#is it risky yeah but it’s worth it because it’s our duty and hey why can’t we have a little fun along the way while we’re at it

[xxsycamore]

- Car washing could be so fun sometimes - [FENRIR/READER NSFW]

Rating: E

Word count: 1,432

Relationship: F/M; Fenrir/Reader (Alice)

Tags:   Humor; Secret Relationship; Risky sex; Public Sex; Vaginal Sex; Light Bondage

Part of @voltage-vixen ‘s Summer of Smut Content Creation Challenge 2.0.

✦ Day 9 - Car Wash Featuring the MC/LI as the Sponge ✦

[DAY 1] [DAY 2] [DAY 3] [DAY 4] [DAY 5] [DAY 6] [DAY 7] [DAY8]

In the course of her new life in Cradle, Alice believed she'd seen everything. The usage of magic crystals made it possible for science to improve twice as fast as it was in the Land of Reason, and each day life was becoming easier.

It wasn't long before the Black army came in possession of their first military-specialized vehicle.

Being so far the fastest method of transport, it came in handy in various missions and everyone was very fond of it. While many were willing to learn to operate it, it was a different story when it came to its maintenance…

"We received the coordinates. Departing in about an hour. Someone go wash the car."

Sirius stood in the middle of the common area, ready to leave as soon as his order was successfully passed on to someone reliable. Except, everyone seemed to have something better to do.

"But Siriuuuus, Luka and I are having our tea time right now! He's baked those suuper cute muffins, see?"

Sirius, being super indifferent about the super cute muffins, turned to Luka as if waiting for him to say something different.

"...Sirius, it's important."

That wasn't exactly what he'd expected to hear. The annoying noise of Fenrir fidgeting with his pistol was getting him even more rilled up. He hasn't once looked at Sirius since he'd entered the room but the latter wasn't planing on letting the brat sneak off from duty so easily.

"Fenrir go wash the car. "

"What?? Why me?"

"Didn't you pay attention? No one else is available!"

"What about Alice?"

Just as Sirius was about to point out why Alice shouldn't be the person taking that dirty job, she entered the room and interrupted him.

"What about me?"

"Oh, Alice!" Fenrir's face brightened up instantly, fidgeting one last time with the pistol before standing up from his comfortable position on the sofa and holstering it on his belt. "Wanna help me out with a little something? We gotta wash the Fenmobile."

"Stop calling it that." Sirius rubbed his eyes briefly before sighing and deciding to slide with it, just because it meant that the job had real chances of being done soon.

  Alice was more than happy to help out with whatever task they threw at her, eager to prove her worth and show the others that they shouldn't always be overly considerate when it came to her. Seeing how energetic she was, Fenrir couldn't help but be motivated and willing to turn the mundane chore into something that could be fun for both of them.

They absolutely turned it into a water fight.

In a day as hot as that one, neither party could refuse the extra cooling that came with the splashes of water, and it wasn’t like anyone was around to scold them either. It would hardly be their first time getting caught doing something childish together, as Alice and Fenrir oddly happened to be soulmates in mischief.

Seeing that his shirt was no longer having a single dry spot on it, Fenrir tossed it over his head and warned Alice to brace for revenge.

 By the time he got her and declared victory, soap bubbles were in the air around them. As fun as it was, work was work, so they went back to washing the car.

Only, Fenrir was sensing Alice trying to attack again with the bucket of water behind her back.

"Hey, hey hey. If you're going to play dirty, I gotta tie your hands behind your back!"

"But how am I going to help you get this done, then?"

Fenrir was already behind her, taking off her hair ribbon. "Lend me this, thank you." He tied her hands together loosely, making her perfectly capable of taking it off on her own. "And don't worry about it, I'm almost done anyway. Go sit under the shade and wait for me, yeah?"

"Mhm…" Alice looked disappointed and tried to think about a way to stay around and still be helpful for a bit longer. Under her gaze, she could see her tank top being mostly wet, her cleavage being rather…soapy.

She wasn't allowed to use her hands, but what about other parts of her body?

"Hey Fen." She swiftly lowered herself over the hood of the car until her front was squished against the metal. "Am I still playing dirty?"

Fenrir stopped moving the sponge at the other end of the car and peeked to see what was Alice talking about. The sight was jaw-dropping.

"You're…playing very dirty, Alice."

"Oh yes?" She moved her body up and down, sliding her chest over the front of the car and leaving a soapy trail behind her. "I'm just washing the car."

Fenrir threw his tools for all he cared and with quick steps arrived at Alice's side. She was bent over the hood so deliciously, her bottom sticking out as if calling out to him. She even wiggled it a little to provoke him further, and he thought how much of a fool he would be if he missed such a chance.

He checked the facts. No one would be around at least until their departure time. Alice was hot and ready for him. The car was clean.

Well, almost clean. He just had to make sure not to accidentally get it dirtier instead.

"Such a pity that my hands are tied and I'm sooo vulnerable like this…"

Alice was driving him nuts, making his cock so hard with zero effort just like every time they got involved in something like that. It would be their first time doing it out there in the open, it was just adding to the thrill.

"Ya remember about our deal to keep our relationship in secret until it gets so suspicious it basically gives us away?"

"Yes?" Alice pressed her cheek down to the cool metal, giving Fenrir a side look. "What about it?"

"How suspicious is it if they find us fucking here?"

Alice blinked then burst into laughter, her cheeks getting redder by the second. It should've been by embarrassment instead but she just couldn’t help herself when she was in Fenrir's company. She already trusted him enough to know that it was safe if he wasn't taking the needed measurements to continue their game elsewhere. The risk was probably turning him on though.

"Aren't you just willing to see their reaction?" She teased further, her body shivering as Fenrir bared her ass to the air. She wasn't surprised to feel him already hard as he poked at her entrance, sliding between her folds teasingly. He liked teasing Alice just so she could spit out more of those scandalous things that no one could guess she had in herself. He liked her dirty talk, honest and demanding. Yet they had so little time for this right now. He slid his tip over her clit to make her jolt one last time before pushing inside of her.

She moaned out his name, wishing to seal her mouth with a hand but unfortunately, they were still tied behind her back. Despite knowing she could get herself free with no effort, she knew the sight turned Fenrir on.

"Fenrir please, make me shut up somehow… we can't risk having someone hear how I moan your name…"

"Fuck, baby…" Fenrir leaned down using the leverage of one arm and brought his other one on Alice's mouth. His face was right over hers, his tongue licking a stripe across her face. "Whisper it at least, I wanna hear it… it would be just me…"

"Oooohhh, Fenrir…"

"Yes, yes, keep going. You gonna come?"

"Yes! Yes, oh God Fenrir, fuck me!"

"Mm yeah, not gonna last a second if you come right now, you know that?" He thrust hard into her tightening core, making the whole car slightly bounce under the pressure. He felt himself impossibly close, grunting out her name, her heat enveloping him and suddenly starting to pulse around him. He let go right off, prolonging her orgasm and pressing open-mounted kisses to her nape, jaw and cheek.

She giggled as he held her to himself, lifting her off from her bending position. Her legs were a little weak but the rush of pleasure was still surging throughout her whole body so each movement felt incredible at that moment.

"I don't wanna be the fun sponge here, but we still gotta finish washing the goddamn car."

Alice threw herself at him, giving him a dozen little kisses on the lips. "Oh please, Fen! Washing cars could be so fun sometimes!"

#ikemen revolution #ikerev #ikerev fenrir #ikemen revolution fenrir #fenrir godspeed #summer of smut #summer of smut content creation challenge

[ahtohallan-calling]

chapter 21 of don’t read the last page is here!

masterpost

[kristanna / m / multichap / modern au with actress!anna and vetstudent!kristoff]

“Happy birthday, Kris.”

He reached into the bag and pulled out a square of fabric; he let it fall open and, after reading what was on the front of the t-shirt, looked at Anna with a mixture of shock and amusement.

Ellie squinted at it from the far end of the table. “Best dad ever? Why does it say that? I don’t get it.”

march

"Call me as soon as you're done, okay?"

"What if you're in the middle of saving a bunny's life or something?"

"I won't be. I'll probably still be at lunch."

Anna sighed in relief and stepped closer, leaning her forehead against his chest. "Oh, good. I'm nervous as fuck."

"Why?" he asked, settling his arms around her.

"I don't know. Just...now that I'm excited about it, I'm worried it'll be a false alarm after all or like...that something's wrong."

Kristoff kissed the top of her head. "It's going to be fine, baby. I'm sure of it."

She tilted her face up towards him, propping up her chin on his chest. "Why does everything sound so reassuring when you say it? Tell me something else that'll make me feel better."

"Uh...like what?"

"I don't know. That I'll never get morning sickness and only be in labor for five minutes."

"I don't think either of those things can really happen. But," he said quickly, seeing the disappointment on her face, "it'll be worth it. Because then we'll get to meet our baby. Who, just saying, is going to be the coolest kid of all time and will definitely be a Mario Kart prodigy."

She smiled and raised up on her toes to kiss him. "Love you."

"Love you back."

And then, because that seemed to be the way of things in his life these days, he had had to miss lunch in order to help out with an emergency surgery and missed lunch. The dog in question, thankfully, was completely fine, but his heart was pounding as he scrambled to check his phone. Ryder raised an eyebrow at the way he rushed into the break room. “All good, man?”

“Great,” Kristoff said absentmindedly as he flicked open his texts from Anna.

hey no worries that you didnt pick up sure u just got busy but congratulations dad🎈🎉👶

nov 12 is the due date but they said prob will be late since its our first

!!!!!!!!!!!!!! love you

For a moment he just stared down at the screen, hardly daring to breathe. So this was really happening; by the end of the year, he’d have a one-month-old baby. He was going to be a father.

“Stop mooning over the girlfriend and come help me in the kennels,” Ryder called.

“Fiancee,” Kristoff said absentmindedly before typing out a quick response, ignoring the exaggerated gasp of shock from the doorway.

I can’t wait. Love you back :)

---

“Kristoff?”

“Distractions won’t work this time,” he replied through clenched teeth.

“I’m not even racing this time, dumbass. What’s in 209 days?”

“Huh? I-- fuck!” he shouted as he drove right off the edge of the track, to Anna and Ryder’s delight, and promptly fell to last place.

“Watch out, Nattura,” Anna growled. “I’m coming for your ass.”

“Was she always like this?” Honey asked, amused, from where she was sprawled across the armchair.

“Yes,” Elsa replied from her spot on the floor, not looking up from her phone. “It was worst when we played Candyland, because there’s not even a point to being competitive at that.”

“Hello? Does anyone care about this ominous countdown on the fridge?” Sven asked again, huffing when he was drowned out by Anna’s cheering as she threw a banana peel in front of Ryder’s kart and secured a last-second victory.

Kristoff, at last, glanced at him. “Will you get me a beer while you’re over there?”

“Yes, if you tell me what the fuck is in 209 days and if I need to like, buy a Geiger counter or something.”

“Anna?” Honey asked suddenly, sitting up. “Everything good?”

“Fine,” she said distantly, suddenly the same shade of white as her t-shirt.

 Ryder, his eyes wide, put an arm around her shoulders to keep her from swaying off the sofa. “Jesus, is winning Mario Kart that exciting?” he asked.

“That’s like, November…” Sven said, frowning. “Why is Thanksgiving making you pass out?”

“I’m not passing out,” Anna said, her voice distant, and Kristoff swore under his breath, hastily getting to his feet and crossing to the kitchen himself to get a glass of water. “I’m pregnant, though.”

No one reacted until Elsa’s phone hit the floor, and then they all burst into a cacophony of questions.

“You’re what--”

“How long have you--”

“What the fuck--”

“I think I am going to actually pass out if you don’t all shut up,” Anna said, her voice suddenly nearly a shout, and they all froze and turned to look at her. 

Kristoff handed her the glass of water then, and she took a long gulp before meeting her sister’s gaze. “I was going to tell you tonight, Elsa,” she explained, “you know, family and all. And the rest of you guys in a few more weeks when, you know, it’s less…” She waved a hand. “Risky. But...yes. We’re, uh, we’re having a baby. November 12th, mark your calendars for Anna Arendelle’s performance of a lifetime.”

Sven was the first to speak. “Damn,” he said, taking a sip of the beer he’d finally regained the sense to crack open, “you’re really gonna do that to some kid?”

“Do what?” she asked with a slight frown.

“Make him be a goddamn giant and a ginger.”

--

april

“You don’t have to stay up with me,” Anna said hoarsely as he passed her a glass of water. "You only signed up for morning sickness duties, not every hour of the day and night sickness watch."

“I won’t be able to sleep knowing you don’t feel good.”

“Yeah, but now you won’t be able to stay awake at the clinic tomorrow.”

“That’s what coffee is for,”

She sighed and wiped her hand across her mouth. “I think it’s over for now.”

Kristoff leaned forward and pressed a kiss to her temple. “Are you sure?”

“No. But I hope it is.”

“Me, too,” he said, getting to his feet before reaching down and offering a hand to help her up. She stumbled slightly, and he caught her, eyebrows knitting together with concern. “Come on, let’s get you back to bed.”

