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smhalltheurlsaretaken · 4 years

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Birthday prompt #5

Read on Ao3 Birthday prompts masterlist

@aini-nufire

[Ok, how about Cris saves Picard from some danger (jumps in front of him/pushes him out of the way) and gets hurt himself and we get some feels from Dadmiral Picard?]

After what the brass had dubbed the “Coppelius stunt,” Jean-Luc Picard owed Starfleet so many favors that he was hardly in a position to refuse Clancy whenever she requested that he and his unorthodox crew go deal with the odd diplomatic mess. Many non-Federation worlds reacted better to him personally than to Starfleet envoys, it seemed, and it was often very useful. Right now, staring at half a dozen arrowheads all pointed at him and Rios, Picard sincerely wished he’d told the Commander in Chief to get lost.

(The bows were originally ceremonial, but the reinforced tritanium arrows looked operative enough. Picard could feel Rios’ glare from where the Captain was standing.)

“I fail to see what you are trying to accomplish here,” Picard tried to reason. “Harming us will not make the Federation listen to whatever demands you might have.”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m aware,” the demi-King said with a genuine laugh, his accented Standard quite informal for the leader of a third of the Keetureh planetary system. “And that’s partly the point. To be honest, this really hasn’t much to do with the Federation.” He waved one of his four nigh-translucent hands around, gesturing to his people surrounding them. “You have just no idea of what killing you guys would do for my approval rating.”

Picard’s eyebrows climbed to vertiginous heights. He stared, quite dumbfounded, and a quick glance in Rios’ direction was enough to determine that the younger man was just as confused.

“This is about getting re-elected?” Cris attempted to clarify. Picard could tell that he was offended by the notion.

The demi-King nodded in confirmation, a vaguely contrite smile on his lips.

“Sorry,” he apologized with a half-shrug. “I would bet that you’re both used to being threatened for more personal reasons. The truth is, most of my people are backwater idiots who are dying to see me ‘take action’ against big evil Starfleet and all of you offworlders. I wouldn’t risk killing an actual ambassador, but I figure they won’t know the difference.”

Picard’s perfectly regulated synthetic heart managed to skip a beat as hope ignited within his chest. He stepped forward, ignoring the wary soldiers’ growls of warning, and held up his hands to get the demi-King’s attention.

“Then let my friend go,” he offered before the man could order his troops to shoot him, or knock him out. “His name will mean nothing to them, and my death alone should suffice to impress your electorate.”

It was a rather bold – reckless – move, but the opportunity was too favorable to pass up, and Picard had spoken before considering much beyond the obvious need to secure Rios’ safety. He was taken completely by surprise when the strong negative reaction that he was preparing for didn’t come from the Keeturehan, but from Rios himself.

“Fuck that,” Rios snarled, and before anybody had the time to react he dived for his comm badge, which the demi-King had carelessly left lying on the table. “Raf, beam us out,” he barked in the device as he snatched it up.

The demi-King shouted something in his own language and the gears of the mechanical bows turned, leaving a mere half-second delay between the twang of the strings being released and the woosh of air rushing past Picard’s ears as he was tackled to the ground. Rios’ muffled grunt was lost in the transporter beam.

When they materialized on the transporter pad at the back of the ship, Rios was the first to get to his feet, getting up before Picard could fully register that the younger man had been shielding him with his body. The crew’s surprised exclamations were what got him too look up, dizzy as he was from the experience. He froze.

Rios was wobbling unsteadily, his right hand stretched out as he tried to find the bulkhead for support, his left hand pressing against his lower abdomen and the Keetureh arrow protruding from it.

“What the—” Seven swore as she rushed to steady him.

Raffi crashed to the ground next to Picard, her hands hovering nervously as she tried to ascertain whether or not he was injured as well. He batted her hands away impatiently, getting to his feet with Elnor’s help just as Rios’ refused Seven’s offered support.

“I’m fine,” the man growled, before – to their collective horror – gripping the end of the arrow’s thin shaft and breaking it off. He tossed it to the ground right as the EMH flickered on.

“Captain!” the holo exclaimed as he came online, “Sir, are you alright?”

“I think tritanium messes with your scanners,” Rios deadpanned, pushing the hologram out of his way as he stumbled toward the stairs.

The medbay was down there, but so were his quarters. Agnes seemed to realize this as she jumped in front of him and tried to block his way.

“Cris, wh— what are you doing?” She stammered, voicing their shared incredulity. “You need to sit down!”

Rios’ expression softened minutely, but he brushed past her off the same. It was all Picard could take before the irritation that had been steadily swelling up his chest exploded into anger.

“Rios,” he snapped, “what exactly do you think you’re doing?”

That got the Captain’s attention, and his dark eyes dropped to Picard’s. They were stormy and unreadable, and Picard was not in the mood to indulge Rios’ aggravating tendency to brood.

“What?” Rios asked through gritted teeth. As he was wavering on his feet, the blood stain on his shirt growing larger, Picard assumed that the strained voice was because of the pain.

“Rios, you will sit down and you will let the EMH examine you before we move you to sickbay,” Picard instructed, gesturing at the half-arrow still sticking out. “And for goodness’ sake, do it before you collapse. You have been foolish enough for today.”

That had apparently been the wrong thing to say, but Picard didn’t realize it until Rios slumped against the wall and glared at him with all his might. The others hovered awkwardly in the background, aware that their help would not be welcomed.

“Foolish?” Rios repeated hoarsely.

Later, Picard would look back on that moment and rightly beat himself over his appalling lack of sensitivity and common sense. At the time, he pressed on, somehow convinced that a stern commanding voice and clear orders were what a stubborn ex Starfleet Commander needed to start acting rationally.

“Taking such a risk on my behalf was reckless and ill-conceived. Now sit down so you don’t add your death to my conscience,” Picard said firmly.

And just like that Raffi flinched badly, and Seven let out a low “damn.” Before Picard had time to consider why, Rios’ face went from stony to downright furious, absolute rage etched on each line of that face they only knew as cool and collected.

“Yeah, because it was all about you,” he spat. The hand clasped over his wounded side was trembling badly, Rios’ legs shaking, sweat trickling down his neck as he conjured the last dregs of his strength in an a desperate effort not to collapse. (Even propped against a bulkhead and his blood puddling on the ground, he still managed to stand taller than Picard.) “It’s always all about you old Starfleet cabrónes and your grand heroic moves and your fucking egos and your Messiah complexes. Aweonao.”

But after that he deflated, and he looked impossibly tired. When he staggered from the wall and made his way to the stairs with the EMH following worriedly, nobody stopped him.

“He is very sad,” Elnor stated when Rios had disappeared from their field of view. And then he turned to Picard and frowned at him. “And I think it is your fault.”

“What happened down there?” Soji asked, the only one who had not once voiced her opinion or tried to intervene in any way since Picard and Rios had beamed up.

“Seems clear enough to me,” Raffi muttered, shooting a glare at Picard. She suddenly clapped her hands, startling them. “Okay, here’s tonight’s rule, and you’d all better respect it. No following Cris, no talking to Cris, no trying to get Cris to open up. I’ll make sure he’s alright.”

Elnor, Soji and Agnes all looked like they were ready to protest, and Picard felt like it too, as he considered that he deserved some form of explanation for Rios’ outburst, but Raffi shut them up before any of them had time to voice their complaints.

“Guys, no offense to you, but I know him. He won’t want to see any of you,” she said in a tone that brooked no argument. “I know you’re worried, but that’s really not the important thing here.”

And with that, she strode after their Captain and disappeared in the belly of la Sirena, leaving Picard to ponder what he had done so wrong and how he could best apologize once he understood. Seven noticed his troubled look, and she walked to him and snatched his arm, leading him to the bridge before he could protest.

“One of you activate that stupid Hospitality Hologram to clean up all that blood,” she threw over her shoulder to their three younger shipmates. “And you,” she told Picard with a hard look, “you and I need to talk.”

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When Picard sneaked past Raffi’s quarters late that night and made his way to Rios’ room, he was fully prepared to get thrown out and have to face the wrath of the whole crew. She’d told them all that she and Cris had talked a bit, drunk a bit more, that he was as good as cold be expected, and that he was still off-limits. Picard imagined that Rios had locked himself into his quarters, away from prying eyes and careless words. It thus came as a surprise when the door slid open at his simple request, welcoming him into the very heart of that ship he now called home but had yet to fully know.

Rios was facing away from him, sitting in one of two armchairs with a book in his hands and a new shirt on. He didn’t look up at the whoosh of the door panel, probably out of indifference. Picard rapped his knuckles against the door frame, awkwardly clearing his throat when it was clear that Rios didn’t intend to react in any way.

“May I come in?” He asked softly, because he had done his day’s share of overstepping.

Rios finally deigned looking up and eyed him warily. Then he closed his book and gave a nod – a sharp jerk of the head, really, motioning for Picard to enter. Picard slowly came closer, moving to stand right in front of his host. He didn’t dare examine the room for too long, lest he appear rude, but he still noticed the spotless surfaces, the tidiness, the appearance of perfect life-discipline that might just be a cover for a near-pathological need to clean up and keep things ordered.

As his eyes landed on Rios again, Picard couldn’t help but notice the slight bulge under the shirt then, the red tinge of that slightly wet patch on the fabric, just under the ribs. Still no dermal regenerator, apparently.

“Are you alright?” Picard inquired carefully, because he hated to think that Rios considered mere bandages an adequate substitute to tissue regeneration.

The man probably had no interest in painkillers either.

Rios raised an eyebrow at the question, a bit weary, a bit sardonic, just enough Rios that it helped put Picard’s mind at ease.

“What do you want?” Cris asked flatly.

Was Picard like that to most people? A riddle wrapped in an enigma, keeping all emotions to himself and leaving his friends and acquaintances to fruitlessly try to guess what it was that he was thinking or feeling?

Taking in a deep breath, Picard gave Rios a sheepish smile.

“May I?” He inquired again, pointing at the second armchair.

Something shifted in Rios’ stony demeanor, like another defensive wall going up, but he didn’t say no, and so Picard sat. Rios stared at him for a few moments before smiling wryly, a sight that Picard had dearly been hoping to see.

“If we keep answering questions with more questions, we’re never going to get any talking done,” Rios commented with that smirk of his. He poured himself a glass of alcohol and downed it in one gulp, absently holding his left side. “Go ahead.”

Picard cleared his throat again.

“It has come to my attention— Well, Seven and Raffi ensured that it came to my attention— that I have behaved quite tactlessly upon our return from Keetureh.” Rios snorted but didn’t interrupt him, which encouraged him to continue. “You said something, about being all about me… I don’t think I understand.”

“I don’t think I care,” Rios said back, pouring himself another drink. “You’re kinda making it all about yourself right now.”

Picard sighed.

“Rios, I can hardly apologize for something I don’t know I have done.”

Rios got up without drinking his second glass of brandy and walked to the opposite wall, leaning against it with his forearm and staring at the soft lights above his bed wordlessly.

“This is about Captain Vandermeer, isn’t it?” Picard pressed gently.

He had forgotten earlier that this Captain before him wasn’t the fearless lone spaceman that he often pretended to be.

Rios’ vulnerability had been on display the day after Nepenthe, when he’d brought Soji onboard. That day too, Picard had somehow managed to make a mess of things by failing to see the depth of Rios’ anguish. But that day they’d also talked, the young Captain had opened up, and Picard had caught glimpses of a bright and optimistic Starfleet XO eager for the approval and respect of his superiors.

He now remembered how Rios had once called him “old man” when that nickname apparently belonged to his late commanding officer, how he’d said “jefe” to him. So Picard waited, confident that this connection at least would get Rios to give up a snatch of information, or the merest hint of a confidence.

Rios stared at the lights for a long while before rubbing his eyes tiredly with two fingers. It lasted just too long to be a simple symptom of fatigue, and the hitching breath that followed was just too short to be from the physical pain. Rios breathed in through his nose, though it sounded almost like a sniff, and giving up all pretense, he wiped his eyes.

“Damn,” he muttered. “Yeah, it’s about Captain Vandermeer. It’s always about Captain Vandermeer.” He gave Picard a weary look and let out a slow, pained chuckle. “It’s always about Captain Vandermeer because he couldn’t wait ten minutes before blowing his brains out. He just had to do it there, right in front of me. It’s always about you because you’re the retired Admiral with a brain abnormality that flies away with my ship to commit suitably heroic suicide, and still has the gall to beam down at the last possible minute because your death wouldn’t dramatic enough if you kicked the bucket on my bridge.”

Picard blinked, taken aback. Rios wasn’t done.

“It’s always about him and you because you always have some red stain to wipe off your ledger, some nasty thing to clear off your conscience, some big screw-up you can’t live with and have to atone for. And nothing else in the world matters.”

Picard was beginning to get the picture.

“I supposed that you’re entitled to be angry at my self-sacrificing tendencies,” he gently acknowledged. “It would be hypocritical of me to deny you that after my own outburst.”

Rios’ eyes hardened.

“I’m angry at you assuming that you have the right to make me live through anything like my Captain’s death and your death a third time,” he corrected harshly. But then his voice faltered, and he looked away again. “I’m angry at you thinking that you have the right to choose between saving my life and adding to what you’ve already made me carry.”

I am terrible at this, Picard thought as memories of all his similarly awkward conversations with Elnor, Soji, Raffi or Agnes flashed before his eyes. Of their seven people crew, it really appeared like Seven of Nine was the only one who had no need for his paternal guidance. Trust the universe’s twisted sense of humor to make Jean-Luc Picard the fatherly figure to an entire ship full of badly damaged adults and youngsters. His Starfleet crews had been mostly emotionally balanced – or at least bound to stay professionally distant.

“I’m truly sorry,” he said softly, because words of comfort seemed pale and inadequate here.

Rios nodded slightly before wincing, the sheen of sweat again visible on his pain-creased brow. He crossed the distance to his bed and all but collapsed on the mattress. He didn’t lie down, sitting up as straight as his injured side would allow, but it was clear that he badly needed to rest.

“It’s okay,” he said tiredly. “I’m not— I’m not that angry.”

And here it was, the vulnerability, the easy forgiveness of a young First Officer who held Captains and Admirals in too high regards, weighing his own faults as heavier than all of theirs, endlessly comparing himself to those he looked up to and founding himself lacking. Picard had seen it many times, had seen the same behavior in young ensigns and decorated officers alike.

“I was very worried about you,” Picard confessed, because it felt important.

Rios deserved to know that he cared, as clumsily as he did. To shoulder such a burden of pain and trauma without the assurance that of reciprocated affection would have been intolerable. And it was the core of the problem, wasn’t it? Vandermeer and Picard had both ultimately failed to prove that they cared. They’d made it about them.

“No need,” Rios quipped, his speech now slightly slurred. “Wasn’t even the first time you’ve seen me with tritanium stuck somewhere.”

“I don’t much care for a repeat, frankly,” Picard gently admonished, although he was disappointed that Rios had addressed the physical aspect of the issue and neglected to acknowledge the underlying message. He studied Rios’ waxy complexion and he took in the tremors running through his shoulders. “Do you want me to leave?”

“Don’t really care,” Rios shrugged. He finally lowered himself onto his back and stared at the ceiling without a word, breathing in and out, and Picard hated to leave him like this.

“Thank you,” he finally said. “For getting us out of that mess. And for saving my life.”

“Hmm,” Rios eloquently answered. “You’re welcome.”

Just as Picard was getting up to go, the inexplicable urge to check on Cristóbal one last time forced his steps towards the bed and not the door. The Captain was already asleep, his skin clammy and the red patch on his shirt larger, his pained breaths escaping through slightly parted lips. Picard had never been one for physical displays of affection, but he couldn’t help the hand than strayed to Cristóbal’s forehead, brushing away some of the wayward curls.

“Pops,” Cristóbal breathed out in reaction to the touch – whimpered, almost – causing Picard to withdraw his hand immediately, feeling oddly guilty.

The EMH decided to silently appear right then, the medkit materializing at his feet. His gaze met Picard’s and they exchanged a nod.

“Go,” the EMH – Emil – murmured. “I’ll take care of it.”

Picard left, still a little troubled, still a little humbled. He’d have liked to stay longer, to make sure, perhaps, that Cris was alright.

But that had been today’s lesson, hadn’t it? It really wasn’t about him.

#star trek: picard #star trek picard #cristobal rios #cris rios #jean-luc picard

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limitededitionsanderssidesblog · 5 years

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Love Like You - Chapter 2/2

Ships: Anxceit, Logicality

Summary: Nearly half a year has passed since Virgil first walked into the Stork House and met mysterious and hardworking caregiver, Dexter Serpente, and the odd pair of eleven-year-old twins, Roman and Remus. Over the past few months, with weekly visits, Virgil finds himself slowly falling for both Dexter and the boys. However, shadows of his past and fear of the future hold him back.

This Chapter is twice as long as the last, so sorry in advance.

Chapter 1 AO3 - Here

- The sun began to set as the day grew sleepy. Cars filled the traffic lanes as working adults returned to their homes after a long day at their jobs. They honked and beeped their horns, impatient to get home; while Virgil honked his horn for another reason.

“The light is green! Get off your phone and drive!” Virgil shouted at the car in front of him that refused to move even though it had changed ten seconds ago.

He never did like sitting in traffic, but today it was even worse since they all had planned to take the kids to the movie theater to watch the latest Pixar movie. They ended up leaving the Stork house a little late since it was hard to corral ten kids into three cars. They almost had to cancel entirely because one of the other volunteer helpers couldn’t make it. Virgil quickly grew nervous about getting there on time, but his rushing around didn’t do much of anything to help the issue. Dexter called his other volunteer but they were occupied as well.

Virgil nearly had a meltdown then, Dexter was also slightly panicking but he remained calm enough to soothe Virgil. Dexter then asked Patton if his boyfriend would be available to drive them to the theater, and, after a swift call, he was.

Logan came and took four of the older kids in his white Corvette, Patton drove his KIA and took four of the toddlers, while Virgil volunteered to drive the agency’s car to take him, Dexter, and Roman and Remus. A small argument between who should drive stalled them a few minutes longer, but Virgil quickly settled it by snatching the keys and bolting for the car. He felt a little guilty for acting so childish, but he felt that he needed to make it up for ruining the night.

“How much time until the movie starts?” Virgil questioned, speeding up a bit, but not too much that he’d risk getting a speeding ticket.

“Seven minutes,” Dexter replies looking at the digital tickets he bought online.

We’re still ten minutes away. We’re not going to make it. We’ll miss the beginning of the movie. I’ve messed it up for everyone.

Cue the shaking and shortness of breath to take over his body as his anxiety skyrocketed. Dexter noticed his panic and was quick to reassure and comfort him.

“The ads last fifteen minutes, we’ll make it on time,” Dexter said.

Virgil nodded his head, but only to not concern Dexter any further. The man already had so much on his plate and did so much for him, he didn’t want to be any more of a burden on him. Instead, he focused on the twins in the back talking excitedly about the movie they’ve been waiting to see.

“I can’t wait to hear the new songs!” Roman cheered, bouncing a little in his seat.

“There aren’t gonna be any songs, stupid. It’s a Pixar movie, not a Disney movie.” Remus chided beside him.

“Toy Story 2 had a song in it! And I’m not stupid, you’re stupid, stupid!” Roman argues back, sticking his tongue out at his brother.

“Idiot!”

“Dummy!”

“Boys! Quiet down back there!” Dexter demanded, giving them each a glare through the rearview mirror.

Roman and Remus stopped their little spat but continued to glare and make faces at each other. Virgil watched them in the mirror and smiled a little to himself.

It had been a grand total of four months since Virgil had turned the big three-one and realized that his chances of ever having someone in his life had escaped him, and when he admitted that he was not physically, mentally, or financially capable of adopting a child. Though, instead of accepting a life of loneliness filled with nothing but endless days at work and the occasional excursions with his two friends, Virgil decided that he would visit the Stork Agency at least twice a week to volunteer and be around the kids.

At that time, he had grown very close with the two eldest kids at the Agency, falling for their quirky personalities. Virgil would usually come on the days when Remus wasn’t allowed at school to help tutor him. He’d bring books on his grade level math, science, and English and help him with his homework. When he wasn’t tutoring him he’d read stories to him to help his reading comprehension. Improvement in his grades began to appear after three weeks of work and Virgil remembered the smile on Remus’s face when he brought home a C+ on a math test. Dexter had felt such pride over the score and even hung it on the fridge to celebrate.

When he wasn’t helping Remus catch up with the rest of his grade, he would play video games with him on the WiiU. Remus was a near master at Mario Kart and it was practically impossible to beat him, but when it came to games like Super Smash Bros, Virgil reigned champ. Dexter wasn’t much of a gamer and often just sat by and watched them play if he wasn’t too busy taking care of the other kids. The best part was watching Roman and Remus play together since they were both just as good and their matches went on for long periods of time in a tight struggle.

Although video gaming and reading stories were enjoyable, the most entertaining activity they liked to do was anything creative. Remus loved to draw, and while his drawings were at times weird and sometimes disturbing, he had a real talent for it. Roman, on the other hand, was a storyteller and liked to write scripts for his own plays that he would act out with whoever he could get to join him.

Four months may not be a long time to know someone, but Virgil already felt like attached to the boys, and watching them act silly was one way he was able to calm down. Although, the best way for him to calm down was by watching Dexter beside him parenting them. Even if he was annoyed or frustrated with them, he had a knack for handling the wildness that gave him a special kind of shine.

The twins were not the only ones who somehow worked their way into his heart over the past four months, despite his best efforts to keep it secured under lock and key.

Miraculously, traffic began to clear up and they were able to navigate through the city a bit faster. This put Virgil slightly more at ease, and he refused to look at the car’s digital clock to keep his anxiety down to a minimum. When they finally did arrive in the theater parking lot, Logan and Patton in tow behind him, Virgil raced around until he found a parking spot with empty spaces around so the others could park as well.

Practically leaping out of his seat, Virgil opened up the door for Roman behind him, while Dexter did the same for Remus, and walked to meet up with the others so Dexter could do a headcount before heading into the theater.

Dexter went on ahead to give the clerk their tickets, while Virgil led the children to the theater, while Logan and Patton went to buy the popcorn. Just as Dexter said it would, the movie trailers were still playing by the time they walked in. Virgil guided the kids to their seats, making sure to leave a few seats empty so that the other adults can sit around and keep an eye on them.

The movie trailers reached its final one by the time Dexter walked in and took his seat in front of Virgil.

“See, I told you it would turn out alright.” Dexter smiled over his shoulder, turning to look at him from one row down.

“Yeah… it did.” Virgil breathed out, his heart rate still calming down from his near panic attack.

Dexter smiles once more, then turned back to face the front as the movie began. Logan and Patton walked it with everyone’s snacks just in time.

The movie was definitely a lot more interesting than Virgil had thought it would be, not that he thought it would be completely boring. The plotline follows the story of a young girl who accidentally stumbled into her father’s laboratory and travels into another dimension, where she believed he disappeared to when she was a baby. The young girl then seeks after her father in the strange world, making friends along the way, and drawing attention from, and being hunted by, the people who captured her father. In the end, she reunites with him, the meeting was emotional enough to jerk a few tears from more than just him, and they go home. There was even a song sung for Roman to enjoy, and just enough violence to keep Remus entertained, but not so much that it was majorly concerning. A little over two hours later, the movie ended and the adults had to, once again, escort a crowd of small children out of the theater, which was no easy feat.

Along the way back to the cars, Roman practically bounced up and down as he reported every moment of the movie that he enjoyed. Dexter held onto his right hand and Virgil held onto his left, walking closely with the boy in between them. Remus basically hung off of Dexter’s shoulders, having asked to sit atop of them when they walked out. Dexter looked tired and repeatedly told him to stop squirming around, but it did little to calm the energized eleven-year-old. The scene warmed his heart and Virgil nearly laughed out loud at how silly he looked. He desperately wanted to take a picture but didn’t want to appear creepy.

On the road back to the agency home, the twins sat and talked excitedly about the movie in the back. In the front, he and Dexter sat in silence. Virgil wanted to say something, anything, but all his words got tied together whenever he tried to speak. Dexter made a few comments towards him, but Virgil was only able to reply in short, broken, phrases. By the time they arrived back, Virgil still had said barely two words to the other man.

Why am I like this? Why can’t I do anything right?

Logan and Patton pulled into the driveway and along the street just a minute or two after them, both looking fatigued. Both Logan and Patton had worked full shifts that day, while it had been Virgil’s day off. He offered to help the children in and to bed so that they could go back to their apartment sooner. Patton argued against it at first, but one hushed word from Dexter, that Virgil couldn’t quite hear had him readily leaving with a smile, quickly dragging Logan along with him. A thrill of foreboding ran down his spine and Virgil then felt like he had made a mistake by offering to do so.

“Racoon man!” Remus cried, pulling on his arm violently, “I want soda!”

“No can do little man, it’s past your bedtime,” Virgil said, hauling him up into his arms, grabbing another kid’s hand, and leading them to the house. The movie was a late one and had ended at nine, which was just an hour before lights out. That meant that He and Dexter had a lot of work to do before then.

Dexter went on ahead to help the smallest toddlers to sleep in their room next to his in the basement. Virgil took it upon himself to help the older children get ready for bed upstairs. Setting Remus back down, he nudged him inside and directed him upstairs, almost closing the door behind him until he noticed Roman still standing out on the porch.

“Roman? You okay, little dude?” Virgil asked, walking out to him. Roman jumped slightly at the sound of his voice and quickly turned his head away, rubbing his face with the back of his arm.

“Yeah!” Roman replied, turning around hastily, head low. “Just allergies,”

Virgil wanted to interrogate him a bit further, not believing the excuse behind the tears the boy thought he didn’t see, but he ran inside and up the stairs before he could ask any further questions. Virgil sighed with a frown and followed after.

It was truly a task to get all the kids to settle down enough to change into their pajamas, brush their teeth, and get into bed; but he didn’t have to do anything at all for Roman, the downcasted boy was in bed before anyone else. Virgil wanted to find out what was wrong but had a feeling that he just needed a little time to himself for now.

By the time he settled all the kids to bed and turned out the lights it was well past ten at night. Taking one final look at the twins resting in their beds, longer than the looks he gave the other kids, he went back down the stairs to head out and get some sleep of his own.

He grabbed his keys from the coffee table and had one foot out the door when Dexter suddenly walked in from the kitchen behind him, making him jolt slightly as he looked nothing more than a shadow in the lightless room.

“You heading out already?” Dexter asked him, switching on a lamp near him. Virgil squinted against the abrupt introduction of light, but once his eyes adjusted he noticed the simple cashmere black long-sleeve Dexter had changed into that hung eye blindingly tight against his body, and a small bottle of wine in his hand. Virgil turned his eyes up to his face to stop mentally drooling over him, but by the smirk on his face, Dexter had already realized what he had been doing.

“I thought you weren’t supposed to have alcohol in the house?” Virgil coughed, trying to regain the cool that he never had.

“It’s my own small stash from my safe, the kids won’t ever get to it.” Dexter said matter-of-factly stepping away from the entrance frame with a push of his hip, “So…?”

Virgil looked to him and then to the small bottle of alcohol. A large part of him screamed not to risk it and run away and never come back. Deep down he knew what it would lead to, he isn’t dense, he’s noticed the attention Dexter’s given him over the past few months, but he didn’t trust himself not to ruin it.

I ruin everything. I’m the reason everyone left me. It’s my fault. I shouldn’t even try.

Even so, despite his best efforts to remain indifferent and unaffected by his charms, Virgil constantly found himself falling for his charisma and passion. He hoped that, just maybe, he would have another chance at a relationship.

“Maybe just one glass.” Virgil concedes, closing the door and following after Dexter into the back room.

The sat on the long couch, a foot of space between them, with wine glasses each in their hands. Dexter pop opened the bottle and poured a bit in both their glasses. They clinked their drinks together in toast and took their first sip. Virgil usually wasn’t much of a wine drinker, but the fruity taste sat deliciously on his tongue and drew him back for more.

“I wanted to thank you for all your help tonight, Virgil,” Dexter spoke up after their cheer, the rim of his glass against his lips.

“I didn’t really do anything.” Virgil huffed, twirling the drink in its glass.

“Yes you did, you made my job easier just by being there,” Dexter confessed urgently, chasing away his self-deprecating thoughts as soon as they came, just as he always did. “The children really like you.”

“Well, kids are easy to please.” Virgil blushed, turning away shyly, wrapping an arm around himself.

Slowly a hand reached out and gently grasped his chin, softly pulling it back as it were a moment before. Virgil then realized just how close they had become, the foot falling to a mere few inches. Their faces were within breathing distance and he could feel the steamed warmth of Dexter’s breath blowing against his cheek.

“They aren’t the only ones who like you.” He whispered,

A pull drew them closer together, closing the space between them. The grip on his chin was soft and gentle, allowing room for him to pull away at any moment. Virgil’s mind roared in his head as he lost himself in the moment and in Dexter’s caramel brown eyes. The time it took for them to finally reach each other was painstakingly slow, as though an eternity had passed by without them as they stayed still together, trapped in each other’s embrace. For the first time Virgil felt relaxed in someone else’s arms, he wasn’t afraid about what could be and could only think of what currently was.

However, the warm touch of Dexter’s lips against his reawakened those fears.

What if my breath smells? Am I out of practice? Am I a horrible kisser? Why is this happening? Why is he doing this? Why does he like? What if I screw it up? What if I push him away? I can’t lose him!

“Wait, stop!” Virgil shouted, pushing Dexter off of him.

Dexter fell back into the cushions roughly and looked back at him in surprise, confusion, and regret.

“Sorry, I shouldn’t have done that-” He immediately began to apologize, which only made Virgil feel worse.

“No, it’s not that, it’s just-” I ruined it. I ruin everything. Why did I push him away? I’m so pathetic. I hurt him. I’m pushing him away. I don’t want him to leave. I have to do something to fix this. “Ca-can we just be friends?” He stuttered out, shutting his eyes closed and tightening his fists on the fabric of his jeans.

He shook in his spot, sobs trapped in his chest begging to break out, on the cusps of an emotional outburst. It took all of his strength and focus to keep from bursting out in tears and cries. Even so, a few tears managed to slip past him and fall down his cheeks.

A hand reached out and grasped his face, but only to wipe away the tears that had fallen through.

