#i absolutely did take it too far i hope it's still realistic

[marvellouspinecone]

8, 13 and/or 22 for the goncharov ask, please? Hope you are having a great day!

Thank you for the ask! Any excuse to talk about blorbos

8) A quote from the movie I use on the daily

I have to admit I didn't know the film existed until yesterday when it started trending, idk how it managed to escape me, maybe bacause I'm not American? So I haven't had a chance to abuse any of the quotes. "Do you hear the clock ticking?" would've been an easy answer, but I think Mario's "God is looking away, anything can happen" has great meme potential, only in the way that the jokes based on tragic moments in media are the funniest (that dw post with Rose from Doomsday photoshopped into a picture of a vending machine? Still cracks me up as much as the actual scene makes me cry).

13) My favourite ship

Not to sound basic or anything, but it's Katya/Sofia, any day. Maybe I'm just gay, but no one does it like them. The codependency? The loneliness and isolation that they are in together? The childhood friends to strangers to enemies to maybe lovers thing they got going on? Impeccable. Honestly the fact that they found each other again, in Naples of all places, so far from the town they both grew up in, seems more like fate that anything that Katya and Goncharov have. I just wish we could see more of them than the seventies dudebro mafia thriller was willing to show us. We could've had it all if Scorsese and Mateo JWHJ0715 weren't cowards.

And here I absolutely have to address the religious themes. I don't even think that the creators understood the implication, it's not like 1970's Americans knew a lot about life in Soviet Russia, but we have to understand that both Katya and Sofia have most likely spent their formative years in a very anti-religious culture (hell, Goncharov himself makes a mistake of talking dismissively about faith in a deeply catholic country). And who Katya gives her dead father's Saint Nickolai locket to? Sofia. She is willing to part with the thing that protects her to keep Sofia safe. It might've been played in the film as not that big of a deal, but the implications! I'm going to combust!

22) My favourite Goncharov reference in unrelated media

This question is definitely the hardest because I am not much of a film connoisseur, I only watched Goncharov bc everyone was talking about it. I guess taking another JWHJ0715's work is cheating, since it's not entirely unrelated, but it's the best I got.

JWHJ0715's written the screenplay for a movie "Back At Last" that we studied at uni at some point as a part of a post-modernism course. The set up is different to Goncharov, but the themes are pretty similar, it's obvious that he has been drawing inspiration from his older work more than a decade later. So in this one in the big climactic scene in the end the main character says to her husband "Spring comes to Florence", with Florence being the hometown of both of them. I didn't realize it at the moment, but this most definitely was a "Goncharov" callback, but with an insight of the older Mateo, and the movie really reflects that change. I just think it's sweet that the implicit message here is that after winter there is always spring. "Goncharov" might have reflected Mateo's more pessimistic outlook on life, but in twelve years he is able to look back and say "it does get better, you can come back home again", which, knowing his life story, makes me cry a little bit. Idk, I may be looking too deeply into it, as I tend to do, but oh well, that's what makes engaging with media fun!

#goncharov #unreality #thank you for the ask again #i haven't had the chance to flex my bullshitting muscles in a while now #i absolutely did take it too far i hope it's still realistic #but it's so fun!

[tzilatza]

NATLA Review - spoilers

Woke up today still feeling annoyed after finished the Netflix ATLA remake last night, and I think I've figured out the core reason.

It's the fact that: If they had held truer to the original source material, we could have had a truly great show. I disagree with those calling it a complete disaster. The acting was good, great in some cases. The effects were very well done, the bending looked about as good as it can in a live action media. The scenery was lovely.

But what happened in the writer's room?! The way they just reveal all the back stories up front EVERY TIME is honestly insulting to the audience. It's like they're so terrified that smartphone culture has made the public so accustomed to instant gratification that they have no faith we will stick around and keep watching if they make us wait for anything.

They're also clearly terrified of complexity. One of my biggest gripes with this remake is Jet's story. They completely took out his plans to murder a whole town of innocents in order to get a few enemy soldiers. Now, Jet isn't my favorite character, but his story is so important. Because it is real. The world is full of people who have been so brought down by injustice that they lose their sense of right and wrong, and we need to see that on screen. If Jet is too complex for them, how will they handle Ba Sing Se in the second season.

This goes along the same lines as removing Sokka's sexist moments. They felt they had to do it to make him more 'likable.' Yet the writers themselves went full sexist on Katara's character. They've taken out so much of her spark, her righteous and justified anger, and they've done it because even in 2024, people expect women to be more passive to be palatable. Enough people have already commented on them removing Aang's choice to run away. Heaven forbid the main character not be an absolute paragon. Did y'all notice that they even made Hahn likable? Hahn?! What reason do you have for making Hahn likable Netflix?! His role in the narrative is to be an example of toxic masculinity that is clearly the bad choice compared to Sokka who has learned and grown out of his own.

Don't even get me started with what they're doing with the fire nation family, I'm not ready to tackle that. In general, I have no problem with Azula getting a little more backstory and humanizing, but why season 1? Throwing in all these extra scenes just sacrifices screen-time where they could've actually fleshed out the real season one plots instead of rushing through things at breakneck pace. (ex: Aang escaping Zuko's ship in about 2 minutes flat)

At the end of the day, the scenes I most enjoyed were those that held true to the original like the Blue Spirit sequences. They could've easily done more of this, held onto the important plot points and even more important character complexity, while maturing it for an adult audience. I'm not disagreeing with every change they made. Go ahead and take out the silly Nickelodeon gags, add cussing and more realistic violence to get your mainstream viewers. Go ahead. They could've easily made a darker more mature version of the show and still held onto all the old fans in my opinion. But claiming that you're making a 'more mature' version and then removing the complexity and subtlety because they didn't think viewers could handle it...

What makes me most sad is that there are a lot of people who will experience ATLA for the first time through this show. There are a lot of adults who are not willing to watch original ATLA because they refuse to acknowledge an animated series can be anything other than a kid's show. Those people will watch this and think it's the real deal, and that just makes me sad.

If you've read this far, a very sincere thank you for listening to my rant. If you're an OG fan who enjoyed it, I have no problem with you. It was a fun watch, I was just hoping for more. If you are a new viewer who has never seen ATLA before, I sincerely want to hear your opinions. Is it a great show to someone who isn't holding it against the context of the original? And do you plan to watch the original now?

#natla #natla spoilers #live action atla #live action avatar #netflix avatar #netflix avatar review #avatar the last airbender #atla

[literaphobe]

I THINK that when it comes to ongoing narratives, things tend to happen that may feel unsatisfying, but that’s like. part of the tragedy. I think that when it came to the fight between monarch and ladybug, with chat noir trapped far far away and having given his miraculous to her to prevent any damage he could’ve done with it — there’s two active tragedies going on here. one, being that chat noir could not confront monarch in a final battle, the villain he’s been fighting for months, nor does he find out that this villain has been his father the entire time. the second one isn’t immediately apparent, but it’s the fact that ladybug HAD to fight it on her own. as it stands, she might currently THINK she won. that even though a wish was made, she managed to get through to gabe and he made a GOOD wish. to an extent, she might even be relieved that he did. because realistically, what could she have done to save adrien’s fate? she WATCHED natalie die, she saw gabriel throw up soot from his rotting body — what hope did either of them have? how relieved must she have felt when she saw natalie walking out in the pink of health, giving adrien a tight hug when all of it was over? but we know that wishes have consequences no matter how noble, and she’ll realize it too, and it’ll eat her alive. she’ll start questioning everything — her supposed victory, the sincerity of gabriel’s wish, letting everyone believe he was a hero, letting anyone at all believe that the world was saved. and adrien would get unsettled more and more as the dust settles. the resentment for his father that still lingers combating the guilt of knowing he ‘saved the world’, the feeling that everything in the world is perfect, perfectly happy, but him. the questions he asks that ladybug dodges or answers in ways that feel like lies, the odd sense that his girlfriend marinette is hiding something too, unsettled by something too

there’s a lot of directions they can take based on the displacement of the usual fighting dynamic that happened in the s5 finale, is what I’m saying. THAT BEING SAID as a standalone episode because of the hole that was ripped in the dynamic it absolutely can fall flat for anyone watching, seem less entertaining, etc. and that happens! but bc it’s not the series finale sometimes things feeling awful and bad and tragic are important to keep the motor running

#text #miraculous ladybug #ml s5 finale #I’m saying this but I also have Anna’s post queued #bc it’s funny and I contain multitudes #I just wanted to fully express myself

[theflyindutchwoman]

You know in my mind Lucy's mother would visit without warning and that's how she'd learn for Tim. Lucy not telling her because they're not close and want to protect the relationship because she know her parents. Tim would want everything to be perfect and try hard to please them during dinner but her mother isn't gonna like Tim because he is a cop and divorced. I see her to be traditional don't why. And that's what would cause Lucy to blow up. Defending her relationship and telling her mom what she has kept for herself all these time. For her biological dad and everything else. Calling her on her hypocrisy and lack of support and dare I say love. Then we'd have chenford scene for support that strengthens the couple. I could see a scene where Tim stop trying to please the parents and just tell them how amazing Lucy is and what a good cop she is and that it's sad they miss all of it without lucy present in the end of the ep. Like lucy deserve to stand up to her parents herself and Tim would just calmly tell them the facts. I would want to see this in s6. We saw Tim met with Rachel and ashley parents we can do it even with a short season it's just 1 ep. Maybe then, in the next season we could see Lucy parents finally try. You know I imagine season 7 to be the engagement for chenford so they could work on building the relationship during the preparation for the wedding. Because I don't see the end of episode ending with a good note for the daughter/parents in my scenario. It wouldn't be realistic and too easy. Not me making up a full scenario in my head. At least now we know it will prob not happen lol

It's the rookie so the storyline with the parents could be a hit or a miss tbh as we know sometimes they miss. 🤐 hoping for the best tho as always!

See, this is why I'm a bit conflicted about Vanessa showing up again because I don't know what I want to see.

On the one hand, I wish she would come back just so Lucy could stand up for herself and finally confront her mom on her hypocrisy because it's a very much needed conversation. I think it could be very cathartic for Lucy. And to be frank, I thought that was where we were headed with the reveal of her bio dad… Alas, it went nowhere (for now). But on the other hand, I kind of want Vanessa to make amends. To admit that she was wrong. It may be too unrealistic (and it certainly wouldn't happen within one episode) but at the same time, I want Lucy to have some closure. Not that she can't have that in that other scenario of course.

Now should Vanessa make a come back, I absolutely can imagine your scenario, with her showing up unannounced (like she did in 2.05) and thus finding out about Tim - especially if he was the one to open the door #awkward. I doubt very much Lucy would voluntarily mention her relationship to her parents, not in the current atmosphere. She's far too protective for that. I get the feeling that while she is still in contact with them, she also does the bare minimum - like sending flowers for the big dates and that's it. Which honestly is more than they deserve. So the only 'Tim and Vanessa meet' scenario I can picture at the moment is the accidental one. Be it an impromptu visit at Lucy's apartment, at the station, at the hospital… or by sheer coincidence.

I do think that Lucy would be overall wary of her mother. Considering how Vanessa's last visit went, she would be on edge the whole time. I don't know if Tim's divorce would be a point of contention : I feel like the age difference, his job and the fact that he was Lucy's TO would take precedence over that. Although I'm not ruling it out either. And I have no doubt either that Lucy would stand up for herself. She did it several times already after all. But that's also why I want Tim to support her here. Because it has to be tiresome for her to have to justify her choices and happiness over and over again, knowing full well that it's not going to change her parents' minds. As amazing as Jackson was for standing up to Vanessa, Lucy didn't see it. And neither did we. So it would be nice for her to see someone in her corner. Especially since up to this point, Tim has been playing the devil's advocate and has defended Vanessa's behavior several times.

I don't know if it can fit in S6, since there seems to be a lot of intense storylines already, but it could work for s7, yes.

#ask & ye shall receive #the rookie #chenford #lucy chen #tim bradford #vanessa chen

[vibratingskull]

Ok, I have absolutely no idea if this is how I send requests or not (I’m new to this and technically, you’re my first person I’ve ever sent a submission to. So I apologize in advance if this isn’t where I’m supposed to ask-) anyways, I was wondering if you’re still taking requests and if you are, do you mind writing for thrawn? 🥺

I am obsessed and I can’t get this man out of my head 😵‍💫

Anyways here’s what I’m thinking-

Reader is an agent/captain (preferably female) and she works on the Chimaera and is known as the joking type. Very expressive (both in her facial expressions and in her voice) if someone says smt stupid she’s gonna make a face. Doesn’t really care about anyone’s opinion, but is very nice towards people.

She made friends with kallus and pryce. When we catch thrawns attention (being that we have a humorous personality), but are also very eager to learn from him. Whenever he starts talking about his plans or the benefits of art she’s always asking questions. (Not in a disagreement or disrespectful manner, but in a curious one)

So the admiral likes us, but then someone takes an unnecessary liking towards us (cough cough- constantin-) and no matter how blunt we make it that we aren’t interested, he just can’t seem to take the hint. Us being who we are, we don’t want anyone else to interfere in the matter cause we can handle it ourselves (aka kallus or pryce ask if we need help or if they can do something but the readers got it all under the bag and reassuring them) but one day it’s gotten kinda out of hand and thrawn sees how pushy constantin is being and he does interfere, shutting him down immediately. After that, he’s kinda more protective around us. Makes it so that are duties circulated more around his. And we start to form a bond with him.

Maybe something where kallus and pryce are teasing us about it (and maybe a confession from the reader 😳) when all of the sudden we realize that thrawn was listening in and he takes the reader aside and makes it clear that he fancies us as well?

I don’t care if you wanna end it with fluff, but is certainly wouldn’t mind if you go hardcore and make it a spicy ending 🥵 I just really want something like this and haven’t really found anything that scratches the itch! 🤣

Sorry if this is kinda long (and detailed) like I said you are my first ever submission..😅

P.s. Love your work so far, you’re doing amazing!❤️

Thank you so much dear ❤️ You did well, don't worry

I compressed the timeline a bit, but it is close enough of what you asked. I hope you like it!

Thrawn x f!reader

Tags: Konstantin being a creep, fluff, humor, p in v, creampie, alien anatomy, knot...

“So?” Arhinda asks with gleaming in the eyes “You and Thrawn? You seem quite close lately, he took you under his wing?”

“Oh no, it’s rather me who harasses him.” you laugh..

You appreciate this quiet moment with your friend, she rarely comes on the Chimaera lately. Next to her Alexsandr walks with you in silence, focused on his datapad.

“I’m constantly glued to him for him to teach me.” 

Arhinda raises an eyebrow, she doesn’t seem convinced.

“Whatever you say, I just noticed he seems to ask your opinion quite a lot lately. And me who thought he was a frozen ice cube, he might have more games than I first anticipated.”

You tuts.

“No, he’s simply patient with people who want to learn.”

“Yeah, I doubt it too,” Alexsandrs raises his gaze from his pad, “he asks you to his office quite a lot. He may have an ulterior motive with you.” he teases you with a smirk.

“Well! I wouldn’t mind, he’s exactly my taste, he looks like a whole meal to me!” you joke along.

Like you got a chance with the Grand Admiral, yeah! He’s untouchable and above all that. But it is true you would not mind, you would gladly bite into that treat of a man. 

They exchange a gaze.

“Oh Maker, she’s blind.” Arhinda sighs.

You wince at her.

“I’m simply a realist.”

“It’s a shame, the cold stern one and the jokester are a popular trope in movies, no?” Alexsandr ponders.

“Only in duds, Alexs! But you seem the type to be familiar with that genre.” you tease back.

