#it will be some time till it's actually done but these panels turned out nice

[charminglyantiquated]

WIP panels

#my beloved 2013 laptop died last winter #my new one works fine but almost all my brushes/drawing programs are too old to carry over #which was so frustrating i really haven't drawn in a year! #i'm getting over it the way i got used to my tablet in the first place - drawing a comic #it will be some time till it's actually done but these panels turned out nice #and i feel like i'm finally reaching the same level of competence with the new stuff that I had with the old #my art

[meggannn]

2022

I didn't read a lot of books, or write a lot of fic, or even watch a lot of TV, but I did play a lot of video games!

my real life is a bit of a controlled mess right now, this year I had a medical procedure and a minor breakdown and moved suddenly because covid malfeasance in the city terrified me and I think I need to be with family right now after we've had several family deaths over the years. one day I'd like to move back there but only when I can afford to live alone, which is definitely not in the cards any time soon with how the rental market is looking.

I am proud that I started posting and finished Tides, Receding this year. because I started writing it... three years ago? oh god I just looked it up and it was Feb 2020 that I made the post that ended up spawning the fic. and I told myself 2022 was the year I'd get it done, it's been sitting in my lap too long, and I did it. (party horn noise)

anyway my 2022 game list is under the cut, check it out for recs or whatever. this does not include the games i replayed, which included HZD, DAI, and FE3H, but lbr I'm always replaying those games in my heart

Puzzle games:

The Last Campfire (4/5): Play as a little... thing...? lost from its companions trying to find its way home. Some of the puzzles were a little too simple but this was a short and sweet game.

TOEM (5/5): Play as a tourist taking photos around various places and cities. perfect little photography game with cute side objectives and diverse landscapes.

Inscryption: I ended up abandoning this one during Part 2 because it just didn't hook me and I was hanging on by a thread with the creepiness as it was, but Part 1 was a lot of fun and I'd recommend it for anyone who's a fan of card games, escape rooms, horror, or Yugioh.

Unpacking (4.5/5): Unpack the protagonist's life across various moves. I loved this, my only criticism is that it was too short; I'd love more levels.

Into the Breach (4.5/5): Play as groups of time travelers trying to stop aliens from taking over several war-torn archipelagos in a turn-based combat system. the actual game (till the end credits) is great, the combat system is clear and intuitive. the story is pretty short, but progress carries over at the end cause time-travel. I could've gotten more mileage out of this one, but ultimately burned out cause I wanted to do more than just play the same levels all over again with different units.

FRAMED collection (3.5/5): I guess? for a cool concept—adjust comic panels and strips to help the characters progress through levels—it was a bit forgettable. still, nice for a few hours and probably cool for big comic fans.

Please Touch the Artwork (3/5): An abstract game that combines puzzles with modern art. Oof. I had to give some stars for effort cause I felt like the concept was cool, but I just couldn't get into this one. someone who enjoys both might like it?

Elli (3.5/5): Play as a guardian in a 3D platformer, search for gems and coins, try not to get swallowed by the time rifts. I remember really enjoying this this fall, but now that I'm writing this wrap-up, I barely remember playing it. I liked the puzzles a lot but I think it went on a little long.

Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion (4.5/5): You're a turnip. You rip up taxes in a sentient veggie world. need I say more.

Later Alligator (3.5/5): Play as an Alligator in Alligator New York City and do puzzles and solve crimes. it's adorable, it is, but I wish it was a little more forgiving; if you fuck up a puzzle, you lose so much time in an already limited day cycle.

Rain on Your Parade (4/5): Play as a cloud. Rain on people's parades, wedding days, office parties, whatever. Snow, thunder, acidic goo, you name it. go goblin mode. probably ideal for kids.

Moncage (3.5/5): solve environmental puzzles within a six-sided cube matching elements up across different sides of the cube to affect the scene. very similar to Goragoa, for the three other people who've played that game. short, beautiful, zen game, but man was it hard sometimes or I’m just an idiot. thank goodness for the hint system

Narrative games:

Heaven's Vault (3.5/5): You play as a young woman charged with tracking down a missing archaeologist across the galaxy with a robot companion. Really cool mechanic in this one where you decipher an ancient language as the main gameplay. RPG style choices set across make me want to rate it higher than I have, but some clunkiness (like not being able to revisit sites once you've left) knock it down. Someone once called this made by people who "want to bring archaeology to games but don't known how to make a game" which I agree with.

Tacoma (5/5): You explore an abandoned corporate space station trying to figure out what happened. Honestly, no notes. Interesting narrative, easy mechanics, great writing, doesn't overstep or overstay its bounds.

When the Past Was Around (3.5/5): got stuck on a couple dumb things that the game wouldn't let me interact with, and some other things were really not that intuitive, but other than that I thought this was short and serviceable, good for an afternoon with a sad story.

Wytchwood (4/5): Play as a witch who's charged with collecting twelve souls to deliver to a talking goat in a fairy-tale world. not really a narrative game but it's not puzzle or an RPG, so here it goes. anyway I had a lot of fun with this game. some of the backtracking was annoying and I wish the resource management was a little easier to, well, manage, but overall I enjoyed it.

Forgotten Fields (3/5): Play as a young author traveling home as his family decides whether to sell their home. Honestly a bit let down by this, there were some clunky mechanics I couldn't get over but it had interesting topics about moving on and finding artistic inspiration.

Adios (4/5): A pig farmer decides to quit his job disposing bodies for the mafia. Great voice work in this one, I enjoyed it; even though you know how it's going to end, they still managed to make it suspenseful.

RPGs/Open-world:

Horizon Forbidden West (3.5/5): I think I've already expressed my thoughts on this one this year but overall: great open-world game, mechanically and visually impressive; just OK story, unless you were a big fan of the first game, in which case the story was a big letdown.

Sable (4.5/5): Play as a young girl on her rite of passage as she travels a harsh world called Midden. hard for me to rate any open-world game as perfect because eventually some parts of it somewhere feel like padding, but despite some technical hiccups, Sable is the peak for me. non-combat, vibes-only, beautiful graphics, incredible soundtrack, easy recommend.

Control (3.5/5): Play as Jesse Faden, who arrives at the Federal Bureau of Control looking for her brother after his disappearance several years ago. this never wow'd me the way it was clearly trying to but I did enjoy it, whenever I could get over my fear of anything that moved. gameplay itself was great and i loved the oldest house as a setting. probably fans of the supernatural/horror genre could appreciate it better.

Citizen Sleeper (4/5): play as a cyborg who arrives on a space station and tries to make their way in the corporate underworld. a bit like Disco Elysium meets Murderbot Diaries. there's no combat, so I'd recommend this to fans of the RPG genre.

Paradise Killer (4.5/5): Play as Lady Love Dies in an island out of time, full of gods and demons and human sacrifices tired of being human sacrifices. Someone has been murdered in Paradise and you have to find out who did it. I had SO much fun with this one and the soundtrack is admittedly a huge reason why. (I'm serious listen to Ego 24-7 and tell me it doesn't get you pumped.)

Persona 5 Royal (4.5/5): the Phantom Thieves steal the hearts of corrupt people throughout Tokyo with their inner Pokemon-like demons and man this concept is cool, the soundtrack is killer, the only thing that fucking sucks is the unapologetic sexism that is unavoidable and irritating AF. (am I a little bitter I paid full price for this only a week before it went on sale for half off, yes. but I got a lot of mileage out of this that week during which when I was preparing for a medical procedure, so.)

God of War (4.5/5): Kratos and Boy travel to the highest peak in the realms to spread his wife's ashes. honestly? it's best enjoyed as a guy who enjoys puzzling going on a long walk with his son. as an action game it's meh.

Marvel's Spider-Man Remastered (5/5): I am PETER PARKER and I can throw MANHOLE COVERS at people while insulting their OUTFITS it is hard to top that

still playing:

Phoenotopia Awakening: A young woman named Gale sets on a journey to rescue the adults in her village after they are all mysteriously kidnapped. I haven't finished this one yet cause I hit a wall but ugh I just want to recommend it somewhere. there is so much love in the little details in this game, so many characters and puzzles and enemy types and history, you can tell so much heart went into this that I'm disappointed it won't get a sequel. my biggest criticism for it is that it is HARD, unnecessarily so at times, and there are no difficulty settings which sucks. but it might be good for Zelda fans or people who are good at 2D platforming, which I am not.

Eastward: Sam and John live in an underground town where travel to the surface is forbidden, until a mysterious event triggers Sam's magical powers and the mayor banishes them... eastward. I want to like this more than I am, the post-apocalyptic concept is very in-line with what I like, but jesus this writing feels like it never saw an editor. it just drags. I don't know how many times I can button-mash past Sam saying "Come on, John!" the game is beautiful, the designers and animators really earned their paychecks, but IDK the jury's still out.

#video games

[lir-the-witches-art-cottage]

Chapter 1 "A Giant start"

-Start chapter one: A giant start-

[Opens up panel one with forest shot, fairly nice day there are a few zooming in panels and then Coles' speech bubble]

Cole: Why the actual fuck are we hiking all the way out here?

Maverick: [sigh] Because my higher ups gave us a report that some hikers saw something

Cole: Oh just fan-fucking-tastic

Cole: You know those are my higher ups too-

[Maverick grabs Cole and shoves the two of them to hide in a crevices behind a tree]

Cole: What the fu-

Maverick: Shut it Shawcross

[Maverick says this with his hand over Coles mouth quiet for a panel, then next has us looking out of the hiding place to see a large humanoid lumbering by after a moment Maverick speaks]

Maverick: Fuck Maverick: There should be no way that's living here

Cole: What's living here?

Maverick: [Growl]A giant

Cole: A FUCKING-

[Maverick covers Coles mouth quickly with his hand again, there is a pause of stagnate silence Giant gets close but doesn't move in to grab them, moves along]

Cole: A giant?? but there are those in native myth right?

Maverick: This is a different Giant- not like native myth

[panel on Cole as a pause before he speaks]

Cole: .... Are you saying this is an invasive Giant species?

Maverick: [sighs] Yes

[Panel of Cole gesturing with a hand]

Cole: But that thing doesn't look no more than 8 feet tall

Maverick: Could be a Giant adolescence-

[Tree hiding spot gets ripped up by large 8 foot tall Giant, both Maverick and Cole pause there before they scramble]

Cole: I SHOULD HAVE KEPT MY MOUTH FUCKING SHUT-

[Cole turns back, brandishing his glock]

Maverick: DON'T SHOOT! Cole: DON'T SHOOT??? ARE YOU FUCKING INSANE??

[Cole dodges a large bolder thrown at him with a scream curse]

Maverick: WE NEED TO CALL HQ FOR BACKUP AND TO SECURE THE AREA!

[Maverick jumps over a tree thrown at him]

Cole: THAT COULD TAKE HOURS!

Cole: AND WHY IS THIS THING SO STRONG?

Maverick: NOT WITH THAT SEDATIVE I TOLD YOU TO PUT IN YOUR PACK! I'LL DISTRACT THEM!

[Cole frantically digging through his bag, Panels of Maverick making chaos in background Cole is quick to his loading and draw, shooting about 7-9 shots, Cole is huffing and puffing the giant fall to the ground, snoring, Cole breaks the silence]

Cole: Jesus fucking H. Christ Maverick

Cole: A little warning next time before we go head deep into shitvill

[Panel of Maverick rolling his eyes huffing]

Cole: That happened way quicker than normal

Cole: We better not have to deal with no more monsters that fast

Cole: I think I might just have a fucking heart attack

[Maverick walks over in like two panels and holds his hand out in the third]

Maverick: You haven't died yet, have a feeling you won't die anytime soon Shawcross

[Cole grabs Mavericks hand to help him up]

[Jump to the monster hunter crew coming in, extraction is happening, Cole is off to the side poking at shit and whatever with Maverick in the background, it then focuses on Maverick who is giving his report]

Terry: Uh-uh, alright I think that's all I need Knox-

[Face goes into a slight roll eyes kind of way, but points with his pen and nods]

Terry: [sigh] Shawcross is getting bored, again

[Maverick turns his head to look and sighs, he nods and holds a hand up to wave as he walks over]

Maverick: Cole

Cole: Can we head back home now?

[Cole looks up from his crouched position with a pout, he looks like a moron]

Maverick: No, we have to wait till we get the green light to leave

Maverick: Can you not get in anyone's way for five fucking seconds?

Cole: I'm used to getting a job done and getting the fuck out of dodge knox Cole: Sorry not everyone is used to the aftermath

[Cole and Maverick have a staring contest, Maverick rolls his eyes with an arm toss and turns away, however Cole follows, Cole is standing next to Maverick and then Cole gets a red hoodie shoved into his arms]

Maverick: Told you to bring a fuckin' coat you Gremlin

[Maverick nods to Cole, Maverick watches Cole pulling it on]

Terry: ALRIGHT! LOAD INTO THE VANS!

Cole:Fucking finally-

[Cole and Maverick start making their way to the car, Cole pausing to watch as the trucks start up, moving the thing along, he tilts his head to the side before Maverick calls for him]

Maverick: Come on Shawcross!

Maverick: You were the one complaining about waiting

Cole: Yeah Yeah you hot head

Cole: Can we get potion of shit yourself?

[Maverick looks annoyed that he even knows what Cole is talking about]

Maverick: Cole I'm not stopping to get you iced coffee

Maverick: We have a long way to go before we can get home

Cole: But Maverick!!

Maverick: Shut it shawcross!

Maverick: Fine I'll stop for ice coffee just shut up!

