#NO MATTER WHAT HAPPENS FROM THIS POINT ONWARDS WE GOT THAT
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A lot of people wonder why Zane's sixth sense became less prominent over time, and a number of theories have been thrown around without the fandom ever really reaching a consensus on the matter. So allow me to throw even more gas on the fire by adding my own speculations into the mix!
Looking at the timeline, Zane's sixth sense began to decline shortly after being rebuilt. Of course he did still experience visions for a short while thereafter - the vision of the titanium dragon being an iconic example of this - but then his premonitions gradually became a scarcity over time, to such a point that Jay straight up didn't believe him when he had that vision in s11.
So why did that happen? To answer that question, we first need to talk about Pixal.
In the season 4 episode "Versus", Pixal states that she is fascinated by Zane's ability to dream, and has "always wondered what that's like." Implying that at this point in the series, she wasn't able to dream.
However, her dream sequence in season 11 "A Cold Goodbye" demonstrates that at some point between s4 and s11, she eventually developed the ability to do so.
(Side note: it makes a a little bit emo how Pixal used to think dreams were an amazing thing that she longed to experience - but when we finally see her doing so, she has a nightmare instead.)
Within the context of canon itself, Pixal's dream in this episode is the only instance throughout the series of a nindroid having a non-prophetic dream.
...or is it?
Let's take a closer look at that dream, shall we? Most importantly, the part where Zane slips from her grasp.
Pixal is holding onto him, but she loses her grip and he falls into some sort of vortex/tunnel of light and cloud. And yes, of course, my Pixane-loving heart is aching at the sight of this - but pay close attention to the appearance of the vortex itself.
Look familiar? No? I'll give you a clue.
Yeah, you're seeing that right. The vortex from Pixal's dream is uncannily similar to the Never Realm portal that opens up at the end of that same episode.
For those of you who haven't seen s11 in a while, allow me to clarify exactly why that's so remarkable: Pixal had this dream before they opened the portal, before they even knew Zane was actually alive. Somehow, within her dreams, Pixal managed to construct a replica of the Never Realm portal without even knowing it existed.
Like, really sit and think on that for a minute. Pixal had a dream in which Zane falls into a strange vortex that just so happens to look like the portal to the Never Realm. Y'know, the same portal Zane got blasted through just an episode prior. Without Pixal herself being aware that this had happened to him.
Do I think it's a coincidence that Pixal's dream just happened to represent Zane's true fate with an eerie level of accuracy - that he hadn't died, but instead been lost in a portal to another realm? You're certainly welcome to think so, but I sure don't.
So here's what I think happened: in season 4, Zane placed Pixal's neural drive into his processor. From that point on until season 7, they effectively shared a brain. Maybe the experience of sharing the same mind for such an extended period of time caused them to inadvertently...share Zane's sixth sense as well . Maybe it slowly began to split between them. Zane's ability would slowly decline over time as portions of it bled into Pixal - while Pixal slowly developed the ability to "dream", unaware of exactly what that ability entailed.
This would explain a number of things:
Why Zane's premonitions become much more scarce from s4 onward.
Why Pixal is suddenly able to have dreams in s11 when she wasn't able to before - and why that dream is so uncannily prophetic.
Why the Scroll reacted to Pixal. Given the fact that it didn't react to Kai, we can assume it doesn't do anything when someone without any kind of power holds it. which suggests that Pixal has some kind of power (be it prophetic or otherwise).
(Of course, that last point is dependent on the validity of certain interpretations of how spinjitzu, forbidden spinjitzu, and elemental power work within canon. And yes, you can rest assured I have theories for that too. But I'm still fine-tuning the kinks to that theory, so don't ask me to explain just yet.)
If this is true, I highly doubt anyone has realized that this premonition-sharing happened at all. Zane probably just assumes his decline in prophetic ability was caused by the spiritual damage he sustained in his fight with the Overlord (which is another viable theory), and Pixal simply assumes that her newfound ability to dream is a result of her developing humanity. Meanwhile the rest of the team is none the wiser.
#im very proud of this theory so if someone like tannerfishies beat me to it then i will CRY#ninjago#zane julien#zane ninjago#pixal borg#pixal ninjago#ns11#destiny post
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BBC Sherlock taking John and Sherlock’s relationship for granted creates a rift in the narrative
I have already pointed out in previous post how disappointed I was that John and Sherlock relationship never developed, in a way it should and would have been justified by the narrative
In this point I want to look at how their relationship started and how this was already created the first problems. This review contains multiple spoilers for other Sherlock Holmes shows.
When John and Sherock meet for the fisrt time in ASIP they immediatley start working together.
No hesitation. They both went full in, from minute one onwards. This is a nice way of showing how well John and Sherlock work together, and that they think alike. But on the other hand it feels like Mofftiss took the relationship for granted and said: "These are John and Sherlock. Of course they work perfectly which each other. We do not have to talk about that."
But imo that was TOO fast. There is no conflict. They never have time to discuss where they stand in this relationship. And because Mofftiss pretend, that they work perfectly together, from minute one onwards - even though they just met - it is hard to further develop their relationship from here on. Because it is already perfect. You would need something really big to happen for them to redefine their roles in this relationship. We kind of had that in season 4, but we knew how messy that went. And there was never a TALK after that. Thats also a main problem in this show. John and Sherlock never really talk. It is John who often sits down and talks and Sherlock is not listening. Of course the relationship is developing, but the show never uses its whole potential.
So what would have been a better way of handling their first meeting? A first meeting that allows them to naturelly grow into the relationship... and further develop their relationship?
Elementary
Yeah I am gonna drag Elementary into this again. BBC Sherlock and Elementray share a really similar set up. They meet each other for the first time, and immeditaly move in and start solving cases together. But Elemenetary gives John and Sherlock time to grow into the relastionship.
This moment defines the Joanlock relationship imo. It shows that Joan is ready to confront Sherlock and call out his bullshit, that Sherlock listens and is effected by what Joan thinks and says, that Sherlock still has a lot of work to do. AND - most importantly - that a Johnlock relationship takes effort and is nothing that you can take for granted.
And this show was on air for 7 seasons, with 22 episodes each. Nevertheless the relationship was developing the whole time. In future seasons they are recalling their first meeting, honoring how much they have grown.
Resulting in:
gif by: @marlahey
This is something we never got in BBC Sherlock. We never saw them honoring the growth they made, recalling their first meeting, and having a satisifying conculsion, aka: "I love you" (in what way doesn't matter btw. The Joanlock moment wasn't romantic either).
Of course you could agrue now: "But Elementary did had the time for stuff like that, BBC Sherlock only had 4 seasons, with 3 episodes each."
So let us look at The Irregulars next:
This show starts as a usual crime detective show... with a supernatural twist. But slowly you learn that the core point of the show is the relationship between Sherlock Holmes and John Watson.
The show is set years after Holmes and Watsons first meeting. Actually when we first meet John his relationship with Sherlock is over already, broken and ruined. Later we - the viewer - get multiple flashback scene, showing us how they first met, how their relationship developed, and why they are not talking with each other anymore, resulting in this glorious moment:
But the show doesn't stop there, it even goes further and shows us how John and Sherlock slowly get closer to each other again. Sitting in the dark, discussing their relationship, the mistakes they made and most important: apologizing.
Still angry at Netflix for cancelling the show.
Of Course we also have other approaches. RDJ Sherlock.
Like BBC Sherlock it leans much more into Crime aspect of the story. But the story still centers around Holmes and Watsons relationship. When we first meet them they have been together long, probably for years. They are already settled in their relationship. They both know their roles in this relationship and they both feel comfortable with it. They behave like an old married couple. And when they fight, it is never serious. The first real problems erupt when Watson decides to marry. And thats the whole core problem of the first movie: Watson moving out of 221B to marry a woman and how Holmes deals with that. He develops from more or less boycotting the marriage to accepting it and gifting Mary and Watson a ring.
The second movie is him trying to accept that his love of his life best friend is married now and trying to solve cases on his own, without Watson. Eventually sacrificing his own life to safe Watson AND Mary. So even though the movies are crime movies, the Johnlock relationship is still the heart of the story.
If the movies wouldn't focus on the Johnlock relationship, the story would be a different one.
Many Johnlock moments in the movies are non-verbal, so excuse the extensive use of gifs here. But there is so much happening on a non-verbal level!
For example the wedding, which is a huge Johnlock moment. John being super nervous before his wedding and you see that Holmes is not happy either, but he still nods, letting Watson know that it is okay and that Watson is making the right decision.
But nevertheless he has to look away when Mary and Watson kiss. The message is clear here. He isn't happy, he is sad because he is loosing the most important person in his life.
Then we have moments like this, (see below) where - during a moment of danger - they cling to each other, making sure the other one is safe. Not being afraid of physical contact. This is something I was also missing in BBC sherlock btw. Physical they always made sure to stay away from each other. When they hugged it was like... a big thing. Which - set in modern times - felt a little bit off. Because in contrast to Miss Sherlock (see below) Holmes was never shown to be actively against physical contact. I wish the production team would have allowed more friendly touches. I mean... ACD Johnlock walks around arm-in-arm and John gets nervous everytime Holmes comes close, because "poeple might talk." Nah...
I think A game of shadows, peaked when Watson and Holmes danced. Because it shows that they have a deep connection. They came from a place where they acted like an old married couple, then being all nervous because of the Watson/Marry wedding, having to re-identify their relationship towards each other, to this finale dance, where - symbolically- they are a couple again. Everything came full circle. It is like: No matter what happens around Watson and Holmes, they will always find their way back to each other. They will always be the center of the story. It will always be them against the rest of the world, no matter what. No excuses.
But acually, the adaptation most close to BBC Sherlock is Miss Sherlock. I mean... it was basically a female japanese copy of BBC Sherlock.
But still... it improved a lot of things. When Sherlock and Wato (Watson) first meet they really can not stand each other. This Sherlock is also rude, but it is really clear that she is on the autism spectrum. She gets overhelmed by too much light and by loud noises. She is really against phyisal contact.
And the most beautiful thing about this adaptation: It knows that in the end Watson will always be Sherlocks weakness. It will not say: "Don't try to drown in the well. Good luck. I am off hugging my sister." (season 4 shade). In Miss Sherlock the finale conflict is: Watson being manipulated to work against Sherlock. Showing, that in the end, it all boils down to their relationship again. And this adaptation wrote a scene that is just.. chef kiss!
When Wato is around, Sherlock is all grumpy towards her. But during the finale Wato is kidnapped. And the show gives us a short look into one of Sherlocks most private moments. The moment she realizes that Wato is kidnapped. A moment where Sherlock is completly alone. And we see a honest and extremly vunerable moment. This one:
Sherlock screaming Watos name in agony. Knowing that she NEEDS Wato. And then she goes and risks everything to save Wato. EVERYTHING!
Her reputation and her life. She is even ready to be killed by Wato.
TL.DR:
So what am I trying to say? That BBC Johnlock has no relationship development? That there isn't any trust between them? Nope, course not.
We see John and Sherlock growing into the relationship, we see Sherlock getting softer because of John, we see John healing because of Sherlock and on the other hand we see Sherlock opening up, telling Watson whats really on his mind. Trying to be a better human, being more social. But imo that should have been the plot of idk... the first season, maybe the second one. Because thats just the beginning. A Johnlock relationship is so mch deeper, holds so much more story potential. Yeah, John and Sherlock belong to ecah other and are good for each other. We know that! Is Sherlock ready to confess his (plantonic) love for Watson by the end of the show? Is Watson so jealous of Sherlocks love interest that he opens a rift in the universe? Is Sherlock having a break down, screaming out Watsons name in agony? I don't want to see John being replaced by a balloon in season 4 (!) and it is played for a joke. Their relationship should be so so so much deeper at that point. For me BBC Sherlock felt like, they stop mid-relationship-development. It feels like Mofftiss said: "John and Sherlock work well with each other and are best friend. What else is there to say?" SO! MUCH! MORE!
They had all this potential, and went nowhere with it. And i don't necessarily mean romantically btw. Eveen Hilson drove into the sunset together eventually...
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CRITICAL ROLE CAMPAIGN 3 EPISODE 91 SPOILERS
Fuck you Sam Riegel, with great love and even greater grief.
“Some connections are made with wire, some are made with love, some are made with wood. But they all matter. And even in this dark cave, they make every day a smiley day.”
I don't feel like talking about....much of anything that happened in this episode. Otohan is gone. Good.
I was....so stressed that entire combat, and at some point, it started feeling like I was... there, watching her get back up every time they knocked her down. It was getting really fucking hopeless and I knew everyone at fhe table was feeling it.
But, God, that moment when matt understood what sam was planning when he described targeting his core. The moment it sunk and shattered his fucking heart is the moment my heart too. The moment Sam started to cry... all of it, every excruciating moment from that point onwards I couldn't stop crying, I don't think I saw the fucking screen for 95% of that.
I cried earlier when Imogen finally got through to her mother. But... I think sometimes I forget how...painful it is for me to lose these characters. The last time I felt this much sorrow and anger and grief, was when Otohan killed Fearne, Orym and Laudna and LYdna couldn't be saved.
We don't know...if we can even save FCG. They're aoerian tech, and that could complicate...everything.
Who will tell Frida that their Faithful Caregiver is gone?
#critical role spoilers#critical role#cr3#bells hells#critical role campaign 3#fcg critical role#cr spoilers#fresh cut grass#fresh cut grass cr3#fcg x frida#fcg#ashton greymoore#orym of the air ashari#laudna#chetney pock o'pea#imogen temult#fearne calloway#liliana temult#otohan thull#c3 e91#cr3 ep 91
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✧ Polaris ✧ - Jotaro x Reader
PART 10: LOYALTY
— The previous parts of the fic can be found in the pinned post of my profile. Hope you enjoy! —
word count: 7.3k
After days of traveling, Egypt was finally beneath their feet and they made it despite the many inconveniences on the way, namely the vehicular accidents, Stand encounters, or both.
Including their most recent one involving the now-sunken submarine and a metal-shifting Stand. But none of that matters now when everyone in the Crusaders made it on to land, no longer needing to deal with the enemy user of High Priestess after her teeth got beat in thanks to Star Platinum’s rapid, hard-hitting fists.
A nearby town by the sea made it more convenient for them to stop by and get their bearings to prepare them for the remainder of their mission.
It was there that Polnareff and Kakyoin were able to gather more stuff needed for their trip, for Avdol to get into contact with the Speedwagon Foundation regarding “back-up” being ready to help the team out, for Mr. Joestar and Jotaro to find a rental service for a jeep capable of traversing the desert, and for you to communicate with some of the locals to learn about the typical weather conditions, nearby cities, unusual sightings, and possible pit stops that the guys might need to rest.
By the time the transport was good to go and the necessities packed in the trunk, there was nothing that could stop them from proceeding onward.
It was Polnareff’s turn to man the wheel with everyone else settling to sit on their spots. “Hold up everyone,” Mr. Joestar spoke up, hopping out of the jeep and rushing over to the nearby telephone booth. “I got to make a quick phone call to Suzy. Me falling conscious was not exactly reassuring for her poor heart.”
You followed after the old man with the intention of calling your uncle. Considering the number of stressful events that happened for the past weeks, hearing his voice could soothe the lingering feeling of homesickness at the back of your mind. Though as you got a few steps in to Mr. Joestar’s direction, a hand placed itself on your shoulder.
With one look over your shoulder, you found yourself unable to contain a smile as you stared up at Jotaro standing behind you, falling in line to use the booth. “Well well~ missing someone are we?”
No response as you’d expect, though the pointed stare and red-tipped ears were enough giveaways that he missed his doting mother.
“Hm?… Really? What for?…. Alright sweetie.” Mr. Joestar turned to his grandson with a hand muffling the receiver. “Suzy wants to talk to you.”
A quick glint of surprise flashed in the delinquent’s eyes, not expecting a talk with his grandmother. Though, they did converse for a brief moment as the old man’s replacement before the submarine lost all its connections. Maybe, that’s why his grandma wanted a form of closure from her grandson.
And you can tell that he saw his grandmother with complete respect. There’s that characteristic softening of his eyes when he listened to her talk, the way he never raised his voice once during the whole conversation, and just like whenever he responded to you after that night, there’s a faint pink to his ears as if he feels a bit bashful from the support of the elderly woman.
His gaze free from tension was always a nice sight.
Their talk didn’t last long, most likely just her checking up on her husband and grandchild. Jotaro placed the phone back into its holder on the booth but didn’t let go. There was contemplation in the way he just stood there, not wanting to move away. Did he want to call Holly?
It wouldn’t surprise you considering he actively chose to embark on this dangerous journey to save her life. It would only be normal if he began to worry about her worsening condition. “Do…” You started, letting his attention draw to you. “Do want to call someone else? I can ask Mr. Joestar if you’re too embarrassed to do it.”
You knew he wanted to say “yes” in the long pause in between you, but with a deep sigh, he tipped his hat over his face. “It’s fine.” She’s going to be fine. You assumed as much and you let it at that.
“If you say so. Though, it’s my turn to use the booth.”
Jotaro nodded and stepped aside, standing nearby even as Mr. Joestar had already retreated to the jeep with the others. You clawed through the depths of your mind for that string of numbers you saved months ago. It was told to be a small “cure for homesickness” as someone said.
Eventually, you managed to find the right number and the phone begun to ring. In a minute, a kind-hearted voice you haven’t heard for a while picked up:
“Hello?”
“H-Hi pops…”
“Oh Y/N! It’s been a while since you’ve called! How are you? Have you been adjusting well over there?”
You bit your lip, holding back the tears building up in your eyes. Just like how the delinquent had missed his mother, it just struck you that you had also missed your adopted family back in your hometown.
“There were a couple of crappy stuff that happened, but I’m doing good I guess,” you replied.
“That’s a relief sweetheart. How about… uhm… your nightly terrors? Are you holding up?”
You didn’t want to dump him with the fact you broke down that one time. You didn’t want to worry the poor man when all you wanted was to hear him for a bit. “They’re… a lot but nothing I can’t handle.”
“I know you told us that it’s not necessary and all, but that always remember that if you’re feeling lonely, your auntie and I are always available, alright?”
“Oh but I’m not alone. I made a couple of friends for the past few months here.”
“That’s great news! Have they been treating you right?”
“They’re nice and fun to be around. I’ve gotten close to them a lot…” Warmth sprung to your cheeks with the next words that came next. “Some closer than others.”
Out of the corner of your eye, the delinquent’s face ducked away with his hat serving as the only cover for his equally tinted cheeks. “I would love to meet your new friends when we visit. Don’t forget to remind me!”
You chuckled. “I will.”
“I believe it’s time for you to go.”
“Yeah…”
“We love you Y/N. You take care of yourself over there.”
An abrupt honk startled you from the call and with one more look back, you smiled as the Crusaders began to call for you and Jotaro with the latter not budging from his spot, patiently waiting for you to finish. “You can trust me on that, pops.”
---
You’ve made a lot of progress driving across the sandy landscape when the sound of whirling blades drew close to the group from above.
Looking upwards, a helicopter with the Foundation’s logo painted on its side greeted the Crusaders. This must be that back-up Mr. Joestar had been talking about.
“Wow would you look at that, they actually did send back-up so far deep into this trip,” Polnareff said, low-key dripping with snark. “Could’ve been earlier I’m just saying.”
“It’s better than nothing, I guess. You don’t have to whine about it,” Kakyoin answered back.
Regardless, Polnareff put the engine to a halt and with the jeep parked, everyone got out of the vehicle the same time the flying craft made its landing. “Why can’t we just board that thing and fly ourselves over to where we need to be, old man?” Jotaro asked through the gusts of sand blowing through their faces.
“As much of an appealing offer that is, we have to consider that there’s too much of us. We might end up being too heavy for the craft and besides,” you said back at him. “They’re not Stand users. It’s better not to place more risk onto others.”
“Just a bit of a warning,” Mr. Joestar spoke up. “The guy’s a bit of a handful. That’s why it took so long for him to get here.” At the mention, you side-eyed the Frenchman just to see him reel back from his whining from earlier.
Though Avdol seemed to know who exactly the old man was talking about at the aforementioned warning. “Are you really considering taking him with us? Won’t his presence just hold us back?”
“As Kakyoin said, it’s better than nothing. Just be careful around him.”
“You both saying that gives off the impression that our new pal over there is a demon spawn from hell,” you retorted. “A back-up is a back-up. No matter how annoying the guy is, we’re just going to have to suck it up and deal with it.”
“Easier said than done Y/N. I’ve met him before and he’s… a lot. Being the user of The Fool, might cause a lot of inconveniences.”
“Look, if he is as handful as you two have been saying so far, then I’ll make sure he complies with us, alright?” you sighed. “Nothing’s more irritating than seeing unnecessary rebellion when we got dire things to do.”
As much as your words sent some kind of reassurance to the two adults in the group, Polnareff snickered in the sidelines. “I don’t know about you, but The Fool sounds like a stupid name in my opinion.”
You couldn’t help but roll your eyes at that. Don’t judge a book by its cover, Pol. “You should consider this a blessing that he’s on our side. You can’t beat him.” Avdol said for you.
And just like their heated argument from India, Polnareff didn’t take his response lightly. He marched over to the Egyptian, grabbed his robes, and said, “I suggest watching your mouth if you know what’s good for you.”
“Pol,” you said, curt. “What did I say about taking things personally?”
The Frenchman spluttered, letting go of Avdol to face you. “But you heard him! He assumed I was weak and-”
“What did I say, Polnareff?” you repeated, this time with enough grit and punctuation on each word to drive your point across your companion’s emotional skull. “Or do you want one of us to nearly die again because of your stubbornness?”
Flustered at this point, he let his pride dwindle a bit and stepped away from Avdol, mumbling incoherent words with crossed arms. In some way of easing him, you placed a hand behind his back in a silent way of saying “thanks.”
Just then, the door opened for the pilot to step down and greet the team with formality. “Mr. Joestar, good to see you.”
“Thank you for bringing him here. It must have been rough.”
“I assume none of you is the alleged Stand user?” you commented before Jotaro could make one. “You both seem fairly polite.”
“You’re right ma’am. He’s there in the back.” One of them walked to the passenger’s door to open it, revealing nobody but a dark blanket covering the seat.
“Hey now, quit joking around you two! What’s the deal? This guy’s short or something?” The Frenchman laughed, smacking the fabric, only to pull back with sticky saliva on his hands. “Ugh what is this goop?”
The pilot responded in a panic. “Hey! Stop that! The ride here was rough so he’s in a sour mood!”
“Pol, you better get back here right now.”
“What’s the big deal? I’m just asking where-” Before he could continue, the blanket rustled violently and something jumped out of the seat it occupied.
A Boston Terrier. A dog.
What the fuck?
“The dog is the-” Kakyoin started, equally surprised as the rest of you, except for Avdol and Mr. Joestar.
“Mhm. His name’s Iggy and he’s the user of The Fool,” he said even as the canine continued to wreak havoc on Polnareff’s silver up-do with relentless biting and scratching. “He’s got the habit of ripping hairs off of people’s heads and to be honest, I don’t know where he’s from. It was Avdol who found him in the streets of New York.”
“And the fella also has a tendency to-” Not that his sentence matters when in the middle of Iggy’s manic biting, he stopped to let out one loud fart straight onto Pol’s face. “Do that.”
You didn’t know if it was the stinky gas or just your general tiredness in dealing with a 24-year-old man like a child, but you merely watched as the said adult drew out Silver Chariot to attack a small, rabid creature. As you would’ve expected, Iggy returned the favor with his own Stand- an entity made entirely of sand, forming together to become a larger mechanical canine.
The fight didn’t last long though. One minute you saw Polnareff sending Chariot to stab Iggy’s Stand and in the next, he’s back writhing on the sandy ground with an aggravated, feral dog chewing his stylized hair into a bird’s nest.
“Have you brought his favorite treats?” You turned to Avdol asking the pilot who nodded, reaching into his pocket to bring out a box full of what appeared to be… gum?
The sound of the packets inside were enough to alert Iggy and spare the remaining hair left on his victim. “Of course. We wouldn’t be able to bring him here otherwise.” With the box now in Avdol’s hand, the dog leaped out of Pol’s body and rushed over to him, giddy and possibly greedy.
Knowing how Iggy works by now, you could tell he wasn’t only after the single stick of gum the Egyptian was holding up. By the time the terrier reached a few feet away from him, one of Silent Sanctuary’s strips zipped past you to snag the box of gum out of Avdol’s hold before the canine could.
“If I learned anything from the orangutan, the dog’s got personality too.” You had the gum in your possession- coffee flavored of all things considered- and Iggy’s attention focused onto you next, growling. “You want the whole thing?”
You didn’t expect any response from him but an attempt to bite your arm. You sidestepped the second the dog charged at you. Iggy turned back, now frustrated. “Do you want the box or do you want me throw it all far away?”
Demonstrating, you let Sanctuary wrap itself around the box and prepared to launch it off into a distance. You heard the dog yelp and sands shifting violently.
