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felikatze · 2 years

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hi hi yes this is my season 8 write up you’ve probably seen one of these already by now and i gotta say what the fuck was that how the fuck was that oh my god oh my god. is this still the silly lego ninja show. am i dreaming.

this is the first one i’m actually structuring in advance because i have so many thoughts i have so so so many oh my godddddddddd. oh my god.

BROOOOOOOOO

i had. feelings about this season. 2.6k words of them.

i did not like the first two eps because (gestures at fake out romance plot) i’m sorry i hate ninjago romance plots and pixane are the only bitches i respect. the first two eps went HARD on building up harumi as super duper sweet trust me like the whole fuckin princess jasmine sequence made me cringe. do not like themmmm i do not. after that we’re good though. props to these eps to starting on the harumi lloyd parallels via comparing her position as jade princess with lloyd’s as the green ninja in addition to their both at this point primarily green color schemes. lloyd is unshippable to me though sorry. aroace lloyd supremacy.

one thing i noticed this season is how the ninja use their elemental powers differently. instead of just spawning their elements in, they take advantage of the environment. one scene that comes to mind is nya using the rain to safely land the bounty or jay redirecting lightning and using power lines to shock the big stone monster in episode 10.

i really like this change! this makes fight choreography more interesting by including the environment! nya bursting some pipes to blast away garmadon? kai using torch fires to throw at people? i love that!! it’s great!! feels natural feels good to watch!!

the elements look amazing as well! particle effects this season are off the shits! this season just plain looks good. love the redesigns on the spinjitzu effects to differentiate them and incorporate elements better than just color. LOVE the lighting. looks so good. i already praised season 5 for this but this takes the cake.

speaking of more changes. weapons!! i called season 7 sexy for giving everyone their unique weapons back and there’s some changes here! nya got a trident!! love that!! so cool!! thematic!! and no ninja has a polearm yet so. vry cool vry cool.

last time, i complained that kai and zane got the short end of the stick cuz people keep infringing on their weapons. that’s fixed now! kai gets TWO swords, which is SICK. i just think duel wielding is sexy. zane gets a bow, which i’m more hmmm abt. it’s still the only long distance weapon of the squad, so i guess it works. shurikens still seem to be mainly zane’s thing, as they’re how the gang recognize zane’s plan to go undercover.

cole also gets a hammer instead of a scythe. i GET IT hammers are better for a blunt force character like him, but.. scythes are sick. ninjago gets a pass due to my affinity for blunt force weaponry. this time.

speaking of cole. admire how he was just READY to be a dad upon finding a random baby in a dungeon somewhere. said baby being Wu is objectively hilarious because cryptic old man wisdom is replaced by baby babble. cole is just so. he is Taking Care Of This Baby. in the beginning of the season before finding the baby he’s already Dad Mode somehow because he’s telling everyone to eat their veggies. i love him. it’s so funny. someone has to save the baby from plunging off the airship? cole’s here. someone gotta play with the baby? cole. someone gotta hold the baby? cole. misako only takes over because he’s busy after everything’s gone to shit. cole is the dad friend.

REDESIGNS. redesigns. i like em. i’ve watched the lego ninjago movie twice i like the movie and i think the designs are good. they’re a bit more complex than the previous ones esp in the hair and it fits better with the improved graphics n shit. i just wish they’d been more consistent with the past designs. like the side kai’s scar is on being the opposite one to his notched eyebrow. or jay missing his slit eyebrow. this is just about eyebrows. jay’s freckles are cute though. only redesign i dont like is zane’s i think his eyes and hair look weird and why does nya have a mole now feels weird. anyway.

i heard the redesigns are so it’s easier for potential new fans from the lego ninjago movie which is hilarious. the potential that THIS is someone’s first season of ninjago. the one that dregdes up emotional conflicts from season 2, the one season that breaks the status quo by having the ninja lose at the end, the one season that doesn’t have weekend whip as the intro. hello. HELLO.

how did we get here

moments i enjoyed: zane undercover, mister E fight

OKAY ONTO THE SEASON ITSELF OKAYYY.

i rlly liked zane’s stint undercover i think that was a great sequence. (how many akira slides do ya want? oh? all of them? okay). motorcycle races were fun. (fun fact german dub just refers to the sons of garmadon as “garmadon’s bike gang” which is kinda funny aint it. german dub never change you fuckhead). the fights this season were cool for aforementioned elemental reasons but also just sick in general. i enjoyed zane getting trashed by mister e (ohhh like “mystery” okay okay). fucked up that zane dies again but whatever it was a cool fight.

what i disliked abt the general sequence was cole’s singing which i KNOWWW is supposed to be bad i aint even talking abt kirby morrow since (dub watcher) but like. yeah whatever the irony of cole being a horrible singer but they did not have to make it a running joke. i didn’t like harumi’s singing either i just don’t like singing in non-musical shows. only good singing was when everyone was singing weekend whip karaoke. german dub show me the forbidden weekend whip german cover full version. i liked those lyrics.

PIXAL OFFICAL RETURN SHE’S HERE I LOVE HERRRR (<- PIXAL STAN SINCE SEASON 3). i am mildly heartbroken by pixal being soo afraid of the possibility of going back into the computer and how she’s so afraid she won’t be useful being the way she wants to be. this is where zane pulls thru because the only one who doesn’t respect pixal’s autonomy is pixal herself. everyone is always so supportive of her choices even back in season 3 and i like that this is continued here i LOVE pixal becoming samurai x and making it her own thing. she still takes on a support role occasionally but she’s doing what she wants to do and everyone loves her for it (including me). pixane is the only romance subplot i respect (jaya is valid only when a coinflip lands on heads). i wanted to say something else about pixal here but i forgot. i love her.

BACK TO PLOT OKAY OKAY. episode 7 makes me sick in the head. i think how the harumi reveal is handled is done SUPER WELL esp in regards to lloyd. i think on the ninja side tracking her comms is kinda goofy how she just goes to background evil smirking cue cliffhänger. BUT.

when she tells lloyd to take the mask i immediatly went like “Oh god she knew he’s part oni” and THEN lloyd says “how’d you know i’m part oni” like OH SHIT!!! OH SHIT!!! lloyd piecing it all together was so fuckin satisfying cuz it’s all the stuff i ALSO noticed. good shit.

this is where i get into harumi bcuz *rotates her in my mind* this is insane.

her motivation is so understandable but also so twisted. FIRST OF ALL her backstory confirms something cartoons typically like to avoid. death tolls. her parents died in the season 1 finale. this fucks me up because now you gotta ask yourself, where else did people die here? who else didn’t make it? because it’s not just season 1. did you know that nya straight up killed everyone in the cursed realm? chen appears as a ghost in day of the departed. she killed him and all his followers but does she even realize? hello? okay? who did the stone army kill? who did the nindroids kill? not to sound like a broken record but DEATH IS REAL IN NINJAGO.

additionally the flashback shows harumi and lloyd to be the same age which fucks me up for a PLETHORA of reasons least of all that lloyd’s age now actually matches his appearance. the flashback also confirms time exists and years pass. how old is everyone. are the other ninja all in their mid twenties now. christ.

