#Which I guess tracks since half of his plots are just him trying to prove himself
I think it’s hilarious just how many abilities/apps Chase has in his roster, mostly ‘cause there’s a lot of them that just leave me wondering why you’d give that to him?
Going through the wiki, it's like almost anything that was needed for plot got thrown onto Chase. And there are a few of them that I think would’ve been better suited for Adam or Bree, considering the skill sets
Imagine if Adam had magnetism instead, and it overlapped with his blastwave ability as an EMP, making the umbrella ability electro-magnetism
Bree’s abilities are about stealth and scouting, so give her the fingerprint and facial recognition to compliment her vocal manipulation
And for things you don’t have to take from Chase, but just give all 3 of them: the senses to a minor degree. Give Bree the hearing for eavesdropping, give Adam the sight for accuracy, while Chase has both at max
‘Cause the thing is, doing this doesn’t devalue Chase at all. His intelligence, and everything that comes with that, makes him immensely valuable to the team
They were designed as a unit of weapons, so I can’t help but think of their abilities divided as such
Adam’s not the muscle, he’s the combatant. Defense and offense are his specialty, and his passives give him the ability to incapacitate at close and long range
Bree isn’t the hustle, she’s the recon. She can get in and out of secure locations undetected with the utmost efficiency and safely bring the intel home
Chase is more than the brains, he’s the support. He can process the gathered information and strategize accordingly. His ability to link with and override his siblings’ bionics can be a game changer in dire situations and makes him versatile
Idk, I just love power dynamics
301 notes
·
View notes
Angel S01E01 City of...
YES! Finally! I knew it! I knew that Angel was the kind of character I would normally love and yet for the whole of his involvement in Buffy I really struggled to even like him and I now 100% blame that on the weird Buffy/Angel thing the writers were pushing since that literally became pretty much his only plot. The soulless Angel part of season 2 was brilliantly refreshing and at one point I did consider whether I just didn't like Angel with a soul but the first episode of this show alone just proves that it was the Buffy/Angel thing. I love both characters individually but together? No thank you.
So yeah, I'm watching Angel concurrently with Buffy. I don't know if this is the best way to do this and I don't know anything about the future of either two shows but we're going for it anyway.
And right off the bat, I love that they have brought Cordelia over to this show. It did feel like they ran out of things to do with her in season 3 of Buffy, following the Xander/Willow and her near-death moment. (I guess that's probably because they knew she was moving over to this show??) They still could have given her something to do other than that Wesley stuff. He wasn't in either episode (Buffy or Angel) so I'm guessing he did go back to England? Anyway, back on track, I'm very much looking forward to seeing how this partnership that she's formed with Angel develops.
With it being a new show, I was kind of expecting a whole flood of new characters. We don't get that and I'm glad; this makes more sense to Angel's character since he is more of a lone wolf than someone who's overly sociable. We do get introduced to Doyle though. He's half-demon, which is interesting and gets these vision things from the "powers-that-be". I can only assume that this is setting up plotlines for the future. Surely they can't just not explain that?
Doyle's first job as an introductory character is to provide the exposition to any viewers who didn't watch Buffy through a weird 'Once Upon a Time' story and whilst I get that the writers had to get Angel's backstory across someway, it just doesn't make sense. Why does Doyle need to tell Angel his own life story? Angel was there when it happened!
Long story short, the episode revolves around Angel trying to save this Tina girl because Doyle had a vision which made him write down her name and where to find her. Ultimately, they fail and Tina gets killed by a vampire named Russell. I spent the entire time up until her death trying to determine whether she would be a one-off character or a regular one so that moment ended that debate.
Russell then turns his attention to Cordelia and invites her to his place. You can't help but marvel at her bad luck. She did the relatively smart thing by getting out of Sunnydale (home of the hellmouth) and yet she still gets dragged into the world of vampires and demons. Cordelia is great in this episode though and that moment of realisation, "I finally get invited to a nice place - with no mirrors - and lots of curtains... hey, you're a vampire!" was perfect. Luckily for Cordelia, Angel's timing was on point. Also loved the moment when Doyle tried to smash through the front gates with the car.
Russell managed to get away which allowed for the cool showdown at the office. The "can you fly?", the shove of the chair out of the window and Russell catching on fire as he fell was a stand-out moment.
One aspect I'm really enjoying about Buffy (and seemingly continuing with Angel) is seeing actors I know from other shows randomly popping up looking so much younger. It catches me off guard every time. This episode had one of those moments with Christian Kane (as the lawyer guy whose name I didn't catch).
Anyway, the episode ends with Angel, Cordelia and Doyle banding together to help protect the city. So I guess we'll just keep watching and see how that one goes.
7 notes
·
View notes
[copied over from my cr blog, also this is gonna get long, i’d apologise but im not sorry]
okay, so
this is a rant probably about 7 years in the making, bc when i first watched lok i had not done any music study, i had not done any composing of my own, my knowledge of music theory was at a primary school level and i still thought tv soundtracks were just made by one person composing a whole cache of music and then the audio editors pick and choose what track to place where
(spoiler alert that’s not how film and tv scoring works, i have now done a music composition course where we had to score a short film, among other things, and i have so much more respect for tv composers jesus christ)
but this one stuck out to me even way back then, bc me barely knowing what a leitmotif was was like “hey this one little refrain keeps popping up whenever bolin does lavabending, and i like it, i’m gonna see if it’s on the soundtrack”
it was not, and that’s sort of where i left it back in 2014, but i actually did a rewatch of lok pretty recently out of nostalgia, and then noticed it even more
and to explain why (and this is also a little bit why five’s stuck out to me in tua, i’ll get to that in another ask), let’s cover, leitmotifs, and tv scoring in general
so a leitmotif is basically just a short musical idea that represents something in a piece of music. when i studied motivic development we were encouraged to make that motif four notes or less, and then develop it into something longer (aka a theme), because if you can constantly come back to a really short idea while keeping the piece moving, that’s what makes a piece of music memorable
(you can ignore those rules on purpose but that’s a different essay)
so the most common way that a leitmotif shows up in soundtracks is to represent a character or a location - you play the motif when that character shows up or when you’re in that location and boom, the audience associates that motif with that person place or thing, and you can then use this to tell the audience things without actually telling them. for example, star wars playing the imperial march whenever someone does something darth vader related - darth vader isn’t on screen, but you can feel his presence, because his music is playing
and if we were a film score, where we have two hours to show one particular character’s development, great! we give them a simple motif, and then as they grow as a person we change their motif to reflect what is happening to them, until we end up with something that communicates on a subconscious level how much they’ve grown. we toss in as much symbolism as we can, and we have a really great soundtrack that’s instantly memorable
tv scoring, is harder. partially because of time constraints (have you ever composed half an hour of original music a week, and had to make sure it fits perfectly with every beat of what’s happening on screen? these guys have), partially because there’s a much larger focus on ensemble casts
so what atla and lok do, for the most part, is not score individual character motifs for everyone. this is fairly common in tv soundtracks, instead we score ideas, concepts, and feelings - these’ll come up a lot more and give you more information than just “oh hey this character’s on screen”
the avatar state, for example, has the strongest and most recognisable theme across both shows. i’m linking an atla track in here because it has the best example but you’ll know this shows up with korra too - and with particularly important moments for wan, for kyoshi, etc. they also appear in the opening of both shows, four strong notes that start and end on the same note (in the case of what i’m linking, it’s an F#)
the first part of this track is the more uncertain, pensive theme that comes up when both avatars are feeling doubt/worry/sadness, but then it transitions into the more recognisable four. worth noting though, those are both basically the same motif. if i write them out back to back, you’ll notice they both have four notes and start and end on F#. if i had to guess, four notes four elements, and it comes back to the start because the avatar is a cycle.
korra has a theme for when she’s fighting, but not an individual character theme. the airbenders as a concept have a theme, republic city has thematic instruments, as do some big name characters, like iroh and his tsungi horn (this is also a cross-series thing, he’s always playing it in atla, it shows up when zuko has to make big moral decisions, and when we first meet iroh in the spirit world in lok, it shows up there too, to let the audience know who this is before we properly see him)
so, if korra doesn’t get a single theme and instead has several for different aspects of her life, and mako and asami follow along with the mood of the story like all the other characters, the fact that bolin has a personal leitmotif at all, let alone a solid, developing one, is pretty remarkable!
now, granted, it mostly starts with book 3, before then he was like every other character, but it has clear symbolism through those last two books! and, initially i thought it was related only to his lavabending, since that’s most of when it shows up, but since my rewatch, i’ve started calling it his hero theme
see, when people wanna criticise mako and bolin, usually the comments they get are that bolin’s too immature and mako’s too serious/uptight. but like, that’s how they work, you can’t analyse either of them without the context of the other. since they were little kids on the streets, bolin chases his heart and mako makes sure they don’t die from it, that is their entire childhood. and neither would have got here on their own because mako wouldn’t take the necessary risks and bolin wouldn’t take the necessary precautions. (like. remove either one from the equation and they’d still be working for the triple threats bc s1 and their flashback miniseries make pretty clear that bolin got them out and mako kept them out)
and then book 2 proves it! because it splits team avatar up, and what happens? bolin is totally taken advantage of by varrick and used as a pawn in his evil plan and mako ends up in jail
so what’s book 3, to them? it’s, being able to find themselves without having that codependency. mako no longer has someone to protect, which is what he’s based his whole life around so far - bolin’s doing fine and he’s no longer dating either korra or asami. and bolin’s trying his hand at some of that responsibility (look at how he immediately adopts kai who is explicitly them but younger because he wants to be the older brother for once). most importantly, they find the rest of their family, and stop being defined by being orphans. they don’t have to be that singular piece of a puzzle, they can just be themselves. and that’s where bolin’s character really starts to shine, because that’s when they bring in the bending plot, and bending, perhaps more than any other character, really gets to the heart of who bolin is
if you want more of my thoughts on that i have an essay here, but tl;dr: bolin’s an extremely powerful earthbender, but he’s not a metalbender because metalbending requires you to double down on the earth characteristics and think like an earthbender, and bolin doesn’t, he’s too fluid for that, which is one of his major strengths, so of course he can lavabend
and finally - to his motif itself! (as a note, i’ve put all of these in the same key to show where it repeats, but there’s a variety of keys used in the show)
as far as i can find, it first shows up in s3e8, when bolin stuns p’li with this well placed shot
[Edit: it first showed up in the s2 finale, but again in a simplified version and again with him doing something heroic with earthbending, so we can still start the analysis here]
mako volunteers bolin for that job, because he knew bolin was capable of it. why? because bolin landed an identical shot earlier in the episode, after trying to metalbend, getting frustrated he can’t, and cheating with some extremely well aimed earthbending. it’s just a short refrain and you barely notice it, but it’s the first connection of this motif with the theme of bolin’s bending
it looks like this, and it’s always played on a trumpet, which is part of why i call it the hero theme, because, if you’re looking at music from a western perspective, trumpets were used to herald kings, and then used to represent military glory, and then when superhero themes started happening, they used trumpets too - it’s basically western music shorthand for hero these days
(it’s also symmetrical so that helps with the good vibes)
and he’s saving everyone here, so it’s linked to his bending, but it’s also linked to his heroism
it ties the two together, and they are tied together.
when’s the next time it shows up? episode 10, when the brothers are in prison in ba sing se, and bolin tries to metalbend them out. again, he’s doing this to save people, and this motif gets a few notes added on to the end in a raising pattern - they’re inspiring, but they don’t go anywhere. which is exactly what happens in the scene, because he’s trying to go about this in the wrong way. mako believes in him, but it won’t (and doesn’t) work
it appears in episode 12 when bolin saves everyone from ghazan destroying the temple, in a more fancy orchestral remake of the first version - it’s impressive, but it hasn’t actually developed yet, it’s just his discovery of it
the book 3 finale already has its own fucking amazing soundtrack, i love that entire episode’s score, but it gets its own moment there too, and the first real development!
because what we hear is not what we’ve heard before. we know it’s the same theme, because it’s using those signature trumpets, but it’s the second part of this phrase, the answer to the question supplied by the first one. why? because bolin’s figured out who he is and he’s starting to use it. it still hasn’t settled yet though, it’s early days and he’s still just turning ghazan’s lava back on him, so again, it raises, leaving it on a question mark
it doesn’t appear in s4e7 when he lavabends as a warning against the escaped prisoners, because he’s using it as a threat, not to help people. but it does later in the episode when he uses lavabending to save them from kuvira. and that’s when we get the first full phrase, question and answer
it keeps the first motif identical, takes out the first note of the second, and ties them together - except now it’s not open ended, now it knows where it’s going - it’s been three years, at this point bolin is confident in both himself and his bending
and then that phrase appears all over the place in the finale, because all bolin does is save people - everyone from the exploding building, he slows the giant mecha with lavabending, he saves opal, he slows the giant mecha again by collapsing a building on it, and most importantly, he’s the one rescuing his brother this time, instead of the other way around (though that one doesn’t get a motif appearance bc admittedly a fuck ton of other things are happening in the soundtrack at the time)
so to that question asked in book three - who is bolin when not next to someone else? well, funnily enough, we saw it in book two as well, just in a warped way, playing nuktuk. it just wasn’t truly him because it was created by varrick, and he needed to get away from varrick too. the question put forward by the narrative is who is bolin, and the answer given by the music is, he is a hero. and i don’t know why bolin is the only one to get a theme like this, but i think it may have something to do with the fact that, while everyone in team avatar has been a hero and saved people, he is the only one who has, from the start, solely been motivated by wanting to help people. he follows his heart, and his heart cares, about everyone. it’s been the driving force behind almost everything he’s ever done. and i love him so much
28 notes
·
View notes
Star-Crossed
din djarin/female oc | soulmate AU | pre-canon
wc: 4.5k / 17k (so far)
summary: The Way was not supposed to be a solitary one. People, house, clan. And when all else failed, your Match. “Fits like a Mandalorian Match” was the old saying. Though it wasn’t so long ago that it stopped making sense. But what's a lost Match to a man like Din Djarin?
warnings: canon-typical violence; discussions of past violence; just SO much (mutual) pining; and kISSING????
Previous Chapter | Masterpost | ao3
Chapter Six: The Revelation
Din Djarin was not a melee fighter.
Din Djarin was not a melee fighter.
He had the necessary training to take his creed, which did make him better than most of the galaxy’s combatants. But when he moved from up hand-to-hand to firearms, he never once looked back.
Not that a well placed punch wasn’t a useful tool.
Just that a gun was so much more so.
Which is why even with a few months of training refresh under his belt, Nia could take him to task during their sparring.
But the real sting came from the fact that right now she wasn’t even paying that much attention.
He’d left his right side open, mostly by choice, and she hadn’t immediately exploited it.
They never went easy on each other. She must really be distracted.
She’d been quiet ever since they left the school a few days ago. The following quarry pick up had gone so smoothly, Din had decided that an afternoon planetside wouldn’t be terrible.
He’d been the one to suggest sparring, anything to pull her out of her own head. Though it obviously hadn’t worked all that well.
Proof came when she left her left side completely unguarded a minute later. One quick duck and sweep of his leg, she was flat on her back, blinking up at him.
“You’re distracted,” he said, offering his hand.
She sighed and took it, lifted to standing. “Yes. Sorry.”
He waved it off and rolled his shoulders before falling back into stance. The only armor he wore was his helmet during their sparring, but even that was proving a poor choice in the steadily warming afternoon.
Not that he had much of one to begin with.
Nia wiped her forehead on her shirt sleeve and readied to meet his first strike.
“Will you go?” he asked, reaching for her shoulder. He didn’t need to offer more context; they both knew what occupied her thoughts so heavily.
She danced back and then stepped in closer with a low swing for his ribs that he blocked. “I don’t really have a choice. I have to know.”
They traded blows back and forth, neither of them really pressing to end this round yet. Sometimes the dance was more fun than winning.
Her gaze jumped from his hands to his visor and she stepped back, hands up in pause. “You don’t have to go with me if you don’t want to.”
But he just stepped in closer, still in a fighting stance and smiling though she couldn’t see. “Wherever you go, I go, right?”
For a heart-stopping moment, her eyes filled with an expression he didn’t recognize but was so warm and open he felt he knew it all the same.
“Wherever you go, I go,” she repeated.
Then she lunged and grappled him, toppling them both to the ground.
At that point, the fight stopped being about skill at all. They were both laughing as hands slipped in and out of the other’s grasp, each trying for a pin and neither winning.
His size won out, pinning one of her shoulders with his forearm while he trapped her wrist against the ground beneath her.
She struggled to free herself, still smiling and laughing breathlessly. Her hair was half escaped from its braid and tangled from dirt and sweat.
By the Mythosaur, he’d never seen anyone as beautiful as her.
The tightness filled his chest, his gut, expanding up to his mind to make room, pushing out breath, out thought, out everything.
She inhaled softly.
And Din realized he’d dropped his head, pressing his helmet to her brow in a Keldabe kiss.
He flinched back, breaking all contact and dropping to a sit next to her.
Oh kriff. What had he done???
Never before had he been so glad for the helmet as his expressions vacillated through wild shades of horror and shame. Though she knew him well enough to probably see it in the curve of his spine, the tense set of his shoulders.
Nia sat up slowly next to him, brushing the dust off her arms and resting elbows on her knees.
But she didn’t say anything.
Finally, he spoke up. He had to. “I’m sorry. I… shouldn’t have…”
“I feel it too,” she said, plainly.
He dared to look in her direction, but she was staring down at her feet. “You do?”
Her gaze moved to him, warm and open and oh. He did have a name for it after all.
That bright fullness warred in his chest with the mortification still determined to hold its position.
“Yes.” But her half-smile was wistful, and she looked away. “But I… I have so little of myself to give right now. It seems unfair to ask for more than I have to return.”
On some level, he understood her reasoning. Even still–
“I don’t care,” he offered.
She sighed a laugh and looked back to him. “I care… for now, at least. I care.”
“I’ll wait then.”
What was rapidly becoming his favorite expression of hers filled her eyes once more. She reached over and squeezed his hand.
He turned it over and intertwined their fingers, squeezing back.
They sat there in the quiet and warm sunshine for a long while.
Karga was surprised when Din didn’t immediately take four new bounties after dropping the last set off. “We’ll be back for more later,” was the only explanation he got however.
Nia was waiting back at the ship, coordinates already plotted and knee bouncing rapidly.
It was a quiet trip to Cantonica.
The noise of Canto Bight seemed welcoming as the two of them set off into the city.
They walked to the far end, far away from the glittering casinos and tracks, into the industrial section of the city, nearly deserted by the time they arrived.
Nia nodded up at a warehouse as they passed by. “That’s it,” she said quietly.
They kept walking till full dark had fallen over the city, a thick cloud cover blocking out the moon, before they returned to the warehouse.
Nia kept watch as Din hotwired the door open, a slow process but successful. They stepped into the dark and waited, both listening for any signs of life.
The warehouse was still.
Din flicked on his headlamp and they ventured further inside.
“What are we looking for exactly?” he asked after wandering through the obviously abandoned office.
“Ro wouldn’t be here herself, but she may have left something behind. Another message, or a commlink, that’s my guess.”
The door in the back of the office opened to the warehouse, the door scrape echoing through the dark empty room.
Din’s light swung over the floor, sweeping up to the corners to check for cameras.
“Fire damage,” he commented, noting the scorching along the wall.
“Yeah, we were sloppy in the beginning.”
“Were there any important areas of the warehouse? Where was infil and exfil?”
“Over here.” Nia jogged to the far corner of the warehouse, where a rickety catwalk clung to the scorched wall.
She stepped onto the ladder and the whole system let out a low groan. She looked back at him. “You should stay down here.”
His thoughts exactly. “Be careful.”
The catwalk lowed as she reached the top of the ladder and pulled herself over the railing.
Every squeak and metallic groan out of the metal stabbed at Din’s gut. He followed her every step, mentally calculating the likelihood of catching her should the whole grid give up clinging to the wall.
He didn’t like those odds.
What he wouldn’t give for a jetpack right now.
“I found something.” She pulled a small, unobtrusive box off the wall. “Catch.” She dropped it into his ready hands. It was marked with the Vod’oya sigil.
But her momentarily leaning over the railing proved the last bolt for the catwalk. It gave out a deafening screech and then leered away from the wall, knocking Nia off her feet. It careened half for the floor then was stopped, a few last bolts daring to hold strong.
“Nia!” Din rushed to stand under her as she dangled some twenty feet above the stone floor.
“It’s fine!” Her voice betrayed the panic she was tamping down. “I think I can–” She started to pull herself up, and the catwalk jerked down another few feet with a loud screech, loosening her grip to just one hand.
“I’ll catch you!” Din yelled.
“It’s too far!”
“I’ll catch you!! I promise!”
Her wild eyes looked down at him as the catwalk groaned again. She nodded.
She let go.
Time slowed as he reached up and grabbed her, rolling over her to give some place for momentum to go.
His helmet clanged against the floor, the world dimming for half a second and then throbbing as he held tight to consciousness.
But there was no time to grapple for bearings, Nia was pulling him up to his feet.
When his ears finally clicked back on, they were filled with the screeching from the collapsing catwalk.
Beams fell behind them as they sprinted for the door.
They made it back to the office. Out the front door. Across the street and down a few more alleys before they stopped.
He dropped to sitting against the wall, gasping for air and trying to keep the world from wobbling like a drunken tauntaun.
“You okay?” Nia asked, kneeling in front of him.
He ran a glove across the back of his neck and held it up for inspection. “No blood. I’m fine.”
“Din.” It came out both angry and concerned, but he shook his head, making the world whirl some more and his stomach turn in answer.
“Just give me a minute. Here.” He dug the box out of his pocket and tossed it to her.
By her look she knew he was distracting her, but she granted his request, sitting next to him and examining the box.
It wasn’t solid wood, but rather separate pieces fastened tightly together.
“I remember these,” she said half under her breath. She flipped it over and pulled on a seemingly random section, but it came away easily. The box deconstructed in her hands and held a small scroll of paper.
The markings on the page jumped around when he looked at them, making him frown and close his eyes in concentration.
“Coordinates. In mando’a. If it’s here on Cantonica, that’s not far from where we landed.”
“Let’s go then.”
“You alright to walk?”
He squinted an eye open and slowly stood. His skull drummed a very steady beat, and his stomach was uneasy at best, but the world remained steady. “Let’s go,” he repeated.
