#followed by the cat jumping on a surface we have specifically made it hard for him to get on and promptly knocking shit over

[antichristbf]

apparently, i’m not allowed to rest today

#fucking. one thing after another waking me up all in the span of 30 mins of each other #husband killing a bug (loudly) followed by the gross maintenance man banging on the door #followed by the cat jumping on a surface we have specifically made it hard for him to get on and promptly knocking shit over #and now one of our neighbors blasting the weirdest music ever. #i just wanted to sleep in a little bit #but it started an hour before my alarm and has just Kept Happening!! #relic’s rambles

[unhinged-summer-fun]

the art of second place

chapter 7: tendril loving care

Elder God!Boba Fett x f!Reader (22+)

“No one’s died from having your child, so I’m. Can we try? Right now?”

His head bobbed up and down, and he didn’t let the table in his way stop him from climbing over to pull your face to his in a kiss.

Summary: You’re a sacrifice to the god who created the world and all its pieces, but what’s at the end of your fate isn’t what you quite expect.

Rating: Explicit

Word Count: ~6.7k

Content warnings (overall): Tentacle sex, size kink, breeding kink, alien/strange genitalia, preganananancy, fatal religious sacrifices.

Chapter warnings: earning the breeding kink tag, earning the pregnancy tag, earning the alien genitalia tag, swearing, fucking, cum inflation, poetry

Crossposted to AO3. | AO2P Masterlist

Chapter 1 | <- Chapter 6 - Chapter 7 - Chapter 8 ->

You needed more time to process it. You compartmentalized like a professional, and quietly requested some space to absorb this. He looked almost saddened, that you didn’t react with either absolute disgust or absolute eagerness. You were as new to him as he was to you, you had to remind yourself. He never had a Magna in the Pocket, only subservient sacrificial Summas who were more grateful to be alive than curious about what kind of life they now had.

Nothing you looked through in the study seemed remotely helpful for this situation. There was no book of poetry, no ancient text, that could tell you what you should do next, save perhaps a few out-of-context lines from a book on alternative religion you suspected Boba kept around for personal amusement.

It is both Named and Nameless As Nameless, it is the origin of all things As Named, it is the mother of all things

Motherhood was the reason you were even down here. Abelina back up in the village, with all of her clever tricks and near-sighted scheming. You genuinely hoped she was doing alright, despite whatever bitterness you felt over those final ten days on the surface. Were you ready to make that kind of step? Did you want to follow in the footsteps of all the thousands of other women who’d stepped off the jumping block? Was it wise?

You caught glimpses of him, though this time it was you seeking solitude. You held your tongue before any nightly prayers, considering what to even say and finding you had nothing but questions. Prayers weren’t for finding answers, though, and your curiosity manifested in observation, the two of you quietly orbiting one another throughout the Pocket. You could feel him through the walls, in the walls, the whisper of his breath across your cheek though he never touched you. Three days, this went on. You’d worked out certain logical elements, accepting his truth as gospel, ironically, though you had your other questions as well.

The ambush happened at breakfast, as all your favorite moments were. Jittery after a long night of little sleep, you sat at the bench with your hands folded before you on the table. He turned to face you after finishing up at the stove. “Is this your interrogation, little cat?” he asked, crossing his arms and leaning comfortably on the counter.

“Nothing so aggressive. You’ve been forthcoming with whatever I ask, but I’m starting to see that there’s a lot I need to learn about asking questions.” He nods, but sighs.

“I could have told you everything, but you wouldn’t have believed me.”

“That time is in the past, Boba,” you said, not unkindly. “If there’s something you think I should know, just tell me.”

“There’s a whole lot of somethings,” he said warily.

“I do have specific questions, first.” The quirk of a smile pulled at the corner of his lips, and he bowed his head, signaling to you to start. “I know Meija was a large part of it, but why else did the Blessings stop?”

He takes a breath, considering. “The last thousand years have shown a marked change in Temple teachings, values. The Sacrifices were all incredibly naive, and innocent. Some even shook so hard they fainted upon hearing me speak. It made me uncomfortable to try and coax them into motherhood, or at least what qualifies as motherhood down here.” You nodded.

“When was the last?”

“I’ll answer your question, but first you should understand that my children aren’t always seen or appreciated by humankind. There are the visible ones, the three moons Meija and I made, trees and rivers and mountains from the adventurous, stars and storms and winds from the short-tempered, serpents and beasts and companions from the kind-hearted. Many of these things, humans have studied, categorized, the like. But there are others, smaller ones, unseen little miracles that are my children all the same.” He must have long ago reconciled that the mothers didn’t want much of any ownership over what they’d helped in creating, by the possessive note in his words. “There are elements and minerals too deep in the ground to be studied, there were important parts of the ecosystem which went extinct thousands of years ago, the only things remaining are their bones.

“I learned over the centuries, certain things about the process. How much they wanted to be here, be a mother for me, affected the outcome of their children, but the process affected them as well.”

“What do you mean?”

“Most mothers had stars, the ones that were uncertain about their commitment. They’re flung to the far reaches of the universe, smaller than a speck of sand to anyone on earth. Meija stayed longer than anyone, and she gave me three moons. I have so much poetry about our children, it. I was. She. I suppose she was always a bit out of reach of me, in the end.”

“Is... is there an emotional connection, between you and your children?” you asked carefully.

“Yes,” he said emphatically. “Seeing, being there for each birth. It was... It’s one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen.”

Your heart had started to race, leaping into your throat and wanting to take the reins of your tongue, wanting to ask for something you didn’t know the extent of just yet. You bit your tongue and nodded. “So there have been some, after. Blessings we don’t see.”

“There were a few. But overall, those mothers were few and far between. The last few scores of sacrifices dropped in my living room hadn’t even had sex, or pleasure. I couldn’t make that choice for them.”

It astounded you, to hear a god acknowledge the severe power imbalance in these relationships. While part of it still slightly reeked of dubious ethics, you supposed this was a ‘greater good’ type of deal. And if the changes that affected the mothers only happened in the boundaries of the Pocket, all that was done to them would have been undone when he’d sent them back up to the surface, like Meija wanted.

It also saddened you, to hear his willful acceptance of his eternal solitude. You wanted nothing more than to go to him, but the hard wood table between you two reminded you of your goal.

“Why not tell the Temple, then? To find willing earth-mothers, instead of clueless Sacrifices?”

He gave a laugh, and turned to the stove to plate up your breakfast. “Bureaucracy seems to have more power than I do, these days. From what I understand, as things were turning to a more conservative approach in the Temple, they took their power through control of information and knowledge, not through knowledge-seeking itself. That kind of cloak-and-dagger manipulation is difficult to undo, in such a powerful institution. It would take... a lot more than I am capable of, to change them.”

You saw the fire in his eyes, the distaste at the injustice on the surface. Boba was a person who craved the opportunity to repair things, you reminded yourself, and for his hands to be tied so must have been a long-simmering point of frustration. You changed the subject, after giving a hum of agreement.

“So the typical mother, not that I’m trying to generalize any of them,” you added quickly, “Would come down here, get the schpiel, have a child with you, and then take the out instead of spending eternity with you?”

“Pregnancy isn’t exactly comfortable, princess,” he said, rolling his eyes and handing you a plate of eggs and toast. You saved the toast for later, knowing it would have had at least some latent orgasmic nonsense in it. “They considered it a duty, a lot of the times. I feel—” He cut himself off abruptly, a stony expression crossing his brow.

“What is it?” you asked gently, reaching out to take his hand. “You can tell me.”

“I feel indebted to each and every one of them. They walk through the spirit dimension with no regrets because—” his voice cracked then, and your heart felt the same way. “The only time I know I was ever happy was when I was crafting the world with another.”

Your heart fell, and you stood, abandoning your breakfast to come closer to him. “Boba...” you said, but you were unsure of what you could possibly say to begin to comfort him in his immense grief. Instead, you did the one thing you knew you could: you were there for him. You wrapped your arms around his shoulders, and pulled him close. He felt stiff for a moment, before realizing you were embracing him, holding him because you wanted to. His arms came up to wrap around you, and you found yourself pulled into his lap with a little squeal. His tentacles kept you supported, but you didn’t let go once.

“Do you have any other questions?” he asked after a while, his voice sounding a little ragged.

“No, not right now,” you said, a quick and merciful lie. “Why don’t you ask me some questions instead, while we eat?” you suggested, kissing his cheek and forehead, anywhere you could until he smiled.

“Thank you,” he whispered against your skin before you stood. You knew it meant more than he could say, so you said nothing. “You mentioned you were at the Temple since you were a girl? Do you remember it?”

“I was orphaned. I don’t remember too many things about my parents, only that they seemed to frown over a great many things. They certainly raised a stoic little six-year-old by the time they died.” He didn’t try to placate you with soft condolences. Death was part of life, he would know.

“You couldn’t have always been so by-the-book. You must have rebelled against the priestesses at some point.” He smiled and took a bite of breakfast.

You narrowed your eyes. “For a while, I was,” you admitted, drinking your tea sassily. “But that changed when I made Magna.” They start ranking the classes in the tenth year, and you’d been Magna (or briefly, Summa) for most of the decade after. “My counselors were so upset with me, I could never choose a focus.”

“That just means you’re a jack of all trades.”

“Oh, I mastered quite a few. I took to the physical sciences rather well, but I was pulled by social sciences, by arts, a fair few times. The issue with the class structure at the Temple, of the great very many issues at the Temple, was that you needed to stick with a focus for good in order to be taught it. I kept jumping around, but I made up for my gaps in knowledge in the library.”

“Art?” Boba asked, and you grinned. Of course he would have caught that bit.

“I love consuming art. I never make it myself. I’m a bit like the sarlacc in that way, always eating.”

“She’d be very pleased to hear your comparison, little cat,” he grinned.

You spoke back and forth for a while longer. You realized you were having so much fun because you were learning new things, even though you were just making conversation.

“I can fix the instruments, but I don’t know how to play them.”

“If you find some cotton, I’m sure we can teach ourselves how.”

It was like any other conversation with a new friend you’d ever had, though neither of you had met a single person that was like the other.

“Do you make art of your own?”

“I can sketch, and I can restore most damage I come across when need be. I haven’t really felt the need to paint my own canvas. I’m more interested in what others make.”

“Did you feel that way with Earth One?”

“Absolutely not.”

Boba had a quick wit, and the sharpest humor you’d ever encountered. For someone who hadn’t done much but float through the halls of the Pocket and sleep for the last thousand years, you were pleasantly surprised with how quickly he took to banter with you.

“What did you do with the mothers before Meija?”

“The world was younger, then. I could trust them to keep things secret, and I checked up on them whenever I had the energy.”

“They’re lucky. There are far too many absent fathers in the world, it would be a shame if the father of the world were one as well.”

“Sure I’m not a shame anyway?” he asked, clearly joking, but you could see the thread of fear, of uncertainty, of insecurity, behind his eyes.

“I’ve never been more sure of that.”

Time, it seemed did funny things while in the Pocket. You were certain that while there was some sort of stasis to the whole place, there was enough evidence to convince you that time did, in fact, pass down here. The plants in the orchard grew. The days cycled on the usual night-and-day you were always used to. The stars moved in the observatory, and the phases of the moons changed.

And you were going to have your period.

Your breasts ached when you woke one morning, too heavy by far, and sensitive even against the soft linen of your shift. You just wanted to roll back into bed and go back to sleep, morose already. Though, the familiar symptoms preceding your cycle made you sit upright in bed once more.

Oh fuck.

You counted back the days, remembering that your last period had ended just before the Rites. Twenty-five days.

“Oh fuck,” you said out loud.

When your feet carried you, half-dressed, into the kitchen for breakfast, it took Boba a moment to catch your attention. You were staring back out at the orchard, where the strawberries had started flowering in one quadrant. “What?” you asked, still far-away.

He tilted his head at you curiously. You’d always been sharp-minded, attentive around him, except when he’d had one of his cocks inside of you, of course.

Okay, where did that come from.

Boba’s eyebrows shot up, and an amused smile fell over his lips. “You’re fertile.”

Your face heated instantly. “Don’t-don’t say it like that!” You exclaimed. “How the hell do you know!?”

“I know.” His tone held mystery and no small amount of smugness, for which you were not amused. “I can conjure something for you if you want to take care of it, or...”

The memory of your conversation a few days prior sat in the room, unspoken but—okay, it was spoken fairly quickly.

“Could always get you pregnant.”

“I could always have a baby.”

You’d spoken at the same time as him, and you both tried to hide the surprised smile. Boba took the pan off the stove and came to sit with you. This was a sitting conversation.

“So you want to?” he asked, keeping his tone neutral, his emotions out of it. You remembered the pain in his voice from before, though. The only time I know I was ever happy was when I was crafting the world with another.

“I’ve got a few questions—”

“The whole process takes about a month, on average. The cycle between moons, I think. It was easier to tell when there were actual moons to count by. Sometimes we could tell what she was going to have. The symptoms line up a little bit but for the most part it’s a guessing game until the child is out, and if you’re having a mountain, it’s not like you’ll actually need to accompany a—”

“Boba.”

“—whole mountain range inside you, though the mountain-mothers did step with a heavier tread some days, and—”

“Boba.”

“I can get you any food for any craving, the fauna-mothers gave me a run for my money some days, though—”

“Boba?”

“Typically flora grow taller and like spending more time, even camping, in the orchard, and—”

“Boba Fett, hear me speak!”

He shut up, a little astounded.

“I do have questions, of which I know you will answer very well. But we have plenty of time to talk about that after you knock me up. Otherwise we’ll be here until my next cycle starts.”

His lips formed a little ‘o’ when he realized you were right, and your logic sound.

“No one’s died from having your child, so I’m. Can we try? Right now?”

His head bobbed up and down, and he didn’t let the table in his way stop him from climbing over to pull your face to his in a kiss.

His mouth plundered like the warlords in his history books. His tongue seared poetry into your mouth like a sculptor’s chisel, and you felt like nothing you’d ever felt before. A wanton moan left your lips at the ferocity in his passion, followed by a yelp as he pushed you out of your seat and onto the floor. The pain of the tiles beneath didn’t come; you were surrounded by his tentacles as if you’d simply leaned back into them. Boba didn’t once stop kissing you as he lowered you to the floor, pushed your skirts up over your hips to leave you exposed. Even in the warm air of the kitchen, the burning oven just a few meters away, you shivered in anticipation for what was coming next.

You hoped it was you.

His hands pushed your legs apart, but his tentacles kept them open, securely tying your body open for him. The easy show of his strength, the grace he controlled his movements with, made your breath catch in your throat, and your heart pound. Lightheaded, you could only make a confused noise when he pulled back from you, kissing down your body. It was then that you realized some of the other, defter tentacles had unlaced your bodice and skirt, tossing them away from your body with more ease than it took to pull them on. When your naked body was bare before him, he loomed above you, haloed by the low lanternlight above you.

The ceilings in the Pocket were difficult to look at. When Boba had created the Pocket, there weren’t yet places with roofs or ceilings yet made by man. As Boba didn’t spend too much time on the surface in the creations of man, his subconscious was left to fill in the blanks all around his inter-dimensional domain. As such, the ceilings were more theoretical than anything, the way looking directly at the smallest light in the darkness would make it disappear.

But looking up at him like this, you could tell that his subconscious was having a difficult time maintaining all the constructs of the Pocket around you. The ceiling fell apart into a pure black void, dotted with stars in the form of the kitchen lanterns. Their light, portals all, flickered and twinkled in the same way as his celestial children. As the light left the top of the room, it seemed to collect around his head in a perfect circle, rays of light spreading like outstretched arms where his scars marred the shape of hi head.

He was glorious, resplendent, and looked like more of a god than you’d ever seen him before. It left you breathless and in awe, like you could never look away and remain happy the rest of your life. It made your heart surge, and with a great feat of strength, you sat up to touch him, to kiss him, to show him the ferocity of your passion and love. It pulled a moan from Boba, and you were instantly drunk on the power that gave you; Boba may have made the world and all its wonders, but you could make him moan with just a kiss.

Had he knees, you would have brought him to them.

Your kisses lessened in their frenetic pace, slowing to a rhythmic sort of passion, the rhythm of a fire. You undressed him by hand, fumbling in places, but you refused to ask for his help, to whine for his form. He’d undressed, undone you. You wanted to do the same to him. Trappings fallen to the floor, you witnessed him up close.

In the bath several weeks ago, you’d only caught a glimpse of his naked form when he’d slipped in beside you. Now, neither of you had nowhere to hide, nothing to hide. His scars ran deep, in thick, raised gouges like the raised points of a globe of the world, denoting mountains the way his body denoted pain and past. There was no consistency to the shape. They could have been burns, could have been cuts or slashes, could have been pieces ripped from him, but you couldn’t tell. You supposed, fingers brushing over a puckered pink line over his heart, that celestial wounds took longer to heal, and bore no semblance to the kind you found on the surface.

He watched you observe him, inspect him, explore him. He guarded his expression well, but you knew him enough by now that he was most likely simmering with anxiety. You leaned in, locking eyes with him for just a moment, before laying a kiss over that scar on his heart. You prayed a little, for his healing, and for his comfort.

Boba whined, and you remembered that he could hear your prayers plain as day. His hands shook and his whole body seemed to tense, then melt at the soft wish you’d made. “Princess,” he breathed. “You know I can’t fulfill that prayer.” He sounded so resigned, but with a tinge of genuine frustration, that he couldn’t make your wishes come true, not even for his own betterment.

“Prayers aren’t always for getting the things you want,” you whispered back, holding his face in your hands. “They’re for reminding us of our heart’s direction.”

Something soft and unreadable filled Boba’s eyes, something shimmering gold in the dark brown depths of them. Like stars, you thought for a single moment before he kissed you again.

And like the first, like the second, the third was different from all the others. With how precisely he moved, it was like he was speaking spells against your lips, declarations and confessions only understandable in this language, the one that needs four lips to speak.

“You want me to get you pregnant?” he murmured at long last, breaking the hazy silence. You blinked, righting yourself again, before nodding.

“I want to bear your child, Boba,” you whispered. “Please.”

He cupped the back of your neck in his huge hands and kissed you again, before nodding and laying you down again, on the soft bed of his tentacles. He kissed down your body, starting from your shoulders, to your naked breasts, to your tummy, over which he placed a few longer kisses, near-silent whispers, to your womb. Your face flushed hard in embarrassment for how wet the gesture made you, arousal slicking your thighs and the tentacles supporting your lower half.

Boba didn’t miss a thing; he kept your legs held wide, every part of him wrapping around every part of you, but he didn’t press in with one of the red tendrils as you’d expected. No, instead he pressed his mouth to you, a hot tongue scrambling your every thought in a hurricane of feeling. Your astonished shout didn’t alarm him whatsoever. Boba knew pleasure, he knew his way around a dripping cunt better than probably anybody else in history. While that should have worried you, should have made you doubt your own ability to please him, his satisfied groan at the taste of you dashed those thoughts as well.

He ate you like it was you who was getting him drunk, the tables flipped from the first time he’d fed you. His eyes were closed - no, hooded, like he was drowsy or enchanted by your pussy alone. You gave him another deep moan, legs shaking as he did something with his tongue that made your blood sing. It was like every heartbeat of yours pushed you a mile closer to the edge. By simply breathing, you would come harder than you ever thought possible. Boba’s hands, his tentacles, they were all experts at your body from the word go, but his tongue seemed to convey that sense of neediness, of mutual pleasure, that sent you over the edge that much faster.

When he felt your walls flutter and clamp down on him, he withdrew his tongue from you, fucking you with his slick fingers, with another tentacle which had come to play. You gushed around them, mindlessly babbling and near tears with pleasure. “That’s it,” he murmured, his voice wrecked and low. “That’s it, good girl, c’mon princess, let go for me.”

When his touch became just a bit much, just on the wrong side of overstimulating, you didn’t even need to tell him to convey it. He pulled his hand and mouth back, leaving just the tentacle inside you, pulsing and long. It wasn’t as thick as the others he had used on you before, but you suspected he was working you up to something bigger than you’d ever taken. His tentacles moved your hair out of your face, sweat-drenched and messy from your thrashing. You croaked out his name - you must have been screaming his name. He chuckled, voice still dangerously sexy.

“Alright there, little cat? You’ve gone quiet again.”

You wanted to bite back at his little barb, but you were so well-fucked you couldn’t summon the effort. You simply melted against him, and suddenly you were moving.

He left your clothes in the kitchen, strewn about as if you’d simply disappeared from them between one second and the next. The ceiling put itself back into place, and you smiled as he carried you across the courtyard to the bedroom. He wisely avoided the winter quarter of the orchard, keeping you warm and comfortable so you could ease into what he had planned next.

When he set you on the bed, he laid next to you, like two lovers would. It seemed so... normal, amidst all the fathoms of the unnatural here in the Pocket. You smiled at him, easy and bright as you never had quite gotten the hang of on the surface. Boba seemed to almost glow with happiness, kissing you slowly again and wrapping his body around you once more. “Are you sure about this?” he asked again, and you gave a dazed nod, realizing his mouth still shone with your slick, with your cum.

“Want it. Want you.” Your heart took the reins of your mouth, and you shivered at the truth of the words. He was so close you could hear his breath catch. You were more than eager to hear that noise again, so you continued. “Want you to fuck me full, breed me.”

His answering moan confirmed your suspicions, that he was just as eager for this as you thought, not only for the happiness he spoke of, but for the thrill of this incredible moment of creation, of life once more. He pressed his face into your neck and nodded, acknowledging your wants, your pleas. “I’ll do that, princess, just for you.”

Those three words, just for you, made your heart sour with meaning, and you didn’t mind a bit that they weren’t another three promised by all the poets. You knew they came in many forms, and from a god, in extremely mysterious ways than any soul on the surface could.

You gasped when he held you open for him again, and you didn’t need to look down, didn’t need to look anywhere but him, as he filled you up, the slow, never-ending press of one of those thick tendrils inside of you making you shudder, but you still did not look away. He watched you with the same intensity, like he was waiting for you to rescind your consent at any moment. You wanted to scrub away that fear from him, wanted him to know that you were his as much as... as...

As much as he’d let you be. That was a safer fact to rest upon.

When he split you apart this time, it was with several of those red tendrils at once, stretching you wide and fucking you deep. Like before, he didn’t so much as rail into you as he did pulse, writhe within you. It seemed like it went against your baser nature, your thoughts on procreation more associated with feral rutting against one another. But this was nowhere near natural, you reminded yourself. This was how the god of all life and creation on your planet fucked.

He did not leave you wanting, for a single moment. He kept you full, as promised, and that second promise on the heels of the first made you feel like he’d already bred you. When some beautiful ridge of him rubbed against the front of your walls, on a spongier spot he’d worked with his tongue and fingers before, you squealed, legs going rigid at the sudden feeling. He gave a deep laugh at your reaction, and your wide eyes met his again. In the cool purple light of the bedroom, those brown eyes looked black with lust and desire, deep and dark enough to fall into.

You pulled him down for another kiss, whining your pleasure into his mouth as the three tentacles inside you worked in unison. One kept scraping deliciously against that world-shattering spot inside you, another pressed as deep as it could, and another moved in the facsimile of a cock, most likely for your own pleasure. If you’d been able to speak, you would have told him off for not fucking you how he wanted, but as it was, you could only gape at him like a fish out of water.

