#cipher is somewhere in there but who knows how she picked that up

[studentofetherium]

it's been about a month so here's new thoughts on the state of weekly shounen jump

i wanna try doing one of these at the start of every month :) oh and since it's the start of the year i'm including the average ranking from last year because i think that's neat (golf rules, a smaller number is better)

Akane-banashi (avg: 3.2)

Akane-banashi continues to be really good. i'm a big fan of the ongoing training arc. i know quite little about rakugo but i'm incredibly invested in seeing her continue to grow and learn about the medium, especially as she's pushed to her limits. Akane-banashi has consistently been among my top three for well over a month and if it continues at this pace it's definitely going to stay there

Ayakashi Triangle (avg: 4)

there were only two Ayakashi Triangle chapters released in December, and one of them was prior to my previous write-up, so i don't have much new to say about it. the most recent half-chapter was good, but the last arc was quite not, especially considering how long it was stretched with breaks. i hope this isn't a sign of Yabuki's health taking a turn for the worse. but all that said, the anime will be starting soon, and i'm looking forward to that

Blue Box (avg: 3.5)

the pattern for Blue Box is that it often has a series of great chapters all at once, followed by a few weeks of more laid back and atmospheric chapters. i think this format really works for the series, but on a week by week basis, it does cause some problems. all that said, the series is always quite good and i'm invested in the slow burn of this relationship

Cipher Academy (avg: 2.5)

Cipher Academy is beginning to disappoint me. the first several chapters were a great introduction to the series, but December saw the series begin to grow stagnant. i'm still enjoying it, but it feels directionless, with more focus being put on the ciphers being solved than any sort of story. it's an unfortunate direction for the series to go and i'm hoping it picks up soon

Elusive Samurai (avg: 5.6)

Elusive Samurai certainly is. the series isn't wowing me and it usually sits somewhere around the lower middle of my rankings. definitely not bad by any stretch, but the series often has peaks followed by long stretches of being just okay, and it's certainly been just okay recently

Fabricant 100 (avg: 9.25)

Fabricant 100 is something i didn't have a lot to say about last time, with only one chapter having been released. now, a month later, i can confidently say the series is fine. i'm enjoying it plenty and i'm looking forward to where it's going, but it's also far from my favorite series in the magazine. its average is a little deceptive since it has the least number of chapters to build an average from. if it gets the chance to keep going, it may win me over even more, but that remains to be seen

Ginka & Glüna (avg: 1.4)

Ginka & Glüna is the best thing in Jump right now and it's not even close. i love everything the series is doing, from the art to the characters to the story to the action to the designs and everything else. nothing in December changed this. it's wonderful. read it

Ichigoki's Under Control (avg: 11.8)

Ichigoki's Under Control is the worst thing in Jump. it broke Mashle's three month streak as my least favorite manga in Jump. i await cancellation

The Ichinose Family's Deadly Sins (avg: 5.5)

as Ichinose has moved past its introduction, it's not really setting up a status quo. the cast continue to learn more about who they used to be, but only briefly. the world is still cruel to them at all points. i don't see the direction it's heading in, but it's continuing to be some definition of entertaining, at least

Mashle (avg: 10.2)

Mashle, surprisingly, is no longer the worst thing in jump. the protagonist finally returned and there were breaks, however brief, from the constant stream of meaningless action. the series still isn't good, but slightly better than worst is better than nothing

PPPPPP (avg: 6.2)

PPPPPP's art continues to be great and the story continues to be ??. i'm not really sure what the series is doing anymore but i'm happily reading more every week because it continues to look gorgeous

Tokyo Demon Bride Story (avg: 4.9)

i love this series. it has a great batch of characters. it can be a little inconsistent on a week to week basis, but it's never worse than "okay". December didn't change much for this series, except that i'm growing confident that it'll survive its third volume and keep going after that point

Witch Watch (avg: 6.5)

Witch Watch can be really good or really bad and lately it's been really really bad. i'm losing faith that the series will get better. the series is all but removed from its initial romcom premise which is unfortunate. i don't hate the series as it exists now (its average is pretty good, all things considered) but i don't think 2023 will be a good year for the series

#mangaposting

[robbyrobinson]

The Hardest Thing (Review)

My god.

There was so much to love about "The Hardest Thing," I don't know what to start with.

So, picking up immediately after "All In," the Core, a sore loser extraordinaire, rockets itself to the moon to kickstart it into crashing into Amphibia. Andrias explains that the moon was where his ancestors would perform their baby projects one in particular being that, should the opportunity arises, they would use the moon to destroy all life in Amphibia not even caring they will die as well. And they berated Andrias' breakdown in "A Froggy Little Christmas?" At least he didn't go "Oh, well, I lost: so I'm gonna pulverize them all with the moon!" Absolutely genius thinking by the Core...

Mother Olm informs Anne and the girls that, should they activate the powers of the Calamity Box, there could be a chance that they could never return to Earth. Despite that, they all resolve to stop the Core from wrecking the world.

After speculating about what Sasha and Marcy looked like in their Calamity forms, they were truly awesome with how they were using their powers to create things like tennis rackets. But, of course, Sasha and Marcy were not used to their powers like Anne was, so they end up losing steam fast.

But easily one of my favorite parts of the finale happened. Andrias, watching all this play out, is contacted by his father once more. His father begs him to save him and the others assuring that he could "join them" as being immortal rulers. I have said it before and I will again: up to this point, King Andrias is a good Disney Villain. In fact, I believe that he is one of the best well-written villains in a Disney Channel animated series (maybe second to Bill Cipher; somewhere before Lord Dominator). He was motivated to "atone" for his mistakes when the music box was stolen, but he was a victim of the long cycle of multiversal conquerors abusing the Calamity Box and being gaslit and emotionally abused by the Core. But, of course, this does not mean that he should be taken as too sympathetic at the cost of glossing over his worse actions.

Here he continues with baby steps, but he almost made my heart stop: he summons his frogbots and they all go into space (how can Anne and her friends, and then Sprig breathe in space)...but, in a surprising twist, he has them to help the girls push the moon. Then comes the cherry on the top of the sundae:

Core/Aldrich: You fool! You could have been immortal! What are you doing!?

Andrias: Something I should have done a long time ago...standing up to you!

And then he crushes the crown with his bare hand. Just perfect.

But because Sasha and Marcy were powering down, Anne needed to have them give her their Calamity Gems. Mother Olm originally informed her that there was a way to use the full capacity of the gems to defeat the Core...but it is at the cost of the user.

The two girls saying their goodbyes are bad enough on their own, especially in Marcy's case because of how she rashly whisked her friends to the world of Amphibia with little consideration to their safety, but Sprig's attempt to stop Anne...almost broke me. Well that scene and then the one towards the end. I loved how the scene represented the two friends being in two separate worlds. Sprig telling Anne to not go because of how much she changed his life for the better was heartrending.

Anne asks the gems to help her save the world she loved and she fires a frickin' laser beam into the moon. The music in this scene was so epic and awe-inspiring. I could feel the sheer force that Anne was using to concentrate that into a beam.

The Core's defeat is interesting. It is sweet, sweet cathartic irony. The Core tries to paint itself as being the ultimate lifeform, a god even. After all, it does house the minds of other Amphibia rulers who have cheated death through capturing specimens and experimenting on them and were worshiped by the kings who would then be assimilated into their ranks.

But instead, they were just megalomaniacal control freaks who were terrified by death uncaring that they were becoming some inhuman abomination that was a freak of nature. After all those thousands of years ruling Amphibia through puppet kings and causing untold misery and despair, the once mighty Core was now nothing more than a cowardly mortal being who is panicking once they realize that their time has come and they can do nothing about it. Their most loyal follower, Andrias, renounced them because of their consistent mistreatment of him. They evicted themselves from their metallic husk which could have allowed them to avoid being in fatalistic situations. Marcy did not join their ranks, nor was she their vessel anymore.

Their death is imminent and the only thing they can do now is stare, stare in utter disbelief as their plans literally blow up in their face. How could they, the great TRUE ruler of Amphibia, be bested by a human girl with Amphibia's greatest treasures? I would wish to know what their final thoughts/words were, but I'd like to imagine their final words are a scornful "BOOOOOOOOOOOOONNNNNNNNNNNNNNNCHHHHUY!!!!!"

It is just satisfying seeing all their eyes explode.

Kind of weird...but Anne does actually die and it is a disturbing thought. Sure, no blood or gore are seen, but she is reduced to pale leaves that disappear into the ether. Then we get the Calamity Gems creator, an eldritch being that takes the form of Anne's pet cat Domino because their true form would make Anne's head explode.

So, okay: Anne does die and in some ways, she did not because a copy of herself was made and her memories and personality went into that. Good thing that she'd probably forget that moment...or should. The creator explains that they wanted to test mortals by creating the Calamity Gems and see what they would do with them...which went as well as you'd imagine. Having seen that Anne sacrificed herself for Amphibia, they wanted her to become their successor, but was willing to ask Anne again in 78 years. Wow, that is totally not a creepy thought.

But the goodbye scene, my god. We all knew this was coming but I was not ready for it. Marcy's farewells to Olivia and Yunan are heartfelt with her lamenting that she wished she learned more about them. And, where the waterworks were flowing, she bids a goodbye to Andrias. That's right: even after all the terrible things he had done, she forgives him enough to say farewell when she had every right to hate him. All Andrias can give her is a pained "take care, kiddo." I really wished that, should things have played differently, they could have been legitimate friends.

Sasha's goodbye to Grime was sad but also funny with how they try to hold it together. But Anne's...heartbreaking.

She first says goodbye to Polly, and then Hop-Pop. Hop-Pop's response is heartbreaking with him saying that if she ever wanted a warm meal or her old room back, he was always welcome having since coming to accept her as a granddaughter. But Sprig...good god.

I lost it. Just seeing Sprig scrunch up his favorite hat out of sadness and heartbreak made me cry hard. He knew that there would come a time he would have to say goodbye to his best friend, but there was no way that he would be mentally prepared to do something like that. Of course, they had to have their final words to each other being "Spranne against the world."

With the three human girls gone, the Calamity Box finally disintegrates. Ten years pass and we see a few things around Wartwood from Toadie becoming the mayor to Yunan and Olivia becoming a couple (called it). Even Bessie somehow having a snail-bird hybrid with Joe Sparrow. Hm. Well, I was honestly not expecting that; I thought Joe dancing for Bessie was just a one-time thing.

We see that Hop-Pop settled down with Sylvia and had fulfilled his avocado dream. Polly is a fully-grown frog (but she will always be a tadpole in my eyes) with Sprig and Ivy about to adventure to an unknown continent not touched by frog, newt, or toad.

Andrias had abdicated the throne and became a farmer under imprisonment. I was surprised that Andrias did not die at the end, but I am honestly happy that he was kept alive. After all the suffering he was put through by his father and the Core, seeing him carry Barrel's war hammer as a walking stick finally free from all the pain is just satisfying. If Barrel and Leif could see him now, they would be proud of him.

But of course, the biggest thing is the ritual ceremony depicting a statue of Anne to commemorate her as the hero who saved their world. God thinking about it makes me tear up again.

As for the three girls: Marcy eventually moved and began a webcomic. Sasha now worked with kids and Anne worked as a herpetologist at an aquarium. She even made a little model of the Plantar house in the exhibit and named a frog Sprig after a dear, dear friend of hers.

While I can spend time theorizing on how the girls could return to Amphibia or go traveling universes if Terri worked on the portal machine, I do like that the show does convey how those you love will always be with you even when you cannot see them or be with them at that moment.

It is sappy, but it is true: they will live on in your heart as memories and how you base your decisions or live your life by using what you had learned during your time with them to become a better person. Without Anne going to Amphibia, she would have never been able to find out who she wanted to be had she continued to be coerced into doing things that went against her best interests. She went from not liking frogs to cherishing those special times.

Perhaps she'll cross paths with Sprig and the others again, but for now, both sides are continuing to live their lives.

Just a perfect finale. Thank you Matt Braly for your work on this show. I will never forget this experience.

#review #reviews and thoughts #hardest thing #the hardest thing #amphibia #disney channel #reviews #series finale

[delicatetaleprincess]

"God damn that fancy looking bastard how could he just up and left me like that? I swear I hope that glorified sardine gets his ass"

A female voice echo in the darkness of your mind as a your senses start to come back slowly making you feel being drag through dirt before being laid against something

Soon your eyes flutter slowly, the dim light of a cloudy sky forcong you to cover your eyes and gran

"Oh you are finally awake! It was about time my guy!" the woman says with a slight scowl tho she seem more stress than angry

"Come on stand up!"

She pulls you up, your legs weaklu Keeping you from falling again

You look at her but before you can así anything she picks up a bucket with drink and rans off

You stood in place for a moment and take in your surrondings, this place...it wasnt the bridge and that lady was unkwon to you

Were you trap in the limbo? Or have you fail and are stuck inside your head in a coma?

It really didn't matter no more you guess

While exploring the wrek of ships this place was you found echos of past life

An abandon altar who adored a girl to then demigrate her with harsh words sculpt for ever in the rock boulders of this place

This place had died the same day that their people faith did.

"Hello?" you call out as you enter a house that was in shambles

But no one answers

A chill wind hits you making shiver

Inside there wasnt any belogings but a clock that catches your attention

You took the odd clock in your hands, the time had frozen and you couldnt read the time

"If only I ever had the chance to learn to hour..." you think to yourself

When suddenly the atmosphere changes making you sweat in cold

Something is coming and its coming for you, you can feel it deep within you

You want to move and run somwhere else

But your body and a part of your mind betrays you, your mind tells you not to move, It is safer this way

It is better this way...

Your scream gets muffle when a hand comes from behind covering your mouth, the clock falling to the ground

But you can hardly hear It with how hard your heart is beating in your ears

"Be quiet, its ok..." a femenine voice murmurs in your hear "follow me and be careful"

She took the lead and with tip toes she brought you both down a basement and put you inside a locker

"Wait!" you murmur in a panic evoiding her from closing the doors

"Look I know you are scared, you must be new, but just please you have do as i say and keep quiet!" she murmurs in hurry "I promise you are going to be safe, I won't abandon you, I won't let anything bad happen to you, I promise!"

She reasure you and before closing the doors before hiding away somewhere in the basement

After that your heart syaty beating like never before, making you breath with difficulty

The feeling was so similar

You cover your mouth when you hear the sound of wet food steps upstairs, afraid your desesparate breathing might blow the cover of both of you

The steps are light, like whoever was upstairs had the smallest feet in the world

Suddenly the steps stop for a moment before coming downstairs

Your visión got red for a moment and you took a deep breath while closing your eyes trying to relax your body the best you could accepting what was about to come

The familiar feeling of dreed

But just as soon as the threatening presente came It left allowing you to gasp for air

The place stood in a peaceful silence before the steps of your companion broke It

"Its ok you can come out now, she is gone" you hear your her say

As you come out you look upstairs

The stairs were drench with water, you reach out to touch It but other hand stops you

"Don't do that or she might come back" she says letting go of your hand slowly

As she said that the water started to disolve until there was none left

"You must be new, come with me ill teach you what you need to know"

She took you out the house to the shore where near by was a machine

"This is a cipher machine, we need to work on them as fast as posible to be able to leave this place" she started to work on the machine "come on give It a try

You touch the machine and to your surprise you knew what you were doing, It was like If you did It your whole life

"Great, just becareful this things are old and every once in a while a calibration will pop off and you will have to calibrate It back in place or else you could get electrocute you"

"What?!" You quickly get your hands away

"But don't worry" she giggles "its not that bad once you get use to It, what you must worry its that It will alart the hunter of your localization"

"Excuse me emm...whats your name?" you ask awkwardly

"Oh my name is Martha, Behamfil Martha, its a pleasure to mee you rookie!" she said offering her hand

I shake It

Her hand is strong and full of confidence

"Its a pleasure my name is Lucky...tho I feel it is wrong...but Miss Martha what is a hunter exactly?"

"A hunter is-"

The explication is cut short by a bloody scream that makes her fail a calibration

"Ugh damn It!" she curses

"Miss Martha!" Lucky jolts worried "are you ok?"

"Yes don't worry, like I said it's not that bad once you get use to It, but we have bigger concerns Lucky, finish this machine I have to go help others"

She says but you hold her arm

"Wait Miss Martha It could be dangerous" you said fears written all over your face

"I know Lucky but we can let our companions, they need us, you dont have to worry the machine is almost done just pop the cipher when you hear someone scream" she says with a confident smile before runing off

Just when the cipher was ready a bloody scream made you pop the cipher but It was usless after you see a chair fly away while someone screams making your skin crawl

You tried to run to the open door but a harpoon brushes your nose bearly missing right after your body is tackle to the ground as you feel as If you had fallen in the ocean

You look at your attacker

And see...

A woman a very beautiful woman

"What a beuty" you mumble outloud

The woman seems surprise and giggles at your prise before charging against you

She tackle you once again

But this time all the obsorve by your body force fully

You feel how It churls and turns inside your and for a moment you feel as If u havent drink water for days

To then feel a scorch feeling in your throat and puke put tons water

You cought violently trying to recover

This feeling

It was like drowning like If you just drown and risen back to life

The lady calls her harpoon back and the feeling of drowning comes back again

You feels as If your longs were filling with water slowly the feeling is so familiar, you don't even think in fighting it

You look at her once more but the same feeling comes again this time letting you in the floor

Too weak to move

You hear her come close and you weakly crawl away to a wooden area

Just as soon as she takes a hold of you she drops making your adrenalina quick in

"Lucky run!!" Martha screams

You do as she says, you run to the door with her beside you

The siren like woman hisses before charging again to you two

"Run Lucky! Run don't look behind you I got her!" Martha said

And so you do and soon cross the open door follow by the sound of a gun

But you keep runing and dont stop

#idv #identity v #Identityv #lucky guy #Martha Behamfil

[iviarellereads]

Harrow the Ninth, Chapter 4

(Curious what I'm doing here? Read this post! For detail on The Locked Tomb coverage and the index, read this one!)

