here’s the thing, SPN never really did that. The grit was soft focus, Sam and Dean cloaked in fantasy. Perfect teeth, perfect hair, perfect manicures. We saw some dirt, some blood, but they’re also the highly marketable leads on a CW genre urban fantasy horror tv series. They didn’t get colds, or cavities, nor did Baby ever break down. I know Baby is an amazing car but if we’re going to talk realism...she would break down at least sometimes. Have they even so much as run out of gas and had to walk 10 miles?

So there has always been this heroic glow around them, an idealization the show itself used, the way they’re filmed and shot. And that’s the thing about many hero narratives...would we really want it another way for some things? Some hero narratives are more genuine gritty. SPN...never was. It occupied a liminal space. It’s gritty...only so far. They’re just regular dudes...not exactly. Not just in the lack of everyday people realism, but their entire story, their whole existence, was revealed in S4/5 as engineered by Heaven. Surely it can’t be a shock the reveal at the end of S14 their whole existence...as engineered by Chuck. SPN already ripped that open, the difference is how far up the power chain the manipulation went. Turns out it went up to the deity CEO not just squabbling angels. They were Special. Chosen. Destined. Play your roles. The Boy with the Demon Blood. The Righteous Man. I have always been a lot more interested in heroes who aren’t the Chosen Ones (although I am a big Buffy fan). I liked that Sam and Dean were regular guys. Which...they are. With the god luck, without the god luck, they are.

They’re no less themselves, they’re not less Sam and Dean, they didn’t retroactively lose their free will, because of the reveal of Chuck as puppet master. They didn’t stop being Sam and Dean because the god luck was taken away. This ep captured that spirit, through the lens of an off-center, comedic meta episode, but that right there, is Sam and Dean’s spirit.

Isn’t it interesting, the ringmaster came up with a marketing hook for Sam and Dean in the fight cage, “The two of you against the world,” when what actually ends up happening is Sam and Dean go all out to save themselves, but it doesn’t actually work, and their friend Garth saves them. Because along with the whole thing about it not being the mask or the costume or the powers that define superheroes, there’s the thing about how heroes need their friends, sometimes they need an assist.

Sam and Dean, alone against the world...ok in some respects, SPN works within that trope, the mythic appeal of that dynamic, part of the hazy glow of fantasy that surrounds these characters, but what have we seen on SPN time and again, and again, and now again in its final season, where it’s a theme shown even louder and it’s been pretty loud for a while.

I can't do this alone Yes you can. Yeah, well, I don't want to.

Think that was just the brothers, off into infinity, no, while that’s a great Sam and Dean moment, that was just the opening notes of this song, it began there with them and kept expanding to include them and their friends and their family. It was all there right from the start. First it was John, not just Sam and Dean. Then it was Bobby, not just Sam and Dean. Then it was Sam, Dean, Bobby, and the Harvelles. Then it was Sam, Dean, the Harvelles, and Cas. Then Team Free Will. Charlie. Garth. Jack. Eileen. Or the Wayward Sisters who, like Garth, saved Sam and Dean because even heroes aren’t 100% perfection who can always save themselves, sometimes they do in fact need some help.

Here’s something else the ep showed us. While Sam and Dean have done all they did with this extra god chosen good luck, all the other hunters took the risks and did a dirty, terrifying, exhausting endless job without being blessed the same way by Chuck. Chuck didn’t care about them, not like he does about Sam and Dean. They are brave and needed and necessary too. Oh I see you, SPN. I see you.

Dean’s utterly sappy soft look watching Garth dance with his wife, continuing on that theme of that longing for...something, someone.

Can’t go wrong with Sam and Dean and babies. Big Sam holding his namesake baby Sammy. MY HEART.

Dean holding baby Cas with Cas’s namesake being a supernatural creature with an intense stare was cute.

Baby breaking down just feels so...emblematic. Because I agree that a show that runs this long will have trouble sustaining itself indefinitely and will decline, it’s an inevitable tv thing. I don’t agree it’s in decline right now or that the quality has sunk. In fact S15 is reminding me repeatedly why I love it so much to the begin with. It’s calling me back in. I wouldn’t be seeing this through to the very end if the story wasn’t pleasing me and it is not only satisfactory, it’s startling me how much it resonates for me now, speaking as someone who’s had some highs and lows with engagement with the show and has criticized it and gotten frustrated, tried to quit, did quit, came back, several times.

This season is also reminding me how deeply I love Sam and Dean and their sibling bond, after some seasons that alienated me from that bond for various reasons, but S15 is...it’s me bursting into tears at random moments because of a Sam and Dean Thought. It’s like that. What even is this. I don’t know I just hope it continues.

#Sam Winchester #Dean Winchester #Sam and Dean: a work in progress #meta #Supernatural #spn #supernatural spoilers #garth fitzgerald iv #with slight nods to ships that i didn't insert the canon did #you'd have to be really REALLY intense about your denial to see what the show keeps pointing towards #the something...someone....

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whoelsereadslightnovels · 3 years

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IN ANOTHER WORLD, BUT WITH FRIENDS

CHAPTER 2: TURNING IN THE QUEST AND WHAT ACTUALLY HAPPENED

“Come on guys we’re almost there.” Puvi said as he looked towards their destination.

*****

Yellow Wood Town was a small sized town with a population of slightly over 13,000 people. The city was named so not only because of the town being surrounded on three sides by the ‘Yellow Wood Forest’ which was filled with Yellow wood trees but also because the town walls to the houses of the residents were made of yellow wood, which made the whole town look yellow.

At the entrance of Yellow wood town, two slightly robust looking guards wearing light plate armour were standing guard. “Hey, I heard that they were probably coming back today.” The first guards said, turning lazily towards his companion. “They? Oh, right. I wonder if those kids succeeded. I hope they did not encounter any big trouble.” The second one replied. “Well you’d usually only find low levelled beast types in the outer parts of the forest so I doubt they had gotten into trouble.” The first guard replied.