-End chapter one-

The comic can be read here on Tumblr or Tapas

~~~~~~~~~ Supporters get to see the comic pages and script early [super early] before everyone else so if you want to support us on Patreon or Ko-fi and become a comic demon today that would be wonderful or just get your name mentioned here for 2$! [The name applies to all artwork and content I post online at the bottom of posts]

#M.O.N.S.T.E.R. #MONSTER Script #Webcomic #comic #comic script #webcomic script

[jeweled-blue-eyes]

I absolutely love you for being one of those people who say

Spoon >> Plutus

After the extreme backlash from fans, most of them threatening to stop reading the manhwa as it deviates from the novel plot, I was starting to think of myself as dumb for preferring the manhwa as in preferring the characters receiving actual character development, the various potential relationships being explored and developed and for making things head for a resolution.

Like I was genuinely befuddled when people were bashing the jennette-anastacius arc, they said that it was a waste of time and space, a filler and it robbed them of what they came for which was fluffy father-daughter things bw claude and athy. When I on the contrary was about to drop the entire thing until they dropped in the jennette anas arc. Like after reading till season 1, which stuck to the novel and reading the entire novel while the early chapters of season 2 were being released and getting the spoiler, I had lost my interest in the whole thing.

Then they dropped Jetty-Anas arc and I can't explain but it did something to me, it held a certain appeal. Maybe it appealed to me more as a genuine father-daughter relationship than Claude-athy which felt somewhat forced. I actually waited for the jetty-Anas episodes for the very same.

Then they diverted away from Ana being that totally evil/black character from the novel, a charcater who may have affected Claude's life in a huge way but isn't present and had a distance from claude. The novel followed the same pattern with Diana. Both of these people being the most important in Claude's life, making him who he is, dominating his mind and the reason behind his actions and never being there at all. The very one-sided nature of the thing made it so pointless. And diverting from that was the wisest thing one could've done.

Like in the novel all the characters were just some trope. Jennette the second FL trope. Ezekiel the second ML trope, claude the hot yet cold and stern dad trope, Lucas that op bad boy main ML trope, Roger the shady opportunist noble trope, lily that caring nanny trope, Felix that nice redhead trope or the-only-dude-who's-nice-to-mc-in-the-palace trope, diana the Disney dead mom trope. And idk but that was the reason why I dropped the novel in the first place. Because we find all this in basically every other isekai shoujo manhwa.

Spoon actually broke all this. And instead of choosing another unrealistic alternative to replace these tropes she actually decided to explore these very storylines realistically.

I will never forget how she turned this story from a clichéd romantic story(like the novel) to a story about actual and different types relationships.

And in that process she actually succeeded in making us treat these characters as real people -

Jetty as nothing more than the victim she is.

That one panel about lp Ezekiel and athy that made the two characters more developed and their love story more tragic than claudiana's.

Ana actually being a complex human being rather than a straight out sociopathic and nasty prince. At tines he feels a better father, adult and person than claude, despite his reckless decisions screaming otherwise.

Felix and lily actually having their own characteristics and relationships aka actually having their own damn life and fam apart from being royal caretakers. Lily actually having more to her personality than just being caring and loving. She feels like an introverted booknerd who has an ocd for perfection, lol. And I suspect her to be one good fighter, she would totally turn anyone to pulp should she want to, dunno how but she feels that way.

Realistically portraying roger as a snakey, shady noble. Spoon really said that what does anyone expect from an normal ambitious person born into the dirty intrigues and machinations of nobility. Like he is how anyone with a brain functions in nobility. And pinpointed to us that obviously he is one of the least constipated adult men because he isn't actively part of the royal drama. Obvio he will love better.

I will choose manhwa Diana any day over novel Diana and I will die on this hill. Chap 100 did it for me. She actually comes off as a mother in the manhwa, a person who's not an unrealistic fantasy like her novel counterpart. And no matter how much the novel tried, it could never sell her off as a mother to me and her one dimesional sugary-sweet, flowery ethereal aspect kinda earned a literal meh from me, she came off as a nice but immature teen who recklessly yet stubbornly took decisions lacking far-sightedness and others had to face the consequences of her actions. In the manhwa Spoon actually made all those things a part of Claude's fantasy about Diana, he saw her that way. Because in chap 100( that golden chap) that fantasy gets shattered when she came off as a strong, mature, responsible person who unable to exist in her physical form, keeps on working and ig plotting to ensure the survival of her family and loved ones. The fact that she was always there working to no end, ensuring her partner and child's safety, regardless of her shortcomings kinda breaks her characterization from being restricted to a beautiful young and happy lover to establishing her as a beautiful, stylish, strong, protective, mature and responsible mother lioness (it's the lioness who hunts and feeds and takes care of the pack, not the lion that lazes around and I stan those type of female characters)

Making Penelope a complex character. Despite her limited appearance through other people's stories and recollections, she feels more than just a gold digger. She seems to be more complex than claude or ana.

Lucas actually is on a path to self-improvement no matter how slowly. In the novel he may have cried and shown more emotional sides of him to athy but he stays a jerk at the core, and as is mandatory the bad boy always wins the girl over the well behaved one. That changes in the manhwa, he seems to have more realistic characterization of a traumatized(thus the narcissism as a shield) and shut off person with realistic idiosyncrasies and cognizance. He isn't just a bad boy for the sake of being one. And he breaks masculine stereotypes. Bisexual culture loves him, unlike his novel counterpart.

That kickass blonde lady who makes an appearance alongside duke Alpheus and nobles. I suspect she is the sole master of her propert and I'm sold.

Claude's character development in the manhwa is different from that in the novel and I personally go for the alternative chosen by the manhwa.

One of the best things I love about the manhwa is it's treatment of it's females, it does away with the misogyny that is so common in the isekai shoujo manhwa tropes. Whoever is writing for the manhwa knows their art.

Manhwa>>>>>>Novel.

Changing Ana from a sociopathic prince to someone morally grey, including a healthy female friendship and leaving the romance open ended instead of shoving it down our throats was the best decision spoon ever made.

Making Felix, Lily, Diana & Penelope more complex however...I don't see it that way. Felix is still the redheaded knight trope and Lily the devoted maid trope. Penelope apologized to Claude too in the novels if I remember correctly she even said she loved Claude (not sure how she meant it and if it was the truth or not. Probably not.) and Claude never fully resented her but saw her as just another victim of Anastacius. Novel Diana also had a strong side to her (She threw a vase or something at her father when he insulted her).

#anon #answered asks

[h3l10tr0p3]

MANGA CH. 284 SPOILERS

OF REDEMPTIONS AND ATONEMENTS:

We all been knew, man. We all knew this was coming.

And godDAMN does it fucking HURT. (oh the sweet sweet angstfest this whole chapter is, just *chef's kiss*)

But i legit cannot put into words how deep the choice to 'Atone' cuts on my bleeding bkdk heart. Let's first take a step back and see how Katsuki went from DvK2 to here- that one keystone moment that has given us this beautiful chapter: And I meant ALLLL the way back to Chap. 252

I have already written a whole-ass post based on this panel, which you can check Here.

TL;DR Katsuki was actually paying real close attention to Endeavour in this part. He came to Endeavour to learn exactly what he was missing as a Hero, but he learnt so much more.

This scene in particular left a momentous impact on Kacchan. Here, Natsuo is resistant to the idea of forgiving his father for all his sins just because he is more involved in their lives now. And Endeavour had been dreaming for a while about a Home where he is not present with the rest of the Todoroki's which ultimately gave him the idea of buying a house for the others to live in apart from him. This is HUGE. This is what actually drove Endeavour's Redemption home- the perfect understanding and the perfect compensation, the two elements of a brilliant Redemption Arc. NOT THE FORGIVENESS, just as Enji says it. It is NEVER ABOUT THE FORGIVENESS.

Endeavour understood that it was his presence that caused his family distress, and although he dearly wanted to be a part of his family again, was even making efforts towards it by being cordial and accepting of Shouto's friends, inviting them to a family dinner, etc. etc. Endeavour realized the only way he can compensate/atone was to give up something that would cause him suffering, and them happiness. The idea that your family doesnt want you, when you just started to show some effort and HOPE that they might see you in different light, maybe forgive you and then to just terminate those ties entirely, punting yourself into a void where NO ONE CAN COME IN AND SAVE YOU FROM YOUR SUFFERING, is exactly what Endeavour did. He is actively shutting down the ONE window through which his family could see that he was suffering, and miserable, and wanted to be a part of the family again. Endeavour CHOSE to not be forgiven. To writhe with the knowledge of his sins day in and day out with only the shrine of Dabi Touya to haunt him every waking minute.

I cannot explain just how much determination it takes to do that, man. It's just- WOW.

Excuse me for ranting on Endeavour in a bkdk post, but I swear this has a point. And All Might says this the best:

This is the fanlation, the official release (which I couldnt get my hands on) also mentions that "When I meant you were like Endeavour, I meant the Change"

This here is an important bit that AM has caught onto.

In the 252 panel, where Endeavour says 'It's not like I want forgiveness' (Because Endeavour understands he cannot be, should not be, forgiven) "I just want to make up for everything I have done" (and to back this up, Endeavour shuts down the one communication link that could have offered him forgiveness, and thus salvation from the weight of his sins and his guilt)

Katsuki understood Endeavour's idea of redemption very well here, although he might not be shown with that light-bulb moment. He may have already known this wayyy before Endeavour said anything, but those words lent a solidity and to the path he must persue to acheive redemption: And it's Not forgiveness.

Let me tell you why I think Atonement is the greater factor here, even greater than Redemption itself. Redemption has an end-point: Forgiveness. But Atonement doesn't. Atonement has no expiry date. Atonement is purely propelled by the understanding of self, and the weight of guilt the self bears, whereas a Redemption is All About The Forgiveness.

Forgiveness is an external force, it may or may not be given to you and that is completely up to the person who has been wronged. Atonement is self-imposed, it is a meditation of the soul to forgive itself against the guilt it carries.

If Redemption is a marathon with a banner at the finish line, Atonement is trying to drag a twenty pounds of rocks through the Sahara desert without water, food or a compass- it's endless, hopeless.

And this is why Atonement is greater than Redemption.

And do you think someone as stubborn as Kastuki will ever find himself atoned of his deeds? No. And That, my friends, is The Point. In 252, when Endeavour says, "I dont want forgiveness" it's not just him saying it- it's also Katsuki. "I just want to make it upto you", is also Katsuki.

And to prove it, Katsuki will never ask for forgiveness. A verbal apology will be nice, sure. Especially since dumb-ass, gay-ass, 'Kacchan-sugoi' ass Izuku Doesn't even See it as Atonement. He is just #Blessed that Kacchan and he can talk almost-naturally again. And that is also Katsuki's intention- because the moment Izuku knows, he won't be able to atone this way anymore.

So, as much as I HATE to say this, the chances of a voluntary verbal apology are slim. If allowed to go on like this, Kacchan with continue to shadow Izuku through his life, worrying about him, LOSING SLEEP OVER HIM :

LOOK AT THOSE BAGS UNDER HIS EYES. /*shoves panels in yo face*/LOOK

Can you believe this bitch-ass gremlin who goes to sleep at 8:30 got bags just from stressing over his Deku??????

LOOK AT HIM DOING A HECCIN' MAJOR KOKORO-STOPPING CONCERN.

(He is flipping his shit because he worries, and he worries so much, and has worried for him for a long LONG time.)

- Katsuki will continue on this path of being Izuku's support.

Forever if it takes.

Forever, he hopes, it takes-

Because the only way he will stop is in death, either his own or Deku's.

This is his Atonement: To undo everything he once did, to support Izuku's dream instead of squashing it; To help him get stronger instead of perpetuating the narrative on his weakness; To protect him from all harm, when he once hurt; To be on his side when the whole world is against him, because once he was all, but, for him; To save Izuku as he wins, to win as he saves.

And, To deny each oppurtunity of forgiveness even as he desperately longs to be unburdened of his guilt.

Because Katsuki knows:

He knows Izuku is that one of a million, he is kind and humble and considerate and loving to a fault.

Katsuki knows that Izuku will forgive him in a heartbeat. That is just the kind of selfless, beautiful person he is.

Unlike Endeavour, who had no guarantee to forgiveness, Katsuki does. And that is what makes Katsuki's Atonement more powerful than Endeavour's. He recognizes it is in his grasp, just an arm's length away...

....Just an arm's length.

And Katsuki will deny himself that. Because he does not believe he deserves it. He hasn't atoned enough for it.

"Keep At Arm's Length"

He says. Because this is the critical distance between them. Not "Stay an arm's length away", because Katsuki doesn't wanna run away from Deku, and he doesn't want to be too far away to protect him, nor does he want to get too close to finally recieve the forgiveness that will give him salvation.

This is the fine balancing act Katsuki must maintain indefintely till he believes he has acheived his idea of atonement. (And when has he ever been happy just the bare minimum?)

I know I said Katsuki will never ask for forgiveness, and a voluntary verbal apology is very unlikely, because in it's very nature, it is inviting a forgiveness from Izuku, which we have established, Katsuki wants to avoid. And if this were any other manga, we would have been doomed to this conclusion. But, there is a scenario when Katsuki might issue a verbal apology and that is when Katsuki knows there isn't enough time to be forgiven in turn, or, hasn't atoned enough and can no longer continue to.

Like when Katsuki launches off, to deliver a final kamikaze blow to a villain, and he has only enough time to tell Deku a short "I am sorry", but not enough time to wait for a reply. Or when Deku is dying and at his final moments, when Katsuki knows however much he has atoned isn't enough and isn't how Deku should leave, without closure.

Whatever the future may hold, my dear readers, Katsuki still has a long, long way to go. And I hope to see him live through everything, to be there -

To survive these wars with Deku, To fight alongside him, To protect him. To win. To save.

To Live.

To hear Deku say "I had forgiven you a long time ago";

and ofcourse,

To forgive himself.

#bakudeku #katsudeku #katsuki x izuku #bakugo katsuki #katsuki bakugou #midoriya izuku #deku midoriya #bnha midoriya #deku #kacchan #endeavour #allmight #bnha spoilers #bnha manga #mha spoilers #bnha 284

[needs-to-stop-looking-at-valves]

what about some kup x springer? that old geezer needs to be plowed hard and good!! :3c

Ayyye I got you king, you fuckin' got it.

Kup has been around the block. He's seen monsters big and small, been in the coldest climates and under the most scaliding suns. But not ONCE has he seen such bullshit. He was in charge of making sure the new wrecker wannabes did their daily trainings, and of course, once mech had to ruin it for the rest of them.

And that mech was Springer. Kup had to head out to check on something (on request of Ultra Magnus), and instead of doing rounds, he caught his team looking at dirty magazines. Now don't get Kup wrong, he knew what was on a young mechs processor, and it was plenty healthy. When they were on their own time.

"But when it's distracting the rest of the team, that's when it is a problem. This is what you save for the barracks, kid."

Someone had snitched, revealing that they belonged to Springer. The hot shot triple changer who was easy on the optics, hard on the processor. It was why he was in his office, uninterested as Kup scolded him. Springer shrugged.

"What? You were gone, we were bored. And these are new! It's just mechs having fun."

"Training first, playtime later."

"Wow, prude much?"

"I don't give a scrap if you all have an orgy back there, I really don't. I need you-"

Springer threw his hands up, as if in disbelief.

"As if you give us enough time to HAVE an orgy back there. I think you're just so bitter that YOU don't get laid, you're spikeblocking the rest of us!"

Kup had to take a second to absorb all this bullshit. He pulled a cygar from his desk, lit it, then took a long inhale. There was no common sense in this kid, no reasoning with him. He exhaled slowly, letting the smoke fill the immediate area.

"Alright. Alright. You wanna play this game, do ya kid? We'll play that game. You get to be transferred to Ultra Magnus-"

"His unit SUCKS! Kup come on, you're blowing this out of proportion!"

Kup scoffed. He knew kid was gonna play hard ball. He picked up the magazine, using it to lightly smack Springer on his forehead.

"Alright. Then ya aft gonna face some punishment."

He made him get up, and handed him the magazine in question. Springer looked confused as Kup laid his body on the desk.

"What...am I supposed to do?"

"Manual labor. And you are NOT gonna stop until I say so."

Springer had more questions, obviously, until Kup spread his legs, and popped open his valve panel. Kup thought this was a bad idea, as it might ruin his reputation, but when he felt Springer ran his hand up his back, Kup knew he'd definitely have worst ideas.

"I knew you were in need of a spike, but damn going so far as to take advantage of a lil' recruit? For shame, sir."

Kup felt him lean over and place that magazine in front of them, showing a rather lewd imagine of a fem, huge chasis, playing with her valve folds. Right, bisexual. More chances for this young mech to act like a turbo fox in heat. With his hands free, he held onto Kup's hips, grinding his panel against his aft. Kup laid there, letting him get a good feel for his frame, while he took another inhale of his cygar.

"Because I leave this kinda punishment for morons like you. Trust me, it's not easy as-"

He was silenced when he felt that spike rub against him. Springer was stupid, sure, but he was right about one thing; Kup REALLY needed a nice spike. And from the size that he felt pressed against him, he was about to get just that.

"Sir, with all due respect, shut up."

Maybe it was because Kup had been looking through the magazines earlier. Maybe it was because he was excited by the idea of a young, fit stud fucking him. Either way, his valve was wet enough for Springer to push himself in effortlessly. Springer seemed to like the somewhat tight fit, given the chuckle that escaped his throat. Springer moved himself back and forth, not to be nice, but because he wanted to get a nice feel for his new valve.

"Good fit, eh?"

Springer leaned over Kup, swiping the cygar from his lips, smirking as he held it in his teeth.

"Not bad, definitely not bad. Gonna feel better once I get you whimpering though, old man."

Springer leaned himself back up, slowly pushing himself back and forth, as if the motion was foreign to him. Just when Kup was about to complain, Springer finally picked things up a bit, grabbing his hips firmly to push and pull Kup onto his spike. Kup groaned in relief. This was more fucking like it.

"Was starting to think you were scared of hurtin' me there, kid."

"Pfft. Hurting YOU? You're like an old bridge. You can take a lot more pressure."

Kup was about to bark at him for calling him old, when he slammed himself fully inside, making Kup stiffen on the spot. Springer laughed, removing the cygar from his mouth in order to blow smoke in Kup's direction. Kup turned to look at that stupid, smug smile of his. Kid was so cocksure, it was precious.

"That right? Well, go ahead, see how much pressure I CAN take."

"As you command, sir."

He gave him a mock salute, and after putting the smoke back into his teeth, he dug his servos into his hips again, and started to move, properly. As in, he started to plow right into his valve, metal clanking against metal, fluids cascading from their legs and onto the floor. Kup was loving it, reaching one hand down to rub at his little node. Oh it had been ages since he had a young, strong stud to fuck his valve.

"Don't hear ya talkin' slag back there, kid."

What he WAS hearing was Springer panting behind him, exhaling smoke as if he were a freight train. Poor guy wasn't used to handling having a seasoned pussy to pound, and he was making it pretty fucking obvious.

"S-shut up. Primus shut up."

"Aw, am I too much for ya to handle? You like fragging this 'old bridge'? You wanna overload in me? Well,"

He stood up, pressing his back to the other's chest, and stole his cygar from his mouth.

"You overload, right inside of me."

Then he pressed his lips against his. Kup bought good smokes, but something about the way they came from a young mechs lips- made them taste even better. Springer grabbed onto Kup's massive thighs, and overloaded. Kup let himself be filled with overload, before he pushed Springer's lips away, even being sweet enough to wipe the drool free from his lip. Springer chuckled, patting his thighs.

"Slag old man...you ain't have bad. This was fun."

"Was? Kid, you're kiddin'. We're just starting."

Kup reached behind him, grabbed Springer's legs, and pulled. It sent Springer to the floor, right on his back. Then Kup helped himself to round two, sitting down right on that spike, and starting to bounce on him. Springer was writhing on the floor, trying to grab anything in hopes to have something to grip on.

"FUCK OLD MAN!-"

Springer wasn't handling his spike being abused like this. And primus was it cute. Kup groaned loudly in content, and a puff of smoke somehow only made it better. He didn't even bother looking behind him. Not yet.

"Aw, what's wrong? Thought I was just an old mech who needed some spike? Thought YOU were the young mech to give it to me, eh?"

"Y-you're going f-fast-"

Oh Springer's hips kept bucking against him, more out of reflex than his actual want for more stimulation. Was it a bit much for the mech? Sure, but Kup didn't care. Not when it felt SO good in his soaked, soiled valve.

"That's it. Twitch in me. Gimme another load, same you'd do for your little magazine gal."

Springer finally acted like a proper solider, and obeyed. His hips bucked up, and he overloaded yet again. Kup swore his optics rolled to the back of his head as he finally got his own overload. Oh his valve ached. And he wanted more. He spun around on his spike, hand pressed on Springer's hot chest. Poor Springer.

Drooling, steaming, absolutely soaked in condensation. His optics looked hazy, his mouth agape as he panted.

"S-shit Kup. I'm...I can't do anymore. Primus say we're done. Please."

"Not a chance. This is your punishment kid. You ain't leavin' till you've learned your lesson. And you know me,"

He pulled himself off his spike, only to SLAM himself back down, making Springer toss his helm back as he cried out. Kup tried not to chuckle, but he just couldn’t help himself.

"I'm a through teacher~"

#asks #lemon #kup #springer #i know you wanted his pussy pounded #but like #i felt like a nice lil dom spin was a good mix up #hope you like it!

[i-see-you-now-you-see-me]

Papa don’t preach (DYVLONY series)

Pairing: Wavy Kun (NCT Kun) x Reader (number 6. You)

Can be read seperately, but advise to read other parts of DYVLONY series for some characters who appear to make more sense.

Word count: approx 5k

Warnings: some violence, light bondage, smut scene, unprotected sex 18+ people

enjoy reading under the cut, also- hit me up if you like or dislike, feedback is always appreciated! Love you!

Papa, don’t preach

*10043567901; 1102033149001, Planet DYVLONY*

-So, this is your kink dungeon? – you (number 6) asked, giggling.

-No, - Kun sighed, - this is the wine cellar…

Your laugh filled the room, as funny as it was, with Pastor Kun you never knew, if he was telling the truth or if he was lying. After the first sexual encounter with each other, the desire in both of you were on a thin thread that was about to burst soon. How many nights where you over Pastor’s lap, tears in your eyes, your ass sore from all the spanks that were delivered… and how many nights did Pastor Kun enjoyed your beatings on his broad back and shoulders? Even when his body was covered in red markings, he asked you for more, and every time he did, it only made you clench your thighs together to soothe the need.

-Ahh, Papa, why so boring?

-Papa? – Kun re asked.

-We have a song where I come from, and it’s very popular, - you said, - you want? I sing for you?

-No, thank you, - Kun refused, - I am afraid my ears will bleed…

-Hey!!! – you shouted and smacked his shoulder playfully.

Behind closed doors it was exactly as Kun had said- a wine cellar. Nothing dodgy: just normal cellar, with stacks of bottled wine on racking.