OKAY BACK TO HARUMI. her motivation is so. it’s somewhat of a running gag that whenever the ninja bring up the great devourer someone chimes in with “garmadon defeated it, not you.” it’s perfectly logical for harumi to now idolize the person who is repeatedly stated to have defeated the thing that killed her parents.

(side note her title being “the quiet one” because she temporarily went mute because of trauma is SO FUCKED UP GOD. side side note the german dub makes a really smart choice in how to translate her title because it calls her “der stille boss” / the silent boss. german is a HIGHLY gendered language and for a LOT of nouns, specifically occupational nouns, there’s the -in suffix to make them feminine, which would spoil who the quiet one is cuz you’d immediatly look toward the newest girl. but “boss” is a loanword, and thus uses the generic masculine without any actual implication of gender. the script also doesn’t substitute the title for pronouns ever, to further avoid masculine connotation. props to that choice.)

moving on, i brought it up already, but paralling jade princess / green ninja. delicious. harumi never wanted to be a princess she never wanted the responsibility but her being “chosen” by the emperor and empress. god. this directly puts the ninja “failing” as the deciding factor that pushed her into the fate she abhors. godddd. insane. insane.

HER METHOD IS STILL SO WRONG THOUGH AND SHE WORKS SO WELL AS A VILLAIN AND AS A FOIL TO LLOYD. i want to talk about episode 8 now she is so needlessly cruel. like i GET where she’s coming from but it feels like she made all the wrong conclusions. what she doesnt get is without the ninja EVERYONE would be dead not just her parents. furthermore she seems to have it out for lloyd specifically when like, lloyd wasn’t even a ninja back then. the show COULD’VE brought up how he was the one to release the serpentine in the first place but it doesn’t sadly.

she’s soooo needlessly cruel it’s kind of horrifying. she reminds me of lime witch’s heart a little bit if there’s any fanbase overlap besides literally just me and anybody knows who i’m talking about. she just wants him to suffer as she did she wants someone who gets it she wants someone who went through the same experience she did.

BUT LIKE AGAIN THIS IS WHERE THE PARALLELS COME IN. she and lloyd were the same age in season 1 he was not a ninja during that fight. he was also chosen for a fate he didn’t want at way too young an age and he had to deal with it. them being the same is what makes her so cruel.

i gotta talk abt the garmadon revival and episode 9 now. first of all i’m SUPER happy klaus-dieter klebsch reprised his role as garmadon in the german dub because he is THE garmadon voice to me always and forever. he does evil laughs good and the voice direction is eh with how drawn out all of garmadon’s dialogue is but the performance is on point as always. anyway.

isn’t it fucked up how harumi doesn’t just want to destroy lloyd emotionally by kidnapping his mom and emotionally manipulating him but also deliberatly in making him fight his dad again. remember season 2 when garmadon was like a complex character who was very conflicted between his essentially Obligation to be evil and the love he still has for his family. like i remember that version of garmadon, lloyd remembers that version of garmadon. the one who still put family above all despite everything and that’s why it HURTS man. garmadon’s dialogue in episode nine dear god. like the “i wore many masks” dialogue and the finishing touch of “i don’t have a son” cue garmadon throwing lloyd through a wall again. like the garmadon we got to know from s3-4 might as well be dead because it’s not him that came back. it’s really not.

bringing up season 2 again it’s understandable why lloyd wanted to confront garmadon on his own so badly bcuz despite being told that he won’t be the same the entire season the last time lloyd confronted garmadon with love it worked. it brought him back and this time it DOESN’T and because last time it did is why this hits so hard for lloyd (and also for me).

GOD the ending of episode 9 where lloyd gets thrown through a wall and he lands in the sand and groans and to desparately comfort himself he pulls out the picture he keeps of himself and his father, but the wind blows it away out of his hand into the desert. heavy handed symbolism but it WORKS okay it WORKS. sensei garmadon is DEAD he‘s GONE but lloyd still has to grapple with killing his father all over again.

it’s Inch Resting how harumi essentially Stole garmadon for herself like. harumi has a TON of parental issues and she idolized garmadon for however many years it’s been since season 1 and he’s like. a bit fixated on her as the one who brought him back i.e breaking her out of jail. that’s what i mean by her being cruel cuz like she’s the one fighting with garmadon now she’s the one “important” to him (as much as anyone can be important to the revived garm like geez man)

tldr feels bad man

ONTO THE FINALE THAT’S SICK. actually having them just LOSE bcuz in ep 8 you think like “ah they won” but then you (I) looked at the episode counter and saw 8 out of 10. and you go. ah. they never defeat the villain till the darkest hour. the darkest hour is still coming.

like they LOSE they SPLIT UP THE TEAM. inch resting how the guys stranded in the realm of oni and dragons are the “original team” essentially i.e. the og four ninja + baby wu and how the ones still in ninjago are the “new team” i.e lloyd nya pixal + misako and whichever side characters they’re gonna scrounge up.

ALSO LLOYD THINKS THE OG TEAM IS DEAD WHAT THE FUCK. HE THINKS THEY’RE DEAD HE DOESN’T KNOW THEY HAD TRAVELER’S TEA.

my expectations for season 9 are ALL OVER THE PLACE. will lloyd and nya continue to think their friends are dead or will this be cleared up. how the hell is the og squad gonna fare against mythical creatures (and loads of em too). how’s lloyd gonna get back up and get back at harumi.

the last scene of the season between lloyd and harumi is really nice cuz “ninja never give up” motif is always cool AND how lloyd paralles HIMSELF to harumi by framing himself as a villain since “the worst one is the one you can’t catch.”

fun fact “ninja never give up” in german sounds really nice as a phrase cuz it’s trochaic, i.e entirely in trochaic meter. ninja geben niemals auf :)

lloyd jumping off a building landing squarely on the rest of the new crew’s boat is cool it’s a really cool shot to end on because it’s also like very hopeful despite the. extended darkest hour moment. an end is just a new beginning :) good albeit cheesy use of phrase motifs. he’s not giving up even if all his friends are dead and his powers are gone harumi!! suck it!!!!

IN CONCLUSION: oh my god what the fuck. this is the first season that made me actually tear up dear fucking god.

#Feli speaks #ninjago posting #hi hi hi i'm normal i swear #ninjago post dethroned the ayin manifesto in length but it still lacks 1k on the lumie ramble #brooo i am SO normal abt the lego show i swear to god. i swear to god.