“I wanna brush my teeth,” she said, yawning.

He waited while she did, and she couldn’t help but smile at him in the mirror when he let out his own yawn, rubbing sleepily at his eyes under his glasses. “I love you,” she said around the toothbrush, and he laughed.

“Even though it’s my fault you’re sick right now?”

“Both of ours, really. Your fault for being so handsome, and my fault for taking full advantage of that,” she said, cheerful again now that the nausea had passed as she bounced back to bed. “Or maybe it’s the baby’s fault.”

“We’ll have to give her a stern talking to,” Kristoff replied, lifting the blankets for her as she clambered in. “Put her in timeout and everything.”

Anna laughed, nestling against his chest the moment he was beside her once more. “You really are convinced it’s a girl, aren’t you?”

“Mmhmm,” he said, kissing the top of her head. “Who’s going to look exactly like you.”

“I don’t know,” she hummed. “I’m kind of hoping for a little boy.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know. I just...sometimes I think about what it’ll be like when they’re here, and I just...I keep imagining how it would feel to look over and see you holding a little boy and think ‘that’s him, that’s our son’.”

Suddenly there was a lump in his throat. “Well...well, I guess that would be okay, too.”

---

Sam was surprisingly misty-eyed when she told him. “Look at you, kiddo,” he kept saying, over and over, and she was half-tempted to get up and walk around his desk to give him a hug around the neck.

Lena, though, was so efficiently business-like that Anna just sat silently in her chair, grateful for Kristoff’s hand in hers. “Do we have a timeline?”

“Yes, November twelfth is--”

“Not that. For when you want to go public. Although that does give us a firm deadline.”

Anna let out a surprised little laugh, but Lena just raised an eyebrow; apparently that hadn’t been a joke. Kristoff squeezed her hand and said, “The sooner the better. Might as well get it over with.”

“Well, if we go ahead and go public now, it’s going to hurt Anna’s engagement numbers and detract from the film’s first trailer coming out next week. If we wait until, say, June, it’ll fall perfectly in the lull between the first and second trailers and give us time to start setting the narrative on track well before the press tours. I’ll see what I can do to make sure anything out of state is done before you’re not allowed to fly. When’s the wedding?”

Anna blinked for a moment, trying to process the rapid-fire stream of information. “Um. We didn’t set a date yet.”

“Hmm,” Lena said with a frown. “Well, let’s try to get on that. People will want to know. Too bad you’re not already married, I’d say release a picture of you in the dress and you’d be on the cover of People. For now, though, just a picture of both of you is enough.”

“We don’t want to do that, though,” Anna said quickly before Kristoff could start to get nervous. “Just let them know that he, you know, exists. I don’t want to make it easier for them to find him.”

“Alright. I’d suggest social media, since your fans feel very close to you and will appreciate hearing it directly. But an interview is always a good default if you want a pro’s help putting it in the best way possible.”

She shifted slightly in her seat. “Um. I’m kind of...out of my depth here. Sam?”

He blinked. “Oh, sorry, I was just-- do you remember the day you wandered into my office for the first time, kiddo, with those roller skates?”

“Of course I do,” she said fondly.

“Anyway. I’d do the interview. Better safe than sorry.”

Lena nodded. “Right. Let me find someone willing to do a feature on you,” she said, diving back in to her laptop. 

The rest of them sat in awkward silence for a moment before Kristoff cleared his throat. “So,” he began, “what do I need to do?”

Sam shrugged. “Be on good behavior. Don’t do anything that would embarrass her. Don’t go out in pajamas or get a DUI or anything. If the fans are getting too pushy, help her get out. If paparazzi starts shouting, don’t ever shout back. Even if they say--”

“Done,” Lena announced suddenly. “Tomorrow afternoon downtown. No lunch required, just tea, so no need to worry about getting sick.”

“I haven’t been that sick,” Anna said defensively, and beside her Kristoff coughed.

Sam grinned again. “Look at you, kiddo,” he said again. 

“Look at me what, puking?”

“Getting ready to be a mom,” he said, and suddenly she felt a little misty-eyed, too.

--- 

may

“Jesus!” Anna yelped. “I was dead asleep!”

“Sorry,” Kristoff mumbled as he sat down on the warm spot on the sofa she’d just been evicted from, settling her on his lap and promptly burying his face in her shoulder.

She frowned, carding her fingers through his hair. “I was having a very good dream, I’ll have you know,” she said, though there was no real irritation in her voice. “About puppies, I think.”

“You can go back to sleep,” he said, his voice muffled against her shirt.

“I will when you tell me what’s wrong.”

His arms tightened around her waist. “Give me a minute.”

She hummed her agreement and turned to press a kiss into his hair, relishing the feel of him so close against her, enough that their breathing was slowly syncing up as their chests rose and fell together. Worry was tugging at her, to be sure, about what could have upset him enough to not bother with even a hello, but it helped more than a little to know that he would tell her before long so she could help fix it, instead of letting it linger like an untreated wound in his heart.

“Sorry,” he said again, pulling back with a sigh to rest his forehead against hers. “Just needed a second.”

“‘S’okay, baby. No rush.”

He closed his eyes, moving the hand that wasn’t supporting her back to rest against her still-flat stomach. “At the store...there was stuff in the tabloids. About this.”

“But I...how would anyone know?”

“It said ‘a source from the set of Arendelle’s new movie’.”

“Fuck. I knew people were going to start being suspicious of me being sick all the time. Well, they were going to find out soon enough anyway, weren’t they?” she said, hoping she sounded reassuring despite the pit that had just opened up in her chest.

“It said the baby is Hans’s,” he said bleakly, and a little gasp slipped out from her before she could hold it back.

For a moment they just held each other, letting the news sink in. Anna ran a hand up and down Kristoff’s back, and he sighed, still keeping his forehead pressed against hers. “I’m sorry you had to see that, Kris,” she said quietly.

“I know with...with you being famous and stuff, you’re always going to kind of belong to other people. But the baby...she’s just ours. And I guess it was stupid of me, but I was kind of hoping it would always be like that. That the whole time people knew about her, they would know the truth.”

“About him,” Anna said, and he huffed out a laugh. “Sorry, too soon to be teasing you?”

“No. It helps. You’re definitely wrong, though. I’m certain of it.”

She laughed then, too, and kissed him. “The interview will be out soon. And then everyone will know it’s been you all along, and that it’s your son in there.”

“Daughter. And...okay. If you’re sure.”

“Yeah. I’m ready for this part to be over. I know it’s gonna be hard on you, and I’m sorry you’ll have to deal with the bullshit, but...damn, it’s been hard keeping you a secret. I just want to parade you around town and be like ‘hey guys, guess who got lucky and convinced the hottest guy in the world to marry her?’” “Now you’re just being corny to cheer me up. Literally last night you called me Grandpa again when I put my glasses on.”

“Yeah, but you’re a sexy grandpa. Which is how we ended up in this mess in the first place.”

“Not a mess. Just an...unexpected journey.”

Anna grinned and kissed the tip of his nose. “Is that your way of asking me if we can have a Lord of the Rings marathon tonight to cheer you up?”

“You know me too well. And yes.”

“Did you get popcorn?”

“Mhmm. Think you can keep it down?”

“Nope,” she said cheerfully. “Good thing I have a fiance to hold my hair back, eh?”

---

“Wait!” 

Everyone turned and looked at Anna as she dug through her purse. “I want to take a picture of this,” she explained. “So I can remember the face he makes.”

Kristoff raised an eyebrow, one hand still in the gift bag. “Should I be nervous?”

“No, just--” She grinned and held up her phone. “You’ll see.”

“Can I open it now?”

She nodded, bouncing on the balls of her feet with excitement. “Happy birthday, Kris.”

He reached into the bag and pulled out a square of fabric; he let it fall open and, after reading what was on the front of the t-shirt, looked at Anna with a mixture of shock and amusement.

Ellie squinted at it from the far end of the table. “Best dad ever? Why does it say that? I don’t get it.”

And then she did get it all at once, her eyes going wide as she clapped a hand over her mouth. “Oh!”

Kristoff’s mother was already weeping and throwing her arms over his shoulders, and his brothers looked awkward but pleased all the same as they clapped him on the back, and Ellie was already squealing and tugging on her sister’s hand and spouting off something about names, and beside Anna Kristoff’s father smiled and set a hand on her shoulder.

“Congratulations,” he said, his eyes kind and full of warmth, and suddenly she was wishing her own father was here, wondering what he would have said, how broadly he would have smiled.

“Thank you, Mr. Bjorgman,” she said, and when he saw her lip start to wobble he pulled her into a tight hug.

“You can call me Cliff, you know,” he said softly. “Or whatever else you’d like. Shoot, might as well go ahead and help me get some practice in, start calling me Grandpa if you want.”

She laughed at that. “Cliff for now, I think.”

“Fine with me,” he said, gently patting her back. “I hope you know we’re here to help both of you with whatever you need. And that you’re welcome up here anytime, with or without him. Don’t even have to call ahead, just come right in the back door and tell me you want pickles or something, whatever it is. Don’t have much experience in this department of parenting, but I’ll try my best.”

“Thank you,” she said, holding on tighter for just a moment before pulling away to face the rest of them. 

---

june

look it’s official

lena had a copy mailed to the house

He squinted at the photo she had texted him, scrolling through the full-page article dedicated to Anna’s rapid rise to fame. He couldn’t help but grin at the mentions of her tampon commercial and unexpected viral fame; she had to have been irritated at that being brought up again. There were photos of her in that blue gown, too, the one she’d worn for the Netflix movie and been so excited to show him. And then there, at the end, was the all-important “what are you doing now” section, the one she had rehearsed with him over and over the night before the interview.

“What’s next for you, Anna?” I ask, and she gives me a bright smile as she sets down her cup of (herbal) tea.

“Well, I’m going to wrap up filming for the sequel, of course, but then I’m going to take a step back from the spotlight for a little bit to focus on my family.”

“Your sister?” 

“My fiance Kristoff, actually, and our first baby. We’re really excited,” she adds with her trademark bright smile, and I can’t help but smile back at her.

He grinned and closed the picture so he could type back a response, but before he’d even started a phone call came through. He frowned; it was just a number, no name, but it looked familiar somehow. “Hello?” he asked, expecting it to be a telemarketer.

“Kristoff? It’s Sam.”

“What’s up?”

“I, uh, I don’t know if you saw yet, but just...don’t panic.”

#SO SORRY FOR THE DELAY MY BAD #drtlp #my fics #pregnancy cw

[lostinmysticfalls]

And All At Once, You’re All I Want (Harry x Maggie One-Shot)

Been going back and forth on this the past couple days. So, in celebration of today’s renewal news, here’s a little fic of Harry teaching Maggie how to dance because CAN YOU IMAGINE...  No smut (I even surprised myself with this one tbh), just Harry being a sweetheart and Maggie trying to understand her feelings.

Maggie leaned against the doorframe that led to the family room. Harry was finishing up a conversation with Macy and she didn’t really want to interrupt but her patience was running thin and if she were being perfectly honest, what they were talking about didn’t seem as time-sensitive as her situation. 

She sighed loudly, drawing both of their attention.

“Maggie.” Macy said. “Thought you had rehearsals today.”

“All done.”

She furrowed her brow, a little annoyed that her life had been reduced to textbooks, musical performances and now plays—even on weekends. But Harry had said to do something fun and life affirming with her time. Which meant, if she was now stuck in this predicament because of his advice, he had to help her out. Right?

“Did I interrupt something?” She questioned, strolling into the room anyway.

Harry smiled at her, still appearing a bit weak but not nearly as bad as he’d looked the past week. “Macy just finished making a very compelling case for why Galvin’s memory shouldn’t be wiped as soon as I feel up to the task.”

“Oh. What’s the verdict?” She quipped.

“Undecided. What do you make of it?”

Maggie pursed her lips, afraid that anything she said would come across as her taking sides. She didn’t like being at odds with Macy—giving her the cold shoulder after she dropped the dad bomb on her and Mel had felt kind of awful and isolating. 

“I’d rather not get involved.” She twisted her mouth, hoping her answer wouldn’t disappoint Harry. Then, going against her better judgement, she added. “But after what happened with Mel and Niko. And the thing with Parker… I’m starting to think witches might not have the best luck with relationships.”

If she really thought about it, she was still hurt over Parker’s lies but the wound didn't feel nearly as fresh and delicate anymore. Maybe Harry was right, maybe doing something positive and fulfilling with her life was helping her heal faster. Could it also be that that’s why his recovery was being hindered? She wondered.

Harry looked away and Maggie didn’t say it but she almost took his reaction as confirmation that maybe their love lives really were cursed. The only clear loyalty and bond existed between her and her sisters—a privilege that extended to Harry as well—and they took precedence over anyone else. Macy tried to hide her frown but it was obvious that she felt uncomfortable with her assessment.

She popped up from the sofa, sensing Maggie wanted to speak with Harry alone. “Anyway, I have to go meet Galvin. I promised I would help him find out more about his family history.”