The first guard was a middle aged man that had been a guard for over 10 years while the other one was a recently appointed guard. He was only 24 years old.

“You are probably right.” With that the second guard looked turned away and started looking around to observe for any abnormalities again. “Hmm? Speak of the devils, I think I see them… and it looks like they succeeded too.” The guard looked over and smiled faintly as he saw three young men walking in their direction. One of them was carrying a wolf bigger than himself on his back.

“Hey Uncle Tom, brother Bin, how is duty today, anything interesting happened while we were gone?” The lean young man wearing leather armour and full body tights underneath shouted out. “Nothing unusual has happened lately, other than you boys appearing of course.” Uncle Tom said. “We shall go to the guild and turn in your quests then. Good luck you two!” Yimso smiled and said to them as they walked into the town. “Well then.” Both guards nodded at them.

__In the guild hall__

Note: I hope you know what a guild is. It would save me the trouble of explaining it.

The guild hall was circular with a diameter of 100 meters. Of which, over half of the room was filled with tables and chairs, and armed men and women almost taking up all the seats, and a reception table in the middle with 2 young women and a young man seated behind it, talking with the people coming to them to pick or submit their tasks. And there was a big board with tasks put up on it while people would pick a task from them and take it to the receptionists.

These people who complete tasks from the guild and receive rewards were called ‘Adventurers’ in this world. Yimso, Puvi and Titus had also registered themselves as adventurers and taken several quests in the past few weeks. They decided to become adventurers because of ‘certain’ reasons, if you get what I mean.😉

At this moment, Yimso and his party entered the guild with the wolf they had hunted. It had been slightly over a month after they had found themselves here and they had taken in several quests from the guild. The latest quest they had chosen was the type where they needed to hunt a certain monster or group of monsters.

[CURRENT QUEST]

Type- Monster Subjugation

Description- There have been a few [Elite] Rank monsters seen in the outer perimeters of the Yellow woods which are rare to see and has disturbed the balance in the forest. Slay at least two [Elite] Rank monsters to help bring back balance.

Task Reward—

Coins- Depends on the level of monster killed

[Wind Blade] x1 Skill Book

Status: Completed. Go and turn in your quest to receive your reward.

Yimso walked over to a free receptionist and placed the wolf carcass on the table while Titus pulled out a 1 meter rat like monster they had hunted before the wolf out from a sac. “Hi Miss Tess, we want to turn in our quests. And we will also be taking the wolf carcass.” Saying so, Yimso fished out the quest paper and handed it over to her.

“The reward for completing the quests has been totalled to 470 silver coins for the wolf and rat monsters, 280 silver coins for the normal monsters, 20 silvers for the herbs and the skill book for [Wind Blade], Mr. Yimso.” The receptionist with long braided hair smiled as she handed over the reward.

After giving the receptionist a slight nod, they made their way into an inn close to the guild. The inn had four floors and had a big sign board that had ‘Iron Inn’ written on it. It may sound like a weird name, but there was a reason for it. The owner of the inn had a blacksmith friend who had helped build this inn and so most of the inn was built with iron, making it very sturdy. In exchange, the inn owner had built a shop for his friend to use in the inn itself. The adventurers and travellers liked to stop here most of the times and it was the best inn in town.

The three of them booked a storage unit from the inn counter to keep the wolf carcass in and headed to room no. 94 on the fourth floor, which is where the biggest rooms are located.

After entering the room Yimso immediately collapsed on one of the beds and closed his eyes, not even bothering to remove his chainmail armour. Even he was exhausted after carrying the wolf all the way to the inn. Not to mentioned he had even tanked the wolf on his own. His consciousness slowly drifting away, he thought about the first time they had fought a monster. Thinking a little farther back, he thought of the time before they found themselves in this unfamiliar but also strangely familiar world.

Note: Time for a flashback.

__Over a month ago__

_In a restaurant on earth_

Four young men were talking and joking and laughing together with a table filled with various foods and drinks between them. They were in the 2nd and 3rd years of highschool.

“Hey I heard three of our seniors got married this year. Damn, time sure does move fast.” A thin young man said with a smile. “Sigh, I agree, but I think it’s too early for them to settle down and start families though, tsk.” Titus said as he clicked his tongue to agree to the thin man.

“Heh, you are just saying that because you haven’t found a girlfriend yet.” Puvi sneered at Titus. “Chock, cough, cough. You… .” Titus chocked on his glass of beer upon hearing Puvi say that but couldn’t find the words to refute him so he just looked at him begrudgingly.

“Hahahaha!” Everyone burst out in laughter at this point.

In the midst of their laughter, they didn’t notice the tiny tear in space that had appeared right above them, slowly growing bigger. They were all sucked into the special tear which spat them out outside this town. The guards said they found the four of them unconscious outside the town without any signs of injuries. They also didn’t look like bad people either, so they had carried them back inside.

__Back at the inn__

“Oi! Get up you bastards, time for dinner!” At around 7 pm, they were woken up by a familiar voice.” The three of them groggily got up and looked towards the thin man that was yelling from the dining room. “You… cooked?” Puvi said while shifting his hair that almost covered his eyes. His eyes twitched as he looked at man wearing an apron. “Of course I did, why?” The man questioned. “…” Puvi didn’t reply but instead looked towards Yimso who was taking off his armour. “Uh… nothing, let’s eat.” Puvi said.

At the dinner table, the three of them were inspecting the plate of food in front of them with questioning eyes. It was curry and rice, according to what the man said. It looked and smelled exactly like normal curry but recalling all the other times he had cooked something, even before coming to this world, they were unsure of whether to eat it. “Well, looks ‘normal’ enough.” Yimso was the first to speak. He took a spoonful and put it in his mouth and froze. Just then, Puvi and Titus too put a spoonful in their mouth and froze.

*WHOOSH*

Suddenly, all three of them rushed to different directions. Titus ran to the kitchen sink, Yimso ran to the bathroom and Puvi jumped out of the window.

