#look I’m not hacking on anyone I am the worlds worst for going to the dentist I hate it and I forget all the time but are u telling me none

[vcrnons]

can someone give twt carats a knock on the head bc why is my timeline exclusively “oughhhhh why was dk at the dentist. what if he got veneers too” CHILDREN. THE DENTIST. IS A ROUTINE. TRIP. 😭

#shut up j #every day I get closer to deleting that devil app altogether #look I’m not hacking on anyone I am the worlds worst for going to the dentist I hate it and I forget all the time but are u telling me none #of y’all go to the dentist ever. for. routine reasons. for checkups. or minor work. #dentist =/= cosmetics 😭 #and as if any of y’all have any right to dictate what this man does with his own teef 😭 #lord above. insane behaviour

[heliads]

Hi Lisa, not the person who asked about Luke Castellan but I have a request since I saw you write for him!

A Luke Castellan x female reader, where they are at camp half-blood and reader and Luke have known each other for as long as reader can remember and they always train together and try and be better than each other at sword fighting, and always try to win Capture the flag if they are on opposite teams. Luke is always a bit overly flirty because he has some slight crush on the reader, but she thinks it's normal that he's flirty and doesn't pay much attention to it, deflecting it with her own flirty responses. But one day, Luke decides to tell reader how he feels but has heard that Percy Jackson wants to tell reader that he likes her too, so there's some dispute amongst them and basically it leads to them always trying to get readers attention and trying to be impressive which may lead to some fights. So it catches Mr.D and Chiron's attention and they tell them to calm the fights down and if they really want to win someone's heart they have to do so fairly which may lead to a competition of some sort. (Hopefully you get where I'm going with this, a competition thats not Capture the Flag-) and in the end Luke wins the competition therefore confessing to reader and make it a sweet fluffy ending! (Where reader accepts because I don't want poor Luke heartbroken 😭)

Thanks Lisa ! <33

this is for the luke castellan believers (i am one)

masterlist

You are not in the mood for tricks. That’s why you’re at the sword fighting arena, after all; nothing calms a dangerous temper like swinging celestial bronze at someone’s head. However, the fact that you’ve chosen Luke Castellan of all people as a partner for the afternoon would then call your sanity into question. 

If you’re so frustrated with the world around you that you’d glare this ferociously at first-summer campers for daring to walk slowly in front of you, it isn’t entirely clear why you’d go to the son of Hermes as a temporary solution to your anger issues. You tell yourself the only reason you’re walking towards Luke is because he’s the best at sword fighting here, but maybe there’s another reason, too.

Maybe you’re specifically challenging Luke to a round in the ring because you know he’ll fire up your temper even more than usual. See, one of the worst parts about Luke Castellan being your sword fighting opponent isn’t just his uncanny skill with the blade, it’s the fact that he’ll trash talk you the entire time he kicks your ass. That’s why most people choose to avoid him unless absolutely necessary.

That’s also why you like fighting against him most of all. If anyone’s got comebacks strong enough to match Luke, it’s you. You’re also his most challenging opponent. That’s common knowledge at Camp Half-Blood, even Luke has grudgingly admitted it a few times. 

Everyone knows that you and Luke would stay in the arena until both of you collapse from exhaustion if Chiron would let you. It’s a shame that the camp activities director won’t allow that to happen, but that doesn’t stop you and Luke from doing your best to get to that point every time you pick up a sword.

Luke appears to have been expecting you. He’s been challenging a training dummy the past few minutes, but he gives up his hacking of motionless targets in favor of one that can actually punch and kick.

“I thought you’d be dropping by,” he grins.

You arch a brow. “Why’s that?”

“I don’t think you can stay away that long,” Luke says matter-of-factly, “what, have you missed me since I last saw you? It has been hours, I wouldn’t blame you.”

You roll your eyes. “If that’s how you’re going to be, I’ll ask someone else to spar. Maybe Percy, he’s been good as of late.”

Luke’s jaw locks, just the reaction you’d been hoping to see. You pretend to start walking away and Luke crosses in front of you, arms folded across his chest. 

“Not so fast, L/N. I’m interested now, you might as well commit. I’ve been looking for an easy win today anyway.”

You let out a brief laugh in pretend shock. “Easy, huh?”

Luke cracks a proud grin. “Yeah, just like every other time I beat you. Easy.”

“I’ll show you easy,” you challenge, and swing your sword at his head.

Luke barely blocks the attack, immediately countering at your exposed side. You parry him with ease, taking a step back to give you enough room to put your full force into the defensive motion. Twisting your sword, you lunge forward towards Luke’s bicep. This time, you do manage to hit him. It’s the smallest of grazes, as Luke has already started sidestepping, but you do manage to slice a fine line into his skin. 

You smile when drops of red begin to bead up where you’d struck him. “First blood?”

“Won’t be the last,” Luke promises you, redoubling his attacks. It takes everything in you to defend yourself against the relentless onslaught of blows, and even your best efforts aren’t quite enough to avoid Luke’s blade. His last show of force is enough to slice through the side of your shirt, nicking you in the process.

You glare at him. “I happen to like this top, you ass. Don’t do that again.”

Luke’s grin is shameless. “You’d better do a better job at defense if you don’t want it to happen.”

You glare at him, earning only a laugh in return. The rest of the bout follows in the same vein, with you and Luke trading cuts and jabs at the other. You don’t think you’ve ever found two people so evenly matched as you and Luke. The end of the practice session finds both of you chests heaving, lying on your backs side by side in a corner of the sword fighting arena.

“Not bad,” you admit.

“Same with you,” Luke replies. You don’t have to look his way to see that same easy grin on his face. Someday you’re going to have to admit that you like knowing him better than anybody, but today is not that time.

He gets up first, crouching over you with a hand extended. You take it without him having to ask. Luke puts a little too much force into the effort of pulling you up, and you end up stumbling forward a step or two. When you look up, you’re only a few inches away from him, both of your faces turned instinctively towards the other. For some reason, you can’t quite convince yourself to walk away, not yet.

“Easy, sweetheart,” Luke breathes, “Don’t go falling for me quite yet, would you?”

His relentless sarcasm is what you need to break from your spell. You hurriedly step back, waving goodbye to Luke over your shoulder. You can’t quite meet his eyes.

You head back to your cabin in a rush, too lost in thoughts you don’t want to consider for even a second. You’re hoping to put the whole matter with Luke out of your mind, but you’ve barely flopped onto your bunk after a shower when your best friend comes rushing up to you.

“What is it now?” You ask, one forearm pressed against your eyes in an effort to stave away intrusive thoughts that should definitely stay buried.

Your best friend chuckles. “You’re going to want to hear this. Best gossip, straight from the source.”

You raise a brow. “Have you been spying on unsuspecting demigods, Tina? You really have to stop that, you know. It’s an invasion of privacy.”

Tina Hernandez, your godly half-sister and favorite person in the entire camp, doesn’t seem too affected by the irritation in your tone. “Secrets were meant to be shared, Y/N. Do you want to hear this or not? It happens to include a certain Luke Castellan.”

This is an obvious tactic meant to pique your interest and get you to focus on her. Tina is only doing it because she thinks she knows something about you, something which definitely isn’t true. If you were smart, you would ignore the bait about Luke entirely.

You open your eyes. “What is it?”

Tina grins triumphantly. “Knew that would get your attention. So here’s the thing, I was heading back from arts and crafts just a few minutes ago when I heard raised voices. Of course, that’s not exactly unusual around here, but when I heard your name being tossed around I knew I had to investigate further.”

She pauses for dramatic effect, and you wave your hand impatiently. “What was it? I don’t have all day.”

“You literally do, but okay,” Tina replies, vaguely offended by your rushing of her story, “Anyway, I did some high quality espionage and it ended up being Luke Castellan and Percy Jackson. Percy was saying something about how he wanted to tell you how he felt but Luke was having none of it.”

“Why was that?” You ask doubtfully.

Tina groans. “Isn’t it obvious? Luke likes you. He didn’t want Percy confessing anything because he doesn’t want you to be with Percy.”

You laugh incredulously. “You must be out of your mind. Luke doesn’t like me like that.”

Tina scoffs. “Of course he does. He flirts with you nonstop.”

“He does that with everyone,” you argue, but it sounds weak even to your ears.

Tina knows it, too. “Sure thing, if that’s what you want to tell yourself. Regardless, they were both unhappy with each other, and ended up storming away, but not before saying something about proving they were each better or something.”

You frown. “What does that mean?”

“No idea,” Tina admits, “but I have a feeling that we’re going to find out pretty soon. Subtle doesn’t exactly go by the name of Luke or Percy.”

You grin. “You’re not wrong about that.”

She certainly isn’t. Within the hour, you’re seeing evidence that Tina’s investigations were sound. During dinner that night, Luke and Percy can’t stop glaring at each other. The next day, they’re practically at each other’s throats, both trying to outdo each other in obstacle courses and sword training and literally every challenge under the sun. It’s insane.

It takes about a day and a half before things get out of control. What started off as a harmless game of Capture the Flag ended up with Luke and Percy getting into a fight. They were both hauled off to camp headquarters to be chewed out by Chiron and Mr. D. Obviously, this is a private matter, but you can’t stop yourself from dropping by to see if you can overhear a few things later on.

Luke and Percy are being chastised appropriately in one of the rooms of the Big House. If you hover near the outside of the building, just beside a window, you can hear enough of what’s going on to piece together a few things.

You risk a glance inside as you walk over to the window. You can make out Chiron massaging his temples, looking absolutely sick of both boys’ nonsense. Mr. D. is glaring at a soda can in front of him as if willing it to turn to poison so he could down it and be rid of this nonsense.

“You do understand why you can’t be doing all of this, right?” Chiron is saying, “Both of you are role models in this camp for the younger students. That gives you extra responsibilities, some of which involve not tussling in the middle of the woods during a round of Capture the Flag.”

Luke’s voice filters out the window soon enough. “It won’t happen again.”

“No,” Chiron replies firmly, “I have a pretty good feeling that it will. In fact, these fights are going to keep happening until both of you sort out whatever animosity is brewing between you. Either you two talk it out, or you’re going to be stuck on dishwashing duty for the foreseeable future. I leave it to you to decide which fate is worse.”

Percy groans. “Look, sir, this isn’t–”

Mr. D. cuts him off irritably. “What, this isn’t our responsibility? Everything here is our responsibility, boy. Even jealous squabbles between two boys both stuck on one girl.”

You hear a sound that could be Percy choking on his own tongue. “What? That’s absurd. Why would you even think that?”

Chiron might be laughing. Either that, or it’s a truly terrible cough. “Your love lives are your own business. Trust that we want no part of that. What does concern us are the fights, however. Just clear up these problems, alright? I don’t want to see either of you in here again.”

You hear a scraping of chairs, which you assume is the boys being dismissed. Sure enough, a voice soon floats out of the window and down to you.

“This little show is over, Y/N,” Chiron says wearily, “You may now cease eavesdropping under the window.”

You take a few steps back so you can grin up at him. “Duly acknowledged, sir.”

Chiron might smile at that, although you can tell he’s still trying to look appropriately dour. “Do me a favor, Y/N, and make a choice? Those boys need to focus on something other than trying to outdo each other.”

This time you do laugh. “I’ll do my best.”

Chiron raises a hand in farewell and you follow suit before taking off back into the sprawling hills of the camp. Hands in your pockets, you stroll idly through the ranks of campers until you’re reaching the boundary of the forest. When you glance over your shoulder, you realize that there are two figures approaching you. Rapidly, in fact. When you squint to focus, you discover that they’re sprinting towards you at full force.

It appears to be a race, and sure enough, as they draw closer, the silhouettes reveal themselves to be Luke and Percy. You groan, fighting back a laugh. They truly are impossible, aren’t they?

They reach you in a matter of moments. Luke makes it there just before Percy, and you raise your hand in a clear declaration of victory. He clasps it triumphantly, biting back heaving breaths to grin over at Percy. 

Percy opens his mouth to say something, but you hold up a hand. “Luke made it here first. Apologies, Jackson.”

Percy nods solemnly and backtracks, heading towards the center of camp once more. When Luke is able to recover his breath, he straightens up and turns towards you. He looks incredibly nervous. It might be the first time you’ve seen him as anything other than overly confident.

You decide to spare Luke the trouble of going through the motions. “I like you too, by the way.”

Luke stares at you in shock. “What?”

You grin. “You’re confessing. That’s why you and Percy were racing here, I assume? Well, it’s good that you won. I’d hate to turn Percy down if he made it here first.”

A slow smile is beginning to dawn on Luke’s face. “Really?”

You raise a teasing brow. “Why are you so surprised? I assumed you already knew.”

“Well,” Luke admits, “I knew what I wanted to think. It’s surprisingly easy to doubt yourself when you’re about to say it out loud, though.”

You reach over and take his hand. “Don’t worry, then. I choose you. I’ll do it over and over again if I have to.”

Luke squeezes your hand. “I’m very glad to hear it.”

For once, he’s not joking with you. Luke Castellan is completely serious about you. You couldn’t be more happy to discover that.

pjo tag list: @w1shes43

#luke castellan #luke castellan imagines #luke castellan x reader #luke castellan oneshot #pjo #pjo imagines #pjo x reader #pjo oneshot #pjo luke #pjo luke imagines #pjo luke x reader #pjo luke oneshot

[def-not-a-bottom]

Pls give me all your new stranger things trailer thoughts I am begging 🙏

AHHH OK OK OK, i would absolutely love to hear your thoughts too I’ll shoot you an ask so you can share yours too :)

so I’ll be totally honest I’m no good at like analyzing things like this and some of my takes may be kind of like commonly agreed upon things but here we go.

I think the only options of characters that could die are Eddie, Lucas, Robin, or Joyce. But I’m leaning towards probably Eddie, based on previous seasons dying character trends and Stranger Things wanting to keep its diversity HAHA. But it definitely could be Joyce, with that scene of Jonathan and Will hugging and looking all somber. But I would not be shocked if we see 2 or more deaths. I’m kind of expecting it. There’s SO many characters, all of which have prominent roles and distinct personalities, to sustain that for a future season 5 would be so difficult. And Robin’s line in the trailer pointed towards things not being so good. So. lots of death I’m thinking.

At like 1:26 in the trailer Steve and Nancy are like hacking away at vines trapping Robin? possibly? Against a wall, but her face and everything looks normal, so no Robin being taken by Vecna? That’s a godsend LMAO protect her at all costs.

Also. EDDIE. GUITAR SCENE. I can’t imagine what that would be, except maybe he can play peoples fave songs on guitar and save them that way idk. But I’m so excited for that that scene is gonna be so cool.

My main question. Nancy? In that hallway? By herself? Nancy seemed pretty determined not to go anywhere alone all season, and to not let anyone be alone (maybe cause of guilt over barb’s death way back?) So I’m not sure what that could mean, but definitely something goes very wrong for her to be separated. Also… Vecna? In the actual, non-upside down world? I’m curious to see this, and how the gang gets to and reacts to the facility where El was raised.

So much to look forward to and I am hoping for the best but fearing the worst 😭

Either way, part 2 is like movie length episodes so this is gonna be INSANELY cool.

Thanks for coming to my Ted talk that’s the extent of things that stood out to me 😁

#text post #textposts #stranger things #stranger things season four #vecna #vecna stranger things #joyce byers #steve harrington #robin buckley #lucas stranger things #stranger things predictions

[tommiematthews]

Prison... again

7/12/22

Its Wednesday and I’m thinking about how peeled I am going to be, all fucked like a hacked parsnip, oh yes, this weekend is going to be fun. But today, I was at prison again, driving into the interlocked gates, having all items checked, body frisked with a metal detector and a dirty glare. It almost felt like Christmas with the family already, the echoes of swear words being yelled across the yard and like a family Christmas, we couldn’t leave. For the inmates, that’s true, for me, it’s another day’s fantasy about relating my life to theirs or this life that I have come to be so inquisitive of. Naturally, I have been doing research about the people behind bars at Port Phillip and the prison itself. The first day we were there, we were told to look out for Julian knight ‘The Hoddle Street Massacre’, after some research, I found out that he had opened fire in Clifton hill, Melbourne in 1987. He glorified war and glorified the far-right movements, he most likely could never satisfy a woman or satisfy anyone however they identify (still struggling to keep up with the right pronouns). This little fucker killed 7 people and injured 19 others, right near where I have lived in Melbourne for several years. I found out that he was in Gorgon unit thanks to the world wide web and The Felon Show podcast. The Felon Show is a YouTube channel that interviews past criminals in an oath to change. The host is actually the founding member of the prison gang G-fam, who have taken over prison across Victoria for their ruthless ways. To get into the gang, you have to assault a guard and their most famous bashing, was Tony Mokbell… Melbourne mafia. G-fam was actually started at Port Phillip in the Charlotte wing, I don’t think anyone will understand prison, until you are behind the fences, I may have had a glimpse, but I cannot fathom when those doors would actually close. Anyway, Julian knight, ‘The Hoddle Street Shooter’ came up to us in the yard yesterday and spoke to us about the gutters we were cleaning, fucking aye. He then, takes his shirt off and starts running laps and doing his workout regime, he seems like a hero in there (the prison). One of the inmates points out our ladder that’s on their roof and says “hey Jules, you wanna borrow their ladder after they’re done”. This is doubly comical because although Julian has served 28 years of his 27 life sentence, they won’t let him out because he is still a danger to the community. Its mental, we are in the Gorgon unit, surrounded by about 10 inmates and not a guard in sight, fucking crazy. Port Phillip is considered the worst prison in Melbourne and that includes facilitates. Its due to the privatisation of prisons across the world, they become a money-making scheme, tax dollars, big cheques and they cut costs to make more money. All awhile neglecting the true rehabilitation services and human rights that every person should or shouldn’t have (depending on your beliefs). My beliefs are fucked now, after being on every roof of the prison, being spoken to buy murderers in nice and polite ways, it’s hard to know where to stand. The reminder is, that of the victim’s family members, they are grieving and the inmate’s families also, but it gets more complicated when you watch them all. Talking through fences, masculinity constantly on full alpha in order to prove the toughest in the jungle. It seems like a place like this isn’t a place for convicted criminals, it’s for convicted people to learn how to become proper criminals. You don’t have to believe me and you don’t have to take my word for it, you just have to see it for yourself somehow. I felt like I was in a computer game, jumping from roof to roof, yard to yard the past week, watching them all from a bird’s eye view, but they are flightless birds, stuck in a cage with nothing but time to help the shit of their decisions ferment. Like I’ve said before, their crimes started before their imprisonment, it started from the crimes of injustice of people not helping communities, the way we think and treat women and the way we treat the class system, I am changed from my visits, confused about what I believe and ready to think for longer about what I truly believe about correctional facilities.