Maggie waited until she was out of sight and then tiptoed in a playful manner on the floor, coming to stand in front of Harry. He looked up from the sofa, a tiny smile on his lips as he reached for his tea. He could see right through her mischievous simper and that dewy-eyed look on her face. But he couldn’t deny that no matter the reason behind her coyness, he was glad to see her acting more like herself every day.

“You have no idea how nice it is to see you smile, Maggie.” He sipped from his cup, his green eyes expressing content.

She placed both hands under her chin, as if his sweet compliment had made her blush. “Hey. It’s nice to see you smile too. It’s been tough seeing you down in the dumps, it’s even made me miss your dorky outfits and dry British humor.”

“You think my outfits are dorky?” He put a hand over his heart jokingly as he set the cup down on the center table.

Maggie scrunched her nose, the melodic sound of her laughter was infectious. 

He stammered. “But that’s not what you came here to tell me, is it?”

She shook her head, tucking a strand of her hair behind one ear. “Although it’s true that I miss the old you… very much… I came to ask for a little favor.” 

“Not sure how much help I can be to you in my condition.” He mused, coming to his feet. “My abilities are still a little wonky at the moment.” 

Her eyes trailed over him from head to toe. “Well, you can move around just fine. And all your body parts seem to be in place.” That had come out wrong, she was unsure of why she’d even said it.

Harry gaped at her awkwardly, looking down at himself with a bewildered expression on his face.  “Yeah, everything is where it’s supposed to be.” He paused, feeling the air around them suddenly become dense. “What did you come to ask me, again?”

Her eyes widened. “How are your ballroom dancing skills?” She added hastily. 

If she knew that asking a question about dancing would make him light up like a Christmas tree, she would’ve thought of a reason to bring it up sooner. Seeing him so cheery would’ve been worth a thousand lies. 

“I haven’t done it in a while but I’d like to think I do a swell job at leading a waltz.” He beamed.

Maggie was enthralled by his reaction. She put a hand on his arm. “Seriously Harry, I did not think it would make you this happy.” 

“Well, ballroom dancing is kind of a lost art nowadays.” He replied, leaning in as he spoke. “Don’t you think?”

She agreed. “The rehearsals for our new theater production were a disaster today because of me. I kept stepping on my partner’s feet.”

Harry chuckled, and then eagerly asked. “When do we start?” 

* * *

Maggie scrolled through her phone, searching for the song that had been used in rehearsal earlier that day. 

“Here it is.” She played it for him. She could tell Harry’s mood had considerably improved just in the past few minutes of them chatting. 

“Okay.” He said, taking his place in front of her right in the middle of the Vera’s study. It was a room they rarely used in the house but it was perfect for what they were doing.

Maggie took his hand and placed the other one on his shoulder. Harry looked at her for a long moment, his lips quivering ever so slightly but not saying a word. It was as if he was asking for permission before touching her. Maggie gave him a reassuring look as he curved his fingers around her waist. 

She didn't have an explanation for what happened next but she felt her breathing inadvertently hitch at his touch, a bodily response that floored her. She wondered if it was because it was one of the few times she’d really witnessed Harry doing anything remotely unrelated to his Whitelighter duties. It was a part of him he rarely let them see. 

It could’ve also been the fact that he was undeniably handsome and she’d always been very careful not to allow her thoughts to wander into risky territory.

“Just a little bit…” He said in a low voice, pulling her in closer. “There.”

She tilted her head back slightly, making eye contact as he continued to explain the steps and guide her along. There was only a small gap between them, one that was constantly lost with every sway of their fluid movements. Maggie could feel the heat radiating off of him, only adding to her confusion and the whirlwind of sensations coursing through her body. 

Maybe this had been a bad idea, maybe her deep-rooted longing for an intimate connection had thrown her senses into disarray. 

“Now, if your partner in that play isn’t doing it this way.” He spoke softly. “Then he’s doing it wrong.”

Maggie smiled, a tingle running down her neck and back. It was a gratifying feeling she was shamelessly enjoying but she couldn’t quite figure out its cause. All she knew was that she didn’t want it to stop. 

His words resonated in her ears, beautifully threaded with the music that filled the atmosphere around them. Their bodies continued to move but his eyes never lost focus of her as he lead her in the rise and fall, gliding all over the floor of the private room. 

When her breathing felt stable enough for her to speak she asked. “You sweep a lot of ladies off their feet with these moves, Har?” Her entire body buzzing as if she’d said something unconscionable.

Harry smiled but he didn’t answer, an action that she took as proof that she was right. He then surprised her with a turn. The room spun around her, everything becoming a blur. For those few seconds, she felt like she was floating, a gentle breeze sweeping through her hair, infused with the pleasant smell of him. 

He pulled her back in. Maggie came in a little too fast and a little too hard, her chest crashing into him and one foot landing on the toes of his right foot. 

“I’m so sorry.” She looked at him with worry. “Are you okay?”

Harry laughed. “I’m fine.” Still keeping a close hold on her. “You’re not too bad at this, Maggie. I think we can get this routine down by tonight.”

And then she felt it again, that involuntary pause in her breathing that came as a result of his closeness, but this time it was accompanied by something else, something she didn’t think could ever be a possibility with him. She didn’t try to fight it, instead she gave in to it slowly. That perplexing and debilitating feeling making her spiral straight into the depths of uncertainty.

* * *

Maggie would’ve been lying to herself if she said that by the end of the night, her dancing lesson had felt like any other normal task on her check list. Her only intention when she’d first approached Harry had been to ask for his help, mainly as a form of payback for pushing her to look for an outlet to her melancholy. But during those hours of one-on-one time with him—something that seemed like a rarity between them—she’d discovered how much she truly enjoyed his company. More so without any scrutiny, interruptions, and divided attention.

Harry looked up at the clock. “You think you had enough dancing for one night?”

It was pretty late and she figured it was his nice way of saying he was tired. So she nodded, letting him get some much needed rest. 

“Thank you.” Her hand traveled down his arm, eyes flicking to his face in an effort to try to read what he was thinking but unfortunately, nothing came of it. 

He had a glimmer of realization in his eyes that told her she’d been found out but he made no such claim. Whatever his reasoning, she was just grateful he hadn’t embarrassed her by asking. 

“Have a goodnight, Maggie.” His intense gaze piercing into her and somehow managing to jolt a part of her that she believed was immune to him. She felt her legs tremble and her core spasm involuntarily as a result.

“Goodnight.” She started making her way out of the room, a livelier cadence to her walk as she retreated.

“Hey, Harry.” She stopped at the door, turning to look at him.

“Yes?” 

“You think we can do this again tomorrow?” Her hopeful eyes held his gaze.

Harry smiled. “Of course, Maggie. I’d be delighted.”

She simpered, sensing her racing heart lose control. “Good! Because I’m still not feeling very satisfied with my progress and there’s one more song I still have to learn.”

There was only one truth to that statement. Maggie didn’t feel satisfied yet.

He happily gave in to her request, knowing that distracting himself with something he loved to do would also be good for him.

In turn, Maggie left the room with a big smile on her face, knowing very well that she had the dance routine memorized, and that there was no other song for her to rehearse.

#maggie vera #harry greenwood #harry x maggie #maggie x harry #just gonna tag this #haggie

[thanksfornothinguselessreptile]

A Shifting World Chapter 7: The Mystery of the Enraged Thunderdrum

First Chapter

<–Previous

Work Summary: Things have been going great since Hiccup and Toothless have defeated the Red Death. He has his father’s approval, a group of friends his own age, and is leading the integration of dragons and the Vikings of Berk. When neighboring tribes call together a meeting to discuss rumors of Vikings riding dragons, however, Stoick decides to keep their alliance with dragons under wraps. Hiccup must decide whether he should listen to his father or seek to teach the other Vikings of the archipelago the truths about dragons.

AO3

Rating: T

Characters: Hiccup, Toothless, Astrid, Stoick, Fishlegs, Ruffnut, Tuffnut, Snotlout

Pairings: Minor Hiccup x Astrid

Chapter Summary: A delay on the way to the Thing causes more than one problem to raise its head.

Chapter Warnings: Death Mention, Murder Mention

Stoick pinched his nose. “So the twins are following us.”

“Yep.” Hiccup nodded and resisted the urge to mirror Stoick’s gesture.

Stoick sighed and shook his head. “And there’s no chance of convincing them to go back home, is there?” He didn’t sound like he was holding out any hope for a “yes.”

Hiccup shrugged. “If you have any ideas, I’m all ears.”

“And you didn’t think to tell me because…” Stoick narrowed his gaze at him. While Hiccup still felt nervous of admitting the truth, that glare put to rest any thoughts of not admitting the truth

“Because I knew you were against Toothless coming with us, but I also didn’t want you to send him away when he could help us find out why that Thunderdrum is attacking ships.” He shrugged and tried to continue meeting Stoick’s eyes.

With a hand to his forehead, Stoick cast his gaze across the ship to the Thunderdrum. Ever since he’d been captured, he’d thrashed and tried to free himself from the net. Fortunately, it’d held out so far. But Hiccup knew that even if the material could withstand days of preventing that dragon from breaking free, this couldn’t be a permanent solution.

“Look,” Stoick said, his words heavy. “I want a peaceful solution to these sorts of things as much as you do. Every conflict resolved without death or injury is a victory in my book. But there was no guarantee that we would’ve found that Thunderdrum, and no guarantee that you and Toothless could reason with him. ”

“But if there is a chance of finding a peaceful solution to this, shouldn’t we at least try?” Hiccup tried to keep his voice from rising. He couldn’t just… just sit there and do nothing while dragons and humans were fighting. Not anymore.

Stoick pinched the bridge of the nose, looking for all the world like a man who’d just been charged with wrangling Fenrir with his bare hands.

After a moment, Stoick spoke up. “Under ordinary circumstances, son, I would say you’d be right. But this situation is more complicated than that.”

Hiccup frowned. Sure, he understood the need to prevent any wars from breaking out, and he knew that could get more complicated than just saying to the other tribes, “Hey, let’s not start a war.” But it also wasn’t complicated that extending the peace with dragons to the other tribes was the right thing to do.

Before he could ask, Stoick gestured out to the sea over the bow and continued. “When we’re at the Thing, we are more than just leaders of Berk. We become our people’s representatives. You, me, your friends, everyone here has the duty of representing the people back home, and representing them well.” Stoick’s face seemed to harden as he scanned the skies. “Which is why your friends following after us might not bode well, especially if they’re not on their best behavior.” He dragged a hand over his eyes and down his beard, visibly trying to relax. “The other tribes are already tense from trying to keep the peace and deal with the possibility of Vikings allying themselves with their oldest enemies. If they catch us sheltering even a single dragon and jump to conclusions, how do you think that’ll reflect on Berk?”

“But what if they’re interested in how we live with dragons without killing them?” Hiccup wondered why Stoick wouldn’t take the chance. It was risky, but wasn’t it worth it?

Stoick shook his head. “Think about it, Hiccup. If the other tribes believed that us working with the dragons was an act of war, they would come for all of us, not just you and Toothless. Including those unable to fight. Would you be willing to pay the price that might come from a failure to change their minds?”

A cough from over Hiccup’s shoulder nearly made him stumble overboard from shock. “Chief,” Spitelout said, pointedly ignoring Hiccup’s start. “We’ve spotted a Terrible Terror approaching the stern.”

Stoick sighed and met Spitelout’s gaze. “One of ours, I hope?”

Spitelout nodded. “Aye, according to the Ingerman boy.”

With a nod of acknowledgement and dismissal, Stoick glanced back at Hiccup. “Think on that, son.”

Hiccup swallowed as Stoick left, the deck creaking under his boots.

It won’t come to war, he told himself. Surely the other tribes would see reason in a world where no one had to die. And Berk was only behind the Peaceables with how well they got along with the other tribes. Well, Hooligans and Bog Burglars were a little on the overly competitive side, but surely even they respected that Stoick, his father, and his father’s father had all done their best to get along with their neighbors for years?

Someone jostled Hiccup’s shoulder, and once again Hiccup nearly fell over.

“Sorry.” Toothless’s brow was set into a concerned expression. “Are you okay?”

Hiccup gave him a smile and hoped he didn’t look too upset. “Yeah, bud, I’m fine. Didn’t mean to worry you there.”

Toothless didn’t look too convinced.

“Come on.” Hiccup tilted his head toward the stern. “Let’s go see what message that Terror has.”

He turned and walked away before Toothless could react.

Stoick walked between the rowers’ seats, newly removed from the hold, and as close to the stern as he could without getting too near the Thunderdrum. Minutes later, a yellow Terror flew over the stern, a sealskin bundle in their jaws. They immediately hovered in front of Stoick and squawked something in Dragonese Hiccup couldn’t yet understand.

Stoick held out his arm level to the deck. The Terror paused and inspected the arm, started to hover closer, then pulled back. In response, Stoick extended his arm further from his body. That seemed to do the trick as the messenger finally lit down on his bracer. Still, they kept their wings partially unfurled and raised as if ready to take off at a moment’s notice.

Stoick held out a palm and let the dragon drop the sealskin into his hand. “Thank you,” he said, keeping his voice low and calm, and then handed the package to Mulch.