“If that’s what you want, then of course.” His kind voice answered, much too forgiving after what Virgil had just pulled.

“I’m sorry.” He hiccuped with a sob, causing another round of tears to fall.

“Don’t be, I don’t want to force anything onto you.” Dexter smiled, though he could see that it was forced and hurt.

Fuck, I’m the absolute worst.

The next few weeks were awkward as hell, though it was mostly his fault.

After, whatever the hell that was happened, Virgil practically ran from the house and scrammed his way to his apartment condo. About an hour later he received an incoming text from Dexter.

Dee: I’m sorry, forget what happened.

He wanted to, he really did; if it were possible he’d erase the feeling of being held so gently, he’d erase the image of Dexter’s eyes boring kindly into his, erase the smell of his burnt wood cologne. If the power to erase his memories existed within him he would do so in a heartbeat, so that his heart would stop beating so heavily and his clutch onto hope could come undone.

But no, he didn’t have that power, so now he was left to remember it all in excruciating detail. The hope inside him that he had desperately been trying to push down and squash had now gotten the upper hand.

No matter what he did, or told himself, it was becoming increasingly more difficult to ignore the emotions building inside him. Yet, it seemed that it didn’t make a difference in the end what he felt towards Dexter since he had already gone and ruined it, whatever it was.

In an attempt to avoid him and the awkwardness, Virgil switched from going twice a week to just once a week, but that did very little to help, in fact, it only made it worse. Before it was just strained and uncomfortable glances and awkward small talk, but after he started cutting his visits short they began to talk less and less, sometimes he wouldn’t even see Dexter because he’d be too busy with the other children. It wasn’t unusual for him to be busy with the other kids, but he had always somehow made time to talk with Virgil, but now it was as if he wasn’t putting in any effort.

Virgil didn’t blame Dexter for being terse or angry with him, he would be too if he had that shit pulled on him, but that didn’t make it hurt any less.

Although the biggest problem to come out of all this wasn’t the tension between the two men, it was the effect it had on the kids, Roman and Remus specifically. Since he only came once a week now Virgil had barely any time to be around them, and sometimes he’d only be able to see one or the other if either of them at all. His usual tutoring with Remus had been cut short and he could tell that he was beginning to struggle again as his class began to take a lead on him the more new material was introduced. Remus promised to work his hardest without him and said that Dexter helped him when he found the time, but Virgil couldn’t help but feel guilty.

Roman had taken it differently and had taken Dexter’s side, although he didn’t even know what happened between them. He grew quieter and would say barely two words to him. Virgil didn’t know what to do about it, wasn’t sure how to fix everything he had destroyed.

But he had to make that first step.

It was almost dinner time for the kids, Dexter occupied the kitchen preparing the food while Jessica, a volunteer, sat with Virgil and the other kids in the backroom as they watched Barbie. Remus sat by his side, pretending to be working on his scheduled reading homework, but really was focusing on the movie. The only one not there, besides the smaller toddlers taking their nap, was Roman.

Looking over his shoulder, Virgil stared out of the window into the backyard at the small treehouse in the great oak that sat alone out there. Recently, Roman had been retreating to his ‘tower,’ purposefully avoiding him. Virgil decided that, at the very least, he could try to earn the boy’s trust again.

Ruffling Remus’s hair as he stood, Virgil went out the screen door to the backyard and went over to the treehouse the boy was hiding in. Climbing the wood ladder, Virgil gently knocked on the door before he pushed it open and let himself in.

The treehouse was pretty scarce of anything, but it had an old pillow and a few stuffed animals strewn about on the floor. The ceiling was really low, which meant it was impossible for Virgil to stand, so he had to remain seated the entire time.

“Hey bud,” Virgil greeted, crawling into the cramped space, “You mind if I join you up here?” Roman didn’t reply, sitting in the corner of the wooden fortress with his back faced towards him. “Look, I know you’re angry at me right now, but I didn’t mean to-”

“Why are you still here?” The sixth-grader cut him off, his voice icy and hard.

“I- Excuse me?”

“I can tell how much you hate being here. Why don’t you stop faking it and just go?” Roman spat, curling further into himself. “All they ever do is leave, even if they promise to come back, they never do. So why don’t you go away!” He shouted in a broken sob that pierced Virgil’s heart.

Roman had always been a cheerful and energetic child, similar to his brother but in a more controlled way. However, there were moments when he seemed quiet and subdued. The moments never lasted long and were far and few in between, and whenever Virgil asked about it he would always change the subject or give a simple answer. He thought it was just one of his many quirks, he should have realized sooner that he was feeling this way. It made perfect sense, Roman had lived the past ten years of his life in disappointment as he watched the children around him steadily be adopted one by one, which he and his brother were left behind. Perhaps they had been considered by a few families, and maybe some of them even promise to come back and never did. They grew up being judged and rejected by adults, they’ve known nothing else, it’s become their entire existence and identity; what did a child make of that?

“Was- was it me?” Roman asked sobbing, more to himself than to Virgil, his eyes blurred with tears and snot running down his nose.

Suddenly, without thinking, Virgil snapped and reached out, pulling Roman into a massive hug, holding him tightly against his chest and running his fingers through his hair.

“Roman, Roman no. You’ve done nothing wrong.” He told the crying by, setting his chin on top of his small head.

“Then why aren’t you around anymore?”

“Because adults are idiots sometimes.” Virgil chuckled dryly.

He’s been a damn fool lately, running away from his problems won’t solve anything, and not talking about it made it worse. He hadn’t meant to cause anyone harm, never intended for the boys to be affected the way they were. But it happened, so he had to fix it.

Once Roman calmed down and regained himself Virgil lead him back inside the house, hand in hand, and sat him with his brother in front of the still playing movie. He could tell the boy didn’t want him to leave his side, but the sooner he fixed his mistake the better it would be for everything else.

Dexter was still in the kitchen, placing a casserole into the oven. Virgil watched him for a moment, observing how calm he looked when he was focused, calm and beautiful. Dexter set the casserole on the middle shelf and closed the oven door, setting a timer on the stove, and then turned and caught Virgil in the middle of his staring.

“Hello.” He greeted, his usually warm smile appearing slightly strained.

“Hey, Dexter,” Virgil returned his greeting looking down at his feet, “c-could I talk to you?”

“Of course, what is it?” He asked, taking off his oven mitts, throwing them on the counter, and leaning his weight against the refrigerator.

“I…” Virgil began, still looking at the ground, crossing his arms and rubbing his sides nervously, “I wanted to say I’m sorry… for pushing you away.”

Dexter’s calm and relaxed facade suddenly fell away and he became rigid and stood straighter. Even his fake smile cannot remain, his face becoming harder and somber with retrospect.

“I told you before, it’s alright.” Dexter reminded him, sounding downtrodden.

“No, it isn’t, I made you think that you were the problem. I never wanted to do that to you.” Virgil argued shaking his head as he looked up from his feet, his voice unintentionally growing louder.

Dexter his eyes grew wide and surprise, as did Virgil‘s, neither were used to say anxious librarian using a loud tone or becoming aggressive. It wasn’t that Virgil was never aggressive, in fact, he could be quite aggressive, although not physically and rather verbally; but since whenever he was around Dexter he was also around children the former never really had the chance to see that side of him. Virgil froze for a moment, fearing what Dexter would think of him after he yelled. However, Dexter didn’t appear to be offended, and he actually appeared endeared by it. It’s my return, but just for a moment, except this time it was real.

“Well, I forgive you, and I’m sorry as well.” Dexter exhaled, leaning away from the refrigerator.

“What for? You didn’t do anything wrong.” Virgil asked in confusion.

“Yeah I did, I made you uncomfortable, and spent the time since avoiding sulking about it. I’ve been acting like a child.”

“If anyone’s a child it’s me, I’ve been avoiding you like an idiot.” Virgil disagreed, putting himself down that he might build Dexter up.

“Don’t say that about yourself.” The caretaker said in an almost commanding voice, becoming rigid in his stance once again. This time it was Virgil‘s turn to be surprised at the other new show of aggression. Sure, Dexter was no saint, Virgil had seen him get frustrated and annoyed with the children multiple times since he first came to the Stork House, but it was always in a nurturing way, like a parent to a child. His tone of voice and the look in his eyes showed something else besides parental affection, kind, caring, and intense.

It’s the truth, though.

Those were the thoughts that Virgil always told himself and believed. It was easier to take the blame than to risk hurting someone else. Still, it was nice to have someone to help combat those thoughts, even if he didn’t listen.

Their eyes stayed locked for a few moments more, taking part in an unspoken battle against each other for a prize he couldn’t figure out. A heartbeat or two more passed when Dexter’s strong stance and expression began to crumble away into one more relaxed, and he began to laugh, although Virgil wants sure if he was laughing at him or something else entirely. Dexter’s hearty and breathless laughter filled the room and chased away the tension; Virgil had no choice but to join in until they both became laughing fools.

“I think the kids are starting to rub off on us,” Dexter chokes out between laughs.

“I think you mean just you,” Virgil teased, holding his now hurting stomach.

“Says the guy pointing fingers like a child,” Dexter smirked.

Virgil feigned offense and put a hand on his chest and pretended to be wounded, just like Roman would do.

Perhaps the children really were rubbing off on him, but he didn’t consider that a bad thing. So what if he acted like a child from time to time, being around these kids had been some of his best days. Ever since he came to the Stork Agency Virgil has found it in himself to smile again without it being fake or forced. He’s having actual fun again, he feels like he’s contributing to something bigger than himself, and he feels almost whole again.

Dexter excused himself to call the kids to wash their hands before dinner, which was finished and set out on the counter.

Virgil watched the man in both wonder and curiosity. He had never laughed like that with anyone else, not since Matthew, and he had never expected to do so again. Virgil had welcomed in failure with each relationship he walked into, he expected and built up walls to protect himself for when it inevitably happened. Yet, this man, in just a handful of months, had managed to put a dent in his walls and threatened to break them down for good.

In his fear and natural reflex, Virgil wanted to put an end to the threat and keep his walls up higher than they were before. He had been hurt too many times and feared being completely shattered if he took one more blow. Even so, Virgil found himself welcoming in the destruction of his walls. He had trapped himself in a box for years, relinquishing his freedom and joy in exchange for security. He was bound by the chains of his own creation with the key in his hand at all times.

Virgil had a choice to entrust that key to someone else, but he still wasn’t sure if he could bring himself to. However, with how things were going, not only would his walls be removed, but he will also hand over the key to his heart as well. And Dexter would be at the center of it all.

“So if this is the tens place, and this is the hundreds, which one is this?”

“Uhm… it’s the… it’s the thousandths place.” Remus replied, head bent over his homework booklet as he stared intensely at the numbers on the page.

“Good job! So if that’s the thousandths place, where does this number round to?” Virgil quizzed, pointing at the four at the end of the equation.

“It…It…um, it doesn’t.”

“Correct! But why doesn’t it?” He continued, making sure that he wasn’t just guessing.

“Because… it’s less than five, so… it doesn’t round up.” Remus answered, his eyes lighting up.

“Great job bob, Einstein is gonna have to look out.” Virgil congratulated him, pulling him into a hug and affectionately ruffing up his hair.

“Yeah or else he’ll have a chicken stuck up his butt.” The boy proclaimed with a grin.

“Mister Virgil? Can you help me?” Another child, Samantha, asked. Virgil nodded and scooted over to her to look over her work and help her where he could.

The fresh spring breeze blew through the open windows and ruffled up the worksheet, nearly blowing them off the table. May had come, and with it, the warmth partnered with the ending of spring and the approaching summer. Not only did it bring a change of weather, but also the impending student stress of finals. Virgil, who had actually somehow made it through college all four years and was a surprisingly decent student, due to his anxiety over failure, offered to help them. After all, how hard could grade school classes be?

At first, he had helped only Remus since he was still a ways behind his class, but soon after all the other children gathered around him asking for help in their studies. He would have been overwhelmed if it wasn’t for Patton, who offered to help in English and History, while Virgil helped with Math and Science.

By far, the hardest subject for Remus to grasp was math. He really was a creative boy and was more of an artist than anything else, the math simply didn’t come easy for him; it was the same for Roman as well. If he could, Virgil would move them to a fine arts school where they could cultivate their talents and focus on what they were good at and not be held back. Roman had a better time in math and science than his brother, but they still weren’t his favorite subjects, so he didn’t need to ask for help as often, except when it came to mean, median, and range.

“This is stupid! Why do I have to know this?” Roman complained, throwing down his pencil in frustration.

“Honestly I don’t know bud,” Virgil sighed and patted the boy’s head, “But if you pass your test I’ll take you out for ice cream.”

Roman’s eyes lit up at that and he immediately took the bait, returning to his work and giving the problems more of his attention. Virgil smiled as he watched the boy’s comedic face as he focused solely on the homework sheet. Virgil remembered hating math in school, despite being good at it, and it did little to serve him outside of the education system. Unless Roman wanted to go into a science or math-related field, which he probably didn’t, Virgil doubted he’d really need the information he’s learning.

“Hey raccoon man, are you busy next Tuesday?” Remus suddenly spoke up from his seat beside him, using the nickname he had received the first day they met.

“Besides work in the afternoon, not really, why?” Virgil inquired of the boy.

Roman, who seemed to already know what his brother was talking about, tensed up and gave a commanding, “Don’t.”

But he went ignored as Remus continued on anyways.

“We’re having parents day at school. Snake man is going because he’s our guardian, but I want you to be there too.” The eleven-year-old beamed brightly, bouncing around excitedly in his seat.

“That’s such a good idea!” Patton gasped and smiled widely with a clap of his hands, taking a break from helping Maddie to listen in on their conversation.

“Oh, well I’m not sure if it’s okay for-”

“He’s not our dad, Remus.” Roman spat out loudly, causing the room to quiet down and turn to them. Realizing that all eyes were on him, Roman flushed a bright red and turned his head down, but still remained upset. “He’s just some guy.”

The room was deathly silent as all the children and both adults stopped what they were doing and turned their attention to the young boy’s sudden outburst. Roman froze as realization dawned on his face that was quickly replaced with a mix of anger and guilt. Standing from his seat at the coffee table, Roman ran away down the hall and upstairs, the sound of footsteps echoing in his wake.

No one made a move for several moments after and just looked around at each other at a loss for words. Virgil, however, snapped out of his shock and swiftly followed after him. It didn’t take long to find him as he wasn’t really hiding, and was simply lying on his bed on the bottom bunk with his back turned towards him.

“Hey, you okay?” Virgil asked, taking a seat at the foot of the bed.

“I’m sorry Mr. Virgil,” Roman apologized, turning over to face him, his eyes full of tears and snot running down his nose.

“No, no, it’s okay,” Virgil told him and pulled him into a side hug with one arm, “I understand.”

Even though it surprised him, even though it hurt a little to hear those words, Roman was right, he wasn’t their dad, he had no right to act as if he was. “I know I’m not your dad, but if you’d let me, I’d love to go to your school.”

“Really?” Roman wondered, his glassy eyes shone bright with excitement and he sat up on the back of his legs.

“Yeah, of course.”

Still, despite the legality of it all, he wanted to go to their school and feel like their parents, even if it was just for a day.

“So I heard you're coming to parents day.” Dexter started, speaking first between them as they walked together through the supermarket.

Normally it would be Patton’s duty to help with groceries, but he was currently out of commission taking care of a sick Logan. Virgil had warned him that he was getting too much dust and not enough sunlight from overworking himself as per usual at the library. Well, it wasn’t as if Virgil practice perfectly healthy habits either, but which one of them was sick in bed? Exactly.

Either way, Virgil was now stuck pushing a cart around while Dexter read off his list and filled the basket with different foods, sauces, spices, and treats. He wasn’t too bent over it though, spending time with Dexter wasn’t a complete punishment. Ever since they had that talk two weeks ago the tension had basically dissipated. Until today that is; Virgil didn’t know exactly what had happened, but ever since his last visit earlier that week Dexter had been more quiet than usual, almost like he was busy thinking.

“Yeah, Remus invited me.” Virgil agreed, taking the cans of alfredo sauce the other man held out to him and placing them in the cart. “Roman didn’t like it at first, but he’s alright with it now.”

Dexter check pasta sauce of his list and stayed silent for a moment, gazing far ahead of him at something Virgil couldn’t see, his eyes cold and focused. Virgil gulped down a breath of nervous air as he grew anxious about the conversation.

Is he mad at me? Does he not want me to go to parents’ day?

“I worry about them sometimes.”

Virgil blinked and snapped out of his anxious thoughts before he could spiral, stunned and intrigued by the statement.

“Huh?”

Dexter walked on ahead, reading over his shopping list and leading them to the next item they needed. Virgil watched him walk in front of him, noticing the tension in his shoulders, and followed after.

“They’re so used to disappoint and being rejected by every foster and adopter that comes to the house,” he began, his tone low and somber, “but you’re the only one to ever wanted to come back and see them. I worry sometimes that it’s raising their hopes.” He confessed head hung low as he came to a slow stop and stared down at his feet. “Do you ever think you’ll adopt them?”

The librarian opened his mouth to respond but hesitated in his answer. Will he adopt them? There was no denial that he had grown attached to the boys since he first met them on his birthday six months ago, that being with them brought him a sort of joy and fulfillment he hadn’t felt in a long time. Of course, there were times he has been annoyed with them and wanted to walk out, such as when they were being stubborn and difficult or throwing tantrums, but they were only children and he came back to see them anyways.

Even so, was he ready to take care of two children? It’s not like he was making a whole lot of money at his job as an assistant manager if it was just one of them it might work, but there was no way he could choose between them or split them apart. And if he did take both of them, would there be enough room in his condo for them to live. His condo wasn’t that big and had only two rooms, both of which were currently being used. He could empty out his office, but that would mean they’d have to share a small amount of space. That may work for now, but what about when they’re older? Plus, with his work hours, he wouldn’t come back home until around ten at night five days a week, he couldn’t leave them alone like that.

“Its a big change in life to have a kid, let alone two. I still don’t know if I’m ready.” Virgil admitted regretfully.

The last thing he wanted to do was to toy with the boys’ feelings, but he couldn’t take them in, not yet at least.

“No one ever truly is.” The caregiver stated, his voice sounding serious but his face was kind with affection and understanding, “I’m not going to pressure you into making a decision, but please consider it. I can tell how much you love them just by watching you. And I know for a fact they love you back.”

Virgil smiled to himself, but it was slightly strained, his emotions were a haywire mix of joy, grief, pride, and guilt. Even if he loved being around them, wanted to see them grow and be there for them, they weren’t his and he had no right to them. If Virgil had been brave he would have admitted it to himself by now, that he couldn’t imagine life without the twins anymore, he could picture a future without them in it. But he feared what that kind of commitment entailed, and distressed over whether his broken self could manage it.

Requesting the day off to attend a parents’ day event at one of the local middle schools for two children who weren’t his that he met at an orphanage less than a year ago had certainly been an interesting way to start off his Tuesday morning. He had the date marked down on his Twenty One Pilots calendar, on his iPhone planner, and had even written reminders on sticky notes and placed them throughout his condo. Virgil did not want to miss it for the world. Thankfully his boss hadn’t questioned him too much on it and gave him the day off.

The next part of his morning had been dressing the part, even if he wasn’t their dad he wanted to make a good impression on the teachers. Besides, Dexter would be there too, and he didn’t want to slack off in front of someone who always somehow managed to look irresistibly good.

Not that that was the point of today.

Starting off with a quick shower, Virgil carefully blow-dried and styled his hair, keeping his bangs out of his face this time. When it came time to get dressed, he settled on a clean pair of non-ripped black jeans and a dark grey tee shirt without a printed design, since they were some of the few clothes that seemed appropriate to wear at a middle school. The real trouble came with picking a jacket, most of his wear oversized hoodies he had modified himself that definitely wouldn’t fly, but after some extensive rummaging through his closet, he found an old black blazer he only ever used for formal occasions. Once he was dressed he looked at himself in the mirror and decided it was good enough if not a little foreign.

He had promised to meet Dexter and the boys at the school gates before class started, so when he had parked in the visitor lot and jogged up to the front of the school he could see the three standing on the side waiting for him.

Just as he had expected, Dexter looked stunning. Shaking that thought out of his head, Virgil focused on the boys and continued to jog over to them.

“Hey guys,” he greeted, “You ready to head in?”

“Duh, we were waiting for you, raccoon.” Remus retorted, and then received a hard nudge from behind by Dexter.

“Remus, That’s not how you should speak to people.” The caregiver warned the boy. “Now let’s get going.”

“Yeah stupid!” Roman mocked,

“I’m not stupid, stupid!”

“That reply was stupid.”

“Snake man!” Remus cried loudly,

Dexter groaned in exasperation and walked in between, separating them before they could continue any further, and pulled them along by their hands. Virgil chuckled and followed along, taking Remus’s free hand in his as he walked alongside them.

“Rough morning?” Virgil asked, having a side glance to Dexter.

“You could say that.” He muttered, “Johnathan canceled on me, but luckily Ashley was able to watch over the kids while I was away.”

“That’s rough buddy,”

“Whatever you say, Prince Zuko.” Dexter laughed, understanding the reference. Virgil grinned and laughed along too, glad that he was able to bring a smile to his face.

The boys’ classroom was in the third wing of the school near the very end of the hall, but before they went to class they stopped by their lockers so they could put away their backpacks and grab their books. The room was decently large, with desks lined up in rows of four by six, extra chairs had been placed near the outer desks and in the back.

The first class of the day was English and Reading, which meant pretty much the entire hour was spent with the children just reading books on their own and discussing what they read, which was honestly kinda boring. Virgil tried to pay attention but once he noticed the other parents all on their phones or, not so secretly, taking naps, he succumbed and pulled out his phone as well.

The next class was much more exciting, and not just because Virgil was partial to the subject. The makeshift not-family walked together to the classroom directly across the hall to Mr. Humford’s basic Biology class. This class was a far cry from the last as this teacher decided to hold a parent and student team biology game. Although he had been a duel science major, his studies had been in computer science and library science, and yes that is an actual science.

For the game, parents and children split into teams of two and went up to the whiteboard to face off against each other three at a time. To do this, Virgil teamed up with Remus, while Dexter paired with Roman.

Dexter and Roman went up in the first round but lost, coming as a bit of a shock to Virgil. The caretaker came off as a highly intelligent person, but perhaps science wasn’t his strong suit. Virgil and Remus went up in the third round and actually managed to win theirs, which brought them into a final showdown against four other groups. They didn’t win, but they had finished in third place and got some candy as a prize. The teacher and other students looked extremely surprised at Remus when he got his award, but Remus was simply happy and proud and rubbed his reward in Roman’s face.

This caused Dexter to force him to share when the older twin began to loudly complain, which only made Remus complain and disturb the classroom. The science teacher looked at him in agitation and looked like he was about to say something, but Virgil swiftly handled it by covertly giving Remus some more candy when their backs were turned, winking and holding a finger against his lips to keep it a secret.

After science, there was a ten-minute break that passed by in a flash and then they were suddenly in math class. The class was similar to the first in that it was filled with the kids doing boring work and parents hanging out on their phones. The first fifteen minutes were filled with the children doing a math warm-up sheet, which then turned into a forty lesson and discussion.

Virgil could tell that the teacher was trying to engage the children and get them excited for the lesson, but he couldn’t really blame them for being bored in a math class.

“Okay, so today we’re going to go over a new topic, I hope you did the pre-reading I told you to do because it went over what we’re about to learn: absolute value. Now, can anyone tell me what the absolute value of one hundred and two is?” The young female teacher asked, moving back and forth in the front as she looked across the rows of preteens.

No one raised their hands, obviously not having read the assigned math book. The teacher looked slightly distressed and called out again, “Anyone? Anyone at all?”

In the back row, in the very far corner, Remus energetically raised his hand up high, a grin on his face. Virgil beamed with pride over him taking the initiative, especially since he had helped Remus with absolute value last week.

The teacher, however, either didn’t notice Remus or pointedly ignored him. With a heavy sigh, she turned towards the board to do the equation herself.

“Excuse me miss, but Remus has his hand up,” Vigil spoke up, catching the teacher’s attention before she could write the answer on the board.

The teacher looked over at him in surprise, as if she didn’t believe him, and turned towards Remus slowly, hands on her hips.

“Well, Remus, do you actually know it?” She asked, her voice laced with a hint of sarcasm. A few of the kids around him chuckled among themselves, but Remus didn’t seem to notice.

Dexter twitched a bit in his seat beside him and scrunched his face in annoyance, and Virgil couldn’t agree more.

“It’s one hundred and two, Miss Lady!” Remus shouted, louder than it was necessary.

“Hm, that’s correct, though it wasn’t that hard of a question.” She chided, writing the answer on the board. “You see, when you have an absolute value symbol in any number, the answer will always be-”

Remus wasn’t called on for the rest of the class period, even though he raised his hand several times, and despite Virgil mentioning it, the teacher refused to call on him. And as they went through the day he realized that she wasn’t the only teacher to do that to him. In almost every single one of his classes, Remus went ignored, left out of discussions, or had discrete, snide remarks sent towards him.

He could tell that he wasn’t the only person to notice this, as not only did Dexter see the difference in treatment Remus was receiving, but Roman did as well and sat glaring daggers at the teacher and the other students.

Sadly enough, this was a recurring issue throughout the rest of the day in almost every class. If it wasn’t the students leaving him out of groups or ignoring him it was the teachers using underlying tones or making quiet remarks towards her intelligence or personality. It was always “Remus, focus,” and “Stop bothering the other students,” and “Please apply yourself more,” or “Put in more effort.”

They tried to make it seem like they were being benevolent or helpful since they were being watched, but Virgil could see through their facade and knew they were usually straight-up assholes. Especially the teacher they were currently with who had no issue pausing in his Geography lecture to straight-up yell at the boy.

“Remus Sanchez! Stop fidgeting!” The teacher, and thankfully last one of the day, ordered in a commanding, boisterous bellow.

Remus, who sat directly in front of his desk, had been rocking back and forth in his seat, tapping his own tune on his leg with his pencils as if they were drums as he listened to the boring lesson on the geography of Florida. The sudden shout had scared him into stillness and he immediately sat up straight in his chair. The way he reacted so swiftly and in an orderly fashion hinted that it had not been the first time Remus had been yelled at.

“Sorry Mister Sir, I-” Remus began but was cut off with another shout.

“And stop with that childish nickname! It’s Mr. Ruiz, I expect that even you can remember that.”

Remus didn’t answer back and instead simply turned his head down towards his desk and gave a small nod.

A few parents looked around at each other in concern and simply shrugged, knowing it was wrong but not willing to do anything against the geography teacher. Virgil clenched his fists and looked over to Dexter, who looked back equally as furious, but more as a quiet cold fury rather than Virgil’s boiling hot rage. Dexter shook his head and mouthed “after class.” But that wasn’t enough for him, this dick didn’t deserve to be let off easy for what he just did.

Mr. Ruiz turned with an approving nod at Remus’s submission, and went back to his powerpoint but said barely two words before Virgil said loudly, “Excuse me, Mr. Ruiz, can you not speak to Remus like that?”

The teacher paused in his lecture and turned slowly to face whoever had dared to cause such an offense by interrupting him. Mr. Ruiz looked directly at Virgil in disdain and astonishment, as though he actually couldn’t believe that a “family acquaintance,” as he had been labeled several times that day, had actually spoken up in defiance.

“I beg your pardon?” He questioned,

His heart pounded in his chest at the upcoming confrontation, his anxiety yelled at him in his ears to shut up and apologize, but he shoved it all down, letting his anger drown out his fear. Virgil raised his head to face him and stood from his chair, his shaking at his sides.

“I said, don’t speak to him like that. Ever again.” Virgil spoke through tight lips, drawn into a sneer.

“Mr. Black, I highly doubt that now is the proper time to act in such a way-”

“But it’s time to yell at a kid in front of his parents? Are you trying to send a message or something?” He challenged,

“Virgil, maybe you should calm down-” Dexter tried to calm him down, placing a gentle hand on his arm, but failed as it only made him even more riled up.

“No, Dee, I’ve had enough of watching these moronic teachers pick on Remus. You claim that he’s failing school but you keep him out of discussions and refuse to be decent educators!” He roared and ripped his arm away to point an accusatory finger at the teacher.

A stir started up among the students as they whispered among themselves, questioning and wondering about the claims Virgil was making. They looked to their own children, concerned whether or not Remus was the only one being mistreated by the faculty. Mr. Ruiz watched from the front as his classroom began to become distraught and flushed red in anger.

“Mr. Black!” Mr. Ruiz hollered, “Now is not the time for a family friend to file in complaints. Instead of pointing fingers you should focus on finding him someone who can raise him properly.”

The classroom quieted down at the loud outburst and blatant insult towards not just Virgil, but also at Dexter, who had spent the past ten years raising Remus. Virgil knew that he did every possible thing he could to support him while taking care of ten other children, the nights that were wasted away, the days he couldn’t leave the house, the countless hours that went without getting a break. No one had ever tried harder than Dexter, so Virgil knows that that comment hit deeper for him.

“I wouldn’t say another word if I were you,” Dexter warned in a dangerously low voice, his eyes filled with a near murderous glint as he slowly rose from his chair. “Yes, yelling in class on parents' day is not okay, but neither is degrading a child in front of his caregivers and other parents on the day you as a teacher are supposed to show to us that our children are in capable hands while we’re away at work. I have half a mind to sue the school for the discriminatory treatment he receives here.”

Mr. Ruiz stared flabbergasted with his mouth hung open, as did the rest of the entire classroom, the teachers and the students included. Not missing a beat, Dexter moved to Remus and gathered his things and pulled him out of his seat by the hand. Virgil followed suit and went to Roman, chasing after them as the caregiver practically charged for the door. “Have a good life, Mr. Ruiz. We’re leaving.”

Class ended for the day, ending early at noon for the working parents, but the four of them had long since been gone. After the miniature showdown in the geography classroom, Dexter has gone and signed out Roman and Remus for the rest of the day and scheduled a time to meet with the principal. Virgil stood a few steps behind the fuming man, the boys’ hand in his, letting him have his space to calm down.

While he had been the one to make the first move and yell at the teacher, Dexter ended up becoming even more livid than he did. He felt partially responsible and almost guilty about what had happened, but he reminded himself that he had done it for Remus’s sake and wasn’t completely in the wrong.