*Blerg*

Sounds of gagging and puking could be heard.

“Oh come on guys, it can’t be that bad can it?”The thin man wearing the apron rolled his eyes as he put one spoonful of the ‘food’ in his mouth. “…” He immediately froze too.

*WHOOSH*

The next moment, he too jumped up from his chair and rushed towards the sink. He pushed aside Titus who had just finished puking and started puking himself. “Dimmit Hikivi, what the heck did you put in it this time?” Yimso shouted as he came out of the bathroom. “Ugh… it can’t be helped can it? I’m a dark mage and am supposed to work with poison and curses so ‘maybe’ something got mixed in the food, hehe.” Hikivi said as he smiled bitterly. “You were asleep so I thought I’d try cooking today.”

They ended up having dinner at the inn’s diner that night.

__After dinner__

After they had their dinner the four of them returned to their room. The entrance would lead to the bedroom which was 10 meters long and 4 meters wide with 4 beds and 4 wardrobes. The bedroom connected to the dining room which was attached to the kitchen, to the living room which was 6 meters on each side and to two bathrooms.

They then decided to check their earnings from today. “We got 770 silver coins from the quests we turned in today. That’s the most we have ever gotten in a single trip.” Yimso said. He was quite happy with their gains. “Let’s give the [Wind Blade] to Titus then. It’s faster than the [Fire Ball] spell and it will increase the chances of our plan succeeding.” Puvi chimed in. “Okay.” Yimso then took out two intricately decorated books with ‘Wind Blade’ written on it and handed the green one to Titus.

“Thanks.” Titus thanked him and immediately started tracing the edges of the book, observing it carefully. Immediately after, a blue box with ‘Do you want to learn [Wind Blade] skill now?’ appeared in front of him. He ignored it and continued checking the book out. “And this one is for Hiki.” Yimso handed out the purple book with ‘Binding Chains’ written on it to Hikivi. “Thanks.” He smiled and accepted the book.

After checking the covers of the skill books, they both clicked the ‘Yes’ button that had appeared in front of them and the skill books flickered for a few moments before stopping.

Then they both immediately spoke out at the same time. “Status.”

__End of chapter 2: Turning in the quest and what actually happened__

*Thank you for reading

#action #fantasy #multiple protagonist #game elements #novel #light novel #original work #amature author #adventure #in another world but with friends

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albyfm · 4 years

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˙✫*ﾟ YUNGBLUD , DEMIBOY , HE/THEY :･ did you hear alby miller is joining the cast of exposed after their habit of facilitating drugs at events, festivals & awards shows was revealed ? the twenty-three year old bass guitarist with 500k followers is trying to clear their name . they've become known as the resident juvenile in the mansion , and it's clear that's spot on because they're quite - recalcitrant & - stuck in their ways , but also + charismatic & + outspoken . you know they're heading to the confession booth if you hear lonely boy by the black keys blasting , most likely talking about how they're more than disheveled outfits of black leather & denim, talking way too candidly to the press, smashed lenses of paparazzi cameras that got too close, an unmistakable mischievous grin & an inability to express real feelings.

hey !! finally getting around to posting this. you can call me aries, i’m 23 and in the bst ( uk ) timezone. my pronouns are she / her. i’m a little lost art school grad with a lot of student debt, a taste for red wine and an unhealthy obsession with arctic monkeys. not gonna lie, i whipped this kiddo up specifically for this rp so i’m still getting used to them, but hopefully with this intro you’ll get a feel for what they’re about. without further ado, here’s alby—

trigger warnings & disclaimer: mentions of hard drugs, alcohol, anger issues, destructive tendencies. my intention writing this intro was not to glamorize or romanticize these things in any way but if anything i have written comes across that way, please lmk!

smash that ♡ to plot or hit me up on discord @ chaotic aries#5793 !!

‘and this is how it starts...’ ( the basics )

name: alby fox miller age: twenty-three gender: non-binary ( demi-boy ) pronouns: he / him & they / them date of birth: may 24th 1997 zodiac: gemini sun, pisces moon, aries rising orientation: pansexual occupation: bassist for drive like i do career claim: ross macdonald ( the 1975 ) genre: alt-pop, pop-rock

‘it’s the way we are, we were smoking by eleven & knocking ‘round town...’ ( background )

you’re born in 1997, in the north west of england. wilmslow, to be exact. a quaint and affluent town, just south of manchester. the family you’re born into is a comfortable one. not quite living lavishly, but not at all struggling, either. your parents both work in business out in the city. you go to a good school. but... all is not how you exactly want it to be.

see, your parents are quite pushy. they expect you to live how they want, rather than how you do. at the all boy’s academy they enroll you in as a teenager, they expect you to pick what they deem as intellectual subjects, such as foreign languages, further mathematics and computer science. there’s a focus on you becoming someone that makes a lot of money, rather than someone who is happy.

but you’re... not the kind of person that can be molded so easily. you’re a fairly happy-go-lucky kid, but also a rebellious one. your parents’ strict ways of trying to force you down their chosen path, only encourages you more heavily to choose your own.

at fourteen, you meet the guys. lennox, jovi & jasper. they’re some of the only kids at school who can be bothered to be around you, with your high energy and bolshy attitude. really, they’re the only people who embrace you for who you are. they encourage your weirdness and outspokenness. it’s not long before you find yourself wanting to do everything together. it’s not long before the four of you are inseparable.

from there, you fully detach from everything your parents want you to be. you embrace your individuality. you also find the courage and bravery to come out to your parents as non-binary at the age of sixteen. there’s not a single person’s opinion that you’re afraid of, or even care about.

it’s not all rainbows & sunshine, though. you struggle somewhat with anger issues, and a bit of depression. you’re also practically addicted to getting into trouble: picking fights with bullies at school, selling weed & pills to your friends around town, underaged drinking... you get the gist. though you keep your fears internal, you sometimes worry you’ll get nowhere in life.