(Third House icon) In which we finally learn about the letters in the prologue.

You still prided yourself on three things: firstly, bloody-minded composure; secondly, an inhuman intellect for necromancy; thirdly, being very difficult to kill. You were so immune to murder that you had not even been able to inflict the act upon yourself.

Harrow wakes during "the first attempt on [her] life",(1) and her mind shakes her out of her rut. A pillow is being held over her face. She reinforces her hyoid with cartilage, then tears off and expands her thumbnail into "jagged, splintering fléchettes",(2) swinging them into her assailant. The weight on the pillow lightens, but then Harrow wakes, the pillow behind her head and dry, her nail whole and even, the sword undisturbed, and no indication on the wall of any nail arrows.

What is evident in the room is that Ianthe Tridentarius is waiting for Harrow to wake, clothed in a robe of pale rainbow iridescent material that makes Ianthe's complexion blotchy, though she picked up a replacement arm somewhere.

Ianthe is staring at Harrow almost hungrily, uncharacteristic of the woman, and gives a flowery greeting. Harrow realizes she can't sense Ianthe's presence, the way she can sense the living humans.

Ianthe offers a message to Harrow, before she does anything they'll both regret. She withdraws a piece of flimsy from her robe, with Harrow's name written on it, in Harrow's handwriting, with instructions in smaller lettering also in her handwriting:

To be given to Harrowhark immediately upon coherence.

Harrow looks at the letter, and then back at Ianthe, whose eyes have changed: one is now washed-out purple, the other blue and brown splotches.(3)

Ianthe expresses that she wishes Harrow had explained what she meant by "coherence", but either way, she wasn't going anywhere near while Harrow's only settings were "power-vomit and murder." Harrow asks how she got the letter, and Ianthe says soothingly that Harrow gave it to her, to be given back to Harrow now.

Harrow takes it, worried that her hands are shaking and giving something away. She opens it, and is relieved to find it written in "Ninth House crypt-script", a cipher Harrow developed at age seven that would be "unbreakable to anyone who lacked [her] rosary, Marshal Crux, and a hundred or so years to spare."

Ianthe, politely, walks to the nearest window to give Harrow a moment to read the letter, which more or less comes down to the following, paraphrased:

Letter 2 of 24, to be read immediately. I wrote this 48 hours after you became a Lyctor. My resurrection as a personality must be avoided at all costs, and you must never know what was done to you between when I write this and when you read it. You rules for existence stand thusly:

Stay alive at any cost. No suicide, no carelessness. "The work relies upon your continuance."

You can never return to the Ninth House. Do not return there, or let yourself be taken there by force.

Keep the sword with you at all times. Wipe it down with your blood nightly, and coat it with regrowing ash. Do not cut flesh or bone with it.

You are compromised. Make up for it by studying. Start with flesh and spirit magic, because "you know piss-all", and you will not "build your house on such shiftless & ureal(4) sand."

"You owe Ianthe Tridentarius the favour of the chain". The agreement extends into the House, but NOT into the Tomb.(5) The agreement takes priority over any oath sworn to any lesser than the Holy Corpse, including the Emperor. Ianthe will expect you to reswear upon receipt of this letter, do not disappoint her. Be on guard of Ianthe finding a way to use her knowledge in this affair to destroy you.

Read the other letters only if their requirements are met. Ianthe will give you 22 more letters, keep them with you and be ready to read any of them as requirements are met.

To myself: a brief break in guidelines follows, before the last. You will think at this point that I have given you a terrible hand to play the game with. I am not unsympathetic. Nonetheless, understand that I envy you more than I have ever envied anyone, and that I look upon your birth as a blessing. Look upon be as a Harrowhark who was handed the first genuine choice of our lives; the only choice ever given where we had free will to say, No, and free will to say, Yes. Accept that in this instance I have chosen to say, No.(6)

Examine Ianthe's jaw and tongue after reading this. If you suspect they have been replaced, kill her and do not reswear the oath.

Sorry, sucks to be you, but it sucks to be me more, Your Past Self."

Harrow asks Ianthe to come back. Ianthe, still smiling a "secret, conspiratorial smile, like a spider tucked inside a shoe", returns and sits back in the chair next to the bed. Harrow removes the sheet-robe, cups Ianthe's face in her hands, and kisses her square on the mouth, as an excuse to execute command 6 and examine her tongue and jaw. When she's done, she withdraws, and reswears the oath. Ianthe says that's better than having her lips sewn shut, and for a bone magic house, the Ninth sure owns some absurdly large needles. Harrow is surprised Ianthe agreed to be a "Sewn Tongue".

Ianthe tosses Harrow a robe like her own, the same mother-of-pearl fabric, with a hood and deep sleeves. She also gives her a stack of the remaining letters. Harrow scans the requirements of them.

Some were plain and stark. To open in the event of the Emperor's death. To open in the event of Ianthe's death. To open if the Ninth House is in mortal danger. Some of them are opaque to the point of madness. To open if your eyes change. If met, to give to Camilla Hect. You wondered, mystified, if you had ever known the last name of Camilla the Sixth, a woman you could not recall interacting with at any point.(7)

Ianthe says she'll keep the other two, and she finds it amusing that there's one she gets to open if Harrow dies. Harrow finds another envelope labeled "To open if you meet Coronabeth Tridentarius." Ianthe notices, and says Harrow wrote the letter in front of her, and she can tell her what it says: she is now pledged to Coronabeth the same as she is to Ianthe, and pledged to never harm so much as a hair on Corona's head. Harrow says Corona is likely dead, but Ianthe laughs and says Corona is too stupid to die, and Ianthe would know if she did anyway.

Harrow comments about how Ianthe's eyes are changing colour, like her cav is still fighting her. Ianthe stabs herself in the hand, and demonstrates how it heals instantly. Then she stabs Harrow in the hand, and it doesn't. Harrow sees the Body against the wall, hands clasped as if in prayer. Harrow has to actively engage thanergy reserves to fix the horrifying hole in her hand. Ianthe says not to fuck with her, and leaves.

Harrow takes comfort in the Body's cool presence in the corner, but when she moves some crates piled haphazardly, she sees hundreds of fragments of thickened nails, and holes in the panelling of the wall where some of them once sat.(8) The Body brings her to bed, lays her down with the sword and her letters, and Harrow falls asleep.

=====

(1) FIRST? That certainly implies that there will be more. (2) Fléchette - French for "little arrow" or "dart". (3) Ianthe still hasn't quite settled in with Babs for the long haul either. (4) Ureal - having to do with urea, or crystallized urea protein. (5) Now just what does that mean, I wonder? (Well, do I wonder, or am I just pretending we won't get an answer?) (6) No to what, exactly? (7) So some of Harrow's memories have been altered, huh? Hm, that begins to pull some strange things together, doesn't it? (8) This is what she saw in the nightmare about the assassination attempt, she flung her nails at the assailant. What does this say about the Body and reality? Who covered the wall with the crates?

#the locked tomb #tlt #harrow the ninth #htn #harrow the ninth spoilers #htn spoilers #harrowhark nonagesimus #ianthe tridentarius #The Body (htn)

[luxettenebra]

It’s the middle of the night, and I feel like writing

#Ryn rambles #I got a bout of inspiration and now I want to tell people about my Watcher from Pillars of Eternity #I love...I love them very much... #honestly dropping them in Star Wars wouldn't be that bad #if you think about the Force as the collective 'soul' of the galaxy #than as a cipher she'd be able to pick up Force abilities pretty quickly #you can't multiclass into more than two classes but ---- #the Watcher is a hybrid of ranger druid and cipher #ranger from her time in The White That Wends as a child #druid from wandering the Deadfire #cipher is somewhere in there but who knows how she picked that up #their companion is either a polecat or a marten because I said so #(also her friend Kenna who takes it upon herself to be the face of the party) #(Kenna's a fire godlike ranger with a wolf companion) #I have...I have a question for Obsidian: #if fire godlike have you know FIRE in place of hair #how do they sleep? #can they control the temperature of their fire? #side question: does their fire react to show emotion like getting slightly bigger and brighter if they're happy and low when sad #I have questions about orlan too #but I think I should save that for another post

[slashingdisneypasta]

Hello. What about a villain SO who adores animals for Captain Hook, Hades, Dr. Facilier, Bill Cipher, Beetlejuice, and Jafar? Thank you hun😊🍯