In the end, they decided to treat the boys to some ice cream and went to the nearest McDonalds to get a cone and sundaes. Virgil offered to pay since he felt guilty, so Dexter went with the kids while they played in the play place. Of course, the ice cream machine was broken, so he just got everyone McFlurries instead. By the time he finally had everything, the boys were lost in their own little world, while Dexter sat on the sideline lost in thought.

“Sorry, the ice cream machine was broken,” Virgil said as he walked up and set the drinks on the table.

“That’s alright,” Dexter replied, giving him a small, tired smile. “Thank you.”

“It was only, like, three bucks, so-”

“No, not that.” Dexter shook his head, letting out a light chuckle, “For earlier.”

“Why? I made a scene and yelled at the teacher.”

“Yes but you did what I could not, guess it’s a good thing you’re the hot-headed one.”

“Gee, thanks.” Virgil huffed and leaned back in the hard plastic chair, tapping at the table lightly for a thoughtful moment, “I’m glad I am too but have they always been that way with him?”

“Well,” Dexter began but paused when the twins came running over, cheering as they sat and grabbed their flurries, not appearing to care that it wasn’t what they had originally been promised, which is a miracle in its own. “Why don’t we finish this later?” Dexter offered, opening the straw and putting it in the McFlurry for Remus, who had been struggling with the packet.

Virgil nodded and grabbed his drink, turning to Roman to chat with him to get his head going. Today had been primarily focused on Remus, but that didn’t make Roman any less important, and he wanted to make sure he didn’t feel left out. As he prattled on about his favorite Disney princes, which eventually roped Remus in, Virgil smiled at the way he lit up like a Christmas tree and the peasant energy he gave off. It was a mystery how they hadn’t been adopted until now, but with each passing moment, he found himself more and more relieved that they hadn’t been.

You’re not ready to be a parent.

Virgil ignored that thought.

When they arrived back at the Stork house Patton had dinner going, while most of the kids sat in the living room playing a game. The others were presumably spread out through the house. Dexter went and offered to take over and let Patton go home early. As his best friend left, he winked at him and whispered “good luck” before he headed outside to leave. Virgil blushed and stuttered but was unable to reply or come up with an excuse before he was out the door.

Both Patton and Logan knew about his conflicted emotions for Dexter and, despite knowing his past, encouraged him to pursue it. Thankfully they didn’t butt in and do anything to force them together, which he was truly grateful for.

The night went on as it usually did whenever he came there after dinner was served the children were allowed three hours of free time spent watching TV and playing games before he and Dexter got them all ready for bed before lights out at ten. Tonight Virgil and Dexter switched roles and he was the one to help the toddlers while the other helped the older kids. He didn’t hate the toddlers, but they were a pain in the ass to get to settle down. At least two of them refused to get changed into their pajamas, and nearly all of them didn’t want to brush their teeth. By the time he got them into bed and, presumably, go to sleep, Dexter was already waiting for him on the couch, finishing with the older kids way before him.

“You could have helped you know.” Virgil chided falling back into the, kinda, soft cushions. They seriously needed a new couch, one not stained and lumpy from ware tear.

“I thought you could handle it.” He grinned, leaning on his side, resting his head in a palm. His cat-like smile became serious, “I got an email from the school. They offered to suspend the teacher for thirty days, but only if they get a written apology from us.”

“Fucking bullshit if you ask me.” Virgil groaned, throwing his head back he dragged a hand down his face and rubbed at his tired eyes. “Guess they don’t actually give a shit do they?”

“Even if I did threaten them with a lawsuit, they know I’ve always been tight on money and can’t afford an actual lawyer,” Dexter said with a grimace.

“Havey they always been such dickwads?”

“Careful with the language, the kids, and pretty much yeah. It was fine at first, but then Remus began to show signs of an undiagnosed child development disorder that’s thus far gone untreated. Because of that, not only the kids but the teachers as well, treat him horribly. And since he isn’t diagnosed, I can’t switch him to the special ed classes where he could potentially get better care.”

“You haven’t taken him to a doctor?”

“Believe me, I wish I could,” Dexter sighed, eyes tired. Suddenly he looked as if he had aged ten years, the weight and worry giving his stress lines beyond his age. “But I just don’t have the funds. I’m basically a single father with ten kids. Roman accepts his brother as he is, and that’s already more than I can ask for. I just wish I could make it easier for him.”

He went quiet, shifting to sit forward and lean over, elbows on his knees and hands in his hair. It was hard to see in the dim light, but Virgil noticed a few gray hairs peeking out from where his head was usually covered by those hats he liked to wear. Virgil frowned and looked out the window at the night sky, which was more visible with the new moon. All around there were stars, and most all of them shone white and were small, but there where a few that stood out. Ones that were large, twinkled a little more or shined other colors like blue or red. They stood out and were different, yet they were the most beautiful of all.

It was a common woe of a parent to have a child that stood out, naturally, they wanted to make their life as free sailing as possible. And sometimes being just like everyone else is what is easy, it’s what’s considered normal, while diversity is often difficult, but that is what makes it so beautiful. Over the past couple of months, he had come to know Remus as the quirky boy he was and he had come to love him because of it, both he and his brother. They were the kindest and friendliest kids he had ever met, and if their school refused to see that, then they didn’t deserve to have them as students.

“There’s a school not too far from my place, they could go there next year.” Virgil offered, voice barely above a whisper.

Dexter raised his head and gave him an incredulous look, raising an eyebrow at him.

“But that’s on the other side of the city. I’m not sure if they would be able to make it to school on time each day.” Dexter told him.

“Then they could move in with me. I live just down the road.” Virgil said, trailing off and growing quieter with each word as his insecurity and doubt began to rise up.

What am I doing?! Shut up! This is too much commitment! His anxiety screamed at him like an unhelpful, angry track coach. Virgil tensed up slightly in his shoulders as his body began to lightly shake. However, before he spiraled, Virgil centered himself and breathed in and out deeply and tried to change his thoughts.

You’re not ready. Yes, I am. You’ll be a horrible father. No, I won’t. You don’t know the first thing about parenting. I can do research online and at the library. They won’t want you as their father. I don’t know that. You can’t. I can.

“I want to adopt them. I’m ready.” Virgil said, more to himself than to Dexter.

Dexter beside him smiled and nodded his head, his lips visibly trembling as his eyes became water and tears filled the corners of his eyes. So many emotions passed over his face within a short moment; happiness, relief, pride, surprise, and joy to name a few. It was as if a ten-year-long wish had finally been granted, and it most likely had.

“Thank you.” Dexter muttered voice choked up before he cleared his throat, “I’m glad to hear that and proud that they’re going with someone like you, but I’m afraid it may not be possible.”

Now it was Virgil turn to feel an array of sudden emotions, mostly confusion and hurt.

“What? Wait, why?”

“Well, as you said before, you are not financially fit to care for two children. If you were to apply for adoption it’s likely you’d be rejected.”

“So what? After all this your telling me I can’t adopt the boys?” Virgil nearly shouted the previous calming and celebratory atmosphere went now that he was pissed. Dexter, however, just smiled.

“Let me finish.” He chuckled, making Virgil frown deeper, “There is an option to have a cosigner apply with you to help you care for them and pay the fees. If you have someone sign the adoption papers with you and help pay the deposit, you should be allowed to adopt them pretty easily.” He explained, leaning back into the couch slowly, turning his body towards him again.

“I’ve raised Roman and Remus since they were two years old, they are as much my sons as anyone else’s. I’d like it to remain that way.”

Virgil thought for a moment, trying to figure out what he meant, and then blushed when it finally hit him. He swiftly became aware of how close their bodies had become and the soft, alluring, look on Dexter’s face that threatened to give him a heart attack. All his anger from the moment before had been utterly replaced with nervousness.

“Is-Is this some kind of marriage proposal or something?” The librarian asked,

“What?! Of course not, I mean I like you but that’s a bit too fast.” The caregiver said in a rush, his face and ears reddening as well.

“Okay good! Yeah sorry, I just got freaked out there. Thank god!” Virgil breathed out in relief, sinking down in his seat, a hand over his beating chest.

“Do you not want to get married? Like… ever?” Dexter inquired, looking a little worried.

“No! I mean… kinda? I don’t know, relationships have never been my forte.”

Dexter watched him carefully for a moment, and then asked, “Was is someone specific?”

Virgil bit his tongue and sunk a little lower in his seat. It wasn’t something he liked to revisit or tell others. To him, it was his single greatest failure of his life and his biggest regret. He had wished endless time that he could’ve gone back in time and done it all different back then. Part of his felt like he’d never move past it, but maybe this could be his starting point. He liked Dexter, he really did, but his fear from his past was holding him back from doing anything about it. Perhaps telling him would help.

Another few moments passed, Dexter waited beside him patiently, not rushing or pressuring him. With a deep breath, he opened his mouth.

“Well, I’ve always been awkward in relationships, especially when they became intimate. But, back when I was in college I dated this guy named Matthew. He was amazing, sweet, and pretty much my best friend. In truth, it was the only time I’ve ever been in love. After three years, he popped the question and I-, I wasn’t sure. I told him that I needed a little time to think and focus on my final year of college. Matthew promised he would wait, ‘Until the end of time,’ he said. Three months passed and I had my degree and my answer. But when I went back to him, he had moved on with someone else.”

Virgil swallowed the lump clogging his throat and heaved a shaky breath. Dexter put a comforting arm around his shoulders, Virgil leaned into him gratefully, sighing as the other rubbed his shoulder in reassurance.

“I’ve tried so hard to recreate what I had with him with other guys, but all I could think about was how I wasn’t enough for Matthew. That I had kept him waiting too long, and that I wasn’t enough to wait for.”

“Bullshit.”

“Huh?” Virgil spluttered in shock, leaning away to look up at him in confusion.

“Bull. Shit.” Dexter repeated, firmer and more intensely, “You’re more than enough. That asshole said he’d wait forever and couldn’t even handle three months, that dick didn’t deserve you.”

“I don’t know about that,” Virgil mumbled, turning his head down.

“Virgil.” Dexter said softly in a firm tone, gently pulling up his face with his hands, “You are the most amazing person I’ve known. You’re honest and diligent, caring yet stern, intelligent and brave. What more can I need to know I want you, and to raise the boys with you?”

“A thirty-year-old that doesn’t look like a depressed teen emo?” Virgil said half-jokingly,

“You make it work.”

The pale yellow-orange light from the table lamp shined as they only source in the room, highlighting Dexter’s face in a soft glow. He couldn’t help but gaze up at his warm caramel eyes in awe. Carefully he reached up and placed a hand against his cheek and rubbed the scar under his left eye tenderly. Dexter placed one hand over his, and with the other he brushed away the long bangs that had fallen in front of Virgil’s eyes, letting it rest on his cheek as well. There were barely two inches of space between them, yet Dexter didn’t make a move like he did last time. Virgil knew that he was letting him make the call this time if he wanted it or not.

Virgil decided that he did.

Slowly, and a little awkwardly, Virgil pulled them closer until no space was left, and pressed their lips together. It was soft and careful, not rushed or hard, they took their time and savored every moment. Dexter’s lips were slightly chapped, but he couldn’t bring himself to care, his own breath probably smells bad anyway. Dexter quickly took over the kiss and Virgil let him, leaning him until their chests were practically pressed against each other. After a few minutes, they parted to breathe, both gasping and out of breath, and Virgil laid against him with a happy sigh, resting his head under Dexter’s chin in the cuff of his neck.

They laid there together for the next hour, content to simply sit with each other, no words needed. All the while Virgil found himself in wonder that this was his life now. Six months he relinquished himself to live the rest of his life alone, he still couldn’t believe how far he had come. He was with the man who made him happy, about to become a father to two wonderful boys.

He couldn’t wait to tell them the news.

The very next day Virgil requested the day off from work to fill out the paperwork and applications with Dexter, which ended taking up a good couple of hours. While they were busy in the office, Patton offered to watch over the kids, since it was a Saturday and he had no school to teach.

When they had told Patton the news that both of them were going to adopt the twins the friendly elementary school teacher had literally fainted. Virgil freaked out, thinking they had accidentally killed him, while Dexter simply helped the fallen man up and onto the couch in the front room. Patton woke up a minute later and instantly cheered them on, playing it off as if hadn’t just blacked out.

“I’m so happy for you! Both of you!” Patton beamed brightly, pulling Virgil into a tight hug, and Virgil returned the hug just the same, “I knew you could do it.” He whispered in his ear, squeezing his shoulder.

Two hours later, as they discussed living arrangements for the boys, since neither of them wanted to live in the shelter anymore but knew that Virgil’s condo wasn’t the most ideal place to raise them, Logan busted in through the door and charged into the office, currently on his lunch break. Apparently Patton hadn’t been able to keep the big surprise a secret for more than a few hours. Virgil wasn’t surprised though, those two couldn’t keep anything from each other.

“So you finally took our advice.” He said.

“You better not say ‘I told you so’.” Virgil deadpanned at his oldest friend, knowing full well how blunt and forward his best friend could be.

“Fine then, I'm glad you finally heeded my words.”

“Seriously, Lo? Can’t you be-”

Out of nowhere, absolutely out of the blue, Virgil was pulled into a hug, which was completely out of character for Logan to do with anyone who was not immediate family or his boyfriend.

“I’m glad you’re happy again,” Logan told him, sounding honest and thankful.

Logan was Virgil’s oldest friend and had been with him in the thick of his break up with Matthew. He had watched him struggle ever since, tried to help, and was always there. This was a victory for him as much as it was for Virgil.

“Yeah, me too.” Virgil agreed, returning the hug.

Soon after, Logan had to return to work once his one hour lunch ended. Virgil and Dexter returned to the task at hand until they were finished. Since Dexter was one of the applicants, they had to send it to a third party so it would remain impartial and fair. This worried Virgil a little, but Dexter remain confident that it would go well.

“So they boys will be sharing a room, which used to be your office, so we’ll have to clean that out before they can move in. Arrangements with the new school will have to be made. And,”

“And I’ll schedule an appointment for Remus.”

“Are you sure? It can be expensive.” Dexter asked, looking up from his opened notes on his computer desktop.

“I have medical insurance, besides, I want him to get the help he needs.” Virgil affirmed.

He knew personally how important getting help can be, especially as a child. He wished his parents hadn’t waited until his last year of high school to get him therapy for his anxiety disorder, life would have been easier if they had. So Virgil wanted to be different.

“Alright, then that just leaves custody and visitation since we’ll be living in different houses,” Dexter announced, typing away at his keyboard, his hyper-focused face looked adorable as it always did.

“Obviously we’ll have it be open,” Virgil said matter-of-factly,

Dexter smiled and typed at his keyboard, “It would be nice to live together one day though.” He said nonchalantly as if it had been an afterthought. Virgil choked on his spit and immediately sat up straight from his previously relaxed position, blushing furiously. Dexter laughed and waved a forgiving hand him, “Not now of course.”

“Right,” He breathed shakily, laughing it off unconvincingly. His heart raced in his chest still from the sudden scare, not appearing to want to calm down anytime soon.

Dexter went back to typing on his computer, listing off things they would have to take care of and things they would need to buy before the boys could move out of the agency house. Virgil watched him, albeit a bit bashfully, making small comments to his statements. They were so different from each other, and, to be honest, he wasn’t the type of man Virgil would usually pursue. Perhaps that was one of the reasons he didn’t think anything could come out of them in a romantic sense. Yet, he had been entranced and pulled in by him, almost as if he were put under a spell. Everything he did was enthralling, from the simple sight of him cooking in the kitchen, to the entertaining banter they would engage in. They had known each other for only half a year, but he could already imagine a world where he was in it every day.

“Yeah, that’d be nice.” He murmured under his breath, a small smile falling on his lips.

It was a month until they had heard anything back from the social workers at the third-party agency. Usually, it would take a lot longer, but Dexter was able to pull a few strings to speed up the process because of some people he knew in the field. So when the notice came in that June, both of them opened it slowly with haste.

It had gone through and they had been accepted. There was a three week waiting period, but neither of them could bother themselves enough to care at that moment. Once he found out, Virgil called both Patton and Logan and told them the good news and they all celebrated together. After that, the only step left was to tell the boys.

“Roman, Remus could you come here for a moment?” Dexter called from the back porch, as the kids were all currently caught up in a game of freeze tag.

“I swear, the toilet paper was Remus’s idea!” Roman shouted, pausing in his pursuit as a tagger, holding his hands above his head as if he had been caught redhanded in a crime.

“No not that- wait what toilet paper?”

“We’ll come back to that later. Can you two just come here for a second?” Virgil spoke up, waving the boys inside.

Roman followed the direction and walked toward the backdoor into the house, his head held down slightly in guilt. Remus chased after him and came bouncing into the living room. Once they were both in, Dexter closed the backdoor and sat them down, the young boys sat in between the adults.

“Now, Virgil and I have some news for you that we’re very excited about,” Dexter said.

“You’re pregnant!” Remus said excitedly.

“What? No! Remus that’s not biologically possible.” Virgil told him,

“But I’ve read stories online where it happened.”

“We’re going to talk about what you’ve been reading, but not now. What we wanted to say was,” Dexter cut in again, a lecturing look on his face, but got interrupted again.

“We’re getting a dog?!” Roman cheered out a guess, eyes bright with hope.

“Nope, I’m adopting you!” Virgil said, saying it quickly to avoid anymore stalling or excited shouts from the boys. Dexter coughed a little and waved at him, clearly not happy that he had been left out of that statement. “Well, we’re adopting you. Our application was accepted, so we’re officially your parents.”

The boys were both quiet for a long while, staring at them in shock and disbelief. They looked between them and at each other, seeming to share the same thoughts as each other. Slowly the broke away from their silence, as Roman began to tear up and cry, and Remus beamed a wide grin and cheered while bouncing up and down on the couch.

“I’ve been waiting so long for this…” Roman sobbed, rubbing away the tears as they fell and sniffling as his nose became clogged. Virgil pulled him into an embrace, rubbing a hand through his hair, while Roman clutched onto his shirt and cried and laughed.

“Does that mean I get to call you snake-dad and raccoon-dad now?” Remus asked, breaking from his jumping, landing in Dexter’s lap, to look up at them in joy and wonder.

“Of course bud,” Virgil told him, “Of course,”

Taglist: @omikkydraws @stormypaint @strickenwithclairvoyance @lolanomsgranola @hunter-shyreen @venus-fuck

#sanders sides #sanders sides fic #ts fic #my fic #love like you #anxceit #anceit #logicality #creativitwins #virgil sanders #deceit sanders #remus sanders #roman sanders #patton sanders #logan sanders #thomas sanders #thomassanders

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nonsensical-rants · 5 years

Text

So, I 100%ed the Kingdom Hearts Franchise.

Alright. This might be a long take, just saying that now. But I know exactly where to start. This franchise. Is not as confusing as the entirety of the internet would like you to believe. It's mostly due to bad writing decisions here and there. I mean, yeah if you wanna have every single detail and definition ingrained into your brain. Then of course it can get complicated, but what franchise lasting as long as Kingdom Hearts isn't annoyingly convoluted? I can't think of one.

So my thoughts about the series is that they're pretty good! Both as a story and as games, with some very big exceptions. I wanna say that you should definitely not try to 100% all of these games in chronological order in rapid succession. It will drain you. I can confirm this beyond a shadow of a doubt. After I beat KH2 it really start to hit me. Chain of Memories was fine, if not a bit tedious to get all the cards and Riku to level 100. But other than that I more than enjoyed my time with the game.

Heartless are born from the darkness in peoples hearts. Nobodies are created from the husk of a body left behind in the creation of a Heartless. While Unversed are born from supreme negative emotions that live inside us all. The stronger these feelings are/the person is, the stronger the heartless/unversed and nobody. Especially strong people can keep their identity when transformed into Nobodies. Thus explaining Organization 13. Only the keyblade can truly defeat these creatures. What's so hard about describing that to someone? It isn't that far fetched in terms of the fantasy genre.

Though personally. I have an enormous hatred from Kingdom Hearts Dream Drop Distance. Despite trying to keep an open mind about any and all forms of media I come across, I cannot ever get behind this title in the series because it is just too much and strays too far from what i consider to be "Kingdom Hearts". The gameplay was not fun for me personally, the story was iffy at best in comparison to the others and it really felt like the biggest amount of padding. If you have to do that to become a Keyblade Master, I think i'd rather stay as a rouge agent like Sora did for 99% of the series.

The dream eater system was probably the biggest factor here as for 100% completion you have to get every single dream eater, and every single skill that they can give you which means leveling a lot of them up to the point where they have points to buy said skills. Which takes forever. And then there's the Dream Eater tournaments, which I would have never gotten past without cheap strategies I found online. Usually I get everybody to max potential in these games and give the best items and accessories all around. But as soon as I got the platinum I ejected the disk and took a break. I felt like I needed it.

Alright, putting that behind us. The difference in fighting styles from game to game can get a bit jarring but in the PS4 re-releases it can usually be adjusted too in about half an hour to an hour's worth of gameplay. Chain of Memories was fun, but tedious like I mentioned. And Birth By Sleep was actually a fresh of breath air (until you get to the secret boss fights that is...) If it wasn't for my need to see that 100% bar next to the game title I would classify these games as something everybody should try out and enjoy. They are fantastic experiences. So lets go in order for a bit.

KH1 is a classic story, going through Disney worlds with a fine mix of Final Fantasy. Meeting the princesses and seeing they are "Princesses of Heart" that have strength beyond muscles. Able to use the power of Light and what not. There's a few hiccups here and there (like Cloud and Sephiroth not acting like how they are in FF7 but everyone's already mentioned that.) But aside from that and the bad platforming, its a genuinely fun game to 100% and I'd highly recommend it. Maybe even try to get cosmic arts for everyone so you can have 16-19 MP bars. It gets silly.

Chain of Memories i've already mentioned a lot so far. So I don't think I need to go that in depth. Fun to go through but wouldn't recommend 100%ing it because it takes far to long. The story is actually pretty decent and isn't that complicated. Sora and the gang lose their memories of KH1 because of the magic witch Namine, while we get our first look at Organization 13.

KH2. The golden child. Still played by many to this day and its obvious to see why. The game play is crisp and fantastic as I remember it from my youth. Traveling to Disney worlds again (and not card versions of them that have no people except for cut scenes, like CoM) and having a constant looming threat over your head while you try to have fun on your journey. Its great. I have yet to do a level 1 critical mode (as that's not required thankfully) but I did thoroughly enjoy my regular Critical play though. Story still isn't that bad yet. Organization 13 comes in full force, trying to get a new version of "Kingdom Hearts" so they can restore their humanity. I'd highly recommend 100%ing this one as well. Would also recommend maxing out your stats and putting on multiple Full Bloom+'s and Shadow Archieve+'s for the fun of it.

Birth By Sleep. Still not that bad honestly. It comes at a weird time though, and the story telling kind of requires you to have some outsider knowledge so that you're not thrown for a loop the entire time. So it feels weird to go back in the past, but also necessary for the story as a whole. Fun game to play minus the hundreds of mini games you need to do for all three main characters. If it wasn't for that I would recommend playing this game to completion. It's hard to reach higher levels though and as everyone's who played the game knows. Terra sucks at End Game compared to Aqua and Ven. I beat the Secret bosses by sheer luck and I would not go back for them. You do get to learn the origins of what makes most of the future events play out though and you even get to see younger versions of Organization 13. Back when they weren't evil!

Nothing eventful happens in Re:Coded.

Dream Drop Distance... Already talked about it. Let's move on before i'm forced to remember dream eaters and their annoyingly high pitched theme song.

Birth By Sleep 0.2: A Fragmentary Passage. Really good demo for KH3 in all honestly. I had a fun time with it and seeing Aqua's pain and journey through the realm of darkness for a whole 10 years was interesting.

And now we're at Kh3. The big game we waited so long for. And its... Alright. Nothing really spectacular. The graphics are certainly splendid and gameplay feels great! If not a bit too floaty. Thats a problem for some people, especially those who were avid fans of KH2. But I had no problem with it. I have yet to play it on critical but i've heard it makes things far more entertaining. As for story, its also alright. Not the grand ending I was expecting but it was really fun all things considered. Just another ride through more modern Disney worlds. But no Final Fantasy! I get that they feel KH can stand on its own legs now but you can't take out half the formula that people fell in love with originally. Then there's no battle arena or replayable boss fights. Doesn't have to be the Real Orginization 13. Just any replayable fights with end game gear would be enough.

As for my real problem with the games. Is the treatement of the third member of the original trio. Kairi. Oh, how this character has divided a good portion of the fan base just by existing. It feels like all the time that she is just a damsel for Sora/Riku to save and rescue. In the first game, thats fine. Whatever. She was unconcious the whole time and had her heart within Sora. Chain of Memories was a game about Sora losing his memories and Riku overcoming his darkness. Thats also fine. But in KH2. Really? She gets a keyblade and can't even handle a group of shadows? The lowest level of heartless? It's embarrassing. She's supposed to be a Princess of Heart. What's that even mean anymore? It doesn't even seem relevant.

KH2 should've been her moment to become a party member just like Riku did. I dont care that it means you could possibly not have Donald or Goofy. KH2 felt the most like the penultimate ending to the series than Kh3 did in my opinon. Having the choice between your KH1 buddies (Sora, Donald and Goofy) or the Island Trio (Sora, Riku and Kairi) would have added excellent variety and much needed development for Kairi as a person rather than leaving her as a one dimensional damsel in distress who has a Nobody with more internal conflict and character motivation. Moving past that... BBS is a prequel so nothing for the original trio except for meeting Aqua/Ven/Terra. And we come back to the dreaded DDD again.

If my vision for Kairi in KH2 couldn't have become a reality. Then why wasn't DDD Kairi's game? The set up was perfect. The heroes of light need to train to overcome almost double the amount of darkness agents. Kairi (and Axel) are practically beginners at wielding a Keyblade. It should've been their time to shine and get some love while occasionally helping Sora and Riku in their Mark of Mastery exam. Why did it have to be something you do alone? Well actually you're not alone you have the stupid Dream Eaters. Regardless it could have been the newbies learning how to get to Kh2 Sora's level while Sora goes beyond his limits.

As for KH3, it's just awful. Kairi's treatment is awful and everyone knows it. She said she was gonna help but hit one whole heartless in the finale. Better than KH2 i suppose. And as for the argument of her being "too weak" to try anything agaisnt Xemans. Really? She couldn't even like. Step on his foot? Pull agaisnt his grip or switch which hand the blade is in? Since the keyblade can teleport to your hands when you need it. I don't expect her to randomly become a Keyblade Master, but. I think we all would've prefer if she just did ANYTHING over what actually happened. It's sad. I hope KH4 will give Kairi the proper treatment and character development she deserves. But for all we know it might be another Sora/Riku dual protagonist game like CoM or DDD. What do you think?

#Kingdom Hearts #KH #KH3 #kh sora #kh kairi #kh riku #NoksNonsense #Nonsensical-Rants #Opinion

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rwbyremnants · 5 years

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WARNINGS: Rough sex, wall sex, analingus, anal prodding, sixty-nine, anal plug, double-ended dildo sex, facial, anal fingering, coitus interruptus.

NOTES: This is a flash-foward, but as far as “epilogues” go it’s going to be two chapters instead of just one. And don’t worry – there will be other stories in this universe! But this (and chapter 43) is the last of the fully Freezerburn-focused main story, even if Weiss and Yang will pop up in the spinoffs. Hope some of you enjoy what else emerges in the near future!

=Chapter 42

EPILOGUE, PART 1

Five years of bliss followed that magical first moment in the Iron Man-styled Schnee-Xiao Long home.

In that time, while their love for one another hadn't changed, there was so much more that had. The popstar/bodyguard couple that shocked that eventful Beach Fest were now an established act together. The occasional top ten hit aside, however, not as quite as earth-shattering as Weiss's original solo career. But they didn't mind. It was a manageable and less stressful target, one that was flexible to their new lifestyles.

Ruby and Penny had graduated, so they needed advice on finances and where to apply for jobs, which led to them buying an apartment of their own. Blake's career path also eventually brought her to Nashville, where she and Sun had settled into a home twenty minutes’ drive from Yang, and that involved helping them transport all their things. All sorts of new chaos required a lot of attention…

But for the latter two of those five years, their career had mostly been on hiatus, and for very good reasons. During that period, thankfully Weiss's father wasn't without an act he could earn from. Since the untimely end of Neon's last contract, she and three friends had formed a group act of their own, one now signed on by Papa Schnee himself at Weiss's emphatic insistence. And while the lax, unhurried schedule was healthily manageable for his daughter and her girlfriend, Neon’s “FNKI” was becoming a huge money maker, taking the world by storm. It meant the couple could worry more about their lives than career paths or job securities, while also assuring Weiss's good friend still had a thriving following.

Despite the hiatus, the couple had still been in the news on occasion. Some, as predicted, were trying to pick fault over their outing, but the rest seemed to have no problem whatsoever. Yang remembered the ridiculous grin Weiss had when she noticed in one of her trashier magazines that they had been placed in a “Top 50 cutest couples” list.

Some time after the official release of “Changes Come”, their first single as “Freezerburn”, Yang had made the much-debated decision to come out as trans to the public. And unlike she feared, the majority were accepting, and even proud of her. It was a weight off her chest, especially with the knowledge that people had facts rather than unreliable rumours.

Given the changing laws, there was even less barring them from getting their marriage license before they enjoyed a lovely tropical ceremony in Hawaii, open only to their closest friends. Glowing lanterns swung from the roof of the small gazebo set up on the beach, though both Yang and Weiss were wearing lovely white dresses more suited to an indoor event. Giddy smiles and blushes never left their faces for more than an instant throughout the entire ceremony. Both of their fathers had walked them down the aisle at the same time, completely casting aside that old convention that only "the girl" got to be "given away". Neither of them looked entirely comfortable, but both looked happy.

Neon, Blake, and Winter, in an even less traditional fashion, were wearing matching blue one-piece bathing suits with seafoam-patterned sarongs to befit the locale, and the groomsmen — Sun, and oddly enough, Ruby and Penny, who had assured everyone that they didn't mind balancing out the wedding party on that side — were decked out in tuxedos with quite tropical cummerbunds and bowties. The rest of Neon's band was in attendance, clapping and cheering boisterously.