so of course, the second the boys are talking about starting a band, you’re all in. imagine if you made it big someday? wouldn’t that be sick? you’re immediately drawn to bass guitar, and use a month’s worth of saved up pocket money to pick one up from the big music store in the city. thankfully, you pick it up quite quickly, because before you can even realize it, things are getting so... real. by sixteen, you don’t feel you have the option to stick around at school for sixth form, because drive like i do is already playing local venues and working on its first album.

you’re just seventeen when the album is released. somehow, the climb to fame is faster than you could have ever imagined. it seems like yesterday you were still watching bass tutorials on youtube in your bedroom and practicing in your friend’s garage after school. first is some notoriety across the uk, but before you know it — boom! global stardom. the fame is a heavy weight for someone so young to carry... but fuck it, it’s gonna be fun, and you know it.

you’re twenty-three now, and days are gone of pipedreams formed in your parent’s shoebox room. you split your time between manchester, london, and LA — and that’s just during rare moments of downtime from your world tours. your band is 4 albums in, and whoever hasn’t heard of you might as well have been living under a rock. is it narcissistic to think like that? maybe, but you don’t care. this is rock n’ roll, baby. this is the life.

naturally, all eyes are mostly on your very outspoken frontman. he’s controversial, but the media can’t get enough of him. as for you? to them, you’re... the band’s problem child. while you argue that your behavior is no different than that of your friend, he’s got the lead singer charm. they don’t seem to like you as much. why? well...

‘drink, fall, spew...’ ( troublesome tendencies & exposed secret )

you never really coped as well as you acted like you did, did you? while you were grateful for the fame, everything was... a lot, and it was all at once. you didn’t even get the chance to process it.

take four twenty-somethings and add constant prying journalists, paparazzi, and constantly full schedules into the mix. and why not pepper in some typical rockstar vices, too? alcohol, drugs, parties, throwaway sex. things are destined to get a little rocky. though you tried at first not to show it to your fans, your destructive behavior soon got the better of you, and you became known to drunkenly lash out at paps, smash cameras and storm out of interviews when the questions got too personal.

this all came to a head when you were caught on camera several times distributing acid tabs, cocaine and mdma at events, music festivals & awards shows. the press gave the band a pretty bad time over this, and given the other members’ controversies and lennon’s similar link to drugs, it wasn’t a good look for any of you.

it didn’t matter that you had a side to you that was good, pure. that you were always kind and loving and down-to-earth towards your fans and friends. you were a bad seed, and you wound up on exposed with the rest of your bandmates. hopefully you can prove there’s more to you than what the media shows...

‘oh & you say, i’m such a cliche...’ ( personality )

immm gonna rush thru this section & write less formally bc those other parts too me WAY too long

basically a literal toddler. loves a laugh, loves a good time, but get on his bad side and he WILL throw a tantrum

it’s mainly people like press & paps he lets his anger out on. the band’s fans and people he’s close with on a personal level know he’s a good person underneath it all

loves a bit of mischief / rebellion / drama

king of hiding insecurities....

literal softie.... like... who allowed this binch to be so soft. he’s so open about how much he loves his friends (particularly his bandmates) and will platonically kiss and hug and love people all the time, particularly on the show bc he’s trying to show the cameras his softer side dfjghdfdfg

so excitable like WHERE does this kid get all his energy...

( tw drugs ) will probably struggle a bit on the show without access to drugs, but ( tw addiction mention ) he has never really been addicted or dependent on them, just a frequent user.

outspoken as fuck, has no filter sometimes oops

very flamboyant, in line with the general aesthetic of his band but also on a personal level. sports a kind of soft gothic/punk/early 2000s emo look. always paints his nails and wears makeup etc

sleeps around a lot but has never really been able to find a lasting relationship, has just had a bunch of short-lived flings???? but lowkey develops crushes at the drop of a hat and would love to properly fall in love with someone who could be with him forever & accept him for all his flaws, but he highly doubts that will ever happen fgjdhsfg

‘why don’t you figure my heart out?...’ ( wanted connections )

exes on good terms

exes on bad terms ( maybe someone who actually really wanted to stay with him but couldnt deal with his bullshit and now resents him? )

someone who loves the band’s music & inflates his ego ab it

someone he hasn’t seen for years that he’s reunited on the show & maybe they’re revisiting old feelings for each other??? and he wants it to be DIFFERENT this time but also theres shit tons of fucking cameras and shit which... makes things difficult...

first friend he made in LA or in the states in general, someone who showed him the ropes

someone who hates him / hates the band like PLEASE

and also just a straight up enemy maybe?? someone who finds him annoying as fuck??

FRIENDS!!!

literally anything just hmu and lay an idea on me and theres 90% chance ill be down

#exposed.intro #fucking FINALLY

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queen-of-bel · 4 years

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Okay, I’ve been talking about writing this up for a while, so I’m finally going to do it.

It’s no surprise to my followers that I’m a hardcore Kandori fan and I wanted to list out the reasons why he’s so interesting to me.

Persona 1, Persona 2: Innocent Sin, and Persona 2: Eternal Punishment spoilers

Above all, Kandori is a very prideful man who focused so much on external accomplishments that he gave himself an identity crisis. He used other people’s achievements to secure his position as president of the Mikage-cho SEBEC branch, and made great strides by taking advantage of illegal dealings through Takeda.

However, he’s always been aware that he can’t take credit for these accomplishments, and he feels a sense of emptiness once he’s at the top. Here’s a snippet from his monologue in Deva Yuga:

Everyone wants something. No matter how small the desire… it gives them the strength to carry on. But… if every desire is fulfilled, what’s left to strive for? When one’s wishes have been granted, the only thing that awaits… is a bottomless solitude; an eternal emptiness…

At this point in his life, he’s absolutely bitter. He’s scared that his life has no meaning. Nanjo even points this out to Kandori by saying:

You despair at your inability to live any other way. It stems from one's anxiety for the future. "I want to risk it… But I can't… If only I could disappear…

Kandori is suffering, but is too prideful to ask for help. After all, why would a young and successful branch president have any reason to be discontent?