“Ah! Captain (f/n)!” you hear an unpleasant, well too known voice.

Away from you you see Admiral Konstantin walk towards you with long strides and a large smile. Not him again…

“You want us to stay?” Alexs asks.

“No,” you sigh “You can go, I’ll handle it.”

“You’re sure?” Arhinda insists.

“Yes, I’m a big girl! Do not worry about me.” You say with a reassuring smile, walking away from them, closing the distance with Konstantine.

It’s been like what? 3 times you told this guy to fuck off? But he’s dunce like a rock, never taking the hint.

“Captain (f/n)! I am very happy to see you.” He exclaims, rubbing his gloved hands. “I just heard a marvelous news.”

“Oh really, Admiral? Please don’t make me wait.” you try to smile joyfully, but he gots the talent to suck up your energy.

“We’ve been announced on the same mission together, isn’t it wonderful?”

You bite your cheek 

“It’s… Incredible news. Does that mean you’re gonna let me take the lead on the mission?” you ask, knowing full well a captain never leads when an admiral is present.

“Letting you lead? No.” he laughs “But that would give us plenty of time to… discuss.” 

Yurk.

“Discuss about what? The weather in space?”

“You know the weather is always the same in space.”

“Yes I…” He’s he really that dunce? “I was making a bit of humour…” 

“Oh!” he explodes laughing “I like you Captain (f/n)! You are funny!”

You smile, completely on edge, how this man became an admiral again? Not by being smart, that’s for sure. He passes his arm around your shoulder, pressing you against him and you tense up immediately, you’re maybe a jokester but you’re not familiar for all that.

“Please don’t do that.”

He sniffs the air, ignoring your comment.

“You smile divine, do you know that?”

Yes you know, you bought your perfume a real fortune, but if it elicits this kind of behavior you won’t hesitate to throw it across space.

“Yes I know. You don’t need to come this close to scent it.” you bite back.

Then to your utmost horror, he buries his nose in your neck to scent it.

You’re about to send him flying against the consoles when a voice raises behind your backs.

“Admiral Konstantine! What have I said about fraternization of my ships?”

You turn your head to your impromptu savior to meet a red gaze and beautiful blue skin.

Thrawn approaches with his hands behind his back and a hard gaze.

“Oh, Grand Amiral. I’m, huh…” Konstantin really looks caught off guard “I thought you were still in your office.”

“Release my captain at once.”

“Yes, Grand Admiral.” He smiles, truly not sorry to have overstepped your boundaries. He looks at Thrawn to find masculine complicity but he only finds ice, to your pleasure. “I was just… She’s cool with it, I was just trying to install a more friendly ambiance.”

Thrawn raises his brow, unconvinced. Konstantin releases you and you immediately step on the side, letting him alone in the blast zone. Thrawn takes one step towards him, towering him with all his height, forcing Konstantine to look up to him. He shoots him with his gaze.

“I do not want to hear you pathetic excuses and you should learn to treat your female counterparts with respect. I want none of that on my ships, am I clear?”

“I… Yes, sir.” Konstantine lowers his head submissively.

“Present your excuses to the Captain and return to your post immediately.”

Konstantine wince turning to you, clearly displeased to let his eye candy escapes him.

“I am sorry Captain. My behavior was inappropriate?”

“Indeed it was very much, Admiral.” You say with a big unapologetic smile.

You wave him goodbye as he walks away rapidly.

“Are you okay?” Thrawn asks lowly.

“Yes! Thank you Grand Admiral, I almost sent him flying but you intervened just in time.”

“Glad to hear it. Those behaviors are simply unacceptable, do not hesitate to come to me directly if it happens again.” He looks at you softly.

You nudge him.

“With you at my side I am sure he would not dare!”

He looks at you with a frown and you wonder if you crossed the line with him.

But he instantly relaxes.

“This is the effect I am counting on. Come to me if you meet any difficulties.”

“Sir, yes sir!” You salute him with your signature smile and he nods.

“I am counting on you to bring me the datacards tonight again.” And he walks away

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

“And then?!” Arhinda asks on the edge of her seat.

“And then nothing, he walked away.” you explain, munching on your dish.

She looks disappointed, her shoulders lowered.

“She omits to say he keeps her at his side at all times now.” Alexs interjects.

“No, not really.” you temper. “He’s just protecting me from Konstantin.”

“So he keeps her at his side all the time.” He concludes.

“You’re exaggerating.” 

“And you are completely blind, as always. From an exterior point of view it is evident.”

Wait.” Arindha intervenes “What do you mean he keeps her at his side now?”

“She has been upgraded to his personal secretary.”

“I am merely helping him sort some files.”

“Yes, we got droids and algorithms to do that.”

“He likes to do it manually.”

“And he needs a tier party help for that? I don’t think so.”

“Wait, you’re telling me that they spent all their evening for the last four months together alone?” Arhinda asks him

“Yes.”

“It is less saucy than that.” You explain. What if they ascribe him intentions? Thrawn has been nothing but respectful and helpful to you. “Maybe he is just preparing me for my next promotion?”

“Your promotion to his bed?”

You slap Alexs’s hands with a grimace, he’s so silly sometimes.

“I don’t remember him doing that much to prepare Faro for commandment.” Arhinda recalls

“Because he didn’t.” Alexs shakes his head.

“But what about you? How does that make you feel?” Arhinda turns back to you.

“It’s nice.” you remain succinct.

“What I love about you it’s the abundance of details.” she snarls.

You pull out your tongue to her.

“Well, it's… Great? I like being with him, he’s respectful.”

They both look at you, awaiting for the juicy details.

“There is nothing to say guys, really.” you defend yourself.

“So you didn’t try anything? You remained a pretty doll in his office, never tempting your chance?” Arhinda chokes.

Alexs sighs.

“I told you she was blind, but I didn’t know she was also impotent.”

“Oh come one guys! Place yourself in my shoes, I am intimidated, okay?” You bite into your meat. “He’s really… something else. I am always on edge in his presence. It’s hard being all alone with him in a room.”

“And you didn’t crack some jokes to ease the atmosphere as you do so well?”

“Of course I did. But that doesn’t do all. He’s hard to discern.”

“Really? Because on our end the signs are pretty clear.” Alexs comments “He’s consistently devouring you with his gaze, always commenting on how good you did on the last mission, keeping you next to him…”

You let your bite roll inside your mouth, thinking. It would be wonderful if that were true, he always was to your taste and if he asked you would jump in his arms no question asked. But that is simply a dream.

Arhinda leans forward to lower her voice.

“But in your heart? Did something change? Did it not comfort you in your sentiments? You always had a crush on him.”

“Well…” you lower your voice too, they both lean further pricking up their ears “I… I think…” You gasp for air, not believing your about to reveal your sentiment, but it will help you face them. “I think… I am truly in love with him now…”

You immediately hide your face as you flush, feeling your cheek burning hot.

You hear no response.

You look at them between your fingers, to see them cowering back on their seat, looking behind you. You turn and jump out of your skin.

Thrawn is right behind you.

“Captain (f/n), would you please meet me after your dinner?” he simply asks with his haughty voice.

“Yes, sir.” you simply respond, decomposing yourself.

He walks away without another word, navigating between all the tables of the cantina of the Chimaera.

You slowly turns back to you friends, mortified.

“You think he heard me?”

“I have no idea.” Alexs answer with pursed lips. “What are you gonna do?”

“I don’t know.” you shout lowly, feeling panic rising in your blood

“Well don’t keep him waiting, you should go.” Arhinda presses you.

“What?” you choke on your own words. “I can’t face him right now!”

“Go!” she orders.

You obey with reluctance, you turn one last time to your friends that try to cheer you up with thumbs up and smiles, but your stomach is turning acidic.

For the first time in your life, you have no joke.

You knock at his office door and wait for permission to enter.

“Come.” He simply orders.

You brace yourself for what might be your biggest humiliation you have yet to face. You enter to discover him focused on his datapad, his “best Grand Admiral” mug in the other hand.

The mug was your idea three years ago, you thought it would be funny but right now it can’t even give you a smile.

“You wished to speak to me, Grand Admiral?” you say with the most assured voice you can muster.

“Indeed.” He lays down his mug and datapad, looking at you up and down with a light smile.

You remain still, waiting in complete silence as he gauges you with his amused expression.

“Is… Is there a problem, sir? Am I in trouble?” you finally ask.

“No. Absolutely not.” He says standing up.

You release your breath.

“Please sit down.” He orders, retrieving something in a closet of his desk.

You sit down, taking as little space as possible. He takes out a bottle and two glasses of the cabinet and starts pouring the alcohol.

“You hide a bottle in your office?” you open your eyes surprised. You never picked up on that during the four months you stayed with him.

“Shhhh. It is a secret.” He grins lightly, handing you a glass. “If I am not mistaken this Bourbon is one of your favorites.” He observes the amber bottle.

You take a sip to taste it.

It’s delicious

“Why do we drink today, sir?” you ask.

“To thank you for your help for the last four months.” He clinks his glass with yours, leaning against the desk and towering you from his height.

“Oh… Well you are welcome, it was natural.”

“Absolutely not, those tasks were not in your job description. You had every right to refuse.”

“I thought it was to keep Konstantine at bay?”

“It was…” he takes a sip, not leaving you with his gaze “And it served a more selfish purpose.”

“Dumping some files gestion on someone else?” you joke with a grin.

“No. Something more down to earth. Simply keeping you close to me at every given moment.”

You choke on your sip.

What did he just said?

He observes you coughing out the liquid, handing you a handkerchief to wipe your mouth.

“Sorry sir.” you press the fabric on your lips “I think I misheard.”

“On the contrary, I think you heard perfectly right. Just as I heard you ten minutes ago.”

You froze.

He heard you?

“Sir, whatever you thought you heard I meant no disrespect and-”

“Why would I take offense in a love confession?”

You wince, it was technically not a confession.

“Sir, again I am truly sorry.” You can’t push yourself to meet his gaze, you’re way too embarrassed.

It was supposed to be a secret between your heart and your friends, and now the object of your desires is aware of everything. Talk about discretion…

“You are absolutely adorable when you are embarrassed and confused like that.” he sings softly.

“Sir, please do not mock me. I am already embarrassed enough like that.” you try to defend yourself.

“Who says I am mocking you? I am serious.” he bites back.

You look up to him in surprise. You don’t see any ill intent or mockery in his gaze, but instead a clear and unwavering résolution. And something… heavy, dark and dangerous. 

You gulp, your mouth dry despite your drink.

He leans forward slowly, his long fingers coming to graze your lips. It is such a simple touch, barely there, but it makes you gasp.

“How many of those visages do you have?” he murmurs “What visage do you have behind the doors of your bedroom?” he brushes your lip with his thumb “Will you allow me to see it?”

To say all words escaped you is an understatement. Your brain completely froze and you can’t move or say anything to save your life.

His thumbs part your lips lightly, entering your mouth. By instinct you gently bite down the tip of his finger and see his grin growing larger.

“Is that a yes?” 

“You… You suggest we…sleep together?”

“Was I not clear enough?” He raises an eyebrow, amused

“You were not scant in details.” You say with a small voice.

“Let me be more explicit then.” He flashes you his fangs “I want you in my bed, I want to feel your pussy clench around my cock and see you struggle to take it. I want you to ride me to exhaustion, I want you to beg for me to stop because you cannot take so much…”

You just listen to him explaining his fantasies to you, mouth agape.

“Obviously, we will not do anything without your consent.” He raises back his bust to look down on you with all his height. “Is my offer acceptable to you?”

Your brain is fried, the man you dream about for years proposing to you to spend the night with him?

Oh hell yeah!

“Captain (f/n)?”

You blink and shake yourself realizing you didn’t answer him.

“Yes, sir. This is a very… tempting offer.”

He leans back to kiss your cheek and whisper in your ear.

“Then join me at my suite in two hours. I will wait… patiently for you.”

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

You knock on his door with a flustered heart, feeling light with butterflies in the stomach. You took a thorough shower, combed your hair with a drop of perfume and passed on a fresh uniform.

“Enter.” you hear a welcoming voice.

The room is large, decorated with taste. A melody floats in the air with the scent of petits fours, and the distinct sound of a glass bottle. In the middle of the room is a large sofa with Thrawn slouching on it like a tired king. He stands up as he sees you approaching.

“Captain (F/n). Welcome.”

You wince at the title. You hoped you could be on a first name basis now.

“Thank you Grand Admiral.”

“Please, call me Thrawn. May I address you by your first name?”

“Of course.”

“Wonderful, please take a seat.” He gestures to the sofa and you sit, pressing your legs together. He sits close next to you, brushing his leg to yours. “I took the liberty to prepare a bottle of champagne for us.”

“Alcohol again? Are you trying to get me drunk, Grand Ad-Thrawn?” you ask with a smirk.

His hand holding a glass stops mid movement.

“I am sorry, it was never my intention. Please refrain if you think it is necessary.” 

“No, it's good.” You take the glass from his hand. “I need something to relax.”

“Am I that terrible?” he asks, tilting his head.

“No, it’s just…” you click your tongue, thinking about your next words. “I loved you for so long, I am a bit nervous.” you confess, turning to meet his gaze.

His hand comes caressing your cheek, pushing away a strand of hair.

“(Y/n), you have nothing to worry about. I hoped for this night to happen for long on my part too.”

Your heart flutters at those words and you press your cheek against his palm.

“Really?”

“Yes. You have enchanted me with your spirit and you plagued my dreams from our first encounter. I cannot believe that you are here tonight.”

You take his hand and kiss his palm.

“I am truly here, Thrawn.”

“To my utmost joy.” He leans forward, approaching his lips but letting you the choice to close the gap.

You don’t have to be asked twice! You close your eyes and brush your lips with his before pressing them firmly. The touch is soft and inviting. His tongue comes part your lips apart to enter your mouth and hug your tongue. You let him enter without hesitation. His hand cups your head, combing through your hair, you moan in the kiss and you feel the vibrations of a chuckle.

You part reluctantly. He presses his forehead against yours, both taking back your breath. 

“Before we proceed further.” He warns “I want you to know what you are engaging yourself with.” he says breathily.

You nod silently, all ears.

“I am not merely proposing to you a one night stand. I do not have time for trials and errors and stories without any futures.” He whispers. “I hope… We could build something together. A long lasting story à deux.”

You blink. He’s suggesting you become a couple?

“Are you willing to try?” 

You nod enthusiastically.

“Yes. Yes!”

“My love is demanding and sometimes selfish. Are you sure you want that?” He warns you.

You take his head in your two hands and kiss him feverishly.

“Yes! That is all I ever wanted. Thrawn… I am so happy!”

He caresses your cheek and kisses you back.

“I love you, (y/n).”

“I love you Thrawn. I love you so much!” You throw yourself at him, to his surprise.

You push him on the sofa and straddle him, pressing your body on his, kissing him fiercely. He combs his fingers in your head, squeezing you tight with a deep rumble coming from his chest.

“I did not know chiss could growl like that.”

He grins snarky.

“You have no idea what I can do, cha’cah.” he bites your lower lips.

He rises back and stands up, holding your hands.

“Follow me, my darling.”

You smile broadly at the surname.

“Can I give you a nickname too?”

He guides you to his bedroom, another large room with a double bed that looks real comfy and… inviting.

“Of course.”

“My love?”

“I would be honored.”

“Sweetheart?”

“As you wish, cha’cah.” He pushes you against the wall, pressing your warm bodies together

“Honey booboo?” You stick your tongues out.

“Alright, you are pushing it.” He bites and nibbles the crook of your neck.

“Isn’t that why you love me?” you gasp.