She stood and wordlessly offered her staff. He refused and then stumbled on the first step.
So he took it and they set off.
It was slow going as they made their way to the far side of the city, the cloud cover turning into a slow drizzle that dampened their shoulders and Nia’s hair, pinging softly off the tops of Din’s armor.
The coordinates led them to a humble neighborhood not too far from the spaceport. There were no people on the road between the hour and the rain, and most of the windows were dark.
Din’s gaze swept across the street, pausing at a single story house. There was a small carving in the mantle of the doorframe, a swooping Mandalorian ‘V’.
Something in the back of his mind still itched at the sight of it.
He reached for Nia’s shoulder and nodded to the door.
She took a steadying breath and knocked twice.
No one answered.
She waited a few more minutes and then knocked again.
No reply.
Din looked up the street and coming around the corner was the first figure they’d seen since they arrived. A human woman with a facefull of freckles, carrying a bag.
Ro.
“Nia,” Din said quietly. She turned around.
Ro looked up, immediately threw her bag down and ran the opposite way.
“Wait!” Nia cried, taking off after her. Din pushed himself to a run, head pounding with every step.
“Why is she running?!” Din called up to Nia.
“She’s a fugitive who saw a Mandalorian bounty hunter waiting at her front door. Wouldn’t you run?”
If you saw a Mandalorian waiting for you, it was already too late. But the point stood.
“Split up,” Nia ordered, grabbing the building to swing around the corner after Ro. Din ran a few blocks down before turning down his own alley, the world threatening to start whirling again with every step.
He waited at the corner, Nia’s staff still in hand, listening as two sets of pounding footsteps got steadily louder.
He swung the staff out, and Ro collided with it full-force.
Though she rolled back over her shoulder and fired her blaster at Din from kneeling.
The impact on his cuirass knocked him back a few feet, the staff clattering to the ground and the world finally making good on that whirling threat.
“Ro–Wait!”
Nia ran up in time for Ro to turn her blaster on her.
Din threw himself forward and tackled Ro, sending the shot wide and the gun skidding across the ground.
Ro twisted in his hold and a vibroblade slashed across his ribs, shallow but long.
His breath withered in his chest and the pounding in his head became deafening.
But Nia grabbed Ro’s shoulder, pulling her away from him.
Ro just turned on her, blade already swinging.
Her strikes were pointed and brutal, the vibroblade hissing through the air.
Nia knocked the blade out of her hand but gave up ground as she remained on the defensive.
She quickly was backed up against the wall with no escape.
“Ro. It’s me! It’s Nia!”
Ro ducked in and it looked like her strike over shot Nia’s shoulder, but then the arm whipped back around Nia’s neck, pulling tight and cutting off breath and blood flow.
Nia slapped at Ro’s arm but she held strong.
Din’s world fell back into order to the sight of Nia’s redding face. He fired his blaster once into the air and then pointed it at Ro’s head as he pulled himself up to standing. “Let her go.”
Ro looked at him, calculating odds as Nia pulled helplessly on the hold and her face turned unsettling colors, then she released her and held her hands up, a sneer playing across her mouth.
Nia dropped to her knees, gasping for air and coughing.
“Are you alright?” he asked.
She nodded and staggered up to her feet. “Put the gun away,” she said, her voice hoarse.
“Nia,” he responded, the oversaturated red shade of Nia’s face far too fresh in his memory.
“Put it away.”
He lowered the weapon, but didn’t holster it.
“You brought a buckethead for a bodyguard?” Ro asked, disdain dripping from every word.
“This is Mando, he’s my friend.”
Ro scoffed. “You don’t even know his real name?”
“I know it.”
A knowing look crossed Ro’s eyes. “So he’s one of those.”
One of what?
Nia stepped closer but Ro edged back, a warning in every movement she made that Nia didn’t seem to notice at all. “Ro, I need your help. I don’t remember anything.”
“Sure you don’t.”
“I swear. I got a control chip put in my head, it took everything. I don’t even know who put it there. I’m… I’m getting bits and pieces sometimes, but– What happened? To the school? To Vod’oya? Have you heard anything from Phasia? Or Anella?”
That calculating look filled Ro’s eyes again.
“You don’t remember anything?”
“Nothing.”
The look disappeared behind an eerily calm wall.
“I don’t know where Anella is. Last time I saw her was… about the last time I saw you. And I don’t know who attacked the school either. We were gone… looking for you.”
Nia frowned. “Why?”
Ro studied her carefully. “You really don’t remember?”
“No.”
She chuckled once, cold and unamused. “That’s con-kriffing-venient for you.”
“Why were you looking for me?” Nia asked, pleaded.
Ro studied her sister for a long moment, a new sneer pulling her lip up, then she hissed,
“Because you killed Phasia.”
Nia froze.
That… that couldn’t be right.
“...What?” Nia said, her voice very small.
Ro stepped forward, fury shaking down her limbs. “You killed Phasia. You betrayed the Vod’oya.”
“No. No, th-that can’t– You–you’re wrong.”
“I saw everything. I saw you two talking that night and then you pulled your gun. And I watched you shoot our captain, our sister in cold blood. And then you ran.”
“No–” She started folding in on herself.
Din stepped forward, half shielding Nia from Ro. “If you saw, why didn’t you try to stop her?” he demanded.
“Because I didn’t have a death wish. I can’t compete with Nia when she’s actually trying. Only Phasia ever could. And now she’s dead.”
Nia sucked in a shaking breath.
Din stepped fully between them now. “If the Vod’oya were together when the school was attacked, why did you leave the message?”
“We split up. For safety. We didn’t know how many of us she intended to murder.”
Without another word, Nia turned and fled, running back down the alley. Din stopped long enough to pick up her abandoned staff before following her.
Ro’s voice echoed down the stone walls after them. “Watch your back, Mando! Or you might be next!”
The drizzle turned into a downpour as Din chased after Nia all the way back to where they’d docked The Razor Crest.
Nia finally slowed at the foot of the open ramp, before turning abruptly and emptying her stomach into a puddle. She staggered as she stood, Din reaching forward to brace her.
“She’s lying,” he insisted, searching Nia’s face. Her eyes were distant and deeply haunted. “She has to be.”
Nia shook her head, her voice shredded and hollow. “She’s not. I remember. I remember… being so angry… watching her body drop in front of me.” Her gut coiled as if to vomit again but she held strong. “I murdered my sister, Din.” She shuddered and pulled away from his support. “I… should have realized. Memory’s a curse–I don’t want to remember anything more.”
But he closed the distance between them, gripping her shoulders. “You wouldn’t have done this without reason.”
“You don’t know that! I don’t even know that. Neither of us know who I am–”
“No!” He cupped her cheek. “I know you, Niæna Vard’on. Ni kar’taylir veman.”
I know you truly.
“You would not take a life, especially your sister’s life, without just cause.”
She shook her head and gripped his hand on her cheek. “What reason would justify this?”
“We’ll find out. And we won’t stop till we know the whole truth.”
She stared at him, her lips quivering with tears hidden by the rain. “I don’t deserve this… I don’t deserve your loyalty, Din.”
“I don’t care.”
She stared at him for a long moment then reached up and tilted his helmet forward enough to press her brow to his.
He pulled her closer, needing to shield her from the rain, from everything else in the galaxy. She was so powerful, so capable, and he wanted so desperately to be safe harbor for her, as she had become for him.
But her hand brushing his side broke the moment, making him flinch away with a low groan and his head pushed back in with a reminding throb.
“Din–”
“I’m…” He wanted to find the way back into the intimate with her, but the moment had passed, disrupted by his injuries.
She sighed and took his hand. “Come on.”
They were both dripping puddles on the hull floor when the door closed behind them.
“Sit,” she ordered, pointing to a crate and moving to where the healing supplies were kept.
He was more than grateful to finally sit down, though disappointment puddled right next to the rain.
“We’re out of bacta-shots, so it’s going to have to be cauterized,” she said, returning with the tool in hand. He reached for it but she held it back. “Let me help.”
At first he tried to help her remove the pieces of his armor in her way. But after his clumsy fingers failed twice in a row to unbuckle his pauldron, she batted his hand away and removed the armor pieces, then the protective padding over his jumpsuit.
Every layer removed felt like a skin peeled away, leaving him raw and uncomfortably vulnerable. He hadn’t been this unprotected around another person in decades.
She seemed to sense his hesitation and paused to squeeze his hand, smiling softly at him, before pulling off the vambraces and his gloves.
Hoping that perhaps blunt efficacy would be its own armor, he yanked the zipper on the jumpsuit down enough to ease his arms out of the wet and stiff fabric.
He was still helmeted and mostly clothed, but he could practically feel her gaze smooth across his bare shoulders and chest. Thankfully, she didn’t say anything as she knelt beside him.
“Do you want a warning?” she asked, resting his arm on her shoulder and ducking towards the wound.
“It doesn’t make it hurt less.”
She chuckled and a nasty buzzing noise started below his elbow. “Get ready.”
It was a slow process and by the end, he was gripping the back of her shirt and shaking slightly. But finally–
“Deep breath. We’re done with this.”
He sucked in a steadying breath as she stood up.
“Thank you.”
She nodded and set aside the cauterizer for a handheld medical scanner. “One last thing. Turn around, we need to remove your helmet.”
Every already overexposed nerve flared, and he instinctively recoiled. “It’s fine–”
But she seemed to have expected his reaction. “If you’re going to exonerate me, you can’t do that with a concussion.” She rested a hand on his shoulder, her palm cool and electrifying on his bare skin. “Trust me, Din. Please.”
He did… he really did.
But it was still terrifying.
She sat behind him, the hand leaving his shoulder, but he could still feel where her skin had touched his like another tattoo.
It was a full minute till he summoned enough determination to ease his helmet off, resting it between his knees and staring down at his boots.
She exhaled softly. Then fingers gently touched the ends of his hair. “It’s curly,” she said, a smile in her voice that seemed so much warmer without the helmet.
“I need to cut it,” he muttered.
“Shame.”
The tightness in his chest was making it difficult to take full breaths.
Then her fingers slipped into his hair, tips running over his scalp, and he immediately stiffened.
She stopped but didn’t move away. “Does this hurt?”
He shook his hand, words impossible at the moment.
“I’m going to keep going,” she whispered.
His eyes shut as she continued, the sensations seeming to ripple outward, down his neck, his spine.
Years of diligently instilling preference for loneliness, for detachment, for separation were catching flame with every gentle brush of her fingers through his hair. He hadn’t realized till that moment how thoroughly all these months he’d been stacking tinder, splashing kerosene, all in longing for her spark.
Even her glancing across the sore spot on the back of his head wasn’t enough to stifle the flame.
“Here, yes?” she asked in that same whisper. He nodded.
His lips were clenched tight between his teeth and his fists balled on his knees; he was so focused on controlling his own reactions he missed her scanning him all together.
“Minor concussion, we’ll take it easy for a few days and you’ll be alright.”
Then her hands started to retreat.
And a low whining gasp of her name escaped through the flames.
She paused for a heart-stopping moment as he crackled with both need and shame.
Then she moved closer, her palms smoothing down his back then around his sides, wrapping him – shielding him – from behind. Her cheek rested on his shoulder blade. She was warm, damp fabric and smooth skin and soft hair.
“I’m here,” she murmured.
His hands covered hers as she held him, his throat shredded sore and every breath shaking under the unfamiliar weight of connection.
Yet even still… he wanted more, wanted it enough to risk everything for it.
“Close your eyes,” he said, his voice hoarse.
Her hold relaxed, and he gave her another breath before he dared to look over his shoulder.
There she was. Niæna Vard’on, his Match. The woman he loved, beheld in his own eyes for the first time.
He eagerly took in every detail of her face that the view screen obscured. The faintest hint of more freckles across the bridge of her nose, the tops of her cheeks. The few strands of early silver hair in her dark curls. The pale line of an old scar along her jawline.
Her eyes were solidly shut, and impossibly, greedily, he wanted to know those most of all. Was there gold in the center of her grey eyes? Or blue? Would they still smile at him if they saw his first face?
Need is a weakness, the cruel voice hissed just loud enough to make him lean back, to almost turn away and reach for the safety of his helmet.
But then Nia lifted her hand and reached out slowly towards him.
He watched her approach, apprehension and burning want warring with every passing second.
Then, the first person in nearly two whole decades, she touched his cheek.
His breath shuddered, and he leaned into her touch, eyes shutting under the tender onslaught as her other hand cupped his jaw.
She mapped the frame of his face, the curve of his nose, the stubble on his chin. Every brush of her touch so perfect it seared.
He kissed her thumb as it brushed over his lips, and she inhaled. “Din,” she whispered, moving closer, her head angling slightly.
He stopped her by pressing his brow to hers, savoring the pressure he hadn’t felt in the times before. “I’ve never kis– I want to… I may be bad at this,” he admitted in a rough voice, searching her closed eyes for reassurance.
She smiled softly. “I don’t care.”
He tentatively brushed his lips over hers, turning her smile solar bright for a second and making his chest glow in response, then she pressed close and kissed him.
Star bursts and comet fire.
It was inelegant and unpracticed and so wholly perfect that he wanted to be kissed by only her till the day he died.
Even after then too.
Everything else in the universe disappeared as he pulled her closer. Everything except for Nia.
Her hair between his fingers, her hands slipping down his back, her lips against his.
And then, through the comet fire and the star bursts and the steadily improving kisses, something flickered even deeper.
And a new yet familiar bond whispered,
Together.
Chapter 7: The Investigation
taglist: @loversandantiheroes ; @kelenloth ; @keeper0fthestars ; @sarahjkl82-blog ; @thirstworldproblemss ; @spideysimpossiblegirl ; @i-belong-in-fandoms ; @gallowsjoker ; @nova646
41 notes
·
View notes
The last thing I need for this stupid project is yet another WIP but I was talking with @ternaryflower53 a while back about les mis and now, well.
I'm going to end up writing a piece about the Les Mis production from Nico and Will's POVs.
Because a lot of it is Percy and Jason pining after each other (unknowingly, in Percy's case), but it's actually Nico's story.
Full semi-coherent fic-spoilery rambling under the cut, but the condensed version is that I'm sort of transplanting his arc from the books into the run of a show, which means I definitely need to finish my reread before I try to tackle this. 😅 It's proving surprisingly effective so far in the plotting, though!
I also seriously need to fill in the rest of the show holes so I know the history and their previous experiences. I need to do a lot of things to fill a lot of holes, actually.
.........heh. 😏
So— I have thus far that Nico sang in church choir, but never even told his friends he goes to church, so nobody has a clue that he's actually got some training and can sight-read music. (I do have a subplot about Nico and religion that's an homage to someone extremely dear to me, so uh, warning, that's coming.)
(Except Hazel. Nico also plays piano, which is another secret talent that only she knows about. He accompanies and does duets with her when he's certain they're alone.)
SO I realized also Hazel can't be Little Red because it's high school and she'd be in seventh grade, which works better anyway because then what happens is she's nervous about her first audition and he reluctantly auditions with her for moral support, thinking he won't get in
(his audition song is Out There from Hunchback of Notre Dame. Will is in the same audition slot, and the crescendo is the precise moment at which he falls in love. Lou Ellen has to close his mouth for him.)
Thalia is deeply impressed by his emotive expression, upper range, volume control, and ability to sustain a high note, so she calls him back for Valjean alongside Percy and Leo. In the same room as Percy, Nico chokes and can't manage any louder than pianissimo.
He storms out of the auditorium, so Percy runs after him. Nico, being Nico, kind of lashes out at him, cementing Percy's misconception that Nico hates him.
So Percy gives him advice: "Take that anger and use it."
And he manages to buck up enough courage to stop the production team before they leave, to give him one more chance.
He indeed takes that anger and uses it, it's just that it's anger directed inwards, and he uses a lot less anger than he does shame.
He crushes Valjean's Soliloquy. He convinces himself he did so badly before that it doesn't matter. He doesn't even look at the cast list when it goes up, just hears Hazel report back that she's playing Eponine and flees.
Jason has to track him down, because they kind of need their Jean Valjean before they can start rehearsal, and Nico bluescreens for about thirty seconds before narrowing his eyes and asking if it's a sick joke
They run through One Day More and everyone stares. A lot. They're staring because they're blown away, but at first he thinks it's because he was terrible...and then comes the flood.
"HOLY SHIT"
"Nico you're AMAZING"
"Where have you been all this time???"
"What the fuck else are you hiding, dude?" < from Percy; Nico dies a little inside because a lot, actually
AND BASICALLY— going through Valjean's arc and spending time with the cast starts him on his own healing, on realizing he had "come to hate the world, this world that always hated me!"
And alongside this, he's kind of forced to confront his feelings for Percy, partly because he's now constantly steeping in Hazel's part when she practices (and yes, that's half of why she's Eponine, the other half being that Frank is Marius and they're absolutely That Pair who has Excellent Chemistry and always end up cast opposite each other).
(Nico wears noise-cancelling headphones during A Little Fall of Rain, with a stagehand, usually Sally, next to him to tap his shoulder when he's coming up on his cue. He managed to watch it once and immediately had to leave, because watching/listening to Hazel have a death scene hits way too close to Bianca 🥺)
I also have Jason playing two roles: Grantaire and the Bishop, specifically because of the whole "INTENSE EYE CONTACT WHILE DRINKING POISON" thing. I think they get close during the run of the show because Jason picks up on Nico's crush— "call it an educated guess based on personal experience—" and thus they commiserate over their pining.
He also spends a ton of time with Reyna, since she's Javert. I think they didn't really know each other, but part of why Thalia cast him is because they blew everyone else out of the water with their natural chemistry.
And yeah. Acting lets him feel things from a safe distance, which makes it easier for him to feel them for real. He blossoms a little late, but it's magnificent to behold.
8 notes
·
View notes
Dark Cybertron Chapter 12: That’s the Power of Love, Babeyyyyy
Thank fucking god, it’s almost over.
Our issue opens up with Ironhide deadnaming Slug, like the out-of-touch grandpa that he is. Everything is going to shit, the whole city’s covered in lasers like the world’s worst rave, and someone thought it was a good idea to let Swerve have a gun.
As the Ammonites try to murder everyone in sight, Whirl and Arcee have a little chat about how Whirl’s seemingly caused every problem ever in the last four million years.
…Whirl, you have been keeping up with your appointments with Rung, right? Like, I know he’s not the best therapist around by any stretch of the imagination, but surely something would be better than nothing in this case.
On the Lost Light, Hound, Perceptor, and Mainframe are keeping track of how many Ammonites have been killed. Everyone is extra British in this bit. Perceptor basically calls Hound a fucking idiot, because even with all the guys who’ve been taken out, there are still literally BILLIONS of these suckers running around.
Which seems a little overkill to me, but what do I know? Warcrimes aren’t my specialty.
Meanwhile, in the Mystical City of Making Science Cry, Starscream apparently knows what cosplay is, and takes a potshot at Jhiaxus for stealing his look. Metalhawk explains how the Ammonites got here in the first place, which, y’know, is cool. Love me some technobabble exposition.
I don’t actually love it.
I’m sorry for lying.
I WOULD ALSO LIKE FOR METALHAWK TO PUT A STOP TO THIS
BUT WE’VE GOT ANOTHER 19 PAGES TO GO
SO I GUESS LIFE JUST ISN’T FUCKING FAIR RATTRAP
While Metalhawk contemplates ending the comic event early, Starscream is getting his ass kicked by an old man who spent the war sitting on his butt in the Dead Universe.
Over with Team -Imus, Brainstorm’s taking a breather after getting Robertsed at the end of last issue. Ultra Magnus makes a pun, I guess to cope with the fact that he doesn’t understand anything that’s going on. Cyclonus is still dying, but this isn’t about him. Nightbeat is also dying. Oh, and Kup. Turns out, being a part of the Dead Universe is sort of an issue when you’re out of it.
Even though Galvatron was fine. And Jhiaxus. And Nova Prime, for the little bit he was out of it.
I feel like this plot point kinda just shows up when it’s convenient.
Anyway.
Brainstorm has shit in his lab that can help them not die, but he and Skids are gonna need help to get all these undead morons back to the Lost Light, which means that only two folks would be going to face Shockwave in this final confrontation.
Speaking of Shockwave, he’s gone full Burning Justice with that time drive shoved into his chest, as he makes fun of Megatron for being a dumb stupid idiot who gave him everything he needed to end the universe. He reveals himself to be a nihilist, claiming that a Cybertron which only exists for existence’s sake- and without any form of life- is the ultimate in perfection. Also, he’s a communist now. A nihilistic communist.
Just… whatever, Shockwave.
Megatron’s annoyed by all this posturing- which, same- but enough about him, it’s time for Ultra Magnus and Optimus Prime drop down from… somewhere… to kick some ass. Shockwave promptly shoots Magnus, and is about to do the same to Optimus, when this starts happening:
Huh. Wonder what all that’s about.
Shockwave snaps out of his stupor and proceeds to fire on Optimus, yelling about being the only thing that exists as he does.
Over with Rodimus and friends, Cyclonus is bitching about Rodimus not leaving him behind so he could go fight Shockwave. Nightbeat, who I guess just doesn’t know when to keep his mouth shut, tells Cyclonus to quit it, because they all know that he just misses his boyfriend. Cyclonus, though blatantly annoyed, doesn’t actually refute this claim. Brainstorm wonders aloud just how this gaggle of assholes managed to escape the Dead Universe without murdering each other.
Rodimus explains that when they heard the singing at Swerve’s, it proved they could still get out of the Dead Universe, so they desecrated Nova Prime’s corpse to make a space bridge. Brainstorm became a doorway, because he’s very nearly dead, and oh yeah, he should probably fix that when they get back to the lab, and also reconsider his lab safety protocols.
The gang reaches the outside world, and Rodimus is given a chance to spout off his personal philosophies.
Fantastic, you funky little man.
Then everyone looks up in the sky and sees some real bullshit.
Hey, Cahill? I just wanna talk, man. Just wanna talk about this boobie Windblade you’ve cursed my eyes with.
Back over with Jhiaxus and Starscream, Jhiaxus just cannot shut up. He just keeps waxing poetic about how smart Shockwave’s plan is. I couldn’t even tell you what the guy’s saying- my eyes glaze over whenever he gets a speech bubble.
Metalhawk at this point has had quite enough of all this nonsense, and decides he’s gonna throw himself into the equation that allows the Dark Cybertron prophecy to manifest.