[undercityrezident]

My Commentary on Legends Arceus

So, after some 86 hours of my life being consumed, I finally managed to complete Pokemon’s newest entry into the franchise. I know I kind of alluded to this being some sort of review in previous posts I’ve made, but the fact of the matter is, I’m neither a qualified or professional reviewer, nor am I someone expecting to convince others to play this game or assign it a score.

I’m writing this more as a way to purge my thoughts and feelings on this game in a way that makes me feel like the experience is complete. And, hot damn, I really want to talk about this game!

It goes without saying that there are massive spoilers for Pokemon Legends: Arceus beneath the cut.

Now, for full disclosure, for anyone that cares about where my opinion comes from on this game with references to my praises and critiques: I have completed the game in so far as that I have completed the main story, the post-game story, collected all the wisps, collected all the poetry, and gotten a research score of 10 to classify every pokedex entry as finished.

That said, I cannot bring myself to complete every single research entry for each pokemon’s shiny bonus, nor grind that last 2.5k points to get myself to a 10 star rank with Galaxy Team. As someone who doesn’t hunt shinies, and having looked up the 10 star reward, neither feels worth it to me.

That all said, I do think that I have a pretty broad scope with which to comment on this game. So here we go!

To start, let’s get around two big elephants in the room:

Firstly, let’s address game’s continuous comparisons to Breath of the Wild. Yes, in the very broadest and simplest sense, you could compare it to The Legend of Zelda’s open-world marvel. I had to actually dissuade myself from making this comparison in order to avoid the disappointment with the very first thing that I found annoying about this game: your base character cannot climb or mantle over small ledges.

Maybe this inability to take a few simple steps over a minor ledge or incline is an allusion to the small ledges that you can’t scale in the older main-series games, but in an open world game, mobility is absolutely crucial in order to make exploration fun and enjoyable. I understand gating off parts and features of the world until you get Sneasler (an amazing ride pokemon I’ll talk about later), which allows you to scale sheer cliffs and access new areas, but the fact that I simply couldn’t climb over a small ledge, or worse, get up a slightly rocky slope, was incredibly troubling to me. If everyone was going to compare this to Breath of the Wild, I figured I could expect my character to navigate the world in the same way as Link did in that game. This was most certainly not the case, as I had to run around in order to find paths up and over simple obstacles that, frankly, any real-world hiker should be able to get around.

The worst part of this was the fact that, once I got my Wyrdeer mount, I already had the precedent set in my mind that I should be able to go anywhere. This led me to try and “Skyrim Scale” my new ride up cliffs and over obstacles that it was clearly not meant to. As a result, I got to areas I was not nearly meant to and met pokemon with levels that dwarfed mine because I had basically hacked my way in. feeling I should be able to move between areas as I did in Breath of the Wild. All of this made me feel like navigating the world was a disjointed venture. at least until Sneasler provided me with an explanation as to what was expected of me as a player (that I literally could not get around that easily with them). That was what my expectations and comparisons to Breath of the Wild did to me.

This was the first thing that made me have to deny this game’s allusions to Breath of the Wild, while the second was the fact that this game is not fully “open-world” in the same sense that The Legend of Zelda’s latest entry was. In Legends: Arceus, you can certainly roam around five large and diverse open-areas, at least until you hit a foggy invisible wall. In this design choice, I can certainly see the logical progression to what we see in this game as an advance from the Wild Areas in SwSh. But the fact these regions do not connect to a major whole is can sometimes feel very limiting, and entirely cuts that connection to Breath of the Wild, at least in my mind.

But that’s ok. This game is not meant to be Breath of the Wild. I’m almost certain that this game had neither the development time nor the team to accomplish a feat like that. And I feel like the sooner the player recognizes that, the sooner they’ll be able to enjoy the game for what it is. This is exactly what I had to do in order to do just that and I was much happier for it.

I just wish you could just fast-travel between each individual regions though, instead of having to always consult Laventon and get a ride back to Jubilife Village. That whole tired process only served to build the walls higher between each area in my mind.

Now onto the second major issue that’s been strung across the whole face of the internet: this game’s graphics.

Yes, this game could’ve used a much nicer coat of paint, for both the pokemon models and the world itself. And yes, I found numerous small graphical glitches (good grief, the way Onix seems to be having a goddamn seizure whenever it moves), saw shadows for objects through a floor above me, saw textures and details fading out at shockingly short distances, FPS drops at similarly short distances (dear lord that Gyarados’ low FPS undulations as it flies around Obsidian Falls), and textures that did make me sigh and shake my head a bit.

This game needed, and perhaps deserved for the ground it broke in other ways, more time and maybe a bigger team. Yes, the pokemon franchise is huge and should have a bigger team, and for something of this undertaking, they really needed more and should’ve had more; I don’t understand any excuse the pokemon company could make in this case against having it. I bet if both of these factors had been addressed, they could’ve produced a much sleeker and more impressive game. I mean... look at New Snap and tell me a pokemon game can’t be goddamn gorgeous. In some ways, this almost looked less like a polished game and more like a tech test.

That said, there are some nice little details that show some appreciation for game aesthetics, like how your outfit gets shiny when wet, or how you look extra frosty after enduring a blizzard.

But, for all that, I don’t care that much about all of these graphical issues because the game is fun. I’ve always put gameplay over looks for the most part, and this case is no exception for me. The gameplay frees you so much more than anyone could’ve conceived of in any previous pokemon game. Wild Areas are one thing, but even segmented from one another, the five main areas of Legends: Arceus dwarf them all. Moreover, the choice in how we play is even more freeing than that.

Pokemon battles remain, but that isn’t the only avenue to acquiring new pokemon or interacting with them in their entirety. We can sneak up and catch them without even having to send out a mon of our own! Who’s afraid of the long grass now!?

I love having choices in how to play a game, and having neither random battles, nor having to run into an overworld sprite of them to engage in battle is a huge step forward. And let’s not forget the fact that there is now an actual sense of danger in how pokemon can legitimately harm you in the overworld. It’s an entirely new feeling to be trekking out there at night and to have to be wary of a goddamn Zubat dive-bombing you to take a bite out of your skull.

And that’s to say nothing of the new battle system, which I am slightly less enthused about because of some strange inconsistencies I noticed, but it’s still an interesting take nonetheless. I find the decisions to remove held items and abilities a strange one, but I suppose making the battle system a little simpler in order to make learning its new facets might be a smart decision. And I wouldn’t be surprised if they added these old features back in either through DLC or a future iteration of the Legends series (assuming they keep going in this direction with the franchise). I also like that the “Strong” and “Agile” move styles are an interesting twist that plays with risk and reward ideas in battle.

However, I think the battle system needs some definite refining. I do find it a bit off-putting sometimes when I try to battle a pokemon and find myself suffering three attacks in a row due to some convoluted set of rules relating to a pokemon’s speed, and how many agile and move queue increasing attacks it used. Moreover, I find it a bit annoying to try and determine if a pokemon I swap in will be able to move first or not. Often enough, I can swap and make a move (which seems a bit cheesy for type-swapping), but at the same time, it was never a 100% guarantee, and I could never guess when I swapped in and then I’d get smacked and feel like I wasted a turn completely.

Which brings me to another issue I had with this game’s battles: it feels like the damage has been way over-tuned in this game compared to others in other pokemon games. Yes, I understand that in order to drive up the stakes of battling trainers that usually only have one pokemon to their name, their moves have to be pretty threatening. The same could be said of making wild pokemon feel threatening as well, though it can get very tiresome to be trying to catch or defeat pokemon for dex entries, only to be one-shot out of nowhere, even by pokemon several levels your lesser.

But my real issue with this comes with some of the encounters later in the game where difficulty really ramps with trainers and encounters with near or even full teams of pokemon. In the end, it seems to turn into a one-shot fest between you and your opponents, leaving me feeling like a lot of the nuance and strategy for pokemon battling is suddenly missing.

Also, what the actual hell is with these battles where the other trainer gets to bring a couple of extra poke-friends into the battle with them? You’re not allowed to multi-battle, but they are? Seems like a really poor and cheap way of artificially increasing the difficulty in a manner that just seems unfair both mechanically and narratively. Why do Irida and Adaman just get to have a random Eevee join them in their battle against you?

Granted, these are just highlights of my annoyances in battles. Sadly, they did stick out to me like a sore thumb, even among the bulk of the time where it seemed to work alright. Again, I think that rushing out this game in the short development time led to not only shortcomings graphically, and with AI pathing for some of the wild pokemon, but also in certain areas of game balancing like this.

But this was overshadowed by the fact that, barring some mandatory trainer/wild battles and battle grinding for some dex entries, I had the luxury of choosing to not have to battle. And boy did I exercise that right. There’s nothing more satisfying than using berries to lure a pokemon to a nice clear spot, sneaking up behind it while it’s eating, and popping it with a gigaton ball that I made myself and making the capture in one shot without so much as launching a tackle attack.

And let’s not forget to mention the sheer variety in catching pokemon is augmented by incentives from the pokedex itself, which you isn’t just a one-and-done filled out entry by catching a single member of its species. Oh no, you have to catch multiple mons, do so under varying conditions, times of day, whilst feeding them, while they’re asleep, or simply just best them with certain move types. It makes completing the dex so much more engaging and fun. Completing the dex is usually among the last things I think about when playing a pokemon game, funnily. I’ve never been much of a catch-’em-all kind of guy, but this game made me feel much more inclined to do so, for both the dex and the story...

Ah yes, the story.

Who ever thought you’d get isekai’d in a pokemon game, huh?

Now, the story of a pokemon game has never been the biggest strength of the franchise, and admittedly, it’s still not the strongest it could be in this game either. That said, it has a lot more character and fun moments to it than a lot of previous entries in the series. Getting sent back in time -- and perhaps across a dimension/universal barrier? Jury’s still out on that -- is definitely not what I expected to start off a pokemon game, but I can get into it.

The game’s plot is pretty simple, honestly, and the twists that come with it are not terribly hard to pick out. That said, it was certainly motivating enough to carry me through. After all, I wanted to meet Pokemon God again and get him to fix my goddamn phone. Am I allowed to say “goddamn” to Pokemon God? I wouldn’t know, given that we still don’t have voice acting and a speaking protagonist (THAT will be the next big step for the pokemon series, I hope; it’s getting continuously more awkward to see people talking in complete silence in these progressively more animated pokemon games... Piers I’m looking at you in Spikemuth).

But my diatribe aside, I did enjoy progressing through this game’s story. The stakes were there, if even predictably so. It does what the pokemon games’ stories do: give you an excuse to go from place to place catching monsters and bonding closer to them. Now, depending on how you play this game, you could be like me and still keep a tight-knit team throughout and craft your own little story of friendship with them. Or you could just keep catching giant, over-leveled alpha pokemon (god some of ones with red eyes are a bit terrifying, have you seen Alpha Haunter) and keep updating your team as you go along. Choices are great and I endorse varying play-styles. I just wish that style included being able to get my Hisuian Clemont (just look at my blog’s icon to see what I mean if you don’t understand what I’m talking about) back to his own space/time. I guess he’s stuck here forever. What a twist...

Though, I think I can safely say that, as predictable as the plot could be, no one, and I mean no-one, could see VOLO’S HAIR coming.

Ah, that conveniently brings me to one of my favourite parts of this game: the characters!

So, even people actively trying to avoid spoilers have probably noticed that there are some oddly familiar folks scattered throughout this game. Yes, the ancestors of a lot of our favourite Sinnohan... Sinnohian... Sinnoan... I can’t remember what we settled on for an adjective for people living there... for this region’s favourite residents are here in great form, some of them even genderbent! Some are very obvious -- cough, Cyllene, cough -- and some not so much (did you spot Johto E4′s Karen?).

I love this idea, and it works to great effect to connect us back to the original Diamond and Pearl games. Moreso, I love that it, with no consistency, but with a sort of degree of cheekiness, either reinforces some characters’ flaws/strengths and even their tendency towards good or evil, or turns it completely on its head!

Now... setting aside best girl Arezu, because that competition is simply unfair, I think I have to say that my favourite ancestor is actually not one... but three.

You guessed it: My favourites are the Bandit Trio of Miss Fortune!

The genderbend of Saturn, Coin, actually works really well, and her stoic energy contrasts really well against Candice’s, or rather, Clover’s, frantic and almost angry manner. But, of them all, I think I like Charm the best for the sole reason that she, in my mind at least, is the ancestor of not one, but two characters: Bertha and Agatha.

Now I’m sure most, if not all you reading this have already deduced Bertha, given she’s a Sinnoh mainstay in the Diamond and Pearl games, so she would make the most sense. But why Agatha? Well, between the two elderly elites, they both have a similar hairstyle, and Charm has not one, but two pokemon: Gengar and Rhydon. Why would she have two where her compatriots only have one pokemon that each match their descendants’ pokemon? Because Gengar represents the eventual descendant Agatha, and Rhydon represents the eventual descendant Bertha, each playing to their respective types and signature mons (well, Rhydon as opposed to Rhyperior, but it’s the same line...). I’m pretty sure it’s an old fandom theory that they’re related, and I’m actually very happy it’s been acknowledged in game.

And even aside from the whole ancestors angle, the characters in this game have a lot of fun quirks and exchanges. It’s not award winning-material, I’ll admit, but it makes the journey all the more enjoyable. The sass between competing clan leaders Adaman and Irida, for example, is goofy and great comic relief for some tense situations.

In case you’re wondering, I picked Irida near the end of the main story because I thought that her story of growth as a leader was a bit more compelling than Adaman’s more level-headed manner, and I thought it made more sense for she and I to make the journey to the three lakes over Adaman. It felt like it helped to cap her minor arc, even if it wasn’t all that deeply explored.

Oh, and I have never so badly wished for a pokemon protagonist to be able to actively punch someone as I have when I had to do anything with Melli. I think they’re supposed to be the ancestor of Lucian, but damn if they gave me nothing but Pokemon Advanced Anime’s Harley energy. But regardless of how I feel about them, they do deliver, single-handedly, the best line of dialogue in the game. The game soundtrack even capped it with a great sound sting.

On the subject of sound though... two points that I love about this game:

Firstly, dynamic sound to help locate pokemon that you’re interested in, or wary of, is a fantastic boon in this open-world game. And damn if I didn’t have a “what the fuck is that?” moment when I heard my first Alpha Luxio while creeping around at night catching Wurmples. The deepened distortion of Alpha Pokemon cries definitely adds some intimidation factor to them.

But even above that, what I truly love about this game’s sound is its soundtrack!

There’s an impressive diversity of original tracks that make this game shine. Then, on top of that, there are some really incredible remixes and re-orchestrations of some great themes from not just Diamond and Pearl, but other main series games as well. The “Heartwood” theme, playing on Eterna Forest’s theme, really caught me in particular.

But holy hell did I get hyped the hell up when I battled my first Noble Pokemon with that intense remix of the diamond and pearl wild pokemon battle theme. That’s when I really knew that pokemon had knocked it out of the park once again with its soundtrack.

But how could I talk about a pokemon game without talking about some of the new pokemon and forms it introduced?!

Really quick though, before that, have you tried sending out your whole team somewhere where they won’t get in a fight, like at a base camp? They sit there chatting with each other, or fall asleep eventually, poses and all! How adorable is that!? Such fun details like that make me adore pokemon all the more!

Ok, back on track here... I mentioned the Noble Pokemon that I fought just a moment ago, which are great boss fights (and I mean legit boss fights, with you having to chuck bags of lovely-smelling concoctions at them while dodging their attacks with fancy dives) with new forms or evolutions of pokemon we all know and love. Some of these new forms are amazing, like Kleavor (I got my own and named her Hilda... because of the axes... that’s Hilda from Fire Emblem, not Pokemon: Black and White... but anyway...) and the new Hisuian Lilligant (she’s a rad dancer, I love her). Arcanine looks pretty cool, but they missed a great opportunity with Hissuian Electrode: when it first fell out of the tree, it fell out upside-down and I kid you not, I though its new angry frown was an eye. For a split-second, I thought we had a cycloptic Electrode, and I thought it was the coolest shit ev-- oh it flipped upwards and now it just has some odd indented eyes but hardly looks different from classic electrode otherwise... ok. Hissuian Avalugg is... eh, I like the original better.