Hope you like these ^^

~~~

Beetlejuice:

·         I wouldn’t put it past him to make one or two beastiality jokes…

·         But apart from that, he doesn’t half mind animals either! (And he finds it endearing to see you playing with them, not that he cares to identify at all the warm, soothing feeling in his chest when he sees you boop your nose against a tortoise’s.) He’d love a dog, or… a tiger. A dinosaur would be ideal.

·         But actually, its animals that tend to have a problem with him.

·         Cuz of course animals are a lot more sensitive than humans tend to be to ghosts, and demons, and souls. And his soul is pretty damn mucky. BJ has met exactly zero animal’s so far (Since his death) that haven’t taken an immediate dislike of him. They hiss at him, or growl, or try to wriggle away even if they aren’t being held by him; Just nearby to him.

·         He scares them because they can feel his evil and want nothing to do with it.

·         So your dreams of adopting a dog with your new ghostie bf will need to be put on a back burner. Maybe he can lasso a sandworm and y’all can name her Rose and she can be your pet? He absolutely does not want you to be sad because of him!!

Bill Cipher:

·         “ooOOH, what kind? Anglerfish? Clown fish? Sharks? Lobsters? Giant Squid? Wolffish? The Textile Cone Snail’s native to the Red Sea, Indian Ocean and Oceania waters? Octopus? Lock Ness Monster? Mermaids? Shrimp? Koi? M E G A L A D O N S? OH OH- THE KRAKEN?”

·         “Wow, that was a lotta underwater stuff. I mean, yeah, they’re all great but also land animals and birds… And I don’t think all those are actually real?”

·         “Heheh, that’s what you think… “His body loses its colour and becomes like a Bill Shaped screen, like he does sometimes when he’s brainstorming, and you just catch a picture of somewhere under the ocean and a beautiful, purple tale flapping out of the picture and a flash of soft, human skin just above it. Your eyes blow wide open. “Y/N, remember 80 percent of the ocean is unexplored.”

·         SO, yeah. Bill’s really into underwater creatures. It is the most mysterious part of earth and in it lives some of the world’s freakiest creatures.

·         He’ll install a whole aquarium in your house out of excitement, and inside? Nothing but angler fish, giant squids to watch you while you sleep and beautifully coloured sea snails climbing up the glass walls.

·         Land animals though and birds? Very little interest. Birds get points only for being close to dinosaurs (You ask about reptiles in that case and his eye inverts in its colouring. His ‘skin’ goes red. “Those jerks know what they did.”), but still he’d much rather talk about star fish! Get ready to be more educated about the ocean’s weirdest creatures and mysterious happenings then you ever wanted to be.

Captain Hook:

·         He has very confused feelings about this- especially when you act so chummy with Tik Tok who, naturally, loves you and your T-Bone steak snacks.

·         On one hand, if you’re feeding Tik Tok then Tik Tok probably won’t feel the need or be able, to eat him.

·         But on the other- bEtrAyER! How could you feed and love that monster, that has plagued his life for years and made his existence a living hell?

·         But then again, the fact that Tik Tok is now often too full to bother with him rears its head again and he calms down.

·         Because of this, its typical that he says nothing when you have animals around (Any animal. They all remind him of Tik Tok. Scales, fur, or feather). He’ll want to. Gosh, the need to speak will overflow in his throat and he’ll take a deep breath- … but then no words come out. He forces it down. Because he can’t mention his dislike without mentioning his relief also, so speaking at all would really just make you confused and feel bad and leave him frustrated because he doesn’t know how either of you could change to make this better for anyone, so its just not worth it.  

·         So then he just walks away.

·         Its pretty humorous to see, actually. Because he’s just all grumpy and slouching off, maybe shaking his head and muttering, and you’re all wide eyed and confused. Holding, like, a budgie or a snake or something.

·         The other pirates are keeping a tally.

·         Bonus point: He’s not scared (Or allergic) of any other animals apart from Tik Tok, so you don’t have to worry about him being skittish or anything.

Dr Facilier:

·         Frogs are a difficult subject for him so enjoy amphibian cuties somewhere that he is not, please. Also rabbits- there was an incident before you came along that he does not speak of.

·         Other then that, Facilier is basically a normal person about animals. He can appreciate a nice zoo visit every now and then and pet the odd dog or cat but with you in his life he never wants to go to a zoo again. And he’s bored as hell by everyday pets.

·         But he won’t tell you he’s sick of all the animals. Nay, nay. Its one of those things where you love the person, so you put up with the crazy/annoying shit they love. Like ‘Yes, yes. Very interesting, cher… ‘ when you talk about it, while he’s actually reading the newspaper and he hasn’t heard anything you said. After all, you stay quiet when he’s plotting or cackling over something he did to a victim that day. Its only fair.

·         He is fascinated, though, when he’s just watching you (Sometimes he just sits back and observes you doing your thing. Its relaxing for him) and he notices little quirks you’ve picked up from various creatures. Like the way you curl up when you’re lying down on the couch and how you shrink back from things that happened to surprise you, similar to a big cat. Your eyes are focused like a wild animal, too. Very cute.

·         Lots of animal-themed nicknames.

Hades:

·         “You know, some tell me I’m a kinda animal, babe… “He wiggles his eyebrows at you over his mug of whatever-he-drinks (You fear asking, after watching him eat a bowl of worms), offering his best (And funniest) bedroom eyes to you.

·         “Yes, but are you as cute as this snake Hades?? Are you?? Look into these eyes and tell me this snek is not as cute as you are.” You lift the little grass snake gently from the table and onto your arm, letting him wrap its body around you and lift his head to look around; Checking out what’s up. He was getting his scales stroked good; Why has it stopped?  

·         “Pfft,” Hades rolls his eyes, returning to the chess board in front of him (He likes to play both sides and challenge himself).

·         Okay so, Hades can take or leave most animals. But it’s so cute that you love them, so he lets you keep them around. Whatever animals you like (Don’t worry, you also have the proper equipment and enclosures for them, and Hades makes another God, who is an expert on all things animals, come by whenever you have a question), and however many you like. I mean, what’s the good of being a God if you can’t spoil yourself and your preciously excited, human significant other?

·         So you have, like, Reptiles at the west end of his underworld castle, nocturnal animals on the east, more pet-type animals like dogs and cats and rabbits in the living area part of the castle, etc.

·         The animals give Pain and Panic a hugely hard time, which Hades thinks is a great bonus to doing this for you.

·         He really loves it when you call him and yourself the animal’s parents. Yes, call me Daddy, babes. Its fine by me!

Jafar:

·         Oh my god, the disdain in his voice when he looks from you, practically bouncing on the heels of your feet and to the fluffy white kitty you’ve gently shoved in his hands- which he holds at nearly a full arm’s length away from him. “Eugh. Really?”

·         “What’s wrong! ? Isn’t she the cutest?”

·         “She’ll get fur everywhere.”

·         “Oh, that’s rich… “You say, side eye-ing Iago, who’s making a face at the cat from Jafar’s other shoulder. “Iago stress moults- and you stress him out all the time!”

·         A dramatic, offended gasp erupts from one of the two males (Not gonna tell you who). “It is aesthetically pleasing mess!”

·         So basically if the animal doesn’t speak a language he understands, he doesn’t care for it. You’re going to be fighting him on this for the rest of your life, Y/N. (Or his. I mean, I heard evil double crossing sorcerer vizier’s are dying at an accelerated rate these days. Hm, mysterious.).

[fijiangecko]

The Gr8King

Camboy!Oikawa Tooru x Fem!Reader

+9k words

MDI, Explicit, Smut, Mutual Pining, Friends to Lovers

Read it on AO3 here

Finding an apartment for college was one of the hardest things you’d ever done. Searching endlessly through ads, you ciphered through countless creeps and dingy houses that were not up to code. Up until the second to last week of summer break, you had no where to stay, but a friend of yours from high school said that he knew a guy looking for a roommate within your price range. 

Thanking him a million times, you met up with Tooru Oikawa the next day at a coffee shop and got acquainted. You found him charming, and something clicked between you two immediately, a spark if you would.

Two days after you met him, you were moving in. And very quickly after that you met his best friend; the three musketeers were together at last. Hajime, Tooru and yourself were always together and you all got along extremely well. 

You were a middle ground between the two, somewhere between the lines of rude and flirtatious, but it made for some fun nights out. Hajime and yourself are even better friends than Tooru and you, but both of you agree that it’s because of the mutual “hatred”. He became your best friend in a matter of weeks, and people often assumed you were a couple. Every time, it was quickly denied as either of you stated that you would rather shoot yourselves than hook up with one another.

Fast forward almost a year later, and the three of you are sitting on the couch, watching some shit alien documentary Oikawa put on in the background.

“Do you think we should buy a bigger TV, Y/N-chan?” Tooru asks you while shoveling some noodles in his mouth.

“Dude, it’s fine. I mean if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it? Plus, I don’t have the kinda cash for that at the moment.” You stand up, stretching slightly while reaching out to Iwaizumi, seeing as his bowl is empty. “Unless you wanna pitch in?” Laughing softly, he places the bowl in your hand and shakes his head.

“No chance in hell I’m helping you losers buy a bigger television for your apartment.”

“Well that was uncalled for…” Oikawa quietly mumbles. “But! I think I’m just gonna buy a new one. You don’t have to worry about the money or anything. Think of it as our one year anniversary gift!” He wiggles his eyebrows and bumps his elbow into Iwa’s side as you roll your eyes and walk to the kitchen. You’re just glad that you make it to the sink before he can see the bright red on your face.

You weren’t sure when this started, but whenever Tooru teased you, a rush of blood would flow through your system. You’ve known each other for years at this point, and nothing like this has ever happened. You’ve noticed that he’s been building more muscle, almost like he’s glowing. You’re unsure, but not upset.

“How the fuck can you afford that? You’re at practice all the time, and you don’t have a job.” You turn around after washing the dishes, leaning into the counter as you speak. 

The two men quickly share a glance before Oikawa speaks. “I have my ways.” The flirtatious tone in his voice lures you in, wanting for the subject to change, and you give in to the pretty boy's ways.

“Whatever Flattykawa.” He sticks out his lip and pouts as you insult him. “I’m gonna turn in for the night, I have an eight thirty lecture and I still have to meet with a TA beforehand.” A yawn escapes your mouth as Hajime stands up from the couch, making his way to you and wrapping his rather large arms around your frame. The man has always been a walking space heater, and you place your arms around him. He rubs his hands on your back before saying goodnight and walking back to the couch. Tooru is still pouting, head turned to look out of the window as he sees his best friend hug his crush. The slight twinge of jealousy lasts for a brief moment, going away as he whispers a brief goodnight to you as well.

~

A week or so has passed since that night, and things are still the same between yourself and Oikawa. He did end up buying a new t.v., and you got the “old” one for your room. Not only that, but he’s been receiving packages all the time. Almost everyday he gets something shipped to the apartment, and you can’t help but wonder where the fuck all of this money is coming from.

It’s none of your business Y/N. If Tooru’s rich, then there’s nothing you can say about that. He’s just a little luckier than you are, with money, talent and looks he’s practically got no issues… Your thoughts run on and on as you sit at the bar, distracted from the homework on your laptop screen. It’s roughly seven or eight at night on a Monday night, meaning Oikawa’s home since it’s his day off. He doesn’t like being bugged when doing work of any kind, and tends to stay in his room until he’s finished doing whatever it is he’s doing. It was an agreement you both made when you first moved in to learn each other's boundaries and respect privacy at all times.

Your phone dinged on the other side of the counter, and you quickly picked it up to look at the notification. At the same time, Tooru walks through his bedroom door and into the kitchen. His unruly hair was even more disheveled than usual, and his shirt was nowhere to be seen. It’s a rather common occurrence for him to be shirtless, but it’s been happening more and more. Unaware of your gaze, he continued looking for a snack like nothing mattered. You glanced at him quite a few times, admiring the light viel of sweat covering his chest and the soft breaths as he took a few deep inhales.

Not taking any chances of being caught, you went back to checking your phone and saw a text from the group chat you had with a couple of gal pals. They were asking about going to brunch tomorrow and you quickly responded that you were down to clown before placing the phone back on the counter.

“What’s up Tooru?” Your eyes settled back on his frame as he turned to you, a smile grazing his lips. He liked it when you called him by his first name. Not that he’d tell you, but he thought it was cute that you only called him that when you two were alone.

“Nothing much Y/N. Looking for something sweet to eat…”

“Hmm, if I recall you’re the one who ate the last of the rice krispy treats.” You cocked your eyebrow, smirking at his over exaggerated reaction.

“And?” He placed his hand over his heart, “Just because I ate one of your rice krispies treats, and it happened to be the last one doesn’t mean I don’t deserve something sweet.”

“Riiiight, so by one do you mean five? Because I did take the trash out of your room the other day, and there just so happened to be some more wrappers in your bin.”

“Y/N. I would never, and when I say this, I mean never eat all of your snacks. I can’t believe you would accuse me of such a thing.” Oikawa sassed you back, feigning innocence.

“Mhm.” You hopped out of your seat and walked to your room. 

“Where are you going?” He calls out, a little dumbfounded that you up and left.

“Hold your panties dude, I’ll be back.” He crosses his arms and leans into the counter as he waits for a few seconds. He can hear your footsteps coming back to the kitchen only a minute or so later, and suddenly a chocolate bar comes flying at him. It hits him square in the chest, but he catches it as it falls.

His lips stretch out into a genuine smile, looking between you and the chocolate. “I love you Y/N,” Tooru says in a sing-song voice, but rips open the wrapper as he speaks. Once again, his words cause a sudden blush to cover your face and you practically run over to your laptop to use it as cover.

“Whatever Tooru.” He chuckles while getting something to drink, and you see that the group chat has popped off during your short encounter. Decisions had been made in a small amount of time, but now you have plans tomorrow.

“What’s got you so happy?” He says, mouth full.

“Oh, just going out with some friends tomorrow. Haven’t seen them in a while so it’ll be fun.” You don’t bother looking up as you type.

“So I won’t be getting a breakfast special?”

“Are you saying you like burnt toast and crispy eggs?” A soft laugh fills the space when Tooru throws the wrapper in the trash. He pads over to the living area and plops down onto the couch. 

“Vegging out for the rest of the night?” You call from the kitchen, still engrossed in the group chat.

“I think so. I’m all caught up with everything and a new episode of that alien series came out yesterday.” A hum in affirmation leaves your lips before sitting down next to him.

The rest of the night is quiet as Tooru watches his show and you text your girlfriends, both of you content with being next to one another in comfortable silence.

~

“So Y/N”, one of the girls smacks her lips once she places her champagne glass on the table, “You and Oikawa together yet?”

A blush erupts over your skin, and wanting to hide you start to shield your face into your shoulder. “No,” you mumble while the girls laugh at your reaction. They’re some of the only people, mind Hajime, that know about your crush. It hasn’t been that long since you’ve developed these feelings, but it’s starting to have an affect on your dynamic with him.

“Well,” another one of your friends starts, “I think you should hop on it girl. He’s fine as fuck, and I can’t help but imagine what he can do with that body-”

“Alright!” Your best friend breaks up the conversation, seeing you get more uncomfortable by the moment. “We don’t need to talk about Oikawa’s anything right now, but I am curious about him buying new things for your guys’ apartment all the time.”

“I don’t know guys. I think he’s just rich, or something,” you shovel some of your food into your mouth, speaking in between bites. The girls look around at each other and shrug it off.

“Maybe he’s got a side business.”

“Or he’s a sugar baby!” They all laugh, minus you who takes the idea seriously. 

Maybe he has a sugar mommy or daddy… I mean, he’s got the looks and personality… You pick at the food on your plate as they continue their conversation.

“I would kill to be a sugar baby,” one of them whined, “Then I could sit around and do whatever I wanted.”

“You mean you could sit around and watch porn,” your best friend interjects. Silence fills the space before another round of laughter erupts from the table.

“Okay, but hear me out…” Another girl whispers under the hollers that can be heard across the restaurant. “I started watching this camboy the other week and it’s really hot.”

“Oh, like the guys who jack off on stream?” They sip out of their champagne glasses.

“Yeah, but when you donate money you can request or get things out of it. The guy I’ve been watching has been doing stuff with some vibrators lately, and I can’t get enough.”

“So,” you look up at them all, placing your fork down, “there’s just this whole category of porn where people do what you want.” They all turn and nod, almost eagerly.

“Did you not know about this Y/N?”

“I mean,” you could feel the heat rise on your face again, “I’ve heard of people jacking off on streams, but I didn’t know it was that popular…” Some of them laugh softly at the notion, but others try to explain further.

“You know, you might like it. I can send you the guy's username I’ve been watching. He streams every Monday for sure, and a few other times during the week. I’ll just text you.” She winks and the rest of the morning is just catching up with everyone.

~

Over the course of the past few days, your curiosity grew about cam culture and what it entailed. It’s been over a year since your last relationship and it has taken a toll on your sex drive. You aren’t about one night stands or friends with benefits, so you just stick to watching, listening and reading porn when you need to get off, and as the days went by you needed the release.

Making sure your room was locked, you opened your phone and searched through the texts to find your friends suggestion.

“Gr8King”, you whisper to yourself while typing the name into the search bar. The livestream pops into frame and the man is fully clad in a slutty maid outfit, teasing his own nipples with his fingers while he speaks ever so softly into the mic. His head is above the screen, allowing you to only see his mid and lower body down to his calves. He’s lean and toned, and you can feel your own arousal growing at the sight.  The notification tones going off every few seconds, hundreds of people donating and thousands watching as he moves a hand slowly down his torso, grabbing the hem of the skirt.

“Should we move on to something more,” he moves closer to the mic, breathing softly and talking in a deeper tone, “sensual?” The vibrations from his voice cause chills to run down your spine. You run a hand over your clothed sex, dying for friction while clenching your thighs.

The skirt comes off, falling to the ground and it leaves him bare on screen. He wasn’t wearing anything underneath it, and his cock is already getting hard. The tip is red, leaking with precum as he moves his hand up the shaft, rubbing the head with his thumb and smearing the liquid around.

Messages increase from the viewers, begging him to do something more, but he stays in his position. “I can’t do anything until the masters say I can,” he whines. Never in your life did you think that you would have a thing for guys in maid outfits, but what was left of the outfit and him calling the audience “master” fueled your curiosity.

That’s when you realize the small animations on screen. Based on the donations, there’s a vibrator going on and anytime someone donates they can change it, and if they exceed a certain amount they get called “master” for the night. More people donate, rapidly changing the speed and he bucks his hips into his fist, moaning breathlessly. “Not- not so much,” he releases his hand except for the pointer finger, running it with a feathery touch from the head to the base. A larger notification shows on screen, a “master” donating a rather large sum of money. Once again, the chat waits in anticipation to see what he’ll do next.

“Looks like master wants me to fuck my dirty little fleshlight while the vibrator gets turned up all the way.” He turns to find what’s necessary, and you stare at the screen, biting your lip.

Am I really enjoying this that much? Your eyes are glued to the screen, waiting in anticipation for what’s about to happen. He returns to the frame, toys in hand and resumes the broadcast.

“How could I deny my masters when they’ve given me so much? I need to be a good boy for them..” he purrs into the mic, teasing the head of his cock on the entrance of the clear fleshlight. The vibrator goes to max, and he shoves the toy down his length, moaning viciously.