“Y/N, what are you doing?” Kakyoin said, nearly off-balanced by the moving ground. “Can you just let him have it?”
“The Fool’s emerging again!” Mr. Joestar called out after him.
You ignored their pleas, focusing on your current task.
“Try intimidating all you want but your sand can’t hurt me or this cloth right here,” you said, patting the taut fabric beside you. “So, what’s it gonna be- a whole box of delicious coffee gum? Or none at all?” You didn’t waste anymore time as Sanctuary moved an inch-
Then Iggy whimpered, letting the sands rest with surrender. A wave of relieved sighs swept the air from the Crusaders and the pilots. “You done fussing?” The terrier got on his belly, head bowed. You huffed and approached him with the gum still inside your Stand’s wrap just to make sure he’s not pretending.
“Good boy.” You got onto one knee to level yourself with the growling dog. “I can still launch this to god knows where so you ready to hear me out?”
Iggy nodded, still sulking.
“I’ll give you this whole box now just like you want but,” you said. “What if I told you instead that Mr. Joestar over there will buy you a year’s worth of coffee gum as a reward for you helping us finish this mission?” At that suggestion, Iggy’s ears perked up and his tail wagged with interest.
“Hey now! When did I say that?”
“Do you want our back-up to actually back us up or not?” You quipped at the old man with a smile dripping with snark. And Mr. Joestar went silent, scratching his beard knowing you had a point. Beside him, you could’ve sworn you saw Jotaro’s lip curl ever so slightly. “Exactly.”
You turned back to Iggy, pleased he didn’t make any attempt attacking Sanctuary while you were distracted. “How about it? Ready to help us?” You slowly brought up a fist and with a bark, he raised a paw to place on top of it. “And I expect you to actually help us. No free riding just for the treats, got it? I’ll be watching.”
Iggy barked in agreement.
“Here you go. As promised.”
Sanctuary stretched herself to the terrier, unwrapping the cloth to drop the gum in front of him. Immediately, Iggy pounced on it and began to gnaw on both the coffee treats and the carton they were in.
“Unbelievable,” Avdol said in awe as you walked to where the guys were, dusting sand off your skirt and hands. “You got him to cooperate for the time being.”
“Classic conditioning does wonders to feral animals when done right,” you shrugged. “That and I’m used to talking to stray animals. Being a new citizen to the country can be boring at times.”
With the new ally dilemma resolved, everyone returned to replenishing their stash with medical supplies, additional food and clothing, tracking gears, and a brand new prosthetic hand for Mr. Joestar. In addition, the pilot handed over a camera for the old man’s Stand to utilize with convenience.
But having a camera wasn’t exactly for Stand reasons alone. “Hey everyone! Why don’t we take a group photo while we have this bad boy still in one piece?”
Never wanting to miss the opportunity, all the Crusaders agreed to it wholeheartedly. With the camera in the pilot’s hand, everyone gathered to one spot and got into position- with Polnareff, Mr. Joestar, and Iggy in front, and Kakyoin, Avdol, Jotaro, and you in the back.
The shutter went off and a polaroid photograph was made for the memories.
“Hey Mr. Joestar? Can I borrow that one second?” Before he could reply, you went to grab the device off the pilot’s hand, hurrying back to stand beside Jotaro, slightly caught off guard at the sudden pictorial. “Would you mind if I…you know…”
He hesitated a bit, but after one long stare-off between his borderline glare and your eager gaze, he gave in. “Alright… good grief.”
Excited, you got a bit closer to the delinquent and leaned back a bit, just enough so the angle was right. You pressed the button and heard the shutter activate. Without having to wait for too long, the photo came out as nice as you’d expect it- you smiling with a wink and your hand on your shoulder, with Jotaro closely behind looking at the camera with one eye open (mirroring yours), a subtle curl to his lip, and a faint red on his cheeks.
“Now this is a keeper.”
Jotaro looked at the picture for a second longer and nodded. “Whatever you say.”
---
Jotaro liked the photo. A lot.
He’d keep it if he could, but his stubborn facade held him back from admitting that to you. Besides, you wanted the picture in the first place and he wouldn’t want to take the memento away from you.
With their supplies now stocked and ready to go, time shouldn’t be wasted any further. The helicopter’s blades whirled to life once again, lifting the aircraft up just as the jeep revved with its engine switched on. However, you barely drove across any distance when out of nowhere, a strong gust of wind and sand pushed the vehicle hard, nearly toppling it over.
“What the hell was that?!”
Everyone, with the exception of Iggy who remained asleep, scrambled out of the jeep to look back at the source and to the team’s shock, they saw what had happened. “Is that-”
“The helicopter…” Before them, what used to be a fully functioning mode of transportation now lay in a complete wreck on the golden sand- its body bent in half, metallic skin appeared to be clawed down to its wiring, windows smashed, and its blades crooked and falling apart.
And beneath all that ruined material was a pilot’s corpse, jaw agape and nails bloody from the scratches it had done on the helicopter’s hard exterior. While Kakyoin, Avdol, and Pol went off to inspect the tail end, the remaining crew went on to investigate the shell-shocked cadaver.
Both the craft and its passengers didn’t show any signs that could have sabotaged either. Though in an attempt to pull the body out, Jotaro noticed something in the pilot’s open mouth. “See something?” Joseph asked.
At closer inspection, Jotaro’s brows furrowed with concerned disgust. “Water. Full of it in his mouth.” He grabbed hold of the man’s chin and turned it to the side, allowing the copious amount of fluid to flow out onto the ground. “Saliva doesn’t fill the mouth that much. So it’s not from there but from the lungs,” he said, clearly perturbed. “Shit, that means he drowned in the desert of all places.”
“Rapid water build-up in a dry area like this with no rain? An enemy Stand’s responsible no doubt,” you remarked, already surveying the area for any other suspicious activity.
“Guys!” Your team turned to the other direction where the other 3 was at. “It’s the other pilot! He’s alive!”
The Crusaders re-grouped, forming a circle around the aforementioned man heaving on the sand, incredibly dehydrated and parched. His skin cracked in every area of his body with his bones jutting out underneath. The poor guy struggled to speak but all he could muster were gasps and heaves.
“Quick, Polnareff! Water! He needs water!” Joseph pointed at the nearby fallen canister. The silver-haired adult retrieved the container and brought it to the old man’s hand. “Here, drink up. You need it bad.”
Jotaro would expect the pilot would immediately latch on to it, but suspicion continued to build up the longer the man would refuse to drink from it, let alone go near it even. He grew more frantic the more the stubborn elder kept pushing the canister forward.
And in the last moment, the pilot found his voice.
“GET THAT AWAY FROM ME-”
With no warning, something shot out of the water container and dug its claws into the man’s face, violently tearing at skin, muscle, sinew, and bone until the whole head detached from its body.
You screamed, losing balance as you flinched hard from the abrupt and brutal death. Shit! Jotaro caught you before you could tumble to the ground, pulling you close to him as he shielded your eyes from watching the entity force the fresh head into the canister.
“Everyone move!”
The team jumped off a fair distance away from the now-bleeding object. The delinquent turned to you, slowly removing his hand off of your face once that thing settled. Without asking, you looked back at him with a shaky sigh. “I’m fine now,” you muttered. “Thanks.”
Whose Stand was that just now? More importantly, where was the user to begin with? Throughout their course here, he hadn’t noticed anyone that stood out from the rest of the crowd, nor did he find any silhouette roaming about in the vast desert sands.
Could this Stand be long-ranged just like The Lovers? Or was it remote?
Jotaro took the stillness of the moment to assess his surroundings, bringing out a pair of binoculars to search further and Star Platinum for an extra pair of eyes. Beside him, you helped with scanning the areas behind. Joseph and Avdol lie still nearby, never leaving their sights on the ominous object in front of them.
“Anything?” Joseph whispered.
The delinquent shook his head.
Farthest from the team were Polnareff and Kakyoin, lying across from them arguing something about who’s Stand should be the first to attack it. If they’d be any closer, he might have a way to shut them up and stop them from being annoying in the middle of an ambush.
Then there it was again, a damp spot growing on the sand a few inches away from Kakyoin gradually growing more wet until-
“Kakyoin!” The enemy Stand sprang from the moistened ground to claw both the cherry-haired’s eyes with a single, nearly deadly swipe. Polnareff reacted accordingly and caught his body as it fell lax.
“Get over here! Hurry!” You yelled at them, distressed. At the same time, those close to the jeep climbed on top of the vehicle to get away from the enemy’s range.
The Frenchman wasted no time and got up with his friend in his arms, sprinting as fast as he can away from the hunting Stand. Helping close the distance was Silent Sanctuary extending strips of its fabrics towards them with impressive speed. They latched themselves around wherever they could on both their bodies and with one solid tug, pulled them towards the jeep’s roof before the Stand could land a cut on Polnareff’s leg.
“How is he?” You hurried over to inspect the injuries on the student’s face.
“He’s breathing at least so I guess he’s fine,” Pol panted, high with adrenaline. “He’s knocked out though. Probably will stay like that until his eyes are treated.”
“Look for some bandages. We should stop the bleeding for now.”
Leaving them to tend to his wounds, Jotaro drew his focus back to the sand. Where is it? Now that he knew what to look for, he kept lookout for any puddle appearances or formation of any dark patches. Where are you, you piece of shit. “How do we beat this thing if it keeps going into hiding every time it loses track of us?” Joseph said, concerned with their current situation.
“We need to lure it out somehow. I can burn it with Magician’s Red but only if it’s distracted long enough,” Avdol said in return.
For a moment, they didn’t know what to do. There was a solution in the Egyptian’s plan, but to pull that off was something that still needed a bit more time to polish. Unfortunately for them, time wasn’t given to them when out of the window seat, Iggy barked repeatedly as he leaped out of the vehicle. He continued to do so at them even when his paws landed outside.
You heard him and understood that as a warning. Why else would he jump off if he was fine sleeping in it minutes ago?
“Get away from the jeep!” The guys turned to you as if you had grown another head, questioning why should they when doing so put them on its radar, but you barely got a word out when the vehicle trembled. “Now!”
At the last second, everyone jumped off the jeep’s roof a second before the transport sunk into sand. All of you stuck a rough landing but made it out just in time. Though, you couldn’t move when the fluid Stand crept towards the team.
Beads of sweat ran down your back as Silent Sanctuary hovered above you, ready to provide defense. You’d find out that won’t be necessary when across from you, a watch’s alarm blared out. The hand retracted itself and launched its claws towards the corpse’s wrist, cutting the hand clean from the arm before hiding once again.
“Sound,” Avdol muttered. “It hunts using sound and movement.”
It would make sense. When it first attacked the pilot, the man had screamed in panic. Then its next target was Kakyoin because of his argument with Polnareff. The watch was next after due to the alarm, and last was the jeep itself because of the team’s discussions. Everyone seemed to get the memo with one shared eye contact when all of them remained still and silent.
Testing out his hypothesis, Avdol slowly reached for his silver bracelets. One-by-one, he tossed a hoop onto the empty space in front of him, done in a pace mimicking how someone would walk with cautious steps.
“Jotaro,” He glanced at you, and if he didn’t know whether to be concerned or not when you were already on one knee with a plan in mind. You whispered. “Find a way to traverse the desert without running. The user has to be around somewhere.”
What are you doing? “Avdol’s plan has a high chance of backfiring once he runs out. I have a back-up plan in mind and part of it needs you to do what I told you earlier.” He had his doubts but just as you said, the last of the Egyptian’s bracelets marked itself on the ground, luring out the water Stand to its position.
The delinquent looked back at you with furrowed brows, wanting to tell you that his plan was working and to get down. However, once Magician’s Red hovered behind it to launch a fire ball, the entity dodged it at the last second. Now it was aware where Avdol was.
“Now.” A strip of rose-gold zipped out to shield the adult’s neck where the Stand’s trajectory was aiming for. The same time Avdol retreated back, you bolted out of your safe spot and ran across the sands. “Hey! Over here, you little shit!”
With the taunt, the Stand swam its way to you and leaped. Though it couldn’t do any harm when Silent Sanctuary had a ton of impenetrable fabrics ready to defend its user. Each swipe of its claws could only scratch the silk surface of your Stand, unable to tear at its seams.
You locked one more eye contact with Jotaro and this time, he got to his feet as well.
Get around without running? How the hell will I do that? He looked around him to see what can help him do that. He turned to every one of his companions, gauging if their Stands could do shit relevant to his task. But then his gaze stopped at Iggy, staying put in one spot away from the group.
The user of a sand-based Stand able to form into anything it wanted. Got it. “Hey you,” he called out to the canine. “Think you can make something up to get us across in the air?”
Iggy growled, sharing glares with the delinquent. “Listen mutt, do you want your damn supply of gum or not? You heard what Y/N said.” There was still that reluctance present in the dog’s posture, but given that he’s unable to pass on the opportunity on free food, he begrudgingly complied.
In that moment, the sands went into motion around them, swirling around the canine until it rose to form The Fool in its entirety. Unlike its former appearance, a large glider had attached itself on the mechanical Stand’s back. It rolled forward to pick Iggy in its metallic paws. He barked at Jotaro, telling him to grab onto it to hitch a ride.
The delinquent cocked his head. I can’t believe I’m doing this. He grabbed hold onto The Fool’s arm and using Star’s force, he launched both Iggy and himself up into the sky with one strong leap.
Jotaro looked back to see what you were up to. Suffice to say, you still kept up the distraction as the clawed hand repeatedly failed in landing a single cut anywhere on your body thanks to the glint of silk protecting you. With you keeping it busy, the others used the moment to get the jeep above ground and get it running.
Focusing ahead, he brought out Star’s eyes and surveyed the surrounding areas for any sign of a lone Stand user. In front of him, Iggy sniffed the air, actually helping him search and in doing so, The Fool maneuvered itself to the direction of any foreign scent he could smell.
And after minutes of searching, Jotaro managed to find someone 400 meters away- a man cross-sitting atop a sandy hill, head bowed in concentration with a cane in hand connected to the ground. There you are. However, they couldn’t reach in time as they neared the ground.
“Damnit,” Once his foot grazed the sand, he brought Star out once again to launch themselves up into the sky. But by doing that, he gave away his location to the enemy and he could hear the once-distracted Stand approach, harshly swimming underneath the sands, causing multiple granules to sprinkle against the glider and emit a distinct sound as its trail.
Now that our location’s on his radar, it’ll only be a matter of until- The second the sandy rain stopped falling, the watery Stand leaped out of the ground, aiming straight for Jotaro. Star Platinum hovered before him in an attempt to block it, but to his dismay, the enemy Stand slipped past the humanoid’s fist and landed a clean cut across his shoulders and a hole on The Fool’s glider.
Losing flight again, they drifted low onto land, faster than earlier with a heavy tilt causing his shoes to drag across the ground. Jotaro cursed. The man was so close, so close that he could hear him chuckle as if success was within his reach. Would he even make it there without having to constantly deal with this deadly hand?
Fuck it. Jotaro let go of The Fool, allowing Iggy to swerve away to safety, and got into a stance where Star is able to lend its leg power for one more jump, preferably behind the enemy Stand user so he could get one solid hit to render him unconscious. There was the risk of getting attacked in a fatal area, with the pain radiating on his shoulder serving as a reminder of the danger, but if it meant ending this obstacle then so be it.
The delinquent could feel the shifting of the sand making way for the rapidly approaching liquid. He put all his force into his one leg and just as he made that leap, a voice yelled out in the back.
“Catch!”
Something flew past Jotaro’s leg in high speed and what once was targeted at him, the Stand changed course and retreated back into the ground, hurrying back to return to its user. Glancing back, he saw you from a distance standing on top of the recovered jeep with Pol manning the wheel. Silent Sanctuary floated close-by with one strip loosened being the one responsible for the throw.
But by the time the clawed hand made it in time to slice the item- the bleeding canister- in half before it could reach its user, Jotaro had already landed behind him, remaining still to not alert his position.
It wasn’t too long until the man realized that his target stood just outside the water barrier he set for himself. He made it known that he was honored by the way Jotaro decided to approach him, one that wasn’t simply walking up to a blind man to knock the living daylights out of him.
With silent agreement, their battle would end with one attack. Both would hold themselves for a bit longer until their attacks are fired at the same time just like all those Western movies Jotaro would watch as a kid. Their timer would be the cane the man held, letting it fall slowly from his grasp.
In the end, Jotaro was hailed as the victor of their duel, managing to deliver a heavy punch onto the man’s face while his Stand could only knock the hat off his head.
There were a lot to be asked now that they got one of DIO’s lackeys under their grasp, but that hope for any intel dissipated as the man let his own Stand run itself through his chest, piercing the heart inside. The act surprised Jotaro since he never had encountered someone who’d take his own life to evade questioning.
Even as the teenager asked him why he’d do such a thing when he had a life to live for, his reasoning was admirable even if it was twisted with lies of being given a purpose, and is rooted deep due to cult-like devotion. Even in defeat, his loyalty to his god and his fellow companions was unwavering, that he’d rather die than betray his fellow men.
Their conversation ended not too long after and the man named N’Doul breathed his last and died just like he intended, serving his master until the very end.
For the first time in his life, Jotaro gave genuine respect to someone of the opposite side.
The delinquent stayed around for a bit longer until the sun had set into the horizon, giving the blind man a proper burial grave to honor his sense of devotion one last time. His cane, planted on top of the small lump, acted as N’Doul’s personal headstone.
“You know you didn’t have to, right?”
Jotaro looked over to see you stand beside him, hands clasped over your skirt to pay your respects to the grave. “I know, but it felt… wrong to just leave him as is.”
“For you to treat him like this… I guess you both had quite of a chat.”
“Maybe.”
The sun continued to retreat in the distance. “We should head back,” you said. “Your shoulder has some patching up to do. Pol left some of the bandage used for Nori’s eyes.” Although the pain wasn’t that bad, Jotaro knew you by now that refusing treatment wasn’t in your choices. And so he nodded once.
A bark interrupted the both of you. “Guess who found your hat?” You smiled as Iggy crept up from behind your shins, holding his ripped hat with his teeth. “I gotta say, it’s quite impressive the man’s able to knock it off your head that far.”
“Would you look at that?” Jotaro got onto one knee and waited for the terrier to approach him with caution. He reached forward to grab it off his mouth. “Seems you’re not all that bad. Thanks.”
The teenager attempted to give Iggy a head pat, only for the latter to growl at him and run towards the direction of the jeep. In return, Jotaro scowled as he placed the hat back on its rightful spot.
“Little shit.”
“Reminds me of a certain someone, don’t you agree?” You smiled, cheeky.
“Shut up.”
---
Given how late the day had gotten, everyone in the group agreed to camp out in the middle of the desert, waiting out one night before they could continue on with their trip.
A fire was set up in the middle of their makeshift site filled with sleeping mats and cooking paraphernalia, providing a decent amount of warmth for the team in the midst of the chilly evening air. They had a simple dinner of cooked beans and biscuits, chatted with each other for a while, until majority agreed to hit the hay for the remaining hours.
Until now, you still couldn’t bring yourself to fall asleep. You haven’t gotten any sleep for the past hours and with the exhaustion taking over every inch of your body, you didn’t know whether you even wanted to sleep or force yourself awake. You didn’t want to end up in that manor again after all.
Figuring sleep wasn’t your best option as of the moment, you turned to look for the one person who you could trust yourself to be with at this hour.
“Hey…” You waved at the delinquent resting on top of his mat, staying upright against the surface of the jeep. He looked up at you, curious. “Would you mind if I… sit here?”
Not a word was said in return but Jotaro scooting over to the side was enough. You placed your mat beside his and sat beside him.
“Staying up again?” He nodded. “Don’t you feel tired though? You must have times where you just wanna sleep the night away.”
“It’s nothing new. A day nap or two can help me get by.”
“You’re lucky. What I would give to not worry about taking naps. I’m so tired but alas… here I am eyes heavy,” you sighed, resting your head against the vehicle’s surface. “I don’t want to go back there. Can you help me with that?”
“How?”
You shrugged. “Dunno… Maybe I just like hearing you talk. Your voice is really nice.”
A chilling gust of breeze brushed by, causing your body to shiver from the cold. You tried to keep it in, even shoving your feet in the mat as if that could help, until something lightly nudged at you.
You turned to see Jotaro offering you his gakuran without looking at you. From your angle, you peeked at the bandage wrapped around his shoulder courtesy of you. Trailing up, you could see his averted face bearing tightened lips, almost embarrassed with what he just did.
Either way, your cheeks flushed and you couldn’t help but smile at the gesture. You gingerly took the uniform without a word and let it drape over you, nearly covering your entire frame. In it, you could pick up on the faint smell of that citrus scent you recognized back in Singapore and the more obvious hint of tobacco laced with it.
The material itself was warm enough to shield you from the evening chill and you buried as much of yourself inside, savoring the warmth it gave as you grasped the edges of the clothing and tugged it over each other.
“You know I don’t talk much.”
“Didn’t seem like that back in the submarine though,” you said. “Longest I’ve ever heard you speak without a break.”
“It’s stupid.”
“It’s not!” You quickly butted in. “If anything, it made me stupid for the lack of knowledge I have on ocean life. But that just means you have more intellect in that head of yours than just being an ordinary bad boy. Hell, I might need you to tutor me on our future classes.”
Jotaro deadpanned at you, and you giggled. “I’m joking.”
In the minutes without either of you talking, he reached into his pocket and brought out his silver lighter. You thought he’d reach for his cigarettes next, but he didn’t. Instead he fidgeted with the item, flicking the lid open and close. “What… do you want to know?”
“Anything. Whatever you have stored in that memory bank of yours, lay it on me.”
With some reluctance, Jotaro began to share a couple more facts about all the things he might have read prior to their journey. From animal biology to the mechanisms of ships and planes, to the tropes of his favorite movies, you listened to him with full attention and you made sure he knew that by asking questions in-between, to which he answered to with ease.
Neither of you knew how long this went but you didn’t care. You were invested in the way he’d talk about the things he was passionate in, the way he unknowingly began to open more of himself to you without having the need to do so, and from the way you could see more of his youthful energy peeking through all his many layers of jaded stoicism and teenage angst.
It was endearing. Almost wholesome even. You did say you liked hearing him speak, and perhaps this was why.
It also didn’t occur to either one of you that you gradually leaned towards him until you had your arm pressing against his.
However, you still couldn’t hold back the need to shut your eyes as they grew heavier with each passing second, and accompanied by the baritone voice of your companion and the soothing warmth of his uniform, you gave in to its temptation with a drawn-out yawn.
Jotaro paused, taking the time to look at you. “I have to go back again. I’m so sleepy…”
“Then sleep.”
You closed your eyes as you leaned your head on his shoulder, mumbling out a few more words before fully falling into slumber. “But I don’t wanna hurt anymore…”
Silence. And then a response- deep and raspy, but at the same time soft and reassuring. “You don’t have to worry.”
“I’ll be here."
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What if Nesta decided to Destroy the Inner Circle? Part 2
They made it.
Sweaty and shaking, legs trembling, but they made it. Only pure adrenaline had got them through it. Elain and Nesta stumbled through alley after alley until they finally came across an abandoned delapidated building and stepped inside.
After several long minutes of catching their breath, Elain said, “We can’t stay here long. It’s only a matter of time before they come to check on you. We have to get out of the Night Court by then.”
Nesta shook her head. “Not without Feyre.”
“We’ll come back for Feyre,” Elain said soothingly. “But right now, we’re in no position to take on the Night Court. What you need is rest, Nesta.”
“I don’t want rest. I want revenge.” The antidote seemed to be taking effect, and that familiar rage that had stood by her side her whole life came rearing back. Nesta was sure that if she looked in a mirror, she’d see silver in her eyes.
“I know. But if you storm in there right now, no good will come of it. You’ll die.”
Nesta protested for a moment longer, then slumped. She knew Elain was right. They had to regroup before they came for her sister. The two of them alone could not take down the might of the Inner Circle.
Elain set a pot on the stove, poured water in it, and set it to a boil. “Azriel rejected me,” Elain admitted. She gathered up some ingredients as she spoke. “And, well, he and Rhysand, they…spoke about me.”
Nesta raised a brow. “What did they say?”
“Nothing flattering, that’s for sure,” Elain said, tossing something into the pot. “But never mind what they said about me. He…the way he spoke about Lucien.”
Elain’s mate. She had interacted very little with him, however. “I thought you didn’t care about Lucien, Elain.”
Elain stiffened. “That’s not true. It’s the bond-“ She hesitated, then said, “That’s not the point. Azriel spoke of killing him so callously, like it was nothing to kill him. Lucien has been nothing but good to them, but Azriel had no qualms about killing him over me. Not even because he loved me or anything. But because he thought I should’ve been his mate.” She threw something else in the pot and stirred vigorously, channeling her rage. “I’m not a child to be fought over. I gave his stupid necklace right back to him. I was done with him from that moment onward.”
Nesta recoiled in horror from Elain’s words. She had never been that fond of the autumn court male, but as far as she could tell, he was a good male. A pretty incredible male actually. He deserved better than death threats.