– This is it? Really? I was hoping for a proper spank room.

Kun turned his head to look at you.

-Naughty girl, - he whispered, - everything is meant for spanking with you, isn’t it?

-Well, yes and no, - you explained, - I enjoy spanking, especially from you, but noooo, not everything, it’s more of a fun thing to say.

-Not to me, - Kun retreated. – when you say something about that, you know I will dwell on it all night.

You caught his stare and bit your lip. Walking over to the racking, your hands wandered over the expanses of expensive bottles. Some stickers were missing, so it means, they must be very old, but out of the old ones, there was one, that had not a single dust on it, and it made you curious. Kun’s eyes lingered where you walked. As soon as you went the right direction, Kun was starting to take off his pastor mantle.

-This is odd, - you stated reaching for the bottle.

-Is it now? – Kun was right behind you, as you wanted to turn, his hands blocked your movements, - Pick it up…

He said in a smooth voice. You gently touched the bottle and once you did, it made a cracking noise and you heard something moving.

-Oh my god! – you were shocked, - there really is a kink dungeon!!!

Kun turned you around, there was a panel that had moved from the ceiling, now towards the cellar ground, it looked like a bed post without mattress, on all four sides there were leather cuffs, chains hanging from both ends.

-How do you like it? – Kun asked, voice like honey, you were awestruck.

-Uhm, - you choked on saliva, - I am not too sure.

-I made this for us, - he stepped forward, touching the leather with his hands, only then you noticed he wasn’t wearing his mantle; he was left in trousers and white tank top.

-Who is going to be tied up? – you asked, turning towards him, - me or you?

-It’s up to you, - he simply stated, - come on, I will show you the idea.

You were next to Kun, as he opened the cuffs.

-This is for your arms, - he pulled you until you were sat on the panel, - but first, let me take this of you.

Opening your classic onesie, Kun stripped you down to bra and underwear, didn’t help much that the undies had a hole, leaving your bottom bare to his eyes, as you stood up to take it off.

-I did say I only bought them as a joke, - Kun laughed, - I didn’t think that you would actually wear them…

-Anything to please my pastor, - you simply replied, - I’m being a good girl, aren’t I.

-Aha, - his hand swatted your ass cheeks, grabbing onto them before holding onto your waste lovingly. His lips reached for your shoulder, peppering kisses starting from your shoulder blades, then towards your arm, you tilted your head savoring the feeling of his lips on your body. Turning you around, his lips attacked yours, his tongue asking for entry, which you provided him with. Soon you were attached to the leather cuffs, your legs spread apart.

-How is it?

-Not that comfortable, - you said with a laugh.

-What is it? – Kun asked.

-I feel like I know where this is going, - you said, - I am a very dirty minded person.

-I know you are, but I hope you are wrong, - Kun checked if you were secured to the panel, leaning in and kissing your ankles, and then each knee. – how do you feel about overstimulation?

-Oo, - you bit your lip, - are you treating me?

Kun nodded.

-Yes, - you smiled at him eagerly, - make me cry if you want to.

-If at any point it is too much…

-I’ll shout “papa don’t preach?”

Kun took a moment to realize, that it actually is not a bad idea, he nodded in agreement.  The next thing though, he didn’t warn you about. A slight buzzing sound reached your ears as you looked down where the sound was coming from.

-You have those? – you gasped in shock, at the same time Kun pressed the buzzer closer to your womanhood, and then seemingly changed his mind.

-Yes, we do, - he simply stated while focusing on the task, once he set a nice buzzing on the lowest setting, he put it right onto your nipple, the sensation making you come alive. Left nipple and the right one, till the peaks were both equally excited. – What a good girl, indeed.

Leaving the vibrating toy on one of your nipples, Kun delved his tongue in your wet folds. Your cuffed legs leaving you without a chance of moving anywhere. He was licking and sucking, and kissing your lower lips, his tongue entering your vagina.

-Ah, Kun, - you moaned loudly. Feeling the pressure climbing higher you were ready to let go any minute.

Feeling your walls tighten around his tongue, Kun knew you were getting closer to your orgasm, and just before you could reach the hot ecstasy, he stopped. Your breathing was shallow, short breaths leaving your mouth. You did say “yes”.

-Oh god yes, - you moaned out, - fuck!

Once the swear word left your mouth your womanhood was rewarded with a smack, and then another, as you tried to pry away from Kun’s punishing hands. Choking on your own moans, you didn’t know you could make sounds like this, the whimpers escaping your lips. Once your breathing was back to normal, Kun returned to his task. This time he moved the buzzing wand straight to your folds, separating your labia with its head. Pastor changed the speed setting to a higher one, leaving the toy at your other entrance. The massage of your anus made you clench pathetically about nothing, and Kun’s lips returned to your clitoris, sucking and letting go, keeping up with the rhythm. You knew you must be dripping now, Kun will have a lot to clean when you are done, but you had no time to think too much about it, your body arching from the panel.

-Not too tight? – Kun asked to assure you were alright.

-Ahh, - you moaned, - fucking peachy…

Kun sat up, his palm reaching to pinch your nipples, while the buzzer was snug at your butthole. Reaching for your neck, he held onto it while looking you directly in your eyes. Then with a swift movement he stopped your air flow, just for a few seconds, letting you go after, and repeating it again.

-I don’t like when you swear at me, - he simply smiled at you, you nodded your head, - So, what was that? Not tight? Everything alright?

-Yes, - you said, small tear forming in the corner of your eyes. – Ahh, I need more, Kun…

He took off his shirt, leaning in for a kiss. His wandering hand brushing passed your pelvis, two fingers entering you, his soft lips absorbing your cry. There was barely any resistance, and Kun moved his fingers freely, setting up a speed so good, your legs started shaking.

-Don’t think about coming, - he whispered licking at your now bruised lips, you could only nod.

The pressure was building fast; you were on the brink of reaching the peak, when Kun got up, his fingers leaving your core, grabbing the toy away from you. Your teary eyes were a sight to behold, as Kun licked his fingers from your nectar.

-One more? – he asked, and you nodded.

Kun again reached for you, his lips tracing a pattern from your jaw line, towards your neck, your breasts, smooth flowing kisses on your tummy, on each side of your hip bones, his hot breath now on your pussy. Parting your legs to his liking, his lips got back to business, his tongue delving straight into you. The buzzing returned, as he pressed the want at your swollen bud. More tears escaped your eyes, as your moans got louder. You were feeling the tight coil forming in your belly, knowing it will be the end soon, but as you were to reach the sweet peak, Kun was fast to stop you, stepping away from you completely.

For some reason, this felt like a torture, and you were ready to shout the three safe words you established, tears streamed down your face. Normally you would be alright, but this was far from alright. How Kun managed to do it so fast?

Did you really like him that much?

Would you miss him if you were on Earth?

Was he the only one who had given you the taste of what you truly desire?

Yes.

-Papa, don’t preach, - you whispered quietly.

Kun leaned in to unfasten your cuffs straight away, pulling you in for a back hug against his chest. He soothed your vulnerable body, his touch like feather all over you.

-Shhhh, - he whispered, - it’s fine, as long as you are ok.

Taking off the cuffs from your legs, he let you rest your body on his.

-I’m sorry, - you said, - i… I don’t know what happened…

Kun fastened your onesie around you, taking you with him upstairs, once in the bathroom, he made you sit down in the shower, while he prepared the water that cascaded down your back.

-Careful with the hair, - you said with a small laugh, - don’t want it in my butt crack later.

Kun washed your hair, taking a cloth; he washed down your body with lavender body wash, drying you of in a towel, giving you a few pecks here and there.

Later in your room, (yes, your room, as much as Kun felt the need to have you by his side every night, you were not ready to share that kind of commitment with him, not yet) you replied the events in your head. Why did it feel so weird? What’s the issue you can’t pull yourself together with?

Kun is amazing, you are sure of it, he would have rewarded you with an fire scorching orgasm after that, but why weren’t you ready?

It’s like your own bad thoughts and insecurities coming back to you… why were you single at your age? Why were you running from your life, scattering away with one night stands that didn’t lead anywhere? What if you had never been on that damn space ship? Where would you be now?

You finally realized your escape mechanism. Don’t get too close, they might run away. Run away like many had before, scared of commitment. Where you not turned into one of them? Loners searching for sex, disappearing into early morning, the walk of shame like an everyday routine?

There was a silent knock on the door, and you turned around to see Kun, who walked closer to you.

- Sorry to disturb your sleep, but I forgot to tell you something. There is a wedding tomorrow, - you nodded, as he sat down on your bed. – so, I won’t be home for a bit.

-Ok, - you nodded. – are you preaching?

Kun nodded, moving his arms to tug you in.

-Are you alright? – Kun’s smile reassured you to speak up, as he noticed your eyes wandering everywhere else but him.

-I… - you started, - your previous relationships? How… you know, how where they?

-Well, for a starter, I haven’t met anyone like you before, none of my previous partners knows what I like, if that’s what you are asking. I didn’t really have a relationship, only one before I became a pastor.

-What was that like?

Kun breathed in as if he remembered his past. At first, he looked deep in thought, and then he played with his hands and fingers a bit, before starting.

-She was a prostitute, - you nearly gasped. Kun was fondling with his rings, not looking at you as he continued. – But I was not a pastor at that time. Let’s say like this – my first sexual experience was anything but sexual. I was a bit of a nerd, going to church on Sundays, following books and doing a lot of reading, but as the night fell, I became the sex obsessed beast in the sheets. Her name was Paulina. She kept my bed warm for a bit, and she taught me how to please a woman right, so I am grateful for that. Before she died, I was in studies, last year when I had to choose what to do next, but I hadn’t really made plans. A friend of mine asked me to join his fathers’ company, because, once he finished, he would become the next CEO. Paulina discovered that she was ill, and her days were numbered. So she asked me- when you go to the church, pray for me to go to a good place after I die, please? I didn’t know what to say but “I will”, she died before I told her that I prayed for her every Sunday, and that I heard the god’s will for the first time. I learned that the god only spoke to people who are destined for something great. Father Gabriel told me he trusts that god took Paulina with him to White Haven. Even through hurt and pain, I put my faith into god and followed his plan for me…

Your hand reached for his, squeezing tenderly, Kun leaned down to kiss the top of your palms, kissing your forehead next.

-Sleep tight, baby girl, - he whispered and you nudged him.

-Ew, no, - you laughed again, - where did you get this from?

Kun left you not giving an answer, whistling as he walked out. You closed your eyes and for some reason slept right through the morning. Your own thoughts that troubled you before- gone without a trace.

*

-Dong Sicheng, long time no see? – Pastor Kun greeted his fellow classmate.

-Long time it is, I hear you have an alien living with you, - Kun nodded, Sicheng’s remark was ok, but his voice tone made it feel unsettling in his mind.

-I do, she’s a very kind human, and I am happy to provide her with comfort…

-Amongst other things, I presume?

-On the contrary, - Kun spoke softly, - are you still against humans, WinWin?

The nickname made Sicheng cringe, and he swallowed hard.

-Anyways, I should be heading back, I’ve paid my respects, see you some time later? – not even waiting for an answer Sicheng left, disappearing around the corner.

Kun opened his bible, reading the last lines of the “White walk” evangelism:

“Two souls becoming one are set to be forever entwined. A heart will beat in unison with a heart, till the end of both their days, walking hand in hand in white…”

*

-Who…. Who are you? – Intruder surprised you, as you were to go get a drink. There you saw a figure dressed in all black. He/she had his/her back turned on you.

-Ahh, I hate this, normally, trust me, if I had a choice, I would not be doing this, - when the figure turned around a woman with dark hair was staring at you.  – There is always a different approach, but I cannot waist any more time.

-Who are you? – This time you spoke more strongly, your voice not quivering anymore. Why the fuck did he sound like a dude when it was clear she was a woman? Or was it the other way around?

-Sweetie, there is no need for that, - she said, - where is ye dear old pastor?

Her voice was laced with venom as she was belittling Kun.

-Oh, come on baby, don’t be such a tease, - her hands reached for the knife, your eyes darted around to look for a weapon to defend yourself. – I really hate to do this, you know…

She was walking towards you, your hand reached for the first thing you could grab, and before she could attack you, your hand swung the chopping board right in her face. Out of nowhere Kun ran inside the kitchen, going straight away, blocking Guanhee’s movement with his own body, the knife delving deep in his chest. You screamed in shock, Kun’s body going limp, as he was falling backwards, your bodies sinking towards the floor now.

-Ah, why the bitch face? – Guanhee spoke again. – it’s your fault…

-No, it’s yours, - you said, wiping the tears with your palms, - it’s your fault and you will fix this.

Where did you get the courage? You had no idea. But as you stood up, taking the chopping board once again, you went full on attack mode. Swinging the board wherever you could reach, Guanhee was down on the ground sooner than expected.

-Now, bitch, - you bit back her own words, - call the fucking ambulance before I break your face!

You saw a slight movement from her side, but your reaction was faster as you kneaded the stranger between her legs. To your surprise when she grabbed her crotch you understood that she was a he.

-Call the ambulance!!! – You shouted once more, and she complied. Then turning back to Kun, you reached for him, sitting back down on the floor, putting his head on your lap. – Hold on, please Kun… please.

Your silent whispers didn’t reach his ears, as he was losing consciousness. You heard a slight rustling, but turning around- Guanhee was already gone. Why did she not attack you one more time? Why did she leave empty handed?

The sound of sirens were heard in the background, as more tears escaped your eyes.

-Please, Kun….

*

-He suffered quite a blood loss, but he is stable now, the weapon didn’t reach any of his internal organs, so it’s mainly a slight damage on his breathing system.

The Doctor walked you towards the hospital room where Kun was at. He was a well- known member in society, so the council had provided him with a VIP room. When you approached him, he had his eyes closed.

-I’ll leave you to it then, - Doctor Delilah bid you goodbye as she left.

You sat on the chair next to Kun’s bed, too scared to reach for him just yet.

-I won’t bite, I promise, - Kun whispered unexpectedly making you yelp. The more you looked at him, the more teary your eyes got. It started slow, tear slipped from the corner of your eye, then another followed by another tear. – Shhh, I’m ok…

He reassured you, reaching for your hands.

-You cannot move, - you said, wailing, your cries leaving your mouth, - you have to stay in sleeping position.

-Only if you come closer, - he smiled and soon you were pulled in a warm hug.

-Kun, you cannot… - you whispered.

-I can, I am not fragile, god is watching over us… besides… I need to tell you something.

Your body relaxed in his arms once more. His hands touched your hair, then he cupped your cheeks and gave you a sweet kiss on the lips.

-I received a message, while I was at the wedding. - Kun started, - He has blessed us… you and me, so I am thankful to be with you… if you feel the same, no pressure if you do not. I want you to feel comfortable when around me, and I think I am ready for the next step. Are you?

When you nodded in agreement, his lips reached for yours again.

-That’s my baby, - Kun smiled giving you pecks all over your face. Tracing your tears with his fingertips, Kun wiped the pain, fright and the inner demons away. You had found your safe haven in his arms, and one thing for sure, you don’t ever want to leave. Not this time.

***

-Don’t touch the blindfold, - you chastised, making Kun respond with a huff. You switched roles with him, since he still was on lighter duties, his body still wrapped in bandages. He was positioned on a chair wearing only loose sweatpants, his hair disheveled from the shower he had few minutes ago. – I really miss you.

Your hands traced a pattern on his torso, slightly grazing his abdomen, making Kun bite his lip. You reached in for a kiss, just a small peck really, to leave him hanging.

-Are you ready? – you leaned in whispering in his ear.

-Oh yes, - he whispered back, giving your body the same reaction, sending shivers down your spine, light goose bumps covering your skin. You left him by himself, walking to the kitchen, pouring two glasses of water.

-Hold this for me, - you said, giving him one glass and the other.

-What is this? – he asked, confused.

-Did you think I was going easy on you?

-No, I was hoping for extra, with you it’s never vanilla, - Kun giggled, - also, if I wasn’t mistaken, you wore lace… so not vanilla at all.

When he had a good grip on both glasses of water, you grabbed his dick through his sweats. He gasped, some water spilling from both glasses.

-No, no, no, - you whispered, - when you spill water, I give you a punishment…

Your hands travelled up his torso again, reaching for his head, you sharply tugged on his hair, his head falling back, a moan slipping past his lips. You kissed him harshly this time, nipping at his lips, licking at his jaw, kissing your way down his body. Your lips had reached his left nipple, his right one was still covered with bandage. Tugging on it with your teeth, you heard Kun whisper something quietly. He held onto the glasses much stronger than before. Teasing was always fun and two can always play this game.

Sitting on his lap you took a test grind onto his crotch. Your lace covered panties did nothing to hide your wet arousal sipping through. Your lips drank from Kun’s again, your hand in his hair, the harder you ground onto him, the harder you pulled at his roots. You kissed at his mouth, the corner of his lips, dipping your finger in one of the glasses, tracing a wet patch all over his body. Tugging at his trousers, Kun stood up, so you could take them off.

His penis stood proud, waiting for what’s next. Your wet fingers touched the base, a slight touch on the head, and then a sharp tug, your fist around the shaft. Kun gasped the air- your hand moved up and down a bit, your thumb touching the head, massaging the small bead of pre-cum formed at the top.

-Remember not to spill the water, - you reminded him.

Getting down on your knees, you took his length in your mouth, welcoming his dick in your wet cavern. Sucking lightly on its head, you let him deeper in your mouth, letting his dick hit the back of your throat at its own accord. Setting in a nice rhythm, Kun moaned every time you sucked him deeper, his moans like a delight to your ears.

-Ahh, I’m so close, - he moaned out.

Feeling him tighten his muscles a bit, you noticed his abs flexing, as soon as he was about to come, you stopped completely. Breathing in slowly, Kun got his breathing back to normal.

-Let’s go, - he said, ready to resume what you were doing. – Tease me more, baby…

The nickname made you giggle again, what exactly was he playing at using it?

You enveloped his cock again, licking the underside of his shaft, sucking only on the tip, the taste of him bitter on your tongue. Shifting on your knees, you fisted his length, sucking on his ball-sack, Kuns’ sharp breathing returned, he was getting worked up very quickly, and as soon as you noticed him shifting around a bit more, you knew how close he was and when exactly to stop.

You stood up, kissing Kun’s lips again. Taking one glass, you took a sip from it, and put it back in Kun’s hand. Leaning in you tapped on his lips, and Kun opened them. Letting the water slip from your lips into his mouth, he swallowed greedily.

-More? – you teased and he nodded.

You reached for the other glass and did the same, more water spilling on Kun’s jaw than his mouth.

-Don’t spill the water… - you whispered one last time, positioning yourself on his lap, his cock at your entrance. Moving your underwear aside, your wet cunt finally touched his hard on. Moving yourself lower and with the help of your hand, Kun’s dick slowly pushed inside of your tight walls, convulsing around him straight away.

-Sssooo tight…. – Kun choked on a moan.

-Mhmh, - you whispered, it felt like teasing Kun had affected you more than you’d like to admit. Feeling yourself lose so fast while riding him, pain in your joints already, you were ready to give up.

-Fuck this, - Kun said sharply, dropping both glasses on the floor, water spilling everywhere, his hands onto your waist, not wasting any time fucking into you, meeting you halfway. Taking off the blindfold, he leaned in for a kiss first, then attacked your breasts through the lace bra, biting and sucking through the material. – not comfortable…

He stated, picking you up, your legs around his hips, as he walked you to the closest flat surface. Kitchen table will do. Sitting you down to it, his pelvic movements returned, his hands groping on every fleshy bit of your body, lips sucking bruises on your neck, while your hands returned to his hair again.

When your vaginal walls were tightening on his length, Kun pulled out leaving you empty and breathless.

-Shit! – the swear word left you lips, Kun disapproved.

-What was that? – he leaned closer to you, - I quite couldn’t catch that… care to repeat?

You nodded a “no”, but got rewarded with a smack on both of your breasts.

-Come on, - he pulled you up to stand, as he flipped you over, pressing your upper body down to the cold surface, sliding his counterpart straight back into you, both of you moaning in unison.

His hand reached for your front, finding your clitoris in no time, giving you that one last push, making you come instantly, his pelvic thrusts not stopping, till he was spilling his essence inside of you.

-One more for me, baby, - he teased again, rubbing on your sensitive nub, this time making  you scream out incoherent words as you reached the sweet peak again. Pulling out, a whine left your lips and Kun gathered you in his arms, helping you stand, reaching for some water to quench your thirst. He helped you both shower, dressing you only in a shirt. – Would you like to sleep with me?

-Kun, we just did…

-I mean like, in my bedroom… make it our bedroom?

You nodded. Both of you were under the covers straight away.

-You are a strong woman, - he said, kissing your temple, spooning your body.

-Why do you call me baby? – you asked, interested.

-Don’t you like it?

-Uhm, not really, - you responded.

-Agh, - he played, - you are hurting my feelings!

Turning back to face him, you stared at his profile for a bit, before closing your eyes.

-So, it’s official? – You asked. – Who am I to you?

-My girlfriend, my beloved, my future wife, - Kun stated leaning in to capture your lips again.

-Future wife? – you thought for a moment before responding, - I’d like that.

-You’d like that? – Kun smiled.

-I would…

*

#wayv fic #wayv smut #nct fic #nct smut #dyvlony series #fanfiction #fiction #nct wayv #wayv kun #wayv imagines #nct kun smut #nct kun #papa don't preach #yes #here you go #nct imagines #reader insert fanfiction #reader insert #wayv x reader

[timextoxhajima]

Love Me A Little Less: Chapter 7 - Golden Chains

LOVE ME A LITTLE LESS CHAPTER MASTERLIST

Member: (3rd person pov) arranged marriage au with Lee Juyeon

Genre: angsty wangsty

Taglist: @hyunjaethereal @sunwoowuvbot​ @suzy-rainbow​​

"Everyone wants everything she has.”

Juyeon raises his fist, Porsche parked nicely in the only empty lot of three by the fountain before the mini mansion. The sky is cloudy and Juyeon can already smell the musty scent of rain as the gentle cool winds blow through his still-waxed hair. 

His knuckles press into the wooden door before he actually knocks, and he almost feels sorry for himself for being such a nuisance at the worst timings ever.

Finally mustering the courage to knock, he does just that, and he can see the lights in the entrance hall flicker on through the door panels by the sides after some time. Multiple locks click open, and the door opens just enough for the resident to see him.

“Juyeon,” Sunwoo blinks, already in his silk pajamas and his hair combed down nicely. He looks tired - probably from the day’s work of being Juyeon’s moodmaker at his own wedding. “What are you doing here? Oh my God, you got kicked out of the Lee’s House?”

“What? No!” The elder seethes quietly, his pride hurt. “I left.”

Sunwoo’s brows are covered by his fringe, but Juyeon doesn’t need to see them to know they are far up his forehead with amusement. 

“You left the Lee House?” 

“Yeah,” Juyeon sucks in a deep breath and avoids eye contact. “My mother told me she wanted me to have a child with Jang Won just so we can inherit HERA & ARTEMIS.”

“Oh, man,” Sunwoo’s face falls with pity and confusion. “That... that’s gotta suck.”

“I know. That’s why I’m here.”