Mulch unwrapped the hide to reveal a small rolled up stack of papers. “It appears to be a message from Gobber.” With that, he offered the papers to Stoick.

Stoick paused to let the Terrible Terror leap onto the rigging, then opened the papers. “Let’s see.” His eyes glanced across the page. “He says that Ruffnut and Tuffnut Thorston and their dragon have left Berk, as well as Toothless.”

The rest of the ship, who’d been half-watching Stoick regardless of whatever they’d been doing, grumbled as one. Equally in unison, they busied themselves with their work with far more vigor than was believable when Stoick glared over at them.

“What else?” Hiccup asked, hoping that he’d been exempt from that dismissal.

Stoick straightened the papers. “Nothing much, really. All ships expected back have returned, so far, and Darby’s made blueprints from some renovations to the dragon shelters.”

Hiccup tilted his head. “Dragon shelters?” He hadn’t recalled Stoick mentioning anything about changing them, and they were rather new for any changes.

“Yep.” Stoick brushed his hand along his beard, his eyes still fixed on the letter. “Since the other tribes are tense regarding the rumors of dragon riders, the Berk Council and I figured we had to practice extra caution in case of curious or suspicious visitors. Therefore, I commissioned Darby to draw up plans of modifications to allow us to disguise the shelters as storehouses and other more conventional buildings in case those visitors got too nosy. And from the sounds of it, they more than came through.” He glanced at the rest of the letter, and then nodded as if it met his standards. “I’ll have to let Gobber know his suspicions of where the Thorston twins and Toothless went were correct, and that we’re sending Toothless back after he’s done translating for us.” He looked at Hiccup. “Think you can handle that?”

Hiccup nodded. “Gotcha, Dad.” He tried to sound serious and responsible, not excited.

Stoick dipped his head in acknowledgement and headed back to the bow of the ship.

Hiccup glanced over at Toothless. He’d been sitting on his hind legs, chatting to the Terrible Terror who’d perched in the rigging, but as Stoick passed he said his farewell and turned to Hiccup.

“You ready to translate, bud?” he asked.

“Yes.” Hiccup could see the same excitement in Toothless’s eyes that he knew was in his.

Hiccup drew a steadying breath. “Okay, then. Let’s begin.”

As they approached the stern of the ship, the Thunderdrum began to thrash more than he already was. His yellow eyes were fixed onto Toothless’s green, narrowed as if expressing defiance toward certain death.

Hiccup felt his excitement get pushed aside by the seriousness of the situation. He got the feeling that he’d be more of a challenge to bring around to being neutral, at least, to Vikings than any other dragon he’d faced.

“Okay, bud, let’s try this.” Hiccup took a deep breath as he tried to calm his heart before speaking. “Why are you attacking our ship? Berk is at peace with dragons now.”

As Toothless translated the words, the Thunderdrum narrowed his gaze. His narrowed pupils glanced from Toothless to Hiccup before addressing the other dragon. Hiccup couldn’t understand much of what he was saying.

After the Thunderdrum finished speaking, Toothless turned to Hiccup with a grim expression. When he spoke, he spoke as if he was choosing each word carefully.

“He does not…” Toothless broke out into a thoughtful warble, partially closing his eyes. “He does not speak --- fire –- the ship.”

Hiccup, for a moment, was confused. Why would Toothless mention fire if there’d been none on the ship? But then, he remembered that he didn’t know the Dragonese word for attack. “Fire” likely would’ve been the closest alternative Toothless could think of on the spot.

“So he refuses to say why he attacked the ship?” He wasn’t quite confident that he’d understood right, so to hear Toothless warble out a yes and nod made him relax slightly. Despite that, though, he was still left with a big question. If the dragon refused to answer that, then how could he and Toothless figure out what was wrong and fix it?

He forced himself not to linger on the question and asked his next one. “Then will he say if he’s alone?” If Fishlegs was certain that Thunderdrums traveled in groups, then it was true. Which made Hiccup wonder why this Thunderdrum attacked, alone, especially if he was an adolescent.

Toothless turned and asked the dragon the question. The Thunderdrum’s body tensed, the spines running along their back rising as much as the net allowed them to. They snarled out a word Hiccup didn’t need Toothless to translate.

“Yes.”

Toothless turned toward Hiccup, his ears upright in preparation for another question.

Well, Hiccup sure didn’t believe that last answer, but what could he do about it? It wasn’t like asking again would get anything truthful out of them.

“Okay, if that’s how it’s going to be, I have just one more question.” Hiccup found that he’d placed his hands together and had used them to gesture at the dragon. He hoped that pleading looked different in dragons than Vikings. “Is anyone else behind this attack?”

Toothless’s ear flicked in surprise, but he turned and translated the sentence. Hiccup watched the Thunderdrum carefully as he narrowed his eyes. He almost seemed offended to be asked that question.

“No.” This time, Hiccup was sure it was the truth; they didn’t seem the slightest bit tense about answering the question.

Hiccup was surprised by his shoulders relaxing; he hadn’t even noticed they were tense. “Right. Thank you for your answers. I’ll, uh, go talk to my dad and see if we can get this sorted out.” Stoick wasn’t going to be very happy about the lack of results, but at the very least they’d confirmed that there wasn’t another Red Death pulling the strings. That, at least, was a mercy.

He waited for Toothless to translate that message, and witnessed the Thunderdrum snort and shake his head. With that, he turned around to meet with his dad.

“Well? What did he say?” Fishlegs’s voice made Hiccup stumble with surprise as he turned toward it.

Sure enough, he was approaching, along with Astrid and Snotlout. While Astrid looked more collected than Fishlegs was, he could tell from her wide, questioning eyes that she was still curious. Snotlout was staring at him with narrowed eyes and arms crossed over his chest, but he didn’t seem to be there unwillingly.

Hiccup gestured for everyone to follow him toward the middle of the ship, far enough away where he could speak without the Thunderdrum listening in.

“So what juicy gossip did you get from that dragon?” Snotlout crossed his arms and sneered at Hiccup, clearly not expecting much.

Hiccup made sure he spoke in a quiet voice, just loud enough for his friends to hear. “He refuses to say why he attacked us–”

Snotlout snorted and rolled his eyes. “Typical.”

“But?” Astrid prompted, giving Snotlout a glare from the corner of her eye.

“But he isn’t attacking on anyone else’s orders.” He breathed out a sigh, and saw the others relax a little bit as well. “But when he said he was alone, I’m pretty sure he was lying.” He glanced over at Toothless. “What do you think, bud?”

Toothless nodded. “Yes.”

“Why do you think they haven’t attacked us yet?” Astrid’s gaze was now scanning the horizon as if searching for more Thunderdrums.

Fishlegs hummed. “I don’t know. Thunderdrums do live in groups, but for an adolescent to travel alone, let alone attack a ship…” He shrugged. “It’s pretty much unheard of. The adults should’ve come looking for him a lot sooner.”

“Oh great. We could be under attack by that dragon’s parents at any moment–” Snotlout threw an arm out in the Thunderdrum’s direction “–and we’re just sitting ducks.”

“And if they see the Thunderdrum our prisoner, they’ll attack us.” Astrid tilted her head, bangs shifting to cover her right eye. “And once word about us keeping a young dragon prisoner spreads, it might risk our friendship with them.”

Hiccup felt as if his stomach had turned to stone at the thought of this. “Which is why we should work on making sure we release that dragon as soon as possible, without him sinking us.”

“How do we do that?” Fishlegs raised his hand not even high enough to clear his shoulder, as if unsure he wanted it to be seen. “If he’d told us why he was attacking, sure we could work something out, but he hasn’t.”

Hiccup shrugged, trying to make the gesture look more loose and relaxed than he felt. “Then we’ll just have to figure it out ourselves.” He sighed and gestured toward the bow of the ship. “But first, I have to go tell Dad.”

No one looked particularly happy, but no one protested as he and Toothless went to tell Stoick what little they learned.

Stoick pinched the bridge of his nose as Hiccup finished telling Stoick the facts, looking for all the world like a barrel of ice blocks couldn’t solve this headache.

“This is a fine mess that Thunderdrum has landed us in.” He massaged his temple, but it didn’t seem to calm him down any. “It’s bad enough we’ve got this becalming on our hands, but now we have to worry about hiding a dragon who doesn’t want to be there from the other tribes.” Stoick waved an arm at the sky, as if inviting the gods to come down and give their opinion on the matter.

“Is it possible we can move the Thunderdrum down to the storage area?” Hiccup asked. Not that he wanted the Thunderdrum down there, alone in the dark, but at the very least passing dragons wouldn’t be able to see him and get the wrong idea.

Stoick sighed and shook his head. “If you could get him to cooperate, maybe. But that hatch is too small to get a struggling Thunderdrum into.” He waved a hand in its general direction to make his point.

Hiccup considered. If he could scratch the Thunderdrum underneath his chin, maybe. But while the net held his jaws too tightly for him to use his roar attack, that didn’t mean the jaws couldn’t open up enough to bite a hand off. Anyways, it turned out that some dragons were immune to that trick. Fishlegs had learned that Gronckles were among these the hard way, making Hiccup very glad he’d brought dragon nip in his sleeve for the last competition before the Final Test and not relied on the chin scratch.

“But what do we do?” They couldn’t just let the Thunderdrum go without risking them destroying the ship, but neither could they just keep the dragon prisoner forever.

Stoick rubbed his forehead again, moving his helmet with the edges of his fingers. “I don’t know, son.” The lack of fight in Stoick’s tone scared Hiccup. He was so used to his father knowing everything that it didn’t really occur to him he’d ever witness a moment where he wasn’t confident of what to do and how to do it. “But rest assured, that dragon won’t come to harm.”

Hiccup nodded. He’d known that Stoick would never raise a weapon against a dragon that was harmless, either by choice or by circumstance, and so long as that Thunderdrum was trapped in the net and not able to fight, he’d stay his hand, and do his best to stay those of his tribe.

But if the other tribes found out before Hiccup could convince them that dragons weren’t the enemy, could he do anything?

“So I sent the message to Gobber.” Stoick’s voice sounded casual, with an undercurrent of I've made my mind up that convinced Hiccup that whatever he was about to say was as inevitable as Ragnarok. “I told him that Toothless was with us, and that after he had a full night’s rest and a couple meals, we’d be sending him back to Berk.”

“Yes, Dad.” He wouldn’t argue this point. While he might not have agreed with Stoick’s idea to hide the fact the dragons were friendly, he did agree that Berk was the safest place for Toothless.

The question was if Toothless would listen.

Sure enough, he glanced at the dragon standing next to him in time to see him huff and narrow his eyes.

“You heard me, dragon.” Stoick’s tone wasn’t as teasing as usual. “I am grateful that you came to warn us, and that you helped us with him.” Stoick nodded across the deck at the Thunderdrum. “However, I doubt the other tribes will listen to any words of mine if they saw the offspring of lightning and death himself at the table.”

Hiccup didn’t understand what Toothless said after, but it definitely wasn’t a “Yes, sir.”

Stoick sighed and looked between him and Hiccup. “You two will be the death of me.”

Hiccup left Stoick to his thoughts and moved toward the center of the ship to enter his. The deck creaked behind him; Toothless must’ve followed him.

Okay, so find out why the Thunderdrum is attacking, and you find a way to fix it and get him to leave without attacking us, Hiccup thought, staring out over the ocean. So, whatever’s wrong likely has to do with his lie. But if he’s not really alone, where is his family and why haven’t they rescued him?

Hiccup voiced this aloud to Toothless, who tilted his head and shifted his gaze slightly down. The plates beneath his head began to vibrate as he hummed, seemingly in thought.

“The dragons can’t help.” It sounded like Toothless was frustrated at not being able to say more. “The dragons aren’t at the ship.”

Hiccup considered this. He agreed with Toothless that they likely weren’t nearby. “But if they’re not here, then where are they? And why did the Thunderdrum attack us when he didn’t have help?”

Toothless twitched an ear. “The dragon helps the other dragons.”

It took a moment for Hiccup to piece together what Toothless had meant, but when he did he felt his brain kicking itself for not thinking of this possibility sooner. “You know, Toothless, you’re absolutely right.”

Toothless nodded, enthusiastic once more. “Yes.”

Now all that he needed was a plan and an opening to carry it off.

And then he heard Spitelout’s voice above the rest of the crowd. “Alright, then. Who’s up for tonight’s night watch?”

The crowd muttered amongst themselves.

Spitelout scoffed. “Well, don’t all jump up at once.”

“I’ll take first shift.” Mulch raised his hand into the air.

Spitelout nodded, his eyes still scanning the crowd. “Right. Who’s up for second?”

“I will.” That was definitely Astrid’s voice.

Well, Hiccup realized, he had his opening. As long as he could come up with a plan and have it ready to go by then, he could put it into action and have everything fixed by that night. Then his dad would have less to worry about, and Hiccup could continue preparing himself to introduce other tribes to the concept of peace with dragons.

In comparison, this was going to be easy.

So I’m not entirely sure about how well this chapter turned out. What do you think?

#useless reptile writes #a shifting world #finding another way series #hiccup #toothless #stoick #stoick the vast #thornado #fishlegs #astrid #snotlout #caps cw #death mention cw #murder mention cw

[vizhi0n]

Sawney - Part 8

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7

YAAAY THE ANGST IS OVER

...