By the end of the proceedings, a couple of paparazzi had figured out what they had stumbled across and snapped a few blurry, zoomed-out photos, but for the most part their special day was kept private. There were more pictures of their reception, which was a luau during which the two were wearing original top-of-the-line designer swimsuits, Yang's with jean shorts on over the top of them for understandable reasons. In fact, the picture that popped up on the news most often was of Weiss losing her shot at the limbo contest when she fell straight down on her butt, laughing up a storm.

And a lot more had taken place between that marriage and the present day. Many stories for another time.

Their lakeside house was in a state that was very rare these days: quiet as a mouse. Ruby had offered them a day of peace while she took care of other matters, well aware that they would need as much space as they could get. After all, Freezerburn was arranging its return in style — back on another two-month tour alongside FNKI around the country. Weiss was currently making all the arrangements, writing notes and chatting to Neon herself, who'd thought of the idea.

"So we're agreed the last performance should be the Big Apple? That time of year, at least it shouldn't be snowing too hard."

"Even if it is, who cares?" Weiss chuckled, fingers flying over the keys of her laptop while glancing over at the phone now and then. "Nobody will want to miss this. But you're right, it never hurts to give the fans some consideration."

"Yeah, exactly. I mean, they'll be warm anyways with the crowd but who wants to wade in slush when they wanna see a show?" Clearly biting the top of her pencil for a moment, her eyes then lit up again when she thought of something else. "Oh! Did you and Yang wanna do a few of the signings? They're totally optional, and I know you got things to think about but I figured I should ask."

"You did need to ask, but… yeah, I think we should. I mean, if we're going to do this thing, we should really go all the way. And we've set it up with a little more time between shows, so it won't be like the hectic tours I did as a solo act." Then she smiled again. "But I'm really glad we're doing this. It's gonna be like old times!"

"Except with considerably less drinking… you were a pretty hilarious drunk but you'd be a bad influence to you-know-who now." Finally taking off the ridiculous reading glasses, Neon folded her arms and leaned in toward the camera. "So how’s life, girl?"

"Life… is perfect," Weiss sighed easily, pushing aside her laptop. "Not every second of it is, I mean, there's always little bumps in every relationship. Just, ours are honestly so tiny… I think one day we had a fight over whether or not to buy a new mattress. I wanted to get one shipped in from one of those online companies; Yang said we didn’t need it. But I mean, it was a fight that ended with us banging on top of the old one, so how does that really count as 'marital strife', right?"

"Angry seeeex," Neon teased for a moment, ending it with a small giggle, as per usual. "But that's really great to hear! I mean, we all know you and Yang are forever. Little arguments and shit are nothing. Healthy even, sometimes."

Nodding, Weiss arranged the few papers she had in addition to all the online delegating and scheduling, laying them further away and bringing her now-cold cup of cappuccino toward herself. "True. I believe that any relationship without any strife is more or less a lie – and a ticking time bomb. Better to get the worries out in the open."

Then she hesitated. There was something she wanted to bring up, but wasn't sure it would be the best idea. After all, some ancient history should stay that way. But she and Yang had been talking about it off and on for a year or so, at first only as a joke, but then more seriously as time wore on.

"Um…"

"What?" She asked, tilting her head. But when Weiss wouldn't answer, she seemed to give a friendly glare at the camera. "Come on, Weiss, I know that look. What's on your mind?"

"Okay, this will sound stupid," she laughed, even if the discomfort shone through. "But we were kind of talking about… ancient history, and some stuff that almost happened with Blake and Sun one time, and… well, you don't have a steady girlfriend. So we were wondering if during the tour, you'd want to… crash with us on the bus? It's a pretty big bed…"

"Oh." Clearly in the phone screen, even with the slightly jumpy picture at times, Neon was blushing, having to look away from the screen a moment. It seemed as though she was considering that proposal at first, but then when she looked back: "I… didn't tell you about me and Inu, did I?"

"Sure you did. And that groupie from your show in Ireland," Weiss teased, but very lightly. Then she cleared her throat. "That was part of why we considered this, actually. Plus how much you liked Yang's little video way back when. But of course, if you're not comfortable, or interested…"

"While the idea is extremely tempting, and I do still think that's a very pretty dick from what I remember…" She couldn't even hide the blush now, and the ridiculous attempts to try as she rested her head on her hand only made it more obvious. Eventually, however, she cleared her throat. "People don't know yet, and we wanna keep it that way, for now… but yeah, Inu and I are… more than just a fling. When you spend so much time on a tour bus and the other two sleep all the time… things kinda happen, heh."

"Really? With Inu?!" Weiss blinked for a moment, a little stunned. Partly at the rejection of her offer, which was a minor disappointment in the grand scheme of things, but there was another reason. "Wow… I mean, she's always so quiet, wearing those headphones all the time. I figured you'd go for a more outgoing type, like yourself."

Usually, she'd agree straight away. But this time, she didn't. She instead appeared offended. "Have you ever tried talking to her? You have her Instagram and Facebook and everything. Once you get her talking, she won't stop. It's adorable, she gets so excited."

"Well… no, I haven't; just in person at a couple of the signings, the company parties. She didn't say a word back to me." Weiss seemed most definitely startled by Neon's annoyance, because the last thing she had wanted to do was offend.

"Because she can't. You honestly haven’t noticed that as soon as fans talk to her, she either pulls out her phone or she just nods really intense?"

Shrugging her shoulders, she responded, "Hey, I just thought she was trying for that whole 'aloof celebrity' vibe! What do you mean, she 'can't'?"

"Dude, no way! She loves that people are talking to her; people usually give her the cold shoulder because she doesn't talk back. But she is listening." Soon after, she rested her hands on the table instead. No longer was she offended, simply trying to explain. "She's mute, dude. Honestly, I thought everyone knew."

"She's… wait, what?" But Neon didn't need to repeat herself. "She's a member of your band, she's a musician, so I… wow. I did not expect that." Her eyebrows shot up. "What… I mean, oh God, I've been so stupid! She probably thinks I hated her and just thought she was boring, I- I walked away from her because she wasn't talking back, I didn't know what else to do!"

"Hey hey, don't sweat it! Happens to her all the time, she knows. I'm sure if you talk to her next time you see her, she'll understand. And we'll have tons of time on tour, right?" She didn't know how else to respond. She couldn't tell Weiss she wasn't offensive; lying would do nothing. But at least she could reassure her. "Inu's pretty easy-going, she won't dwell on anything, so just apologise and she'll probably do her adorable little happy bounce she does."

Slumping down in her chair, Weiss let out a long, slow groan. "Alright… wow, I really hope she doesn't resent me too bad. And this isn't all my fault, you know; a lot of unpleasantness could have been avoided if you just somehow let me know she wouldn't be responding verbally! I mean, I felt like she was only looking and listening to be polite but she secretly wanted me to leave her alone, so I did!"

She couldn't help but chuckle to herself when seeing how flustered Weiss was getting. "Of course she didn't want that! And of course she won't resent you. She'll be fine. In fact…" Seeming to blush once again, she looked around for a moment; before leaning further in toward the camera. "If you're okay with it… I can ask if she wants to take part in that offer? Might be a little more than you were angling for, though."

"Oh, that's…" The notion made Weiss sit back and blink, several times. It was true that she hadn't thought much about Inu Shibe, not more than in passing. She'd had a few scattered conversations with Flynt, and they got along fairly well, but the other two members of FNKI were still somewhat of a mystery.

But when she thought about Inu's dyed-blonde hair, her gentle face and almond-shaped brown eyes, and especially how she was one of the few women she knew that was actually shorter than her and Neon, she felt a little guilty rush of curiosity about what it might be like, being with her in that way.

"I'll… ask Yang. This isn't the original idea, so it seems unwise to assume on her behalf, but… y-yeah, that might be okay," she began to sputter. Already, she had felt nervous about asking Neon in the first place, but had several weeks to rehearse the question, build up her confidence. This was an entirely new ballgame.

"That's fair. You want me to ask her?" But before she could even answer that question again, she began to laugh. "Wait, is this a regular thing you two do? I never expected you guys to be the swingin' type!"

"Actually…" For some reason, even though they were definitely alone on both ends of the call, Weiss's voice dropped to a whisper. "This will be the first time it's actually happened, if it does. We tossed the idea around with, um, this other couple, but we all decided in the end that the timing wasn't right. But…" Her blush was starting to rival Neon's now, despite promising herself she would be as casual about this as she could. "I've never forgotten how much fun you are. And how you drooled over Yang's video. So you're a natural choice, right?"

The blush was getting no better on Neon’s end as she was rather obviously rendering a mental image. Especially when she was squirming in her seat a little while avoiding eye contact. But rather than comment further, after the brief pause, she teased, "Think of the children."

Snorting in bemusement, Weiss finally took another sip of her coffee as she forced herself to calm down a bit. "Glowstick dipstick. But seriously, listen… I know Inu's very cute, and I’m no hag exactly, but… well, I guess what I'm saying is, if either of you aren't interested because my body's gone to Hell in a handbasket the past few years, don't even worry about it."

"Psshhh, are you kidding me? You look fine, and I'm sure even without clothes you'll look fine as well. You got a rockin' body anyone'd be jealous of."

"Well, thank you," Weiss said primly, not letting on how much that helped ease her still-fragile pride on the issue. Having Yang to reassure her all the time that she was still the "perfect ten" pop star she married went a long way toward that, and her doubts were never quite so pronounced as they had been before their relationship began. Still, it was something she would probably struggle with for a long time yet.

"Anyway, I'm looking forward to your answer. I only suggested the bus because despite the previous break-in, it's rather discreet, the new one has better locks, and no one will question why we're all in there together." Then in a still-stunned voice, she added, "All… four of us. Wow, my life turned out so much different than I expected at nineteen!"

Snorting herself, she looked straight to the screen again, smiling endearingly. "But I'm sure you wouldn't change a thing, right? Total perfect life. Got your family, your career, that sweet place on the lake… you're living the dream, I'm jealous."

"Then be part of that dream," she wheedled, mostly kidding as she displayed a moment later when she giggled. "Okay, okay, I'll drop it for now. And we seem to be all set here, so I'll have Father follow up on that date in DC and then we'll see where we are tomorrow. Sound good?"

"Can do! Right, I'll let you go, and I'll text you if Inu is a maybe or not, if you ask Yang." But just as she reached toward the phone, she paused. "Oh yeah! And, give the little one a kiss from me."

"Don't worry, I will. She's-"

At that moment, a small furry bundle leapt into her lap, and she laughed, petting her idly. "I think she heard you, Neon! Xu-Xu, say hi to your 'cousin'!"

The other side the screen, Neon was quite obviously giggling, even giving a wave with her fingers toward the small white flat-faced cat that was purring away while Weiss petted it. "Hi Xu-Xu! Us cats gotta stick together, huh?"

Picking up her little paw, Weiss helped the ball of fluff wave back. Then she laughed when she jumped down. "And hates it when I make her do human things."

"Hey, I hate it when people make me do human things too. Like getting dressed and having to be presentable when I'd rather just lay down and lick my own-"

"NEON!" But she was laughing, despite being so scandalised. "If you figure out how to accomplish that, tell me how; I think Yang would be just as interested in that lesson!"

"And I'm sure you'd be interested in watching that." Laughing again, she finally did reach for the phone this time. "You fuss over said darling wife, while I go… pick an outfit for when Inu comes over tonight. Call you soon!"

"Alright, have fuuuun!" The extra emphasis was clear in its intent, but she hung up before Neon could even so much as roll her eyes.

Then Weiss walked into the kitchen and dumped out the rest of her cappuccino. Her mood was light; the new tour was on track, their tentative plans to explore "recreational activities" with outside parties had not been met with a definite negative, and all else was as it should be. How had she got so lucky?

"Okay, the one you saw in that magazine would look great on you. That's if you wanted to go with white, I mean, have you seen some of the gorgeous purple dresses they've been doing?"

There was the faint voice of her wife from the other end of the kitchen. She too was locked in conversation with her phone screen, but unlike Weiss, was actually making sure to drink her coffee. While Weiss's call was to handle business, Yang's was to help Blake plan her own big day.

She remembered fondly how that even came to be. The rest of the Schnee-Xiao Long wedding party had plotted it without Blake's knowledge, had made sure that Blake was the one to catch Yang's bouquet when it was thrown, and have him right behind her down on one knee when she caught it. Of course she said yes; the two had been a couple for longer than Weiss and Yang had. And the several “It's about time!” comments from the other attendees confirmed it was the right decision.

Of course, now it meant all the stress of the organisation, which Yang had assisted with.

"But the purple ones will make me look like a giant plumb," Blake lamented weakly, running a hand through her bangs. "And you know I already hate how I look in dresses… can't I just borrow yours? Maybe it's not original, but it's a great dress, right?"

"If you want to you're more than welcome, but don't you want your own for your special day? Plus mine only really works if you're gonna have your wedding in Hawaii as well, with the flowers ‘n’ stuff." She took another sip of her drink while flicking through a couple more of the magazines she had to hand. Some which she'd saved just for helping Blake with this task.

"I'm just really stressing about this whole thing… and it's more about Sun's parents than him, they're all about us having a super traditional huge church wedding so they can show off the photos to everybody, and we just want you guys there at the Justice of the Peace and to get on with the reception, you know?" With a quiet laugh, she added, "But you have been awesome through all this. Thanks so much."

"Sounds like Sun's parents aren't quite ready to admit their little boy's a grown man. He told 'em to buzz off yet?" She continued to go through one of the magazines a bit longer, eventually stopping on one page. Folding the corner over so it was saved, she then looked back to her smiling friend. "And shut up. You were a godsend when it came to mine and Weiss's. And our bachelorette party was the best thing ever, told you I'd make it up to you."

"Oh that was totally my pleasure! You guys looked awesome, the party was a blast, and I've used the 'bridesmaid dress' every time we go to the beach, since I'm not much of a bikini girl. But yeah, Sun's parents are pretty traditional like that, they either want us to have an Eastern wedding or a Western one. Alternative ceremonies make them get all grumpy."

"Would ours have made them go 'Aaaaaahhhhh!' ?" she asked with a giggle. However, that did give her another idea. While she and Weiss were debating the style of their wedding, an Eastern wedding did come up. Especially when Yang knew how keen Weiss would be on it. Even if in the end they opted for something else instead, that didn't mean Blake and Sun had to.

"You know, what about a hanfu? I could hook you up with the place that did mine."

"O-oh? You… sure you won't have a problem with that?" The question was subtle, but necessary. "Not just because of that time, but I'm still a white girl. It wouldn't seem like I was trying to be something I'm not?"

Yang smiled in sympathy. "Dude, that’s ancient history. Me being mad doesn’t mean you didn’t look really good in it. And I say go for it! I know he's not really big on Chinese shit, exactly like me; but no reason why you can't ask him, right? May even keep his mom and dad off your back."

The image of Blake on the screen paused to think that over. "Well… I did always think yours was beautiful… would you go with me to have one fitted, so I don't look like some weirdo with an Asian fetish?" Then she laughed. "Even if it might be slightly true."

"Considering your dating history, yeah," Yang giggled with her. "Course I'll come with you, girl. I got another appointment on Friday, we can meet up afterward and go then?"

Alas, that was something that still hadn't quite changed. There had never been another near-miss again, but on the odd occasion, a rough patch would come. Thankfully now Yang was doing a much better job of admitting she wasn’t okay, and accepting the help. Although she probably didn't need ongoing counselling any longer, she continued to attend once a week until told otherwise “just in case” - and with Weiss and her friends’ encouragement that there was nothing wrong with mental health maintenance.

"Definitely," Blake responded immediately, nodding her understanding. "We'll have to get dinner afterward, Sun is off with his buddies doing some kind of… rock climbing thing, whatever. I mean, unless I'm taking you away from Wifey?"

"Lemme check. Oh wifey-dearest?" She turned, slightly tilting her chair so Blake could quite clearly see Weiss was in the background, making herself another cappuccino to replace the cold one she had to dispose of. Batting her eyelashes toward her, she tilted her head. "May I please, please, pretty please go for lunch with my bestie on Friday?"

"Alright," Weiss called back in an intentionally droll tone of voice as she turned the machine on. "Just don't have any sex unless you bring protection."

Of course, Blake was immediately sputtering and shouting, "H-hey, we haven't done that in forever, and we agreed that- oh, just shut the fuck up!"

But all the while Yang was laughing, even if she was surprised by the comment. They kept joking about it, even if they hadn't re-engaged in that activity since she and Weiss reunited, but it didn't stop the teasing. Even if she 'barked' right back, "Well, it's not as if we're getting any with how loud you get!"

And just as loudly, Weiss rebutted, "You ride me too hard! Especially in the ass! How do you expect me to keep it down when you're stretching out my-"

"WOW, okay, I do not need to hear this!" Blake laughed uncomfortably.

"Holy fucking shit, I did not think you'd yell about that across the room." Now it was Yang who ended up blushing uncontrollably as she went back to the camera, trying to bring her hair forward to cover her face however she could, groaning behind it.

"You really like that?" Blake called out, clearly intending it for Weiss.

"Sure!" Once her beverage was ready, she came over to stand behind Yang's chair, sipping at the mug. "Was pretty unusual at first, I'll admit, but… now it's a good alternative once in awhile. Sometimes I'm more in the mood for that, to be entirely honest with you."

Now Blake and Yang were both blushing, with Weiss the only one oddly calm. "Huh," the brunette breathed, pressing a hand into her mouth for a few seconds. "I mean, I've done it to Sun a million times, but never felt like I wanted to be on the receiving end…"

"I can't speak for those without a prostate, but it's hella fun even if you don't touch it directly…" The voice came from behind the blonde hair, still slightly muffled as Yang tried to hide away the violently red cheeks. Eventually, when the other two were done laughing at her, she did come out again, taking a sip of her drink to try and distract herself for a little while longer, before suddenly saying, "Hey, you could always save that for the wedding night."

"Good point," Blake laughed, still sounding uncertain. "My regular virginity's a distant memory by now, but the anal kind can be my wedding present to the big dope. Then again, he's just as likely to insist he's the one on bottom."

"Oh, I remember," Weiss chuckled. "He seemed to enjoy Yang's lap the few times we got him to sit on it…"

"You guys just use me as a sex toy to turn him on, I swear to god." Her wife rolled her eyes, looking off to one side. She never meant it, even if it was a very common occurrence when it came to teasing Blake's fiance.

"Don't be fooled by his 'nah, I'm not about that life' act," Blake told Yang with a slightly devilish smirk. "If you ever did want to bend him over the bed, he'd be thrilled." Then she held up a hand to forestall any comments. "Not saying we aren't satisfied with our decision to keep things, you know, separated. Just… he sure is a butt-slut."

"Yes, thank you, Miss Belladonna — soon to be Wukong." The thought was still appealing to her even now. Even if it had been many years of sleeping with Weiss and only Weiss, the occasional fantasy of sleeping with men again did cross her mind. She'd more or less accepted that no matter who her partner was, she was pansexual. It was just that sleeping with someone like Sun meant that she could still be the top.

But that would remain a fantasy. She was happy with who she was with, and happy with their current status. Even if it was only on occasion, they had other things to worry about. More important things.

"Although…"

Blake raised an eyebrow. "Although?"

"Well," Weiss began with a smirk as she calmly slid into Yang's lap, "Our decision stands. But how about… a competition? To span two nights during our honeymoon. First you and I on bottom, then Sun and Yang on bottom. And we see who's the loudest. In the event of a tie, we have one final round of the usual missionary as a tie-breaker."

Seeing that Blake was seriously considering that offer, Yang frantically looked between them back and forth, eventually raising a hand to her face again in an attempt to cover it. "Seriously?! Are you in heat right now or something? First that little ‘idea’ about Neon, and now this! Do I need to hose you down?!"

"Hey, it'd be kind of hot without getting our wires crossed," Blake admitted, though she too was still holding a hand in front of her face. "But… yeah, I'll have to talk it over with Sun. I won't tell him about the back door, since that's a surprise, but just… the other part, and see where we end up."

"Excellent!" Weiss said, cheeks only slightly pink as she wriggled more comfortably into her wife's thighs. "And honestly, it's just a random idea I had, based on… well, another conversation I had recently. No pressure."

"Okay, yeah, good to know there's no pressure," Blake snorted. "Yang, uh, you okay over there?"

"Oh, just fine. I thought we were just asking one another about dinner plans and it leads to sex contests, so I'm a little flustered, that's all." Yang instead tried to go for her coffee, even if Weiss, now present on her lap made that incredibly difficult. But realising how long they'd been on the phone, she asked, "Should I let you go? Gotta get back to work, right?"

"Oh! Good point, I only have ten minutes left on my lunch, so I should probably warm up that tuna-noodle bake. Love you guys — see you Friday, Yang!"

"Text ya later!" And with that, she reached toward the phone, giving a brief wave before she cut off the call. Then she was left with her wife on her lap, who was still smirking even with her faint blush. The smug expression Yang grew to love. "You are a nightmare."

"You have NO idea." As she shifted back and forth, intentionally winding up her wife now, she immediately transitioned into the business they had most hoped to get around to after all the other was taken care of, and using the tail end of her own call to get there. "So about our potential arrangement with Neon. There's a snag that might not be a snag."

"Arrangement with- oh." At least her cheeks were already red, so she didn't have to make any excuses. Sliding her hands around her wife's body to hold her on her lap, she asked, "And what snag is that?"

"She wants to possibly invite Inu. You know, that shy girl from her band?"

"Oh, the cute little mute girl? She wants to make it a foursome? Really?" She assumed the “bonding session” would be more than enough to ask, but now this seemed to be even better than they hoped! More to assist with, should the mood call for it – and if they paired off, no matter who with, it wouldn’t be so awkward and nobody would feel left out. Even if adding more than just Neon made her more nervous.

"YOU KNEW?!" Weiss burst out, drawing back in alarm. Then she deflated, mouth still hanging open. "Why am I always the last one to know anything?! Like honestly, I feel so stupid all the time!"

"You didn't?!" Yang couldn't help but laugh at her misfortune. She really had slipped on noticing so many things. From Yang being trans to even Neon's obvious flirting when on the talk show. Seemed it expanded even to this.

Weiss merely sat there looking grumpy and embarrassed until Yang's laughter died down. Then she continued, "Alright, listen… I just assumed she didn't like me, or wasn't very sociable. My mistake. Anyway, she is pretty cute, I just haven't ever had any reason to think about her before now since — through no fault of my own — I thought she wasn't interested in talking to me, okay?"

Finally Yang nodded, keeping her giggle suppressed as best she could so Weiss didn't have to hear her continuously making fun of her slow realisation skills. Then went back to the subject again. "Yeah… Inu is pretty fucking cute. Would be a good tale."

"Just imagine," she continued softly, settling in against her once more as she gazed up at the ceiling. "Two months of unrestricted exploration with two women as gorgeous as them… and then, when the tour is over, back to our lives like nothing ever happened. No strings."

"Yeah? Well, that does sound pretty interesting…" Even if she wasn’t totally sure about the ‘no strings’ part working. After all, Blake had still acted a little weird around her for a year or so after their ‘no strings’ romps. She pulled Weiss slightly more towards her, lightly groping the ass cheek as she looked up with a slight smirk of her own. "And after two years of worrying about volume, will be nice to just cut loose and forget about it."

Biting her bottom lip, Weiss allowed her eyes to close as she relished the gentle sensations of pleasure, thrived upon them. "Mmm… yeah, and Neon can get pretty loud. Not as loud as me, though. And…" She sighed, though she began to rub her hand up and down Yang's shoulder through her orange t-shirt. "I am sorry that it makes it so hard for us to… to do you-know-what lately. But when you really get me going-"

"Yeah, have you at least thought about the ball gag?" She smirked teasingly, continuing to stroke her backside and keep grasping on occasion, lightly shrugging the shoulder that Weiss was stroking. "So we don't have to worry about it. Last thing we want is tiny feets walking into the room to see what's up with all the racket."

At that moment, Xu-Xu meowed and came up to them, and Weiss blinked down at her. "Silly kitty. Hmm… you may have a point. Let's adjourn to our bedroom." As she stood, she added, "And we talked about all that ball gag and BDSM stuff, and I told you that I am not interested! Handcuffs are kinky enough for me!"

"I never said the rest! Literally just the gag, for noise reasons!" She laughed, taking her hand and following her straight away. As they turned the corner to head up the stairs, however, Yang spared a small wave to Xu-xu, putting on a babying voice. "And you're going to stay down here and be a good girl! Yes you are, yes you are!"

"Or we'll get out the spray bottle again, yes we will, yes we will!" Weiss said in the same cloying tone. Of course, the cat knew no difference in their words, and simply blinked up at them curiously.

Once they were in the room, Weiss kicked the door shut with her heel and whipped her white blouse off so fast that a few buttons popped free, forever ruining it unless she took the time to sew them back on. Which she likely wouldn't. And Yang quickly threw off her top in response, already reaching behind herself to unclasp her bra. It seemed like forever ago that the cast stopped her before. In fact, she could barely remember it at all.

When she threw the bra among their shirts, Yang spared a glance to the digital clock on their bed side table. Three PM. "We got one hour before Ruby gets here. Ready to race?"

"PAH!" Weiss burst out as she shucked her yoga pants and panties all in one go. "We both know that we can get so much done in an hour, it's not even funny!" Then she fluffed out her hair once she was standing there entirely nude. "Now then… what are you gonna do to your 'princess'?"

Still unbuckling her belt and shorts, she was trying to shuffle them and her underwear down as quickly as she could, quickly pushing her own hair up and out her face. Seemed Weiss's lap sitting and teasing had completely paid off, considering Yang was already semi-erect out of the gate.

"Oh I don't know… There's so many things I could do. Maybe I should pin you up against a wall; or bend you over the bed…"

"The wall?" Weiss gasped, face lighting up in excitement. "Wow, we haven't done that since… Belize, I think it was." She began to stride forward. "Do it, if you think you can."

Moving forward to meet her, Yang grasped her arms right away, using them to push her back into the nearest wall with no hope of release. "Don't think I won't," she said with a smirk, before dipping to kiss her more firmly. It'd been so long, no wonder they were each so desperate to rough one another up in the sheets. Or against the nearest flat surface, in this case.

"Nnhhh!" Weiss groaned against the lips crushing down on hers, already feeling Yang's hardness getting harder up against her curling hairs. There was a reason she did not take as much care trimming them lately, but she would reinitiate her beautification rituals from back in her solo tour days soon enough, when she and Yang were on the bus. With or without Neon and her silent companion.

Satisfied she was pinned long enough, her hands released Weiss's wrists, instead moving down her body while they kissed up a storm. Tongues battling, bodies grinding against one another firmly; just like their adrenaline filled days on tour. When they had their moments, it never really changed. Sure, they sped things up by removing their own clothes rather than each other's, and protection was no longer an issue; but in that sense, the two of them never truly grew up. They adored their time together.

"God, your rocket is already clearing the launch pad," Weiss half-laughed, half-groaned as she leaned her neck to the side to allow Yang to have her way with it. But she didn't mind; that was the goal, after all. To enjoy each other with their stolen moment.

"Always is for you." But she immediately fell to biting and suckling without a single care as to who saw the mark afterward. By now neither of them did; anyone who had a problem was simply laughed at by Yang. One hand was brushing it's way over her body, brushing to the small area above the hair. A finger seemed to stroke over something in particular; a scar that wasn't there before. It was only a slight bump of skin, but all the same, Yang fussed over it. Breaking from her kiss to whisper, "Because who can resist your gorgeous body? This included."

Weiss froze and looked away. Collected herself, suppressed strong reactions that wanted to take over the mood. It didn’t take as long as it had once upon a time, and a few seconds later, she was already looking back to Yang, smiling a small, coy smile.

"Apparently, not you," she whispered gratefully.

Noticing the slight funk in her mood, she moved the hand to her hips. Once her diva was smiling again, she brushed that hand downward, pulling Weiss's leg up against her rather firmly. "Are you kidding me?" she asked, pecking at her neck once more. "I don't stand a single chance of turning up my nose at this beautiful prize."

Another sigh, one of great need, escaped Weiss as she hitched herself up higher, wrapping her legs around Yang and locking them at the ankles to help support her weight. Between that and the wall, they were able to keep her weight upward. The thickness grinding up against her clit was delectable, but she couldn't wait to get more out of Yang than just that.

"Fuck me hard," she urged, pressing her cheek urgently against the crown of her head. "Mmhhh… more!"

"You got it, princess." Not lingering to tease further, she drew her hips back, sparing a hand to line herself up with the entrance of her lover's body. Then she surged forward, releasing a needy moan when she felt her length enter the warm, wet folds. The hand returned to her ass to support her again before she set to work. They hadn't time to waste, and were eager to enjoy their precious hour.

Screams of pleasure erupted the instant she felt herself being filled by her wife, head thrown back in ecstasy, arms coming up to wrap around Yang's back as she shifted her hips back and forth. Already, she felt ready to burst — and they had been at it mere seconds! At this rate, they would not only finish, but have time for an episode of Jessica Jones.

It was a good thing they were somewhat alone in the house with the volume of those moans. Not that Xu-Xu would bother them, thanks to the closed door. There was one occasion where the ball of fluff thought it appropriate to hop and curl up on the bedsheets above the couple, despite them quite obviously playing with each other underneath – even trying to pounce on certain bumps under the sheet. Needless to say, it was still a hilarious encounter.

Yang's own moans were simply desperate with need. Pumping herself in and out at a hard and fast pace, she bit her own lip to try and prevent them becoming too loud. For the sake of her own sense of pride more than anything. And Weiss was already fast approaching her own finish. Could she really have been this hard up for time spent alone with Yang? They should never have let themselves get this busy, this often; she would have to start setting aside more time for them to get wild and uninhibited.

"NNhhah! Yang, you're so… GOD, I needed this!"

She'd barely started, but could already feel the telltale signs her wife was about to finish. Not this soon already, she needed more time. Playing this into the game, she leaned in close and purred, "Don't you dare come. I'm not done with you yet."

A little thrill shot down into Weiss’s stomach; she loved when she was forceful. Just enough of a thrill, being commanded like that… and besides, she wanted to see how much better she could feel if she held out longer. Nodding her understanding, she tried to suppress the onslaught of pleasure that the thrusting was bringing her, licking her lips as she was bounced up and down against the wall. Yang was like an animal, unhinged and wild, desperately set on one thing and one thing only. There was a moan each time she pushed deep into her lover's body, feeling as Weiss's muscles twitched in a desperate attempt to hold off. She knew she wouldn't be able to for long, but hopefully enough time so she could find her own release. Which at this rate was building fast.