Sunwoo pulls the door open for Juyeon to enter, head poking out the door to see the Porsche parked in his driveway. “You can stay if you like but I’m afraid people are gonna find out you’re here and not back at your place or Hera’s Manor.”

Juyeon pulls off his shoes and slips on a pair of home slippers meant for guests. The entrance hall is a lot less spacious and elaborate compared to the Lee House’s or Hera’s Manor, but it’s because of its smaller scale that comforts Juyeon. Feels more like a home than an exhibition.

The door shuts and Sunwoo pulls the locks back into place. 

“I know, but I just didn’t know where else to be. I can’t stand being in that house.”

“Okay, so you hate your parents. We know this, but do you really have nowhere else to be at now?”

Juyeon turns and shoots Sunwoo a look of displeasure. The younger pouts slightly as he passes him and heads for the main hall. The fireplace crackles to life when he turns it on.

Dropping himself into the couch and staring at the fire, Juyeon pulls off his blazer and covers his face with it. The cushion next to him sinks when Sunwoo sits, quiet and unsure.

“It’s not that I don’t want you here. I just don’t want to risk you getting into trouble with the press. Everybody knows the Porsche’s carplate number. And aren’t all your cars bugged?”

“I removed the bug.”

“What? How? How did you even find it?”

“The one in the Porsche was under the compartment on the passenger’s side.”

“Did you like, throw it on the ground and drive over it or something?”

“I threw it at my bodyguard.”

Sunwoo snorts. “Were your parents around to see that?”

“Yeah, my dad was this close,” Juyeon lifts a hand and gestures with his thumb and index finger. “To punching a hole through the driver’s window, so I threw it out the passenger’s window instead.”

The hearty laugh that runs out of Sunwoo’s throat tickles Juyeon as well. “I’m not gonna lie, this is something you definitely wouldn’t have done prior.”

“Prior to?”

Juyeon pulls the blazer off his face and side-eyes Sunwoo. The answer was already in his eyes.

“Ah,” Juyeon scoffs. “Maybe it just bugs me that my mother was in the same position as Jang Won is now - an arranged marriage - and yet she’s telling me to do all these things to her... a child, taking HERA & ARTEMIS.”

“Don’t you think you’re developing too much of a soft spot for her already?”

“Why does everyone think that way?” Frowning, Juyeon finally sits up in the couch. “Poor girl lost her mother to cancer and then her father who only comes back from the dead, only to take what she built - does that make sense at all?”

“It doesn’t, but you seem to forget that she’s got the entire world at her feet. Even if your families harmoniously merged, I’m very sure she still wouldn’t give away her blood and sweat so easily.”

Juyeon sighs and drags his hands down his face, feeling the weight from the day sink into him. “I just... I can’t imagine. She’s... got questionable motifs, no doubt, but... when I spoke to Younghoon today, I... He made me promise to protect her and be patient with her, and now I see exactly why.”

He pauses and looks at the cracking fire. 

“Everyone wants everything she has, and she knows that herself.”

Jang Won yawns and crawls into bed, stretching her neck from left to right as she tightens silk night gown around her waist. She fiddles with the ring on her left hand, diamond sparkling under the amber lights of her room. 

Memory sends her back to earlier that day - to when Juyeon pulled her out of that sickening interaction with misogynist Mr Teuk, only to call her a hypocrite in her own office. 

She harshly exhales, pulling out the ring and placing it by the nightstand. Her feet shuffles under the sheets, cool and heavy and all she wants to do is to slip into forever. If only.

But a gentle knock ensues on her door, and she groans in frustration, shutting her eyes to regulate her lack of sleep.

“What is it?”

“Miss Kim, there’s a call for you, and I’m afraid you’ll have to entertain it.”

She rams her face into her pillow when she recognises Mr Ro’s calmness. She’ll never yell at him for anything in the world. 

“Can’t it wait till morning?”

“Uh, well... I’m afraid not, Miss Kim. It’s your husband.”

“Oh- my God!” She screams into her pillow, refusing to leave her bed even more now. “What is it that’s so fucking urgent?!”

The door finally clicks open and Mr Ro kindly pokes his head in, eyes furrowing at the lady of the house huddled into the thick sheets of her bed. She turns subtly, enough for one of her eyes to see Mr Ro’s head through the gap of the door.

“He, um, ran away from home. He’d like to stay for the night... or rather, until you leave for your honeymoon next week.”

Jang Won frowns, neurons in her head struggling to fit themselves together. She sits up. “What? Juyeon... ran away from home?”

He nods enough for her to see, and a strange sense of protection wells her stomach. 

“Give me the phone,” She stretches out her palm and beckons Mr Ro over to her bed. The butler was already dressed in his own pajamas, so she can’t help but smile softly at how cute he looked. 

And yet, she displays the magic of a 180 degree change as she presses the phone to her ear, “What the FUCK is wrong with you?! Do you have any FUCKING idea how late it is?!”

“Oh!” Mr Ro anxiously waves his hands at her. “It’s Mr Kim Sunwoo on the line, Jang Won!”

Her eyes widen, and she winces into the phone, taking a pillow to gently whack Mr Ro. 

“Yeah, hear that, Juyeon? Do you have any idea what time it is now? Anyway, hi. It’s Kim Sunwoo, in case your butler hasn’t told you.”

“Right, right, sorry about that.”

“Don’t be sorry about that, just come and take your husband back to Hera’s Manor. He’s homeless and I can’t risk him being seen here. He drove his car here.”

“What? Isn’t his car bugged with a tracking device?”

“He ripped it out, but the whole press knows his car plate number so if he’s spotted here, I’m sure you wouldn’t want to answer why there’s a man involved in your marriage.”

Jang Won huffs with irritation. “Fine. I’ll send someone over to drive him back to Hera’s Manor. Why’s he homeless now anyway?”

Sunwoo laughs dryly over the phone. “His parents. What else?”

Jang Won twists the receiver away from her mouth and turns to Mr Ro. “Is the second master or the other guest room made up?”

“The second master is being used to house your clothes and items for your honeymoon, and the other guestroom is currently being used by your father.”

“What? My father? What the fuck’s he doing in the-”

“Uh, would you like a word with him? Maybe you could snap him out of his nonsensical act right now that’s putting him and you in various difficult situations.”

“Ugh, get someone to watch my father in the second guest room! We’ll clear him out tomorrow, and send someone down to Kim Sunwoo’s residence now! I want Lee Juyeon in Hera’s Manor in 30!” She twists the phone back so the receiver is at her mouth. “Get him on the phone. I’ll scream his ear off.”

“He says he’ll explain when he gets there- hey, give that back- wha-” 

BEEP

Jang Won removes the phone from her ear just as Mr Ro shuts the door behind him. Rubbing her temples to cure the headache that’s forming in her skull, she reminds herself that her newly wed husband cannot be brutally murdered the night of her wedding. 

“My God,” She huffs exasperatedly, side-eyeing Mr Ro. “Men.”

“Shall I call someone down to drive you there or-”

“No, just send a guard to tail my car but you just stay home and clear the second guest room.”

“Your father won’t be able to clear it out by the time Mr Lee is here, Jang Won.”

She halts in the midst of throwing on full-length coat. “Are you telling me that I might need to share this bed-”

“Possibly, yes.”

The groan that escapes her throat is loud, annoying and absolutely a bomb of a ruin to the rest of her night. “Fine. But get me a bolster. I don’t want him anywhere near 30 centimeters of me.”

Jang Won can’t exactly remember the last time she’s got her fingers around the steering wheel, but she sure as Hell felt the freedom when she didn’t have to worry about telling the chauffeur where she was headed off to. 

The Mercedes tailing her car was driven by one of Hera’s Manor’s bodyguards, and so she makes sure to stay a good distance away from it since the press is also aware of her car plate number.

She parks her Audi right next to the Porsche, and the Manor’s Mercedes almost at the entrance where it leads up to the fountain and the roundabout. There’s no hesitation in slamming the door and almost running her entire fist through the door (if she could) to make her presence known.

“ROOM FUCKING SERVICE FOR MR LEE JUYEON. GET YOUR ASS OUT HERE!”

Almost immediately, she can hear someone shuffling for the door, and it swings open to reveal Kim Sunwoo, a distant member of The Board. Peering over Sunwoo’s shoulder, she can see the reluctance dripping off her husband as he peels himself off the sofa, still in his clothes he had left in. 

“You went home and didn’t bother to take a shower?” She sneers, but Juyeon cannot give two damns about her attitude right now. He finally reaches the party at the front door, noticing the Manor’s bodyguard driving the Mercedes up to meet the other cars. 

“I went home and got blasted with the suggestion of having a child with you, how’s that for a reason not to shower?” He frowns, trudging past her for the Porsche. 

Jang Won watches his back head down the steps, getting into his own car and prepare himself at the wheel with a look of contempt in his eyes. She turns to thank Sunwoo with a mere nod, before heading down the steps herself and getting into the Porsche. The plan was to have the Manor’s Mercedes left at Kim’s Residence while her bodyguard drove her Audi, and she would be in the Porsche with Juyeon - all this to prevent any sort of complications if they were to be spotted by the press. 

The urge to scream at him for possibly ruining the perfect plan she had in store to debunk all the shit’s that gone down with her father has, surprisingly, diminished. Jang Won cannot decide what she’s more taken aback by - the fact that Juyeon left home because she had been unreasonably brought into discussion, or that he got scared by the thought of spending the rest of his life caring for a child with her. 

Of course, being the skeptical person she is, she chooses to believe the second option more than the first.

“Is the idea of having a child with me so horrible that you had to leave home?”

“A child should not be brought into the picture when we don’t even care about each other,” The weight in his voice kind of hurts her pride. He checks the side mirror as he turns around the corner. “Neither of us had a choice to be where we are today so... let’s not implicate any other prospective beings that might suffer from our decisions. I don’t want to be my parents and I’m sure as Hell you don’t want to be like your father.”

Juyeon checks the rear mirror, making sure that her bodyguard was tailing them in the Audi. It’s strange, to have some peace and quiet in the car as the whir of the air-conditioning hums through the vehicle. She’s looking out the passenger’s window and seeing everything outside as they drive past.

“Haven’t been to this neighbourhood before, have you?” 

She shakes her head, not bothering to turn to him. “No. I’ve only been hanging around the Manor and the Meridian Streets where you stay.”

A pause.

“Sunwoo’s grandfather was the first of his family to secure membership in The Board, that’s why the disparity.”

Jang Won’s eyes dart to Juyeon and tries to side-eye him, but he remains out of her view and she returns to the world outside. “He’s a new-blood?”

“Three-generations new,” Juyeon nods. “Haven’t met one, have you?”

“No. I grew up with people whose great-great-grandparents lived in the Joseon dynasty.”

“That would’ve been a fun time to be alive.”

“Only if you wanted to be executed for being a politician.”

Juyeon exhales through his nose.

Jang Won lets the atmosphere settle, feeling the gentle night seep into her after a long day. She wonders about Juyeon’s perception of her as a person, after everything’s been happening. 

“How did you meet Kim Sunwoo?”

“We went to the same high-school. I was two years his senior and we were in the same club, and by then, my parents had already begun to teach me the likings of The Board and even gave me a booklet with all the families who were involved with it. I remembered Sunwoo’s family being indicated near the back of the book because they were new-bloods, and from then, I remembered his face.”

“Wouldn’t you have been worried he’d use you to shift up the food chain?”

“Not everybody is as venomous as the ones we know. Sunwoo had no idea I was from the Lee family. Once, we were shooting hoops till late and his father had come to get him... and then Sunwoo had to watch his father bow to another student... and I could tell he hated it, and then he was almost as shocked as I was, but for completely different reasons.”

Jang Won doesn’t even notice she’s staring at Juyeon until he turns to her, looking straight at her in her eyes. The car stops at a red light, now just a few streets away from Hera’s Manor. He turns away first.

“And I had to watch him bow to me too, just because his father told him to... and it felt like shit,” Juyeon’s eyes are glimmering the shade of red from the traffic light as he looks ahead. His face reflected the amber hues of the street lamps and other stray vehicles still on the road. “I wanted a friend, but his father was treating me like something they shouldn’t even be talking to.”

“It has always been like that. The way The Board works... it’s a hierarchy within another and when you’re a new-blood...”

“Yeah. I know,” Juyeon sighs as he lifts the brakes. “Part of me wishes we weren’t born into this shitshow.”

A mirror. That’s what he is. Stand right opposite Younghoon and he’s nothing but someone who wishes the same - to be free from all the golden chains. 

#multifandomnet #the boyz juyeon imagines #the boyz juyeon fanfic #the boyz juyeon scenarios #juyeon #the boyz #the boyz juyeon #juyeon fanfic #juyeon scenarios #juyeon imagines #the boyz imagines #the boyz scenarios #love me a little less

[please-buckme]

This was my first request! I hope you enjoy it! 😁🥰

A Path Worth Taking. Anakin x reader

SMUT

Warnings⚠️: SMUT, name calling, teasing, choking

Anakin, Obi-Wan and a few troopers were on their way to planet Alderaan in search of an uninvited guest. A Sith. This Sith had been terrorizing the people of Alderaan for days now. Senator Organa sent in his own people to take care of the situation but had failed numerous times, that’s when he called the Jedi council for help. Anakin and Obi-Wan did not hesitate to take on the mission for Senator Organa had helped the Jedi order on many previous occasions.

“We’re almost there, Master.” Anakin called out to Obi-Wan who sat patiently somewhere behind Anakin waiting for their arrival.

“Excellent!” He called back. “We need to meet with Senator Organa to get her coordinates before we go after her. I believe he said to meet him at his home, do you know where that is?”

“Yes, Master.” Anakin said while fiddling with the control panel. Just then Anakin could feel the Force stretching itself in between himself and another who was sensitive to the Force. “Do you feel that, Master?”

“Feel what?” Obi-Wan gave Anakin a confused look.

“N-nothing, Master.” Anakin could feel the Force pulling him in as if to guide him to somewhere he needed to be. Lucky the pull was coming from somewhere on Alderaan.

It didn’t take much longer for their ship to break through the planet's atmosphere and to touch down safely. As they exited Senator Organa stepped out of his lovely home.

“Senator Organa, how nice to see you again, sorry it is under these circumstances.” Obi-Wan said whilst tilting his upper half into a bow.

“Oh if not these circumstances then another. I am so very pleased it is you two the council sent. That Sith has been tormenting my people and killing my guards. I didn’t know who else to call.” Senator Organa put his head down in defeat.

“Well, that’s not your problem to worry about anymore, Senator. Anakin and I will make quick work of this and be out of here in no time. Now, where is this wretched Sith you speak of.” Obi-Wan says.

Senator Organa frowns in response. “Uhh, that’s another problem, we lost her.”

“That’s no problem at all, Senator. We’ll wait for her to mess up and cause a ruckus again, it shouldn't take long.” Obi-wan gave Senator Organa a Siths-will-be-Siths look, making the Senator crack a small smile.

Anakin stood behind Obi-Wan still feeling this odd pull of the Force. He tried brushing it off as if it were possible to ignore. He closed his eyes trying to follow where it wanted him to go. It took him down the long stretch of building, making Anakin’s stomach churn. Once it got down to the street it made a sharp left turn going four blocks down before taking a right..

Anakin opened his eyes. He felt dizzy from the rushed directions the Force was sending him. Then in his ear he could hear a very soft whisper. ‘Come, Come and find me’ the estranged voices said followed by a seductive laugh. Anakin now realized that the weird pull was coming from the Sith they were sent to capture; he could hear the odious, foul cringe in her voice even with just a whisper. Anakin didn’t want to tell Obi-Wan about the pull to her he was feeling. He’d get another lecture on the dark side and how he needs to avoid certain urges and blah blah blah. He never listened to Obi-Wan when he talked about that stuff anyway, so there was no point. Instead he decided to just follow the pull and bring her in by himself.

Anakin clears his throat. “Pardon me Master, do you mind if I step away for a second for some.. fresh air?” He says nervously.

“Anakin.. we’re outside.” Obi-Wan is astonished by Anakin’s idiocy.

“Yes, right. But with the altitude we’re at The air is a little thin.. Master.” Obi-Wan stares at Anakin in confusion.

“You’ve never had a problem with altitude sickness that I can recall but if this is true then so be it. Just keep an eye out For the woman.” Obi-Wan waves him off.

“Yes, Master.” With that Anakin made his way down to the street where the path started, walking fast as to waste no time.

------

Anakin makes it to his destination. It’s an old beat up, yellow house that seemed to be falling apparent at the seams. He put his hand over his lightsaber, that was still attached to his utility belt, just in case he needed it.. He walked up to the front door and peered into the windows. He was looking for her but only saw old, dusty furniture and ugly shag carpeting.

He could still feel the pull but he had a bad feeling about actually entering the house. He turned to leave and when he did he felt the Force pull him through the front door and straight to the back of the house. He fell to the floor once he reached the end of the hallway. He noticed there were two rooms on either side of him. He took out his lightsaber now igniting it as he went to enter the front one on his right.

He, once again, saw nothing but furniture but this time they were wrapped in big plastic tarps. He scoped the room out a little more thoroughly before going back to the hall to now search the room that was on his left. He opened the door hesitantly as he walked in stealthily. After he opened the door all the way he noticed a few things; the first thing was a big open safe against the wall that connected to the bathroom, then an arm chair that sat by a window with the curtains drawn. His eyes continued to scan the room until they landed on her.

The sounds of his lightsaber filled the room as he approached her.

“I've been waiting for you, Skywalker.” She says now turning around to face him. “I have to admit you’re cuter than I thought you’d be.” She grins at that. She stands up for the bed that sat up against the opposite wall of the safe. She walks towards Anakin but stops as he holds his lightsaber out towards her. “Do you even know how to use that thing?” she asked mockingly.

“Of course.” He says almost embarrassed as he stares at her through the sheen of his lightsaber and observers her. He’d hate to admit it but she was beautiful, she wore a long black gowned, almost a night gown, he thought. The straps were thin exposing the skin on her shoulders and the top of the upper portion of the dress exposed her chest to the point where he knew she was not wearing a bra.

“You’re drooling, Mr. Skywalker.” He huffed at her and pried his eyes from her body.

“I’m here to bring you in. You are nothing but a prisoner to me now, Sith scum.

“Calm down,Jedi. Your might hurt my feelings. You don’t want to hurt my feelings do you?” She laughed a wicked laugh. He started to proceed toward her. As he did she took the opportunity to have his lightsaber come to her. She laughed again making him very angry. She played with Anakin for a while as she skillfully messed around with his lightsaber.

“Enough!” Anakin shouted towards her. She gasped then made a humming noise seeming aroused by his anger.

“Calm down, baby. You’re so tense.” She laughed again. “You haven't fucked in a long time have you?” She continued to dance around, then when she looked back at Anakin's face she noticed a pinkish tint had appeared on his cheeks. “Oh right, sex “Isn’t the way of the Jedi” bullshit.” She giggled at that.

“How dare you mock Jedi code.” He screamed. She paused her actions now staring at Anakin in contemplation. He crossed his arm over to the other now feeling violated by her eyes obviously undressing him.

“How about we make a deal, hm? I’ll give you back your precious lightsaber and come with you willingly if you fuck me.”Anakin shifted nervously at her request. He glanced towards the window in annoyance before looking back to her.

“I’d never fuck anyone let alone a dirty Sith whore.” He spat.

This made her angry. She threw the lightsaber into the open safe, locking it. Then without hesitation tossed Anakin like a ragdoll onto the bed.

“Did you really think I was asking?” She grins at him as she sits herself next to his head. “You’re going to do exactly as I say or else I’ll strip you down to your boots, give you a mind boggling blowjob and stop just before your climax. Then, I’ll grab my things, along with your pretty little lightsaber, and be on my way. Is that what you want, Jedi? She then reaches down and palms Anakin over his pants making him involuntarily buck his hips upward.

“It- it’s just a lightsaber… I-I can always make another.” Anakin doesn’t want to lose his lightsaber again, Obi-Wan would kill him. He also can’t stop himself from moaning out as she presses her hand down a little harder on his member.

She tsks, “You’re already getting hard for me and I've barely done a thing.” She brings her other hand down to join the other in undoing the button of his pants.

“S-stop, this is wrong.” He tries to move his hands to stop her from her actions but her hold on him is too strong for him to break. He felt the button pop open and the zipper become undone as well. He groaned at the feeling of being released from it’s all of a sudden tight confinement. He groans even louder when she pulls him completely out of his boxers. “Stop!” he tries again.

“Look at you, you’re dripping for me.” She hums in excitement. “You’re so big too. Don’t you want to know how it feels to have my tight pussy wrapped around your cock.” His member twitches at her words making her giggle in excitement. “It seems your body is betraying you, Skywalker.”

She starts to stroke him slowly as she admires every detail of his smooth, veiny member. His involuntary groans have turned into whimpers of pleasure. “Do you still want me to stop?” She asks, still stroking him.

“Yes.” He says sounding out of breath. She hums as a smirk appears on her face. She then lowers herself till her face is hovering over his member. “What are you--”, He trails off as she takes him in her mouth. “F-fuck!” he screams.

“Still want me to stop?” she asks lifting up from him for only those words as she glides him back into her mouth.

“Y-yes!” He moans. She takes him deeper into her mouth, humming at the feeling of his soft skin grazing her throat. “Oh god that feels so good..” He says without thinking. This makes her moan around his member again sending shock waves through his entire body. He’s given up on any morals at this point, only wanting one thing at this moment, to cum down her throat.

“Do you still want me to stop?” She asks coming up from him again. He looks at her now with saliva dripping down her chin. Just the sight of her makes him twitch which, weirdly, made her the one blushing now. She bit her lip waiting for an answer and he couldn’t believe the words that were about to leave his mouth.

“Gods no.” She giggled before taking him down her throat, gagging only a little on his length. Anakin couldn’t help but to fuck her mouth needing more of it. She bobbed around him at a fast pace bringing him right up to his climax before pulling off. He watched as she frantically hopped off the bed, pulling her underwear off and getting back on. She positioned herself over his hips, as she played with Anakin, which started to become a thing of hers, by grinding her wet cunt on his member.

“Do you want me to fuck you now?’’ She grabbed his member with one of her hands and slapped it up against her wetness making them both gasp simultaneously.

“Y-yes.” He groaned.

She tsks again, “That’s not very convincing.” She circles the tip of his member around her opening making him groan impatiently. “Do you want me to fuck you?” She slides down only taking in the tip, they both moan at this.

“Yes fuck me!” he spats at her.

“I don’t know..” She tries to have him beg again but with all the built up frustration Anakin finally has the strength to break from her hold on him. Him lifts his upper body up to meet her covered chest with his and rolls them over, so he is now atop her.

“How about I fuck you.” before she can answer he shoves himself all the way into her throbbing, wet pussy. She can feel his legs shaking between his hips as he thrusts into her with vingants. “You’re pussy feels so good.” He groans.

“I-I told you you’d like it.” He thrusts harder into her hips at her words making her scream with pleasure. She brings her hands up to his back scratching her way down to his bottom. He winced at her actions but did not stop.

“Ch-choke me.” She requested. He wasted no time in doing so. As he squeezed his fingers into her trachea she felt that overwhelming feeling of arousal gather that her base. “Oh,Gods I’m cumming.” She barely breathed out as she, with one last hard thrust, came around his throbbing cock. He let her ride out her orgasm before pulling out of her, grabbing her by the arm until she fell to the floor. She propped herself up on her knees knowing exactly what he wanted. She took him, once again, back into her mouth. He grabbed a fistful of her hair this time and fucked her mouth till he finally climaxed on her tongue.