“That’s right,” he purred again, breath hot against your lips. “You take it. You take all of me, like a good girl, and I’ll give you what you want. You wanna carry something of me inside you so badly, don’t you. You want it so bad you’re nearly crying for it.” To prove his point, he leaned down and kissed away the tears sliding down the side of your face, not from pain or sadness, but overwhelming pleasure. When he kissed you again, you could taste the salt of them, and the tangier taste of your own cunt. You supposed fair was fair, you’d gotten just as drunk off of him as he was on you. It made your pride surge, in some part of your mind that could still process all of this.

“I’ll know when it takes, princess. And I’ve got enough in me to make sure you don’t leave this bed until it does.” His voice had dropped to a near growl, like stones passing over one another just before a rockfall. You keened, arching up into him and off the bed, and Boba dropped his forehead to you. “You ready?” he asked, and behind the passion and fire in his eyes, you could see the genuine question, the warning: last chance.

“Please,” you sobbed, the first word you’d said since asking him to breed you. He nodded, a subtle movement against you as he tore your synapses apart with pleasure. The graceful motion of his tentacles inside of you twitched once, twice, and then shivered all over, all at once, as they jockeyed for position against the tight muscle of your cervix. He shouted in pleasure as he came, and you could only look down at yourself, watching your body inflate with his seed. You nearly saw spots dance in your eyes, inverted stars, as he finished, leaving your belly slightly distended. If you weren’t bred from that, you weren’t sure how much else would fit in you.

He stayed inside of you, bearing down onto his forearms to cage you in, as if you’d ever leave. He kissed your lips lazily, the heft of him pressing against your body and making you moan, more thick gushes of his cum flooding your body. “Perfect,” he whispered. “You’re perfect.”

When your heart slowed, he still hadn’t pulled out of you, keeping his seed plugged up. “Boba,” you whispered, part of your voice returning to you. He looked up, cheeks still flushed and expression still open and sated.

“Yes?” he asked, just as quiet.

“Thank you,” you said, and for what exactly, you weren’t quite sure, but you knew that this feeling of safety, this pleasure and affection you received, made you feel better than you ever had in your life. You felt... well it was silly, but you felt closer to your god here and now than you ever did at the Temple, and you were pretty sure none of the priestesses in black ever felt this close, not ever. He rested his head against you, like you were something more than just a human to him, like you were more than a means for more children, and you realized he’d never made you feel that way, even at his angriest.

“Stole the words from my mouth,” he said, chuckling. His eyes were closed, and you felt... radiant. It was a feeling you’d get used to.

When he finally pulled out, a thick, hot gush of his cum left with him, and you canted your hips up in a vain effort to try and keep it all in. He didn’t laugh at you, he just helped your hips with a pillow tugged from the side. He didn’t seem to mind the mess, so you didn’t either. Things were silent again between you, both of you looking down at your slick, swollen lips. “What now?” you asked, a little apprehensive about the next steps.

“We wait a little, and see if it took.”

You frowned. Even up on the surface, it took months before a pregnancy would show, and at least several weeks before any of the tests would indicate pregnancy or not. “How long does that take?”

“I’ll be able to tell in an hour or so, so get comfortable.”

“An hour?” you asked incredulously. He nodded, shifting about to at least tidy up the sheets and pillows knocked around in your lovemaking.

“Typically,” he shrugged, back to his usual flippant self. He seemed to get a kick out of frustrating you, which you knew. “Would you like me to read to you?”

The question took you off guard. “What?”

It was his turn to look flustered, now. “When... when others would stick around and try with me, they tended to get antsy just waiting. I believe the anxiety would make it difficult for them to conceive with me, and later carry the child. I try to keep the mothers as relaxed as I can, and... many of them liked my voice.” He seemed almost embarrassed to admit it, self-consciousness shriveling inside like a wilted flower. You touched his hand.

“Do you have any poetry?”

Boba read poetry in a very different way than you were used to. He had opinions about the verses, and would almost have conversations with the poets as he went. You suspected he read out loud to himself when he was alone, but hadn’t had the confidence to do so when you were in the Pocket. You didn’t mind, hearing his ramblings. It wasn’t often that he had none of the answers, and it was amusing to see a god ask why of man, instead of the other way around.

“She flirted with life / and life flirted right back with her, / as if all the universe / came more alive / just for her / and everything felt her glow. / It was / in the dew / in the stars / and the colors of the sky— / they all shone / as bright as they could / in the hopes / to catch her eye. Now this author, he doesn’t like to rhyme, he takes a freeform, fenceless approach to poetry that I haven’t quite decided if I like or not, and I’ve read all of his books about a hundred times—”

You only smiled at his ramblings, nodding when he looked over to you for your opinion, and he would turn back to the words on the page, pointing out similarities and inconsistencies among the verses.

“He talks about love like it will drown him, like it has hurt him and his lovers, he talks about life as if it—here. Down in the cellar were / A hundred dusty bottles / from a hundred different years - sounds like my kind of friend - We’d open barrels to spill / just enough for a glass - wasteful. Parties and friends aren’t places for moderation. The red would drip down the oak / and with our fingers we’d feel the wood / and the wetness of the wine / and for a moment the world would warm / and we’d know somewhere in that feeling / was life as it was intended. I think that’s making something out of nothing, because humans invented wine, not me. And when I was creating life, it was more just a reflex, the first time...”

He spoke so nonchalantly about his creations, about the people in his world, like they were neighbors, instead of thousands of generations past when he’d first gone to sleep. You wondered to yourself if you had ever been a poet, if your words would end up here, if he’d talk to you about the finer points of your experiences, your loves and losses.

You sat up, a little, to snatch the book from his hands. He still stumbled over five or six words by the time his mind caught up. You bit down on your smirk and landed on a longer poem. Most of this author’s works were closer to parables, words of wisdom and quick observations about the nature of the world, but you liked the way this one started, with two simple words.

“Love is / throwing yourself into a stormy sea / hoping there are arms to catch you / knowing that without the leap / there is only the safe / and lonely shore. Considering the famous poet who drowned herself by tossing herself into the sea at losing her love, there’s also the likely possibility of the safe and lonely shore being the stormy sea of a life without love. And the salvation is in the undoing.” You were talking out your ass, of course, but the way Boba’s eyes sparkled with attention made your tongue nearly tie itself in knots. You had to look away, to the harmony of ink and paper again.

“What else?” he said, almost making you lose your place, physically and metaphorically.

“I want to know every part of you, / every—” You stopped for a moment, eyes tracing the rounded shape of such a sharp word. “Every scar, / every bruise, / I want to trace the map of you, / my fingers a compass, / your freckles the constellations—” Your lips stumbled a little, but he didn’t dissuade you from continuing. This poem was a nightmare for your nerve. “Constellations / which in my heart I will chart / so when I close my eyes...” You looked up at him for the last line. “I’ll have you in my stars forever.”

It was like the string keeping you apart snapped, then. He surged forward, knocking the book out of your hands as he kissed you so thoroughly your head spun. You were trembling, or maybe he was, maybe you both were - you couldn’t tell up from down by the flips your heart and mind were doing, as one and out of sync all at once. “You are...” his voice shook while he spoke, emotion clawing up like blood from a wound, as though his mouth could speak what his heart wanted to say.

Then, his eyes took on a sharper quality, none of the glassy, misty look he had just before. They broke away from you, and he turned to look down between your legs. He moved in a smooth slide down to where he’d been inside you just before, and to your astonishment, pressed his face between your legs. You would have called out his thorough distraction had he not pressed a hot lick between your lips, over your entrance, and moaned, closing his eyes and resting his head against your thigh.

“What is it?” you whispered. His lips curled into a wide, dopey smile, one you couldn’t help but mirror back at him. You held your breath— 

“You’re pregnant.”

Poetry/references used:

- It is both Named and Nameless... (Tao Te Ching, Lao Tzu, Trans. by Jonathan Star) - She flirted with life... (Love Her Wild, Atticus, p94) - Love is... (Love Her Wild, Atticus, p20) - Down in the cellar... (The Dark Between Stars, Atticus, p 170) - I want to know every part of you... (The Dark Between Stars, Atticus, p87)

#boba fett #boba fett x you #boba fett x reader #boba fett x f!reader #boba fett/reader #unhingery #self insert #boba fett fanfiction #TAOSP

[think-ill-watch-it-burn]

OH HELLO AGAIN FRENS!!!

So, this is a request I remember getting a long while ago, on the old account I think. So I don’t have the original ask or even a screenshot, but I think I remember it being a request for Joker Pup Play. It’s *sorta* on topic, but I’ve had this thought rattling around in my head for a long time so I kind of… combined them? So I guess here’s part one!

‼️‼️ NSFW Content Ahead ‼️‼️ Under 18… you know the routine. No reading or interacting unless you’re 18 or older!

Heat Wave

NSFW: Joker x Reader

“I thought the Nether was supposed to be cooler than the surface...” Viktor complained over his shoulder at Joker, who was spread like a starfish over the sofa, quietly heaving and fanning himself with one of Viktor’s empty folders. “AND we have the air conditioner!” Viktor swiped the sweat from his forehead into his hair yet again, his hairline so soaked it just flopped back down and stuck to his sweaty skin. With a frustrated huff he shed his lab coat, tossing it aside indignantly. “This is outrageous.”

“There’s a heatwave on the surface,” Joker repeated monotonously, unable to explain the sudden surge of heat himself. In his experience the Nether never got this hot. But if he had to keep listening to Viktor complain as though they weren’t both melting into the furniture....

The creaking door down the hallway startled them both, an unusual tension in the air as you padded down the hallway toward them. Joker, despite himself, watched you enter the room - your hair loosely piled atop your head, stray tendrils curling around your face, sweat beading and running in rivulets down the back of your neck...

Joker swallowed hard and looked down at his lap, the obvious growing mound in his pants not helping distract him. Out of the corner of his eye he noticed Viktor ogling too, less subtle than he probably thought he was. Joker felt a sick surge of jealousy at the thought of Viktor imagining everything he was about you, his cock jumping in time with his gut.

Lowering his kerchief he watched you with a shrewd, shrouded expression, hyper focused as you wove through the common area to the kitchen, seeking relief in the ice cube tray and the cool burst from the open freezer door. Joker watched as, without hesitation, you knocked a cube from the tray and slid it along the burning flesh of your neck, shoulders, and chest. He ground his teeth as you sucked the dripping liquid from the end of the cube, before you stuffed it down the front of your shirt, replaced the ice tray, and made to return to your room.

Before you crossed the threshold back to the common area Joker had slipped behind you, spinning you back through the doorway and slamming you against the wall of the kitchen.

“What the fuck?!” you spat, gasping as the wind was knocked from your lungs. Joker was already breathless, panting as his tense body pressed your back hard into the wall behind you, gaze intense and jaw muscles quivering.

“What is this?” he snarled, voice dangerously low and suspicious. He searched her face for anything that might mean anything, he didn’t know what he was looking for but he knew all of this had something to do with her. He could feel it when she walked into the room, he felt it the night before just preceding the temperature spike. He dreamt about it.

You swallow so hard it’s audible, cringing when Joker looks from your eyes to your throat and back. This hadn’t happened in so long and despite your prayers that it wouldn’t wind up this far - well, there you were. With a heavy, quivering sigh you brace yourself - both mind and body - and lay your hands against Joker’s chest, gently urging him back. He doesn’t move, his intense gaze unwavering as he awaits your explanation.

“I... I’m not even sure how to explain it...”

“Try,” he growled.

“Okay, uh... well I don’t know how much you know about animal biology but some animals - specifically cats - they, uh... ugh, they go through a “heat” where they’re super fertile and super horny.” You looked for any sign of recognition in his face, but begrudgingly continued when there was none. “It’s like mating season. I guess.”

Joker’s eyebrow quirked. “What the hell does that have to do with all this?”

You huffed and shrugged, frustrated with his questioning and your insatiable arousal and this insufferable heat. Your dreams had been getting filthier and increasingly vivid over the last week - you were convinced a few of them had been real and didn’t know if you felt more relieved or disappointed to find out they weren’t.

“Since my powers came on this happens once in a while and I have no idea why. It’s usually insufferable but it’s never been quite this... intense.” You look down at his bared chest, trying not to follow the deep line down to the low-slung pants on his hips and that little trail of hair...

“Are you saying you’re in heat?”

The next time you look up at him your stomach drops. His visible eye was dark and heavy, concentrated on your mouth as he licked his own parted lips, breath coming out in quick puffs across your face. When he looked back at your eyes the air in the whole room shifted, your face pleading and body suddenly desperate for... something, you didn’t know for sure but if he didn’t put his hands on your soon you might *actually* lose your mind.

Without a word he dips down, sweeping his arms under your thighs and lifting you to rest on his tilted hips as he first presses you back into the wall, smothering your surprised squeak with a wet, bruising kiss; then carries you effortlessly to your room, kicking the door shut behind him. He tosses you unceremoniously on the bed and gestures to your clothes as he begins to remove his. “If you value any of the clothes you’re wearing you’ll take them off before I get to them...”

The next time he looks down at you you’re about to slide off your panties, but when they’re so damp they stick to your skin Joker sinks to his knees before you, snatching you to the edge of the bed and staring shamelessly at your soaked panties and the soft, swollen skin underneath. With a low groan he presses his mouth against them, tonguing the tip of your clit peaking from between your lips and sucking hard at the thin cloth. He pulls back, thumbing casually at your clothed clit and looking back up at you with a dangerous glint in his eye.

“So,” he drawls, “cat, hm?”

#fire force joker #joker #joker/52 #fire force #viktor licht #nsft #enen no shouboutai #joker x reader #burnie fics #burnie: heat wave

[characcoon]

The Way of Business

Words: 2143

Summary: How Donnie first met Charles. 

----------------------

"I'm trying my best to not question, but… "Cat claws, be sure they fell naturally" and he wrote the last word with capital bold letters." Donnie pokes the shopping list with his finger "And my favorite, "Coffee beans (digested)", which, by other terms, means coffee that has been shat."

"Keep not questioning." April says, hands on her pockets "It's witchy, magic stuff. We already went through this, Dee. Sometimes it doesn't make sense and that's fine."

"I'm aware. But it's not everyday you have poop coffee on your grocery list. What's he even going to do with these?"

"I don't think that anything Barry does should be our business."

April and Donnie walk around a busy street in the shopping district of the Hidden City, trying to identify the things on Draxum's list only by looking at the shops and vending stands, since the old sheep Yokai didn't think of writing where exactly to find the stuff.

"Maybe it's a cake." Donnie mumbles, stopping by a counter and quickly examining some items "Mikey's been teaching him some more recipies, he might be returning the favor by making Yokai food."

"Pooped coffee cat claws cake! Yummy." April gags, then points at a jar filled with sparkly deep blue glitter labelled mermaid bone powder "I think we need that one."

They continue shopping for another 20 minutes until they reach a part of the district that is definitely more shady and quiet. Sales are made among whispers and the shops have much less products on display, everything of importance stocked in the back. 

As April intimidates a merchant to lower the price of the cat claws, Donnie spots something familiar in a corner and curiously turns around to look. It's one of Big Mama's guards, but not just any guard; it's that specific one that seems to be on a higher rank, that was at the scene when the spider Yokai first took the Shredder to make him her champion. Donnie hums, watching as the guard dives between two stores and vanishes into another street.

"Got it for half the price." April comes to him, smiling proudly and shaking a tiny bottle filled with cat claws, then notices Donnie isn't paying attention "Earth to Donnie?"

"Wanna put some noses where they don't belong?" He sends her a trickster smile, bumping his fingers together.

"That depends, are you going to explode the whole street again?"

"Scoff!" the turtle scoffs "I saw one of Big Mama's guards going that way."

"And we need to go after them because…"

"Because it's her personal guard. The personal, stealthy, silent guard. The guard she sends to kill people without leaving a trace. The guard that probably has a cool name that makes people shiver in fear upon hearing it. The guard I just saw going that way."

April puffs her cheeks and blows out air in sections, a thoughtful expression on her face. Then she sighs, puts the bottle on Donnie's hand and starts walking.

"Alright, let's seek trouble, why not."

Donnie silently celebrates and dashes across the street, April right on his tail, following the same path of the guard. They go between the stores and find themselves in a smaller street with much less stores that are much more shady, to the point of being just holes between the brick walls. They reach the end of the street, turn to the only side available into another short road that hits a dead end. The guard is on that far end, with their back to the two curious teens who are slowly and quietly getting closer by using the little things around that can be used as barricades.

“We could make business faster if you tell me what you want straight up, I don’t do well with riddles.”

Donnie peaks behind a depression in the wall he and April are hiding in and notices a big trashcan shoved inside the wall with some christmas lights dangling from the sides and some mechanisms bending the lid and forming a roof. The guard is in front of whoever’s speaking, neither Donnie or April can see who.

“Or you could send the Great Milf here personally! Would love to catch up with her, if you know what I mean.”

Donnie gags in silence.

“She wants the Barnacle.” the guard speaks, voice muffled and distorted.

“The Barnacle! Wow! And why would I have that, exactly?”

“You were seen with it, at the docks. Took the package from Captain Piel.”

“Stupid lump of rotten flesh ratted me out, huh.” the other mumbles and sighs “Alright, I’ll get it, gimme a minute.”

April and Donnie glance at each as they hear ruffling and some crashing, the immovable form of the guard giving no indication of noticing the eavesdropping happening behind them.

“Is she gonna pay me at least?” the guard doesn’t answer “Y’know, in my land we have this saying. Quem cala consente. It means “silence means yes”, so I’m expecting some good cash unless you say words. No? Nothing? Talking to a door is funnier than talking to you.”

“The Barnacle, Charles.”

With a flicker of their wrist, a kunai appears between the fingers of the guard. Donnie instinctively moves his arm to his back, near his staff, and April gets into a better position to either fight or run.

“Is that handle made of Calligraphy Stone?” the merchant, possibly named Charles, speaks with excitement “Oh, damn, how much do you want for that?”

“Not for sale.”

“Oh, c’mon, it’s Calligraphy Stone!”

“Not for sale.”

“You’re boring. Y’know that? Boring. Wanna know what’s for sale? The Barnacle inside this box, this pretty doormat I made this morning and this GUN!”

A loud bang can be heard and the guard violently flies backwards, a blast of light illuminating the whole street. The guard smacks hard on the floor, smoke coming out of their chest, unmoving. Charles can now be seen; it’s a raccoon, very short, doesn’t go past Donnie’s knees. His tail is pink and orange, he wears duffle bags strapped to both sides of his hips, metal bracelets taking both his entire forearms and a gray sleeveless hoodie. On his face, big steampunk goggles and a wide, manic grin. On his hands, a gun definitely made out of garbage and nonsense, reminiscent of a grenade launcher, bigger than his whole body.

“I lied! The gun is not for sale!” he laughs and points the gun to the guard again “Now scram before I blast you into pieces!”

April notices the guard starting to move first, but doesn’t have time to warn everyone; they’re up and running in a second, blade slicing where Charles’ standing. The raccoon hops above the slash, smacks the guard in the head with the gun and drops it, then dashes towards the exit, but takes a sharp turn and bumps into the two teens. Before any of them can make any noise, he removes a disk from one of his bags, puts it on the floor and clicks. A translucent green wall blinks for a second before going orange. Donnie opens his mouth to speak, but the raccoon turns and shushes him so hard he even forgets what he was going to say. April goes equally quiet.

The guard finds his footing again after the blow and walks a few quick steps to the exit of the road, stopping right in front of the hideout of the other three. Charles silently clicks on his bracelets and long, sharp claws form as gauntlets on his hands and he gets into position, fur standing up, body tense and ready. Donnie’s breath gets caught on his throat when the guard swiftly turns their head and locks eyes with him, even knowing that the disk on the ground is some sort of cloaking tech making them all invisible.

The guard stands down, turns to the end of the road and walks back to the trashcan. They’re after the Barnacle, after all. Before they can reach it, however, the raccoon takes a small switch from his pocket and clicks on a button. The lid of the trashcan slaps close with a car alarm noise and the entire thing, wall included, poofs out of existence.

The road, not a dead end anymore, extends back to the one Donnie and April were previously on. Passersby and merchants turn to look at the wall that vanished and the guard just standing there, hand stretched to grasp nothing. Their stance slowly becomes neutral and it takes another minute for them to go away as a blur of movement.

Only then Charles snorts, so sudden and loud that Donnie jumps away from him.

“Idiot.” he continues laughing, disengaging his gauntlets and the cloaking device.

“That was so cool!” April speaks up “You played them so hard!”

“Yeah, I-” his ears go up and he flinches, remembering there were other people there too. “GUN!”

He turns around with two properly sized guns on each hand, pointing one to each of them. Donnie shows his hands and April smiles.

“You’re a human.” he shakes a gun at April “The hell you doing down here?”

“Shopping.”

“And the mecha-frog?”

“Frog?!” Donnie makes an offended expression and scoffs “Frog!”

“Are you a pokemon, only speaks your own name?”

“Wh- no! I’m a turtle!”

“Be nice, Dee. This dude’s super cool. And has a gun pointed at your face.”

“You should listen to the lady, Dee.”

“My name is Donnie.”

“Okay, Donnie Dee.” Charles opens his hands and his guns turn into liquid metal that surround his arms and turn back into being bracelets “I gotta go now. See ya around.”

He pulls the same switch he used to make the wall disappear and opens a side panel.

“Wait, you sell stuff, don’t you?” April takes Draxum’s list from Donnie “Do you have crystallized coral?”

“I do, yeah. But the shop’s all the way up to the surface now, so you should finish everything you have to do down here first. Y’know, time efficiency.”

“We are done here, right?” Donnie asks and analyzes the list “If you have the coral, digested coffee beans and petrified wood. Did we get the owl feathers?”

“We did.” April answers.

“Then.” he turns to the raccoon “Do you have those other three items?”

“100%.” Charles smiles “Hold onto me and we can warp there, pronto.”

Charles extends one hand to them and they grab one finger each, April making a squeaky noise. He clicks on his switch and they all teleport away.

Donnie recognizes the street they appear on, it’s not too far from the Lair. The trashcan store shoved into the wall is there, creating another dead end that he’s sure didn’t exist before. Charles rushes to it, opens the lid and jumps inside, sighing in relief.

“Alright, let’s get to business. Coral, wood, coffee. Talking about coffee, would you like some to drink? I always have one jar ready.”

“It’s not digested, right?” Donnie makes a face.

“No, it’s black coffee. From the store. Completely normal, I assure you.”

Donnie asks for a cup and the raccoon serves him, then asks which street they’re on. The turtle answers, gets a thanks and watches as the small merchant goes around opening drawers and boxes.

“What’s the Barnacle?” Donnie asks “And why would Big Mama want it?”

“It’s an invisible creature.” Charles answers, putting one big box with crystal coral by the counter “A plague. Sticks to the boats and sucks out life force to grow bigger. When a ghost ship is found and they can’t find out why everyone’s dead, they blame the Barnacle. 80% of the time they’re right.” another box, with petrified wood balls “And I think you can guess why Big Mama wants it. The damn thing might have a preference for boats, but it can stick to any wood structure.”

And finally, a bag of digested coffee beans.