As a result, he stews in resentment. Instead of placing the blame on himself, he faults the world around him. This selfishness leads him to hate his surroundings and wish for its destruction.

Evidence of Kandori’s anxiety can also be found in a pretty obscure place. In the 2nd track of the first disc of the Megami Ibunroku Persona OST & Arrange Album, there is a song called Deva Yuga (Arranged Version), where the lyrics are actually supposed to represent Kandori and Maki talking to each other. Here are a few quotes from Kandori that I think are really interesting:

Being alive is a mere illusion.

Why are we born?

Why are we even alive?

No one has the answers.

It's an endless labyrinth for the soul.

The heavy cross that we bear goes by the name of 'karma'.

No one can escape it.

We surrender our bodies to fleeting pleasures and try to forget,

but the eternal doubt still remains, shimmering deep in our souls.

When Kandori talks about no one being able to escape karma, this is proof that he feels that he cannot change his situation. To him, even if he were able to change a situation, there's always going to be another one to have to deal with. This is evident in his conversation with Maki (Kandori's dialogue is bolded):

"I want to change."

"That's a waste of time."

"I can't change..."

"There's no meaning in life, you should know that."

"I don't want to be alone! Someone get me out of here! It's so dark in here!"

"You and I are the same."

Kandori laments that he doesn't know why he's alive and has no reason to live. Maki expresses the desire to change, but Kandori tells her it's a waste of time to try and do that. Maki also expresses her fear of being alone, and that she wants to escape, to which Kandori responds that he feels the same.

So now, we can paint a clear picture of the type of person Kandori is.

Kandori is highly ambitious in the sense that he seeks achievements which publicly make him look good, and he'll do anything it takes to achieve that goal. He thinks that if he were to become successful, he will find that his life has meaning. However, he's self-aware in knowing that he can't actually take credit for his accomplishments and instead of rectifying it, he becomes fiercely in denial-- insisting that life has no meaning at all.

He's gotten to the top, but still feels empty. He's scared that if he tries to do anything else, he won't get the satisfaction he's looking for. He believes that people's futures are predetermined, and if he's destined to feel empty and miserable, then so be it.

Now, this is where things start to get interesting.

We know that the next goal Kandori had was to become God and annihilate humanity.

Obviously, there are some red flags in that logic. Wanting to make the jump from a branch president to God is… extreme. So I think we can safely say that this is where Nyarlathotep began influencing Kandori.

As we see in Persona 2, if Nyarlathotep decides he wants to take advantage of you, then you’re kind of fucked. The only person we’ve seen break free is Jun, but that was because of Jun’s immensely strong desire to protect Maya.

Kandori, on the other hand, had nothing that he felt that strongly about. He had nobody that he cared about, his parents are dead, and he was frustrated at his standing in life.

It’s also been stated that Nyarlathotep is the reason behind the entire Mikage-cho incident. As a result, we can assume that Nyarlathotep came into the picture after Kandori became branch president, but before the development of the DEVA system.

Another thing that points to Nyarlathotep being involved with the development of the Deva system is something Kandori mentions in the chamber of the Deva system.

Nothing else will be hurt. Only mankind will be wiped from this planet.

It’s weird that Kandori would make this distinction. What’s the difference to him if the world disappears or just humanity is destroyed?

This ties back into Nyarlathotep’s bet with Philemon– that humanity will inevitably destroy itself.

Now, of course, there is the argument that Maki also wished for mankind specifically to be destroyed, and she wasn't influenced by Nyarlathotep. But there is an important distinction between Maki and Kandori.

Maki held a grudge against humanity as a whole. Her nihilistic outlook stemmed from jealousy that other people were able to enjoy life while she was stuck in a hospital room. She had a specific reason to want mankind and mankind alone to be destroyed.

Kandori, on the other hand, had no grudge against other people. His nihilistic outlook was simply because he was a miserable person. He wallowed in his own suffering, yet refused to take the blame for any of it. For someone with that level of detachment, it shouldn't matter to him if only humanity was destroyed, or if the entire world was.

If we take a look at the Deva Yuga lyrics again, Kandori says:

"Grief and joy, anger and sadness... it's all an illusion.

Who needs such transience in life? That's why I'm going to…"

So, Kandori isn't frustrated at humanity, he just thinks everything around him is a pain. Emotions are just fleeting uselessness. He doesn't particularly hate mankind, he just has no need for anything in life.

And yet, his plan specifically targeted people, and he was very conscious in making sure nothing else was harmed. This doesn't sound like the Kandori we know so far. This sounds like Nyarlathotep.

When we take all of these points into consideration, I think it's safe to assume that Nyarlathotep became involved with Kandori before the development of the Deva system, and Kandori developed his god complex after that.

I want to stress that I'm not claiming Kandori is an innocent person. He was a shady businessman who ran the Mikage-cho branch like a mafia. But his ego hadn't ascended to a point where he believed he had transcended humanity. I firmly believe that was Nyarlathotep's doing.

Even though his detachment was what led to this whole mess, he ironically formed a genuine connection with Maki throughout the Deva system's development. He certainly bonded with Aki over their nihilistic desires.

In Deva Yuga, he knew that Naoya and the others came to fight him. Aki has the power to take them down easily (I’ll touch more on that later), and yet he sent Aki away.

Aki tells the group "You guys are so aggravating! I won't let you get in my Daddy's way!"

Kandori then counters by saying "...That's enough, Aki. Stay back. Wait in the other room. I'll be with you soon."

The reason for Kandori's reaction is simple– he didn’t want Aki to fight and, more importantly, he didn’t want Maki to become like him. Take a look at what he says after the battle with Naoya:

Maki Sonomura… she needs to discover her true self. If she doesn't, she'll share my fate… Go to her… Don't let her go down that lonely path.

At this point, Kandori is literally dying. He doesn’t have to care about anything, but he uses his last breaths to ask for Maki to be saved. He knows his life is miserable, and doesn’t want her to experience the same thing.