How did Feyre not see the horrible truth right in front of her?
A knock on the door brought Nesta back to the present. She recoiled in horror when a voice called out, “Elain?”
A shuddering sigh of relief ran through Nesta. Not the Inner Circle. She went to the door and opened it.
As if speaking of him had summoned him to their doorstep, Lucien walked in through their door. He was flushed and sweating, as though he had run a very long distance. And beside him was…Eris?
That was weird. The two brothers hated each other.
Nesta narrowed her eyes at the paler of the two brothers, and Lucien explained, “He was already on his way here, so I asked for backup.”
Lucien must have been pretty desperate if he was asking his brother for help, but Lucien only looked to Elain. “Is she alright?”
“Yeah, she’s fine. Why?”
Lucien shuddered in relief. “I…felt something. Down the bond. That something was wrong.”
The mating bond. And he had been worried enough to sprint over to the Night Court.
“Nothing is wrong, yet. But it will be soon.”
“Why?” Lucien’s metal eye narrowed on her. Noticed the red marks around her wrists, her ankles. “What happened,” he asked quietly.
“They locked me up,” Nesta said, voice wobbling. Her lips quavered. “They chained me to my bed. Because I disobeyed Rhysand.”
Lucien sucked in a breath. Eris’s eyes simmered. “Bastards,” Eris said in a low voice, viciousness laced in that one word. “For once, I agree with you, Eris,” Lucien muttered.
“Can you winnow us out of here?” Nesta asked.
Lucien nodded. “I can winnow Elain, and Eris can winnow you,” he said.
Nesta coolly looked over the eldest Vanserra brother, indifference coating her stare. Eris only gave her a little smirk in return. Nesta’s heart flipped.
Elain abandoned the pot she had been cooking food in and walked hesitantly over to Lucien. Lucien’s normally confident demeanor had been replaced by something that seemed like nervousness as Elain approached him. Elain too seemed a little shy, but she left Lucien wrap his arms around her.
“Are you coming or not, Nesta Archeron?”
Nesta turned to glare at Eris. His smirk widened. The arrogance of this man made Nesta desperate to take him down a peg or two. “So impatient,” she murmured. “It must be because you can’t last long. Quick off the mark, are we, Eris Vanserra?”
Lucien choked, but Eris just grinned at her. “Play with me, and I’ll show you just how long I last, Nesta Archeron.”
Nesta reigned in her shiver of pleasure. Lucien rolled his eyes and said, “Let’s try to get out of here before the Night Court comes after us, yeah?”
Nesta snapped out of it, walking towards Eris. He wrapped his arms around her. Nesta couldn’t help but relish the feeling of his closeness, how right it felt to be in his arms. “Hold on tight, my lady,” he murmured in her ear, and Nesta couldn’t repress her shiver this time as he winnowed them away.
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That whole era of the Second Quarrel onwards is so obscure when it comes to the succession and the tensions surrounding it. No reactions. No massive events or much about dynamics. I want to know about Viserys's coronation. I want to know what he felt about his own succession before the GC. And before that, I want to know if Baelon ever tried to mend fences. If Jaehaerys ever mentioned it again, and how. How Rhaenys made her life, now all but an exile, on Driftmark. What motivated Aemma and Viserys's marriage. WHEN DID JOCELYN DIE?!
LITERALLY OMG. Number one frustrating thing about F&B is we get pages and pages of stuff no one in the world gives a shit about - Maiden's Day, that stupid story about Jaehaerys fucking the writer - and nothing on the subjects that actually got most people into the damn series like the POLITICS or the MAGIC. all of THAT is completly glossed over or Gyldane (and Yandel for that matter) just go "Well Barth did say this thing but that's nonsense" and then no elaboration. drives me up a WALL because yeah sure maybe the long, pages upon pages of battles and fighting are not my cup of tea but a) they're perfectly well written and b) THEY MAKE UP FOR IT BY GIVING ME SEVERAL CHAPTERS IN A ROW OF CERSEI AND SANSA JUST CHILLING AND POLITICKING IN DETAIL. He makes up for that in F&B by giving me MORE Jaehaerys as if that's what I want!!!
There's a few eras in F&B I think are likely to come up in the main series or in dunk and egg which is why I think F&B is so frustratingly vague (and if they were kept vague for no reason….george what. george WHY). And I do get he wanted to give us more of what he was writing without spoiling later books but good lord i would actually rather wait longer for material that isn't 60% george going "well i can't tell them ALL of that, let's just wink at the audience." The Second Quarrel is one of those times that might be relevant later imo largely because there's just. NOTHING. NO INFO. NO EVENTS. Like you said, there are NO major events in this time period. the ONLY thing happening is politics and court intrigue but F&B isn’t interested in court intrigue unless it involves grooming a 12 year old girl and unfortunately there is only poor Aemma being groomed at this time so F&B says “too many old people they’re not sexy” and just gives us sparse details about marriage dates, birth dates, and death dates. We don’t even see how rhaenys and viserys feel about THEE QUEEN ALYSANNE dying!!!!!!!! She just. Passes. oh so sad. george i’m in your walls!
Unlike every other Targaryen child (Aemma, Viserys, Daemon, herself, even Aerea and Rhaelle to an extent) who is allowed to grow up at court surrounded by other Valyrians and members of the royal family, Rhaenys kids are denied this. With this move, as you say, Jaehaerys all but tells Rhaenys "get you and your fuckin kids the hell out of my city." Can you imagine being Rhaenys, newly pregnant, having been told for years by your father and grandmother that you will be Queen one day just to be suddenly and unceremoniously exiled from court and kicked completely out of the line of succession? Can't even begin to get into how deranged it is to do this to your pregnant granddaughter when she's mourning the loss of her father
WHEN DOES JOCELYN BARATHEON DIE. HOW DOES SHE FEEL ABOUT HER DAUGHTER AND GRANDKIDS BEING PASSED OVER?????? She is only a year or two older than Aemon, she could easily have still been alive and making a fuss during Viserys' reign especially after he names Rhaenyra his heir SO HOW DID SHE FEEL ABOUT ALL OF THIS.
Baelon and Viserys' coronations/weddings/big We Are The Royal Line Now Shenangians during this era are crazyyy right, because THE QUEEN OF WESTEROS is refusing to talk to the iron throne, can’t ride her dragon anymore, is losing her hearing and memory, and goes everywhere with Gael to the point that no one even attempts to marry Gael bc they know Alysanne will never let her go. THATS INSANE. They are LIVING SEPARATELY like practically pseudo divorced the way Doran and Mellario are, so is Alysanne just purposefully snubbing these celebrations and using “i’m old” as an excuse or is she passive aggressively riding a carriage all the way back to KL just to show up wearing velaryon colors to viserys’ wedding and then left again without saying goodbye before the banquet even started???
AMD BAELON. part of why i’m so turned off by him is bc we have no indication he felt even a little had but to be fair it has been pointed out to me that we ALSO have no indication he didn’t feel bad; we have no indication of his feelings whatsoever!!! for all we know HE could have felt this was unfair & had been in the middle of either brokering a marriage between his grandkids and her kids, or figured “hey we had this exact same issue with Auntie Rhaena, maybe I should build House Targaryen a second and third seat or even given Dragonstone to The First Born Girl as tradition from now on” like he really could have been trying OR he could have been cackling and rubbing his hands together and encouraging viserys to bed 13 year old aemma soon and often to ensure their line, and calling rhaenys a stupid bitch at court, like we just don’t know!!!!!
We get several “they never agreed on the succession” comments but how does that translate to ACTION. stop telling me dates and tell me WHAT HAPPENED.
#main problem is honestly not enough action. i get why. but maybe. this wasn’t the format for this story hmmm!!#anti f&b#f&b critical#fire and blood critical#asks#anons
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i think when considering Margaret and her much lauded 'character development' it's less about her developing from a bad person to a good person, but from a narrative device, as she was in MASH 1970, to a three-dimensional character. the former isn't inherently poor writing.
this happened deliberately as the show shifted from satirical plotlines that emphasized the moral bankruptcy of the systems that prop up the war machine to a show about how being in the war wore on the characters individually and changed them as people.
season 4 and onward focus more on individual character drama, highlighting the flaws and virtues of each character, their interiority, their changing relationships with one another and brings in their relationships with offscreen characters - most infamously, Peg and Erin Hunnicutt but also Dr. Pierce Senior, Radar's mother and uncle who eventually passes and Honoria Winchester. Even minor characters get at least one episode that focuses on some offscreen relationship, Mulcahy's sister Kathy and Klinger wife/ex-wife Laverne.
maybe with the (blessed) exception of Frank Burns, I think the function of all the characters changes from 1-3 to 4-11 as the show made this shift.
Trapper is a lancer. we get some glimpses into there being more to him, in Kim and Check-Up - but most of what we see is him performing a specific function, propping up Hawkeye, who in turn props up the messaging of the show. I would have loved to see Trapper's interiority explored more in the later years but I'm not mad about it missing in 1-3 - it's not about him getting "more", he got plenty in terms of what he was created to do. him having 'conflict' with Hawkeye isn't something that would've ever occurred to the writers at that time and you would never hear trapper say something like 'i can't divide myself emotionally' he doesn't have enough of an emotional self to divide.
when it comes to Hawkeye, in 1-3 i think the details of his life beyond what we see of him on screen are extraneous. hence the inconsistencies with his backstory, his sister, his mother, him being form vermont - this stuff just didn't matter back then. focusing on it now can be fun if you're trying to explore the character in fanwork, but the reason Hawkeye's sister (who i've affectioned named 'benjamina pierce') disappears is because they weren't really thinking too hard about her in the first place, you're not supposed to remember her and so the show assumes you won't.
Hawkeye writes home to his father but we don't learn a whole lot about Daniel Pierce at the time, he's only there for Hawkeye to narrate to, that doesn't mean Hawkeye doesn't love him, it's just that the writers don't intend for you to focus on their relationship until at least The Late Captain Pierce.
Other major developments wrt to Daniel happen much later on: he is retconned into being a doctor in the later years when the show wants to care about developing those details of Hawkeye's life and in season 10 we get Sons and Bowlers.
Hawkeye gets a little more character stuff than the rest of the cast because he's the protagonist but there's still a marked shift between 3 and 4, starting with his emotionally charged personal drama re: Trapper - before that, he does have moments where he emotes but it's always to fulfill the show's anti-establishment messaging: Yankee Doodle Doctor, Carry on Hawkeye and yes, even Dr. Pierce and Mr. Hyde. again, that doesn't mean we can't diagnose him with a laundry list of issues based on that episode when constructing headcanons but his mental state alone can't be divorced from the messaging at this point. "why does he do these things?" asks Henry at the end of Pierce/Hyde, and Trapper replies not that Hawkeye is damaged or hurting or broken (even though he may be all these things) but with the show's central thesis "he took this oath never to stand by and watch people die" - his breakdown directly ties back to the show's criticism of state violence. compare to Bless You Hawkeye, which might've taken place anywhere whenever Hawkeye smelled mouldy pond water.
so if even Hawkeye is more of a device than a character in the early years, what can we say for Margaret?
the Margaret character does her job. the hypocrisy of "fighting for peace" is paralleled perfectly in her relationship with Frank. these are two people who claim to be god-fearing, well-to-do, conservative Americans, but they engage in the same vices as Trapper and Hawkeye: drinking, promiscuity and scheming and worse, Frank and Margaret look down on others for it.
i get why people want something 'more' (really, something 'else) from Margaret and I'm glad we did eventually get that because it was sorely needed, but tbh i adore early Margaret and i think it's a little silly to call her a 'bad person' or 'underdeveloped' - she's just a villain clocking in.
similarly i don't think we're meant to reflect on Hawkeye/Trapper/Henry's philandering as assessments of their character so much as they are clear statements on traditionalism and sexual liberty. you can personally dislike whatever you want in a character but i think the context of the show airing in 1972 when attitudes towards sex, particularly female pleasure, were starting to finally loosen, is relevant.
some people want character drama from MASH and that's their preference, but character drama isn't inherently 'deeper' or 'more complex' than satire. on the contrary some of the writing is so technically strong in the early years, the jokes on-the-ball, the witty criticisms of American foreign policy and the traditional values that uphold it buried within objectively hilarious episodes like Tuttle (where they create 'the perfect American man' except that he's not real and make fools out of ranking officers while they're at it)... I'd argue that that's highly complex.
i don't see the point in getting hung up on the morals of a character who clearly intended to be a villain when judging whether or not they're a 'good' character or not. calling her 'flat' when they're all somewhat 'flat' because the show is not trying to get you overly invested in their personal lives seems unfair to me. same can be said for comparisons of Frank and Charles which are critical of Frank. or my most beloathed criticism: of Henry for being an 'incompetent CO' - that is a feature, not a bug.
criticisms of 'flat' characters in general are definitely valid, but imo only when those characters exist alongside nuanced characters who have rich interiority. since Margaret exists alongside Trapper and Frank, I don't think that critique is valid here. she actually gets a few solid moments where we get the sense that there may be more to her, in Aid Station and Carry On Hawkeye. compare that to episodes that frame her as being entirely sympathetic when she's been a terror to people she holds structural power over: The Nurses or the Birthday Girls - both good episodes in general, but it's another kind of flatness to present a character as being wholly sympathetic when they've turned around and done the very same thing that was done to them to others. just something to consider about how making Margaret 'more nuanced' actually glossed over some of her interesting complexities.
#sorry for the long Hawkeye tangent but i've been thinking about how even he is a narrative device early on#in contrast to how much i see his motivations/desires personalized in the early years#his pursuing sex for example is not meant to tell us that he's hypersexual (though again it's fine to read him that way)#it's meant to tell us he doesn't give a shit about getting married and having 2.5 kids#margaret meta#hawk meta#trapper meta#re: mash
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I think the Turning Point for Puzzle is right after The Fire (Otogi arc manga) and that infamous "I want to stay with you forever"/"I'll give you all my memories"
Like I just think theres this certain desperate feelings between them? It was when Atem started to question Who and What he really was- and we never really seen Atem's POV regarding The Fire but I just think it adds to Atem's Anxiety- like the way he's Very Powerless in that whole situation... that Feeling urged him to utter "I want to stay with you forever" like it was a goddamn Confession he really doesnt wanna Lose Yugi Ever. And he's so desperate to get to know about Himself too- maybe if he knew, he won't be leaning on Yugi too much- when Yugi told him "I'll give you all my memories" I wonder how Atem feels exactly... (and like in the manga, Yugi said this just Right after hes discharged from the hospital and he still got bandages on him and stuff like hes so Ready to throw himself into another Fire if it would Save Atem- AIBO PLS THINK ABOUT *YOURSELF* FOR ONCE??)
Also it was also the time Atem starts to hold *secrets*, like the real reason he decided to join Battle City was to search for his memories but he pointedly told Anzu to Not tell Yugi about it... like at first Yugi's goal about Battle City is for him to get a chance in Dueling Kaiba, but once he knew Atem's real reason he Shifted Everything and focused on it- Yugi doesn't know boundaries when it's about Helping/Saving Atem like he always runs straight on Fire no matter what it is if it's About Atem- and he gets upset when Atem doesn't tell him these things, this is *his* Duty as The Vessel/Bearer of The Puzzle etc like when it comes to Atem, Yugi is Blind okay!!
And Atem knew that and he really doesnt want The Fire thing to Happen again... and so!! SECRETS, it is... Battle City onwards, there are certain things between them that somehow remained Unsaid... they are such a Mess
#puzzleshipping#hello i woke up and remembers if#yugi never knew abt the memories thing in battle city...#would he be Focusing on getting to Kaiba to Duel him#but then I'm shifting my attention back at Atem...
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I’m gonna be honest, I don’t think SJ would have ever been happy as a Peak Lord. The only reason he took the job was because of YQY and he thought he’d be able to protect himself better as someone of high status. He never had the right kind of mind or attitude for teaching and never had the social skills to get along with his peers. He’d have been much happier as a wandering cultivator but that wasn’t where YQY was so even then he’d have never been fully satisfied.
oh my god sorry for the late reply
i also think that sj got attached to having status and power because he knows that powerful people can get away with anything, since he knows what that's like thanks to Qiu Jianluo. He definitely didn't want to be on the receiving end of all that power and influence. I think that, even if he wasn't a good teacher, if he had able to deal with his inner demons (literally and metaphorically) he wouldn't have had so much trouble living in CQM. But he hated men to the point of being unable to sleep next to his peers, and when he became a peak lord he turned paranoid, thinking people wanted to undermine him and usurp his place, was envious of anyone with more potential or power than him. and like, not all of that was yqy's "fault", since we see in the qijiu extra's opening scene what he was like as a 12 years old. i love the parallels between qijiu as kids and qijiu as peak lords because the latter is basically a reenactment of their childhood dynamics: sj fighting with others, yqy the protector who always tried to smooth things over and let sj get away with anything, etc. then his dynamic with lbh and nyy is a reenactment of his life with the qius, this time with him as the one abusing his power. it sort of feels like there's something inescapable about their fates, and it goes to show how much work sj needs to achieve a modicum of peace, though of course if he was sure of yqy's love for him that would be a great start.
sorry for rambling. back on topic. why did sj became a peak lord?
“If I said that I wasn’t doing well at Qing Jing Peak, what would you do?” Shen Qingqiu asked, slow and measured. “Would you help me enter Qiong Ding Peak, just as you recommended me for Qing Jing?”
Yue Qingyuan gave it some thought, then said solemnly, “If that’s what you wanted.”
“Clearly I don’t want that,” Shen Qingqiu said with a resolute humph. “I want to be head disciple. Would you be willing to give me your position? Let me become the sect leader?” he asked, forceful and lofty. “For better or worse, Qing Jing Peak ranks second among the Twelve Peaks. I’d rather wait to succeed this one.”
it's clear he wants power and influence, and if he'd had the chance he would have gone for the sect leader post. can you imagine that??
In the past, Qiu Jianluo had forced Shen Jiu to learn how to read and write. Shen Jiu had been unwilling to learn, had detested it to the point of madness, yet now it was only through his abilities in reading and studying—through being smarter than his peers—that he’d been able to earn the Qing Jing Peak Lord’s favor. To make it even more laughable, of the thousands of possible names in this world, the peak lord had just happened to name him “Qingqiu.”
But no matter how laughable, no matter how it made him gnash his teeth, Shen Qingqiu still wanted that name, for this name represented that from now onward, a shining new life was his.
sj is ambitious. that's why i think he' wouldn't be happy with living like a common person. he also likes luxury so i guess he'd detest the life of a wandering cultivator because it would to much like living in the streets, where he spent most of his childhood. he likes quiet and staying inside. he liked the security of being at the top.
so i don't think it would be impossible for him to have a life more suited to him, that wasn't such a consequence of his traumas and how he copes with them, but like i said, it would take a lot of work and healing.
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You're in the most deep denial on Daemon and that's ok, but always reminds that, the queen eventually gets betrayed somehow. It's like a curse fated to repeat over and over. Jaimie did with Cersei, phisically. Jon did with Dany politically. Daemon won't be different, especially cause that Man is labeled as horny predator, especially in the Show. Ryan is setting up the betrayal since the beginning, but you're too optimist and naive to see it. Mark my words. In the end Daemon will betray Rhaenyra. They need to keep going with victimizing women plotline. HBO always did, always will. Also, they need to push Rhaenycent till the end. It's literally that the core of the series, not Daemyra. Leaks of S2 sounds bad too for them, if you ask me. I'm not going to be delusional, good era ended with episode 8. The worse between Daemyra already happened, to me, cause he was literally killing her, the fact he didn't want to, is not justifying that and even Matt and Emma playing dumb saying they didn't understand the scene, (cause it's clearly a lie) is not erasing that either. Cheating won't be big deal. 🤷 In which season and with who it doesn't matter. He will at some point. I'm just warning you, not hating nor anything. Get ready for the heartbreak.
So...
First of all, Jaime and Cersei are not Daemyra. No comparison to be had there. You want to compare Cersei to someone ? Compared to Alicent. Not Rhaenyra.
Then, the end of the GOT series will not be the same for the books ASOIAF. GOT from season 5 onwards became shit. To say that Jon betrayed Dany to use that in association with Daemyra "treason" is ridiculous. Jon and Dany probably won't even be written like that in books.
Anyway, I don't care about the HOTD series. It does not represent Fire and Blood canon. The two have nothing to do with each other. GRRM say that himself. It's same for GOT and ASOIAF. GOT is not canon. ASOIAF is.
Also, just because Daemon will cheat on Rhaenyra in the series doesn't mean he did it in the book canon. Again, the show is not the book.
Also, Daemon didn't even betray Rhaenyra in Fire and Blood. He literally died for her cause. Defeat her greatest actual enemy / current threat. Aemond. He even kill him in homage to Lucerys by planting Dark Sister in his eye. Daemon died for Rhaenyra, their family and their house. Or is there a betrayal in this ? People have 0 reading skills these days, it's not possible...
Then according to the leaks that I have seen, nothing fundamentally indicates anything bad in relation to Daemyra.
But either way, this show is crap.
Also Daemon is not a predator in the books, even in the Show (Ryan doesn't understand what he wrote). I'm tired of hearing this bullshit.
Just the fact that you call Daemon a predator, that tells me everything I need to know about you reading comprehension, or viewing comprehension.
I'm not in denial about Daemon or Daemyra from Fire and Blood. I know how to analyze a text. (In my opinion, it is very likely that these two cheating stories, especially Nettles, are a huge bullshit. There is no real evidence for Nettles, and we have inconsistencies. Even the story with Mysaria is fishy when you look closely)
That you, anti, buy a life instead of coming to preach your bullshit to me.
I've already said that I don't expect anything from the series. I'm even prepared to be disappointed. Season 1 is already a disappointment and objectively shit.
#daemyra#daemon x rhaenyra#daemon and rhaenyra#daemon targaryen#the rogue prince#rhaenyra targaryen#the realms delight#the black queen#team blacks#anti team greens#anti greens stans#anti greens#fire and blood#grrm#grr martin#george rr martin#hotd#anti hotd#anti house of the dragon#house of the dragon#asoiaf#a song of ice and fire#jonerys#jon x daenerys#daenerys x jon#daenerys and jon#house targaryen#hotd is not fire and blood#got is not asoiaf#cersei is like alicent not rhaenyra
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SOS: Poison In My Mind (Pt 2)
Continue off from: SOS: Poison In My Mind (Pt 1)
“We met in the worst circumstance possible, but yet, even if we had to meet in different circumstances, I’d still fall for you.”
SUMMARY. While Jeno and Renjun put their pasts behind them and look onwards disowning their brothers, Donghyuck and Mark try to do things the right way, but find themselves in hot waters with the law. They all want to move on, but it seems as though fate has other plans.
PAIRING(s). Delinquent!Mark, Felony!Haechan, Boyfriend!Jeno, Brother!Renjun; Policeman!Jaemin, Jisung; Husband!Chenle, Boyfriend!Jaehyun X OC Dae, Yezi (original character)
GENRE. Angst. Longshot. Slow burn. Crime. Strangers to lovers. Smut (non-consensual/consensual). Family.
WARNINGS. Drugs abuse (Alcohol, smoking, marijuana, cocaine, heroin). Sexual content (consensual, child abuse, pedophile). Slow burn.
Areum doesn’t come to school on Friday as well as on Saturday. Donghyuck is partially worried that something bad might’ve happened to her, and so when he gathers up enough courage to inform his mother of his concern, she tells him that her Areum's mother called in sick to say she wasn’t feeling well.
Donghyuck can’t say much as Areum doesn’t show up again on the next week. He can only hope that she’s okay, and it begins burning inside of him of what he should do, because at this point he so desperately wanted to tell someone about what the Uncle has been doing to the girl. If he told anyone at the school, they’d surely not believe him because it was a personal and family matter and didn’t involve him.
Aside from worrying about Areum, he also began worrying about Mark. Mark hadn’t gone back to his old ways, but he picked up on a suspicious habit of always stalking Jeno and his alleged girlfriend. According to Mark, he saw Dae, the rich girl (the girl whose house they broke into) and Jeno give each other kisses and immediately knew that they had something going on. It had Donghyuck curious, but at the same time fearful of what his friend was going to do. So sitting down one afternoon together in the park, they’re both eating some bread while watching people pass by. Donghyuck takes the opportunity to address his friend.
“How’s your stalking journey?”
Mar sighs. “Wild.”
Waiting for Mark to explain, Donghyuck doesn’t say anything. Yet upon the silence intensifying he turns his head to Mark. “Wild how?” Mark looks like he’s in deep thought as he’s eating on his bread. He shrugs his shoulders. “Come on man, you’ve at it for some days now. Following them and updating me on their life. How did things get wild?”
Mark blinks and looks to Donghyuck. “He’s got your eyes.”
Donghyuck tries to decipher the words, but they make no sense. “He’s got…my eyes?”