After climaxing he shoved her to the floor. He put his boxers then pants back on and, skillfully opened the safe, retrieving his lightsaber. “Get your fucking panties on, Slut. We’re leaving.”

xMasterlist.x

#anakin skywalker #hayden christensen #anakin skywalker x reader #anakin skywalker imagine #anakin skywalker smut #anakin smut #starwars

[popculturebuffet]

The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck Part 6: Terror of the Transvaal!  “But You...  You Just Made Me Mean.”

Hello you happy people. And welcome back to my look at The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck! And with this one i’ve reached the halfway point of this epic and couldn’t be prouder and have no plans to slow down. In fact while June and July will have one chapter each as is my usual for storylines I do on my own time, August and September will have DOUBLE the chapters to help me reach the finsih line. This dosen’t mean i’m done mind, i’ll probably get into the side chapters next year, possibly sooner. But my main goal when setting out to do this was to cover the main story, one of my favorite comics of all time and easily the best scrooge comic ever. But the point is it’s been a helluva ride so far and i’m not even to the second half yet. 

This chapter is also one of my favorites along with “The Last of Clan McDuck”, “THe Raider of the Copper HIll” and “The Invader of Fort Duckburg”. It’s a compelling and tragic turning point in our heroes life and has THE most badass moment in Scrooge’s history, only rivaled by another moment in this very series, which if you’ve read it you know EXACTLY what i’m talking about for both. This is also a lucky one for me as I scheduled this a while back before me and Kev had settled on doing the season 2 arcs, so I ended up scheduling this one the same week as my coverage of Glomgold’s other origin story in “The Ballad of Duke Baloney!”, a story that take some small cues from this one. So if all of that has peaked your interest, please join me under the cut as Scrooge becomes “The Terror of the Transvaal!”

As for why Rosa set the chapter here there’s two simple reasons: it was one of two gold rushes mentioned in Barks work, meaning Scrooge could get in some more experience before making his fourtune in the Klondike, and Rosa understandably couldn’t resist having Scrooge and his greatest rival meet in their youth. He WAS careful to not have Scrooge learn Flinty’s name, as Scrooge dosen’t recognize him in Flintheart’s first apperance in “The Second Richest Duck”.. but Rosa noticed Flinty seemed familiar with SCROOGE, and simply ran with it, still having his first encounter with the bastard deeply effect Scrooge but leaving Scrooge unaware that the thief and betrayer he met in the Transavaal was the same heartless Scoundrel he’s fated to keep fighting till one or both of them keels over. 

So starting the chapter proper Scrooge has come to the Transvaal to prospect for gold, following his hunch from last chapter, trying to make his way to the rand, a large natural area in south Africa. The Transvaal itself was a large expanse that was cut up in the 90′s after the fall of apartheid. 

Scrooge passes a massive Diamond Mine, large with tons of miners on small claims, but wisely passes it up: there’s too many people, too much fuss and likely too much risk of getting stolen or finding nothing.

And to prove that point we meet Flinty who is trying to steal a guy’s diamonds for the second time today. Now the other miners reaction IS FAIR: they send him up in a bucket thing their using to transport the diamonds as a thief and announce him as such and the people on the surface’s reaction makes it very clear this isn’t new behavior. Him being punished is fine... their punishment though....

Seriously, theft is not worth doing a murder.. and yes he COULD escape and their trying to frame it like that’s not what htier doing.. but their sending someone with clearly low self preservation skills into the desert, with no suplies, tightlyt ied to an angry and clearly wild animal. While Flinty DOES deserve jail for his shit, he doesn’t deserve to DIE for attempted theft. He didn’t ruin anyone’s lives or actually succeed and he’s clearly harmless if eveyrone in the mine knows he’s a criminal. You can’t just murder all your problems away... I mean the blood alone is just not worth the clean up. 

Naturally Scrooge crosses paths with Glomgold and assumes he’s simply gotten himself trapped somehow and being an openly kind soul at this point in his life, gladly helps the guy free. Scrooge mentions he’s headed to Johannesburg and GLomgold offers to come along and do all the work as his guide. Scrooge being Scrooge refuses the “do all the work part” but gladly accepts a guide and a new friend and introduces himself as from Scotland. And as a result we get... something resembling a joke...

Look I’m not against a good pun... but that was not a good pun. It wasn’t even a passable pun. It also feels like a bit of a stretch given Scrooge is well traveled by now. you’d THINK he’d get that he was probably talking about something local and not insulting himself. 

So Scrooge talks about all he’s learned with Flintheart bored and kind of a dick.. and offering a lesson of his own despite being the same age as Scrooge.. specifically he takes first watch and gives a smug speech. 

Scrooge wonders around the wilderness and finds a lion.. then an elephant and soon has the entire savannah after him as he bemoans the betrayal, having never felt like this. We’ll get more into the why in a bit. The point is he’s backed against a wall..but as we all know a cornered animal, human , duck , humanoid duck no matter the species is often at it’s most dangerous. 

Especially if that animal is a McDuck. So here we get that badassery I mentioned: faced with an angry horde of some of the most dangerous and awe inspiring critters in Africa Scrooge uses EVERYTHING he’s learned roping cattle and what not to best them. He uses tricks from besting Long Horns to get the Elephants tangled up in a tree, then uses a log to beat a Rhino, before lassoing himself a motherfucking giraffe:

And if THAT weren’t already cool as all hell he tops himself: Since he dosen’t consider a Zebra a proper mount.. he decides to go for something bigger. 

So to recap just so it all sinks in for you: Scrooge, abandoned with no suplies, defeats two elephants and a rhino, rides a Giraffe, then TAMES a fucking lion with nothing more than an improvised lasso and PURE RAGE. Then RIDES that majestic creature across the planes like a GODDAMN HORSE, before riding iti into town casual as all hell. I MEANT IT and he’s STILL not done. I mean it doesn’t’t top riding a motherfucking lion, what could, but what he does for an encore is still utterly badass and is a nice coda to riding a motherfucking lion. 

So at the local abr Glomgold lies about everything and makes himself the hero of the story, Yes Flintheart Big Dick Glomgold. Purest soul there ever was.  This lasts all of a minute as while Flinty brushes off the fact a cowboy is looking for him, he doesn’t even know what that is... he’s soon rightfully shitting himself when Scrooge comes for his vengeance. 

The art here is as always impeccable. The shading alone. But seriously I’m terrified and I know he can’t harm me... in theory. In practice if ANYONE could reach out of the page and throttle me, it’d be the guy who rode a motherfucking lion. And no i’m never letting that go. Fucker rode a lion. That’s the kind of thing you never forget about a character for damn good reason. We also get one of my favorite lines in the story, and it has tons of greats.. but this is an easy contender for my favorite:

It’s a chilling line and panel, with it made clear Scrooge’s cynsim, his biggest weakness and often what makes him the most unlikable came from this.. the moment where a villain with no scruples, no care and no code or morals of any kind utterly betrayed him and tried to leave him for dead that took any scrap of hope in mankind he had and destroyed it. From now on he likes nobody and nobody likes him. Other mentors helped Scrooge grow as a person, taught him skills and taught him to survive, to enjoy the road getting to fortune as much as the fortune himself, and to make his way square. Flinty. just made him mean. 

But Scrooge isn’t going to kill him.. for one thing he doesn’t’t like shooting people or animals. For another.. he has something far more satisfying in mind: Old West Justice, Tar and Feathearing style, covering the guy and humiliating him by making him do a bullet dance Marty McFly style. 

Flinty TRIES to simply escape and steal Scrooge’s shotgun.. but it fails as he runs into the lion and Scrooge takes the beaten flinty over to the jail to press charges. Flinty is jailed.. and makes his own vow. 

So with that Scrooge has made a foe for life, and this is another thing the 2017 Cartoon took.. it’s just where as this  Flinty was merely angry at his rightful compuance and humilation, the cartoon one was a small child who swore vengance for an honest mistake. But either way you slice it he won’t make Scrooge’s life any easier. 

So with that we get our epilogue: Scrooge never made his forutune her, naturally, as the ore was too low quality for him to process alone so only the already rich could afford to set up shop here. Scrooge packs it in determined to still make his fortune and we get an awesome closing panel. 

Final Thoughts: As you could probably tell, I fucking love this one. It’s utterly amazing. Barks himself has said he felt the best chapters took place over a short time span and it shows: by having to cover less time, only having a time passing bit at the very end, it allows this vital story to take place over less than a day and allows it to move at a hell of a pace. It’s got action, great character work as we see Scrooge’s last bit of trust in his fellow man shatter, and THE best climax of the series. And the others have some whoppers. This one is just so damn awesome, taking most of the issue but using EVERY page of it to tell one epic finale, from Scrooge’s easy mastery of the beasts, to his taming a motherfucking lion, to Flinty’s UTTERLY satstifying humilation conga...this is just a masterpiece and a huge reminder why I love this comic

Next Time: Scrooge sadly dosen’t keep the lion but does head to Australia where he faces what he is in the dark, meets a new mentor, and gets pointed to his destiny. See you next month for that. 

If you liked this review share it, and if you’d like to help me make more join my patreon at patreon.com/popculturebuffet. WIth only 10 days left till the new pay period nows the time to jump in so you can pick a short for my Donald Duck birthday specail next month or help me reach a stretch goal so I can get it on the board. Time’s a wastin. And if you can’t, tha’ts fine, thanks for reading. 

#the life and times of scrooge mcduck #scrooge mcduck #don rosa #the terror of the transvaal #flintheart glomgold #south africa #comics #disney #vengance

[goldenkamuyhunting]

Manga vs Anime: Episode 30 “Bad Sign”

So let’s start with Ep 6 of the 3rd series… which is the 30 Golden Kamuy animated episode.

Some data first.

This episode last 23:40 minutes and has an opening and an the ending. It covers 3 chaps and a half of the manga, chap 163, 164, 165, & half of chap 166 for a total of around 69 pages (I’m discounting the covers) basically covering half of Vol 17.

The episode is titled ‘Bad sign’, which is actually the title of chap 164, chap 163 being ‘Wanted poster’, chap 165 being ‘Flag bearer’, and chap 166 being ‘Request’.

NB: I’ve noticed the subs in this episode diverged in some points quite a bit from scanlations and official translation (like Yuusaku saying he was avoided by others in the barraks when it was more that OGATA was avoiding him or similar things). Japanese is often vague enough to allow for both meaning even if one is more obvious than the other to who knows the plot. I didn’t cover them in this analysis as I focused only on the animation and voice acting but consider yourself warned.

And now into the anime.

ASIRPA’S GROUP

Manga & Anime: Asirpa checks the wanted poster Ilya had, which matches with Kiro. Kiro tells her of his involvement in the facts of Saint Petersburg and of how Wilk was involved as well.

There are just some minor differences:

- In the manga we see Ilya throwing up blood before dying, while in the anime this scene is cut, possibly because they showed Ilya throwing up blood previously.

- In the anime, after Shiraishi says the guards were after Kiro, we see an image of a clearly dead Ilya. This wasn’t in the manga.

- In the manga Shiraishi comments how it’s not surprising the Russians are angry. In the anime this is cut.

My two cents: I’ll say this bit is well done. Not only the images are faithful enough to the manga but the way they’re presented gives the scene the right rhythm and atmosphere. The colouring, which gives in the idea of a flashback, is a nice touch and is also nice to watch and the final panning on the statue is a good idea. The background too is very nice. If anything the only thing is that apart from Kiro and Wilk people are absolutely still and will remain absolutely still. I get animating them would take more work but they really feel like dolls. On a positive side I loved how they handled Asirpa discovering Wilk was involved. The revealing of Wilk face alternated with Asirpa seeing the poster,

the rhythm of the scene, the music… well it was very good… and since they didn’t want to animate the people around them I think it was a clever trick to show all that smoke around Kiro as he carried away Wilk so as to cover the other people and make unnecessary to draw them. The panning on the statue was also a nice touch.

Oh, since the anime had sunset happen in the previous episode now the characters are shown with the colours implying it’s night. To be honest I should praise their eyesight as it seems pretty dark but I guess it was clear enough to allow Asirpa to see the poster.

THE OPENING STARTS HERE

VASILY KEEPING WATCH

Manga & Anime: It’s night. Vasily keeps on observing who he thinks to be Ogata but can’t catch him moving or breathing. Plus his hiding spot is bad as he could easily be seen, which isn’t a mistake he believes a veteran sniper like the one who killed Ilya would make so he decides to keep on observing.

My two cents: The anime well transposed this scene in animation. Not only it’s faithful to the manga but it gets you in the right tension.

KIRO’S GROUP IS WAITING

Manga & Anime: Kiro’s group is waiting for Ogata. Shiraishi, holding what was likely Ilya’s Mosin-Nagant, comments Ogata is late and wonders if they should go to back him up. Kiro says since Ogata told them to let him do it on his own they should just believe in him and wait.

My two cents: This is also well transposed. As Kiro’s talk was long they even redrew him in a different position and even had him move. Well done!

PREPARATIONS FOR THE HUNT

Manga & Anime: Vasily keeps on studying his opponent. Sunset comes and Vasily notices tracks near the body of his adversary. He follows them and see they lead to an Orok casket. He then assumes this means what he had been observing is just a scarecrow made using a corpse and Ogata is actually hidden in the casket therefore he shoots at it, the noise waking up Asirpa’s group. Only it turns out he was wrong, Ogata was really under the cape and now it’s his turn to shoot. He hits Vasily’s jaw, causing him to fall on the ground then tries to move but fall on the ground, panting.

There are just some minor differences:

- In the manga there’s an explanation about the battle of two snipers during the battle of Gallipoli. This is cut in the anime.

- In the manga Vasily shoots 6 times at the casket, in the anime only one.

My two cents: I would have said this is a beautiful transposition as not only it’s faithful (actually cutting the explanation allow the tension to rise more) but it pays good attention to the characters’ expressions and to the rhythm of the scene. Ogata moving slowly and then the shoot hitting Vasily is great as a choice,

the bullet hit Vasily in a scene that delivers what had happened without being too gory and even the splatter of blood work.

Ogata’s colouring hints at how he’s already feeling ill, well combined with the way he breathes.

They even darkened his eyes to make them more faithful to the manga

and his fall as well as the way he pants are also well done

so it would be a great scene if it wasn’t for an AWFUL mistake. Vasily didn’t shoot just one time to the casket, he shoot 6. The whole point wasn’t just to make him shoot first, but to make him shoot all his bullets so that Ogata, who only had a single shoot rifle could use that at his advantage. I really, really hope they’ll add the sound of those 5 more shoots in the dvd version because this is a pretty bad logical mistake. On a positive side this time, differently from the previous episode, you can see the traces in the snow and the colouring is very nice.

CHAP 163 ENDS HERE.

BACK TOGETHER

Manga & Anime: Asirpa notices Ogata is back to where the Orok/Uilta are waiting so they reach him to discover he looks really pale and has a fever. Ogata tries to wave him out as him merely eating too much snow when, looking at them, he hallucinates Yuusaku.

There are just some minor differences:

- In the manga Kiro says it looks like everything had been taken care of. In the anime this line is cut.

- In the manga Shiraishi crouches down to look at Ogata when he says Ogata looks really pale, his expression surprised and a little worried. In the anime he’s standing and looking normal.

- In the manga Asirpa isn’t in the panel when Ogata sees Yuusaku, even though she was standing right in front of him. In the anime she’s present.

My two cents: While the previous scene was good this one isn’t that great for various reasons. Shiraishi doesn’t sound really like he cares here, while in the anime he seemed to do so. While Tsuda Ken well deliver Ogata is not feeling well, the anime had Ogata raise his eyes before he finished speaking. It can work in the manga, where time works differently but in the anime we’ve the impression for 5 second he wasn’t seeing anything abnormal then BANG he hallucinated Yuusaku, combined with ghost sounding effect. The ghost yuusaku effect is nice but the worst thing the anime does which will be a mistake through the whole of it is that they add Asirpa to the scene when Ogata was instead hallucinating that Asirpa was Yuusaku (in fact even though she was standing right in front of Ogata till a moment before as soon as Yuusaku appear she suddently disappear and only Kiro and Shiraishi remain), something that in the manga ties well with the ending of Ogata’s fever dream but that doesn’t do so in the anime.

HALLUCINATION

Manga & Anime: Ogata hallucinates being on a sled trained by ghostly reindeers, Yuusaku leading it, turning to him and asking him if he feels cold. This causes Ogata to remember of the time when Yuusaku was alive and they went to visit a brothel together. Once he suggested Yuusaku were to have fun with the women there, Yuusaku refused, apologizing and Ogata let him go, making sure he wasn’t seen by others.

There are just some minor differences:

- In the manga, when Ogata asks Yuusaku to come with him, Yuusaku blushes. In the anime he doesn’t.

- The anime adds a scene in which one of the women caresses Yuusaku’s hand.

- In the manga Yuusaku sweats before answering to Ogata. In the anime he doesn’t.

My two cents: Okay so I liked the run on the ghostly sled, with that odd red colouring which I think was inspired by the cover for vol 17.

Even the idea of Yuusaku’s blood spraying all around is somewhat well done in it’s creepiness.

The transition to the flashback is well done with the camera moving on Ogata’s eye which close and open and then we see Yuusaku in the flashback.

Yuusaku’s voice is always very kind and the music, while not great, well underlines the mood of the scene. I like the choice to make a beautiful very starry sky, which seems to imply hope. Yuusaku doesn’t blush but his joy at having been invited is evident. The scene at the brothel sets up the atmosphere perfectly, with Yuusaku greatly uncomfortable as Ogata goes on. The first clenching, the lips trembling, the exhaling, everything is perfect.

THE OROK/UILTA CAMP

Manga and anime: Kiro’s group reaches an Orok/Uilta camp of a relative of the men that were with them. Asirpa helps Ogata getting down from the sled while Shiraishi observes. Once inside the tent she uses Ainu remedies to try to get Ogata feel better. An Orok/Uilta shaman also joins them trying with his music, to chase away the illness, with Asirpa and Shiraishi helping to make the healing music.

There are minor cuts and changes:

- The anime expanded the scene in which Asirpa helps Ogata, adding Ogata almost falling then slowly walking toward the tent, supported by Asirpa.

- In the manga Shiraishi merely observes the scene, his face shadowed, sweating a little. In the anime he also lowers his head and turns away his gaze, as if torn.

- The anime added an image showing Shiraishi and Asirpa listening to Kiro’s explanation.

- In the manga we see an image of Ogata sweating and, next to him, Yuusaku. In the anime we see Ogata sweating and then, among the steam, appears an image of Yuusaku all curled up, and then Ogata’s eyes.

My two cents: The scene of Ogata having troubles standing is well handled, they almost had him fall and then walk really slowly which is perfect. I also like how they delivered Shiraishi’s inner turmoil. It’s also good how they transitioned from Shiraishi and Asirpa listening to Kiro to them making noise as loud as they could. Sure, the scene of Ogata saying ‘silence’ is a bit less funny as Tsuda Ken delivers it in a sick yet creepy way but it works well. I’ll even go so far as saying that the way the anime chose to make Yuusaku appear during the music scene is better than the one of the manga.

THE SECOND HALLUCINATION/FLASHBACK

Manga and Anime: We’re back at the brothel, with Ogata sitting alone with one of the girls when he’s reached by Tsurumi. At this he sends the girl away and makes his best to look proper. Tsurumi comments the rumours on Yuusaku’s personality seem to be true, Ogata counters he was probably frightened by the atmosphere and insists he can manage to deceive him. Tsurumi says if he has a strong sense of justice it would be difficult to get him on their side, after all Yuusaku comes from a noble bloodline, which pushes Ogata to reject the notion of ‘noble blood’.

There are minor cuts and changes:

- In the manga Ogata’s face is deeply shadowed when Tsurumi says Yuusaku has noble blood. In the anime it’s not but they add Ogata’s eyes widening and then lowering.

- In the manga the shading on Ogata hinted at how he was in an emotional turmoil. No such hint there’s in the anime.

My two cents: This too is well done. I must praise Tsurumi’s voice actor because he’s great in delivering his quotes and we own to him most of the success of the scene but a good moment is also when the anime had Ogata’s eyes widen slightly at the mention of noble blood, showing how Tsurumi hit the mark and then lowering, showing how that remark hurt. Good is also the pause before Ogata delivers his quote.

THE ANIME PLACES HERE AN EYECATCH

SHIRAISHI, ASIRPA AND KIRO’S TALK

Manga and anime: Shiraishi leaves the place with an excuse and manages to lead Asirpa to follow him. Once she reaches him he tell her to escape with him. He believes Kiro took them there to try to get Asirpa to remember the key and that’s why Shiraishi kept silent but now he believes it’s too dangerous to stay in Russia. Shiraishi explains her his reasoning but Asirpa insists she’s staying. Kiro joins them, explaining them his old name was ‘Yulbars’, which was his past and why they killed the emperor. They’re fighting for minorities which includes his son and the Hokkaido Ainu. Asirpa says she wants to know more about her father and that she might remember the code then wonders if the killing to get the gold will continue with an even bigger killing once the gold is found and wonders if the gold really need to be found.

There are minor cuts and changes:

- In the manga isn’t clear if they are or not but the anime showed how Shiraishi and Asirpa were still making noise, albeit more calmly.

- In the manga Shiraishi points out to how there should be someone watching them as Kiro killed the emperor 20 years ago yet the Russians were right there to wait for them and that the Orok/Uilta man had almost be killed. Plus he mentions how when in the past they asked Kiro what Wilk might want to do with the gold, Kiro said he didn’t know but it was a lie as he had to know Wilk wanted to use the gold to fight against Russia. Kiro had to know as they killed the emperor together so it’s possible Kiro’s aim is the same, which was what Inkarmat was saying. In the anime he says one Kiro is hiding things from them as he and Wilk were trying to steal the gold to fight Russia.

My two cents: I liked how they remarked Asirpa and Shiraishi were still playing for Ogata... not so much how Shiraishi’s entire reasoning got cut but I get the anime needed to cut here and there to save time. I also like the transition in which everything turns to blood which rises toward Sugimoto’s image as well. I was curious how the anime would have handled this and I’ve to say they did it really well.

CHAP 160 ENDS HERE.

BATTLEGROUNDS

Manga and anime: Russo-Japanese war. Yuusaku, holding the flag, encourages men to march forward. Later Ogata is alone shooting Russians who wanders on the now empty battlefield. Tsurumi approaches him telling him Yuusaku is brave and everyone loves him. Ogata summarizes he doesn’t have to kill him.

There are minor cuts and changes:

- In the manga the two panels showing Ogata during the battle show him aiming. In the anime only the second does and between the two there’s an image of Yuusaku.

- In the manga we see Ogata shooting then a Russian falling, Ogata recharging, then another Russian falling then Ogata recharging. In the anime we see a Russian falling, Ogata shooting, another Russian falling, Ogata recharging.

My two cents: The transition here is a tad abrupt. I’ll admit the anime managed to deliver the general madness of the war, with soldiers drunk on the belief they won’t get hit due to Yuusaku. Sure, I would have appreciated less still scenes during the battle but whatever, at this point I guess the anime thinks they’re cool. The transition from the battle to the empty battleground work well and the dialogue between Ogata and Tsurumi is well done. I’ve to admit I like very much the contrast between Tsurumi’s voice and Ogata’s but it might be just me.