Embarrassment floods your system as you listen to this random person whisper sinful things into your ear as he reaches his peak. It’s definitely foreign to you, but the throbbing between your legs makes you want to watch more.

~

Watching the “Gr8King’s” streams becomes almost routine over the next few weeks. You convince yourself that it’s healthy for you to jack off whenever he streams, but deep down you know it’s just an excuse to stare at some guy guy's body while he talks dirty. In fact, this past week you’ve found yourself wanting to donate for the first time, but you don’t have money to just throw around willy nilly so you just lurk.

The stream boots up, this week being just a normal show where he takes suggestions from any amount. You settle into bed, getting prepared for the night’s activities while listening to the voice call you pet names like “cutie”, “gorgeous” and countless others.

It was a stressful week full of work and school, so you decide to take the time now to really let loose and let him guide you to your climax. He talks about nothing in particular, but does as his audience wants while moaning and playing with himself, leaving you panting on your bed, waiting to release at the same time.

Taking all the time in the world, he edges himself multiple times. You can barely hear his words as you desperately try to keep up, but you can feel the knot grow even further in your lower body. After teasing for almost fifteen minutes, he starts to whimper, begging the audience for relief. The way he speaks into the mic is weirdly familiar, just a few phrases here and there catch you off guard, almost as if you know him. This feeling is quickly washed away from the growing knot in your stomach. The audience give into his pleas immediately and you feel the shock waves of pleasure wrack your body. The high washes over and you pant to regain composure. After lying on the bed for a few seconds, you lazily get up and wash up very quickly before hearing a short growl come from your stomach.

Making something quick, you watch some TikToks on the couch as you eat, too entranced by the memes to see Tooru walk out of his room. Once again, he is shirtless, but he spots you on the couch before entering the kitchen.

He slows his pace to admire your flushed skin and glow as you laugh. His heart beats quickly, and he targets the fridge. You can hear him in the next room over, but you don’t bother to call his name, figuring he would join you shortly.

A few moments later, you hear his bedroom door shut and you’re left alone. “What the fuck?” You check the date on your phone, making sure it’s Monday. He usually watches his alien show with me on Monday’s since we can hang out… With a frown, you turn on the t.v. The newest episode plays out as you mindlessly scroll, wondering what was wrong with him.

Two days later, you finish watching a stream, taking longer than usual to clean up and head back out to the living room, wanting to clean some before Hajime comes over. Much to your surprise, it’s being worked on by Tooru, who’s wearing a muscle tank top and some running shorts. He’s panting quietly as he bends to pick up various pieces of trash, but it leaves you stunned.

When did he get so buff? You peered at his abs and pecs through the large slits on the sides of his shirt, but he turns and catches you staring.

“What’s up, Y/N-chan?” He’s got a sly smirk plastered over his face. Your reaction is involuntary heat takes over your body. Without saying anything, you turn and go back to the safehaven of your room.

Tooru is also stunned over your movements, expecting some kind of sassy retort. Then his phone dings in his pocket. Still freaked out over what happened, he checks his messages and sees you’ve texted the group chat you both have with Iwaizumi.

[I think I’m sick, so you guys have fun tonight <3] His brow furrows; now he’s just confused.

“The fuck did you say to her man?” Hajime shoves a piece of sushi into his mouth, talking between chews. Tooru and himself sat at the counter, talking over some movie that all three of you were supposed to watch.

“I made a joke about her staring at me since I was wearing workout clothes, but I thought she was gonna just punch me or something.” He places the chopsticks down on his plate and tries to think. A light goes off in his head, Hajme can see that, but the look is quickly replaced with one of defeat.

“Imayormaynothavebeenavoidingherforthepastfewdays.” All at once, Oikawa speaks in a rushed and hushed sentence, hoping his best friend caught on.

“Excuse me: what.” There’s no playful tone in the air. Hajime popped that balloon and glares daggers into that thick skull of Oikawa’s.

“I,” he plays with his hands, “may or may not have been avoiding her over the past few days.” The first go around was quieter, but Iwa hears it more clearly, finally understanding what’s going on.

“You’re a fucking moron, you know that right?” Hajime places his utensils down, “I’m not going to get in between whatever’s going on here, but you both need to figure shit out. You can’t just avoid her all of the sudden. Not that she’s said anything to me, but she might be going through something and having one of her best friends just avoiding her out of the blue might not be the best thing for her.” Oikawa’s eyes widen at the words of wisdom. He makes a mental note for later, and the night goes on with the two men watching Godzilla for the 100th time.

~

Monday afternoon rolls around, and Tooru walks through the door of the apartment, finished with his classes. You’re making some tea to get some homework done, and he marches into the kitchen, raiding the pantry and fridge.

“You okay man?” Your brow pops up in concern. He didn’t have practice today, so why was he acting like this?

“Huh?” He turns with some food stuffed in his mouth. After swallowing, he answers, “Yeah, I’m good. Just wanted to talk with some friends on chat tonight so I wanted to eat quickly.” Hesitantly, you nod, returning to your laptop on the counter. What you couldn’t see was how his heart rate picked up after seeing you in the kitchen. He’s been wanting to confront you about his sudden absence in your life, but everytime he sees you he gets extremely nervous and bolts.

Tooru finishes up with whatever, and practically runs to his room, slamming the door. He scolds himself quietly behind the closed door for not saying anything to you.

Rude. You focus on homework for another thirty minutes or so and check the time, knowing that your weekly ritual is gonna be starting in the next fifteen minutes or so. Packing everything up, you move into the bedroom, checking the lock on the door for the thousandth time before settling down.

In minutes, “Gr8King” appears on screen, this time in a sports uniform. He starts out like normal, teasing the audience with his voice, running his hands along his body as countless people donate and chat in real time.

Just as he’s about to take his jersey off, a notification dings somewhere off camera and he tenses. “Excuse me cuties,” in a rush, he moves out of frame, slightly knocking his camera from it’s normal setup.

In the background, you spot a poster on a wall that’s eerily familiar. It’s light blue, with a man jumping high, arms reaching back as he prepares to attack. A net is settled before him as a volleyball is high in the air. There’s words in a foriegn language, except for the large letters at the bottom of the poster: “Argentina”.

This causes you to stop what you’re doing. You’re not entirely sure why, but the poster pokes and prods at the back of your mind. It’s a thorn you didn’t know you had.

Why does this guy have an Argentinian volleyball poster? The live stream continues in the background while your eyes haze over. Why does this bug you so much? It’s not like I know the dude, but he did seem familiar in a sense...

That’s the last piece. Everything falls into place as you hastily slam the laptop close. Your breaths are heavy as you finally understand. He’s not fucking rich, he’s a fucking camboy! Your fingers run themselves through your hair over and over as your brain tries to process what’s happening. 

I’ve been watching Tooru fuck himself for weeks and had no idea. I was watching the guy I’m crushing over please himself for thousands of people, and he’s just down the hall. What the fuck. You try to stop fidgeting, but your anxiety starts to spike.

“Maybe it’s not him. Maybe this is just a weird fucking coincidence that some streamer has the same schedule as Tooru and the same volleyball poster,” legs pacing around the room, you try to rationalize the situation. Talking out loud helps you realize what’s happening, but you speak quietly to ensure he won’t be able to hear you. Your heart is hammering in its cage, the rapid beating making you dizzy.

Before making any hasty decisions, you walk out into the kitchen and grab a glass of water. “Maybe it’s just a coincidence…” You pull out your phone, turning the sound all the way down and go back to the stream. You don’t actively watch, bouncing your leg as you lean on the counter, and wait for it to end.

You realize it might be a while, and you creep through the hallway, wary of the floorboards that creak and press your face onto his door, listening as closely as possible. Very softly, you can hear moans and grunts, but no actual words. Maybe he’s just working out...

The stream is still playing on your phone, but you return to the kitchen. Not much later, it ends and you wait patiently, timing everything from when it ends. Preemptively, you fill an extra glass with water and set it down. Five minutes pass, and Tooru walks out of his room, sweaty and shirtless. He turns the corner, taking the glass with a small thanks before going to the living room.

The timing makes sense. If he’s the Gr8King than it would make a lot of sense...

[Hajime we need to talk] you type and send before returning to your room, avoiding Tooru. He notices your disappearance and frowns, debating on fetching you. He misses the time you two used to spend together, and he scolds himself further for not bringing it up.

Taking a deep breath, he tells himself to “man up” and sends, [hey, i'm here for you if you need me :)]. He presses his lips into a line before hitting send and placing the phone on the couch next to him.

~

“So what’s up? Not to be rude but you never wanna go to the juice bar…” Hajme laughs lightly, hiding how nervous he is to be meeting up with you.

“I need to ask you something,” you sip the green smoothie, smacking your lips in disgust at the flavor. “And I need you to be honest with me.” Making eye contact, you set the cup down on the table.

“Y/N you’re freaking me out,” he meets your eyes and clenches his jaw.

“Well,” the blush rises in your cheeks, “I always joke about where Oikawa gets his money,” Hajime tightens his grip on his own cup, but remains silent. “I thought it was weird that he got packages all the time when he was either at home or at practice. Then I realized when he was at home, he’d lock himself in his room.” Your face is bright red and you take a deep breath in. “A friend of mine suggested something to me a few weeks back, and when I looked into it I saw something I don’t think I should have.” You look up at the ceiling, avoiding Iwa’s strong gaze. You don’t say anything, trying to think of a way to ask in the least embarrassing way possible.

“What is it Y/N?” He speaks with a small voice.

“Istooruacamboy?” You whisper, still looking up. Hajime’s face also breaks out into a blush, but he chuckles at the events. His chuckles grow into full on laughter as he buckles over and you’re stunned into silence. This continues for a few minutes until he calms himself down, wiping a few tears from his eyes while he looks up to you.

“I can’t believe you found out by watching him.” Some would say it’s impossible, but your face turned two shades darker as you slap him on the chest.

“Fucking asshole! You fucking knew, didn’t you?!” You punch him in the bicep for good measure as you scold him. His laughter is brought back while sipping on the rest of his drink.

“He started after the first semester of school, just trying new things. He told me it was interesting to him, and I said I wanted no part. He hated working at that sports store, you know that, and when he started to get popular there was no going back.” You sit silently, letting him explain. “I hope you don’t think that he’s like, sex crazed or anything… He’s just doing it for the money as far as I know and he likes being able to work from home.” He smiles, acknowledging his friends work but finishes his drink in silence, waiting for a response.

“I don’t think any different of him,” you shake your head and begrudgingly take another sip. “I just- It’s hard for me to take in? I think? Like, I wanna be supportive for him, and I’d like to think that I am but that doesn’t change that I want to be more.” Hajmie nods in affirmation, already knowing that you have feelings for your mutual best friend.

“I'm gonna keep saying it, just tell him. Tooru’s a good guy, and you two deserve each other.” You bite your lip and keep silent. “But first you should tell him that you know about the cam stuff.” Iwa is nonchalant about it all, and grabs your cup, finishing off the drink.

~

You sit on the couch, bouncing your leg but keeping an eye on the package that sits on your lap. It was something for him, but you don’t open it. You just sit there, eye’s on the door, waiting for him to get home from practice.

This is a stupid fucking idea, I should just go back to my room. Your leg bounces faster, and the anxiety bubbles in your stomach. You have no idea what’s gonna happen when he steps through that door, but you were set on telling him tonight.

Just then, the sound of keys entering the lock draws you away from your thoughts, the handle jiggling slightly before it turns and Tooru steps through. He’s dressed in sweats and a tee, hair damp from a shower and a gym bag hanging from his shoulder. He kicks his shoes off and enters the living area, setting the bag down without noticing that you’re watching his every move. Moving into the kitchen, he still doesn’t acknowledge that you’re there as he grabs a glass of water and walks back down the hallway to his room.

“Tooru!” You don’t know what you’re doing, but you need to get this over with. He stops his movements, and pulls an earbud from his left, looking at you with concern.

“Yeah?” He’s unsure what’s causing your outburst, but then he notices the package sitting in your lap, hands softly grasping it to keep its place in your lap. A wave of panic settles down his spine as he slowly spins around and walks to the couch, taking a seat on the other side from you. His eyes are glued to the package, but he notices that it isn’t open.

“I have something I wanted to tell you,” you start softly, placing the cardboard box between you both. He gently sets the glass of water on the glass coffee table and folds his fingers together, settling them on his lap.

“And what’s that?” He’s still shaken, but looks into your eyes.

Your heart starts to pound. What if this is a mistake? He looks like he’s about to throw up. Shaking the doubt from your head, you take a deep breath and hold your gaze. “I know what you do.”

His head cocks to the side, taking in your words. “I’m sorry Y/N, but what does that mean?” He hopes you aren’t alluding to what he thinks you’re getting at. 

Another deep breath and you start again, “I know why you spend so much time in your room.”

Tooru’s face flushes with color, the pink hue finding its way onto his skin and he laughs anxiously at your words. “I don’t think I follow.” He’s trying to change the subject, hellbent on finding a way out of this. “Are you saying you know that I masterbate Y/N?” He’s trying to tease you, hoping this conversation would stop and you would hand him his package and be on your way.

Cue your face turning red, but you huff in annoyance, throwing the box at him. “Yeah, if you mean that you’re streaming it.” He catches it and looks at you, eyes are blown wide, and he realizes this is the worst timeline to be alive in. You, on the other hand, are annoyed that you had to say it out loud and stand up, folding your arms and staring him down. “I don’t care, but I wish you would’ve said something to me. As your roommate and your best friend,” ouch, that hurt, “it would’ve been nice to know.”

With that, you march into the kitchen, looking for a way to cool off, but a pair of arms sneak around your waist as you rummage through the freezer.

“I’m sorry I didn’t say anything,” he mumbles into your hair. The close contact wasn’t abnormal, but it never felt like this. Your body heats up when his breath hits your skin, but you remain in your place. “I just- I didn’t know how you would react and Hajime kept telling me to talk to you about it, but I always get too nervous to bring it up.”

You spin around, his arms still on your hips, and watch his face carefully. He looks concerned still, but there’s a small pleading in his look. “And why were you nervous?”

Tooru’s face turns a shade darker, “It’s just weird, I guess. You’re one of the only girls in my life that I'm kinda serious about I didn’t wanna loose you if you thought that I just thought about sex all the time.”

Was that a confession? Your head starts to spin when he realizes what just happened.

“I MEAN, uh, you’re one of the only girls that I consider a big part of my life, you know?” He’s frantic and stumbling over his words, but you stay absolutely still. His grip on your hips loosens, he wants to run into his room but sticks it out to see what you do.

Instead, you surprise him by nuzzling yourself further into his neck. “You’re very important to me too, Tooru.” Your voice is soft, and muffled against his neck but he smiles into your head, living in the moment. He wraps his arms around your frame, squeezing you tight against his firm chest. 

“I’m kinda serious about you too…” The statement was almost lost to the hum of the a.c. unit, but Tooru caught your words and he stiffened up. You stay exactly as you are, praying to whatever god is out there that this all works out in your favor.

It takes a few seconds for him to come back to earth, realizing how hot your face is against his skin, but once he regains consciousness he chuckles. The vibrations ripple through your body, as you both remain in one another's arms. Your first thought was that he was laughing at you, and the panic settles under your skin. He can feel you start to pull away, but tightens his grip on your body, effectively trapping you in this position.

“Iwa-chan’s right, we are idiots.” Everything is so confusing. Does he like me back? Is this a joke? What does Hajime have to do with any of this? Countless thoughts along these lines run through your head, and Tooru knows this. “We’ve both been pining over each other for months.”

His words process with high speeds as you pull back. He had loosened his grasp, but his hands remained on your sides as you both stared into each other's eyes. You search his for answers, while Tooru finds comfort in yours. 

He laughs breathlessly once he can see your body relax, and he dips down to meet your lips. Tooru’s movements are fluid, moving both hands up to your jaw while tilting his head. You gasp once his soft lips meet yours. They taste like his dumb chapstick that he carries around everywhere. 

Tooru takes it slow, moving at your pace while humming into the kiss. Pulling back after a few seconds, you lean forward to catch his lips before he detaches himself. Rubbing a thumb on your cheekbone, he flashes the most brilliant smile. In the year you’ve known him, this is the most genuine and beautiful thing you’ve ever seen him do, and you can see it in his eyes.

“Y/N,” his voice is ever so soft, gliding in the air from his lips to your ears. Tooru’s eyes hold nothing but adoration in them as you stare into each other's eyes. “I don’t want to be serious with anyone but you.”

The bright blush returns to your cheeks, the warmth between your two bodies rising exponentially. His thumb doesn’t stop moving across your cheekbones. He's in total bliss as nothing in the world could matter more than what was happening at this moment in your shared apartment.

You smile up at him and grab onto his hand that's stroking your face, and just hold it closer to your skin. After a light squeeze, you both shift positions to hug once more, Tooru's arms latching around your waist and yours around his neck.

"Thank you," he states, the world muffled from your hair as he has lodged himself in the crook of your neck.

"For what?" You mumble back, rubbing an arm up and down his neck.

A deep chuckle causes your body to rumble, and a soft breath cascades down your neck before he pressed feathery kisses behind your ear. They're lighter than air, but you can sense he's holding back a bit. "For not being upset with me, for putting up with me, for accepting me, for everything." His whispers are woven into your skin, goosebumps rising up and down your spine as he speaks.

You push yourself further into his chest, a silent affirmation that everything is okay and will be okay. He smiles as he continues to press his lips to your neck, humming in the silence.

After a few minutes more of embracing one another Tooru pulls away, hands grazing your hips as he stares deeply into your eyes. His chocolate iris’ swirl with several emotions as you take in the vulnerability. You have only known Tooru as the charming, flamboyant character he puts on around almost everyone else. Maybe once or twice in your year of living with him have you seen this side of him, in which he offers himself as he is, not as who he wants to be perceived as.

Tooru presses a quick kiss to your lips and puts some pressure on your hips, signalling he wants to move. You both relocate to the couch, where he traps you in his arms and lap.

“I’m curious,” you reposition to look up at him, but he chuckles at your wide and curious eyes. “How did you find out about my streams?” A teasing grin makes its way on to his lips and your brain short circuits.

“Uh.. about that…” You purse your lips, looking anywhere but him, embarrassed of the insinuation of your actions.

Tooru breath fans against your neck, his face dipping down into that crook once more while letting out a low laugh. Sparks fly between you two when his lips brush your ear. He whispers, “You’ve watched me, haven’t you?”

With lightning speed, you snap your face to match his, but he’s quick to recover the initial shock with a deep kiss. He cranes his neck to further the kiss, pulling at your bottom lip with his own. Still startled by his teasing, you give in easily to his antics and within seconds his tongue has entered your mouth.

A low growl escapes him all while you succumb to his movements. His hand snakes up your side, settling itself on your rib below your breast. Tooru rubs his thumb in that spot, but you are lost in his taste to feel his hand.