“You know,” Mark chews on his last bread before sitting up properly and turning back to his people watching. “Feelings of embarrassment, shame, and guilt can be difficult obstacles to overcome if a person stays focused solely on their mistakes in life. You have somehow moved past your past doings and you’re looking forward to doing good things. Jeno too. It’s like he’s learnt the secret to being like a fucking normal human being. He doesn’t drink anymore, doesn’t zone out like a drone, and now he makes decisions for himself. Whereas in the past he always depended on me. I don’t know man,” Mark brings his knees forward to wrap his arms around them. “Seeing my brother looking perfect while being with her makes me feel….”
“Like a fuck up,” Donghyuck leans his back against the tree trying to understand Mark.
“Nah, seeing you makes me feel like a fuck up. I should’ve stayed in prison. This life is not for me.” Mark snorts out a little laugh. “But seeing my brother makes me feel like this life is for him.”
“Mark don’t be like that,”
“I don’t belong out here, I mean, what’s the point of freedom and living like shit? Or going day by day eating bread?”
Donghyuck pats Mark’s back. “Mark I’m sure there’s purpose in your life if you look past your mistakes,”
Mark sighs before closing his eyes and turning his head to the side to get some sleep. He was going through the stages of grief and he hated it. First it was denial of what his life had come down to. And then it was anger that he couldn’t do anything else with his life. And then he began bargaining with whether or not he deserved to be free or not. Before the depression sunk in that even if he were to be locked up it wouldn’t do anything to him. And finally he accepted that his life was really shit and that he had no will in him.
So the next morning comes, and of course Donghyuck is already gone to his work, leaving Mark to wonder around back to Jeno’s apartment and watch from afar how his brother and ‘girlfriend’ leave their apartment together and go for their daily stroll. He follows them being several feet behind until they land up in a secluded park. As he’s sitting down on a bench and watching them work out together with smiles on their faces.
Jeno this time is in control of their activities and does stretches here and there. It makes Mark smile seeing his brother looking so free, happy and sober without a care in the world. Jeno looks especially happy when she smiles at him and plants kisses on his temple. Whatever they’re doing and talking about makes Mark feel like he needed to protect his brother from anything destroying and disturbing their peace.
So as they’re done working out and begin to head back home, Mark follows behind them ensuring they get back safe. Time flies by with the sun beginning to set, and it’s not until Jeno leaves the house and takes the red car with him does Mark feel that he should head on back to the park where he and Donghyuck rested. But upon seeing Dae leave the house moments later, he cautiously follows her. It seems like she was just taking an evening walk without Jeno. However, it’s alarming because Mark notes that as he’s following Dae, another guy also seems to follow her.
She’s not aware, but Mark is. Upon seeing the hooded frame of the person following and getting closer to her, Mark quickens his pace making sure that this person isn’t seeking to hurt her. And just like Mark predicted the man immediately grabs a hold of Dae and drags her into the alleyway. Mark is quick in running in and stepping in. Dae tries screaming but it doesn’t sound too loud, as the assailant has a knife to her throat. She puts up a fight, alarming the guy to be sharp when trying to get her to stop moving. Dae doesn’t stop, using the self-defense lessons Jeno taught her.
But still Dae is in frantic heaps of fear when wondering how long will she need to do this for. This guy is bigger than her and buffer then her. When seeing another man appear she screams. "Help!”
“Hey! Let her go!" Mark not needing to be told twice sharply steps in and lands a crossed punch on the other man's cheek- Dae is free of his hold and moves away from the man seeing the stranger gripping onto the person who held her captive.
Getting a look at his face, the stranger who helped her she gasps. But he glares at her. “Run!” And with that she begins running as fast as she can. She doesn't look back, doesn't try to see the face of the man who helped her. She hears a loud scream but adrenaline takes over her and all she does is run back to her home. As soon as she gets home, she's quick to call the apartment security to alarm them of what happened. No sooner than later, she hears the sirens and breathes out normally.
Hopefully the person who stepped in didn’t get hurt badly and that the security got there on time. She just can’t believe that it was him…Mark.
S2: EP16 -20
[Dae's residence. 2 weeks later]
"How can we be out of milk so quickly? I bought 4 whole packs," Dae sighs, closing the fridge when remembering Jeno's excessive intake on his milk and egg yolk mixture. She walks to the pad stationed on the kitchen counter. A 'to do' grocery shopping list. Mumbling incoherent words, she jots down '8 packs of MILK!' on the list, underneath the long bulleted points of ingredients she'd have to buy. She absolutely hated it, when she was making something and halfway through- the item she needed most was not there. She settles down and decides to make some tea instead. Not just any tea, but green tea with herbal and ginger spice. Herbal medicine is the best medicine. After boiling water and making fresh green tea she heads up the stairs to her shared bedroom.
"Baby you awake? Bae?" she calls getting in the room taking careful steps making sure to not step over the tissue boxes on the floor. She sits on the edge of the bed while placing the tray on his bedside folding her arms when Jeno shifts around pulling the blankets over his head like a child.
"I'm still sleeping," He mumbles out.
"You're such a baby," Dae says nudging his side resorting to tickling him knowing he has a very hard yet soft body when it comes to tickles.
Jeno erupts out an unexpected laugh before groaning out while still chortling painfully under the blanket whenever she pokes his side. He reflexes instantly by coming out the blanket getting a hold of her hands- causing her to stop with an amused face. He tiredly smiles with his eyes slightly open. He yawns and with the early morning stress he has, he gently brings her on top of him adjusting her position over him as she straddles him. Dae giggles running her hands over his hair, neck and shoulders. Jeno turns his head to the side seeing the light pigmented tea.
"No milk?" His cheeks puff out yawning out a little. He dives in for a morning kiss but Dae moves backwards shaking her head. "Don't I get morning kiss?" He asks mixed with a little cough.
Dae laughs. "Morning kisses with you lead to more than just kisses. And, you've got a cold coming on. So no. Plus you finished all the milk with your home made power air drink," she gets off him sitting crisscrossed as he sits up getting comfortable by the dashboard. She holds onto his hand while he ruffles his hair with his other hand.
"I just wanted a kiss," he grumbles. "No milk, no kiss, is this what life has come down too?"
Dae rolls her eyes, patting his cheek. "How'd you sleep? You were coughing a lot last night," she informs. He shakes his head parting his hair from his eyes.
He picks up the mug and brings it close to his lips. "Hot," he mummers and puts it back down. "Something was clogging up my throat at night," he explains. "Must've been yesterday's photoshoot,"
"Were you shooting outside?" Dae questions placing the mug back on the plate.
"Mhm," He nods his head wrapping his arms around her waist. "The location of the houses your dad built were far, set in windy places. But this hasn't happened to me before," he says trying to kiss her again.
"There's a first time for everything," She blocks his attempt at another kiss with a playful smile and gets off the bed. She kisses his forehead bringing up the blanket over his shoulder. "Keep warm baby, I'll be back a bit later."
"You off to work?"
"No," She shakes her head playfully winking. "I called in sick. I'm gonna go down to the pharmacy and get some syrup. While I'm at it I'll buy some groceries too. Please stay put, don't go anywhere. I'll be back soon." she smiles at him. Covering his tea, he uses his hand to bring her back to him where places his lips over her lips. She finally gives in and he moans into the kiss.
She chuckles in between the kiss, "Do you want me to get sick?" She whispers.
Jeno laughs and lets her go, "Sick with my love of course,"
“Get some rest.”
With that the front door shuts, indicating that she’s left the house to run some errands. Unlike her words for Jeno to get some rest, Jeno gets off the bed and begins getting ready for the day. Originally today was supposed to be his day off and Dae was supposed to be at work. So it’s a bit unraveling for Jeno that she didn’t go to work – reason being, because on most day offs, once a month he’d have an appointment with Officer Na Jaemin. He didn’t like keeping things from Dae, but when it came to matters concerning his verdict checkup, or even issues concerning his brother Mark, he preferred for Dae not to know anything. That part of their relationship was still a bit of a touchy subject. He hopes she won't be around for when Officer Na Jaemin comes around. No sooner than later, as soon as he's done changing and goes to his little study room to edit the photo's he took yesterday- there's a knock on the front door.
Wiping his nose with some tissue, he goes over to the front door unlocking it. "Officer, where the hell have you been? I've been waiting since yesterday?" Jeno welcomes with open arms.
"Jeno," Officer Na greets with a polite smile getting into the hug. Never in a million years would he think that he'd become well acquainted with a former convict. As Jeno went to county jail- Jaemin from time to time came for round up checkups. Within those days of keeping up with him, he ‘sort of’ started getting to know the boy better. "A police never gets a day off, you should know that by now," Jaemin jokes taking a seat on the couch with Jeno following. "Especially with Jisung as my partner."
Jeno chortles. "Aren’t you and Jisung getting along?"
Jaemin nods his head. "I don't even know what getting along means at this point. But we're close enough. He asked me to watch his frog."
"Frog?" Jeno is taken aback before laughing out slightly.
"Anyway," Jaemin leans forward picking up the sweet wrapper on the table. "Is there a reason why you wanted me to come here instead of our usual morning spot?"
"Dae's coming back any time soon, and she wanted me to stay put,"
"Mmm the Miss," Jaemin wiggles his eyebrows with a naughty smirk- before Jeno hits his side. "She's one lucky woman, is all I'm saying. Any who, I thought you called me over here because of your brother. I’ve got some news on him. Do you know what the doctor said?"
Jeno turns serious and shakes his head. "His legs are fucked up pretty badly, so now he’s on a wheelchair. They need me to watch over him as his brother. I mean with the way the doctor said it, I had to agree to look after him. Problem is, I haven’t even told Dae about it. She freaked out the first time he came over. In her head, she can never forget what Mark did to her when he was alone with her.”
“I can only imagine.” Jaemin sighs out. “Has he come over before his injury?”
“No. Not even a call, nothing out of the ordinary. I asked Dae to start taking up most of the house errands just to avoid Mark coming by and she’s around. He traumatized the shit out of her, so I can’t let her see him again.”
“I was supposed to come yesterday to inform you of his release but you were occupied. Unfortunately, they’re going to discharge him in half an hour. As his parole officer I have to bring him to the comforts of a relative that will look after him. That’d be you. I’m glad you agreed.”
“Even though I agreed, Officer Na, you have to understand me when I say I can’t take him in. Can’t he just go to Donghyuck or something?”
“I know what you’re saying, I can even understand why you don’t want him in your life again,” Jaemin says. “But they’re letting him go in an hour and he needs a place to stay. He and Donghyuck been living out in the streets like homeless people ever since they got out of prison. Taking him to Donghyuck would be like abandoning him. I doubt Donghyuck would even want to take care of him. He’s on a wheelchair and he can’t take care of himself. Come on man, the worst he could do is roll over your toes. I believe he can’t hurt you or Dae in the state he’s in. If you like, I’ll come by and do regular check-ups.” Jaemin gives all his best commitments. “I’ll even talk to Dae if you need me too.”
“Roles have reversed since we saw her family. Her dad wanted me to quote on quote man up for his daughter if I want to continue seeing her," Jeno mumbles. “I’ve taken up a lot of the responsibilities. I pay house rent, I’m working so many shifts, provide a lot more for us and I’m trying my best to keep her safe. I want to keep her safe at all costs. Mark being here is a gamble that I’m not willing to take,”
"Still can't believe you're with her," Jaemin laughs a little, trying to shift the topic away from Mark just for a bit. Just until he can get Jeno to accept. "You should've put a ring on her finger by now." Jaemin jokes. "You turned a rich girl into a house errand girl? Even your brother will acknowledge that he shouldn’t mess with you. Speaking of which, are you still planning to propose?"
"Fuck," Jeno's eyes lights up as he sits forward, a smile growing shyly on his face, making Jaemin beam for his friend. He's been planning to propose for some time now. "Ever since speaking to her family, I’ve been making preparations. I ordered a ring last month and I'm getting the ring this Sunday. I can't wait for the day to come. We're having a family dinner with her family next week Friday, and I wanna talk to her dad about it."
"Her dad?"
Jeno nods his head taking in a deep breath. "Sounds fucking scary, I know. He's…tolerated my presence enough- dude, he literally asked me the other day to schedule a weekend where I'll be free so he can take me around his new buildings so that I can do my magic and take photo shots. At this point, I see him more than Dae does. Jaemin- wait, did I tell you that he asked me to join him every Thursday's for golf? I went out with him yesterday and it was a whole club of businessmen taking shots. As scary as it sounds, he's finally accepting me. Well it's what I think. And Mark will just fuck everything up,"
"And you proposing to his daughter won’t?" Jaemin asks with a bewildered face. "I was with you up till now. If you can show her family just how serious you are, they’ll consider you as a potential suitor. If you can show her family that you can take care of your brother and that you have him in check, they might just feel safe in allowing their daughter to marry you-"
"I can't help it. The desire is burning in my heart- my soul. I need to marry her- I need to propose now. We've been together for 3 years and a half month and I love her. My hands itch whenever I don't see a ring on her finger or even whenever I take her out and just have to end it with a kiss- dude no. There are so many guys out there who still hit on her as if she's single. I don't like having to explain every time that 'hey she's my girl' I want to make it official with a symbol,"
"That's a fucking grand commitment. Oh god you're burning up," Jaemin withdraws his hand from his face. "Look, I'm no expert at romance, however, I think you should wait and not rush into anything that's too- for crying out loud are you even listening to me?"
Jeno stubbornly places his finger over his ear drums and shakes his head. "You don't know what you're talking about. And on top of that, I see you’re testing the waters with Mark. I’ll think about it.”
“You only have 30 minutes to think about it, because I already told Jisung to bring him over here,” Jaemin speaks quick causing Jeno’s eyes to widen.
“What?”
Dae scans each shelf and medicine, looking for another cough syrup since the one they usually buy is out of stock. In her trolley there are different kinds of medicine, from vitamins to stress relievers to pain killers and even energy boosters.
"Hi Miss Dae, what a surprise seeing you here, how can I help you today?"
Dae turns her head to the side seeing a man with all smiles and a uniform, the service guy who constantly helped her. A worker trying to shoot his shot with her- no matter how many times she's rejected him.
"Oh, hi Shotaro," She gives him a polite smile flipping her hair behind her back. "Grandpower is out of stock, so I'm looking for an alternative to it. Which one is better between Cough Care or Mad Lemon?"
"Oh Mad Lemon as said here in the back label, works effectively in the body and rapidly, one spoon and you're zipped to wellbeing. Cough Care works as fast but it requires you to take it on set times," the salesman, Shotaro finishes. Clearly he's not that knowledgeable on the medication but Dae still asks.
"Are there any allergy reactions I have to watch out for? My boyfriend is sensitive to some ingredients,"
As always Shotaro is stunned that she still has a boyfriend- but regardless he puts his best salesman promotion talk on and talks about the allergy reactions. For crying out loud this isn't even his department, but he just wanted to speak and talk to her. As he's talking, Dae's eyes catch a certain head shape. The man's hair is black and it's cut shortly, but for some moments when the person turns his head- her eyes widen.
"-yes ma'am?"
She breaks out of her thoughts, "Yes, yes thank you," she smiles taking the medication focusing back on the short haired male. He's dressed in black faded pants, a white t-shirt and brown pullover that's torn in some places. The last time she saw him, was in the court where he was a bandaged mess and was practically sent back to his country to serve his sentence. It gets sadder when Dae thinks of all the times she was mean to him in varsity.
The man is skinny but anybody would recognize him by his facial structure. He was usually on the bright and positive side, however, seeing him now, his face looks strict and mean. He finally turns around making Dae's eyes pop wide.
It's him.
"Holy crap." She lets out. "Renjun?"
At the sound of his name he turns around spotting the owner of the voice. A beautiful lady in a knee white fitting dress. At first he thinks his vision is messing around with him- because why would a lady as elegant like that call his name, but then when the radiant woman makes her way towards him with her trolley he realises that she's real. And he realizes who it is.
"Shit." He mumbles lowly still looking a like a deer caught in headlights. Out of all people to see, the last person he wanted to see is Dae and her rich family. He's been through so much because of them. As she draws closer he shakes his head arranging his face fast. "Dae?" he calls allowing for the forced tight lipped grin to spread on his face. "It's a surprise seeing you here." He bows his head still being civil, despite his discomfort. Why the hell is she greeting him with a smile? Didn't she have a strong distaste towards people like him?
Dae gladly bows greeting him with a modest smile. "It's a surprise seeing you here," Dae retorts to which Renjun chuckles with a hesitant grin.
"I guess we're both out of our element zone." Renjun wraps up quickly. "Well, I should leave you be so-"
"Wait, let me get your number quickly,"
"M-my number?" Renjun squawks and shakes his head. "N-no, it's cool-"
Already taking out her phone, Dae panes her eyes to him noticing his whole stance. He's uncomfortable and looks like he wants to get away. "Am I making you uncomfortable?"
Renjun looks around before scratching his head. "It's not that. It's just, your…family put a restraining order and yeah. I could get in serious trouble for being here with you-"
Dae's eyes widen when realizing and remembering the court case and how things went down and ended. "Oh…"
"Yes." Renjun feels relieved once he says that, and grips his trolley. "Well, it was good seeing you-"
"Hold on you didn't give me your number,"
Renjun's eyes widen but he tries not to curse. "Dae," He breathes out. "I've been out of prison for 3 years now. I'm not looking for any problems with the police authorities, neither am I looking for means to go back or get locked up again. Because of going to jail, my life has been torn to pieces. My scholarship got revoked, and I can't apply as a normal student in my old institute or any institute for that matter. No college will accept me, no job will grant me a position- there's nothing I can do to clear up my name unless I'm lucky. And I haven't been so lucky these past few years. So no. I don't want your number and I don't want to give you mine. I do not want anything to do with you. So I'm asking you- respectfully, leave me alone."
Dae's mouth is frozen in shock as she watches Renjun pick up his own basket and walk away as fast as he can from Dae. He really didn't want anything to do with Dae- and for her, it's been a while since she's been rejected by a person. None the less, she doesn't follow him or make any more contact with him. Him using a different isle and avoiding even walking in the same place, is only clear to Dae that he's dead serious when stating how he doesn't want anything to do with Dae.
Unfortunately, fate has other plans when Dae joins a que to pay and Renjun is in front of her. She doesn't say anything to him, neither does she breathe in his direction as she waits for her turn. However, when Renjun starts fidgeting around, scampering his hands all over his pockets- Dae looks between him and the cashier as she 'patiently' waits for him.
Renjun lets out a low curse when not finding his socket card holder in any of his pockets. Did he leave it at home? No, he clearly remembers taking it because he reminded himself thousands of times to take it. So now where is it? If he can't find it, he's doomed. He didn't bring any cash with him. Trying not to take up the line, he shifts aside when the cashier notes that while he's still searching for his card then she'll continue with the other customers. He had two options now, because clearly his card wasn't with him. So it's either he shamefully returned all the items back to their shelf and went back home to search for it, or he could call his mum or Donghyuck to come and help him. But Donghyuck's working. He'd have to call Donghyuck- because his mother was fasting and praying and Donghyuck could probably excuse himself quickly. Problem is ever since Donghyuck came out of prison, neither of them actually spoke to each other. Well, Donghyuck tried, but Renjun didn't want anything to do with his 'brother'.
The cashier is done scanning all over Dae's items and places them in the plastic bag. Dae takes a deep breath, clearly feeling bad for Renjun. He's just standing there with his hands to his hip and his head down. She's about to lay a hand on his shoulder, but his reflexes are so fast that Dae nearly falls forward.
"Don't touch me."
"Sorry," Dae modestly apologizes running her sweaty hands on her dress. She was nervous. "Let me pay for you."
"No." Renjun shakes his head, deciding to call on his brother. He looks up to Dae, attempting a smile, but it's stiff. "Thank you though,"
"Geez Renjun," Dae sighs out in exasperation. "I just can't bare you standing like that and looking distressed taking up the line."
"I'm fine." He comments almost immediately.
Dae huffs silently. "Why are you being so stubborn? It's not like I'm asking you to do anything? I just want to help."
"I don't need your help."
Renjun places his phone over his ear waiting for his brother to pick up. Meanwhile Dae takes her credit card and hands it back to the cashier. "I'll be paying for him." She smiles with irritation, ignoring Renjun, who's eyes widen as he watches the cashier swipe on Dae's card.
"I said-"
"You're welcome." Dae interrupts picking up her own plastic bag. "Take it or leave it. Bye. Have a nice day." Her tight lipped smile is all that Renjun sees before she moves past him with two heavy bags of plastics.
Dae's gone by the time the cashier is finished placing all his items in the plastic bag. He thanks the cashier before leaving the que and the store. He stops in his spot when he sees Dae standing in place with the trolley of many plastic bags. He's about to ignore her and walk past, but she stops him in place by waving his- his socket card holder that had his name printed out boldly.
"I assume this is yours. I saw it by the exit with your ID."
Renjun takes a deep breath rolling his eyes. "Okay. What is this?" He asks with irritation. "Are you following me? Do you want something from me? Why aren't you-"
"My god, you're so annoying." Dae speaks up fiercely. It's been a while since she used this type of tone. "I've been trying to be a decent human being to you, but you're being so aggravating. Here." She shoves his card holder against his chest glaring at him. "I wanted to apologize for everything that happened. I'm sorry." Her tone calms down and she steps back- talking sincerely again. "I'm truly sorry for everything that's happened you. I can't even begin to imagine what you've been through, but I just wanted to make it up to you-"
"The restrai-"
Dae rolls her eyes getting pissed. "I won't fucking help you if you don't want, but the least I can ask from you is your number because I know Jeno will-"
"Jeno?" Renjun questions in confusion stopping her entire speech. "You mean Jeno, Jeno? Lee Jeno?"
"Yes," Dae nods her head trying to calm down. She really hated when things didn't go her way.
"But the restrain-"
Dae shakes her head. "He doesn't give a damn about the restraining order, because we're together."
Renjun's eyes widen in disbelief. "You're together? As in… dating?"
Dae nods her head. "I think you would've seen him instead of me right now, he usually does it but he's not feeling too good today and lately I think he’s been dealing with the stress of his brother being in an accident. But I know more than anything that he'd appreciate your number. He talks about you and how guilty he feels for not reaching out to you. I mean he’s tried, but to no avail-"
"You mean, you guys are together?” Renjun tries to wrap his mind around it all. It even stops Dae from speaking. "After everything we put you guys through, you’re dating him? For everything we put you and your family through that day."
Dae blinks for a minute before shaking her head. "I’ve learnt to forgive, and things happened over a period of years for Jeno and I to be together. And besides, if I remember correctly, you didn't really do anything. I chose to forgive because it set me free from the nightmares I kept on havin- Renjun," Dae tries to stop him, but he's so deep in self-pity and wallow that he bows down in a 90-degree angle. "Renjun, you don't have to-" Dae gently moves closer to him and wraps her arms around his frame. "You don't have to feel guilty for what happened. It's all in the past now,"
Renjun sighs but doesn’t hug back and instead stands still. His mind had so much to talk about but upon hearing Jeno’s name he kind of felt shitty. He and Jeno ever since they got released never spoke to each other. They drifted apart and so Renjun naturally thought that Jeno was pissed off at him. It’s one of the many reasons that Renjun chose to be closed off ever since coming out of prison. His good image had been wiped away and all that was left was a prison record- so why not act like the man in the prison record? But hearing Dae mention that Jeno felt guilty only makes Renjun return to his senses.
Renjun feels weight lift up from his shoulders, relieved from a lot of stress and guilt that had been poured onto him. He gets a better look at her and gets a wave of university nostalgia. Zhong Dae. Popular amongst all the girls in college. A top achiever in her major, rich and wealthy with a millionaire father. A background of status, fortune already in her deck of cards. Struck by the most unfortunate of cases. But still standing tall, elegant and beautifully graceful. Amongst all her main treads of faces, the best one she showed to him was modesty. Seeing her smile at him, giving him a hug and even paying for his medicine really makes him feel like such a grudge-full person. Despite her value, she could still find it in herself and senses to be gentle…human. To forgive.
"No wonder Jeno admired you," He whispers quietly taking a peek at the floor, feeling inferior all over again. His eyes move across the parking space and clears his space. "I've taken up a lot of your time, you're probably in a hurry,"
Dae shakes her head. "Not really. I mean, I've got a big baby to take care of, but I'm sure he's fine on his own for now,"
Renjun chuckles lightly. "The big baby being Jeno, right? How did that even happen? You and Jeno being together I mean. How long have you guys been together?"
Dae smiles and runs her finger through her hair. "3 years now, in December it’ll be 4 years. Uhm, do you need a lift home?" Renjun is quick to reject again, mentioning the restraining order again. "I promise that I won't tell, if you don't tell."
He gulps.
"Besides, we can try to catch up in the car. Is that cool?" Dae says already picking up her plastics.