By killing himself.
He just fuckin’… tosses himself into some heavy machinery and explodes, and that throws all the ores out of wack, since he’s got the Resurrection Ore in him. Jhiaxus is distracted by a man just straight-up dying in the same room as him, and this give Starscream the opening he needs to stab Jhiaxus in the gut.
Then the background just straight up disappears, as Rattrap lets everyone know that it’s all still going to shit, but in the opposite direction.
Really not sure about this art direction, but whatever. I’m over it.
Back outside, all the Ammonites are exploding. All of them. Billions of the little suckers, just popping off like fire crackers. The environment’s going to be ruined at this rate. Metroplex is having a great fucking time. Happy for him.
The Lost Light calls the ladies inside Metroplex’s brain room, and lets them know that they’re gonna break up Monstructor like the mediocre boy-band he is, though not without Mainframe being difficult beforehand. The ladies jump out and enter the fray, admiring Arcee’s style as they do.
Back with Rodimus and pals, Nightbeat’s being fucking cryptic, and Brainstorm gets to work making it so folks aren’t dying from being in the wrong universe, after a little prodding to his ego.
Back in Shockwave’s Super Saiyan Energy Bubble of Pure Unadulterated Logic, Shockwave says that’s he’s fucking ripped, and Optimus couldn’t beat him in a fight. Clearly, this means we’ll have to use our words to resolve this, like adults. Optimus isn’t too sure about that option, however.
I mean, do I even have to- Optimus, that’s GAY.
I have the sneaking suspicion that Roberts wrote this portion of the script. Y’know, just given his track record.
Then Megatron blasts Shockwave with his fusion cannon, and makes fun of Optimus for being a sentimental fool.
The fact that “Dark Cybertron” is telling me this makes me so mad. Like, you don’t get to talk, Exposition Central.
It’s at this point that Megatron drops a bomb on everyone present- he’s done with being a Decepticon. He’s gonna be an Autobot now.
See, ol’ Megsy here has seen the error of his ways- that by fighting the Senate, he allowed them to change him into a murderous warlord. To prove how much of a nice guy he is, he’s ripped the Autobrand off of Bumblebee’s lifeless body and duct-taped it to his chest.
Which seems a tad disrespectful, but okay.
…Megatron, you do realize that, as the leader of the Decepticons, you could just tell everyone that they need to be nice, and that would more or less be the end of it, right? You could just say “not evil anymore, I want to be loved now”, and everyone would be all “sir yes sir.” This is going to be a PR nightmare, I can already tell. Shockwave certainly seems to agree with me.
I really like this panel structure. Want to say this is the only place it happens, too. It’s just too bad it lives in “Dark Cybertron”.
Shockwave’s not having a good time right now, and he’s convinced that Optimus and Megatron have teamed up just to make him upset so he loses control of the time drive. The two spout off a little Autobot propaganda, and then Shockwave Remembers™.
Shockwave, having had his shadowplay reverse violently and abruptly, is horrified to find what he’s become. Alas, it’s too late for him- the only way to stop the time drive is for Optimus to kill him. Optimus promises to remember who Shockwave was- a callback to the line Shockwave gave him back before his empurata- and then shoots the everloving fuck out of the guy. Megatron helps.
And that’s a series wrap on Shoc-
-holy fucking shit.
The gang high-tails it outta there, IDW Optimus once again proving to be the shittiest version of everyone’s space-dad, as he leaves Bumblebee’s body to be consumed by the Shockwave Singularity. It’s looking pretty hopeless, but luckily none of these bastards can die without fucking up Season 2 of MTMTE, so the Lost Light swoops in to save the day.
Down below, Soundwave and his gaggle of small children and animals watch as the Lost Light fucks off into the distance. Soundwave’s having a time and a half, as he realizes with his balls-to-the-wall senses that Megatron’s joined the Autobots. Galvatron shows up to try to work out a deal. We won’t be seeing where this goes, because that’ll be covered later on.
The Lost Light lands in front of Metroplex, and over to the left of that are Rattrap and Starscream, climbing over the wreckage of the city. Rattrap tries to warn Starscream that things are gonna be tough, now that the Dark Cybertron prophecy has come to pass, but Starscream isn’t really having it. He’s gotten very paranoid, likely due to stress, and tells Rattrap to not play this game, because he’s the best player who’s ever lived. Then the Lost Light gang shows up and we get this face:
Sure.
Later on, Megatron and Optimus are hanging out in the Sky Roller, not-talking, until Megatron tells Optimus to get on with it, since the issue’s about to end.
Megatron was totally serious about becoming an Autobot. Optimus isn’t really sure what to do with that. I don’t think anyone’s really sure what to do with that, to be honest.
Megatron, in turn, asks Optimus if he really could look past all the bullshit Shockwave pulled in the last several million years, and he gets a non-answer, because addressing your feelings is for losers, clearly. The two exit the ship, and I guess everyone else was just… standing outside waiting for them to talk it out. Weird.
...And with THAT, I am finally released from Comic Event Hell!
If you hear any distant, triumphant screeching right now, that’s likely me.
56 notes
·
View notes
Christmas is all around
a/n: Hello everyone. If you stumbled upon that fic, first of all: I am sorry. Second of all, I haven’t written anything other than essays in like 4 years, and this is my way to try to write fanfics again. I may be rusty, like a lot, and I apologize for that. Also, English is not my first language so again, I am sorry for any typo or weird sentences, I try my best skskjsj. Finally, did is my first Jason Todd fic ever (or DC fic, for that matter) so dont expect too much ig? Anyway, I just miss writing fanfictions so I’m gonna try to post some from time to time, even if they suck. That’s okay<3
Pairing: Jason Todd x y/n (she/her pronouns used, sorry about that)
Word count: 3,759
Warning: some drinking, too many paragraphs, slight cringe ig, uhm maybe some ooc Jason idk I’m not so sure about how I want to write him yet!
The title is from the cover Sleeping At Last did for their Christmas album, I was listening to it while writing.
“Tell me the truth now.”
You took the baking tray out of the oven, careful to not burn yourself as the dish towel between your hand and the tray was barely thick enough to protect you from the heat.
You hummed absent-mindedly, organizing the cooling cookies on the dish you decorated specially for the event. You bit the inside of your cheek as you felt a pair of eyes on you, waiting for you to give a clue – anything, really– away. You took the final baking tray from your fridge and put it in the oven, closing it and putting the timer on twenty minutes.
“What have you planned?"
You let out a tired sigh as you turned around, going to a cupboard to grab a pack of chips and a bowl to pour them in. You carefully ignored the other person in the kitchen who was supposedly here to help you, but was rather doing an investigation of a new genre. Poking at your mind tirelessly was apparently more interesting than putting together a Christmas Eve’s eve party for your friends.
"Won’t you give up and help me with those?” You pointed at the appetizers that were already ready, then pointed at the empty table in the living room.
As to prove her previous point that she can do two and more things at the same time, I swear, Barbara grabbed two plates and moved over to said table. She mumbled a couple of indistinct sentences, but since she was finally helping, you let it slide and simply rolled your eyes at her antics.
“I just know”, she grabbed a plate of stick crudités with their condiments. “I just know”, she started again, “you’re plotting something and I don’t like it."
"I am most certainly not”, you scoffed loudly, putting a hand on your chest. “I have no idea, and I mean no”, you gave her a bowl of peanuts and she went back to the table, expertly avoiding several presents messily put on the floor, “idea why you would say that.”
“You have that glint in your eyes since I-”.
She stopped herself from finishing the sentence, but you could feel a smile coming back on your face. “Since you’ve told me you were desperately and hopelessly in love with the one and only-"
"If you finish this sentence I will embarrass you on every social media for the next decade”, she warned.
“-Dick Grayson.”
“I am not desperately and hopelessly in love with him.”
“Helplessly and irrevocably?” You tried, raising an eyebrow as you spare a glance her way and see her smiling despite your teasing.
She shook her head which prompted you to try new adverbs, as idiotic as they sounded. “Terribly and blissfully?"
"What does that even- you know what”, she shook her head and took the last plates and some decorations to put the final look on the table. “Why don’t we talk about you and our dear Jason?"
"Oh no, no, no, we don’t talk about this”, you yelled at the same time she was finishing her sentence, practically running after her while still being mindful of the dozen of glasses you were carrying in both your hands. “I am not the hot topic of discussion for this Christmas."
"Well you should, because you being into Jason is way more gossip worthy than my crush on Dick.”
“Well it’s my apartment, and I say I am not worthy of anyone’s attention, but you definitely are.”
“Not even Jason’s?” She laughed quietly as you avoided her gaze, keeping your attention on the glasses you were carefully putting on the table in a shape of a snowflake. Fuck it, it’s Christmas after all.
“Not even Jason’s”, you confirmed a few minutes later, but Barbara couldn’t ignore the tone of sadness in your voice.
*****
“Y/n, they are here”, Barbara yelled, drawing the ‘e’, right after the bell was rung.
“Coming!"
You heard new voices coming from the living room and you smiled to yourself as you put on your outfit for the night.
The bell rang once more, and more voices started to fill your apartment. Among them, you clearly recognized Dick’s as he told some joke, which was followed by Barbara’s laughter. Donna and Wally joined her as Roy added his own take on the joke. There was a quiet grumble you could without a doubt attribute to Damian, and three more voices you guessed, more than knew, were Tim’s, Steph’s and Conner’s entered the conversation.
After fixing your hair one last time, you came out of your room and walked towards your friends. Donna is the first one to see you and she immediately put you in a hug.
"Your apartment looks very nice”, Dick complimented you, hugging you sideways as he said so once Donna had let go of you.
“Barbara helped”, you informed him as you glanced at the key player of this whole thing, who was currently glaring daggers at you.
“I don’t doubt it."
Barbara blushed slightly at Dick’s comment. You resisted the urge to tease her a bit when you noticed her eyes shining with happiness.
"Well, blue is the new”, she stopped for a second, her eyebrows knitting together, “red, I guess?"
"Yeah, it works for Christmas, Babs”, Roy affectionately said as he ruffled her hair, earning an eye roll.
You watched with a knowing smile, as well as everyone else in the room but two persons, as Dick’s smile grew wider and his cheeks a little warmer. You wished these two could see just how much they meant for each other. But no, Richard Grayson and Barbara Gordon were two idiots. Two idiots who definitely needed a push in the right direction.
“Oh, by the way”, Roy caught your attention as he walked to the table to grab an appetizer, “Jason and Kory are swinging by later, they had a thing.”
“A thing, uh”, Steph wiggled her eyebrows in his direction making Tim and Conner choke on their drinks they shouldn’t have already.
Barbara sent an apologetic look your way but you simply smiled back, grabbing two bottles of Champagne from the fridge.
“Who’s ready to party?"
*****
You made your way towards the kitchen to grab more appetizers and a new pack of chips. You smiled as Stephanie and Cassandra were lively talking near the Christmas tree, pointing at various presents. Damian was clearly starting to enjoy the night as Jon, who Clark had dropped off half an hour ago, was showing him a new toy Lois had bought him mere days before Christmas.
You stopped dead in your tracks when your eyes landed on Dick who was observing a customized Christmas decoration. One that has been created by Barbara, a deep blue bird with mechanical wings that fluttered every so often. He had the cheesiest smile on his face and he kept swinging the bird with his right hand. As he stood under the threshold of the kitchen, right above his head was one of the two mistletoe branches you had put in your apartment.
Just as the doorbell rang for the umpteenth time this night, you sprung towards the door, unwilling to let this great opportunity go to waste.
"Babs, could you grab a new pack of chips please?” You sent her a warm and what you hoped was an innocent smile. “I’ve left some on the countertop!”
“Alright”, she replied, excusing herself from Donna and Wally. Once you reached the door, you discreetly pointed at Dick who was right on Barbara’s way. A knowing look was shared before you finally opened the door, barely registering the people in front of you.
“Hey”, you greeted the two new guests, glancing back and forth between them and Dick and Barbara who were currently having a nice conversation if your eyes weren’t to lie. “Nice to see you could make it! Roy said you’d be held back for a while.”
“Sorry about that”, Kory smiled a little for an unknown reason. “We did our best.”
“It’s fine! Please, just come on in.” You opened the door a little wider to let both her and Jason walk in.
“So, is something going on?” Kory asked after several seconds of you being oblivious to Jason’s stare on you.
“Well”, you waved in the general direction of your friends having a conversation under the mistletoe near the kitchen, “I think something is working there, don’t you think?”
“Did you set them up?” Jason’s question sounded a lot more like an accusation, but you didn’t really mind at this exact moment.
You turned your head to reply to him but, before you could open your mouth everyone around you started cheering loudly, making you whip around right when your eyes locked with Jason’s.
There, under the mistletoe by your kitchen, Dick and Barbara were finally kissing, smiling through it.
“Tim, you owe me 20 bucks here”, Steph yelled over the clamor and Tim clearly huffed loudly at that, although the smirk on his face was still present.
“Same over there Wally, and you too, Roy”, Donna added while collecting the money both men already had put out from their pockets.
“Jason”, you could hear the smile in Kory’s voice as she turned to Jason, her hands awaiting the bank bills. “I believe I get something too?”
“Did you all bet money on us?” Dick eventually said, catching everyone’s attention.
“Anyway, more champagne?”, you changed the subject after a couple of minutes of silence and glances exchanged between everyone.
A chorus of “yes please” and two “orange juice, please” was your answer and you swiftly walked to the kitchen, Barbara following close behind from the moment you walked past her.
“Proud of you?”
“Mad at me?” You shot back, the smile apparently ever so present on your face.
“No”, she confessed, her voice as close as what someone could expect Barbara’s dreamy voice to be. “I could have done it without the help though.”
“I don’t doubt it”, you put three new bottles of the bubbly alcohol in your fridge as you grabbed the last two. “But I wanted the girls to have their money.”
“Makes sense”, she blocked your way, letting you know something else was going on. “Now, about you and a certain someone-”
“Nu-uh”, you waved a bottle in front of her face, “I am not stealing your thunder tonight.”
“Or ever”, she mumbled but you decided to ignore her.
“This is your night.”
“It’s also supposed to be a Christmas party”, Tim chimed in, pushing his glass in front of him, expecting you to pour him a new one. You gently grabbed it before filling it with water, handing it back to the younger man. He gave you a face before chugging it, awaiting once again the champagne. “Are we gonna open those presents or what?”
“Let’s do it.”
“Presents time everyone!”
*****
People were slowly filling out of your apartment with new gifts falling from their arms.
You waved bye at them as you slowly picked up the wrappers that littered your floor. You simply wanted to throw away everything you could and had already put the plates and glasses in the sink, so you wouldn’t have to do it the morning after, on Christmas Eve, while being slightly hungover and way too tired.
You heard the door shut close behind whoever left last. You went to open the window of your living room to let in some fresh air. Picking up some used napkins from the table, you put them in the trash as well, trying not to make too much of a mess.
“You forgot this one.”
The voice startled you and you spun around, smashing the trash bag into whoever was standing behind you. Some wrappers and napkins you had just put inside the bag flew out, landing all around you.
“Wow.”
“Oh, my god, Jason”, you let go of the trash bag and your hands immediately went to his torso, wanting to make sure you hadn’t hurt him. “I’m so sorry, are you okay?”
“Fine, fine”, he mumbled back, pushing your hands away a second too late to be considered an outward rejection or anger of any kind. “Can I help?”
“Oh, no, no”, you shook your head and went to stop him. “Go get some sleep. You’re gonna need it for tomorrow dinner.”
“Tomorrow dinner?”
“Christmas dinner?” You raised an eyebrow and waited for him to realize what you were talking about. “Alfred insisted you had to come this year, if I remember correctly.”
“How d'you know that?”
“I was there when you got Alfred’s call?”
“Right”, he drawn out. “Don’t think I’m going anyway. Might as well help you.”
“Oh no”, your hands went on your hips and you stood your ground, not letting him move. “You are going. Alfred would murder you. And”, you picked up the bag from the ground, but didn’t look away from Jason. “You’re supposed to spend Christmas with your family.”
“Are you?”
“It isn’t about me here.” You took several napkins and wrappers in one hand and stood back up, waving them in your friend’s face. “You’re gonna spend Christmas with your family and that’s final. Now go get some sleep.”
He slowly crossed his arms over his chest, giving you a strange look as you kept picking up the mess you had made mere moments earlier. “I’ll go if you let me help you.”
You stopped in your tracks and slowly raised your head, finally locking eyes with him. You weren’t sure how much of what he was telling right now was true, but you knew he had to go spend Christmas with his family. He needed this, whether he knew it or not. Their relationship was getting better by the day, this much was true, and you didn’t want any party, but especially not Jason, to be hurt. “Alright but, I’m warning you dude, you better be in bed in one hour tops.”
With a shrug, Jason walked to your sink and opened the tap, letting the water flow on the dishes. He grabbed the sponge and started doing the dishes, not saying much more.
“So, Dick and Barbara. Your plan, uh?” He broke the silence as you were sweeping your apartment, the cleaning getting a little out of hand without you realizing.
“Well, it was obvious they were into each other, you know”, you moved the couch back towards the wall and kept sweeping your place. “It was bound to happen, you know.”
“You did it for Steph.”
“And Donna”, you laughed and spared a glance his way. He was currently drying all he had just washed. “They’re gonna give me fifty percent of what the guys just gave them.”
“Uh, didn’t think you were after money like that.”
“Why do you think I’m friends with you?” You winked at him over your shoulder, now sweeping under the table.
“Makes sense. Although, I kept telling Roy it was because of my amazing cooking skills”, he put the last glass in the cupboard, closing it while he turned around, looking in your direction. “I know my pastas are to die for.”
“That”, you grunted slightly as you moved the table a little, putting it back into its original place, “they are.” You let out a breath and took a small pause. “Pasta and money. The basis of all healthy friendships.”
Jason let out a raspy laugh, one that took you by surprise. It was a contrast with how quiet he had been all evening. Your smile grew wider and you desperately tried to hide it as you crouched down to collect the dust in the dustpan. You put the dust in the trash bag before tying it and putting it on the small balcony, closing the French window as you stepped back inside.
“Time you go to sleep”, you went to the kitchen, looking around you to make sure everything was more or less clean. You would finish in the morning anyway. “Get your beauty sleep.”
“Yeah, yeah, whatever. Are you finished here?”
“Yep! Going to sleep until twelve, probably.”
“Alright. D'you know where I put my keys?”
“Countertop, the cup”, you dismissively said as you poured some water in a glass. You turned around just in time to see Jason swaying a little as he made his way to the other side of the countertop. “Alright buddy”, you ran after him, putting a hand on his arm before he could reach the keys. “You are not driving home.”
“I remember you telling me to get some sleep?” You could see the tiredness catching up with him as the alcohol left his system. You wondered how much he had drunk and, most importantly, what had made him drink that much tonight. Jason was a close friend, you had hung out together numerous times. You had seen him drink a lot more than you or even Dick or Kory, and he never had been in this state.
“Well, you’re gonna have to get some sleep here.” You locked the door before leading him to the couch, on which you pushed him down. “I’m not letting you go out there.”
“Alright, mom.”
You scoffed loudly, leaving him there with a roll of your eyes. You went to your room to grab a blanket, a pillow and Jason’s spare bag he had left one day, you couldn’t exactly recall when. To be fair, many of the local heroes had been dropping spare bags at your place throughout the years. You made a stop in the bathroom to grab a box of painkillers in case he woke up before you did.
As you walked down the small corridor that connected the living room and kitchen to the rest of your apartment, you bumped into a hard chest. You raised your head a little to meet Jason’s gaze, and you could feel his hands on your hips as he stabilized you so you wouldn’t fall down. You know it was just a reflex for him, but you couldn’t stop your heart from beating a little faster.
“Was wondering where you went”, he mumbled.
“Blanket, pillow, your spare clothes and”, you raised the hand holding the box of medicine in front of his eyes, “this, for the morning.”
“Oh, thanks. You didn’t have to”, you let out a quiet chuckle as he looked around him. You didn’t see him freeze as his eyes landed on what was just above the two of you.
“If I don’t want Alfred and Dick chastising me, yes I did”, you laughed loudly this time, still unaware of both your predicament. “That’s the least I could do, you know. Sorry you have to sleep on the couch, still don’t have a spare room."
"There’s mistletoe."
You hummed quietly, prompting him to explain himself further as you took off some dust from the blanket, holding the painkillers between your chin and chest.
"We’re right under the mistletoe.”
“Oh.”
You stopped what you were doing and let the box of medicine fall on the blanket to finally look up. There, unmistakable, was a branch of mistletoe.
“Oh yeah, forgot to take that one off”, you said under your breath. “You can just ignore that, let’s get you to bed.”
“Well, tradition is tradition”, countered Jason, finally looking at you.
“Sure, but we don’t have to”, you smiled warmly at him, trying to ignore the glint of what your mind discerned as sadness in his eyes. “I put them up mainly for Babs and Dick. And for, you know”, you shook your head a little, “everyone else, so they had an excuse to go at it.”
“Still, tradition is tradition, so”, he trailed off after that, looking at something just above your head.
“Okay."
You took a step closer to him, or at least as much as you could considering what you were carrying at the moment. You went on your tiptoe and, without giving it too much of a thought, you pecked Jason’s cheek, your lips lingering a moment too long on his skin.
"Alright buddy, now let’s get you to bed."
You gently grabbed his wrist and tugged him so he would follow you back in the living room. You tried as best as you could to ignore the fact that he was staring at you with something you couldn’t exactly pinpoint. You set the pillow down on the couch after making sure it was as comfortable as possible.
"Okay, take off your shoes and whatever, I’ll get you a glass of water.”
“I can get it."
"Focus on undressing yourself!"
You jogged to the kitchen, pouring some water from the tap in a glass and in a bottle. Not even two minutes later, you came back to set them on the coffee table, right next to the painkillers.
"Right so everything’s here”, you looked at Jason who was now lying on the couch, in nothing but his underwear, his right arm shielding his eyes from the light. “You know where everything else is. Your phone’s on the countertop where you left it. Sleep tight”, you finished, putting the blanket over his body.
“Hey”, his voice stopped you right as you were about to turn the lights off. “You should come home with me tomorrow. For this Christmas Eve dinner. It would be more bearable with you there."