AT THE OROK/UILTA CAMP

Manga & Anime: Ogata is sleeping, Asirpa cheeks his forehead and comments his fever has gone down. As Kiro thanks the shaman Asirpa is gifted with a protective charm for Ogata. They give a protective charm to Shiraishi too, for a child’s penis.

There are minor cuts and changes:

- In the manga a box explains what the headband is for. In the anime it’s Asirpa who does so, saying it seems to work.

- In the manga the protective charms are shown in a box. In the anime the shaman shows them.

- In the manga Kiro says that they’re going to give that charm to Shiraishi because he was staring at a woman’s breast while she was feeding a baby. In the anime this is cut.

My two cents: Not bad. They’ve to adapt some things as they decided not to use the narrator but I’ll say it works just fine.

THE LAST FEVER DREAM

Manga & Anime: It’s night and Ogata and Yuusaku are walking on the now empty battleground, ogata leading Yuusaku somewhere. Yuusaku worries they’ll get scolded if they’re discovered. Ogata shows him a prisoner of war completely tied, then points out since he got there Yuusaku had never killed anyone and wonders if he’s using his role so as not to get his hands dirty. At Yuusaku’s denial asks him to kill that man and Yuusaku explains him his father told him not to kill so he would become an icon that would give them courage because killing fills others with guilt. Ogata says nobody feels guilt, they’re merely faking it, everyone doesn’t and is the same as him. Yuusaku hugs him and, crying, tell him he’s sure Ogata feels guilt as it’s impossible for people who not feel guilty when killing to exist.

There are minor cuts and changes:

- In the manga Ogata’s face is shadowed as he asks Yuusaku if he had ever killed someone with a darker shadow falling on his eyes. In the anime it’s not.

My two cents: This too is a good transposition. It’s faithful to the manga, it well used the corpses around them to make atmosphere, the voice actors generated a nice contrast between Yuusaku being so emotional and Ogata so calm and flat… yet as if he had something bubbling under the surface. If I’ve to nitpick I can say I’m a bit annoyed at the anime using a still image again when showing Yuusaku in ‘action’ and that Yuusaku hugged Ogata a tad too slowly so it felt a bit odd. Also the background music is nice and fitting but it would probably work better if it was on a higher volume as otherwise it can go unnoticed. Still, this is good.

THE END OF THE FEVER DREAM

Manga: At the next charge Yuusaku gets shoot from behind, the implication being Ogata did it. Yuusaku falls. However he’s then standing again and turning toward Ogata. Only it’s actually Asirpa as Ogata has woken up from his fever dream.

Anime: At the next charge Yuusaku gets shoot from behind, the implication being Ogata did it. Yuusaku falls. However he’s then standing again and turning toward Ogata. Ogata wakes up and Asirpa turns toward him.

My two cents: And this is where the anime screwed up BIG TIME. The whole implication of the scene wasn’t that Yuusaku, despite the bullet going through his head and the fact he had fallen stood up again to turn and look at Ogata… it was that as Ogata was about to wake up he saw Asirpa turning toward him but at first he exchanged her for Yuusaku turning toward him. How anime viewers are going to understand Ogata’s meltdown on the ice if they aren’t told Ogata has subconsciously superimposed Yuusaku and Asirpa’s images? I could give the anime a pass for not figuring it when Ogata started hallucinating Yuusaku, as that one wasn’t that easy but this wasn’t so damn hard to get, the page with Ogata and Yuusaku and the page with Ogata and Asirpa are drawn so similar exactly because you have to get this point! Really, if it wasn’t for this single one mistake this episode would be SO GOOD! Why did they have to mess up this? When Asirpa turns and Ogata is staring he doesn’t look like he’s surprised to see her, it looks like he had been frozen there ages ago and isn’t defreezing yet. -_- Well… at least they understood the Yuusaku who turns isn’t real as he starts to have the red tinge of the hallucination. Ogata’s pose as he watches him though is a bit unnatural and if it was made in an attempt to mimic the one he had in the manga, in the manga his pose was hardly visible so it could work while here it feels off.

CHAP 155 ENDS HERE.

FORTUNETELLING

Manga & Anime: The Orok/Uilta divine the fortune for Kiro’s group using the shoulder blade of a reindeer. The result is someone is coming from behind. Shiraishi wonders if this is a good or bad sign and Kiro says it’s good then shows him the shape the crack should have to point out someone is going to die.

There are minor cuts and changes:

- In the manga they showed the various cracks all in a box, in the anime the showed them on the screen one after the other.

- In the manga Asirpa has a doubtful gaze (Asirpa has a long story of not believing in divination), in the anime she’s just serious, then seems to squeeze her eyes a little as if in thinking.

My two cents: It’s nicely done, except maybe for the lack of Asirpa’s disbelief but I fear the ones behind this episode might not remember it (or since they made that horrible prophetic dream at the end of ep 24 they want to retcon Asirpa as believing in this sort of things).

THE TRAVEL RESUME

Manga & Anime: Kiro’s group is ready to leave the Orok/Uilta. Kiro apologizes for the troubles then tells Shiraishi he’ll remain there as yes, staying with Kiro would put him in danger and he doesn’t need to escape from him. Ogata agrees they’ve no reason to stop Shiraishi and Asirpa thanks him for what he did and says goodbye to him. Shiraishi watch them leave, thinking a smart move would be to join Tsurumi but… ultimately ends up running after them as Sugimoto told him he was counting on him to protect Asirpa. Shiraishi joins them saying he thinks in Russia there could be many pretty girls waiting for him and that if penis were to hurt he can use his charm. As he says so the shoulder bone crack further, showing the sign that was meant death of one of them.

There are minor cuts and changes:

- In the manga Kiro looks a bit sad when he says Shiraishi doesn’t have to run away from him. In the anime he’s just serious.

My two cents: I really liked the way Asirpa greeted Shiraishi. Her expression was sweet and her voice actor did a good job. The musical background this time was more noticeable and worked better. They also took care to keep Shiraishi moving and expressive as he explains his plan. Shiraishi running after them is a beautiful moment (too bad the flashbacks aren’t up to the same quality but whatever, they’re from the second series) and Asirpa’s expression and voice as he sees him is beautiful. I like how they showed Kiro smiling too and the way he asked Shiraishi if he changed his mind. The ending with the bone cracking came out powerful so it’s really good.

TO SUM IT ALL

I think this is probably THE BEST GK episode of the 3rd series, if not of all the series. Not only it’s a good transposition of the story, but it’s one that’s not rushed and that uses the times in the right manner, with a good animation and a good care of the character expressions plus a good storytelling and an attempt to use the music that needs to be improved but shows an initial care. Really, a good work. So I really hate how they missed the tie between Asirpa and Yuusaku, which was an important part for the future developments. I could pass over how Vasily didn’t shoot 6 bullets, it’s not clever but whatever, it does no harm if Ogata tempts fate more than necessary or if Vasily is actually more careful than in the original but this.... this wasn’t meant to end here but be tied to the ice field scene and now... not it won’t be, which makes me wonder if the writers are regular readers of GK or just read the bit they need to transpose, and so it’s harder for them to figure out the characters and what they’ll do. Whatever, except for this, it was a good episode, I would love if they were to fix the mistakes in the dvd version though I don’t dare to hope they’ll do it in this case and now I really, really hope the series will manage to keep this standard and, if possible, to improve it.

And also that it won’t completely and utterly screw up the ice field episode. Really. Please, no.

#Golden Kamuy #Ogata Hyakunosuke #Asirpa #Kiroranke #Shiraishi Yoshitake #Hanazawa Yuusaku #Hanazawa Koujirou #Tsurumi Tokushirou #Sugimoto Saichi #Golden Kamuy Manga vs Anime

[petrichoravellichor]

Written for Day 19 of the Supernatural Deserved Better Creative Challenge (prompt: angels and demons).

Title: An Angel and a Demon Walk Into a Bar

Characters: Gabriel & Meg

Rating: T

Warnings: mild alcohol consumption (by angel/demon standards, at least; no one drinks enough to get drunk)

Summary: After escaping from the Empty, Gabriel wanders into a bar, where it turns out he’s not the only one back from the dead.

(Read on Ao3)

********************

Gabriel needed a drink.

A real one, not just something he could conjure up himself. It’d been a little under a week since he’d woken up in the middle of a field, dazed as all get-out and weaker than he’d ever been, but somehow alive. He’d done it. He’d actually gotten out of the Empty.

At first, Gabriel hadn’t known exactly how he’d managed it. He remembered dying—getting stabbed by an alternate version of your brother in a parallel universe wasn’t exactly a forgettable experience—and then he was waking up to some sort of explosion somewhere he’d quickly realized had to be the Empty, because hellooo, he was dead. There’d been a lot of commotion then, with Gabriel and literally thousands of other angels and demons clambering and fighting at once as a loud, pained voice screamed for them to BE QUIET, and the next thing he knew, he was lying face-down in a puddle of mud, alone except for a nearby cow. Gabriel had stumbled along until he’d found a small motel in the middle of nowhere, where he’d used what little power he could muster to charm a free room off the oblivious owner and then collapsed into bed the minute he’d locked the door behind him.

A few days later, he’d jolted awake when angel radio had all but exploded in his head. Word on the wire was that his nephew, Jack, had replaced Gabriel’s dad as Heaven’s new big kahuna, and apparently the entire world had been gone for a while but Gabriel had slept through it, and wait, Dean Winchester had finally pulled his head out of his repressed bisexual ass and was last seen kissing the shit out of Gabriel’s younger brother Castiel, who was also back from the Empty?! Whaaat???

Needless to say, it had been a lot to take in. Gabriel had spent the better part of the day listening intently and muttering “holy shit” as he caught himself up on all that had happened while he’d been out of the picture. When at last it seemed that there was no more new information, he’d dialed down the volume and decided that yeah, he was long overdue for a drink. He vaguely remembered seeing a bar on the other side of the motel parking lot, so he headed in that direction, opting to walk the short distance instead of flying—he was feeling much better after a few days of rest but still nowhere near full power, and there was no sense wasting energy.

As he drew near the bar, however, he noticed that although the lights were on and country music was drifting out into the night, the front window had been shattered; a few pieces of jagged glass were still hanging in place, but the rest was nothing but shining shards on the ground outside. Gabriel paused; then, feeling more curious than concerned, he crept up to the sill and peered inside.

The place looked pretty much like what Gabriel had been expecting, with bad lighting and wood-paneled walls and a couple of old pool tables off to one side. At first, he thought it was deserted; then he noticed a lone figure at the bar.

It was a demon, but not a particularly powerful-looking one. She was sitting on a barstool, a bottle of Jack in front of her and a glass in her hand as she gazed off into space, nursing her drink. Gabriel reached out with his mind, quickly scanning the premises for any potential friends the demon might have brought with her, but no, she was the only one of her kind anywhere in the area. If push came to shove, Gabriel had no doubts that even in his current state, he could still best her in combat; however, he hoped it wouldn’t come to that. After all, it had been a hell of a day in a hell of a week, and he’d come wanting a drink, not a fight. He headed over to the door and walked inside.

The demon must have sensed his presence, because she looked up the moment he crossed the threshold. Her eyes flashed black momentarily before snapping back to her vessel’s natural brown; however, when she addressed Gabriel, she sounded more annoyed than afraid. “If you’re here to kill me,” she said, fixing him with a glare, “at least let me finish my drink first.”

Gabriel arched a brow: she might not have been more than a run-of-the-mill black-eyed demon, but she had spunk; he’d give her that. “Simmer down, kiddo,” he drawled, “I’m not here to kill you, just looking for a drink.” He gestured toward the bar. “Mind if I join you?”

The demon raised a brow of her own, apparently surprised by his response, but eventually, she shrugged and turned back to her whiskey. “Knock yourself out.”

“Thanks.” Gabriel headed behind the counter, rummaging around until he found a clean glass; he plopped in two ice cubes and poured himself a drink. “Where’s the bartender, anyway?”

The demon waved dismissively in the direction of the restrooms. “Knocked out and tied up. He’ll be fine.”

“Mm, and the front window?”

“There was a biker gang when I first got here. They got handsy and didn’t want to leave.” She smiled darkly, adding, “That is, until I threw the biggest one out the window. They got the hell out pretty fast after that.”

Gabriel snorted. “Nice.”

“‘Nice’?” the demon repeated, then scoffed. “Thought you were an angel.”

Gabriel snapped his fingers, manifesting a stool on his side of the bar; he sat down across from her, drink in hand. “I am. So?”

“So, last I checked, your kind and my kind didn’t exactly see eye to eye on what constitutes nice.”

Gabriel shrugged. “I don’t see eye to eye with lots of people, especially not when they’re dicks. Sounds like the biker guys were, so yeah, nice. Besides,” he added, leaning forward with a conspiratorial smile, “I’ve done way worse.”

The demon regarded him, then smirked. “Nice.”

“So,” Gabriel said, taking a sip of his drink. “You got a name?”

“Meg. You?”

For a moment, Gabriel considered inventing an alias; after all, it was in his best interest to keep a low profile until he decided just how involved he wanted to be in this whole post-Dad Heaven business. Still, he wasn’t really in the mood for lying, and besides, he could always erase himself from Meg’s memory if he had second thoughts. “Gabriel.”

Meg narrowed her eyes. “As in the archangel?”

“Oh, so you’ve heard of me?” Gabriel said, flashing a grin; then, noting the wariness in Meg’s expression, he added, “Hey, I’m just here for a drink, remember? You’ve got nothing to worry about.”

“Easy for you to say: I can’t kill you just by thinking about it.”

Gabriel snorted. “No offense, kiddo, but if I wanted to kill you, I would’ve done it before I even walked in. Suffice to say, I’m not thinking about it.” Then, seeing that she was still eying him suspiciously, he lowered his drink and looked at her frankly. “Do you want me to leave?”

“Would you?”

“Sure. I’m not one to stay where I’m not wanted, and last I checked, whiskey bottles are pretty portable. Just say the words, and I’ll get out of that pretty blonde hair of yours.” He smirked, adding, “That is, unless you’d rather throw me out the window.”

Meg was silent for a moment, apparently weighing her options; eventually, however, she shook her head. “Whatever. Like you said, if you were gonna kill me, I’d already be dead. Wouldn’t be the first time.”

Gabriel cocked his head to the side. “What do you mean?”

"I mean that up until a few days ago, I’d been dead for years.”

Gabriel sat back on his stool. “No shit. You were there too?”

Meg gave him a confused look. “The hell do you mean?”

“In the Empty,” Gabriel clarified. “It’s where we go when we die. Whole bunch of black goo and eternal nothingness. That is, up till about a week ago, when the whole place went Chernobyl. Sound familiar?”

Slowly, Meg nodded. “Yeah. It does.”

“From what I’ve heard,” Gabriel continued, tapping his temple, “at least a couple of us got out, on your side and mine. Seems like the place stabilized eventually, though.”

“Any word on what caused it?”

Gabriel snorted; he reached for the whiskey and refilled both their glasses. “You ever hear of the Winchesters?”

********************

One hour and three-fourths of a bottle of whiskey later, and Gabriel had discovered that not only had Meg had close dealings with the Winchesters during the years leading up to her death, but she’d also apparently known his younger brother Castiel—and that, Gabriel gathered from the way Meg’s eyes softened when she asked about him, Castiel had been important to her, although she never explicitly said as much. Gabriel filled her in on everything she’d missed from the time Crowley had stabbed her up to the most recent updates he’d heard from angel radio, and by the time he was done, Meg was shaking her head in disbelief.

“Damn,” she said at last. “So, this Jack kid—Lucifer’s son—he’s the new God?”

“Yep.”

“Wow.”

“Tell me about it,” said Gabriel, swirling his drink. “Should be interesting, seeing as how he’s only three.”

“And Castiel.” Meg met Gabriel’s gaze. “He’s...with Dean now?”

“Yeah. Seems like it.”

Meg nodded, looking down at the bar. “Huh. And here I was thinking they’d just keep dancing around each other like a couple of idiots.” She let out a hollow sort of laugh and reached for the bottle of whiskey. “Serves me right for getting my hopes up.”

Gabriel studied her, the pieces clicking into place. “You had a thing for my brother.”

Meg’s jaw clenched, and she filled her glass all the way to the rim. “Not one I ever got to do much about,” she muttered, “thanks to Crowley.”

“I’m sorry,” said Gabriel, a little surprised by just how much he meant it.

Meg shrugged him off. “Yeah, well,” she replied, not meeting Gabriel’s gaze. “It’s not like it was ever gonna work out between us. He was always so caught up in whatever Dean was involved in, it wasn’t even funny. Besides, the hell would an angel want with a demon, anway.”

Gabriel found himself frowning; damn if there wasn’t a part of him that wanted to kick Castiel’s ass right about now. “For what it’s worth,” he said, leaning forward onto his forearms, “my brother never was the brightest bulb in the lamp; and regarding Dean, I once killed him over a hundred times just for kicks.”

That got Meg’s attention. “Really.”

“Yep, time loop, back before the whole Apocalypse thing went down. Took Sam forever to figure out what was going on and get them both out of it.” Gabriel smirked, adding, “And in the meantime, I got to play quirky death bingo with his older bro. Oh, and a few years later, I zapped them into TV Land for a bit. They looked like absolute idiots; it was fun.”

Meg looked at him for a moment, then scoffed and shook her head. “You’re really something, you know that?”

Gabriel shrugged. “Eh, I have my moments.”

And Meg, to his surprise, actually gave him a slight smile. “Apparently. So, feathers,” she said, raising her glass, “you going back to Heaven after this?”

Gabriel shook his head. “No way: too messy, and I’m not in the mood to help clean up. Figure I’ll keep lying low for a bit, then maybe see what things look like in a year or so. What about you? Hellward-bound?”

Meg scoffed. “Yeah, because I’m just dying to get stabbed the minute I walk in the door. No thanks. Thinking of just keeping to myself for now.”

Gabriel thought for a moment, then decided aw, the hell with it. “Need a place to stay?”

Meg shot him a look of what might have been amusement. “Why? You offering?”

“As a matter of fact, yes, yes I am." He nodded toward the front door. "I’ve got a good thing going on at that motel. If you want, I can set you up with a room while you figure out your next move.”

“What’s the catch?”

“No catch. All I ask in return is that you keep the fact I’m alive to your smoking little self, because like I said, I’m looking to keep a low profile. So, what do you say?” Gabriel raised his drink as though to toast. “Deal?”

Meg studied him for a moment, then smiled. “Deal,” she said, and clinked their glasses together.

#spn gabriel #gabriel #archangel gabriel #meg masters #spn meg #spndbcc #megriel #meg x gabriel #gabriel x meg #spn #supernatural #spn spoilers #fanfiction #an angel and a demon walk into a bar #background destiel #my writing #spn rare pairs

[amarantine-amirite]

Do Not Open

I’m never sure if I’m OK anymore. I'm sleeping in until almost noon. Today, instead of completing my upcoming deliverables, I spent the afternoon laying out three sweaters. I didn't look at it as a warning sign that I was falling apart mentally. I justified it. They're plain, they’re soft, and they go with everything. Together, they're three different shades of brown. Today marks the third time this month that I slept till noon and did nothing productive when I got up.

I'm about to say that I'm a horrible long-term decision maker. I can't "see" more than about a month or so into the future.

I'm not alone in that regard. In fact, I can probably count on my fingers the number of people who are good long-term decision makers.

Too bad that number doesn't matter to anyone. People define you by your ability to meet the obligations of others. If you can’t do what people ask of you, society considers you lazy and untrustworthy. Once they label you lazy or untrustworthy, that’s it. Game over. You’re done for.

I’m not lazy, I’m not untrustworthy, but I am worried. I’m worried people will think less of me because I slept late and got nothing done today. I didn't sleep in and got nothing done because I’m lazy. I did it because I did something stupid last night, and I am now overtired.

I’m kind of like my cat. Sometimes, I run around in the middle of the night for no reason. Last night, I got up and barreled down to the basement, towards a hidden door in my house that I never knew existed. I opened it, and found a box with the words “bad memories – do not open!” written on it.

Being an idiot, I opened the box. The "bad memories" therein: a red dress, neatly folded up.

Immediately, it hit me. I remembered where I wore this before. I wore it at a disciplinary meeting in high school.

I didn't know what it was that I did wrong. School personnel told me that I had apparently "bullied Michelle". That didn't make sense. I didn't know anyone at school named Michelle. I didn't even know anyone online named Michelle. I had no idea where they got this idea that I had bullied Michelle.

The whole thing made me angry. I don't know why they were doing this. I had no idea what I did wrong, and it felt like the school administration persecuted me. I foolishly went back to bed, still feeling angry that this had happened to me. You should never go to bed angry. Ever.

The minute my head hit the pillow, my dream transported me back to the disciplinary meeting.

The battle lines could not have been more clearly drawn. Skinny and just barely five feet tall, Michelle, the good girl with perfect features, wore virginal white. I, on the other hand, wore that bordello red dress (I could have sworn it was purple when I bought it.) I was worried. They were not gonna come down on my side. Unlike Michelle, I’m 5’11” and 216 pounds. I have body hair, a scar on my lip, and no filter. In the eyes of society, I'm the ultimate bad-girl.

In retrospect, I had nothing to worry about. We never had the meeting. Before anybody from the school could show up, Michelle died.

At first, I thought she was just napping. As a joke, I tried to put post-its on her to see how many I could put her before she woke up. I ended up getting the whole pack of post-its on her. Odd, I thought, I’m surprised she didn’t wake up by now.

I took her pulse. Nothing. I listen for breathing. Nothing.

Michelle was dead.

Uh-oh, I thought, if they see this, I just know they're going to find a way to make it my fault.

It was a classic no-win situation. If I told someone Michelle died, I’d get in trouble. If I cleaned it up myself, I’d really get in trouble. In short, I was stuck in the timeout room, unable to do anything.

Speaking of the timeout room, I looked around and bewilderment; and spotted a sliding door towards the back of the room. Then it hit me out of nowhere. Will today be the day that I find out what's on the other side of the door in there? It's been driving me crazy for about six months.

I pushed open the sliding door, and I found this massive, donut shaped hall with overhead panel lights all over the ceiling, Tan, stucco wall, and a metallic floor with a finish That was supposed to look like hardwood, but just looked really fake. I got the sense that the floor was some sort of bridge. I could tell because I heard my steps reverberate as I ran across.

Once I got across the bridge, I found a dark, maintenance corridor. There were two doors: one to my left and one directly in front of me. The door in front of me had “DO NOT OPEN” written on it.

When I saw the door, I felt both spooked and the urge to open it. Movies and TV have conditioned us to think that when a door says "DO NOT OPEN", it means that there's something scary behind the door. In reality, that's not the case. A door may have "DO NOT OPEN" written on it for a variety of mundane reasons, like something on the other side leaning against the door, or you’ll knock something over if you open it.

None of that matters. Someone opened it. And by someone, I mean me.

There wasn't really anything spectacular on the other side of that door. The only notable thing was a large, nearly circular hole in the wall. The hole revealed exposed armature of the house. I looked in the hole and saw that it led to another room lit in deep blue light. The light didn’t look like it came from the room. Even though the only window in the room was covered with a garbage bag, it didn’t block the blue light. A long chain hung between this room and the one on the other side.

I crawled into the hole, turned to my left, and saw a rope hanging down front the ceiling. The rope looked like it was glowing; the light reflecting off the rope came from somewhere “upstairs.”