Another time that points to Kandori’s care for Maki is in the Mana Castle.

Mark, Nanjo, Maki, and the optional party member (I’m using Reiji as this example) all express their anger and disgust at what Kandori is planning. Kandori uses Aki to strike down Reiji, Nanjo, and Mark.

Interestingly, he spares Maki, despite her attempt to turn Aki against him by telling Aki that Kandori isn't her real Daddy.

If he truly was a nihilistic god who wants to destroy humanity, shouldn’t he have attacked Maki for speaking against God, too?

So not only is Kandori showing signs of weakness around Maki, he also hints at times that he doesn't totally buy into the authoritarian god complex he touts. He's very insecure, and has doubts about the path he's chosen.

A big indication of these doubts is when he crowd-sourced ideas of the meaning of life from a bunch of random high school kids. He tells Naoya

Boy… I allowed you to come here in order to ask you this: Why do you cling to life?

Kandori has achieved his ultimate goal– to become God. And yet, he still feels the same emptiness he felt when he became the president of the Mikage-cho branch. At this point, he was truly desperate for his life to have any meaning.

Later, Kandori was goaded into fighting by when Nanjo bluntly pointed out all of Kandori's shortcomings. Kandori says his retaliation is punishment for speaking against God, but the next thing he says is very interesting.

Can you defeat me? Can you protect the things you claim are precious? Then prove it before god's throne!

This hints that his true reason for fighting isn't to preserve his ego, but he wants to see what a person can accomplish if they have meaning in life.

However, his mind so jumbled and his logic is contradictory that he can't seem to decide what he wants. He does still have his god complex, and as such, still believes that he can win the battle. When he is faced with the truth, though he is shocked that he lost to a bunch of high school kids:

Ngh… I refuse to accept this! I'm supposed to have transcended man!

However, despite what he says, he is ready to admit defeat. Until Nyarlathotep directly intervenes.

Kandori says that something is forcing itself into him, and Nyarlathotep responds by saying "I shall give you the power you desire." Kandori pleads with Nyarlathotep to stop, but is ignored.

If Kandori truly wanted to win the battle, he wouldn’t have refused Nyarlathotep’s help. However, it’s clear that Kandori was ready to concede to Naoya, despite his initial denial.

Of course, Nyarlathotep says that Kandori desired this power, but we also know that Nyarlathotep is a liar (see the shadow selves in P2). Looking at Kandori's explicit plea to stop, and the fact that Nyarlathotep is forcing himself to fuse with Kandori, it's pretty obvious that Kandori didn't want to continue the fight.

Another time in the game that points to Kandori’s true feelings is when he summons Saurva to fight the group before leaving for Deva Yuga.

Objects of one's desire cannot be easily obtained. But the joy of overcoming obstacles to obtaining them is the highest bliss.

This is very interesting because he admits that achieving your dream isn’t what makes people happy, but the greatest satisfaction occurs when you overcome the obstacles in your path to your dream.

(Side note, this ties in very nicely with P2:IS as a point of why Jun's wish fulfillment isn't a good thing, but that's for another post)

Because he views himself as God, he's not saying this as a piece of advice to the youth. He's stating this as an absolute fact of life. This is something he truly believes in, and also believes that other people should accept as well.

In some sense, it feels like he's trying to do them a favor in some twisted way. Of course, by summoning Saurva, there's a chance that Naoya would die, but remember, Kandori initially had no intention to fight Naoya. Kandori allowed Naoya to reach him in order to ask what he was living for. By giving Naoya the satisfaction of defeating Saurva, it felt like Kandori wanted to give Naoya and his friends a sense of happiness and feeling of accomplishment.

Another time where Kandori shows his contradictory behavior is in the undersea ruins after he is revived by Nyarlathotep.

He tells Maya that Tatsuzou has already headed to Torifune, and says "I'd like to tell you to chase them, but… I'm just a peon… I can't let you return."

In saying this, he implies that he, too, wants Tatsuzou's plans to be stopped.

After the fight, he tells the group to hurry and save themselves. Depending on who is in your party, Nanjo or Eriko will plead Kandori to escape with them, but Kandori fires a warning shot, and says he would rather die.

Clearly, Kandori didn't learn his lesson from his first life. Nanjo commented in Deva Yuga that Kandori despairs at his inability to change the situations that cause him suffering, and Kandori's false belief in the concept of fate was the crux of his downfall.

Despite seeming like an ambitious person, Kandori is actually very weak-willed, and is too scared to make any meaningful changes in his life. This is why he allows himself to be Nyarlathotep's pawn, as Tatsuya notes by saying

Guido is aware of [Nyarlathotep's] existence. But why is he aiding the New World Order…? Can it be he's willing to be a pawn…?

Another thing that hadn't changed between Kandori's lives is his desire to hear another person say something that gives him hope. I already talked about him wanting to see what Naoya and his friends are capable of when they feel they have a reason to live.

Additionally, when he's dying in Deva Yuga, he admits to Nanjo that he had been waiting for somebody to see the true him and say that aloud to him.

Maybe I summoned you here because I wanted to hear someone say it… Hah. I must seem a fool… but I feel remarkably content.

In both the research lab and the undersea ruins, he implies that he feels he can't escape Nyarlathotep's grasp.

When Nanjo questions Kandori's motives, Kandori merely replies by saying

Hmph… "The fate of those who are enchanted by the shadows"... I'll leave it at that…

It's a small comment, but what I find really interesting is the part in quotes. This means that somebody else told this to him. Remember, Kandori's biggest weakness is believing that fate is inescapable.

In case it isn't obvious, this "somebody" is clearly Nyarlathotep. Kandori knows about the existence of the Other Side, and who Nyarlathotep exactly is, so Nyarlathotep is clearly directly involved. Kandori isn't choosing this path of his own volition, but is doing so because somebody took advantage of his weakness and told him that this is what he is destined to do.