“Oh, I do love you very much. Especially with your little humor, but I am not going to allow everything.”

“Oh.” You falsely pout “You’re no fun.”

“That is your role, cha’cah.” He kisses back your lips, his tongue pushing to enter your mouth and hug yours. You let him pass, meeting his tongue with delight. His lips are soft and warm, getting swollen as the kiss gets languorous. “You are my little jokester.”

“Your favorite jester?”

“You are more than that.” He grumbles in the kiss.

You giggle and jump into his mighty arms, circling his hips with your legs. He carries you no problem and falls with you on the bed, you yelp in surprise. His body weight cuts your breath, but you hold him even tighter. You seize his face and start pecking him all over with a growl.

Muah! Muah! Muah! You sparkle a surname between each kiss, showering him with love.

“My love! My Grand Admiral! My Prince! My heart!...”

You press his cheeks to make him look like a fish and explode laughing.

“You are having fun?” he asks patiently.

“Sorry…” you cry “I couldn’t resist!” you release his face to hold your ribs laughing.

He pinches your cheek.

“Look at you. I will make you wear a buffoon costume.”

“Promise?”

He sighs, his shoulders lowering.

“You are not supposed to want it.”

“But it is such a good idea!”

“You are impossible.” He smiles, lowering himself on you and kisses you softly.

It isn’t like the earlier hasty kiss, this one is soft and slow, gentle. His lips travel on your mouth, your cheeks, your jaw, your neck… You hear him purr loudly, like a satisfied tiger.

“I love you.” He whispers again.

“I love you too…” You comb your fingers through his hair.

“I cannot get enough of you.” He peppers kisses everywhere on your face, waving his body against yours. You can feel his bulge rubbing against your core.

You try to purr in unison with him, but only manage a gurgling. He grins at your effort.

“You do not have the vocal cord for that.”

You pout.

“Not fair.”

He takes your hand and places them on his chest.

“Listen.”

You both remain still in the arms of the other, listening to him purr and feeling it through your palms, all the little vibrations and waves. His head is buried in your neck while he caresses your back, lazily kissing the crook.

“It’s amazing.” you let out, absolutely fascinated. “What else can you do?”

“Many things.” He grazes his lips against your forehead “We Chiss are capable of numerous things human males cannot.” 

“Like what?” you murmur, deadly curious.

“You will see in a given time.” he purrs.

You bite your lips, you don’t wanna wait, you want to know! You start unbuttoning his jacket to gain access to his chest, hurriedly pulling on his shirt to uncover his abs and pecs. You let your hands travel and roam around his warm skin and wiggle your way under him to kiss his chest.

“Let me get rid of that.” He sighs satisfied.

He rises on his knees and starts undressing, you follow the movement and sit down, ending up at eye-level with his bulge, you press your palm on it, feeling warmth emanated from under the fabric. You knead him through his pants, playing with his hidden cock. 

The bulge is massive! It makes you drool in anticipation. You can’t wait to play with it. You gesture towards it but Thrawn slaps your hand.

“Do not touch.”

“Ouch!” You protest “Why?”

“I will take care of that.” 

You pout. He took a delectable candy from you.

He chuckles.

“Do not fret, cha’cah. I will give it to you.”

You snarl.

“But I want to play with it, to taste it…”

“Another time, I promise you.” He says falling down on you.

You are crushed under his weight, but it feels comforting and safe. His hands roam your body and one find its way in your pants, gently stroking your clit and trailing your slit. You mewl and wave your body under his touch. He nibbles your neck, leaving hickeys everywhere.

“Mmmmmmmmh.” He sighs “I wanted to claim you like a beast, but I will rather make love to you all night long.”

“Why did you changed your mind?”

“You being adorable. I want to take care of you.”

“I protest, sir. A good fuck is of upmost importance to take care of me.”

“Tomorrow then. Tonight I will hold you and love you gently.” He purrs.

You bury your nose in his neck, inhaling his musk and cologne. He smell so good! You lick his shoulder, the alcohol of the perfume stinging your tongue.

He enters you with one finger, teasing your entrance, curling his knuckles. You press your thighs shut, locking up his hand in its place. He locates your gummy spot and grazes it gently, circling it with the pad of his finger. You moan in his ear and bite it.

You press his body on top of yours, circling his waist with your legs and his shoulders with your arms. You comb your fingers in his hair, disheveling him. He pushes another finger into your leaking sex and scissors you thoroughly. You feel your pussy contracting around his fingers as he stretches you so deliciously.

“Thrawn….” You whimper.

“Mmh? Vocalize your bliss cha’cah. I like to know I am giving you pleasure.”

“I think I am ready for you.” you press him.

“I am the one to decide that.” He gently chides, “Let me check.”

He takes out his fingers and inspect them.

“No you are not. See my fingers? They should be dripping.”

You frown.

“I… I have never done that before.” You inform.

“You are capable of it. I trust you.” He approaches his fingers to your mouth “Give yourself a bit of help.” 

You open your mouth and taste yourself on his fingers. It’s rather salty. You lick them clean, lapping them conscientiously. He purrs approvingly and takes them out. You lick you lips clean with an exaggerated satiated expression. He kisses your cheek.

“Never change, cha’cah.”

He re-enters you and fingers you aggressively, draining moans and sobs from you. You dig your nails in his shoulders to hold on. His lips travel down your nipple that he licks and glides over. He takes it in his mouth, sucking on it and gently bites into it. You can’t help but yelp in pain and excitement. 

He keeps scratching your g-spot until your pussy convulses on his fingers and you suddenly squirt in his hand.

“See?” He chuckles, “You could do it.” He shows you his dripping fingers.

You nod, still a bit shocked that it happened. It was unprompted but apparently it was part of Thrawn’s plan all along. He surely is confident in his abilities to give you pleasure, you’ll give him that.

He finishes pulling down your pants and spreads your legs wide apart, placing himself between them. He opens his trouser and finally free his cock. It is blue like the rest of his skin safe for the tip that is purplish, it has ridges all along the length almost like scales but of soft flesh.

Well, soft, if it wasn’t painfully erected that is.

The girth and length are consequent, but it is okay. You like a challenge!

You lick your lips and open your pussylips with two fingers, titillating him, daring him to enter you.

He slightly grins and aligns himself with you, pushing his swollen member inside you delicately. You open your mouth round, he’s maybe larger than you first anticipated…

He kisses your lips gently once he’s fully inside your leaking sex.

Maker, he is so large! He stretches your poor pussy so, so much. You are stuffed to the brim, like you were made for him.

“Mmmmmmmmh.” He hums appreciatively “You are perfect for my cock, you are strangling it just like you should.”

“Move, please, please, please.” you demand, on the verge of explosion.

“Of course cha’cah, anything for you.”

He starts to rock his hips in a deep and languorous manners, hitting deep into you, waving his hot body against yours. You observe his cock disappearing into your sex, utterly fascinated. His ridged dick feels so good inside you, the ridges graze deliciously the wall of your puffy pussy, your swollen walls embracing his girth with ease like a fluffy pillow. 

It feels so good.

He alternates between thrust and circling motions of the hips, always loving and profound, reaching the depths of your being.

He is slow and languid, delicate and loving, never stopping kissing you languorously, robbing you of your breath. He hits your cervix with ease, a creamy O at the base of his cock. 

“Can I come inside?” He asks after rolling his hips against yours to oblivion.

Your pussy is spasming and contracting around him like it’s trying to keep it inside, but your slick makes it slippery. 

You nod, out of breath, face hot and body sweating. You hold onto for dear life. The pace is slow but it feels like too much for you, he puts so much love in each thrust you’ve never felt adored like that before, so much you feel tears rolling on your cheeks.

He looks at you confounded.

“Why are you crying? Did I do something wrong, did I hurt you?” He immediately worries.

“No, no.” you sniff. “It’s nothing. I’m good. Continue.”

“You are sure?”

“Yes.” You kiss his cheek and hold him tighter. “Continue, don’t stop.”

He resumes his thrusts with a quicker pace, making you bob up and down. 

You feel something weird.

Something is growing inside you…

His movement became erratics and with a final push he cums deep inside you, hot ribbons of seed that your pussy milks for all its worth. You came with a gasp of his name, clenching all around his shaft and the weird mass you feel inside.

He lays on you, out of breath, kissing the side of your neck. As you try to move you realize you're stuck. You lower your gaze, wondering why you can’t move.

“Do not worry, it is perfectly normal.” He reassures you.

“But what is…”

You open your eyes round when you see the bulge of your tummy, is it…?

“You have a knot?” you ask, dumbfounded.

“Indeed.” He nods “I told you Chiss could do impossible things to humans.It will ensure you have been properly bred and you will become pregnant.”

“I’m…” you’re completely out of words “I’m on pill.”

“A pity.” He brushes his nose with yours “We will have the occasion to speak about it.”

You nods, eyes fixated on the bulge.

“You do not like it.” you hear a hint of sadness in his voice “It repulses you?”

“What? No! No, no ,no no! It doesn’t repulse me.” You hold his face in your hands lovingly. “It just surprised me, that’s all. I swear it’s good.”

“It does not weird you out?” he inquires, a tad worried.

“No. I quite like it actually. It’s exotic and…”

“Alien?” He has a lopsided grin.

“Yes.” you chuckle “A bit alien can’t hurt. I like everything about you, that included.”

“I am glad.” He pecks your lips.

“Plus it might come in use at some point.” you cheerfully joke.

“I very much hope so.” 

“But not now!” you temper. You are not ready to become a mother yet!

“We will have a long discussion about it” he promises.

“And how long does it stay swollen?”

“It depends, between  minutes to one hour.”

You choke.

“One hour?!”

He hums, nodding.

“We can stay like that while it lasts.” He calms you down “In each other's arms. I cannot think of anything better.”

“No, you are right.”

@bluechiss @thrawnalani @justanothersadperson93 @al-astakbar

@thrawnspetgoose @readinglistfics @elise2174 @debonaire-princess

☆Tag list

#thrawn x reader #thrawn x you #thrawn x f!reader #thrawn #grand admiral thrawn #mitth’raw’nuruodo #fanfic #vibratingskull #thrawn smut

[chaotic-orphan]

hello! i love "the stranger" so much and was wondering if you're planning to continue it?

The Stranger (4)

Read part one here

Continued from here

Hellooooo yes! Absolutely! The first half was in my drafts from febuwhump so this has been worked on in the last few months so wooooo! I forgot about this and the heretic series but now I’m like oh hon hon hon anyway, enjoy!!!!

*~*~*~*~*

“There,” said the Mayor to Hero as he walked into his office. “We did everything you asked, look, even the rug is gone to be dry cleaned. So do you wanna tell me why we had to go through this big song and dance for you, Princess?”

Hero blinked, staring out the Mayor’s window into the street below, back turned to the Mayor. “You didn’t do it for me,” they said, eyes fixing on the sky, blue cast in streaks of orange and reds.

“Then who did I do it for? Myself?” Mayor asked with a scoff. “Jesus fucking Christ. You heroes and your drama. I need a drink. You want one? Whiskey okay?”

“I’m still on the clock, sir.”

“Me too, which means we’re getting paid to drink. Isn’t that wonderful? I love politics.”

Hero rolled their eyes. “I’ll pass.”

“Suit yourself,” Mayor said as he crossed his office to a small table in the corner where his decanter of whiskey sat waiting beside two crystal clean glasses. Mayor lifted the stopper with a soft clink as he poured two fingers of the honey coloured liquid. “So how did you know that showing the kid his shadowed brains was going to work?”

Hero turned to face Mayor slowly, and shrugged. “I hoped.”

Mayor let out a bark of laughter, brown eyes meeting Hero’s. “You hoped? Come on. You gotta do better than that, Hero.”

Hero pinched their lips together looking for a better answer to give to Mayor, but honestly? Hero just hoped it would be enough to stop the compulsion or whatever was done to the boy.

Mayor nodded his head to the two leather arm chairs to the right of the window and Hero obliged his request, settling into the one opposite Mayor.

“I think because he said he had to blow his brains out in front of you,” Hero continued, brown furrowing as their thoughts processed. “It’s not a clear objective. How would they know if their brains were splattered all over your wall if they couldn’t see it for themselves?”

Mayor nodded, swirling the liquid in his glass as Hero spoke. He was far better than the last Mayor the city had, Hero thought, observing him then. He wasn’t an idiot, he was shrewd and smart. He saw things from a different perspective but you didn’t have to spell everything out for him. He could put two and two together just fine.

“So you acted on instinct, then?”

“Yes sir.”

Mayor chuckled to himself, bringing the glass to his lips. “I should give you a medal,” he said before taking a sip.

“I don’t think that’s necessary,” said Hero lightly. “Besides, that kid’s death wasn’t what the intended murderer wanted.”

Mayor’s eyes narrowed slightly. “No, I was thinking the same thing.”

“If they wanted to send you a message, or me for that matter,” said Hero, eyes darkening. “Then they could be more organised than I initially imagined.”

It was Mayor’s turn to study Hero’s face as they fell into a silence. After a beat Mayor said: “you think it has something to do with your missing Vigilante?”

“I’m hoping it doesn’t,” Hero replied.

“You and your hope.”

Hero shook their head. “Honestly Mayor, sometimes it’s all I got.”

“Well that’s your job, ain’t it? Be the symbol of hope, be an inspiration. You leave the realistic side of things in the city to me, Hero, and I’ll make sure you won’t be impeded while you hunt this fucking Villain down and make him pay.”

Hero’s eyes met Mayor’s which burned like hot coals, simmering with a dark rage. Hero swallowed and nodded.

“Yes sir,” Hero said and got to their feet. They were at the door, a hand on the handle when Mayor stopped them in their tracks.

“Oh, and Hero? Don’t let the suicide kid out of custody until you find this new Villain. It’s best if we let them presume he’s dead.”

“Yes sir.”

Hero left the Mayor’s office and stepped outside city hall with a feeling of dread curling around their stomach. Vigilante should have told them about the Mayor’s kid. They should have contacted Hero, so why— there was something scratching lightly at the back of Hero’s mind, infuriating and annoying. As if every time they tried to look into the one place they couldn’t, their mind shifted their attention away from it, onto something else.

Hero should contact them. Hero did just that on the way out of city hall. They typed a quick message to Vigilante: meet me tonight? Then pocketed their phone. If Vigilante was okay they would see it, and if they weren’t… well. Hero didn’t really want to think about that.

*~*~*~*~*

Vigilante was stuck in the house when Karma was gone. They didn’t know where Karma went, but they do know that Karma had commanded them not to leave.

“Don’t try and hurt yourself. Don’t kill yourself. Don’t harm yourself or the house in anyway. You are not allowed to put your shoes on, socks are fine. The rest of your time, well,” Karma said with a horrible smile. “You can do what you please otherwise.”

When Karma left, the first thing Vigilante tried to do was leave the house. They swung open the front door and tried to step through but found they couldn’t, as if an invisible barrier was surrounding the doorframe. Vigilante threw themselves against it, over and over and over again, waiting for it to slip and crack, maybe even wear it down. Even after Vigilante had tired themselves out the barrier remained.

Vigilante turned away with a huff, cursing Karma. Their eyes strayed to the window and Vigilante crossed the distance in seconds, unlatching it and shoving the window open. Vigilante stuck their hand out, but the same invisible barrier was there, preventing Vigilante from leaving.

“Fuck!”

They couldn’t leave. They couldn’t leave! Which meant that when Karma came home Vigilante would still be in his fucking house, with no fucking shoes on and no chance to run or flee, or get help.

They were powerless, completely and utterly powerless. Who the hell could even think to win against someone with Karma’s power? What couldn’t he do? The fire boy’s face crept its way into Vigilante’s mind and they wanted to scream.