"Jason”, you sighed and leaned on the wall on your left. “It’s a family dinner. Plus”, you pushed yourself off the wall, your hand hovering above the switch, “I doubt Bruce would be happy if I were to crash. Or Alfred, for that matter.”
“Pfff”, he turned his head so he would watch you, “Alfred loves you, he’d be more than happy. And he always cooks too much. As for Bruce, I don’t really care about what he has to say.”
“Well, I do.”
“You shouldn’t."
"Alright tell you what”, he straightened up a little so he could focus on your words better. “If tomorrow, when you’re not drunk nor hungover, you can assure me I won’t be be a bother during this dinner, I’ll come.”
“What, I just gotta call Alfred and tell him you’re coming? Deal!” He lied back down, eyes closed as a small smile played on his lips. “He’s gonna take care of Bruce.”
“We’ll see”, you laughed as you finally turned the lights off, leaving Jason in the living room as you walked towards your room, ready to drop on your bed and sleep for the next twelve hours.
79 notes
·
View notes
Crime is Common. Logic is Rare. (Ch 15)
Chapter Fifteen: Breakdown (HawksxGN!Reader)
Plot summary: You thought your hands were full as a regular quirk geneticist, but then you meet Hawks and things get even more exciting!
Warnings:
⚠️This story contains spoilers from the manga.
⚠️Some events and plot points have been altered from the original manga
⚠️ This Chapter is a little sad :(
Tag List: @ gayforkeigo/ @marshmallow-witch/ @redflannel
Next Chapter : Chapter Guide
You thought you had known what to expect when agreeing to date Hawks. He was a pro hero, so obviously he was going to have his life on the line every day, patrolling the streets for villains and putting himself in harm’s way in order to protect others. You’d come to terms with that pretty quickly. What you hadn’t expected was for him to be working directly with the league of villains as a spy for the Hero Public Safety Commission. That upped the danger factor exponentially, but somehow you’d taken that in stride as well. He’d been talking about a secret mission since the day you met, and by some weird twist of fate, you had actually ended up in a position that might even help him. The one thing you could have never predicted though, was the sight of Hawks bursting through the front door of your new apartment with no warning, eyes puffy and red, and appearing like he was on the verge of some sort of mental breakdown.
“Hawks!” You jump off your sofa in alarm and rush toward him. He puts up a hand to stop you and shakes his head while pointing to his wings. Whatever had happened, the villains were still monitoring him, and Hawks didn’t want them to know he was upset.
You watch him in silence for a moment as he tries to compose himself. It was weird seeing him this way when he had never been anything but in control of himself in front of you. You had already been a bit worried after he’d failed to get in touch with you after rushing out the day before, but now you were downright scared. You realize suddenly that all your concerns and questions would have to wait. Someone out there was listening into this strange moment and was probably wondering why nobody was speaking.
“Hey bird-kun.” The new, cutesy nickname for him spills from your lips involuntarily as you try to approach again. “I’m so glad you’re here. You wouldn’t believe the day I had!” The grimace on Hawks’ face relaxes a bit when he realizes what you’re doing. Even though he was still breathing quite heavily, he allows you to pull off his gloves and flight jacket to hang them up on a hook near the door. When you look back at him, he has his hands tangled in his hair with a weird tortured look in his eyes.
“The landlord was supposed to come by this morning to make sure I’d settled in okay, but he never showed up,” you grab a pen and piece of paper to use as communication. You quickly write down the most urgent question. ‘Are you hurt?’ “I ended up having to call him to reschedule the meeting since I had to go to work in the lab this afternoon.”
You show him the paper but he shakes his head. He wasn’t hurt. That was a relief, but he was still definitely freaking out about something. His eyes suddenly clench shut and he covers his mouth with his hand. He kicks off his boots and sprints towards the bathroom. Well, the villains were definitely going to hear that. You snatch your phone off the coffee table and go to your distressed boyfriend. “You mind if I put on some music?” You ask him. He was on his knees in front of the toilet, his face pale. You don’t wait for an answer and press play on a random playlist on your phone, turning up the volume as high as it would go.
The bathroom was hardly big enough to fit Hawks and his wings, but you someone manage to squeeze in behind him. You reach over and put your phone on the edge of the sink before squatting down so that you can rub soothing circles on Hawks’ back. You figure it must give him at least some comfort because he opens his wings a little to give you more access. It was tough though with such limited space.
“So then,” you start talking over the music to add more noise. “My train to work was delayed because some idiot tried to cross the road in front of us and ended up getting his car stuck on the tracks. Thankfully nobody was hurt. A hero happened to be patrolling the area and made it in time.” Hawks’ body tenses up and he finally empties his stomach into the toilet. You wished there was more you could do for him besides continue to rant and rub his back.
“Well, needless to say, I was very late to work.” You reach forward to pull some pieces of hair off his face that had gotten damp from sweat. “Dr. Garaki was super chill about it though, so I guess that worked out fine. I still didn’t appreciate being stuck on the train for so long, especially now that it’s getting colder outside.” Hawks finishes getting sick and finally slumps over with his forehead resting against his arm. You stand up and head to the kitchen to get him a glass of water. When you get back, he’s still on the floor. He’d managed to turn himself around a bit so that he could sit up against the wall. You hand him the water before grabbing a clean washcloth for him to clean up his face.
“Is the music bothering you?” you ask. He shakes his head before gesturing for the paper you’d been writing on. He writes, ‘I’m so sorry.’ You wave off the concern while taking the pen back and asking what happened. His handsome face contorts with emotion after reading the question.
“I wasn’t planning on staying long,” he finally croaks out while scribbling something down on the paper. “I just got off patrol and thought I’d stop by to check on you.” You’re still standing, which allows you to lean over impatiently from your spot in the doorway to read what he’s writing.
‘This isn’t fair to you. I don’t want you involved any more than you already are. Maybe it would be better if…’ You tap him on the head so he’ll look up at you and see the disapproval you felt over his words.
“I’m glad you’re here,” you tell him seriously. “I like spending time with you so I’d prefer it if you didn’t rush off.” You reach down as you speak and point to the paper where you’d written ‘What happened?’ Hawks lets out a sigh and rubs at his face, clearly still struggling with the answer to that question. You could tell that he regretted showing up to have his meltdown in front of you, but it didn’t make you upset. If the roles were reversed, you would want to protect him from being exposed to unnecessary danger as well. It still meant a lot that he had trusted you and felt comfortable enough to show you a more vulnerable side of himself.
“I like spending time with you too,” Hawks begins writing on the page again. “It’s unfortunate that we have such conflicting work schedules.”
‘Something big happened with the league of villains in Deika City. They wouldn’t fill me in on the details until I did something more to prove my loyalty. They asked me to do something there’s no coming back from, but if I don’t do it, my cover will be blown. The Hero Commission wants to keep me on the inside, so they’ve asked me to go ahead and do what the villains requested of me.’
There was no way you could respond to the verbal conversation after reading that. With a new feeling of dread you write you next question. ‘What are they asking you to do?’ Hawks shakes his head and pushes the paper away. He didn’t want to tell you and you could understand why. Part of you wasn’t sure you wanted to know either, but Hawks clearly wasn’t okay with what he was going to have to do and he shouldn’t have to live with the burden of this task by himself.
“We can’t let something like conflicting schedules keep us from being together,” you finally reply to his earlier comment. “We’ve made it this far and I don’t mind making some sacrifices if it means getting to be with you. I think you’re worth it.” You grab the paper and write ‘please, tell me.’
“Now who’s the one being cheesy?” Hawks asks while letting out shaky, pained laugh. He takes the paper from your hands.
‘The villains want me to bring them a dead hero.’
Hawks looks up at you to see your reaction. You hadn’t expected something so horrible, but it explained why your hero boyfriend was so upset. Hawks sighs and looks back down at the paper to add ‘The Hero Commission has already chosen someone.’
That was just disgusting. Your opinion of the Hero Public Safety Commission was suddenly becoming very negative. It was bad enough that they’d asked Hawks to join the League of Villains in the first place. That was already putting him in a position where he’d have to compromise his morals. Now they were forcing him to stay there and asking him to take the life of one of his fellow heroes. You hesitate for a moment before mouthing the word “who?”
The pained look is back on Hawks’ face and he averts his eyes to hide the fresh wave of tears. He scribbles something down and shoves the paper up at you. You half expected it to be a name you didn’t recognize, but you were wrong. They were asking Hawks to murder the number three hero, Best Jeanist.
You look back at Hawks and your heart breaks at the silent tears running down his face. You get back on the floor with him, exchanging the pen and paper for your phone so that the music would be closer to the both of you. Once you’re settled in a somewhat comfortable position, you grab Hawks’ hand to try and comfort him. He looks relieved that you’re pulling him closer and not pushing him away. Suddenly he’s shoving himself into your arms and burying his face in your shoulder to muffle the sound of his sobs. You hated that this was happening to him, and you had no idea what you could do besides hold him tight and let him know you were there.
84 notes
·
View notes
10 Dance Special Booklet - Taboo and Habanera [English Translation]
I present to you my project of the last few weeks: an English version of the comics that came with the Japanese special edition of vol. 4. (Thanks to @words-unleashed for providing cleaned scans!) Since it’s definitely not Tumblr Safe, the full scanlation can be found at imgur. com/a/HgbwYk1 (sorry to write it out weird, but Tumblr hides posts with external links when you tag search, so just copy and delete the extra spacing and you should be able to access it).
As a bonus, I also made a subtitled version of the track from the drama CDs that includes the “Taboo” portion of the story. The dialogue is mostly the same, with some additions/deletions, but if you want to hear all the steamy action as well as read it, definitely check that out, too. Since it was long, I had to split the video on Tumblr; start with the first half here (or escape this hell site and go to YouTube, where it’s all in one part: youtu.be/ B95vNjt-e6M , again need to copy and delete extra spacing)
Recently, I’ve been working on serious summaries of the chapters that have been released since vol. 5 (starting with #29 part 1). My true nature, though, is to be more snarky and make dumb commentary, so click below if you want a summary of these bonus comics (along with select Tumblr Safe images) where I just poke fun and be thirsty.
So after several volumes of the Shinyas making out without sexing each other, I guess the manga artist was like, “you know what, I’m not gonna have these guys fuck anytime soon (or ever, lol just kidding...or am I?), so I guess I’ll throw some smut crumbs to the poor, deprived shippers.” And we’ll take it and enjoy it, because we’re desperate.
The first story, called “Taboo: Just a bit” continues immediately after chapter 21, where Suzuki said that he’s okay with kissing, but no more! To which Sugiki’s immediate reaction seems to be, “Cool, cool...I’mma go ahead and find a way around that.” Also, he may be a bit insecure about the size of his nipples.
Note: Sugiki’s nipples are important to the plot of this story. I’m dead serious.
Sugiki wonders about Suzuki not seeming to be bothered by him saying he’s adorable, but apparently Suzuki gets called that all the time. And in one of the greatest leaps in logic in history, Sugiki says that, since everyone always found you so precious, surely you and your male friends all touched each other’s naughty bits when you were kids, right? Suzuki’s like, UMM, NO, WHAT THE FU-okay, yeah. yeah, we did. And he assumes, oh, since Sugiki brought this up, he probably did the same thing.
“lol, no, I didn’t do that. But I made you admit that you did.”
Sugiki’s closest experience to something like that was when he was in high school and another boy insulted him, beat him up, and then paid him and said he wanted to suck Sugiki off (quite the roller coaster, but okay). Suzuki’s like, oh shit, that sounds super fucked up, sorry to make you remember that, but Sugiki actually used the situation to his advantage by using the boy to develop his own skills. Those skills involved whipping the other kid with a stick, and teasing him with the fact that he never actually agreed to what he proposed.
Baby sadist in training.
Look at this man. That is all.
So as Sugiki uses their childhood experiences as a flimsy excuse to propose some dick touching, Suzuki notices something shocking: Sugiki’s nipples are hard!
Suzuki Needs An Adult after making this discovery. And he’s so distracted by those sexy nips that he isn’t able to stop Sugiki from making a grab at his dick. Which, as it turns out, is a bit stiff.
Top 10 Manga Betrayals: Suzuki’s dick getting hard from man nips.
Suzuki stays in panic mode for a bit, and when he snaps out of it he finds that his dick is no longer in his pants, but in Sugiki’s hand.
He protests a bit, but then is like, fine, I guess I’ll let you jerk me off. And goes back to thinking about those nips and how bad he wants to bite them and squeeze them, and also how he’d really like to just fuck Sugiki for good measure, too.
But as for the eternal question of who would be fucking who, Sugiki tries slipping a finger in to test the waters.
Which results in a big fat NOPE from Suzuki, so Sugiki just keeps jerking him until he gets off, getting just a mini facial as a splash lands near his mouth (we don’t see him lick it...but you know he wanted to).
As they’re getting ready to leave the studio, Suzuki brings up the “adorable” conversation from before, saying he’d imagine no one calls Sugiki that. Sugiki confirms that’s true, and Suzuki responds with:
Look at this man. That is all (again).
The second story, called Habanera, shows us what the Shinyas do when they’re each home alone. Suzuki, in a desperate attempt to prove his straightness to himself, is planning a porn marathon.
Meanwhile, Sugiki plans to watch a special DVD that features Suzuki doing a Q&A session. Which, for him, we can assume is the equivalent of watching porn.
A look at Suzuki’s selections. Bruh, I don’t mean to kinkshame, but...pig farm?
Just as he’s about to get started, he gets a call from some random chick he used to bang. He has no desire to chat, though, and hangs up on her, but while jabbing at his phone, he accidentally hits Sugiki’s speed dial, and quickly disconnects in a panic.
Rocking the Winnie the Pooh look here with his red shirt and no pants. Also, there are helpful warnings throughout the story whenever his (heavily mosaiced) dick is on panel.
Meanwhile, Sugiki is watching DVD-Suzuki talk about how to wink while dancing, and it’s making him feel A Lot Of Things
Back at the fap shack, Suzuki claims that just seeing Sugiki’s name made him go limp, because, you know, he’s Definitely Not Attracted To Him. He talks to his dick, trying to get it to firm up again. His dick has a girl’s name (Machiko) and is shown in some shots as having a face and wearing a little bow (yes, it’s as weird as it sounds. no, I can’t show it here).
The next video he has queued up starts, and well, I guess this is that pig farm stuff he’s into (which really just seems to be a domme lady berating the viewer)
Back at Sugiki’s, DVD-Suzuki has moved on to teaching how to blow kisses.
Yeah, this is definitely porn for Sugiki. And as he watches this he’s a bit miffed that it seems like Suzuki acts a lot cooler when they’re not together.
Meanwhile, Suzuki’s fantasizing about the sexy lady dominating him...except, the person in his fantasy starts to change from a porn star to...
Oh look, the man he’s Definitely Not Attracted To happens to show up in his fantasy while he’s beating off. He tries to make the image go away, but then eventually settles for keeping the face but having the rest of the body be the porn star.
Sugiki is practicing his kiss-blowing with DVD-Suzuki as his imaginary partner. And when he finds out that there are other DVDs like this one, he quickly starts searching for the back issues of these pornographic very educational videos.
After Suzuki shamefully blows his load to the thought of the Sugiki-faced female porn star, his phone starts ringing. It’s Sugiki, returning the call he accidentally placed earlier. Though to Suzuki, the timing feels suspiciously like Sugiki had been watching him or something...
30 notes
·
View notes
Well, this was unexpected - Chapter 1
(Story strays from the primary story line of Resident Evil 2 as a given “what if” scenario but follows the same general base plot of the outbreak in the game.) - “what if you and Leon booked it as fast as you could from the front gate of the police station to the closest looking safe haven- a primary school?”
This is only the first chapter. I wish it had been longer, but I’m on a bit of a time crunch at the moment. I hope you like it and give some feedback. (I’ll probably be making a lot of changes) Thanks!
———————————————
You two weren’t entirely sure where you were going or what it was that you were doing. The outbreak spread to every nook and cranny of the city, showing no mercy to any man, woman, or child. The virus didn’t care whose life it took and the terror was all the same for each citizen to bear. There was nowhere in sight to turn. Every corner that you and Leon took was overrun by bloodied corpses lying in wait for their next meal. However, you weren’t willing to become the main course, and you certainly weren’t going to allow your best friend to attend their dinner party either.
“We’re running low on ammo,” he chimed in, breaking you out of your hyper focused state. “We have to find somewhere to stop and recuperate before we get ourselves killed.”
Your panic-hidden countenance never faded as you saw him barely huff, pushing himself to run faster than before. He kept his composure the best he could in a way that would fool anyone else into believing he was unaffected by the cities’ destruction. It was fairly unsurprising that his body could handle this after his training.
But you were no fool, you’ve known Leon since you two were kids, and it would make you a pathetic friend if you hadn’t noticed the slight glint of fear in his eyes that the academy could never prepare him for. You were worried about him even though he was more than capable of taking care of himself. If only there was the guarantee of making it.
“(Y/n), there’s an unoccupied gate over there. If we can make it to the other side then we might be able to catch our breath and search for more weapons.”
You’d be lying if you said that climbing over a gate in a zombie infested area was appealing, but you didn’t have any better ideas. Against your better judgment, you nod to Leon in silent confirmation. You weren’t really in the mood to speak even though communication was important during a time like this. This was a matter of teamwork, not solely protecting him, although it would’ve been preferable. He seemed to understand what you couldn’t. If you work together, you’ll survive together. If you work alone, neither of you are walking out of the city alive. It’s just a personal difficulty to listen to that voice of common sense.
You struggled to lead the way, dodging any lingering hands while paying the most mind to the rookie officer on your tail. It was important that you get him out of the city. Keeping track of Leon was your main priority, your sanity being the second. Very little else made any difference to you. Again, trying to work alone.
Leon sped up, reaching the gate before you. He searched your eyes for any sort of sign of pain or worry. He was dealing with this situation fairly well with only a few occurrences of true fear whenever you’d get snagged by the monsters outside the police station, but he couldn’t detect so much as a single trace of fear.
“When did you become so stoic?” He begins to choke on his own coughs through his breathlessness, unbelieving of your behavior.
You hadn’t really noticed a change in your own persona, but he certainly had. The bond you shared was intimate and your mood shifts often matched his own. He was worried that you were at risk of snapping at any given moment.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” You offered the most genuine half smile you could muster, but you knew that he wouldn’t believe it either.
His own smile didn’t reach his eyes as he decided not to press you any further. You’ve never been in a situation like this before and it was unfair of him to assume how you’d react. You were much stronger than you appeared, more so than he could have ever anticipated.
Shaking his head a bit, he shrugged. It was best to question it once you weren’t completely surrounded.
“Here, I’ll give you a leg up over the gate.” He knelt down and placed his two cupped hands over his knee for you to use as leverage.
Your face twisted as you shot a sour look at Leon. This, you thought, was an awful idea.
The gate wasn’t any higher than 10 feet or so, including the sharp decorative spears protruding from the top, making you hesitant as being impaled would’ve been the last thing that you had imagined being the cause of your death tonight. Imagine making it this far only to have your grave say “almost survived the zombie apocalypse only to fall onto a gate.” The eulogy would be great, but the turnout wouldn’t be so grand.
Shaking your head from the thought, you redirected your thoughts to the task at hand. In between the metal spears was a thin bar that looked sturdy enough to climb. It was only a matter of keeping steady as to not get snagged or trip. Again, potentially embarrass and fatal.
“Leon, I don’t know about this, there has to be another-“ he cut you off by pulling you closer to his crouched form.
“Less talk, we’re wasting time. I can hold my own. Go find some bolt cutters or something, I don’t know. There’s nothing on the other side of the gate as far as I know, you’ll be safe.”
You were apprehensive to leave him on his own, but he was right. He knew how to fight his way out of here if he really wanted to. He could make it out of Raccoon, alone, without help, leaving you behind. The more time you took weighing your options was less time he had to fend off the new wave of zombies that were attracted by the commotion.
“Alright,” He hoisted you over his shoulder, his upper body strength catching you off guard. You didn’t recall him being this strong while growing up. Oh, how the times change...in more ways than you’d wished to count.
With the help of Leon, you make it onto the second tallest bar, praying that your balance didn’t give out. Scaling the gate, you make it to the top bar before bracing yourself for impact, in your best efforts to stray from jarring your joints. Safely making it over, you toss him your “borrowed” beretta through the empty spaces of the gate.
“At least take this, you’ll need it more than I will. I still have my pistol and knife so I’ll still have protection over here if something happens.”
He tilts his head, smiling softly at the gesture. You had been taking extra precautions during this whole ordeal to keep him safe. It wasn’t entirely unlike you to go out on your own and stray from the path, but now you were carrying their combined weight and weren’t focused enough to do something like this. Leon could only pray for you at this point.
“I’ll promise to stay safe if you do, too.”
Neither of you said anything as your eyes met each other’s. Tensions rose before you dipped your head in compliance and sprinted across the yard, rendering your sight of Leon, useless.
You knew that you had to find something quickly. You scanned the small expanse of lawn that had been meticulously cut, finding the whole side mission to be tiresome. It was proving to be a difficult task, y'know, looking for something- anything that could aid you by breaking the chains. It was even harder to will yourself not to back peddle and gaze at the sight of your struggling best friend.
"Christ, you're wasting time." you mumbled to yourself. “If he was here, he’s chide me for my time lack management skills.”
Your heart sped up the moment you began to hear gunsots, leading you to believe that things were getting bad out there if Leon was growing desperate enough to begin using bullets. To the left of what you could only guess was a school, stood a wooden shed out of the corner of your eye, making you hope beyond all hope that there would be something in there that could him through that stupid gate. What you had originally failed to notice while pulling the rusted door handles of the small structure that there was another padlock adorning a green clover shaped insignia around the keyhole. It was the same symbol you had stumbled upon in the police station.
Just your luck.
You pulled harder praying that the hinges of the wooden door would give in if you used all of your might. If only you still had that key...
"God, dammit, I don't having the fucking time for this." You ground your teeth and groaned.
Time was passing quickly and if you didn’t hurry, the monsters on the other side of the gate would kill Leon.
‘I hate this entire damn city.’
A loud crash came from a window on your right. Someone or, more likely, something was inside and you weren't quite ready to find out what it was. Upon closer inspection, the room was seemingly clear of any signs of life... or death, much to your surprise. It looked mainly untouched, though this only confirmed your previous suspicions. Smaller than average chairs lined the walls under a white board that had been nearly scrawled upon. Aside from the general disorganization of toys, which wasn't unusual for a children's class, the room really was untouched by the disaster outside. A brief moment of relief washed over you at the sight of a normal looking public space free of fallen bodies and pools of blood. Momentarily, it tricked you into believing that there wasn't death beyond that front gate.