Alas, Weiss couldn't manage it any longer than that. All she had time to pant was, "K-keep going, don't stop!" before she was already riding out an orgasm unlike any she had felt in weeks. It was as sudden as it was intense.

And Yang didn’t stop. She continued to pump fast and hard, even when Weiss's muscles were trying to clamp onto her member, trying to get something out of it. The build up was quick, but getting to the finish line wasn't quite as quick at arriving.

Or arriving at all. An annoyed groan later she stopped, slipping herself out of Weiss's body. Her member was still hard, and now more or less dripping with Weiss's juices but even that wasn't enough.

"It's no good… I can't quite get there. Damnit."

"Now I… remember why we haven't done this in a while," Weiss laughed breathlessly as she was slowly let down to stand on her own. "Takes too long. Take me to the bed."

As she had become accustomed to Yang throwing her over her shoulder, it had happened so many times, she didn't even truly ask about it anymore. Which was exactly what happened; Yang lifted her up and over, quickly pacing toward the bed while she still had herself in its full glory. There was no way she wanted that to fade yet, not when they were barely fifteen minutes into their hour. While they both giggled, she tossed Weiss down into the plush mattress, about to climb on top of her when…

She paused, spying the bedside drawer. And remembered something they hadn't done in a long long time. It'd been the initial subject of her phone call with Blake, ironically enough, yet she could barely remember the last time they tried. Pausing as she was straddled over Weiss's hips, she asked, "What about… you taking me?"

"How about you taking me?" Weiss playfully teased, but she wasn't truly going to ignore her wife's request. Instead, she thumbed over her shoulder at the table. "Go on, get your best friend, but… I want you to play with me a little more first, if that's alright."

"That can easily be arranged…" She grinned, crawling over her petite wife to get to the bedside drawer. Shuffling through the various things placed in there to hide the particularly raunchy items, she pulled out the bottle of lubricant first, and then hesitated. "Hmm… double-ender, or you want me to just hit your clit this round?"

"Ooh, you're so playful today… I can't decide." Her smile was genuine; this was a lot of fun for her. "Get a few toys out and we'll figure it out later. Right now… just use your tongue. God, I miss that tongue…"

Nodding in agreement with her wife, Yang did as she was asked, pulling out the few toys they had. Their first, the icey blue friend from that video together, a double ended yellow one, a butt plug and a small vibrator. Then she went back to work. Climbing down her lover's body, she left a trail of kisses down the soft delicate skin, hands grasping her legs to prise them apart. All Weiss did was stretch out luxuriously, a contented smile on her face. Having just climaxed, she really loved having that moment to simply bask in the worship, to let Yang's lips graze over her…

Even her soft thatch of hair, which she had flinched at earlier. It did not happen a second time; she merely moaned slightly lower, loving how much her bodyguard loved her as she began to glide her toes up and down Yang's hips and thighs, trying to repay the attention in some small way. They had plenty of time to spare, plenty of time to slow down and give attention to Yang’s favourite body in the world. Even if Weiss was touchy about certain areas these days, Yang wasn’t. She would lavish the faint marks with attention, kissing continuously, all the way along the length of it.

"You've given me so much," she seemed to whisper directly to the skin, kissing one more time before she started to make her way lower. "Allow me, princess, to give back."

"Anytime," she responded, with tears of gratitude in her eyes. They wouldn't quite fall, she was past that by now, but they always welled up slightly when Yang was so considerate.

And then the eyes fell closed with a sigh of pleasure when lips hit home. "Ooh…"

This time, Yang treated her lover’s flower it with delicate care. A huge contrast between the rough treatment she'd given it not even five minutes ago. Not wanting to disappoint, she allowed her tongue to dip between the lips. Arching her back into the contact, Weiss allowed her legs to come to a rest on Yang's hips while the tongue worked its magic. Even though she had already finished, she wanted more; always more from Yang, she needed it! Licking her lips, her idle hands came up to squeeze her own chest, hoping to coax that much more pleasure from the moment.

Feeling her lips curl into a smile, she continued to savour the flavours of her lover, kissing and licking and dipping her tongue all around the softer skin. Occasionally she made sure to raise her tongue more than usual, flicking it across the surface of the delicate nub at the top. Just enough to give her a taste of what was to come. Every instant that the wet muscle met her nub, the diva bucked upward, as if chasing the sensation. And in a way, she was, though at the same time she also relished the chase, and welcomed waiting for Yang to pursue her again.

Lightly smirking this time, she waited for when Weiss seemed to be unsuspecting… and then did it again. And she continued that pattern, waiting until her guard was down before attacking. It wasn't until the fifth time it happened that she started to giggle, looking up to her from below with a cheeky grin.

"Stop teasing!" Weiss gasped breathlessly, bringing her heel down on Yang's back. "You're… so bad!"

"I know." She giggled, wincing at the brief pain from the kick. "But you already came once. That's not fair."

"And I'd want you to come five or six times if it was possible, but… we know there's only one way you can technically do it twice." Reaching over blindly, she was finally able to pick up and present Yang with the correct implement; the yellow one. "Care to… share the banana?"

She rolled her eyes, hitching herself up to take it from her. "And here I thought you were gonna treat me. Rude." But there was still a smile on her face when she crawled over again to fetch the bottle of lube, sitting it by Weiss's side for a moment so she could prepare the rest. Holding the 'giving' end toward her, she smirked. "Open wide."

Amused, she did as Yang asked — to the best of her abilities. Though Weiss may have been complaining about her aging body a few minutes ago, it wasn't as if she was taking the passage of time lying down; she was still in damn good shape. She curled her abdomen inward, reaching down and clasping her ankles to pull her feet up and position them behind her head.

"Is… this wide enough?"

Every time, Yang was amazed at the displays Weiss put on for her. She remembered how flexible Blake was, but when she told Weiss that, she was determined to beat her. And that training seemed to pay off, certainly now more than ever.

"It's good… But." She held up the dildo again, looking between it, and where it would be pushed into. "You're making this difficult to put on."

"Too bad," Weiss goaded with a grin, obviously clenching her hindmuscles. "Let's see how you pull this off; I'm curious now."

"Geeze, you make this difficult," she groaned, looking toward the now-tightened opening of her lover again. This position was going to make it so much more filling for her, but also so awkward for Yang to work with. Still, she was up for the challenge. Shuffling toward her target, she held up the yellow cock, slowly lining up the end of it with her entrance. Gradually, she pushed it up against her, slowly applying more pressure to push it inside.

"Ohhhh, that's what I like," the diva groaned in an almost obscene voice, eyes closing in bliss at the feeling of the length filling her. None of the toys were that small, but the thing she liked about this end of the yellow one was that it was just about the same size as Yang. Meanwhile, the other end… well, that was quite a bit larger.

Once it was fully slid inside, Yang took a long look at her while holding up the straps on either side. Which was making it increasingly difficult to determine how she would do it. She couldn't thread it around herself like normal, or move her legs much from that position. Eventually, she just blushed and let out a whine of annoyance.

"Stop ogling and start strapping," Weiss taunted. But when Yang only scratched her head, she rolled her eyes and lowered her legs with a slight grunt, pushing her hips up off the bed. "Is this easier for you?"

"Was that so hard to do instead of just showing off, Mrs Flexible?" she asked sarcastically, finally getting back to work now she could reach things properly. Strapping the ends around both her legs to keep it in place, she was finally ready to take her.

Of course, while Yang waited for a response, she was also looking at the much bigger end. The one she'd be receiving. It was slightly bigger than their icey blue friend in width, but Yang assured Weiss she could handle it. And a handful of times, she certainly did. Still, the sight was always one that made her weak in the knees.

Licking her lips as she watched Yang gaze at the opening, unbelievably turned on by the notion, Weiss couldn't resist any longer. Voice husky and needy, she whispered, "Hand me that lube and get your ass over my face. You have no idea how much I want to get you ready for my cock."

Immediately, Yang’s blush doubled. She looked in shock back at Weiss again, barely able to believe how forward she was being today. But she loved it and wasn't about to argue. Still needy herself, she did just as she was asked, handing the bottle straight over and climbing toward her, turning herself around once close enough so she'd present herself.

"Whatever you say, princess."

"Don't act like we don't both know how much you love it," Weiss breathed, taking in the glorious sight. Perhaps she didn't speak this plainly all the time, and it had been a while since they got to have a good, long session like this, but she had made no secret of how much fun she found toying with the tight little opening below her lover's organ.

Which was partly why she wasted no time in drawing it down closer, pressing her lips up against the tightly-puckered skin with a contented little mewl. And why Yang bit her lip, suppressing the shaky moan that attempted to escape. The fact she hadn't yet come was really taking its toll on her, making her grow desperate with desire and lust. She could even feel the slight chill from where it was still wet with her wife’s essence. But if only she could place such wetness to the opening Weiss required.

At least she knew her lover would handle that with the lubricant. She enjoyed doing that, and often insisted she'd do it over Yang herself.

However, the smaller woman was still engaged in prelubrication. As her thumb flicked open the bottle next to her, the other hand kept Yang's hips still as she pressed her tongue up against the ring of muscle as hard as she could, trying to worm her way inside without any forewarning or coaxing.

"NNNN!!! Jesus, is it even possible to work out with your t-tongue?!" she asked, trying to suppress the moans once more as she let Weiss do her work, feeling the attempts to push inside very easily. Grasping the bedsheets tightly for a moment to try and hold on, she slowly looked backwards at what was happening, barely able to keep herself contained. The moans into the skin were completely uninhibited, but she didn't take long to fully enjoy them before she was bringing up the bottle and drizzling the clear liquid onto where her tongue had just opened very slightly.

"Do you have any idea how much I wish we had more time than we do today?" she sighed shakily as she brought one fingertip up to rest against the slicked skin, pressing in gently. "It's been like, five seconds, and I miss the taste of your ass already… weird as that sounds, I know."

"I never said it was weird when you first admitted you liked the taste, I sure as hell ain't gonna start saying it now." Hanging onto the sheets even still as she felt the tip begin to slide inside, she let out a moan of her own, grinning in sheer delight as her finger easily penetrated it, and teasingly began to open her up. "Thaaaaat's it, right like that…"

Biting her lip — partly just because she was enjoying participating in the show, but partly to further enjoy the lingering taste of Yang on her lips — she watched as her finger slid all the way into the tight little opening, looked on in detached wonder as it drew out again. Feeling some resistance, she raised the bottle and added a little more, letting it start to drip down around the sides before she pushed again. A few more repeated attempts, and it was flying in and out of Yang freely.

She knew her weakness too well. Sure, getting her dick off was good, but this had her wife singing. Each time the finger slid inside, she couldn't hold back, letting out yet another needy moan into the air. And now it was going at a rapid pace, it was becoming very difficult not to jerk herself off whilst this was happening.

Speaking of which… Holding her hand back, she tried to stop her moans a moment, asking, "The bottle… Lemme prepare you."

That made Weiss pause entirely. "Oh, you… want to prepare me, too?" Her abdomen clenched, which Yang would have to be completely overtaken by the throes of the teasing in her hindquarters to miss. Gulping, she glanced over at the black plug; it had been so long since they used that, and with good reason. It was not at all petite. Her secondary entrance was only used to Yang being in there, and not the wider girth of said toy.

"Yeah, make things slide all the more easier," Yang explained. Although she noticed the clenching, and sudden anticipation when it came to her suggestion, she hadn't seemed to have guessed what Weiss was thinking. Only moving one of her hands to the banana for a moment. Seemed they were both on a slightly different page and didn't realise it.

Gulping at the thought of being double-penetrated for only the second or third time in her life, and the first with the hefty plug they had purchased primarily for Yang's needs, Weiss nodded and reached over to grasp it, passing both it and the bottle to her wife.

"Okay, j-just… just go slow?"

"…W-wait, what?" Suddenly appearing to have noticed what Weiss was implying, she looked at the items being handed to her. All she had expected was to be taken herself with the other end of the strap on, and then to put the rest away. Now Weiss wanted to use that as well? She really did want to cram everything into one hour. "You serious? You want this?"

"Yeah! I mean… wait, was that not what you were talking about?" Letting out a weakly nervous laugh, she licked her lips and said, "O-oh. Wow, I guess I really have ass on the brain." Then she giggled and said, "Does that make me a butthead?"

Chuckling to herself, Yang crawled forward and away from Weiss's finger at last, shuffling forward enough to prepare things down below. "Yep, it sure does. But who can blame you, it's been a while." Bringing the bottle up into her hands, she squeezed a hearty helping onto the yellow dildo first, getting right to work as she stroked it up and down, thoroughly soaking the entirety of what wasn’t inside her wife. There were times where she'd make her grip rather tight, enough to make the other side pump in and out of her.

Then she let a little more drizzle down between Weiss’s cheeks. Once the bottle was set down, she slid a finger into her – all at once. By now, they both knew her princess’s ass could take that with almost no effort. It pumped in and out of her until she felt the muscles give, ready to receive more.

"Mmhhh," Weiss sighed, allowing her eyes to close from the dull pleasure of the twin sensations. "Yeah… jack me off, you beautiful woman. Make your man proud."

Smirking to herself, she continued to coat the length as wet as she could. That in addition to how wet her own opening was, thanks to Weiss, she knew this would be an easy and smooth ride. Now it was her turn. She looked over her shoulder to deliberately check Weiss was looking, holding the large plug into her view. Then with the other hand, she squeezed a large helping of the liquid all over it. "And does my man… want his butt to be claimed?"

The fleeting relief that Weiss had felt when the attention returned to the "banana" was now draining away as she stared at the implement again. Her lips parted, and she had intended to go ahead and tell her wife that maybe they shouldn't bother tonight. That she liked the idea, but wanted to work up to it gradually; worry about the huge thing another time.

What came out was, "Yes."

However, Yang noticed the worried expression. It was true that they didn’t play with Weiss’s butt nearly as much as the other way around – well, with the exception of Yang claiming it with her cock. But she could give her the choice. Turning around to line her cheeks up with the phallus, she placed the plug down a moment to pick up the last toy she'd picked out. The vibrator. It was a lot smaller in comparison, however, if she was already penetrated in one hole, it would be plenty.

"Seriously, we can just use this baby instead if you don't want the plug. I know it's fucking huge; not the biggest on the market, but a lot to take up the ass."

"Maybe I want you to use both," she joked, not even laughing or smiling at the quip as she considered. "But… no, we have to use a plug; the other thing would fall out once I start fucking you." Then she took a deep breath. "You've opened up my ass a hundred times. I think I'm ready to… at least try this thing. See if I can take it. And if it doesn’t work, that’s fine."

"Well, alright, Princess." And here she was thinking she could get her end, but Weiss was so insatiable she needed more – and what Weiss wanted, Weiss got. Retrieving the plug again and putting the vibrator back, she climbed down once again to between Weiss's legs. Pressing the tapering end of the well-lubricated silicon between those cheeks, she lined it up with the slightly-loosened ring of muscle, starting to rotate around it to open her.

"Ohhhh God," Weiss breathed shakily, cheeks moving from side to side at the sensation. "Oh, I hope I open right up for it…" But already, she loved the sensation against her skin; she knew she would, she always had. It was only the thought of how much pressure was about to befall the tightly-puckered opening that kept her from letting go to enjoy the magic befalling her body.

When she felt Weiss relaxing more, Yang began to push pushing harder, rolling the plug around to open her up as much as possible. Easing gently, bearing in mind how much bigger it was toward the base than Yang’s cock. Pressing her cleaner hand to her face, Weiss panted with the effort of not crying out at the intensity. It was so big! Too big, possibly, but it was only about halfway inside of her. Maybe this wouldn’t work, but how would she know if she didn't try? Part of her said that she should be taking out the yellow one while trying this, but somehow, it was also making it easier to take; the whole area being stimulated made her muscles feel more alive, ready for anything. And this certainly qualified as "anything"!

"Doing okay?" she asked, pushing more of it inside even firmer. It was beginning to surpass the width of the strap on itself, the bigger end that Yang was going to take, gradually getting even wider. Still taking in the sight, she could barely believe how much her petite girlfriend could handle.

"WAIT!" Weiss finally gasped out when she felt the pleasure very slightly starting to edge closer to pain – a warning sign both women had learned to heed after a few unfortunate incidents. "Just… it needs a second to catch up!"

“Okay.” Holding it still again, her bodyguard gazed in awe at just how much she had taken already. Above halfway; and only a tiny amount to go. But still, she looked back up to try and catch her expression. "You're like, a finger's width off from the end, y'know. You gonna be okay?"

A weak nod. "Y-yeah… but if you kept going before… I think it would have been bad." Swallowing, she brushed her bangs away from her face; they were beginning to stick. "Can you… twist it a little, stimulate the skin?"

Tilting her head in response, she turned her hand slowly around, spinning the plug within her, inside the right ring of muscle it was forced into. "Like this?"

"NNhhhhhHH! More lube!" she demanded weakly, though her legs were shifting this way and that in extreme pleasure. Even if she might need more lubrication, it being rough was definitely not making her change her mind.

Drawing a very small amount of the plug back out again, Yang went to grasp the bottle, squirting a hearty helping around her skin, and the length itself. Managing to rub it against both, she attempted again, turning the plug around and around to spread the coating evenly.

"Ohhh… okay, I think… yeah, we're good now, it's good… thank you, baby." Her eyes were full of love for the bodyguard suddenly, lips turned up into an adoring smile even as she panted with the effort of weathering the bullet being ground past her defenses.

Nodding, she smiled back for a moment before getting right back to it. Slowly she pushed her hand forward again, stretching Weiss out wider and wider… back to where they were at before, and beyond, until she finally felt the skin accept the rest of it, releasing as the grip took the entire plug in for her and the base sat against her backside.

There was a little "AH!" from Weiss at the plug going all the way in, and then she relaxed completely. "Oh… ooh… oh that feels… interesting…" The two masses inside of her were pressing into one another through the membranes of her body, and it was not an altogether unpleasant sensation. Just a new one.

Simply taking a moment to stare, Yang was blushing anew yet again. Her lover, now with her bigger sized plug inside her dark opening, was ready to go. Phallus lubed up and waiting, just begging to be ridden. Not to mention, Weiss was filled in both her entrances. Not only would this be fantastic for Yang, but it would be something new altogether for her wife.

Grasping the phallus and slowly jerking it up and down again, she asked, "So… how do you want me? Facing you?"

"Ohhhh yeah," Weiss replied without hesitation, twitching all over from even that slight pressure in her cavity. Both of them, now. "That's… yeah, I want to see you… watch you enjoy me…"

Half closing her eyes seductively, she nodded, soon climbing over her yet again to get into position. Straddling her lover's hips, she leant right forward, sparing one of her hands to reach down to grasp the dick of her lover. After a brief pat around, she found it. Pulling it in toward her, she continued to make eye contact with her while she maneuvered that into position, lining it up with her moistened entrance. Until finally, she began to slide down, eyes slightly widening as she felt the pleasure swim through her.

"God, Yang, you look so good!" Weiss glowed, watching as the implement slowly sank deeper and deeper into her the lower her body went. Though Yang's beautiful example of a sex was partially obstructing her view, she still valued both highly, wanting to reach down and play with everything in sight. Again, another time.

Sliding down all the more, Yang eventually let out more needy moans into the air, leaning back to stare at the ceiling as she tried to process. It was so big! And so long… It always felt like something close to a train ramming its way in every time. But she loved every second. Sooner than usual, her cheeks landed right into Weiss’s lap as she moaned out again, "G-god… Ah…"

Weiss couldn’t resist. Even though it was very slightly mean, she moved her hips from side to side a bit earlier than she normally would. She also let out a quiet gasp of pleasure from it shifting inside herself before asking in a playful voice, “Does my wife like being filled by her husband?”

"Is that a trick question?" she asked, adjusting the position of her knees so she was straddling her again, making it much easier to shift herself upward to pull it out slightly. Biting her lip again, she struggled to keep in another moan. It was pushing against her inner walls so easily with each shift, touching all different areas. It felt fantastic! "Of course I do."

Already, Weiss felt almost as if she could finish again; the sensations paired with the sights were incredible, and that was without the mammoth thing inside her rear entrance. She really could scarcely stand it! Yet she wanted it there, was happy to be teased in two different ways at once. Always had been; this was just taking it to the next level.

Forcing herself back down onto it again, Yang looked straight back into Weiss's eyes again when she moaned out, pressing one of her hands onto one of the bare breasts before her. Meanwhile, she didn’t know if she should use her other hand to toy with Weiss more, or for leverage in case her knees didn't suffice. Yet also felt a dying need for something else, the sensation that had never been allowed to come to a close. That needed to be handled.

Once sure Weiss was watching, she reached downward, grasping her length and beginning to jerk firmly, matching the pace of her mild movements on Weiss's fake cock, moaning even more. "Mmm… Yeah."

"HEY!" Weiss yelped out, slapping weakly at Yang's hand as it stroked her erect length feverishly. "What… do you think you're doing with that? It… belongs to me! You have to ask!"

"O-oh, right." Releasing it from her grip, she instead placed it on her stomach a moment, slowing her riding down to give her enough time to ask. "Please, may I stroke myself?"

But to Yang's surprise, what Weiss said was, "No." Then she reached down and grasped it firmly herself, biting her lip at the sensation of her own essence mixing with the small amount that had already escaped from the head. This wasn’t the easiest angle to jerk her off from, but she really wanted to. "No, you may not. Just ride me."

Looking down at Weiss's hand, she nodded in agreement, placing her hand back down to better balance herself as she rode her “husband” again, doing just what she asked. Nodding to show that she understood, and eagerly waited for what was to come. The delicate hand angled up, holding the cock just right so that with every bounce up and down on the rigid length within her, Yang would also end up thrusting into her fist. Seeing as how each bounce also shoved the length inside her tortured sex right up against the filling presence in her other orifice, she somehow almost felt as if she were fucking herself in the ass.

Why was that idea so hot?!

Fucking Weiss’s hand was all the motivation Yang needed to go faster. Allowing herself to be filled over and over, she thrust harder, quicker. The moans practically poured through her mouth as she looked toward her with a grin, even starting to laugh.

"Oh, this is amusing to you, is it?" Weiss teased breathlessly, licking her lips as she felt Yang sliding in and out of her fingers, teasing everything in the back region of herself. "We'll… see how funny you find it… NOW!"

And with that, she began to raise her hips up to meet Yang's with increasing frequency, nearly doubling how hard and fast she rammed into her over and over. The screams of pleasure only got louder. Such a thick cock, and the fist was curled so tight around her own! The more she backed her hips to meet with Weiss's own, the closer she was getting. Especially when on a few particular thrusts, she felt her favourite spot being assaulted again and again, unable to help the higher pitched squeal that came from her when it did.

Meanwhile, Weiss was trying not to scream out from her own mistreatment; every thrust up into Yang slammed the other end into her fragile sex, torturing her insides so much that she could feel her toes tingling, her knees weakening. This was so good — and she had needed it so, so bad.

"HNNN! Aaah! Weiss!" One particularly hard thrust hit Yang's spot, making her entire lower half shudder. And then each thrust was hitting it over and over. Legs shuddering, muscles starting to clamp onto that thick length sailing in and out of her body… She could feel it now, she was incredibly close. "Faster!" she begged, licking her lips to try and regain a little composure for the end. "Y-your hand… I-it's g-gonna…!"

So it was time. Weiss had been preparing for this; she knew what she wanted. Maybe it wouldn't happen, but she had one chance to do what she could. Curling her abdomen inward, she leaned up as much as she could with the other elbow that wasn't busy helping Yang. Then, once she was as far forward as she could comfortably get…

Her hand moved faster up and down Yang while she squeezed tighter than usual. The added pressure might bring about a result they both wanted. By now they were rather practiced at this; it worked a few times, and Weiss was delighted with the results, but others it simply lead to embarrassment or even a laughable moment. Still to this day, Yang had no idea why her wife enjoyed that so much, when most would brand it as disgusting.

But finally, after a few firmer thrusts into her backside, Yang's mouth fell open, gasping loudly as she felt the waves of intense pleasure flow through her entire being, length throbbing in Weiss's grip as it shot out its seed fast and hard. She never got to see where it went, her eyes were closed tightly while she felt the pure ecstasy taking over. More shudders of joy went across her lower half. It had been far too long since she got to enjoy an orgasm as intense as this one.

An orgasm so intense that it led to Weiss's, as well — not purely from Yang gasping, but from the feeling of hot seed splashing across her cheek. She'd made it. She had not missed her mark!

"NNHAAAAHHH!!!!" she moaned out in pure joy as she climaxed again, feeling more droplets landing on her stomach. Only the one spurt had made it all the way up toward her face, but one was enough to send her gasping and shivering, completely overjoyed.

Letting the waves fizzle out gradually, Yang came to rest on Weiss's lap, completely content. The length was still fully inside her, something she didn't want to shift just yet. It felt good there, oddly warm and filling. She needed to simply savour the moment, especially now that her lover had climaxed as well.

The clock on the bedside table read 3:40pm. Twenty minutes: plenty of time to cool down and take care of everything.

"Want the plug out?" she asked when Weiss had finished her own screaming.

"Ahhh… not yet," Weiss sighed. "Let's take care of… other stuff first." Her hands glided up and down Yang's thighs now, and she let out a small chuckle when she felt a little of the cum being smeared on the skin from where it had dripped onto her thumb. "Oops… sorry about that."

"Nice." She laughed, still not completely moving off it when she leant forward to fetch a tissue from the box on the table, biting her lip when the yellow presence shifted back inside her when she sat down again. "Gah… That's what these tissues are for, you know. Don't wipe it on me!" But still, she took care of the mess, dabbing her own skin and the top of her member, then moving on to her wife's stomach and cheek.

"Thank you," she told her doting wife primly as she was cleansed, smiling as if she were a queen on her throne instead of a girl with two implements deep inside of her, naked on her back. "Now… I have something I want to do for you. Maybe you can guess what it is without any hints, but here's one; I'll need a glove."

"Does this mean I have to get up?" she asked, teasingly moving her hips side to side, but also biting her lip at the sensations it caused to her insides.

"Up off the banana, at the least." Once Yang started to lean up slightly, she reached forward and weakly swatted at her hip. "Come on; time is a luxury today! Let me get in there, I want my baby to have two O's like I did!"

"Alright, alright. I just find the banana appealing, okay?" She let that pun sink for a short moment, listening to her wife groan as she pulled herself upward, unable to help the small shudder that happened when she was out entirely. Once that was done she straddled Weiss's hips again. "Where do you want me?"

"In me." Then she let out a theatrical sigh and shrugged. "However, since I doubt you'll be 'up' for that…"

Apparently, Yang wasn't the only one who could make jokes. Sighing as she looked down to her member, now limp and lacklustre, she took a moment to reach for the gloves in the drawer. "Less taunting, more fingering, Wifey."

"Hey, I am capable of multitasking." But the taunting smile gave way to a more earnest one. "You want it on your back so I can really get in there? It's been a good while since your spot and I had a chance to bond."

"Now you're talkin'." She purred with delight, hopping off her lap and instead laying to one side on her back, spreading her legs to give Weiss more than enough of the room she needed. "It's been way too long."

Leaning up and sliding her arm over Yang's thigh, gazing down, she couldn't help the greedy little smirk that crept over her face as she began to pull the glove on. "Ooohhh, where shall I begin? Everything looks so good; I can't decide." Her now-gloved fingertips poked Yang's soft sack, making sure to avoid its contents for fear of hurting her.

"Hmm…" Instinctively she tensed, but nonetheless rested a leg up on her diva's shoulder, looking up with a smile. "Well, it's all yours. I think that was the agreement when I married you right?"

"True." As her fingers came to a rest up against Yang's slick entrance, feeling how it was already so wide open and ready to receive more, she leaned down to press her lips up against the fragile sack. "All mine, and all delicious."

Quickly glancing at the clock once more, just to double check, she then looked back toward her with another smirk, tensing the muscles deliberately against the fingers. "Well you better hurry then, clock's ticking."

Nodding, Weiss leaned up and took the partially-softened cock into her mouth. The muted salty tang of her essence hit her taste buds as she groaned against the flesh, swirling her tongue around the head as two of her fingers began to slide past her wife's loosened opening. Right away, Yang felt slight relief from feeling such wetness touching the member again after it'd become sore from the movements of her strokes, so feeling its coolness made her grin with delight. Just as the fingers heading into her backside did, which she bit her lip to try and suppress a louder noise. Her diva really was determined to make her go again!

The stirring didn't go unnoticed; Yang was getting slightly more aroused from her teasings. Of course, Weiss already knew that the chances of getting Yang all the way hard again weren't high, let alone a second spurting. But just feeling the warm flesh in her mouth was reason enough for her to keep going — so long as Yang didn't complain of discomfort.

And speaking of which… a pleased little chuckle sounded in her throat when she felt the little ridged mass she had been seeking out, deep within her lover. There it was.

"O-ooohh…" A quiet, but content purr sounded out from her bodyguard, unable to help when her legs twitched against Weiss's shoulders. Laying her head back and grinning from ear to ear, her wife was going to fuss over her favourite spot again and again, going to bring her to a second clima-

DING DONG!

#White Noise #freezerburn fanfic #freezerburn smut #rwby fanfiction #rwbyremnants #nsfw-Text

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onisionisacanceronthisearth · 5 years

Text

Greg vs Alleged Classmate Part 6: Abuse

So this is the final part of the video starts with a secret child of Greg but mostly involved Greg talking about his relationship with Lainey. This was a tough one to get through and I’m sorry if it isn’t my most coherent one. I didn’t edit this one that much and Greg rambled a lot but I couldn’t go back and re-read most of my work. I’m sorry

It’s not creepy to mention kids Greg, holy shit

Ok, so this needs to be said. If I say my aunt has 5 kids, that isn’t talking about the kids, it’s talking about the aunt. If I say my aunt’s kids are all in school, that’s talking about the kids but it’s vague and just mildly descriptive. If I say “my aunt’s eldest female child whose name is Sansa Stark married Tyrion Lannister at age 14″, THAT is getting creepy in terms of how much I’m talking about the child who probably should remain more anonymous than that. We got that? Good, Greg still doesn’t so he wastes my time talking about how creepy it is to say he has a secret kid for the kid’s sake despite nothing actually being told about the kid and then skips the video. He misses a lot, and hilariously, it wasn’t even about the kid still

What Greg missed in the full minute he skips

It’s second-hand information again but M trusts the source

Lainey doesn’t know

He’s gone from small annoyances which have now blown up into very large, unmanaged problems since high school. These issues now define him as a person

“I don’t have any chemistry with Lainey???”