This point is reiterated in the undersea ruins when Kandori says

Light has its role… Shadows have their role… That's just how it is...

I think it's pretty obvious that Kandori doesn't feel a desire to fight Tatsuya or Maya, but he doesn't feel that he has the power to refuse the role that Nyarlathotep and the New World Order had demanded of him. This is again apparent after being defeated in the undersea ruins. He tells Tatsuya

Magnificent… But… it is not easy for one embraced by the shadows to escape from its grasp… Can you break the chains of fate?

To which Tatsuya replies:

That's why I came… I'll never let that sadness happen again...

This is what Kandori wanted to hear. Remember, he actually wanted Maya to stop Tatsuzou, but felt that he was fated to prevent her from doing so. Chizuru even points this out herself by saying "You wanted to hear the words… from the boy?" Kandori, probably too caught up in his pride, doesn't explicitly confirm this, but doesn't deny it either. Instead, he apologizes to Chizuru for leading her to her death.

I really liked this part because it shows that Kandori is still capable of caring for others, no matter how far he has gone. He is aware that what he is doing is evil, but he doesn't want to see the people he cares for to be dragged down to his depths.

Clearly Kandori is a very contradictory person. As I stated earlier, he is certainly not a "good" person, and yet, we can't write him off as a bad person either. Maki, who should be the person who hates Kandori the most, becomes upset to hear that Kandori was revived, only to die again. She says that she doesn't believe Kandori was a bad person, and wishes she had the opportunity to meet with him again.

Kandori is really interesting to me because he clearly has a proper moral compass, but once he strayed from that, he feels he is too weak to realign himself. He wants external validation from others, but feels too prideful to follow their lead. Overall, Nanjo said it best-- Kandori is a very pitiful man.

#man this ended up being pretty long for a character who only has like.. 30 minutes of screentime across 3 games #persona 1 #persona 2 eternal punishment #takahisa kandori #amelia rambles #my love and life #p1 #p2

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tarithenurse · 5 years

Text

Stranded - 3 of 3

Pairing: Loki Odinson x fem!reader Content: Insane amounts of fluff and perhaps fluff-related nerves. If your teeth fall out after this, then it’s really not my responsibility! A/N: This realy is the last part. Thanks for wanting it <3

It’s been less than a week since you accepted Loki’s proposal, but it already seems like the entire kingdom knows about it even if the two of you had tried to keep it from everyone else. Strangely, Loki’s parents don’t condemn what could appear like a hasty decision, and Thor…well the man’s so happy you’d think he’s the one getting married.

“– and I’m just saying I didn’t expect Odin to be so chill!” Plopping down on a settee, your fingertips immediately find the new gold band around the finger.

Loki’s lounging on the bed, one long leg stretched while the other is bend to support a rather heavy book (a historical dissertation, he’s explained when you asked). When he glances up from the dusty pages there’s an amused smirk on his face.

“Chill? I presume you mean to say that father is taking the news calmly?” Your assent both makes him chuckle (probably at the Midgardian expression) and frown. “The king can be…abstruse. Complicated.” Loki hesitates, filling the pause by putting the book aside. ”Growing up near the glory of him and Thor it has oftentimes felt as though my father…in spite of his wisdom…was unsure what would become of me. Thor has always been destined to inherit the throne and there have been plenty suitors already trying to appease him and my parents…”

“You can’t expect me to believe you haven’t had your share of interested parties.” The last words are enounced with enough sarcasm even for an Asgardian to understand it – thankfully Loki gets that kind of humour.

“Interested? A few, that is true.” Keen eyes pin you to the seat. “Interesting, however…now that is a different matter entirely.” He’s on his feet and stalking towards you in the blink of an eye. “Perhaps the king and queen have come to the same conclusion as I have…” Loki purrs as he scoops you up like a baby, making you squeal in equal parts delight and terror, “that you, lady [Y/N] of Midgard, are the one to forever hold my interest and heart.”

It’s a personal kind of heaven to kiss him, the thin lips molding softly against yours before his tongue slips in between to tease and draw out a moan – quiet and begging for more without words. The tenderness shies away for the sake of a deep-seated hunger that ignites deep in your belly and guides your hands to his shoulder and to the black hair that feels like silk between your fingers as you tangle the locks in a determined grip. When he groans, you’re the one to swallow the bliss.

“My love,” Loki’s voice breathes raggedly, “never doubt the hold you have on my soul and body.”

… Time skip …

A year. The time has passed both slow and quick, often surprising you when something has made you realize how long Valhalla has been your home and finding a purpose as a kind of revolutionary when it comes to the schooling of the young ones – Asgard favours home schooling which has very mixed results. And after having arranged and carried out a few classes focusing on “Midgardian” culture (the aspects you are familiar with), there was more than enough interest in establishing an actual school.

It has been a year full of learning for you too. Leaning about everything Asgardian but also about yourself…including how to deal with situations you would have deemed archaic. An example is how you and Loki aren’t supposed to share a bedroom until the wedding night, and sure, there isn’t an actual chaperone assigned to you, but there might as well be because someone is always conveniently nearby, preventing the peace of mind needed for more than kisses (amazing kisses, admittedly) which adds to a growing sense of frustration.

A year. Neither you nor Loki have had a problem with waiting with the wedding till then. You both know, deep inside your souls, that time is on your side and so there’s been no other rush than what your bodies have made you feel.

Tomorrow the wait will end.

… Loki …

Staring at the page, the groom has not been able to take in any of the words although the Midgardian poetry normally fascinates and moves him with ease. Today, however, his mind is full of nervous thoughts and his belly infested with butterflies at the prospect of saying or doing something wrong during any part of the ceremony – especially the vow Loki has chosen for [Y/N]. It must be perfect! In his eyes, the woman deserves everything he can give and much more because he fears how alienated she might feel at times. Today will be no exception, and it is for this reason he has studied the Midgardian traditions with the hope of fusing elements from both worlds into one harmonious event.