You start to move in sync with him, moving together and letting each other take the reigns. Oikawa adores your feisty spirit, and when it starts to show through your movements, it only excites him more. You explore his mouth with your tongue, and suck on his lower lip as he slowly moves his hand back down your sides to cup your ass.

Now that you’re in control of your actions, you feel his hand stop right above your butt, almost as if he’s asking permission, but you grab a hold of his wrist and shove it down. That hand lets go of his arm and down to the hem of his shirt. A few fingers make contact with his toned stomach, and he shivers at the cold sensation.

“Impatient much?” Tooru repositions you so you’re straddling him. You don’t break off the kiss and place your hands on either side of his face, the tips of his hair tickling your fingertips. His large hands grasp under your thighs as he hoists the both of you up and off of the couch. Hastily he moves down the hall and into your room, busting through the door and gently he places you down on the edge of your mattress.

You pull away, breathless and stare into his eyes once more. The tension in the room is thick, but warm and comforting. He smiles at the look in your eyes, knowing that you’re in no way anxious of what’s about to happen.

“Are you sure about this Y/N? We don’t have to do anything before the first date.” His smile is intoxicating, and he doesn’t want to pressure you in any way.

“I want you Tooru, I’m good,” this time you rub a thumb across his cheekbone in reassurance. Smiles on both of your faces, he dips back down to capture your lips and push you onto your back.

Your mattress is firm underneath you, the bed frame shifting under the weight of two people. The cold sheets scrunch under your back contrasting the warm embrace of Oikawa as he dips down on top of you, running a hand through your hair.

“Do you trust me?” He speaks while hovering over your body. You push yourself up to meet his lips, giving him a quick peck on the side of his mouth. “I’ll take that as a yes then.” You laugh and lay back down, pulling the front of his shirt to pull him down with you.

Tooru laughs into the kiss, pressing his chest into your own. All of his kisses are electrifying, the spark runs up and down your spine while you both like with one another.

You take the next step and tug at the hem of his shirt while wrapping your legs around his lower half. His skin raises in temperature but he follows suit, practically tearing the fabric off of himself. You watch Tooru get shirtless and fully take in his figure.

It's not like you haven't seen him like this, but this is the first time you've ever actually took a good, long look at Oikawa's figure (knowing it was him, at least). He works out regularly for volleyball and maintains a good diet, and it shows. His chest is firm when you place a hand on it, and his abs create a valley down his stomach.

As you feel him up and down, Tooru stares at your face as it scrunches curiously. "Like what you see cutie? It shouldn't be anything new."

You blush but smack his chest in retaliation. A low laugh escapes his lips, but he sneaks a hand to the bottom of your shirt, poking a few fingers into your stomach in a wordless question of what to do. You squirm in your position and he helps remove your shirt.

Arms cover your chest instantly as you realize you're wearing one of your older bras that isn't the most flattering thing on the planet.

Noticing the shift in tone, Tooru gently unfolds your arms. "None of that Y/N." You don't put up any resistance as he speaks sweet and salty worlds into your ear. His hands are coarse and rough, calloused from years of training but he untouched you with a softness, almost as if he was handling a dove.

He kisses your neck making his way down your chest while reaching underneath you, unclasping the bra and throwing it onto the floor.

With your breasts exposed, Oikawa pins your arms on either side and continues down your clavicle, down through the valley between your chest. You whimper when he suddenly takes one of your nipples into his mouth, gently biting and sucking of the soft bud.

Instinctually you squeeze your thighs together, but he stands between them and he hums into your breast, knowing you're starting to grow impatient. Tooru's other hand moves to the opposite breast, kneading it in his palm.

A soft moan escapes your lips and you roll your hips into his, shock waves of pleasure wrack your body while your cunt starts to throb.

Oikawa moves further down your stomach, reaching the button of your pants. He peers up at you, pupils dilated and hungry. You nod and lift your hips while he removes both the pants and panties you were wearing.

He stands at the edge of the bed, removing the rest of his clothes and let's his cock spring free. It's red at the tip, which reaches up to his abs from being hard.

Tooru’s hips meet yours, laying his long cock over your bare stomach while rubbing soft circles into your thighs. “Look at how deep I’m gonna be inside of you cutie.” A quiet whimper leaves your lips, wrapping your legs around his waist in a silent plea. His eyes burn into your skin.

“Tooru, please…” The desperation in your voice only spurs him on as he drinks you in, lying bare, begging for him. It’s everything he’s ever wanted, and his dick hardens further at the sound of your voice. 

A switch flips in his brain once you swirl your hips, and a smirk pulls at his lips. He leans forward, pressing his body into your, getting dangerously close to your ear and fanning hot breath over your skin. Chills erupt from the sensation and make their way across your body, causing a whimper to involuntarily escape your mouth when his hot skin presses into your cold chest. “What do you want, Y/N?” Tooru’s voice is quiet, but the vibrations from his words have an effect on your body you thought wasn’t possible. He presses feathery kisses into the sweet skin on your neck, causing you to tilt your head.

“I want-” Your voice is breathless as you search for words. “I want you to-” Suddenly, he slips his dick in between your folds, slowly moving his hips up and down, getting himself ready with your slick. The electricity of his movements force a moan through your throat, Oikawa relishing in the sound of your voice as he uses his thumb moves to apply pressure on your clit.

Still breathing hot air onto your neck, he mumbles, “You want me to fuck you, is that it?” Your eyes shut as a thousand tiny confirmations leave your body, physical and not. He revels in the moment, realizing the control you both have over each other. He can’t help wanting more of you, all of you. Your aura is intoxicating, and Tooru feels drunk off of your presence. 

“Please.” He continues grinding his length down your folds. “Just fuck me already.” Your voice is raspy, pleading for movement, connection, anything. Arms folding around his neck, you grind harder into his cock while he continues to rub the sensitive bud.

“So impatient.” His voice is dark, sultry and enticing. It draws you in, leaving you stunned and you can’t think straight anymore. “I bet you’ve wanted this. Watching me stream, you got to see all of me little cutie,” Tooru readjusts himself, placing the tip at your entrance, drawing circles with it. “Now I get to see all of you.” 

He slowly pushes forward, letting his dick get sucked in to you as you cry out at the contact. Oikawa starts to lose himself at the feeling of your pussy when it twitches. His eyes never leave the sight of his cock disappearing into you.

You take a moment to breath as his hips lay flush with yours, but you take action and raise your hips. He hisses at the movement, not expecting you to set the pace so quickly.

Snapping out of it as you move your hips back, Tooru moans loudly and grabs one hip and leans over you, placing his other hand next to your face. His face gets inches in front of yours, matching your movements and leans in to take your lips once more.

His hips move back and forth, building up speed through both of you ravenous moans and whimpers. Through the sounds and movements, you feel his cock penetrate you with endless force, as if it fits perfectly inside of you.

You moan his name as Tooru pounds into you, scratching at his back from the waves of pleasure. Feeling you clench around him almost teasingly, the hand on your hip moves to your clit, and Oikawa starts to rub circles.

"Fuck Tooru!" You press your nails harder into his skin and he growls at the sensation. You can feel yourself getting close, the knot building larger with every second.

He pulls back from your lips and looks at your face. Your eyebrows are scrunched and your eyes are shut. The way his hips move is better than you could’ve imagined, even more sexual than his streams. Oikawa shifts his position to hit you deeper, his dick just barely hitting your cervix.

"I'm close," you mumble from bruised lips. He can’t hold himself back much longer and his thrusts become erratic. Tooru plants his lips on your ear, speaking a thousand words to you which you’re unable to hear. His thrusts and deep and fill you to the brim. The pleasure becomes too much for you to be able to focus and with one thrust you tense and the knot snaps.

He moans your name loudly when he feels your walls clench down on him. Swiftly, Tooru pulls out and finishes on your stomach, white ropes decorating your soft skin.

His head is still next to yours, but you’re both panting. It takes a few seconds for both of you to come back to your senses, but he prys himself up and off of you, looking down on his work. “You’re gorgeous Y/N, just fucking stunning.” He admires your glowing form while you stare at him, a smile adorning your features.

Oikawa moves first, placing another soft kiss to your lips before going to the bathroom for a warm towel. You lay in bed, just thinking about everything. How did I get here? You never thought that watching camboy porn would ever lead to you getting with the guy you’ve wanted for a while now, but if it works out then it works out you guess.

He returns a few moments later and cleans you up, throwing the rag with the rest of your clothes and climbs into the sheets, maneuvering you onto his chest where he cuddles you and runs a hand through your hair.

You close your eyes, breathing onto his bare chest and take in the beat of silence. You can’t see it, but Tooru looks down at you and smiles. You’re finally his. He can finally hold you in his arms and give you all the love he thinks you deserve. His heart swells at the notion, and makes a mental note to thank Iwaizumi later in general since he feels in a giving mood.

Oikawa feels your breath even out, your chest rising and falling in a slow pattern. Your senses are drifting from you, but you’re able to make out a few things before you pass out. Tooru places a kiss on the crown of your head, pressing his lips into your hair and he whispers something before you completely fall asleep.

“I love you Y/N.”

#oikawa #oikawa tooru #tooru oikawa #toru oikawa #oikawa toru #oikawa x reader #tooru oikawa x reader #toru oikawa x reader #oikawa tooru x reader #oikawa toru x reader #haikyuu #haikyu #haikyu x reader #haikyuu x reader #camboy #camboy!tooru oikawa #camboy!oikawa #camboy!oikawa x reader #oikawa/reader #oikawa smut #mdi #smut #friends to lovers #mutual pining #new series on the way

[gayaethernaut]

Yes greysam

But also misty/marlton

You’ve got it! I’ll do Misty/Marlton in a separate post, but for now here’s some more GreySam shipping HCs!

• Who said “I love you” first

This was actually a hard one, but I ended up concluding that it would be Elizabeth. She’d let it slip out on accident during one of her signature rambles. Once she realizes it she’d get super nervous and flustered and start fumbling over her words even worse, until Sam reassures her by gently pulling her close and telling Elizabeth that she loves her too.

•Who would have the other’s picture as their phone background

Obviously this one would be some in some kind of modern AU, and it would definitely be Elizabeth. Mostly by default because I imagine Sam would still have a dangerous job in intelligence and she probably wouldn’t have a phone or a consistent phone she could do that with. Elizabeth’s background would definitely be a photo of Sam and Notso.

•Who leaves notes written in the fog on the bathroom mirror

I’m gonna break the rules for this one and say both, but mostly Sam. I think Elizabeth would leave like, little hearts or smiley faces, and based on the in-game intel I HC that Grey knows how to crack most ciphers so I imagine that Sam would leave full on coded messages. Sam can be a bit more expressive about certain things in writing than she can verbally, so I feel like she leaves a lot of cutesy notes for Elizabeth in coded messages such as “you’re so beautiful” or “I love you so much”. Sam might also leave notes in different languages depending on which ones Elizabeth knows as well.

•Who buys the other cheesy gifts

This one would depend on the context. During Sam’s time at Requiem, it would definitely be Elizabeth. However if we’re going with like a post-Cold-War-canon setting I would say Sam for sure. I imagine she still has her powers so Elizabeth can expect random presents appearing at her desk or in her lab at any given moment. Especially if Sam’s ever in the field for long periods of time, she’ll always seem to know whenever Elizabeth is missing her more than usual. Her desk is filled with little kick-knacks from all over the world (and maybe even different dimensions?) and Elizabeth likes to play with them/fidget with them whenever she’s feeling really anxious or needs to think hard about something.

•Who initiated the first kiss

I think that Elizabeth was the first to give Sam a kiss on the cheek (and she wasn’t wearing her heels so she had to stand on her tip-toes a little bit) but Sam definitely initiated the first kiss on the lips. Elizabeth was probably trying to confess her feelings to Sam and kept fumbling over her words and Sam figured it was the most efficient solution to ease Elizabeth’s worries and confess her own feelings all at once. She didn’t cut Elizabeth off either, she gently cupped Elizabeth’s face in her hands and waited for the other’s anxious words to trail off before she leaned in and kissed her- making sure they were each comfortable with what was happening.

•Who kisses the other awake in the morning

Sam is a military-trained early riser, and Elizabeth is… not a morning person. Sam honestly has no idea how Elizabeth has ever made it to work on time before she came along, or whenever she’s away. She’s found that the best strategy to awaken the grumbly scientist is to make her coffee ahead of time and set it on the nightstand before tenderly peppering Elizabeth’s face in little kisses until the other can’t help but wake up giggling and blushing. In the event that Elizabeth is already half-awake and won’t allow Sam to leave the bed and make coffee without whining in protest, Sam will resort to wrapping up Elizabeth in their comforter and carrying her to the kitchen so that they can stay together while she makes the coffee/breakfast.

•Who starts the tickle fights

This was the easiest one. Elizabeth starts them, and Sam finishes them. The former is always careful about it though- only when they’re home alone and only if Sam’s feeling well enough for it. That being said the tickle fights usually end with Sam letting out a little growl and scooping Lizzie up into the air- sometimes even with just one arm.

•Who asks if they can join the other in the shower

This one was a little tricky- I feel like the most common scenario is Sam going to take a shower and asking Elizabeth if she’d like to join her. Another thing I thought of was the mirror-fog idea from earlier- Sam leaves Elizabeth a little note in the fog that says “Knock on the shower wall three times if you’d like me to join you”.

•Who surprises the other in the middle of the work day with lunch

Not necessarily a “work day” but before at Requiem Elizabeth would usually bring lunch for Sam during her own lunch breaks. But in a post-canon setting, Sam will do that frequently for Elizabeth. The former BND agent took the time to memorize and learn the patterns of what foods Elizabeth tends to like on certain days- and Elizabeth is always pleasantly surprised every single time, no matter what.

•Who was nervous and shy on the first date

While Sam was probably feeling a little out of her element and nervous taking Elizabeth out on a date, her nerves quickly faded away once she saw how beautiful the other looked. Elizabeth on the other hand was probably an adorable gay mess with her little nervous rambles cranked up to eleven. Sam most likely took them somewhere fun to try and help Elizabeth ease up a little, like an arcade or an amusement park. By the end they were both laughing.

•Who kills/takes out the spiders

When I first thought about this one, I figured it would obviously be Sam- but then I remembered Elizabeth is a research biologist and most likely doesn’t have any issues with handling bugs. And while Sam is trained to handle anything in the field, there’s something about particularly large spiders that make her deeply uncomfortable- but she doesn’t quite remember or understand why (Zetsubou No Shima, anyone?). Elizabeth picks up on this right away and becomes the designated spider-remover.

•Who loudly proclaims their love when they’re drunk

I HC that Sam doesn’t drink, and while Elizabeth doesn’t drink very often she’s a bit of a lightweight when she does. Sam does get very embarrassed by Drunk Lizzie’s antics, but she also finds them adorable and appreciates the fact that Drunk Lizzie is a very happy and goofy lovestruck drunk.

Hope you enjoy! This was a ton of fun and I’ll have the Misty/Marlton version up as soon as I can!

#cod zombies #samantha maxis #black ops cold war #call of duty #greysam #dr elizabeth grey #ask

[idvlover]

Could u do hcs of Norton, Demi, Eli, and Emily (separately) with a s/o who is doesnt do very well in matches? (ex: weak, bad with machines, bad under stress, ect.) and how they would deal with it? please and thank u ^_^♡

Headcanons for Norton, Demi, Eli, and Emily:

Emily:

She worries constantly about her s/o. Especially if the hunter is already really hard to deal with

Emily reassures her s/o every time they mess up on a calibration. She knows they struggle with cipher machines, but she won't lose her temper over it

When she sees a hunter coming, she immediately sends her s/o away to avoid anything that could potentially down them in almost an instant

If they get hurt, she'll quickly run over to distract the hunter from them, they will circle back to check on how they're doing once she loses the hunter

When healing them she's always constantly asking if they're okay, or do they have any serious injury she needs to tend to

Emily leans her forehead against her s/o's forehead when they're hiding somewhere

She gives them an encouraging pep talk (trying to at least) and tells them that they're going to make it out of the match

If a teammate gets angry with her s/o, Emily will step in between them and tell the teammate to go somewhere else

Emily does not save that teammate when they get chaired, nor does anyone else

Kisses them on the cheek if they're about to separate, saying they'll do just fine

After each match, she will always comfort them because not being the best when it comes to matches can certainly have its toll

Emily will let them hug her all day/night if it makes them feel better

When they're in bed together she always tries to give her best encouraging words for the next match

Even if s/o isn't the best at matches, Emily knows they're doing their best and that's all that matters to her

Demi:

Demi has a bone to pick with the Hunter's every time they go after her s/o first. She knows there are no rules against taking advantage of a survivor's weak points, but it's an issue for her

The amount of times she has taken a wine bottle and smacked a hunter with it should have gotten her banned by now

Demi sticks to her s/o's side. She lets them hold the dovlin while she decodes and tells them to keep a lookout for the hunter

She tries to crack jokes to keep her s/o's spirits up during the match

She'll even flirt with them during the match to keep them from beating themselves up for not being able to vault very well

Pats the side of their face telling them all that matters is that they did their best. Doesn't matter if they win or lose as long as they put the effort into it she's proud of them

Demi will shove her foot up a teammates ass if they got some shit to say

May or may not be the cause that the hunter was able to find that teammate in the locker

The teammate was pissed off, but Demi does that: "aw... are you gonna cry?" In a baby voice before telling them to fuck off

Demi always tells her s/o how proud she is of them after every match. It helps with their motivation and confidence and Demi doesn't want to see them feeling terrible for not being the best in matches

Before a match starts, Demi holds their hand and gently squeezes to give them comfort

After a match, they'll be in their shared dorm and Demi makes her s/o lay their head in her lap just so she can play with their hair and spoil them with compliments

Norton:

At first, he was a bit agitated with his s/o before the relationship

But when they got together he realized that some people just aren't cut out for somethings

Norton keeps his s/o right next to him. He's aware that they can't vault and struggle a lot with trying to place a pallet down, so when they're both running, he's there to help them through kiting

Norton always body blocks them, or if he's too far away he will use his magnets to attract them as soon as the hunter is about to hit them

Like Demi, he gets pissed off when hunters try to take advantage of his s/o's weak points and he is not having any of it

Hunters kind of slowly starting to fear him because his glare is fucking scary

S/o always tries to tell him not to body block because they hate seeing him get hurt. But he never listened

S/o always apologizes profusely when they mess up or get caught. He just shuts them up with a kiss and tells them to stop apologizing

A teammate yelled at them for messing up a calibration. Norton got into a fist fight because they yelled at his s/o, the hunter decided to go friendly because they wanted to see who will win

Norton won

The teammate regretted everything and realized that they are stupid for picking a fight with big miner

Norton isn't exactly great with words, but his body language expresses a lot. His s/o knows that he is proud of them and not upset with them

Norton will just wrap their arms around him in bed and would just say: "you did a good job." And give them a sweet kiss

Eli:

He also keeps his s/o right next to him. He lets them play with Brooke Rose while he decodes

Or if they want to help with decoding, he will tell them when to hit the calibration. Which is pretty helpful

He will shove his s/o into a hiding spot and the hunter will just chase him instead of his s/o