“Pick as many of these as you need.” he points to the coral and wood “Only have this bag of coffee for sale. Stupid spider shut down more of my contacts.”

“You two seem to have some history” April starts to collect some wood balls.

“Oh, dear, if only you knew.” the raccoon laughs “You gotta keep a hold of the competition. It’s how business go.”

After taking the necessary quantity and paying, they say their farewells. Charles slides two business cards to them before they leave.

Quinquilharias, the card says, with a resume of the services and products in the back of it. Donnie hums as he reads it, considering returning more times soon, since it’s so close to the Lair and he’s the most charismatic merchant he’s ever met. And his coffee is decent enough.

And of course, he would be lying if he says he’s not curious about what’s his deal with Big Mama.

#The Tiny Trash Uncle #rottmnt #rottmnt fanfic #rottmnt self insert #rottmnt oc #rottmnt april #april o'neil #rottmnt donnie #rise of tmnt #2k words #fanfic #writing #char writes

[cybernaght]

Guardian rewatch: Episode 5

I thought this would be a shorter recap. Ha!

Every now and then throughout this show we are getting CGI wide shots of the Dragon City, mostly establishing the time of day. They have three settings: nighttime, daytime, and sunset/sunrise. While quality-wise those wide shots would not feel out of place in a video game from ten years ago, with buildings looking all rubbery, I actually really like this sunset sky. I also appreciate that they firmly establish that this is city is not, in fact, a real place. I almost wish the architecture was a little bit less familiar, but making the city look truly otherworldly here would make location scouting much harder. As it happens, the buildings on the forefront have a very 60’s art deco revival inspired feeling, and there are some distinctively neoclassical buildings peppered around as well. We can also see that the roads are very wide, and generally there is a hint of Stalinist grandioseness about the downtown. Unfortunately, it looks nothing like the locations and sets the characters are running in; we also get a feeling that the Dragon City is very large, which is not entirely consistent with the very few locations that were available when shooting the series. This shot does, however, remind me the city I grew up in (Moscow).

The actual plot of the episode centres around Huang Linqi and his fiancé, Li Jiaqi, going missing - it will be important, because their disastrous wedding will produce the most Clark Kent moment that Shen Wei will ever have. We also meet the parents of the couple, who are stinking rich and extremely unpleasant. It also introduces us to Butler Wu (Wu Tian’en) and his son, who will become important in later episodes. Butler Wu is not actually the villain of the piece, despite this shot clearly telling us otherwise. 

Back at the university, Shen Wei is having a morning tea with his dean. He holding his teacup with almost god-like elegance, very close to actually covering his mouth when he drinks, which is extremely old-fashioned. This is in stark contrast with him brazenly and un-gentlemanly showing his ankles. 

Shen Wei is asked to move off campus, because, apparently, having a chief of the special task force showing up at your office is bad for the reputation. Since the professor does not look surprised, and states that he has already found a flat, I’m guessing that he was clever enough to have predicted this turn of events, and used it to secure the place a breath away from Zhao Yunlan. It is up to speculation as to when he started scouting for an apartment: it could not have been more than a few weeks since he met Zhao Yunlan, and finding a flat can take a while. 

At the SID office, we are treated to a lovely moment between the team members, crowding around Lin Jin’s new invention: a popcorn-specific microwave.

It’s very sweet to see the team indulge in some nonsense outside of their case work, made even better by Wang Zheng being there. The fact that Zhao Yunlan is on board with his department’s time and resources being spent on a popcorn maker only makes this scene better. He is crouching on the table, because chairs are for the weak.

After inspecting the crime scene, Zhao Yunlan is spending some time outside chatting to Buttler Wu, and comments on Li Jiaqi’s good looks, since Zhao Yunlan is a man who can appreciate beauty.

As Xiao Guo is awe-struck at his boss’ ability to note someone’s prettiness from a distance, Chu Shuzhi literally rolls his eyes calling those “instincts of a beast”, and Zhao Yunlan fails to reprimand him for the remark, because… fair enough. Very fair enough. It’s hard not to relate to Zhao Yunlan, a self-admitted bi disaster. 

Shen Wei is being shown his new apartment. He does not even look around it, staring instead at Zhao Yunlan’s front door across the hall from him.

Moving here is a completely senseless thing to do. How on earth is he planning to hide his Hei Pao Shi persona while being a next door neighbour to the chief of SID? My conclusion is that from a character stand-point, it’s nothing but an act of desperate devotion; from a narrative stand-point, this codifies that their relationship is about to get very intimate indeed. 

The SID members are interrogating Buttler Wu: as is often the case, instead of bringing him in, like they did with Shen Wei, they hijack a cafe nearby to have a more relaxed conversation. As they talk, Shen Wei is making his way past the cafe, which both Wu Tian'en and Shen Wei notice. 

Shen Wei proceed to follow Butler Wu, who calls him out on it. This leads to a removal of his glasses so epic it warrants a jump-cut to close-up, on top of the dutch angle used mere seconds prior to it.

Instantly recognizing Shen Wei as Hei Pao Shi, Wu Tian’en sinks to his knees in reverence. Again, fair enough. After having a brief conversation about their shared history, Shen Wei states that Butler Wu is not allowed to lay a hand on Zhao Yunlan. 

“Chief Zhao? You’re stalking him?” 

“You don’t need to know more.”

That is not a no. Mostly because that is a yes. 

Shen Wei promises to not take Wu Tian’en away before the man resolves his current problems, adding that he hopes his old acquaintance won’t have any regrets when that happens. As Shen Wei walks away, he muses “Then how much time is there left for me?” 

(And I have to fight an uncomfortable sinking feeling in my stomach, which is occurring a lot as I rewatch those series.) 

The same evening at the SID offices the team is struggling with the case so much Da Qing suggests asking Hei Pao Shi’s help. Zhao Yunlan bristles at the idea, and… calls Shen Wei instead. Of course he does.

To be fair, he does so to check whether the other man is stalking him, but he also calls him by his given name rather Professor Shen, reinforcing that he makes this enquiry as a friend, not at as the chief of the Special Investigations Department. 

During the phone call Shen Wei is absentmindedly playing with the corner of the publication he is reading. 

While Yunlan does not deny that he still thinks Shen Wei is potentially up to something dodgy, he still proceeds to ask his advice on the case. This continues the dynamic from the previous episode: it’s not that Yunlan is completely blind, it’s just that he trusts Shen Wei regardless of the secrets he might be hiding. 

Moving on, here’s what I have to say on he topic of bad CGI. There are several reasons in the world for a piece of visual media to have a poor quality computer animation. It could be laziness, or it could be absence of imagination, both of which are inexcusable. It also could be absence of funds, as is the case with the Guardian. And, honestly, I am alright with that. It’s not their fault, and I would much rather see this drama as it is - bad CGI and all - than none at all. 

And, the quality of CGI here has energy similar to Live Action Sailor Moon (PGSM), which I honestly find both nostalgic and endearing. 

That show also has a talking cat, but it’s performed by a literal plush toy on strings, so Guardian certainly wins here.

While Huang Linqi and Li Jiaqi are being kept together (possibly in an alternate dimension, seeing as how they have emerged from the lake completely dry), they talk through their relationship issues, and the audience finds itself with a sugar-sweet take on the arranged marriage/strangers to lovers trope. I feel a little bit bad about their disaster wedding now. 

At the same time, Xiao Jun and Wu Tian’en’s story is a tiny echo of Shen Wei end Je Zun: the son thinks his dad left him to fend for himself when he was young and vulnerable, and distrusts the very concept of love because of that perceived abandonment. Unlike Je Zun however, he stops to have an actual conversation, which ultimately forces him to quit his senseless act of revenge, and make the first step on the path of reconciliation and redemption. This is Guardian telling us that communication skills do, in fact, matter. 

He also drops this bombshell of a line, which hurts my heart a lot.

“In the face of death every love in the world is mere foam”

On an entirely separate note, I am very glad that the actor who plays Butler Wu is wearing nice thick knee pads. 

They are very visible, and they make a little “boing” when he hits the ground, but the actor has to fall to his knees twice in this episode, both times on hard surfaces, one of which is literal gravel, and I’m happy that the production is being considerate of their actors’ physical well-being. 

While this episode does not mark the first time Zhao Yunlan is being understanding to the Undergrounders in pain, this is the first time anti-Unvergrounder bigotry is explicitly framed in a negative light. The two evil businessmen, who cast a child aside just because he has special powers, are shown as unquestionably in the wrong. Xiao Jun is lightly scolded for his rash actions, but he is not brought back to SID in cuffs, and he is not immediately given away to Hei Pao Shi. Far from that: he is brought in softly, to spend some time at his dying father’s side. 

As Butler Wu slipping away, we once more see Guo Changcheng being recklessly heroic, as he is prepared to use the Longevity Dial to share his life force. Instead of letting him do it, Zhao Yunlan snatches the Hallow away and decides to perform this particular miracle himself. This is the same man who will later sacrifice his eyesight to bring people’s lives back. Bai Yu’s acting in that moment is utterly phenomenal, showing a whole range of emotion from horror to determination to dismay in mere seconds. 

Hei Pao Shi teleports in, and, without a preamble, scolds Zhao Yunlan (the first episode in the series-long “don’t touch the Hallows” saga), and then asks him whether it’s worth shortening his life for an Undergrounder. This is in equal parts a provocation and a test, because I’m fairly certain that Shen Wei was going to save Wu Tian’en anyway. 

As SID members beg Hei Pao Shi to save Butler Wu in perfect unison, Zhao Yunlan states that a person is a person, regardless of their origin. Shen Wei notes inwardly that SID had changed, and, as expected, heals Butler Wu, while Yunlan stares at his power with relief and awe.

Since I have talked about the wide shot of the Dragon City, let’s talk about its counterpart in the Underworld. 

I have failed to notice before that there appears to be a vast city next to the volcano river, some way away from the royal Palace, looming over it. Geographically, this makes little sense: we will see characters leave the Palace and instantly end up in a city square throughout the series, but I still really enjoy this wide shot. It is also interesting to see the architecture of the place. It is somewhere between (western) medieval abodes and futuristic shipment container blocks, with living spaces built on top of each other, crammed-in, and unpleasant. I also love the lighting here, contrasting blue and red.

Hallows random power #n: projecting their brethren. Imagine how useful it would be if they also did that for the Brush and the Lantern.

The next day, Zhao Yunlan and Da Qing are on a leisurely morning jog, while Yunlan is wearing bottoms that my partner refers to as “sheggings” (as in, shorts + leggings)

They are talking about Shen Wei, naturally. In my head-canon, Zhao Yunlan is driving his colleagues nuts because can’t help himself but bring the good professor up every goddamn minute of every goddamn day.

As they turn the corner to go home, they bump into the subject of discussion, who informs them that he moved into the building, and leaves abruptly looking more than slightly pleased with himself. 

Finally, we are treated to Guo Changcheng’s surveillance exam. I don’t know why he thought this outfit would make him look less conspicuous. 

Eventually, the SID will learn that some of their staff members don’t have to be fighters or detectives. In Xiao Guo, they have found the heart of their team, and that is enough. 

Next up, Episode 6: The Coat Zhao Yunlan Will Buy

—

PS: I have mentioned earlier, that I have a sinking feeling as I watch Guardian, and I would like to elaborate on that. You see, I am very scared of flying. It’s an irrational fear, but it is the one I nonetheless have. There is a very specific feeling I get just as the plane starts gaining speed on the runway: there is joy, because at the end of this journey they is something to look forward to (my parents’ hugs, a drink with a friend, a favourite place, a new city to explore), but there is also a painful anticipation, as I brace for the moment the aircraft will tilt upwards, knowing that I will be pushed back into my chair by gravity, battling against an onslaught of a panic attack, shaking, learning to breathe, fighting with everything I have to keep my heart rate down. Watching Guardian from the beginning, knowing where the story is going, mirrors that feeling perfectly.

PPS: The following conversation happened with my partner as I way typing this recap.

My partner: Do you think Shen Wei ever wears sheggings?

Me: Sweetie, I think he would rather die. 

#guardian #shen wei #zhao yunlan #weilan #rewatch #recap #please help I can't stop rambling

[ichika27]

Mairimashita! Iruma-kun s2 ep18

Was gonna post this days ago but I decided to do twewy-related stuff first lol.

Anyways, lots of pictures below again. At least 20, I think. Talks of ships below as well.

The last time we saw them, Iruma had jumped in front of the beast preparing to shoot a blast of magic in front of Ronove. Everyone else is worried but don’t know what to do cause if they tried to help, they’d get blasted, too. It seems though that Iruma himself has a plan.

Iruma plans to use Ali-san’s ability to swallow the huge amount of magic to eat the blast of it the beast is going to release saying he thought it was possible since Ali-san is the Ring of Gluttony. Arikured is surprised by this and complains at first but agrees he could do such a thing but Iruma's strength will be needed to succeed.

Remember that spell Iruma learned before about changing the appearance of something? Iruma uses that magic spell to turn Ali-san into this... cat thing. Giant cat thing idk so it could swallow the magic. Ali-san swallows the entire beast and let it explode inside him. Once it was over, the sky clears up, too. The plan totally worked and Ali-san is full!

Does this mean Iruma could use the power that got eaten from the beasts?

Trouble is over and Iruma gets together with his friends again. His friends were all worried about him though and Kalego-sensei came up to tell him he'd been reckless again. Iruma says he hasn't forgotten about what Kalego-sensei had said before at the home visit and that he had now finally understood what sensei meant. He was so used to danger due to almost always being in one himself that he never realized how bad such situations were until everyone else he cared about got affected. He adds that he gave it everything he's got even though he wasn't sure he'd even win because he wants to protect everyone and holding onto that ideal is part of his "desire".

I’m happy this arc helped some of them grow and show the growth of those who already have. Pretty cool.

Random screenshot but I just wanna direct your attention to fluffy Kalego-sensei who is being adorable right now. I cannot take him seriously when he’s like this and even when he’s angry, this form makes it look adorable.

Back to the story.

While all the mess is happening on the surface, Kiriwo-senpai has finally been found by the Six Fingers who are there to help him escape under the orders of Baal. The other escaping inmates are also in the area but still behind bars and Kiriwo-senpai tells them that he never planned to help them escape alongside him and never said he'd do such thing in the first place.

I kinda feel bad for them but they are also bad people so, eh.

Upon donning the same coat the Six Fingers' wear, one of the prisoners had the realization that unlike all of them there who are merely "bad", Kiriwo is actually "evil".

One of the Six Fingers asked why they couldn't just let the prisoners escape, too as it'll help in causing chaos and Kiriwo-senpai answers that seeing the despair the prisoners are gonna be in when they realize they'd never be let out despite going this far will be fun to see. Plus, they're not strong enough and will be caught again anyways.

I missed seeing Kiriwo-senpai’s evil hairstyle. It’s been a while. I guess this answers the question I had back in season 1: Kiriwo-senpai chose to be evil. Sad but I should’ve seen it coming.

Back on the surface, a parade starts and on the float are the heroes who saved Walter Park. While Iruma is properly mentioned, the owner, Rossevelt also shows off his son (Ronove does call him Legend-daddy as in the English word lol). The owner thanks Iruma for saving the park and calls him a hero.

They look alike except for the mustache and hair length. Anime genetics never fail. Does Legend-daddy also sing his own bgm?

Unbeknownst to our heroes, Kiriwo-senpai is around the corner watching the parade. He's surprised to find out that not only was Iruma also at Walter Park at this time but Iruma is also the one to defeat the beast. Instead of being angry at another evil plan foiled, Kiriwo-senpai says that this must be destiny and was happy to see Iruma. He was gonna walk out into the crowd but snaps out of this happy state by a call from Baal.

Senpai really blurs the line between love and hate cause he acts similarly when it comes to Iruma. Congrats to the fans of this ship for getting this scene and also, I still don’t know the ship name for them. How do I tag this?

Back to the phone call, Baal isn't happy that the park still stands. Walter Park is created to vent out demons' evil cycle after all and he has no need for that in his goals as he prefers that the demons go way beyond the evil cycle and just become ultimately evil. Unfortunately for him, the authorities are coming and they can't really do much else so he tells Kiriwo-senpai and the rest to escape already.

After being told to escape, Kiriwo-senpai says that this isn’t the end and declares that he and Iruma will meet again as they are destined enemies.

I guess in Iruma’s harem, he’s the “enemies to lovers” love interest lol.

Iruma looks at the direction where Kiriwo-senpai was but of course, he doesn’t see anything and he’s none the wiser.

Opera gives Iruma back his backpack at the float. As Iruma looks inside for his stuff, he finds the note his grandfather gave him of things he must do on his trip with the final one on the list being "Have fun with everyone!". Iruma looks at his smiling friends and thinks that even though a lot of scary things happened today, he still did have fun with them. Aww so cute!

Iruma gets reunited with his worried grandpa who goes to the hotel to check on him. Iruma says he couldn't go home early as Ronove's dad let them stay at the hotel as thanks for saving the park. Ronove’s dad adds that they are also Sullivan's students so he's happy to give them such things. Iruma tells his grandpa that he's happy and okay and that the teachers and Opera protected them. Grandpa Sullivan decided that the three adults would be given the job of protecting Iruma from now on (and Kalego-sensei felt a chill down his spine elsewhere in the hotel lol).

These two adults are the same. They probably won’t stop talking about their kids if you’re around them. Reminds me of FMA’s Maes Hughes (thought still makes me sad).

While the teachers are discussing information about the attacks, Kalego-sensei goes to his room to find his team on the bed making fun of the stuff he said earlier much to his annoyance. The boys said wanted to stay in the teachers' room as it's better than the room they got but Kalego-sensei quickly kicks them out.

The girls also get rewards and are allowed to get any clothes they wanted which made them happy. Ronove’s dad is pretty generous, huh? Like, I know these guys deserve it for all their hard work but the guy looks so happy that he’d probably still be nice to them even without all the trouble happening.

They are all also given an all-you-can-eat buffet. Iruma eats a ton of food obviously. Clara is having fun at the chocolate fountain thing and Ronove is trying to make Agares eat. Those two got close, huh? lol I wonder if Ronove’s doing this to try and make Agares unattractive or something. It’ll be cool if they became friends though with their very contrasting personalities and all.

While everyone is having fun inside, Iruma leaves without anyone else realizing except for Ameri who decides to follow. They end up at the rooftop by themselves with Ameri trying to calm herself down as she's thinking of romantic stuff as it’s just the two of them. Iruma then reminds Ameri of the question she asked him before about his goal and tells her he finally found one: he wants have fun with everyone. He's willing to change in order to be able to protect that ideal of his. Ameri is happy to see Iruma has grown.

Ameri decided that she also wants to give it her all for her own desires and ambitions. She then tries to tell Iruma something but sadly she gets cockblocked by Clara and Azz both appearing. Ameri gives up for now and tells Iruma to just go with his friends.

Before leaving, Iruma asks Ameri a question - the same thing she was going to ask him earlier! He asks if they could hang out sometimes but just the two of them and she passes out from this lol.

Congratulations to Iruma x Ameri fans for getting a scene like this, too. I also don’t know the ship name for them. Anyways, why is it just the senpais getting a moment with Iruma? Ameri has been getting a lot of moments, too and it’s making me wonder if she’s endgame.

lol also, Ameri is worried about the other female rivals not realizing there’s another threat somewhere else.

While all that teen drama is happening, both Romiere's dad and Iruma's grandpa are being interviewed on tv. The two men then tell everyone how their kids and those kids' friends are the heroes of Walter Park. Since Iruma's name had been specifically mentioned (with everyone knowing the heroes are "Iruma and friends"), there ends up being reporters outside the hotel wanting to see Iruma the next day. Iruma, of course, doesn't like this popularity. With the thought that there may also be reporters waiting at his home, Clara offers to let Iruma stay at her house.

Oooh... will we finally get Iruma x Clara and Iruma x Azz moments as well? Hehehe

There's something new in the ED video by the way! This used to be for Kuromu but now it’s for these boys! Cute!

---

I’m guessing this is the end of this arc? I wonder what the last one will be since we only have like, what, 6 episodes more? What kind of arc will it be, I wonder cause this one had battles.

Okay, the end where the heroes are mentioned to be “Iruma and friends”, I’m happy and surprised that none of the others were bothered by this at all. No one complained about why Iruma is the only one specifically named. It didn’t cause a fight between the entire group unlike what would’ve happened if this was any other story. I get why Iruma got proper credit as he is the one to end the incident and saved everyone around from being fried but his friends did a lot of work, too and it’d have been better if they were all credited properly in the news. None of them were mad though and are happy that they won because they did their best.

Ronove calling his dad “Legend-daddy” will never not be cute and funny to me. His dad, despite being rich enough to own this entire park, isn’t an annoying, arrogant asshole and I like that. I’m happy that most characters in this show subvert my expectations and they make me like them more.

I’m sorry if I don’t tag ships in my mairuma posts but I don’t know any of the series’ ship names lol. Speaking of ships, as I mentioned before, Ameri’s been getting a lot of moments with Iruma or focus on her growing feelings for Iruma. Kiriwo-senpai only showed up a bit in this arc and got a bit for himself, too. Kuromu and Clara only had a bit when Iruma went evil cycle and I wonder if they’d get more, too. I personally ship him with Azz so I wish they’d gets some moments as well. Eiko gets hers mostly on the “Interval” segments.

So... is it possible to have a mairuma dating sim or not? Look at how many routes are available! XD

Anyways, focus next time is on Clara’s family probably with Iruma spending time there. I expect another Valac Family musical! XD

Thanks for reading!

#Mairimashita! Iruma-kun #welcome to demon school iruma-kun #sana_post

[eurodynesass-moved]

Happy Birthday

It is Viktor's birthday. V, Jackie and Misty drag him out to celebrate, promising a surprise to come. 

Ao3

— — — — —

There was something about the way she got out of the car that really had Viktor stuck in place. At first, all he saw were her dark metallic heels, followed by long, freckled, sun-kissed legs. The heels had long straps that were wrapped a few inches up her calf, a glorious braid of black against her smooth skin. When she finally stepped out from behind the door, it was as though Viktor had been punched in the gut.

V wore a silky black blouse that overlapped in a v-shape at the front, dipping rather low between her breasts. It was tucked into a black leather belt that stopped just short of her skirt—a deep magenta fabric that flowed and danced around her legs graciously. As if that weren't enough, her lips were a dark shade of pink that only complimented her skin, with eyes shaded as dark as night.

"Well, well," she beamed at him, taking a few steps out to greet him on the sidewalk. "If it isn't the birthday boy."

Whatever reservations Viktor felt about going out with the trio, it all went away the moment V gently kissed his cheek. She cooed a word or two about leaving a mark, her thumb brushing away a bit of lipstick from his face.

"Hey, Doc!" Jackie called from the driver's seat, "Misty on her way?"

"Uh, yeah," he replied, finally ripping his eyes off V to look at his friend. "She'll be out in a minute."

"We'll be sitting in the back," V told him, then took one good look at him and nodded approvingly. "Lookin' real good, Doc."

Vik shifted his weight from one leg to the other at her comment. In his eyes, all he'd worn was an unbuttoned suit jacket over a white button-up, slightly neater black pants and the fanciest shoes he owned—he hadn't dressed up like this in a long time. A few straps around his wrist, his gauges still in, his glasses on as usual—he thought he looked normal, and yet her words made him feel as though he stood out.