They wished Hero was here, even if Vigilante had been avoiding them recently. Even Hero was powerless against Karma’s commands. That dead look in Hero’s eyes haunted them. If Vigilante hadn’t been interesting enough then Hero and Vigilante would be dead that night on the roof.

Wait… Hero.

Karma didn’t say Vigilante couldn’t contact anyone outside the house. They didn’t say anything about calling the Hero agency, or— or Hero. Vigilante ran to the door, more specifically the table beside the door and searched for post for Karma’s address.

Nothing.

Vigilante frowned. Okay. That was fine. They just needed to do a little exploring to find Karma’s secrets. Except Karma’s house was huge, like old money huge. More like an estate than a house, with expensive looking dark wooden floors and marble countertops. In front of Vigilante was exposed brickwork that was somehow still insulated to keep in the heat.

Vigilante remembered exposed brickwork from their childhood home, how cold it had been. The damp set in towards the end of Autumn in the rain and Vigilante would be wrapped in layers trying to keep warm as the draught chilled their blood. Yet here, in Karma’s fucking house of all places, exposed brickwork was nothing more than a decorative piece. A “rustic” display.

It made something jealous and violent flare Vigilante’s chest hot, and they turned away from it before they would try to damage the wall. They should take advantage of Karma being gone. Try and find out as much about the Villain as they could so that when they escaped they could tell Hero everything.

Vigilante’s stomach tied itself into a knot at the thought of Hero. Of all the Heroes that could have been in city hall why did it have to be Hero? Vigilante’s Hero. Vigilante should have stopped Karma before he ordered that fire boy to die… God, Vigilante didn’t even know his name and Hero had to see— witness that boy…

Vigilante swallowed and shook the thought from their head. No. They couldn’t think like that. They had to do what they could right now, which was search for any information on Karma. Everything else would have to wait.

The first order of business was to find an office of some sort, or a study, or a… something else that Karma would try and hide from Vigilante. Their best bet was working from top to bottom, and that was what found Vigilante in Karma’s attic. They stood at the top of the ladder, the musty scent of boxes and storage and insulation greeting them with an uncomfortable warmth.

Okay. Nothing there.

Room one complete.

Vigilante let the ladder up and searched the rooms on the top floor. Mostly bedrooms, except for the two bathrooms. Vigilante stood in the door of Karma’s room not really wanting to enter it. Karma… there was something wrong with him, something inhuman. Vigilante grew up in the dregs where the scum of society supposedly lived; crime rates? high. Poverty? high. Death rates? high. The place where monsters were made, or so the stories went.

For Vigilante, the dregs were home. The wrong side of the city is where they grew up, and they didn’t feel unsafe walking the streets because they’re the people Vigilante grew up with, went to school with, worked with.

But looking at Karma’s room in his big, fancy house and his many guest bedrooms and all his wealth— Vigilante couldn’t help but scoff.

The good people of the city were so afraid of the scruffy riff-raff of the dregs, that they didn’t even glance at their neighbours and see the malice that hid within their own neighbourhood.

Of course, the good part of town also made people like Hero, Vigilante had to remind themselves. They’re not all Karma’s… but the fact that he was from the good tracks, the nice part of the town versus the discrimination Vigilante faced when growing up.

The irony was laughable.

Something horrible curled in Vigilante’s gut that they tried and successfully in ignoring as they rifled through Karma’s chest of drawers. That maybe Hero and Karma knew each other once… maybe they went to the same school, walked by the same neighbourhood, knew someone who knew someone who knew each other.

Vigilante forced the thought to the back of their mind as they stormed out of Karma’s room, nothing of interest lying there and slamming his stupid door closed. They didn’t even stop to let themselves think, instead they kept moving. They just had to keep moving, keep moving forward.

It’s not like Vigilante knew everyone from the dregs anyways, so it was a ridiculous thought to begin with.

The only thing that pulled Vigilante from their thoughts was when they pressed down on a handle and found resistance. The handle didn’t budge. Vigilante’s eyes squared in on it. Jackpot.

Vigilante tried again to find the same result.

Okay. Great. They should check the other rooms before coming back to it, just to make sure.

Living room, dining room, kitchen, foyer, hall, pantry, toilet, utility room.

Back to the locked door. It was in the middle of the foyer, and the walls around it were thin, maybe a narrow room like a closet? Or a stairway… maybe a basement? If Vigilante put a hammer through the wall technically they would still be in the house. Or if they somehow broke the handle off the door?

That seemed like the better option. They needed something heavy. Vigilante found a trophy from some golf tournament because of course the bastard, or one of his fucking affluent family members, plays golf.

Vigilante slammed the trophy down on the handle but stopped an inch above. Their hand trembling like before as their arm locked and Vigilante cursed, and tried again.

“No! No! Come on! Just fucking—” they cried, bringing their hand up and slamming it down again and again. “You fucking— shit!”

Vigilante stepped back, panting as they glared down at the door and the statue in their hand. A sudden, angry impulse took over and they pivoted, throwing the statue down the hall and towards a window.

Or they would have.

If their hand wasn’t glued to the fucking thing— because Vigilante wasn’t allowed to harm themselves or the house in anyway.

Vigilante put the trophy back where it was and walked to the kitchen, turning the kettle on and letting out a sigh as they ran their hands through their hair. They needed a coffee and to calm down. They couldn’t do anything else. They could find out whatever was in that room was later.

While they had peace, Vigilante made a cup of coffee that smelled so good and sat down in Karma’s stupidly comfortable couch and turned on the TV. Hero’s face flashed on the screen, a picture of them as the news anchor spoke about the attack on city hall but it still broke Vigilante’s heart. The screen flashed to the Mayor’s address again and Vigilante switched the channel with a huff.

An episode of Big Bang theory later and Vigilante stiffened. They heard a car pulling into the driveway and then the sound of an engine switching off. Door closing. Vigilante could feel their pulse rising a little, but their breath was steady so they were thankful for that.

A key slide into the lock and clicked open, then footsteps and Karma was home. Vigilante didn’t turn to look at him, they just kept staring ahead, taking care not to flinch as Karma’s steps drew closer and closer until he was right behind them.

“You know, most dogs will greet their owner as they walk through the door,” Karma said with his stupid, smug drawl.

Vigilante scoffed. “I’m not a dog.”

“Oh yeah?” Karma asked, leaning down over the couch and placing his hand on Vigilante’s head. Vigilante to their credit didn’t flinch and they wanted to celebrate that fact, until Karma said: “bark.”

The noise escaped Vigilante’s mouth before they could comprehend the command and they felt the red blush crawl from their gut all the way up their neck and to their face, burning hot.

“See? Good doggie,” Karma mocked, petting Vigilante’s hair. Vigilante pushed his hand off of them with a huff, crossing their arms over their chest. “Oh relax, Vigilante. I’m just messing with you.”

Karma didn’t command them to relax, so Vigilante could remain as stressed as they liked. Karma walked around the couch and sat down on one of the seats, nodding at the TV. Vigilante didn’t dare take their eyes off Karma now.

“Big bang theory? Didn’t know you were a nerd, Achilles.”

“Nothing else on.”

“Hmm, and you didn’t wreck the house so that’s a plus,” Karma said looking around. His eyes stopped on Vigilante’s mug on the coffee table, and he leaned forward and picked it up. He slid a coaster underneath and put the mug back down. “Were you raised in a barn?”

Vigilante didn’t answer. They stubbornly stared at the TV, tracking Karma’s movements from the corner of their eye. “Did you kill anyone today?”

Karma laughed. “No,” he said, relaxing back into the couch cushions. “I told you I wouldn’t do that without you anymore, didn’t I?”

Vigilante’s head whipped to the side in anger, eyes blazing. “You can’t—”

Karma turned his head, a smirk on his face and his cold dead eyes froze Vigilante’s protest mid sentence. He tilted his head to the side, his smirk widening.

“What? I can’t do that? I can’t make you watch? I can’t do whatever I want?”

Vigilante’s lips curled back into a snarl. “You won’t get away with it, not after your stunt in city hall.”

“You forget that I wanted what happened in city hall, to happen, Vigilante, so it did. The only reason I don’t know your civilian identity is because I let you keep your mask. You think you’d be so brave without it, hmm?”

The threat struck a chord in Vigilante’s chest that wound up tight. They kept their glare on Karma though because they had nothing to retort.

“Oh, don’t believe me? Vigilante, take off—”

“Wait!” Vigilante cried, stretching a hand out as if that would stop Karma in his tracks. To their surprise it did. Karma stopped the command, but his eyes glittered with that knowing malice. Vigilante huffed out a breath and looked away.

“See? You really want to waste your breath with threats and insults and defiance, when you know you can’t win against me?”

I can’t win, Vigilante didn’t say, but Hero can.

“It’s cute, honestly. You have that can-do hero attitude. It’s why you’re sitting on my couch in the first place if you remember, for foiling my plans of putting the saving the mayor’s kid in the hospital—”

Vigilante’s eyes narrowed. “You were trying to kill him. Don’t give me that bullsh—!”

“— but,” Karma said pointedly, cutting off Vigilante and effectively shutting them up. His eyes glowered dangerously at them. Every place they roamed over Vigilante’s face felt as if there were maggots crawling beneath it. “It would serve you well to remember: not to piss me off.”

“Oh yeah? Or what?” Vigilante hissed. They were so sick of being afraid of this fucking bastard. They wanted so badly just once to wipe his stupid smirk off his face.

Karma reclined back further into the couch, pursing his lips. “You know, Vigilante, the thing about dogs is that if you give them too much freedom they forget their place. Dogs shouldn’t be allowed on the furniture.”

Vigilante stood. “Suits me better anyways.”

“Kneel.”

Vigilante blinked and their knees had already hit the floor. They raised their head and stared up into Karma’s eyes, moving to get to their feet again when Karma spoke.

“Ah-ah, stay.”

Vigilante swallowed the whine that wanted to crawl up their throat, settling all their energy into their glare instead.

“See? Much better, now you know your place.”

“You’re such a dick.”

“Oh, you don’t know nothing yet, Vigilante. In fact,” Karma said, eyes twinkling with cruelty as he leaned forward on the couch. “I have a little trip planned for us tonight.”

Vigilante’s heart pressed against their ribs, as if it had just turned to lead and threatened to break free from their chest.

An outing planned? That meant that… someone was going to die and Vigilante would have to sit by and watch again and not be able to do anything to stop Karma again.

“No—”

“Ah, ah, ah.” Karma chided lightly, lifting his index finger and wagging it side to side as he tutted. “It’s a nice surprise. I think you’ll enjoy it.”

“I don’t want—”

“Shut up,” Karma commanded as he reached his arm back to fiddle for something in his jacket pocket. Vigilante could only stare mutely as Karma pulled out Vigilante’s own phone. He tapped the screen and then turned it to face Vigilante but he didn’t even have to.

Vigilante already knew.

The realisation settling like stones in the sea the moment Vigilante saw their phone.

Hero.

Vigilante’s bottom lip trembled, but they fought it back, biting it to stop it from quivering as they read the short message.

Meet me tonight?

Just three words, three simple words. Meeting Hero was how Vigilante was here in the first place and now Karma was going to force them to do something awful, something… well, Vigilante didn’t even want to think about it.

“Aww, puppy? You’re not happy? Your friend wants a play date.”

Vigilante shook their head, it was the only thing they could do. Karma’s smile turned cruel as he forced his lips into a mocking pout. “No? Well, I guess I’ll just go see them alone then.”

Vigilante’s hand shot out grabbing Karma’s wrist before he could turn away and shooting him a look that Vigilante hoped meant business. Karma grinned down at Vigilante, a flash of his teeth sent shivers down Vigilante’s spine but they didn’t relent.

“No? I guess it’s a date then. I’ll let Hero know.”

#the stranger #the stranger series #whump writing #hero villain story #hero villain writing #hero villain snippet #hero #villain #writing #creative writing #whump #hero/villain universe #telepath villain #intelligent villain #cruel villain #intelligent whumper #cruel whumper #powers whump #captivity whump #vigilante captive #vigilante x hero #hero x vigilante

[moodymisty]

Tree in bloom - Ch2

< Chapter 1 | Chapter 3 soon >

Author's Note: Tehe, hi. I take forever to draft things. Hope you enjoy.

-pushes this towards the darksiders fandom like a skiddish animal- hello please accept my humble offering I haven't done a multichapter thing in like 9 years sorry if it's a mess

Summary: Even after humanity has just been resurrected, Strife still finds himself using Jones. It’s easier; Until you find him out of his façade. (Taking place days after Death revives humanity, you wade through a world still infested by demons, while Strife struggles with growing attached to someone.)

Relationships: Strife/Fem!Reader

Story Wide Warnings: Canon typical violence, Friends to lovers, Teratophilia, Strife being an emotionally stunted jokster and pouter, Eventual smut maybe, Strife is clingy, One or two OCs maybe to fill things out at times, Shooting guns, rebuilding trust

Word Count: 3949

Ao3 Mirror

'thump thump thump'

Your heart pounds against your ribcage, willing your legs to push as fast as they can possibly go and beyond, stumbling and nearly falling multiple times.

What’s left of the concrete sidewalk crumbles under your shoes; Cracks going deep into the dirt underneath from one hundred years of strain and winding along like a spider’s web.

You have no goal in mind, you never thought even close to that far ahead.

You just need to get away. From everything. Your body had said to run and you listened, not caring where you would end up.

One of your knees almost buckles from how long you've run at a full sprint, struggling not to collapse under your own weight. When you finally do look over your shoulder you see nothing is following, though the Maker's tree is farther in the distance that you'd expected it to be. You can barely see the top of it from over the skeletal remains of buildings; It's safety is almost impossibly far away. Realistically it's probably only a few miles, but that might as well be a million or more right now.

There’s an abandoned storefront right next to you on the sidewalk that has a foyer-like entrance, and you quickly push against the wreckage of what once was a door to slip inside. The moment you do, you can actually stop for a moment and feel how your lungs burn in your chest, heart thumping against your rib cage as if trying to burst forth from it. With a few steps, you turn until you can press your shoulders against the wall, breathing for a moment while slowly sliding down it. Once you fall into a squat, your hands press against your cheeks.

How did he know your name? He spoke like he had recognized you, at least to some degree.

The fact that he had spoken at all had frightened you at first; As you'd been under the assumption that he was a giant, abit lithe demon. But demons didn't speak, at least not often. He also lacked an angel's wings, and was far too large to be anything close to human.

It leaves only one option, but you never really thought you'd live to see one of the Horsemen again. For the people of Haven there's not a single soul that doesn't remember the blur of War's red cape and thundering steed racing through the city, and those sights will continue to stick as a collective memory as they already have for so long.

Your heart still feels like it's in your throat from all the running, hoarse and dry, but at least you don't feel about to pass out now.

But you can't go back to the tree, not yet. If he was following you, walking back to the tree would absolutely make you run right into him again. Though if he was following you, it would be odd that he hadn't managed to catch up with you yet, as even with one look from a good margin away, his stature clearly dwarfed yours.

But even if you can't go back to the tree, you sure as Hell can't stay here. Almost every wall is glass, and any passerby human or other could easily see a cowering fragile mess of a human huddled in the barely standing remains of a building.

Sighing and using a significant amount of effort just to stand back fully upright, you look around through the glass of the door shortly before opening it.

There's nothing alive in view, but you can hear the crackle of never-ending flames and the screech of undead, hellish creatures, somewhere in the distance. It's best not to spend too much time around here, especially alone. You only have a single clip of ammo in your gun, along with a knife.