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flatstarcarcosa · 2 years

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You've mentioned it a lot, but did you ever explain how Felix ends up owning a bar in your canon? I'm curious :)

SO. for starters i just got off work and am typing this while trying to eat in the 45-65 minute span i'm gonna have between 'eat food, take meds' and 'pass the fuck out', if anything is disjointed that's why

but anyway so

it comes initially from me being like. what the fuck would felix even DO anyway, because he's absolutely not the 'sit at home all day doing nothing every day even if he has a good reason (the new disabilities)' type.

when he gets medically cleared, and by that i mean his doctors are like 'congrats you don't have to come here multiple times a month, see you in six months' as well as being informed he's basically back to as 'normal' a level as they can get him, it kind of. begins snowballing a little, into a place i don't like.

i joke about 'heehee, soup' but luck, the armor lock, and his armor itself are the only reasons he lived. and that living still involved a 6 week medically induced coma, and another month actually IN the hospital before they sent him home.

and they didn't want to send him home, they wanted to send him to an SNF for more-involved therapy and he just straight up refused and fucked off AMA with my promise to his team i would at least do what i could, which would damn sure be better than whatever he'd do alone.

so by the time we roll around to him being at a point of getting antsy and wanting to do something with himself, it's been a while since chorus. he still thinks that despite everything, things ain't as bad as it could be, he's worked his way back, he just has to brush off the rust and get back to it.

and then while he's learning to shoot again, because yes, in addition to having to learn how walk and get dressed and hold a fucking toothbrush again, he had to learn how to use a fucking gun, he realizes that like...........

maybe he's not getting back to anything.

he needs a (mostly) permanent stiff brace on his knee, and will forever. if he's planning on using his fucking leg for longer than an hour, he's got to have it. stiff ones aren't like the little sleeves you slip on and can hide under a pant leg, and i imagine even in the far-future canon, there's not that many changes made to 'em. you don't redesign something that works, right?

he gets to a point where he finds out he's also going to need to need a moderate dose of painkillers basically forever, and all of the issues keeping them legally comes with, because having your bones put back together and a lot of them replaced with fucking metal might keep you from being paralyzed but it's gonna hurt.

when he's learning to shoot again, he finds a new problem. his doctors had mentioned at one point it could be an issue, but because it hadn't been, he jumped to assuming that meant it wouldn't be, and the problem is that repeated motions put too much stress on the joints and the tendons in his hands and arms and the end result is a tremor.

you can't fucking shoot if you can't hold a gun still, and keeping his hands in the same positions while target shooting are enough to make the tremor act up after a bit. the same with trying to use knives.

and so we slip back into a second period of turmoil, because this is somehow like when we came home the first time, after reach, but also it's not. it's not the same at all, and he says that at least that time everything was actually fine.

it was fine because he could just pick back up with whatever he wanted but he can't do that now because he's spent too long only being good at one fucking thing and now he can't fucking do that fucking thing

"so what the FUCK am i supposed to do until i fucking die, since you and sam couldn't leave it alone on chorus?!"

it's probably, maybe, the first time since the whole thing that i actually step away and go stay with @dadbodsandbots and sam for a bit. (depending on the timeline, and i still haven't nailed down the details bc i would end up hyperfixating on the medical side of it wrt his recovery, but, mason might be a baby now??)

i leave not because i don't care but because i don't know what to do, or say. i'm not going to give him false positives just to keep the good vibes, and i'm not going to remotely imply he doesn't deserve to be angry and maybe losing a little bit (more?) of his mind about it, but from my perspective it's like

he did it to him fucking self.

this whole thing is just him, finally, for once, actually experiencing the consequences of his own goddamn bullshit, and while i'm not cruel enough to tell him that, i don't think i need too. i think he knows. he knows, and that's part of what makes him so goddamn mad about it.

i think maybe he shows up after a couple days, having at least asked sam if it was okay first before showing up, and it ends up being the first time the four of us are actually around each other.

we've seen each other, a little. sam stopped by once, not long after felix was up and walking again at home, and i could do a whole fucking post just about THAT from sam's perspective tbh. (POV: you feel the need to check in on your former partners/friends despite everything and you've had this mental image built up in your brain for a very, very, long time about the one that was basically gaslighting and emotionally abusing you where he's a looming threatening monster that twisted you into becoming the same and then he answers the door on fucking crutches with one leg still mostly held up with visible fucking braces and rods attached down the outside of it, and while the man was never Jacked in his build he looks so fucking gaunt that if someone said he was a walking corpse you wouldn't doubt it. your world view is thrown ass over end, for the second time within as many years.)

i think it's the first time sam begins to ponder the fact that again, despite everything, the four of us are also the only other people in the whole fucking galaxy that know exactly what happened and why we all ended up the way we did and where we did and how, and that for whatever that may be worth,

it's got to be worth something.

i think when we come back home again after that, felix has had time to stew in his anger after i left, and then chew on his anger coming after me, and then finally let it abate enough to see what it left behind while we're there.

and he says, "what the fuck do normal people even do for jobs, anyway?"

we're not hurting for money or anything. my penchant for never spending more than we needed to, his penchant for always finding new ways to add to the checks, and both of us likely having maybe-dubiously-legal investments over the years means that technically we're fine.

it's not about the money, which is something else that feels weird for him, when so much was for so long, but it's looped back to what i opened with: felix isn't the 'sit around at home all day and do nothing' type.

i end up being the one spouting off bartending. one of the things for combating the nerve issues and the tremors is actually walking the fine line of retraining his fine-motor control without over-exerting it. when we empty out the storage locker we've been paying on for well over a decade, he finds his old guitar and picks up playing again.

his doctor comments that it's a really good idea, actually, so good he's bummed he didn't think of it himself, because of guitar playing involving dexterity and use of the hands without them being stuck in the same positions for too long.

it sounds silly, but he picks up a bit of juggling, too. not like, circus level shit, but just the repeated motions of throwing things and tracking them and catching them and rinsing and repeating.

basically he ends up doing a lot of mostly-mindless stuff that involves keeping his hands and arms in use, with bonus points being anything he can kind of do while doing something else. (if you're like, omg does felix have fidget spinners the answer is no, but he does have other stim toys, but also, if you call them that he will throw it at you, tremors be damned.)

and so i'm like.

bartending.

you can still be around people and shit talk them, it'll be a good environment that isn't something lifeless and soul sucking, you'll get ample use of your hands, and as an added treat, "you get to control people when you tell them no more booze."

"and if they get mad about it, i might still get to stab people sometimes, too," he adds, cheerfully.

he ends up just working in some little dive when none of the clubs in the area hire him. we can't like, outright accuse anyone with no proof but we're pretty sure it's because the clubs are run by snobs that would rather close down early every night for lack of staff than have a bartender with a leg brace.

the owner of the dive is probably some ex UNSC guy himself, the type that doesn't think it's something to hide while not making it everyone else's business. the type of guy that can tell felix's made-up timeline and events he gives for how he got injured ain't really jiving, but thinks at the end of the day that a man's business is his own and he doesn't owe anyone explanations about it.

i think the bar has a high turnover because lots of people get hired thinking it's going to be something other than what it is, and they think the owner is a dick (he's just old, gruff, and low on patience) and felix is one of the few people that sticks it out. i think he has a relationship with The Owner based on friendly animosity.

("you have me closing alone every night leading up to memorial day, are you a fucking sadist? are you trying to fucking kill me?"

"we're already dyin' a day at a time kid."

"well, can you please do yours faster so i can piss on your grave and find a new job?" )

it means that after a handful years, when The Owner is packing it in and retiring, before he sells the building to a realtor, he asks felix if he'd be interested in buying the bar.

claims that the realtor just wants to bulldoze the building to put in condos, and he'd rather die in the bar in the middle of a shift than let that happen, but then he offers felix a lower price than what he'd get for the condos, and felix can't help but feel that's by design.

so he says fuck it, why not? might be nice ~*~*being his own boss~*~*~ again.