You weren't going to let Leon or yourself die in this hellish town. That was one thing you were sure of. It felt like you were in a video game. It was almost like you walked in front of a barrel that, logically, you should be able to climb over, but you had no such luck. You were frustrated with the situation, kicking the short grass as a result. If only Leon could climb over that gate.
The feeling only grew the moment you looked through the next window. The sight made your blood run cold. Streaks of blood painted the tiles that had once been white. This had been the longest day of your life, the most physically drained you had ever been and to top it off, your heart clenched at the sight of a class disarray in a public children’s school. The unimaginable had struck this town and you were determined to not let the efforts of those who had helped you this far, go to waste.
“Leon, I’m coming for you.” You whispered as you rested your head on the glass, a single tear escaping your eye. “Just hang in there.”
43 notes
·
View notes
I don't have energy to star my laptop, so have a long post of Aftermath. Maybe later I can myself outta this rut and make it pretty.
Fic: Aftermath
Fandom: the umbrella academy
Rating: teen
Pairing: def. Otto/Oc
Chapter Six
The Recruiter frowned as she watched from across the plaza at the remnants of Klaus' cult. So many timelines messed up by the fourth Hardgreeve. Time was able to shift around the distrubed lives, and thankfully none of them were critical changes to the timeline, but it was still another mark.
If the Commission was at full strength, they would be able to nudge those lives back in place, whether passively or with aggressive action. But at the moment, anything not rated as Critical was allowed to go unaddressed.
That's why she was here. They needed agents, new and old. And one of their most senior agents was sitting on the steps of the Destiny's Children's bus, reading a book as the rest of the group preached love and peace to the crowd.
She could almost understand why Agent Otto had declined her invite. He was still recuperating from his injuries. Some peace and quiet was probably good for him (he'd tire of it soon enough, she surmised. A man that lived nearly 20 years of missions wasn't meant for a dull civilian life.)
But Agent Axel? The man was a legend just as his brothers. And unlike them, he had come out of the Handler's plot with barely a scratch. So why the hell was he sitting on the hippies' bus reading a book of poems?
She straightened her jacket before walking towards him. Maybe he just needed a way back. Imagine if she was able to lead a legendary agent such as himself back into the fold. She'd get the recognition she deserved. They would see she was meant to be more than just a secretary. That she--
The Recruiter stopped dead in her tracks as Axel whipped his pistol from his pocket and aimed directly for her head. All the while barely turning his head to continue reading his book, an undisturbed expression on his face. "A-agent Axel, I-"
She was silenced as he cocked the gun with a simple movement of his thumb, while his other hand skillfully turned the page. His dark steel eyes finally turned towards her, the serene expression on his face hardening slightly. She attempted to swallow the lump in her throat before starting again. "The Acting Director of the Commission would like to speak with you."
"...No." He uncocked his gun and returned it to its holster as his attention returned to his book. Dismissing her as easily as that.
"B-but! We need agents like you! You and your brothers-!'
She was cut off again by that dark look on his face. He marked his place with a ribbon before standing. The Recruiter trembled as he stalked the short distance between them, unable to look away from his cold grey eyes.
It was like looking at the face of Death itself.
He paused only a few inches away and leaned to whisper in her ear. "You will leave. And you will not return. Understood?"
She couldn't even nod, but the terror in her eyes was enough of an answer.
--+--
Lorelei had a feeling she should have just stayed in bed.
The cats had clawed holes in her stockings. Her bus was late, meaning she was late for her shift, and then her supervisor had given her a tear down about punctuality and appearances.
And now John Doe was wide awake, glaring at her as if she had personally been the one to cut off his leg.
"Good morning," she greeted, closing the door to the room behind her. "How are you feeling?"
She was unsurprised by his silence as he continued to watch her with narrowed eyes. Pale icy blue that reminded her of a very displeased cat. "Probably not the best, I reckon," she continued, standing about a foot away from the side of the bed. Both to give him space and in case he was able to slip from the restraints. "I have your morning doses of antibiotics and pain killers."
"No," he stated firmly. And it felt like deja vu yo her.
"I can understand if you don't want to be doped up anymore. But you at least need the antibiotic." she tried with her gentle persuasion. "Septicemia is quite a serious thing."
He shifted as much as he could to lean towards her. "Let. Me. Go."
Her gut told her niceties were not going to work here. She hoped bluntness would. "And go where, exactly? Your leg is still healing, you still need high doses of antibiotics because the infection went systemic. You leave this hospital and you'll be dead within a week."
He blinked, completely unmoved. "I need to piss."
She flushed, more embaressmed about assuming than his comment. "Oh. That I can do...as long as you promise not to try anything funny."
He stayed silent but tugged at the restraint. Against Lorelei's better judgement, she conceded. She half expected him to lunge for her as soon as she undid the restraints, but he merely sat on the edge of the bed, looking at the white dressings that covered the stump of his thigh.
She allowed him a moment; she could only imagine what kind shock it would be to wake up missing little more than half of a leg.
"I wonder if I can still kick my brother's ass…."
Lorlei blinked, sure she had misheard him (but good lord was his accent similar to Ottos, which was a surprise she didn't have time to ponder.) "Huh?"
He looked up, looking rather surprised, and she guessed after a moment he hadn't meant to say the last bit aloud. So instead of commenting, she offered her hand. "C'mon. Let's get you to the latrine."
He took her offer, and proved the medically-induced did nothing to lessen his strength. His arm quickly went from using hers to pull him up to wrapping around her shoulders to steady himself.
Lorlei expected it to be difficult to teach him how to move, but he picked it up easily as he used her to balance himself as they walked the short distance.
"Where am I?" He finally asked after he was in the bathroom, and she stepped around the corner to give him some semblance of privacy.
"Parkland Memorial Hospital, in Dallas," she answered before tacking on: "Texas. United-"
"I know where Texas is," he interrupted dryly, though she swore there was a hint of amusement. Again, not unlike Otto's.
Or maybe she just had Otto on her mind. Last night still kept repeating itself in her mind. How sure she was Otto was going to kill that man.
How she was more worried about what would happen to Otto if he did, rather than the man losing his life.
"...where are you from?" She asked, filling the silence. "Or for that fact, what's your name? We've been calling you John Doe since you didn't have any ID on you."
John Doe stayed silent. Worried that he may have worn himself out, she peeked around the corner.
Only to have him stare challengingly at her. "Trying to catch a peek?"
"Oh for heavens sake," she groaned, turning back around. "I'm your nurse. I've seen it all before--yours included."
"...you liked what you'd seen then?"
Lorelei counted to ten. "I should've just given you a damned urinal and been done with it. But I figured being in bed for weeks you needed to get up and moving."
Snickers echoed from the small bathroom, easing her temper somewhat. "You're amusing, Miss Nurse."
"...Lorelei, but my friends call me Lei."
"Do you?" He asked, confusing her. She tilted her head to convey her expression without turning. "Lie?"
"Jesus Mary and Joseph," she pinched the bridge of her nose. "You're going to be one of those patients, aren't you?"
"General pain in the ass, yes," he answered. "That seems to be everyone's opinion of me. So can I have some actual privacy, or are we going to be waiting here forever?"
"Definitely giving you a urinal next time," she muttered. "Yes. Use the call bell if you need help, otherwise I'll go fetch the doctor."
It wasn't until after she left that she realized he had evaded all of her questions.
--+--
A few doctors filled the small room some time later, and Lorelei wasn't exactly sure why she was present, but Dr. Edwards barred her from leaving, making her awkwardly stand by the door as he and the Administrator Wilford stood before John Doe, who was settled into bed, sans restraints this time. "Let's get down to business then; What's your name?" Wilford asked, readying his clipboard.
"Mickey Mouse," the blonde man answered with a slight smirk. The administor paused, a frown crossing his face while Lorelei had to cough to hide her own smile.
"Now look son, I understand things have been pretty rough for you, and having a sense of humor is good and all, but let's be serious now."
John Doe nodded his head, looking chastened. "Right, sorry." There was a beat before he met the Administor's eye and with a straight face answered. "My name is Donald Duck."
The doctor gave Lorelei a dark look at the slight laugh that escaped her lips, and she glanced away quickly, covering her smile. However, when she glanced back John Doe was looking at her, amusement in his eyes.
"Very funny," Wilford continued, glaring at Lorelei. "But what is your name, boy."
"Bruce Wayne."
Wilford went to write it down, and Loreli worried her lip, weighing the pros and cons of keeping her mouth shut before clearing her throat and commenting: "That's Batman, sir."
John Doe grinned at her, pleased she caught the reference. She returned the smile despite herself before Wilford snapped his pen. "Godman boy, do you think this is all fun and games, or are you just slow?"
"I think you're the slow one," he answered, shifting his head. "One would think you realize by now I'm not giving you my name."
"Why not?"
"Because it's none of your business."
"None of our business?! You're our patient in my hospital! We need to contact your next of kin and find out where the hell you belong."
His eyes darkened. "Knowing my name won't help with that."
"Can we at least call someone for you?" Lorelei asked softly.
"No."
" What about parents?" She pressed gently. Do you have any siblings?"
"No." His eyes grew cold and hard as he glared at her. "No one."
"I think that will be enough," Dr. Edwards finally spoke. "Maybe after you feel more cooperative, we can discuss this further. As it is, with everything the way it is, I don't see you suitable for discharge any time soon."
-+--
By the end of the shift Lorelei felt a migraine stabbing behind her eyes as she rode the bus home, feeling every slight bump and jerk.
The main cause, she was sure, was the John Doe in 281B. Who refused to say anything to anyone after the 'interrogation" by the Administrator. He did, however, prove to be one of the most uncooperative patients the hospital ever had the grace to treat.
And somehow also one of the ones that tugged at her heartstrings. Maybe the fact he was alone, or the fact he had a dark, lost look on his face when he thought no one was watching that reminded her yet again of Otto.
The white hair and strong jaw didn't help. Or the fact he had the same accent. If she hadn't known better, she would've sworn they were related somehow.
Especially since they both liked to see what odd things they could use as darts. She had to admit, however, that the fact that he somehow got his silverware from lunch wedged in the ceiling tiles was rather impressive.
The bus finally rolled into the stop in her neighborhood, and Lorlei dragged herself down the few blocks remaining, bag slung gracelessly over her shoulder. All she wanted to do is collapse, even if it was just on her old lumpy couch.
But there were the cats. And if the last week was anything to go by, Otto was probably still working on the roof (she still didn't understand what spurred him to do such a thing. And he still refused to accept any repayment) which meant it was up to her to cook supper.
Maybe he would be okay with the diner again, even after the other night. But that meant having to wait even longer until she could sleep and….
Otto wasn't on the roof. She frowned as she walked along the broken pavement that led to the front door. Granted he had done a lot already…. (Had he been a carpenter sometime in the past? Was that a question safe for her to ask?)
Nala, Freyja, and Hugo greeted her as soon as she opened the door, wrapping around her legs as she slipped off her shoes. The house was filled both with warmth and the scent of something delicious simmering. Lorele's heart quickened to see Otto in the kitchen, looking completely at home despite his frame.
She wasn't sure what she had done in her life to deserve a person like him in her life, but she was so very thankful. Without thinking, she slipped into the kitchen, too tired to rethink her impulse to wrap her arms around his hip, resting her head against his muscular back.
--+--
Otto heard the door open and close, and Lorelei greeting the cats that met her at the door. She sounded...exhausted. He mentally shrugged, working on supper while listening to her slip off her shoes, her stockinged feet as quiet as a cat's as she padded into the kitchen. After the second shift in a row, she often came home worn to the bone, ready to crumple on the couch and fall asleep without bothering to unpin her cap from her hair. Which was why he had taken the initiative to have supper (mostly) finished before she returned.
He froze slightly as Lorelei wrapped her arms around his hips, pressing her head against his back between his shoulder blades. "I appreciate you so much." She mumbled into his shirt, making him relax. "I'm pretty sure I would just go to bed hungry without you."
A smile twitched on his lips, unseen as she continued to lean on him. He tried to keep still while finishing supper, enjoying the warmth and weight against him. When he made a slight movement, she would resettle herself with a sleepy noise, her arms tightening around his hips briefly.
Maybe civilian life wasn't so horrible with moments like this.
Lorelei made a small sound of protest when he finally had to break the moment, looking half asleep when he turned towards her. "Sit down, Älskade."
She gave him a curious look, he didn't explain but gave a soft smile before tapping the tip of her nose. She wrinkled it slightly, making him smile wider before ushering her to the table.
"How do you make someone behave when they're being so darn obstinate?" She asked as she sat, petting the cats that were demanding attention. Otto paused before he held up the bloody butcher knife sitting near the sink, making her frown as she caught the implication. "I can't threaten him, Otto. He's my patient!"
He tilted his head and thought as he served the food. Nothing fancy, but Lorelei's stomach growled as she placed the cats down on the floor. "I will."
"What? No!" Despite her protest, a small smile appeared on her face. "You know, I forget you're a violent man sometimes."
He shrugged as he sat across from her. He was perfectly acceptable if she forgot that part of him. Because it meant that she did feel threatened by him.
"Maybe if I threaten him with you, he'll cooperate?" She continued to muse, stabbing a diced potato. "But how: 'behave or my roommate will come and threaten you?'"
"Or I'll kill him." He joked, grinning at her scowl.
"That would make the whole point of saving his life moot." She shook the potato at him, blushing as he leaned across the small table and bit it off her fork. She tried to pretend she wasn't affected as she focused on her plate instead of the playful expression on his face. "I-I mean, the poor boy has had enough. I mean, could you imagine having your leg blown off? And then not having any kin around?"
Lorelei almost missed the way Otto tensed, his expression turning dark before he closed his eyes, forcing those thoughts and memories away. Though when he opened them, she had a concerned look on her face, head tilted slightly. "Everything okay?"
"Ja," he forced a smile. He could tell she didn't believe him, but again, she didn't push.
"Anyways, I saw that you have half the roof done already…"
--+--
Lorlei was still yawning the next morning when she arrived at the hospital the next morning, the lights flickering to full brightness to announce the morning
"Oh praise the angels," the night nurse proclaimed when she saw Lorelei walk into the nurses station. It was a familiar sentiment, but usually from a different nurse, not hard-norse Doris. "I was thinking morning would never come."
"Oh?"
She waved her hand towards the infamous room near the end of the hall. "That devil of a boy. I swear he's Lucifer's own kin."
"...John Doe?"
"Yes!" She huffed, "I hope them doctors do something wise like put him on haldol. Two am and he's singing at the top of his lungs in bad english to some made up song! Woke half of the unit up! And be careful, he's hiding silverware. Threw a fork at the orderlie rounding at him, nicked his ear! He needs to be asylum!"
Lorlei listened and eventually had to prod the older nurse into a proper report on the other patients. However, she kept her words in mind as she did her rounds, saving his room for last.
John Doe didn't look quite as angry as the morning before, and had even a little color to his face as he looked over to her. "Did the old goat finally leave?"
"Doris is not an old goat," Lorelei chided as she prepared to take his vitals. Her protest wasn't quite heartfelt, as she had thought the old woman a biddy at times. "She's an experienced nurse as a good mentor."
He snorted and muttered something under his breath, but otherwise stayed quiet. After noting everything down, satisfied that his vitals was within normal limits considering he reportedly hadn’t let anyone come within three feet of him, she sighed and adjusted her stethoscope. "Look. If you don't start behaving they are going to pump you full of haldol and benzos that you won't ever even be able to look straight."
His faint smirk faded and his glare returned as he remained silent. "I know things are hard, but you don't look insane to me. Or stupid for that matter. I'd hate for you to wind up in an asylum with drool running down your chin after everything you've been through."
John Doe continued to glare at her despite her attempt at humor, though she swore she could see him thinking over her words. "You don't need to like us, but we are here to help. We aren't going to hurt you. Hell, I'm pretty sure most the staff already want you outta here as much as you do. Just work with us, ok?"
He rolled his eyes, but pulled something from beneath his blanket and threw it at her. She barely caught the pen before it clattered to the floor. "Wait. This is my pen!"
He shrugged. "You need to pay more attention."
Lorlei pressed her lips together, debating her words as she set out the supplies to change his dressing. "You better behave or my housemate will come threaten you."
John Doe raised a pale eyebrow at Lorelei, a faint smirk on his face. "I'm not scared."
"You should be," she said, half teasingly. "He's easily Six foot five, has muscles thicker than your head, missing an eye. He's a scary dude."
That seemed to interest him, his head tilted slightly "Boy friend?"
"N-no!" she stuttered, "Not...not exactly."
"Oh? He's gay then?" He seemed so blase about the taboo subject, and not even the sneer she expected. But actually...interested?
"What?! No, I don't... I dont think so…"
"Hmm, shame." She paused and looked over at him quizzically. He smiled slyly at her, winking at her. "He sounds cute."
"Oh my god," She wheezed, trying not to laugh at his boldness. No one else in Dallas, or Texas, would ever say such a thing, yet he was so flamboyant about it. "Y-you're horrible!"
"You're cute too," he playfully reassured her as he leaned back in the hospital bed. "But very annoying. Like a bossy sister."
"Yeah, your like an annoying little brother." To his annoyance, she ruffled his hair. There was a melancholy expression on his face, making her regret her actions. "You okay?"
"I'm missing half my leg," he answered with a deadpan expression.
"I-" she stuttered before he started to snicker. She rolled her eyes. "Oh for goodness sake. I have other patients I need to tend to. Ring if you need anything, you brat."
"Love you too, syrra!"
19 notes
·
View notes
Ghost of Tsushima: Thoughts, Ideas and Hopes for DLC and Sequels
So I recently Platinum’d Ghost of Tsushima, I finished the story last week after 30 entries of livestreams which saw a whopping viewership of at most 2 people including one asshole that decided to spoil the end of Act II before I got there because I was playing stealthy and the way I wanted to play. But then wrapped up the Achievements on my own time.
After a bit of stewing I’m ready to talk gush about it, including what I liked, a small bit of stuff I disliked and stuff I would suggest for future DLC and Sequel(s)
Spoilers for the Game, unlike that Commenter on my Stream I will not Spoil you on this, it is truly something you should experience for yourself
Because Good Lord, What A Game.
Easily my Game of the Year, which compared to all the big hitter titles released is amazing, I mean Crash Bandicoot could still blow me away and Cyberpunk, Watch Dogs, Godfall, AC Valhalla and Miles Morales in waiting but probably not in this way.
It is a magnificent game, one made with fantastic care and beauty, but before I go all out, let’s get the negatives out of the way
出る杭は打たれる。: A Flawed Masterpiece
Ghost of Tsushima is brilliant but not without its faults. Most of these faults are admittedly minuscule and fixable, but until they are fixed they remain flaws. The biggest disappointment for me with the game was the lack of Japanese lip syncing.
I loved the Japanese track, it also highly appealed to me to hear One Piece’s Roronoa Zoro voice Jin, but you have to kinda avoid looking at the mouths because it doesn’t match up, the models still speak in English and it’s a heavy shame that can kill some immersion. I guess they didn’t have the finances for it, because they could’ve done the lip syncs at the same time as they did the English ones if they had the Japanese track too.
Combat for the most part was great, aiming could be wonky at times and Jin’s attacks didn’t carry on to a 1 foot ledge, but my main gripe with combat was the Camera getting in the way. It was adjustable most times, but other times it was not. Doing standoffs in the tall grass was night impossible at the later stages without the knees giving us a tell, one standoff I had was completely obstructed by a tree - I’m not making it up, a tree was literally all I saw for the Standoff. You lose so much health for failing a standoff too, bit harmful in later levels.
The remaining issues are probably more personal, I didn’t quite like some of the sword kit designs - the ones with fluffy sleeves and I didn’t really like the armor dye you get for 100%ing the achievements, some weapons seemed to lose their luster in later parts of the game (particularly the half bow and Explosive Arrow, the former was only good for killing the angry doggos and the latter only killed Mongols if near another explosive to stack), that one Masako quest mission where you have to follow and pick off Straw Hats one by one without being seen, but will fail if you pull a triple assassination before the outpost where Masako’s lesbian lover was leading them all to so there’s more Straw Hats to blow my cover! (it wasn’t difficult it just annoyed me that it failed me for killing them all early) and the completionist in me hates that there are empty slots in the arrow and blowgun sections, but they can be worked in what I’ll talk about a bit later down the line, alongside some minor loose threads.
Also you killed my horse man!
Your horse will accompany you on your entire journey
- Ghost of Tsushima UI Message
Don’t you dare lie to me like that again Sucker Punch! Just because you’re named that doesn’t mean you can live up to it, we already lost one horse at the beach! Had to spend the final act with Not-Sora and Kaze with a hole in my heart never to be filled.
But with that dealt with, let’s talk about some things I loved about the game
花は桜木人は武士 : Living into a Legend
With these games it is very easy to fall into the Elder Scrolls prototype of an array fun side quests and exploration and a so-so main story. Ghost of Tsushima though decided to have both the array of side quests and exploration and a great, complex and partly tragic story. There were many times I wanted to get back to the main story but held off because I wanted to be prepared. Long distances didn’t feel too bad to travel when the roads were uncharted either thanks to radiant battles, new settlements, vanity gear and side missions to ease you on the way. Additionally, the characters are for the most part fantastic, I cared for the safety of most of my allies and Jin himself, I wanted the Khan dead in a cerebral villain (albeit one whose final battle fell into cowardice) and I was open to the complexities of Ishikawa and Tomoe. I did feel that Shimura was being a tad ungrateful but I think it was intended for us to be frustrated to the edicts of the Samurai code - my frustration led me so much to deep dive to prove myself justified since the code was subjective and many agreed to aspects of ‘win no matter what’ and ‘do what protects the people the most’.
Along with the main quest was paired with the character journeys of our allies as well as the Mythic tales which granted some extra strength and challenges to overcome in order to expand Jin’s arsenal.