Just as you feel to make sure you didn't lose said knife in your scramble down the tree, you hear an ungodly screech loud enough to whip your head in every which direction, trying to find the source. When you don't it makes your heart beat faster once again.

There's no way I last through the entire apocalypse only to die to a random pissant demon.

There's a fire escape you quite noticed to your left; You can use it to climb to the top story of this apartment building and hopefully wait out whatever is stalking around, and then trek back to the tree.

The Makers are absolutely going to tear you a new one, that's for sure. Ulthane will probably travel miles from his hovel just to do so. You know it wouldn't be out of character for him, in response to you pulling a stunt as stupid as this. He's yelled at the humans for less.

Rushing towards what might be your safely the metal of the fire escape is horribly rusted, and you put your full weight onto the ladder with no small amount of uneasiness. It creaks and groans in pain, but doesn't break as you climb up the first two rungs.

Afterwards you dare to take a look over your shoulder, and what you see sends you into a fluffy of frantic, clumsy movements.

Quickly your pace increases, but once your hand touches the fourth rung the fire escape begins to pull away from the wall, forcing you to abandon climbing lest you get trapped underneath it. You let out a yelp of pain as the concrete scrapes against your clothes, ripping and biting at your skin through the fabric as you fall to the ground.

Get up get up get up!

But no matter how fast you try to will yourself to, your body is so tired that you can barely manage to scramble to your knees. As you do you hear him, getting closer and closer.

Your hands shake and once again your heart is trying to escape it’s cage, but you still try to push it a bit further, stumbling to your hands and feet getting ready to-

“Don’t run!"

He yells, the tone of his voice and wild glow of his eyes only serving to frighten you further. He looks like he could crush you in one fell swoop, which makes it all the odder when his voice actually fades down to a tone that almost seems unfitting.

"Please don’t run again?”

It seems like your fight or flight response is finally well and truly shot, frozen in place looking at him awkwardly as you pause stuck halfway between getting to your feet. But now it seems like he’s run out of things to say, and halts.

“Shit- I, Just-” A sharp gauntlet rakes through his wild hair, as he paces.

He shifts his weight from one leg to another, glowing eyes not looking in your direction. It's like he almost didn't expect you to actually listen to him. You finish rising to your feet, one slightly behind the other.

He's still trying to write up his next sentence or, something, as he's still looking almost beyond you. When he does suddenly make a move however, taking one step forward closer to you, it's a lightning quick habit to grab your gun and point it right at him.

His body posture doesn't change in the slightest, but he does retract his only step forward and raise his hands up slightly- like someone who is only jokingly being held at gunpoint.

“Look, respectfully; That gun really isn’t gonna do much more than hurt my feelings.”

He laughs, though it seems to be at himself more than anything. He turns his hands so his palms face the sky, and gives a heavy shrug of his shoulders.

“...You can shoot me if it makes you feel better... Or somethin’.”

What?

The barrel of your gun lowers slightly, mouth agape as you look at him. Every word that’s come out of his mouth has done nothing but confuse you even more than you already are. And in that bafflement, you lower down the gun just enough that you can speak to him, voice almost cracking with how dry and hoarse your throat is.

“What do you want with me?"

He just awkwardly laughs.

“I just wanted to make sure you were ok. There's demons all over out here.”

That was, not anywhere near an answer you had expected; And you really have no answer to it. Slowly lowering the gun to your hip height you keep your eyes on him, watching the way the light bounces off the shiner parts of his armor. Some of it is clearly worn down after an untold number of years of wear and tear, especially the scarf around his neck, as that remains as only tattered remains of what it probably once was.

Your feet smidge backwards just slightly, trying to get even the tiniest bit of space between the two of you.

“And what, you care that much about some random human?" You're not a fan of the way your voice shakes, even if barely. Not as if your emotions can betray you, as he probably already knows quite well you're terrified and nearly shaking like a leaf.

But it's just so weird, the way he's so casually talking to you. It wasn't exactly what you had expected from someone so... Fabled.

It's hard to tell what emotion he's feeling with his helmet covering all but his eyes, but it's clear he's thinking.

"Tch," He makes an almost annoyed noise. "Look; Back there, you weren't supposed to see that."

Perhaps it isn't the smartest thing to raise your voice at a Horsemen, and maybe you'll live to regret it later, but you can't help but reel back at the nonchalance; Almost disrespectful.

You caught him slaughtering demons- and whatever else, not doing something embarrassing.

'If he kills me, he kills me. There's no chance in hell I could run from him now.'

"See what? I was just looking for my friend! I-"

And you still haven't found Jones, but the Horsemen suddenly interrupts you before you have a chance to finish.

"And you found him!"

......

You stand there frozen and confused, eyes wide after hearing his voice rise to a yell for a moment, watching the Horsemen shift from one boot to another as if he's resisting the urge to pace. Your gun is still in your hand, you remember; The metal is cold and while you know it won't do shit to him, you can't quite put it away.

"I knew all the humans wouldn't trust," He gestures broadly and almost self-deprecatingly at himself. "Me, so... I made Jones."

Made?

Your lips part, eyes glancing over him as if the answer is going to lay somewhere else.

He has to be fucking with you. This is some sort of sadistic attempt to pull one over on a human thats already about to keel over like a frightened rabbit.

"This, this has to be a joke," You say, and he seems almost irritated you're still confused and flighty, if only for a moment. "This sounds insane, I don't know you're trying to do but-" You're backing up, getting ready to just bail from this and hope to whatever is listening that you can loose him and forget all of this has ever happened.

"Wait!" He stutters as his brain catches up with his mouth. "I know you, from the tree! I promised to help you once I came back!"

Looking back at him, you remember that yeah- Jones did offer to help you once he came back. And, well you think you'd remember if there had been a giant horsemen in the vicinity.

Sure you've been through the apocalypse, seen weirder, but you still have absolutely no idea what to say.

"I'm Jones. Me." He points at himself, but you aren't exactly fully listening.

This is... insane. But there really isn't anyway you can deny the fact that he doesn't seem to be lying, other than just trying to forget this all happened. A valid option, after everything.

“But...”

You can hear that he's probably giving some sort of smile behind the mask, judging by the surprisingly light tone in his voice now. He seems to have gotten over everything that happened before, and has done a full 180.

“I’m actually Strife.”

Your eyes glance back up to his face, instead of his chest. So you were right; He is one of the horsemen. You’ve heard his name before, and it was never said in a pleasant tone.

Granted you've heard all of the Horsemen's names from the Makers, though Strife's was the one that was usually said with the most amount of distain, or with a curse following shortly thereafter.

But once everything settles just a bit, you can't really feel much else but angry. Clenching your hands you throw them forward, before they go back to your sides.

“I, I trusted you!" The horsemen straightens up at your tone as if you hit him, surprised. "You were lying to me this entire time!?”

He seems almost surprised by your sudden outburst, prompted upon the realization that you'd been strung around in the dark apparently, for so long.

You're absolutely going to collapse when you fully realize the gravity of yelling at a man who's brother nearly destroyed Earth.

“Hey! I did it to avoid this!” He gestures between the both of you, and thus the defensive posture you still have. Quickly you fire back, your throat still hoarse.

“And so you thought lying was better!?”

He goes quiet.

When he makes another move you flinch, instinctively trying to keep a minimum amount of space between you two. You already regret yelling at a Horsemen, but he doesn't seem to take mind of it at all, surprisingly.

You don’t trust him as far as you can throw him; And that isn’t any at all, judging by the bulk of his armor and the way he towers over you. Even from almost two meters away, his shadow is still brushing over the toes of your boots.

He attempts to speak in a softer tone that seems incredibly unfamiliar to him- the caterwaul of dustwings echos off somewhere in the background.

“Look- You need to get back to the tree. Let me give you a ride.”

Eyes darting around you don’t quite know what he means by ride for a moment, though it’s only a moment, as he whistles and suddenly- something seems to just come from what feels the air itself.

The sound of metal clops on the pavement as it materializes, and you barely register that it’s shaped like a horse, before it looks at you and you almost drop dead right then and there. The whinny it gives sounds otherworldly, and it matches the look impeccably. With how much armor it has on however, it's nearly impossible to tell if there is an actual horse under there, or if it's just some sort of unholy creation.

Quickly backing in from the creature this time instead of the Horsemen, you shake your head and put your palms right out in front of you; Hell bent on putting as much space between you and it as possible.

“No! Absolutely no way!”

The steed paws at the crumbled concrete as if bored, it’s ghost-like mane flowing in the soft wind that sends a chill through your body.

'Strife', crosses his arms, looking down on you with those glowing eyes.

“What,” He's smirking, you can just tell. “Scared of a horse?” Quickly your face goes from shocked and frightened to angry and frightened, as you take yet another step back and hug your shoulders. You only pull one away from a moment to point at it, and as if on cue, the horse looks up at you seeming almost with banality.

“That, is not a horse! That, That is a-” He turns to look at his ‘horse’, for a second, before looking back to you and shrugging his armored shoulders.

“Looks like a horse to me.”

You never remembered Jones being this smug.

The horse snorts as it stands behind it’s rider, bored with it all as you continue to fight going anywhere near it.

“Mayhem doesn’t bite.”

Of course that's it's name.

You look at the way his eyes glow and the almost ghost-like nature of his mane, and find that reassurance hard to believe. The Horsemen however seems to not notice or doesn’t care that you don’t seem entirely convinced, and instead hits the saddle. You shake your head and speak at a more normal tone.

“No, I can walk.”

Strife seems to almost deflate at the way you refuse his offer, oddly enough. But he seems to reinflate fast enough to attempt at convincing you. He hits the saddle again.

“You’re not going to make it in one piece alone. Just,” He blows air from his lips that sounds similar to a raspberry from behind his mask. “Just let me get you back."

As much as you don’t want to admit it, he’s not entirely wrong. You’re out in the middle of nowhere, and running out this far has already sapped a good bit of your energy. You don't like the idea of taking up his offer, but it's not as if you have any better alternative.

So perhaps the ghostly steed and his lying owner could give you a ride. But once you’re in the tree, you don’t want to be near him anymore. You need time. To figure this all out.

“Ok," He perks up so much so you startle, shifting your feet. "So I just, get on?”

Strife, you have to remember his name, moves his hands, grabbing the saddlehorn with one and gesturing with the other.

“Like I said, Mayhem doesn’t bite.”

The jury is still out on that; You see the way this horse is staring at you as you approach his flank. He seems to only be allowing you this close because his rider is the one asking you to be. Or maybe his bored face just looks intimidating, but you're not going to take the risk and find out.

Grasping the edges of the saddle you heft yourself into the stirrup after a few tries, and eventually make it up without assistance. He originally moved to quickly help you, but when you shifted away, he seems to take the hint that you want none of that.

Shifting around in the saddle it's huge, fitted for a larger than human rider, but at least it's somewhat comfortable. Your toes can barely reach the stirrups however, now that you're seated.

Just as you're attempting to put a foot in one Strife Puts his right foot in the right stirrup, grasping the saddlehorn and suddenly shifting the whole saddle to one side. You grasp tight underneath his armored hand, the edges sharp against your skin before he takes it away once he's seated right behind you.

With one heel he gives the horse a gentle nudge and you’re moving forward, the jingle of metal the foremost sound in your ear. If it’s Strife’s armor, Mayhem’s, or perhaps a combination of both is unknown.

"See, It's not so bad," He says, The chains that serve as the steed's reins jingling in his hand.

"I mean Mayhem's probably the least scary one out of all of them," You assume by 'them' he's referring to the other Horsemen's mounts. "Maybe Ruin? He's just big."

"The one that helped start the Apocalypse?" You say quietly. Strife lets out a nervous laugh, and you can even hear him thickly swallow.

"Oh yeah... Right. That's still a sore spot."

Did he, think it wouldn't be? Humanity is still in shambles, and unless his outlook on life is overwhelmingly positive it's a bit hard to deny that.

It's not exactly something you want to think too hard about right now, pursing your lips.

"Don't worry," He says, continuing to ramble on despite the fact that you really aren't talking back; A combination of being like a deer in the headlights and still a flurry of emotions. "Me and Mayhem are far better than those angry louts anyways."

Hands tightening around the saddlehorn you see the tree coming closer and closer, and with it your home base.

You can almost feel the tense, borderline nervous energy Strife is exuding behind you, as he ushers his steed to pick up the pace. But even then he still doesn't get the hint that maybe you aren't in the mood to talk, rambling on and on.

You get the hint that besides his occassional words as 'Jones', he hasn't had someone to talk to for a long time.

When you stop at the base of the tree, you’re off the horse as fast as you can possibly go, beating even him to the ground. You have to hand onto the saddle and effectively plummet to the ground, but you manage it well enough.

“Don’t get into too much trouble.”

You purse your lips tight and nod.

“...You too.”

He may have lied to you but… It’s not as if you hope he gets hurt. Your feet scrape against the bark of the tree as you back away from him, before turning and racing upwards.

When you’re halfway up and glance over the side, you can see he’s still there, oddly enough. If he’s still when you enter the tree you don’t know, as instantly you feel multiple sets of eyes on you.

You can hear the voice of one of the Makers asking what’s on your heels, but you don’t answer. Instead you keep pace forward, up the rickety steps and out onto one of the larger branches of the tree. Outside of the main central 'room'. You can update them later, as you've going to make yourself far too hard for them to reach and try and force you to do so.

This is a go to spot for a few of the humans when everything is just a bit too much, and you don’t want one of the Makers bugging you. Or really anyone for that matter. As getting more than one person out on the branch would be precarious at best.

It’s decently cold tonight, and you would’ve needed something to bundle up with if you weren’t still so hot from running for your life. And while you are cooling down, the torn and weathered jacket you have on is enough for now. You wouldn't want to go get anything more anyways.

How do you even, how do you even deal with this?

Sickly for a moment you think you’d rather have just found Jones dead or gone, before instantly throwing out that thought.

No, you don’t want Jones dead. Strife. You’re just frustrated. Need a minute.

The two are nothing alike; And that will take more than awhile to get used to.

Get used to, as you assume you're going to see him again. What if he's just gone forever now?

Thats not really something you want, even after everything. His façade versus the real deal are so incredibly different, but he is still technically your friend.

You can here people talking inside the tree, probably about your raging entrance, but you just drown it all out.

A horsemen? This whole time?

You don’t know exactly how much time has past with you sitting out here, as it's not completely dark.

One rare nice thing about the Apocalypse was with most of the light pollution gone, you can see the stars in the city central again.

I need a fucking nap.

#darksiders strife x reader #strife x reader #Strife/Reader #reader insert #reader #mywriting #Darksiders

[memyselfandmya]

Part 2 to my JWCT Analysis

Warning: spoiler and theories below; proceed with caution

In a later scene, where Darius is taking a picture of the computer screen, the background stood out to me a bit. It seems (somewhat) drastically different than the scenes we've seen so far with the brick/concrete wall.  Especially the picture in the back, it doesn't seem to fit the vibe of any of the other places/homes we've seen so far. My idea is that it's maybe Kenji's or Yaz's place.  Just because we haven't seen much of their hypothetical living situation yet. Maybe I'm looking too deeply into the artwork but these kinds of things give clues like with Sammy's home. Maybe it could be Sammy's room but I just don't get the vibes. Another theory I have is that it could be Brooklynn's place and the campers go there after her "death" to find information to help them. It seems kind of like her vibe, especially the vibrant picture. There's also another picture along the very edge. You can't see much but it looks like rocky terrain which could mean Kenji because we did see him rock climbing but it could also still be Brooklynn because of her history with travelling to cool places.