...

lol NOPE. Anywho, this chapter isn’t actually too tragic so I hope you enjoy. Just warnings for some mentions of suicide and other shit, and Negan’s potty mouth. If you want to be tagged or untagged, lemme know!

@castielwinchester22 @i-am-negan-trash @flames-bring-a-ton-of-ash @genevievedarcygrangerwriting @kijilinn @ladylorelitanyfanfiction @lucifers-trash-stash @superprincesspea @doyouhaveavacancy @hannibalssweaters @heartfulloffandoms @strangersangel9 @mypapawinchester @my-achilles--heel @crzcorgi @jasoncrouse @gremlinfuck @moonypetyr @embracetheapocalypsewithme @lovingzombiechaos @backseat-negan @mcnegan @melodicdolls @jeffreydeanneganstrash @darkangel66a @imjustmakingsuffupagain @itstotalyblue @vinylmadwoman @kellyn1604

“She’ll live,” Carson said. “I’m not sure how that’ll go once she wakes up.”

“Well that’s fucking optimistic, Doc.” 

“I’m just being realistic. Simon mentioned her behavior at this ‘Estate.’” Carson stopped, and Negan felt the sudden urge to punch the thin-faced man as hard as he could. He didn’t. “That isn’t the behavior of someone mentally sound. You’ll need to monitor her closely.” 

He’s right.

He glanced down at her. Like Negan, she’d escaped the Estate in tatters, bruised and bloodied. Carson brushed past him, but he didn’t move, watching Desa’s chest rise and fall with each steady breath. 

He heard the door open, and then close. Simon approached slowly and quietly, stopping by Negan’s side. Without hesitation, he spoke.

“That is one messed up lady.”

“We’re all fucking messed up, Simon.”

“No, I really mean…she’s crazy. She was crazy when she stabbed and bit Gavin. She was even crazier when she took a machine gun and mowed down all those lobotomized people living in her basement. Including her brother. Oh, and Lucille is in your bedroom…cleaned, practically good as new, courtesy of yours truly.” 

Negan said nothing. Desa’s eyelashes fluttered and she gave a small moan, but did not awaken. 

“Negan,” Simon said genuinely. “Look, I know…it’s been hard. This is just me looking at things as an outsider. I legitimately thing you might have some sort of...reverse Stockholm Syndrome going on with this girl. She hurt you—”

“She never once laid a hand on me. The one that fucking did — well, one of the ones that did — is in a fucking cell. But I don’t fucking want to do shit to her until Desa wakes up.”

“We let the other one  — Father — get away. I know you wanted him alive, too.”

“Yeah, I fucking did. And if I find him, I sure as shit know what I’m going to do to him. I have that shit all planned out, written the fuck down…one is better than none, though.”

“Do you think he’ll come for her?”

“For his wife? No. He doesn’t give a flying fuck about her. That asshole is in it for himself. Always has been.”

Simon nodded, shoving his hands into his pocket. “I’ll go prep the prisoner. Get her comfortable.”

“Good. I’ll be there in a few.”

Negan didn’t turn away from Desa. Simon left, the sound of the shutting door causing Desa’s eyelashes to flutter once more. This time, however, Negan found himself staring into her open orbs.

“Hey.”

“Fuckin’ hey,” Negan replied. He grabbed a chair, taking a seat. Desa very slowly turned her head, analyzing Negan as if she didn’t recognize him. He sucked in a breath, murmuring, “You’re okay. You’re at the Sanctuary. You’re safe.”

“Jack?”

“He’s not here.”

“No,” Desa let out a pitiful sigh. “No. I killed him. I killed all of them.”

Negan remained motionless, silent as Desa confessed. He knew about the cellar — Simon had told him. Everything must have gone to shit after his escape. 

“Fucking kill everyone but Mother and Father. They’re both fucking mine.”

Negan couldn’t have been any more clear. He’d intended on stringing them both up on the fence, putting them on display in case any of their people decided to seek vengeance. He’d only gotten half — Mother, beaten and bloodied, was waiting for him in a cell. Father had escaped. 

“It’s over. What’s done is fucking done, Desa. You’re not going back to that place. It’s gone.” 

“Why did you come back for me?”

“Because we had the numbers. Because I was fucking selfish and wanted Mother and Father delivered to me on a silver fucking platter, so I could make the rest of their lives even more of a living hell than it already was,” Negan said honestly. “And I needed to return the fucking favor. You got me the fuck out, I got you the fuck out.”

“You didn’t let me die. I was weak, I’m a monster — why didn’t you just let me die?”

“It would have been a fucking waste. You’re not a monster and you sure as fuck ain’t weak,” Negan scoffed. “I’m not a fucking wasteful man.”

“You should be. Some things aren’t worth it,” Desa croaked. She made a move to sit up, but stopped, flopping back onto onto the mattress. “I couldn’t let Jack live. I couldn’t let any of them live, even though they weren’t…they weren’t there. They were just as good as the biters. We treated them like cattle, Negan. During the winter we…we were short on food. We were running out. Father and Mason and the others went down there, slaughtered some,” Desa bit her bottom lip, trembling. Her eyes were red-rimmed, brimming with tears. “They brought them up, started a fire…passed out the flesh and we all ate it. We had to. They’d kill us if we refused. That was when I took Jack upstairs and I put a gun against his head because I’d rather him and I be dead—”

“You couldn’t fucking do it.” 

“I was weak, Negan. I should have pulled the trigger then. Let him go to Heaven with Mom and Dad and our sister. I would have stayed as punishment. Hell is too lenient of a sentence for me. I am a monster.”

“You are not. I don’t want to hear this shit anymore,” Negan shot up, and Desa flinched. Gentler, he said, “I’m giving you another chance to do it fucking right. What you were back there? It’s over. I have Mother in a cell right fucking now, and we’re going to end it.”

“You brought Mother here?”

“Yeah. And I’m going to have a long, long fucking talk with her.”

Desa swung her legs over the side of the cot, wincing. Negan steadied her, his own wounds straining from the excess movement. Carson had berated him about overtaxing his body, but Negan had ignored him. There was too much shit to do. Too much to get ready. A team was on it’s way to the remnants of the Estate to pick up anything of interest — Negan hoped his jacket would be amongst the finds. And Father’s corpse, though Negan knew that was unlikely. 

“I’ll leave when I recover. I don’t want to be a bother—”

“Really? Where the fuck will you go?” Negan raised his eyebrows. “I didn’t fucking bring you back here just to let you walk away. No. I don’t care what shit you did in the past. You have a home here.”

“I didn’t know you enjoyed my company much,” Desa gave a cheeky grin, and Negan ran fingers across his stubble, hiding his smile.

“Don’t get too full of your fucking self.”

“I’m incapable,” Desa said. “I have such a low opinion of me already. But I appreciate your concern.”

Desa dipped his head. God this girl…he rolled his shoulders, stepping closer. He’d etched the feel of her lips into his mind. Soft, full and supple. None of his wives had come close to comparing. 

When he reached for her, however, she flinched. It was a reflex he’d noticed before, and for he proceeded, he said, “It’s okay. Can I touch you?”

“I should be asking you that.”

“I’m fine,” Negan lied. “It’s…it’s fucking different than that. I won’t ever be able to do the shit that I did before if he’s out there. But this is a fucking start, you know?”

“You can touch me.”

Negan let out a breath, once again kissing her. It was quicker, more reserved. Kissing her here felt different than doing it outside, in some unknown building. It didn’t feel any less right, but it felt…risky. Dangerous. Confusing. 

You just want pussy. You haven’t even talked to any of your wives since you got back. Haven’t even fucked them, touched them…

You know why, dipshit.

“You haven’t introduced me to everyone,” Desa’s eyes fluttered, and she smiled.

“Most of them pretty much know you. You made a strong fucking first impression the first time you were here,” Negan shrugged. Desa gave a groan of embarrassment, covering her face with her hands. “At least you didn’t fucking kill anybody.”

“That’s becoming my signature, isn’t it? Killing people. Some days I think it’s the only thing I know how to do.”

“You have a chance now to prove otherwise. When you recover, I’m fucking putting you on lookout duty.”

“No scavenging? What, scared I’m going to run off?”

“No. You fucking like me to much to run the fuck off,” Negan gave his most charming smile, trying to hide what he knew was probably bullshit. Her opinion of him would, he knew, once she got a feel for how he ran things. And it made him a bit sad. “You’re a fucking outsider to everyone else but me. You’ll have to ease your way into things.”

“I can do that. Guard duty doesn’t sound to hard. I’d still like to get a feel of the place, though. Can I have a tour, so I don’t end up stumbling somewhere I’m not welcome?”

Negan gulped, scratching the back of his neck. A tour meant that she’d see where he lived — in the parlor. With his wives.

The thought hadn’t even crossed Negan’s mind. He’d been so preoccupied with his own sickly sated desire for lust — courtesy of that serial fucking rapist, Father — that he hadn’t considered just how Desa would react to seeing his harem of women. Almost instinctually, he’d begun to consider asking Desa to marry him. The sensible part of him thought better of it. Despite his obvious attraction to her, he’d never lay a hand on Desa. 

Another part of him knew that there was no way he’d be able to hide his polyamorous relationship from her. She was smart, curious, and it would only take a simple word from Dwight or some worker for his cover to be blown. 

“Absolutely.”

“And I want it to be you. I don’t want Simon or Dwight to show me around. I just…want you.”

“None of them will fucking hurt you—”

“I know, but they’re not you. I’ll learn how to do things on my own…I just…I need some time.”

“Fine. Fine,” Negan sighed, ducking his head. Lowering his voice, he decided that telling her about his not-so-traditional marriage couldn’t wait. He wanted her to be prepared. The last thing he wanted was for her to somehow thing of…him. “There are some things I need to fucking tell you.”

#vizhi0nw #negans thirst squad

[askthenewhopespeak]

Irene's Return Part 2.

Jirami, with her “old found” identity as Irene, walks quite nostalgically in the hallways of the academy, looking outside windows to the fields and the entrance of the school. She hoped she found someone walking around to get her mind off things for a bit. Sora was walking down the halls, a little buzzing in cheer after having a small ‘date’ with Mitsi. Which mainly said they cuddled and kissed a little, but it still made her happy. “Someone at least seems happy today.” She mentioned when she saw Sora. “Um… How are you doing lil’ Hijirihara?” “Really really really good!” “I can see that in your face.” She nervously stood before the teen after saying.

“…Is something wrong, auntie?” “Yeah… I just- All of you who went to find me the other day were so pissed at me, or at least that’s what I could feel that I don’t know if I’ll be able to adapt here again.” “You came back. Why would I be mad at you?” “You may be not, but the others…” She trailed off, averting her gaze to the ground. “I don’t think they’d be mad. Well, at least not Damian, I think he was just worried. I really don’t know Shin that well, and Akira was acting weird ever since.” "I haven’t even gotten to talk to any of them!” She sighed and then took a deep breath, “Sora, what should I know about what had happened here in Hope’s Peak? Things that I may have missed because I was busy keeping my eye on the Storms?” “When did you leave, again? Were you here when the school got invaded?” “I left during the Couple Games.” “So, yeah, the biggest thing that happened was that some Monokuma kids invaded the school. I wasn’t here for most of it, but it wasn’t fun.” She sighed in defeat and looked outside again, crossing her arms. “Maybe if I had been here…” “Stop.” She said. “What would you have done? ” “I would have done something of worth, I wouldn’t have wasted my time crying for myself because I’m weak to face everything that’s happened! I would’ve become stronger…” Sora pauses for a moment before continuing. “What would have happened if I didn’t let miss Umeko take us away! I have a weapon, I could help, but I didn’t!” “You were here for everything, Sora.” Irene does her best to reassure her. “You weren’t here not because you ran away, unlike me…” “You don’t know it.” “I just… I wanna fix things while I can.” She gave her a weak smile. “do you mind helping me do that?” “Everything for my favorite aunt. What do you want to do?” “I’ll face my classmates and tell them the truth. But… I’m scared. What if I returned for nothing?” “…Math.” “…What?” “If you stay away or come back and accomplish nothing, that’s the same, right?” “But, if you come back and accomplish something, it’s more. So, math says you should try.” “Heh. You really sound like your mother.” Irene pat the girl’s shoulder and then walked slowly to another hall. “So, shall we find someone and explain everything?” “I do?” She asked, confused. “And sure.” “Yeah. You do!” She smiled honestly for the first time in a long while. “Thank you lil’ Hijirihara.” “Please don’t call me that.” Sora half heartedly sighed. She chuckled on her way. “Do you want to start with Damian? Mom wants me to keep an eye on him anyway.” “Uh…” She starts fidgeting which is not well hidden at all for Sora. “Sure, why not? Do you have an idea where he could be?” “Training, probably, he was doing that a lot lately.” She pulled her shoulders, not saying anything about the fidgets. “Gym?” “To the gym we go then.” The two go to the gym. “Damian! You here?!” Sora calls once they arrive. The sounds of arrows hitting targets are heard. (Welp here I go…) “Damian?” Irene tries to get his attention. The shooting stops, and Damian slides his headphones off. “Sora? What’s up- oh. Hey…” He frowns looking at her company. “Hi. I am dropping my babysitting duties of you for the day on Irene, oaky? Now you two talk.” “Wow that’s… Direct.” Irene quips. “I told you I don’t need babysitting-” He sighs, slinging his bow on his back. “Hey Irene.” “Mom told me that you do and she can ground me, so…” “…Hey Damian. How’s… it going?” Irene breaks the silence, awkwardly smiling. If Sora didn’t know us this would be seen really weird… “Fine…” He says simply, walking over to put up his extra equipment. “Just keeping myself busy with all the newcomers around.” Sora knew them and this was really awkward.