"Not as good as you-both," he quickly added, not catching the little smirk she gave him. He then cleared his throat, about to say something when another voice pitched in from behind him.

"Hey, you're both here!" Misty called, heavy heels sounding with each step. Misty had gone for a dark purple top and darker jeans, fitting her theme of low tones. She wore a thinner choker this time, a small silver rune dangling from the center, and heeled boots to finish it all off.

There was a whistle coming from the car as Jackie adjusted the collar of his own shirt. "Amigo," he called to Viktor, "I think these ladies are way too good for us."

"Oh, stop it," Misty replied, walking around the car to meet him as Jackie stepped out. He gave her a quick kiss before adjusting the seat so that she could hop in the back.

Vik, on the other hand, had looked back at V, Jackie's words still playing in his mind. "Come on," she motioned him to follow, walking ahead to move the passenger seat. He would have been a liar if he said that he did not catch the view of V climbing into the back. Of course, he looked away as soon as he caught himself staring, but the image certainly burned his cheeks.

Once they were all finally strapped in, Jackie started driving and they began talking. The whole evening was planned, according to him, with a surprise at the end for Viktor. He hadn't felt that sense of anticipation in his gut in a while, but he was excited. It had been years since the company around him saw it fit to celebrate—well, anything, let alone a birthday.

Ever since Jackie and Misty met, the atmosphere around the Esoterica had become livelier. Ever since Jackie introduced them both to V... even more so. Whatever quiet life he had been building was slowly crumbling away, but that wasn't a bad thing. Not even in the slightest.

"So, what's this surprise?" Vik asked at one point.

Misty leaned over from the back, poking him in the bicep. "If we told you, it wouldn't be a surprise. Trust me, you're gonna love it."

V chuckled beside her, "Yeah, so hush up and let us spoil you today. You deserve it."

"Especially after lettin' V's tab get so big," Jackie snorted.

V jabbed a hard knuckle into his arm, earning a scold about not bothering the driver.

—

After a short drive, they had arrived at a restaurant that looked rather pricey. It wasn't exactly far from Watson, but it did not look like the average street diner, that was for certain. The exterior was lined with cool neons and synth plants, and the interior was more of the same.

Having walked in, Jackie mumbled to a woman about a reservation, the four of them being lead to a table shortly after. The restaurant was lit in cool hues of blue and pink, the booths separated nicely and rather clean. Jackie and Misty immediately sat down beside each other, leaving Viktor to motion V to sit down first.

She gave him a sweet smile and thanked him for it, making his heart jump a little. Since when was he so susceptible to the little gestures from a pretty woman? Ah, who was he kidding? Even if some of the clients he had were not too bad on the eyes, none of them could compare to the sweetness and kindness that V possessed. He had to stop thinking about it, he was tuning out of the conversation far too much.

—

The dinner itself had been very pleasant. A variation of synth meat stews and dishes, all paid for by the three of them, thankfully passing on any birthday-specific services. They spent just over an hour, eating, drinking and talking. Their conversations spanned from things in their daily lives to funny stories each of them had to share—a lot of the ones from V and Jackie involved being scolded or patched up by Viktor.

Then, there were the moments where Jackie tried to convince Viktor to tell V and Misty about certain boxing stories that he had told him during their training. Whenever Viktor would be modest, Jackie embellished. While the ladies listened to them both, Misty was the only one at that table that noticed the way that V's eyes were locked onto Viktor, how she had propped her head up with her hand and listened closely to every detail, always asking for more. How her smile grew in tiny fractions at every bit of excitement.

It only made her even more excited for the grand finale of the evening—but that was still a ways off. After they were done, Misty raised her hands in the middle of conversation, catching everyone's attention.

"Alright, alright. Now for one of the reasons we've come here tonight. Your gifts," she told Viktor as she reached into her purse. From it, she pulled out a small, soft object wrapped in pretty metallics. A moment later, she also handed him a small, box-shaped gift that was wrapped in reds and golds.

Viktor gave them a sheepish smile, shaking his head. "You've all already done enough."

"Just open them!" V told him, nudging him softly with her elbow.

Starting with the first gift, Vik unwrapped it, revealing a small, blue velvet bag. As he opened it, he pulled out two objects from within—a pale white crystal and a worn coin of intricate design and a hole in the middle.

"That one's from me," Misty told him. "You were talking about your shop not feeling right, that it felt heavy for you at times. Selenite's supposed to cleanse your energy and that which surrounds you. It'll help the clinic feel a little more welcoming to you. The coin, I had to track down for weeks. There aren't many of them around anymore. It's an old, ancient symbol of luck, something we all could use a little of."

He held the objects in his hands, shutting his eyes briefly as a small chuckle rumbled from him. Vik looked back up at Misty with sincere gratitude. "I told you that a long damn time ago."

"And I never forgot," she winked at him. "Use them well, Vik."

"Thanks, Misty," he smiled, holding them close for a moment before securing them back in the back for safety. He tucked the bag in his jacket, giving it a small pat.

"Now open mine!" Jackie pointed at the little box.

Doing exactly that, he unwrapped the beautiful paper carefully, revealing a small, transparent plastic case with a figurine inside it. Viktor recognized it immediately and laughed, digging it out to place it on the table. V grinned as she saw the little cat with its bobbing arm, beautiful swirls and markings carved into its pristine ceramic surface.

"You can add that to your collection on your desk," Jackie suggested, grinning widely at the doc.

"You never miss a thing, do ya, Jack?" He looked up at his friend, holding out a hand for a quick clasp. "I'll put this one on the highest spot I can find."

"Damn right, mano," he chuckled.

Viktor nodded in appreciation, unable to hold back his amusement. He felt a hand rest on his shoulder and glanced to his left to look at V.

"As much as I'd love to have all the eddies I owe ya in hand right now," she joked, "my gift to you comes a little later. It's somewhere else, so we'll have to go there after."

"That the surprise?" he raised a brow.

"You'll see," she promised sweetly.

"You know you guys didn't have to do this, any of it, but... Thank you," he looked at each of them with sincerity, and a load of joy in his eyes that he tried to keep in check. "You've made this old man's day."

"Happy birthday, Viky," Jackie replied.

"You deserve every bit of it, for everything you've done for us," Misty added in, reaching out to squeeze Vik's arm gently. "Your day's not over yet though."

Something stirred within him, wondering just what in the world V could have planned.

He'd get his answer soon enough.

—

A couple of hours later, the four of them had gone back out to the street, walking toward the cars. Once they arrived, however, Jackie and Misty stood beside each other, hanging back a little.

"This is where we leave you," Jackie told them, wrapping his arm around Misty.

"You're not coming?" Vik asked them.

"This part's just you two," Misty winked at him, nudging her head toward V, who was walking around to the driver's side.

When Viktor looked at her, all she did was give him a knowing smile, something to tell him that this was all part of the plan. He raised a brow at her and she winked at him too, getting into the car without a word. Swallowing that lump in his throat alongside all the bubbling anticipation within, he turned to the other two and gave them one more nod. They bid each other good night and the couple started walking away, leaving Viktor to join V in the car.

What he hoped would be a conversation that would get him answers was a lot of V telling him to be patient and that he'd see what his gift was soon. On the road, they continued some of the conversations off from dinner, and somehow they managed to go right back to talking about his boxing experience.

They had just entered a highway that had been leading them away from the city, when V finally asked him. "So, am I ever going to see those boxing skills in action?"

"You see me train all the time," he pointed out.

"Well, not... all... the time..." She replied, her voice suddenly a touch softer.

That was the voice she'd have when feeling a little embarrassed. What on earth did she have to feel embarrassed about—

"But!" She broke the silence, catching his attention again. "If I can't see a proper fight, then I'm gonna have to eventually see some of those recordings of yours."

"What would you want with an old fighter like me?" he brushed off with a chuckle.

"Hey, it's either that or we spar and I get to see it in person."

He felt his breath catch, something in his core bursting at the thought of sparring with her. Not only would that have put him in such... compromising positions with her, but he would not want to hurt her. Though if she were to beat him up, he wasn't entirely sure he'd mind—

"We're here!" V suddenly spoke, excitement bubbling in her voice. She bounced in her seat once or twice before unbuckling her seat belt. "Come on!" She nudged him, hopping out of the car immediately. He could hear her rummage through the trunk quickly before walking off.

Viktor looked around to see where she had taken them. As far as he could see, they had taken a dirt path over to a flat outcropping just outside an old, abandoned store. There was a low wall surrounding what seemed to be a dusty, overgrown parking lot. It was a curious spot, to be sure, but none of all those little details mattered when Viktor finally stepped out of the car and spotted where V was headed.

In quite a similar fashion to the area on Misty's roof, there was an out-of-place shade that had been set up securely, under which was a little sitting area. As Vik moved closer, he looked at every little detail and just wondered if the three of them had to bring all of it over somehow. There was a rug, rather worn but far cleaner than the ground, under every bit of furniture. At the center was a makeshift table made with an old wooden cable spool. It was painted on with a design that could only come from Misty.

Facing out toward the open slope was a couch, worn down but covered with a colorful blanket. Beside it on the left was a small stack of wooden pallets with a few pots of synth plants on them, as well as a few, small portable lights. There were also two arm chairs, one of which seemed to have something on it. As he got closer, he realized it was a drink cooler.

He did not have much time to say anything about what he was looking at, as V fiddled with what looked to be a small radio that wasn't there before. Soon, a sweet and slow song began playing halfway through at a comfortable volume.

Turning it in, she put it down on the table, walked over to him and slipped an arm around his. "Before we say or do anything, come here," she said, leading him carefully over to the low wall. Standing there in the dim light, he looked out into the wide open space.

The city was far off in the distance, the buildings all stacked in wonderful dark silhouettes and bright neon lights. It cast a beautiful glow against the night sky, alongside the advert beams above. The outskirts were plain and scattered with old shops and stops, highways or dirt roads. Where they were was rather high up, and it could see almost everything.

"So..." V took a shaky breath, sounding rather nervous. "You said a while back that you wished you could get some fresh air for a while, away from the cramped up streets of the city. We put together this spot not only for tonight but... To always have that place to go to when the roof isn't enough."

Vik could no longer just stare at the city. His eyes were focused on her. "I told them not to tell you, because I wanted to surprise you with it here, today, like this." When he did not say anything, she shifted, arm pulling away as she motioned toward the seat behind them. "I also brought some drinks, some music..." V began to fiddle, wringing her hands together.

He was certain he had never seen her that nervous or restless.

"So... Surprise!" She exclaimed in a soft, quiet call, beaming a bright smile at him.

Vik let out a laugh, stepping closer to her. "You went through all this trouble just for me?"

"It was no trouble because it was for you," she admitted. "Not to say we won't be stealing this spot from time to time, too..."

"V, I... Sweetheart, I don't know what to say," he looked at her incredulously, unable to hold back the elation he felt. He stepped even closer, and she did not seem to mind.

"Say you'll have a drink with me?" V offered, closing the distance between them and placing her hand on his arm.

What the hell was he doing?

There he was, in a beautiful little spot that was so personal, with a gorgeous view, standing next to V. V. The woman he had not been able to stop thinking about for months. His heart hitched in his throat, his breath wavering, he could not think of a better way to try. A better way to show her how he felt.

"V..." He spoke, his voice unable to rise above a whisper. She looked at him with sweet adoration, a look he had always cherished. Viktor slowly cupped her cheek with his hand, waiting for her to brush him away or move, or tell him it was a misunderstanding. She just... Stood there, her smile growing. Surely she didn't—

She kissed him.

She went on the tip of her toes and kissed him.

His hands moved to her waist, pulling her in real close as he felt her soft lips move against his. V wrapped her arms around his shoulders, kissing him with such passion that he was sure the world would slip out from underneath him.

When they had a moment to pull away, he considered saying something, but there was a look she gave him. That look, he could not make heads or tails of. Her lids were dropped, her breath quick and unsteady, her lips slightly parted and her beautifully freckled cheeks were a faint shade of red.

He could not help but kiss her again, a small sound coming from her in response that sent tingles through his chest. Once V stroked her fingers along his neck to bury them in his hair, it was over for him. He pulled away just barely, sighing against her lips with his eyes shut. He leaned his forehead against hers and finally looked at her again.

She glanced between his lips and his eyes, her own smile growing. "I've been waiting to do that all day."

"Have you, now?" Viktor raised a brow, but his insides were not as cool and collected.

"I have," she winked at him. "If you hadn't kissed me, I decided I'd do it myself."

"I don't think I could have waited any longer if you hadn't," Vik laughed softly, his breath caressing her skin.

She let out a chuckle and moved in for another kiss. This time, her tongue grazed his lips and he gladly parted them, letting her in. He was reveling in her taste, in her sweet scent, in everything V. Something within him stirred as he felt her body pressed up against hers but he tried not to entertain the idea. Not yet, anyway.

He wanted this moment to last a bit longer.

As they pulled away, V placed one last kiss on his lips and looked up at him, gently swaying her body to the music that was playing—he couldn't help but do the same.

"Happy birthday, Viktor," she cooed.

"Probably the best one I've had in a while," he admitted, running a hand through her hair. "Thank you, sweetheart."

He noticed her smile grow wide at the word, her blush returning to her cheeks as she kissed him and made him wonder just how long she had been feeling that way about him. His heart did not remain still, and he didn't expect it would for a while yet, so he savored the feeling. Savored the music that swirls around them, the low lights and the beauty of the landscape. He savored her gentle touch and sweet words, unable to stop smiling.

It was the happiest he had felt in a long time.

#Cyberpunk 2077 #viktor vector #v/viktor #viktor x v #female v x viktor #v x viktor #Fluff #Romance #Birthday #Just some happy things he deserves

[poisonheadcrabsalesman]

More therapy thoughts part 1/?

Behavior Theory Frameworks/Conditioning and What the fuck does Master Chief talk about in therapy?

Ramblings below - like a lot, like I spent too much time writing this and you should not read this

Behavioral Theory could work well as a framework with rehabilitating Spartan IIs if the case worker focused on Operant Conditioning Theory and Cognitive Social Learning Theory, which I talked about in this ask because I think I’m funny and this blog is an archive of me applying human behavior theories to video games.

Spartans have always been taught the mission comes first! Always! The 2s are indoctrinated from age 6-14 and then have that reinforced the rest of their lives. From the beginning they are taught to push themselves to the limits, earn their food by winning, form bonds with teammates but be ready to sacrifice them for the mission. The whole lives wasted vs spent conversation between John and Mendez after the augmentation surgery!

What the UNSC/ONI wants comes before their lives, the lives of other soldiers, civilians, AI etc. This constant conditioning of expectations and rewards has created the norms cemented in their minds. This becomes standard operating procedure.

Spartans are also an entirely separated social group, other people have made really great posts on how they are Othered and have their own way of communicating with body language. ODSTs hate Spartans, marines see them as cyborgs or saviors, and while they’re allies, Spartans are not seen or treated as human, by literally everyone. They are a means to an end, with the original goal being to maintain the UNSC’s position of power and crush the insurrectionists in the outer colonies, but uh oh Aliens!

Maybe the 2s aren’t as expendable as the 3s but the mindset and reinforcement of “mission first, people second” being repeated their entire lives is going to stick. So is the constant mistreatment and abuse from their fellow soldiers and handlers. 

Addressing the cognitive distortions that come from their upbringing while also balancing the fact that Spartans are so fundamentally different from the way they developed to survive would be so much work, especially considering how much information on them is given to their therapist.  The main distortion I would apply is minimization, making large problems small and not properly dealing with them, and specifically for John, personification, accepting blame for negative events without sufficient evidence. 

Like these are grown ass super soldiers who can kill you in less than a second and calculate the amount of gravity in a room on the fly but then also can flounder when trying to comfort civilians or make small talk because their experiences and values are so alien to adults who had more developmentally “normal” lives. 

Literally applying therapy to Spartans would be like, what was done to you was wrong, the ends do not justify the means, you were children and the adults in your life failed to protect you. You are a human person who is fallible and did the best you could with what you had. And the Spartan would say, “sounds fake but okay, can I pass my psych eval and go back to war now please?”

Jumping back to Behavior Theory

Different approaches to therapy under the Behavior Theory umbrella help modify negative behaviors with treatments like Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Dialectical behavior therapy that teach individuals adaptive coping like emotional regulation, distress tolerance, cognitive distortions, and interpersonal communication. And that’s just one framework under the umbrella of human behavior theories.

Social work therapy is different from psych as it approaches individuals with heavily researched, evidence-based theories and frameworks in a holistic viewing of person-in-environment, instead of a strong focus on internal psychology. 

Social work looks at all the interacting systems, environment, history, and internal and external factors affecting an individual. One of the most useful frameworks is the Biopsychosocial-Spiritual Frameworks (BPSS) when helping a client. It helps with identifying all the intersecting factors, both risk and protective, that shapes a client’s lived experiences. The most important thing to remember is that the individual is an expert in their own life, they know their experiences best.

The hardest part is applying this to Spartans because they Are So Fucked, their lived experiences, their environments and systems and institutions interacting with them, and the amount of their personal information that is probably so classified.

BPSS is a tool to help social workers assess individuals and their situations by collecting info that is related to the presenting issues and current and past circumstances. Info like medical history, hospitalizations, substance abuse, mental illness, personal relationships, family history and background, culture and norms, education, legal history, spirituality and participation etc. is all under this framework. 

For Spartan 2s most of this info is lost or classified and helping someone who has repressed every negative emotion they've had for the sake of the mission would be so much to unpack but that’s also why you’re reading the mad ramblings over an over caffeinated nerd on the internet.

Life Course Theory which looks at developmental milestones and the individual’s experiences versus the socially expected markers, how do you apply that to children who were taken and have lived such different lives? 

While early adolescence is when “normal” development of thoughts of self and identity take place alongside the physical changes of puberty, Spartans were being turned into emotionless calculating weapons. Sorry John, no forming a sense of identity and peer bonds for you, go kill that Watts guy who betrayed us and joined the insurrectionists. 

And now that I’ve gone this insane and opened 2 whole textbooks up, let’s get to Master Chief thoughts. If you’ve read this far thank you, I swear I’m normal, 2020 has just been a weird year. 

Why the fuck did I think I could write a therapy fic on a guy with 20 minutes of actual dialogue across almost 2 decades of games?

I make fun of him and call him a himbo, but he’s smart, he knows he’s being used and there is resentment there that’s been building for years. 

There’s also decades of trauma and combat experience, physical, and emotional abuse, the lack of a support network,  lack of an identity, the biological factors and aftermath of the augmentations and injuries he’s received, a whole lot of grief and self-inflicted guilt. 

The loss of a third of his peer group with the augmentation surgery, Sam’s death, the loss of Reach (the only place he’s considered home), Keyes, the Pillar of Autumn crew, Miranda Keyes, Johnson, Cortana. He cares about the marines who fight with him!!!

He just stands there and takes it and rarely snaps, and even then it’s just small cracks on the surface with fissures running deep. The few details I will pull from Halo 5 are Blue Team’s reactions to John pushing himself so hard from the beginning of the game, and the literal crack in his armor from the fight with Locke. Like dude.  

John’s a leader and will get the mission done but he tugs on the leash. He’s earned enough of a reputation and uses it to get his way.

Halo 2’s “Permission to leave the station” with Mr. “I’m going to hand deliver a bomb to the fusion reactor of a covenant supercarrier and hope my friends catch me”. 

Halo 4 is when we see him say no to a superior officer and then 5 is him going AWOL. Palmer literally points out that no one is going to stop him.

Halo 5 kills me for many reasons but John bringing up Halsey and what she did to him and also pointing out that he knows Halo 5 Cortana is trying to manipulate him with psychological tactics hurts. 

He knows what’s been done to him!

I cannot remember which book it was but John isn’t used to working alone. He literally takes fire because he was expecting someone to have his back! 

He’s lost without Cortana! She was in his brain! Y’all! I played Halo Combat Evolved on the original xbox when I was like 8 and I knew these two were meant to be together. From the moment they met they had great chemistry and relied on each other! Cortana literally goes after people who have it out for John! John wants her approval and shows off for her in one of the books. 

I’ve already written too much here but like all of the games have John showing off for Cortana, making dry jokes, jumping out of things he shouldn’t. 

The whole point of this rambling is to try and get my thoughts about how to approach John’s character under control.

And that’s the thing. He’s lost control. He’s lost people, he’s losing his position and being phased out as an aging spartan, a relic. John’s used to following orders and making some decisions on the battlefield but it was always short term.

He has no identity beyond being a weapon. Complete the mission, clear the LZ, get put in cryo. Rinse, repeat. 

The timeline of the games are what I'm most familiar with but with the comics and books too it’s one long run from Halo 2 to Halo 4. Cairo station to the Dreadnought to the crash landing to Forward Unto Dawn to Requiem to “The Didact is Dead but not really but we’ll deal with him off-screen”.

I know Hood apparently gave John R&R orders before Halo 5 that he ignored and kept running himself into the ground. This is a man who has to keep moving and keep being useful. 

I imagine him giving in and seeking help as a last resort to fix any problems he has with performing his duties rather than helping himself be healthier. 

Any professional he sees is going to have to approach him like they’re approaching a self sacrificing feral cat, with lunch meat and quiet. This man needs to have his support network closer, set up long term goals, and do some serious, and most likely incredibly painful, self reflection on where he’s come from and where he wants to go. Get him out of that tin can and into therapy. I don’t have a nice neat ending because this was a ramble and also therapy is not neat and tidy. Thanks for reading my words about mr halo

#this is not coherent but it needs out of my brain #John - has different characterizations based on what media he's in #Me - my writing must be in character or I Will Die #also me - we don't talk about halo 5 but i will loot its corpse for bits of lore I like #im sorry for being like this #my writing #Therapy time #John 117 #this is not a halo blog #haha this was peer reviewed nonsense #thanks yall for enabling me #i have even more ideas for the infinity sitcom folder now

[kiara-carrera]

I *need* a JJ and Leah "in the water" kiss for the kiss prompts.

places where people kiss: in the water + mayson

stop omg i love this, love this for my lil water babies. jj is a whiny little attention whore, but we love him anyways. anyways, uh, lot of build up, not a lot of kissing.

Alone time was hard to come by when you were dating someone within your circle of friends. Leah and JJ knew that well enough.

It was normally wasn't that bad. The two had been best friends first and foremost and the group dynamic honestly hadn't changed that much, which worked well in all of their favors. The others had been worried that their newfound love of macking on each other was going to flip everything on its head, but that wasn't the case.

Except sometimes, they just wanted a moment to just themselves, where they didn't have to worry about the others telling them to get a room or to quit acting so "lovey dovey" (which, honestly, Leah liked to argue that they didn't? At least, not in public?). Having a tight knit group of friends was great until literally every time you got to see your significant other, it was within the confines of a group activity.

So when JJ had suggested a boat day out on the marsh, just the two of them, while the others had work? It had been like music to Leah's ears.

JJ had somehow convinced John B to lend them the HMS for the day, which he'd only agreed to once JJ promised to chip in gas money and to not mack on Leah all over his beloved boat — and if JJ had his fingers crossed behind his back for that second clause, well, John B didn't need to know.