I particularly liked the observation and killing of leaders to learn new stances, as well as the widely acclaimed Stand-Off and the duels. The Arkhamverse fan in me did appreciate the focused hearing for stealth and that assassination speed could be upgraded. The idea of collecting vanity gear, armour dyes and equipment that are remains of the conflict showed that SP had completely immersed their plot into the world of Tsushima, with a great amount of exploration and nuances nodding to Japanese folklore
And Tsushima is certainly stunning, it’s amazing that the PS4 can hold this much when we know how the PS5 is meant to be with ray tracing. The landscapes are beauteous which makes exploration and travel much more fulfilling, as well as the photo mode and the scenic builds to some of the major battles.
What’s also wonderful is the calligraphy cutscenes for Mythic Tales and the loading screens, some wonderful artistry. Artistry which is added to by the brilliant uses of Haiku spots, Bamboo Strikes, Lighthouses, Shrines, Altars which you bow to, Fox dens where you can pet the Foxxos and even the Hot Springs for some ‘Man-Butt Action’, each positions that fit to Japanese media in soaking in a moment without killing any pace, especially added to the fact that each one contributes to a purpose.
I will admit, I chose wrong at the end, I was thinking more of Shimura (said ungrateful uncle)’s honour rather than what Jin would what, feeling that Shimura would’ve done it himself had Jin not. But seeing the spare ending made me wish I chose that one and it’s something I’ll touch on later. But both endings are fitting and tragic for Jin’s journey from Samurai to the Ghost, being inspired by his allies and his connection to Yuna, there has been conflict throughout regarding the line of protection, honour and vengeance explored through other people’s tales that blend together perfectly with the main plot.
It is pretty political as well with the argument presented by Jin and Shimura’s conflict. Samurai while still romanticised were still shown to be bound to the blind loyalty towards the Shogun and Jito, you did not defy because it inspired others to think freely. Jin became a champion of a people by defending the people rather than listening to the jito - represented by the shogunate - and their stringent ideas that the Samurai who failed on the beach would be able to out-muster the force and brutality of the Mongol invasion regardless of the collateral and yet still call that honour. In the current climate in 2020, that hits a chord a little closer than expected.
And the main story certainly has their stellar moments, the ups and downs really hit you - like killing my freaking horse! I had to lose Yuriko, Taka and Sora in a single playthrough. Losing Taka was inevitable, but still heartbreaking because of how much we struggled to save him and how much we want to still be Yuna’s friend, but then the highs just blow you away from the opening act, Ghost Stance, raiding Castle Kaneda and Shimura and the final raid at Port Izumi.
Also did I mention that you can pet the Foxxos? Because that’s very important, also NPCs walk at your pace most of the time, which is a fantastic addition.
I could probably go deeper but there’s other stuff I want to cover, but understand that the world and the story is wonderful and if you’re a fan of Assassin’s Creed, Arkhamverse and just Japanese culture in general this should tick your boxes. And hopefully there’s more to come.
石の上にも三年 : Strait to DLC
The sad thing that happens when a good game is over is the void. Even if its days, having nothing left of the game to play is still a shame, and I know that Legends DLC is announced, but multiplayer involving fighting Oni as mythic legends isn’t my pace, I’m still not done with Jin and I feel like there are things we could still do.
There are still 3 conflicts Jin’s story never resolved that could still be resolved now, each as multi-layered quests. The first is this ‘Ghost Army’ mentioned by the wagon guy in Omi, we are not leading this so who is? We may not be able to stop them but we could reduce the amount of people thinking we’re leading them to fight. The second is Daizo, if you don’t know that name it’s because the guy is never seen in the game, you only read about him in the Records of ‘Conversations with the Khan’. This Japanese Monk clearly has a thing for the late Khotun and he feels that the Ghost is being a dishonorable monster, this Khan lover is still at large and a confidant of Khotun, we could link with Norio in a quest to ensure he doesn’t rally or try to spread his appreciation of the Khan to others to try and complete Khotun’s work. The final conflict is one that eats me up: How did the Mongols Know About the Poison? Yuriko died showing me how to make the poisons, made more potent from her own herbal poisons which were crushed down, if she didn’t tell and I didn’t tell, who told? Because the Mongols drank the evidence and we could make a story of an Omi village traitor or even someone from Shimura’s camp leaking the info to the Khan to try and preserve ‘honour’.
On top of these loose ends I’d very much like to see our allies again, even if they’re just at their home doing their own thing, as well as some other minor side characters like the Tadayori descendant Kaede, Flame Swordsman Bettomaru (who would’ve both been mighty useful with this Mongol affair beyond their sole missions) and the Yarikawa Archer Daikoku, I also would like to see confirmation on Jin and Yuna - there is clearly something there but that could be just me. What is also just me would be the suggestion of a shrine that can let you redo the Shimura decision, it’s not a too ‘out-there’ thing to do either considering we fought a Tengu. The shrine could be for Omoikane, Kami of wisdom and intelligence or Ame-no-Koyane, the ‘First in Charge of Divine Affairs’ which’d subject the player to a gauntlet of bosses past; Ryuzo, Kotun and Shimura, if the player goes against their initial decision, they will trade their ghost armour dye for the other and get a Charm of Pondering, if they stick to their guns they get both ghost armour dyes and a Charm of Strengthened Stance. In similar vein we could have a master Mythic Tale that stacks the duels of those tales into one for another special attack, weapon or armour. It’s also possible that we could add more duels, some remnants trying to avenge Khotun or even some Samurai sent by the Shogun in promise of becoming Jito.
Likewise we can use this to complete the weapons set; for the Half Bow, take the Mongols’ poison arrows (which can be a reward for finding who leaked the poison to them) which can just eat at lesser enemies’ health and take a chunk of stronger enemies’ health before resolving out of it, as well as a sticky arrow that could slow enemies or weaken their armour, or a perfume arrow that can mess with the falcons and angry doggo’s senses. For the Long Bow we could have...okay I’m drawing a blank here but I’m not meant to do all the work XD For the Blowgun at least you could have a Blinding Dart to aid in stealth and a Panic Dart to increase chances of Terrify. We could even have a few more upgrades to our ghost weapons and stance combats, even increase the amount of kills Ghost Stance can yield. In addition to more Fox Dens, Shrines, maybe new resources to bolster upgrades, Sword Kits, Haikus, Banners, Flute Songs, dyes and so on.
But I know what you’re thinking, we can’t put that all in Tsushima? We’ve covered the entire island and it’s unlikely that SP would make a fictitious island. And to that I say, I have that covered. In the Tsushima Strait between the island and the mainland there is Iki Island, part of the same prefecture and equally ravaged by the Mongols during the invasion, it’s also the base of pirates which can offer a stop point for a Tomoe reunion or simply travel via Umugi Cove. A small bit of expansion wouldn’t hurt, as long as Iki isn’t planned for something else that is.
能ある鷹は爪を隠す : Hopes for a Sequel
Now part of me would be content if this was a one and done, the game shines perfectly on its own. But I would not turn one down. Though many would feel that Jin’s journey is done (I even heard a suggestion of Tomoe, I could see that but not right now, maybe for a third) but not me, there’s still a few glaring issues at hand. For one, the Shogun now wants you dead, new clans are moving in on you and there will probably be a new Jito regardless of the ending choice because of Shimura’s failure, Adachi will also need to look at another clan taking its land. There’s also the vacuum left behind by the clans’ subsidiaries; Nagao particularly but also Adachi’s rival clan Kikuchi, there’s easily possibilities to use canon Sō, Abiru, Shōni and Imagawa, there’s also room for Kikuchi Takefusa, who survived both Mongol invasions . A sequel could offer some clan territorial tensions in that regard as the people of Tsushima side with the Ghost over the mainland. That conflict is one we have touched on in the end of the first, Jin has fought for his country’s safety so how will he act when his country wants him dead? The first was a story of sacrifice perhaps the next can be a story of maintaining his legend, inspiring the mainland Samurai and even redeeming himself in the eyes of the non-Tsushima natives. It’s also worth remembering that Komoda was the beginning of the invasion, and there was a second invasion 6 years later where Tsushima was attacked once more, the death of non-canon Khotun could spark other higher ups of Kublai’s ranks to avenge or clean up for Khotun, Kublai also had counsel from different nations to understand his enemy so we could have an even more vicious and cerebral enemy be made, or even a group of enemies led by advisors like Liu Kan or Yao Shu, maybe even Marco Polo if we move the time after the first invasion.
In terms of gameplay we could also see Jin expand from Tsushima to Iki and maybe some more naval warfare, growing in his equipment (like Caltrops, Kusari-Fundo and Suntetsu) and maybe even his weapon, an Ono, Jitte or a Naginata to rotate with his not-yet-made Katana to combat with Samurai or the army of a Mongol threat, maybe even use the Bo-Hiya for ranged fire archery learned from the Hwacha. And like the Mass Effect games (or Dragon Ball Xenoverse if you wanna pick a franchise that didn’t end in a bitter aftertaste) you could have the option to transfer over some data from the PS4 save to the next one, which’d inevitably be on PS5 at the least - also don’t be surprised if this gets a PS5 remaster too, especially if it does win Game of the Year.
What I suggested for DLC could be used here too, if there is a sequel with Jin I really, really hope that SP don’t opt for the route of killing Jin (or Yuna) off for effect, I was nervous about the current game ending with Hara Kiri and I’d rather not have that or a downer of a death for the legendary Ghost (I am a happy endings guy after all).
An alternative route to go (other than following Tomoe to the mainland to rip off the Ghost) is to work backwards, call it ‘Ghosts of Tsushima’ working towards a story of a more ancient time, where a thief could become a samurai clan. A clan Sakai or Shimura origin would sell in that way too and avoid the idea that we have to start again from zero but still have the more ‘dishonorable’ stealth tactics.
義は険しい山よりも重く、死は大鳥の羽よりも軽い : Conclusion
In the end, this game was worth the wait, worth the delays and worth the price tag. I feel like this will be one of the games I’ll fondly remember when thinking of the PS4, which has truly had a stellar library of awesome games like Spider-Man, God of War, the Crash, Ratchet & Clank and Spyro Remasters, DMCV, Jedi: Fallen Order and more. This truly ticked the boxes for the anime nerd within me and the history buff, even the Haikus spurred the poet in me a little too. If anyone hasn’t played this game, they should, and I hope that Sucker Punch realises that people like me want to see more. If it stands alone so be it, but I’m not ready to leave Jin or Tsushima just yet.
いってらっしゃい
13 notes
·
View notes
Corrupting the Innocent Pt. 5 (final)- Dong Sicheng
Word count: 2.2k
Genre: fluff/smut
Plot summary: In which (Y/N) decides to “help” innocent exchange student Sicheng win over his crush. Except she has ulterior motives and Sicheng is too clueless to notice.
a/n: hi loves!! I hope you enjoyed this last part and the series more generally, I honestly worked so hard on this one. I hope you’re all staying safe and don’t be shy to pop in my inbox with requests or just to chat, I’d love to talk to you guys xx
You lay in bed for what seemed like an eternity, ignoring the pleading cries of your stomach or your body aching for movement. Is this what heartbreak felt like? Why did people go through with relationships if it always ended like this? You kept picturing scenarios of Sicheng and you, daydreaming of what could’ve been and it did nothing to improve your state. What was it that had made you care? You blinked back a tear before it sunk in that this wasn’t you, you didn’t mope around waiting for life to happen.
If you want things done right, you have to do them yourself.
That was one of the only things you had learned from your adoptive parents, that and how not to raise your own children if you ever had any. You freshened yourself up, masking your dark circles and damaged skin with some makeup.
A friendly face was just what you needed, you thought as you looked over at Rosé and a few other friends sitting across from you at the same café Sicheng had taken you to what seemed like forever ago.
“Any luck with Jaehyun?” You directed at Rosé.
“No, turns out Johnny is more my type and we’ve got ourselves an arrangement so, it’s a win-win.” She smiled; you had noticed this new glow about her- perhaps he was as good of a fuck as you had heard? Nevertheless, you were happy for her. She looked good, happy. It was a good look on her.
You made small talk until your drinks arrived and you melted in the comfort of a warm mug of coffee, it did wonders to your soul. You felt eerily out of touch with reality, present but not really. You felt out of place, out of sorts and it was so foreign, so weird. Just as you recollected the last exchange you had with Sicheng, your eyes landed on a side profile you knew all too well. He was with his friends as well, at the other end of the café.
You were staring, and eventually, he was too. It proved suddenly quite difficult to breathe when his eyes met yours and you retreated to the bathroom to regain your composure. These feelings were all so new, so foreign that you honestly didn’t know how to handle any of them. It felt as though they were all lurking over your shoulder, a second away from crashing over you. You’d never felt like this about someone and yet you’d been doing this backward, breaking up before you were even together. One look in the mirror told you you were far from being okay, but you took a deep breath and any trace of Sicheng was long gone by the time you got back. It was for the best, you guessed.
You chose to prioritize sleep and homework for the remainder of the semester albeit there were only a few weeks left in the term. It proved to be a difficult task as the sheer volume of your notes mocked you, you’d never get everything done in time. You almost agreed with them but giving up sleep proved successful as you handed in all papers on time and completed exams okay enough.
Occasionally, you’d bump into Sicheng in the hall, but he’d avoid your gaze and be on his way. You didn’t allow it to put a damper on your mood. Funny enough, you hadn’t felt the need to seek out someone new after him, it wouldn’t be the same and the idea didn’t ignite anything in you as it once had. Besides, your partner in crime had somewhat settled, why couldn’t you do the same?
Some of us are getting drinks to celebrate end of term, you in?
Your eyes looked over Rosé’s text over and over again, debating whether this was a good idea or not. You ended up giving in to the devil on your shoulder beckoning you to “have some fun!”. It was just a few drinks with friends, what was the harm in that?
Once you saw what you were working with, you gasped. Your skin begged for a skincare routine; one you had discarded after everything that had happened. It only took an hour and what felt like two inches of makeup to make you look, and feel, decent-looking. You went back to that section of your closet and pulled out a relatively slutty dress (if there was such a thing). Now you were ready.
On your first drink, you bantered with your friends. You were all exhilarated to have some freedom once again, no longer chained to the boulder that was university. The second drink had you starting a game of truth or dare.
“Rosé, truth or dare?”
“Hmmm, truth.” She always went for truth.
“Is Johnny THAT big?” The curious girl licked her lips in anticipation and Rosé chuckled, as though recalling a funny anecdote.
“Oh, yes sweetie. But that D is mine.”
A few turns later, you were the one under spotlights.
“(Y/N), truth or dare?” Jennie was the one asking the question, part of Rosé’s close circle of friends.
“You know what, dare,” Jennie smirked, an agenda of her own.
“I dare you to call Sicheng, right now.”
You nearly choked on your drink.
“I’m gonna need a few more drinks first.”
“Promise?” She inquired and you reluctantly nodded, “Fine, then I dare you to down the rest of your drink.”
That you could do. You prayed Jennie would forget about her initial dare, but you were out of luck. A few shots later, here you were, dialing Sicheng’s number. You hadn’t planned what you were going to say, but you were too drunk to even care now. Besides, what did it matter?
“Hello?” A voice thick with sleep answered back. Oops, you hadn’t considered the time.
“Hiiii.”
“(Y/N), why are you calling me?”
“Because,” you pouted “I miss you. And I’m sorry.”
“You’re drunk.” Deep sigh.
“But I mean it, Sicheng. I really really like you and I know I ruined everything, but I just wanted you to know that.”
“Where are you?”
“Take care Sicheng, I’m sorry I’m such a shitty person. I wish I wasn’t. Bye.” You hung up after a few attempts, the buttons on your phone blurring before your eyes. The girls giggled and applauded your courage. Only Rosé looked back at you with a concerned look on her face.
“Wake up.” You opened your eyes, excruciating pain in your entire body. Oh god, you had fallen asleep on the sidewalk. When had you ever gone outside to begin with? Desperately trying to piece together the how and the when, you were clueless as to whom the voice belonged to.
“Come on, I’m taking you home.” Wait, you knew that voice.
“Sicheng, what-“
He shushed you, motioning for you to hop on his back so he could carry you home. You complied; this was probably the last time you’d get to touch him, might as well make the most of it. You couldn’t believe this would be the last image he’d have of you, what a joke.
It hadn’t been hard for him to track you down, there were only a few bars the uni students visited and lucky for him, you had been at the first one he had burst into. Why he had gone looking for you in the first place, he didn’t know. Maybe it was that seeing you had reminded him of your times together and as furious as he was with you, he knew you. And he knew why you would think that sex was your only gateway to love. Maybe that was why he was now sitting your bed, braiding your hair to keep it from getting in the way in case you were a puke-until-I-pass-out kind of drunk.
“Wait- can you stay?” You looked up at him with pleading eyes. How could he resist? You looked so desperate and sweet, for him. He opened the covers for you, and you snuggled up against him, reveling in the feeling of his warm body against yours. He laid there, unsure of what to do and ended up falling asleep too.
You opened your eyes groggily, your head felt like it had construction workers doing their harshest work up there. You had taken one too many shots the night prior, that much you could tell. Only then did you feel warmth from the other side of the bed, and in fact, you were met with the sight of a sleeping Sicheng. You laid there in shock for as long as it took Sicheng to wake up and face your bemused visage.
“Morning.” He half-smiled. He had slept like a baby, ironically the last few months had been ridden with insomnia up until now.
“You’re still here.”
“I am.”
“Why?” Your voice gave away your shock.
“Well, you did ask me to.” He paused, sitting up. “And I figured you had punished yourself enough. What you did was horribly wrong, (Y/N), but I feel like I know you enough to understand why you felt that was the only way you could do things.” You gulped.
“And honestly, I missed you and I just want to start over.” He stretched his long limbs lazily.
“I’d love that.” You smiled from ear to ear.
“On one condition.” He pointed an accusing finger in your direction, and you tensed in your seat. “There’s still one thing you haven’t taught me yet.”
He took hold of your hand and placed it on his morning wood. Your eyes widened. Oh, that’s what he meant.
“Are you sure?”
“Don’t make me wait longer, (Y/N), I’ve wanted to fuck you ever since I laid eyes on you.” The foulness of the words spewing out of Sicheng’s mouth only aroused you further and you were quick to do something about it.
You rid him of his boxers and licked your lips at the sight of his shaft. You kissed his tip, trailed your tongue down to his base, earning a hiss from above. Once you had him thrusting up in your mouth begging for more, you decided it was enough teasing. This time.
“Sit up.” He obeyed your command.
You took off your panties and crawled back to him. He looked so handsome, exposed for you like this and with as much carnal desire as you. It was a sight you’d vow to keep engraved in your mind forever. He brought you in for a kiss, his eyes glowing with awe of your naked form. You motioned to sit on his dick but you were interrupted mid-way.
“Wait- I want to do something for you too.”
This piqued your interest and you guided his fingers along your folds and he experimentally brought them in and out, awaiting further instructions. Your moans proved to be more than enough as he maintained a steady rhythm, holding back a confident smirk.
“Fuck, (Y/N), look at you. Such a moaning mess for me.”
Oh, and he was a talker, that you could get used to. He kept this up for a little while, until:
“I don’t mean to rush anything, but can I fuck you now?”
You chuckled, even now he was such a gentleman asking for permission. You squirmed out of his touch and quickly sunk down on his dick, giving yourself a second to adjust to his size. His hands found your ass and he made it clear he wanted you to move. And you did, slowly at first until Sicheng grew tired of your pace and flipped you over so he was on top.
“Don’t be a tease.” His only justification.
You hadn’t taken him for a dom, but then again you had been wrong about a lot of things. For his first time, he was exceeding expectations. He connected your lips in another heated kiss silencing another one of your moans and kept up his relentless pace. Your hand reached down to massage your clit and you were surprised to see him take over for you, his thumb doing wonders to your bundle of nerves as he explored your body. Your soft voice bellowing requests every so often had him becoming an expert in no time. Before long, you were moaning out his name, clenching around his shaft as you chased your high. Sicheng hissed at the feeling, your walls tightening around him nearly sending him over the edge. A panicked expression took over his features.
“Where do I-“
You pointed to your stomach and he moaned again, releasing his hot load all over your naked body. You got cleaned up as he rode out his orgasm, dazed by the pleasure by the time you came back. Your fingers played with Sicheng’s hair lovingly, now cuddled up in bed.
“How did I do?” He asked, a tang of innocence still present.
“Not bad at all. I think we should do that much more.” You paused. “You know, to practice.” You teased and this earned a laugh from the boy beside you, you couldn’t help but join in. Your love story was far from normal, sure, but you were happy. And you’d like to think that Sicheng was too.
____________________________________________
Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5
58 notes
·
View notes
It’s A Hard Life (Brian May x Reader) Chapter 2
This series was written alongside a companion playlist. Each song on the playlist is related to a certain scene or moment within the story and while this fic can 100% be read without the playlist, it adds so much to the story to listen along as you read. Throughout this series, you will see numbers in parentheses within the text. Each number corresponds to a track on the playlist. For example, if you saw: (1), this would mean play the first track on the playlist before continuing on reading. Some of the songs serve to set the mood, some correspond with a song that is actually playing in the story, and some tell part of the story better than I can and so they help to drive the plot. I will say again that you don’t need the playlist to understand and enjoy this fic but I strongly recommend at least checking it out.
MASTERLIST
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Warnings: Some mild cursing
A/N: Wow what a long break I took from posting any sort of update to this fic. I have been writing a lot in this time and have a decent portion of this story complete to post. I know hardly anyone (if even that) follows this fic especially now that I basically abandoned it for a little while there, but hopefully someone might find it interesting and enjoyable to read. Either way, please enjoy chapter 2!
Word Count: 4.8k
October 1969
The next morning you awoke with a smile on your face. You weren’t quite sure why until the memories of the night before started coming back to you. Dancing to great music, running into Roger again, and that mystery of a guitarist: Brian. He was just as intriguing this morning as he was last night. A part of you wished you had asked Roger or Tim where he was, but you supposed it was too late now, and as you pulled yourself out of bed and into the world you tried to push the thought of him out of your mind.
After a full day of classes, which, as per usual, were long and exhausting, you found yourself at work. On Wednesdays you worked from 6 until closing at midnight. Today you had decided to actually be productive and while you waited for another customer to come through the door you worked on your composition assignment. You had two weeks to write the first movement of a sonata in the correct form, but as much as you tried, you just couldn’t get the development to sound the way you wanted it to. You sat focused behind the counter, lost in the world of themes and dominant keys, when the bell over the door jingled. You looked up and to your complete surprise saw Brian standing there. He looked almost exactly as he had the night before. Same untamed hair, same look of concentration, and when he saw you at the desk, he flashed the same small smile as last night.