"Only if you promise not to tell the police on me. I can't afford going back to jail." Renjun nervously let's out. "I can't leave my mum alone again,"
*
After dropping Renjun home, which is a new suburb deck of house that's been added Dae waves her hand while driving off. Renjun smiles to himself, a real stress free smile. It felt good talking to someone who didn’t look at him like a criminal. Aside from his mum, seeing Dae (someone who he’s always feared but admired) and hearing her talk about Jeno, made him feel that anything is possible. Even the impossible seemed possible. If Dae can forgive, why can’t he?
Which is why he mentally prepares himself to forgive Donghyuck for the next time he comes over. Much to his surprise, he’s shocked out of his mind when entering the apartment and inside their home Donghyuck is inside with a little girl who begins lifting up her skirt revealing her underwear.
“What the fuck- Donghyuck!”
Donghyuck’s head shots up to the door and he’s got his eyes wide open. “Renjun-”
“What are you doing with this child?!” Renjun yells out in furry.
Donghyuck scampers to Renjun and shuts the door before covering Renjun’s mouth tightly- causing Renjun to drop the plastic of groceries. His eyes move between Donghyuck’s heavy deadly stare to the clock which reads 10 am. What the hell did he just witness his brother and a child doing?
“Shut the fuck up you twap!” Donghyuck grates out through his teeth in a seething whisper. “It’s not what it fucking looks like. Stop making noise or else she’ll cry.”
But it’s too late as both of their ears are attentive to the wailing of the young little girl. “Mr Sunshine it hurts,” Areum cries out no longer being able to hold in her tears. Donghyuck sharply turns his head back allowing for Renjun to break free of his grip.
“If you don’t explain what the hell happened right now, I’m going to the police-”
“I also wanna go to the fucking police. I don’t know what the fuck to do!” Donghyuck stresses through hushed curses- but he still picks up Areum and pats her back. “Calm down kid, it’s okay. Just, just stop crying please,”
Areum obediently hiccups and hugs Donghyuck around his neck. “O-okay,”
Donghyuck breaths out stressfully before opening up his eyes and looking at Renjun, who is frozen with his mouth wide open and his eyes bulging out of their socket.
“Should I call the police?”
“Look, I…. today is my day off and I was hungry, so I went to the school to ask mum for the keys so that I could come home and get something to eat. But then, she started following me-” Donghyuck motions to Areum.
“Why?” Renjun asks.
“Renjun please, let me tell the story without getting interrupted. I’m under much pressure as it looks. I don’t know what the fuck to do. She feeling pain. I asked where, and she kept crying. Not wanting to cause a scene I told her to go back to class but she refused. She didn’t want to go back, and then blood started coming out from in between her legs.” Donghyuck in horror recalls the situation. “I asked her to show me where she’s feeling pain. Even though she didn’t want to say it I figured it’s her fucking vagina-”
“Donghyuck how on earth are you caught up in fucked up situation like this?”
“I promised her that I wouldn’t tell anyone and it seems like I might be the only one who knows this secret. I picked her up and came straight here. It’s only 10 now, but I have to figure out what the fuck I’m gonna do before 4pm when her uncle will come and pick her up. Fuck. Her uncle is raping her with horses and she’s afraid to tell her mother or anybody because her uncle is going to punish her. I asked how will he punish her and she lifted up her skirt. Renjun, what the fuck do I do?” Donghyuck walks back and forth while explaining and patting the little girl’s back.
Renjun runs his hand through his short hair and his mouth opens up like a fish. He wants to say something, but doesn’t know what to say. Donghyuck is with a little girl who’s somehow getting raped by her uncle? “Why didn’t you tell mum?”
“She told me to stay away from her,”
“And why didn’t you stay away?” Renjun questions. “I’m sure you could’ve,”
Donghyuck pauses in his step. He looks to his hand that’s against Areum’s back. His hand is shaking as he’s patting her. He can feel her heartbeat and just from how fast it’s beating he can tell that she’s scared shitless. She’s scared and she came to him. The mere thought that someone, a little girl, found refuge in confiding in him and crying to him has him feeling responsible. This little girl had no other person to turn to. Not even a teacher…but him.
“Donghyuck?”
Donghyuck blinks and is surprised by the emotions that overcome him. He wipes off the tears that almost pour and he continues soothing Areum. “It’s okay Areum, I’ll help you,” He whispers softly in her ear and gently sets her down on the coach. Her small puffy red face is scorched with tears and she’s shaking and hiccupping while holding in her tears. At this point, he completely ignores Renjun when running to the bathroom and coming out with some tissue and a face cloth and what looks like water in a little bucket. Donghyuck squeezes the cloth in the bucket of water before wiping it over the little girl’s face.
Renjun stand in place and in shock. His first instinct wants him to jump to the phone and call the police, but the way the little girl is looking at him and is seemingly trusting Donghyuck makes Renjun reconsider. It’s with a heavy yet reluctant heart that he goes into his mother’s room and finds the decoration teddy bear before moving back to the living room- whereby Donghyuck is now wiping up her legs that are stained with light patches of blood. Renjun sits on the couch waiting on Donghyuck.
Donghyuck takes notice of Renjun and turns to him. But Renjun lifts up the teddy bear. “Since I couldn’t finish my qualification at uni or any college because of my record, I took up online classes. I accidently signed up for art therapy and couldn’t take it back, so I had to learn. Now I enjoy learning about therapy through art. Maybe if we calmly ask her, she’ll be able to tell you the details,”
Donghyuck’s ears perk up when he hears Renjun state ‘we’. “If you know how to do it, please do it. I can’t bare for her to keep hurting.”
Renjun nods his head and gets on his knees moving closer to Donghyuck. He tries to smile at the little girl, but she’s so timid and her big eyes pool with tears. He lifts up the teddy bear and starts with the standard child procedure of therapy. Making sure that she sees herself in the teddy bear, asking a few easy questions allows Areum to open up easily, but upon getting to the hard questions- Areum tenses up. “How is she feeling today?”
“Sad,” Areum meekly speaks out looking down and rubbing her eyes again. “Mr Sunshine it hurts,”
“Where does it hurt Areum?” Donghyuck softly asks, and Renjun can almost hear the tears behind his words. “Where does it hurt on the teddy?”
Areum looks back to the teddy bear that Renjun is holding and her face morphs in sadness. She shakes her head, but this time Renjun speaks. “You won’t be in trouble if you help teddy find out where she’s feeling pain,”
Areum taking into consideration of the words, she stares at the teddy bear in Renjun’s hands before her hands raise and she leans forward to press her finger on the lower area of the teddy bear. Donghyuck already had an idea of where it hurt, but he still gets angry when Areum points to where she’s feeling pain. Renjun asks two more questions, of how badly it hurts and also what does she feel down there. However, it’s the next question that has him bugged out.
“Teddy doesn’t like it when uncle Jung eats her out. Teddy doesn’t like it when Uncle Jung plays with the horsey on her. Teddy doesn’t like the new secret toy between Uncle Jung’s legs.”
“Alright,” Renjun nods his head, his whole mind being disgusted by what the little girl has gone through. “Does Teddy-?”
Areum pants and bounces her leg before crying again. “It hurts again.”
“I don’t know what to do,” Donghyuck mutters. “She needs a hospital more than the police right now,”
“How about we call mum?” Renjun asks to which Donghyuck freezes to. One phone call from Renjun gets an immediate response from his mother, who explains that she’s still at the school and will be leaving in 4 hours from now. “No, it’s okay mum. I just wanted to ask you…” Renjun struggles to find the right words before he says them. “A lady question.”
Unsure of where her son is heading with the question, she smugly complies thinking it’s a playful situation. “Hurry up Renji, I’ve a class in a few,”
“So, uh. There’s a girl I know…and she’s kind of having…uhm…” Renjun clears his throat before sharply inhaling and trying to compose himself. “She’s having pains around her genital area. What can I do to digress the pain she’s feeling?” The question is surely odd and gets his mother to pause while her smile depletes from her face. Renjun asks the question again before following Donghyuck who takes Areum to the bathroom.
“Well for starters would you like me to speak to the girl?”
“Mum, it’s kinda complicated, but I need to be the middle man in this situation.” Renjun shifts in discomfort. “I know it’s uncomfortable, but spare me the tough details and just tell me what I need to do to make it less painful…I think she might also have itchiness of sores. It’s tough to tell.”
“We should talk when I get home-”
“No.” Renjun rushes quick in anxiety. “I mean please, she’s crying.” Renjun looks to the little girl’s reddened face.
Hearing his words she has sympathy for the unknown girl, before moving to a secluded area to talk. “Tell her to soak herself in warm water for 10-15 minutes, and after wards she has to pat it dry with a warm cloth. Petroleum jelly usually works to ease redness or itchy ness, but so does cream and even baby oil, but whatever she has shouldn’t be soap- as it can cause an irritating itch to form. As I don’t know the root of this pain, that’s all I can offer- actually, before soaking herself in the water, she needs to use some wipes to clean thoroughly around the area. Tell her to keep the area dry when she’s done it all. I’m sure in some way that’ll help to reduce the pain.”
With the phone on speaker, Renjun moves and trespasses by his mother’s room to fetch some the items such as wet wipes, petroleum jelly and a spare cloth, while Donghyuck prepares the tub and fills it up with warm water. All the while Areum stands from side to side not trying to scratch herself. Upon setting up everything Donghyuck and Renjun walk outside the bathroom door and begin to guide Areum.
“Alright kid, take this and I want you to be careful.” Donghyuck hands her a few wet wipes. “But I want you to use this like a toilet paper, wipe yourself where it’s painful but do it gently. When you’re done knock on the door alright?”
“Okay,” Areum nods his head after closing the door. Areum removes her underwear that was trenched in soft blood and begins wiping on the area. She panics when seeing all the blood. “There’s so much blood,” She whimpers but still tries to use the wipes to clean herself. After cleaning up all the blood she walks over to the door and knocks on it.
“Alright Areum, here’s what you’re going to do now.” Donghyuck speaks in a loud tone so that she can hear from the closed door. “Remove your clothes and carefully get inside the tub of water okay?”
“Okay,” Following his instructions, Areum does as told and carefully gets inside the tub. “The water is too high,” She squeaks when she nearly falls in.
Donghyuck and Renjun’s ears perk causing them to have a short discussion before Donghyuck knocks on the door lightly. “Areum? I’m gonna enter with a towel, okay. I’m not gonna look at you, so don’t worry.” Donghyuck enters the bathroom with the towel high up so that he can only look at the floor. However, he holds in his discomfort when seeing her underwear with blood patches. He grunts but still moves forward to the sink and with one hand he sinks his hand in until it pulls out the stopper allowing the water to swarm out. “Tell me when it’s okay, you should be able to sit down,”
Areum stands inside the basin as the water still circles around her stomach. It slowly sets and when Areum begins to sit down cautiously she yells for him to stop. “Stop. It’s fine now,”
“Good, the waters not too hot right?” Donghyuck asks and she nods her head. He stops the stopper again, before backing up. “Alright Areum, when you’re done use this towel to wipe yourself and then call us, okay?”
“Okay-”
Picking up the underwear, Donghyuck leaves the bathroom going to the kitchen where Renjun is in the kitchen making a sandwich. “She has to stay in there for 15 minutes. Is she okay?”
“I hope so,” Donghyuck mumbles. “Uh,” He looks at the underwear. “I’m gonna wash this.”
“Why don’t you pop it in the machine, it can wash and dry.” Renjun says before moving over to Donghyuck and stretching his hand. “Let me do it,”
“Thanks,” Donghyuck carefully hands the undergarment so that neither of them are touching the blood. He begins to operate the machine and puts in the underwear.
“I’m also making a little sandwich for her,” Renjun gets a tomato out the fridge.
“She doesn’t like tomatoes, so don’t add that inside,”
Renjun, who’s about to cut in the tomato, quickly nods his head and begins adding cheese instead. “She must be those picky little children that mum talks about.” He mumbles.
Donghyuck chuckles lightly, a smile lingers on his lips and his eyes stare at his hands thinking of the day he started avoiding her because his mum said so. No matter what, she still looked for him and asked if he was okay. Even though he kept himself occupied, she was worried for him. “I wouldn’t say she’s picky. She’s actually really genuine and kind. Especially since she goes to a top kindergarten with snotty bratty children- her character feels developed. She likes helping those around her- and can I just say she’s clever. Whether it’s by sitting with someone who always sits alone, or making those around her laugh, heck she even goes out her way to help me clean after school. She’s witty for her age and has terrible puns but they always make me laugh…or even smile. I don’t know. It sounds fucking lunatic but she reminds me of myself. Not that I’m good at making people laugh or that I’m genuine, but I used to be like that. In the sense that, you give yourself to others so much that you don’t care if they hurt you or not. You just wanna make sure they’re happy.” He looks down thinking how sadly his environment and father changed him. “Lucky for her she’s in a good home. A bad home can fuck up your morals. Fuck…can you just imagine the trauma she’ll go through because of her uncle? I even found myself praying for her.”
Renjun, listening to everything Donghyuck says, doesn’t fail to notice how Donghyuck’s emotions are being responsive to what he’s saying. Normally Donghyuck was closed off or one sided and not that interested. But speaking about this little girl has him smiling and thinking deeply. Renjun isn’t blind. He knows someway, somehow, Donghyuck wasn’t the same anymore. He started changing himself and it’s evident in the way he speaks. So as he continues making the sandwich he speaks up. “Want one? You did say you were hungry,”
Donghyuck gets his head out of his hands clearing his throat. “If it’s not trouble.”
Renjun nods his head. As he’s making the sandwich for Donghyuck he speaks up. “My past family…the one in China, were kinda wealthy. Wealthy with riches, but not wealthy with love. They were an arranged couple and hated each other. I was made, with the sole purpose of being a heirloom and legacy so that our family name wouldn’t die. I can’t remember what happened all too well but, my mother didn’t really want me. I was an only child but was treated like shit every day.”
He places the plate of sandwiches on Donghyuck’s table as he continues.
“I can’t remember half the things that happened in that house but they were never happy memories anyway. Majority of my child was spent with me resenting my own existence. I turned 15 on March and my family that day decided that traveling for my birthday would bring us all together. I was a bit scared, but I trusted their words… I didn’t want to disobey them so I tried to be happy that day. We landed in Korea and they got me cake, balloons, big toys- everything was perfect and it made me really happy. So you can imagine my shock when it’s late at night and we drive to an unknown neighborhood and they told me to get out. They drove away, and I didn’t even chase them. I just stood there in silence as if I had already known that they’d do this to me. I don’t know why, but I didn’t cry. I just stood there in the dark watching people pass. Some kids stole my toys and balloons but I didn’t even cry. I think I stayed on that street for 3 days before I was approached by mum.”
Donghyuck, hearing this story for the first time is struck with revelation. He even feels guilty all over again, the same way he felt guilty when he went to jail for dragging Renjun down with him.
“Your mum, despite not having anything simply said that she saw me standing outside her house for some days and wondered if I was lost. I was still in limbo and basically didn’t answer her. But regardless of it, she took me in and from that day on I’ve been amazed at how better I’ve been treated by someone who was of lower ranks then my past parents who were high rankers. You were in prison for that period, so I grew up with your mum. She was welcoming…always made sure that I ate well and slept well. And when I had bad dreams, she’d comfort me. I never what it’s like to receive so much love, so I was in awe of it all. Her goodness, her kindness, her light that radiated through her sickeness…you know what’s funny, she didn’t even tell me to call her mum, it came out naturally. And because it came out naturally, I wanted to stay with her forever. She became my mum and whereas back then when I felt rejected and lonely, because of her I began feeling cared for and loved. Even when you came out of prison and saw me for the first time. I was happy to be your brother…but,”
For some reason, when Renjun looks up to Donghyuck’s eyes they both let out a little laugh upon the memory of Donghyuck being confused by the new so called addition to their family. “I was a dick.”
“You were, but I was just happy to have a brother honestly. I thought it was a normal thing for siblings. I guess I looked up to you because mum always spoke highly of you. And when I looked passed your anger issues, I saw that everything she had said about you was true. You’ve got a big heart and you care so much…you just chose to show it in different ways and because of what you’ve gone through, it’s been buried in anger and resentment. Despite being bitter at you, I realized how much you cared for me and mum. I know I said a lot of things but the fact that you really wanted to leave our lives so that we could be better made me feel bad. Because you also deserved to be part of our family…you’re already a part of it and I don’t want to lose an older brother like you.” Renjun scratches the back of his neck. “Anyway, back to what you said about a bad home fucking up morals. It’s true to some degree, and that’s why if you care enough for this child, you won’t allow her to endure by herself anymore. I realized, that it’s better to forgive you then be angry at you for your mistakes. As my brother, you’ve considered me through thick and thin…and even when I was being a moody you were somehow still kind to me. So, I just wanted to say I’m sorry Donghyuck-”
Donghyuck shakes his head stretching his arm out. “It’s me that should be apologizing. I don’t express it much but your Chinese ass always makes me feel like I’m needed. Needed to show you the right things and not drag you down. I’ve been a bad brother, and I’m sorry bro. For dragging you down into my corrupt lifestyle. The day you went to prison for the first time broke me down so much because I failed to protect you…and that made me feel like I failed to protect mum. So, please forgive,”
Renjun looks down at Donghyuck’s hand and brings his own hand up to shake on it. The bro handshake alone brings both of them to a place of relief. Weight is being removed from their shoulders and peace is entering in them. “I forgive you,”
“Why’d you cut your hair?” Donghyuck finds himself saying. “Even when you’re smiling you still look so mean,”
Renjun laughs and nods his head. “I learnt from you. To be dangerous you should look dangerous. And that’s what I did.”
“I fucked you up already,” Donghyuck snickers. As they sit around the table and engage in a light conversation before the alarm on Renjun’s phone rings. Once again standing by the door, they direct Areum in the next steps of patting gently with the cloth on her private area before using the towel to wipe everywhere and finally applying the petroleum jelly all over her lower half. Telling her to wait for a couple of minutes by walking up and down, Donghyuck tells her to put on her dress.
“Alright Areum, how are you feeling? Good or bad?”
“Better,” She answers before opening the door and looking up to Donghyuck.
“I’m happy you’re better.” Donghyuck squats down patting her head. “But I want you to promise me something, to not get upset when I tell somebody. Uncle Jung will pay for hurting you,”
“He didn’t hurt me-” She blabbers but stops herself when her eyes get watery. Donghyuck feels his heart ache, but he still tries to smile to her.
“You don’t have to lie for him. When someone hurts you, you make sure they don’t break you,” Donghyuck says looking in between her nervous eyes. “You’re a beautiful and smart girl Areum, I promise you, everything will be alright and he won’t hurt you anymore. I want you to be happy and not worry about your uncle. So no more fuck. No more playing games with him. Or riding the horsey, okay?” Areum regardless of the tears pooling over her eyes she nods her head. Donghyuck places both his hands gently on her face and wipes the tears away, before he finds himself picking her up while she wraps her arms and legs on him. He hugs her so tight that it makes her cry silently.
Poor little girl. Renjun thinks to himself as he watches from the side. Donghyuck hands Areum half of the sandwich Renjun made, allowing her to eat while he carries her. She begins to fall asleep as Donghyuck pat her back in a calm way while he hums out softly. Renjun watching it all gets side tracked when his phone rings and he sees it’s his mum calling. “Yes mum-”
“What the hell Renjun?!” She shrieks. “Are you kidding me?”
“Mum?” Renjun furrows his brows being worried by the way his mum is breathing and whispering yet shouting. “What’s wrong?”
“It’s too much of a coincidence to ignore but you know what, I can’t jump to conclusions.” She panics to herself more than him before she blurts out in a hushed whisper. “Is Donghyuck at home?”
Renjun nods his head and then answers. “Yes.”
“Oh my god,” His mother panics. “This girl with pain on her genital, how is she feeling?”
“Uh…” Renjun looks to a sleepy Areum on Donghyuck’s shoulder.
“Renjun be honest with me right now. Is there a little girl in our house, by the name of Areum?” His mother strains out, alarming Renjun. “Does this girl with the pain on her private area happen to be Areum? Answer me Renjun.” She sternly pressures.
“Mum before you freak out, listen-”
“Oh my god. What the hell Renjun? Tell Donghyuck to bring her back immediately! She’s been missing for the student parent meeting and her guardian is about to press charges on the school. Tell Donghyuck to bring her back now!”
“Donghyuck-” Renjun quickly gets up and hurries to Donghyuck. “You need to take her back to the school-”
Renjun doesn’t even need to finish to know that something went wrong. “Shit, it’s only 12.”
“I’ll order an uber-” Renjun is quick in grabbing his phone while searching through his wallet. Donghyuck is already opening the door and going out- with Renjun behind him. Thankfully the uber Renjun calls is already downstairs by the time they both scramble out the building. Renjun spots the black vehicle and directs Donghyuck. Once paying for the ride already by the door, he wishes Donghyuck luck. Once the car is out of sight, Renjun can only hope that Donghyuck won’t get punished. They just forgave each other for crying out loud- they can’t take him away… They won’t take him away if Donghyuck plays his cards correctly and explains the situation.
While it’s a 30 minute drive from Donghyuck’s mother’s home to the school, from Yezi’s hospital to the school is an hour’s drive. And as soon as she gets the message from Jaehyun that Areum’s not at school her heart busts with fear.
-
10 minutes before.
Quietly opening the door, Dae is surprised by the pairs of shoes all around the door. Jeno was supposed to be in bed or rather trying to rest up- however upon seeing the shoes Dae is confused of why people would be over when he was sick.
"Honey bits I'm home!" She calls out removing her shoes by the door. She heads first into the kitchen to leave the groceries. "Sugar plump?"
"Hey babe," Jeno enters the kitchen, his infamous eye smile greeting her while he walks closer embracing her in a hug, which she smiles and sinks into. Being in his arms always felt blissful. "Uh…” He runs his hands over his hair once they break apart before holding onto her hands with his own shaky hands. “I…" He whispers. "Some people are here. Please just hear them out, don't let go of my hand please. I'm right here okay? Nothing's gonna happen to you because you're going to be holding my hand,"
"Sure," Dae nods her head squeezing his hand unsurely.
"Let's go," He says and pulls her hand gently.
"Is it my dad? Who’s here and why do you look so worried?" Following behind Jeno to the living room, Dae is greeted with two standing offers who bow their heads.
"Oh, hi," Dae is highly shocked when seeing both the officers; Jisung and Jaemin.
"Miss Dae, how're you doing?" Jisung greets.
"I-I'm good Officer," Dae smiles humbly bowing as he returns the bowing. "How have you been?"
"Good." He answers simply, just as Jaemin bows his head.
“Miss Dae,”
“Hi Officer Na,” Dae nervously greets. “Uh, I hope all is well Officer,"
He smiles simply and nods his head. “All is well,”
“Uh, so what brings you here?" She politely tries to bring up. “Were you waiting long? Would you like me to make some tea?”
“It’s alright,” Jaemin states. “We were actually waiting for you,”
“Oh, I hope I'm not in trouble. I pay my taxes,” She jokes lightly making the guys politely laugh. “Then I hate to be rude but…is everything alright?”
“Why don’t we sit down?” Jeno says and she looks up to him with anxious eyes. Sitting down beside him, she’s aware of another person in the room… particularly on a wheelchair. A shiver runs up her spine causing her entire body to stiffen.
Although she's calm on the outside, Jeno can tell she's panicked because she holds his hand tighter. “Dae, uh… Remember that day when I told you that my brother was in the hospital?”
"I take it his injury is pretty bad. But, why did you bring him here?" Her voice breaks unintentionally. “Officer-”
"Dae," Jeno calls but she’s hyperventilating causing him to hold onto both her hands. “Dae listen to me-”
“Jeno- I can’t…”
"Babe he’s helpless-"
"I’m helpless right now- How could you bring him here to our home when you know I-"
Mark’s dark hostile eyes peer up at Jeno when both his hands leave her own and go over her head. He brings Dae’s head close to his while her hands hold onto his wrists and she shakes her head struggling to breathe. Mark can’t take his off his brother. Surely this was his brother, but with the way he is with this girl makes him look so different.
“I promise everything nothing’s gonna happen. He’s on a wheelchair and he can’t hurt you,” Jeno whispers to Dae. “Just breath and calm down please,”
Dae being reluctant feels her eyes watering but she holds herself back and nods her head. Dae takes a few minutes to regain her composure as she tries to breath in and out. Looking up, the first person her eyes go to is Mark, but she can only shiver when his eyes are already on hers.
“Dramatic-”
"Mark." Jisung warns Mark from talking any further before focusing back on the couple. "Miss Dae, I’m not sure how much Mr Lee Jeno here has told you, but this is concerning Lee Mark. Mark was released from prison a months weeks ago and has been adhering to living honestly. However, he unfortunately got himself caught up in a brawl and his opponent drew a knife and stabbed him in the back literally. As his Probation Officer, seeing his state, the court saw it fit for him to be taken care of by his family. As he's got no other family but Jeno, we ask your cooperation in-”
Dae can only shake her head. "Even if Jeno’s the only family left, they can't force him to stay with him. There are many other places to take him in, not here,"
"I already signed the paper's in his name," This time Officer Na says.
"Why?" Dae stresses but Jeno holds her hand.