It only took me 15 minutes to find “upstairs”. And once I got there, I figured out immediately where the light came from: The overhead lights in a room with a very deep pond and lots of fish swimming around. The fish look like they were probably salmon. I guessed it was some kind of indoor aquaculture operation. I just stood there, dumbfounded. I mean, why would we have an indoor aquaculture operation here?

I heard something that snapped me out of my train of thought. “Hey, nice going asshole!”

I turned around. I saw Michelle. She stood very still. She looks no different than when I last saw her.

“Don’t think you’ve gotten away with this“ she said, “because I’m coming for you, bitch.” Said that, it just dawned on me that she was actually gliding very slowly. “Get ready to sleep with the fishes.”

She opened her red, glowing eyes and telekinetically pushed me into the fish tank.

#writing #writers #writers on tumblr #short fiction #creepy #creepypasta #spooktober #short story #creative writing #tw death

[skywalkingthegalaxy]

The Binary Stars Chapter 1

So another Mandalorian Fic out of the thousands that are written. Right? So I decided to get on this train because of the obvious. So I hope you all enjoy and here’s hoping that people will have fun reading! If you would like to be tagged please let me know! And I’ll see y’all later! 

Just attach this wire and….

And…

Anytime now please.

Nothing. Hmmm. Maybe just needs a little more aggression? Smacking the panel as the windmill turned back on and began spinning. With technology sometimes a little tap can fix it nicely.

Closing the electric panel to see that the only blurg in her fence was sound asleep. These Blurrgs including the one he’s riding towards the ship. They keep bitting the power lines and if one more does it I’m going to shoot her and make a nice stew.

Speaking of Kuiil he should be back by now from seeing if the ship was here for the bounty. He’s either being friendly or is taking a very long time riding back. Since the sun was setting he probably stopped to watch the sunset for a little bit. I’ll go get the tea ready at least for him when he gets back, and get an extra cup for the possible stranger coming to join us tonight.

Looking out to see Kuiil with a stranger following behind him. Must be another bounty hunter after this client that’s making Kuiil all sorts of upset. He doesn’t enjoy the violence which I don’t blame him for of course. After being enslaved for so long I imagine the taste of freedom is wonderful.

“Annika!” Kuiil yelled as I put my tool bag on my back then began climbing down the windmill. Landing on the ground to wait for them to approach me. That makes...twenty...there was the human with the symbiotic arm..twenty two. That is bounty hunter number twenty two attempting to capture this target. Maybe this time he’ll be able to catch the target and get these raiders off the planet.

“Twenty two. Congratulations your number twenty two on those who’ve attempted the bounty.” Commenting for them to stop right in front of me.

“We will discuss inside.” Kuiil told the bounty hunter as the Blurrg sniffed my hand.  

“Your blurrgs keep chewing through the power lines and eventually it’s going to end up killing one of them.” Commenting as Kuiil got down as the bounty hunter was looking directly at me.

“Welcome to Arvala 7. You’ll be comfortable down here till morning when we head out.” Motioning him to follow me as we began walking inside.

Kuiil was first inside already getting the tea ready for the bounty hunter to join us. I think the spare cot is still up from the last one that came through seeking this target. My gut is telling me that this bounty hunter in particular may actually get the job done.

The bounty hunter sat down at the table as I put down my tool bag next to me then sat down. He’s got some shiny helmet. I'll give him that much. Beskar which makes sense as it’s practically indestructible. Impressive. I’ve been studying my metals and other elemental stuff these past few weeks.

“Annika.” I held up my hand to him but he looked over than back over at Kuiil. Guess he ain’t too friendly.

“He’s a Mandalorian.” Ah. That makes sense with the armor and the stoic personality. Though the few stories Kuiil has told me I truly thought he would have brought more weapons. Not just a rifle and a blaster. Then again. If you’re the greatest warriors in the galaxy then you may not need much to get the job done.

“Many have passed through, they seek the same as you.”

“Did you help them?”

“Yes. They died.”

“Well, then I don’t know if I want your help.” Looking up as I stared directly at him.

“You do.” I commented as Kuiil handed me my cup and then to the mandalorian.

“We can show you the encampment of where it’s being held. And you’re going to need an extra body in order to get the job done.” Taking a sip as the warmth of it made me relax a little.

“What’s your cut then?”

“Half.”

“Half the bounty to guide? And volunteering to help? Seems steep.” Relax there shiny I don’t want payment. This has been sort of keeping my skills up to date so I don’t become weak.

“No. Half of the blurrg you helped capture.”

“The blurrg? You can keep them both.”

“No. You will need one. To ride. The way is impossible to pass without a blurrg mount.”

“I don’t know how to ride blurrg.”

“I have spoken.” He poured himself the tea as the Mandalorian put down his cup. Right. They can’t take off their armor so there’s no way he would drink in front of us.

“It’s not hard. As long as you have some sort of good balance you’ll be able to ride it easily.” Telling him as he sighed.

Nighttime fell over the farm as I turned on the light underneath the canopy. Kuiil is dead asleep inside and rather not work on my weapons with him trying to sleep. My blaster needs some calibration for tomorrow. Rather not go in there with a blaster that can’t fire correctly.

The Mandalorian came out of the hut to start walking over to me, grabbing my poncho to then cover up my upper body.

“Can’t sleep?” Asking as I began taking off the barrel of the gun.

“Not really.” Motioning my head for him to sit on the spare stool.

“Feel free to sit here till you feel like falling asleep.” Telling him as I too off the barrel then continued from there.

“Do you clean your blaster often?” He looked down to put it on the work table.

“Better than what I expected. Here.” Handing him a spare pipe cleaner for him to take it. He began taking his gun apart as I began cleaning the barrel.

“How’d you end up all the way out here?” Sticking the barrel pipe down to start moving it up and down to get the gunk out.

“I was on a refugee ship coming out here to drop off people in the outer rim. Kuiil was sitting alone when a group of ass holes thought it would be funny to try to jump him. Beat them up and in return he offered me a home. Make sure you get around the gears.” Telling him as I grabbed my cleaning rag. We sat there in silence for the next few minutes while we continued to clean our weapons.

“What should I be expecting tomorrow?” Asking me as I put down my rag.

“About thirty to forty. One huge turret and an eagerness to keep whatever they have in that compound. The one time I went we made it a good way through but he was killed then they brought out the turret. Can’t exactly take a turret out by myself along with thirty to forty guards.” Telling him which made him stop cleaning and from what I can guess is thinking about strategy.

“Here.” Clearing a space then started moving around the pieces of my rifle to give him a visual layout.

“So according to their layout. This is where the asset is supposedly held in the main building. The rest of the buildings on the side is where these thirty to forty guards will end up coming out. A frontal assault is a horrible idea from a past mistake.” The Mandalorian began looking over the really bad layout of the compound.

“Now the compound is in the middle of the rock hills so there’s a chance for an attack from each side. But you’re the Mandalorian, I'll leave that up to you.”

“Does the main door always stay shut?”

“No. But they will shut it when we attack due to whatever this asset is, it’s worth a lot to whoever is paying the bounty. Can I know who the one is paying for this asset?”

“The Empire. What’s left of them in the universe.” The Empire? I...I didn’t think they were even around anymore. Figured the New Republic would’ve taken care of them by now. The outer rim must not be their top priority and if any planet isn’t Coruscant they don’t matter.

“Well I’ll let you get to thinking Mandalorian. Good night.” Getting up to leave my blaster apart on the work table.

*The Next Morning*

I sat under the canopy again to put together the blaster I left apart. After I finished putting back my blaster together I began working on my armor for the assault that was about to happen at the compound. My left shoulder plate just loves popping off after a few beams hit it. And rather not deal with an open wound in the middle of a firefight.

Putting it back on my shoulder for it to stay nicely on there now. Moving my arm around to see The Mandalorian and Kuiil walking towards the wild Blurrg. Hopefully we can get this done and be home by supper.

Hearing him grunting for my head to turn and see him on the ground. Oof. Who would’ve guessed that he lacked patience. Not that I haven’t ever but still I figured this would’ve been an easy task. It’s just a blurrg.

“Perhaps if you removed your helmet.”

“Perhaps it remembers that I tried to roast him.”

“That is a female. The males are all eaten during mating.” It's really not a pretty site when that happens as well. Yuck.

The Mandalorian got back up to attempt again. He’s rushing it and not giving them the chance to feel a bond. Every sort of animal species requires trust in order to ride and she’s a wild blurrg. Watching him fall off once again made Kuiil shake his head at him.

“I don’t have time for this. Do you have a landspeeder or a Speeder bike that I could hire?”

“You are Mandalorian. Your ancestors rode the great Mythosaur. Surely you can ride this young foal.” He’s not wrong. It’s just an animal that needs to make sure you’re not going to harm them.

See. They just need to make sure you’re not going to kill them! Clapping my hands together as he began riding around on the Blurrg. It just takes a minute to get a good grip and balance on these things. Truth be told I’d rather walk and jump around on the gorges for a little bit. Yet here we are.

Placing my foot on the table to grab my holstered knife into the boot. Next putting on my leg holster as I clipped it together. The Mandalorian came up to stand next to me to make sure he had everything.

“That a amban rifle?” Asking as he turned his head to look at it.

“Impressive.” Getting down on the ground to grab my gun case. Standing back up to see him still looking directly at me.

“Don’t worry I’m not gonna take it.” Assuring him as I opened my gun case to pull out my DC-15LE. Snagged it on that refugee ship that was making its way out here. I imagine the Empire isn’t going to work their way out here to take it back.

“You don’t have to help me if you don’t want to.” He commented as I placed the rifle over my head and snuggled it tight around my chest.

“It’s not a matter of wanting. It’s a matter that you’re going to need my help.” Grabbing my shawl to wrap around my chest.

“Have you always helped the other bounties?” We began walking out and heading towards the Blurrgs.

“Only the last one. Everyone else I just assumed that they failed and were killed. But it’s been upsetting Kuiil with his peace and quiet being disturbed. So now I figured why not help a little to get this land to quiet down.” Walking past him then towards the blurrgs.

“Trust me Mandalorian. If I wanted you dead it would’ve happened already.” Winking as we turned the blurrg to start riding off.  

Passing through the cracks of the planet and into the rocky hills that hid the compound. Pretty decent spot to keep an asset because from the air it looks just too busy. Not to mention who wants to make the effort to climb rocky hills and cliffs just for an asset.

We should be getting close. You can see the remaining blasters and the smell of those who’ve attempted the bounty. The stench of these bodies never goes away, it only gets far worse and I can’t stand the smell. Slowing down the Blurrg for Kuiil to point towards the compound.

“That is where you’ll find your quarry.” The Mandalorian held out a small sack full of credits for Kuiil to decline it.

“Please. You deserve this.” Kuiil looked up into the landscape and sighed.

“Since these ones arrived, this territory has been an endless stream of mercenaries seeking reward and bringing destruction.”

“Then why did you guide me?”

“They do not belong here. Those that live here come to seek peace. There will be no peace until they’re gone.”

“Then why do you help?”

“I have never met a Mandalorian. I’ve only read the stories. If they are true, you will make quick work of it. Then there will again be peace.”

“I have spoken.” Watching Kuiil ride off as we dismounted the Blurrgs.

“The Blurrgs should stay here till we get back. Then we’ll go our separate ways.” The Mandalorian nodded as we began walking towards the edge of the cliff.

We laid down on top of the rocks as he got a closer view on the compound. Last time it was swamped with guards and some huge turret was directly at the entrance of the compound. Pulling out my electrobinoculars to get a good look at the entrance. So far it looks approachable and no heavy artillery in the main entrance.

“They usually have some sort of heavy turret.” Where is it?

“How many do you see?” The Mandalorian asked as I did a quick headcount from what I could see.

“About twenty from what I see. But without that turret it’ll be easier than before and is that a droid?” Double checking with my electrobinoculars to get a closer look.

“Oh no. Bounty droid.” Shaking his head for us to get up from the cliff. Watching the droid going into the compound and taking out the soldiers one by one. Wow this is the first bounty droid I’ve ever seen and it’s sort of impressive.

We began climbing down the cliff as quick as we could to see the droid was making his way through the compound. If he gets to the asset first I’m going to use him for spare parts! Climbing then turned into sliding down the hill and reaching the bottom. He was up first as he offered his hand to help me up. Getting up for us to walk towards the gunfire. Guess the droid is already making his dent in the compound!

“IG unit stand down!” The droid immediately shot him and sent him flying back. It held it’s gun up at me as I immediately pulled out my blaster.

“I’m in the guild!” The Mandalorian held up the tracker. Offering him my hand to help him off the ground.

“You are a Guild member? I thought I was the only one on assignment.”

“You alright?” Asking him for him to nod.

“That makes two of us.” We got behind the pillars waiting for them to come out from the doors.

“So much for the element of surprise.”

“Sadly, I must ask for your fob. I have already issued the writ of seizure. The bounty is mine.” Excuse me? Since when does a droid..what!

“Unless I’m mistaken, you are, as of yet, empty-handed.” Gottem there.

“This is true.” We both kept poking our heads out to see if anymore of the guards coming from the building.

“I have a suggestion.”

“Proceed.”

“We split the reward.”

“This is acceptable.” Thank goodness.

“Great. Now let’s regroup, out of harm's way, and form a plan.” They’re going to come anytime now! I’d like to be kept alive during this whole ordeal!

“I will of course receive the reputation merits associated with the mission.”

“Can we talk about this later gentlemen!” Yelling as they were beginning to take formation.

“I require an answer if I am to proceed.. ALERT ALERT ALERT!” Shit shit shit!

They started firing down on us from the roof of the compounds as more were coming out of the buildings. The bounty droid kept his stance in the middle of the battlefield as more and more were coming out of the buildings. The Mandalorian and I kept ourselves behind the pillars as I grabbed my rifle from my back. Loading and looking down the small scope to start firing back at the men.

“We gotta get to the door.” The Mandalorian yelled as he began moving to the next piller. I followed him as he turned his head up. Looking up to see one of them on the rooftop as I shot him down.

The bounty droid was focusing on every enemy for the two of us to work our way around to the door. This is going to work I think holy shit! The door opened behind me for one of the guards to tackle me. Kicking him in the gut for the Mandalorian to shoot him right in the head. Rolling over to behind the metal barrier to then sit up.

He looked at the tracker as it was still behind the main door. Glad to know that they haven’t evacuated it. I imagine they think they’ll kill us and move on. Not this time! The three of us began moving towards the metal door as the droid stood and began walking right in the middle of the path firing at them. What droid holy crap!

“Wow. I’ve never seen a droid move like that.” Commenting as I looked up to see two were about to fire down on us.

“Up top!” We both yelled as he got behind the opposite pillar.

The firing began to stop to see them beginning to gather up in the center of the compound. Why’d they stop? Is this when the turret is coming out? I’ve gotten this the last time and now it’s just a waiting game!

They began raining fire down on us again as we both kept out heads behind the pillar. Each time we would try to fire back the pillar would be shot to pieces right before we could fight back!

“It appears we are trapped. I will initiate self-destruct sequencing.” SELF WHAT!?

“Whoa you’re what?” We both stopped and were ready to shoot this droid in order to save our asses.

“Don’t you dare blow up!” Yelling at him as we kept trying to get a good shot of one of the guards.

“Manufactures Protocol dictates I cannot be captured. I must self-destruct.”

“If you blow up right now I will use your parts for my toilet!” I yelled as the Mandalorian looked over at the control panel.

“You two cover me!” Nodding as The droid was the first one out to start firing back. Landing a shot into the left one on the roof. They’re too much fire shit! More blasts were going past me than I could fight back!

“Go go go there’s too many!” I stood on the opposite side of the pillar as I was ready to go back out and face them.

“They got us pinned!” He yelled as I landed another target that was standing in the doorway.

“No shit!” Yelling as I ducked back into cover. They began cheering as the firing stopped once again.

“Do not self-destruct! We are shooting our way out!” The Mandalorian ordered as we all stepped out from the pillars.

THERE IT IS!

“Okay.” Is all he said for us to duck back.

“New plan!”

“What plan!” Screw it! I’m using it and if that means trouble brought down on me then screw it! Getting shot at like this is getting infuriating. Even last time wasn’t this bad and there’s three of us! Cracking my neck as I dropped down my rifle and taking off my poncho.

“Mandalorian! Get ready to run for that turret!” Cracking my thumbs and fingers to then step out.

“Papo. I can’t do it!”

“Yes you can.” Holding up my hands as I tried once more.

“The Gods have given you a duty my child. To protect those who can not protect themselves.”

“But it feels like a weapon.”

“Sometimes one must fight to save those who are in need. Concrete Annika. You’re the only one making it difficult.”

“It’s as light as air.” Closing my eyes as I began to concentrate.

As light as air.

As light as air!

Raising my hands to take in a very big breath. Turning my eyes into a bright white My white energy began glowring force field appearing before me as it was taking all the heat from the laser turret. The blast was bouncing all over for the shield to grow big enough for everyone to focus on it. He was staring at me as I looked over at him.

“GO!” Yelling as the droid went running from the other side and was immediately shot into the corner. The Mandalorian went around to then pull the turret towards him. Dissolving the shield as I watched him take out the rest of the compound.

Here it comes.

My breathing began to hurt as my lungs began to tighten up. This tends to happen when I don’t use this ability after a while. It feels like my body just sorts of tightens up for a little bit. Then it leads to the coughing which hurts worse.

“You okay?” The Mandalorian asked as I spat out the blood that came up. Whipping any remaining blood as I caught my breath.

“Give me a second. Sometimes my body doesn’t like it when I do that.” Chuckling at myself as I shook my head. There we go. All better.

“That was impressive you two.” The droid commented as I nodded.

“Thanks.” He nodded as he looked over at the door.

“Well, now we just need to get the door open.” We all starred at the door, then shifted our stance towards the turret. That’ll work.

“You two go in there and get the asset. I’ll stay out here and make sure no more come out to get us.” Ordering as I walked over to the turret and climbed on. I’ve been waiting to shoot this thing since I first saw it.

Flipping the switch for the turret to charge back up. Pulling back the trigger as I began shooting all across the door. It was shaking my entire body as I was super ecstatic at shooting at this door! YEAH!!! WHOOOOAAAA!!!

Now done.

The door fell over as the two of them stood in the doorway. For a few weeks I thought we weren’t going to be able to get rid of these people. All it took was just the three of us and some pure luck.

Now Kuiil can be at peace once again and I go..back to my life. Leaning against the pillar to go into my bag and pulled out my canteen of water. Taking a few sips to close the lid of the canteen. A shot rang out from the inside as I came running in to see the droid with a bullet in it’s head.

A little hand was poking out from the metal egg and was reaching for the Mandalorian. Is that a child?

Taglist: 

@mirkwoodshewolf​

#The Mandalorian #the mandolorian x reader #the mandalorian x ofc #The Mandalorian x o/c #Star Wars #mandalorian x #mandalorian x oc #Star Wars Fan Fic #Mandalorian fan fic #din djarin #Mando #Din x reader #Din x o/c #Din Djarin x o/c #Din Djarin fan fic #cara dune #bo-katan kryze #moff gideon #Kuiil #Grogu #Baby Yoda #The Child #Kid #ig-11 #greef karga #Ashoka #Luke Skywalker #Annika #boba fett #fennec shand

[unikornu]

Page 7, Prearranged

(re-written)

The atmosphere in Nuka Town lost a bit of tension, at least around the operator’s territory, after Red Eye spread out the news after the first victory upon taking the park. Lucy woke up early, still slept in Porter’s room but keeping the promise this time, not searching and digging around his stuff, only stealing a few cigarettes. She dressed up and decided to head to Parlor alone without bothering if Gage is awake.  

As the elevator arrived to the parter and the door slid open she bumped into raiders chest.

- Gage, you have been out whole night? She asked, surprised.

- Not the whole night...but ye, most of it. Nisha wanted to have a word after we came back. His face looked a bit more roughed up than usually, even for him.

- Is....everything okay? She shouldn’t care but words just flew out of her mouth as she tried to look closer at his face but he turned it away.

- Ye, just talking, business since we actually moved things onward. You? Where ya headed, Boss?

- To visit Lizzie, need her help with something. I think this might give us a little advantage, at least what i remember from the manual i stumbled upon some time ago. She tapped her pipboy.

- I will join you later, Boss if you still want company. He stepped into elevator and looked at her walking away.

- Sure, Gage. She turned her head and nodded at him before the door closed.

-----

The Parlor guard let her in, losing his usual grumpy expression this time, upon meeting. Lucy headed straight towards Lizzie lab, knocking as usual on the door frame to safely disrupt her from whatever dangerous occupation she was at.

- Mags already heard the news. If you would just see the smile on her face, to be the first one to get the park. Lizzie put her tools aside and turned to her.  

-So...you need something more? She asked.

- Ye...look, i have that pipboy but i barely know how it functions actually but i saw it has some special cable to hack into things, maybe robots too? Would be useful if it actually works. Lucy unwrapped the pipboy and handed it to her.

- I only heard about them but never saw one with my eyes. Can i...? She looked at Lucy before even opening the back panel.

- Of course. I can see you know you way around...tech and weapons and God knows what. See if you can figure it out while i’m gone?

- Since you actually seem up for this job, why not, Boss. And you gave us park afterall, might help you further as an...exchange. Lizzie pulled her hair behind the ear and immediately sat at the table, gathering the tools around and smiling, focusing fully on the pipboy.

- Ok..i will leave you to it. As she left the lab she stumbled upon William on her way back out.

- Boss, a pleasure, especially after the yesterday’s venture. He ran a fingers through his hair and pulled his hand forward as he approached her.

- Uhm...just did what had to be done, right? She smiled awkwardly at him and reached for his hand back to shake it.

- I hope you will keep at it, Boss, we all do. Instead of shaking the hand, he took it softly and raised to kiss it, like a pre-war gentleman, looking down at her.

- Oh my...i mean, yes. As Gage walked to the room, geared up, she slipped the hand away. - I have to go, we will talk another time, William. She nodded at him and turned away, surprised by his manners, biting her lower lip.

- Feel free to visit, anytime, Boss. William said at her back, as she walked away.

Gage shook his head at him and left the Parlor after Lucy.

-----      

- I need to tell and show something, follow me. Lucy whispered to him as she took  lead and passed the town.

- Alright, Boss. Gage obligated and went after her.

They strolled all the way to the raiders famous tree, the one welcoming every new victim takin on the courage to put a step into the train to the Nuka World. Lucy stopped near it and faced Gage.

- How much do you know about Institute? She asked, looking up at him.

- Well, i heard the rumors from the Commonwealth, about synths, replacing people and shit, that they stir some experiments in secret. A lot of fucking shady stuff, Boss. Why? He looked her in the eye, a bit suspicious.

- Okay...listen. As we are through the first step of the job here and i’m actually still on my legs, standing i think its good to tell you this before we move onward. She turned around, scouring the hill beneath the tree, looking for some gap or crack.

- Don’t tell me you freaking work for em. Gage followed her and watched pulling the white crate with the institute sign on it.