#txt.txt #but also #others: samcat #should i expand on The Owner and give him like a name or something?#probably.#do i want to given How I Am About Gruff Old Men? no #but also: he's the anti-sarge in the fact that he's not full of insanity and smooth brains like sarge is #they'd still weirdly probably get along though? in the sense that sarge would go on a rant about something #and The Owner is shooting the shit along with him and then as soon as he walks away he's telling felix like #'that guys fucking insane and an idiot i understand why you wanted to kill him'#ship: save me some sunshine

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liathgray · 4 years

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Can you tell us more about this CoS fic? C:

Yes of course!! This might get a bit long sorry in advanced.

So Capra is a WIP of mine where 03 Ed is going to shenanigans his way into the Brotherhood verse.

Not that I don’t like CoS but for the purposes of this fic it... didn’t happen. Not exactly. Here, 03 Ed was in the non-alch world for about three years right as WWII was kicking into gear. I won’t give away what exactly happens while he’s there but a lot does go down. I’m including Noah because I like her and wanted to give Ed a friend/ something grounding him to that world. They’re roommates! Best friends and nothing more.

His life in the non-alch is serving as the mystery for most of the fic alongside what I’ll call a very strategic chase sequence told over a few months, so I really can’t say too much!

But he gets chucked into post-canon Brotherhood around two years after the Promised Day. He realizes something isn’t right pretty quick so he skips town and plans to lay low until he can figure out why god hates him so much.

What a shame the Mustang gang are paranoid assholes with some prior experiences with doubles running around! They jump to some conclusions and start a covert manhunt.

I’m very excited because I’ve always been interested in how different both versions of Ed turned out. So let’s just put em together and see how much shit happens!

I am also very mean and 03 Ed gets put the the wringer a bit... I’m giving him a bit of a redesign to accommodate the “backstory” and distinguish the two Ed’s. Like a physical redesign. I am VERY tempted to dump the concept art I have for him but I digress.

Sorry I’m really tip-toeing around this I really wish I could talk and talk about it but OH WOW SPOILERS!!

It should be ready for me to start posting (maybe weekly??) once I wrap up with Giants!

#i have the first teo cahpters ready and the outline is done #im sorta not used to the writing style im using but its really fun #flexing them writing muscles that i dont have #thansk for the ask!!#THANKS FOR LETTING ME INFO DUMP #i love: y o u #sidebar you’ve been so so sweet and enthusiastic since you started following me and iiNDJXJENXJAK #YOURE WONDERFUL!!!!! THANK YOU!!!!#cece writes #capra fma #i need a tag for asks so bam

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witchymarvelspacecase · 4 years

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Voiceless: Pt. 13

Summary: (Reader Insert) Reader is a mutant/inhuman with a powerful voice (works a little like a banshee/a little like a siren). She’s had it a little tough since discovering her powers. She is found and taken in by Tony Stark and the remaining Avengers after the events of Civil War

Word Count: 1545

Warnings: Cursing, some fluff and general emotions

A/N: I swear, I’m alive, though it may certainly appear as though I have given up. I have decided this is gonna get one more part after this and then it shall be complete. With any luck at all, I will get this done (thanks to enforced stay at home time… thanks weird virus… I think?)

Voiceless Masterlist

Once FRIDAY gave you the room, you had to tell her not to pass on any information about you to the team.

“If they ask, I am in my room, and my heart rate and respirations suggest I am in REM sleep. Got it?” you ground out as you finally manage to maneuver yourself to the foot of your bed. You weren’t sure who had left the pair of crutches leaning against the wall across from you, but you were gonna kiss them for sure.

“I think you’re getting very good at this,” FRIDAY responded.

“That wasn’t an agreement,” you said, pushing yourself to your feet. “Do you understand the instructions I gave you?”

“Yes.”

“And are you going to do as I asked?”

“I will do my best,” the AI all but sighed.

Knowing that was the best you could hope to receive, you thanked FRIDAY, and slowly crutched your way to the door.

It had been a while since you’d spent any time sneaking around the tower, but you knew where you were going. The real hinderance were the stupid crutches.

Once Tony finished giving you what was bound to be an epic lecture, you needed to nag him to make better crutches. Ones that didn’t make so much noise or bruise your armpits.

You planted yourself on a couch just outside the lounge Bucky and Tony were in. You'd managed to avoid being spotted by anyone, so you settled into the couch, keeping your head just below the back, and waited. The plan wasn't to interrupt the discussion, they were big boys, they could handle talking to each other without a moderator. But you wanted to be there, just in case. While you waited though, you'd rest your eyes, only for a second.

…

FRIDAY waited until a break in the conversation to inform Mr. Stark and Sergeant Barnes that Y/N was asleep, but no longer in her room. Neither man was surprised, but the both hurried to the door regardless. When they both stood outside the door, looking at Y/N curled up on the couch, crutches on the floor in front of her, Tony shook his head.

“I don’t know whether to be insulted or not.”

“What’d’ya mean?”

“She clearly didn’t think we could have a conversation without her.”

“Well, she didn’t come inside,” Bucky said. “She just wanted to be here. I’m more concerned about who gave her the crutches. She shouldn’t be using those yet.”

“Knowing her, Y/N probably had a set stashed in her room for emergencies.” The smile on Tony’s face undercut the rupy tone he tried to maintain.

Bucky chuckled. “Should we move her?” The couch looked plenty comfy, but what if she rolled off?

“Y/N?” Tony called, crouching in front of her. “Wake up, little escape artist.” He ruffled her hair, tugging slightly.

...

You groaned before squinting one eye open. “Is it technically an escape if I didn’t leave the building?”

“Where’d’ya get the crutches, doll?” You shrugged, wincing slightly.

“They were leaning by the door in my room.” You opened your eyes wider, turning to Tony. “Tony, you need to make better crutches.”

“Oh I do, do I?” Tony looked exasperated, except for the smile growing in his face.

“Yeah, these ones hurt my arms, and make too much noise.”

“It wouldn’t seem like as much noise if you weren’t trying to be sneaky,” Tony shook his head, bending to pick you up.

“Excuse me, I succeeded at being sneaky,” you corrected.

Bucky picked up the crutches and followed Tony as he took you back to your room while you continued to defend your belief that crutches were too loud.

They both fussed over you when they put you in bed again. You stuck your tongue out at Tony when he snatched the crutches from Bucky.

“Don’t know where these came from, but you’re not getting ‘em back anytime soon.”

“That’s what you think,” you mumbled, causing Bucky to chuckle, and Tony to grumble.

“How likely are you to stay in here, doll?” Bucky asked while tucking you in.

“Is that even a question?” Tony replied. “I give it an hour before she’s out again.”

“How,” you grouched, “ya took my crutches.”

“Like that’s gonna stop you. I expect you have another pair hidden in here, or I’ll see you crawling down the hall if you can’t find any.”

You sniffed, trying to look offended, but honestly, he was right. You ended up pouting; Bucky was cackling.

“Boss, Ms. Potts is looking for you.”

“And don’t get me started with you FRIDAY. You were supposed to tell me if she moved, not after.”

“Ah, yes. How could I have forgotten. It’s not like I have many other things you have also asked me to do.”

“I regret giving you sentience.” Tony pinched the bridge of his nose.

“No, you don’t. I’ve told Ms Potts you are on your way.” The AI responded smoothly.