Irene simply nods. “Cool.” (What the hell me?!) “Um, I’m sorry for the other day…” “It’s…fine.” Damian smiles rather forced. “You were right you know. So, no worries.” “Please stop acting like my mom whenever we’re in a Future Foundation thing and she has to talk to miss Asano?” Sora asked. “You are friends.” “…?!” She slowly looked at Sora. “Whatever you mean with that!” She instantly coughed and corrected herself. “Anyway…” “I think she and Miss Asano had a fight? Mom looked like she swallowed a lemon whenever they talk. She also gets super clingy to dad.” “Uh…right.” He rubs his arm awkwardly. “Okay! Putting that aside…” She looked at Damian with arms crossed. “We came looking for you because I wanted to apologize for everything I said and didn’t say, for that matter.” “I knew you were a pawn in Maverick’s game and I wanted to… "save you” from him?“ She shrugged, averting her gaze with a frown.

"Save me?” He looks up at her surprised. “Even if I hadn’t had the information about him, the mess he could create by using you was going to be…” She shook her head. “You were in danger being in his side. Despair or not.” “I…I know. But even when I wasn’t with him, I still…” (Got good people killed.) He finishes in his head, shaking the thought away. Sora sighed.  "You two, deal with it, I’m going to find my boyfriend.“ And she really should get Kaede on this romantic subplan…. She turned and left. "What a way to treat your aunt, lady.” She sighed and continued talking with Damian. “A lot happened. Even if we could’ve done something, what would be the changes? We’re no super heroes… I found that out by thinking and being alone for four months…” “You can’t choose to be my aunt only when it’s convenient!” Sora called behind her back. “And… If this doesn’t  workout you’ll leave again and won’t be, so it’s even.” Damian looks off in the direction Sora went before he lets his exhaustion show. “If I’d done something then,” He starts, sitting down on the bleachers. “Mr. Hagakure and Mr. Tanaka would be alive right now.” “I…” She flinched and stood quietly for a while. “Listen, if someone had to die… It’s not our call to mess with fate.” "I was here when that… damned box was thrown yet…” “If it has to happen then so be it and let’s carry their deaths with us. Live for them and…”

“It’s what I’m doing my best to do now.” He snaps only to look apologetic. “But at the same time, I can’t lose anyone else. So while I can’t be a superhero, I can make sure I’m at my best and prepared for anything.” “No one is prepared for anything until it happens. I hope you get what I’m trying to say… If this doesn’t work with you, it won’t work with any of our classmates then.” She whispers at last. “.…” Damian looks away in frustration, the logical voice in his head telling him that this was insane. “…I can’t lose anyone else. There’s still despairs out there, ones even I didn’t know about. So I have to stop them.” “…Then you’ll end up like me.” She started to walk away. Crap what an apology was that… “What? Irene!” He calls after her. She visibly sighed and slowed down, not saying anything. “…I…” What else was there to say? She didn’t want him to keep doing what he was doing. And maybe she was right…no, he could be different. He could keep his friends and stop the remnants of Maverick’s group. “You what?” She looked over her shoulder to say, “What else do you need to understand what I understood Damian?!” “I don’t know.” He says finally. “I don’t know what.” “This is hard for both of us, for everyone, y'know?” “If it is they certainly know how to handle it better than us then huh?” Damian laughs sadly. “Not everyone shows their feelings visibly…” She turned to face him again. “Just don’t be reckless, because no matter what, I know you’ll be. If you think something is risky, get out of it. Don’t try to do everything on your own.” “I’ll do my best to not bear it all alone. I can at least promise that.” He meets her eyes, a small smile on his face. “I’m sure you’ll make sure of that won’t you?” “Lone wolves working together? Heh, sounds possible.” She returns the smile. “So, what do you think of the new people that crashed in the escape pod?” “I don’t know… I’ll have to check them out first.” “I’m not sure about them so far. One of them was literally carrying an entire arsenal on them. How does one do that?” “Maybe it’s because of their talent?” “Ultimate…Assassin? But we have that already…you really think that they’re Ultimates?” “Who knows? We’ll find out more about them soon enough.” “Hopefully, because I’m worried the headmaster will let them in without keeping a good eye on their actions.” He pauses, thinking back to his entrance in the academy. “Then again…” “He let me in with a sob story!” Sora yelled from where she eavesdropped from the outside. “Not even a very good one!” “No vigilante bullshit again, Damian. We’ll do this right this time.” Surprised, she turned to where she heard Sora and dropped her voice, “quite expected from him, actually.” “I wouldn’t do anything too extreme.” He says reassuringly. “But what do you have in mind?” “Just befriend them. I know how to 'read’ people, remember? We’ll talk to the headmaster about our concerns and see what happens from then on.” She smiles, crossing her arms in a thinking pose. “Befriend them?” He repeats, thinking it over before nodding slightly. “It’s worth a try.” “Good! We’re on the same page now, then. Will you help me talk to our other classmates? If you want to, that is.” She drops her tone, “and if Sora isn’t sleeping around again.” “You haven’t gotten to know any of the others well?” He asks, finally standing up and moving next to her. “It’s not that…” She says sadly, “it’s just I’m kinda scared of what they’ll say of my 'apology’.” “…the only one In worry about to be honest is Nagisa.” Damian frowns. “Even after everything, I don’t think he trusts me very much.” “I remember that… Let’s look for Akira and Shin then. You’re the first ones that knew.” “Shin first then I think I may have an idea of where he is.”

Irene follows Damian. He leads her out to the garden, scanning for Shin. “He hangs out here sometimes.” “Huh, I would understand why…” She looks around, seeing if anything had changed while she was gone. Shin is under a big tree, seemingly sketching “Um… Shin?” She nervously calls for his attention. “Ah! Hello!” he waves Damian waves before gently motioning Irene forward. She frowns at his action before fidgeting and speaking. “Hey Shin I um… I wanted to…” “Fire away, what is it?” “Um…” She looked at Damian before continuing, “I wanted to apologize for the other day.” “its fine, Apology accepted” he awkwardly ruffles his own hair

She looks quite astonished at his reply. “Err… Nothing else to say?” “Nope, No use in being super mad about something, i can tell you want to apologize so why be angery” “Thanks I… guess. Maybe with the space pod here, we’ll have to work together, don’t ya think?”

“Irene was thinking if we befriend them we can work out their real intent here, be it as friend or foe.” “Yeah, They seem nice, but its nice to know…” he kinda looks grimm for a second “I hope we can get to know ourselves better in the process.” Irene extends her hand to Shin for a handshake. he goes in for that handshake “So we have a team now. Should Akira be with us?” A small cough from eavesdropping dark haired girl in the bushes. She doesn’t like to not be included. “Sora seriously, what are you doing?” She looked to where the sound came from with a confused expression. “Training in being a ninja!” “Am I doing good?” “…So far it’s great.” “Horray!” “Alright team.” She stretches and cracks her knuckles, “time to find Romanov…” Everyone ends up going to the roof in search for Akira after a while of no results. Irene clears her throat to catch his attention. He turned around and looked very disappointed. “Oh, look who’s there: Batman, Superman, Robin and… I don’t even read comics. How’s it going? Establishing suspicious plans?” “I quite regret coming here already but whatever…” She took a deep breath and walked next to Akira, “Romanov, I came to say sorry for the other day.” “Haha… You have a weird way to apologize.” He shook his head. “Making remarks like that before saying sorry is quite uneffective. And what are you sorry for? Lying? Behaving like you did? Leaving? And, come on… Irene, you can use my first name, I won’t get offended.” “I have never liked your attitude, but you’re my classmate so I thought it would be only right to apologize for everything.” She crossed her arms with a frown, “You say it like it matters to me.” “My attitude? What’s wrong about it? It’s just my inner Russian showing up.” He smiled ever so slightly. Well, this is proving more amusing than I thought it would be. And he was safe, if she was discarding it as attitude. “And I say it like it matters to me!” “Why the hell do you give it so much-?!” Irene sighed before continuing. Here I go. This guy has really gotten to my nerves but still… “Listen Akira, do you accept my apologies or no? That’s all I want to know and if there ever is trouble between us we don’t have to include that day, how does it sound?” He got a little more serious. “Well… in the case I went crazy and forgave everything you just said to me and what you’ve done the other day, what would I get from it?” “…It’s like asking me what did I get with you all knowing my secrets.” She smirked at last, averting her gaze to the city. “The view here is really pretty, don’t you think?” Sora asked from the edge of the roof, trying to get the two to stop fighting.

“If you don’t want us to know, hide better. Really, if you want me to accept this pathetic excuse of an apology where you tried to make me pass off as the one who needed to apologize, you gotta do better.” He briefly looked at Sora. “And there isn’t anything interesting to see anymore.”

  “The sun, and the trees, and some buildings… I like to sit here and think… Even if I don’t have enough fingers to count how many times we were told not to.” “Even the littlest things we find to enjoy…” She says sadly. “What do you want from me Akira? I was doing my job, I was told to do this for privacy. The others didn’t make this so difficult!” She pointed at Damian, Shin and Sora. “I knew. I don’t count.” She’s still on the edge of the roof, looking down. It wasn’t they high. Kaede fell and only broke her hand… The smile totally disappeared from his face this time. “Ooh, poor girl. Does it look like I’m the others?! Does it look like I’m stupid enough to go on with that?! Who… no, what do you think I am?! Your convenient little thing you can manipulate because you want to play the game of life on easy mode? Do you want me to pity you?” That was getting too personal, the sarcastic mask had fallen. “All that I want from you isn’t much… it’s just a 'sorry’, but it has to be sincere. No invalid excuses.” You certainly are something, Romanov. “Forgive me, Akira. I shouldn’t have been that harsh with you.” She dropped her gaze and muttered ‘maybe if I can really forgive you I can forgive myself too…’ He let out the tension that had been accumulating over the past few seconds. Ugh, why so tense? It’s not like I was playing with my life or anything… “Sure. Apologies accepted. And… did you just say something?” “No? No, I didn’t…” She said as she walked away from him, “will you stay here or…?” “Or?” Actually, he would need to get off this roof pretty soon. Doing scary things was okay for two minutes… That was probably showing on his face, if he could get any paler. “Come back with us to the academy, Akira.” She chuckled, rolling her eyes with an honest smile. He was quite taken off guard. “Huh… we’re just on the roof. Where do you expect me to go anyway? It’s not like I-” He cut himself off. It’s not like I could go anywhere else. “You wouldn’t want to go anyway.” Sora said. “Even if you wanted to die, this roof is not high enough, probably.” “… Don’t go around saying things like that.” Irene just grimaced and continued her walk. ‘Well, step one is done…’ “Why not?” Another brick in the wall - “Just… don’t. Oh, by the way, you guys look like some suspicious-nosy-teenager-gang. What’s that all about?” “I am a member of a super nosy teenager gang. We weren’t always teens, though.” “They were just… Giving me some moral support here.” Despite his growing uneasiness due to the heights, he burst out laughing. It took him a while to calm down. “Oooh, scared of me? Haha… that’s cute yet ridiculous. I’m not as dangerous as I seem.” Irene puffed her blushing cheeks like a little kid and didn’t say anything to defend herself. “Lay off, she’s just nervous to talk to everyone again.” Damian steps in, seemingly snapping out of his thought.

“Hmm? Do you think she’s incapable to defend herself? I didn’t hear when she asked for your help.” “That wasn’t what I was trying to do-” He stops himself from snapping back settling with a glare. “I know she’s able to defend herself.” “Well, that’s what your actions imply.” “And your actions imply you’re just a dick.” “A penny to the curse words jar, young boy.” “My mom kee-will keep one in her class!” Sora adds. “Don’t think I won’t kick-” Damian is cut off by his voice cracking. “…” Sora, from her place at the edge of the roof, laughs. “Kick what? My ass? You’re too small, your leg doesn’t reach up there.” Akira was having a blast with this. Irene raised an eyebrow at the scene. “Wow low blow even for you, Akira.” “Irene!” Another voice crack. (Why now?!) “I’m going to go. This isn’t ovER-” Voice crack. Damian is now gone “Don’t leave me alone with them!” Sora whined. Akira smirked. “Having this much fun should be illegal.” “Oh, Dami now you’re in disadvantage!” Irene chuckled.

Irene was glad things were now taking a brighter path for her in her return to Hope’s Peak Academy.