“Because I agreed,” He states. He tries looking at her to see her reaction, but her eyes are closed as her body lightly trembles. Her silence scares him. Jeno speaks up noticing Dae going into retreat and trying to let go of his hand. "For how long is he here?" But Jeno holds tighter onto her hand.
"A period of 6 months," Jaemin answers.
"6-" Dae is blown out of her mind with shock. She abruptly gets up forcing her hand out of Jeno's hand. "I'm not- I can't-"
She storms out of the living room yet halts when hearing a low voice. Not turning her head back, she holds onto her face feeling her tears threatening to spill. "Hey, Dae right?" Mark's eyes peek up to Jeno who nods his head. "Look, it was not my intention to get involved that night and get stabbed and being forced to live with my brother. I don't want to be here. If you don’t want me here I’ll go. Your anger towards me is rational and I deserve it. But if this is the last time I’ll see you I just want to apologize for what I did to you. Seeing how happy you makes my brother gives me the assurance that he doesn’t need me. So I’m sorry for everything. I’m not blaming the drugs, but I was aware of what I did to you. Shit got out of hand, and I violated you. I’m sorry-”
She leaves the living room not staying around to hear him. She didn’t want to hear him- but somehow him amplifying his voice apologizing has her in tears. The vague memory of having him take advantage of her body has her shivering.
Feeling warm hands around her body she stiffens for a little bit before sinking into the familiar scent of Jeno. “If you’re not comfortable with him here, I’ll tell them to go. Should I tell them to go?”
Dae silently stays in his grasp not letting him go. He’s the brother to a guy who violated her against her will. The fact that Jeno, her lover will let his brother go because of her makes her feel some type of way. Especially since he apologized to her.
They’re chat is interrupted when Jaemin budges past looking alarmed. “Yezi calm down- I’ll be there right now. I’m coming to get you- Shit.” Jaemin stares at the phone and instantly gets his eyes on Jeno. “Can you open the door for me, I need to go.”
“Was that Yezi on the phone?” Dae asks in confusion get her arms off Jeno. “What’s wrong? Did something happen?”
“It seems like she’s walking to the school from her workplace. I need to go and pick her up and at least get her to the school,” Jaemin explains while Jeno opens up the door and gates for him.
As soon as Jaemin is out of sight and Jeno begins closing the gate and door Dae speaks up. “Do you want him to stay here?”
His eyes perk up by her words and he sighs while moving close to her. Looking down to her, he has a view of how nervous she looks. It's almost as if she's scared. He knows that she is - after all, she doesn't look up to him the way she mostly does with assurance that he'll keep her safe. And he doesn't want her to lose faith in him, that he can keep her safe. But at the same time, Mark is his brother. And hearing about his condition made me wonder how exactly his brother got hurt. The brother he knew killed anybody who even tried to hurt him. But seeing him in his living room looking defeated has him feeling worried. At first, he didn't want for his brother to stay…but seeing him knocked his heart down. "I know his brother, but he hurt you-"
"Baby, look," Dae places her hand underneath his cheek. "He's your family, and I shouldn't be dramatic about it. You came to see my family and they gave you a chance, I think it's only fair to give him a chance. It's up to you,"
Jeno can only look away from her for a moment. But then he realizes she isn't really trying to get his attention. She's trying to talk to him because she wants to comfort him, and Jeno knows he owes her an answer. Looking back into her eyes, his heart skips a beat feeling nervous. "I promise that I won't let him hurt you again,"
Dae nods her head. Although she doesn't say it out loud, she has a feeling that Mark won't hurt her again. If he was able to save her that night she took a walk and was nearly killed, and if he was also able to apologize and admit that he would leave, just gave her the reassurance that he wouldn't do anything to her.
“You can continue Officer,” Jeno returns back to his seat holding Dae’s hand. Mark looks at their hands clasped before looking to the ground.
“I told the Officer I’m good on my own.” Mark says. “So sorry for wasting your time. We’ll also be going.”
“You can stay,” Dae meekly speaks. Getting his attention, Mark freezes as he places his hands on the rollers of his wheel chair. He looks up to Jeno first before at Dae. She timidly looks down and breaths in deeply. “You can stay,”
“I’m good. I’ll go.”
6 months is a lot, but Jeno clears his throat. “Come on Mark, please stay. I can’t let you go out there on your own. Let me take care of you,”
“You’ll bitch about it-”
“I won’t bitch about it, please bro.” Jeno pleads.
In response, Mark places his hands back on his lap and shrugs his shoulders silently waiting for the officer to continue. As Jisung begins to further into the types of medication Mark needs and the types of exercises he should do, Donghyuck in the car with Areum (who is now awake) tells jokes to cheer up.
“What did the ocean say to the sand?” Donghyuck starts making Areum smile expectantly. “Nothing, it just kept waving,”
Hearing Areum laugh sets his mood a bit lighter, hoping that when he gets to the school he can be calm and deal with any problem in a tone that’s not angered. So when the driver stops by the kindergarten and Donghyuck heads out the car with Areum - he is greeted by his mother who has a stone poker face. “In the Principal’s office. Now.” She takes a hold of Areum’s hand and they begin inside the building.
Areum is nervous upon getting to the office and seeing Uncle Jung. “Thank goodness you’re safe,” Jaehyun breathes out. He gets up from his seat moving towards Areum but she stiffly moves back and away from Donghyuck’s mother’s hand and attempts to run out.
However she bumps onto a pair of legs. Gazing up and Donghyuck’s face, she hides behind him holding onto his legs tightly.
Not only is the principal surprised, but also Donghyuck’s mother. Jaehyun immediately understands the situation when seeing Donghyuck’s face. He scoffs out pinching his nose before turning to Areum. “Areum come here,” She hesitantly shakes her head, holding tighter onto Donghyuck’s legs. Donghyuck has his hand over her head. “Mummy said I should pick you up since you weren’t feeling so well today. Come,”
“I think it would be best if her mummy came to pick her up herself,” Donghyuck speaks up, not once looking away from Jaehyun’s frame.
Jaehyun peers at Donghyuck with violent eyes. “I am her guardian-”
“Does a guardian inflict sexual pain on-”
His mother abruptly calls on his name. “Donghyuck-”
“I don’t care who you are.” Donghyuck continues nonetheless.
“Sexual pain?” Jaehyun scoffs. “What are you insinuating?”
“She’s not leaving until her mum comes.”
“She’s on her way as we speak. So I think it’s best we don’t cause any trouble. I’m willing to look past the fact that Areum disappeared and hasn’t attended her classes.” Jaehyun states. “As long as Areum’s safe, we don’t have to involve her mother.”
“She’s not safe with you.” Donghyuck retorts.
An awkward laugh from the principal only gets the attention of Donghyuck’s mother, as both thee other males are having a deadly stare down. “Mr Jung, please do understand this is our new recruit janitor. He’s not quit familiar with-”
“So you’re okay with this janitor kidnaping my child-”
“She’s not your child and I didn’t kidnap her. She came to me.”
The principal clears his throat. “Mr Lee, we’ve had no disagreements or troubles with you up till now. Please leave the child alone.”
“Donghyuck let her go.” His mother speaks up.
“You’re acting as if I’ve got her hostage.” Donghyuck mumbles and folds his arms. “She’s clearly clinging onto me because she doesn’t want to go to her so called guardian.”
“Areum-”
Jaehyun cuts the principal off and aims his speech to Areum. “Areum you’ve been a bad girl today. If you don’t want to be punished, you’ll come to me right now.”
Areum standing behind Donghyuck has fear gripping onto her entire being. She trembles when turning her head away from him. Seeing this, Jaehyun stands up right and peers into Donghyuck’s eyes. Donghyuck is trying desperately hard to control himself, especially feeling how urgently she clings onto him. “I told you she’s not going anywhere until her mum comes.”
“Areum. Do you think he’s going to protect you from when you get home?” Jaehyun asks.
“You are not going to touch her.” Donghyuck instructs.
“You have no say in this janitor. And for the record I’ll punish her more because of you.” Jaehyun seethes through his teeth. “Areum come here now!”
Areum jumps in fear and instantly squanders over to Jaehyun keeping her teary eyes tethered to the ground. Donghyuck can only watch in anger when seeing Areum meekly approach her ‘uncle’.
“It seems like you were a bad girl today,” Jaehyun speaks to Areum when he squats down and pats her head trying to get her to look up to him. When looking into her teary eyes he looks up to Donghyuck. “You made her cry.” Jaehyun stands up. “Thank you Principal, we’ll be going,”
“No problem Mr Jung.” The principal bows his head maintain a professional smile.
As soon as Jaehyun gets to the door Donghyuck refuses to move. “You’re not going anywhere until her mum comes.”
Jaehyun’s tongue pokes the sides of his mouth. “And I told you that I’m willing to let this whole mess slide. Move.”
“No.”
“Fine. If you don’t want to move, I’ll make you move,” With that Jaehyun omits a fierce backhand against Donghyuck’s face. Donghyuck’s face strikes to the left in pain. He blinks the dizziness away panting out. He was hoping not to get into a fight but after hearing Jaehyun’s next words, he’s not so sure that he can hold himself back. “I’m gonna have fun punishing her today.”
Balling his fist Donghyuck lunges to Jaehyun punching him. Jaehyun springs backwards as Donghyuck furiously tackles him to the ground rapidly landing a rough rock hard solid punch over his cheek. Blood bursts out of Jaehyun’s mouth as Donghyuck lands another aggressive punch on the other side of his face. Being dizzy by the impact Jaehyun lays motionless panting out while Donghyuck grabs his collar looking at him in the eyes. “You’re not going to touch her again!”
Donghyuck hurls out his fist tightly when hearing Jaehyun laugh. “There’s nothing you can do, because she’s already mine-”
Jaehyun grates his teeth tightly when seeing Officer Na drag Donghyuck by force in a headlock hastily getting him off. “What the hell is going on here?” The Officer enquires.
“Jaehyun!” Yezi pounces in worry and heads to Jaehyun’s side. Seeing his bruised face, she clips her hair up before helping him out . “Oh my god what happened?”
“That fucking janitor took Areum to god knows where and did god knows what to her,” Jaehyun grunts when Yezi helps him onto a chair. She heatedly turns her head back after hearing Jaehyun’s wanting to give the ‘janitor’ a piece of her mind. Her eyes enlarge just as her whole body turns to face the janitor fully. With her mouth slightly parting, she watches how Jaemin tries to tame him. But Donghyuck tries to get out of the headlock bustling with anger.
“Let me fucking go! He’s the one you should be putting behind bars!”
Never ever would she be able to forget his boiling voice, the same man who broke into their home, the same man who had his way with both her and her sister, the same man who raped her, the same man who inflicted such fear upon her, that same man who wouldn’t stop beating up everyone and who at least punched or slapped everyone at least once. She’d never ever forget that man with anger issues who unveiled her and made her feel nothing but insecure.
Seeing him manhandled by Jaemin while a familiar motherly figure tries to speak has her seething with anger. Seeing Areum being trapped behind Donghyuck’s mother, Jaemin and Donghyuck has her consumed with rage. She stomps to them and upon getting a clear view of him her hand swings back and she slaps him. Donghyuck being smacked rapidly turns his eyes towards the culprit. In an instant his eyes are frozen on Yezi with confusion. “How dare you touch my daughter!?” Another slap from her has Jaemin letting of a frozen Donghyuck while he attends to Yezi.
“Yezi-”
She grabs onto Areum’s hand and pulls her away from them and next to her. Donghyuck is equally stunned when seeing Yezi. He never forgot her face and seeing Areum rush to her hugging onto her legs has him confused. Was Areum… her daughter? “Did you touch my daughter?” She breathes out, her body absorbed in rage. “How dare you-”
She attempts another slap but Jaemin is quick to holding onto her hand. “You’ve got it all wrong-” Donghyuck’s eyes burst open when hearing her words, he tries to move his hands to explain but when seeing their in cuffs he points to Jaehyun. “I’m a janitor here in the school and-”
“Janitor?” Yezi shakes her head in confusion and looks to the principal. “This man is a janitor here in this school? Do you even know who he is?” The principal tries to speak but Yezi cuts him off. “He is a convict who went to jail for rape!”
“Listen to me.” Donghyuck stresses. “Your daughter-”
“Don’t you dare talk about my daughter!” Yezi sends another sharp slap across his cheek turning it red and causing Jaemin to hold onto her-
“Get your hands off me-” Jaemin let’s her go keeping his head down from her sharp stare. “Did you know he works here?”
“I’m not his parole officer-”
“Why is he out of jail!? He went to jail for raping me and now he’s free-”
Donghyuck steps in trying to speak in a calm tone. “That was a fucking long time ago but you need to listen to me or else Areum will-”
“Don’t you even dare say her name-” She tries to go in for another slap but this time Donghyuck grips her hand tight.
“That fucking uncle is raping your own daughter!”
“Shut up.” Her hand swings back and she gives him a tight black hand slap her eyes watering. “Shut the hell up. I can’t even stand to look at you right now. You’re a rapist, you don’t think that’s something the school should’ve known about?”
Donghyuck is bent over breathing out. Looking up into Yezi’s eyes he touches his own cheek that has a cut and is bleeding before noticing Areum crying and standing behind him. He stands up again and inhales sharply. “I’m tired of this back and forth. Don’t you care about your daughter-”
“Stop mentioning my daughter! Not only did you take her out of school and to god knows where- but the fact that she’s been feeling pain labia only proves to me that you did something to my daughter?”
“It’s not about what I did! For fucks sake did you even question that uncle-”
“Baby don’t listen to him-”
Donghyuck bursts out again in fury. “I only kept her from that freaking uncle who keeps playing fuck with her! Did you know that he raped her and he’s been-”
She’s quick in slapping him and grabbing his shirt having so much adrenaline. “Let me ask you a question- did you or did you not go to jail for rape?”
“Let me exp-”
“Did you go to jail?
“Fuck look-”
“Did you go to jail for rape?”
“Yes but-”
“That’s all I need to know.”
“You don’t know anything.” Donghyuck’s hands in cuffs grabs onto both her hands and gives her one violent shake. “If you think I have anything with your fucking daughters labia you’re wrong- you should be looking to your fucking uncle who keeps raping her. I took her out of school because of him and what he did to her-” Yezi who struggles to get her hands out tries to hit him but he speaks up. “And if you keep hitting me you’ll make Areum cry.”
Hearing Areum’s name, Yezi stops hyperventilating hearing Areum crying. Looking back and forth between Donghyuck’s eyes Yezi sharply inhales when noticing his features. Although Areum looked a little bit like Dae- Areum surely had his eyes. Seeing his eyes angry and feeling his force on her causes her to tear up. Turning back and away from him she doesn’t see Areum by Jaehyun or even Jaemin but instead she’s behind Donghyuck holding onto his leg. Pushing herself off him she looks down to Areum who keeps on crying.
“Areum come here,” Yezi hates seeing her daughter in tears and behind the man who allegedly raped her.
Looking up to her mother Areum walks over to her mum and Yezi picks her up holding onto her tightly as Areum breaks down and cries louder. She cools her down and beads her eyes to the principal. “For hiring this rapist I’m going to press charges and sue this school-”
“Ma’am please-”
“Your son is a rapist and if you can still stand there and be proud of him or even defend him then you’ve got bad luck on your shoulders.”
Donghyuck pokes his cheek before glaring back at Yezi. “Don’t you dare talk like that to my mother. You can’t even look after your child and you don’t even care about you her or what she’s going through-”
“My daughter doesn’t concern you! She never will. Jaemin I’m going with Jaehyun. Please.” She faces Jaemin who has a stern face. “Do whatever you can to get him back in prison. He shouldn’t be free at all. Jaehyun.”
“Mummy he didn’t do anything-” Her eyes blur when hearing Areum whisper in her ear.
“God you’re a filthy human being.” Yezi’s looks to Donghyuck who has his head down. “I hope you rot in that jail.”
Just as they leave, Jaehyun walks past Donghyuck giving him a dirty look. “I guess I should’ve known, that once a rapist always a rapist. You probably had your own taste of her-”
Donghyuck bucks again but instantly Jaemin holds onto him. “Donghyuck calm down.”
The principal speaks up. “Mr Lee you’re fired.” He states and looks to his mother. “I need a word with you Mrs Lee. Officer you may leave.”
-
20h00
Yezi looks up when hearing a knock on her door. Chenle walks in the room quietly noticing Areum sleeping in her mother’s arms. He takes a seat next to Yezi on the bed looking down at her. “Heard from Jaemin what happened.”
Yezi’s mouth goes stiff just as her eyes sadly look down.
“He said that the convict mentioned Areum bleeding from in between her legs.” Chenle starts lowly. “Were you even aware of the type of things your boyfriend did to her?”
Yezi pouts her lips being saddened. Upon getting home, Yezi put Areum on the spot and when Areum began speaking Yezi felt her heart aching as his broke. From Areum speaking of the types of games that she’d play with Jaehyun to her hearing about how ‘Mr Sunshine’ took her to his place and helped cleaned her up only made Yezi overwhelmed with feeling like a failure. “My boyfriend put his dick into my daughter and I didn’t even know.” Her voice fades into shame as she sinks her head down trying to hush herself. Chenle gets on the bed and positions himself next to her so that he can hold onto her as she’s crying.
Despite Areum not being his daughter, hearing the news only gave him a father’s grief for his child. His grandchild was taken advantage of behind his child’s will or knowledge and she couldn’t do anything about. The fact that he couldn’t protect the both of them reminds him of how he failed at protecting his daughters. And it’s not that he couldn’t protect Areum, it’s just he trusted Jaehyun the same way Yezi did. Jaehyun came from the Jamal family, whose reputation was high on the stakes for being the best car dealership enterprise. The fact he not only demonstrated such a foul act of behavior, but he ruined his reputation and Chenle was going to make sure he sunk to the ground for what he did.
He sighs out before kissing Yezi on her forehead. “It’s not your fault,” He whispers out to her.
“Then whose fault is it?” She whispers.
“Some things happen in our lives merely to open up our eyes. Open our eyes to see what we were blind to. When those boys broke into our house and hurt you and Dae, it made me see that, we are flesh and bones and that we aren’t untouchable and that even having all the money in the world won’t solve our problems.” Chenle nods his head. “It doesn’t stop me making more money, but it allows me to see that I’m human and bad things can happen to me too,”
Yezi lays her head on her dad’s shoulder listening to him and reflecting.
“And when Dae left, instead of me trying to have control over her, for her own safety, it made me see that I can’t keep her from experiencing the world for herself. And as my daughter, you’re still my baby, the same baby who I feel always needs me, even when you make your own choices. You’re still gonna have a lot to learn from. Bad or good, it’s still life.” He rubs her shoulder. “And speaking of life, it’s very difficult to view the world from a perspective outside of your own, since we are always so focused on what’s happening in our own lives. I see your efforts in working hard to protect Areum by allowing her to have the experiences you’ve never had, such as going to Kindergarten and even trying to introduce her to a new father figure so that she won’t have to know that she was a product of rape, but Yezi, you can’t give her experiences that aren’t for her life.”
“I thought I was doing everything right,” Yezi sniffs. “Why is it so hard protecting her?”
Chenle hums soothingly rubbing his hand on her arm. In a slow and quiet voice, he whispers in Yezi’s ear. “That’s what I asked the first time I saw you and Dae,” Chenle recalls with a little smile. “If there’s anything I learnt from you two, is simply to get involved with everything you do. That means knowing your habits, what you like and don’t, reassuring you guys that your life is my number 1 concern, and in me encouraging you guys to openly communication allowed for you guys to talk to me about your situations,”
Areum shifts in her mum’s arms causing both their eyes to land on her.
“What happened to Areum needs to open your eyes to allow you to step up in your responsibility as her parent. You don’t have to find some suitable bachelor - you can protect her on your own because you’ve got your mum and I behind you every step of the way.” Chenle advices. “You shouldn’t sue the school or the janitor, you should give blame to the rightful person and take legal actions against him. No man who hurts my daughters has the right live comfortably.”
Yezi sighs and repositions Areum in her arms so that she can hold her tighter. “It’s the fact that the person who raped me, knew before me, that my daughter was being hurt. And he stepped up in that responsibility as a stranger who helped a little girl. Areum called him Mr Sunshine. He raped me but to her he’s Mr Sunshine. Dad,”
“I can’t say much about him, only that perhaps the prison life this time around woke him up,”
-
After allowing Mark to stay with them, Dae wasn’t expecting for the rest of her night to play out in an uncanny way. She thought that Jeno would take care of his brother and wouldn’t involve her. But then it became personal for her when he was being mean to Jeno (by refusing to do anything). It’s not till she stepped in and assisted Jeno that Mark reluctantly gave in. First it was already a hand full to accept Mark and help him out as a sick patient, but for some reason, she also had to create extra space on her dinner table for Donghyuck.
When he arrived, he immediately wanted to leave after seeing Dae. But Jeno told him to stay and surprisingly Dae too was kind enough to allow him to have a seat on her supper table. According to what Jaemin explained over the phone to Jeno, Donghyuck needed to be in a home more than anything. Hearing what went down both Dae and Jeno were in shock, but didn’t turn Donghyuck away.
It was odd to be seated with all the criminals that broke into her home, but something about this dinner didn’t feel wrong. It felt like a therapeutic session of them healing through the food.
She expected everything to be discreet and abnormal, yet when Jeno and his brother tried to lighten up the mood of the table she mostly assuredly didn’t expect to be laughing throughout the dinner while being entertained by Mark and Jeno. Donghyuck found it particularly unusual to sit and eat on the same table with Dae, however being seated with Mark and Jeno allowed him to be respectful as he saw they were being polite throughout everything.
“I still can’t believe Jeno here bagged a beau like you,” Mark says modestly trying not to appear unbearable. “You’re out of his league,”
Dae giggles at the compliment and turns to Jeno raising her brow. “You bagged me? What does that mean?”
“Bagged is slang,” Jeno runs his hand through his hair. “I didn’t bag her, she bagged me,”
“Hmm, I should’ve known. You’ve always been the pegging type,” Mark breaths out, causing Donghyuck to snicker.
“What’s pegging?” Dae asks curiously looking to Jeno who rolls his eyes playfully.
“It means he likes getting his ass eaten o-”
“No. Don’t listen to him, he’s dirty. It means that I prefer you taking control over me,” Jeno immediately cuts, feeling his cheeks getting warm making Dae smile.
“So pegging-” Dae jokes humbly laughing when Jeno groans.
It seems that Mark and Jeno were together in making the people on the table comfortable. While Jeno made the mood light for Dae, Mark made the mood light for Donghyuck – who had the worst day of his life. Getting fired and getting on his mum’s bad side, was enough to make him go crazy. But thank God for Mark, because if Mark wasn’t there when he called, he would’ve definitely done something bad.
“Wow, the food is really good. I haven’t eaten a meal like this in forever.” Mark modestly speaks after slurping the last bits of his food.
Dae simply smiles being happy about being complimented about her cooking. She can’t imagine the type of background they all come from. “I’m glad you’re enjoying the food. Do you want another bowl?”
“Yeah I’m starving,” Mark chuckles lowly.
“I’ll get it for him,” Jeno pats her back and picks up Mark’s dish. “At this rate you’ll eat all the food,”
“It’s okay.” Dae finds herself speaking while taking the plate away from Jeno and dishing up for Mark. “He can eat as much as he wants,” He looks malnourished. Is what Dae says in her mind.
Everyone deserved a good home, food, clothing and warmth and love. When she took away the fact that Mark was a criminal and allowed him to be free, she began to see a different person in him. And although it was bothersome at some point, knowing that he lacked a lot of means to life made her be considerable towards him. Although he made the choices he made, he only did because of the stability he lacked and how unfair and cruel the world had been to him. Dae tried not to judge him for his mistakes. The same way she forgave Jeno, she took it upon herself to forgive Mark and move past all that he did.
“They have large appetites,” Dae whispers to Jeno when looking at Mark eating his food, before she turns to Donghyuck who’s also quietly eating and dishing up for himself. They were starving. She turns back to Jeno. “Just let them eat,”
“So,” Mark turns to Donghyuck. “Are you going to speak to your mum?”
Donghyuck shakes his head.
“Don’t you think you have to?” Mark asks again. “You didn’t do anything wrong. She has to know that. Besides didn’t you say Officer Na said that woman dropped the charges?”
“That bitch threatened to sue me when I didn’t even touch her kid.” Donghyuck grumbles still in disbelief. Peeking over at Dae, Donghyuck ignores that she’s looking at him before he turns his gaze back to his food. Quietly eating, he finishes up his meal and looks to Mark. “I should go-”
“Nah stay man. They’re chilled,” Mark peeks at Jeno and Dae who clear up the table and wash the dishes together.
Donghyuck doesn’t put up a fight, since he was stuffed and he didn’t want to go back in the park all alone. He was back to square one. No job with an angry mum. “Fuck. What am I going to do now?” Donghyuck lays his hand over his head feeling a headache form.
“What’s this?”