Eli holds his s/o's hand during matches to keep them from getting split. It's also pretty comforting at the same time

He has pretty good timing when it comes to sending Brooke Rose to protect his s/o from getting his. S/o always mumbles their thank yous because of Eli's great timing

While he may not look strong, but he can carry his s/o. He would pick them up and just run from the hunter if there are no nearby hiding spots

Whenever a teammate is being rude to his s/o, he becomes rude right back. No one has ever heard Eli say shut up. The teammate listened because it is extremely unusual for Eli, a very patient man, to say that in an angry tone

After and before matches he likes to wrap the scarf thing around them to give his s/o a sense of comfort

He would nuzzle the side of their face before giving them a kiss

He would make them a warm drink and tell them they did great and that they're improving

Eli would read to them as well while petting their hair. If they fall asleep on him, he'll give them one last kiss before going to sleep himself

#idv x reader #idv headcanons #identity v x reader #emily dyer #emily dyer x reader #emily dyer headcanons #demi bourbon x reader #demi bourbon #norton campbell headcanons #demi bourbon headcanons #norton campbell x reader #norton campbell #eli clark #eli clark x reader #eli clark headcanons

[omnivorousshipper]

De aged Deckard: You’re gonna go far, kid : Part 27

Summary: When the Shaw siblings try to break into an Eteon facility, they’re met with some unexpected consequences. Now, it’s up to Owen and Hattie to be the older siblings Deckard never had. Even if they have no idea what they’re doing

Part 26

           Brixton grunted as he felt a sharp pressure against his ribs and continue to increase in pressure. He was just glad that most of his bones had been reinforced, along with his skin or else whoever was hitting him would be causing some serious damage. Cracking open an eye, he flinched harshly at the light around him. Apparently being underground for several months and only in artificial light made his eyes sensitive to natural sunlight. Blinking rapidly, he finally realized that someone was actively yelling at him.

            “You piece of fucking shit!”

           Dodging expertly, Brixton rolled out of the way of a boot coming straight for his face. Pushing himself up, he was able to see the seething woman standing before him.

           Madam M looked ready to deliver on her threat of earlier, especially with the knife in her hand and a pistol glinting in the afternoon sun. Backing away from her, Brixton raised his hands and glanced around swiftly. They were outside, several of M’s girls helping to patch each other up as much as they could with their limited resources. Luckily, none of them looked too badly injured and the only injury M seemed to have was the small cut on her forehead.

           “Why the hell did you just hand her Deckard?” M screamed at him, storming up and shoving her face into hers, even though she had to stand on her toes to do so.

           “I thought she was one of yours!” Brixton snapped. “She wasn’t Eteon, so I how was I supposed to know she wasn’t part of your crew?”

           “Because you shouldn’t be giving children away to random strangers!” M snarled. “The whole point of me letting you out was to help save him! Not let some other psycho kidnap him! I should have left you to die in there!”

           “Maybe you should have!” Brixton yelled right back.

           M blinked up at him, before glaring at him. Panting, Brixton realized just how quiet everything was. All of M’s girls had stopped what they were doing, simply watching their boss and him scream at each other. Around them was the small building that had housed the elevators down to the facility that Brixton doubted even existed anymore with how many explosions had gone off. Other than that, they were in an empty field, no wildlife whatsoever to make any sort of noise. They were truly left alone out here. Taking a deep breath, Brixton looked back at M, who was looking him up and down with disgust.

           “You owe Deckard a debt.” She snarled, voice low. “You either help me get him back, or else I’ll hand you over to Queenie Shaw myself.”

           “Fine.” Brixton snapped. He had never met Deckard’s mother, but he had heard what the older woman was capable of. He knew if there was anyone out there that could figure out how to torture a cyborg, it would be the famous Queenie. After all, Deckard wasn’t born with all the skills he had—he must have learned it somewhere. “But how the bloody fuck are we getting out of here?”

           “Someone’s on the way.” M sneered and turned away from him, heading back to where her girls were. Shoulders dropping, Brixton didn’t like the way she had said that. Just exactly who was coming to pick them up?

--

           Fingers tightening around her phone, Queenie clenched her jaw tightly and felt her teeth grind together. Watching the clouds outside the plane window, she couldn’t believe the type of situation she and her family had gotten themselves into. How did her eldest child, the one who almost never caused as much trouble as his younger siblings, cause a problem this large?

           Not only was Deckard at least thirty years younger, but now he had been kidnapped by not just Eteon, but by Cipher as well. And on top of all that, two men she never wanted back in Deckard’s life were crashing straight into it; Brixton Lore and Victor Shaw.

           When she had received the call from her estranged husband, she had seen red for hours afterwards, even when she and he had boarded a plane together to save their son. She hadn’t thought about the man in nearly two decades, and hadn’t planned on doing so even after her last days on earth. But, all that had taken her to actually listen to him was the knowledge he had before she did, which was extremely unusual. There was nothing in her children’s lives she didn’t know about before anyone else. Which included when Deckard nearly eloped with Brixton, and was no currently dating Luke Hobbs.

           Queenie would always know everything. It’s how she had been so success for so long.

           But now, she wished she didn’t know as much as she did. She wished many things, but now she was stuck in the middle of something she would have to sort out herself. However, retrieving her son would have been far easier if she wasn’t babysitting not only her husband, but her younger children and the crew they had adopted along the way. All of whom she could hear planning towards the front of the plane. Glancing to her right, she could see Victor in the same position as her as he sat staring out the window. At least he knew better than poke the bears that were their extremely pissed off offspring. Although, she wouldn’t have been distraught in the least if either of their twins had killed their father.

           However, she might have Jeffery break up the little planning session, even if the only reason was to make sure that Pearce fellow wasn’t putting the moves on Owen. If anyone was going to tie her other son down, she wanted to know everything on him first before he laid even a finger on Owen. Even before Deckard had even thought about dating Hobbs, she already knew every single detail about the agent, and she didn’t appreciate Owen going for someone she knew nothing about.

           But, that wasn’t her main concern at the moment. No, Deckard was. And Cipher.

           Queenie had to admit that it was fairly ironic that they were hunting the woman down in the plane Deckard and Owen had stolen from her just over a year ago. Some humility would do her good, in Queenie’s opinion.

           Although, no one else on the plane knew that Cipher was the one they now had to track down. Glancing down at her phone, Queenie hissed at the texts she had read over a dozen times from Margarita.

           Deckard extracted from Eteon. Taken by someone else. Lore alive and wants to help.

           If Queenie hadn’t been the ruler of a criminal empire for several decades, she might have screamed and thrown her phone across the plane in sheer rage. But, she was more composed than that. Instead, she had chewed the younger woman out and sent another crew to pick Margarita, her crew, and Brixton up. They would be brought to her and forced to complete the job she had given them. Even if Queenie had to up the incentives.

           Good thing she had kept a few Americans on her payroll that happened to be close by.

#deckard shaw #magdalene shaw #brixton lore #madam m #victor shaw #owen shaw #hattie shaw #hobbs and shaw #omni writes #de aged #a different de aged fic

[rapha-reads]

Loaded March - no we're not done, not by far. Hang in there.

Part 6 - Intermission

Somewhere deep, deep down, Morgana did have a heart. She didn't like to show it, and she would deny it to her dying day, but Arthur was planning on keeping this letter as proof that she really was a soft touch.

MY QUEEN. Morgana is bae. Don't trash talk Gana. She's amazing. She's not evil.

I find that writing Morgana flows easily, writing Merlin is a bit harder but a lot of fun, but writing Arthur has me stumped. So, extra-extra-extra kudos to Footloose because her Arthur's voice is just amazing.

------

"You were never like this for me," Gwaine blurted out, wincing at his own petulant tone, but it made Arthur draw back, and ease some of the frown from his face.

I'm just saying, Gwaine is a sweetheart and he deserves someone (*coughs* Perceval *coughs*) to take care of him. And again, really love the dybamic between Gwaine and Arthur.

------

Gwaine knew that Perceval was right, but he couldn't help the bitter, perverse feeling that overcame him. "Yeah, but how much time before one or the other gets tired of waiting?"

Hello, stop being blind and realize that Perce is waiting on you, please. I'm going to get frustrated about the Perwaine now that the Merthur is a done deal.

------

"I know you're going to remember this in the morning, Gwaine," Perceval breathed in his ear, his voice hoarse. "So I'm only going to say it once. Clean yourself up. Give someone else a chance. Then maybe, maybe, you won't have to be alone, all right?"

I haven't commented on Perceval yet, but man do I like him. He's steadfast and quiet and reliable, and he has a dry humor I really appreciate.

Also, in my memories, the Perwaine wasn't as fast as that... I mean, Gwaine still has to work for it, but the way I remembered it, Percy acted much more later than at that moment. Welp. It's been a while since my last reading.

------

But Kay? Kay had his smile.

His smile was ice that never reached his eyes. Owain told him once that he smiled in combat, and that it was fucking scary and to please not smile when they were sitting down having a beer, because no one knew if Kay were going to snap at any minute and jump across the table to give someone a beating.

THAT'S MY BOY! Kay's POV, finally! At the risk of repeating myself : I love Kay.

------

There were times that Kilgarrah watched the two of them walk down the street together, each of them silent or in fervent discussion or even sharing a laugh, and he felt as if he should march out toward the two and smash their heads together until they saw sense.

Sometimes Kilgarrah is a cryptic bastard. And sometimes he's the number one Merthur shipper. Dragons, amiright.

------

If he hadn't known, this unusual, frightening ease was further evidence that Merlin Emrys was a Dragonlord.

TIN-TIN-TIIIIIIIN

When Kilgarrah's pov is the one that gives you some answers, you gotta ask yourself how complicated the situation is.

------

He knew who to assign based on the rudimentary sketch of each mission. Lance, Geraint, Galahad, Bohrs on the first. Perceval, Lamorak, Gareth, Pellinor on the second. Leon, Owain, Bedivere and Lucan on the third.

Aaand we finally have all the names of the team! No, because, up until now, we only had the names of 11 out of 16 men. Were missing : Lamorak, Bedivere, Lucan, Gareth and Pellinor. Now I can go on with one less thing on my mind.

------

Merlin folded the note and put it away, shaking his head, trying to figure out what the bloody hell Everything will happen as it should was supposed to mean.

Ah, yes, here's the cryptic cipher of the Dragon.

The mission in Kandahar is the fun one! We're finally getting rid of Gilli, we have more of Kay, and there's delicious Merthur content.

------

This is getting long, let's stop here and pick up the second half of part 6 in another post.

Part 5 | Part 6a | Part 6b

#loaded march #loaded march part 6 #merlin #merthur #merlin fic #merthur fic #merlin fic rec #merthur fic rec #merlin emrys #arthur pendragon #sir kay #perwaine #sir perceval #sir gwaine #kilgarrah #bloody dragons #rapha reads #rapha talks #loaded march reaction

[mst3kproject]

Countess Dracula

In Countess Dracula we have the tale of a lonely old woman who discovers that she can make herself young again, just so long as she doesn’t mind having to murder somebody to do it (she doesn’t).  Our antiheroine uses this newfound youth to seduce the least interesting man in the movie, until at last her misdeeds catch up with her when her latest victim turns out to have been the wrong demographic to make the magic work.

Does that sound familiar?  Yeah, this is a very Leech-Woman-y movie.  It stars Nigel Green, the news announcer from Gorgo, and comes to us from Hammer Studios, home of Moon Zero-Two.  The director, Peter Sasdy, never made anything that wound up on MST3K but he did work on the legendary Pia Zadora bomb, The Lonely Lady.  Countess Dracula is not a wild ride, as its pace is fairly sedate, but it is certainly a ride nonetheless.

The count of somewhere or other has just died, leaving his realm to his nineteen-year-old daughter Ilona – and technically also leaving his spiteful widow, Elizabeth, free to marry her longtime lover Captain Dobi.  Most people would consider this a perfectly acceptable retirement, but Elizabeth is impossible to satisfy.  She doesn’t want to grow old while Ilona (currently on her way home from finishing school in Vienna) rules the county and gets all the attention.  When Elizabeth discovers that bathing in the blood of virgins restores her youth, she embraces murder as a hobby and has Ilona locked up so she can stay in charge while posing as her own daughter!  In that guise she sets out to pursue handsome young Imre, the son of her husband’s most trusted general, while jealous Dobi can only sit and seethe.

I bet you think you can guess how this movie ends.  I bet you think Dobi tells Imre the countess’ secret, and the two of them defeat her.  Or else the real Ilona escapes and meets him, they expose Elizabeth as a fraud, and then get married and rule the land with justice and mercy or something.  That’s what would happen in a normal movie… but you guys know I don’t watch normal movies.  Maybe instead you’re guessing that nobody does shit and Elizabeth just carries on her merry way until she’d destroyed by her own hubris?  That’s more like it.

Not all of Hammer’s films were good, but they were generally pretty well-made and Countess Dracula is not an exception.  The elaborate costumes and sets are very nice, although areas like the town square are obviously artificial and the old lady makeup on Ingrid Pitt as Elizabeth is pretty bad.  There’s also a young woman made up in very ugly brownface as a ‘gypsy girl’, except they totally forgot to do any makeup on her for the scene where her naked corpse is discovered in the woods.

There are even a couple really well-done moments of storytelling and worldbuilding.  A scene in a pub, when everybody falls silent as Dobi and Imre enter, shows eloquently how terrified the peasants are of the aristocracy. Elizabeth gets some chilling bits when we see the true depth of her depravity.  She sees no difference between controlling people through love and controlling them through fear – either way, she gets what she wants, and their feelings don’t matter.  My favourite detail is the subtle cultural conflict going on in the background, as the characters speak disparagingly of ‘Turks’ and yet have clearly picked up some bits and pieces of Ottoman culture.

Although its plot outline is very similar to The Leech Woman, the philosophy of Countess Dracula is completely different.  The Leech Woman didn’t really give June a viable alternative to her poisoned fountain of youth.  Old women in its world can only sit around and drink and know that nobody loves them. Elizabeth, however, has a possible future – Dobi repeatedly notes that he’s been waiting twenty years for the opportunity to legitimatize his relationship with her.  He would have happily devoted himself to her for the rest of his life, and the two of them could have lived in retirement while Imre and Ilona gave them grandchildren to spoil.  Dobi even says there is dignity in age, directly contradicting The Leech Woman by applying it equally to both sexes.  June was more or less forced to become a monster, while Elizabeth chooses it explicitly.

So there’s honestly some pretty good stuff in this film.  Where it unfortunately falls on its face is with the characters, none of whom can really be said to have an arc, and the ending, which is rushed and unsatisfying.

The movie’s main focus is always on Elizabeth, but she refuses to grow or learn anything at any point.  She starts off as a nasty, selfish bitch and just stays a nasty, selfish bitch.  She has no actual master plan, but seems convinced that she can keep up this charade indefinitely, even though Dobi points out the impracticality of that.  Dobi believes she’s going mad, but the truth seems to be she’s just horrible.  She is evidently terrified of growing old, but that is never explored.  We see her react to aging, rather violently at times, but we never find out what the root of this fear is.

All this means that Elizabeth, despite being the focal character, is never sympathetic.  June in The Leech Woman at least started off as somebody we could pity, before she descended into depravity.  Elizabeth is a terrible person from the get-go, as illustrated in the very opening when she has her coachman run over a peasant who wants her to fulfill a promise her late husband made her.

Imre and Ilona are pretty much complete ciphers. Imre spends the entire movie in Elizabeth’s thrall one way or another.  He is madly in love with her in her guise as Ilona, and after finding out the truth he’s too scared of her to openly defy her.  The only personality trait he manifests is gullible foolishness, and any sympathy we might have had for him evaporates when he cheerfully kisses a barmaid’s tit on the same day when he’s proposed marriage to the woman he believes is his true love.  Ilona spends most of the movie locked up in some mute peasant’s hut doing not much. When she finally enters the story properly, she comes across as stunningly stupid.

The character who does the most to try to thwart Elizabeth is her lover Dobi, but he’s less interested in stopping her from killing virgins than he is in having her to himself.  He gets Imre drunk and tosses him in bed with the barmaid in the hope that Elizabeth will reject him, and later takes Imre to see Elizabeth bathing in blood to youthen herself.  These things don’t work, partly because Imre is an idiot and partly because Elizabeth is always more evil than he thought she was, but at least he tries.

At the end of the movie, Elizabeth’s latest bloodbath wears off in the middle of her wedding to Imre, and she runs off to murder Ilona in order to make herself young again.  Imre tries to stop her and gets stabbed for his trouble, which does at least expose Elizabeth’s evildoing to one and all, and she and Dobi are hanged. What happens to Ilona I’m not sure, but I know they didn’t have therapists in the seventeenth century.  Nobody wins here.  It’s a downer for everybody, including the superstitious peasants, who will continue to be terrified of their rulers now that their worst fears have been confirmed.

Several things might be made of the fact that it’s young women Elizabeth is killing.  It’s interesting to note that the idea of male virginity is never even brought up.  We could contrast two depictions of motherhood, in the form of Elizabeth’s jealousy of Ilona versus Juli the nurse’s unconditional love for her.  There’s Imre’s description of ‘Ilona’ as embodying all aspects of womanhood, to which Dobi replies that no woman can be maiden, mother, and whore all at once… yet that is just what Elizabeth is trying to be.  What I find interesting in this, however, is how the movie depicts Elizabeth’s own internalized misogyny, in the fucked-up attitudes she displays towards youth, beauty, and gender.

Elizabeth feels that age and experience have made her undesirable.  Dobi assures her that he finds her as attractive as he ever did, but she evidently does not believe him, and her mistreatment of her female servants has a definite note of jealousy in it.  She kills young virgins not only to gain their desirability, but because she hates them for what they have and she does not.

What’s unusual is that she applies this same attitude towards the men in her life.  Elizabeth is no longer attracted to Dobi, because he is old and experienced. Their affair has gone on for years, and in Dobi’s mind this has only deepened his love for her – but Elizabeth is tired of it and wants something new.  Imre is young, handsome, and innocent.  He has no wealth of his own and has not yet really accomplished much in life, but Elizabeth doesn’t care.  If all she has to be is young and pretty, then how could she ask anything more of him?

Here, Dobi and Elizabeth represent two different versions of gender equality as it applies to sexual attractiveness, with him raising Elizabeth to his level, and her lowering Dobi and Imre to hers!  Elizabeth treating the men in her life as she has been treated illustrates the inequality quite sharply, but what ultimately destroys her is applying the same standards to herself.  She believes so totally that nothing else matters as long as she is beautiful that she doesn’t care what she has to do to accomplish it, or who sees her do it.  In the end, she is undone by her own self-loathing.

#mst3k #reviews #episodes that never were #countess dracula #70s #magic voice recommends #we're running out of plots

[buckaroosboogara]

911 week - Day 3:

“ Whatever you do, please don’t look.” + hurt

(1600~ words, May and Athena. Tw: suicide attempt.)

@911week

May had been waiting for this day for months. 

Her ride-along with a police officer that was part of being a dispatcher at the 911 call center. 

Her mother was anything but pleased when she brought up the topic and said no without a second thought. 

But she wasn't about to give up, no. 

After all, she was a Grant through and through, both her parents' stubbornness was in her veins and she would make it, no matter what. And after weeks of negotiations, she did it. 

But she never wanted this to happen. May would have done anything to undo the day if she could. Now it was too late. 