But then we finally get to talk about the ride-pokemon, which are all new evolutions! (Except the last one, but it’s still pretty cool looking.)

First off, we have Wyrdeer, which did the impossible and made me excited to catch a Stantler! But seriously, psychic santa-deer is actually pretty darn cool.

Ursaluna was a long-standing favourite of mine until a certain rock-climber took that spot, but I still adore my happy-go-lucky-digging-moon-bear. Just a shame that they’re so picky about the exact spot I need to dig to find cool stuff. Oddly, I thought it would evolve from Teddiursa in a branch evolution, but it turns out that it made the Ursaring line a three-stage line.

Basculegion has the look down, and its definitely the coolest ride pokemon we’ve gotten to date in terms of surfing (sorry Sharpedo), but I just wish it were easier to use you to sneak up on water-based pokemon. You need to learn to swim a bit slower and more quietly, Basculegion.

But then, oh hell yes, Sneasler! This lanky, edgy-teen-looking Sneasel evolution carries you in a goddamn basket on their back like you’re Nezuko from Demon-Slayer. Even better than that is you can see your beady little eyes from inside a slot on that basket as they heave you upwards up some unforgiving cliff.

Lastly, and perhaps a bit disappointingly, is Hisuian Braviary, who, while pretty rad looking, functions only as a glider and not a full-on bird in flight. Nothing sucked my enthusiasm from beneath my new wings than discovering I could not tilt this darn bird upwards and make it flap its wings so we could ascend. It made me actually long for the days of piloting a loftwing in Skyward Sword! Still, I can understand why they went with this decision, as it would completely make the other ride mons almost obsolete.

There’s more new pokemon to talk about, and I could go on forever, but I wanted to give a shout-out to my Hisuian starter’s final evolution. Can you guess which one I picked?

Yeah, I’m one of the legions of people still in love with round green orb owl, but I don’t care, because I love that line. And I especially love the new Hisuian Decidueye’s final evolution, a rad fighting/grass type that resembles what I believe to be a classic Japanese Ronin (I’m not 100% sure on this, but either way, they look cool as hell). She (I named her Artemis by the way; I’m unoriginal, sue me) carried me through some hard times, and the new Triple Arrows move looks and works amazingly.

So, aside from a minor gripe with the menu system (can we advance the franchise to having a proper multi-slot save system already, and maybe put the dex/map/and pause menus into a single menu, but keep the shortcut buttons, I do like those... also a mini-map would be nice), I think I’ve covered all that can be covered about this game and what I thought of it.

Overall, this game could’ve been a full-fledged marvel, had it the time and love it really needed. But, flaws and all, it is a step in a direction that the pokemon franchise very badly needed to take. I am very happy that the pokemon company is willing to experiment and try something new. Like the idea of wild areas that preceded this game’s open world concept, this felt like it is a prelude to something new, bigger, and bolder. If we can just add some nice trim and polish to the graphics, AI pathing, and tweak the balance of the battle system, I think whatever comes next could really be the type of pokemon experience that anyone could enjoy.

All I know is, despite a few roadblocks and gripes, I can say that I truly did enjoy this game, and I’m looking forward to how Pokemon iterates on this new formula.

#Rez Rambles #Pokemon #Pokemon Legends: Arceus #Legends Arceus Spoilers #Long post #I hope this makes some sort of sense #I went on a lot of mini-rants and diatribes there #But it felt good to get this all out there!

[sirthisisa-wendys]

Shameless: A Geto Suguru x Fem!Reader

synopsis: You encounter death, acquire a new skill, and for a moment, lose the man you adore. 

words: 2,867

tw: violence, drug use, drinking (no smut this go around) 

Your suffering is almost over.

At least, that’s what you assume while you’re being beaten into nothingness by a special grade curse. 

Crack!

Your right leg suddenly loses feeling, but you’ve gotten past the screaming part of the fight. You’re now in submission, laying on the ground with nothing left but a stream of tears cleansing your bloody cheeks. The sorcerer who you traveled with lies helplessly on the pavement in front of you, half-dead already from attempting to shield you from an attack. It didn’t work, obviously; the hole blown through his body is evidence of that. Before becoming a sorcerer, you wanted to die peacefully, tranquilly. Lying in bed surrounded by family and friends seemed like the way to go. But now, that option was not yours to take. 

You would die by violence because you lived by violence. 

Thoughts of Suguru wouldn’t come to you. Every time you tried to focus on his smile, focus on his laugh, focus on his hair - anything that would distract you from the pain - the vision escaped on the heels of another blow to your body. Gathering cursed energy to launch any attack felt futile. No one could save you now, not even yourself. 

The curse chitters above your body with delight, then rests a clawed hand on your head, turning it to the side so you can see it fully. If you didn’t know any better, you’d think the curse was a woman with pale blue eyes and purple skin, as close to a human as a curse could get. But you knew this curse wasn’t even delivering its worst attacks. It was just toying around with you before it killed you. 

“You poor child,” It coos, spitting blood onto your face with every word. “I haven’t even gotten to the best part and yet… you’re dying…” The voice from the curse was gravely and disappointed, but you didn’t really care. You just wanted it to be over. “No cursed energy left, I fear.” The confirmation is enough to make you close your eyes, and the curse laughs at your sign of defeat before grabbing your neck and lifting you up into the air. 

The problem with struggling was that you needed the energy to do so. So you hung there in the air limply, which earned a pout from the curse that held you captive. “Not even a squirm?” You offer it nothing, and the hand on your neck tightens, cutting off your air flow slowly. The sun shines in your eyes, and you consider the pain from the light more annoying than the pain from your crushed leg while the edges of your vision fade into black. 

Thoughts of your past three months flood your mind without warning, everything playing out in front of your eyes like a movie. The night at the symphony, the training, the absolute terror of being alone with Suguru, then the excitement. The nervousness, the inner turmoil, the smell of his hair, his body, the feel of his tongue against your fingers, the grunting sound he made when he twitched in his sleep, the soft way he’d tap your lips when you talked too much, and the harsh way he’d manhandle you when you both needed release… All of those sensations build up to a crest, like an orgasm made of memories. The explosion from the memory dump forces your hands to your neck in one last ditch effort, one last attempt at freedom. They clasp onto the curse’s hand there, but promptly slip before you lace them together in prayer. 

The tearing sensation lasts for what seemed to be ages. You were splitting in two, shifting energy around, reducing to a few little bursts of hot, white light before they converge again into your being and loosed the curse’s grip from your neck. But you don’t drop like you expect to. No, something rests comfortably under your bottom like a chair or a seat, taking the pressure off of your useless leg. As you and the curse look around, it’s clear you’re not entirely concealed by the new landscape of air and cloud, but that the sky has come down to you somehow. Confusion marks both of your faces, but the curse comes to some realization before you do, it’s eyes widening immeasurably. 

“No.” 

Within seconds, it attempts to run off, stumbling over cloud after cloud. The time for questioning quickly draws to a close when you realize that your nose is bleeding, but you wipe the blood away with your sleeve and look to the curse, whose figure is nowhere near retreating. The faster it runs, the closer it gets to you, until you’re facing the back of it’s head. One last surge of cursed energy courses through you as your hands touch the sides of the curse’s head. It was as if the curse never existed. The thin layer of cloud-steam dissipates and you watch it fade into the wind, carried off on a soft gust into oblivion. 

Then it all disappears, like a dream, and you drop to the ground in a heap of broken bones and blood, hacking violently onto the dirty pavement with your last breaths. Your body jerks once, twice, three times, then the world fades out with ease. 

Finally, you think. This is what death feels like… this is much easier than I thought.

Except that’s not how death really feels. You know you’re not dead when you hear voices that sound like those of the living trickle into your ears, and they’re talking too fucking loud. They’re angry. Very angry. “Explanations must be given to the higher ups.” You don’t know that voice, not at all. It sounds old and… bored, almost. “You know they won’t understand--” “Fuck explaining to them,” But you do know that voice. It’s Satoru. Why is he so upset? “I’m pretty sure I can tell you exactly what happened, and you can go tell them once I’m done.” “You can’t explain this because you weren’t there.” The unknown voice chides. “Satoru, you need to reign in--” “I think you two should take this outside. It’s giving me a damn headache.” Shoko. You can’t see her - your eyes won’t open - but you hear the exhaustion in her voice. “I’m leaving. I don’t have time for this.” The retreating footsteps belong to Satoru, and you listen for another voice. A softer voice. The voice of the man you-- “We lost a very promising student out there,” The unknown voice sighs. “I think I should go get Suguru. ” “Please, don’t.” Shoko whispers. “Please, do!” You want to yell, but you can’t. Nothing feels right; the only thing you can do is hear. Your mouth feels like it’s packed with cotton, and your eyes are glued shut. “He needs to be alone right now.” The thought of Suguru sitting alone in his room made you feel a deep ache in your stomach. What was he doing by himself? You could only imagine the thoughts spinning in his mind, the plans he would be weaving together to get revenge on whoever lied and said the curse was a virtually harmless one. “Geto won’t sleep, and he won’t eat, but I’d rather him think the worst than see y/n in this state. I don’t think he would be able to handle it. I have to heal her first.” The voices fade back out, growing softer and less defined before you lose your hearing once more.

Fire. That’s what the sensation is; it’s your body burning. You’re on fire. With a long, pained moan, you open your eyes and look at the white ceiling and fluorescent lighting. The fire is licking at your feet, at your fingers, at your sides… Except, when you angle your head down, there’s nothing there besides white bedsheets and your unpolished toes poking out of them. Your mouth opens in a scream, and you can hear yourself yelling, but as if you were miles away and not in your own body. The door to the room opens with a thud, but you can barely register anyone over your own screams. “Why am I burning?” Tears run down your face before you grab the nearest person to you, their white coat crumpling under your grasp. Thick fingers attempt to pry your hands off of the person’s coat, but as you scream, your grip tightens immeasurably. When you look into the man’s eyes, you see the fear and pain dancing behind their grey depths. But you’re in pain, too. He knew why - he just didn’t want to tell you why your pain had to come so soon after your death. “Where the fuck am I?” Strength courses through your veins and you haul your legs off the bed clumsily, letting go of the person as you drop to the floor in a mess of hospital clothes, tears, and snot. Despite the dull ache, you drag yourself up until you’re standing, bare feet slapping against the tile floor as you advance on the man who had answered your screams with his presence. “Stop, y/n!” You freeze at Satoru’s command, turning toward the door with calculated slowness. “You’re in a lot of pain right now. You shouldn’t be out of bed.” The reminder of the fiery feeling on your skin makes you choke out a sob, and in an instant, Gojo has you sitting on the bed. After he helps up the man you accosted, he turns back to you, fixing his sapphire eyes on your fragile frame. The white-haired sorcerer takes one look at your face and sighs, rubbing his fingers on his eyebrows. “I want to see Suguru.” You mutter through your pain. “He’s not here right now.” Satoru answers, stuffing a hand in his uniform pocket. “Suguru is in Kyoto. He should be back tonight.” “Who sent him to Kyoto?” You whisper, trying not to scrunch your face up for fear of causing more pain. “He asked to go.” Satoru shrugs as if this news isn’t unexpected, turning away from you and scuffing his shoe on the floor. “They wouldn’t let him see you. After a few days, it was apparent they wouldn’t relent. So, he asked to be sent off for a little while.” “Why…?” “I don’t have the answers for everything, y/n. I just know that right now, he’s blowing off a lot of steam.” Satoru comes over to the bed and sits on it unceremoniously, frowning at the minimal comfort it offered. “Perhaps… you can tell me what happened that day.” “I almost died. I should have died.” You murmur, looking down at your clean hands. “But…” “But…?” You look up at Satoru and see the question in his eyes. “But I didn’t. Somehow, I destroyed the curse on my own.” “Explain how you did it.” “I really don’t know. The curse was choking me… then, I was dying and the sun was in my eyes… but I felt this tearing sensation, like I was being torn into multiple pieces and then put back together… and there were clouds. Lots of them.” The clouds… you felt the soft support of a cloud underneath you… and then you-- You place shaking fingers up to your lips as you remember the effortlessness of the kill, the easy elimination of the curse. It had felt like a dream, except -- “Could the curse run away?”

“No, the faster it ran, the closer it got.” Satoru’s lips quirk a little, and you see a shadow of realization pass over his face. 

“I’m going to have to ask you to tell this to the Principal.” Gojo mutters, standing up. 

“Am I in trouble?” The words tremble as they come out, but Satoru stretches and laughs heartily before winking at you with a wide smile.

“Not at all;  though I’m sure it will give the Principal a little scare, which is just what he needs right now.”

An eternity passed as you lay looking up at the rotating ceiling fan. You had been let go from the infirmary and sent back to your rooms without any fuss, and now you were resting in peace. Sort of. 

The sound of a door opening made you sit up to look at your own, but it wasn’t open and no one was there. Your head falls back on the pillow and you sigh, hoping that Suguru would arrive before you passed out and not after. It wasn’t yet midnight, but you feel as if a thousand midnights have come and gone over and over again. 

Your eyelids flutter, sleep tapping you on the shoulder as you wonder about the kinds of curses Suguru encountered while in Kyoto. Would you even discuss that when he arrived? Or would you prefer to sink into his arms and allow yourself to feel his heartbeat against your earlobe and his breath on your forehead? 

A tap at your door knocks the infinite possibilities out of your mind. With trepidation, you slide out of bed, your feet hitting the cold wooden floor. Before you open the door, you already know who is on the other side. 

“Shoko,” you murmur, blinking in the brightness of the hallway. “What’s up?” “I grabbed your phone; they left it in the infirmary.” You take the cellphone, sliding the thin glass and plastic device between your fingers. It doesn’t come to life, but that’s okay. “I should have charged it, but--” 

“No, no. Thank you, Sho. I appreciate it.” She pauses in the doorway, a statement lurking in her mind. “Just say it.” 

“Geto is liable to be a little tense when he gets back. Just… be careful about the details you share.” 

“Noted.” You answer as you nod. She leaves, and with an urgency, you plug your phone into the charger next to your bed. The low-battery sign flickers on your screen for a moment, before the logo blazes to life. Every second felt like years as you waited; what messages had Suguru sent while you were incapacitated? When the cell phone finally goes to the lock screen, it takes a second before the messages flood in. 

1 message from Satoru Gojo: Yo, y/n, where are you? Call me when you get this

1 message from Shoko Ieiri: We’re on the way; don’t do anything stupid

16 messages from Su Geto. Click notification for more. You hesitate for a second, but it doesn’t take long for you to hit the notification. A flood of text messages take over the screen, and you look through them; each one appearing to be more panicked than the last. It’s the final one, though, that makes your heart ache.

The higher-ups said I can’t come to see you. I’ll be waiting for you when you return.

You want to answer; you want to ask why he didn't wait just a little longer. As you’re tapping back a response, slow, methodical footsteps echo in the hallway, and you pause to listen. It’s just Satoru, you think, returning back to your phone. But when your door opens, you see Suguru stumble inside, painted a ghostly white by the moonlight spilling through your window. 

“Suguru!” You leap to your feet and embrace the sorcerer, who reeks of booze and weed. 

“Y/n…” He slurs, and you feel his arms wrap around you tenderly. He tucks his face into your hair, inhaling your scent deeply before exhaling loudly. Then his shoulders started shaking. 

It took a moment for you to register the fact that he was crying, the sudden damp patch on your shoulder shocking you into stillness. You didn’t think that strength equated to tears, but here Suguru was, crying on your shoulder. You bring a hand up to stroke his silken hair - which is in disarray - whispering “I’m here; I’m okay” into his chest repeatedly while you let tears slide from your eyes.

You stay there wrapped up in each other for a moment, until you realize that he’s stopped crying. You drag Suguru to the bed and sit him down, removing his shoes and tossing them aside as he drunkenly stumbles over his recounting of the events.

“They… found you on… the ground and Sho...ko? Shoko told me… you were pretty banged up…” He hiccups and rubs his face, leaning back. “Who sent…” 

“I don’t know,” You lie, adjusting Suguru on the bed so he’s lying on his side while he mumbles incoherently. You smooth a gentle palm over his forehead - he’s cool to the touch - and tug a blanket around his shoulders. The mumbling has almost stopped entirely, his speech slurring into syllables and then into heavy breathing. Watching Suguru fall asleep was rare, mostly because he’s a night owl, and that makes you appreciate the moment even more. 

When you climb in beside him, he’s conscious enough to drag you into a tight embrace, placing his lips on the back of your neck as he drifts even deeper into the dream realm. 

“I’m not letting you out of my sight ever again.” Your heart doesn’t skip a beat because of his words. Your heart stutters because he said it without any slurring. 

His voice had been as clear as day.

#geto x reader #jujutsu kaisen #geto suguru #getou x reader #shoko ieiri #gojo satoru #jjk geto

[dameronology]

more than anything {poe dameron}

summary: poe can be oddly insightful in his own way, and with the pressure of the resistance pulling you down, it's exactly what you need (for @disastersim !! i hope you enjoy angel <3)

warnings: language, one slight innuendo

enjoy!