They'd gotten an early start on the day, heading out alone to a vacant spot on the water, cooler packed with beers and snacks, and wide grins on their faces as they finally got to have a complete, fully uninterrupted time with each other. The water calm and cool, lapping against the boat gently, and the sun warming everything around them. The marsh was the picture of serenity.

Y'know, if it wasn't for JJ's incessant bitching.

"Baby," he whined, drawing out the word obnoxiously, flopping down onto his back next to her.

The second he'd parked the boat, she'd made a big show of stripping down to her bikini and JJ's mind, literally existing in the gutter sometimes when it came to his girlfriend, had been very interested to see where all of this was going to go.

Only for Leah to lay herself out on the front of the boat, announcing that she wanted to get some sun before doing anything else.

Leah's head raised only an inch from where she had rested it in her arms. She was on her stomach, stretching like a cat in the sun every so often. As much as she adored the water, she didn't want to look like a ghost in the middle of July.

Adjusting the hat on her head (which was actually the one JJ had been wearing before she snatched it off his head), she gave him the same exhausted look she had seven minutes ago. "What now, you big baby?"

He narrowed his eyes playfully at her, rolling onto his side so he could look at her. "Is this all you're planning on doing today?"

It wasn't, but with the way he was pestering her, it might as well be her new plan. "I told you I just wanted like ... half an hour to tan and then we could go swimming. You can literally start without me if you're than antsy to get into the water."

What JJ wanted was for her to get off her ass so they could get in the water together and spend time together. Look, when it came to being around other people, JJ was affectionate, sure, but the way he was with all of his friends. He was never really all over her and never tried to be the only thing she focused on.

But one thing Leah had learned about how he acted when they were alone? He was kind of an attention whore.

Most days it was cute. Today it just made her want to shove him into the marsh.

"You said that ten minutes ago."

She snorted, raising a brow at him as she peeked out over her arm. "What do you have against me laying out in the sun and relaxing, Maybank?"

"As much as I'm enjoying this view," JJ said, shameless in the way his gaze trailed across her body, "I thought we came out here to have fun."

"I am having fun."

"No, you're being boring."

Another eye roll. "Big baby," she repeated. And then seriously, she added, "J, it's my first day off in a week, I'm tired. I'll play with you later."

"That's what she said."

Leah groaned, burying her head back in her arms. "You're insufferable, you know that?"

"Yesterday you said I was cute," he quipped, a grin on his lips.

She rolled her eyes. "That was yesterday, feelings change."

He scoffed, rolling onto his back in faux offense. Leah giggled against her arm before closing her eyes, thinking she'd bought herself a few more minutes of peace and quiet.

Until JJ decided to change his methods of persuasion.

She could hear him roll back over onto his side to face her, but he kept quiet as he scooted closer to her. She turned her head just enough to peek with one eye, catching a soft yet determined look on JJ's face. A hand was light against her back, tracing up her spine while a soft kiss was pressed to her shoulder.

She hummed happily at the affection and JJ was quick to notice the half hidden grin breaking across her lips.

"Feelings change my ass," he said, poking her cheek.

Leah snorted, before pushing herself up with one hand so she could lay on her side facing him. "You're not going to stop until you get me in that water, are you?"

"C'mon, I don't want to look like an idiot swimming by myself."

Leah raised an eyebrow. "You think that's what's gonna put you over into looking like an idiot?"

His jaw dropped, giving her a small shove to her shoulder. "Mean."

Shaking her head at him, she laughed, figuring she'd tortured him enough. Pushing up into a sitting position, she quickly got to her feet. JJ looked at her questioningly as she stood above him.

She tried not to grin as his eyes once again trailed across her form with a dopey smile on his lips. Although, to be fair, she'd worn this specific swimsuit for a reason. Before they'd gotten together, JJ had once mentioned offhandedly that she looked pretty in it.

If Leah had started putting it in her bikini rotation a little more than her others ... well, that was between her and her dresser drawer.

She pulled the hat off, tossing it behind her. Shielding her eyes from the sun, she looked down at him in question. "Are we doing this or not?"

JJ barely had a second to get up before she faced away from him, taking a perfect dive off the boat and slicing into the water. He stood on the edge for a moment, seeing her slip through the water with ease.

Watching her swim had always been something he'd caught himself doing, even back when they were strictly just friends. The Pogues liked to joke that she could drink like a fish and swim like one, too, but JJ had always felt like he was watching a damn princess movie about mermaids with how easy she made it look.

When she started to resurface, he didn't waste another second before jumping in after her, letting out an excited whoop as he did so.

He broke through the marsh's surface only seconds later, shaking excess water from his hair and wiping a hand across his eyes. Only a few feet from him, Leah was bobbing in the water with a smile and he was swimming towards her before he could even realize he was moving.

JJ tugged her into him, hands catching her under the backs of her thighs. He pulled her in until her legs were wrapping around his waist and he was comfortably holding her in the water. She rolled her eyes at him, but draped her arms loosely around his neck, giving him an amused grin.

"Hi," she whispered.

"Hey." Mischief was painted across his features as he stared at her and she had no time to question him before he was leaning in.

She fell into the kiss without question, melting into the moment like ice cream on a hot summers day. It was soft and sweet and tasted like warm beer and saltwater. If you asked her to, she'd stay there forever in his arms.

Eventually she pulled away, hands slipping to JJ's chest when he tried to follow after her lips like it was a game. He groaned in defeat, giving her a look that expected an answer of why their fun was being interrupted.

"Thought you told John B we weren't going to mack on the boat."

JJ grinned, that same mischievous glint dancing through his blue eyes. "We're not on the boat."

That was all it took for Leah to cup his face between her hands, leaning into steal another kiss.

#asks #kiss list prompts #mayson #claryxjackson

[serena-hart-09]

A Story’s Analyzation Chapter 8: Normal Day~ It’s a normal day~ It’s only a normal day~

Summary: Mc talks with Solomon... and also bonds with Leviathan and Beel. *sigh* finally.... the grand entrance of the “new character” really shocked me.... Well, anyways I hope you like this chapter! As always have a great day ahead!

“*sigh*”

A long sigh leaves from Lucifer’s mouth as he looks at the perpetrators of the scene, Mammon and Beelzebub. Mammon positively looks like a scared animal and Beelzebub looks like a kicked puppy. He begins as he sighs for the hundredth time, “So, how did the kitchen and Mc’s room end up like this?”

This meaning, completely destroyed.

Mammon lets out some ‘ums’ and ‘ah’s as he stutters while trying to explain. It is Beelzebub who finally give him a concrete explanation, “Mammon ate my pudding, the one that I specifically labelled as mine. I saw him eating and I lost…. My composure….” He looks down, guilty, as he finishes his explanation.

“…I see.” Lucifer thinks for a minute as he looks at the now disinterested Mc, who was laying down on the love seat of his room looking up at the ceiling, actively ignoring everyone in the room. In their own world. Mc hasn’t said one word since the incident and quietly followed him with his two brothers in his room…..

“Mc.” He calls them. He is then met with the most tired face he has seen in his life. As if they are tired from just breathing. He coughs, to avoid laughing in this situation, “You will be living in Beel’s room for the time being until the kitchen and your room are repaired.”

“Ok.” They say simply, they then continue looking up at the ceiling. ‘What has happened to this human?’ he thinks. The room is silent after the lukewarm response.

Silence is not forever, you know?

“OI.” A certain demon of greed shouts to get the attention of the other people in the room.

“No Mammon.” Lucifer cuts before he can say anything.

“But I haven’t even started!”

“I know what you will say, so, no.”

“But!”

“No.”

During this, Beel looks at the human with curiosity. As he feels something is out of the place. Something that should have happened, regardless of the situation… ‘A pact. A pact with Mammon….’ He thinks as he continues looking at them…. And then back at his brothers who are still….. fighting? Having a conversation? Debate? He wasn’t sure as he was tangled in his thoughts…about it all….. at the surface it didn’t made sense….  Why should he be worried? At all? This means that it is good that Mc doesn’t have a pact with his brother for his protection?

…

It didn’t made sense…

He looks back at Lucifer and Mammon….

…

They are still going on…

He should probably stop them…

“Mammon its okay I will live in Beel’s room as planned…”

All the brothers look at Mc. They seem far too disinterested for some reason…

They look at Beel with a tired smile, “So, can you help me bring my stuff from my room?”

“Yeah, sure.” He smiles, forgetting the thoughts he had before.

 **********************

There was a lot of stuff that was not damaged….

Currently, Beel was helping them move some of their stuff like clothes, other daily necessities and stuff. While the stuff that they won’t use everyday but will use it when needed were kept in boxes.

“Beel.” He looks up from his work to see his brother, Leviathan.

“Mhm?”

“Lucifer is calling for you; I don’t know for what but he says he wants to meet you in his study or something.”

“Ah, ok thank you Levi.” He smiles but he is ignored as Leviathan looks at one of Mc’s stuff and lets out one of his big infamous ‘WOOOOAAAAAAHHHH’s.

“That’s- that’s the limited-edition booklet of TSL!” Leviathan runs towards the book like its his last food in Devildom. “Ahhh, I always wanted this! I lost the chance to get it 4 years back and now its in front of me!”

“That is Mc’s stuff.” Beel tells him with a straight face.

“Huh?”  

“It’s their stuff.”

“No way! This can’t be that normie’s!”

“Who said I am a normie?”

A voice comes from the door, its Mc who is looking at Leviathan as if a mother was giving her child, The StareTM . “Plus, don’t you think it is rude to touch other people stuff without their permission?”

Levi looks away in embarrassment, “I-I mean, I was just surprised is all…”

“Alright. What about the ‘normie thing’?”

“Um-uh I thought that you were a normie….”

“…Do you like the TSL series?”

“Huh? Of course, I love it!”

“Oh? Who’s your favourite character?”

“The Lord of Shadows! He is the best!”

“I know right! I love his character development too! Like how he went from a cute and shy baby to confident and responsible!”

“I know! I like his friendship with Henry!”

“Oh, my Devildom! Me too! Eyyyyy! High Five!”

Though, no clap was heard….

“Eh…. Leviathan?”

“…” He looked away, blushing. “I-I should go… Or else I’ll miss the latest episode of ‘Oh no! I’ve been trapped in a game and the game master is after my soul so I must break some rules of the game to annoy them and escape with my lover and his family to the real world!’”

“Oh…. Um is it new?”

“Yeah just last week it aired its first episode… um so…. i-if you need my help… you can uh-um call me!” he runs away hiding his face in his hands.

“…”

“…”

“What was that?”

“I don’t know either, but it was very cute! Hehe!”

Beel looks at them smiling.

“Uh Beel? Didn’t Lucifer call you?”

“Oh. Alright.”

Ah, it is quite peaceful..

 ***********************

“AHHHHHHH!”

A very familiar scream was heard in the class. With the scream however, there were gasps and many disappointed sighs….

Mc sighs again while looking at Mammon, it seems he some how chanted the spell incorrectly and now he has turned into a cat and in a dog, now in a rat… The professor seems to try his best to remove the curse…. Though it’s impossible as Mammon is jumping everywhere in panic….. Satan too is trying to help him with no avail….

They sigh again….. as the class is now in chaos… their morning had been chaotic their afternoon? Well, with their reaction for this situation….as if something more chaotic happened resulting, into them being numb to their surroundings. It seemed that at this point they wanted to go home or die… either works for them. ‘Is their anything else that I have to see today?’

“Why are you sighing so much? What is he? Your disappointment of a child?”

They look up, back straightening.

‘This guy…… Of course….’

Solomon.

“No, I am just tired.”

“Hm… Well, it seems that class won’t return to normal for the next 47 minutes…. How about we talk?” he sits beside them…. A little too close.

“No thanks. I have way more better things to do than talking to you.”

“Oh~ come on. Just a little chitchat?”

“No.” they try to get up from their seat.

…

?!

…They can’t? Mc looks at Solomon in shock, his smug face is all that they need to understand..

“You cursed my seat?”

“Hehe…. It seems you are not as naïve as I thought you were…” he smirks at them.

“Oh? Did I disappoint you?”

“Not at all.”

“….What do you want from me?”

“You know that very well…” he moves himself near to them…. So much that they are one would think that they were kissing… he whispers in their ears, “I want a pact with you….. that’s all I want…”

“….and you think I will give it you?”

“Of course not, best things come with a price….. well, what is yours? Tell me.”

“Your heart or soul then.”

“Playing hard to get?”

“I am just stating my price….”

“You know I can’t give you that.”

“Then the deal is off.”

“Is there something else that you want?”

“No.”

“There has to be.”

“Tch. I already told you I’m not interested.”

“Why?”

“Hm…. I am sure you know the reason very well.”

“Aww, are you still mad at me?”

“Oh? Was I not very clear?”

“Bummer.”

“Madman.”

He only laughs, “It’s alright, maybe one day……. I’ll be able to convince you or maybe fate will, who knows? Truly who knows of the future, right?”

“Shut up.”

“Mc-”

“Solomon.”

Both of them look up to find, Lucifer staring intensely at Solomon.

“You should sit a little away from Mc.” He speaks in a threatening voice.

“Oh, good evening Lucifer! Why are you here?”

“A certain idiot cursed himself. So, I am here to clean the mess. Now, move.”

“Alright. Alright. Mc, Lucifer, have a good day.” And so, he leaves the both of them alone.

“…”

“Mc-”

“Thanks.”

“Oh, well, you did request the favor from me so-”

“Let’s go and help Mammon.”

“Mc-”

“Shit, did Mammon just turned into a monkey?”

He looks at said monkey…. This will take while, huh?

…

 *****************************

 “Ah, Diavolo. Good evening.”

“Good evening to you too, Mc. I am sorry if I disturbed you.”

“No, not at all I just finished my homework so I was already free.” They say stretching their arms. Today they had a lot of homework it was all easy so it didn’t take them much time.

“Ah.”

“Though, its quite rare for you to call me.”

“Ah, yes I wanted to call you regarding my-”

“Your sister? I understand. When do you want to meet?” they were glad that they were alone. Beel said he was going out to run an errand and also to go to Madam Scream’s promising them that he will bring them one of his favourite shortcake.

“…”

“Diavolo?”

“Its just….. Why do you know my sister?”

“…..I think that discussion needs to be done face to face, Diavolo

“…. You are right.”

“Is there anything else you wanted to talk about?”

“….Yes.” ‘He sounds serious…’ they think ‘must be something important..’

“So, what is it?”

“Mc….. Are you and Lucifer finally dating?”

…

“Diavolo…. Why are you so hellbent on matchmaking Lucifer and I?”

“Because you two look cute together!”

“Why?”

“Hm…..”

“Diavolo.”

“Alright! We’ll meet each other again on Friday after classes!”

“Fine.”

They sigh setting their D.D.D. down on the bed.

…

Something….. feels out of place….

….

Their neck… feels like its burning….

It feels good…..

So good….

So warm…..

“Mhnnn.”

They moan.

It feels so-

…

?!

Wait what?

They touch their neck just to feel nothing…

…

What was that?

‘Whatever.’

They go to the bathroom to wash their face they look in the mirror-

‘Wait.’

They had a giant mark on their neck…… which very suspiciously resembled that of one of the brother’s sigil…….

‘Wha-’

But then in a flash it disappeared…

…

Was it the sigil that was doing weird things to them before?

‘What is happening?’

… There was one man- I mean Demon who could answer them…. Without being overly suspicious of them… and then obsessively observe them on a daily basis….. the one that seemed like he was mentally stable…..

Satan.

So, they walk to his room and knock gently on his door.

“Oh? Mc? Did you need help with something?”

“Ah, yeah…”

“Come on in then.” He smiles softly.

“Mc?”

They turn around to look at the eldest.

“Lucifer?”

“I was searching for you….. I wanted your help with something…… if you are free, would you please come in my study with me?”

“Um Lucifer I-”

“They are not free, Lucifer. They needed my help with something… about curses right?” he smiles at them though his words are full of venom.

“Oh? Maybe I can help you, Mc?”

“Uh no Lucifer…. This time only Satan can help me….hehe…” they smile apologetically.

“…”

“Anyways, Mc come in. You, get back to your work.” He looks at Lucifer, bored.

“Excuse me?”

And then Satan slams the door on Lucifer’s face.

“Dude…”

“I always wanted to do that! Hahaha!”

“Pfft-”

Both of them laughed for 2 minutes straight.

“Anyways… what is it you want my help from?”

“Ah, yes, I wanted you to talk to you about something. Its, -“

…

Then, only static was heard….

….

They tried again…. And even then only static was heard… again….

They look at Satan and he looks like he is frozen in place, like a statue.

“…”

They took a deep breath…

“Satan could you teach me more about History of Devildom?”

“Of course!”

….

This seemed to work, huh.

…

‘What is really happening?’

…

“Satan?” they look at him and now… he is only staring at them?

“…”

“Satan.”

“Hm? Oh yes, sorry I-”

“Its ok. So, let’s get this over yes?”

“Yes!”

….

It’s weird….

Its….. wrong…

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It has been a while, Reader did you enjoy the story so far?

Oh? its slow? Well, many stories need a lengthy plot to progress forward you know?

So, did you finally find the clues I gave you in the story?

Ahahaha!

Good. Because you will need them. Even the ones in the future chapters…

*sigh*

That fool… he finally entered in here huh?

Reader, don’t worry that psychotic idiot won’t do anything to you…….

For now.

That man is an idiot, after all, he is chasing after you, the person beyond this screen.

Not the Mc, not the “Reader”.

You, Y/N.

Hm, or rather, [Name] or [reader name] are also some ways to refer you right?

He is nothing but puppet controlled by someone else…. Yet he thinks that he has broke those chains…. Poor soul, he does not even know that he is still being controlled.

But who am I to change one’s fate?

I am not a God nor a Demon nor an Angel….

To be honest, he still is struggling to write/talk, sometimes talking in codes…..

He will fail….

No matter what….. that is certain….

And then, he will go back to the same scenery that he hated so much……

Understandable, because he was all alone…..

In his world, he alone came to know the truth after all.

Even if he is playing the role that is given to him he is merely doing it get in contact with the Mc………

*sigh*

Next time, maybe, it will be him you will meet….

But let’s hope Tohei comes back too…. They are worried about you…..

Maybe, they know that the interference is him.

…

Please be Safe…

All of us would hate it if something were to happen to you…

#shall we date obey me #obey me fic #obey me #obey me x mc #obey me lucifer #lucifer x reader #obey me mammon #obey me leviathan #obey me satan #obey me asmodeus #obey me beelzebub #obey me belphegor #obey me diavolo #obey me barbatos #obey me simeon #obey me luke #obey me solomon #book of observation series #a story's analyzation

[shutupandshipit]

Friends in a Storm - Oneshot

Summary:  At the end of it all, the sky was always bluest after a storm.

.....

Or where Izuku is afraid of storms and Katsuki isn't.

Pairing: Bakudeku

Rating: T (just for language mostly)

Author’s Note: So, I recently went through the first hurricane of my life. Our good old Cat 2 Hurricane Sally. I'm wasn’t too far from where the eye hit, and we got a fair bit of damage done to us, but nothing too severe. It was really interesting. I don't normally get anxious during storm (I actually really love them, they make me feel alive), but there was a moment when I was anxiously staring out the window and just had the thought, "This would be a lot nicer if I had someone's hand to hold." That feeling is what spurned the birth of this fic.

I hope you guys like it even though it's just a piddly little one-shot. If not, I'll enjoy it enough for all of us.

Katsuki jumped as thunder rolled over the dorms. Immediately following, something slammed into the side, rattling the entire building. The first thought that sprang to mind was that someone wandering around outside had gotten thrown into their dorm, which he dismissed as ridiculous.

Snarling, he stalked to the balcony door, but simply glared at it. He couldn't see through the glass at the moment anyway.

The sky had been dark and threatening to crack apart for days before the wind finally kicked up. It had been more than a decade since Musutafu had gotten hit with a typhoon, not such a strong one at least. The city wasn't really prepared even though they had seen it brewing on the horizon. The city got hit regularly from May to October by tropical depressions and storms, but a Category 2 typhoon? Not so much. Most of their parents hadn't been through such a strong storm before.

Massive flooding and minor building damage had been predicted with possible power and water outages.

That Monday, they'd returned from lunch and immediately been dismissed back to the dorms with a blunt, “If there's something you can't live without for the next three days, get it now. You won't be able to go anywhere by tonight.” Then Aizawa left to go help the other teachers prepare the rest of the buildings and faculty living quarters.

No matter their differences, when class 3-A needed to come together, they did. All together, they fortified the dorm windows and doors with steel plates Yaoyorozu made. Those with more strength based quirks or with strength applications (Katsuki, Izuku, Kirishima, Sato, Shouji, and Tokoyami with Dark Shadow) heaved around the plates in teams of two. Uraraka and Sero worked together to lift the plates to the upper story windows and leverage them in place. Mineta made himself useful by plugging up any possible holes around the plates and helping them stick better. The others with bodies and quirks less suited to manual labor booked it to the store to stock up on water, candles, snacks and food that didn't have to be cooked or only needed hot water. When they returned, everyone created a line to stack sand bags around the first floor just in case they were unlucky enough to get flooded.

By the time they were done, the rain had begun to fall and wind ripped harshly at their clothing. Dorm 3-A had been transformed into a literal fortress. Nothing would be able to knock it down.

Except maybe a Cat 2 typhoon.

Again, something slammed into the dorms, right into the steel plate over his balcony door. Storms didn't make Katsuki nervous normally, but anxiety pooled in his stomach from the simple fact that he couldn't see what was going on outside. And if he was anxious, he knew there was a specific nerd probably pissing himself at the moment.

Huffing, Katsuki stalked to his door. Izuku had never liked storms as a kid, and still didn't like them now. He had walked in on Izuku with a blanket over his head, sobbing as he tried to lose himself in hero videos more times than he cared to remember. And those had been with minor storms. Something like this...

Another crash jolted him into action.

Ripping opening his bedroom door, he stalked through the halls. He wasn't sleeping anyway. He'd originally retired to his room because the rest of the class had insisted on having a storm party in the common room and they were bound to be loud as fuck. He'd been tired, but there was no reason to avoid them when he wouldn't be able to sleep with a stomach full of snakes. Or with the now blooming worry over how Izuku was handling it.

When he got to the common room, he had to take a moment to survey the absolute disaster scene that the space had become. Blankets were strung up from wall to wall, creating forts over the couches and tables. The center of the common room had become a tent city in just a few hours. Candles sat on every available surface, some already lit in anticipation of the power going out, some waiting patiently for their time to burn. Bowls of popcorn and cans of soda littered the area. Multiple rounds of Rummy, Poker and simpler card games were going on all at once. The television fizzed static, a beacon over them all.

Crouching beside Kirishima with a scowl, he cut his eyes over his classmates looking for green curls. There were none. There wasn't even a lump of blankets large enough to plausibly be the nerd.

“Where's Deku?” he growled, and Kirishima jerked towards him in surprise.

“Man, I didn't even realize you were there.” He sighed, pressing a hand to his chest. It took him a moment of steadying breaths to register the question. “Oh, Mido? I don't know. Said he was going to study or something. Right, Mina?” He elbowed Mina to get her attention.