Nope, you didn’t then and you don’t now

Apparently, he defines chemistry with kissing on camera. His proof of chemistry is that with Skye they never kissed on camera but with Lainey he does. Also he again forgets this interview is old because he says how they both kiss in her videos. Also is claiming M said him and Skye were passionate which isn’t the case, just that Greg flip-flopped a lot and abused her then left her out to dry.

Yay, another gay joke. Even dressed as a boy, kissing Lainey, if anything, proves how little you love them because you show no passion in the kiss, push her away, belittle her in your videos, shit on her, scare her, etc. Your videos prove you don’t love her. It is heartbreaking even if you don’t like Lainey.

Also, years don’t count when it’s abusive, it just shows how long you’ve groomed and manipulated her Greg. Also, THIS INTERVIEW IS 3 YEARS OLD

And now I’d say Lainey does know you, she’s just so stuck on you. I don’t need to know the victim to hate the abuser, I don’t have to know the victim to feel sympathy for them. I don’t need to know Skye, I don’t need to know Shiloh, I don’t need to know Adrienne, I don’t need to know Billie, I don’t need to know Lainey, I don’t need to know Sarah, I don’t need to know Maya, I don’t need to know Madison. They’re all women you’ve used and abused. The last three you did so through Lainey

Billie blame

If we want to see Lainey be abused by someone we should watch “My Side of the Story” by Lainey. But the main shitty person there isn’t Greg apparently, it’s Billie for how she responded to what they did to her and putting all the blame on her when at most it was half. With Greg pulling all the strings

And Greg is claiming she basically told Lainey to kill herself using vague imagery using a hateful and direct way because he needs to make sure we can’t turn around and showcase the many times Greg has told someone to kill themselves.

So Billie is the horrible, violent, abusive person while Greg stood by his spouse, If by “stand by” he means standing in front of his pregnant spouse and signing his two kids to her because he’s leaving her for Billie then yes, he did “stand by” her. The only reason he’s “still here” is because Billie didn’t take him back

Holy manipulation of a situation Batman!

Also, this interview is pre-Billie so this argument makes even less sense

ALSO, he very specifically describes abuse as violent. I want him to try and refute his actual abuse which is much quieter than that. Especially abuse they’re talking about which is pre-Billie, but I’m glad to know anytime he thinks of a time he was shitty, he at least thinks of the time he cheated on Lainey and told her to deal with it then told her he was leaving and didn’t give to shits about her, their son, and their unborn child while also thinking he wasn’t that bad

I don’t want to listen to this: skips the good stuff and makes out like M is creepy for thinking of Greg’s child-filled audience

He skips:

M predicting what Greg was going to do if he ever responded (pretend it’s all a lie)

His millions of audience members will believe him. Thankfully, no. This video has 20k views and only 300 good comments (with some bad ones he hasn’t deleted yet). Likes/dislikes turned off

“You know this is just a grand version of what he would do back in high school. As opposed to saying “I have problems, I did some messed up things” ; he’ll say “I don't have problems, I don’t do messed up things. None of this is true“ --> sounds about right

“Watching him so easily be all right with making himself a role model to hundreds of thousands of children out there, teenagers are frankly still children“ ----> Greg skips here and hears “thousands of children” before going “yuck” and skipping, building a retoric that M is a creepy pedo as per usual

“Some of these kids, my son and my daughter, are going to be the same age as these kids that watch him right now one day.. and it breaks my heart that a lot of these kids are gonna sit there and think ‘that is how I should be in life. I should be someone that judges other people, whom I don’t know, for things that aren’t any of my business.’“ ---> I wish Greg had responded to this

“How could I have changed since high school?” also “Cycle of abuse? What’s that?”

Greg states he’s confused because in high school he had to rely on his mom and now he controls others

People change, though you still act as if the government is going to act like your mom and not ever punish you for doing things wrong

People who experience abuse tend to inflict it on other. You admit your mom was abusive Greg, these two stages in your life link together quite well

My spouse is a psych major, how can she be abused?

Simple:

“good thing Greg doesn’t hit me”

“Oh, it’s different when he does it”

“but he wouldn’t be nice if he hated me”

“we have kids”

“he kisses me on camera” (Like Jaclyn)

“he came back to me after he left”

Also, not all psych degrees cover abuse and Lainey only has her bachelor's degree. Or at least as in-depth as Greg seems to think. It’s possible to miss things in your own life. That’s why therapists have their own therapists, that’s why doctors can’t prescribe things for themselves or family. Not to mention you’d already sunk your claws into your obsessed fan before she ever read a psych book. When you’re gaslit and abused, something as simple as logic or googling “am I in an abusive relationship” does not register to you as a red flag. The latter happened to me, I googled it at least once every six months, ticked all the red flags, then said no, doesn’t apply here. But it did, and it does the moment you had to google that phrase. Lainey went through the motions in a video, she came up with the same bullshit I did and elected to ignore the questions even she couldn’t pretend didn’t apply as many do. People who are abused don’t tend to know they’re abused until it’s too late. If we knew we’d have left long before being raped or beaten by our “loving” partners. As I’ve said before, fuck you Greg

“I paid for their school”

Irrelevant, but glad to know you hold it over her head. Also glad you decided to put in how much money it was in your statement.

Also, her father was paying her tuition and board, as well as giving her an allowance. All while she was secretly married to you. You simply wasted your own and his money. Yeah, her father had every right to threaten to pull her college fund, she wasn’t owed it, and it was a desperate attempt to get his essentially kidnapped daughter to come home from the adult man who had preyed on her and took her away as his own.

His argument here is, “deflection to her dad without context”, “look, I saved her”, and finally “I gave her her college education of 50k, this isn’t abuse because I gave her this massive gift that saved her life”. Wow, if that isn’t a nice abuse tactic...

“You guys aren’t psych majors, she is”

See the point of her being a psych major above plus the fact that experience helps identify it, almost all your former partners calling you abusive (“we get it, Greg, you like hurting young girls”), you filling all the checkboxes for abuse, outsider perspective, former friends calling you abusive, Social Fucking Repose identifying your abuse (I’d say he’s an expert in that field), and anyone who is a decent person can identify shit when they smell it

Also Lainey doesn’t have more psychology experience than all of us combined, she got a bachelor’s in psych degree online many years ago, never worked in the field or as a co-op student as far as I’m aware, never got her master’s, and her intention was to be a children’s social worker. She’s as qualified to talk about abuse as Kati Fuckface Morton is to talk about diagnosing and treating personality disorders as a marriage counsellor. Lainey should work for BetterHelp, at least she does have one degree

Concluding statements on abuse by Greg

And so we end with Greg attempting to gaslight the audience by calling us the crazy ones who are actually abusing Lainey by invalidating her feelings and the misunderstanding the cycle of abuse. Things Greg is gaslighting us as doing:

We’re acting like Lainey is stupid

That Lainey can’t think for herself

We’re belittling Lainey

We’re acting superior to Lainey

We’re attacking her intelligence and calling her nothing like a blob of goo on the pavement, essentially a vegetable

(See Lainey’s “Hater Listens to 21 Pilots” and see if this checks any of Greg’s behaviours on screen)

Greg now describes the cycle of abuse as the victim replicating their abusive dynamic. Sometimes it results in people running from one abusive relationship to another, other times it results in the victim never wanting to be a victim again and wanting power so they then become the next abuser. Greg himself calls himself the dom of his relationship, the “father figure” or “guider”. Also notes he pays for the bills in most relationships which is a typical sign of a power imbalance. We see two iterations with this with Greg, Greg being abused by his mom. She tried kicking him out before becoming an adult, yelled at him when he cried, beat him with a fire extinguisher, etc. Now Greg is the abuser, laughing at Lainey when she cries, makes her cry, talks down to her, uses her mercilessly, etc. And now Lainey uses children like Sarah the same way Greg uses and hurts her. Lainey also defends herself with these girls as her shield against Greg.

You kept your finances separate because you didn’t want a Skye situation, Lainey has a degree she cannot use to get a job, Lainey’s youtube was dependent on you and still mostly is. Lainey requires you for all emotional issues she has but yet you will wake up a guest in your house so she can deal with it instead of you.

Food for thought Greg, your mom abused you all your life, yet you always returned to her and tried keeping her happy until now. It’s almost as if you let your abuser get away with things

The video ends before the end of the interview, Greg never addresses the alleged death of two of his dogs

#onision #anti onision #Onision vs alleged ex-classmate

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hunkjasontodd · 6 years

Text

Call In to Talk?

I revisited @pichiba’s blog and was scrolling through the radio!au tag when I realised I hadn’t written much about them in a while and it was bugging me so...

Prompt: Ryan’s down with the flu, and is feeling down because nobody’s paying attention to the show. Shane steps in to help.

Sequel to this!

Also available on AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15321384

Ryan stares at the control panel, a little lost.

Let’s rewind, yeah?

Ryan, the kind soul he was, was persuaded (more like peer pressured, but he’s not going to be that mean) to take over his best friend Steven’s radio show so that he could return home and spend time with family. Unawares of the traps, Film student Ryan went on to set up a show talking about unsolved mysteries.

While most listeners had their fun, pitching in ideas and other possible theories, two of them decided to be a pain in his side and tear apart his theories with even more possible science, leaving him flustered and a little embarrassed. Well, one of them dropped off the face of the world, rest in peace, Brent, but the other one, an even more annoying man named Shane, decided to wreck havoc in his little haven by having Ryan play into his little game.

Shane truly knew how to smooth talk his way to the results, and Ryan hated it. He hated it because he’d thought that Shane would just be a casual listener, but it turns out that his new “friend” decided to become one of his most loyal listeners. Every session, every fucking morning at 3, Shane would be there, live-tweeting how he thinks the weird theories are all whacky and supporting scientific theories with evidence and proof. At the half-hour mark, he’d call in to argue with Ryan for a solid five to seven minutes, leaving the Film student gasping for breath and bubbling with irritation. Then, as the show comes to an end, Shane would haughtily tweet out “seems like the Boogaras are losing, again.”

They’ve gotten to a point where people have begun taking Shane’s side, and more and more people are converting. It took the fun away from being a supernatural radio show host. It was tiring to talk, now. Shane would always be there, armed with his stupid science, ready to rip apart everything Ryan built.

Long story short, Ryan doesn’t like Shane very much.

Just his godforsaken luck.

The last day of Unsolved, and he gets a cold. Great.

Ryan sniffles miserably, eyes and nose red and stuffy, leaking gross liquid. Steven had come back to the States a week ago and told him that Worth It would be back on air in about three days, leaving Ryan with the final Saturday, 3 AM slot.

Then, he had to fall ill. Fantastic.

‘Are you sure you’re okay?’ Steven asks, handing him a paper towel and wincing at the noise that escapes Ryan’s nose. He nods, hoarsely replying, ‘I’ll be okay.’

‘You don’t have to force yourself, dude,’ his best friend reprimands lightly, smoothing circles into his back, ‘I can take over. We’re done with the scripts and stuff.’

Ryan shakes his head, glaring at the lunch table, ‘no, no. I can do this.’ I need to do this. ‘Worth It doesn’t deserve to get the worst slot ever.’ Steven levels him with a glare, aggressively stabbing his bowl of noodles with chopsticks, ‘my best friend doesn’t deserve to overwork himself when he’s not feeling well and has a test to study for.’ They both stare at each other, until the other breaks. ‘Really, Ryan, you don’t have to.’

‘I want to,’ he whispers, softly, ‘I- I got attached.’ Steven’s eyes widen by a fraction, yellow noodles slipping off his chopsticks, ‘I need to say goodbye.’ He knows he must look pathetic, clinging to something as dumb as a supernatural radio show. But, it was his baby. He loved interacting with the live-feed, the preparation, the recording, the whole routine and mood.

They sit in silence for a long while, a dark cloud over their heads.

Steven lets out a slow breath, grip tightening on his utensil, ‘okay.’

Ryan startles, ‘okay?’

‘Okay. You get to do a last slot for Unsolved.’ The Chem student drums his free hand on the table, ‘but, if you feel terrible, I’m not letting you enter the studio.’ The underlying threat of something horrific eases into his tone a little too easily, but Ryan lets it slide in favour of thanking Steven.

‘You’re the best,’ he chokes, tears blinding his vision.

Which brings him back to the current setting: he’s in the studio, Steven and Adam, alongside TJ, on the other side of the glass, ensuring that everything’s alright and things are running smoothly online. Steven has a perpetual frown on his face, worry lines creasing his forehead.

‘Ryan, what’s going on?’ Steven’s voice rings in his headphones. The Twitter live-feed was full of “get well soon”s and other minor insults/concerns about how he shouldn’t be on air if he was feeling unwell.

They weren’t talking about the show at all.

A twinge of hurt strikes in his chest. He sniffles, ignoring Steven’s concerned shouting and TJ’s attempts to fill the silence. He can’t even end Unsolved the way he wants to. Just grand.

‘Incoming call,’ Adam’s soft voice pulls him out of his stupor, urging him to pick it up. Ryan does so, albeit slowly, ‘hey, wha--’ He’s abruptly cut off by a familiar voice, one that’s so used to mocking him.

‘Are you saying that something happened at the Sallie House and nobody in their right minds filmed it? Are we really going to trust some probable hallucinations?’ Shane’s annoying voice leaves him stumped.

‘Huh?’ He wasn’t expecting anyone to talk about the case at all. ‘You heard me, Ryan,’ Shane replies, ‘wait let me get on Twitter and just-- okay. Check the feed, dude.’ Ryan does so, adjusting the brightness to see that Shane’s posted several photos of diagrams and heat signature readings. There’s a rustling sound on the other line, ‘you see it, right?’

‘Well, I’m definitely seeing something, alright,’ he fires back automatically, confusion and rage fueling him. ‘Good, good,’ Shane murmurs, the rustling continues, then another tweet loads. It’s more pictures, this time, hand-drawn. Ryan expands all the images, eyes going back and forth.

Shane clears his throat, ‘right, so, I’m drawing out the setting of the so-called “incident” and sent you images of the heat signatures of the area during that day, as well as the insides of the flashlight. It could very likely be possible that the light turned off and on due to the irregularities of the surrounding temperatures.’

Ryan sputters, scrambling for a counter attack, ‘but- it happened more than thrice, when they were demanding the demon turn it on!’ Shane hums, as if mulling over it seriously, ‘have you ever considered the fact that when they talked in close proximity to the light, they were actually releasing heat, which could cause it to turn on and off?’

It leaves him stumped, for a few microseconds.

Shane prattles on, listing out all the possible situations and scenarios for the light to have been acting weird, tweeting out even more pictures and diagrams to help facilitate his point. Ryan slowly gets the point, and comes up with a few more arguments, talking about how some rooms in the house had stable heat signatures but experienced the same things.

At this point, the live-feed has shifted from talking about Ryan to talking about the case.

‘User @boo-gara-fan made a good point: it can’t be possible that the light acted weird on command, but then stabilise itself again for the rest of the incident. It’s almost too coincidental.’ Ryan wants to applaud himself for being able to stand up for his own point, glad that there were people on his side.

Steven has been strangely quiet, he glances up to see if his friend was still around. Sure enough, there he was. A big, broad smile on his face, eyes glimmering in relief and pride. Huh?

Before he gets a chance to ask, more people chime in with their own opinions, and the show is back on track.

‘--and this has been Ryan Bergara! Thank you guys for being such awesome listeners these past two months! It’s been a blast, hosting Unsolved. I had my good and bad moments, but I hope I was a good host and provided the entertainment you were seeking. Thank you, and farewell!’ Ryan cuts the recording, ignoring the tears sliding down his cheeks and the tremble in his voice.

He was done. Unsolved is over.

The crew start to move in, clearing up the area and helping him one final time in shutting the studio’s power off. Before the live-feed is cut off, he sees a final tweet flash on the screen:

Shane Madej @shanealexmadej

Take care of yourself. I hate hearing you sound sick. It’s been fun.

Ryan chokes back all the tears he’s been holding back. Sliding down against the control table, he finally lets his sobs out, lamenting how the end of something he loved had finally come.

Forty minutes later, Ryan locks up the room for the last time. He stares at the door. Studio 13, it says, painted in bright orange. He takes a deep breath, walking towards the front desk. He signs his name on the checkout sheet, turns his Crew ID in, and drops off the keys in the pink box for the last time.

‘Ryan!’ Steven yells from across the field, running to him at full speed. ‘I’ve got news for ya, buddy!’ Ryan is about to ask what happened when Steven crushes him into a hug.

‘Unsolved is back.’ Steven whispers, a grin in his words.

‘What?!’ The words have yet to settle in when Steven drags a tall, lanky man in front of him. ‘He’s been pressuring the studio to give your show back to you, and they finally relented! On three conditions, though: you get the prime slot, and have to do supernatural and crime.’

‘What? Where’s the third?’

The other man smiles at him, genuine and relaxed. ‘Nice to meet you, I’m Shane Madej, your new co-host.’

#elf writes stuff #i cried writing ryan's goodbye #no joke #i teared up so bad ehuri #buzzfeed unsolved #bfu #buzzfeed unsolced: true crime #buzzfeed unsolved: supernatrual #shane madej #ryan bergara #steven lim #more steven action!!! hell yea!!!!#shane is ryan's no 1 fan dont @ me #fluff #slight angst #?#radio au

21 notes · View notes

caddeter · 6 years

Text

Hey, Knight, I have a serious question for you: Are you fucking illiterate or something?

Okay, looking through the notes, I can’t let this go.

Soku, You JUST described what you do.

Soku made a grand total of two posts in this chain. You can find both of them here. One of them is an actual explanation on why Savage’s post is stupid, the other is him simply saying ‘eh’ in reply to Xenodweeb.

“Instead of making the White Fang this way, do it this way that justifies my political beliefs because I deserve validation.

1. That had never come up in that chain at all, Soku pointed to utilizing the school setting as an example.

2. It has nothing to do with his political believes, it has everything to do with putting fucking effort into a point of your show! How is pointing out that a show displaying an extremely black and white stance on a real world issue that is excessively grey a political stance?

3. If your talking about what Xenodweeb said, allow me to simplify it for you: They hyped up a character, only to kill her off not five minutes later. Even if we ignore her skin color, that’s still incredibly stupid. And it’s made worse with her skin color. Even then, there’s a grand total of twelve named dark skin characters in a cast of over 70 characters. Five of them are villains, the rest are unimportant. Seriously, what does any black character, who isn’t Emerald, Ilia, or the fox brothers contribute to the plot? And aside from the guy based off an Achievement Hunter joke and the guy from the team they only remembered half the members of, I bet you and the rest of the fandom don’t even remember they exist.

Also: Listen to me and only people like me because I deserve to be solely pandered to while you don’t deserve a say in your own show.”

First of all, is Savage a member of CRWBY? Is Savage one of the lead writers? Is Savage even a Rooster Teeth employee? You and your little posse constantly remind us that RWBY isn’t our show, yet whenever it’s convenient, it’s your show.

Secondly, that’s your argument, not ours. You constantly pride your opinions above everyone else’s, from people with experience with the subject they’re talking about, to people who have researched the subject their talking about, to scene analysis, to fucking shit posts. And you’ve done this over on Deviantart, where there is no RWDE tag, and was just people criticizing your precious little show. The RWDE tag was made so that the main RWBY tag wouldn’t need to read through all of our posts. We’re trying to keep our opinions away from you jack asses, and this is the thanks we get? You know what, screw it, this is going in the main tag.

I just boiled down your entire collection of RWDE posts down into this because THIS is how you act each time:

And I’m a dragon who breaths Popsicle, living on top of the Eiffel Tower making reviews of late night talk shows. How many times have you said that, and how many times have we proven you wrong?

Only your worldview (even if it’s blatantly wrong and fucking stupid) deserves to be seen and only YOUR iteration) deserves to eb seen and only people like you get to have media in their tastes.

Mirrors are a rare thing in your house, aren’t they?

Okay, that was a little too fast, let me slow it down for you: Mirrors are pieces of shiny glass you look at to see yourself.

Even then, what are you judging this on? The fact that people complained about plot holes, unfortunate implications, terrible execution, wasted potential, a side character steeling the spotlight? That’s not a matter of taste, that’s a matter of desiring quality. People would be complaining about RWBY’s flaws even if RWDE never existed, just look at how the anime reviewing community treated Sword Art Online.

Everything about RWBY must conform to what you think you deserve, regardless of fucking quality or what the Writer’s want to do or why other people like RWBY.

Yes, because a consistent plot, stable world building, and an understanding of what it’s doing is completely subjective.

RWBY’s quality is objectively terrible; it’s full of plot holes, we get more development for the side characters than we do the main characters, and the world building is excessively muddled. It also has a bad habit of flat out lying to its audience and constantly ignores the easier solutions. And with how many details are missed between the writers and animators, I’m left with the impression that the production of this show is a big game of telephone.

Calling RT sexist, racist and homophobic is not criticism.

Jaune gets away with, and is rewarded for something that Yang is demonized for. That is sexism and criticism.

RT constantly portrays the White Fang, who were left with little other option than to become a violent group like many real world minorities, are treated as completely evil with no redeeming qualities. And then there’s the count of black characters in the show an their importance to it. That’s racist and criticism.

It took RT five years to reveal an LGBT character, after years of excuses that for some reason never applied to straight pairings. That’s homophobic and criticism.

Do you read selectively or something? We’ve explained several times over how one could get these impressions. Just because you plug your ears and shout, ‘LALALALALA I’M NOT LISTENING!’ doesn’t mean the evidence stops existing.

Lying about the show is not criticism.

Knight, the only people who have ever lied about RWBY is you. We have backed up our claims with explanations, comparisons, examples. You have changed evidence to work with your conclusion instead of changing your conclusion to work with evidence. You’ve flat out admitted to doing that, yet you still act like we’re in the wrong. Why can you get away with something like that, but we constantly get demonized for you’re lies?!

Spreading controversy like a manwhore with STD is not criticism.

You really don’t understand how criticism works, especially for a show this popular, do you?

Okay, even ignoring the fact that that’s a load of bull, that’s all you do. Every time there’s a new RWDE post, you jump to the front lines to start a flame war.

You do not criticize, you complain.

My god, it’s almost as if that was the basis for the RWDE tag in the first place!.. How do you breath? You can’t wrap your head around this simple concept, yet you still haven’t suffocated yet? How does that work?

People HAVE refuted you:

Yeah, badly. And then they got refuted right back.

I’ve had to have done it at least fifty times.

First of all, you’ve had way more chats with people in the RWDE tag than just fifty. If your track record is so bad, why is your ego so huge?

Second of all, where exactly? Was it here, where Delvin asks you for evidence of what you’re accusing him of, and then you ran off? Was it here, where Delvin throws every one of your notions back at you in the end? Was it here, where Dudeblade explains why you think it’s wrong to compare RWBY to other shows based on IMDB scores, before doing just that with shows with lower scores than RWBY? Was it here, where Lycanheiress took everything you said and utterly destroyed it? Was it this one here, where a transgender lesbian explains homophobia to you, and why people accuse you of being homophobic? Or was it here, where Xenodweeb boiled all of your stupid notions down to the basic level to show why they’re wrong?

Thirdly, you’ve had to do it? Did we make you? Is Rooster Teeth paying you to paint their fanbase in a negative light? Are they holding a gun to your head as you type this out? Are they threatening your family? Is the RWDE tag doing that? Did anyone even ask? I’ve already explained this to you, KKKoB, no one but you is making you write these. You chose to do this.

Fourthly, for every one time you’ve attempted to debunk us, we’ve debunked you ten time over.

You just ignore them, block them or throw variations of the word “bigot” at them so you can disregard it

You mean like you did with Delvin?

You’re like that child who keeps changing the rules to make himself invincible because they suck at the game.

You mean like you did with Lycanheiress when you guys were arguing the shows focus on Jaune. Also, when did we change the rules? I’m pretty sure we’ve kept things pretty damn consistent in all of our debates with you.

And as for YOU, Xenodweeb,

I don’t wanna hear YOU try to talk about nuances when, looking at your entire conversation on this post (https://savageoppressme.tumblr.com/post/169718979263/xenodweeb-savageoppressme-xenodweeb), you look at everything in Black and White.

“>Racism is a non-issue>Civil rights movements=extremists”

Knight, cursory glances tell us why you’re full of bull. Also, who do you think I’m going to believe, the guy who admitted to stalking and harassing people who blocked him, constantly acts as the exception to all of the rules he lays out, and almost drove someone on Deviantart to suicide, for Xenodweeb, who has, at worst, criticized RWBY.

Also, you’re one to talk about seeing things in black and white: You view the RWDE tag as an irredeemable evil that must be purged no matter what each individual blog has done and yourself as the one true fan of RWBY. What you’re asking for isn’t that we try to look past RWBY’s flaws, your asking for blind devotion to the all mighty Rooster Teeth.

Skipping a bit, because I’ve already established why the next few lines are bunk a few paragraphs back.

To you, “Nuance” does not mean “subtle differences in meaning or expression.” No, it means “my fucking view” without even taking the time to consider that maybe, just maybe, you are wrong and your blind.

How can someone be so in love with the sound of their own voice yet never hear what they’re saying? Knight, you almost drove someone to suicide because you couldn’t handle the idea that they had a different view then you did. You aren’t one to talk.

Fuck, there is a reason why I blacklisted the RWDE tag:

Wait...

!?!?!?!?!?!WHAT!?!?!?!?!?!

So you actually did that thing the RWDE tag was meant for? Why are you still here then?! Why are you still bitching about the tag you no longer need to look at!? Why are you so dedicated to proven Darwinism wrong?! There-there are no words to describe the level of stupid you are! It doesn’t matter what insult I throw at you, it will always only ever be an insult to the people I’m grouping you with and a complement to you. I feel sorry that people call you a Nazi now, at least those guys have some brains. Retards, homophobes, racist, sexists, pedophiles, none of them deserve to be compared to you. The FNDM would be disgusted if they saw you, hell, Rooster Teeth would be disgusted. It’s a good thing Monty’s dead, because if he saw you, he’d jump right back into his grave! You deplorable, inconsiderate, obnoxious, cruel, immature, cruel, judgemental piece of shit! If the human race died tomorrow, we’d all die happy, because you would have finally have been removed from the gene pool! I’ve seen super-villains more likable than you.

You know what, screw it, I don’t care what the rest of the post says. I’ve made my point, I’m done here.

#rwde #rwby #anti-kob #kkkob #kob you little shit #burnt corn on the kkkob #i'm not sorry

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xbreezymeadowsx · 4 years

Text

200 Questions

No one asked me to do it but I made @sharpiewashere do it so it’s only fair I suffer through, too.

200: My crush’s name is: Zach because husband but also... Tommy motherfuckin’ Flanagan

199: I was born in: New Hampshire

198: I am really: horny and annoyed

197: My cellphone company is: Verizon

196: My eye color is: Brown

195: My shoe size is: like 10.5W I think.

194: My ring size is: I think it’s a 9.

193: My height is: 5’ 3”

192: I am allergic to: cats and crop dust

191: My 1st car was: old ass shitty Jeep Grand Cherokee

190: My 1st job was: at a stand in a city mall where we had an inflatable slide and two bounces houses and served sno cones, smoothies, and novelty ice creams

189: Last book you read: Fangs by Sarah Andersen

188: My bed is: fuckin’ broken and uncomfortable and clearly not big enough for myself and my bedhog husband.

187: My pet: 1 old black cat.

186: My best friend: Yuki (that bitch is my best best best friend and I miss her to pieces)

185: My favorite shampoo is: Garnier Whole Blends: Honey Treasures

184: Xbox or ps3: Fuck both. Switch.

183: Piggy banks are: cute

182: In my pockets: nada at the moment

181: On my calendar: is scribbles from my kid

180: Marriage is: Don’t marry a redneck!

179: Spongebob can: stop. Give me the early Bob but that’s it.

178: My mom: loves Unicorns

177: The last three songs I bought were? Wap metal version, Room with a Zoo, Shoop

176: Last YouTube video watched: GabSmolders playing Control

175: How many cousins do you have? technically only 2 by blood and actual familial connections. 6 if you count some others. 9 if you count step-cousins.

174: Do you have any siblings? 1 big Seester!

173: Are your parents divorced? Yeah

172: Are you taller than your mom? Maybe? IDK, we’re both shorties

171: Do you play an instrument? sadly, no.

170: What did you do yesterday? Slept and worked

[ I Believe In ]

169: Love at first sight: yes

168: Luck: yes

167: Fate: yes

166: Yourself: HA, you’re funny.

165: Aliens: no

164: Heaven: these are...

163: Hell: ... kinda loaded...

162: God: ... questions

161: Horoscopes: maybe

160: Soul mates: yes

159: Ghosts: yes

158: Gay Marriage: yes

157: War: yes

156: Orbs: yes

155: Magic: yes

[ This or That ]

154: Hugs or Kisses: hugs

153: Drunk or High: unfortunately neither.

152: Phone or Online: online

151: Red heads or Black haired: black

150: Blondes or Brunettes: brunette

149: Hot or cold: cold

148: Summer or winter: winter

147: Autumn or Spring: autumn

146: Chocolate or vanilla: chocolate

145: Night or Day: night

144: Oranges or Apples: apples

143: Curly or Straight hair: straight

142: McDonalds or Burger King: McD’s outta these choices but I’d take Steak’N’Shake over either.

141: White Chocolate or Milk Chocolate: Milk and Dark.

140: Mac or PC: PC

139: Flip flops or high heals: flip flops

138: Ugly and rich OR sweet and poor: Zach can be sweet (he certainly isn’t ugly to look at) and we’re definitely on the poor side.

137: Coke or Pepsi: Pepsi (anybody remember Pepsi Twist? That was the best!)

136: Hillary or Obama: Obama

135: Buried or cremated: Buried I guess. Though, if I’m cremated, my ashes need to be spread in one place and no separating them.

134: Singing or Dancing: singing

133: Coach or Chanel: I am a redneck, these things don’t mean anything to me.

132: Kat McPhee or Taylor Hicks: who?