Everything started when Maddie told her Officer Williams was outside the call center to pick her up.

Athena had requested him and his partner to give her daughter the ride-along, trusting him with one of her most precious things in the world.

She thanked the woman and looked for her jacket, her phone, and her face mask. Josh walked her to the elevator and wished her luck before she went down to the entrance floor and found the officer.

"Ready for the day Ms. Grant?" He asked and she rolled her eyes, placing her mask on her face.

"I know you since I was like 10 Matthew."

"Okay then, ready for the day, May?"

"Let's do this Officer Williams." May said, getting into the police cruiser. She fist-bumped Officer Vargas and she started her ride-along.

There were some light calls at first, some private property trespass, and noise complaints. Then some disorderly conduct and infractions and May was kind of getting bored.

But she couldn't give her mother that pleasure, so she smiled and nodded and listened to everything Williams and Vargas had to say.

They stopped to eat at a food truck and she got to chat with other officers, most of them rookies and their instructors, they told her about procedures and every single one reacted with a glow in their eyes when she told them she was Athena Grant's daughter.

She quickly learned that her mom was someone most officers spoke about, like a legend.

Then Williams got a call for mental basic life support and they got to go.

May never knew that even existed, so she asked Vargas about it.

"Well, we have to check on that person and see if they are okay or keep company if they are struggling, so they know there's at least someone there for them." He answered, and May nodded. Flashbacks of her own experiences appeared in her mind and she tried to stay focused on the present. "It's usually a family member or a friend that calls the mental health hotline and units get dispatched, maybe that's why you have never heard of it. In this case, the sister called, saying he hasn't spoken with anybody in weeks."

Five minutes later they were at the front door, the officers leaving May in the car just in case something went south.

She was on her phone when the car radio sounded with Williams' voice. "Dispatch, the 1-56 turned into a code 1-42, send an ambulance in case the person attempts suicide."

Her breath hitched.

1-42 meant suicidal basic life support.

Meant they were trying their best to keep the person from ending their life.

She didn't know when she was inside, the air hot and heavy with sobs and low voices echoing through the walls.

May took a deep breath. She could do it.

"May what are you doing here? I told you to stay in the car." Matthew's voice snapped her from her thoughts.

"I know how to help him." May pointed at the man who was holding a blade to his wrists. He looked around her age.

Officer Vargas sighed, "Fine, go ahead."

May nodded and reunited courage, she started to walk close to him but he exclaimed, "Stop! Stop right there! I don't want anybody near me!"

She stopped in her tracks and raised her hands. "It's okay. Okay."

The man nodded and some tears spilled from his eyes.

"My name is May, can I know yours?" She asked.

"T-Tony."

"That's a pretty name, Tony." May said, as calm as she could. "Tony, why don't you put that blade down and we can talk?"

"No. N-no I won't."

"Look, I know what you're going throu-"

"You lie, everyone who tells me that is lying!"

"I'm not. Look, when I was 14 I... I took lots of pills and I almost killed myself." May's voice trembled. "All I could feel was pain and I just wanted it to go away... I- I didn't think my life was worth enough to live. Like I wasn't enough. That's what you feel, right?"

Tony nodded. May could feel the officer's eyes on her back, but she was making progress, Tony's arms lowered slowly.

"I know you are at your lowest point. But there are so many things that are worth living for."

Tony scoffed "Like what? This miserable place I can barely pay for? My stupid job? The thoughts in my head that are always telling me to quit already?"

"Like your sister." May said calmly.

She remembered being in the hospital with her mom and Harry by her side. The little kid asked Athena if his sister was going to be okay and then held her hand.

'Don't leave me, big sister.' He had said.

A tear fell down her cheek in the present. "She is sick worried about you. But there's someone else worth living for."

"Who?"

"Yourself." May stepped closer to Tony. "You matter. There's no one else like you in this world, Tony. And I know there's a better place out there where you will heal and grow, and you will never feel like this anymore. I also had to learn it the hard way."

Tony seemed caught on her words, he still had hope. She made another step.

"But that will only happen if you let go of that blade and walk out of that door with me. Come on Tony."

Her cards were thrown, now it depended on the man if he would trust her or not.

The sound of the metallic blade hitting the floor made her let go of the air she was holding. She came closer to the man and held his hand.

"That's it. Okay? We are going to get through this."

Somewhere while she was talking, the firefighters and paramedics had arrived and waited quietly behind her. One of the paramedics she recognized as Hen passed her a blanket and she put it around the man's shoulders, telling reassuring words as the paramedics checked his vitals and placed him on a gurney.

Both walked outside together and she promised to visit him in the hospital later, he had a few self-made cuts that needed professional attention.

His sister was waiting for him outside and ran to check on him as soon as she saw him on the gurney. Both siblings were crying when they got into the ambulance

"Good job there May." Chimney patted her shoulder and closed the vehicle's doors before taking off.

"He's right. How are you feeling?" Bobby's voice sounded behind her. She turned around feeling her eyes puffy.

"I'm a little shaken up, but good. Thanks, Bobby." May assured.

Bobby hugged her. "By the way, here comes your mom."

"May, baby!" Athena's voice said and May grunted quietly. Bobby chuckled as he walked away to give them space. The 118 was waiting for him in the truck, ready to go.

"Hey mom," May said, ignoring the truck's honk and already thinking of the upcoming scold. 'May Rose Grant, are you insane? Disobeying the officers and walking there when there was an armed man?'

Instead, Athena rushed to hug her.

"Oh, May my baby! I'm so glad you are okay." She said, relief exuding from her voice.

May sighed and made a small smile. "I'm fine mom, I swear."

"Good, now let's get you home, it's been a hell of a da-"

It came out of nowhere.

First, there was a bang and then her mom shook. May could feel something like a knife cut through her upper arm and then she felt a sticky hot liquid on her hands, which were still on her mom's back.

There were bangs everywhere and Athena's radio went off with Officer Vargas' words, "Shots fired against the LAPD! I repeat, shots fired, 727-L-30 is down! Officer down!"

Her mom collapsed and her strength wasn't enough to keep her from falling to the ground.

"Mom!"

May took her hands from behind her back and saw they were bathed in red.

Blood.

"May. M-May, baby-" Athena made a strangled sound with her throat as she came out of the shock. She couldn't breathe.

"Mom no!" She looked at her mom feeling powerless.

All those manuals she had read and re-read, all her training, all her experience, all was worthless now because her mind was blank. She could hear muffled screams, the shots had ceased and the sirens were sounding far away.

"May, listen to me. I love you, okay? Now press on the wound and-" Athena coughed. It sounded like she was drowning and May hated it. "And whatever you do, please don’t look.”

May hesitated, "But-"

"There's no time for buts. Tell your brother that I love him. I love you both."

May tried to cipher the place of the injury with her tear-blurred vision. She found it and pressed hard, earning a yelp from Athena. She then looked at her surroundings.

She couldn't look at her mom, she was ordered not to.

"Mom please don’t die." Hot tears streamed down her eyes. Her body numb to the pain on her opened knees or her gushing arm, and when she found her voice again she used it mercilessly.

"Help! Please, help me! Someone please, I need help!" She sobbed looking up to the sunny LA skies, her throat already raw.

"Please help me!"

#I AM SO SORRY #the Tony thing wasn't on the plans it just happened #911week2021 #tw suicide #911 on fox #911 fox #may grant #athena grant #hurt #so much hurt #my fics

[fallen-gravity]

Safety in Numbers

A surprise gift fic for @artsymeeshee, because the art she recently posted of the Stan Twins cuddling warmed my heart and apparently inspired me to write..uh...almost five thousands words.

Don’t you dare tag this as a ship.

Summary:  Every great thing that ever happens to you is usually followed by something much, much worse.

You save the world from the apocalypse, you're convinced that you've lost everything and everyone you've ever loved.

You gain your memories back, you have nightmares so vivid that they fuck with your sense of fantasy versus reality.

It's a lose-lose, if you ask Stan.

AO3

Stan awakens to an alarm clock he doesn’t remember setting. Groaning, he sits up, eyes not quite open yet, and his back makes an ugly popping sound he knows he’s going to feel as soon as his body is fully awake. He blinks his eyes open slowly, and takes a few moments to re-familiarize himself with his twin brother’s old study room. He turns, to check the time and stop that infernal beeping sound, but his neck is so stiff that it makes him want to blow chunks. That’s what he gets for sleeping on a couch, he supposes, but he’s certainly slept on worse, and even if Ford did have a bed somewhere in the mess of a shack he chose to call home, Stan certainly didn’t deserve it, because people who are probably responsible for the death of their family don’t deserve nice things.

Grunting, he swings his legs off the couch, and stands so he doesn’t have to bend his neck in any more weird directions just to turn the alarm off. Its obnoxiously bright red letters blink 5:31am, and Stan scrubs a hand down his face as he punches the clock’s OFF button with the other. 

That’s right. The only reason he set the damn alarm in the first place is because a stubborn customer who couldn’t speak a lick of English refused to leave the gift shop until she found the perfect gift for her little kiddo back home despite the Shack having closed nearly half an hour prior. It’s the only time in his life he’s ever been grateful for the year he was trapped in Colombia, because he’s sure if he wasn’t able to heckle with her in Spanish her into leaving with one of everything, he has a feeling she’d still be wandering back and forth across the shop. Stan laughs to himself at the thought, and makes a mental note to make that sort of thing an attraction someday if he ever gets a customer as stubborn as she is again.

But no, that’s not what matters right now. He bends over to pick up a hairbrush that’d been carelessly tossed to the floor the night prior and runs it through his soft brown hair that he promises he’s going to get cut as soon as he has the time and money, and as soon as his hair manageable enough to brush through it without snagging on any tough knots, he carelessly tosses the brush over his shoulder and heads out of the room, navigating himself around the place with a flashlight. He’s aware that it’d make things much easier to just turn the lights on, but keeping the gift shop lights on all weekend is already burning a hole in his wallet, and he’s not sure he could afford the electricity bill if he left the lights in the study room on by mistake for even ten extra minutes.

When he reaches the staircase leading to the basement, he flicks the flashlight off and sets it down on the counter by the cash register. It’s much easier to navigate down the winding steps with both of his hands free in case he falls and needs to catch himself, and the faint blue hum of the portal is enough of a light source to show him the way to the basement anyway. He sits down at the desk, adjusts the framed photo of himself and Ford at boxing practice in high school, and pulls Journal 1 out from the hidden shelf in front of the monitor. He’d spent all of last week desperately looking for 2 and 3, but the harsh winter snowfall had cut his search short and he didn’t want to waste any more time when he could just try to get the damned thing working without them.

“C’mon, Poindexter, y’gotta give me something to work with,” he mumbles, opening the desk drawer and pulling out a pad of paper and a pen. “I spent weeks memorizing all of your fancy shmancy ciphers. That’s more than I ever studied in high school. You can’t ramble on for two whole pages about how to crack them and then switch to this…” he squints at the squiggles scattered across the portal’s blueprints. “...Cooky alien language, or whatever. This is real life we’re talkin’ here. This is your life we’re talkin’ here. It’d be a lot easier if you didn’t write this thing in Klingon, or whatever” 

Stan knows, at the back of his mind, that talking to the journal like it’s Ford himself isn’t going to get him anywhere, but in a weird kind of way, it makes him feel less alone. Helps a guy out from feeling too lonely, y’know? 

He chuckles to himself at his own joke, taking comfort in the fact that if Ford were here he’d probably be rambling off about how Klingon is one of thousands of different intergalactic languages and how he obviously wrote it in Hqjolvk, thank you very much, and Stan can’t help but roll his eyes fondly as he flips through his notepad. He’s tried everything, he’s tried translating them to whichever letter in the English alphabet they just happen to look closest to, he’s tried throwing sentences in gibberish into three different ciphers at once to see if he could get anything even relatively close to whatever it is, and even when he “bought” a book at the store on ancient hieroglyphics and ancient symbolism the closest thing he got was just a bunch of dumb numbers.  And even then, translating all of those dumb numbers back to English from a1z26 just hit him against another dumb wall. 

Frustrated, he throws the pad of paper against the desk and kicks off from its edge, sending his swivel chair flying backwards across the room. When the chair finally stops rolling, his gaze fixes on the portal through the window in front of the desk he’d just been sitting at, and it’s really only now that he’s looking at it from this distance, from this angle, that he notices….the same weird squiggles from the journal carved all over the circular ring in the center of the portal. 

But...if the weird squiggles in the journal came from the portal, and translating those numbers from the Egyptian book through a1z26 just gave him gibberish...could...could it be that easy? Could it be-?

“Coordinates!” Stan yells, jumping to his feet, and tears build in his eyes at the epiphany. “Sweet Moses, they’re coordinates! How could it’ve been so obvious?” he cries, and nearly trips over himself in excitement as he scrambles back over to the monitor,  and his hands are shaking as he flips through his notepad. Once he finds the page he’s looking for, he forces his hands steady as he enters the number into the keypad. 

The tiny, logical voice in the very back of his mind is screaming at him that it’s never going to work, he only has a third of what he needs, he really shouldn’t get his hopes up, but the slamming of his heart against his chest drowns that sound out as he frantically enters and re-enters the numbers when he’s sure he accidentally entered the wrong ones (damn his chubby fingers), and when he’s finally, finally certain he’s gotten them all entered correctly, he presses the dark red SEND button, takes a few steps backwards, and waits. 

For what couldn’t be longer than two minutes but feels like six hours, there’s nothing. Stan’s about to sigh, call it a good stopping point for the day and kick himself for getting his hopes up too high, but then a flash of blue lightning sparks from the portal and strikes the ground.

“HA!” Stan exclaims, pumping his fists in the air. “I knew it! I knew it! Nothing can stop Stan Pines!” 

He sprints into the portal room, pausing only briefly to grab the toolbox on his way in. Two more bolts of lightning strike against the ground with a loud pop as he enters, and the grin spread across Stan’s face rivals them in brightness. Kneeling down in front of the lever, Stan opens his toolbox and pulls out his lucky red screwdriver that’s gotten him out of his fair share of car trunks, and goes to work on fixing up loose bolts and that awful crunching sound the lever kept making the last time he tried turning it on. 

Three bolts emerge from the portal, and Stan is too ecstatic to notice their uncomfortably close proximity to his head. He stands, once he’s absolutely certain he’s got the lever all fixed, and puts everything he has into shoving the lever from its off position to the on position. 

He can hear the gears turning in the machine, and his heart is pounding so hard against his chest it makes his ears ring. He’s tearing up again, but he doesn’t care, just as long as he gets to punch Ford in the shoulder and tell him off to never scare him like that again when he emerges in the next couple of minutes. The circular ring in the center of the portal begins to spin, slowly, and those weird symbols carved along it start to glow blue. 

Stan nearly drops to his knees, but no, he can’t let Ford see him at rock bottom, and maybe that’s a little selfish, considering all of the places Ford’s probably been the past two years, but the last thing he needs Ford to see is how much he’s been killing himself working to get him back. The ring spins faster, and faster, and where there was once a hole in the center of the portal that leads only to the back wall of the room, there’s now a blindingly bright flash of blue light, and Stan is knocked to the ground by the kickback. 

He goes to stand again, but the sound of shattering glass turns his attention elsewhere. He looks behind him, and the lightbulbs in the other room are exploding like it’s nobody’s business. He’s lucky his hearing was heightened from the ten years on the street, because he’s just quick enough to hear the cracking of the bulb right above his head that he’s able to dodge out of the way of the shattered glass as it rains down towards him. He jumps to his feet, brushing his clothes off, but he’s horrified to see that the portal’s ring is beginning to slow to a stop with no twin brother in sight.

“No!” he cries, and sprints back into the other room to reenter the coordinates into the monitor. But it’s just his luck, because the monitor’s glass is shattered to pieces as well, and there’s a thin line of black smoke rising from it. “No, no no no! I was so close!” he shouts, and sprints back into the portal room. He switches the lever from on to off and back to on again, but nothing changes. 

When the ring comes to a complete stop, the bright blue light fades away, an ugly kind of rage boils in the pit of Stan’s stomach. “This is all your fault, you dumb machine!” he yells, and launches at the portal like it was a thug trying to rob him of his wallet, and starts punching it like there’s no tomorrow, like if he gave it enough left hooks it’ll obey him and spit Stanford right out to his side. 

He’s about to go in for another punch when he hears the sound of the machine’s gears turning again. He grins, rubbing his hands together, and steps backwards to watch the process in its completion. Four bolts spark from the portal this time, but rather than strike the ground, they lunge for him, and Stan screams in agony as they jolt through his whole body. He takes it as a sign that he’s probably better off watching the process from the desk in the other room, but when he tries to turn heel and run, five bolts of lightning reach out and snake around his leg before he can take another step further, and he collapses to the ground. Gritting his teeth to avoid letting out a choked cry of pain, Stan tries to inch himself towards the lever for support to stand up, but it’s as if the damned lightning  has the power to read his thoughts, because it shocks the lever with such a thick bolt of lightning that it fries the thing black.

The charge from the lightning gives the lever just the right amount of static charge it needs to reactivate properly, and Stan doesn’t notice the hum of the portal’s gears getting louder and louder until he finds himself floating off the ground. “W-whoa, hey! Hey! Hold on a minute!” Stan scrambles around at nothing in particular, hoping his feet or arms will snag on something and prevent him from getting pulled in. “Let’s talk this over! We can work together!” He must be losing his damn mind if he thinks bargaining with the portal like it’s sentient is going to do anything, but it’s the only option he’s got left. “I just want my brother back! You want to stay on, yeah? You don’t like getting turned on and off at random, right? I’ll-I’ll keep you on! As long as it takes for my brother to find his way home, I’ll keep you turned on! I promise!”

The machine, of course, does not respond, and the higher Stan gets off the ground the blurrier his vision gets. Damn fear of heights. He flaps his arms around as if he could fly, but nothing seems to work. He starts kicking, as well, to see if swimming towards the ground could work any better, but he still doesn’t budge. 

But that does give him the idea of kicking off of the portal itself, since it’s the only solid thing left, save for the ceiling, and Stan curls himself up into a ball to try and get himself to flip over. It works, thankfully, but when he turns his glance back towards the portal his heart drops to his stomach. Curling himself up had helped his body change directions, yes, but it also changed his course entirely. Rather than being sucked towards the edge of the portal’s entrance, like he’d been when he was hovering above the lever, he’s now heading right for the center of the portal with nowhere to kick off of. 

“N-No! No!” He shouts frantically, kicking his leg away from the cold blue substance the portal emitted. When he spares another glance backwards, his feet are already sucked inside, and the rest of him is quickly following. “No! Somebody help! Somebody!” he shouts, his own words painfully echoing those of Ford’s when he’d been in the same situation.

Ford,

If the portal manages to stay active after he gets sucked in, Ford’s gonna be able to find his way home, but he’ll be all alone, left to wonder what could’ve happened to him. Vaguely, Stan remembers Ford had been saying something about shutting it down for good, and his panicked flailing at the thought that he may be the one never coming again only makes his descent into the portal quicken. “Stanford!” he shouts, in the odds that his brother can hear his cries from the other side of the portal. “Stanford, do something! Stanford!” 