“No respect. I get no respect,” Tony grumbled. He bent and kissed your forehead. “Don’t subvert FRIDAY again, please.”

“No promises,” you grinned. It would have been much more threatening if you hadn’t then yawned so big your jaw cracked.

“Sleep, kiddo. I’ll see about redesigning your crutches tomorrow.” He ruffled your hair gently before turning to leave.

Bucky smirked at him and mouthed “pushover”, to which Tony wrinkled his nose, but didn’t correct him. He gave Bucky a squeeze on the shoulder as he passed. “You’ve got Baby Monitor duty first, Barnes,” Tony said just before he closed the door.

“Oh no he didn’t,” you said, mouth gaping open. “That’s it. I’m switching his coffee to decaf again.”

Bucky laughed at the blush on your cheeks. “How about if we wait until you can walk before we enact revenge?”

“Fine,” you sighed, relaxing back into your pillows, miffed.

“Aw, you’re cute when you’re mad, princess.”

“Oh, well I’m about to be fucking adorable,” your eyes narowed, your focus on Bucky. How best to fuck with him? You’d have to ask Steve, or maybe Sam; they’d know.

Bucky held his hands up in a placating gesture. “I take it back! I take it back!” he laughed.

You humphed, closing your eyes. “I will consider the terms of your surrender.”

“My surrender? Is that what that was?” Bucky asked, teasing tone still in his voice.

“If you want me to let your ‘cute’ comment go, yes it was.” You cracked an eye open to glare at him.

“Okay, okay. I surrender. What would you have of me?”

Well that question opened a whole new box of possibilities, didn’t it? Not that you could voice most of the ideas that immediately sprang to mind. Not only was your whole body all but screaming at you for your crutch stunt, you did not have the balls to actually say what you were thinking.

Daring a glance at Bucky, you opened both eyes and saw his teasing smile still in place, but beyond that, you thought you saw something else. Genuine affection.

Could you really let this opportunity pass by? Would you have another? Fuck, what if this went completely sideways? What if you were reading everything wrong and Bucky didn’t care for you? You’d lose him.

…

Bucky watched as a deep blush bloomed across your face following his comment with a stupid smile on his face. He liked that he made you blush, liked that he could get that reaction from you. But his smile slipped when your blush disappeared to be replaced by a look of terror.

“What’s wrong?” Bucky asked. He quickly moved closer, perching on the edge of your bed and leaning over to catch your cheek in his right hand. “Doll, what’s wrong?” he repeated when you looked away.

“Nothing,” you croaked, your throat closing. Clearing your throat, you repeated, “Nothing’s wrong, Bucky.”

“Uh huh, then why do you look like you just saw a ghost?”

“Cause I’m fucking terrified.”

“Of what?”

Shit, you’d said that out loud. Fuck.

“I- um…” you stammered. No idea what to say now. You couldn't say “Nothing,” again. No way Bucky let it go. But what was your other option? Lie? Make something up? Or- or could you tell him the truth? Did you dare?

“Okay, whatever it is, it’s freaking you out. We don’t hafta talk about it, sugar. But I want- I hope you know you can talk to me, about anything. You know that right?” Bucky’s left hand brushed hair off your forehead as his right continued to cup your cheek.

A deep breath. “I know what I want.”

“Huh?” That hadn't even been in the same universe as any of the responses Bucky expected.

“For your surrender,” you clarified in a small voice.

“Oh, okay. What is it?” Bucky was seriously confused, but you were talking instead of panicking so that was good right?

He had to ask you to repeat yourself when you told him what you wanted though. He couldn’t be sure he’d heard you correctly. You wouldn’t have said that, would you? It was his mind supplying that answer, surely.

“Wha- what was that, doll?”

“A kiss,” you said again, voice a little stronger, but your eyes still not fully meeting his.

----------------------------------------

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#Voiceless #Bucky Barnes #bucky x enhanced!reader

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jdkloosterman · 4 years

Text

Just to See You Smile--Ochako’s Story (3): Team Battles

This… can’t be right.

Ochaco’s face was absolutely burning as she stared at what she’d taken out of the suitcase. I said space-themed heroes! A spacesuit! Like Thirteen!

“Yo, Ura, what’s taking so long?” The dangle-eared girl (Jiro?) called over at her. “C’mon! Teach is gonna be upset if you’re not out there in time.”

“Right, right…” Ura bit her lip, still looking at the costume. Perhaps it stretched, but it still seemed far FAR too small. This sort of thing couldn’t be practical for hero work. It’d be like wearing a swimsuit! People would be staring at her…

There was no help for it. Sighing, she started to slip out of her uniform. Is my bra even going to fit in this thing?

It did, and even seemed to hide the outline relatively well, but Ochaco kept tugging different sections, hoping to loosen it up, so it was impossible to be sure. Are they looking? Are they looking? They probably think I’m one of those heroes like Mt Lady or something! Oh my word why didn’t I just say I wanted a space-suit!?

“Are you uncomfortable?”

Ochaco looked up and saw cleavage. She blinked. “Um…”

“Is it your costume?” the supermodel girl, Momo, asked. “Did they not make it to your specifications? They don’t allow for complete redesigns, but you could probably get it resized.”

“Uh… well, I didn’t offer many specifications, really…” Ochaco said, tugging under her armpit. “I guess I just thought… I figured they’d choose something practical.”

Momo snorted. “Oh yes,” she said, “it seems support courses are full of people who prefer to take ‘creative licenses.’ They left this with my costume.” She showed Ochaco a note.

Momo Yaoyorozu. We reviewed your request for an open costume with exposed skin and came up with this. It’s not quite like your original design, but we think you’ll agree that it’s cooler and sexier.

Ochaco blinked at the note. “…huh.”

“I didn’t give them many specifications, but I noted that the back and midriff seemed like logical spaces to leave open for the creation of large items.” Momo gestured at her front distastefully. “How do they expect me to move in this?”

Ochaco had to agree with that point. In fact, looking about at the other kids, Ochaco felt a bit better about her own outlandish costume. Even the boys—one was topless, and another had a skin-tight bright yellow costume, like an overmuscled banana. Iida’s armor at least looked practical, but the French boy was almost painful to look at, and Bakugo had some bizarre orange-and-black hair pieces that she couldn’t begin to guess the point of.

The whole thing seemed more than a little ridiculous, like wearing a clown costume to a war zone. Izuku, she noticed, as the boy ran out to join the others, had chosen a much more sensible outfit—not much more complicated than a hooded jumpsuit. “That’s a great costume, Deku!” she grinned at him. “Really down to earth.”

Izuku rubbed the back of his head. “It… my mom made it,” he admitted. “Yours looks really… nice.”

That was a relief, at any rate. Ochaco turned, just in time to see All Might give Izuku a very strange look. It quickly vanished, though. “All right!” the pro hero called. “Today, we are doing team battles!”

She watched as Izuku was carried off in a stretcher by the robots. He really needs to do something about that quirk, she thought. They’d won (Iida was sitting, crushed with shame, next to her, Bakugo fuming on the other side of him), but it’d been down to the wire.

After getting their score and evaluation (Ochaco felt irritated at Momo calling her attack “haphazard”, but she couldn’t actually disagree), it was time to watch the others.