Donghyuck looks up when hearing Mark question. One the table, Dae places before each of them a plate of what looks like chocolate balls, but really it’s some sweeteners. “Dessert.”
“De- what?” Mark looks to Jeno, who places a spoon on their chocolate pudding. “Dude don’t tell me this is how you live every day?”
“I got used to it,” Jeno smiles. “It’s really good,”
“Where I come from, one meal a day was all we needed to live.” Mark shakes his head. His brother was surely living the life.
“Can I ask you something?” Donghyuck looks to Dae who’s holding onto her spoon still eating. The mood around the table is lively and calm. He doesn’t want to ruin it, but he needed to know something.
Her heart seizes but she nods her head remaining calm.
“Your sister…” Donghyuck looks down at the table thinking of how he should ask the question. “Her kid…was it… because of me?”
His question leaves a difficult silence on the table as Mark’s ears are sharp to the question. Jeno too turns to Dae. Although he lived with her, he never knew how to address Yezi and her child. They only met once but he was so sure that Donghyuck’s sperm couldn’t have made such a polite little girl. So just like everyone anticipating her answer, Dae places her spoon down and nods her head. “Yes.”
Donghyuck’s eyes widen in astonishment. “You mean, that little girl, Areum is… is my seed? Mine?”
“In this type of situation, I don’t think she’d call you the father, but yes, she’s your seed.” Dae states and looks sympathetic to Donghyuck who balls his fists while covering his eyes.
“Can I ask you another question? Do you have an uncle called Uncle Jung?”
Dae shakes her head. “That was my sister’s boyfriend.”
Donghyuck’s jaw’s tremble as his tears raise from the depths of his soul. “That fucker…he..” Donghyuck grips onto his hair and shakes his head placing his head on the table. “She was only a child…Areum…” The feeling of despair wash over him as he relives the memory of Areum crying in his arms. How Areum cried in pain because of what that man did to her. Donghyuck is left feeling the same way he felt after raping Yezi. Anguish and misery coat over him, only this time his feelings are concerning the little girl…his little girl. Areum.
“Please, I know I shouldn’t be asking any favors from you. But please,” Donghyuck sniffs back and dries his tears of anger. “Tell your sister to get that guy away from Areum. He can’t live, after what he did to that little baby girl.”
And so it is, the day of the court has everyone boiling with anger towards the defendant who was defending Mr Jung Jaehyun, aka Uncle Jung, or best known Jung Jamal, wealthiest son to billionaire owners of Jamal Car Funders.
“Judge, what Lawyer Lee Taeyong has brought forth to you is not admissible evidence for 6 year old Zhong Areum, who was convicted of non consensual rape by my client Jung Jaehyun. By law this right here, my client being accused of this heinous crime, is a criminal offense.” Yuta states. “I understand the issue is sensitive however, it could all be foul play to remove Mr Jung from his enterprise.”
“But the investigations-” Taeyong objects.
“Could’ve been forged. From facts mentioned in the re-examination, it’s common for little girls her age to go through bleedings. One of the many pointers I brought forward is that fact that she-"
"Your honor you can't deny the facts. The investigation team found that inside the little girl several gentile seeds of a grown man were found in her-"
"Your honor even if all the facts are against my client, they have no other witness other than the family and their 'claims'." Yuta states.
"But she's my daughter!" Yezi bursts out in tears. "He-"
"The he said, she said game doesn't work here in court. If there are no witnesses then this case should be closed shut." Yuta ends buttoning up his jacket. He knew Jaehyun was in the wrong, but they were paying a lot of money because Nakamoto Yuta was the best lawyer when it came to backing up criminals.
“I testify,”
Yezi immediately snaps her head back to the voice, just as everyone else is stunned by the sudden witness. Seeing Donghyuck stand up, looking pissed has Yezi's heart pounding in hope. She turns forward seeing Yuta looking unmoved. “Your honor, if I may say, the man testifying is the former janitor of the kindergarten in which the child attends. Prior to this case being opened, the mother of the child stated that her child had no underwear when returning home. In this matter, we can blame the janitor as he was the one who took the child home with him. God knows why he’s not here on the stand. My verdict is that my client Mr Jung Jaehyun is innocent and that Mr Lee-”
“Your honor, I testify.” This time Renjun stands up. “I was at home when he brought the child home. The underwear went missing because I washed it. She was severely bleeding and thus it soaked her underwear.”
“Your honor, if I may, Huang Renjun is a convict of-”
“Then I testify.” Dae stands up looking serious. “I was at their home and looked after the child while they washed her underwear.” Although it’s a lie, it throws Yuta off guard as he blinks at Dae as well as the next person who stands up.
This causes a string of people standing up stating how they were witnesses to the devious and heinous crime committed against the child. The innocent child who was defenseless.
The judge Jungmyeon seeing almost everyone in the court room standing up turns to the Lawyer Yuta. "It looks like you have a case. Security, take Mr Jung into custody. There will be no bond. Adjourned."
The moment the judge hits the gavel, Yezi unknowingly lets out a sigh of relief as tears leave her eyes. Laying her head against her dad's shoulder, some tears pouring out of her eyes causing her to hiccup, sniff and fall into a breaking emotional state. Her dad, Chenle hugs her tightly. He feels such an overwhelming amount of joy that they initially won the case. While Yezi hugs onto her dad, Chungdae walks back into the court room carrying Areum who had bright eyes.
Yezi immediately cradles her baby in her hands kissing her cheek. "That bad man is gone now, I love you so much sweetie," It's sweet victory with everyone in the courtroom besides the Jung family being joyful that the man who hurt the little girl was going behind bars. While Dae and Jeno find themselves communicating with Renjun and Mark, catching up - Donghyuck has his eyes on Areum who's being held tightly by her mum.
"At least she's okay," He sighs and clears his throat walking out the courtroom. Donghyuck can't help but feel better at the case win for the little girl. For some reason, even though he was fired and never to be around the little girl and her family (not that he wanted to anyway) but he felt good- that all the ties were finally cut from that whole trouble.
What started out as a thirst to get more riches and possessions turned into a nasty tunnel hole that caused him his ultimate life dismay.
"Never again." Donghyuck declares.
However, as he's about to step on the last step away from the court building, his ears freeze.
"You!"
Not being the name he was given, he turns around knowing very well of the voice of the person addressing him. Yezi.
Her heart is beating when seeing the face of the man who once raped her. Clutching her jaw and stiffly going down the stairs while he turns his body towards her. He's got his hands in his leather jacket...the same leather jacket he last wore when he raped her. She holds herself from balling her fists and swinging it across his face- especially since he looks nonbelligerent.
Standing 2 steps away from him, she sucks in a deep breath and gulps all her piled hatred down. "Thank you,"
Donghyuck's ears twitch in hearing the foreign word. No one ever thanked him. Not knowing how to react, he nods once and turns around.
"Wait." Yezi quickly withdraws her hand and holds onto it as Donghyuck's head turns back. "I... I hate you. With every being in me, I hate you. I really do." Her eyes feel watery when thinking of the night he forced himself on her. "But, I love Areum. She means the world to me, a-and..."
Yezi has to look down and away from his empty stare to try and calm herself down. Donghyuck no longer looks at her and also looks to the ground. However he turns his body towards her paying attention to her. "I'm sorry."
She didn't want to hear his apology. She didn't need it. Her eyes shut tightly and she folds her lips shaking her head. Composing herself, she faces Donghyuck again, her eyes lightly glistening. "I love Areum so much. So so much, you have no idea. I'd do anything for her. I don't know how, but ever since I had her I could only love her, not because of what you did, but because she came from something so painful, and I had a choice to kill her of give her life... I could've killed her along with the painful memory of what you did to me, but to me that wasn't fair. I kept Areum because really I wanted to hurt her so badly...but as I kept her and the months kept passing and she kept growing in my womb, something in me changed. I couldn't protect myself from what you did to me, but I could protect her. And it's all I could think about when she was born. I only wanted to protect her from what I wasn't protected from...the cruelty of the world. I... I chose to give her life...but I failed to protect her from the one thing that broke me..."
Yezi tries not to appear vulnerable and look into his eyes, but she can't help looking into his eye and being equally stunned by the look of accountability and blame. Donghyuck feels bad hearing that, to think that little Areum was defenseless just like her mother...brought Donghyuck back to the night he raped her...he thought of his own mum and how defenseless she was...that wasn't fair and none of them deserved it.
"But you protected her." Yezi nods her head looking down holding in the tears. "You protected my baby and looked after her. You protected her from the cruelty. She spoke so highly of a janitor called Mr Sunshine, and at the time I really hoped that this Sunshine guy would not hurt her. To think it was you, really had me in the mud. You really, did more for her and I... I really hate you, but I wanna thank you so much. Thank you, for everything you did for my child. You didn't even know her, but you still saved her, and for that I owe you so much." Yezi bows her head before standing up straight again.
Hearing how she takes complete ownership of Areum without acknowledging Donghyuck, settles his heart. "I felt bad for her," Donghyuck lowly speaks.
Yezi hearing his voice, hears her own heart skip a beat.
"I witnessed my father abusing his power over my mum one too many times. I was powerless and would always get beat up when I tried to intervene, and so I thought that's just how the worlds works. You fight to get what you want. My dad really was a spineless coward and I'm no different seeing as I did what he did, I did the same thing to you. I realized that I had become my dad and I...hurt you. I hated that my mum looked at me like my dad and that everybody around me looked at me the same way. But your daughter...that little girl looked at me with light in her eyes."
Donghyuck can't look in her eye, but finds refuge in looking at the ground when thinking of Areum.
"That little girl never missed a day in asking me how I was, or what I was thinking, and she'd always tell these bad jokes. It's weird to say but, she reminded me of myself. Innocent, young and so full of wonder. The light in her eyes...was honestly what kept me going. If a child can look at me like that then hopefully someone else might too. When she told me of the secret that her uncle had been doing to her, my heart was enraged. Here was this little girl with so much happiness in her being used. I snapped but I couldn't do anything because I wanted a second chance at life and didn't wanna get involved in drama. I hate that I never spoke up the first time she told me, but I hated it even more to see her lose the light in her eyes. I wasn't about to let another light die- not especially since I was the only one who knew. I wanted her to be...free and not turn up like me, or my mum...or you. She wasn't meant for that. Not with the light she has in her eyes."
Donghyuck finally looks up at Yezi, he's a little surprised that there's a small smile on her face, but he continues on.
"So really, I felt bad that she lost her light." Donghyuck ends up saying. "How old are you now?"
"21."
Donghyuck slowly nods his head. "You're a great mum." His lips find himself saying. "You love your child so much and would do anything to ensure her safety. Despite the fucked up world, you did what you could to keep her safe. I know I'm not one to talk but, I should be thanking you...well her...actually you too... thanks...for not killing her. She brought light back into my life and if it weren't for you, then she would've bitter like me. But you did such a good job with her." Donghyuck finds himself awkwardly saying and feeling the heat rush to his cheeks.
There's a pause of silence between them with Yezi shyly looking down with a smile acknowledging his words.
"I'll be going." Donghyuck speaks up and scratches his head. "Take care of her, yeah?"
Yezi nods her head.
"Take care of yourself too," Donghyuck says. "You're one tough broad, so don't go looking for trouble,"
She can only smile lightly, even though it's genuine. She doesn't stop him when he begins walking away, but instead she watches him disappear after turning a corner.
She jumps lightly when turning around seeing Jaemin walking down the steps. "Everything good?"
Yezi nods her head looking up into the warm eyes of Jaemin. "Everything is good,"
[Finally I am done!!😂 I went passed the word count limit, so that's why they had 2 parts- but either way I'm so happy that this came out so well and I was excited to write this- and if you made it this far it means you've finished! Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed it.]
[Taglist: @rizykim | @sexygrass | @jenjaemjam | @lvmarfc | @haechanistfriends | @markleefuckme ]
#Donghyuck imagine#haechan imagine#nct dream imagines#jaemin fanfic#jisung fanfic#mark imagine#mark fanfic#nct mark fanfic#nct mark#lee jeno fanfic#chenle fanfic#renjun fanfic#nct angst#nct longshot#nct slow burn#donghyuck long shot#na jaemin fanfic#nct x oc#oc x nct#nct jaehyun#nct jaehyun smut
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Since I decided the best way to make it through Our Skyy 2 with minimal damage was to drink my way through it, welcome to the FINAL round of
CockTails in the Skyy!
This week's drink is Par-tea-g Ways because once I knew we were ending Our Skyy 2 with A Tale of Thousand Stars, I had to bring out all my favorites to celebrate that the best was saved for last:
tequila because my favorite liquor is meant for my favorite series in this lineup
black tea for those tea sachets that saved the village
chimoy and Tajín on the rim for that tiny 🔥🔥🔥 the Grinch and his husband bring with their eye stares
I love tequila. I love tea. I love a simple cocktail, which is why I made a big glass of it. I love the Grinch and his husband. I love that they have jobs, so I know I'm going to love these episodes because I have everything I love in one sitting. It's already a 9.5/10 for me no matter what happens, and I'm going to love every single thing about this.
Bottoms up!
Tian is not Pat. Pran needs to stop yelling at him like that.
The ways Phupha cares for Tian are very practical. He is a good man who would buy his guy tools and jumper cables for Christmas. A GOOD MAN!
Pran is not someone I would want to be lost in the forest with. Negative Nelly is pouting over here while the kid and the man with the heart problem are walking. You're better than this, Pran!
Even though they are fighting, Tian knows Phupha will do his job and rescue them because he is A GOOD MAN!
I feel bad for Phupha too. Pat is already having issues, so now he has to rescue FOUR people. Say it with me - A GOOD MAN!
Phupha is in full Chief mode, yet Pat is sniffing trees and making jokes to lighten the mood. Pran and Pat are extreme opposites out here, yet both are very unhelpful in this forest situation. They are made for each other.
Kampung does have a lot of energy like most tiny hustlers.
Tian to Phupha - What took you so long?!
WHY IS PRAN SNITCHING?!
Okay, I forgive him since Pat and Pran started fighting.
Kampung is just back there chillin' being the real adult in this situation.
Phupha gives Tian flower tea for good sleep. Kampung was trying to find ginger for Tian. My rural folks may not be outwardly affectionate, but they are givers of practical care. My people.
Phupha gets no rest and NO PEACE with these people.
Pat, being practical now. He is a GOOD MAN! He can stay.
No, literally, babe. Someone needs to stay at the camp! Was nobody a scout?! Stay where you are! What if that child comes back and nobody is there?!
I feel so bad for Phupha this episode. This man earned his paycheck over these past few days.
Pran coming in with the self awareness. He can stay too!
Pat's positivity is good here. Don't sniff trees. Instead give people words of encouragement. This is where he excels.
Kampung and Tian both being stubborn and worrying about the other one is cute!
The color exchange.
Am I hearing a rooster during this touching scene between Tian and Phupha or is that the tequila? Well, I'm about to make another drink anyway, so no importa!
I made a pitcher of Par-tea-g Ways, so I don't even have to take a break to refill. ONWARD!
"He only sits like that because his back hurts." - Yeah, from carrying the weight of EVERYONE'S LIVES ON HIS SHOULDERS. Put some respect on Phupha's name!
I had to pause for the cellphone cover being the same as the doorknob hanger, and now I'm wondering if I really do remember Bad Buddy or not. Is this going to be like 2gether where I only vaguely remember the story? "There was . . . singing." That's all I got.
Pat and Pran got tea sachets and ginger! And Tian got the eye mask. Que cute.
If Pat asked Phupha to rate him after sex, Phupha would give Pat a list of critiques. Pat could not handle Phupha. Phupha would even have timestamps: "A minute and thirty-two seconds in, you did that thing with your mouth. It wasn't good. Minus half a point." Phupha is me.
The colors.
Last week, I wrote only Tian and Phupha got a warm waterfall, yet here they are, freezing.
The sound I just made when Phupha popped up from behind.
This scene is hitting just right with the tequila.
I like that Mix does not take off his shirt. There is no need when we all can get lost in his beautiful eyes.
I tell ya that seeing Earth's tattoo is my favorite I Spy game. FAVORITE!
Phupha, a practical man, is putting in the effort to be more affectionate. He is A GOOD MAN, I say!
I'm going to start using "mosquito net" as code for sex.
I LOVE THIS EPISODE! The mosquito net scene gives me the EarthMix-don't-kiss-until-the-last-episode kiss, and this feels right!
We are going down Memory Lane, but everything is better. So much better!
Give him a 9.5 Tian, just like I'm giving this episode. Nothing is perfect. There is always room for improvement, but give Phupha top honors. He gave him 11!
Phupha is hugging his man goodbye for the whole world to see. I love him so much.
NOW HE SHOWED UP!
Phupha taking pictures of his man taking pictures of his food is my dessert.
This whole date is giving me everything I never thought I'd get from them. Aof, I love you.
It's not a competition, but . . . the high schoolers
The Wai x Korn agenda is alive and strong.
I feel that "we barely got this episode to happen" comment is from Aof about how GMMTV probably wasn't for the crossover, but GOTCHA SUCKERS!
The flowers are even red and blue.
For all y'all hair haters out there, you don't deserve this ponytail.
WHITE! I don't get you enough on my screen. Tell me when I'll see you again. Please!
I feel like the parents proposed to Phupha, and that's the way it should be.
For a person who does not believe in marriage, I'm a sucker for this proposal because I have always considered them the Grinch and his husband.
Oh no! Now we really are going down Memory Lane! I NEED ANOTHER DRINK!
AND NOW THIS?! (Yod is their Pa)
This was EVERYTHING to me. I got color coding. I got Pat's hair in a ponytail. I got Wai x Korn. I got InkPha. I got White! I got my Grinch and his (actual) husband for four episodes. I GOT THE THOUSANDTH STAR! And I got drunk.
But I didn't get Longtae, so . . .
9.5/10 CockTails for giving me everything, but one tiny cutie.
I'm so happy I got to revisit all of these shows to appreciate some in ways I didn't the first time around and have the chance to see the characters I love after their happy-ever-afters.
Until next time
*plays that intro song that annoys all of y'all*
#Our Skyy 2#A Tale of Thousand Stars#Phupha x Tian#episodes 15 & 16#Cocktails in the Skyy#bad buddy#Pat x Pran#I MADE IT!#Literally I made all these drinks
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Casspoll!
Okay I really had to think about this one and I quickly dipped into the runs I have not touched yet rather than just using their reputations:
Kelley Puckett – It’s Puckett. He created Cass. Some of her very best stories happened here – the first two Shiva fights, delivering a man’s final wishes, Nobody Dies Tonight, Thicker than Water. The absolute heart that Cass cannot allow people to be killed hits hard here. She’s still learning about what a society is.
Dylan Horrocks takes Cass and her growth and lets her mess up and brings Bruce and Barbara more into conflict over what Cass needs, but also allows Cass to be in conflict with them over what she wants. It has the Ivy twofer “The City is a Garden/The City is a Jungle” which I think is Horrocks’ best plot. It has Tough Love, where Bruce and Cass have their conversation over what the Bat means to Cass. It has Cooking the Books, where we see the abrasive side of Barbara’s personality come out and hurt her relationship with Cass. It has Cass taking her first steps into relationships, with her attraction to Tai’Darshan and Kon. It’s a messier, more complicated time.
Andersen Gabrynch has the best conversation of Fresh Blood with Tim over their life goals and their reflections on War Games. He has Destruction’s Daughter/Blood Matters and everything that comes with the culmination of that storyline. He gives Cass her first taste of civilian life. Gabrynch is the ‘how far will Cass go’ writer.
Adam Beechen: you’re all mean! Oh Beechen. He screwed up first time around, no question, but I continue to maintain he did useful things with Cass in Batgirl 2008. He brought in the chance to parallel Slade and Rose’s relationship with David and Cass’. He worked hard to find fixes for the mistakes he made. And if Fresh Blood set up the situation where we saw Tim and Cass become closer and start establishing a sibling-like relationship, then Beechen solidified it to the point that it was expected from that point onwards.
Joe Kelly: oh, Justice League Elite. You are certainly a story. I think the most important thing Kelly actually did in JLE was when Cass stabbed Kendra. It broke her. There is some beautiful writing in JLE surrounding Cass basically sobbing to Bruce over this incident, and Bruce promising her that she doesn’t have to stay undercover, he’ll pull her out, her happiness is more important to him than this mission, and Cass refusing to be extracted. And Ollie remaining there the whole time to keep an eye on Cass on Bruce’s behalf. It’s such a good paternal moment on both Bruce and Ollie’s parts, and they so very rarely get them in concert. It’s also a moment of growth in Cass that is rarely referenced, because as I must repeat, it happens in JUSTICE LEAGUE ELITE.
Bryan Hill: I have heard good things! And immediately on picking it up and going through the first three issues I saw the exact thing I’d enjoyed and wanted more of from Dixon’s 2008 BatO run – Tatsu working with and mentoring Cass – which is a solid recommendation in itself. Will 100% be coming back to this when I get up to this era in my reading.
Becky Cloonan and Michael Conrad: I dipped into #1 and #14. It suffers from the modern era problem of light and bright fluffy content without a solid base behind it. Also the fact that the writers didn’t initially realise that two of the characters they were assigned were ADULTS and were writing them that immaturely is certainly not reassuring. Um. I also know I’m not fully across modern era Cass yet, but #14 seems to miss something that’s basic to my understanding of Cass – talking can be hard but READING is harder. Cass not talking but having reading comprehension showing up constantly? It feels off. (Also I’m fascinated in how an issue like Batgirls #1 manages to be that off while still managing the Cass shower robe scene, which to my eye echoes and references the BatO 2008 Cass shower scene. Suspect they just got lucky and I’m reading too much in)
Mariko Tamaki: okay I have not yet read Shadows of the Bat: The Tower, but I have read Sounds, so I’m basing on that. Tamaki really seems to get Cass, her hand with the character work in Sounds hit some very fundamental parts of Cass’ character and struggles, and I really enjoyed it.
Overlooked: ALYSSA WONG. Wong’s work with Cass in Spirit World not only has been busy recanonising a bunch of things from Batgirl 2000, but is touching on some central aspects of Cass’s view of killing and death in beautiful resonance of things originally established by Puckett. Also it’s given Cass some narrative space back on her own, and while I think Cass’s relationship with Steph is important, I also think she’s more functional and useful to DC writers when she’s not assumed to be part of an automatic pair.
Plus a plug for Scott Snyder for Gates of Gotham and giving us proper insight into the Reborn era Cass relationships with her brothers.
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Head in the clouds
Tom ‘Iceman’ Kazansky x Reader
Gender neutral reader
[Masterlist]
[Previous Chapter] - [Next Chapter]
Warnings: MAJOR CHARACTER DEATH. We all knew this was coming. I cry when I watch it, so writing it wasn’t much better. Seriously. I'm in tears. Damn this movie.
The past was supposed to stay in the past, but with Goose and Maverick getting into Top Gun, it would seem that it’s repeating itself. No matter what you do, you can never escape Tom Kazansky.
Word count: 2.5k
Chapter Twelve - The day time stopped
♡♡♡
You were at the Bradshaw’s quite early the next day. Goose and Maverick had a flight test today, with Iceman and Slider. Nervous felt too small of a word for how you felt. When it came down to it, Ice and Mav were rivals. Iceman and his RIO were in first, where as Maverick and Goose sat in second. It had been this way since the start.
Maverick was going to meet Goose at base, so you decided to just go around to their house and see him before he left. The house still smelt amazing from whatever it was they had eaten for breakfast before you arrived.
“My stud is off for another day with the big boys,” Carole sighs, though the smile on her face gives away her teasing nature. You laugh.
“He’ll be back before you know it.”
Goose grins as he grabs the last of his things.
“You know it,” he winks at you both. You laugh again. He kneels down and scoops Bradley into his arms and gives him a big hug. Carole gets up and walks over to her husband, pulling him into a kiss. You walk with them to the door and watch Goose put his son down. The tall aviator pulls you into a hug.
“Wish me luck,” he grins.
“I wish you all the luck. Keep Maverick in check for me, yeah?”
“You know it,” he mock salutes you. You just chuckle and wave him off as he goes. Carole and Bradley wave too, watching their big brave navy officer go off for training.
Once he is out of sight, you head inside with Carole again.
“So?” She asks, putting Bradley down so he can go and play.
“So... what?”
“What happened yesterday with Kazansky?” She grins.
You roll your eyes, but smile. “Nothing, but something will,” you tell her.
Carole has a huge grin on her face as she leans in closer. She needed to know everything.
“Spill!”
You laugh. “I asked Ron to tell Tom to come by my place tonight. I’m tired of pretending I’m not still in love with him, and I can’t cope with just being his friend. I’ll tell him how I feel... and I’ll be honest with him, even if it doesn’t hold up any more. I can’t let go.”
Carole’s smile turns soft as she looks at you.
“Good for you.”
“Whatever I have to do, I’ll work it out with him. If he will still have me, I’ll be there. You can do it, so can I.”