The blue substance within the portal is thick and flavorless as his head is sucked in. He closes his mouth, because he doesn’t want to risk suffocating on whatever the hell this stuff is made of, and closes his eyes for impact for the same horrors that swallowed up his brother just two years prior, and…

…

…

…

…

…

When he forces his eyes open again, he’s lying on a bed. An actual, decently sized bed with fluffy blankets and at least three pillows supporting his head and neck. He’s not sure he’s slept on one of those in….what, thirteen years, give or take, if he’s not including the bug-infested hotels? 

All of his burns from the lightning strikes have seemingly vanished into thin air, along with that gnawing hunger that never seemed to leave his stomach even when he had the time to eat more than a single meal a day, and though the air feels cool, it doesn’t feel humid and stuffy like Ford’s old lab had felt moments ago. 

The rest of his aches are gone, too, he realizes as he sits up, replaced now by a dull pain in his hips and knees that he supposes he could credit to getting sucked into a portal and falling thirty feet to the ground to...uh, wherever he is now. 

Is this where Ford’s been stuck all this time? It’s no wonder he never tried to find his way back on his own, because all things considered, this place is actually pretty comfortable. Maybe he wound up on a friendly alien planet, and some locals rushed him to the hospital to get him fixed up. But there’s no calamity outside his door like there usually is in most hospitals back on Earth, and there’s no weird tubes attached to either of his arms and not a sight of ace bandages anywhere on his body. And...is he…swaying back and forth? 

Stan glances down at his hands, and the rest of his body still wrapped in a thick comforter. No, it’s not him, he realizes quickly, it’s the room that’s swaying back and forth. If he squints hard enough, he can make out the foot of his bed gently rocking back and forth. Scratching at his head, he goes to stand up and investigate his surroundings, until he notices a round window next to where he’d just been laying his head, just outside of his current line of sight. He lies back down, and his breath nearly catches in his throat at the sight. 

It’s the biggest cluster of stars he’s ever seen his entire life, and if he looks close enough, he can see streaks of what he can only assume must be the galaxy itself. It certainly looks like the Earth’s skies, and when he looks again he notices the stars are reflecting off of… some kind of body of water? 

Ah, so he’s on a boat. That explains the swaying. There’s a twinge of warm nostalgia in chest at the realization, of the days two scrappy little boys from New Jersey would spend their afternoons working on a sailboat of their own, musing dreamily about the day they’d finally sail away from the dumb town. 

But...no. That couldn’t possibly be right. He got kicked out at seventeen, and Ford is god-knows-where in the universe. This must be some sort of sick joke, or an optical illusion that plays on his greatest dreams, or something. He turns away from the window, covering that half of his face with the blanket, and fully intends to fall asleep so he can bug the boat’s captain in the morning about where the hell he is and how the hell he wound up here in the first place. Just as he’s about to close his eyes, though, he notices a bulky, bright pink book sitting at his bedside table next to the lamp.

Well, he’s got nothing to lose, right? Maybe this thing’ll have some answers. He flicks the lamp on and sits up. The book is called MABEL’S SCRAPBOOK, and the title written in glitter pen in a child’s handwriting. 

He snorts in laughter. Maybe the book belongs to the captain’s daughter, and she left it in here by mistake. Still, it could help to learn more about the family keeping him captive, and it’s not like she’ll know he ever read it, right? He chuckles to himself at the thought, but as soon as he grabs for the book to place it on his lap, the feel and smell of the dried glue and paint on the cover makes him feel dizzy, and his head’s suddenly swirling with so many thoughts that he feels like he’s drowning.

Grunkle Stan, it’s me! It’s me Grunkle Stan!

There has to be something we can do! I know my grunkle’s in there!

This is our first day in Gravity Falls, and this is when you let me take the grappling hook from the gift shop! Dipper thought I’d never use it, but he couldn’t be more wrong. Zing!

Over and over, all at once, the voice of two….wonderful, incredible rascal little nuisance kids keep yelling at him in his head, and he slams the book back down against his nightstand. 

Damn memory relapses. Ford warned him they could happen, since McGucket had experienced a few of them himself before Stan and Ford left Gravity Falls, but Ford never said anything about the nightmares. Yeah, yeah, he could see it as a good thing, extra proof that his mind’s intact and they don’t need to worry that it’ll ever be gone for good, but nothing sucks more than nightmares that are so based in reality that they fuck with your sense of what’s real and what isn’t. 

Stan rubs his eyes, and stands up. He figures it’d be a good idea to step out on deck and get some fresh air. He has no idea what time it is, but maybe if he goes and stares at the stars long enough he’ll eventually feel tired enough to crawl back into bed. He flicks his lamp light back off, and he’s maybe three steps out of his bedroom door before he notices that the light in Ford’s bedroom next to his is still on. 

Stan pinches the bridge of his nose. He wants to be mad at Ford for staying up this late, and any other night he would tell him off and guilt him into sleeping by lying about how his light and excessive scribbling is what woke him up, but tonight he’s actually relieved by his brother’s dangerous sleeping habits, because talking out loud about his relapses and distinguishing real memories from fake ones always seems to widen the gap between his next relapse, and it certainly doesn’t help that tonight’s nightmare was about Ford’s disappearance. He creaks the door open slowly, to avoid activating Ford’s flight-or-magnet-gun-in-your-face response, and his mouth closes just as quickly as he’d opened it to speak. Ford’s desk lamp is on, yes, but his nerdy brother is not, in fact, hunched over with a thousand stacks of paper covering his face like he usually is this time of night.

Oh no. The lamp, it seems, was left on by mistake, because Ford’s curled up in his bed, fast asleep with his face half-buried in the pillow and his glasses tucked away in the drawer of his nightstand that he must’ve forgotten to close.  Rolling his eyes, Stan sneaks into the room as quietly as he can and flicks the light off so he doesn’t have to replace the lightbulb when it subsequently dies out in the morning. 

He turns heel, and he’s set on going back to his original plan of staring up at the sky until he feels tired again, but as he turns to close Ford’s door he gets another close look at his brother’s sleeping form and his chest warms with nostalgia at the sight as another memory, one from his childhood, resurfaces itself tonight. 

When they were kids, Pa was...never the comforting kind of parent. And yeah, while that was pretty obvious in that it was always Ma who helped patch up their skinned knees and splinters from the boardwalk and the occasional bee sting, there were times he’d be...more subtle about it, if that’s even the right word to describe him. If either of them came poking their heads in their parents’ bedroom after a nightmare, asking if they could crawl in bed and sleep with them for the night, Pa would always brush them off and send them back to their own room, giving them some excuse about the shop opening early tomorrow and how he can’t afford to lose any sleep in case someone tries to come in and rob them.

From a young age, Stan and his brother learned that it’d be easier just to stop asking Pa at all, and instead they’d resort to climbing into each other’s bed instead. They shared a bunk bed up until they were about fourteen, and they had this unspoken system going where if the other poked them awake or tried to crawl under their blanket in the middle of the night, they’d have to comply and let them in without asking why because it usually meant they were having bad dreams. Ford learned very early on never to hesitate for Stan, because he knew that if Stan was willing to climb to the top bunk despite his fear of heights that his nightmares must’ve been bad. 

Stan pauses, and wonders if Ford still remembers those times as well as he does. He hesitates, his grip still tight around the doorknob, until he recalls that it had been Ford who had asked him to accompany him to the arctic, and Ford who kept their childhood photo tucked away in the pocket of his trench coat.  

Well, here goes nothing.

Just as quietly as he’d been before, he tiptoes over to Ford’s bedside, and he’s thankful to find that there was still enough room for him to crawl under the covers without squishing Ford uncomfortably against the wall. Slowly, as not to jostle the blankets too much to wake his brother, he flips a corner of the blanket up, crawls underneath, and as soon as his head hits the extra pillow he’s out cold.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

If Ford had to complain about anything from his thirty year trip around the multiverse, besides, well...all of it, he’d have to credit the worst of it to his heightened hearing. 

Ages ago, when it’d just been two weeks since he was sucked into the portal, he taught himself to sleep with his eyes open, and he taught his ears to pick up on the tiniest of movements, even the wind blowing the leaves off a tree branch. He couldn’t afford capture, and if that meant he had to sacrifice sleep to assure it wouldn’t happen, then so be it.

He’d lost the habit of sleeping with his eyes open after all the time he spent with Jheselbraum, thank god, but he could never quite get over the habit of listening. Every time something creaked in the Shack, every time Stan or one of the kids awoke in the middle of the night in search of the bathroom, it’d wake him up in a jolt, and it’d always take him longer than necessary to fall back asleep.

The nights on the Stan O’ War II are usually the quietest and most peaceful nights Ford’s ever experienced since his childhood. Though he and Stan always spend their days tracking and hunting monsters, they’re always able to find quiet little seaport towns to dock their boat when they need a place to rest for the night where nobody makes a peep until sunrise. 

That is...until tonight. He’d been awake just a few minutes prior, mapping out the coordinates for the next monster they needed to track down and how long it would take for them to find it, but he finally got to a point where he had been so tired that his handwriting was starting to give up on him and he decided it was probably for the best that he just go to sleep.  Standing to stretch, he places his glasses in the drawer of his nightstand and didn’t bother with the lamp light because he could just replace the bulb in the morning if need be, and practically collapsed face first onto his bed and fell asleep. 

He heard mumbling coming from the thin wall to his brother’s room, and since their departure from Gravity Falls he’s become so used to Stan’s constant presence that it no longer bolts him awake. In a way it’s almost comforting, knowing he’s never alone on the vast sea. He shifts, when he hears his brother’s slippers lightly slapping against the deck, but dismisses that just as quickly.  

He can feel himself dozing back off to real sleep when he hears his own lamp click off and his bedroom door closing. Ah, Stan was probably coming in to check on him but left when he saw that he was already asleep. That’s fine; he did that a lot the week before they left for their trip. He’s used to it. 

What he’s not used to is the blanket getting ripped from his shoulders, and the bed making a dull creaking sound of...something  sitting on it. Baffled, he pops his eye open, ready to reach for his weapon in case some sea creature managed to slip on board and into his bed, but his heart rate eases when he makes out the familiar shape of his brother fast asleep in the other half of his bed.

The sight of it makes Ford want to laugh. 

He can’t believe Stan remembers. 

Closing his eyes, Ford shifts his position ever so slightly, like it’s a maneuver he’s been practicing for ages, and scooches himself closer to Stan without shaking the bed. He snakes an arm around Stanley’s shoulder, whose whole body seems to release itself of tension at the gesture. Unconsciously, Stan shifts himself closer to Ford as well, and snakes his own arm around Ford’s chest, like he, too, had been practicing the maneuver since they were separated all those years ago.

#my writing #gravity falls #stan twins #sea grunkles #artsymeeshee

[lykegenia]

Tea

Have another Wayhaven fic ヾ(＠＾▽＾＠)ﾉ

Leah likes tea, Nate likes tea... and it’s starting to look like they like each other.

Read on AO3

--

It was well past time I take a break, after hours and days of staring at the same witness reports and crime scene photos hunting for any shred of a lead, the trouble is, the station’s cramped kitchenette hardly promotes feelings of rest and relaxation. Aside from the stale odour of the tuna pasta bake Douglas brought three weeks ago for lunch despite the sign on the microwave, the drab Formica countertop is stained with years of spilled tea, the cupboard doors hang crooked, and the strained groan from the fridge seems designed to cause headaches. Still, it’s better than nothing – at least it is on the days the kettle’s working.

I’m busy filling it in the sink when Nate pokes his head around the door. “Ah, Detective.” There’s genuine warmth in his tone, which travels from his soft smile to the deep brown of his eyes as he sees what I’m doing.

“Here for a refill?” I ask, noting the mug in his hands.

“If you wouldn’t mind.”

With a shrug, I set the kettle on its stand and flip the button, relieved as the light blinks on and the telltale fiz of heating water fills the tiny space. When it seems like all danger of a short circuit has passed, I reach for the repurposed Tupperware in the top cupboard that serves the station as a tea caddy.

“Is the kettle going to bite?” Nate asks, amused by the leery eye I’m still giving it.

I shrug again. “It’s temperamental.”

“I see. I find the same with most technology.”

The observation brings a chuckle to my lips as I drop a teabag into my mug. It’s an impulse buy from a few years ago, totally black and professional until boiling water is added and heat reveals the serpentine image of a dragon on the side. It’s tacky, but woe betide anyone who uses it by accident.

I push the box towards Nate. “Have any you want.”

“Thank you.” He picks up a tin and gives it a pensive sniff, closing his eyes to savour the blend properly. Apparently it’s not up to snuff; he tries another. “In my experience with law enforcement, there’s usually a lot less variety than this.”

“When I started, we only had the cheap teabags that taste like ditch water,” I explain. “So I started a kitty. It’s mostly just me, but Tina likes the rose and hibiscus one.”

“Somehow I don’t find that surprising,” he replies, and I can’t tell if he’s commenting on Tina’s preferences or my stubbornness.

Eventually, with the kettle still struggling to fulfil its sole purpose in life, he selects a delicate white tea unadorned with any other ingredients – ironically the most expensive of the current supply – and fishes for a new mug in the cupboard. When he catches me glancing to the dirty one he left on the draining board, he offers a guilty smile.

“It interferes with the flavour,” he says.

“Ah.” He’s that level of tea snob. To stave off the awkward silence, I sigh, folding my arms as I lean against the counter. “You know, you’re the only one of your team I’ve ever seen eat or drink anything.”

He freezes. There’s an instant where the muscles in his jaw clench before he forces them to relax again. “Oh?”

“Not even a glass of water. I’d have thought Adam at least would have a protein shake or two hanging around to keep up with those biceps.”

“Perhaps you just missed each other?” he asks in a voice that’s far too casual.

“We’ve been working eight-hour days for the past week,” I reply, deadpan. “You’re telling me they don’t get thirsty?”

“It’s…” A sigh, and his palms splay against the countertop. “Tea and coffee aren’t the team’s preferred drink of choice – it wouldn’t be fair for me to discuss it.”

There’s a pause as I digest this non-answer. The kettle still hasn’t boiled.

“You’re very observant, Detective.”

“I should hope so, given my job description.” Remembering the bare piles of evidence waiting in my office, my attempt at humour falls into a scowl. “Not that it seems to be helping at the moment.”

“You’re doing your best,” he insists.

I shake my head. “I’m overlooking something. It makes no sense otherwise.” And there it is, the thing that’s really starting to piss me off about this whole case. My fingers have snagged the end of my braid but I drop it when I notice the tic.

“What do you mean?” Nate asks carefully.

“Whoever did this isn’t an amateur, but serial killers don’t deviate in their victims or their methods, only in escalation. And yet.” I bite my lip, deciding not to question why I find this particular stranger so easy to vent to. “We have two bodies from entirely different demographics, presenting differently, and the only connection is the strangeness in the blood. There’s a piece missing, and until we find it –” I stop, offering an apologetic glance before dropping my gaze. “Sorry, that’s nothing you don’t already know.”

What I’m not expecting is the gentle touch on my arm. My eyes meet Nate’s and I realise yet again how very tall he is.

“It’ll work out,” he promises, as I remember to breathe. “We’ll catch this killer, and Wayhaven will be safe again.”

“You’re optimistic.”

“It’s easy to have confidence in someone with such tenacity and attention to detail.” Something in his smile and the way he says the words gives them far more weight than should be found in a simple compliment.

“Well then,” I manage, “let’s hope that leads us somewhere.”

“Indeed.”

Behind us the kettle finally clicks off, breaking the moment. His arm drops back to his side as I pour for us both, and then reach back into the cupboard for the jar that comes into my hand only slightly sticky.

“Honey?”

“Hm?” Nate blinks. “Oh – not sugar?”

“There’s sugar too, if you’d rather have that,” I say. “Milk’s in the fridge, too.”

Yet again a smile curves his mouth, all suggestion. “I like the sound of honey.”

I clamp down on a smile as I dig for a teaspoon in the broken cutlery drawer. This time around the silence between us falls with an entirely different mood, my dragon glaring at me from the side of my mug as I stir the honey to make it dissolve.

“None of this is your fault, Detective,” Nate says suddenly, as close to blurting as I’ve ever heard him. “I wish we could be more help to you.”

It’s my turn to offer a smile. “Thanks, I –”

“Leah! Jackpot!” Tina strides through the door waving a manila folder above her head like a Labrador with a particularly fancy stick, her grin wide and triumphant. “Told you the records of that occult case were buried somewhere under all the dust – oh.” She stops. Glances between me and Nate. “Did I interrupt a moment?”

Heat floods my face. I knew it was coming, but it’s still an effort to force back the instinctive, childish no that would only make her take more of an interest. I’m used to my friend’s style of teasing but Nate… well. I wouldn’t want him to feel uncomfortable. He’s a guest here. I shoot him an apologetic smile without lingering long enough to register his no-doubt mortified expression and snatch up my tea as carefully as my panic will allow.

“I’m sure if you had, you’d be very sorry about it,” I huff, already reaching for the folder. “Let me see.” This could be the break in the case, the cipher that puts it all together.

And yet, as I try to reset my focus on the new information at hand, it’s somehow nowhere enough to mask the weight of Nate’s gaze on my back as I go.

#twc #the wayhaven chronicles #n sewell #nate sewell #nathaniel sewell #leah kingston #nate x leah #nate x detective #nate x female detective

[keirangoldenwatch]

🐕🍁🕸 for whoever is your favorite

My favorite?? How do you pick a favorite?? That's like picking between your--okay who am I kidding, t's Tenku'lohi. At least out of my SWTOR toons. :P

So that'll be her, Vector, and Kaliyo. Heheheh.

🐕 - Who is the most affectionate?

For physical affection, Kaliyo, simply because she gives zero karks about privacy or subtlety. For emotional affection, Tenku'lohi is always there for sweet nothings and gentle gestures, assuming she's somewhere she feels safe.

🍁 - How was their first kiss?

Tenku'lohi and Vector's first kiss was on the ship, just...in the middle of a friendly conversation. It was short, sweet, and turned the expertly-trained-in-seduction cipher into a blushing git. Just. Bright(er) pink, wiggling lekku, full on mess. And it was a very chaste kiss, too! He has that sort of effect on her.

Tenku'lohi and Kaliyo on the other hand was in the middle of a bar fight (started by Kaliyo), behind an overturned table, and was messy and passionate and might have cut Tenku'lohi's lip in the process. Drinking was involved. Neither of them regret it, but Tenku'lohi was wondering for a good day or so if it really meant anything.

🕸 - What does one do that scares the other?

There are times when Vector says something a little too out-there to be overlooked or seen as charmingly odd. Tenku'lohi can tell when he's not "himself" so to speak, and it's an unpleasant reminder when he says or does something entirely unlike "him" that the hive mind is still there, and still watching. It doesn't happen often, but still.

Meanwhile ninety-nine percent of the shit Kaliyo gets up to without care for her self-preservation or the lives of others scares Tenku'lohi. Tenku'lohi knows that without an anchor to keep her in place, she'd get herself killed by her own recklessness.

On the flip side...Tenku'lohi has moments that worry both of her partners. Even if she's free from the mind-altering chemicals that once controlled her, there's still a lot of deeply ingrained and incredibly dangerous training burned into her otherwise gentle self. More than once Kaliyo has tried to hug her from behind, only to almost get knifed on reflex. Tenku'lohi is quick to apologize when that sort of thing happens, but...there's a reason why on the list of people she trusts, she doesn't include herself.

#swtor #swtor oc #imperial agent #Tenku'lohi #vector hyllus #kaliyo djannis #ot3 things #ask game #press F for the imperial agent