- jazz

Working for the Resistance could be exhausting in every sense of the worst - emotionally, physically, mentally. Constantly fighting for a cause that had no guaranteed pay off was beyond challenging and the fight - the wars and the battles and the bloodshed - didn't seem to be coming to an end anytime soon. There were days where you made leaps and bounds towards entirely wiping out the First Order, in the same way that there were days when they made strides towards completely wiping out your side of the fight. It was a constant tug of war between good and bad; of course, it wasn't all that black and white, but it was difficult to see what anyone saw in the First Order's extreme principles. That was especially the case when your own comrades packed up and left the base to join them. With that said, there were more than enough people who left that side to come to yours. Ones who saw the Resistance as a source of hope- a light at the end of an awfully fucking long tunnel.

That's what you had to constantly remind yourself off: light. Hope. Courage. All the things that you'd sworn to fight for as long as you could remember - the very values that you so desperately held onto in an attempt to not completely lose it - and the ones you kept so close to your heart. Sometimes, it was easy to do so; easy to believe that the Resistance was going to pull through and that light would shine on the galaxy once again. Other times? Not so much. It was normal to have dark days and sad days but as of late, it had been dark weeks and sad weeks. Your team of fellow mechanical engineers had done their best to lift your spirits, but the weight on your soul was a little too much. It was just something that would have to pass naturally.

It had been effecting your sleep too, to the point where you found yourself wandering the base alone at night. The only other people who were awake were those on the nightshift, and the occasional droid that would whirr around the corner. From where you sat in the garage, you would hear the clank clank clank of Threepio fumbling about the base - he would sometimes say hello, and other you help with whatever it was that you were repairing or tinkering with. For the most part, though, he kept to himself. Perhaps it was a blessing in disguise, because his famous catchphrase of we're doomed! wasn't entirely the best thing for your morale.

So, there you were at 3AM, Poe's t-shirt hanging off your shoulders and the contents of his X-Wing laid out in front of you. Really, you were just taking it apart and putting it back together as a past time - like some kind of weird puzzle - but you were also looking at potential improvements. His only request was that you made it faster, which seemed a bit counter-intuitive when he of all people could have learnt the value of slowing down. The man was like a whirl wind, breezing in and out of different missions and meetings, barely stopping to take a break to think. The only time he truly and really calmed down was when he was with you; you were his safe space, and the only place he could let his barriers down. The pilot spent hours upon hours curled up against you, murmuring sleepily about nothing and everything all at once.

"This is a stupid time to be awake." (Speak of the devil, and thou shall appear).

Tossing your spanner down, you turned around to see Poe. He was leaning against the door, brown hair tousled with sleep and dark eyes heavy with his remaining tiredness. He was a heavy sleeper, so more often than not he didn't even realise you were gone - but if he woke up and saw your absence, there wasn't a chance in hell that he could get back to sleep. He needed you beside him at the best times, but especially at night.

"I couldn't sleep," you confessed.

"There's been a lot of that going around lately," Poe replied. He slowly approached you, holding out his arms as he did so that you could fall against his chest.

"I didn't wake you, did I?"

"No, there's a stupid owl outside my window that woke me up," he said, pressing a kiss to your forehead. He gently tangled your fingers together and brushed his thumb over the back of your hand. "I sent BB-8 to deal with it."

"Of course you did," you smiled. "I just gotta put this back together and I'll come back to bed."

"What's keeping you up?" Poe asked. "You've been really quiet lately."

You'd always been hesitant to tell Poe about your doubts: he was the epitome of what a good Resistance fighter was, and the beating heart of the entire cause. He never seemed to slip up, or lose hope, to the point where you sometimes wondered if he was naive. It did make sense, after all - his mother had fought hard for the Rebellion, as had his father. Having perfect balance of a rebellious side and a heart of pure fucking gold was probably engrained into his very D.N.A.

"There's a lot on my mind," you admitted. "It never seems to quieten down."

"I get that," Poe gave your hands a light squeeze. "Wanna talk about it?"

"It's probably dumb-"

"- your feelings are always valid, even if they're dumb."

Hopping up onto the wings of the jet beside you, he stuck out his hand and helped you clamber up beside him. The hangar itself was freezing cold - even in the tropical climate of Ajan Kloss - so he wound an arm around your side, pulling you closer to keep you warm. Just Poe's presence alone was enough to pull your mind out the dredges, and the gentle smell of his shower gel and aftershave was a comfort too. It was a mixture of spicy and sweet.

"Go on," Poe said. "I'll be your therapist for the next ten minutes, and then forever if you want."

"What do you charge per hour, Doc?"

He nudged your side with a grin. "We'll get to that later."

You rolled your eyes, but continued all the same. "Everything's just been a lot, lately. All the fighting and the missions, and we keep having set back after set back and I'm tired. I feel like the weight of the world is on my shoulders and I have no way of shifting it."

Poe's brown eyes flickered away from you for a minute as he pondered on your statement. Unbeknownst to you, he absolutely related - despite his outwards hopefulness and resilient exterior, he had days where he was exhausted too. It was made even more so by the fact that people turned to him to keep them encouraged too - he did have his own brand of ironic wisdom, after all - and it really took it out of him. It was like everybody around him expected him to keep them afloat when he felt like drowning.

"I understand," Poe replied. "The galaxy is a demanding place and sometimes it's more than we can handle. I have days where I feel like everything is going wrong and I just want to curl up in my bed and sleep forever."

"Sounds so tempting," you murmured.

"It does, but that's not how it works, sadly," he continued. "You just gotta...push forward, you know? That's much easier said than done but I find the trick is to take it day by day. Have some caff, get a hug from your favourite person and just pull through til you can collapse into bed and hide under the covers."

"And you do that? Every day?"

"Not everyday," Poe said. "There are good days too, like the ones where we get to eat lunch together, or the ones where BB-8 hacks the big screen in the canteen and shows the video of Hux falling over."

You couldn't help but laugh at that. The little droid had his own way of brightening the lives of those around him, but it was that video in particular that never failed to make you laugh. He'd accidentally recorded it on a break out mission and whenever people needed reminding that the slimy bastards at the First Order weren't completely untouchable, BB-8 would be on it.

"I love those days too," you gently smiled. "The whole day by day things sounds a lot more manageable than trying to digest the concept of time as a whole."

"Exactly," Poe nodded. "And you gotta find joy in those little things. Like, whenever I'm having a really bad day, I'll come and find you and annoy you. That little smile you get when you're trying really hard not to crack and laugh at me always makes things a thousand times better."

"I like that," you replied.

"Then one day, when we've won this fight and we can go home, we can still take things day by day, but it'll be little steps towards other things, like...marriage? I think that's the next logical step."

You thinned your eyes at him. "Is this a proposal?"

"If you have to ask whether it's a proposal, then it's not a proposal," Poe shot back. "You'll know when I'm asking you to marry me."

"I look forward to it," you pressed a kiss to his cheek. "Thank you for listening to me. You can be weirdly philosophical."

"I'm smart and good looking," Poe cheekily grinned. "Man, I really am the whole package."

"And moment's gone-"

"- I'm sorry!"

He quickly wrapped his arms around you, pulling you against his chest. His cheek was pressed up against your forehead, stubble tickling your skin as he held you, softly swaying from side to side.

"I love you," he murmured. "And truth be told, that's the thing that gets me through those bad days."

"You going soft on me, Dameron?" you quietly joked. "I love you too - more than anything."

Poe released his grip on you before taking your hand and helping you climb down from the jet. You still had a few hours till you had to be up and now that the emotional weight on your brain had been relieved ever-so-slightly, you were more than ready to collapse beside the pilot and get some much needed rest.

What Poe had said had begun to change your perspective on things; rather than viewing the galaxy as one whole glob of shitty things, you had to go through it with a fine toothed comb. Find the little things that were sprinkled amongst the bad things, like the way Poe looked at you with a sparkle in his eyes, or the way Finn laughed at words that sounded naughty but weren't naughty. Then there were the times when Leia would give you warm hugs, and when Rey would try and make everyone pancakes on quiet moments.

So yes, the galaxy could suck and yes, the Resistance could be tough, but you had the best people around you. They were the life support that was going to help you see it through.

"C'mon, baby," Poe tugged your arm slightly. "Let's go to bed."

"Yeah," you replied. "Let's."

He wound his arm around you and held you tightly, guiding you back to your room.

#poe dameron x reader #poe dameron imagine #poe dameron x you #poe dameron reader insert #poe dameron fluff #poe dameron imagines #star wars x you #star wars imagines #star wars imagine #star wars reader insert #star wars fluff #star wars fan fiction

[icollectyoursins]

Okuyasu x Fem!Reader SFW

martinbolseiro asked "If requests are still open I would like to ask you for a Stroheim x Female reader fluff / nsfw nº24 and nº82 please hihiihi and Okuyasu x Female reader fluff nº1 and nº10 “

Reader and Okuyasu are in high school for this one, just so it’s not weird with an adult dating a teen. We do not stand for that here. I also use (L/N) which will stand for your last name in this.

You had the unfortunate luck of getting sick in the middle of the school year and your boyfriend has just the thing to cheer you up! I mean, what could be better than him visiting you with your movie, munchies and drinks? Nothing. That’s what.

First part of the request is here.

No. 1 "Shh, don't cry. I'll always be here." 

No. 10 "I'll keep you warm, come here."

Wanna know what I’m willing to write? Rules here!

Have a character, but no idea? Prompt list here!

Looking for more? Master post here!

WARNINGS: None, reader is sick, so there’s talk of that. Also some Tonio stuff at the end, nothing too graphic though.

Word Count: 1308

     A loud, painful cough thundered in your lungs making you wince. It was just a cold, but still, you felt like hell. You groaned, lying back down on your bed, tossing the tissue to the side. Suddenly, you began to think about all the school you were missing and felt worse. It was only a week, but still missing five days of school could be the equivalent of missing a month depending on the subject.

     While in the midst of your self-loathing, you heard a shout from outside your window.

     “Oi! (Y/N)!” Okuyasu. You groaned, begrudgingly getting out of bed and opening the window. “Hii, (Y/N)!”

     “Hi, Okuyasu,” you grumbled. Not that you weren’t happy to see him, he always seemed to brighten your day, but frankly, you didn’t want to see anyone right now. “Shouldn’t you be in class?”

     “No! We just finished.” You furrowed your brows, it couldn’t be time for home already, could it? A glance over to your clock proved that school was indeed done for the day. “Hi, miss (L/N). Can I come in to see (Y/N)? I have some work for her.”

     “Not for too long. Wouldn’t want you getting sick too!” Your mom replied, stern but somehow still cheery. 

     “Ookay.” With that, he was practically running up the stairs to your bedroom and bursting through the door. “Hey! How are you feeling?”

     You sighed with a roll of your eyes. “Okuyasu, you’re going to get sick, don’t- hey! No, don’t hug me-ah!”

     “I missed you!” He had lifted you up into a bear hug. A very warm and comforting bear hug. You couldn’t really be mad at him as he gently set you on your feet and started going on about what had transpired the week you were away. Though you weren’t entirely sure it was true, it was entertaining getting all the info on the drama when you weren’t there.

     “Wow. Didn’t think she’d do something like that,” you comment as he’s telling you about what one of the cheerleaders did to the other. It made you feel so glad you didn’t join the team or any other team for that matter. You were perfectly happy and busy running around after your lovable fool and his friend. 

     “Yeah, it was wild. Teachers didn’t even know what to do! They were just as shocked as we were,” he burst out laughing, tossing his head back and wiping away a tear.

     Suddenly you were sent into another coughing fit, covering your mouth with your elbow. At first, he panicked, then saw the tissues and the glass of water on your nightstand, running to grab them. He knelt next to you, eyes wide while he rubbed your back until it subsided. He offered you the glass first before settling down to sit cross-legged. You groaned when he pulled you closer so you were leaning against him.

     “Okuyasu, you’re gonna get sick,” you mumble, eyes slowly drooping into sleep. He was so warm and comfy. The perfect human pillow. He laughed at you.

     “I never get sick! And if I do, I just go to Tonio’s! Heyy, that’s an idea! Let’s go to Tonio’s!” Okuyasu was suddenly getting up, pulling you with him. Then, he went through your closet, looking for something for you to wear. 

     “I really don’t think I’m in the best of shape to go somewhere.” You sit down on your bed with a sniffle.

     “It’ll be fine!” He reassures you. “Besides, isn’t fresh air supposed to be good for you? Here, wear this. I’ll be downstairs waiting.”

     He tosses some nice-looking, comfy clothes and excitedly exits your room. You sigh. There really wasn’t a way to stop him at this point, so you got into your clothes, changing the shirt to something less cartoony to a plain single-coloured tee with less stains. Maybe he was right. You would feel better if you went outside and something other than your mom’s cooking sounded so nice right about now. Whatever, what’s the worst that could happen.

     When you got downstairs Okuyasu had already sold your mom on the idea of going out. She cheerily told you to have fun and be back before curfew as you walked out the door. He grinned proudly, wrapping an arm around you while you made your way to the bus station.

--------

     The bus ride to the little restaurant by the graveyard was full of idle chatter about school again and what he was planning on doing when he got home. A new game came out recently, so he and Josuke agreed to play it together.

     “You can come-” he asked, quickly covering it up with a hasty “-if you want! I don’t know. Josuke isn’t one to share his games, but I might convince him.”

     You laughed. “Well, if you can convince my mum to let me outside, you can probably get anyone to do whatever you wanted. But, Okuyasu, I’m sick, remember.”

     “Ha! Just wait. Tonio can cure anything with his food. It’s the best in the world.” You rolled your eyes, only half believing him. You hadn’t been to Tonio’s before but your boyfriend never shut up about how good the food was.

     “As long as you’re paying,” you elbowed his side, teasing him. He looks shocked.

     “Of course, I am! What kind of man doesn’t buy his lady food?” He mutters under his breath, seriously asking. You just laugh again. 

     The walk from the bus stop to the restaurant was thankfully short, but you swore could smell the food cooking from a mile away. Okuyasu grabbed your hand, gently pulling you behind him. He burst through the doors, happily calling out Tonio’s name. They exchanged hellos while you were sat at the table.

     “Um, is there a menu?” You asked awkwardly. They laughed.

     “No! Tonio makes whatever you need. He knows everything! Here, have the water.” He sets your cup down in front of you while Tonio goes off to make whatever it was he thought you needed. Your boyfriend practically shook with excitement while he waited for you to take your first sip.

     Your eyes grew wide with shock as the water hit your tongue. It was the best water you had ever had. Was it from a well or something? You glugged down the rest, then suddenly you were crying and couldn’t stop. Okuyasu, though still smiling, rubbed your back, soothing you. Just like that, it stopped and your eyes felt better than they ever had before. They weren’t scratchy or tired. You were wide awake!

     “See? Don’t you feel better?” He asked, petting your head.

     “Yeah, actually. I do. What the hell is in that water?” He chuckles to himself, muttering something that sounded like ‘sand tomes?’ You were about to ask him to say that again, but Tonio came back with a bowl in his hand.

     “Chicken noodle soup! Enjoy!” He called out, disappearing back into the kitchen.

     It was the best-smelling chicken noodle soup. Without wasting another minute, you dug in. Okuyasu was right. This was the best food in the world. You finished in record timing, humming happily. Then you started coughing again. You grabbed a napkin and coughed into it. It felt like you were literally hacking up a lung or some other organ. One large inhale of breath and it magically subsided.

     You could breathe so much better now! How? That was- how?

     Okuyasu leaned back with his arms behind his head and his feet kicked up on another chair. You could feel the confidence radiating off of him. 

     “How do you feel, (Y/N)?” He asked, cocky as all hell. “Wanna go hang at Josuke’s?” You stared at him awestruck while he laughed loudly. The only thoughts you had were: thank you? Then, my boyfriend is crazy and finally what the hell just happened?

#now this is a character i'm comfortable writing for #love this stupid teenager #okuyasu x reader #okuyasu fluff #okuyasu #sfw prompts #diu prompts #sand tomes is okuyasu for stand tomatoes

[bluboothalassophile]

Hey I am reading your stuff from Hopes for a Bastard. I love your version of Jason and Lian's relationship. I'm wondering if you could do a version of them when she's a teenager. It doesn't have to Hopes for a Bastard.

Hello,

I can do a teenage Lian and Jay! I hope you enjoy! =)

Heartbreak & Patience

It was hands down the worst day EVER. It could not get worse. She was certain of that. Now would be a good time for the end of the world to just swallow her up, or she’d like to order the apocalypse, surely Earth had that on speed dial by now!

“Hey,” she jumped and twisted around to see Jay standing there, holding two beers and an undone tie. Lian burst into tears before she could stop herself as she threw herself at her second dad and started sobbing in his chest.

“It’s okay,” he said softly. They sat down and she leaned on Jason, clinging to his arm as she sat there trembling. “You know your dad’s been calling you like crazy, right pipsqueak?” Jason asked.

“I dropped it,” she muttered.

“Your grandmother’s going to wring your neck for that, she’s probably trying to hack it,” Jay informed her.

She gave a watery laugh as she hid against his shoulder.

“Want to tell me what happened?” Jay asked eventually.

She violently shook her head as she soaked the sleeve of his shirt.

“Okay, well then, here,” Jason said as he popped the lid of a beer and offered it to her.

“I’m fifteen!” she started.

“I’m here, and I know teens drinking is real, so I’d prefer we do this together than you do it on your own, when you’re upset, then throw in driving, at least this way I’m here,” Jason said softly. “And it seems like a drinking sort of sorrow,” he pointed out.