If only her diplomat partners could understand her struggle with all of what happened…

#Jirami Senkou #sora hijirihara #akira romanov #damian miraz #not sure i got everyone #tell me if i missed a character #danganronpa #submission #renegade--soul

[howtohero]

#040 List of Handy Excuses (B)

It’s time for the next installment of our very popular (for a loose definition of “very popular”) list of handy excuses for when you wanna use your job as an excuse to get out of stuff to go fight crime.

A C D E

Babysitter

[No, you have to stay with the children. You wanna be a real hero? Keep an eye on these kids so their parents can have a well-deserved date night.]

Baker

• Great heroes aren’t born… They’re bread(makers).

Baggage Claim Attendant

I found this superhero costume in an abandoned piece of luggage at my work, I figured I might as well try it on and try fighting some bad guys. I mean why not right?

Bailiff

So I’ve been thinking, that judge guy is always having me bring in the evidence for all those court cases, so wouldn’t it be smart if I just went and grabbed pieces of evidence directly from crime scenes? Of course it’s smart. Uch I knew you’d be like this. Gosh it’s called being proactive Karen.

I’m also always showing belligerent witnesses or other such people out of court so wouldn’t it be neat if I showed a belligerent superpowered eco-terrorist out of our city? Of course it’d be neat! Uch why are you always like this. It’s called expanding my market Karen.

Banjo Player

The banjo that Kermit the Frog played in the opening scene of the Muppet Movie is at the Smithsonian. I need to go see it right now.

There’s a Mumford and Sons concert.

Bank Teller

No! No way. Is that a supervillain! I swear to god I cannot deal with this right now. These a-holes come into my bank like eight times a week and stick a gun or -and I kid you not- a four-foot-long flower that squirts acid in my face and hold me hostage and I am just sick of it. I’m out of here. (And then the irony is that really you are going to go put on some spandex and fight that supervillain).

Banker

I have to run out to go, uh, foreclose a house. (The irony is that really you’re going to go put on spandex and stop a house from burning down yay!)

Ball Boy

I am going to throw this baseball at Cthulhu.

Ballerina

Hey check this out! (then do some sick ballerina twirls right out the door).

Barber

I got a haircut the other day and my barber (shout out to Louie!) told me he was going to Italy for two weeks because he’s nearly 80 and he doesn’t know how many times he’s going to get to go to Italy and I thought he had an excellent point. So barbers, no matter what age you are, just tell people this. And then actually go to Italy.

Barker

You can actually use your loud shouting abilities to direct non-powered (read: lame) citizens away from the superhero fight. That’s probably where you can do the most good.

Bartender

Sometimes a supervillain just needs to talk to someone about their problems while that someone wipes the same spot of the counter with an old rag over and over again.

Baseball Player

I have an away game so I might be away for fifteen weeks.

I have a home game so I might be gone for thirty hours.

Basketball Player

Ok so I was playing golf and I made this admittedly kind of lousy shot but then the ball just started rolling and it landed right into the hole, crazy right? Yeah, so I go to get the ball and all of a sudden I get sucked into this cartoon world and these cartoon characters want me to play basketball against some cartoon alien monsters. So if I disappear for a bit that’s probably where I am.

Whoa, do you see that giant robot? How sick would it be if I jumped over that in the next dunk contest? I’m gonna go down there and see if I can’t get my hands on that thing.

Bass Guitarist

Ha! More like super bass (guitarist)!

Bed and Breakfast Proprietors

Literally all you have to do is just wait til after breakfast and before bedtime. Then you can go out and do whatever you want. Lunchtime is your prime crime fighting time.

Beekeeper

I’m sorry I will not be able to make dinner tonight for I have been carried off by a swarm of malignant bees.

I have to go put on my beekeeper suit, it may take a while.

Bellhop

Oh my god you would not believe this guest that’s staying at the hotel. He keeps finding problems with each room we put him in and demanding that we give him a new room and you know who has to carry his 22 incredibly heavy bags to each new room? Me! So if I leave abruptly, that’s where I am.

Bibliographer

Wait a minute, not everything in this non-fiction book is properly sourced and catalogued! I must get to the library posthaste to conduct the research necessary to determine where all of these facts, figures, opinions and otherwise borrowed pieces of writing originates from!

Bigfoot Hunter

Bigfoot’s doing another book reading at Barnes and Noble. It was in all the papers. Honestly, dude’s taking all the fun out of trying to track him down.

Biologist

Fun fact: I am the mitochondria, which is to the say, the “powerhouse” of this city. Therefore I am the only person capable of defeating this supervillain and his… acrobatic… elf army? What?

I have to go… photosynthesize something.

Biographer

Fun supervillain fact: Many supervillains turn to a life of crime and villainy because they feel that they have not gotten the respect that they were due in their pre-supervillain jobs. So maybe if I go down there and offer to write an actual book about them they’ll stop throwing pig carcasses at pedestrians.

Birdwatcher

Oh my god! There’s a light footed clapper rail near that superhero fight! I must get closer and snap some pictures for my rare birds Facebook and Instagram pages. Yes, I know it may be risky. But some things are just worth dying for. The light footed clapper rail is one of them.

Blacksmith

Finally! I’ve been clang clang clanging away on this new super cool armor in my workshop for weeks. I’m gonna put it on and fight that dragon that’s sitting in the park and freaking everybody out.

Boatswain

Some of the important boating equipment which I am responsible for (y’know stuff like life preservers, marine themed shaped snacks, the crew, boat engines?? porthole drapes?) is dangerously close to that rampaging truck monster. I’d better get down there and perform my sworn sacred boatswain duties.

Body Builder

Hey did you hear that I work out now? Yeah just figured I’d let you know in case you’re looking for me while I’m working out. If you can’t find me it’s probably because I’m working out. Crossfit leg day do you even lift crossfit.

Bodyguard

Ok if you’re a bodyguard and you want to go to your side job as a superhero here’s what you’ve gotta do. Wait until your client goes to the bathroom. Then jam the door, look him in there. Then go fight the crime. Then get back and free your client who will have been kept safe by the bathroom until you return.

Bongo Player

I’m gonna go find a bridge to play the bongos under.

Bookkeeper

I’m going to go down and take bets on that superhero fight I’m giving twenty to one odds on that giant mutant bullfrog eating Ultiman.

Botanist

You don’t need to make any excuses, probably your only friends are plants and plants are known to be very supportive of the activities of costumed heroes and vigilantes.

Bowler

(Look down at your shoes) My heavens! These are not my shoes! I must go find the true owners! (A Cinderella story for the modern age.)

Bouncer

I have to get to my post! My bar has a very strict no supervillains allowed rule and if that evil cyborg gets even close to The Drunk Hut it is my solemn responsibility to make sure he doesn’t get inside.

I’m a pretty buff man. I prevent children from sneaking in to the bar. I think it’s time that I step it up a level and bounce that supervillain right out of town.

Bouncy House Operator

Just deflate the thing and go fight crime.

Boxer

Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee, that villain may be winnin, but he’s not yet met me.

Boy Band Member

Bye. Bye. Bye.

Boy Scout Troop Leader

Ok whoever doesn’t tell their parents that I left early to punch a man made out of fire gets their “Kept a Superhero’s Secret Identity Badge,” their “Didn’t Snitch on Troop Leader Barry Badge” and their “Didn’t Descend into a Lord of the Flies Type Child Murder Chaos Scenario When Left Alone” badge.

Breakdancer

I’m going to challenge that eleven ton troll man from Mars to a dance-off, loser gets banished from Earth, winner gets ice cream (and gets to stay on Earth!)

Breeder

Wait a minute, does that supervillain have a horse that is on fire and also a ghost? Could you imagine what would happen if I acquired that horse and mated it with one of my top racing horses. It would be incredible. I’d be foolish not to get down to that superhero battle right away.

Bubble Blower (such as the kind that perform delightful and mystifying bubble shows)

I am going to delight and mystify this villain right in the face.

The villain is trying to make off with the entire town’s supply of soapy water. I must stop him. Even if I am not a superhero. Which I of course am not. (But say it in a way that sounds less suspicious.)

Buccaneer

I’m what you might call very expensive corn (wait for everyone to groan at your terrible pun) I’ll just see myself out.

Builder

Somebody somewhere just asked “can we fix it!” and I need to go shout “yes we can!” in their face. I know that that sounds like the kind of thing a fixer should be doing but we’ve pretty much taken over the “can we fix it/yes we can” industry thanks to public television.

Bureau of UFO Tracking, Transporting and Studying Agent

I have to go flush out some aliens, I don’t want any of them slipping through the cracks.

Bus Boy

All right everybody we’re going to try something new tonight! Everyone will just bus their own tables this shift! Then you’ll gain a greater appreciation for the working class! (You only need to do this once because you’ll almost definitely be fired for this.)

Bus Driver

If I stopped driving my route every time aliens took over midtown I’d never be able to my job.

Butlers

No no no no, butlers aren’t superheroes. It’s their rich masters who are superheroes. I mean sure butlers are the clear brains behind the entire operation and without them the Billionaire with Issues™ genre of superhero wouldn’t exist but I can’t think of a single butler superhero (as opposed to the dozens of bubble blower and bibliographer superheroes there are out there).

Tune in next time when we tackle all of the “c” occupations. As always if you know of a job that isn’t represented here ((speaking of representation, I’m pretty sure there isn’t any difference between a barrister and a lawyer so you’ll have to wait like a year til we get to L.) By all means, contact us. Or just use a generic excuse like “I need to get down to that superhero fight to see if I can help people in any way that I can because I am a good person” or “I am going out to get orange juice.”

#comedy #superhero #superheros #how to #lists #excuses #b #babysitters #date night #baker #bread puns #baggage claim #bailiff #courts #Karen #banjo #kermit the frog #mumphord and sons #banks #Cthulhu #baseball #basketball #bowling #bongos #bass guitar #super bass #bus drivers #butlers #pig carcasses #superpowered eco-terrorists

[entergamingxp]

Riot Games on Valorant’s competition, toxicity, and why 2020 isn’t too late for a team-based shooter • Eurogamer.net

Project A, one of several games announced in a wave of 10th anniversary fanfare at the end of 2019, is now officially called Valorant. It’s free-to-play, it’s releasing in Summer 2020, with a beta starting in the next few days, and as you might have read in our lengthy Valorant preview, it looks pretty slick.

That said, our hands-on time with the game threw up plenty of questions, too. The most obvious one: why a tactical shooter? And why now, so long after Overwatch, Rainbow Six and Counter Strike seemingly cornered the market?

Then there’s Riot’s unusual opening gambit, opting to lead with such a huge blast of technical info, and promises about stability and anti-cheating, over introducing us to the world of this game itself. What will the in-game purchases look like? And, after a decade of League of Legends, what has Riot learned about curbing its huge problem with toxicity?

We talked to lead producer Anna Donlon and game director Joe Ziegler about that and plenty more, with the two of them seemingly keen to cool any suggestions that Valorant is taking on its obvious competitors – as much as it may appear to be doing just that.

So, very high level to start with, you talked about this a bit already but when exactly was Valorant greenlit?

Anna Donlon: Yeah, so here’s what I’ll say. Riot’s approach to greenlighting games has been evolving the entire time this game was in R&D. So, “greenlit” is a hard concept for us to kind of get our heads around. Riot’s approach is: there’s a certain amount of commitment and investment that goes into the game once we decide we’re actually going to ship it. So there’s a certain expectation that the game is actually going to be a game worth shipping before making that investment. So when I look at traditional game development, like even kind of where I came from before here [Treyarch, one of the Call of Duty studios], there’s all these different phases for us. There were those phases, but there’s a moment where we were like, “yes, absolutely all in,” and our game was probably significantly further along than you’d expect.

Joe Ziegler: And further along than a lot of games, yeah.

AD: So, for us, what we will consider “full production” – fully all in – has been for the past year and a half. A year and a half now, probably more in a pre-production phase for a couple years before that, and then a very early R&D phase for a bit of time before that.

Was there a specific thing Riot overall was trying to target? As in, “we want you to work on these types of games” and then you can go ahead and incubate ideas. Or was it literally a blank cheque, blank page, go ahead and just start with whatever you want, and Valorant is what you landed on?

JZ: So a lot of the – when we started the sort of thinking about this project – a lot of the impetus for driving the project was actually just familiarity with this space [tactical shooters] and a desire to create something that will expand upon it, more than anything else. I don’t think any of the projects you see, even Legends of Runeterra, none of them started with them telling us to go research something. It was actually mostly groups of people together and said, “Hey, here’s a concept that we sort of explore.” And if it fails, let’s fail early, and then we go back and work on other things. But if it succeeds, let’s keep investing.

There’s probably gonna be some people who will say you’re about 10 years late to the party, right, releasing a character-based tactical shooter in 2020? What would you say to someone who would put that to you?

Anna Donlon, lead producer on Valorant.

AD: There’s probably a better answer than this. [laughs]

So for me, on a personal level, like, I’ve been playing games for 30 years – maybe more of my life – and I’m constantly looking for new games to play. And now I have children. And I’m watching my children start to play games. And I think, “late to the market” for me feels like we’ve already said there will never be another “this”, or we can never do it because you have to stop innovating, or shooters are done. I think what we’re bringing to the table is something that could actually be exciting to a whole new group of players, players who wouldn’t even think of themselves as players of this game. I think a lot of people have asked us, not here just like within the walls of Riot, like “Who do you think you are taking on a shooter?” [Both laugh].