The most annoying game of telephone ensued until, from across the fort, Ochako called, “He said he wasn't feeling well so he went upstairs to rest.”

“Idiot,” Katsuki scoffed and stood again. No one called after him as he walked back towards the stairs -no fucking way he was getting stuck in the elevators if the power went out-.

Izuku had no right to call Katsuki stubborn when his prideful ass couldn't even admit that he was scared to his friends. Not that Katsuki had any room to talk, but Izuku liked to pretend they weren't similar just as much as Katsuki did.

As soon as he stopped in front of Izuku's door, the lights flickered. A quiet whimper sounded in the room, and Katsuki huffed a sigh.

He and Izuku were what some would call friends now. Friends of a sort. Friends that sometimes did intimate things that 'just friends' weren't supposed to do. They still struggled every day with what had been happening between them for years. And they weren't the kind of friends who did the whole touchy feely comfort thing. Their form of comfort was argument, struggle, beating each other to a pulp. Still, Katsuki always found himself at Izuku's door when he knew the nerd was having a hard time, and vice versa. The only difference this time was that he couldn't just drag Izuku to the training fields for a sparring session.

Katsuki knocked lightly on the door so he wouldn't startle Izuku, but he heard a squeak anyway. “Deku, open the door.”

There was a scuffle from inside the room, and slowly, the door cracked for Izuku to peak out at him. Green eyes stared back, bloodshot and red rimmed. Nose just a cherry on his face. “Kacchan?”

“Let me in the room, nerd. You're just going to leave me out here?”

“N-no,” Izuku stammered before stepping back and opening the door enough for Katsuki to slip in. Rubbing at his arms through a hoodie that suspiciously looked like the one Katsuki thought he'd misplaced several weeks ago, he asked, “Do you need something?” He wouldn't lift his head, avoiding Katsuki's eyes as he shuffled back to his nest of a bed. The remnants of a cocoon was crumpled in the middle.

“No.” Katsuki leaned against Izuku's desk, watching as he clambered back onto his bed. “Came to check on you since you weren't downstairs.”

“I'm fine.” Mumbled absolutely unconvincingly under his breath.

“Sure you are, nerd. You're always peachy during a storm.” Overhead, the lights flickered as thunder rolled and the building shook. Off, on, off, on, off, on and off again. This time, they stayed off. A stifled whimper floated across the room towards Katsuki, only making his already clenching stomach clench harder. Rolling his eyes, he pushed away from the desk. “You're such a dirty liar, Deku.”

“Leave me alone, Kacchan,” Izuku sniffled.

Katsuki didn't move, but still said, “Fine. I'll just leave then.”

Thunder rolled. Wind howled. Something crashed against the steel plates outside on Deku's balcony, and then stayed to do it over and over again.

“Wait!” Deku shouted into the blackness around them. “I'm sorry. Don't leave. Please.”

Stepping to the bed, Katsuki sank a knee into the edge and grabbed the hand he could feel outstretched towards him. “I was only joking, dumbass, I'm not actually going anywhere. Chill.”

“How am I supposed to 'chill' when we could die tonight?” Izuku's breath was a rapid staccato of pants, fingers forming fists in the front of Katsuki's shirt. “Did you know that a typhoon is essentially just another name for a hurricane? They all do the same thing and are made the same way, but just develop in a different part of the world. They can dump more than twenty inches of rain. Storm serge can rise up to six feet. Not to mention the wind strength just for a Category 1. A Cat 2 can be upwards of-”

Katsuki gently placed his palm over Izuku's mouth, silencing him. He could see Izuku now, his eyes having adjusted to darkness. He could see the wideness of his eyes, whites more visible than usual and tears spilling over his lashes. An animal terrified. “Izuku,” he said sternly, but soft around the edges, “You're freaking out. You're going to pass out if you don't get your breathing under control. We're going to be fine. The dorms are made of pure concrete with a solid structure, and the typhoon isn't strong enough to even rip the roof off. Do you understand? This is just your fear talking. Are you going to let your fear control you?”

Prying Katsuki's fingers from his mouth, Izuku whispered, “Fear is a good thing. It keeps you alive.”

“Not right now. Fear is good in a battle. On the job as a hero. Right now, it's just driving you up a fucking wall.”

Katsuki equally was and wasn't expecting when Izuku pressed their mouths together. Izuku was breathless before the kiss, and he was only more breathless during the kiss as he tried to suck away Katsuki's breath instead. Their tongues moved slowly against each other, scorching hot and slick.

When Izuku pulled away again, he was still panting, but slower this time.

“What was that for?” Katsuki asked softly, carding his fingers through Izuku's messy curls with one hand and cupping the side of his neck with another. He'd been pulled further onto the bed while they kissed, and Izuku had found a home in his lap. He kissed several stray tears from Izuku's cheeks.

This was the intimate stuff Katsuki was talking about. The kisses. The softness of voices. Hands in hair and hands on skin. Falling into each other over and over again because they didn't know any better. Or maybe they did know better, and just didn't care to heed the warning.

“I needed to stop thinking.” Izuku's eyes were closed, his breathing slowing to something more normal. With legs on either side of Katsuki's waist, he cupped the hand on his neck with his own and leaned his forehead against Katsuki's collarbone. “And the only thing that makes me stop thinking better than fighting you is kissing you.”

“So you're just using me then, nerd?”

Izuku hummed a non-reply, leaning into Katsuki's warm hand.

“Well, that's fine.” Pressing his mouth into the top of Izuku's head, he whispered, “You can use me all you want, as much as you want. Anytime. Any place.”

“Pinky promise?”

“We're not five anymore. I'm not making a shitty pinky promise with you.”

Izuku laughed, and turned his lips back up for another kiss.

They fell into each other just like they always did, letting that all encompassing fire consume them from the inside out. Their classmates didn't understand them which was fine because they didn't understand themselves most of the time. They were the rise and fall of a stormy sea. The hungry flames of a forest fire. The raging winds and cutting rain of a typhoon.

But what people always forgot -and sometimes they forgot too- was that seas always calmed and rain dried up and wind slowed and fires ran out of kindling.

At the end of it all, the sky was always bluest after a storm.

…..

Katsuki hadn't expected them to fall asleep, all tangled up in each other, with the typhoon outside and what he would later come to find out was a piece of the gutter slapping against the steel plate. So, he definitely wasn't expecting to wake up to shuffling footsteps and weak candle light and giggling whispers.

With an arm over his eyes, he couldn't tell how many of his and Izuku's dumbass friends were in the room, but he knew it was too many. Just one of them would have been too many.

“Get the fuck out,” he growled lowly.

“Don't be like that, Kacchan,” Kaminari whispered jovially, “We just wanted to come check on you.”

“Well, you've done that. Now get the fuck out. Don't you have something better to do?”

“No, the storm is still going, power is still out and we got bored of games. You and Izuku weren't back, so we figured this would be a good alternative.” Mina's voice was chipper and far too loud for the bundle sleeping on Katsuki's arm.

He moved his arm just barely out of the way to glare at the assembled group; Kirishima, Mina, Sero, Kaminari, Shinsou, Jirou, Yaoyorozu, Ochako, Iida and lastly Todoroki. Half the fucking class was currently standing in Izuku's room like a bunch of dodos with a death wish.

Suddenly, Katsuki was very aware of his state of undress, and thankful Izuku hadn't hogged all of the sheets like he normally would. “Well, it was a terrible alternative. Find something else to go do before I blast every single one of you out into that storm to get thrown around.”

“Like a roller coaster. Sounds like fun,” Kirishima said, shit-eating grin plastered to his face. When Katsuki groaned, he laughed. Best friend that he was, he turned to herd the others out. “Okay, I think that's enough. Let them sleep or whatever it was they were doing. Who has whiteboard markers? Let's go play tic-tac-toe on the fridge.”

“We will absolutely not-”

Kirishima closed the door, silencing both the bereft groans of their classmates and Iida's reprimand.

Breath fluttered across the side of Katsuki's neck, closer than before, and he startled.

“Thanks for staying with me,” Izuku mumbled into his skin, closing the small distance between them. His eyes were still closed, voice soft with sleep. “You didn't have to. Storms are easier with another person though. I don't think they were meant to be gone through alone. Does that make sense?”

“Absolutely not.” Katsuki was lying, and Izuku knew as he huffed out a laugh.

“Can we go on a hike after this is done? The sky is always bluer after a storm.”

A butterfly fluttered against Katsuki's breastbone, just the lightest brush of wings, at his thoughts in Izuku's mouth. He hummed, an agreement to both the question and statement, and pulled Izuku flush against his body.

#my hero academia #mha #bakudeku #dekubaku #bakugou katsuki #midoriya izuku #storm fic #here have another thing #i also love this one #wrote it while I was stuck inside because of Hurricane Sally #my writing #friends in a storm #one shot

[yourcoolfriendwithallthecandy]

Why So Jaded? Chapter 3

Chapter 3! Woo! In case you missed it, Chapter 1, Chapter 2, FFN and AO3 Enjoy!

Part 3

Buddy Pine had always had more than one plan. Getting caught and working for Phillip on his dime had been his contingency plan if the nanochip thing had backfired. But he never expected Phillip to be so accommodating or so generous. But having Violet be the liaison was the icing on the cake and to have her be his heir apparent was a fitting twist considering their shared history and he had had no problems with that part of the contract. He hadn't been this productive since before the incident a decade ago. And for the last few weeks, almost a month, the hours following her visits were always the most exciting as far as progress was concerned. He was finding his spark again and keeping alive and well, he even starting drafting and designing from scratch again. This was working out perfectly.

All he needed was time. Time to prove to Violet at least that he was not the same man he was a decade ago. He had been honest when he told her that Syndrome died. Because a part of himself did die that day and he had no interest in reviving him and his attraction to her was undeniable. 

"Good morning Ms. Parr," Buddy greeted when he heard the door open at 9:00am which had been Violet's chosen time to come in the mornings. He had learned to recognize her walking pattern, it was smooth and fluid yet light and precise, almost cat like.

"Good morning Mr. Pine," Violet replied evenly. "Mr. Sebastian sends his congratulations on the nanochip redesign, it has increased workload by your projections exactly and has earned you an additional 1.4 million dollars as of today." Violet informed him. Happy because it had earned her the same amount as well since she and Buddy would both be getting 15% each of all the sales, leaving Phillip and his company to earn the remaining seventy percent.

"Excellent, what else?" Buddy inquired, knowing Violet preferred to lead with good news before delivering the bad.

"Mr. Sebastian now has 5 new projects to add to your ever increasing roster." Violet informed him as she made a swiping motion from her tablet to his as his own tablet and electronics received the new project data before she rubbed at her temple and winced.

"You ok?" Buddy inquired as he watched her thoughtfully.

"Yeah, just a bad headache," Violet answered dismissively. "Now Mr. Salazar wants to know exactly how much titanium alloy you will need for the VIC project? And what tensile strength will you need to have the silicon wafers at?" She continued as she went down the list in her own tablet.

"I'm going to have to look over my calculations again and I'll shoot you an email with the specifics. How long have you had the headache?" Buddy inquired as he watched her closely, getting flashbacks of when Mirage had similar headaches and how much she used to suffer with them.

"Why does my headache matter? It's a headache, it will go away eventually and with enough Advil." Violet defended, her irritation clear in the way she seemed to snap at him because the pain was sapping every ounce of patience she had today.

"Supers don't usually just get headaches that can be cleared up with over the counter pain killers, they usually need something stronger, especially with your skill set as a Super, you're more likely to have inflammation in the central cortex." Buddy blurted out before looking up to see a practically seething Violet, he was at a loss as to why before it dawned on him of how he would know something like that. He could see it in her eyes, they burned a luminescent shade of ultraviolet for a moment. He could see that she wanted to kill him and the static electricity in the lab was so high the electronics started to warble and wane.

Violet was livid, how dare he have the audacity to speak of such things! She wanted to know how many supers he had lured to their deaths, how many had he interrogated or tortured and experimented on for his research before zeroing in on her family. She wanted to beat those answers out of him. She struggled not to do just that, she struggled to keep herself composed as her grip actually crushed her tablet which caused Buddy to jump and step away before she had to pull her rage back and put an emotionally void mask to her facial features as she struggled to remain in control and not kill him.

"If you have anything else you need for your work, you can contact my assistant, Leslie." Violet managed to bite out before turning and leaving quickly, keeping on her toes to keep her heels from making any more noise on the floors, once out of the lab she raced to the elevator and was thankful it was empty when it finally reached her. She leaned against the elevator wall once the doors closed and tried her best not to have a panic attack as she could feel the panic whirl in her chest and make it hard to breathe. These headaches were getting out of hand and were wearing her down and she cursed herself for having such an obvious and light trigger that he seemed to know exactly how to set off. She barely managed to make it to her own office to her safe room before she broke down and cried, an instinctual forcefield encompassing her like a security blanket. How could she keep acting like none of it happened and he was just another one of Phillip’s colleagues?

Back in the lab Buddy was kicking himself for not seeing how that could have backfired. And for the first time there was something added to his guilt, shame as he was cussing himself out for messing up so bad.

Meanwhile Phillip who was watching and listening to the conversation via security cameras was practically running to Violet's office. He had a hunch this would happen eventually and he had to make sure she would be ok. He got to her office and went straight to the safe room he had specifically built for her. He keyed in his code and the book shelf concealing the safe room moved away to reveal Violet sitting down and curled up in a ball, her knees to her chest as she hugged them and rocked herself, he could see she was shaking but he knew better than to try and touch her now, the forcefield around her would keep him from physically touching her. He couldn't hear her because the forcefield kept any noise she was making inside and would thus make talking to her impossible until she took it down. But what he could do is sit as close to her as possible and wait for her to notice him there.

After a moment she did look up to see him there and let down the forcefield before he crawled to her and put his arm around her shoulders and held her close and did everything in his power- super or not- to comfort her as she crawled into his lap and held onto him tightly.

"I'm sorry," He whispered into her hair as he kissed the crown of her head as she continued to sniffle into his shoulder as the other arm was wrapped tightly around her as he took up rocking her himself. He could count on one hand the number of times this had happened before and he was just grateful she let him in this time.  

"How did he know?! How does he know shit like that?! He shouldn't know that, especially about me," Violet cried, feeling vulnerable in the worst way and feeling like she was a little kid again. With that henchman as he was hunting her through the forest and was hiding in the water. She felt like she was drowning in anguish and anger and rage and hurt and heartbreak and she just wanted her dad to hug her and hold her in his big strong arms up to his massive chest and make her feel perfectly safe again but for now, Phillip’s arms and chest would have to do and she was grateful for him.

"I don't know, but I'll find out ok? It's going to be ok, I promise, I swear on my life it's going to be ok. Where are those pills we made for you?" Phillip asked, trying to get her to look him in the eye as he reached for her face and held it in his hands and used his thumbs to wipe away her tears and streaking mascara.

"I only have 2 left, I was saving them for when it got really bad." Violet tried to explain as she buried her head deeper into his chest, hoping the counter pressure would give her some relief. Phillip pulled her hair down from the bun and laced his fingers together behind her head and applied pressure into his chest, trying to help give her more relief.

"Does that help?" He asked.

"Yes, thank you Phil." Violet said in thanks as she reveled in the relief the counter pressure was providing as she did her best to regain her composure. She hated feeling like this, let alone be seen like this. But Phillip was special. He never thought less of her or think of her as weaker. It just helped him appreciate that even though she was a Super, she was still human and thus, imperfect and had weaknesses and limits. Phillip counted himself lucky to be able to witness this side of her and he had worked so hard just to get to this point with her.

"Now where are the pills? I'll make sure you have more before these wear off," Phillip offered.

"In my top left desk drawer." Violet answered before Phil managed to get up and pull her up with him before he carried her over to her desk and simply set her down on it then looked through her drawers for the meds before he found them and gave them to her as she used her coffee still on her desk to down them both.

"Have you been able to get any sleep lately?" He asked as he noted the dark circles under her eyes that she had tried to cover up with makeup.

"Yeah, I got a whole six hours last night," She answered.

"How much Ambian did it take to get that?" He asked worriedly.

"A hundred and twenty milligrams."

"Fuck Vi, that much should have put you in a coma." He realized.

"I know, but I just wanted to sleep so badly that I kept taking 2 tabs every hour until I finally fell asleep." Violet explained as she slowly got up and sat in her desk chair before letting her head rest on the desk's surface.

"Vi, why didn't you tell me it was getting this bad?" Phillip asked as he leaned against her desk next to her.

"Because there are a thousand and one other things that are more important," Violet groaned as she continued to lay her head on the desk and waited for the painkillers to kick in while she focused on not throwing up.

"Violet, I would not have the best doctors cooped up in a lab working 14 hour days trying to come up with the best solution possible if I didn't think that you and your health were important if not equally or even more important than my own. Promise me that you'll tell me when things are getting bad or if things get worse." Phillip urged her.

"Ok, ok, I promise," Violet said as she steadied her breathing, the painkillers beginning to take effect.

"Thank you, now I want you to do me a favor, take a few days off, go to the spa, get a massage or something and relax, read a good book and don't use your powers. Because the more you use them the worse this seems to get. Can you do that for me?" Phillip prodded.

"Yeah, I can do that, but what about Syn..Mr. Pine?" Violet asked, catching herself.

"Don't worry about it, I will deal with him personally if I have to and he will answer to me about this incident." Phillip placated. "And you start now, I'll go down to the lab to get you your meds, just stay here."

"Deal," Violet agreed as she kicked off her heels for her feet to rest.

Phillip went down to the lab and got Violet the special painkillers that have been designed for her and checked in on the sleep aid they had been also working on for her and got as much of that as they had as he informed them of her recent dose as the doctors rewrote the prescription. It was highly unusual for an employer to take such an intense interest in his employee but Philip considered this extremely special circumstances because Violet was so much more than an employee, she was a friend. A true one he felt and while he knew that Violet didn’t need him, he was becoming more and more dependent on her and was still hoping that when it was all said and done, she would stay with him and while they both had agreed not to pursue a romantic relationship, it was awfully hard for him to keep things strictly business between them. Especially after that first incident when they had been locked in his safe room for a week. It got very physical then and he had found himself craving her more and more and he had time to win her over. He also dealt with anything and everything having to do with Violet he did himself. It's not that he didn't trust his other secretaries and assistants but, he felt better knowing that because he handled it, it was done right.

He saw her off before going to Buddy's lab himself.

"Mr. Sebastian, I was wondering when you would come and see me," Buddy remarked, despite the slight nervous edge to his voice. He had been wondering what ramifications there would be for upsetting Phillip's little 'pet', remembering what lengths he used to go to when it came to anyone or anything that messed with Mirage.

"Well Mr. Pine, it seems you've been busy, making exceptional hardware, offending my staff," Phillip listed off casually, but there was quiet rage to his voice that Buddy immediately picked up on.

"I didn't mean to offend her. I just noticed she was in pain, I didn't mean to upset her," Buddy defended as Phillip took a long hard look at him.

"I'm going to ask you something and I need you to be honest in your answer. Do you have any design or intention of bringing harm in any way, shape or form to Ms. Parr?" Phillip gravely questioned.

"Of course not," Buddy answered.

"But given your history, especially with the Parr's..." Phillip began.

"I know, I'm the last person who should be put anywhere close to any of them but things change, especially in the time that’s passed." Buddy countered.

"I'm aware that you know a lot about Supers, and I know better than to ask exactly how you know..." Phillip began.

"Natalia," Buddy interrupted. "Natalia, or Mirage rather, had similar powers that Violet has, Tali suffered from extremely painful and debilitating headaches too, they were so bad she used to "joke" about drilling a hole into her head to relieve the pressure. Whenever she used her powers, especially her invisibility extensively. Supers are wired differently, they even have extra brain components, Supers who can turn themselves invisible, tend to have larger central cortex's. It puts pressure on the rest of the brain, that's why the headaches are so intense and hard to cure." Buddy explained. "That's how I know about it. I almost had a cure too at several points. But everything I came up with impaired her powers and she always needed to use her powers. Always. The Agency..." Buddy began as he did his best to fight the tears that came to sting at the corner of his eyes at all the memories came flooding back and what surprised him was to feel all that rage he had against The Agency rear it's ugly head as he fought to remain composed and in control of himself and his emotions.

"The Agency knew damn well it was hurting her, hell it was killing her and they didn’t give a single fuck. The needs of the many always outweigh the needs of a few right? And it’s not like she didn’t want to do the missions, she always did and it made her happy to feel useful and helpful and as long as I could come up with the right painkiller for the headaches and keep her in the field, she was happy. All Supers, the good, the bad and everything in between, they always have an itch that only Super work can scratch. They just sent her on mission after mission all while she was working for me, because she had the skill set to be useful in the more "clandestine" work and out of the public eye. To the point the villains never knew she was ever involved in their downfall. No matter what I did, whatever I provided them or tried to find other Supers to take her place on all these missions, they liked to remind me and her who she really belonged to and it took turning on me and exposing me to the fullest and deepest degree for her to break free of them and finally get the out she needed. I lost track and count of how many times and all the different ways I proposed to her, but she never accepted because she knew that The Agency could turn on her if she didn’t walk the line and it would have made both of us targets. Especially when Supers were under ban, she was used even though she was relatively young when all that happened because she was older than me by a decade and she was barely a teenager then. Of course she’s fine now, or so I assume. She’s perfectly fine being a trophy wife for just another rich, powerful billionaire playboy because there's so many of us these days and I used to lay awake at night and wonder what he had that I didn’t that got her to say yes to him but not me." Buddy revealed. Remembering how he used to cradle her in his arms and rock her and squeeze her head to give her counterpressure and swear he would find a cure if it was the last thing he did and the beautiful but fatally flawed relationship they had. But it was still...never enough.

“I see how you are with her. You depend on her a lot. And as much as you like seeing the way I react to her and act in her presence. She’s practically your everything and I know that you know that you’re pretty screwed without her. It would probably take what? A hundred? Two hundred people to do all the things she does on her own by herself. She’s irreplaceable. Funny isn’t it? We get all this money and power and make ourselves as desirable and needed as possible while individually independent as we can be, then a girl comes along and she makes it all feel useless and worthless and they make you realize that the world doesn’t revolve around you and that you aren’t the most important person in the room, let alone the world or the universe- that they are. And no matter what we do, what we give, what we invent, how we try to help-  at the end of the day and when all is said and done, they don’t need us, and it stings like a motherfucker. But if you’re lucky- they’ll want you and if they want you and genuinely care about you, then that’s all that matters.” Buddy confessed, not sure why he was telling Phillip all this. But he felt... absolved to a degree to get it off his chest and he wished with all his might that someone had told him all this fifteen years ago.

“If you had a time machine, would you do anything differently?” Phillip asked.

“Absolutely. I’d do everything differently. I would have dropped my grudge against Mr. Incredible at a very early age and recognized that I had a very unhealthy obsession with him and gotten my ass into therapy much sooner than I did. I still would have built the empire. But I would have tried not buying Tali. Because that was my fatal mistake, I tried to buy her with a salary that almost equaled mine. I got her stock options, I got her investments and I got her so set up that she technically didn’t need me or anyone else but I did it because I didn’t know how else to try to woo her because I will admit I'm not the most handsome, charming guy and I overcompensate and I would have never used her the way I did and I would have just let her be, no strings, no contracts, nothing. Just let her do whatever she wanted. I realized after the fact that she never really let herself really be her true self around me. The line between Natalia and Mirage was pretty blurred to the point, I never knew the difference between the two and I was foolish enough to think they were one and the same. The altruistic Supers are always the same person in and out of the supersuit. But the best ones, the most effective ones are the ones that you would never suspect are their Super persona.” Buddy revealed.