Lian took the beer, took a huge gulp of it, then cringed at the flavor as she coughed as the alcohol burned her throat. Jay patted her back, rubbing her shoulders and chuckled softly.

“Want to talk about it?” Jay asked her after a long while of her sipping the beer and him toying with his in his hands.

“How’d you know you loved Rae?” Lian blurted out.

Jay’s lips twitched before he looked up.

“Oh I knew before I really knew, probably why I took my sweet time about getting there,” he said softly.

“I…”

“She was nineteen, I was twenty-two, I think,” Jay cut her off. “Lian, Rae and I were fucking lucky we didn’t fuck it up.”

“You…”

“We were too young when we figured it out, so we didn’t do anything about it, then there was a lot of shit in between the in between, and by the time we did make it work, we were fucking lucky we hadn’t fucked it up so badly it was damaged beyond repair. Love isn’t work, Lian, relationships are though,” Jay said softly. “People forget that, but it’s a lot of fucking work being in a relationship. And you’re fifteen, kidd-o, this one didn’t work out, but that’s okay, it was what you needed when you needed it.”

“When did you really know she was the one for you?” Lian whispered. Her second dad had always been with her Aunt Rae. She had been very confused when she’d been invited to their wedding a few years back because she had always thought they were married.

“When it was almost too late,” he answered softly. “You have time Lian,” he promised her.

“I wanted…” she whispered. “I wanted what you have,” she admitted

Jason gave her a wry smile. “You’ll find it kidd-o, you’ll just have to be patient. It’ll take heartbreak and mistakes, but you’ll find it if you keep looking,” he said softly.

“Dad says you were a bit dense about it,” Lian pointed out.

“No. Rae and I knew exactly what it was, we also knew we weren’t ready,” Jay explained.

Lian wondered why her dad would say that. Love was something she wanted so badly, she wanted her person, now, she wanted to have that love, that spark, passion, and feeling, she wanted it now. She wanted it so desperately she could taste it. All her family seemed to land on the lucky side of love and then there was Jay with Rae, her grandparents, Oliver and Felicity or B and Selina. She just… she wanted that, that love that seemed to hold up against anything.

“How could you not be ready?” Lian asked.

“Because, we were fucked up,” Jay stated. “Look, pipsqueak, there’s a lot to Rae and me, which is about us individually; I’m not saying self-love, but we do work on ourselves as individuals a lot. Rae and I are independent of each other, we like each other’s company, hell, prefer it even, but we don’t rely on one another to be involved in every aspect of our lives. We’re independently dependent. When we figured out how to be together, we were both in a place to be together.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah, it’s a lot, and it’s a lot of work.”

“Do you regret waiting?” Lian asked.

“No.”

“Why?”

“Because we were so not ready when we met,” Jay answered. “You got time, Lian, you’re fifteen, this sucks, and it hurts, but you’ll be okay,” he said softly.

“I’m scared of not finding anyone though,” she muttered.

“Nothing ventured, nothing gained,” Jay pointed out.

“Everyone important to me has perfect love…” she started

Jason snorted. “God the beauty of youth, relationships aren’t perfect Lian,” Jason cut her off. “Not even close, oh yes, love is a central part of relationships like mine, or your dad’s, but relationships, love, it isn’t perfect, kidd-o.”

“You…”

“Work our asses off to keep it. We fight, we argue, we get mad and disappointed in the other, doesn’t make the love less, but it’s not perfect, and we work at it. All of us in relationships that we want to make last, we work hard at it. And you’ll find what you’re looking for Lian, just… be patient,” Jay said softly.

“Thanks for the beer.”

“Do not tell your father,” Jason warned.

“Dad was drinking before fifteen,” she pointed out.

“So was I, don’t tell him,” Jay ordered. “Now finish your beer and we’ll go get ice cream, and then I can go threaten your ex,” Jason stated.

“I love you, dad,” she muttered.

“I love you too, pipsqueak.”

#bluboothalassophile #jason todd #lian harper #dc fanfic #one shot #jayrae #jayroy #hopes for a bastard universe

[blitheringmcgonagall]

Nah, He Didn’t... Jilytober Prompt #25

 This is for @magic-girl-in-a-muggle-world who made the list of prompts and is a star 😘😘😘😘

Prompt #25:  7th Year Lily thinking James is no longer interested in her…

(Btw, I am not a fan AT ALL of James chasing after an unrequiting Lily for ages, that stalkerish behaviour is more Snape, if anyone, and in canon James only asks her out once, just reminding you all…)

                                                   Nah, He Didn’t 

It was freezing cold outside and Lily wrapped her fleece-lined cloak around her tightly as she wandered off towards the Great Lake on that blustery morning. She hadn’t slept particularly well, and she needed to wake up before starting school. She rubbed her tired eyes and yawned widely, then blinked. A fluffy, large, black dog was trotting towards her, wagging its tail joyfully.

“Ooooh, look at you!” she cooed warmly, hunkering down as the dog approached her. “Aren’t you a dote? Such a gorgeous dog!”

The dog barked enthusiastically as though in complete agreement.

“Of course you are,” Lily said, rubbing behind the dog’s ears. “I’m sure you get told that all the time!”

The dog made a sound half-way between a laugh and a bark, wagging its tail with enthusiasm.

“Big-headed git,” Lily snorted, ruffling the soft hair on the dog’s head affectionately.

The dog’s chin shot up.

“Oh, a bit defensive, are we?” Lily quipped.

The dog sniffed.

“Fair enough, unlike some big-headed gits, you actually have something to be vain about,” she said, with a sigh.

The dog cocked its head to one side, as though listening attentively. It did the trick.

“Don’t get me started,” Lily muttered crossly. “I really, really need to cop on and move on. I mean, there was a stupid rumour in Fifth Year that he liked me, which was bollocks.”

The dog’s eyes grey wide.

“Nah, he didn’t, utter bollocks,” Lily amended, sitting down on the damp ground with a huff. “But then last year, we were getting on really well, and I started seeing him differently, you know…”

The dog moved closer to her and his ears pricked up.

“Fine, I started liking him, as in, you know, liking liking him,” Lily said, as the dog’s eyebrows shot up. “Whatever, fancying him rotten, alright? Satisfied? Ugh! I’m such an idiot! I never hated him, not really, it’s just that we were always annoying each other, engaging in verbal battles and whatnot, I mean I think we both liked spending time with each other, despite the sassy remarks, or maybe because of them.”

She stared moodily ahead of her, which meant she missed the startled and frankly shocked look that the black dog gave her.

“Which was fine. It was nice being friends with James, he’s a nice person, you know?” she added.

The dog barked at her pointedly and thumped his tail against the ground.

“And then this year, when I heard he was Head Boy, I was delighted initially. We got to spend loads of extra time together and I got to see more sides to him and, and… and it’s been rubbish! I can’t concentrate on anything when he’s nearby, I keep seeing all these adorable sides to him that I never knew existed, and his bedroom is next door to mine. Next Door! You don’t want to know the number of times I’ve seen him come in from Quidditch practice with his uniform stuck to his toned abs and biceps and Merlin…”

She sighed deeply and the dog whined.

“Oh dear! Are you not feeling well?” Lily asked.

The dog groaned.

“And then after seeing him looking so hot, gone to bed and dreamt we had a row and made up and then I was tearing his quidditch uniform off and-“

The dog let out a huge yelp. Lily huffed with annoyance and ripped some blades of grass.

“So then as he’s so clearly not interested in my any more, if he ever really was-“

The dog dropped his head onto the grass and whined loudly.

“I decided the only way to address this was by us both dating other people. Excellent idea, I thought,” she said.

The dog looked at her as though she had grown two heads.

“Except it’s been an unmitigated disaster. Helping him get changed and deciding what to wear on his date with Miranda Carlisle? Helping him think of where to take Lelli Kumar on their first date? IT WAS A NIGHTMARE, Snuffles!”

The dog growled under his breath and sank his chin further into the grass.

“Well, I don’t know what your name is, love, and Snuffles is sweet,” Lily said, with a wicked grin at the grumpy looking dog.

“And as for asking James’ advice on what to wear on that cringeful date with Jack Meadows? Merlin, it was a disaster! The worst was probably the day we were both going on separate dates and spent an entire afternoon trying to be all supportive and encouraging with each other. I was so sick of it all, I said to him maybe we should just forget about our dates and go on a date together instead, save us all the hassle,” Lily said, making a face.

The dog sat up suddenly and his right ear shot up.

“How much more bloody obvious can you get, right? And he said yeah, we should,” Lily said, imitating James’ deeper voice and throwing herself down on her back with a huge sigh. “And then we both just stood there, like idiots, and went on our respective dates. I mean, he’s clearly not into me at all, is he?”

The dog let out a strangled sound.

“I know, so embarrassing! And another time when we were bitching about the stress of dating people you don’t know, I literally said I’d prefer to just go on a date with you James. And you know what he said?” Lily said, turning her neck to look at the dog.

“I’d go on a date with you any time you want, Evans, you just need to ask,” Lily said, mimicking James’ flirty tone and ruffling her hair.

The dog looked at her expectantly.

“So I said now would be nice, Potter, and he laughed and said please stop taking the piss, Evans, I can’t cope with you,” she groaned. “Well obviously I didn’t ask him again after that, not when he was just saying it to be nice!”

She huffed and stuck her hands behind her head. The dog flopped sideways onto the grass as though momentarily incapacitated.

“Bloody boys!” she muttered. “They’re all stupid!”

The dog gave a small bark, as though disagreeing.

“Take Sirius and Remus, both totally head over heels in love with each other, both totally clueless!” she said, rolling her eyes. “Honestly, I don’t know what either of them needs to do in order for the other one to realise it! Sirius sits in class gazing at the back of Remus’ head like he’s staring at a work of art, and Remus fell over his schoolbag cause he was staring at Sirius when he came in after a Quidditch match. I’m pretty sure Mc Gonagall knows it, she keeps giving them detention together for no good reason!”

The dog made a distressed sound, like it was choking, and Lily sat up.

“Are you alright, you poor thing?” she said, petting his back fondly, and watching as a particularly fit Quidditch Captain and Head Boy walked over towards them.

“He always looks particularly well in his tight quidditch top, showing off his toned forearms with the beautiful veins on the back of his hands and arms. I have a thing about his hands and his arms, and his eyes, and his smile,” she whispered to the dog, who made a hacking noise.

“You’re up early.”

“Couldn’t get back to sleep so I did some practice,” said James.

“If that dog’s annoying you, Evans, just send him on his way,” he added, folding the aforementioned beautiful arms, and looking at the dog with a raised brow.

The dog whined and squeezed in beside Lily.

“Leave him alone, Potter! Snuffles is a delight!” she glared back.

“Snuffles?” James snorted and beamed at the black dog. “Oh, Snuffles is pure joy.”

The dog sulked..

“You, er, you wouldn’t be available to help me with those prefect rosters later, would you, Potter?” she said, twisting her hair with embarrassment.

“Yeah, sure, no problem at all,” said James, looking at her wistfully. “I’m just going to shower before school starts.”

Lily stared after him.

“You know, you really aught to stop swooning over his arse, like an idiot, and ask him out, properly.”

“Sirius! Where did you spring out of!” Lily said, clearing her throat and giving him an unmerciful dig with her elbow.

“Ouch!” Sirius yelped, rubbing his arm fretfully. “I mean it.”

Lily rolled her eyes and linked her arm with his.

“Don’t be ridiculous,” she said. “Where did the cute dog go?”

“The cute dog who’s definitely not called Snuffles? I have no idea,” Sirius said breezily.

Lily looked around her distractedly.

“Lily, there’s something you should know,” Sirius said. “Boys are very, very stupid. Significantly more stupid than you’d expect. Never underestimate how stupid boys are.”

“Oh,” Lily said. “Right.”

“Right. Now. I dare you to ask James out, properly,” he said, raising his arched brow at her. “And if you do, I promise to ask out Remus Lupin.”

She stared at him.

“Well?” he said.

Her face split into a huge grin.

“Well, in that case, as a purely platonic thing, to help you two get your act together,” she beamed and squeezed his arm in excitement.

“Platonic, my arse,” Sirius said. “Shall we?”

Lily grit her teeth and nodded.

He grabbed her hand and raced with her towards the castle.

#jilytober 2020 #jilytober #jily #jily drabble #prompts #hope you like it #silly fluff

[ot3-watch]

Episode 1: The Nigerian Job Rewatch

Nate is so far beyond done at this point it’s hilarious. “I want to hire you” “FUCK OFF MAN I’M BUSY DRINKING MYSELF TO AN EARLY GRAVE”

“I need you to steal them back…” WTF DID YOU THINK WAS GOING TO HAPPEN VICTOR? WHAT, DID YOU THINK THE BEST INSURANCE INVESTIGATOR WASN’T GOING TO FIGURE OUT YOU WERE GOING TO DOUBLE CROSS HIM? He’s so stupid I can’t. 

“Parker is insane.” No. She just has a little trouble. Don’t DO THIS to her Nate.

“They work alone,” not for looong.

And… there it is! IYS. The most overused villains and this coming from a doctor who fan who sat through the daleks coming back EVERY SINGLE SEASON after being destroyed

Why do they all sound so weird? Like the dialogue does NOT sound normal

How tf did Eliot win in that scene tho? We see how long it takes him to fight later on like I just do not get it. ANd the tea isn’t even scathed? How? Everyone talks about The Big Bang Job’s shootout scene as being super unrealistic, but honestly, it barely registers compared to this one.

“You’re precisely why I work alone.” Yeah, because you’re at risk of falling in love otherwise Mr. Heart Eyes.

I’m remembering how much I did NOT like Parker in the beginning and I don’t like that. I love Parker but early Parker was eh.

PARKER YOU CAN’T JUST THROW THE GLASS. THAT’S EVIDENCE PARKER. YOU COULD KILL SOMEONE PARKER. SOMEONE’S GOING TO KNOW PARKER. 

You expect me to believe that Parker is a world class thief who wouldn’t think to count the haircuts? They keep making everyone else look dumber to make Nate look smarter which makes NO SENSE because honestly, it makes it hard to believe that the other three survived on their own without Nate to guide them. WHICH THEY DID! AND THEY WERE THE BEST IN THE WORLD AT WHAT THEY DID. WTF

“That’s what I do.” AKA THE MOMENT ALEC HARDISON BECOMES AN ELIOT STAN

JENNY 8675309????

 “I know you children don’t play well with others” He’s already a dad i can’t.

If they knew about this plan and had the materials to pull it off, why did no one think of it? 

ALSO HOW TF DO THEY GET THE MAKE UP ON SO QUICKLY IT DOESN'T MAKE SENSE

How did the burn scam even work? Like i get it, make him uncomfortable so he won’t ask questions but like… they thought no one was in the building? The elevators were shut down? Why did he not question it? How stupid????

The black king/white knight metaphor was honestly the worst part of the first episode like it bothers me so much and I cannot effectively come close to explaining why

Where does Nate live? Why is his place so fancy? HE’S UNEMPLOYED RIGHT NOW AND BANKRUPTED HIMSELF TRYING TO HELP SAM. “It’s a hotel,” my sister says. IN WHAT WORLD DOES THAT LOOK LIKE A HOTEL ROOM? ANd that doesn’t explain how he affords a hotel room that nice.

….Why didn’t Eliot just disarm Hardison? We know he can. I don’t get it.

If you knew the place was gonna blow, why didn’t you run Nate? WHY ARE YOU LIKE THIS NATE

Eliot’s already putting himself in danger to help Hardison up. YOUR HONOR THEY’RE IN LOVE. THEY’VE KNOWN EACH OTHER LESS THAN 24 HOURS AND THEY’RE IN LOVE.

“Do you trust me?” NO. NO NATE. NO I FUCKING DON’T.

I feel like passing that phone through the grate should not have worked.

YEAH HARDISON. MUG IT FOR THE CAMERA

Eliot’s accent I LOVE HIM “Can you hold, son?” FOREVER FOR YOU.

How are the state police so fucking stupid i can’t

They literally… they just dumb everyone down to make Nate look smarter and it SUCKS

Ah, the first Hardison safe house. 

“You won’t get within 100 yards” HE’S ELIOT FUCKING SPENCER I BET YOU ANYTHING HE CAN

“He didn’t pay us… I take that personally.” I-- Parker if you’re dead you can’t make more money. Parker? It’s important to me that you know this, Parker.

The websites they’re looking at are so obviously fake. 

Nate? Nate it’s just a picture. DUbenich can’t hear you, Nate.

“He used my son” I cannot explain how much overexposure has made me NOT CARE ABOUT FUCKING SAM

“What the hecks a Sophie” That, Eliot. That’s a Sophie. 

Honestly? My favorite character introduction in this episode. 

WHY DO THEY ALL TALK SO WEIRD IN THIS EPISODE? THEIR VOICES ARE SO OFF WHAT THE FUCK?

“I’m a citizen now. Honest.” YEAH FUCKING RIGHT IN WHAT WORLD

Eliot with the snacks, he’s always bringing food to his fam it’s amazing

“That’s an odd thing for you to know” “That’s an odd place for you to be” ...why am i reading a sexy sort of tension in there???

And Nate’s SMILING at it

Ok but how does Nate know about plane schematics? 

Sophie’s accent… none of them are that accurate but this one felt especially weird

Eliot playing the IT tech is everything

Also the reference to the IT Crowd by Parker is *chef’s kiss*

HE’S SO CUTE THOUGH

I’m just a simp for Eliot Spencer okay?