“Welcome to Selmer’s,” you started your preprogrammed greeting, but then decided to take a risk, “I suppose you’ll be needing some new guitar strings?”
As Brian looked up to see who had just spoken, he was met with the sight of what he thought was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen. You sat perched up on the stool behind the counter, pieces of staff paper spread around you, and a pencil in your hand, and even though he knew he was staring he just couldn’t look away. That was, until he realized what you had just said to him.
“Yeah I-- wait, how did you know that?” Brian said, utterly confused.
His speaking voice was just as light and sweet as his singing voice.
“Lucky guess?”
He chuckled, accepting your answer, but not fully certain that he believed you.
“Something tells me that you don’t use Fender strings,” you continued, “so, what can I get for you?”
“Wow you’re good, uh I use RotoSound 8 gauges.”
“A fine choice. I don’t play guitar myself but I’ve heard from a lot of my customers that they give you a really nice sound. A lot of people tell me that they find Fender strings too abrasive.”
When you mentioned this you saw him raise a questioning eyebrow.
“Wow that’s really funny that you would mention that,” he said, “Last night I was just telling the drummer in the band I’m in that the Fender strings make my sound real abrasive.”
“Lemme guess: you broke some of your strings, didn’t have any extras on hand, sent your drummer to go and get some while you finished setting up, he brought you the wrong ones, you played a show with an abrasive sounding guitar, and now you’re here buying the right strings.”
When you finished talking you couldn’t help but laugh at the look of absolute shock and disbelief that was across Brian’s face. He truly didn’t know what to say.
“How on earth did you know all of that?”
You smiled, finally deciding to let him off the hook.
“Your drummer Roger came running in here yesterday right before closing looking for your guitar strings, only he had no idea which strings to buy so I gave him your basic 12 gauges...”
Brian shook his head in disbelief.
“I told him specifically which strings to buy, I even went so far as to write it down but he insisted that he knew what he was doing. I’m never letting him buy gear for me again.”
“If it makes you feel better he did seem to be quite distraught about it when he came in. Nearly knocked down my door rushing inside.”
“Well I suppose that does make it slightly better, but you still haven’t told me how you knew I was upset about the strings.”
“Right, forgot about that. So my friend Freddie has been following this band called Smile around for quite some time,”
At the mention of the band’s name Brian smiled as he started to piece the story together.
“And he’s been on me for ages to come out to one of their shows, so last night I finally did, and as I get there and see the band walk onstage, who would be sitting behind the drum kit but Roger. I went round back after the show was over with Fred to see Roger and Tim but you weren’t there.”
“I was off taking those awful strings off of my guitar,” he said, “but now I wish I had been there to meet you.”
As he said that you felt your heart flutter in your chest once again.
“Me too, but I’m glad I’ve met you now.”
“Will I be seeing you again?”
“Yeah I hope so,” you said, giving him a small smile that he returned even more so. “I’m Y/N, by the way.”
Once again, he smiled. “I’m Brian.”
And with that, you handed him the package of strings, letting your hands linger for a second as they brushed against his, before giving him one last grin as he walked out the door.
(4)
_____
It had been one week since your run-in with the guitarist and all you seemed to be able to think about was when you would be able to see him again. You tried not to let it distract you from your life too much, but as you and Freddie walked home after classes that afternoon it proved to be difficult.
“...and then I said to Tim-- Y/N, are you even listening to me?”
You broke yourself out of the haze of your unintentional daydream.
“Yes! Sorry Fred, I just zoned out there for a moment.”
“Well bring yourself back because I’m about to tell the best part of the story. So I was saying to Tim that maybe we should just give up on trying to find a flat for all of us because there is literally nothing available in our area and he agreed with me. So just when we were about to call Brian and Roger and tell them, we get a call from Roger saying that he found us a place to live!”
“That’s great!” You said, “where is the place?”
“That’s the best part, it’s right down the street from Ealing where we rent out the practice rooms which means it’s right down the street from your place. And don’t worry, we won’t be at your door bothering you all day and stealing your food.”
You laugh slightly.
“Yes you will.”
“You’re right we probably will, but we’ll be pleasant company I assure you.”
“I’ll take your word for it.”
“Excellent! We’re set to move in this weekend and we’d love to have the help.”
“Sure thing,” you said, “just tell me what time to be there.”
_____
Move in day came bright and early on Saturday morning. You were up at 5 to take a cab over to Freddie’s flat on the other side of the neighborhood. When you arrived you found that he had already been up for 2 hours, finishing off last minute packing and piling boxes and a few pieces of furniture into the small truck he had rented.
“Don’t you think the truck might have been a little overkill?” you said, looking at its mostly empty interior, “I mean you don’t exactly have that much stuff to bring.”
“Oh trust me darling, I know. The truck isn’t just for me, we’re stopping by Roger’s place to load his things in here as well. Then Tim and Brian are meeting us there.”
You nodded in understanding.
“So, what can I do to help?”
“If you can grab the last few boxes from upstairs and bring them down here that would be great. And then come and help me lift this chair into the truck.” He said, gesturing at a very old and worn looking armchair sitting on the curb.
“Roger that,” you said, and headed up the stairs.
A half hour later the two of you had successfully loaded all of Freddie’s things into the truck and were driving away down to Roger’s place.
Roger lived another several blocks away, even farther away from you than Freddie, in a tiny one room flat on the top floor of the building. He had not yet started the process of luging his boxes down the five flights of stairs that he had so graciously forgotten to mention when he asked Freddie for help the other day.
“Roger...I’m...going...to kill...you,” you pant as you make your fourth trip down the stairs, two boxes balanced in your arms.
“C’mon,” he said, “if I had told you about the stairs you would never have agreed to come and help me.”
“And you’d have been right,” interjected Freddie who was standing at the bottom of the stairwell, leaning against the wall, and fanning his face profusely. “Is that the last of it?”
“Thankfully yes,” you said, as you made your way out to the truck and hoisted the boxes inside. Roger followed suit, and finally you were able to pull the door down.
“Wonderful!” said Freddie, “next stop: our new home!”
It was nearly 3 o’clock when you three pulled up in front of the boy’s new building. Brian and Tim were sitting outside on the steps waiting for you.
“Well it’s about damn time,” said Tim, “you guys were supposed to be here an hour ago.”
“We were a bit, delayed,” you said, looking directly at Roger. Brian gave a small snort under his breath.
“Oh come on, you guys are so dramatic. So we’re a little late, it’s not like we’re meeting the Queen or anything.”
You and Freddie collectively rolled your eyes.
“Now let’s hurry up and unpack.”
Compared to the amount of effort it had taken you to pack up Freddie and Roger’s flats, unpacking them was a breeze. Their new building had an elevator and their flat was right next door.
“Wow you guys, this is a really nice place,” you said as you walked through the door, “how did you find this place again, Roger?”
“Funny story really, I was talking to this broad at a coffee shop the other day and I guess I mentioned how my mates and I were looking for a new place to live that was central in the city. Well it turns out that her grandmother is moving to Manchester and has been trying to sell her flat for ages.”
“Ages? A place like this is every Londoner’s dream, why couldn’t she sell it?”
“Well she wasn't exactly going about it in the most conventional way. They had to sit her down and explain that walking down the street and asking people if they would like to buy your flat isn’t the most effective or appreciated form of advertisement.”
“Yeah not appreciated unless you’re four broke blokes like us in which case she was so desperate to sell it we paid next to nothing for it,” said Tim, setting down a large box. “I think this is almost all of it, there’s just one box left in the truck.
“I’ll go and get it,” said Brian, standing up.
“It’s pretty heavy, you’ll need two people to lift it,” said Tim.
“I’ll go with you,” you said quickly, making your way to the door and holding it open for him. As you walked into the hallway you caught Freddie looking at you with a sly look across his face.
There was a slightly awkward silence as you two walked down the stairs. Finally you spoke up.
“So uh, how’ve you been since I saw you at the store?”
“Oh um I’ve been alright. I’ve had a lot of work for school and all so I’ve been pretty focused on that. I think Roger already told you that I’m studying astrophysics, but I don’t want to bore you talking about it.”
“No I’d love to hear about it! What are you working on right now?”
“Well,” he said, his face lighting up, “the main thing that’s been eating up all my time is this paper we were assigned on the Hertzsprung-Russell Diagram. Basically it’s a scatter plot of stars that shows the relationship between the stars’ luminosity or brightness and its temperature. We’re meant to cover its history and creation, the functions of the diagram, and its importance in the advancement of the field. It’s an insane amount of information to cover and I’ve only got two weeks to write it.”
“That sounds really interesting,” you say, “I’m not usually one for maths and science but from the way you talk about it I’m actually interested to hear more about it.”
“You’re welcome to read my paper when it’s done if you’d like.”
“I might just take you up on that offer,” you said, smiling.
“So that’s what I’ve been up to,” he said, “what about you? You’re over at Ealing studying music, right?”
“Yep, working hard to start my career as a starving artist,” you said sarcastically. “Jokes aside though I have been quite busy as well. I’ve got a recital coming up next week so I’ve been locked in a practice room all this week.”
“Wow, that sounds really stressful.”
“It’s not too bad, this one just counts for a completion grade. The real stressors are the midterm and final recitals. Those are killer.”
“Well stressful or not I’m sure you’ll do amazing. I would love to hear you play sometime,” he added. He had been wanting to hear you play ever since Freddie had told him you played the flute, but he hoped he wasn’t being too pushy.
“Would you like to come to the recital?” you said, “it’s this Tuesday at 2.”
“Are you sure? I don’t want to impose or anything you know since we sort of just met each other.”
“Nonsense, I would love it if you came! In fact, I want you to. It would be so nice to have someone cheering me on in the audience. Freddie and Tim usually have classes that conflict so I’m normally playing to a crowd of strangers.”
“Well I’ll be there right in the front row, and I’ll clap louder than anyone else in the room,” he said, and you couldn’t help but blush.
“You know I just remembered that we came down here for a reason,” you said, looking towards the truck where the last box was still sitting.”
“Oh yeah,” he said, “we should probably get that upstairs before they start to worry that we’ve been hit by a car or something.”
Together the two of you lifted the box up and out of the truck and into the building. Tim hadn’t been lying when he said the box was heavy. Even with the two of you, it was quite the struggle to carry it up to the flat.
“Jesus Christ, what’s in here, a load of rocks?” you said as the elevator reached their floor.
“I think it might be all our amps and sound stuff. You can tell that Roger packed this box because any sane person would have split them up between several boxes to keep the weight down.”
At last you made it into the flat, ridiculously heavy box and all.
“I wasn’t expecting to get that much of a workout in today,” you said, “next time make it a little heavier why don’t you.”
Ignoring your comment, Freddie said, “Well you two were gone a long time weren’t you,” he eyed you suspiciously.
“Yeah it took a lot of effort to carry that box,” you answer, “I need to go and get some water or something.”
You headed into the kitchen and Freddie followed behind you, closing the door.
“Alright spill it, it did not take you twenty minutes to carry a box from the truck into an elevator,” he said.
“I mean we talked for a little bit while we were down there, but I don’t see why-”
“Let’s skip over the part where you try and dance around the facts. You so obviously have a thing for Brian!”
At his comment you felt your stomach drop slightly.
“What?! No I don’t!”
“Oh come on Lucy, I wasn’t born yesterday. Don’t think I haven’t noticed you staring at him, hanging on to his every word, and you volunteered to go with him to get that box so quickly I don’t think he had even finished his sentence.”
“I don’t know what you’re on about,” you said, “can’t I just like being around someone?”
“Of course you can, but that’s not what’s going on here. You like him, it’s so obvious.”
“You’re way off, Fred.”
As he gave you an exasperated look you felt some level of panic rise in you.
“If I liked Brian then why do I have a date set for this weekend? Hm?”
You’re not sure why you said it. It was a complete lie, you hadn’t been on a date in months nor did you have any interest in going on one now, but you had already committed to this story and if Fred found out you were bluffing you would never hear the end of it.
“Really?” said Freddie, skepticism in his voice, “you have a date?”
“Yep, Saturday night.”
“With who?”
Shit.
“Uh just some guy from my composition class,” then you added hastily, “you don’t know him.”
“No of course I don’t,” said Freddie, “but I’d love to meet him! Why don’t you have him pick you up at your flat so I can be there to say hello?”
You could tell that he saw right through you, but you were too far down this road to back out.
“Yeah um, ok sure. I’ll let him know.”
“Excellent!”
And with that Freddie left the kitchen, leaving you to realize what you had just gotten yourself into.
Well shit, now I’ve got to find a date. Great. Who the hell am I supposed to even ask?
______
The next day you ended up asking out a guy named Trey who sat behind you in composition class. He seemed really excited which made you feel even worse about the whole thing as you knew you would have to let him down after the one date. Saturday arrived all too soon and at a quarter to seven Freddie showed up at your door.
“Alright so where is this lad you have so graciously charmed?” he said, a devilish smile on his face.
“He should be here any minute.”
As if on cue, the doorbell rang. You opened it and there stood Trey, shifting nervously on his feet with a meek smile on his face. You could already tell that this was going to be painful. Before you could say anything, Freddie showed up right behind you to look at Trey.
“Hello darling, I’m Freddie, Y/N’s friend, I was just stopping by to see her off before your big date! I’ve got to say, when Y/N told me she had a date this weekend I didn’t believe her because, well, she’s not usually the type, but you two look oh so cute together, I’m sure we’ll be seeing more of you in the future!”
You could have killed him. You knew exactly what he was doing, and he had won, so now you were stuck still having to go on this date with the knowledge that Freddie would be waiting at your home to confront you when you got back.
“Don’t mind him, Trey,” you said, “Freddie can get a little over-invested in my life sometimes. Shall we?”
And with that the two of you walked out the door, but not before you looked over your shoulder to shoot Freddie a death glare to which he responded with a look of mock confusion.
To say the date was awkward would have been an understatement. It was clear that Trey didn’t pick up on how uncomfortable you were, or if he did, he didn’t mention it. You somehow stumbled your way through dinner and then a movie. By the end of the night though, you had just about reached the end of your rope as on the cab ride back to your flat he kept going on and on about how much he loved the movie you went to see.
“And I just thought the ending was so brilliant,” he said, “the way they brought the two story lines together, I didn’t even see that coming!”
“Yeah it was good,” you said, half-heartedly. The cab pulled up to the curb. “Well, this is me.”
“Let me walk you up, then we can say a proper goodbye,” he said.
“Alright,” you said.
As expected, Freddie was there waiting for you when you got back. He sat on your sofa, sipping on a glass of wine, as you and Trey said your goodbyes.
“I had a really nice time tonight, Y/N,” he said, “I’d love to do it again soon.”
“Um, yeah maybe,” you said, mentally kicking yourself as the words came out of your mouth. Why couldn’t you just say no? There was a moment of silence and then he leaned in to give you an awkward kiss on the cheek before saying one last goodnight.
Once he was gone you walked around to the sofa and collapsed into it, eyes closed.
“Well,” said Freddie, “that really was something. I think you and this Trey character could have a real future together. You seem to get along swimmingly and not to mention he’s quite handsome.”
“Alright! Alright Fred, you win! I may have a bit of a crush on Brian.”
______
It was Tuesday morning, the morning of your recital, and Brian found himself wandering through the halls of the Ealing music school, looking for the recital hall. As he rounded what he swore was the same corner he passed ten minutes ago he saw that a group of students had shown up and were talking rather loudly. He was about to turn around and continue his search when he heard something that grabbed his attention.
“So you know Y/N, the girl who sits behind me in composition, well she asked me out on Saturday to the movies.”
“Oh dude no way!”
“Yeah and it was completely out of the blue. I mean I never would have guessed that she had a thing for me, but we had a great time. She said she would want to go out again.”
Brian, who had been standing behind the corner, felt his heart drop when he heard this. He hadn’t really told anyone, but from the moment he met you he had been wanting to ask you out, he just hadn’t figured out how. He thought you were the most beautiful girl he had ever seen, both inside and out, and wanted nothing more than to be around you all the time. He was rather shy by nature and typically didn’t take a chance if he wasn’t entirely certain of the outcome, but after talking with you on moving day he had thought that maybe, just maybe, you felt the same way. He knew of course that he had no right to be upset, you could obviously date whoever you wanted, but he couldn’t help but feel crestfallen knowing that you weren’t going to be anything more than friends.
(5)
Checking his watch, Brian realized that it was ten minutes before your recital was set to start and he still had no idea where he was going. Realizing that it was his only option, he turned to the group of guys.
“Hi, I’m looking for the recital hall? Do you happen to know where that is?”
The boy who had been talking about his date with Y/N turned around to look at Brian.
“Yeah mate it’s just around that corner there and then take a left and it’ll be the set of double doors on your right.”
“Thanks.”
“No problem. Do you go here?”
There was no contempt in his voice but at his question Brian couldn’t help but feel as though he was accusing him of something.
“No,” he said apprehensively, “I’m actually here to see a friend perform.”
“Who do you know?”
“Um, Y/N... Y/N Y/L/N? Do you know her?” He grimaced internally at his question, already knowing the answer.
“Yeah, she’s in my composition class. She’s real sweet, incredibly talented too.”
“Yeah I know,” said Brian, a little too quickly, “thanks for the directions.”
“Anytime,” he said, “I’m Trey by the way.”
“Brian.”
“Nice to meet you, Brian. And hey, wish Y/N good luck from me. I’ve got a class in ten minutes so I can’t go and see her play.”
“Yeah sure thing,” said Brian monotonously, as he turned to walk back down the hallway.
As much as Brian wanted to hate Trey, he knew he really couldn’t. He seemed nice enough, cared enough about Y/N’s life to know that he was missing her performance, and he had given him accurate directions. Brian found his way to the recital hall in no time, picking himself out a seat right in the front row. The turnout was what you might expect from a midday, midweek, student recital. The back of the hall was filled with students kicked back in their seats and glancing lazily at the clock every other minute, mostly likely forced to attend as part of their grade. The middle was quite sparsely populated with what looked like a few family members and friends scattered throughout, and the front was almost completely empty with the exception of four rather stern-looking people who Brian assumed were Y/N’s professors, and of course now him. He hadn’t been to see a classical performance in ages. His mother used to take him all the time to go and see the London Symphony when he was younger, but after starting secondary school and then uni and devoting all his time to his studies and his guitar he had stopped going. Now, sitting in the icebox of a theatre, he couldn’t help but feel like he didn’t belong.
A few minutes later, the performance began. It was a woodwind only recital so Brian sat through two clarinets, a saxophone, three oboes, and a bassoon, before it was your turn. When you finally walked onstage, Brian kept his promise and applauded so loudly that one of the professors turned to see where it was coming from. He didn’t care though, he couldn’t wait to hear you play. As you made your way over to the music stand you flashed Brian a smile, and he felt as though he was walking on air. God, he thought you were just perfect standing up there, completely in control of that stage. He wanted to run up the steps and hug you, kiss you, to tell you how much he adored you. How you should be with him and not Trey, but then you began to play and he was snapped back into reality. He didn’t recognize the piece, but it didn’t matter. Your sound carried through the hall with such vibrancy and clarity, and your fingers danced across the keys effortlessly. You made it look so easy, each movement more beautiful than the last.
(6)
As you brought the last movement to a close, Brian stood up and gave you a standing ovation. You knew it was overkill of him, but as you watched him fill the room with thunderous applause you couldn’t help but smile. You took your bows and with one more look at Brian, made your way offstage.
Twenty minutes later, the recital had come to a close. The last few flutes had performed but to Brian they paled in comparison to you. After a quick word with your professor and some scattered congratulations and compliments to your fellow performers, you made your way out into the audience. You saw Brian standing near the back, beaming as you half walked half ran up the stairs to him.
“So, what did you think?” you said, “it didn’t bore you too much I hope.”
“Are you kidding? Y/N, that was incredible!”
You blushed.
“I mean I knew you played well and everything, but that was just so beautiful. It was like you were singing through your flute, you’ve got a real talent.”
“You’re so sweet, you know that?” you said as you pulled him in for a hug, “what did I ever do to deserve a friend like you?”
Friend, Brian thought to himself, that’s all he would ever be to you.
Taglist: @peter-sue-the-management @borhapqueen92
11 notes
·
View notes
WandaVision Episode 9: The Big Questions We Need Answered
https://ift.tt/eA8V8J
This article contains WandaVision spoilers.
With just one episode left in the season – and technically the series – the finale of WandaVision has a lot of ground to cover.
Its penultimate installment was not just a heartbreaking retrospective of just how terrible Wanda’s life has been and how much she has suffered, it gave us an entirely new understanding of a character that’s been part of this universe for four feature films to date. Plus, there’s the whole thing where a secret government agency appears to have reanimated Vision’s dead body to use as a weapon, and Wanda herself is most likely a legendary, all-powerful witch.
How the series plans to wrap up these dangling plot threads in addition to laying the groundwork for the upcoming Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and establishing what comes next is anyone’s guess. But there are a few things that WandaVision is going to have to tell us in order for this series to truly stick the landing as the MCU’s most ambitious – and best – project yet. (Which right now, with one episode to go, is a title it wins by a mile.)
cnx.cmd.push(function() { cnx({ playerId: "106e33c0-3911-473c-b599-b1426db57530", }).render("0270c398a82f44f49c23c16122516796"); });
Here are nine burning questions we need the WandaVision finale to answer.
What is the Scarlet Witch?
In an episode filled almost to bursting with surprisingly rich callbacks to multiple MCU films, the biggest moment was still probably Wanda being directly referred to as the Scarlet Witch for the first time. But what that actually means is anyone’s guess.
Sure, she’s powerful enough to literally rewrite reality and turn a run-down New Jersey town into a classic sitcom paradise. But that’s not exactly news – she did destroy an Infinity Stone and almost take down Thanos in the Avengers movies. Agatha bestows the name upon her as though it means something significant, as if Wanda’s some sort of magical harbinger that has a larger role to play in…something (and the Scarlet Witch costume Wanda sees in her vision would seem to back that up). But who or what is she?
What Does Agatha Harkness Actually Want?
Most of us have assumed that Agatha Harkness must technically be the Big Bad of WandaVision – I mean, the song says that she’s been pulling every evil string, c’mon – but “Previously On” hints that may not entirely be the case. The creation of Westview was clearly a result of Wanda’s chaos magic, so…what is Agatha doing there? And what is her ultimate goal?