Like that’s honestly a question we get a lot. I don’t think we think of it that way because we don’t think of it as “We’re taking on the shooter world” or like, “we’re going to be the next big shooter”. It’s more just like what kind of game do we think players are wanting to play right now? What do we have to bring to the table and we the right company to do that, and were we the right team to do that. Like, I think it just feels like a very genuine version of development. So that’s my version of the answer.

JZ: So that was an excellent answer [laughs]. My version is actually like, from our perspective, having played a lot of tactical shooters over the course of decades, I actually think tactical shooters are a kind of timeless concept that is always constantly in iteration. You see different versions of it occurring here and there. I think for us, the idea was, “What is the version that we can build a service around, that’s constantly always going to evolve?” And for us that access point of creativity is about reinforcing both the uniqueness of different players and sort of how they’ve actually evolved. But on top of that there’s a social layer of creativity where people share ideas, and I think really evolving things in the modern era is about building games to have social interactivity as a cause behind them.

There’s got to be an element of you feeling you can do something better than what’s already out there, so what’s the thing that Riot’s bringing that others currently aren’t? What makes you go “This is why we’re better than those 12 other shooters we listed as inspirations”?

JZ: I would say internally what we aspired to be is that [level of] strength, just like the idea of being able to connect players and developers and connect players to the games that they’re in end and really focusing less upon, “Hey we have a specific authoritative vision”, rather than going we’re going to work with players to really build experiences in the right way as time goes on, so in a weird way I’d say our best our best strength is actually listening to players? [laughs]. Because players are probably the best truth you know! But that doesn’t mean we don’t do a lot of grunt work analysing and thinking about players want, and looking into what current things our service can do.

AD: I mean, it’s like a risky answer right? Because I think it can kind of come across as if we don’t actually know we’re doing, we’re just waiting for players to tell us what we should do. But there’s a certain truth to part of that which is: we think we know what we’re doing, we feel confidence in releasing this game. But we’re not making it for us. And I think that’s something that we remind ourselves on the team quite a bit when we’re making very specific decisions – that it’s not for us, it’s for them. And the more we can reinforce that, the better an experience we’re going to be able to provide them.

So yeah, I mean, it’s the middle of everything we do. We don’t have a wall up that says “Must be better than Counter Strike” or, “Must take half Overwatch’s playerbase” like that’s, those aren’t actually our goals. Our goals are more about getting our game out and evolving it with our players and growing a community. That’s literally our goal. How wide and broad that can go is what we’re excited to see. But, our win condition is we put something out there that players want to build with us, that’s literally our win condition.

JZ: Yeah and that we can build a core community around.

AD: Yeah.

So there isn’t like a, “this is our Overwatch killer” mindset.

AD: No!

JZ: No, no, no, [laughs]. We don’t even strategise like that as a company.

AD: We just don’t! Maybe we should! But we just don’t.

It would be fun if you did! Much more dramatic…

AD: [Laughs] Look, for us it’s like, you look at League’s success [and think], “Would we want that for our game?” Absolutely. We want that for our game, but we don’t look at it as “…and in order to do that, we have to kill another game.” Because we like those games too. And we like that players like those games. We learned a lot from those games so… we get a lot of like, “Who’s your biggest competitor? Who’re you going after?” Obviously we know that that’s a real concept. It’s not like we’re delusional and we’re like “Competition? What’s that?!” But I just don’t think it’s how we think about how we’re making the game.

JZ: We look at a game like Overwatch and we look at a game like our game – we see why certain players would play Overwatch, we see why certain players would play our game. And so, I think it’s great that technology means you could probably play both in your lifetime and really enjoy both. But as far as it goes in terms of “Hey, we’re gonna kill this game,” we’re carving our own space.

AD: I will say, I think the one thing that is really interesting in all conversations we’ve had is we kind of come at it from the angle of: “Who are we not going to alienate?” And I think that’s actually been, really, a big part of the conversations around the game design, and even how we talk about the game. It’s like, let’s make sure we don’t alienate players by making choices that just completely turn them off right out of the gate. Instead of going out and saying, you know, what we’re doing better over here. I mean I definitely did that in my League ten-year video when I’m like “We’re gonna go kill peekers’ advantage!” [Laughs]

I mean, I definitely went hard on those things, but I think those are the places where we think we have the ability to do better. And I think, maybe the constraints or the realities of certain publishers, like how they do their business or whatever, prevents them from going all in on that player experience in a way that Riot’s super committed to. And so for us it is that player experience first and foremost, and we’ll spend big on those types of things.

Do you think that there’s an element of sacrificing approachability – or even just an air of approachability – by going so hard on like the buzzwords, the hardcore stuff? A lot of people don’t know what 128-tick servers mean, for instance.

JZ: So, two key things, [one] is understanding that your game is probably not going to be for everybody. There’s definitely going to be a group of players that are attached to your game, and then a group of players who’ll discover it and really enjoy it. And I think the common perception is that, a game that’s hard, and deep, and very difficult to understand, players won’t come and gravitate towards learning. But, I feel like we’ve learned the opposite through League of Legends. We create games and what we discover is, the more players actually build communities and learn towards them, the more it brings out the sort of core gamer in everybody [laughs]. You know it’s actually kind of common right?

AD: Yeah!

JZ: So for us like, it’s actually that’s the view of the world we kind of see – it’s not so much that the alienation points are more along the lines of like “Hey, they have no way to learn, is there a way they can discover a way to learn?”

AD: You only have one chance to say the first thing, you know? We definitely thought about “What’s the first thing we want to say about this game?” We had one chance to say the first thing and we had to really think about who we wanted to talk to in that moment. We’re going to have many more chances between now and launch to talk to a bunch of different parts of our audience about a bunch of different things are going to be appealing to them. But if we have one chance to say the first thing, I wanted to make sure when we were talking to the people that are currently feeling a certain type of pain or certain type of need, that we are uniquely positioned to address.

And I think that was the most [important], because that is Riot, that is what makes us special, from my perspective: that we will fix those things, and that maybe makes us less profit or maybe makes us have to take bigger risks or whatever, but those are the things we’re going to prioritise. And if you hear that first, then you can get more excited about what kind of story we’re going to tell or what our modes are going to look like. We have time to do that, but if we don’t talk about those core pain points right out of the gate, and we talk about all those other things, then we’re just gonna sound like any other thing, and that we’re not getting it. We want to make sure that we get it.

On the topic of new players then, obviously in League of Legends there is an ongoing battle with toxicity, and the fact that, naturally, whenever you have an element of hardcore-ness to a game, there’s going to be toxicity that comes with it. Have you done anything ahead of time, to try and get ahead of it with Valorant? Because with LoL it feels almost too late.

JZ: Definitely we’re trying to get ahead of it. I think, so, whenever you bring 10 people in a room like yesterday [during the gameplay sessions], there’s gonna be an element of sort of “passion” that comes out, and that can turn into toxicity. I actually would argue that LoL is also still trying to innovate this space. What we’re trying to do as a company is centralise all those efforts, and draw from that as we go. So, we’ve learned a lot from how LoL ran into issues with players in the past. I think on ours, we have a unique set [of issues] because our gameplay is a little bit different, but there are also central sort of concepts of how players play together and how players interact that we want to actually make sure we get ahead of this time.

So we’ll be using technology from the shared Riot concepts, and having specific salves around certain features that we have inside of our game – without talking specifically about those features! I probably shouldn’t right now [laughs] – but those specific salves inside of our game, we’ve done a lot of research to actually make sure and do that work. Just like any solutions thing, half of it is stopping people from hurting other people, and the other half is teaching them the better way to do it.

Monetization – you talk a bit about the fact Valorant is going to be free to play, with transactions for cosmetics only. Have you got loot boxes in the game?

JZ: That is the best question I’ve actually seen, shoot across the bow!

AD: Not right now!

So you’re not ruling them out?

AD: I think – I think when people hear “loot boxes” it’s like, you know, it’s a very strong topic right now. Everyone’s talking about this right now. We don’t believe in predatory practices. We won’t do anything that feels that way. I’d hate to say we wouldn’t have a mechanic in the game that offered for some sort of randomisation that helped really good players – and then people say “Yeah, but that’s just a loot box”. So we are taking a lot of time to think about what our version of that could be. And if we can’t find a version that feels good we won’t do it.

JZ: I think fairness matters a lot, I think also not putting it in a gameplay space matters a lot. I really don’t want anything to feel like it gets between you and the game.

AD: Yeah. And we’ve seen versions of it that are really effective, and really feel very rewarding. It’s certainly not where we started though. I think we actually probably were making steps in that direction, when a lot of the kind of recent buzz and conversation happened about it. And it really gave us a moment to say, “You know what, even though we believe in our plans, let’s take a second. Let’s see how things evolve. Let’s find our own version of it. Let’s test that version, before we just stick it out there.” Because I don’t – that’s hard to recover from. I don’t want that to be my first day story. That’s definitely not how I want to go out there. So, I’m open to finding the right way.

from EnterGamingXP https://entergamingxp.com/2020/03/riot-games-on-valorants-competition-toxicity-and-why-2020-isnt-too-late-for-a-team-based-shooter-%e2%80%a2-eurogamer-net/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=riot-games-on-valorants-competition-toxicity-and-why-2020-isnt-too-late-for-a-team-based-shooter-%25e2%2580%25a2-eurogamer-net

[stephanshortstories]

Conversation between 4 people about marriage

FRED: Is it better to marry out of duty than to not marry at all? 

GREG: I suppose it must depend on the duty.

ELIZA: No, it must depend on the person you’re dutifully marrying.

LANA: Why must those be the only two options?

FRED: We’re only pretending in a given situation; which is better?

LANA: Well, I think it’s a rubbish situation. 

ELIZA: But it’s a reality that many people had to face back in the day. Like Jane Austen. She had the opportunity to marry someone but turned it down because there was no love in it. And she ended up living the rest of her life single. If she knew that would happen to her, which do you think it would have been better for her to choose?

(silence)

LANA: I’d say it’s better to not marry at all. It’s better to be single than to be with a crazy abusive maniac for the rest of your life.

ELIZA: But that’s why I said it depends on the person. I’ve heard of arranged couples sharing how they accepted the situation and got along with their arranged spouse and things worked out. They even fell in love as they got to know each other through their marriage. 

LANA: Yeah, and I’ve heard of how people ended up getting beaten by their spouse and had to live with that forever too. 

ELIZA: So that just works to my point; it depends.

FRED: But what if you don’t have time to know the person really well? Like forget about if you fall in love, let’s just say your standard is I need to know if this person is kind and dependable or selfish and crazy. But you don’t even get the chance? Think of Jane Austen. Maybe she got to know this man who proposed to her, and figured that he was vain and selfish. In which case, yeah! It would have been better for her to risk being single forever than to be stuck with him forever. But what if you didn’t know? What would you choose then?

LANA: Single. Definitely better to stay single. 

GREG: I don’t know. The other option is to like, die alone. Even if you were stuck in a bad marriage, at least you’d have kids who can love you and look after you when you get old and who can be with you when you die right?

ELIZA: Are you speaking as the husband or wife?

GREG: What difference does that make?

ELIZA: It makes a very big difference! Marrying someone that you don’t know is always more risk for the woman because we’re more vulnerable to domestic abuse. Percentage wise. 

LANA: Hey, maybe we should flip that statistic. Before we get married, let’s take boxing lessons. 

ELIZA: So we can beat our husbands up.

LANA: Yeah. 

FRED: WHAT!?

ELIZA: Haha, just kidding. 

LANA: But yeah, marrying for the sake of family duty is always more risky for the woman, so they shouldn’t do it.

GREG: Oh! But that brings in another point. 

ELIZA: Which is?

GREG: It’s family duty. What if marrying would mean her family- like her parents- is well taken care of and has the means to live in a house and be fed and stuff. 

LANA: Uh, would that be worth marrying a horrible guy though?

(silence)

LANA: You’re actually thinking about it?

ELIZA: Well, that’s easy for you to say! In an Asian household, parents would say stuff like “Oh, we sacrificed our whole life to take care of you. Now are you going to be selfish and not make sure we’re taken care of, etc”. It’s a lot of pressure. 

LANA: Well. I would say just no. 

ELIZA: That’s because you’re...

LANA: HMMM. I’M WHAT? SELFISH?

ELIZA: You’re you. <laughter>

LANA: But you see, if I were in a horrible marriage, I would say it’s harder to love and help my parents because now I have to deal with a crazy person and potentially take care of kids AND take care of my parents. I could just do that better if I’m not married. 

ELIZA: OH TRUE. 

FRED: Yeah, that’s a good point. 

GREG: But what if your parents don’t think of that? Or they go, “No, it’s still better for you to marry than to take care of us alone.”?

LANA: Then I’d say “Oh well! Too bad...goodbye.”

ELIZA: YOU’D LEAVE THEM?

<laughter>