“I know you’re manipulating me, Anna.” Yeah but you’re still gonna fall for it, aren’t you? You stupid, stupid man.

Eliot’s so sweet though. He’s just trying to make friends. 

Like really though, he’s so standoffish and stoic, but the second he has the chance, he tries to bond and he’s so gregarious. Like, it makes so much sense that he has so many friends all over he place. 

“Eliot, we’re not friends,” STOP BEING AN ASSHOLE NATE. I HATE YOU NATE. HE’S JUST TRYING TO BE YOUR FRIEND NATE. 

Hardison gliding by in the wheelie chair… he’s such a goof and a mood and i love him.

...Hardison… Hardison you can hack anything… Hardison why didn’t you put them in the building directory? IT’S A DIGITAL DIRECTORY YOU COULD HAVE DONE IT THIS WAS SO UNNECESSARY

Nate, EVERYONE CAN SEE YOU!! hoW DOES HE NOT GET ARRESTED???

THERE”S A COP CAR RIGHT THERE HOW THE FUCK DID THAT WORK

...is there anyone Sophie doesn’t have sexual chemistry with in this episode? Like, seriously, i think it’s just Hardison. She and Nate are obvious, and she and Eliot have that moment, and then… did they not put them in the directory just to have Parker and Sophie make heart eyes at each other for a few seconds?

HOW DID ANYONE WATCH THIS SHOW AND EVER THINK SOPHIE AND PARKER WERE STRAIGHT THO

Dubenich sounds like Wallace Shawn and looks like Stephen Moffat and I HATE HIM. Wallace Shawn is great, and i love him but DUBENICH CAN DIE

This looks like such a boring party why would anyone want to be there. THERE’S DAY DRINKING FOR GOODNESS SAKE EWWW WHY (okay maybe i just hate alcohol. I hate it more in professional settings.)

“Sir, I can take your underpants.” OKAY HIGGINS. WEIRD FLEX BUT OKAY.

Parker and Hardison look so smug walking out of the building i love it. 

...why don’t you want the money Nate? YOU COULD GET A LOT MORE MONEY NATE. TAKE THE GODDAMNED MONEY NATE

And today on “I Will Never Understand the Way the Stock Market Works…” Like i get the basic idea but like… how do you make money if it’s gonna fall that much? HOw.. how does this work?

NO THAT IS NOT AN INVITATION TO EXPLAIN ECONOMICS TO ME I DO NOT CARE ABOUT THE STOCK MARKET

“Somebody kiss this man so I don’t have to” you will. One day, Eliot, you will. 

So, fun fact. Supposedly, their score was $32,761,349.05 each. Which doesn’t really seem like a lot of money to me? Like, at least definitely not enough for Nate to do with it what he does? Like, maybe I just have a really difficult time fathoming that much money? Like, don’t get me wrong, I’d love just a taste of that but like, also? It really seems like not so much? … And further on “This blogger does not understand budgeting.”

ELIOT JUST ADMIT YOU WANT PART OF A TEAM

WHY DOES SOPHIE SOUND SO WEIRD??? WHAT THE FUCK

Okay, also, i have a question. These people, at the end, this is their first client, right? So why does it look like they haven’t seen each other since they took down Dubenich in the homecoming job? WHAT?

The SUITS THO

OKAY FINAL THOUGHTS: 6/10. Not the best Leverage episode, and certainly not the best character episode. There were a LOT of kinks to work out. Things got sorted too well. And I REALLY HATE NATE THIS EARLY ON. I’ve also never loved the “this guy is an asshole but he’s smarter than everyone else and really good at what he does so it’s fine” trope that you see in so many shows like Leverage. And they really really dumb people down early on to make him seem smarter. But like… there’s a reason I kept watching, you know? Also... I remember why it took me a while to warm up to Parker and Sophie. LIke, they’re badass but I still took a while and I remember why. 

#leverage #leverage ot3 #leverage rewatch #eliot spencer #alec hardison #parker #nathan ford #sophie devereaux #pilot episode #the nigerian job

[itsclydebitches]

I've seen some people say tat Rubys speech was just edited short. We didn't hear the full speech. Just snippets and reactions. Hence it being so broken and disjointed. I could believe that, but then it just become a horrible directing decision. That moment needed to be heard and reacted to in full. Either she gave the worst speech or whoever in CRWBY made the call to edit it that was messed up.

I made a transcript! 

Uh… hi. My name is Ruby Rose. I’m a huntress. And if we’ve done everything right then I’m talking to all of Remnant right now. Dr. Polendina can explain more later, but right now you all need to know that the kingdom of Atlas is under attack. Things are dire and we need help. But please, try not to panic. This isn’t some new enemy or invading kingdom. This is a force we’ve faced before. For centuries. Salem. The White Fang, Atlesian Drones, even the grimm themselves have all been controlled and manipulated by her in order to tear down the huntsmen academies. 

[Cut to Penny as opposed to a citizen watching. Ruby’s speech continues, but this may indicate that we lost some info, especially given the non-sequitur of the next line]

I know the idea of the Maidens and Relics seems, well, crazy, but I promise Professor Goodwitch of Beacon and Headmaster Theodore of Shade can verify all of this. They might even be able to help organize a way to fight back! But, sadly, General Ironwood can no longer be trusted.

[Harriet cuts the feed and we see Watts hacking Penny. It’s impossible to know whether the next line picks up where we left off, or skipped more speech.]

We didn’t have time to prepare for Salem, but now you do! Just because she can’t be destroyed doesn’t mean she can’t be beaten. If she really was unstoppable she wouldn’t have acted with such caution until now! She knows we’re a threat! So even if we—even if Atlas falls, you can’t give up. 

[Penny is hacked, but it doesn’t seem to interrupt the connection. She’s only gone for a second]

I hope Amity tower will bring us all together. Because in the end that’s how we’ll win! 

[Feed ends]

On the one hand I think it’s possible that we missed parts because RWBY has done that in the past. For example, we still have no idea if Ironwood knows that the Lamp still has a question left/what really happened with Ozpin because we never got to see the conversation between him and Oscar. On the other hand, Pietro was emphasizing how short Ruby’s recording was. They don’t need to keep Amity going for long and this is already a fairly substantial speech. The only place I’d say it’s really likely we missed something is right before mentioning the Relics and Maidens - just because that line comes out of nowhere - but otherwise it all reads as one thought building off of the one that (presumably) came before it. So I think it’s both. We may have missed stuff and Ruby gave a reeeeaaally bad speech. Let’s look at the transcript once more, this time with notes: 

Uh… hi. My name is Ruby Rose. I’m a huntress. And if we’ve done everything right then I’m talking to all of Remnant right now. Dr. Polendina can explain more later (He can? Since when?), but right now you all need to know that the kingdom of Atlas is under attack (How are you being attacked? What does this attack look like?) Things are dire and we need help (What kind of help, Ruby? You’re talking to “all of Remnant,” 95% of which can’t do anything proactive help you. Give the ones who can do something some guidance). But please, try not to panic. (You just told everyone the situation is “dire” and that the most powerful kingdom needs help. Telling people not to panic will just make them panic more). This isn’t some new enemy or invading kingdom. This is a force we’ve faced before (They have no idea what you’re talking about right now). For centuries. Salem. (That name means nothing and just got more confusing with “centuries.”). The White Fang, Atlesian Drones, even the grimm themselves have all been controlled and manipulated by her in order to tear down the huntsmen academies. (What person controls people, tech, and grimm? How do you control grimm? Why is she attacking academies? What is this girl talking about? And how is this Salem attacking Atlas now? You just named three distinct tools, so if we come help what should we expect? Grimm? Another hacked army? Are we fighting people?? Also, congratulations on ramping up the racial tensions. Dropping “White Fang” in there is going to cause a lot of people to turn on the faunus.)

I know the idea of the Maidens and Relics seems, well, crazy, but I promise Professor Goodwitch of Beacon and Headmaster Theodore of Shade can verify all of this (I sure hope we missed part of the speech because otherwise Ruby forgot to tell them what these things even are. Still love her saddling Glynda and Theodore with this insane responsibility. They won’t be able to go anywhere in public now. Seriously. The entire WORLD just heard they’re the two people who can explain/fix this.). They might even be able to help organize a way to fight back! (Ruby is ignoring Salem’s immortality, as usual.) But, sadly, General Ironwood can no longer be trusted. (No information there whatsoever. Just a blanket, ‘Don’t trust him’ without reason or evidence.) 

We didn’t have time to prepare for Salem, but now you do! (Okay, let’s just get the fighters together and--) Just because she can’t be destroyed doesn’t mean she can’t be beaten. (WHAT? She can’t be destroyed?? Well what are we supposed to do then?) If she really was unstoppable she wouldn’t have acted with such caution until now! (Well then why aren’t you stopping her? You’re the one with all the information and the most powerful kingdom at your back. If you can’t stop this scary Salem person, who can? I’m a random civilian just trying not to get eaten by regular, non-controlled grimm. Unless you’ve got the Spirit Bomb hidden away and need my energy, what do you expect me to do?) She knows we’re a threat! So even if we—even if Atlas falls, you can’t give up. (A whole kingdom is going to fall? The most powerful kingdom that provides most of our tech? AHHHHH)

I hope Amity tower will bring us all together (What was Amity Tower again? Is that something I should know about?). Because in the end that’s how we’ll win! (.......right.) 

If I had seen that recording I would have a LOT of questions. Starting with who the hell Ruby Rose is beyond a “huntress.” If the kingdom is in so much danger why is this teenager telling us about it? Am I going to believe, on her word alone, that I should cut ties with a world leader? Amass an army/prepare for an undefined threat against something that “can’t be destroyed”? Imagine for a moment, no matter where you live, that a random kid suddenly appeared on your computer screen and said the nearest country is currently falling to an indestructible someone named “Salem” and you should prepare for that... somehow. Would you take that seriously for even a second? No! I’d be worried about my security (how did she get on my laptop?) and then texting my friends like, “Lol that was wild. Do you think it’s true??” Then I’d hop on tumblr to watch the memes start. Anyone who does believe it - or better yet, gets proof of it happening - is going to be lost. Prepare how? Help how? Ruby told everyone the most panic-inducing information possible and her only advice was “Don’t panic.” Because she told everyone before figuring out how to beat Salem.  

This is why telling the world about Salem was always an awful idea and this is why you don’t let the untrained 17 year old give a clearly unplanned speech to the ENTIRE WORLD rather than, idk, finding a hostage negotiator or something. At least then they’d know how to provide reassurance other than “Don’t panic.” 

As a final note, is anyone going to be able to replay this? Was anyone recording? Imagine the chaos of not just the message itself, but a message everyone talks about via memory. Ruby just sent the whole world spiraling. 

#rwby #rwby spoilers #rwby volume 8 #mymetas #Anonymous

[votederpycausemufins]

Alright, we’re reaching the end. let’s at least see if I can reach 100k words!

@petrichormeraki 

and also @helleborusangel I’m worried about you. You haven’t touched your tumblr in about 2 and a half weeks. if anyone has heard from them, please let me know, I am worried aaaaaaaaaa.

An explosion shook the room, making Grifter use his wings as cover for both himself and Sense. A moment later he flapped his wings to clear the air and see what had caused the explosion. He growled upon seeing a group of people at the door, recognizing that most of them were hermits. Standing there were both Xisuma and Xannes, Joe, Zedaph, Scar and Cub. There were also two non-hermits, one of which being Techno since he had brought the other hermits. The last was someone Grifter recognized all too well. Kristen. And she was also holding onto both Grifect and Sefter.

Grifter tried not to look angry or yell and attack, even using a wing to keep Sense back. “Oh thank goodness you all came! This is going to help so much!” Grifter couldn’t say more before a trident was thrown at his head, him barely dodging it. “What are you doing, I’m the good guy here?”

“I have a hard time believing that.” Xannes huffed, but Grifter gestured to where Nightmare lay dazed on the floor.

“No, you don’t understand. He’s the bad guy in this situation. He was after both Theseus and Tommy. I was told I had to deal with him. I didn’t have any choice!”

Xannes scoffed. “A likely story.” And weapons were pointed at Grifter. The avian’s eyes continued to go between Nightmare as well as Kristen as she held his kids, but he held his arms up in surrender.

From behind the group, Xisuma made his way over to Tommy. Grifter paid no attention to him, But Sense did, pulling out a weapon. Techno was the first to move to stop the attack, but Grifter beat him to the punch, using his wing to hit the weapon out of Sense’s hand. “As I said. Good guys here. Unless of course you are here to hurt Tommy, then things change.”

“You destroyed half of the server.” Techno said.

“I made sure to take precautions. None of this is permanent. Everything is backed up and I made sure everyone could respawn. Meanwhile you’re got Grian running around with one of his sons, not even worried about the bug in his system.”

“What-” Someone started to say, Grifter wasn’t sure who, when Nightmare moved. Grifter moved out of the way, having been watching the admin. Nightmare’s attack missed, but he quickly adjusted, his axe aiming for Xisuma’s neck. Sense pulled out another weapon and pointed it at Nightmare, firing it. The blast hit Nightmare’s wrist, making him lose his weapon, but in order to take the shot, it also went through part of Grifter’s wing.

“There…” Grifter said, holding his wing. “Believe us now?”

Weapons slowly moved from pointing at Grifter to pointing at Nightmare. A quick glance around the room let him know that Xannes seemed to be the only one left with his guard up, but that was fine, he wasn’t the most dangerous one here. Cub and Scar both had vex magic, but only both of them working together had been enough to break Grifter’s barrier, so while they could potentially be dangerous, they also weren’t the biggest threat. Techno was probably the least threatening of the bunch, Xisuma as a close second. He may be admin, but this wasn’t his server, so for now he was essentially powerless.

But the last three were much more dangerous. Kristen had the same aura around her that his dad did, meaning she would have to be death here. But it also didn’t help that she wasn’t the only one with that energy. And then of course ‘Joe Hills’. He was arguably the most dangerous, but he also had an easy weakness right now. 

“Do any of you know someone named Eret?” Grifter spoke up, glad to see Joe look up and over at him.

“I do. Why’re ya askin’?”

“We couldn’t quite get down there, but there seemed to be some prison cells and someone with that name was there. I was pretty sure the name was familiar, but of course, since this is another dimension, I figured I’d ask you guys.” Grifter explained, then hissing slightly as Sense tried to help with his wound.

Joe briefly looked over at Xisuma, who nodded. After taking one last look around the room, the man left the room. One down, two to go. Kristen was off the table with the boys in her arms, but if push came to shove, they could take care of themselves. Grifter used a bit of magic to heal himself, noticing that the world setting had been changed, letting people naturally heal and respawn again. He quickly changed that back and readied his magic for an attack.

Both of the Convex noticed something was up and they started to say something, but Grifter was faster. He flew into the air just enough to get a height advantage before attacking Zedaph with such a powerful attack, he broke through the floor. At the same time, Sense pulled Xisuma away from Tommy, messing with his helmet and breaking the filters on it. 

Xannes tried to grab Grifter, but the Listener was prepared and he drew a swirl symbol in the air, and a moment later Xannes was gone. Grifter was left panting and he couldn’t do much more after using so much magic. Sense was busy taking care of the Convex, so he couldn’t help much more. Grifter barely managed to get out of the way of Techno attacking him, but it just moved him closer to Kristen. 

“What did you do with Phil?” She asked, just making Grifter chuckle.

“Nothing bad. And even if it was, I doubt it would affect Dad.” He laughed again. “So, why are you here? I would have thought you’d stay away.”

Kristen didn’t answer as Sefter’s hand changed into a sword and he stabbed her in the side. Her shock made her drop both him and Grifect, who quickly ran to Grifter’s side. “Awe uwu okay dad? Uwu wook tiwed. I'm sowwy I messed up.”

“Aww, it’s okay pumpkin. You did just fine.” Grifter patted Grifect’s head and Sefter faced Techno, ready to fight him. “Now now everyone. I’m sure we can all stand down at this point.”

“You were the one to attack first.” Techno huffed, making Grifter pout.

“You all barged in here ready to attack me with my children as hostages. Now they are free and everyone is fine.”

“Xisuma is suffocating!” Cub yelled, and Grifter rolled his eyes and used a bit of magic to fix the helmet.

“There, is that any better?” Grifter huffed, still panting a bit. “You’re all ready to work with Xannes but I try to help and suddenly I’m the worst thing in the world.”

“Even he hates you.”

“And he also hates his brother, but you guys are fine with him. But sure, make that the defining answer.” Grifter grumbling, trying to ignore the nudge in his side from Sense. “Now how about we just all calm down, I deal with my job, and we all go home safe and sound.”

“How do we know you’re telling the truth?” Scar asked, and Grifter nodded his head in Kristen’s direction, as well as Zedaph’s as he was just pulling himself out of the hole he had been stuck in.

“What are we talking about?” Zed asked, looking around, not having any context.

Kristen gestured to Grifter. “He’s got a request from Death that he needs to finish.”

“What? I never gave him anything like that. Was that you?”

“No, I assume it came from one of those in his world.”

“Oh yeah, that would do it. Oh by the way, look who I found!” And Zedaph helped Grian, Ranboo and Grumbot out of the hole. 

“Oh for fucks sake!” Grifter growled. “I just managed to salvage this two fucking times. Why aren’t you all dead?”