Mina skipped close to her. “Excited to watch Shoto’s match?” she whispered.

“What? Why do you ask?” Ochaco looked at her.

Mina giggled. “All the girls are. Well, I guess Toru’s in the match against him, but it should…”

“MATCH OVER! HEROES WIN!”

Both their heads went up, just in time to see the building ice over.

Ochaco blinked. “That was fast.”

“Awww…” Mina pouted. “Oh well. You’re up, Kirishima! She gave the grinning red-head a high five. “Knock ‘em dead!”

“That’s the idea! We’re the villains!” Kirishima smiled, moving out the door.

“I told you we know each other from middle school, right?” Mina said. “He’s really great.” She leaned in closer and whispered, “anyway, don’t listen to Momo, I thought you did amazing against Iida!”

“I shouldn’t have laughed, though, she was right about that.” Ochaco smiled at Mina. “I feel like I should be taking this stuff more seriously, really; it all seems like one big game sometimes.”

“Eh, we’re in high school.” Mina waved. “You need to have fun in high school. I mean, once we start doing internships and stuff, sure, but at school you gotta take a moment to crack up now and then.” She leaned back, interlacing her fingers behind her head.

“You and Midoriya work really well together, Ochaco-chan,” a voice said. Ochaco actually had to look down to find the speaker—the frog girl was crouching low on the floor, squatting on her haunches. “Most people would have been only focused on their own fight. You two were coordinating back and forth. Ribbit.”

Ribbit? Ochaco shrugged it off. “Deku set up the teamwork, I just took advantage of his attack.”

“You took advantage of it quickly.” Frog-girl said, stroking her own cheek. “That’s just as much part of teamwork as anything.”

“Dude. Midoriya was a beast.” The yellow-haired blonde grinned. “Dodging all around those blasts…!”

“All Might really should have called off the match,” said the frog girl. Her tone wasn’t accusatory or wondering. It was calm, observant.

“Was it that dangerous?” Ochaco looked at the others.

It had all been too fast to think. One moment, they were running through the building, then suddenly Deku had tackled her, just in time to dodge the explosion. They’d hit the ground hard, the heat had washed over them, and then Deku was pulling her to her feet by the arm, shouting at her to go-- Run on ahead, Uraraka, don’t worry about me! That last image of the scrawny boy standing between her and the maniacally grinning Bakugo had haunted her all the way up the elevator shaft. She had kept telling herself to stick to the plan, to trust that Deku knew what he was doing…

She swallowed. “He’d… Midoriya said Bakugo would focus on him… so we thought we should split up…”

“That was the right call.” Frog-girl nodded again. “Bakugo seems too nimble to effectively gang up on. You would have been in the way.”

It was a bald, tactless statement, and Ochaco blinked at the strange girl. She saw some of the others looking too—but no one disagreeing. Apparently the girl had only said what the others were thinking. But the girl herself hadn’t even looked away from the screens. “Kirishima and Sero seem to do well together.”

Ochaco hadn’t really been watching the screens. It looked like Kirishima was taking on the kid in the yellow muscle outfit, while the tape-boy (Sero?) had already ensnared the flocks of birds trying to attack the bomb.

“Playing to their strengths while retaining independence,” the girl mused. “It’s a flexible strategy, but could be exploited by a more coordinated team like yours. Too bad it looks like Sato and Koji aren’t that sort of team.”

Sato. Koji. Sero. Ochaco repeated the names in her head. People liked it when you remembered their names, but it took a bit of work. “You’re… taking this pretty seriously.”

“Ribbit? Am I?” The girl’s large eyes blinked over toward her for a moment. “I guess I don’t really know the difference. Tokoyami and I are going up pretty quickly.”

“Kirishima and Sero are really well suited to defense.” A bird-faced boy seemed to materialize out of the darkness. “A devious stratagem, to use the tape as a net like that.”

“Sato could have charged right through them. If Koji could’ve distracted Kirishima…”

Ocahaco felt her attention slipping as the others began analyzing the attack strategy of the boys on the screen. She should be focused, she knew, she should be paying attention, like the others were, but she couldn’t help it.

It was weird, but she kept feeling it—the firm pressure of arms grabbing her around the waist, pulling her clear of the heat of the explosion. Surprisingly firm arms.

To Ochaco’s surprise, Deku disappeared soon after class. Everyone wanted to talk to him about his amazing battle, the way he’d dodged Bakugo, all sorts of things that Ochaco had had no idea about, but he excused himself nearly immediately. It was a pity, because the others had all decided to grab an after-school snack together.

“A mochii cake? Is that all you’re getting, Uraraka?” The blonde boy (Kaminari, Ochaco reminded herself.) looked at her.

“Um…” Ochaco hadn’t expected anyone to really notice. “…yeah. I’m… um… I’m on a diet.”

“Ah, right, that makes sense.” Kaminari nodded.

The earlets girl (Jiro) smacked him. “You’re not supposed to agree, moron.”

“Wait, I’m not?” Kaminari looked confused.

Jiro gestured. “Does she look like she needs to go on a diet?”

“Well no, but…”

Ochaco felt relief as the table started arguing about how to respond to diets. At least they’d forgotten about her meal plans. The mochii cake was honestly a bit extravagant, but after a look at the school’s lunch plan, Ochaco felt she could splurge a bit—UA had a remarkably affordable cafeteria. Probably due to Lunch Rush’s quirk… She shook the ungrateful thought away.

“You have quite a formidable quirk, Uraraka,” said a voice.

Ochaco turned. “Ah! Thank you…” she struggled to remember the tail-boy’s name.

“Ojiro.” The quiet teen did not seem put off at being forgotten. “Mashirao Ojiro. Does your quirk run in the family?”

“Ah… no.” Ochaco swallowed. “No, my parents are… there’s not a quirk like that anywhere in the family. It’s a mutation.”

Ojiro nodded. “How do you come up with your moves, then? I’ve never heard of a quirk like it; there must not be a lot of examples for you to study.”

Ochaco shrugged. “I don’t really… come up with moves, I guess. I just use it for whatever seems handy at the moment.”

“You improvise, then,” Ojiro said.

“…yeah, that sounds right.” Ochaco nodded. “I mean, I’m always looking for ideas—when we figured out my quirk actually was I started reading up on space and gravity and stuff so I know how to use it. But I haven’t really thought of any combat applications.”

“It’s impressive that you’re able to react that quickly,” Ojiro took a drink of water. “I needed to practice a great deal before my reflexes were fast enough to use my quirk effectively.”

“What is your quirk, anyway?” Ochaco asked. She’d wondered if there was more than the obvious to this boy.

“It’s just the tail.” Ojiro smiled. “That’s all it is.”

“…oh.” Ochaco wasn’t quite sure what to say. “That’s… wow.” She blinked as the full implications hit her. “Wait, so you smashed your way through the placement exam like that?” She stared at him. “You… must train a LOT.”

“…I do.”Ojiro seemed to preen, just a little, before quickly re-composing himself. “Many heroes do. It’s not that unusual. Midoriya, I’m sure, must train extensively—he was able to fight Bakugo with almost no quirk at all.” His face fell. “Certainly he fared much better than I did against Shoto.”