131: Small town or Big city: small town

130: Wal-Mart or Target: Either? I shop Wal-Mart all the time out of convenience but I do like Target

129: Ben Stiller or Adam Sandler: I am overall not a fan of either barring a select couple movies (like Heavyweights and Little Nicky)

128: Manicure or Pedicure: no thanks.

127: East Coast or West Coast: east coast

126: Your Birthday or Christmas: Christmas

125: Chocolate or Flowers: chocolate

124: Disney or Six Flags: Can I go to a Zoo instead?

123: Yankees or Red Sox: I’ll say Sox because New England but I don’t particularly care for baseball.

[ Here’s What I Think About ]

122: War: there’s a time and place

121: George Bush: he’s an idiot?

120: Gay Marriage: yay!

119: The presidential election: tearing families apart because people are stupid and vote for Trump

118: Abortion: this is a bit of a grey area for me. While I firmly believe in “my body, my choice”, I do not accept that argument if you are constantly getting them as if it is a form of birth control. Use proper contraceptives you slut.

117: MySpace: does that even exist anymore?

116: Reality TV: certain ones can assume me.

115: Parents: love them even when you don’t like them.

114: Back stabbers: pussies.

113: Ebay: never used it

112: Facebook: is reserved for pictures of kids, pets, funny videos and memes, and gifs.

111: Work: shitty... literally

110: My Neighbors: I’m just glad they aren’t the cousin-fuckers or the Methicans anymore.

109: Gas Prices: it takes like 20 bucks to fill my tiny car gas tank so whatever.

108: Designer Clothes: never fit me

107: College: didn’t go.

106: Sports: HA. My fat ass play sports? Maybe Badminton or Tetherball but that’s it.

105: My family: lives too far away.

104: The future: needs to be better than now.

[ Last time I ]

103: Hugged someone: like 20 mins ago when my kid was trying to suck up to me to get a sip of my frappe.

102: Last time you ate: two hours ago.

101: Saw someone I haven’t seen in awhile: Zane’s first day of school this year. Miss Angie came over to see him off in the morning.

100: Cried in front of someone: probably a few weeks ago.

99: Went to a movie theater: Twilight Breaking Dawn pt 2.

98: Took a vacation: three years ago.

97: Swam in a pool: probably close to 8 or more years ago.

96: Changed a diaper: 4-5 yrs ago.

95: Got my nails done: professionally? never. By Zane? last weekend.

94: Went to a wedding: three years ago.

93: Broke a bone: never. dislocated shit though.

92: Got a piercing: over a decade

91: Broke the law: probably frequently without realizing it.

90: Texted: couple mins ago.

[ MISC ]

89: Who makes you laugh the most: oh I’m a funny bitch

88: Something I will really miss when I leave home is: nothing? fuck this house. fuck this town. fuck this state. I wanna go HOME home.

87: The last movie I saw: Smokin’ Aces 2

86: The thing that I’m looking forward to the most: my nephew’s birth and the vacation we plan to take to see him!

85: The thing i’m not looking forward to: the travel for the vacation stated above.

84: People call me: a lot of things. most of them true.

83: The most difficult thing to do is: wake up

82: I have gotten a speeding ticket: nope

81: My zodiac sign is: Taurus

80: The first person i talked to today was: my husband

79: First time you had a crush: I had a massive crush on Shawn Micheals as a kid.

78: The one person who i can’t hide things from: my Seester

77: Last time someone said something you were thinking: probably someone in the Flanaclan Chapel

76: Right now I am talking to: the Flanaclan on and off

75: What are you going to do when you grow up: I’m supposed to grow up?

74: I have/will get a job: yes

73: Tomorrow: is Halloween

72: Today: I’m horny and annoyed

71: Next Summer: is a long time away

70: Next Weekend: work

69: I have these pets: already answered

68: The worst sound in the world: right now I’d have to say it’s Zane clucking his tongue.

67: The person that makes me cry the most is: myself? or more specifically my anxiety brain.

66: People that make you happy: my Flanaclan friends, my bff, my sister.

65: Last time I cried: a few weeks ago

64: My friends are: on the internet and/or mostly too far away

63: My computer is: a hunk of shit laptop

62: My School: never going ever again.

61: My Car: looks like the car emoji.

60: I lose all respect for people who: beat animals

59: The movie I cried at was: recently? Up

58: Your hair color is: brown

57: TV shows you watch: SOA, SVU, SWAT, wrestling, Wynonna Earp, Van Helsing, Supernatural

56: Favorite web site: tumblr and youtube

55: Your dream vacation: Scotland, Ireland, Wales, England, all that.

54: The worst pain I was ever in was: dislocating my knee

53: How do you like your steak cooked: med rare

52: My room is: some boring off-white

51: My favorite celebrity is: Tommy Flanagan

50: Where would you like to be: New Hampshire

49: Do you want children: I have 1 and that’s 1 too many.

48: Ever been in love: yup

47: Who’s your best friend: didn’t I already answer this?

46: More guy friends or girl friends: girls nowadays. guys around here suck.

45: One thing that makes you feel great is: reading Chibs fics, staring at Flanagan

44: One person that you wish you could see right now: Flanagan

43: Do you have a 5 year plan: hell no

42: Have you made a list of things to do before you die: no

41: Have you pre-named your children: I did not.

40: Last person I got mad at: me

39: I would like to move to: for the millionth time, New Hampshire

38: I wish I was a professional: dog sitter/walker

[ My Favorites ]

37: Candy: Sour Patch Watermelons

36: Vehicle: 90′s Ford Ranger, Jeep Renegade, Jeep Wrangler, Jeep Gladiator, Ford Shelby GT350R

35: President: certainly not the fuckin’ current one.

34: State visited: Massachusetts

33: Cellphone provider: Verizon

32: Athlete: Aleister Black, Drew McIntyre, Luchasaurus, Sonny Kiss (and fuck you if you try to tell me they aren’t athletes)

31: Actor: Tommy Flanagan

30: Actress: Millie Bobby Brown

29: Singer: Ville Valo

28: Band: HIM

27: Clothing store: don’t care.

26: Grocery store: don’t care.

25: TV show: Law & Order: SVU (as much as I’d love to say SOA, Law & Order was my first real love)

24: Movie: 10 Things I Hate About You

23: Website: tumblr, youtube

22: Animal: dogs, wolves

21: Theme park: Zoos

20: Holiday: Halloween

19: Sport to watch: professional wrestling, football, hockey

18: Sport to play: nothing that requires that much energy

17: Magazine: don’t read them much

16: Book: the House Of Night series and sequel series by P.C. Cast and Kristen Cast (I don’t care that I’m probably too old for them now, I love them)

15: Day of the week: Saturday

14: Beach: Hampton Beach, NH

13: Concert attended: 69 Eyes headlined (opening with Night Kills The Day, then Fair To Midland which were fine but also Wednesday 13!!!!!)

12: Thing to cook: fajitas

11: Food: apple fritters/apple cider donuts

10: Restaurant: Panda Express I suppose.

9: Radio station: WGFA

8: Yankee candle scent: Midsummers Night

7: Perfume: don’t wear perfume so much as body spray and it’s usually something like cucumber melon or some baked goods scent.

6: Flower: Tiger Lillies

5: Color: Green- specifically Forest/Hunter

4: Talk show host: idk I used to watch Maury all the time, does that count?

3: Comedian: George Carlin

2: Dog breed: Pittie mixes, mutts, labs, medium to big short haired breeds

1: Did you answer all these truthfully? Yes I did.

#200 questions #jeez that took a long time #do it #i dare you

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kopfkinoes · 6 years

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I’ve been a Naruto fan for like 13 years now but after the manga ended I pretty much left the fandom because I anticipated the vitriol that was going to follow after the ending. Every once in a while I stumbled upon a Naruto post that made me realize I had been right and I didn’t interact. But at the end of 2017 I came back and…nothing has changed. I honestly think this is one of the worst, most immature fandoms out there. I feel like so many of the people in the fandom are perpetual twelve year olds. And it kind of bothers me that Sasuke and Sakura, my absolute favourites since day one, are still disrespected as fuck. Now, mind you, I’m not talking about the ship, I’m talking about them as individual characters although I do ship them. I’ve multishipped for a long, long time but not anymore.

They are the first ones I shipped because I had a feeling stuff was bound to happen between them but then I discovered the wonders of the web and instantly moved to ship Naruto and Sasuke. I never once hated Sakura and Hinata though and even in the later years when “feminist” rhetoric moved into fandoms, I took the “these women are strong and powerful and I love them, they don’t need no man” thing to be good. But after the ending, and now seeing how many of the people who ship Naruto and Sasuke are downright anti-Sakura and insult and disrespect her in so many ways I realized “Wow! I had been an idiot all along. These people never gave a shit about Sakura, they were saying all of that stuff to get her out of the way.” I don’t see people talking about how Naruto and Sasuke’s bond diminishes their battle abilities, I see none of the shippers implying that their development would be flushed down the drain if they ended up in a relationship. Yet, that is apparently true for the women. Right.

Sasuke is a character with a lot of potential. But he was never able to evolve. And do you know why? Because of Naruto. Sasuke was created in order to be the opposite of Naruto and, for the most part, that is all remains to be. I’ve been staning Sasuke forever but this is the truth. He exists in order to be Naruto’s rival and in order to be pissed that he, a guy coming from a clan of prodigies, keeps falling behind the class clown and loser (who is anything but that when you think of it, Minato was anything but a weak guy and Kushina, while we don’t get a good look at her abilities, has loads of stamina and healing powers and her abilities were considered exceptional even among the Uzumaki, not to mention how easily Naruto masters everything new he tries). In the end, he is subdued by Naruto and the Will of Fire.

Even after all of this, he is still not allowed to be around his family. Why? Simply because he needs to be the opposite of Naruto. He needed to point a sword at his own daughter and it was Naruto who had to comfort and reassure her. Sasuke will never be an overly affectionate person, I don’t think he will ever realistically go back to his pre-massacre personality (he wasn’t exactly super bubbly as a child either, he was reserved around other people but very happy around his family) and frankly, he doesn’t need to. He wouldn’t ever be a husband who does grand romantic gestures or a super cuddly father but he’s loyal and devoted and these things shouldn’t be brushed away for some mission or for creating angst just to prove that Naruto is a better, more understanding person that he’ll ever be, even when it comes to Sarada. Like, for fuck’s sake, does everything Sasuke does need to happen right before Naruto waltzes in and puts him in his place by being a better person? Can Sasuke not be a person in his own right without the constant comparisons to Naruto?

What I also find interesting is how often I see Sasuke becoming completely OOC when paired with Naruto. Of course everybody says Sasuke is OOC when paired with Sakura but frankly I’ve rarely seen Sasuke presented as lovey dovey around Sakura, people usually want him to be proud of her but he stays his usual tepid self. Because that’s Sasuke’s personality, he’s not a conventionally affectionate person and there’s nothing wrong with that. That’s why it bothers me when I see Sasuke made to be a soft, sensitive, pastel boy aesthetic. He’s not that and he wouldn’t be that even if he were gay. I mean, I understand headcanons but don’t root them in the “seme and uke” dynamics, please.

Moving on, I have a particular kind of contempt for people suggesting Sasuke cheated on Sakura with Karin. It makes absolutely no sense character-wise and it just shits all over Sasuke by assuming he’s a disgusting fucker who would cheat. Are you telling me that the dude who didn’t even consider taking advantage of even a single one of the girls who were fawning over him would have a face-heel turn and cheat? Yeah, right. I don’t understand how you can call yourself a Sasuke fan and genuinely support cheating. Why would Sasuke wait to be with Sakura in order to have sex with Karin when he and Karin had so many opportunities to bang prior to this while they were travelling together as a team? Why would he have a child with Karin and just dump the child on Sakura’s head? I don’t even want to hear superiority arguments that go along the lines of “Karin is an Uzumaki so she has superior genes compared to Sakura who doesn’t come from a clan” because…arguments like these are disgusting. I don’t think it was ever even slightly implied that Sasuke (or the Uchiha for that matter) held beliefs like this. If anything, these guys didn’t like being othered and set apart from the rest of the village. I don’t think Sasuke ever implied that he believes some vaginas are not genetically pure enough for him to get into so please don’t put these shitty beliefs on him. Sasuke was described as “pure”. It’s simply the way he is. I really don’t care that you think he’s not a “True Hetero Guy” unless he cheats and/or has sex with loads of women.

I always see people saying fans who ship Sasuke and Sakura are “disgusted” by the thought of Sasuke having sex with someone else. But do you know how many people I’ve seen saying how grossed out Sasuke must be by being around pussy (specifically Sakura’s) and how he probably cries and is traumatized by the experience? I’ve yet to see people talking about how Sasuke must be super disgusted by dick.

Moving on to Sakura, pretty much 100% of the vitriol I’ve seen thrown at her comes from misogyny. People always like to say it’s not misogyny and yet it always is. It comes from Kishimoto himself and his ideas of women. He constantly described Sakura as “not cute” and “a hard woman”. And it’s true, Sakura’s not demure or submissive and doesn’t appear to be very suited for domesticity. I don’t believe that just because she is loud and outspoken she would make a dreadful wife and mother. She was very shy as a child (mostly because she was insecure) but she grew into herself. About her not being cute, I’d say that’s debatable. Kishimoto said she’s not cute in the beginning and I see a lot of haters talking about “that ugly bitch Sakura” but let me tell you this, Naruto and Rock Lee had pretty intense crushes on her and Jiraiya compared her appearance to Tsunade’s (although the man’s trash when it comes to women but you get my point). What do people base their opinions on when they say she’s ugly? On her exaggerated anger expressions? Because Sakura is not drawn as prettier or uglier than any of the other female characters. Is it based on the fact that people love to bring up time and time again, that she doesn’t have big breasts? Yeah, she doesn’t have breasts as big as Tsunade’s or Hinata’s or even Ino’s but what does that have to do with anything? Nope, this is rooted in misogyny because, just like in real life, when you don’t like a woman you insult her based on her body and appearance because you believe that’s where all the worth of a woman is. Besides, don’t you think there something wrong with focusing so much on the body type of a girl aged 12 to 17? Because I think there is.

I always feel like laughing at people who call her stupid because Sakura is a nerd. This is why she was paired with the more battle prone Naruto and Sasuke because she was too much brains and not enough brawn. I know that it was Ino, Shino and Sasuke that graduated top of the class but, according to the Databooks, none of them beat Sakura in intelligence, she is equal to Shino and higher than Ino and Sasuke. People love to say that her being able to do the written part of the Chunin Exam all by herself doesn’t prove that she’s actually smart, buddy, it does. The fact that she’s smart doesn’t make the rest of the students who cheated idiots. That was the point of the test, the questions were too difficult for 12 year old genin to answer. The fact that Sakura could, however, isn’t bullshit. You wouldn’t call an exceptionally gifted kid who can answer really advanced academic questions “not that smart really, it doesn’t prove anything”. Freaking Sasuke commented on her analytical abilities, she’s an extremely skilled med-nin, she is able to put pieces of information she’s previously learnt together in order to form a present opinion, her hobbies are trivia games and memorizing medical ninjutsu material for God’s sake.

I definitely don’t think comparing her to Hinata achieves anything. Hinata does represent the ideas Kishimoto seems to have about women. She is soft-spoken, she is never confrontational, she never wants to offend anybody. Sure, Hinata also has her insecurities and doesn’t place much value on herself (we have her father to thank for that) but even after getting out of that shell and discovering she has some iron at her core, she is still mostly soft. That’s not a bad thing at all, it’s simply who she is as a person and it doesn’t make her better or worse than Sakura. I know that Sakura fans have always been bullied online, from forums to YouTube to tumblr to any other comment section of blogs and stuff, people have always thrown shit at Sakura, saying she’s useless, a whore, an idiot. The amount of times I’ve seen people wish violent, horrible deaths on Sakura (for the sole reason that she didn’t spread her legs for Naruto being the catalyst in pretty much 100% of the cases) is immense. The amount of times I’ve seen people wishing Hinata would kill Sakura “for what she did to Naruto” is huge. So based on this, I understand why Sakura fans feel the need to get defensive. I don’t agree with putting Hinata down but I understand why some people might do it. I’ll never put down someone’s fav (especially when the fav is as unproblematic as Hinata who honestly did nothing wrong) but I definitely understand why some people will do it.

Naruto is a shonen, battle manga. We will never get 100% healthy relationships in this because the manga is not focused on romance. It is why the relationships between Sasuke and Sakura and Naruto and Hinata were not greatly developed and why there was an overemphasis on Naruto and Sasuke’s bond which is basically “we’re forever competing to see who’s better”. Kishimoto based it on his relationship with his brother but I’m pretty sure he took it up to eleven in the manga. Because Naruto is a manga for whom the target audience is boys, female characters will never be 100% appreciated. Most of the boys watching identify with the downtrodden outcast, guys such as Lee or Naruto. It’s a thing, associated with the stereotype of the Western man who watches anime, a stereotype that is proved to be correct in most cases, sadly. How many of these guys think they’re gems, that they’re precious souls to have around and girls just don’t see them for what they are? Both Naruto and Lee are very loved among male fans and they are both rejected by Sakura. (I could also say something about the stereotypes Western anime watching men place on Japanese women, namely “the pliant, submissive wife, who would do house chores all day, would never say no to sex and worship them as the much better versions of Japanese men that they are” but I’m not going there.) Never cruelly though, she remains friendly with both of them. Her bond with Naruto is very strong and they’re actually a pretty rare example of a good male and female friendship (the violence that is played for laughs doesn’t really mean much to me).

However, for the male fans that is never enough. How many times did I see stuff like “She chose Sasuke although Naruto never left the village” or “Naruto did so many things for her yet she still chose Sasuke”. Dude, there was never a competition. Sakura loves Sasuke, plain and simple. You can disagree with that if you want, you can disagree with how she expresses her love for him but there was never competition. Sakura has always loved Sasuke, what she feels for him is true love. Many people don’t believe it exists but it is what it is. I find it funny (and by funny I mean idiotic to the heavens) that people always say her development was crushed because she didn’t give up on Sasuke but Naruto’s was improved by not giving up on Sasuke. This is bias and misogyny at its finest. Sasuke is not just a crush to Sakura. People always want to say Sakura was a fangirl to Sasuke and nothing more and that she simply needed to get over her obsessive crush. She wouldn’t have said all she wanted was for him to acknowledge her if he were just a crush, she wouldn’t have suffered so badly over him. Many of the village girls had a thing for Sasuke and I doubt all of them cried over Sasuke at night after he left. Only Sakura anticipated when he was going to leave. People always say that Sakura maturing would have meant her understanding that her and Sasuke are just not meant to be a thing. The thing is, she wasn’t holding on to the idea that her and Sasuke would be “a thing”. Kakashi made it pretty clear (to Sasuke and to all fans who just can’t get it in their heads) that Sakura only wanted to help him, not to get into his pants.

People are also super quick to judge the relationship between Sasuke and Sakura as abusive. Why though? All the times they were violent towards each other (and there weren’t even that many times) they weren’t dating, they were combatants on opposite sides of battle. There is nobody in this series that Sasuke is more violent towards than Naruto and yet I never see this relationship classified as abusive, instead it is considered romantic and heartfelt that he wanted to sever his bonds with Naruto in order to make a martyr out of himself and be consumed by darkness. Like, yeah, that’s super healthy. I see the same thing being said with Karin, that Sasuke impaled her simply because he wanted to cut all of his bonds, not because he actually wanted to kill her. Which is…stupid to say the least. Like, cool story, still murder. He knew that impaling her would result in killing her but damn, was he willing to make that sacrifice. The reasons why Sasuke wanted to murder the people in his life are not important. In truth, all the murder he wanted to commit was because people were getting in the way of killing Itachi and, after killing Itachi, people were getting in the way of his goal to be completely alone in order to destroy/reform Konoha. Sasuke is not a psychopath who murders for fun but that doesn’t mean he was in a good place.

I shipped Sasuke with Karin but I never saw their bond as overly emotional or true love. I’m not saying Karin doesn’t care about him but I do think her feelings for him are more in the realm of sexual than the romantic. She does care for his well-being, she wants him to be happy, she is impressed by him and wants to be around him but it’s not romantic. Does she suffer when she thinks he’s dead? Naturally. Because she cares about him and she does love him but, again, not romantically. Karin’s sexual feelings for Sasuke are not bad, they don’t make her a whore or whatever. But it’s quite silly in my opinion to mistake them for some sort of pure, true love. They’re not that and it’s fine that they’re not. We see Sakura wanting to be alone with Sasuke but she never thinks of how she’s so excited she can barely stand it and how she wants to “ravage Sasuke like crazy”. We don’t see Sakura’s reaction, upon seeing Sasuke arrive on the battlefield to be “I want to lick Sasuke all over right now”.

People always like to remind everyone that Sakura ended her friendship with Ino over Sasuke. However, we never see Sakura and Ino be hostile to each other. Compare their rivalry to the one between Sasuke and Naruto to understand what I’m saying. They had a mild dislike going on but we see them quickly overcome it in the Chunin Exams. Sakura and Ino never really gave up on their friendship, their rivalry was mostly played for laughs, I never took it seriously because I don’t think it was presented in a way that was saying “you need to take this seriously, this is the real deal”. Mostly because it dealt with who has prettier hair and who can get the seat next to Sasuke first. Nope, not serious.

Back to Hinata, this is the reason why so many of the fanboys prefer her. Look at the opinions Shikamaru, another character the fanboys adore, has about women. He is downright misogynistic but that gets overlooked in fandom time after time because of his 200 IQ. Instead, I see people saying it is Sasuke who hates women when there is no indication of that, except, you know, people who think he’s gay and because he’s gay he MUST hate all women and consider them absolutely gross (except for the, sometimes OC, self-insert in fanfiction). Just like his father, Shikamaru has this thing that women should be sweet, soft and tender not headstrong, demanding and even harsh (women like his mother, Yoshino, Ino, Temari, Tayuya). He hates receiving help from women, he is frustrated when he has to fight women. He sums up his views of women himself by saying “C'mon. You know what they’re like. You can never figure them out. You never know where you could stand with them. The smallest things could put you in their bad side. Always playing little mind games with you. Trying to make you do what they want. They’re just a big pain basically.”

For the most part, many fans linked Sakura to Kushina because of her fiery personality. Minato kinda sealed this comparison when saying Sakura reminded him of Kushina. So a lot of people, while calling Sakura an ugly bitch and a whore who needs to be raped and die, still wanted her for Naruto and believed she will ultimately change her mind and go for Naruto. Personally, I don’t care about that because so many characters in Naruto are carbon copies of people who came before them, enough similarities are enough. This idea that a guy should marry a woman just like his mother is weird for many reasons to me. It’s only men that have unhealthy relationships with their mothers that want a woman exactly like their mothers. Then the ending came so Hinata, being the embodiment of what a woman “should be” became more appropriate for Naruto in the eyes of so many fans. The fact that she fits these patterns doesn’t take away or add to Hinata’s character in any way. It just is. However, fanboys will use it in a sexist way. I definitely don’t agree with the criticism for Hinata that it’s wrong her motivation for becoming strong is Naruto. The motivation of pretty much all characters in becoming stronger is in order to protect others and there's nothing wrong with wanting to improve yourself because you feel that would put you on more equal grounds with the one you love. This manga places great value on the power of unity and community and people who seek power for power’s sake, for revenge or for evil don’t do well. They are either defeated or they change their minds. Great emphasis is placed on the “you only become strong when you have someone you need to protect” mentality. And women are allowed to make connections in this life, they don’t have to live “lone wolf” lives in order to be “truly strong”. Loneliness is an enemy in and of itself in Naruto.

Kishimoto’s views on women are not necessarily progressive but they’re not exactly bad in my opinion. It all has to do with how fanboys twist his ideas and make them bad. Because I don’t think he ever blamed Sakura for not hooking up with Naruto. I know there are people who believe that he’s holding onto the belief that people (and women especially) must forever be with their first love. I think it just so happens that Naruto and Sasuke were Hinata’s and Sakura’s first loves but, more important, they are their true loves. Ino moved on and I see people saying she shouldn’t have. Damned if you do, damned if you don’t I guess. To sum up, I’ve yet to see dislike for Sakura that’s not misogynistic. I’m not even talking about people who think she’s weak. She is the only one who’s not from a clan and yet she managed to surpass Tsunade, a Sannin. She was impaled by Madara and shook it off immediately, she saved Naruto’s, Kankuro’s, Hinata’s and Karin’s lives, she saved Sasuke from an infinte desert, she saved Obito from a sea of acid, she punched an alien all-powerful goddess in the face.

People saying shipping Sakura and Hinata with the guys they’re canonically in love with proves their fans are selfish because they just want them to look cute next to Sasuke and Naruto amuse me. That if you really cared about them you’d ship them with guys who “actually” care about them like Lee or Kiba or whatever. Dude, people love who they love. And a woman has no obligation to be with a man who was friendly and nice to her, not even a man who has a crush on her if she’s not attracted to him or doesn’t love him.

#my post #not even going to tag this because not only am i not trying to start a fight i don't want any #these are simply my thoughts #i never thought i'd be this involved in this fandom in my 20s #mind you i don't think either of these relationships are abusive #like i said this is a battle manga with battle situations #combatants fight it's the way it is #but if you're gonna consider one abusive based on standards you made up #might as well not be a hypocrite and consider all ships abusive #even the ones you like #honestly all the pseudo arguments i've read are baseless #just admit you don't like certain ships and move on #no need to give justification #because you're tying yourself in knots and just soundind like a jerk

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vorpal-chandelier · 7 years

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How to DM for Tabletops

Now If anyone is actually reading this, you’re probably already into Dungeons and Dragons or another type of tabletop game, or at least into fantasy shenanigans since that’s all my blog posts have been so far. Maybe you already run a game and maybe you’re already good at it and that’s just fine. Maybe you also do things differently, and that’s alright too, but it’s always good to share new ideas and even old ideas for those that aren’t quite sure how to make it happen, so I’d like to share what I know.

So the first thing that you need to know is that it’s ok to make mistakes and fuck up as you go along, especially as you’re learning. Sometimes players can get pretty critical about things and we can definitely be more critical on ourselves, but don’t let that stop you if you really have fun doing it. Ultimately, the game is about having fun and as long as you guys are having fun there’s really no reason to stop over silly screw ups. Some amazing examples of stupid dungeon mastering, you can check past posts I have about character’s I’ve played and their adventures. The Vinyr Alkafyn character I wrote about is actually my very first character and my first experience playing D&D, as well as my friends’ first experiences DMing, and there’s a ton of great examples in their story.

That being said, the best way to go about learning in my opinion is to join a group as a player. When you’re a first time player with a group that has already played the game, you can watch and experience the rules first hand which allows you to pick up on a lot of the mechanics of the game and learn a lot about the role playing aspects. Then I would recommend reading the books themselves. If you don’t really know anyone who plays the game and aren’t comfortable, or have trouble finding groups online to play with, then instead I’d say start with the books and go from there. The games are typically very easy to play anyway, most of the “learning curve” as a DM comes from learning what your players enjoy doing, and what kind of challenges are appropriate for your group. Luckily, I haven’t seen a tabletop game that doesn’t have the “challenge rating” of most encounters or monster included in the books, so it’s easy to pick up on what is supposed to be balanced.

Well what if my party is larger or smaller than the party size in the books? Alternatively, what if our party is made up of classes and races that weigh mostly on one end of the balance? Well the answer is simple. You kind of just make your best guess at what the challenge should be, and learn from the mistakes you will undoubtedly make. When I started hosting my own group regularly, I had this problem because I had a group of about 7 or 8 players, which is about twice the number recommended for the challenge ratings in the book. In addition to that, I allowed them to play whatever they wanted since most of us were pretty familiar with the game already as a player. There’s many times where I tried to use an enemy of a higher CR or too many enemies of a lower CR to try to balance the situation, and in the beginning it was almost always strongly weighted on one team or the other and the encounter didn’t really have a “challenge” to it. It was either too hard or much too easy. Eventually I got a feel for the encounters and for the most part my players are pretty satisfied with how they go.

That being said, try to remember that encounters aren’t all there is to the game. In fact, if you aren’t using an adventure path, the best way to go about becoming a dungeon master is to start building a world or setting for your adventures to take place in. Now if you don’t like to build your own material, there are usually plenty of pre-made adventure paths and setting books that you can buy to get your game going, and those are great recourses, but if you’re like me I find that one of the more fun aspects of being a dungeon master is creating your own world setting and story for your friends to adventure in.

I like to start by getting the old imagination going. Think to yourself “what does my world look like? Why does it look like that? What are the important races and kingdoms of the world? Do they get along or don’t they? Basically just try to think about how the real world works politically as well as how your favorite books and movies do things and choose what you like about them. Don’t focus too much on being “realistic” as most of us don’t know everything there is to know about this or that. For instance, I’m terrible at understanding how geography works in terms of world forming and landmasses. Every time I make a map, such as the one I’m working on now, I show it to my friends to review and one or two of my pals will always have a question about why things are where they are, because they don’t make sense in a real world.

I recall one time when my group had a mission that required they sail a warship down this grand canyon-like river to get it to the ocean, and one of the players got hung up on the current and the rocks and how the ship in real life probably wouldn’t have been able to even sail down that river. Don’t let stuff like this discourage you, it’s perfectly ok to simply say “magic shenanigans” or “this is how this works in my world”. Sometimes player’s aren’t satisfied with those kinds of answers if they are the type of person to get hung up on what’s realistic and what isn’t, but that’s perfectly ok as long as everyone still has fun in the end. If you don’t know how something works, you simply can’t incorporate it realistically without doing research and if you don’t find that sort of research or learning fun, it’s ok to use magic as an excuse. After all, this is a fictional fantasy setting the majority of the time and if real rules worked dragons and liches would not be a thing.

That being said, you do want to make sure that regardless of your rulings, that you are as consistent as you can be. Many dungeon masters, myself included, either do or in the past have had a habit of being far too story oriented. What I mean by this is that it’s good to have a story, but your game should be about the players and making them heroes, or villains, or whatever they’re setting out to be. I used to get upset because I’d put so much effort into planning out what I thought was this great and deep story line, only for the players to say “fuck it, I want to spend the entire session making trouble in town and dealing with the consequences!” I used to handle it poorly and kind of just chase them into the story or have them wait to react until the villain is done with his speech instead of allowing them to try to throw a knife at him id sentence. Or even say “too bad you can’t do that” or “just because” when trying to justify my reasons for not allowing them to attack an enemy who was supposed to be appearing briefly for theatrics.