As soon as he had said that, everyone turned on Grifter once more, though this time he wasn’t trying to wriggle his way out of it. “Perhaps we should-” Sense started to say before the Listener slapped him. “Shut up! I don’t care how it happens, I am getting rid of that son of a whore admin! Now stay alive long enough to come back.” And three portals opened up next to Sense, Sefter and Grifect, pulling them in. 

“Fine. Gloves are off now.” Grifter said, staring directly at Grian, who knew exactly what that meant. Grian moved to pull Grumbot closer to himself while Kristen was the first to move and attempt to attack Grifter.

Before she could cause any harm, Grifter placed down some TNT which immediately exploded. The explosion blocked her view just long enough for him to move elsewhere and get the upper hand, shoving her to the floor. “Oh please, Dad’s already terrified I’ll kill him and become the next death or something. And seeing as how my uncle never shows his fucking face, I’m guessing he keeps shaking in his little pink lined boots.”

Xisuma was the next to attack, but Grifter kicked at the man, boots starting to tear at the seams. “And your brother is too much of a cocksucking ditz to cause any sort of trouble for me. Hacking skills or not. I had to deal with plenty in Deevo. And that’s when I was still learning everything!”

Grifter was whacked in the back, causing loose feathers to go flying. He turned to see that Techno had attacked with an axe, blood now dripping down the avain’s back. “You’re an improvement over the original at least. Euro’s one of the biggest cowards I’ve seen. I can hear when he kills himself from a mile away. It’s too bad he keeps getting to respawn, but when death doesn’t want you dead, it doesn’t happen.” One of Grifter’s wings hit Techno, the feathers stiff and sharp, opening wounds all over the piglin hybrid.

Next, vex magic attacked the Listener from both sides, leaving him cornered. “You two. Hah, now this is a challenge. Sort of. But I don’t give a fuck right now!” And Grifter pulled out a shovel, not having a better weapon readily available. He walked towards Cub, not caring as the magic started to burn away his clothes, revealing the discolored skin beneath. Cub did his best to increase his power and move away, and for a few moments it worked, pushing Grifter back, but then the shovel connected with his skull, knocking him to the ground. A few more whacks followed from Grifter for good measure, staining the metal red.

“Now, who’s up next?!” The Listener asked with a laugh, turning to face everyone. His outfit was a mess; torn and bloody, hanging limply on his body while his boots lay shredded to the side, talons having replaced his feet. His eyes were glossy, cataracts covering them leaving him essentially blind, but his ears had shifted, changing into something few had seen, the ears of a warden.

“What the heck?” Ranboo asked, having stuck by Grian’s side. “What is that?”

“Listener.” Grian responded, horrified. “When Watchers, and I guess also Listeners, use too much magic, their body shifts to better use it. I’ve apparently gone off the deep end once or twice and ended up something like that. Basically, if he was dangerous before… it’s worse now.”

True to what Grian had just said, Grifter moved swiftly, at Zedaph’s side the moment after he took a step. He was thrown against a wall, winding him before a metal clamp covered his mouth, making it so he couldn’t speak. As he pulled at it while also catching his breath, Grifter yanked out a handful of his feathers, blood pouring from the freshly plucked wing and the Listener’s own hand. He threw the feathers at Xisuma, them acting as throwing knives sent at the admin. A good number of them missed, but a few hit and sliced into his armor, fortunately also missing his helmet.

Kristen attacked Grifter next, getting an upper hand and using some of his own stray feathers as weapons. The Listener just stared at her, smiling as the edge of the blade like feathers pressed into his skin, drawing blood. “You aren’t going to kill me. Are you? You can’t. That’s how it works~ You’re the one who can’t interfere~ That’s your brother’s job. And oh, sounds like he can’t do that right now, can he?”

Kristen was going to do it. In this situation, she wasn’t bound by the laws of death. Grifter wasn’t from this dimension, so she had free reign. But the Listener’s words got to her, and for a split second, she looked away. Suddenly, Grifter’s wings moved and a number of his feathers were embedded in her chest, him laughing evilly. “Now don’t die~ I wouldn’t like that happening. Especially since he’s busy.”

Techno tried attacking Grifter again, but he was just swatted to the side. Scar was at Cub’s side, having pulled out some crystals to heal him. Zedaph was busy trying to free himself and Kristen was dealing with her own wounds. Grifter stepped closer to Xisuma before picking him up and breaking one of his helmet’s filters with his hand. Though it wouldn’t kill the admin, it would certainly cause him plenty of pain. 

Tossing Xisuma aside, Grifter finally made it to Nightmare. “Now, I should have been finished with you ages ago!” The Listener spoke, his voice filled with stifled laughter. “But this ends now. Dream? He’s easy. Everything’s already in a console because he was a little bitch who used children for his own benefit. I may not have many lines to draw, but I still have some.”

Nightmare started screaming as green magic surrounded him. For a moment, a figure of a second person stood next to him before it dissolved, disappearing completely. “Next, we need to get rid of those silly little admin powers you have because Dad wanted you dethroned.”

As Nightmare started to scream again, Grifter was attacked from the side. Out of all the people he expected, this was the last. Tommy stood, balanced mostly on his uninjured leg, holding a sword he had gotten from Xisuma. Grifter tisked a few times at Tommy, crossing his arms. “Theseus, Theseus, Theseus. What are you doing? Trying to get your revenge? That’s the same fucking mistake that put us in this situation in the first place. Why’d Dad even let you out?”

“Wrong person.” Tommy said weakly. He was light headed from blood loss as well as standing there, but he still swung his sword in an attempt to hit Grifter.

“Right, right. Well, I’m not called a Listener for no reason.” And then a wing swiped across the ground, hitting Tommy’s feet out from under him. “Stay out of this before you make it so much worse.”

Grifter turned back to Nightmare, continuing to use magic on the admin. No one had enough energy left to do anything as they listened to his screams. Slowly, they grew strained before it was finally quiet again. Grifter frowned and kicked Nightmare, the limp body giving no resistance. “Aww, it’s broken. Hmm, I guess I can have a little more fun with it.”

He started stomping on the body, making absolutely sure Nightmare was truly dead, damaging the body beyond recognition. The whole time, Grifter was smiling and having fun. Around him, everyone was slowly tending to each other’s wounds, the Listener not caring. Kristen checked on Grian who was helping her with the feathers still stuck in her. Zedaph assisted Xisuma with his helmet, managing to not make it more complicated than it needed to be. At the same time, he helped Tommy out a bit as the two were right near each other. Scar was still helping Cub, and for lack of anyone else to help out, Techno stayed near Ranboo and Grumbot.

Finally, Grifter stepped away from Nightmare, hands on his hips as he ‘looked’ at his work proudly. “Well, that could have gone better, but it was still nice! Now, since you all caused so many problems, who do I get to have fun with next?” When no one answered, Grifter pouted before turning to Tommy. “Hmm, let’s see-”

Before he could say anything else, Kristen was in front of Tommy and Grian was attacking Grifter from the back. Grifter growled, using plenty of magic to attack them back, nearly killing Grian in the process. But just as it looked like Grifter was going to win, he was suddenly thrown against the throne with enough force to break it. “Now why’d you go and start without me?”

Joe had entered the room, followed by Eret. “I’m sure we could have found a much more non-violent approach, left everyone in much better shape.” He stopped over at Zedaph, helping get the metal covering his mouth off. “I’m guessing he’s dead?” Joe gestured to Dream’s body.

“Eh, that’s Krist’s side of things, not mine. I’m busy keeping an eye on her husband.” Zedaph replied, jabbing his thumb off in the general direction of Phil. “That’s part of the reason she’s here is because I filled her in.”

Joe nodded and walked over to Kristen, who was sitting on the ground next to Tommy. “Zed said to check in with you. How’s he looking?” Joe gestured to Dream’s body again.

“It’s a bit complicated with the fact that a hels person got mixed up with things, but for all intents and purposes, they’re both dead.”

Joe nods. “And how’s Tommy doing? Not too hurt?”

“No, he’s doing fine. I’m… more concerned about Grian.”

Joe looked over his shoulder to look at Grian. In attacking Grifter with Kristen, he was using magic he really couldn’t easily use, leaving him in a similar situation to Grifter. At that moment in time, Grian had plopped himself down on the ground and was summoning plenty of wheat. “Oh yeah, he’s fine. I’d say you should get him to stop using magic right now, but it’s nothing dangerous and he could use a break. Maybe stick around a bit.”

“I’m not sure. With my job-”

“Zed takes breaks all the time. You can let yourself have a few too. I mean, you must’ve taken a few to have a family, take some more to spend time with them. I know that’s what I’m planning to do.” And Joe half gestured to Eret, who was currently looking over the damaged room.

Kristen wanted to say more, but then Grian came over and started dragging Tommy away, Kristen quickly following behind. Grian had used the wheat to make plenty of hay bales which were spread out in the approximation of a nest. Tommy had been placed down within it in a rather cushy area, glad for something other than the hard ground.

Grian doted on Tommy for a bit more before hopping away, leaving Tommy chuckling. “Pfft, bird brain.” He then leaned back, putting his hands behind his head and looking over to Kristen. “So, seeing you is different.”

“Hi Tommy.”

#hermit!tommy au #hermit!tommy #hc x dsmp #hels!grian #hels!Mumbo #xisumavoid #xisuma #evil xisuma #joe hills #zedaph #goodtimeswithscar #cubfan135 #technoblade #mumza #mumza as death #zedeath #dreamwastaken #hels!dream #ranboo #grian #watcher!grian #grian xelqua #avian!Grian #grumbot #tommyinnit

[havenoffandoms]

Hello and congrats on 800 followers!!! Could I ask for an Eskel x female cat Witcher!reader with prompts 3 or 5? Thanks 😊

Hi anon! Thanks so much and thanks for this really fun combination of prompt. Here’s my little silly take on cat!witcher!reader x Eskel. Hope you like it. 

Send your prompt requests here.

Cat!Witcher!reader x Eskel: “it’s really not that complicated” (prompt 3) and “we could get arrested for this” (prompt 5)

“Would you hurry up, wolf?” you urge your travel companion as he struggles to pick a simple lock, “it’s really not that complicated, for the love of the gods.”

“You try and pick a lock in a tight space with little to no natural light,” you hear the witcher known as Eskel snide back. A guttural groan pushes past his lips as he tugs on the lock in his frustration. “Fucking thing!”

“Oh, get out of my damn way,” you snap at him as you squeeze yourself into said tight space, elbowing Eskel in the ribs as you wriggle up to where the lock is resisting the wolf witcher, “here, watch an expert at work.”

“Why am I not surprised that you Cat witchers know how to pick locks?” Eskel punctuates his words with a pointed eyeroll. 

“At least Guxart taught us some street smarts. What do you bring to the table, your theoretical knowledge of monsters? Your working knowledge of poetry? How’s that gonna help, you gonna bore the guards to death by reciting a couple of verses?” 

“Fuck you.”

“Make me,” you hiss in response, but your mood quickly brightens when you hear the familiar ‘click’ sound as the lock yields under your nimble fingers. You pull on it harshly and manage to open the trap door, your only escape out of these dungeons. “Hah! Where does that take us?”

“Sewers, judging by the stench,” Eskel remarks, his nose scrunching up in distaste. You can’t help but agree with your companion on this one. “Beggars can’t be choosers, I guess.”

“Let’s go, then.”

With the agility worthy of your namesake, you jump down yet another hole tight and land on your feet and hands. You keep this position long enough to assess your surroundings, your yellow-green eyes picking up every movement without needing to use a Cat potion. Unlike Eskel, who is probably downing one as you wait for him to follow you into the sewers. Once you are satisfied that there is no immediate danger, you rise to your full height and silently slip along the humid walls. You hear rats squeaking in the distance and scattering as the sound of Eskel landing next to you spook them. 

“Any idea which direction we should be taking, street-smarts?” 

“Well, the exit was north-west of our cell, so I’m gonna take a wild guess and say we should be heading that way,” you point in the direction you were referring to, “you got your swords?”

“Duh,” is all Eskel offered in response, “do you think so little of me?”

“Do you want an honest answer to that question? C’mon, we’ve wasted enough time waiting for you to drink that stupid Cat potion.”

You ignore Eskel’s grumbled response and take off without another word. You and Eskel have known each other for years. You first met on the path after he saved you from a particularly aggressive female wyvern. The beast was in heat and very territorial, and she did not appreciate anyone interrupting her mating rituals. There had been no contract on her head, you just happened to have the worst of luck. After Eskel saved you, he could hardly believe that he was not only standing face to face with a witcher from the School of the Cat, notoriously responsible for the creation of a famously vicious breed of emotionally-volatile assassins, but face to face with a female witcher no less. Your school often trained women, but very few of those were put through the trials and even fewer survived. You managed to beat the odds. You’re exceptionally good at what you do, which is why you and Eskel got along so well. 

After months of travelling together, and after a boozy night following a successful contract, you and Eskel became lovers. At first, it was purely physical, but as the months bled into years you realised that it was nice to have someone to go back to after an exceedingy shitty year on the Path. You started to miss Eskel after prolonged periods of not seeing each other and that’s when you admitted to yourself that it had stopped being purely physical a long time ago. You couldn’t let Eskel know, though. It would only get to his head. That’s why you settled for the tough love approach instead. It worked fine. Eskel had yet to run away.

Your train of thought is interrupted when you hear the familiar hiss of drowners in the darkness. You and Eskel simultaneously unsheathe your swords and brace yourself for an attack. One drowner sneaks up on Eskel from behind, but you notice it first out of the corner of your eyes and blast Igni in its face. In the meantime, Eskel hacks off the arm of another beast before running his silver sword through its abdomen, killing it with one powerful thrust. In the distance, you hear the echoes of more drowners heading your way. 

“Shit. We need to fucking hurry.” 

You run blindly through the labyrinth of underground tunnels. The truth is that neither of you knows where the exit is, or if there even is an exit. There has to be, you reason, the sewers always lead somewhere. Traditionally to a river, at least. There had to be an exit, or else the underground tunnels would be flooded and you would be swimming in shitwater by now. The fact that you aren’t is a fucking sign right? Right?

“There? You feel that?” Eskel suddenly speaks and instantly every hair on your body bristles in anticipation. 

“Feel what?”

“A draught.” Yes. You do feel it now that Eskel mentioned it. “Follow me. Turn to the left.”

You follow Eskel through the sewers, and to the relief of you both, you’re running away from the nest of drowners rather than towards it. Under any other circumstance neither of you would’ve shied from a group of drowners, but you were trying to escape and not draw more attention to yourself. Some other witcher, one that was preferably not wanted in Temeria, could take care of that one.

“We’re getting closer,” you say when your nose picks up the smell of fish and seawater, “we’ve almost made it.”

You and Eskel reach an opening several frantic minutes later, at once out of breath but also relieved that you managed to find your way out of those dungeons. It’s dark outside, which will help you and Eskel escape without raising too much attention, or so you hope. You both manage to exit the sewers soundlessly. Even Eskel with his impressive size manages to stealth his way past guards and civilians alike. Not as flawlessly as yourself, mind you, but you weren’t one to brag. 

Well, maybe a little bit, but there would be time for boasting later. 

“Hey look, there’s some horses there,” you tell him, your voice too quiet for any mortal ear to pick up but you knew Eskel could hear you loud and clear. 

“No. I need to get back to Scorpion.”

“Oh good gods - really? Eskel, we don’t have time for this. Scorpion is stabled near the city gates… at the other side of fucking town.”

“I’m not leaving Scorpion.”

With that, Eskel takes off in the opposite direction, leaving you to ponder whether you should follow him or go your own way and hope that your paths will cross again eventually. Fuck it, who are you kidding, you wouldn’t let that idiot risk his life for a stupid horse on his own. Well, if he gets caught you might just let him ride it out for a while… you know, just to teach him a lesson. 

You follow Eskel’s trail, making sure to remain unseen. Your hand reaches up and touches your witcher medallion, shaped in the form of a cat’s head, something you’ve done since the trials to ground you, to calm your nerves. After what felt like the longest fucking chase ever, you see Eskel pressed against the wall of the stables that you recognise as the place you two had left your horses in two days ago when you first arrived. Eskel peeks around the corner, checking for guards, and when he’s satisfied that he hasn’t been spotted he climbs up the side of the building at a surprising speed. You curse under your breath, but follow him up onto the roof of the building. 

“You know we could get arrested for this?” you tell him once you reach the top. Eskel raises an eyebrow, a mocking grin tugging at the scarless corner of his lips. Anticipating his smartass remark, you hiss: “I’ve just sneaked out of a dungeon, I don’t fancy another trip through those sewers.”

“Don’t worry, this won’t take you long.”

“Me? Whatever do you mean, me?” Your eyes land on the chimney and its opening, too narrow for Eskel to fit through, but not too narrow to fit… you. Oh, the bastard was going to pay for this. When you turn to glare at your companion, all you can see is the protruding lower lip and the pleading eyes. 

“No…”

“Please? Scorpion means the world to me.”

“What about me?” you snap, forcing yourself to look away or risk falling for Eskel’s pretty face all over again, “don’t I mean the world to you?”

“Of course,” he says, his tone growing softer, “and I’m sure if the situations were reversed, Scorpion would do the same for you.”

“Urgh, fine!” you eventually relent despite the absurdity of Eskel’s last comment, “but you owe me for this.”