Some of the other scenes I won't say much on because they're more dinosaur centric and I don't know. a thing about dinosaurs. Everything I know comes from JW and JW alone. But when that trailer thing comes by with the dinosaur, am I crazy for thinking it's blind because it has a cloudy white eye.

There is that one scene where they're enclosed or something in something and Yaz grabs onto Sammy's shoulder which is adorable. Also the following scene where Yaz and Sammy are in the jeep(? idk it reminds me of a jeep) is so cute. They're definitely still together at some point in this show. Also this is the part where Yaz reminds me of Marinette.

Also just in general, the theme "chaos comes home" is just so interesting and cool to me because these characters spent so long trying to escape dinosaurs on Nublar and Mantah Corp Island only for dinosaurs to arrive on the mainland a couple years later. The trauma this will bring back up.

There's so many mysterious people and I want to know who they are.

Just Kenji punching a dinosaur. That's the analysis.

The way Yaz clings onto Ben in that one scene is just so wholesome to me. I love their relationship so much.

These new settings are just so interesting I'm excited to see the more urban look this show has.

The parallel with JW and Claire Dearing when Darius is running from the dinosaur

All in all, I'm very excited to see this. I'm definitely going to binge and rewatch the day it comes out. Expect many posts from me then. They were so right when they said this would be much darker. It's only the trailer and it's definitely giving the same darkness/heaviness of season three which I absolutely adore. I really want to see the characters suffer (I swear I love them) and I hope they highlight their trauma from the island. I'm content with the character designs, I think I am a little disappointed with how they don't reflect the characters as much and are a little more generic. At least for Yaz's character, mainly. I was surprised to not see her in some sort of athletic wear, maybe this demonstrates a shift in her life where she's no longer so driven about track and stuff, which if so makes the design more realistic. I'm sad that Kenji's VA is different just bc of nostalgia but the new VA seems really good and doesn't sound too different from the original. I'm excited to see the full(ish) cast, that was one of my main worries, that it'd only be Darius-centric. (No offense to Darius I just want to see all of my babies). I'm also sad about Brooklynn, she wasn't my favorite character but I still love her so it's sad to see her go, (if she really is dead). It makes sense to me why they "killed her off" both in the show and in terms of production and I do feel like the way they "killed" her off was fitting for her. The plot seems really good and I'm really intrigued which is always a good sign. I'm also really looking forward to seeing where these characters have lived, where they are now, and maybe how they got there. I'm so looking forward to May 24th and I am counting down the days.

Take everything I say with a grain of salt.

#jwcc #jurassic world camp cretaceous #jwct #jurassic world chaos theory #jwct trailer #jwct spoilers #ben pincus #darius bowman #brooklynn jwcc #kenji kon #sammy gutierrez #yasmina fadoula #jwct analysis

[damnation-if]

Hi, I just played the demo and I loved it! I was wondering if you could give us an estimate of when the next update is coming?👉👈 (Or link a relevant post, if you already talked about and I just didn't scroll down far enough to see it 😆)

Also, I wanted to check, can you be in a romantic relationship with more than one character, and not just a sexual one? Because I might be in love with every single character in this game 🤭

hi, thank you! i'm glad you're enjoying the game :) i've answered the question about romancing multiple characters a couple of times in a couple of different asks but the posts all kind of link back to each other so you should be able to find all the info by. following the various links in each ask i think, starting here XD

i'm going to put the answer to your other question under a cut because some of it is quite emotional for me

i did Sort Of talk about this at the time when it happened, by which i mean that rather than making a post, i talked about it in the tags of an unrelated post i was using to distract myself (i think it was character playlists and how i'm not sure if it's a good idea to do them or not if i recall), but earlier this year while i was already going through a really rough time, my laptop died and i lost a lot of work on the game.

i knew my laptop was old and that this was possibly approaching so i made regular backups and the good news is that because i write in a separate word document and keep backups of those also i didn't actually lose any Writing. however. my twine has a problem in that every second or third game file that i publish from the build is Haunted - it contains passages i removed weeks ago, or writing that i deleted long before publishing it, that kind of weird annoying shit. (other authors have seen my files do this lmfao) and i just have to hope that the backups i make either won't be needed or aren't haunted. anyway... because hope is futile, the last backup i made was indeed haunted, and utterly useless to me as a recovery file. because it's just twine, i still have all the writing, as i mentioned... but i would have to re-code the entire chapter and put it all back together again because of how much the file did not export, which is a complicated and daunting process.

so i made a rambling explanation of this in the tags of a post and decided to take maybe a couple of days off and cool down from this specific disaster before getting into it.

i wake up the next morning to find the IF community absolutely plastered all over with Helpful Informative PSA posts about how Silly it is not to make backups and how if you just make backups you'll never have problems again and you should know better than to not make backups.

now. i'm not a catastrophist. i know for a fact that nobody was making or spreading these posts out of cruelty or a desire to make me feel bad. i also know that it's not particularly realistic to expect people who don't even know me to hunt down the source of a piece of hearsay that's like "i heard from someone that someone said that an author lost a bunch of their files and is really upset about it" to find out what the situation is and whether or not it's what they imagine. i don't even think the vast majority of people knew who it was that was the author involved, or who i am either.

but to already be going through an extremely stressful time and then lose my laptop on top of that and then be obliquely referenced by people i thought of as my peers as kind of just a big silly bumbling goose who didn't know how to manage my files and a "don't be like this person" attitude really, really hurt me. i can't express just how deeply it hurt me. one particular author was openly laughing at me and saying it was my own fault for being too stupid to make backups using a certain twine peripheral program.

so. there was a period of time where i could have found the motivation to just restart the whole chapter myself and re-code it in a frenzy because i wanted to get right back into writing it because. like a lot of authors, i LOVE writing. that's why i do this even when it's difficult. but that potential recovery was sandblasted away by the reactions of people that i thought of as my colleagues in some sense (even though i understand that they didn't do it with bad intentions, in most cases). and i hope people can understand that it greatly lengthened the amount of time i needed to spend away from the game recovering emotionally, despite being a Very Small issue to most people. i'm literally upset again just typing out this answer lmfao

however one other small piece of good news is that my laptop seemingly just lost the ability to turn itself on (because of its age) so i Think the hard drive is intact. meaning that i think i can get someone to pull all the files off it and just have them back fine once i do. the other piece of bad news is that my life is a trainwreck! and i cannot afford that right now. which is why i sort of pivoted to writing the 2000 follower celebration sidegame as a way to enjoy myself while i hurtle through hell sdjgbdfhfdgh

shortly after this thing with the laptop the house i was living in was sold out from underneath me, even though it wasn't supposed to be, and i had to find somewhere to live with my 18 year old cat, but the city i lived in had zero places that would allow cats (they're totally fine with Dogs though of course) so i had to move to an entirely new city on my own while worrying about her health. and right now i spend every fortnight desperately trying to scrape together enough to survive the next fortnight. there were entire months where i had no access to internet! it's been pretty Bad!!

so i get that people really want updates, and i'm really flattered that people do and it makes me happy that people like the game so much. but i am currently expending so much time and energy trying not to die lmfao, and i need to save up the money to get my files back around that. i truly cannot tell you when the next update will be, but i promise you that it Haunts me, probably more than you can imagine XD the sidegame will Definitely come out before it though, if that's something you're looking forward to.

thank you again for your message, and i'm sorry that i don't have good news for you. but i am trying, constantly. every day.

#what does the chaos mirror see #eternal-flame #i hope it doesn't come across like i'm mad about this question because i'm not<3 #it's just that my life is really terrible! and i constantly feel tense and upset about it! lmfao #i was SO nervous when i published the game for the first time that the build i published would be a haunted one lmfao #literally combing through every single accessible passage with a magnifying glass to make sure it wasn't #would it have been better to get the haunting out of the way with publishing the game or keep it for this backup problem?? i don't know #wish it just wouldn't do it i guess. but then again i haven't noticed it as a problem since getting my new laptop #so hopefully i won't have to worry about it in future #hurgh... still not over this properly i guess lmao

[airenyah]

How BAD BUDDY SERIES | EP.11 [4/4] Tricked the Fandom

Those who were there watching Bad Buddy live will remember the chaos that ensued after episode 11 (my beloved) and with it the episode 12 preview (derogatory) dropped. Watching a happy and hopeful episode, ending in a lovely montage with an even lovelier song, being told things such as "we became two people who can’t be just friends" or "I want you to know that this world can’t change someone like me either", only to be punched in the gut by "Pat and I broke up" in the very next moment. Those of you who were there will remember how – after the fandom had finally picked up its shattered pieces – there was a scramble to figure out what the hell was happening exactly, how the hell we even got to this point.

And you will also remember the fandom deciding on a specific scene being The Breakup Scene. But how can that be? How can a breakup scene even exist when we know (in retrospective) that they never actually broke up? Did the fandom just collectively hallucinate a scene that wasn't there?

Well, no. Of course not. I think the reason why it worked, the reason why this scene managed to trick the fandom into believing that this was actually the breakup talk was because for one terrifying moment Pran himself thinks it's a breakup talk. However, the fandom was so blinded by the ep 12 preview that it completely missed one key factor from that scene which Pran did realize: it's not in fact a breakup, but the exact opposite of it.

So let's get into it, let's take a closer look at Bad Buddy Ep. 11 [4/4] (01:58 - 05:15) and Pran's emotional rollercoaster during this specific scene:

The scene starts out with Pat sitting on the bench, lost in thought. His exact thought process here is for the viewer to decide, but whatever he is reflecting on has to do with him finally accepting the inevitability of having to back home. And considering his upcoming monologue, he's probably also thinking about his love for Pran and Pran's love for him.

His thinking gets interrupted when Pran walks into the scene, dangling the shirts into Pat's face. They have an interaction about the shirts, Pat puts one on while Pran can't keep his hands off of him, they exchange some words and Pran doesn't really notice Pat's pensive mood, when suddenly –

Pat grabs Pran's hand. Pran was not expecting that, and he looks up at Pat in surprise, asking a silent What is it, what's going on? And I think it's only here that Pran really notices the weird mood Pat is in.

Pat says "thank you" and although Pran looks concerned about Pat's sudden mood change, Pat's words also make Pran smile, though he's still very confused, having absolutely no context for Pat's emotional state and thus having no idea where this is suddenly coming from. "Thank you for what?" Pran asks, still with that searching look in his eyes that asks What's gotten into you all of a sudden? Is everything alright?

Pat replies "For trying to make a silly guy like me happy". And Pran's smile falls just a little bit as he realizes that this? really isn't just Pat being his usual sappy self, this right here is a Serious™ conversation indeed:

Finally, Pran too has arrived in serious mode completely. He now shifts his attention fully to Pat, listening intently to Pat's words, staying focused on Pat the entire time.

Pat says "I know that sooner or later we will need to go back." This gets a very subtle smile out of Pran (you can see how the corner of his mouth on the right side of the screen goes up just a tiniest bit):

Pran reacts to those words, because this has been their conflict throughout the entire episode so far: Pran being realistic, having accepted from the start that they would have to return at some point while Pat was so desperately trying to stay in that pretense that they could just make a new life somewhere else and not turn back, refusing to acknowledge that in the long run this just wouldn't work out. But now Pat is finally acknowledging this, letting Pran know that he understands and that they're on the same page about this. "I know too well",* Pat says and Pran looks like he's about to cry from adoration for Pat pls he's so in love takes that acknowledgement in, still with a hint of a smile on his face.

*(Side note: I seem to hear ทำไม​กูจะไม่รู้ว่ะ (tammai-goo-jà-mâi-róo-wâ) and I think the more literal translation of this sentence would actually be something like "Why wouldn't I know?". Though I'd have to ask a Thai native to confirm as I don't trust my own Thai skills yet. Anyway, I just thought the rhetorical question was interesting in regard to Pran reacting to Pat's statement, bc the rhetorical question addresses Pran more directly compared to the declarative sentence from the subtitles. His reaction is kind of like a reply to that rhetorical question.)

But that hint of a smile is wiped right off Pran's face when Pat continues with "But I just want to stay as long as we can."

And this the moment where the thought hits Pran for the first time that Pat's speech might actually lead to a breakup. He is confused (why would they need to break up over this?) and there is now fear and worry in his eyes. He looks a little scared, his mouth twitches a little, accompanied by the tiniest headshake and there are many questions written all over his face: What are you talking about?? Where is this going?? No, it can't be... Are you implying what I think you're implying?? I don't follow...

And Pat just keeps going: "Be with you for at least one more day."

One more day. That very much does sound like a breakup, doesn't it? Especially if you're already half expecting one. This line confirms Pran's fear of Pat actually being in the process of ending their relationship, leaving Pran on the verge of tears.

But Pran is a fighter and he's not giving in that easily. He sniffs away his rising tears and says "What are you talking about? Get dressed. The bar is opening soon."

What are you saying? We're not breaking up. We're staying here, we'll work at the bar and we'll be together. It'll be fine, don't worry.

Now it's Pran's turn to deflect. To indulge in that fantasy of being able to just run away together into the sunset where everything is all sunshine and rainbows. Because Pran would much rather face the hardships that they might run into if they actually stayed at the beach together than go back home to live a life without Pat. I can be anywhere as long as I have you.

If this is Pat letting him go, Pran really doesn't want to hear it:

Unfortunately, the scene cuts to Pat really quickly, but I just need you all to appreciate Pran's pouty puppy eyes at the end there, because they're the saddest thing I've ever seen:

I won't let you do this, his eyes say. Please don't do this to me, his eyes say. Please tell me you're not really doing this, his eyes say, tell me you're coming to work at Uncle Yod's bar with me. We're staying here, together, you hear me?

Except then Pat surprises Pran yet again. And here comes the part that the fandom completely overlooked in the light of the ep 12 preview:

Because then Pat says "Nobody works on their honeymoon."

And it's absolutely hilarious how Pran's brain immediately gets stuck in "error 404 not found" mode. You can literally see the loading circle going round and round in his brain as he tries to comprehend what Pat has just said:

Honeymoon?? Why are you suddenly talking about something that's related to weddings? Weren't we breaking up a second ago? What in the world is going on?

"You never leave me. You fight alongside me. That makes me feel very happy." Pat says and that's when Pran realizes. This conversation was never about a breakup. This is a conversation about commitment. It's an acknowledgment of Pran's love for Pat and the commitment he's shown over the course of their relationship. And it's a promise that Pat appreciates it, has appreciated it in the past and will appreciate it in the future. Pat has more or less just said his wedding vows to Pran.

And that's when Pran can no longer hold back his tears. Partly due to the relief that he won't lose Pat and partly because he's so moved by Pat's speech, by Pat's love.

And then Pat tells Pran that he's finally ready to go home: "I will let Uncle Yod know that we quit. Wait for me here."

And with that Pat brings closure to the conflict of this episode. They are finally going back home, they are finally going to face their parents. But in this scene right here Pat and Pran made it clear to each other that they'll be doing so with full commitment to one other – they will be doing so together, and that's a promise. They really did just essentially get married on their little beach getaway. They got more or less engaged on the staircase in ep 10 and now in ep 11 they are following up on that engagement. This trip really was their little honeymoon. And this calls for a celebration:

"It’s our last night on this honeymoon. I will not just stay in and be lonely. If we aren’t going to work, then let’s get drunk."

You see, for an entire week the fandom was so blinded by the ep 12 preview (derogatory) and the prospect of a looming breakup that unlike Pran it completely missed the part where Pat points out that they're on a honeymoon. And who goes on a honeymoon? People who just got married.