“Oh, but that was…”Ochaco realized she had nothing to finish the sentence. “…I mean, you couldn’t have…”

“We were outclassed, yes.” Ojiro nodded. “Hard work cannot always overcome raw power or an impressive quirk.” He played around with his glass. “Good to keep in mind.”

Ochaco looked at him for a moment more, then let her head rest against the table with a sigh.

“Something wrong?” She heard him ask.

“It’s just…” Ochaco waved. “People here are analyzing and practicing and have names and costumes and moves all thought out and I… just…” she gestured. “I mean, I didn’t even have a good idea for my costume. I feel like…” she laughed, sitting up. “…I feel I’m just not on the same level with you guys.”

“If you’re here, then you are,” Ojiro said. He smiled, almost to himself. “I suppose I should keep that in mind myself—second-guessing whether one is ‘good enough’ to be here isn’t a judgment one can make.” He nodded. “In a way, the school accepted us not even because of who we are, but who we could become.” The nodding grew more pronounced. “That’s a very good point. Thank you, Ochaco.”

Ochaco was confused. “I didn’t…”

“That makes me feel much better.” Ojiro drained the rest of his water. He looked at her with a smile. “I don’t usually talk this much to people I’ve only just met. You’re a very easy person to talk to.” He leaned closer. “For what it’s worth, I didn’t put a lot of thought into my costume either, I just asked for somethin that would give me a lot of freedom to move.”

Ochaco blinked. I wonder what costume I would’ve gotten if I’d put that down.

#my hero academia #boku no hero fanfic #boku no hero academia #bnha ochaco uraraka #bnha #female main character #fanfiction #fanfic

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vanquisher2099 · 5 years

Text

Part One: A Waitress Walks Into a Bar

Jennifer Stock woke up grumpy, which was nothing new. She was exhausted, because she’d had to work overtime the day before and she’d need to work overtime today too if she wanted to make rent. It didn’t help that her bed was barely held together and the mattress was, at a conservative estimate, at least twenty years old. The apartment had provided furniture, but it was clearly the same furniture it had provided its first tenant when the building opened decades ago, and everything seemed to have a patina of grime on it that Jennifer, at least, had never been able to get rid of.

The center of the apartment’s single room was dominated by a table which seemed to function as a place to eat as well as a place to keep an old analog computer setup, from a time when a computer meant a separate box connected to various peripherals. Jennifer activated the monitor just long enough to scan the news (which was mostly concerned with the anniversary of the agricultural scandal four years ago) before shutting it back off and making her way to the kitchen area to rummage through mostly empty cabinets in an effort to find something she could call breakfast. That turned out to be a half bag of chips and a cup of coffee which, at least, was relatively warm.

A quick shower later and she was out the door, headed for the diner to serve coffee and fried foods to the other people unfortunate enough to be awake at five in the morning. The diner, which was in the midst of its third redesign (it had started as a 1990s retro coffee shop, shifted to a sci-fi inspired Diner of the Future look, and was now deep in what passed for ‘modern’ design, meaning that it was a lot of stainless steel surfaces and natural lighting), was predictably empty, as the early morning rush didn’t really start until six. Jennifer was okay with this, of course, because it gave her an hour or so to actually finish waking up.

There was, of course, the usual crap from the manager, who had put quite a lot of his life into the upkeep of this place and would be damned if he saw it lack for anything. He also had a thoroughly annoying habit of ending most sentences with a “hmmm?” as if everything he said was a rhetorical question. “Jennifer, I noticed your tables’ condiment caddies have gotten a little disorganized, hmmm?” “Jennifer, table four seems like they want to speak to you, hmmm?”

Jennifer, for her part, ignored it and occasionally flipped him off when he wasn’t looking. It gave her a modicum of satisfaction, and her fellow employee, a young dark-haired woman named Clarissa, seemed to think it was hilarious. Like most service industry jobs, small acts of rebellion were often necessary in order to maintain sanity during a torrent of requests from customers convince they were right in all things (because they’d been told so by the sign on the wall that promised they were), even when they most definitely were not. Jennifer liked some of the regulars just fine, but it was the people passing through that tended to give her the most trouble – people who weren’t interested in taking time to realize their server was a human, and maybe worthy of the minimum amount of respect humans should get. Or worse, the ones who didn’t realize (or care to realize) the difference between being polite and being flirtatious. Unfortunately, customer service frowned on the practice of breaking fingers.

It was, in short, another perfectly boring day – the sort of workday that feels just slightly too long than it should, where the body is convinced it’s worked for twelve hours about four hours in. Jennifer finally took her lunch break, which meant (for her) walking down the street to a different café that at least had an outdoor patio where she could sit in relative silence and begin mustering the necessary strength of will to go through another four hours of waiting tables. That was, at any rate, her plan until she was rudely interrupted by someone sitting down directly across from her. Jennifer was not easily startled, and merely looked up with a raised eyebrow.

“Normally,” she said mildly, “People ask before they sit down at a table that is clearly occupied. It’s considered polite.”

The intruder, an old man wearing a suit and an amused expression, did not appear to feel any particular chagrin for his rudeness. “You’re a difficult woman to find, Miss Stock. Were you aware of that?”

Jennifer snorted. “You know my name, so I’m sure even a cursory search on the net would make me shockingly easy to locate.”

“Ah yes, but knowing your name – that’s the real trick, isn’t it? You have so many of them.”

“I have two, assigned at birth by my parents, just like everyone else.”

This got a laugh from the old man. “Ah yes, of course. The esteemed Mr. and Mrs. Stock, who nobody seems to remember, even though they’ve got quite the comprehensive history – houses, birth certificates, parents of their own, even – going all the way back to their ancestors from the 1900s. A most notable family if they existed, which I think we’re both well-aware of that they didn’t.”

“That’ll come as a surprise to them,” Jennifer said evenly. “Dad will probably take it pretty hard.”

“You’re committed to the bit, I’ll give you that.” The old man said, still smiling in a way Jennifer was beginning to find infuriating. “But no matter – I’m not here to debate whether or not your name is really Jennifer Stock, or if it’s Theresa Cunningham, or maybe Elise Karter, or whatever other name you’ve used in the last three years. I, certainly, am not paid to care who you claim to be. I was paid for a very simple task, which, if you’ll permit me just a moment, I shall complete now.”

It would have taken a very observant eye to see Jennifer’s body tense slightly, preparing to spring into action. The old man possessed, as it turned out, a very observant eye. He raised his hands gently. “Now now, there’s no need for that. I was paid to deliver a message, and, if you’ll permit me to reach very slowly and deliberately into my jacket here, I shall slide it across the table to you – face down, of course. After that, you never see me again, nobody in this café gets dragged into any kind of collateral damage situation, and you remain a simple waitress in a small town. Does that sound agreeable to you?”

The slight tension in Jennifer’s posture relaxed, and she shrugged. “Well, I have no idea who you think I am, but if there’s no dissuading you, feel free to pass on whatever message you think it is I’m supposed to get. Make it fast though – my lunch break’s almost over.”