A fist connects with Loki’s upper arm. “Where is your mind at, little brother?” Thor has entered the room, unheeded by the occupant.

“It is here now.” Loki closes the book, knowing that he will not get any reading done. “What do you want?”

“Me? I wish to see my brother happy and wed!” The azure eyes nearly disappear due to the size of the smile that splits Thor’s face. “Come, it is time.”

… Reader …

Without a family of your own, it’s been a huge comfort to have Sif and The Warriors Three during the past year and you’d been wise enough not to challenge them when they announced they would be representing you during the wedding day. Sif has (although shadowed by Frigga) cast aside any of the normal annoyance with things classically “female” (even here on Asgard it’s rare for women to wear trousers and fight) and ensured to go all in to guide you through the preparations for the big day.

“Now remember,” the doe-eyed woman admonishes, “breathe, keep your head high, do as we have rehearsed.”

You nod, too nervous to voice any of the many concerns swirling in your head. It’s making you dizzy. The anticipation, the multitude of catastrophic mistakes you can make, the giddiness, and of course the fear that...what if I wake up and it’s never been real? But the firm squeeze from Sif’s had has to be proof it really is true. All of it.

“I feel –“ But you never get further as there’s a knock on the door.

“That must be Fandral!”

It’s not. It isn’t Loki either, much like the Nordic cultures the Asgardian groom isn’t meant to see his wife on the day before the ceremony – gods knows it’s been a long day since you parted this morning. No, it’s Frigga who strides through the door, clad in a shimmery gown in the same cut as Sif’s though embellished with golden drops has been sprinkled all over the sky-blue material. Still she’s the one to stop dead in her tracks at the sight of you.

“Oh, what a vision you are, my dear,” the queen breathes, politely ignoring Sif’s smug grin.

“Thank you, your highness.”

“Tsk! Soon the use of titles will only be necessary during official events.” The mother-in-law-to be is tugging away a strand of you hair from the elaborate braid, then smoothing a nonexistent crease on your dress. “You will have a title on your own.”

“It’s strange…all I wanted was to be with Loki, I don’t care about the rest!”

Afraid that you might have gone too far, you start to sputter an apology, but Frigga stops you before sending Sif outside for a moment. When the door closes behind the vermillion-dressed friend, you realize that you’re holding the breath and the palms are clammy from sweat.

Blue eyes, not dissimilar to Thor’s, find yours. Kindness, warmth, happiness overflow. “We know. Loki knows…and he wanted me to pass you this token.” Drawing out an emerald ribbon, she moves behind you to tie it in the hair.

It matches your outfit. Of course it does. The dress you wear is soft and flowy, made out of layer upon layer of the thinnest, translucent silks to create a shimmer of delicate greens only broken by the golden and darker green embroideries at the waist and rising from the base trim to resemble delicate leaves. A flower crown sits lightly on your head with the same colours.

“There, my child,” Frigga smiles, leading you to the mirror that you’ve already frequented more than you care to admit, “our Midgardian princess.”

She’s right: you look…stunning. The last year of wearing luxurious clothes (and increasingly often wearing dresses too) has been hopelessly inadequate to prepare you for looking the part. It’s a stranger staring back from the mirror. A strong woman who actually has gone off, leaving a drab life behind in favour of a life with a purpose together with someone who makes her feel important.

…

Fandral pats your hand gently. Perhaps it’s as reassurance, but it could also be to have you lighten the hold you have of his arm now you stand before the doors to the throne room with shaking knees. He too has assured you of the joy everyone feels – kind words falling on an ear deafened by nerves, but there’s no time to go back even if you wanted to because the doors open to reveal thousand of people standing on either side of a petal-covered isle leading towards the throne and the royal family.

There he is, dressed in the same colours as you. Loki. The moment you see him, calmness wells in your chest and extinguishes the fray of a storm that had raged within you. Negative thoughts and disastrous imagines evaporate, and a boldness returns at the sight of the prince dropping his jaw. Oh yeah, you’re one lucky guy, you grin to yourself, straightening your back and neck.

It’s the longest walk of your life before Fandral finally and step aside, placing your hands in Loki’s for the ceremony to begin.

Odin starts the whole thing of with a long and convoluted speech before finally allowing the siblings Frej and Freja take over. They talk almost as one, a perfectly choreographed sing-song story of the meaning of marriage as a sacred pact to ensure life and happiness, while tying yours and Loki’s joined hands with emerald ribbons adorned with flowers. Once the final knot has been completed, both she and her brother back off to the thunderous applause of all Asgardians…or at least those with their hands free.

“My wife,” Loki begins softly before turning his head to the crowd to address them, “there is a tradition in Midgard where the bride and groom prepare a personal vow to their partner. It is a sweet gesture which I have become inspired by, so hear these words and witness my love for princess [Y/N]!” Now the everchanging eyes are on you again. “[Y/N], my love. You came to me with nothing…yet became my everything. All that I am and all that I have is yours from this day on and it shall be my duty, nay, my honour to guarantee your eternal happiness for as long as you wish. A year ago, you took my heart. Today I give you my body and soul.”

Damnit. You’d promised yourself not to start crying but now the first tear is running down your cheek and even if it would be convenient to say it’s because Frigga and Thor’s tears have gotten to you then that probably wouldn’t be entirely true. People are still aweing and cheering. For a second it seems impossible to be heard, however nothing could be further from the truth as you clear you throat, conjuring a hush that settles over the many on-lookers.

“My husband.” Your voice shakes a little, but Loki looks as though it’s the sweetest sound. “I have no riches to share, but all that I am and will be is yours. Through sickness and in health, through good days and bad, I will stand beside you to support, cherish, and love you, in this life and the next if you will accept me.”

Face tilted slightly up towards Loki, none of you bother keeping the kiss strictly chaste. Through half-closed eyes, you’re dimly aware that the garland tying you together begins to glow until the brightness fills the entire throne room and the ribbon with all of its flowers is gone although you can feel the bond remains.

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