BONUS:

Can we just appreciate Pran's face when Pat says he'll tell Uncle Yod about quitting:

You fucker really had me thinking we were breaking up for a hot moment there when the whole time this was actually a wedding. I was worried and scared for notHING, can you believe this man

#bad buddy #bbs #patpran #bbs meta #bbs ep11 #my meta #bbsmetamine #adrm #whewwww i finally finished this #this has been sitting in my drafts for months maybe even close to a year idk #i had actually written most of it already i was mainly missing an introduction and i still needed to make all the gifs #(the gifs were mostly the reason for my procrastination on this lmao) #anyway i was rewatching ep 11 on saturday for the one year anniversary and i had a loooooot of feelings about this again #which finally pushed me to finish this post and publish it #so here you go... enjoy :) #not me posting new bbs meta a whole year after the show ended #aaanyway this is beautiful acting on nanon's part #(both of them actually but if you've been following my posts recently where i talk about acting you'll know that #i've been going on and on about ohm and so #this time around this is a shoutout specifically for nanon) #he tells an entire story in this scene despite the fact that he has next to no lines #ohm's got his entire monologue and all the while we can see EXACTLY what is going on in pran's head #it's truly nice acting everyone say thank you nanon

[willowisapillow]

🐉 Next Time On South Park Z 🐉

The couple of all time 💝

Here it is, the true (super belated) Valentine’s Day picture. Yet another cringe crossover absolutely nobody asked for yet I deliver because I can. Apologies if I’ve been posting way too much South Park stuff, it’s yet another franchise that I’m currently unhealthily hyper-fixated on. Enjoy some more Randy and Sharon appreciation art from me, because these two dorks are just everything to me <3

This was also made as a small tribute to Akira Toriyama, the creator of Dragon Ball after I found out that he passed away earlier this month on March 1st. Even though I’m a casual fan of the series, still makes me sad that he’s no longer and that we lost another anime/manga legend.

This whole art became a thing based on a phone call between me and one of my older brothers. We were just talking about random dumb stuff and he jokingly asked me to draw Cartman as Naruto and Kyle as Saskue (which is an art project that y’all know damn well I’ll be drawing in the future so look out for that lmao). I just started laughing to myself, but then I thought to myself, “What other anime could I cross over with South Park?” then Dragon Ball popped up in my head all of a sudden, and that’s how this cringefest came to be.

I can kinda see some connections with it, tbh. Both Goku and Randy are dumbass but funny as hell dads (they also have black hair), and both Chichi and Sharon are no-nonsense moms who are often exasperated by their hubbies’ idiotic actions, but do love them deep down and have shared some wholesome cute moments together with them. Both series also feature a lot of fighting and deaths too lol

And since it is the year of the dragon, this pic is pretty fitting :>

I thought I would take forever with this picture because a. I’m total garbage at drawing realistic-ish, non-animal guy characters, and b. I don’t draw side-view faces that much, but surprisingly it wasn’t too hard. I did get kinda lazy with the lower half of Randy’s body and didn’t draw it, but besides that, the whole art was pretty easy. Minus drawing the hands. Because Jesus tap dancing Christ, the hands took me lightyears to get right 🙃

All in all, this might be one of my favorite 2024 pieces of art I’ve drawn so far. Again, these two are special to me, and I finally got the chance to cross over some of my favorite things, cartoons and anime. Maybe I might draw Stan and Wendy as Gohan and Videl in the future as a little follow-up ^^

Also, the mental image of Randy going Super Saiyan is just the funniest shit to me, istg someone needs to make fanart, an animation, or some other sort of meme of that 💀

That’s all that I have for now. Hope you guys have a great day or night, and make sure to stay safe out there.

Farewell, Toriyama. May your memory and legacy live on 😇

#south park #south park fanart #south park art #randy marsh #randy marsh fanart #randy #sharon marsh #sharon marsh fanart #sharon #dragon ball z #dbz #dragon ball z fanart #dbz fanart #son goku #goku #goku fanart #chichi #chichi fanart #gochi #goku x chichi #randy x sharon #sharon x randy #crackhead crossover #crossover fanart #valentine's day #valentine's day 2024 #rest in peace akira toriyama #akira toriyama #appreciation art #cartoon couple

[random-thoughts4u]

Headcanons about how Keigo Takami (BNHA), Taishiro Toyomitsu (BNHA), and Rei Suwa (Buddy Daddies) would confess to gn reader?

GN! READER HC confessions, falling in love scenarios♡

Ok, so this idea is SO CUTE, and you picked such wonderful men too 💗 I hope you enjoy this list. Sorry it took so long! 😊 I hope you don't mind me adding how you met them as well for a bit of a more realistic touch 🥺💙

I wanted a bit more story building! 🐰

I really hope I did them justice. These are a few of my comfort characters 🥺

●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●

♡Keigo Takami♡

❤️ He remembers the first day he saw you. The way you made your way into the bar, he would frequently gather new information. Something about you light up the room. His eyes were stuck for a moment, but he soon shook it off. He had a job to do.

❤️ Months had passed, and he still thought of your face. If only he knew how close he was to seeing you. Then there you stood one day. A sparkling image in the small office space besides another pro hero. You were the newest intern. A glint of excitement shone behind his eyes as his curious gaze greedily took in every ounce of you. Almost as of feeding this growing hunger inside of him.

❤️It takes this man days to become attached to you. It seemed as if every day he was bumping into you in the hall or in need of your help for some obscure task that you're absolutely sure he'd be able to do alone. He never came across as aggressive or creepy. No. He was sweet, gentle.

❤️He respects your bounds as best as he can. There are times he messes up, but that's just part of living. You better bet he'd do what he could to make you comfortable once again. He was learning how to love.

❤️It was a warm spring day when it happened. You were out in the field with him. A small smile graced his features as he held his hand out to you.

❤️Trusting this man with everything you had, you took it. The way his palm cradled your hands had your heart exploding in your chest.

❤️ Noticing the change in your demeanor, he scooped you into his arms. His wings spread wide, creating a gentle gust around you both before the ground below left your feet.

❤️But you weren't scared. Those golden hues lovingly gazing at the city line soon pointed at you. He chuckled before speaking.

"I know it's a bit out of nowhere, but you are one of the most amazing individuals I have ever had the pleasure of meeting."

❤️ With that, a deep scarlet bruised your cheeks as your eyes glistened in want. Every bit of you felt electrified as he rambled on about how kind your were, and what you made him feel.

"I guess... I'm asking if you want to be my partner. Not like a hero team, ya know?"

❤️ As you process his question, your mind didn't even register the roof under your shoes. The only thing you could focus on was the sheepish grin on the man's face. It's not the one he usually wears. Oh no, this one was far better. It was real.

❤️All you could do was toss an arm around him, pressing a small kiss to his cheek.

"I take it, that's a yes?" You rolled your eyes before he lifted your chin with his pointer finger, holding your gazes together.

"Yes, it is smartass~," was all you said as he lightly brushed his nose against your cheek.

❤️Your new nicknames have become "Babybird," "Sunflower," "Angel," "Dollface."

●●●●●●●●●●●●●

♡ Taishiro Toyomitsu ♡

🍑You first met Tai after a recent villain attack. He was relentless chasing down the villain that had decided to come into your shop of all places. Well, more like the villain Canon balled through the bricks.

🍑 Pro hero Fatgum, as you'd learned about through various news outlets, had burst through the now shattered wall with a smoking fist. The size of the now small hole was left a missing wall at this point. Dust surrounding you forced a harsh cough from your lungs. Quickly grabbing the attention of the villain.

🍑 Fatgums eyes widened as he saw you trying to hide behind the remains of the front desk of your business. Everyone was supposed to have been evacuated. How were you still here?

🍑Shaking it off, his intense gaze focuses on the villain. Before you could blink, the large hero had dived over the man completely engulfing him with his quirk. The villains arms helplessly waved out as he was swolled hole.

🍑After that day, he found himself checking in in you. He'd profusely apologize about the wall while simultaneously scolding you for not following orders to leave the area. You explained you'd recently broken your phone and had been cleaning with your headphones in. There was no warning for you.

🍑He felt the obligation to look after you, seeing as how oblivious you could be. He'd find himself inviting you out day by day.

🍑It happened during the stat festival. He stared at you with bright eyes, full of joy. A chuckle leaves your lips, and his heart does flips. Before he could stop himself, he asked.

🍑His words flowed smoothly, as they usually did when he became serious. A large hand light drags along your jawline as you both share a gaze. "I'm not sure how to ask this, but I'd be honored to have you as mine.."

🍑His face was burning a deep crimson as his eyes flickered away sheepishly. His heart roared behind his chest as his shaking hand did their best to steady along your jaw.

🍑A timid smile tugs at the corner of your lips as you playfully reach out to him. Your hand cradles something. A gift for him.

🍑He nervously reaches down, holding his palm up to you. There, you sit a small piece of candy. It's the same brand he'd first given you the day you met.

🍑His hand classes over the candy as he gives you a toothy grin. "I'll do all I can for you, sweetheart! I promise."

🍑That's where your story began.

●●●●●●●●●●●●●●

♡Rei Suwa♡

🔫 It was another day at the playground for Rei. He found himself frequenting the area for a reason he himself didn't know. Maybe the peace after everyone left and the sun was down made him feel serene.

🔫He headed to the swing, a cigarette loosely hung from his lips as he stuffed his hands into his pockets. His fingers play with the lighter that sat inside his pants.

🔫That's when he noticed something. A figure with their back facing him, sitting on his swing. A soft voice hummed out from them, pulling the man in. Curiously, he listened, crossing both arms over his chest to help him relax.

🔫 Whatever spell you had him under was working. He'd come back every other night to find you there. Singing the same song to yourself. He couldn't stop himself from sitting beside you tonight. Silently, he listened as you continued.

🔫Over a year had passed of you both enjoying one anothers company in the late night. He'd even asked you to go places with him after a few months of this ritual.

🔫Rei had become infatuated with you and the peace you brought him. Pretty soon, he had realized he'd fallen deep. Worry laced his eyes as his usually aloof demeanor flakes away. Fear, for a moment, flashes behind his orbs.

🔫He let his guard down. With a small sigh of relief he gave in, wrapping his beds blanket tightly around you both. It wasn't unusual for him to do this, so you responded just as you always did. You snuggled against the crook of his neck as he ran circles along your spine.

🔫 "I think you already know what I want to ask you." Was all he managed to say as his smooth voice lulled you into a safe haven. You smiled against his neck before allowing your eyes to slip shut.

🔫You sat still, finally feeling the wave of relief hit you as he let himself feel. You responded simply by humming, as you did often during moments like these. New feelings, experienced for the first time. It had to be slow. Words weren't needed. Only feelings. For the both of you had beaten down hearts. He knew to take this as acceptance. With that, he placed a small kiss on top of your head as he held you against him.

🔫You will never be hurt. Not anymore. Not if he can help it.

#mha hawks #bnha hawks #gn reader #keigo takami #anime #scenarios #bnha scenarios #fatgum #mha taishiro #taishiro toyomitsu #rei suwa x reader #rei suwa hcs #rei buddy daddies #rei suwa #open requests

[bluemagi]

Re. Jumping ship and multishipping

I've been thinking a lot about this these past few weeks, since a certain hot pilot swooped in and stole my heart. I've seen people giving other people shit for "giving up" and jumping ship, for multishipping or even just for liking and enjoying a character. And it's just weird to me how people are so obsessed with controlling other people's behaviors. Just the other day I saw a TikTok where the creator was saying that people who "jumped ship" to Bucktommy were just fetishising because they want to see two guys kissing. Which is just... a terrible take on so many levels.

I was a Buddie shipper too. I enjoyed their on-screen relationship, I saw the signs that there might be more than friendship, and I hoped that something might happen. But I have also been in fandoms for at least 20 years by now. I've been through queerbaiting, I have been through shipbaiting, I have been through relationships I previously loved being destroyed by what happens on screen. I know that nothing is promised and that we have to have realistic expectations. Our interpretations of things are usually not what the writers/actors/directors/editors intend, and so we can always hope, but we have to know that we probably won't get what we want.

I think I grew a bit bored with the Buddie ship around season 5. I was watching queer representation in other shows, like Tarlos in Lone Star, and I couldn't see 911 ever go there, especially as time went on and nothing happened, there were no obvious signs. I didn't think they would ever make Buck or Eddie queer. I still enjoyed the show for what it was and would watch when I had the time, but I wasn't obsessing over it anymore. I would watch the show and hope that either one of them would get an interesting love interest (I actually sort of liked Natalia at the end of season 6), and until that happened, I would just enjoy Buddie outside of that, in fan fictions and Tumblr discourse.

So imagine my surprise when they finally did it, when they actually made Bi Buck canon. Since Tommy had been on the show before, we already knew a lot about him, and we could also read into the difference between s2 Tommy and s7 Tommy and see that there had been a lot of development there. So yeah, I was immediately interested. The more I saw, the more interested I became. So while I can still love and appreciate Buddie, it is far more interesting to me to have actual substance with an on-screen relationship, rather than having to try to interpret and read into every interaction to see if it can relate to Buddie.

But, back to jumping ship and multishipping. I've been thinking back through my fandom history, and I realized that this is something I have gone through several times before, in one way or another. I started out with soap operas, and in those, everyone cheats and nobody is ever happy for long, so jumping ship back and forth happens. Suddenly a character is killed, only to come back to life several years later. They completely change personalities, they change faces (new actors), so things change a lot. I suppose that might be why multishipping and jumping ship is not really an issue for me. It just make sense that you can change your mind about something when more content comes out. It's sort of like a relationship. You can be happy and in love for a while, or for a long time, but things change, people grow, and suddenly that relationship is not right for you anymore.

So I was thinking back on my previous experiences with jumping ship and multishipping, and I just scribbled down some thoughts on them. Starting with....

As The World Turns - Nuke vs. LuRe

I think one of the first times I jumped ship, was from Noah/Luke to Luke/Reid in As The World Turns. An American soap that ended in like 2011. Nuke were one of the first gay male couples on American day time TV, and if you have the time, please go read about them on Wikipedia, because their story is absolutely ridiculous and overdramatic, as most soap couples are. And since this was in the 00s / early 10s, they barely shared any kisses or intimacy. At certain points we were counting the days between their on-screen kisses, and I think we went 200 days without an on-screen kiss while they were in a romantic relationship on the show, and the first time they had sex, I think they just kissed and fucking jumped on the bed or something. It was just ridiculous. But it was representation, which there was not a lot of back in those days.

Then, my beloved Reid Oliver came into the picture. He was out and proud, he was confident, successful, unapologetic, he was just very interesting. Luke/Noah was young love, riddled with insecurity and drama. Luke/Reid was more confident, more adult. And also, it was an option! Back in those days, there were barely any queer characters on TV, and now there were three guys in one show. At the point when Reid came on to the show, I was already finding myself growing tired and annoyed with Nuke, and Noah specifically. So when he showed an interest in Luke and they began their relationship, I happily jumped over.

I was then punished by the show's cancellation and that fucking train, but that's beside the point.... Moving on!

Days of Our Lives - Will, Sonny and Paul

Now this was a fun one! I remember watching Days back when I was in elementary school. My friend and I would go home together from school and watch it before doing home work. I was better in English and in reading than her, so I would be reading the subtitles out loud to her so she could keep up with what was happening. I think Days actually helped me to learn English much better. So I remembered all the drama with Sami, Carrie, Lucas and Austin, and with baby Will. And it was a bit shocking to me when suddenly baby Will was an adult (or I guess in his late teens) and was coming out of the closet. This was around the same time as ATWT, I believe, around 2010, so again, there wasn't a lot of representation on TV.