“So what do you advise?” Phillip asked thoughtfully, intrigued yet pleased he was getting all this from Buddy. 

“Never make your relationship with her about the money or the power or any of that bullshit. And don’t make the possibility of staying with you about what she could earn or inherit or anything like that. That's ultimately an insult to their character. Because our greed doesn’t rub off on people like them, they're surprisingly content with little, it comes from their upbringing which more often than not is really humble. In fact make it effortlessly easy for her to walk away from you at any point in time without any retaliation, without backlash and every good thing you've ever promised, make good on it and make it so that the only reason she would stay is what she genuinely feels for you. Make it about honesty and communication and honest to goodness chemistry and the like. And if you’re keeping anything from her, remember that every secret you keep from her is a reason for her not to fully trust you. And if you have any superpowers, either good or bad, never use them on her if you don’t absolutely have to, like if it would mean something like saving her life or if you have, stop and be honest and upfront about all of it , the good, the bad and the ugly and even all the parts that make you wonder if she would even look or speak to you if she knew about. She’s a Super who’s used to spy work, her life’s work is about secrets. She won’t want any in her real relationships. I knew one Super, he was a Villain, and he was known as the Love Machine. He had the power to seduce anyone he wanted within a radius of like, half a mile, it was ridiculous. Then he met a Super who was immune to him. And the more he tried to use them on her, the more repellent to him she felt and when he was finally genuine with her, she never believed him because of his powers and believed that any feeling she had towards him, were because of his powers, when in fact, the feelings were genuine, but she still refused to believe it and when she left him- he ended up drinking himself to death. And I was stupid enough to not learn that with Tali until it was far too late.” Buddy admonished as Phillip simply stood there and considered him thoughtfully.

"Come with me," Phillip invited as he turned and escorted Buddy two floors up to where he had the doctors working on Violet's condition.

Buddy looked over the schematics and her last MRI scans and fought not to cry or gasp. "Oh no. She's way worse that Mirage ever got, is she dying?" Buddy asked Phillip.

Phillip took a deep breath and nodded yes.

"Does she know she's dying?"

"No, because we are on the verge of curing her, no use in upsetting her now," Phillip answered.

"Well what are you using to cure her?" Buddy pressed before Phillip wearily showed him what they were currently using and what else they had already tried and what they were about to try as Buddy's spark was like a bolt of lightning in his brain as it kicked into gear.

"I can fix this, I can fix her," Buddy claimed. "Give me a few weeks working with these guys and maybe a few months of trials but give me access to my old data banks that The Agency took and I can have a cure," Buddy promised.

Phillip paused to look Buddy over before nodding again. "Ok, but you better deliver Pine." Phillip went over to a control panel and gave Buddy access to the databases containing all the research that had been confiscated from Buddy's Island the decade prior along with all the research that had been done since then, along with access to the Medical Lab he was currently in and a security tag so he could go from his own lab to the medical lab on his own. "By the way, Violet is now on medical leave, Mrs. Tyner will be your liaison for everything until she gets back. But anything you need for this project you will tell Tyner and you will keep Ms. Parr out of it. Understood?" Phillip posed.

"Understood," Buddy agreed before turning and bringing up all his old data and instinctively taking control of the medical lab.

Phillip left work and went to a florist and got some nice flowers before he went over to Violet’s apartment to check in on her.

“Hey, what are you doing here?” Violet asked as she came to the door.

“I came to check on you. Are you feeling better?” He asked hopefully.

“I am, come on in. I take it these are for me.” Violet smiled at her flowers before he gladly handed them over to her as she took them and got a vase from the top of her fridge to put them in.

“I got a spa day planned for tomorrow.” She informed him happily.

“Good, I hope you enjoy it. You’ve earned it.” Phillip grinned.

“Aww, thank you.” She cooed.

“So, can I talk to you as Phil instead of Mr. Sebastian?” Phillip carefully asked.

“Of course, Phil is always allowed to talk about whatever he wants to.” Violet grinned happily as she got a bottle of wine out.

About four months into this assignment, “Phil” and “Vi” were code for when they just wanted to be themselves and friends and not as employer and employee or Super and Protectee or handler and asset.

“So I talked to Mr. Pine about the incident this morning.” Phillip began.

“That’s a Mr. Sebastian tone though.” Violet noted with a frown as she went ahead and opened the bottle of wine because “Phil” and “Vi” often Netflix, Pinot Noir and Chill kind of “friends”.

“Ok so I asked Buddy about it and he confessed that how he knew about it, was Mirage, or as he referred to her- Natalia or Tali for short.” He furthered as he gratefully took the glass of wine as he took the seat at her breakfast bar and took off his suit jacket and tie as she hopped up in the other and turned to face him.

“Oh, so they were very intimate. I’m her protégé and I don’t even get to call her by her real name.” Violet professed as she made a face before she took a big sip of her wine.

“Yeah, so turns out that’s how he knows about the enlarged central cortex because she suffered headaches just like you and in between his own supervillain agenda, he was working on a cure for her. He knows that all Supers who use invisibility have that. So, it wasn’t nearly as awful as I thought it was going to be. And he reassured me that he harbors you no ill will and has no designs on you.” Phill assured her.

“Do you believe him?” Violet raised a curious brow at that.

“I’m not sure.” Phillip answered.

“Good because I don’t.” Violet insisted.

“What would it take for you to believe him?” Phil asked.

“His dead body.” Violet answered honestly which got Phil to crack a crooked grin.

“Ok. Well maybe one of these days you’ll get that and I hope it brings you closure and peace.” Phillip offered before he clinked his wine glass with hers.

“Thank you Phil. That’s very sweet.” Violet grinned. “So can I jump your bones while you’re here?” Violet asked with a waggle of her eyebrows.

“Hell yeah.” He adamantly as they came together quickly and kissed passionately as they moved each other to the bedroom where they spent the remainder of the afternoon in each other’s embrace as Phillip was proud of himself for not using his powers to get her in the mood. While he knew that Buddy had spoken the truth, he would be taking Buddy’s advice, but he still had his own ideas about how and when he was going to implement them and once they were both sated they laid in bed and looked up at the painting that Violet had installed on her ceiling in the apartment as Phillip sweetly combed her soft hair with his fingertips as Violet simply basked in the afterglow of a great orgasm. Orgasms with Phillip were always out of this world because of his powers and she didn’t mind one bit he used them for that purpose.

“Want to go out to dinner?” Phillip asked.

“Sure.” Violet readily agreed as she got up and went to put on her supersuit.

“Come on Vi, don’t put that stupid thing on! You won’t need it!” Phillip complained.

“Phil, we’ve been through this a thousand times. Every time I don’t wear it, I end up needing it, every single time, without fail. At this point I put it on to make sure that nothing happens and that I don’t need it.” Violet argued as she continued to pull it up over he naked body.

“Just one more time, let’s just try one more time. Please? Pretty pretty please?” Phil begged from the bed as he sat up and steepled his hands like he was praying.

“Where did you want to go out to dinner?” Violet asked as she paused in putting it on as the top half simply hung around her waist.

“Wherever you want to go that you’ll feel you won’t need to wear that.” Phil answered as he gestured to the suit.

“Fine, Sumo’s.” Violet answered as she pushed the suit off her legs.

“Yes!” Phil cheered happily.

“Thank you thank you thank you.” He thanked her as he came over and kissed her soundly before he got redressed in his suit as she slipped into a sexy little dress to go out with him to dinner and once they got to Sumo’s, they happily got all kinds of Sushi and Ramen and other Dim Sum dishes.

And while they were eating Violet noticed she felt especially warm and fuzzy and frankly almost love drunk towards Phillip but knew he was using his powers to make her feel that way as she mentally fought those feelings because she knew they weren’t real, and not genuinely hers. Mirage had always warned her that mixing business with pleasure had it’s perks but also it’s dangers and warned her to never, ever go to bed with someone she wouldn’t feel absolutely free walking away from in the morning, let alone free to put a bullet in their head if she needed to. And that if at any moment she felt that she was in too deep and too attached that that’s when the highest danger would inevitably come and always remind herself that it was still, just a job, just a mission, just an asset and that if at any moment, he could turn from asset- to target. And she needed to be removed enough emotionally to pull the trigger herself if need be.

But one look at the way Phillip was looking at her told her that he was already too attached to her. But she needed him to be for this mission to be a success. He had asked her to be his girlfriend several times over by now and she had always turned him down and instead told him to ask her once her contract was up. And that seemed to satisfy him. And they agreed that their relationship would remain ‘friends with benefits’ until then and that they were open and free to pursue other romantic relationships until then. Thus- why Phillip used the ballerina/model types like tissues. But Violet felt that if he honestly, truly loved her- he would wait for her, wait however long it would take. And every time he used a girl, it was another layer added between her heart and his and honestly helped her keep her heart and her emotions to herself.

She still spent the night at his place though and Phillip gladly sent her in his Rolls-Royce to the spa and even ordered extra treatments for her and paid for her visit and Violet left that spa looking and feeling like a goddess before she insisted that she could come in on Monday which Phillip caved and agreed to.

On Sunday though, she was sent new medication which Phillip himself dropped off and once he left she was sent a video by Leslie of the conversation that Phillip had had with Buddy and Violet just watched it over and over again. She was blown away by Buddy's observations and his insights had been spot on and completely accurate and most importantly, completely honest and genuine and for the first time, she believed him. She knew that Phillip used his powers on Buddy to get that confession and thus why Phillip left it at that. And it was because of that video that she began to let go of her own grudge against him and slowly, but surely, she started to look at him and not see Syndrome anymore. Just...Buddy Pine, a colleague.

#Why So Jaded? #Why So Jaded Chapter 3 #Synlet #Buddy Pine #Bartholomew Pine #Violet Parr #Phillip Sebastian #love triangle here we come #Corporate espionage AU #Modern AU

[jadekitty777]

Friends Like These

What, you thought I was done rewriting C12? Pffff, you silly, silly humans. I will never be done.

Credit for this one goes to my pals in the Qrow Zine discord who had me thinking of yet another alternate way this all could have gone down.

Word Count: 2.5k

Ao3 Link: Friends Like These

Summary: The crash is imminent and the airship's broken control leaves no hope in stopping it. As they plummet through the sky, Qrow, Robyn and Clover put their fight on hold so they can make it out of this alive. Unfortunately, they have to bring Tyrian too.

Immediate regret was the first thing Qrow felt sit on his shoulders as he swung Harbinger down on Clover. He happened to have a lot of experience grappling with that particular feeling though, so it was as easy to shove down in the same manner he used to shove down a shot of whiskey at the bar.

“I wish it hadn’t come to this.” Clover grit out, looking up at him between the crossing of their weapons.

“It doesn’t have to.” Qrow urged.

He didn’t get a chance to respond, as Robyn leapt up with a cry, swinging her weapon down and forcing the two of them apart. She got between them, pointing her crossbow back at the operative. “You can hug it out once we’ve taken him down!”

Qrow didn’t know if there’d be any of that, but they’d made their choices.

Kingfisher’s hook came flying, but Robyn deflected it this time. It flew off somewhere to the side, clanging with metal, but Qrow didn’t let it distract him. He ducked around Robyn so he could strike at the man from the other side. Clover blocked strike after strike as they bared down on him and pinched him towards the door, the versatility of his weapon limited to the small space and their close-quarters attack.

The best-case scenario would be for the two of them to overwhelm him enough that he just jumped out.

But just as Qrow moved in for another attack, the ground underneath him upheaved, sending him tumbling. He felt his grip on his weapon come loose, Harbinger skittering under the bench.

Before he could think to retrieve it, maniacal laughter drew his attention towards the front of the plane. Tyrian was perched on the console, a pilot’s hat on his head. The pilots were slumped in their chairs, necks bent at unnatural angles.

Qrow’s blood boiled. “What are you doing?!” He roared as he shot to his feet, grabbing hold of the other.

“The WILL of-”

He didn’t wait to hear the rest, grabbing onto the leather belts that hooked around his jacket and with a twist of his body, managed to toss the murderer clear over his head. There was pained yelp as Tyrian hit the ground, and with a growl he tried to get to his feet – only for a fishing line to rope him down next.

“The controls?” Clover called, keeping Tyrian pinned with a boot on his back.

Qrow turned to them, but knew it was futile instantly. The cyclic had been kicked out. “They’re busted!”

“We’re going down, fast!” Robyn updated from her spot by the back window. The nose of the plane was pointing down, surrounding them in clouds.

With the same air he commanded his team with, Clover yanked Tyrian up by his bonds and ordered, “Alright, let’s move out!”

There was no arguing it. With the speed they were gaining, they’d hit the ground at a few machs. Still, Qrow took a second to check the pulse beats of both the pilot and co-pilot, pushing down the sick in his stomach when he unquestionably concluded that there was nothing there.

Another two seconds were spent fetching Harbinger, before he joined the others at the hatch, door already open. The chilly wind ripped his hair around, ice crystals sticking onto it. “Hope you got a plan, boy scout!”

Clover smirked, flicking his pin. “Just keep hold of me, both of you.”

Tyrian, who was firmly planted in front of them, gave a high-pitched giggle. “Oooh this looks dangerous.”

“Regrettably, you’ll be fine. But, you are going first.” Was the reply, before he delivered a swift kick to his ass.

Qrow snorted, even as he wound his arm around Clover’s. Maybe he was teaching him how to be vindictive after all.

“Jump!”

On the order, they did, Robyn on one side, Qrow on the other. Kingfisher’s line ran to the end, Tyrian scream-laughing all the while as they plummeted through the sky. They passed through the barrier of clouds, finding the ground a concerningly close distance away.

Landing strategies in the Atlas tundra were limited by whatever weapons and semblances were at one’s disposal as the ground was nothing but a harsh icy sheet. With nothing to latch onto to control or alter one’s momentum, in most cases, it was just a straight fall down.

Qrow knew he could just morph and be fine, but Clover and Robyn had nothing in circumstances like these. So, whatever the former had planned, he trusted it to be something that would save all of them.

And that trust paid off. “Robyn, burn the ground! Qrow, slow us down!”

Neither of them hesitated. With an impressive swiftness and accuracy, Robyn had her crossbow pointed at the ground and multiple shots fired, the fire dust shattering the ice and melting it. Qrow likewise aimed his own weapon down, firing off a barrage of shots that created a ricochet that tempered their speed. As they hit the water, the good luck on their side seemed to be the only thing left that kept them from hitting the bottom of their manmade pond and their auras intact as the immediate drop in temperature attacked them viciously.

Qrow detangled himself, swimming for the surface and taking a deep breath of air, before scrambling onto the bank. He heard the others following suit with Clover yanking Tyrian up and tossing him unceremoniously into the snow

“Well now wasn’t that exciting!” The psychopath hollered, wiggling about in the fishing line still snarled around him.

Ignoring him, the Aceop asked, “Is everyone alright?”

“Oh, so now you care?” Robyn snarked as she wrung out her scarf. She looked like a drowned cat, her hair having fallen out of its ponytail and now covered most of her face.

He sighed. “Robyn, now is not the time-”

“Then what, pray tell, is oh mighty soldier?” She had the same tone Qrow recognized Raven would get whenever she was trying to get under someone’s skin.

And after such a long, hectic, exhaustive night coupled with the stress of the past ten minutes, it worked. “Not 30,000 feet up in the air! Those pilots’ lives are on your hands.”

“How DARE-”

“Hey!” Qrow snapped as he got to his feet. He tried to sound firm, but his chattering teeth ruined the effect. Each bite of the wind along his wet clothes and skin felt like an attack on his nerves, chipping slowly away at his aura. If they didn’t get out of the cold soon, he was going to be in danger. “That’s enough. We need to get moving and call for help. And-” He kicked Tyrian in the shoulder, the little worm trying to appear gleefully innocent when he had a mouthful of fishing line he’d been trying to unknot. “Keep an eye on him, will ya?”

Clover had the modesty to look guilty at least. “Right.” He reached down to re-secure the line, winding it through the cuffs so it wouldn’t be so easy to undo. With their criminal more under control, he tested his communicator next, only to wince and pull it out of his ear.

A quick check to their scrolls revealed they were just the same. Well, except one.

“Well, ain’t that unfortunate.” Qrow waved his scroll at them, the red icon signifying it was still locked from use seeming to mock them over this sheer, ironic miracle.

Clover sighed, sparing the miles of distance between themselves and Mantle a despising look. “Guess we better get walking. Robyn, will you watch our six?”

The huntress seemed to bristle at being ordered around, but as the soldier turned his body, hiding a hand gesture, her gaze flickered to Qrow before relaxing. “Fine.”

He narrowed his eyes at the two of them suspiciously. He knew Atlas-trained huntsmen and huntresses all learned a specific set of silent hand gestures during their school years. So, what had that been about?

“As for you,” Clover looked down at Tyrian, who was still sitting cross-legged, looking like he had no intention of getting up anytime soon. “You can either walk or I can drag you.”

The Faunus tilted his head to one side. “Oh my, is the Atlas military always so rough with their prisoners?”

“Right. Dragging it is.” He turned to him next. “Qrow, take lead.”

“Hope you won’t arrest me while my back is turned.” He scathed even as he started forward.

After a moment, footfalls followed him. “What would you rather I’d have done?”

“Oh, I don’t know, not blindly follow James’ every order?”

“Oh, far be it for me, the top specialist of the military to not follow orders!” It was, weird, in a way to hear Clover so angry. He’d always seen him as such a – heh – happy-go-lucky type. “I trust James with my life, Qrow. If he says you need to be detained, I have to believe that’s for a very good reason!”

“But you couldn't trust me? The guy whose had your back these past three months?!”

“Oh, you want to talk about trusting you? How about the fact that you – both of you – attacked me first?”

“What other option did you give us?” Robyn called from the back.

“Not a violent one! You two chose to escalate.” He could feel Clover’s stare burning into his back. “Doesn’t exactly fill me with confidence that we’re on the same side.”

“Then maybe we’re not.” Qrow spat out as he whirled around, walking backwards. Clover’s face morphed from upset to outright betrayed. It was hard to look at, so he averted his gaze to over his shoulder.

That’s when it hit him like a punch to the gut, what their positions in this line up truly meant. He wasn’t in lead because he had the best eyesight (a side effect of his bird powers and his many years as a marksman). He was in lead because his aura was the lowest. As he met Tyrian’s eager violet eyes, he knew the psychopath was just waiting for his aura to snap. So, Clover had guaranteed Robyn had her weapon on him… and had made himself a human shield.

Even after that fight, he’d chosen to protect him.

Qrow swallowed that truth hard. He’d been so positive that Clover had become just like everyone else in his life, had allowed his own insecurities to rule his feelings, that he didn’t even try to read more into his actions.

He met his gaze again, guilt as familiar a friend as regret plopping onto his shoulders. They never felt so heavy. “What were you going to do, if I had allowed you to handcuff me?”

Some of the hurt faded, but not enough to know he was completely forgiven. “When our mission directive changed, I was informed of something else I chose not to disclose to you. Did you know what secrets Oscar told the general when we left this evening? The ones your team failed to mention months ago?”

His throat closed up. They had told James? Now of all times?

“I don’t understand why you made the choices you did, but it shook his faith in your team.” Clover sighed. “So tell me, for a man who just had to face nine people deceiving him… how do you think he would have reacted, had I, one of his most righthand soldiers, not brought you to him in chains? He would never of heard my reasoning why, much less listen to anything you had to say.”

Qrow wanted to ask why none of this had come out before – but it sounded petulant, even in his head. They needed to work together so Tyrian’s capture could go without a hitch, something they couldn’t have done if Clover was instead grilling him on his dishonesty. And, any time after, they had never given him a chance.

“I’m sorry.” The words burst out violently, even though he only said them in a whisper.

“So am I.”

That made him look up in surprise. Why was he-?

Manic laughter drew his thoughts to a halt, and his glare fell on Tyrian instantly. “Oh, what a beautiful tragedy you two are going to be. Making up like a couple of lovebirds… only to get torn apart once my goddess gets here. Oh!” He licked his lips. “I can’t wait to see it.”

With a snap of his arm, the huntsman yanked Kingfisher forward, sending Tyrian careening into the snow face-first.

It dragged an amused snort out of Qrow.

Clover smirked, though only briefly. “Look, whatever we wanted to do, whatever stance we wanted to take, doesn’t matter anymore. It’ll take at least an hour to get to Mantle. By then, who knows what will have changed. The three of us are on our own.” He looked between him and Robyn. “So right now, we’re just huntsmen.”

“Calling for a truce?” Robyn asked with a quirk of a brow.

“More than that. I’m asking for us to be a team.”

“Hmph.” She pointed her weapon down at their prisoner, notching an arrow. “Then maybe we should lose the dead weight.”

Qrow let his gaze roll down to the man they were dragging around like an untrained dog and scoffed. “As much as I’d like to agree with that, if James does raise Atlas and Salem really is coming, then this bastard’s the only bargaining chip we’ve got.”

Tyrian looked up, grinning despite the blood flowing from his nose. “As if my dear goddess would ever be fooled by a bribe from some lowly insects.”

“You know we really should gag him.” Clover mumbled, before adding more firmly, “So we’re agreed? We’re in this together?”

Robyn gave a thoughtful hum as she walked forward, never letting her crossbow lose its target.  “If we’re going to make this official…” She held out her hand, “Why don’t we shake on it?”

Clover took her hand, before glancing at him. “Qrow?”

He looked back at Atlas for one, mournful second. He could still fly off, find his nieces and the rest of the kids that he maybe, possibly, had started to look at like his own extended family. But even if he did leave now, he had no guarantee of finding them. He knew them well enough to know they’d fight tooth and nail out of the arrest warrant, so they may even be escaping to Mantle right now. He couldn’t possibly search two huge cities and just hope he’d luck into finding them before danger came – especially considering his track record.

He just had to believe they were smart and were keeping each other safe.

He in turn had to do the same.

Qrow took a few steps forward, placing his hand atop Robyn and Clover’s. “Alright, I’m in.”

Their clashing aura colors – red, turquoise and purple – wafted off their hands. “Say it again: From here until we’re safe, you swear to be loyal teammates?”

“I swear.” Qrow said the same moment Clover did.

A flash and then their auras combined into a bright green. There was a comfort in its’ warmth; in its’ promise of trust.

“Alright,” Clover said as they pulled away. “Let’s move.”

Qrow took lead again, feeling more confidant then before. He didn’t know what terrible things were coming on the horizon, but there was hope of making it out alive now that he had friends like these.

#qrow branwen #clover ebi #robyn hill #rwby #rwby 7 #fanfiction #Chase Firekitten's Tale

[chibivesicle]

Golden Kamuy chapters 229 & 230: the passion of lovers and Ienaga’s impossible goal.

These two chapters are show a lot of different things going on around Inkarmat’s pregnancy.