- A little hand? She struggled to pull it out, with both her hands placed around the handle, pushing with her legs, as it got stuck on some roots.

- Ok, just move a bit. He leaned down and grabbed the other half of the handle.

As they pulled together, the root eventually cracked enough to finally release the package and send them on their backs as they put quite a bit of force to get it out. She turned her head towards him as they were lying down, noticing the raiders scars and bruises along with the green-hazel color of his eye. Everything looked much cleaner now that the distance shortened between them so much, in a broad daylight.

- So..Boss? He turned his head away as he noticed her staring at him and stood up.

- Ah ye, right, let me explain, now that we got it out and deal seems to be clear. She stood up as well, brushing the dust off her clothes and hands. - I was...well actually i still am, the agent for the Institute, just like Kellogg if you heard of him. But the terms changed a bit...as my position changed too.

- Should i be worried, Boss? I mean...which side to you play, theirs or our? He crossed his arms, uncertain what to think about it yet.

She paused for a moment at the second question but gathered the facts together and the last day, her arrival and point of it.

- I’m on your side, Gage. She looked him straight in the eye. - But this deal might be beneficial for us all and maybe the future, if we get that far. She crouched by the box and opened it. It was filled with ammunition and the newly constructed sniper rifle along with a some calmex dozes hidden beneath.

- So how it would work exactly, Boss? And how are we sure they won’t screw us up? I don’t mean to dislike it but...you know, trust get you only this far. He took the rifle in his hands as she handed it to him.

- They don’t care what we do, they just want data, some devices planted here and there, maybe samples of weird shit we might meet along the way. And in return we get...some stuff, better than what wasteland has to offer, maybe even better than what Gunners have. She nodded at the rifle. - It’s yours, you have a good eye.

- Shit...nice. He looked through a scope and then back at her. - Also, you mean it, Boss? Being by my side? I..don’t mean for it to sound weird, fuck, but you know what i mean.

- I know its been just one trip so far but...it might have been what i was looking for. She smiled and shrugged. - I don’t mean the whole Overboss thing, i ain’t the leader type, but that...lifestyle of yours, not giving a shit and simply, getting through life, grabbing what you want on the way, reminded me of some past. She turned back to grab the syringes from the box and stuff them in her bag.

- So..you up for the next trip, i guess? The wrinkles on his forehead softened as she looked away.

- Yes, i am. And i know where we can test this rifle. She grinned, looking towards the tall bridge in the distance.

----  

As they strolled together towards the bridge, keeping themselves in a taller grass and the shadows, Gage suggested it would be better to wait till it gets darker.

- They won’t see us that well and if they are about to launch something serious at us we will also see it better, lighting up. Gage nodded towards the abandoned shack. - Won’t be long, Boss.

- Alright, you know them better and what they can be up to. She followed him inside the shack, filled with hay and...

- Cats? What the fuck? She didn’t hide her surprise as she jumped past them.

- Don’t ask me. Even Mason tried to take them to his zoo but they always stick to this place. No freaking clue why.

- And you didn’t kill them for food? She dropped down on a pile of hay and leaned her back against the wall.

- If we would starve then ye, otherwise...we ain’t that fucking big savages, Boss. At least i know where to look for em if needed. He pulled himself an old rusty chair and sat down as well. - You could a nap if ya want, Boss.

- No...i do not sleep in the open like that, but you should. You have been up almost whole night at Nisha’s. She stared at him, suggesting him to open up the topic.

- Nah, im fine Boss. We just talked about future plans. She wants to be sure i won’t piss her off again like it happened, with Colter. He sighted and eyeballed her.

- I don’t think she is the type to be ever....satisfied unless she is the one in charge of everything. She took a piece of hay and rolled it through her fingers. - I know you got some beating, i can recognize it. She stood up, brushing off the hay and looked back at him.

- It’s nothin new for me, Boss, at least from her. And ain’t much you or me can do bout it now. Gage looked at the window, waiting impatiently for the sun to go behind the horizon.

- Right now, no. But it doesn’t mean we cannot start...thinking about it and stir something on our own. She approached him, blocking the view he was staring at. - I didn’t need much time to feel she will gut us eventually no matter what i do, sooner or later Gage.

- And i thought you ain’t the leader type. He stood up slowly from the chair. -She is dangerous and experienced Boss, maybe most of them all and you just came here so...keep it easy for now, and just for us eh? He put a hand on her shoulder and shook it.        

- I don’t need to be a leader to notice shit. It will have to be solved somehow, sooner or later but, ye..let’s focus on a task at hand. She took his hand off and sat back down, lighting a cigarette and awaiting for the darkness to hide them in its shadows.

----

The duo crouched lowly, into the tall bushes. Lucy pumped with fresh dose of calmex and Gage giving a look around through a scope onto the bridge and below.

- Ain’t looking good. I think we will just take down what we can and leave the power armored guy for later. Not like they can do anything else anyway other than duck there. Gage pulled the eye off the scope and noticed that Lucy moved on. - What the fuck are you doin, Boss? He whispered after her.

- Let me take down the ones below, its just three of em. They ain’t gonna hear shit. She whispered back and disappeared swiftly into the shadows.

- Goddamn woman. He pointed the rifle towards her direction, awaiting for her move. He noticed a spill of blood flying into the air from behind the wall and barely keeping up with her movements, slicing the flesh and swinging the knife with a butcher finesse. - Fuck, she’s fast. Gage looked towards the nearby tower and took down a gunner as he stood up, calling for his mates.  

They didn’t move, crouching low, making sure no one heard them up on the bridge. Gage walked, keeping low to join Lucy near the shack. - Not bad, Boss but we wont take the guy up with just that, there ain’t much cover either up there.

- With regular ammunition we won’t stand chance but maybe this will do. She pulled a small box with a few bullets for the rifle, bigger this time, glowing with an orange shade shining from beneath the shell.

- Damn, what are these? Gage grabbed the bullets and roll around one of them in fingers.

- A prototype, explosive ammunition for this rifle. Came with that package as well. Might give us a chance actually.

- You ain’t the patient type are you, Boss? Wanting to finish every task right at hand, no matter what. She shrugged her shoulders at him.

- Its your choice. I ain’t going up if you are not up for it. She whispered and looked up, making sure they are still safe.

- You know what, fuck it. I sat enough on ass. If anything i will let them throw you out if this bridge first. He grinned at her and started reloding the rifle with the new ammunition.

- Real gentleman. She snarked and entered the shack with him, stepping into the elevator and sitting low as it raised them slowly up.  

-----

Lucy jumped at the gunner as he turned abruptly, pushing him to the floor and stabbing through his throat, to not alert the others.

- Nice moves, Boss. They ran to the next cover, looking from behind the barrier of concrete and metal.

- Ain’t my first time. She shook the blade off the blood and scanned the terrain, looking for any covers and shadows towards the patrol, sitting in the metallic shack, light of the candle glowing in the small opening, their leader walking nearby, looking down the bridge, carrying a minigun.

- How many bullets he will need? She asked.

- I dunno, maybe three if the impact will be as strong i expect. Ya have any grenades?

- I always have a grenade. She chuckled and pulled one from under her chest piece. - Smoke type, to cover us, when needed. Gage found that amusing for some reason.

- If you take care of the guys inside i can focus on the big fucker. Will need few seconds to reload, it can take only one of these bullets at the time. Gage suggested but caught her by the hand as she was about to move.

- What? She crouched back and looked at him.

- Be careful, Boss. She nodded at him and approached the metallic shack, staying low and avoiding trash and junk on her way to not cause any noise. Gage was watching the leader from the scope, waiting for the right moment.

Lucy waved a hand towards him and pulled the pin, throwing a grenade inside and spreading a large thick smoke all around. She didn’t waste any second, dodging around them and slashing. Gage pulled a trigger meanwhile, a bullet flew, crashing on the power armor and releasing a strong orange glow before it turned into energetic explosion. Lucy got blinded by it, running from the shack and hiding behind the building.

- Shit, its strong. Gage noticed her and understood the strength of impact. She couldn’t be near but he couldn’t take a good aim as the gunner started showering him with bullets.

- Right...pistol. Lucy pulled the gun Gage gave her before, suggesting it might prove useful as well. - Hey, i ain’t finished here, come at me you son of a bitch! Lucy started shooting at him, regular bullets bumping from the metallic heavy structure only being an annoyance for the man but it was what she needed. A distraction, from a distance.

- Oh i will finish you soon bitch. Nothing that a bunch of swears and clinging of bullets in the head wouldn’t manage to switch the attention of a man.

- Fuck. He was faster than she thought and his gun probably also upgraded as its bullets cracked through the shack metallic structure, keeping her on her toes.

- Hold on, Boss, Here it comes! Gage managed to hit him with the second fire before he ran behind the building. Lucy covered her face this time and used the occasion, as the gunner was stunned, crouching on his knee. She ran up to him and force-pulled the gun off his hands, kicking it away as it fell.

- Got ya, bitch! He recovered fast, beside his armor reducing to almost a skeleton base but still having its basic functions going, enough to punch her in the stomach and throwing to the ground. He pulled off his cracked helmet aside, steaming from heat. Lucy landed, half stunned on the concrete but seeing him approach her, stomping heavly she crawled forward to expose him again for the Gage.

As she raised her eyes the shadowy steps appeared in front of her, stoping her and freezing in place.

“Wrong Feit! It ain’t what i taught you. Only whores go onto their kness like that” - a voice that haunted her occasionally appeared yet again and vanished right after as the gunner stood up beside her.

- Shit. Gage ran from his cover, putting the third bullet in the rifle and approaching forward till he saw her better, pulling herself on the ground and gunner foot pushing on her back.

- Oh i will kill you, but slowly..so u can feel every muscle and bone crash in your fucking body. He pushed, her chest piece cracking open and putting an unbearable pressure onto her.

- What the fuck you waiting for!? Just shoot for fuck sake! She could take a lot but that was an impact stronger than the usual man force.  She knew she was too close to him but the pain slowly became unbearable and she would rather avoid hearing her bones crack.

Gage hesitated and risked a few more seconds, switching the bullet for the regular one. Despite her sudden scream he stayed focused, squinting his eye and holding his breath as he aimed for his head. - Pick up on someone your size fucker! He shouted only to turn his head enough towards him to shove that bullet into his head. The body fell ungracefully to the side, raising up the dust gathered around.

- Boss, shit? You okay? Gage ran up to her and crouched, turning her around.

- It actually fuckin hurts, i can’t move. What took you so long? She grabbed his hand he offered her and with a little help lifted herself to a sitting position as he pushed onto her back with other hand.

- If i would pack that special one, you would not only have your goddamn back cracked but probably get burned or worse. He looked over her for any other wounds. - Can you stand, Boss?

- Not without a little support for a while. I will be fine once i shove some med-x and other shit when we get back. She looked at him, not expecting such behavior and cautiousness from the raider.

- I would rather prefer you not needing too often this treatment in the future. He grabbed her around the waist, helping her to keep the balance.

- But hey, we solved another problem, together. She smiled at him and pat his back as they got lifted back down, leaning to his side. He rolled his eye down, to meet hers for a second and smiled back with one corner of his mouth.  

- Hope ya can keep it going, because i have a good feeling about you, Boss.

They came back to the Fizztop but an invisible figure was following them along, rendered so well with the background it remained undetected, entering the Town after them.  

#fallout 4 #fo4 #nuka world #lucy's diary #lucy feit #porter gage #screenshot #thrax's action poses #dat shack with cats...still wish to find more in-game notes bout it

[jaggedwolf]

TSCOSI Ficlets #2

Not being from the US

"So, Jeeter, what'd you learn this week?" Arkady plopped into the seat opposite him, stealing one of his fries. "The horrors of Fahrenheit?"

"Man, that was day one of international student orientation. We're on to way more advanced terrors now." Brian considered a token protest at the fry-theft. Eh, he'd get her back when she got dessert.

Arkady shrugged off her backpack. "Why do you even bother still going?"

"It's mandatory."

"Like you give a crap about that."

"Gotta be up to date with all these cultural differences."

"You're Canadian."

"Hey man-"

"And you told me you spent every summer in the States, anyway," Arkady said, looking suspiciously at him. Well, she tended to look suspiciously at a lot of things, so it wasn't the worst sign. "There's no reason for you to subject yourself to-"

A wide grin crossed Arkady's face. Oh no. "Wait, they're also an international student, right?"

"Maybe," said Brian defensively.

"Now, remind me what you said about their cheekbones?" Arkady's voice sounded even more delighted.

Brian pulled the hood of his sweatshirt over his head, and buried his head in his arms on the table. His voice muffled, he said "Drinking with you was a mistake."

"I for one, could not be happier that Tripathi took pity on a couple of freshmen and did us that favor."

Brian groaned. Three months into the school year and he still didn't understand how or when Arkady and him became friends.

"Should have guessed you'd be a poetic drunk." Arkady clapped him on the back. "Woah, speaking of-"

She tugged his sweatshirt. Brian reluctantly looked up, following her gaze to find the subject of their discussion striding towards them.

Yep, Krejjh looked about as handsome as they always did. That was fine. Their pace slowed as they approached the table. "Hey, it's Brian, right?"

"That's him," chimed in Arkady. "And I'm going to get some actual food now instead of skimming off Jeeter's"

She abruptly stood up and left. Krejjh seemed startled by her departure and asked "Is this a bad time?"

They sounded oddly hesitant, not at all like how Brian had heard them speak with their friends.

"Nope." Brian shoved back his hood. "Arkady's just like that. Do you want a fry?"

Holding your hand in mine

Arkady's always appreciated privacy. Couple of decades of sleeping in crowded rooms will do that to you. Being alone can be nice.

Being alone sucks a hell of a lot more when you're dying in one of Zone Z's dim-lit hallways.

Asshole shot her and her comms before she took care of him, and she supposes she'll only have his body for company as blood spurts out from under her collarbone. The instinctive pressured she applies slows it down. Not quick enough. He'd picked his shot well.

It's a waiting game now. She might as well distract herself. After all, hiding from the world in foolish dreams is a talent she's cultivated.

It's easy to paint a picture, as the world becomes fuzzy. No one could fault her for it. If someone wants to, she's not exactly going to be around to take their complaints. She squeezes her eyes shut. Folds herself smaller into the corner. Presses the heel of her right hand harder into the bleeding wound. Ignores how slick it feels. She's going to lose this fight, but like hell she's not clinging on all the way down, fingernails dug deep into life.

Back to the imagining.

What does she want, in these final moments?

What doesn't she want, is the better question. Her dreams had always been too stupidly big for reality. And yet. This is...this is a better death than she ever thought she'd get. Not much more to ask for. To her mind's rendering of the scene, she only adds a couple of selfish touches.

Long, soft fingers curl over the back of her right hand. They push insistently, added pressure to the wound, steadily, as if confident they can fix this. Fingers she's seen idly drum the table in the mess hall, fingers she's seen wrapped around a hypodermic syringe, fingers she felt trail through her hair just this morning. A presence that refuses to leave.

A rougher palm meets that of her left hand. The resulting grip is firm. Gentle. The calluses have a different contour from her own. Earned from building, where hers were made from breaking. They press against each other in a way that feels right anyway. Feels right, like twice-offered new beginnings. And even now, offering more.

It's good, Arkady thinks, that this is how it goes. Her alone.

Wouldn't be fair to them any other way.

Lesbian gaze

The ship turns out to be a monstrous patchwork, but Tripathi promises it'll fly, so she busies herself with staring at her new ID card. Arkady Patel. The card is new, nothing like the faded, scratched-up one in her back pocket. She'd gotten that one when she enlisted, been excited as hell about it, actually.

"Hey, Arkady?" asks Tripathi, sounding apologetic and swiveling the pilot's seat. "Could you check the local channels to see if they're tracking us?" Tripathi nods her head towards one of the panels.

She grunts in affirmative, shoves the ID card into a pocket and makes herself useful. She's mostly blocked out the pain. The channels are clear, takeoff goes without a hitch, and an hour later, they're as free as can be.

She could fish out that ID card again. There's a lot of people she's imagined being. Arkady Patel's the first one she actually will. If the IGR doesn't end up finding them first, that is. But that's not the name echoing in her head.

That would be Sana Tripathi.

Who's busy piloting, which means she can get away with looking her over. Tripathi's hair had been longer back on Cresswin, a single black braid that moved with her head through with every point made in those meetings snuck into. Now, Tripathi's hair isn't even shoulder-length. Nice and practical. Grey roots too. Tripathi seemed a little young for that. Not that she actually knew the woman's age, come to think of it.

There was a lot she didn't know about Tripathi. Maybe less if she counted Cresswin, and maybe she should, since Cresswin's what landed her here but - people changed. From time. From the war. From working a shitty job day-after-day. Easy enough to slip on an old skin if it got you a desperately needed crew member.

Not that it matters. She isn't looking for the noble, non-existent hero her teenage self had fantasized about. Now that she's on the IGR's bad side, she's pretty fucking good with settling for a place to sleep and food to eat. She can wait this out. See who Tripathi ends up being, and see if Tripathi figures out she isn't worth the trust.

Till then, she'll keep an eye on her new boss.

Low Expectations

It's ludicrous, he thinks, how exposed he feels without his eyepatch. Even more so when Violet's gloved fingers rest on his skin where the edges of the eyepatch would have. No matter. The feeling is a sign he has let himself become too comfortable. He's been far more exposed.

"Can you open the eyelid?" asks Violet.

There's that familiar half-second where he expects his range of vision to expand, and it grates on him, that his body has not yet adapted to its new reality. He opens his eyelid as wide as he can.

If Violet is perturbed by the sight of an empty eye socket, she doesn't show it. Her head comes closer to inspect it, fingers shifting slightly along his skin, and he tilts his face towards her to make it easier.

"Thanks," mutters Violet.

His hands start to tremble.

They're not in Violet's line of sight. He has the time to compensate, and the freedom to move his hands, so as carefully as he can manage, he grips his knees. He forces himself to start speaking, informing Violet of the current status of his eye socket and how the IGR had healed it.

It's no challenge to keep his face still. Whatever they do could only hurt more with unexpected head movements, they'd told him.

Eventually, Violet pulls back. Her fingers leave his face. Before he can even take a breath of relief, Violet pauses midway through turning to grab something, a concerned look on her face. "Park, you're shaking."

"I-" When Park looks down, he sees that his knees have joined his hands in trembling uncontrollably. His mind blanks. "My apologies," he acknowledges, "it shouldn't affect the checkup."

"What?"

He'd given an uninformative answer. Needed a better explanation. "My head. It shouldn't affect my head, so-"

"Park," interrupts Violet quietly, a slow frown taking over her face, "I think we're done for today."

Wooing with sharp-edged gifts

As soon as Arkady was unhorsed for the last time, and her opponent declared the victor, Sana appeared out of nowhere to act as her crutch.

"You should be escorting Rumor, not me," Arkady pointed out, her helmet weighing down her free hand. Her left foot throbbed when she put any weight on it. "Who knows what she'll get up to without your supervision?"

Sana huffed, her armor clanging against Arkady's. "I could say the same about you. Besides, Krejjh is handling her fine."

Sure enough, a glance behind revealed Krejjh eagerly chattering away to Sana's steed. They swung a leg over to ride even that short distance to the stables.

"Showoff," muttered Arkady. "Krejjh bribes your horse with too many sugar cubes."

"Be that as it may," continued Sana, "I'm afraid there'll be no escaping the medical tent today. It's tournament day! We're safe, you need to get your leg taken care of, and if something happens you'll have the simple pleasure of saying 'I told you so', won't you?"

"It's not a pleasure."

Sana ignored her, holding up a flap of the tent they'd arrived at for Arkady to hop under. She did so, making sure to look as annoyed as possibly, and Sana followed, supporting Arkady over to the nearest cot...where Violet stood expectantly.

Sana flashed a quick grin at Arkady. "You know what, Kady, you're right, I should go check on Rumor. Just remember you did your best out there." With that, Sana nodded at Violet and exited the tent so quickly it was as if she were never there.

Arkady frowned at Violet. "Liu. Wasn't your shift yesterday?"

Looking amused, Violet replied. "They're hardly going to complain about an extra hand. Let's get that armor off your leg."

They did. Arkady winced the whole time, cursing herself for her choices. Jousting, really? Arkady would have fared better in the melee, her own two feet and her weapon of choice to depend on.

They could hear cheering from the lists from even inside the tent. Another bout ended, then. Violet examined Arkady's foot, fingers pressing various spots around the swollen ankle.

As if reading her mind, Violet asked, "Why the joust?"

Embarrassed, Arkady shot back, "You mean, why'd I pick something I'm so piss-poor at?"

"You won your first two bouts," said Violet mildly.

Oh. She'd been watching.

Of course she'd been watching, how else would she have known to come to this very tent? Even Sana's encouragement didn't extend quite that far.

Violet continued, "You've never mentioned it when talking about other tournaments."

The simple, foolish answer was the smallest prize the winners received. A single rose, fresh from the royal garden, to be presented to whoever they chose.

The melee was an ugly, crowded thing. It was not the melee's rose lauded in those songs she'd loved as a child, snatches of music caught in taverns and lyrics sung in street games, and it was not the melee's rose she had wanted to give to Violet. It was not the melee she had wanted Violet to see her fight in.

It was not after the melee she had wanted to broach a topic she had thought unbroachable.

Yet it was the ugly things in life that Arkady was good for, and so she was left here with empty hands and another injury.

Arkady half-smiled at Violet. "Thought I'd try something new."

"I...don't think that's the whole answer," said Violet, but she didn't press as she normally would have. She turned to her satchel, retrieving a cloth bundle and unwrapping it to reveal a dagger, sheathed in dark leather. It was good work, deceptively simple. She wondered how much coin it had cost.

Violet took a deep breath and then spoke slowly. "You probably haven't been counting the days but, um, it's been a year since you saved me from that ambush. A little less than that since you cleared my name."

Had it been that long? Had it been that short?

Violet pulled the dagger out of the sheath. The dagger's edges gleamed in the snatches of sunlight filtering into the tent, but Arkady only had eyes for the sharpening of Violet's gaze.

"You told me, once, that I didn't know what you'd done. What you'd do." Violet sheathed the dagger. "I do now."

She offered out the dagger, pale fingers around the sheathed portion of it, her face tentative yet determined. "A gift. A thank-you. You don't"-A short laugh escaped Violet-"Refuse it if you will. I just thought I ought to say it."

"I-" For once, Arkady didn't have the words to respond.

Instead, she took the dagger, and let the slowly growing smile on Violet's face be answer enough for them both.

#ficlets #tscosi #tscosi ficlets #arkady patel #the ficlets keep happening idk #arkady and brian #arkady and sana #violet and park #arkady and violet