Now that sort of railroading, or even true railroading where your characters get specific missions and go specific places is fine as long as that is what you’re group enjoys, but the biggest thing as a DM is making sure you are open to giving the players what they enjoy as well. That’s not to say you have to sacrifice that super awesome story and dialogue you thought up, it’s just so say to be considerate and compromise. What I started doing is taking the dungeons and the story parts and finding more appropriate organic ways to work them in instead of writing them only to work in specific locations or not allowing players to avoid going where they don’t want to go or doing what they don’t want to do.

That all being said, DMing isn’t really very hard to learn at all. Hopefully my experiences and advice, as well as my way of doing this was helpful for any of you looking to learn the game. To review, learning to be a DM is really as simple as; learning the rules, creating a world or using pre-made adventures, learning to balance the game for your players, and learning the player’s styles as well as their preferences.

A little more advice

Should I let my players be evil?

Well, as long as they play with each other nicely there’s no problem with evil characters. The main concern people have about evil PCs is that people tend to stab each other in the back or decide to kill another player over an argument rather than settle it peacefully. If your group doesn’t have that problem then great, but if you aren’t sure or if you do have players that don’t handle being evil very well, just lay down a few ground rules or expectations. Maybe if someone wants to be evil everyone else has to be evil and make their goals line up so they are less likely to back stab each other, or maybe just let the player know that the setting is designed with neutral and good NPC’s in majority, and that if his evil character doesn’t behave himself he might end up with some serious in game consequences. These are two good examples, but really you can implement anything that works.

What if one of my players’ character dies?

Ultimately as a DM your challenges and enemies and even sometimes the NPC’s should behave somewhat realistically, or at least realistically to the setting, and players will always be at risk of death. As long as you aren’t out to get the player, if a death happens it happens. Players should have this expectation, and they should have an idea of what kind of actions might lead to lethal results. For instance, if a rogue character gets into an argument with a shop keep, or gets caught stealing and resists arrest, the guards would likely try to apprehend him. If a fight breaks out, you as a DM can make it less dangerous by giving the guards a nonlethal weapon to fight with, but if the rogue starts stabbing them then it might be more realistic for them to draw their long-swords. If the other players don’t back this character up and it’s four guards to one player, and the player refuses to submit, then yeah that player might die if lady luck isn’t on her side. Alternatively, if you have a level one party walk into a room filled with like 10 or 15 bugbears, and the cave caves in behind them, if they die it’s probably your fault. The idea is to be as fair as you can be and make sure that you are consistent with the expectation of what is and isn’t potentially dangerous. In addition to that, some things just can’t be helped. If the group is a fairly high level and they fight an enemy with a death effect, and the player just happens to fail their saving throw then yeah it would kill them. There is a reason resurrection spells exist in the games, and more often than not the higher level players will be able to heal up a dead party member. Sometimes stuff just happens, and your players probably know it isn’t your fault as long as it really isn’t your fault.

You may be able to see a re-occurring theme in my advice. Essentially no matter what the problem is, if you are trying to be fair, consistent, and setting the proper expectations, then you shouldn’t really run into many problems in your games. I hope this was helpful!

#DM #dungeons and dragons #dungeon master #dungeon #tabletop #game

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surveys-at-your-service · 7 years

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Survey #56

“no doubt about it, i got a bad, bad girlfriend.”

who was the last male you hung out with? we didn't really "hang out," but i was around bradley, colleen's husband. the last male i really did "hang out" with was my friend girt months ago. who is your favorite person to text? colleen when’s the last time you talked to the person you like? the last time i talked and he responded, via battle.net because we were both online. i asked him how school was going and such, despite in his responses it being obvious he didn't want to talk. last time i "talked" to him without his input in the conversation was when i wrote him a ten-page letter i've yet to mail him. who did you last take a picture with? colleen, chelsea, and mom. do you and your best friend ever fight? yes. we're in a fight now, actually. we're both very opinionated people and also very different, so. is there someone who can make you laugh no matter what? fucking jason. i would be crying and he could still make me laugh. has anyone ever mistaken you for being gay/lesbian/bi? yes. more than once. lmao at the store the other day, colleen ran into her preacher, and i was with her. it was kinda obvious he thought we were a couple. explain why you last threw up? had a baaaad stomach bug. ever kissed your best friend's significant other? definitely not! do you like the person you are becoming? no. more than anything, my happiness should NOT be so dependent on a man who doesn't even care about me. do you have anything embarrassing/sexual in your room? i do not. know anyone who has a pet gecko? my former best friend summer and my acquaintance caleb. do you like eating soup in the winter? i don't like soup period. do you like getting jewelry or do you not wear any? sure! when you were in high school did you ever have bomb threats? once because a kid my sister knew was stupid as fuck. did/do you get school cancellations because of snow? dude, we got cancellations if there was a chance of an inch of snow. who knows ALL of your secrets? jason is the only one, actually. i've literally told him everything. what does your typical outfit look like? yoga/sweatpants, graphic tee. did you have a job before you were in college? no, actually. do you think hunting is wrong? if so, why? for purely sport, kinda. just killing for fun doesn't seem right in the slightest? if you're in a survival situation or if you actually do eat what you kill, sure, hunt. have you ever thought about what it would be like to have a baby right now? not in-depth, no. it'd be... very hard. well first off, it'd be impossible for me to get pregnant, but let's just say i somehow did. i'm pretty sure i wouldn't be a "bad" mom, but an insufficient one. i'm pretty severely mentally ill and very unstable right now, and a child's malleable mind doesn't need to be exposed to that, especially when it's his/her mother. i also do not want to bring a child into this world when (s)he wouldn't have a father figure. fathers are just as important as mothers, imo, and a baby should be raised with both parents. the last thing a child needs is just a sick mother. despite the obvious issues though, holy hell would i do everything for that baby. do you have a sensitive gag reflex? VERY. i can't even put those things in my mouth at the dentist for when you get x-rays without a massive struggle. i usually have the get the kid ones. what was the last situation to upset you? colleen said something very ignorant. have you ever had an online argument? waaaaay more than one. i've been around the internet since what, 2007? i've had plenty. do any of your friends know you fill out surveys? online friends, sure, real life friends, not on tumblr, no. i occasionally/very rarely post a survey in facebook notes, so my friends obviously know, but they haven't seen even a microscopic quarter of the surveys i've done. i'm not entirely... against the idea, but like, i'd only ever maybe admit to colleen i have a survey blog. how do you typically style your hair? does it take long? no, because it's too thick for me personally to style. i would kill to have the emo/scene/whatever you call it hair, but my hair just doesn't work with me. when were you last offered something illegal? never, i think. what are you most confident about? most insecure about? uhhh. i mean, i guess my knowledge about meerkats is what i'm most confident about? most insecure about, my stomach. when are you most likely to say something you don’t mean? if you bring up jason. where’s the best place to get your favorite dish? my favorite dish ever is spicy shrimp fritas, which i get from olive garden. can you play guitar hero? yeah. i used to play almost everything on expert and sometimes get 100%, but now i play mostly on hard and a select few on expert. if you could move somewhere else, would you? yeah, closer to the mountains on the western side of the state. how many months until your birthday? less than one! do you want your tongue pierced? yes, i want the snake eyes tongue piercing. who was the last person to disappoint you? colleen are you emotionally strong? i honestly do not know? like i tell myself i wouldn't be alive otherwise, but simultaneously, i feel that if i was strong, so many things wouldn't bother me. you think ‘I love you’ are strong words? they were enough to ruin my life, so. on grand theft auto, do you just kill people or actually do the missions? i've never played it before, but i think i'd do the missions, since i play games to beat them. have you ever been to australia? no, but i'd kinda like to to meet my friend shay. i'm just scared of all the venomous shit they have, especially the spiders. do you watch adult swim? no. half the shit on there was immaculately immature the last time i saw it, anyway. do you have a favorite pair of underwear? i only have one pair because i never wear underwear unless there's an occasion i need to, and they're pink and black and lacy. what is your dad’s occupation? he's been a mailman for years and actually likes it. have you ever seen a baby snake? no, actually. i mean on television and stuff, sure, but not in real life. do you own any band tees? plenty. big part of my wardrobe. do you think they really landed on the moon, or it was fake? i've seen like all the evidence that it may have been faked, and i believe it's a possibility it was, but in general, i believe that we truly did land on the moon, despite some of the oddities. do you feel embarrassed to listen to music you love out loud around other people? no no no no no!! that's like, probably the only think about me i'm proud of revealing!! does your shower have a glass screen or a curtain? curtain when is the last time you sat around a campfire? years ago in new york. do you have a back-up career choice? what is it? not really, honestly... i mean my dream job is to be a meerkat biologist, but i'm not moving to africa, so that just won't happen. the only thing i want to do is be a photographer. are men more attractive with longer or shorter hair? i mean, it really depends on the man, but in general, i like longer hair. is there a name that you hear and cringe? rachel. what was the last computer game you played? world of warcraft, before my computer decided "hey let's keep restarting." i was about to get the long-forgotten hippogryph too, and i'm still salty about it. what would you say is your guiltiest pleasure? world of warcraft, again, and idk why. like there's nothing to be ashamed of, yet i am. like even when i get my computer fixed, i'm contemplating just not getting back into it to avoid the feeling of embarrassment. do you let your pets on your furniture? yes, because they live here??? can you usually tell when someone has feelings for you? with my history of thinking aaron liked me and believing jason would ask me out, i guess. what is your favorite thing to cook for someone else? the only thing i can really cook are some yummy scrambled eggs, with hot sauce. have you ever bought underwear simply because it made your underwear drawer look nice? no? how do you feel about kettle cooked chips? GROSS would you ever consider visiting texas? if my former best friend mini would talk to me again, sure. i'd love to visit her. who was the last person to turn you on? jason was good at that. what are your views on the death penalty? it is only for the coldest, hardest criminals where there is no doubt they committed the crime. some people just don't change and do deserve to die, imo. is the music you listen to 'weird’? i'm sure some people consider it such. have you ever played an instrument? i played flute all through middle and high schools are fingerless gloves awesome? sure, i have some from high school. do you fit any stereotypes? possibly. after all, the definition of certain stereotypes vary very slightly from person-to-person. i guess i fit both geek and emo in some ways. does your best friend have a driver’s license? yeah. what size drink do you usually get at fast food restaurants? medium. do you have underwear from victoria’s secret? i do not. do you want a relationship? i mean, yeah, i guess. i'm dangerously lonely and after dating jason, i know how good relationships feel. but i don't want to rush anything. are you uncomfortable staring into someone’s eyes who you like? no. i could stare into jason's forever. who was the first person you talked to today? via the internet, ummm i think it was shaylee. in real life, nicole, my little sister. honestly! do you think you’re better than anyone else? not at all. god told us we're equal, that's why. do you have any fish as pets? no. i'd really like a big saltwater tank, though. when was the last time you slept in your parents' bedroom? well, my parents have been divorced for years now, and mom doesn't currently have a room, she sleeps on the couch and i sleep in her old room, so i really don't know. do you like channing tatum? i think he's physically attractive, but that's it. do you have a common first name? very. who/what is one person/thing that had the biggest impact on your life? jason. what is the most pointless movie that you have ever seen? did you like it? "the purge," because the whole basis of the story was just... stupid? like, WHY to begin with would it ever be legally allowed to purge? the whole idea was just stupid. the movie itself was okay in general though. who is the most important person in your life right now? i'm trying to make it me. have you ever had a crush on someone of the same gender as you? nope. who did you last talk to about the person you love? mom, i think. who was the last person you sat next to on a bus? i haven't been on a bus since high school. but i always sat with jason. do you carry photos in your wallet? i'm pretty sure i have a picture on nicole somewhere in there. the last time you had sex, was it in their bed or yours? i've never had sex, but the last time i did something sexual, it was probably his bed. is there someone that you believe you will always be attached to? i don't "think" it, i know it. has anyone ever drunk called/texted you? nope. name two of your favorite colors. maroon, pink. do you want to get married? i do. are you afraid of roller coasters? yes, i am. what colors would you like to have at your wedding? i've actually considered many combinations. think i'll wait for my spouse's opinion 'til i really decide. tell me the truth, what made you start liking the person you like right now? he was so, so unique. strange. different. maddeningly bizarre. and, he cared. he approached me while i was pushing everyone away, and i just couldn't shove him, too. he wanted to know aaaall about me, and he seemed to like everything he heard... he backed me into a corner where i couldn't escape him, yet i wasn't afraid. now i'm damned for it. what was the last reason you cried? i missed jason. last person to tell you i love you? my mama what do you think your ex would say about you? "she's my psycho ex." think of your last kiss….was it cute? i don't remember my last kiss, because i didn't think it'd be the last. i was so blissfully ignorant. i was suspicious that something was wrong with jason, but... i never thought he'd leave. i mean don't get me wrong, every kiss we had was precious, but it was at the same time just another kiss. have you ever played golf? i've played putt-putt, but not golf. what was the last tv show you watched an episode of? probably something at colleen's, idk. do you like beer? if so, what's your favorite brand? never tried it, but i know it stinks to high heaven. how often do you update your facebook status? i never update my status unless something quite big happens. i only ever share funny pictures/posts or stuff i heavily relate to/agree with. do you feel bad when you throw food out? it's not something i think about all the time, but i do, because i know some people have much less than i. when was the last time you waxed anything on your body, if ever? months ago when i had my eyebrows done. i want to go more regularly, it's just a money thing. what is your favorite video game? "silent hill 2" would you ever consider getting plastic surgery? what would you have done? i don't think so. do you like shrimp? eh, usually. have you ever been in a car accident? i have. who is your favorite superhero? batman. what is your favorite fruit flavored soda [grape, strawberry, orange, etc]? strawberry have you ever slept in the same bed with the last person you kissed? pleeeenty of times. would you ever be a stripper? hell no. your ex is walking next to you, with their new partner, what do you do? fucking kill her. do you have a hard time letting go? i probably have a harder time letting go than anybody on the planet. is the last person you kissed a virgin? nope. he's had sex with rachel, and i'm sure he's fucked ashley by now. can't wait 'til he breaks her heart, too. have you ever cried uncontrollably on a boy’s shoulder before? more than once. how many times have you changed a diaper in your life? literally only once what do you think makes you a good girlfriend or boyfriend? i'm passionate and loyal as fuck. did you ever go to a mental hospital? four or five times, the numbers are honestly starting to blur. does your mom/dad smoke? dad does. how old are you? i'll be 21 in a few weeks. did an old person ever hit on you? yes, and it was fucking terrifying. do you believe that weed should be legalized? no, honestly. do you like apple jacks? yes! Are you afraid of the dark? nah. would you say your taste in music is in a very broad spectrum? no, honestly. i'm very limited in the type of music i enjoy. are you a moaner, a screamer, or totally silent? ... i'm going to pretend the fact this is on a survey doesn't bother me and just answer it. i tend to moan and gasp a lot. i've wanted to scream before, but haven't. what’s your middle name? marie have you ever written or received a suicide note? no, but more than once have i almost written one. ever kissed anyone with a nipple piercing? no. have you ever kissed someone who had a boyfriend/girlfriend? no, and i wouldn't unless it was jason and he was the one trying to kiss me. ever made out in a pool? no, but we might as well have that one time. do you have a pool? no, we had to sell ours for the money. are you an emotional person? too emotional anybody ever tell you that “you could do so much better” about a person? literally everyone tells me that?? how many full biological siblings do you have? full-blooded? just two. what is something you currently need to buy?  new tank tops for bed, badly. the last person you kissed asks you to marry him/her. how do you react? HA. no. apologize to me, number one, and fucking prove to me you won't leave again. do you wear hair extensions?  no, because i don't need them. how old were you when you started puberty? i have no memory of when i started. if you could have any magical power, what would you have? shape-shifting, i think. do you believe in love at first site? absolutely not. let’s say your dad came in your room one day and told you that you had to get married in the next week but you can pick the person but you have to stay with them for the rest of your life no getting out of it, who would you pick? "no getting out of it" my ass, i'd get out of it. he can disown my ass, whatever, i don't care. i take marriage way more seriously than that. if you could be the lead role in any movie, what would it be? honestly, i'd want to play a person driven crazy by events in her life. because same fam. when eating something are you more concerned with taste or nutrition? taste, honestly. what gender do you identify with? female, because i have a vagina. yes, i'm conservative about this matter. fight me m8. are you more of a science or math person? science, easily. what are your opinions on abortion? i'm viciously pro-life. if you identify as a girl, would you ever consider getting a pixie cut? no. please do not misunderstand this: i have no problem with bigger people, but generally, i find pixie cuts to look bad on bigger women like me. are you a metalhead? hell to the fuck yeah. do you even listen to metal? it's like... all i listen to. do you know anybody who is a wiccan or pagan? i'm pretty sure i know two or three wiccans do you watch supernatural? i don't anymore, 'cuz it's a ptsd trigger. it was the first show jason and i binge-watched together. stopped at the sixth season, i think. it's a really good show and i love it, i just tried to watch it one day, and i can't without him. what’s your favorite character in your favorite tv show? i'd say my overall favorite show is "fullmetal alchemist," so hmmm... shit man, i'm having a difficult time remembering all the characters. i feel like i really liked one of the seven deadly sins, i think it was greed? no... maybe envy? envy! the one i misgendered, lmao. i really like them. are you diabetic? i am not, but it runs in the family, so... where is the majority of your family from? mom's side, new york, dad's side, michigan. last person you slept in the same bed with? chelsea hate someone, who? i try so hard not to, but i'm pretty sure the feelings i have towards jason's current girlfriend is hatred. when was your first kiss? hmmmm. maybe like, may-ish four years ago? do you carry a purse? yeah. would you ever name a kid damien? it's a decent name, but no. bats are not spooky or are they? no no no, they're so precious!! especially flying foxes!! do you like listening to new music, or just sticking to your favorites? both. depends on the mood. are you one of those people who can eat anything and not gain a pound? fuck no. i'm the person who looks at cake and gains 10 pounds. do you like hot dogs? i do, i just don't think of how they're made. do you watch american horror story? again, i used to, but don't anymore due to it being a ptsd trigger. we watched the first season and most of the second together. do you have sensitive teeth? no would you date someone you had a 16 year age gap with? NO what is your sexuality? heterosexual, some asexual traits do you think suits are sexy? kill me yes fucking christ do you think earrings are attractive or unattractive on guys? ehhhh, i'm kinda neutral with guys and earrings. would you ever have a threesome with your friend and their bf/gf? fuck no. so sorry to offend, but you don't fucking love your significant other if you're comfortable fucking someone else with them. i'd lecture the heavens out of my friend if they suggested that. have you ever kissed just a friend? on the cheek, yes. what was the last graduation you attended? my little sister's have you ever pole danced before? nope. have you ever broken into someone’s house? wtf, no. would you ever kiss your best friend’s boyfriend/girlfriend? no, because i have respect for their relationship and i don't "like" her husband like that. have you ever seen a live bat? hmmm, i may have at the zoo, but otherwise, i'm not sure!

#survey #quiz #questions #asks #answered

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hanzi83 · 4 years

Text

Part of my Script for the Podcast

Here is a fun game you can play since most people who love to read or listen to my stuff, read along the script to see how much I ad libbed and how much I read. Trolls wanted to act like school children so I am going to treat you like school children and we are going to play cornball games like this.

Podcast topics script

It feels weird doing this podcast, and even though I have felt motivated doing this podcast for almost a week now, it just feels like people who have surrounded themselves by me online and have felt they have been a part of my life, whether it is them just forcing themselves into my psyche, where I am going to always think about them after making every move, because they know that I know whatever I say or do, they will be on top of it, and because I barely relevant in the grand scheme of things to the masses, I assume they think that I am going to always want them around because they are the only ones even talking about me, whether it is underselling anything I do that is positive, or memorize anything I have said out of irrational anger or just trying to joke around, they now have me in a bind where I am always going to have to address and engage the fucked up shit going on, especially spreading disinformation and making up rumors. Since I have started this podcast it feels like they will now attack a lot more aggressively because I am restraining from letting them have this much direct contact with me.

It turns out the last episode was not even properly uploaded on Spotify or other podcast distributing sites, and I don’t even know how to fucking address it, was that done on purpose to show there is some censorship going on because people with power who might be close or far away are even shitting on any attempt for me to gain traction, and now they have found a way for me to have to be forced to get people’s help, or in my mentally ill brain, it will make me wonder if I am being fucked over by people claiming to be trustworthy, or someone powerful so the topic will always focus on the notorious trolls who have made a name the last year being really aggressive about the trolling and making sure I am living in fear, or does it direct the conversation back to Stern, because maybe in my head I am concocting this scenario where Howard will not let me get bigger, and will disencourage me from wanting to continue because they know it was a struggle just to start this basic podcasting shit, and now I am going to have to go learn how to fucking problem solve this distribution shit. It is fine, it is something else for you people to laugh at me about because even when I try to be creative and a little more productive, it becomes clear whether it is people in my life, my supposed fans or the powers that be don’t want me ever being on my own because they need me to be interactive with people who just want to remind me of every fucking insane thing I may have said or try to create rifts between me and others.

I don’t even think people who I have become friendly with seem happy that I have decided to do something for myself, which is the criticism I receive the most from people, so when I do something on my own, still not sure if I am doing this right, or whether I will remain compelling to carry this out, or just not being tech savvy enough, I have gotten a few “I am proud of you” but for the most part I think people are scared of me being unfiltered even though I have stated that most of the shit on this podcast are from my delusional thoughts, and they are my theories. It becomes difficult because I listen to so many podcasts that wrap up and analyze politics, hip hop, wrestling etc, where I have now taken that for granted because I have become reliant on people spotting the interesting observations and analyzing it so my shit is just a reaction to that. Can I talk about the Childish Gambino album? I can barely articulate how to explain the different styles and instruments being used, all i can analyze are lyrics, and even now I am taking in so much hip hop to catch up on weekly releases, I don't even get to go revisit it again. Only joke I had for the Gambino album was that if I list off my favorite tracks from the album, people will think I am attempting to give away my router number in a drunken stupor. It feels like I have to come up with angles etc and if it has not become obvious I am reading this and I am sure writing it will come out better in my head than me attempting to reading it, and insisting on keeping up the fuck up because showing my mistakes seems to be the only interesting things about my stupid podcast

I know this take has been done to death on twitter or whatever echochamber, but I feel like I was a pioneer with all this social distancing shit. I have been exiled from everyone for so long and have spent countless nights sitting in my room in the dark, smoking a cigarette while the windows are open, just being depressed about not having anyone and then when I am around people, I don’t want to be around them because I find it more fascinating talking to myself and feeling my own thoughts and maybe that has to do with the fact that when I was younger I did not want to be alone with my thoughts. Like I did not want to even think about shit in fiction. Seeing Terminator 2 as a kid, being used to watching pretty PG kind of stuff, the part where the sun explodes and the entire earth is burning, I remember being freaked out and asking my friend if that could happen someday and he would say calmly “Yeah if there was a nuclear war” and it just made me not want to think about it and I would always want to be distracted because I was scared of having to think what is possible. I feel like people are now kind of going a little bit nutty by not being able to interact or go outside, and as someone who barely left his house since 2009 I assure you, you will survive this.

I wanted to talk about the coronavirus shit but here is the deal, and this is probably why so many people who go the route of the lowbrow type of humor might gravitate to me, because realistically that is where my level of intellect should be because I have been so dumbed down for so long, I would wait for people who were smarter to kind of lead me, and agree with it even though I don’t know how to explain why the earth is actually round, but the evidence that scientists will tell you I will just pretend to understand and use their explanations and I feel a lot of people do that, even though the thing they are going with might be a fact but I bet if you got those people in a room alone to ask them off the record, a lot of people would be in admission that they have no clue, so I have no clue what the fuck is legit about this coronavirus, it used to be so simple just to have a few things that you sense as bullshit, but now with conspiracy theories also becoming a marketing tool, it has made me question that as well. Was it started in China? Was it planned from the US? Did Bill Gates do it since more interviews about him talking about the pandemic are making the rounds, are these celebrities really quarantined? Are they hiding in their bunker? Have they fled the planet and let their illuminati clones suffer? God damn man, tell me something. Some say this is to start a war with China, but if I think the Chinese government is corrupt and dangerous, then I am buying into neocon propaganda, but then if I think there are racial implications with taking advantage to this shit, then I am a hater of the US empire, because it is apparently okay to like US imperialism. There is so much to keep up with, and there are too many narratives. Maybe I need an illuminati microchip that can make me take all of this in and analyze properly because it feels like mentally I am 15 years behind or some shit. I just analyze the world like I think we are all in some reality show and the people who are the upper echelon and their associates of lower status are hooked up with some advanced shit.

I feel like it is a serious thing happening, while some people are being Thanos snapped, but it is also a test run and all I am doing is being Doctor Strange and analyzing all the scenarios that are fucking possible of what could be happening. Will this be the one of the system’s sacrifices of mass people before a more deadly one is created. Is this a way to bring in more leftist policies and make an argument for socialism because if there were ever an event that is taking place that has given the best argument for it, it would be what is being so transparent with how businesses are acting, and how pretentious some of these celebrities are acting. They are supposed to be the villains now, so when you see a bunch of people circle jerking and singing the song Imagine, then you have Norm McDonald come out and give this overly religious message because being anti neoliberal, while making it seem you are anti left, makes right wing people think you are some hip dude because you are not politically correct

That is why I analyze shit the way i do, and I like being unfiltered while I am fucking wrong most of the time with my opinion, even though people have told me I am fucking right in some sideways like way but never bother to elaborate. I really think that this is all planned out, and there are good factions and bad factions. I believe people are having their last run as a baby face before they are revealed to be heels, when in actuality they are just playing heels. We are supposed to be calling it out, but it also seems that people that do call it out, do it with this far right perspective and maybe that is part of their propaganda to tell some truth, or maybe they are pretending to be truth tellers while still running a hustle. I have to think that we are far advanced, and maybe the people dying are being cloned for another planet, maybe the celebrities have escaped the system and are using their clones to fucking die on earth. I don’t fucking know anymore. It just all feels planned. I am not saying idol worship, which is a mistake we all have made, maybe some of you were smarter than most of us before, but it takes some of us some time. I still think they have really tried to hard over the course of the last decade to make it seem like people in the upper echelon are like regular people, and sure with emotions and depression and stress etc but I do think it is harder for them on some level because they are in a world with hidden people and have to embrace some dark ritualistic type of shit, and they make it seem relatable. Is this a way to crash the economy and is it for the sake of good or bad, because I think this whole Trump thing has been a way for people to be more woke and actually have a revolution, even if the whole thing is scripted, and the tragic thing is people will die. That is why in my fucked up brain I hope these people are spiritually somewhere else, maybe their consciousness will be transferred, or maybe there is another world after you die, and no I am not religious, but I believe we are far more advanced than we think. Am I right? Probably not.

It is not all pretentious because I have enjoyed the hip hop element of storylines taking place during this pandemic, with the producers having their battles on Instagram live or Boosie asking women to put their pussy lips on live so he could then give her 1000 dollars. By the way because I think everyone becomes a character and a meme for social media, I am going to predict where this boosie storyline is going to go. He made some anti trans remarks, according to the T’s because he gave his opinion on Dwayne Wade’s daughter, and even though I think there is a sensationalized thinking of the worst case scenarios with this stuff, I do think there are people in the celebrity world who have agendas when they do it. Anyways I think with Boosie asking these women to strip for him, there is going to be a time where some chick is going to be shaking her ass and then she will somehow then reveal she has a dick, and then Boosie will react and he will become a bigger meme, and then to come full circle, it will be revealed to be a plot by the black fraternities he was beefing with a couple of months back.

As far as the wrestling stuff goes, now here is where we go with layers. Let me preface this by saying whatever is happening with these institutions, I believe it is all planned for them. Since WWE is on the downswing, I don’t know if this will be a case of WWE doing well with what the hand they have seemingly been dealt, and people can toot their own horn that anything good that happens is when it somehow happens to be an accident, or maybe this is one situation where they are going to fall a part because they insisted on going on with this show when a pandemic is happening, so will wrestlers end up having it so we have more sacrifices and then people will really be outraged about WWE and mixing in the accumulated bad press they have received for other things. Maybe the bad press will be that instead of informing their fans of the safety of the wrestlers, they decided to pull the wool over our eyes and lie about Reigns being pulled so we assume the match is not happening. People will then think using a pandemic to pull the wool over our eyes was done in such bad faith. I don’t know what the angle they will decide to go with, but I know that there will unfortunately always be something that will be revealed about Reigns, because he is supposed to be a real villain, and lately he has been seen as a good company man and not talking down to fans. I feel like we are in the conspiracy era, and by the way it feels like America, which I have pointed out is like the attitude era just a little before Trump was becoming a political figure, and now in the world we are in the era of WCW shutting things down for couple of weeks and they rebooted it to start over with Russo and Bischoff.

So I will be happy to talk more about wrestling but if you haven’t noticed and you can tell when I am reading, that I will probably mess up 15 times because even though this sounded good in my head writing it, it will not sound as clear because I tend to adlib a lot. But this podcast is a fucking failure and no one wants my vision of podcasts because it is not good enough until I give into how they want me to do it because it is not simple enough for them to move on to a next podcast but because they have entitlement issues over me, they think it has to be catered to people who have verbally jumped me everytime I log on, and then if they give me criticism I am supposed to just take their judgement as is and not add any context why i don’t react well to people telling me what I should do. If you are a real supporter of mine, you will understand the journey I am taking, and if you actually have respect for my mental health you will stop pressuring me to have guests and take calls when most of it is just trolling and not even anything creative. Why do you need to be a part of everything I do? Stop trying to bully me into doing it your way. I don’t care if people listen or not, I just want to express myself in a more healthier fashion than having to be reeled into drama on periscope and it is becoming so fucking sickening having to guess who is setting me up, are people confiding in me, knowing my shit is tapped, am I being put through morality tests. Sorry if me expressing my mental health is too fucking boring for you. Maybe some of you shouldn’t be part of my life. I will probably end up failing with this anyways. I fail at everything. I will probably fail at failing, because that’s how much of a god damn failure I am.

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