On the surface it is about Tanigaki “rescuing” Inkarmat, though most of his rescue is a bit of a hot mess, but hey, he rescues her with spirit and passion!  That must count for something.

We finally learn more about the inner workings of Ienaga’s own mind and that Tsukishima will stop at nothing to prevent anyone one else from being happy.

229 starts with Tanigaki riding a horse in search of Sugimoto with Tsurumi’s orders to kill him. It alludes to some hilarious adventures for another time and we get a page long monologue of Tanigaki thinking about what he should do.

This is the first time in a long time we’ve had a monologue from Tanigaki.  To me as a reader (well a reader and avid re-reader of the manga) this is a reference back to his sniper battle with Ogata.  I find it interesting that he concludes that he’s not a cold blooded enough man to kill Sugimoto, yet he had no problem wanting to kill his best friend and he did kill Kiro in revenge.  Yet, it is clear that he thinks fondly of his time spent on Karafuto with Sugimoto.  He then begins to rationalize why he shouldn’t kill him - Sugimoto would just be too hard to kill - so I really get a vibe of “Why even bother?” from him. 

He further thinks that Asirpa certainly won’t cooperate with Tsurumi if he killed Sugimoto and then he realizes that Tsurumi would still find a way.

He again states he’d just make Asirpa unhappy and he still hasn’t brought Asirpa home to Huci.  So, it looks like no matter what, Tanigaki is still wrapped up in this concept of returning Asirpa to Huci in thanks for her assistance to helping him recover.

He does conclude that he can keep looking for Asirpa with no intention of finding her but that doesn’t give him a time line he wants. 

I do find the layout of the next page to deliver an emotional punch for Tanigaki, his head is bowed down as he grimaces and sweats as he realizes if he runs away he won’t be able to see Inkarmat or their child as they are held hostage by Tsurumi . . . so he wonders while two seabirds fly by if his only way to see Inkarmat again is to do what Tsurumi says.

I wonder if the seabirds are a reference to this from chapter 154 when Youichirou dies as Hijikata returns his part of a puffin beak that his Ainu wife had given to him.  As he dies, his wife appears before him and a puffin takes flight.

The next page has a pair of puffins flying off into the distance. 

I’m guessing since Tanigaki and Inkarmat are a Japanese-Ainu couple and the former hitokiri, Youichiriou and his wife were the same, this is calling back to the two of them as a mixed race couple, depicted as seabirds.

The chapter then shifts to Ienaga talking to Inkarmat about her pregnancy and gives the additional details that Inkarmat is about 9 months pregnant.  As Ienaga continues, she makes it clear that she could never have what Inkarmat has - and in her mind she is close to perfection.  Based on Ienaga’s belief that when her mother was pregnant she was close to perfection reveals that the portrait that was in the hotel was not one of her, but of her mother.  She wanted to be as perfect as her own mother was when she was with child.

Interestingly, she refers to the fact that her mother would reach perfection after she had given birth and held her child - and she’d look just like the Virgin Mary.

This is an interesting direction to go as a Japanese character has again made a direct reference to Christianity - though Ienaga’s own mother was clearly not a virgin, since she was a child at the time or did she see her mother as perfect and returned to a status like that of the Virgin Mary due to the entire feel of the situation?  If Ienaga was telling herself this as a child, I wonder if she was raised in a Christian household . . . Of course Ienanga’s mother did not reach that perfection as she miscarried due to a fall.  Inkarmat finally opens her eyes after hearing this, as they had been closed up until this point while talking to her. Ienaga then awkwardly asks Inkarmat if she can deliver her child - Inkarmat has returned to her closed eyes as she hesitantly replies that she’d be delighted as she saved her life.  Breaking the seriousness of Ienanga’s almost confession, she also asks if she can eat the placenta due to its nutrients.

Later that evening Inkarmat’s room is opened by an unknown individual revealed to be Tanigaki!

And with a large two panel page, Tanigaki embraces Inkarmat and she looks up at him beaming as she tells him she’d know he’d come back for her.  The screentones get about as shoujo romance looking as possible for GK (which isn’t that much) as we get our long awaited reunion of the mixed race couple.

This scene affirms that Tanigaki and Inkarmat love each other. They are important as an example of a Japanese-Ainu couple and that they love and respect each other.

I think for the Japanese readers this is a big fucking deal.  It is a realistic model of a mixed race couple (as there would be many people of this background in Hokkaido) and it depicts them in a positive fashion.  With this happening it sets off a series of events that show the spirit and passion that Tanigaki is willing to go to for her.  Again, as we see Tanigaki’s actions, I really think that they are to beat the readers head over with the fact that he’s doing all of this for her and their future child.

How did Tanigaki find out where Inkarmat was moved to?  Well, Inkarmat was already several steps ahead of him and left a postcard as a means for him to find her without any other information.  She had befriended a child, whose father was also at the hospital and relayed the message to Tanigaki, a lewd bear.  The postcard shows Otaru, so he knows that she’ll be in a hospital in the city.

To stick to the theme of the passion between them, he reveals that he’s failed in his job to return Asirpa to Huci, that he’s a useless man, so all he can do is run away.  He can’t run away alone, he wants to do it with Inkarmat and his unborn child! His eyes are all sparkly and expressive.

Inkarmat then reveals that she passed along the information in the hopes that he’d come to rescue her so she’s prepared to face a dangerous situation with him!  She replies blushing a little on her cheeks as she smiles with her eyes closed.

So the two of them are prepared to lose it all, but as passionate lovers they will go down together!  How romantic.  Again, this really gives me a vibe that it is intended to emotionally connect with the Japanese readers specifically - as much as I’d like them to be happy, this entire situation is just crazy.

Tanigaki tells her that they must hurry as he saw Tsukishima on his way to take a bath.  Of course, just like in Yubari, Tsukishima notices that something is off, there is a random horse tethered to the gate outside, tipping him off that someone has come to the hospital.  Ienaga is shown at the window likely noticing Tsukishima turning around to check out what is happening.

They nervously wait as they hear someone’s boots on the second floor and they walk by Inkarmat’s room.  Tanigaki stands ready at the door with the pistol that Tsurumi gave him to try to kill Sugimoto with.  The man stands at the room and then turns away.  As it appears to be silent Tanigaki then begins to open the door to lead Inkarmat out.  But it is a terrible decision as Tanigaki is knocked in the head by the swinging door kicked open by a man with a handgun as well and barefoot.

Tsukishima then easily kicks the gun out of Tanigaki’s hand and has him at gun point as he reveals that if Tanigaki is there than he must be disobeying Tsurumi’s direct orders.  This immediately reminds us of Ogata and Tsukishima’s stand off in Edogai’s house in Yubari.

Tsukishima immediately adapted, with Ogata he simply put the bayonet on a rifle and attacked, while with Tanigaki he took off his shoes to be silent.  Just like with Ogata, he’s making this about disobeying Tsurumi’s orders. 

Looking completely dead on the inside and outside, Tsukishima makes this about Tanigaki’s choice.  Yet, Inkarmat jumps in front of him to protect him as Ienaga is listening in the hallway.

Inkarmat calls out Tsukishima’s sense of personal justice and tells him if this is what he thinks is just, that he should kill her first.  Inkarmat’s eyes are wide open for her as she flat out tells him what to do if he’s implied to be this broken.

The zoom into Tsukishima holding the gun, the stress lines under his eyes, the dark shaded screentone, it all makes him look so lost.  He’s so far gone into the depths of Tsurumi’s own hell that all he can think about doing is following orders and taking long baths.  The fact that Tanigaki waited for Tsukishima to leave must imply he does take longer baths than normal and it is no longer a cat-Ogata thing.

Before Tsukishima has the chance to show us whether not he is willing to kill Inkarmat, Ienaga is able to grab him from behind and inject something into his neck.  She tells them to run as Tsukishima glances back at her.  As the tension increases it shows the final page of the chapter.  Ienaga is shot twice in the chest as the syringe falls from her right hand.  The bottom shows that Tsuskishima was able to shoot as Tanigaki’s hand is on his grabbing for the gun and Inkarmat is in total shock.

It is pretty clear that this will be the end of the “survival road” for Ienaga.  I find it to be a good plot twist, I’m not expecting any sort of redemption for her, as she was a convict for pretty obvious reasons.  What I like about this is that it throws Tsukishima off his game as his man to man battle with Tanigaki has just begun.

I don’t have a summary for 229 or highlights, instead I’ll continue on with 230 as the action continues.

And does it continue!  230 starts with Tsukishima getting the upper hand on Tanigaki!  He headbutts him, causes Tanigaki to fall back, knees him in the gut and is able to press himself on top of Tanigaki and almost is able to shoot him point blank in the head.  Tanigaki is only able to barely push the gun away and the bullet lodges itself in the floorboard!!! Only then does Tsukishima begin to collapse.  The bulging veins on his face show how hard he’s fighting to stay awake.

He then passes out on Tanigaki, as Ienaga informs them that he’ll be out cold for 2 hours and that they should escape. 

Let’s pause for a minute here.  In canon we know that Tsukishima is a solid solider, he’s the smallest enlisted man and likely under 5ft tall based on my Ogata height estimate (see this tumblr post:https://chibivesicle.tumblr.com/post/182623470572/just-for-fun-determining-how-tall-characters-in).

In this instance, Tsukishima almost beat Tanigaki who is canonically one of the tallest and largest Japanese characters!  Just look at the title page from chapter 140.  Tanigaki is even taller than Koito who is quite tall as a Satsuma man.

What Tanigaki and Tsukishima’s fight shows us is that Tanigaki is a terrible fighter, especially at close range!  And here I thought Ogata was the worst based on how we all know he got his ass handed to him by Sugimoto even though he used every trick in the book to try to escape. I’m sorry Tanigaki but I’m going to have to take the title of “worse close combat character” from Ogata and give it to you.  The set up of this fight is so similar to that of Ogata and Tsukishima in Yubari.  Ogata knows that Tsukishima takes long baths, he avoids him by sniping Maeyama, steals the rifle bolts and gives himself the most optimal situation possible.  What we can now add to that is that after Tsukishima kicks him and steals the handgun, Ogata is already diving behind the table to put distance between himself and Tsukishima and is able to fire his rifle without exposing himself to Tsukishima.  Ogata damn well knew that if he were in close range of Tsukishima he’d be fucked so he immediately put himself at more of an advantage.

From the start Tsukishima has been playing Tanigaki.  He tricked him by taking his shoes off, hit him with the door, and managed to own him at hand to hand combat.  Tanigaki may be a veteran, but it is clear that he lacks any sort of knowledge in hand to hand combat.  Think back to his fight with Kiro on the ice floe; yes, he was able to stab Kiro, but he barely won that fight, he got tricked by Kiro and was knocked down for some time.  With him down and out, Koito got caught up by both of Kiro’s traps, the grenade with the flint and how Kiro hid his tracks.

This most recent fight just solidifies it for me that Tanigaki can think about hunting, but when it comes to strategy and fighting, he’s at a total loss.  Tanigaki you were almost killed by Tsukishima! 

Ienaga then tells Tanigaki that Inkarmat is about to become perfect so that he cannot miss this.  Inkarmat, very pregnant really dominates the page as she looks down at Ienaga, with a mix of sadness and likely a touch of fear.  She is only able to say “Ienaga. . .” before Tanigaki grabs her from behind and pulls her out.

This then leads to the very clever title page as Ienaga lies dead upon the floor.  As the blood from her wounds pools on the floor it gives the illusion of her own body being pregnant and the blood even forms a halo around her head.  Is this to imply that she’s a martyr for the cause to save Inkarmat and Tanigaki?  Who knows.

All we can observe is that her body reflects the perfection that she could never have had based on basic human biology.

As Tanigaki and Inkarmat walk through the hall they run into Koito in his yukuta, likely awakened by the commotion.  He’s got small pistol and he’s point it at them but looks pained and awkward.

Tanigaki jumps in front of Inkarmat and Koito then begins to sweat, he’s unable to say anything as he has stress lines under his eyes and he’s clearly biting his bottom lip as he’s unable to say anything.  Until he reveals that he’s clearly lowered his right hand with the pistol and simply tells them to go.

He’s still sweating and stressed out but it looks like he has a sense of dedication to his decision.  Tanigaki looks absolutely shocked while Inkarmat has her fox face behind him.  As they leave the hospital he can’t help but wonder why Koito would have done that.  Inkarmat, states it may have to do with her fortune telling for him while he was still in bed due to his injury but the fact that she’s sweating makes me think she’s either throwing something out there or she knows more than she’s willing to state at the moment.

What is most revealing is what Tanigaki then says as they ride away on the horse. Tanigaki mulls that there is “no way” that Koito would have let them go for something so “minor”.  He then follows up with it not the Second Lt. Koito that he’s “known until now.”

I find Tanigaki’s interpretation of events to be a bit odd, almost like to downplay everything.  He calls the event “minor” - hello Tanigaki, you just disobeyed Tsurumi’s direct order and you knew that Inkarmat was being held hostage and broke her out of the hospital.  I’m not sure where the “minor” aspect comes in.  I’d say this is a “major” event.  Really, he should be surprised that he let them go for something so major as well all know that Koito takes things very seriously, when they are a big deal.

His follow up of the “Koito I’ve known until now . . .”  Tanigaki’s only experience with Koito was on Karafuto where he oscillated between being a pain in the bum bon bon, think of the wolverine attack, tea with the lighthouse family, circus pettiness, but at the same time Koito communicated with Enonoka well, despite being a bit oblivious fought against Kiro very well in hand to hand combat and as we got with the volume updates, was able to get up after Ogata knocked him down/out and was ready to chase him down.

I wouldn’t say he’s the most observant of characters when it comes to other humans, but hopefully he at least make a remark to someone to pass on the info that Koito let them go.

As they ride off a bullet wizes by the horse and we can see a light from a single window in the hospital.  The next page reveals Tsukishima had fired a rifle at them as he then discharges the empty before he collapses.  It is quite clear that Ienaga’s injection was not enough to knock him out for 2 hours!

I also hope that Tsukishima didn’t realize that Koito let them go and didn’t shoot him either . . . . I’m guessing Koito is smart enough to have hopped back into bed and pretended to be asleep as the rest of the lights in the hospital are dark.

Tanigaki is able to check in with Inkarmat to make sure that she’s okay.  Realizing that she needs to rest, he apologizes for going to fast on the horse and finds an abandoned building to stay in.  He starts a fire and Inkarmat notices that he’s bleeding from his head, to stop the bleeding he pulls out the head scarf that Huci gave him during his sniper battle with Ogata.

This is clearly a symbolic action.  Tanigaki has been wounded by another member of the 27th and he has returned to being the deserter who lived with Huci and this time he’ll protect Inkarmat instead of Huci and Osoma.

His facial expression is so similar to the one he had with his sniper battle with Ogata.  In a way I think this is symbolic of him also finally starting to think about what he’s doing since so far he’s just been really lucky.  They wouldn’t have made it out if it weren’t for Ienaga and Koito.

I think this means that his “matagi” senses are back as Inkarmat points out he’s bleeding pretty badly from his leg, but with all the adrenaline of the escape he didn’t notice and he must have been grazed by the shot by Tsukishima.  And now that he’s back to being a matagi, he realizes how bad the situation is, he follows the trail of blood and again almost gets shot by Tsukishima as he glances out the doorway.

He tells Inkarmat to go out the back door and he still has the small pistol as he tries to shoot close range.  Of course he ends up shooting through the hood of Tsukishima’s coat as he drops down to tackle him again showing extreme skill in hand to hand combat.  Of course this works since Tanigaki is so large and he slams him back into the floor - the second time that Tsukishima has the literal upper hand on him.  He then pummels him in the face several times when Tanigaki finally shows his strength.

Likely due to his will to live and his need to protect Inkarmat and his child he is able to pick up Tsukishima and toss him through a door.

He pulls up the rifle and finally strategically backs away with the rifle ready. But Tsukishima is missing.  He runs around to the back, checks for Tsukishima and thankfully, Inkarmat already is prepared with his backpack and the horse as distance away.  He sprints to her, gets her onto the horse as he then begins to ride away.  Of course, since Tsukishima wasn’t under the pile of wood from the broken door he was clearly waiting.  He calmly shoots Tanigaki in the upper right shoulder as they ride away.

So all in all, Tsukishima has still been getting the upper hand.  However, Noda very clearly makes sure that things will begin to change to his favor.  He’s made it far enough out of the city that he’ll be able to use his matagi skills to their advantage.  Tanigaki, the matagi, now is in the mountains, with a rifle and he’s finally in his element so to speak.  He knows he’ll be able to lose Tsukishima based on his experience with Ogata and Nikaido.

Of course he’s still bleeding and Tsukishima is following the trail in the snow.  His facial expression in the second panel is terrifying.  His pupils rolled up into his eye sockets, his face is shaded stress lines under the eye and a crazy screentone in the background!  Of course it is broken up by Inkarmat gasping as Tanigaki panics that someone has caught up. 

Inkarmat reveals that her water has just broken as she looks at him with wide eyes and he looks equally panicked as well.  There is a shot of some trees and then we see his hand stoking the horse and he is apologizing to it.  He thanks the horse for all that is has done and he is truly sorry.  Again, I see this as Tanigaki the matagi thanking an animal for its help in his escape. 

And his matagi escape becomes obvious.  Tsukishima is in a bamboo grove, the first way to cover your tracks from the snow and he’s following blood on the leaves.  It leads him to the horse, which Tanigaki had cut to leave a blood trail to shake Tsukishima’s pursuit.  Hopefully, this threw them off of his trail well enough as Tanigaki is sprinting as quickly as possible will trying to encourage Inkarmat that she’ll be okay.

I have to admit his encouraging words to her are very moving and again, I think this is really to make it clear to the readers that they are a loving and supportive couple (although they haven’t been making the best decision since he tried to rescue her . . .).

Tanigaki passionately yells out that everything is going to work out.  Inkarmat blushes and beams as him as she holds on tighter!  He looks exhausted, sweating, bleeding and huffing as he holds her and she has such a softness as she looks up at him a little nervous.

And with this, Tanigaki runs to the last place he went to after his sniper battle with Ogata . . .  he has returned to Asirpa’s kotan and Huci.  With Inkarmat in his arms.

All he is able to do is say sorry and that he’s back. 

Ok.  So let’s hope Huci will be able to safely deliver Inkarmat’s baby and hopefully someone is able to help Tanigaki with all of his wounds.

This has the whole full circle theme going on as he ran away from home by leaving Huci to find Asirpa due to Inkarmat’s own words and now he’s back to her with Inkarmat.  I hope Inkarmat is able to apologize to Huci as well as tell her that Asirpa is okay.

I also really really hope that no one figures out that he’s there - no way in hell is Tsukishima going to let him go.  It is clear that Tsukishima has a thing about traitors to the 27th as he fought with Ogata as he tries to figure out what Ogata’s reason is.  The two of them end in a stalemate as both know their strengths and weaknesses.  Ogata knows Tsukishima must be alive as no one found his body in the mine.

Overall, what do I think of these events?

1.) Tanigaki and Inkarmat’s love for each other is solidified.  As I really stated before, I think they are to serve as a positive and hopeful model for a mixed race couple and their child is symbolic of that.

2.) The tiger curse.  We know that Tanigaki will suffer the wrath of Kiro’s tiger curse, killing him in revenge for stabbing Inkarmat.  Tanigaki’s entire rescue and escape plan was a total shit show.  He got beaten up twice by Tsukishima and was assisted by Ienaga, Koito and Inkarmat.  He was shot at least twice as well and will take some time to heal.  Is this just the beginning of the curse?  How else will this play out.  It is supposed to give one a life of misery - not just some moments.

Tanigaki is no real soldier, Nihei read him so well, he is a hunter.  A hunter who ended up misplace in the army due to his obsession for revenge that wasn’t even warranted that lead him to another revenge quest with Kiro.  I think Tanigaki’s only way to escape his future of suffering is to truly remove himself from the military and his army past.  Is the scarf a sign of him willing to give that up?  Or will he still be stubborn.

Tanigaki is also acting like a more obvious example of the situation Sugimoto is in.  He did all of these crazy things for his love of a woman.  Sugimoto started his quest for the gold for Umeko, yet she isn’t even in Hokkaido. 

3.) Tsukishima is almost inhuman.  He’s unstoppable in his quest to stop Tanigaki.  I had hopes that on Karafuto that Tsukishima would break free of Tsurumi, but as the manga has advanced, Noda has made it even more clear that Tsukishima is thick within his own love of Tsurumi and his obsession to dedicate every thing he does to him, even if it eventually does kill him.  Why?  He’s got absolutely nothing to lose.  He made this so clear to Koito when Koito approached him that evening.

The fact that Tanigaki was motivated by his love for Inkarmat likely made this worse for Tsukishima.  The thoughts of his fiancee when Inkarmat asks if she could find something for him means that it was fresh in his mind recently.  Furthermore, even if Tsukishima would deny being jealous, it is clear he is of the fact that Tanigaki had someone to come home to and he likely thought that Tanigaki only deserved her if he completed Tsurumi’s mission to kill Sugimoto.  Tanigaki didn’t do that, instead he came back to rescue her and I really don’t think Tsukishima can take it.  It is like the fact that he followed all the rules and nothing worked out in his favor.  In contrast, Tanigaki has deserted them twice now and he gets to rescue the woman he loves who is also still alive!

I am really worried about Tsukishima - he really was one of my favorite characters but if he keeps things up, Koito is gonna take his spot!

4.) Koito has changed.  Oh yay! Finally, we are starting to see the results of all of the events on Karafuto.  Ogata broke the sweet lies that Tsurumi had spun for Koito and now he’s putting the pieces together.

It is unclear what this will mean for Koito.  Did he pretend to be asleep?  Say that Ienaga also drugged him and he woke up after everything happened.  It was clear that there weren’t many people in the hospital so it is possible.  Or did he even know what Ienaga said and came up with his own plan.

Koito has essentially betrayed Tsukishima - as we’ve seen, Tsukishima doesn’t like betrayal in the 27th.  Or will Koito use Tsukishima’s departure as a chance for him to escape the hospital and go in search of others involved in the hunt. 

Koito also has part of the tiger’s curse, will his suffering be the fact that he will have to fight Tsukishima? He’s a man whom he despite his clingy attitude, really does care about due to how much Tsukishima had helped him so far in the army.

This is pretty much all that I have.  If the drama gets stepped up e.g. the 27th comes to Huci’s to try to punish Tanigaki, I have a crazy theory. 

The best way would before Tanigaki to be saved - saved by Ogata!  Ogata has a soft spot for Huci and preventing Tanigaki from either being recaptured or killed would be a great chance for Ogata to really stick it to Tsurumi.  Oh man that would be great and it would also be a parallel to his original sniper battle with Tanigaki at Huci’s when Ogata thought that Tanigaki would expose him to Tsurumi.

I would then love for Ogata to lecture Tanigaki on how poorly planned his rescue of Inkarmat was and to boast based on his own showdown with Tsukishima and then to kindly remind Tanigaki how he escaped from them in Russia! 

#golden kamuy #golden kamuy meta #tanigaki genjirou #inkarmat #Ienaga Kano #tsukishima hajime #koito otonoshin #tsurumi tokushirou #sugimoto saichi #asirpa #kiroranke #ogata hyakunosuke #huci