Carole pulls you into a hug. You smile as she rock gently with her. She’s so proud of you and continues to tell you so as you pull away from her.
“I’m so happy for you. Gosh, life really is a roller-coaster.”
“It sure is,” you agree.
Maverick smiles at Goose as he comes over. They’re both geared up and nearly ready for their turn in the sky. Pete gives Nick a firm pat on the arm as they walk side by side. Goose, though he trusts Maverick more than anyone, felt the need to say something. After all, you told him to keep and eye on Maverick today.
You both know how he can be when met with a challenge. In this case, the challenge being Iceman.
“Mav, you’ll play by the rules today, right? If you want us to graduate and do well, we should listen to our wingman.”
Maverick looks up at Goose.
“Even though our wingman is Ice?” He asks him.
“Even then.”
“Of course, Goose. We got this. We’ll get us a kill, you’ll see.”
Goose smiles at his bud and they walk onward.
Ice is in the locker room with Slider. They have just finished gearing up for their flight today. Kazansky can’t say he’s overly thrilled to be flying with Maverick, but as long as he listens and they work together, they’ll both come out of this on top. Ice doesn’t need to lose points because Maverick did something stupid.
“Oh, before I forget,” Ron looks up. “The love of your life has invited you to their place tonight. They want to talk to you.”
Ice looks up instantly at Ron.
“Is that what you were talking about yesterday?” He asks his RIO.
“Yeah. Asked me to pass on the message, so... consider the message passed on. My job is done.” Ron give his friend a grin.
Tom feels his heartrate increase slightly. You wanted to talk to him? Well, how can he deny your request? He wants to talk to you too. A part of him wants to let his mind run away with the idea that this conversation will change something between you, but he stops himself before he gets too far ahead. Maybe you just want to spend some more time with him.
Maybe, just maybe, your feelings are still the same.
“Thank you for telling me,” Ice says. He slides his aviators on and lifts his head a little higher. Hearing from you was all he needed to keep his spirits high today. He would pull off today’s training without a hitch and be at your place before you know it.
As far as both you and Tom were concerned, today would end on a high note.
Three weeks until graduation. Every point still counts. Ice was determined to stay in first. He once told you he was going to be the best of the best, well, he would keep to his word.
Check were complete and the go ahead was given. Both jets took off and soon were up in the air.
All Maverick and Ice had to do was work together. How hard could that be?
Both jets fly side by side. The pilots look over at each other. Ice didn’t trust Maverick. He didn’t like the way he flew. Yet, he was stuck with him as a wingman today. Maverick better behave.
“You up for this one, Maverick?” Ice asks.
“Just a walk in the park, Kazansky,” Maverick smiles.
Slider reads off the location of possible multiple bogies. Maverick spots them.
“I’m in,” Maverick says.
“I’m in,” Iceman repeats.
Both jets dive right together in perfect sync. As soon as they come behind, the three smaller jets break.
The dogfight commences.
“That son of a bitch cut me off,” Maverick says, unhappy that Ice immediately cut in.
Ice was flying right in front of Maverick as they followed on of the jets, hot in it’s tail. Not shot had been taken and Maverick was losing patience.
“Come on, come on. Ice, take the shot.”
“Come on, Ice, get the hell out of there,” Goose says.
“I can’t get the angle, I’m too close for missiles, I’m switching to guns,” Ice tells them.
“Ice, fire or clear,” Maverick states.
Ice stays put.
“Look at this. Jesus Christ. I could take a shot right here,” Maverick groans. His frustration with Ice was building fast.
“I need another 20 seconds,” Ice replies.
They fly further, but no shot is taken.
“I’m moving in, I’m taking the shot,” Maverick says.
“Come on, Mav, let’s get in there,” Goose chimes in. “Come on, Mav.”
“Take the shot,” Slider speaks up.
“10 more seconds then I got him,” Ice tells his back seater.
“Come on, Ice, get the hell out of there!” Goose exclaims. “Let’s do it, Mav.”
This was taking too long.
“Ice, turn off fly right, I’m in,” Maverick orders.
“5 more seconds,” Ice says.
Maverick tells him again, Ice knows he can’t get the shot.
“I’m off, shit,” Ice curses and flies on out of there quick.
Unfortunately for Maverick, he gets caught in the jet wash left behind. He begins to lose control of his plane. His jets lurches into a tailspin and he is unable to gain back control.
“Engine one is out,” Goose tells him. “Engine two is out,” he says right after.
Both engines gone. Maverick has to get back in control, and fast.
“Goose, I’m losing control. I’m losing control.”
The jet is filled with the annoying beeping of the alarm. Maverick is trying to get back into check, but it’s not working. “I can’t control it.”
There’s panic in his voice.
The jet is still falling.
“Come on, Mav. This is not good, not good!”
“May day, may day. Mav’s in trouble,” Ice calls out.
Goose calls out how far from the ground they are. The feet dropping by the second.
The jet falls faster, still spinning. Maverick has no control.
“I can’t reach the ejection handle,” Maverick calls out. “I can’t reach it, Goose. Eject!” He calls out.
“I’m trying, I’m trying,” Goose reaches, his hand just not grabbing it. He reaches with all his might.
To eject is their only option.
“Eject! Eject!” Maverick calls again.
Goose grabs the handle and pulls. The canopy detaches from the plane, sparks flaring up. Everything that happens in the next few seconds happens so fast and without so much as warning.
The canopy hasn’t cleared the plane.
The seats fire up from the cockpit.
Goose is shot straight up into the canopy with harsh impact. Maverick clears it. Goose hits his head hard. The parachutes deploy and two bodies are dropped to the water.
The only difference being, Maverick is still conscious.
This day just became the darkest of days. Maverick’s darkest day.
When they land in the water. Maverick swims to where Goose is. He grabs him and holds him. Goose’s helmet is cracked. Blood is running down his face. Maverick clings to his friend, not wanting to let go.
The coast guard helicopter fly in for the rescue. They have to tell Maverick to let go of him.
He doesn’t want to.
The moment the helicopter reaches land, Goose is whisked off to hospital.
Something in Maverick changes.
Orders are called out and there are people everywhere. Maverick is whisked away in the opposite direction. He doesn’t even notice Ice and Slider watching from afar.
All he can think of is Goose.
You’re at home when the phone rings. Maverick and Goose have been gone a few hours at this point, but the day was far from over. You answer the phone not sure who was calling you, but when you hear Carole’s voice down the phone, you’ve never let your own home so fast.
Goose was in the hospital. His condition hadn’t been announced.
Carole had been notified of the accident and the situation of her husband.
The moment you open the door, she is in your arms. You hold her, unable to stop yourself from crying. Goose. Your Goose who has always been there had been in an accident, and for once you didn’t know what to think or do.
She pleads with you to look after Bradley while she goes to the hospital. Of course you agree. You kiss her cheek and watch her go, promising Bradley will be alright with you.
She’s gone hours.
Maverick.
Oh Maverick.
You hadn’t heard a peep from Pete. Your heart ached with the thought of your friends suffering. You prayed. You prayed for Goose because what else could you do? Of course you wanted to be there for him, but the best thing you could do right now is look after his son.
You hung on to the hope that he would be alright.
Though you had invited Ice to your home that night, things changed the moment the accident happened. One, you were not at home any more. You were going to spend the night at the Bradshaw’s and watch over Bradley. Carole called ahead to say she wouldn’t be back that night. Two, Ice wouldn’t show up anyway. How could he? He had tried to call you, but received no answer. He wouldn’t find out until a little bit later that it was because you weren’t home. He understood.
Things turned worse.
Carole was gone most of the next day too. You would soon find out why.
Goose was dead.
You heard it from Carole. She had called to tell you, but couldn’t finish her sentence down the phone. You heard the gist of it. You had to hang up the phone, because just like Carole, you couldn’t stop yourself from crying.
Never had Bradley been held so tightly before.
The young boy was confused. You held him and you cried.
He would never see his dad again.
You stayed the night there again. You looked after that boy while Carole dealt with things on her end.
Nothing was ever going to be the same. There would always be a Goose shaped hole missing from your lives. Your glass heart was about to shatter. This isn’t how it was suppose to go.
You were suppose to see your boys graduate. Watch them become some of the best pilots the navy ever had.
That dream was shattered into a thousand pieces.
Carole returns that following day and she just breaks down in your arms. You hold her and you cry with her. Already this house felt empty without him.
You spent another night at their house. Helping out with Bradley. You would mourn later, for now, Carole needed you.
Maverick came to the house.
You hadn’t seen him since the beach. He had a box full of Goose’s things. You clung to him. Maverick was broken. He was lost. He couldn’t comfort you because he didn’t know how. Now when he was still suffering.
Maverick had been cleared of any fault in Goose’s death.
You knew it wasn’t his fault, but procedures had to be taken.
“God, he loved flying with you, Maverick,” Carole told him.
You stepped away from him and moved to the side. You didn’t know what to say. There was nothing you could say.
Carole gets up and hugs him.
“He’d have flown anyway. Without you,” she whispers. “He’d have hated it, but he would have done it.”
You try to blink away the tears pooling in your eyes, but it’s useless. They won’t stop.
Maverick can’t seem to say anything. He wants to, but he can’t. You see him struggling. Carole caresses his cheek softly, understanding, but she leaves the room quickly, needing to cry.
You meet Maverick’s eyes.
He tries to speak again. You shake your head softly and step forward once more. You place your hand on his arm and rub circles softly. You don’t need him to speak. You just need him to know you’re there.
He wants to tell you sorry, but sorry won’t cover it. He can’t help but feel like he robbed you and Carole of someone so special. Someone who was special to him too.
You step away and crouch down near Bradley.
There were no words.
Maverick leaves and you can’t help but sob. This pain was unlike anything you ever had to deal with before.
You don’t think your heart can recover from this. Ever.
Bradley looks up at you with big eyes. God, it was like looking at his father. All you can do is hug the boy again.
Everything hurt.
♡♡♡
@lieutenantn - @juniebugg - @shianshian4315 - @midnightdevotion - @sitkafay - @luckyladycreator2 - @mischief-siriusly-managed - @littlebadariell - @constellationscharts - @swisswitchmn - @callsignthirsty - @sarahissilent - @marchingicenotes7 - @kassieesworld - @topgun-imagines - @fanboyluvr - @hopplessdreamer -
#iceman kazansky#tom iceman kazansky#iceman x reader#tom kazansky#tom kazansky x reader#iceman#top gun 1986#top gun#head in the clouds
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*PATIENTLY WAITS FOR THE INDIAN LOSTBELT KING REWRITE FOR YOU*
Concepts I’ve thought about
-theme of lostbelt focusing on ‘guilt and memory’ but like this time more obvious
-something something instead of it being ‘just’ the lokapala arjuna alter is unconsciously trying to recreate his own siblings/family with them, though this means instead of kubera/nezha the ashwins would be used possible w a twin servant, or they’d be moved over to asclepius and someone else would get yama
-lb appears to be stuck in the time right b4 the kurukhestra war, cycling over and over in an effort to ‘prevent’ it despite it already in f having
-ashwatthama actively chooses to join arjuna alters side? Instead of the torture thing, as an exploration/continuation of the theme of ‘guilt,’ deciding to side with the people he hurt even if they’re now in the wrong as well out of a desperate attempt to try and right something that could never be fixed out of a nostalgia for a relationship long lost
-parallels between lakshmi bai giving up her life for her country and the youth of hastinapur giving up theirs for theirs? Idk I just feel like some line could’ve been done. Especially bc she also left a young child behind
-karna being forced to confront what ‘good intentions poor execution’ truly means as he witnesses people he knew and respected become warped beyond recognition, being forced to acknowledge his own role in enabling the conflict, once again having to come to terms with his tendency to enable and prioritize his pride and own desires over his common sense
-by which i mean I’ve considered subbing out karna alter over douman just bc it would be funny to have the more og text canon warhawk karna see some fucked up arjuna and be like ‘hey you should keep doing that :)’ while his lancer version is in the bg like ‘bruh’
- focus on the repetitive nature of the cycles, how and why they were reset, what that meant for arjuna alter’s psyche. Really hammer in the increasing isolation and disconnect, and the growing agitation as the inherent nature of humans prevented a world with no conflict no matter what he did or how hard he tried. Talk about what happened to his family and the other gods, and the thousands of years ago. Do a this chair monologue idk something
-parallels between arjuna alter and Asha as people who’s families were torn apart, who struggle to conceptualize their grief as they can’t even remember it. Let them talk at some point.
-look if rama comes into the lostbelt asking about his wife you can at least superimpose her sprite in the sky at the end after arjuna alter dies and have her be like ‘cool I’m not mixed w 400 other gods now. Sorry I can’t hang love you bby xoxo’ like cmon
- I want to see arjuna alter get MAD. Make him cry and scream about how unfair it all is it’s bullshit that it was karna. I want him to rail again the unfairness of having to kill your kin, of how no matter how much you destroy it will never create peace, of how the world he was in was destined to head to a bloody war, just SOMETHING
-let us run koyanskya over w the shadowborder. For fun
-if we have to endure kiara’s 400 hour buddhism monologue then can’t rama explain some like, basic aspects of Hindu theology to us. Why hasn’t that happened yet. Huh?
- you know how the boss fights from Greece-> onwards have their name in that countries’s script? Yeah something in like Sanskrit for here pls
-let us have an actual dialogue w arjuna alter
-let us actually see douman and arjuna alter interact.
-idk fuckin uhhh if Krishna was the guy who allegedly junao was able to absorb everyone through can we like. See what his deal is? In a flashback? Please?
-mention gilgamesh flies his vimana wrong for me. personally
-have a third party who knew arjuna who isn’t karna/ashwa/biased there to talk about what he was like. Idk Bhisma drona someone just let us see more facets of him so we can understand how he got to this state
-hammer in the memory issues. Hammer in the fact arjuna alter’s body is breaking down around him, held together only by force of will. Hammer in the fact he is willing to die to try and save everyone. Really get that beaten in there.
-for me personally given that hindusim features reincarnation heavily it would be nice to at least acknowledge most of the people deleted are probably reentering the samsara (only enlightened people exit the cycle which a flawed being can’t be). He hasn’t necessarily abandoned these people even if he’s treating them wrong.
#my asks#writing#I can’t write this is just random mostly unrelated stuff I’ve thought of#if any actual writers want to take any of these go right ahead#I want to come back to this and add things later this is just some of it#ref
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Since I first got into this game in Feb 2023, I've somehow managed to watch the story from Season 1 to Season 5, from Elias Goldstein to Mel Glover (thx youtube)
So? I'm going to write some reviews about them
1. 13-day System
The main story, from Season 1 to Season 5 (hereinafter Previous Seasons), takes place during Liz Hart's period as a provisional student at the academy
The story consists of a total of 12 days + 1 ending day, of which Day 11 is divided into 3 parts... Exposition, Complication, Crisis, and Climax — everything has to be done in 11 days
Therefore, the narrative flow of previous seasons is bound to go relatively shallow
This is where problems start to arise
The so-called fateful love or love at first sight tends to occur in a short period of time, and as WH Sekai is a world where magic exists, relatively dramatic developments can happen... But how many people can reveal the backstories buried deep in their hearts to someone they've only known for a few days
Of course, Solmare must have known about this. So what was suggested as the solution was...
"The World of Images" (I mean 心像世界 but I don't know how to translate it properly)
It's simple: it's difficult to unravel the character's mystery and develop the main plot in just 11 days, so let's uncover the hidden truth and emotions through The World of Images — interactable landscapes that reflect the psyche!
I'm not meaning The World of Images itself is a bad thing; if used well, nice and dramatic results can be achieved. But I felt The World of Images of previous seasons was so focused on conveying hidden facts and backstories that it didn't really touch me
That "time travel" in Klaus 1 route was not bad at least. Honestly the keyword itself feels a bit out of the blue, but I'm somewhat satisfied with it because the foreshadowing itself exists (I'm not telling about the quality)
But the way I see it, the problem starts with Azusa
The World of Images began to unfold under the name of 〈Time to explore a parallel world with a mysterious butterfly!!〉, and I guess the writer must have felt that this was really good to use, she(he?) started using it for everything including Joel, Vincent, Leon, Glenn, etc…
Although it disappeared in Season 5, the description of learning all the hidden truths at once in a short period did not change — and it was the biggest problem, dammit
But this isn't the only problem
While the stories of Season 1 and Season 2 progress along the lines of individual desires, the keyword "world destruction" begins to appear in any form from Season 3 onwards. And we must remember that all parts of the story (except the Falling Action) have to be completed within 11 days
Can a story that deals with the destruction of the world in 11 days be of good quality? I cannot give a positive answer to this
Come to think of it, in Season 1 and Season 2, where Luca and Azusa act as villains with their individual desires, the world will continue to run fine even if those two achieve their goals. Even if Luca gets the Dragon Eye / even if Azusa gets the unicorn horn, there will be no change for ordinary people not related to them
But signs of the destruction of the world began to appear and… At this point, I cannot help but think the plot is going too far
(And if it's a matter of the world's survival, shouldn't the Ministry of Magic handle it? Why is Liz, who is just a provisional student, solving everything? Why is the Ministry so incompetent huh)
Aren't these problems ultimately a limitation of the game structure itself, the 13-day system. There are bound to be limits to unraveling the increasingly large main plot in a short period of less than two weeks, and in the end, the backstories are revealed as if running out of time, and it becomes difficult to get immersed in it
Is it not so? I feel somewhat detached
As far as I know, from season 6, it is divided into Chapters instead of Days. Of course, even if it is a chapter system, the amount of story for each character won't be very different from the 13-day system
Still, wouldn't the quality of development be better if the time passing within the story was longer
And I heard that the story of Season 6 continues beyond that, so maybe much deeper developments that require a lot of time will be possible (please tell me I'm right)
2. Reviews for Each Season
Season 1: The Tower of Sorrow
tsundere(tm) + playboy-like + curse/eyepatch/transform… classic classic
Elias was the one I played the first. He was the character at the top of the list, and I wanted to watch the story from the beginning. But it was 100% tsundere from shoujo manga in those days so I was a little freaked out (it's not that I didn't expect it though)
btw why is he like that on his route when he's like a trustworthy friend on other routes. how much pressure did he feel about his grades and so on, I mean it's understandable though
Yukiya was honestly great, I say his story is worth reading. A bit of a cliche, but reminded me why clichés are used: provide a stable taste
However, it is a bit disappointing that the settings regarding his curse are not unified. It's not a curse but just a contract with Seth in the main story, so why did it become a curse in the sequel?
And the villainous, Luca
I interpret him as a character who is unable to withstand the discipline that restricts him in any form because of being locked up as a child, and who longs for freedom but feels only emptiness even in a "freedom state" that arises from ignoring the rules
Okay, this is good... But I was scratched and I don't know why. Luca in Season 2 onwards is a great supporting role, but Luca in Season 1 keeps scratching my mind and that bothers me
Season 2: The Spring of Unicorn
This is my favorite and the reason is clear
Klaus… What do I need to say about him? His story tasted very familiar; the plot goes exactly according to the standard of shoujo manga (It's not that it doesn't taste good though)
Eh… actually I don't have much to say. I liked that there was a bunch of Azusa's villain behavior. Hmm
Randy, I mean Serge, was definitely great, his story is also worth reading
I think the true protagonist of Season 2 is Serge; The tangled events of Season 2 are centered around him, and in the timeline where Liz is connected with Serge, Season 2 comrades eventually find some comfort at least!
But one thing I can't agree with is his catchphrase, "There is no failure or right or wrong answers in magic." Isn't it a bit weird for someone who lost his best friend to a "fail" of magic to say something like that
Erm… I don't know
And another villainous, Azusa
This must have happened:
A: Now let's make up Azusa's route
B: But isn't deceiving and taking advantage of Liz a pattern that has already been used with Luca
A: Hmm… now that I think about it, you're right
C: They say young kids these days like spiciness! If we add some capsaicin, it'll be good
A: Let's fucking go
But they fumble while rolling the dice
To be honest, I don't like this kind of shallow salvation. I like the flow of emotions colliding with each other, but smashing "twisted love愛 built up over years" with "romance恋 built up about 10 days"? Well…
And Solmare, please, why are you eager to justify him
okay
I got it
I understand he has his own reason (and I like the reason)
but
please
please don't
I don't want this asshole to be labeled as "just a poor guy with a broken heart"
please??
oh well
Season 3: The King of Fairies
A: I'm tired of one of the romanceable characters being a villain. Let’s make the main antagonist a non-romanceable character!
So the fairy king Oberon appears
Joel was honestly quite good… I like that kind of damn personality. The argument between Joel and Eress was very funny, I really like it when those with a damn personality fight childishly
btw his concept was the forgotten childhood friend, he's bound to lose every time a new romanceable character comes out then... he suits BSS so well omg
In my personal opinion Vincent's visiting student concept is fucking ×3 unreasonable and stupid... In other stories except Season 3 (as far as I know), he appears as just a Ministry of Magic agent 1. And it was much better that way honestly
And Liz is so helpless in his route!!
okay, it might have been to highlight Vincent's attributes as a knight… but I don't like it
and raising a baby dad? What the fuck is this It's fucking ×3 creepy omfg
If there's anything worth noting in Season 3, it's related to Leon: All of the events in Season 3 happened because of Leon's actions, but he doesn't act as an antagonist
Personally, I'm not a fan of those "teaching emotions" stories, but his happy/unhappy endings are
fuck
dammit
Those saved his whole story
I dare say, his ending was the global maximum of the previous seasons
Season 4: The Princess of Crystal
Season 4 feels similar to Season 1 and Season 2? There was quite a bit of the story that unfolded in the classroom, providing glimpses into the narrative of a Season 1 comrade as well (such as Yukiya being despised by his classmates), and the formula of a romanceable character taking on the role of a villain was applied too
Cerim was, well, I thought he had quite a damn personality because he stabbed Liz in the neck with a wand in the preview… I was a bit surprised that he was nicer, milder, and more normal than I expected
But! I don't agree with making him confess, kiss, and propose first while giving him that insensitive attribute
Guy was quite good, I enjoyed it
But on one hand, it feels like the full potential of his story was not revealed because he was with the positive queen Liz??
I mean, a genius pretending to be an ordinary person ← This is a very good element to stimulate feelings of inferiority you know... Liz just thought "Oh he's awesome!" and moved on, but think about how he would interact if paired with an ordinary person with an inferiority complex
Yeah?
But!! I was very, very disappointed in Glenn
I honestly had really high expectations for this story, but why the fuck did the story unfold like shit. Why did that fucking rabbit suddenly jump out, why were they recklessly delving into his backstory with the necklace he dropped without his permission — besides it's just ridiculous, it was revealed so hastily. Why on earth do they let me know nothing until Day 10 and then say it all at once on Day 11-1 hello??
And I was dumbfounded watching Aster vanished with that fucking song
wait
what
WHAT
Is this the end? Seriously?
What will happen to Guy if we get rid of Aster like that? Oi?
You guys are taking away his chance to untie the knot in his heart like that? Is this right??
Uh… Anyway, it was a bit disappointing, I didn't expect the climax would be this unremarkable
Season 5: The Sol Maiden's
Looks like Solmare made a big decision… because in Season 5, the main instigator behind all this only appears in the final route
Leslie was easy to watch, he had no hidden story at all, plus I like his damn personality
But all the stories were Leslie is amazing~ Leslie is awesome~... eh seriously
Sigurd was, actually, I saw a review about him before starting his route: "The writing is sick, but the plot is shit."
After reading the whole story, I really understood what it meant… I really don't have anything more to say than that
Mel was, what can I say… Wasn't he a nerd? Why is he acting so sly
Mel's route provides an answer to the question of why the villain did not appear in the other routes in Season 5. Kate, the villain in Season 5, was gathering power from all worlds, and her plans were foiled by Liz in other timelines so she couldn't reveal herself… that was the case
I didn't think Kate was a villain because she appeared with too much villain vibe. Since Mel showed an uncooperative attitude in Sigurd's route, I thought Mel would be the antagonist and Kate would act as a helper... But she WAS a villain (duh)
What? She has the ability to cross alternate realities?
You just throw such a big fact without any foreshadowing?
Are you insane Solmare
Well, I did like the twist that the voice of the magic tree that was continuously heard was actually created by Kate (I saw through it in advance though — I didn't trust the tree because it didn't teach me how to help; it just fucking complained about needing assistance)
And please stop with that damn transformation gimmick
PLEASE
why do you guys keep changing Liz's clothes like a magical girl, dammit it's not cool at all, it's just stupid as fuck
3. Overall Review
I really think these stories in previous seasons have potential. They could definitely become a highly stimulating and delicious story if it were done a little more… but it doesn't work out that way
And why the FUCK are they already getting engaged after just meeting each other. Is this how all Gen Z live these days? Or am I just fucking narrow-minded
Erm... I decided to look forward to Season 6. It'll definitely become more interesting since the cataclysm occurred. Right?
#wizardess heart#maybe I'll post my impressions while playing S6 and after... because why not#I'm going to dive into Zeus' route as soon as I post this btw
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