Also, side note, this was before streaming was a thing, and I lived in Norway, so we didn't even have access to everything. I had to buy DVDs to watch stuff like Queer as Folk and The L Word.

Anyways, Will and Sonny became a couple, and with that, the first male same sex couple on the show. It was the only real option, so of course I shipped it. I am again reading the Wikipedia page for this couple, and their story is quite insane. They recast the role of Will at one point, and I didn't love how the character changed after the actor was changed. So when Paul came on the show, I was immediately drawn to him. His back story was interesting and the actor had amazing chemistry with everyone. So I shipped him with both Will and Sonny (and both versions of Will, tbh). And again, you simply must read the Wikipedia article about this. It was just pure insanity.

Supernatural – Dean, Cas, Benny

We cannot talk about shipping without talking about Destiel. It is simply not possible. I'm not even going to explain anything, because we're on Tumblr, everyone knows Destiel. So unsurprisingly, I am a Destiel shipper. I can't remember when I first started shipping them, but it must have been quite early. Probably not in season 4 when Cas first arrived, but probably in season 5.

So Destiel is an example where I haven't jumped ship, but instead, I have multishipped. Cas has unfortunately not really had any real love interest outside of Dean. I honestly can't even think of any, apart from that random woman he married when he had amnesia, which... just no, dude. But Dean however, he has had some options, and I haven't hated them.

Lisa, I loved her back in the early seasons. And when he went to live with her after season 5, I didn't hate it. I knew the chances of Destiel ever happening were slim to none, so I could enjoy Dean and Lisa together on screen while enjoying Dean and Cas in fan fictions.

Later, we met Benny. And I immediately loved him. He was so interesting, he had such an interesting relationship with Dean, and I was so mad when he died. Again, Dean was never shown to be anything but straight, so again, chances of anything happening here was also slim to none. But I could happily enjoy fan fictions and content on them, alongside with Destiel.

Other honorable mentions:

I was considering writing a whole section about Robron from Emmerdale, but I realized that I am still so pissed off about that whole thing, so I don't think I'd be able to articulate anything good from that. So instead I will just use this as an example of an on-screen couple that I absolutely loved, but that I ended up hating and abandoning due to what happened on screen. I jumped that ship straight into the ocean, and swam far far far away.

Klaine! The couple that got me into Tumblr in the first place! I loved Kurt from the first season, and I was so intrigued when Blaine came into the show (I was also a huge AVPM fan, so that just made it all the better). And I really enjoyed them together for the first couple of seasons. But thinking back, I think I fell out of love with them quite early on. Their stories didn't hit the same, it got boring. I was actually more interested in Karofsky by the time I stopped watching the show, which was probably part of the reason why I stopped watching. It was quite the unpopular opinion back then. Maybe still? I have no idea.

Gallavich! I loved Shameless back in the day, and Mickey and Ian were among my favorites. But at a certain point, I got fed up with it all and stopped watching. The on-and-off stuff got boring, important things got swept under the rug, and I didn't like the treatment of Mickey. Anyway, I gave up and stopped watching. It was only years later when the show was ending that I caught up and found out they actually ended up together. Which was amazing, but still left a bit of a sour taste in my mouth.

Anyways, my point is that there seems to be this opinion now that if you ship a couple, you are stuck with them for life. Jumping ship, or even multishipping, is seen as a betrayal, as something horrible. Shipping Buck and Tommy apparantly means that we hate Eddie, and that we don't care about the beautiful friendship and relationship Buck and Eddie have. But that is simply not the truth. At least not for me, or for most people I have seen discussing this.

At this point in time, I am going to enjoy the beautiful on-screen relationship that is Buck and Tommy, and I am excited to see where it goes. If that relationship ends, and somewhere down the line, Buck and Eddie finally end up together, I will probably be happy (as long as it is done right, like Oliver Stark himself has said).

#911 discourse #multishipping #jumping ship #bucktommy #idk just my two cents

[cherish--these--times]

i just want to tell you how much i loved your post on media literacy & tedbecca!! really well put and what i hope reasonable fans not on our side would read so they’d realize where we come from! 💜

You absolute sweetheart. Thank you for telling me that. I should have been kinder in my approach but I am simply appalled, and sick and tired by a lot of people and now Brendan Hunt (not even gonna mispell his name, I'm fucking mad) for claiming that wanting Ted and Rebecca to get together was purely us silly fans being girly girls conditioned to want the male and female leads to end up together, so we could spice up our dull little lives with some sweet sweet Disney romance. I am INCENSED. I have seen quite a few queer people here rooting for them as well, which makes this reasoning even more offensive. Also to claim that he was surprised people would take it so personally is hilarious to me. Dude... have you ever been a fan of anything before??? Don't you know how much stories matter to people?? Wasn't it the goal when you made this show????

What antis don't seem to understand is that nobody in the TedBecca fandom was claiming that there were any romantic feelings between Ted and Rebecca. That would be insane because it just wasn't the case.

However, anybody with a modicum of critical thinking could see that they were playing with romcom tropes with them. But that's not even why I think most of us began to think we were heading there. What the writers did, in what remains a beautiful, masterful way, was lead the audience paying enough attention to understand that they were MEANT to be together. In a way far more profound than mere infatuation or physical attraction. No. They were each other's guarantee of true, long-lasting happiness. That's what they've established. Because they were similar in fundamental ways (a bit silly and immensely kind for instance). They had gone through similar things, including life-defining traumas on the same fucking day, at the same fucking time, and therefore could provide the other with all the support, the care, the devotion that the other needed. And they were doing just that! They could even communicate without words. They were undoubtedly making the other greater, which is exactly what Higgins wanted for Beard and Jane. They just had not realised it yet. Better still, I thought it was fabulous to have them go on their healing journey first, reach the top of the mountain, and THEN have them realise they were the love of each other's life. WHAT A BEAUTIFUL CONCEPT. Truly a spectacular story, and one they hinted at RELENTLESSLY. And until the very end. When in truth, they could have stopped this many moons ago by having Rebecca meet a nice, sweet guy (not Dutch guy, fuck him, he was creepy as hell) as soon as series 1 ended and be done with it. But no. Ooooh no. They kept that shit going until the very last episode. Even Rebecca begging Ted to stay was yet another romcom trope they dangled under our nose. They shot themselves in the foot with that one too, because Ted's determination to leave felt even more stupid and irrational when perfect solutions were handed to him on a silver platter by her (OUT OF LOVE). No wonder he didn't say a word, because nothing he could have said would have realistically justified his departure after what she offered. Nope. He kept his mouth shut because the true answer he had was: "I don't want to leave but the writers insist I must be this Magical Being that comes into people's lives to make them better and then go away in a poof of smoke and glitter. Mostly glitter. Ain't that a damn shame. I appreciate you, though."

To claim their story was never intended to be understood as such and say it was all on us for making shit up is simply untrue (and insulting, and you can fuck off). It was all there. Beautifully woven through every episode, in subtle but undeniable ways. Using, one could argue, The Lasso Way. A series of imperceptible moments all leading to the inevitable conclusion. Even this, I thought, was another hint……

And yeah, on top of that, I am FUMING over the misdirects (Bantr texting and matchbook in Ted's pocket, the latter really making my blood boil) and Dutch Guy being shamelessly Ted-coded (and all of a sudden everybody was overjoyed because he was the perfect guy for her even though everything he did that day, Ted had already done first. Minus the kiss on the ankle, offering her a foot massage and shaming her into drinking because that was fucking creepy and also Ted would never bad-mouth his ex).

I do take some comfort in seeing now a couple of articles online denouncing the way we, as an audience, were treated. You know, people who have media literacy, unlike us, apparently??

I'm angry, annoyed, insulted, but mostly I'm just sad. Because they ruined that show for a lot of people, including myself, and a few of their own characters in the process.

#tedbecca #ted x rebecca #ted lasso spoilers #forever salty #feels good to vent though

[beevean]

I'm so happy that I get the chance to rant again, because the subreddit just gives me so much inspiration <3

I don't really care about Carmilla. She was, at the end of the day, a villain from a kid's cartoon, who wanted to conquer the world because she was just so eeeevil, with only the barest of backstories to pretend she had good motivations. In fact, it's hilarious to me that when you think about it, the N!Isaac vs. Carmilla epic fight, one of the climaxes of this show that has touted itself on being so deep and nuanced, has all the emotional depth of an average Sonic vs. Eggman boss battle: the impossibly cool superhero wants to stop the nefarious supervillain and her world domination plans.

(no shade to Sonic and Eggman, who are far better written than those two assholes could ever hope to be. you know what I mean)

yeah yeah she became what she depised, after a whole season of sitting on her feminist ass lol and then randomly going insane at the last minute. peak writing, as per usual.

No, it's as usual Lenore who has my attention.

She's the most human of the sisters, they say. And they're right. She is a terrifyingly realistic depiction of an abuser.

She's not a cackling madwoman who only serves as a caricature, and she doesn't exist only for shallow representation like Striga and Morana who have no objectives or personalities outside of each other. Lenore may not want world domination like Carmilla, but she absolutely longs for power over other people. I went about it here, how once you read between the lines, Lenore only wants to feel powerful and important, and she's willing to steep as low as she can to get her way because she folds like a coward the moment she doesn't have the upper hand. While Carmilla would just beat people for shit and giggles because look at how Evil (but in a Cool way) she is, Lenore is genuinely convinced that everything she did, all of her physical, mental, emotional and sexual abuse, it was all for a good cause, and she did nothing wrong, and anyway you were enjoying it too so what's the issue?

So yes, in this, she's human. She's a cruel, cunning, vile human like many women in the world who know that they can use their charm and take advantage of emotionally starved men to feel powerful, all while still painting themselves as cute and lovable. Her vampiric nature doesn't come into play until the very end, where she realizes (in theory) that she's nothing but a disgusting evil creature and she's doomed to always be so; but until then, you could write her as a human and little would change in her personality and the way she played with N!Hector.

And that's what makes her scary to me. Yes, Dracula and Carmilla are more dangerous on a wider scale, but we are much, much more likely to fall into the trap of one of the many Lenores around the world.

(I usually don't like making it all about gender, but Lenore's abuse of N!Hector is absolutely gendered. Her entire character revolves around what I can only call toxic femininity.)

And that's why the takes I see about her deadass trigger me, because what the fuck do you mean, she's the less cruel of the bunch????

I don't give a shit about the Lesbians, but at least they realized that what they were doing was wrong! Sure, their motivations were mainly self-centered because they didn't want to waste their existence fighting, but they also took pity on the humans they were meant to kill!

I just fought fucking farmers. Saw the fear in their eyes. Not fear of dying. Fear of not having fought. Fear of not saving their people.

It's more empathy than Lenore ever showed for N!Hector, with her filthy "you were having fun"!

"Found her strengths" yeah, instead of physically torturing N!Hector, she used manipulation, abuse, coercion, gaslighting and rape by deception to "solve his problem". Wow, such strengths, many power. And then the second things got worse for her she immediately decided to peace out of life rather than wait a few decades until N!Isaac died, sorry N!Hector if you grew to care about me but my own bratty feelings are more important. I'm sorry, I know it's in bad taste to paint suicide as the cowardly way, but it's what the story did!

The Lenore apologism creeps me out more than anything else. I can stand the Carmilla stans who think she's so cool and badass and #grrlpower. I'm annoyed but resigned to the N!Isaac stans who believe he's the most complex character of all time and forgot about all the petty murders he commited. I'm baffled by the N!Dracula stans who genuinely believe he had the right to start a mass slaughter because some peasants didn't take him seriously enough. But this rhetoric that Lenore is the least evil of the sisters, that she was ultimately a poor broken woman who only did what she thought was the right thing, terrifies me. She's a realistic, human female abuser... and just like many female abusers, her crimes get brushed off because she's cute, because she looked sad enough, because women who sexually dominate men are inherently hot. And I know that fiction is not reality and you can enjoy villains without being a bad person, but the arguments the stans use, not to paint Lenore as cool like Carmilla but to actually downplay her very realistic crimes, just hit too close to home for me.

I just wish that "human" didn't become shorthand for "good deep down", because it's not true. Sometimes a "human" villain is far more evil than a villain so shallow they don't quite feel real.

#anti netflixvania #hell yeah i missed being a bitch on main <3 #i hate this show with a burning passion and i love to rant but i thought i had run out of material #oh what a joy #maybe next time i should make a compilation of all the times alucard was a giant dripping asshole to trevor lol just for a change #also yes the human rant applies to the likes of eggman too #he's not “human” when he becomes a dad lol #he's also human in how he incarnates pure greed at the expense of nature

[handkinkbis]

Ep 15 thoughts, the good & the bad behind the cut:

The good:

So that dressing room scene was muy caliente and I loved it. Loved their couch kiss and all the cute Shinhong scenes including Shinyu trailing after his girl everywhere and neglecting his work duties to do so (lol, how many hours of actual work has he clocked in). I love loser Shinyu the most and him reassuring that Hongjo is pretty in everything was very sweet of him. :3

I adore Ms. Ma and that proposal scene was as messy as it was hilarious. Her reaction was realistic. I'm glad she didn't allow herself to get peer pressured into marriage by her coworkers. Public proposals are such a horrible idea. :D DO NOT DO IT UNLESS YOU'VE DISCUSSED MARRIAGE WITH THE PERSON YOU'RE PROPOSING TO.

Eunwol was her shrewd self, godda love halmeuni. Halmeuni has zero fucks to give.

I'm glad Hongjo's coworkers (the duo of girls) are being kinder towards Hongjo. I hope they can eventually be proper friends.

The bad:

This writers team took all their notes from 2010s kdramas. We have The Mean Girl (Nayeon) and the persistent stalking (by the Gardener) that's been dragged on for far too long. Despite bodyguards, cops and pepper sprays this man cannot be caught. He's an actual supervillain and if he's not using shaman powers to avoid capture, I'd be amazed. The CIA should hire that man.

The absolute garbage that is Shin Yu's father. I loathe that man to my core. I want Shinyu's mom to divorce the bastard, but I just know from the 2010's writing vibes that she won't, and I will hate it. The man is an abusive toad, that is all.

The way they're painting both Shin yu's mother and Hongjo as absent-minded idiots makes me a little [clenches fist]... upset. I don't accept that she'd tell the bodyguards to leave or try to take the bus home AGAIN after everything that's happened. This does not track with my image of Hongjo and she'd be smarter than that. I loved her faceoff with Nayeon, though, she was smart to record the conversation.

Shinyu not telling Hongjo about the pregnancy news... like what was that. Shinyu. My guy. This is not something you just NEGLECT TO TELL YOUR PREGNANT GIRLFRIEND. That wasn't a cute scene, it was an infuriating scene and that omission of important details has been a massive character fault of Shinyu since the beginning of this drama. It's disrespectful towards the intelligence and the autonomy of one's girlfriend. It's insulting.

Also having sex without a condom and immediately getting pregnant... I mean yes, that'll happen if you don't use protection, but late 20s to early 30s men and women who have any sense don't just forget to use protection.

I've been hoping for Shaman Hongjo to rise and for her to have her own Big Moment as the baddie I know she can be, so I'm praying that it'll happen in tomorrow's episode 16/the finale.

There are so many loose threads and so much has been left into the dark, so I just hope that they'll manage to illuminate some of the more integral mysteries at least. But it'll be difficult with just 60 minutes left of the show.

Anyway, cute episode but some parts I really did not care for. Still eager to see the finale and will reserve final judgement until then.

#destined with you #episode review!! #some praise and a some critical takes so take that into consideration friends #if you don't want to see the concrit definitely skip this one #how about that dressing room scene though now that was delicioussss #ep 15 spoilers #destined with you spoilers