With, as promised, a slow and deliberate motion, the old man reached into his pocket and withdrew a small piece of paper which he placed on the table and slid over to Jennifer. Then, with an equally slow and deliberate motion, he stood from the table and nodded in parting. “There, that was rather easy, don’t you think? Now, if you’ll excuse me, I too have other business matters that I must see to today. Goodbye, Miss Stock.”

Jennifer, for her part, nodded back and watched the old man slowly make his way down the street. When he was out of sight, she looked down at the message with an expression that was half-curious, half-annoyed. With a huff, she stuck the note in her pocket without reading it, paid for her lunch, and headed back to the diner for the rest of her shift. If she seemed to be a little more terse than usual, her boss didn’t notice. After the shift was finally over and Jennifer headed for her car, Clarissa waved her down to ask for a ride, and Jennifer, unable to think of a reason not to, acquiesced.

“Hey,” Clarissa said, with all the subtlety of the young, “You seemed kind of pissed after lunch today. Something happen?”

Jennifer sighed. “I ran into some old man who claimed we knew each other. The whole thing was awkward and uncomfortable.”

“Sounds like it. Who did he think you were?”

“No idea. He just kept trying to make conversation and I just wanted to be left alone. He got the hint eventually, but it kind of ruined my lunch break, you know?” Jennifer sighed. “Guess I should count myself lucky he didn’t get violent or anything.”

Clarissa took this all in and nodded agreement. As Jennifer pulled over in front of Clarissa’s building, she suddenly seemed to remember something. “Hey, some of my friends and I were planning a get-together later this week. You wanna come along?”

It was difficult to tell, Jennifer thought, whether Clarissa was just being polite, or if she genuinely was making some kind of overture of friendship, and both possibilities filled her with a low sort of anxiety. Either way, a little socialization would probably do her some good. Jennifer grinned. “Yeah, I think I do!”

Clarissa seemed delighted. “It’s a date! I’ll text you the details as soon as I’ve got ‘em, okay?” She bounded out of the car and headed into her building before Jennifer had the chance to change her mind. Jennifer spent the few minutes it took to drive to her own house torn between feeling pleased with herself for being social and wondering if she’d made a mistake. She only remembered the note in her pocket when it fell out as she was changing out of her work clothes, and it brought a decisive end to much of any thinking about future parties.

The note, as it turned out, was handwritten in a small, difficult-to-parse script, perhaps as a way of displaying its authenticity. Certainly, Jennifer thought wryly, it would offend a forger to write so sloppily. The note consisted of two sentences. The first read, “You could have told me.” The second, “She’s still looking for you.” At the bottom of the note were two letters which served as the signature: M.M.

“Well.” Jennifer said, to nobody in particular. Then, after a moment, “Fuck.”

Part Two

Prologue

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baconpal · 7 years

Text

since ive been complaining about shit already tonight i might aswell just mention random crap that i’ve been thinking about, but ill spare your dash, feel free to read me rambling about absolutely random shit if you want

first some video game stuff i guess;

the good: I don’t have a switch and still definitely cannont justify getting one yet but woo boy does ARMS look good, i wanna try it, and also splatoon 2, i really liked splats when it was first out, and martyo kart, but its p spensive stuff and im a cheap-ass

the new thing code vein thing is simultaneous promising and incredibly boring to me, cus anime styled action game with the potential for cute girls to be wielding giant fucking weapons is like, my dream, and the boss designs looked pretty good, if a bit unrelated in the trailer, like the moose knight dude is fucking sick and i wanna use his armor, but then there’s also like, abyssal spear lady miku whose fucking cute, and they’re shown right after each other and it becomes a bit hard to follow, and the story seems to be just fucking dark souls “wah we go hollow and the world is a fuck”, i wish it wasnt that, cus dark souls alone made that setting overused, and while a modern-ish universe certainly sounds nice, it looks fucking bleak and they spend half the video in places that just look like bluer versions of DaS3 areas

the bad: so ive already complained about momodora 4, some people like it for some fucking reason but i dont, and now 5 is happening because they cant just make a new fucking series i guess, and it looks awful, like honestly horrid, its fucking shitty 3d when nobody asked for it, and it’s like, all the worst parts of something like dark souls, and none of the good parts and it angers me to no end that they keep dragging this sorta cute and okay free game series into the mud like this when they could make new games and try new things

the ugly: i never funded or thought about supporting indivisible because i had zero fun with the demo and i never really cared for any of the designs other than the redesigns of other characters from other games, and maybe the big fist girl, who didnt really fit in the style to begin with, but now they’re going and doing major redesigns and model updates that just look stupid and lifeless, like “wah wah diversity” drama aside, that cowboy guy went from a gritty, perfectly decent design to like, fucking nothing, he’s nothing now, i cant even identify him as something because he’s just nothing, and the entire cast seems to have been stretched up for no reason, and now a lot of the interestingly wide characters arent very interesting anymore, im not mad about it cus i never planned on getting it, but as an artist when i see artists take a very solid and nice character/design and just make it fucking awful, it makes me mad, especially cus i’ve seen some artists i used to know do it too, not starting drama or something it just seems pretty dumb to take things that are nice and people like and make them into different things when you could just make a new thing and have both

also uh like my friend showed me this jap band called uplift spice and at first i thought they were meh but i cant stop listening to them now its fucken cute rock stuff and it kills me

now art stuff. these are the things i really wanna talk about but they’re really just me problems so if you’ve already made it this far maybe you’ll care about this random shit

so like commissions have gone decently recently, not complaining about nobody wantin em or something, but for the longest time i’ve had people ask me about commissions, ask if there’s slots open or something, or even straight up say they intend to commission me, and then i’ll never fucking hear from them ever again ever, and like, if you just ask “hey got slots?” doesnt mean i expect you to actually get a comm, but it usually suggests there will atleast be a follow up response like “okay thanks but nevermind” or “ok cool ill be contacting you soon” and then actually following up on it, cus without any closure i just get stressed out thinking about why they never get back to me, are the prices too much? are they worried i won’t accept the comm? did they fucking forget i exist? did they get hit by a car? like even if you fucking told me “nevermind i dont want a comm you’re fucking SMELLY and i HATE YOU” i’d feel better cus at least i wouldnt worry about it for a week or something, none of the people reading this are likely the kinds of people who do this, most of them dont even follow me, but cmon man why you gotta make me worry about this shit

and last thing probably (hopefully jesus what am i even typing all this for) so like now that i’m doin comms more to support my own ass i’m really not pushing for requests in my inbox since a lot of them i’d never do anyway unless i got paid, but at the same time, i really liked drawin the ghost lady for that one ask, cus nobody is ever going to comm me for my own characters unless your one of my super good friends and youre just looking for an excuse to give me money, if you DID honestly comm me my OCs i’d fucking love you that’d be sick, but regardless i think that the only requests ill end up doing anymore are cute megalo1 and 2 ideas or stuff of my OCs, but i dont even know if you guys remember or like any of them, i actually have way more of them than i post because i like to design for fun sometimes, but like other than maybe neon idk if any of my OCs are know to any of my followers other than good friends, so idk if you guys would even care enough to request my OCs, but they’re mine and they make me happy so if you wanna see more of them or ask questions about them or anything, feel free to send me asks or messages or whatever, it’d be cool

so ye that’s all the shit im thinken about right now, if you actually could read all that you’re fucking weird and i like you

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