Has she sought Wanda out simply to determine where her power comes from? To try and steal it for herself? To suss out another powerful witch to become besties with? (Agatha was Wanda’s mentor in the comics.)
Are we meant to read Agatha as a true villain – or something more complicated? I mean, she does put Wanda’s kids in choke collar leashes, but whether that’s out of a desire to protect herself from the Scarlet Witch or to use her in some way is still unclear.
Is Vision Somehow Alive Again?
Well, there go our theories that poor Wanda has just been puppeting her dead boyfriend’s corpse around Westview (thankfully – that idea was always dark af). Instead, it appears that this is more of a Vision 2.0, a being created by a combination of an incredibly powerful dose of Wanda’s chaos magic, her memories of the man she loved, and the overwhelming grief she can’t seem to control.
But does that mean Vision is actually alive? Like, could appear in another MCU film, alive? And if so, why can’t he leave the boundaries of the Hex? Does he even have a physical body, or is his form just a Wanda-powered projection?
What is Tyler Hayward’s Endgame – and Why Is He Trying to Blame Wanda for it?
One of the biggest revelations in “Previously On” was that Wanda did not, in fact, storm into SWORD headquarters and steal back her boyfriend’s dead body. Instead, she actually experienced a quietly shattering moment of grief in which she accepted that the Vision she loved was truly gone. So…why did SWORD director Tyler Hayward not only insist that she did, he literally put together a deep fake video to prove it?
Hayward has been a fairly shady figure since he first appeared on WandaVision, but this is some next-level mustache-twirling stuff. Has he just been trying to turn Vision’s body into a weapon – seemingly mission accomplished there – or has he been crafting a much larger and more nefarious scheme?
After all, he is on record as hating the superpowered beings that he believes are responsible for both the Snap that erased half the population and the Blip that brought everyone back but ultimately devastated those left behind in the meantime. Is the White Vision his revenge on Wanda – and those like her – in some way? (Truly, so many problems could be solved in the universe of the MCU if people just got some help for their PTSD, but that’s a rant for another day.) Or is Hayward’s scheme more complicated in some way?
What is the Purpose of the White Vision?
The Dr. Manhattan-esque White Vision revealed in this week’s credits scene is both creepy and heartbreaking at the same time. The real Vision, after all, had specifically requested that he not be brought back or used as some kind of weapon after his death. And now he’s been made into what is likely some sort of soulless killing machine, using his soulmate’s magic and against his own wishes. How Hayward figured out how to reanimate Vision, what vibranium he was tracking in the Hex, and what he intends to do with this new weapon he’s made are all outstanding questions. But none of them likely have happy answers.
Look, we probably have to start preparing ourselves now emotionally for the fact that Wanda is going to have to fight the reanimated body of her dead lover, who probably won’t even remember her name. And she’ll have to do it with the magical recreation of him she made in Westview at her side, in a battle that will more than likely destroy both Visions by the end of it.
And at this point, we’re going to need a WandaVision Season 2 in order to deal with Wanda’s trauma from all of that (that’s not a complaint, by the way).
Is Wanda a Mutant Now?
With the X-Men franchise officially part of the MCU, the question has to be asked: Is Wanda Maximoff officially a mutant now? Her exposure to the Mind Stone clearly triggered or otherwise activated some latent abilities – powers that the show implied would have vanished otherwise.
Wanda and Pietro appear to be the only two individuals who survived HYDRA’s attempts to create supervillains using the Mind Stone. Does this mean that Pietro’s survival also indicates that his powers were merely latent and then “activated” by their experiments?
Does this twist give Wanda back her official mutant roots, or is it just an origin story for witches in the Marvel universe?
Where’s Monica?
When last we saw Monica Rambeau, she was getting busted for snooping by Agatha’s nebulously explained fake version of Pietro Maximoff. Since she doesn’t appear in “Previously On” we’re still not sure where she is, what’s happened to her in the meantime, or what role she has to play in the finale.
One has to assume she’ll show up to fight at Wanda’s side – whether that’s against Agatha or the White Vision or both – but how?
We also don’t know much yet about her superpowers. We’re all assuming she’s basically just inheriting her comics abilities as Spectrum, but will those abilities work outside of the Hex or without Wanda to power them?
What Does This All Mean for Pietro?
Though we journey back to the HYDRA base in which Wanda and her brother were experimented on, we don’t see any hint of Pietro in this episode (and, no, the child version doesn’t count). We know that the Evan Peters version is a fake conjured by Agatha to pry information on how she created the Hex out of Wanda – how is she powering that by the way? And how does Fake Pietro know so much real Maximoff history? – but what does all this new backstory mean for the Maximoff brother who died?
What happened to Pietro when he encountered the Mind Stone? Were his powers also latent and only “activated” by the stone like Wanda’s (and thus making him a mutant)? And does any of this somehow open a door to bring Quicksilver back to the MCU?
Who is the Aerospace Engineer?
Yes, we’ve all apparently spent weeks thinking about a throwaway line from Monica back in WandaVision’s fifth episode, in which she references an aerospace engineer she knows who might be up for the challenge of figuring out the Hex.
Maybe it’s nothing, but this is Marvel, so it’s almost guaranteed not to be nothing.
Could Monica’s mysterious friend be Reed Richards and could SWORD serve as a way to finally introduce the Fantastic Four into the MCU? It’s more than possible – it’s practically likely at this point. There are other options – Victor Von Doom and Hank McCoy are also notable Marvel scientists we’ve yet to meet in the MCU – but doesn’t Reed just make the most sense?
How Will WandaVision Lead Into Doctor Strange 2?
One of the few things we do know about the WandaVision finale is that it’s somehow connected to and will likely lead directly into the upcoming MCU film Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. At this point, it seems safe to say that Wanda is more likely than not responsible for both the multiverse and the madness parts of that title, and the finale will involve her somehow fully becoming the Scarlet Witch and unleashing some cosmic chaos powers.
But where does that kind of ending leave Wanda and Vision? Will Doctor Strange himself show up – either to defeat the White Vision or stop Wanda from ripping down the walls of reality? Will Vision have to die again? And how does Agatha Harkness fit into things? (At this point, she’s more than earned a place in Doctor Strange 2, if you ask me.)
The post WandaVision Episode 9: The Big Questions We Need Answered appeared first on Den of Geek.
from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/3uM3kTd
1 note
·
View note
Deca-Dence 5 - 6 | Moriarty 3 - 4 | Yashahime 4 - 5 | Maou-jou 4 | I7 s2 5 (22) | Akudama 4 - 5 | HypMic 5 - 6 | Taiso Samurai 4 | HPGC 4
Deca-Dence 5
“…cannon won’t ignite in time!” The subbers spell cannon as “canon” later as well.
Off to the cliffside, where Kaburagi goes to die…
Deca-Dence 6
“Maybe someone intervened.” – I think Minato did, somehow.
This Death Dive reminds me of Wipeout.
Moriarty 3
I once made up a quote that goes, “When life detests you, fight back.” I think it’s also roughly along the lines of advice Albert needs.
I remembered an odd line from Macbeth: “Brother, he has killed me!” Seriously, Moriarty is scarier than some actual horror anime, I swear…Update: It’s actually “he has killed me, Mother!”, but same impact.
I had my hands over my mouth from the moment the fire began. That’s how intense this is.
This ED…doesn’t sound like an ED. It sounds like the OP for a different anime, like Joker Game or something. Also, having Saito Soma as Gentaro and Moriarty…is a bit unsettling because they have a lot of overlap but one’s basically the evil twin of the other.
Yashahime 4
“…was raised here…”
“…we can…”
I felt a heart twinge when I saw Towa tear up…man, it’s been years since I last dealt with Inuyasha properly.
“…nights where I can’t fall asleep.” – So…you’ll play it a lot then, Setsuna.
Oh, so Kirara is a nekomata? I never knew until now.
Kikyo!
According to the mythology, the kirin rules over the middle…so why is Kirinmaru the monster in the east?
Is “s***” unwarranted here? I didn’t have the volume on, so I don’t know…Going back, I think Moroha said “kuso”, but it’s still kinda weird to have a swear word in a mostly family-friendly series in a slot near Detective Conan. (Then again, Detective Conan is where I learnt “kuso” from…so my standards are probably not as up-to-scratch as they should be.)
Rin! People keep saying Rin is the mother of the girls and it’s basically the only conclusion that could be done, considering the relationship the two had…but it’s still kind of squick…(Says a person who has no problem with SGRS s2’s ending.)
Update: Someone on ANN said the teacher’s name (Osamu Kirin) being similar to Kirinmaru is sketchy and I agree.
Maou-jou 4
There’s no pun for Rocket Turtle…that’s kinda startling, actually.
I’m not going to translate the eyecatches anymore. Seems they were actually translated in the manga and someone just copies them over or something.
I’ve seen some characters use wa when they really aren’t that feminine. However, the voice Suwabe uses for the Sorceror leads me to believe this guy really is trying to be feminine, even if in just a vocal capacity.
…aw, no puns here too.
Oh no, the seal…!
…hmm? The Scissors Sorceror’s info is…we’re not allowed to look at it. That’s what the red text says.
…my brain exploded for a second when I suddenly heard jazz music. It’s a Detective Conan parody! *screams*
Iina! doesn’t really mean “Lucky!” It means more like “cool!” or “It’s good, isn’t it?”
I7 s2 5
I missed these boys!
I like the Kinako transition. It’s cute.
I don’t really like it when Tenn looks at the screen…it gives me 1st person cam vibes.
Why is Tsunashi being called “this”, anyway?
Oh yeah…mensore = youkoso = welcome.
Uh oh…is Yuki actually evil???
Riku (earth) vs. Tenn (heaven). Hmm.
I still can’t believe they don’t believe Gaku is the soba guy. It’s so obvious!
Chikuzen-ni.
Someone on staff ships Gaku and Tsumugi together…hmm…
Oh! So this is DESTINY, huh? I’ve probably heard it on Spotify before, but I don’t recognise it by sheer sound like I do HypMic. (Then again, the half-year off the airwaves probably really hurt I7, man…)
Akudama 4
Say what you will about how bad Funi translations can get…they’re definitely entertaining!
Geesh, Doctor gets all the sexy shots, but Brawler gets all the ab shots. Can I get a sexy Courier shot…?
“…she’s right.” – There’s a lot of dialogue here, so…uh, who’s “she” in this case?
What’s a “bro fro”?
Wow, Brawler, talk about being punched into next Tuesday…(partially joking)
Swindler’s face, LOL. (I know she’s an ordinary gal, but calling her “Swindler” is shorter to type.)
I remember reading around and people agree Swindler works at the Seal Centre.
The shark and bunny’s shirts say things like “Kanto/Kansai”, “earth, air/water” and “pollution/clean” during their montage.
“feminist” – Uh, ex-squeeze me?! Feminism does not equal “ladies first” or “going easy on ladies”. Update: I went and listenend to it and although one of my ears is mysteriously almost constantly plugged these days, I’m fairly sure Doctor did not say “feminist” (in katakana). Update 2: Then I listened to it again and…I’m not sure anymore.
LOL, Hoodlum hit the in-series camera. With his face.
Oh, vault = garage or storage. Right, how did I not know that?
Cat, nooooooooooooooooo! Don’t die!
HypMic 5
After the two “darker” divisions, it seems almost strange to not have a “dark” introduction about the seedy underbelly of alt. future Japan…
Oh, my gosh. That’s Ichijiku on the phone.
The studio has the word “drops” on it.
Lemme guess: Neither hand!...Yup.
The only spoiler I know for this ep. is it’s a Halloween episode, and “Ramuda ruins Halloween”. That quote is way too subjective to mean anything, though…
…hmm, Gentaro doesn’t say “shousei” in that sentence involving “this humble bard” (not that I heard, but one of my ears is mysteriously plugged after I stayed up late browsing Twitter on my phone – don’t tell anyone that, though! They’re not meant to know!). Gentaro is not a humble bard (although that would translate “shousei” quite correctly in the Shakespearean), he’s an author.
LOL, that “ding!”
Gentaro actually says “ghostbusters” in katakana, LOL.
I almost thought this Shinjuku man was Doppo…but no, this Aoyama Cemetery exists. It has nice cherry blossoms.
The “dun dun dun” soundtrack is great. It really sets the atmosphere.
Gentaro really is an idiots’ minder, just as I used to characterise him. (Then the FP and M manga and developments regarding Ramuda being evil changed my mind.)
I-Is this just gonna be an episode of FP being scared and Ramuda yelling? It’s fun for a bit, but when you’re stopping to analyse every few seconds, Ramuda’s voice is gonna get annoying eventually…
Kurosu seems to be a cross between Jyushi and Doppo.
This ep…makes FP look money-crazy. Dice is only money-crazy when he’s broke…because of course you would be…but the others aren’t.
That rock track that plays when FP hand out flyers is cool!
Are they…eating squid?...Welp, squid jerky. I’d say I’m correct.
Oh, so they’re all street photographers? Not just Tom?
I was wondering…how would the “tie to a different division” occur in episode 5, considering episode 6 is where the plot really kicks in? Turns out…they tie back to BB, which is not a thing I was expecting at all.
BB have a BB tablet…makes sense, because I think Hypster have iPhone cases for each division.
Oh, they’re planting the seeds of Ramuda’s ability here, so to speak. By knowing what Hypnosis Mics are capable of doing, you can see the building blocks of Rap Abilities as well.
Okonbanwa! The extra O is meant to make things formal, but only in front of nouns (sometimes it’s “go”, e.g. goshujin), so it’s Ramuda being overly formal to be cutesy and unconventional.
*lightbulb goes off in head* It makes sense that the group affiliated with illusions and randomness does the Halloween episode, actually.
…Yargh! Of course all these onee-sans are FP stans!...*lightly touches temple, as if to get rid of a headache* I should’ve known.
The new song is “Shibuya Ghost Night” by Tokyo Health Club, Yuki “T-Groove” Takahashi and Yuma Hara.
*stops video before the darn airhorn sounds* Thank goodness…hey, isn’t this quote from Magical Girl Spec-Ops Asuka…?
This episode is very seasonal, but doesn’t really make sense outside of airing on Halloween. C’mon, couldn’t you have given us a Sasara appearance instead of having Ramuda yell down the house…? I knew the FP episode was going to be either lighthearted with a dark undercurrent, like the BB ep (considering we haven’t gotten to Ramuda dying yet), or full-on lighthearted, but…I somehow wonder if the staff had an empty spot labelled “Fling Posse episode” due to COVID and went, “Okay, it airs on Halloween this year, let’s make it Halloween-inspired”…or something. Also, I feel Gentaro got the short end of the stick here.
Update: As for yakuwarigo, Ramuda trends towards the feminine side, which is not something I noticed until my groupwork partner pointed it out to me. The message in this episode has a “yone”, which proves that point even further. “Dayo~n” is a variant of the gender-neutral “yo” ending. Meanwhile, I have game samples that prove Dice uses “ze” like BB/MTC, while Gentaro uses “yo” and desu/masu like Jakurai, so it was really Ramuda anyone wanted to pay attention to since his speech patterns are the most feminine-leaning, possibly due to his extensive hanging out with ladies. (I once read a Tofugu post on how non-binary people deal with language that said if you hang out with ladies a lot, you take on feminine yakuwarigo and if you hang out with guys a lot, you do the same in that direction, but I clearly remember Ramuda using “sa”, which is a slightly male-leaning ending.)
Taiso Samurai 4
There’s something in the background which stops me from listening to it and one of my ears is blocked, but I gotta find out what Tackey was saying about the NHK Cup (the joke, I mean). Update: So I think it’s ninja/nukihara/kekkou, but I may have heard that wrong due to my blocked ear…I should get someone to clean it out properly.
Here’s the YoI monologue about competitions again. <- (neutral on it) Also, NHK is in English letters/romaji in the term “NHK Cup”, but the “Cup” isn’t (it’s in kanji).
Sekigahara had a huge historical battle.
Huh? This episode’s called “Samurai Musume (daughter)”, so…where did “Battling Samurai” come from? That’s one of the previous episodes, right?
Selfies, before they were cool.
I was wondering if Leo actually calls Rei “Rachel” like he calls Jotaro “Joe”…and he does. I just haven’t paid much attention to the audio, that’s all.
The Battle of Chibi? Never heard of it until now, but the Battle of Red Cliffs is the same thing.
Leo Naruto runs…LOL.
If Rei was in 4th grade in 2002…are we going to see the characters in the present in the end? She would be 28 in 2020.
I guess I should’ve guessed from “hat trick”, but a Bergkamp trap is related to soccer.
There’s a random Japanese-sounding track in the background…didn’t expect that.
A cemetery…on the day after Halloween.
“Grandma’s place” = the bar…Ohhhhhhhhhh. I was wondering, didn’t the grandma and Rei live together? Then it all came together.
Jim Beeam (sic), LOL.
I wonder, are Tackey and Ayu dating like he asks?
Gotta love a man in a suit! *chef’s kiss*
Yashahime 5
Who’s this Tokotsu guy again…? Also, the “ja” in Jakotsumaru means “young”.
Oh, Myoga. It’s been a while.
Can there be 4 Perils when there’s only 3 of them…?
Well, it makes sense that a dog demon would have demon fleas…in a sense.
Why is “trying to swallow up this world and turn it into a degenerate age” (or whatever Kirinmaru’s aim is) so vague? You could say the present is already an age of mass degeneracy…
Maybe the Dream Butterfly took Moroha’s memories…?
Wait, why is Myoga only allowed to drink Moroha’s blood when she puts on the rouge?
So this is an arhat. Also, aren’t morals an Anglophone ideal imported into Japan and the rest of Asia? That’s what separates Towa from Setsuna.
Akudama 5
This drone definitely won’t come in handy at all…(sarcastic)
There’s an Evangelion feel to these “masks”…
That box is like Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs! It’s great!
I like how the kids jump to the potential fact (?) this is a Swindler trick.
You can see Courier’s bike in the background when the bunny says “…and I mean everything.”
*Knights of Sidonia music starts playing* Search! And! Destroy! *record scratch as music stops*
I think this little discussion between Courier and Swindler will go down in Akudama Drive history as one of my favourite moments because it’s the little conversations that count. Also…does Courier have a mechanical hand, or is that just me thinking weird things…? Is that a glove?
Ooh, scars. Sexy. (On the Executioner Master, at least.)…Now I get why the guy wears that mouth covering.
HypMic 6
Halfway through the season already…? Yikes, how time flies. By the way, my assignment’s come and gone so I don’t need to focus on it anymore.
Hmm? Why did the subbers put “Prime Minister” when Ichijiku merely says “yes”…?
Wait, 1st question: how does one sign up for a rap battle? I don’t think that’s ever been answered. 2nd question (well, not a question): Dice is paying attention to Otome now…
I’m fairly sure that red brick warehouse was just that…as in the Red Brick Warehouse in Yokohama, which was also featured in Bungou Stray Dogs. Update: Oh, it’s (partially) a shopping mall…? I didn’t know that until now.
See, I told you they’re (Tom, Iris and Rex) probably foreigners…
That one shot of Jakurai? *chef’s kiss* Beautiful. Give me a million of ‘em. (Okay, I’m kidding to some degree, but I can’t help staring at it. Jakurai’s just too pretty…)
“Tweet-like lyrics”? Eh? When was Twitter a collective pessimist?
Oh, that’s basically the scene from the drama track. Where the heck is Jakurai fishing though…? I always imagined it to be at a river or a pier, not some concrete complex. Update: According to a user on Twitter, the fishing place is called “Ichigaya Fishing Centre”. It is, as you would expect, found in Shinjuku. Apparently, even Osomatsu-san featured the place...which would explain why it looks vaguely familiar to me.
Wow, I can’t believe how upfront they’re being about Ramuda breaking up TDD.
Ramuda thought in his deep voice…I almost didn’t recognise it for a second. It doesn’t even sound like Shirai. It sounds more like…Hayami, in fact.
“F*** yeah!” - …and they’re still going with the F bomb. Keep being you, subbers, keep being you.
That shot of Saburo in a dimly-lit room almost looks like the SR card in ARB, except in that one he has his headphones on (and might be outside, to my memory).
Oh, so the round thing really is Ichiro’s ring. It’s got an “I” on it too, i.e. the Roman numeral for one.
*Ichiro explains what happened to TDD from his and Samatoki’s side* - I don’t think we’ve ever seen the story from Ichiro’s or Samatoki’s perspective enough to know either thought this (or this way).
“Jiro! Saburo! Let’s go!” - …and Tom’s just taking photos as they leave, LOL.
I didn’t expect the TsudaKen guy to be back again, really.
Well, if this Google route is to be believed, “Sadamezuka’s soul” only lasts about 30 minutes by car crossing from one point to the other, hence Jiro’s remark.
Googling “Toyotama” and “Toyotama Line” gets you…Ghost of Tsushima links…?
…hmm. I’m not listening to it on a hugely loud volume, so I can’t quite tell what the pun is, but I think the word for “monk” in this case is “bouzu”. Then what’s the word for “electric dynamo”…? Update: The pun, according to Takahisa Maeyama, is Erekiteruteru Bouzu.
That ticking thing was really effective in terms of the song…but sasuga HypMic. Things went ka-blammo again.
So we’re probably going to see BB’s first DRB round next ep…or Matenrou doing another takedown similar to ep. 3. Or both. Both is good. (Or it could be the FP/M side of things, much like we got the BB/MTC side of things here.)
...Uh, shouldn’t that be “dawn”? The anime’s generally been very good about this (aside from the obvious typo in the BB logo), but…welp, they’ve done it now.
Update: The LOVE you see Hifumi and Doppo near is this one.
Update 2: As for the yakuwarigo, it…turns out, to no one’s surprise, it stays oddly consistent across all media, although individual treatment of the characters can differ depending on the author.
HGPC 4
Ooh, is this Element of Light?
Fate/Stay PreCure! Here we come!
Moriarty 4
Why is the “to” capitalised? (Is that even capitalised?)
Quinine.
I kind of knew the grapefruit and the heart condition and/or quinine would be relevant somehow…and boy howdy, was I right! I just didn’t really know what it was going to do, that’s all.
I thought the ED didn’t match very well, but looking at the translated lyrics…now it kind of makes sense.
2 notes
·
View notes