To this day you don’t know how you and Eskel didn’t get caught sneaking a massive war stallion out of the stables, nor how you two managed to escape the guards at the city gates. It certainly made for an interesting story that winter when you and Eskel travelled back to Kaer Morhen.  

Lambert relentlessly teases you for ‘growing too soft’ and ‘being wrapped around Eskel’s little finger’, but when you see the open adoration written plainly on Eskel’s face as soon as he and you retreat back to his room, well, you simply don’t find it in yourself to truly mind all that much. 

#eskel x reader #eskel x you #eskel x y/n #cat witcher reader #havenwrites #prompt list #send requests #requests open #eskel #the witcher #reader insert

[wouldduskwood]

Descendants of Despair Part 59

Having a purpose helped distract from the could have beens. As we researched more typical human reactions to situations, it made me realise how different Jake and I really were. Our emotions, though confusing, sometimes even conflicting, were honest and real. Other people lied so much more. They sheltered true emotion, whether it be sadness, anger, love, fear or disappointment. Where Jake and I had learned to fend for ourselves, others expected the world to owe them something. It was a confusing array of lies, defensiveness, justifications and expectations. I had witnessed a lot of things in my time people watching, both as a child and as I had grown, but the internet provided a much larger sample. It was suddenly overwhelming and somehow more disturbing than I thought it would be.

“Jake...uh...I’m glad you’re not a real boy...if being a real boy means this shit.” I sighed as I indicated the screen. “I’m not sure we are going to be able to pull this off too well. I won’t be able to see her reaction to things so won’t be able to know whether she is lying or shielding things and you won’t be able to tell me what your thoughts are. I think our best bet is going to have to be to make the meeting as short and to the point as possible.”

Jake nodded, somehow looking both perplexed and horrified at what he was reading on the screen. “I guess this is one reason I am glad I went into hacking...the other people that are hacking as well all know that we are hiding stuff and very likely lying to each other. It’s like an unwritten social code. But this…” Jake groaned, indicating the screen with disgust. “We may have to do this soon so I don’t have too much time to freak out.”

“How quickly can you get an earpiece sorted?” I asked. “That won’t take long, I think I can piece one together myself. Can you sort out a meeting. Uh...I’m not sure where to take her that doesn’t look like a murder house.” Jake replied hesitantly. I giggled in response which caused Jake to look at me questioningly. “It’s nothing, just you didn’t mind giving Dan the illusion of a murder house, taking him to the abandoned warehouse,” I grinned. “Dan needed a good dose of fear,” Jake snickered. “Can you sort a place? I trust you to find somewhere that won’t terrify her or out me.”

As I pulled out my phone, I considered Jake’s trust in me. I didn’t tend to have a problem with people trusting me. I could usually manipulate my way into that. But Jake’s trust was founded on my true self, at my best and my worst. That made all the difference. I didn’t want to fail him...and surprisingly I didn’t want to fail Lilly either.

After a while of thinking about all the abandoned buildings I knew, I finally came to a realisation. “Wait...I’m thinking about this all wrong,” I stated, breaking the silence and causing Jake to pause in his work. “I was thinking of a building that would give the illusion of comfort for Lilly and security for us, but I realised that is just stupid. What about the lake in Duskwood. We take an offshoot away from the main area and wait there. There won’t be cameras and it’s highly unlikely anyone will be around.”

“Hm, as long as we stay away from the forest, although if we go near it we could possibly run into the man without the face and then we may get a chance to end it once and for all.” Jake grinned. “You’re right, that’s probably the most comforting place for Lilly. If we leave quickly we won’t be too likely to strike anyone else. Can you set it up?”

I grabbed my phone and pulled up Lilly’s contact.

Lilly

MC: Hey Lilly

Lilly is online

Lilly: OMG where have you been?

MC: Something happened so I had to leave where I was staying, but I’m good now.

Lilly: Really? Is there something that you aren’t telling me MC?

I paused in my typing as I thought about how best to approach this. It didn’t take me long to decide on lying while covering the fact that I was with Jake in person.

MC: Yes actually, Jake has asked me to set up a meeting with you. He was a bit nervous reaching out himself in case you refused.

Lilly: OMG really, he wants to meet up? Oh I’m so nervous!

MC: Listen, it won’t be a long meeting, you know how his life is. Just don’t get too excited for something he may not be able to provide for you. Lilly: OH yes I do understand but still..I’m going to meet my big brother! MC: I will contact you soon with timing, but it will be at Duskwood lake. Can you find a private area somewhere around there and then give Jake the coordinates or let him track you? Lilly: Yes I think I know a place. I’ll do that. I’ll be waiting by my phone!

I disconnected quickly before I accidentally revealed too much. Jake turned to me with a smile. “Nicely done.” I should have known he would be monitoring the conversation while he worked. However, I was surprised to find I wasn’t at all angry. “Sorry I lied a bit. I thought it was best that she didn’t know too much.” I murmured. Jake smiled. “It’s fine, you did well. I’ll have this up and running soon. Do you want to sort out some food? It’s been a while since we last ate and we should still have something in the car.” I nodded thankfully. He was right, it had been a while since we had eaten and lack of food tended to bring more mistakes.

As I busied myself with putting together a slapdash meal of crackers, energy bars and a couple of fairly okay looking apples, Jake busied himself with the fine art of piecing together an ear piece out of bits and pieces he had pulled out from a small pouch he had kept amongst his tech stuff. I carried the meal over to him, not expecting much, but he accepted it and smiled thankfully. We ate in silence then Jake began working again while I marvelled at his ability to work with such intricate pieces without getting frustrated and throwing them across the room. He was impressive.

“Okay, I’m going to test this. So, I have managed to hook up a rudimentary microphone as well as the ear piece. It will transmit okay, but it may be staticky so you will need to be aware it may be hard to hear things. I should be able to hear you fine from this part here.” Jake said, indicating various parts of his creation. How he had pieced it together out of random bits was beyond me and I stared at him in complete awe. “Uh, I’m pretty sure it will work…” Jake mumbled, suddenly seeming self conscious.

“You’re incredible,” I murmured. “Let’s give it a go then I’ll message Lilly. We will try and do this tomorrow!” Jake smiled nervously then gave me a quick kiss. Together we tested his equipment, with Jake walking various distances away to test the range. It seemed pretty reliable, and it was probably the best we had anyway. “Contact Lilly. Set it up,” Jake mumbled into the microphone. I grabbed my phone and set about planning for the future.

Part 60

#duskwood jake x #duskwood jakexplayer #duskwood jake x player #duskwood jake x mc #duskwood fanfiction #duskwood fanfic #duskwood jakexmc fanfic #duskwood #duskwood jakexmc #fanfiction #fanfic #jakexmc #duskwood jake #jake x mc

[honey-dewey]

The Rapunzel Effect

Pairing: Ezra (Prospect)/Reader

Word Count: 2,048

Warnings: None, one use of (F/N) (L/N)

Upon losing his arm, Ezra is left stranded, almost entirely unable to care for himself without making some kind of mess. That’s where you step in. As his prospecting partner turned somewhat nurse turned Cee’s other new parent, it’s your job to keep poor Ezra functional and marginally happy as he adjusts to his life. 

Living with Ezra was hard. 

You’d known him for a while, on and off as distant friends do. You two would take a prospecting job together, work side by side for a bit, and then go your separate ways until you managed to team up for another job. 

And then he got stuck on the Green. 

You could still remember his face when you’d left him. The mutiny that your coworkers had staged, them dragging you away from him, the expression of betrayal and terror as he realized what was happening. 

You quit prospecting after that. It was too dangerous, especially on moons like the Green. For almost two years, you built a life for yourself on a nearby habitable planet, looking up and seeing the Green every so often, wondering if Ezra was up there or if he’d given in yet. 

Honestly, you should’ve expected he’d come back. He was a stubborn bastard, of course he’d come back. 

You got a call one night, stumbling out of bed and answering it. 

“Hello?” You mumbled, rubbing your eyes and yawning. 

“Is this (F/N) (L/N)?” The person on the other end asked. 

“Yeah?” 

The person took a breath. “You are listed as Ezra 4053’s emergency contact, is that correct?” 

“Who?” You asked, genuinely confused for a minute before you remembered Ezra had no surname. He had been a state ward, meaning he had a number in place of a family name. “Oh! Yeah, I am.” 

“We recently took Ezra into our care, and he now needs a responsible guardian for the duration of his recovery.” 

The shock hit you like a ton of bricks. You’d expected them to say they found his body, not that he was alive and in their care. “Oh. Okay. Um, that’s,” 

“Unexpected?” The person said, voice tipping with amusement. “He was brought in last week, along with a young girl. If you’ll consider it, she’s highly attached to him.” 

Immediately, you nodded. “Of course. I’ve got room for her too.” 

“Perfect.” The person said. “You can visit them whenever you want, and we’ll send them out to your care come the weekend.” 

“Thank you,” you mumbled absently, putting the phone down and sighing. This was going to be an adventure. 

And it was. 

Seven months later, Cee was recovered well enough. She’d begun to attend virtual school, slowly growing out of the shell she’d forced herself into. She had nightmares, of course, but she was handling them as best she could. She went to therapy, talked her problems over, and took the prescriptions she’d been given. 

Ezra was a whole different story. 

On the surface, he seemed okay. He did what he had been told by doctors as well, rubbing a numbing disinfectant on his wounds and sleeping with the help of a machine that regulated his oxygen, trying to reverse some of the damage done to his lungs. 

But below the physical, he was at war with himself. That long on the Green without pleasant company did things to the mind. Ezra was jumpy, more so than you’d remembered. Every little noise was a threat to him, turning his face pale and his hand sweaty. He had night terrors, he saw things, his entire body would hurt like crazy, and worst of all, he couldn’t care for himself anymore. 

“Ez!” You shouted through the house. “Ez! C’mon, breakfast time!” 

Ezra stumbled out of his room, clearly having just woken up. “Huh?” 

“Breakfast,” you repeated, sliding a plate with scrambled eggs and a few bites of sausage his way. 

He sighed, sitting down and fumbling with his fork. He had been right handed, but now he didn’t have that arm. It was clearly still a struggle for him. He still couldn’t really write, or eat without dropping food, or properly care for his hygiene. 

“Cee’s going out today,” you said, putting the breakfast dishes in the sink to do later. “We’ve got the house to ourselves.” 

Ezra hummed, focusing on his fork. It was shaky, but he hadn’t spilled anything yet. “Sounds good.” 

You sighed, but left him alone to eat. 

Twenty minutes later, Cee left, waving at the both of you and smiling to her friends, who were just outside. 

“She’s doing well,” you mumbled, crossing out a mistake in your most recent work assignment. “I’m glad she’s making friends.” 

Ezra was silent, slowly stabbing the last bite of eggs on his plate. You watched with interest as he ate the bite, looking down at his plate in slight shock, as if he couldn’t believe what he’d done. 

He stood, picking his plate up and putting it in the sink. You followed him, grabbing a paper towel and smiling. “Ez,” you said, holding the paper towel up. “You’ve got egg in your beard.” 

Ezra smiled, allowing you to wipe egg off his face. “Now darlin’,” he drawled smoothly. “How’s about we have some fun, you and me?” 

You laughed. “Ezra,” you murmured, running a hand through his tangled and overly long hair. “Why don’t you go shower, then we can talk about having some fun.” 

Ezra left to go bathe, and while he did, you did the dishes. Once they were all done and you’d heard the water shut off in the bathroom, you grabbed a new towel and knocked on the bathroom door. “Ez? I have a towel.” 

“Come in.” 

You pushed the door open, grinning when you saw Ezra’s left hand poking out from behind the shower curtain. “Thank you kindly. I’ll be out soon.” 

You nodded, promising Ezra you’d be waiting for him. 

Of course, he fumbled after a few minutes. 

As soon as the clattering and the string of loud curses hit you, you were up and running, shoving the door open and seeing a very frustrated Ezra staring at his hand, which had a small cut across the thumb. 

“Oh Ez,” you mumbled, opening the medicine cabinet and grabbing some disinfectant and a bandage. “It’s okay Ez.” 

Ezra whined, his eyes filling with tears as you methodically cared for his wound. 

“Do you need anything else?” You asked, putting away the disinfectant once you were done. 

Ezra turned his big brown eyes on you, pleading without words. “I can’t.” He stopped himself, choking on tears. “I can’t.” 

You slowly picked the abandoned razor out of the sink, shaking water off it and holding it out. “You can. You just need help.” 

He sighed, looking at you and choking on a whimper. “Help.” 

“Yeah.” You carefully turned him around, so he was facing the mirror. “Help.” 

It was a slow going process, helping Ezra shave. He held the razor in his shaking hand, you holding the hand and keeping him steady enough to shave. 

Eventually, you had the Ezra you remembered standing in front of you, with his patchy facial hair and visible smile. 

You grinned. “Hello handsome.” 

Ezra poked his tongue out at you, setting the razor down and hesitantly picking up a pair of scissors. “My hair too?” 

“Aw,” you pouted, taking the scissors from him. “But I like this whole reverse rapunzel thing you got going on,” you said, tugging on the natural blond streak in Ezra’s hair. 

He laughed, taking your hand that didn’t have the scissors. “I know, but it’s a damn pain.” 

You nodded, picking up a comb. “Alright. Sit.” 

Ezra sat down, wrapping his arm around your waist as you combed through his damp hair and began to take chunks off. You warned him that your hack job wasn’t going to look good, and he simply responded with the fact that he didn’t care. 

The end product wasn’t bad, in all fairness. It wasn’t great, but Ezra’s hair was back to its old length, which satisfied both of you. 

“Hey,” you said, grabbing his hand as he tried to walk away from you. “Y’know you can ask me for help, right? I’m not gonna say no.” 

Ezra’s eyes darkened. “I don’t wanna be a bother.” 

You shook your head, pulling him close and hugging him tight under the artificial lights of the bathroom. “Oh Ez. Ezra, darling. You could never be a bother. Not to me, not to Cee, not to anyone who loves you. You hear me? We’re here to help you, my love.” 

Ezra loosened in your arms, sighing out a huge breath. “You’re amazing, little dove. Y’know that?” 

You smiled, pressing a kiss into Ezra’s hand. “I know. So’re you.” 

You both ended up on the couch, mindlessly cuddling. Ezra stroked through your hair, slowly putting you to sleep. 

“Can you tell me a story?” He finally asked, causing you to look up at him. 

“What?” 

“A story,” he repeated. “Can you tell me one?” 

You nodded, laying your head back on his chest. “Once upon a time, there was a beautiful prince named Ezra.” 

Ezra snorted beneath you, but didn’t say anything. 

“The prince was born with magical powers, the power to heal the injured. This power stemmed from his beautiful brown hair.” As you spoke, you reached up to scratch through Ezra’s hair, causing him to smile. “But others were jealous of the prince, namely an evil witch who kidnapped baby Ezra and locked him away in a tower. The tower-“ 

“Babe,” Ezra interrupted. “You’re just retelling rapunzel with me as the princess.” 

“And?” You asked, shimmying upwards so you could kiss Ezra’s nose. “You wanted a story.” 

Ezra chuckled. “I did. You may proceed.” 

You smiled, shifting so you could continue. “Anyway, the tower was covered wall to wall in plants, so many plants that little prince Ezra soon started to call him prison the green. And one day, little prince Ezra wasn’t so little anymore. In fact, he was an adult, begging the witch to let him go, to let him see the world. When she refused, prince Ezra cut a lock of his very special hair, causing it to go white and lose its power. For that, the witch vowed to never let Ezra leave. Ever.” 

“Isn’t there supposed to be a prince or princess who comes to save prince Ezra?” Ezra interrupted yet again. 

“Ez!” You groaned playfully. “Stop interrupting! I’m getting there.” 

Ezra shrugged, but stayed silent so you could continue. 

“But, what prince Ezra didn’t know was that a young royal from the neighboring kingdom had been spying on the witch and prince Ezra for a while, and the royal was deeply in love with the prince.” 

Ezra sighed, smiling and letting his eyes fall shut. 

“This royal would risk it all for prince Ezra, and they did! One day, when the witch left, the royal stood at the base of the tower and called out to the prince. ‘Ezra, Ezra, let down your hair!’ And the prince did. He fell in love with the royal, and they spent many days together while the witch was away. But one day, many months into the secret relationship, the witch caught them. When she saw the royal, she freaked out, yelling and screaming. She tossed the royal out the tower window, and they landed in a bed of thorns at the base of the tower. Ezra, in his despair, jumped out after his beloved.” 

You smiled, tracing shapes in Ezra’s shirt, feeling your own eyes grow heavy. “Ezra, horribly injured, cradled the dead body of his lover, surrounded by the thorn plants. Consumed by his grief, he grabbed the dagger off the royal’s belt and shore all his hair off. ‘If this is what life is,’ he declared. ‘Then I wish to live no longer.’ However, at the last second, before the dagger could strike his body, his beloved awoke, healed by the prince’s tears. They rode off into the sunset together, and while the mighty prince Ezra lost an arm that day, he gained something of higher value. A lover for all eternity.” 

You yawned, cuddling up to Ezra’s chest and closing your eyes. “The end.” 

When Cee came home hours later, she found the pair of you laying on the couch together, tangled in a messy pile of limbs and blankets. Upon further inspection, she realized you were both asleep. 

“Those two,” she muttered to herself happily, tossing another blanket overtop you and heading off to do her schoolwork.

#prospect #prospect (film) #ezra (prospect) #ezra x reader #ezra x you #pedro pascal #my writing