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starsinthesky5 · 2 months

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wanna get out of here? | joe burrow x reader

description: an impromptu getaway is exactly what you and joe needed

a/n: ahhh my second fic!! all the love on my first one gave me the motivation to go and write another one :) i hope you all like this one!

warnings: smut (hope it’s not too bad since it’s my first time writing it LOL), language

word count: 6 k

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Wednesday

The sounds of hammering rain and thunder were all you could focus on as you were sitting on the couch, curled up in a blanket trying to finish an overly complex project for work. You had been trying to finish the final section for the past week but you simply could not get rid of the restless feeling that had engulfed you over the past few days.

Joe, on the other hand, was sitting right next to you. He was staring at the TV which had on some random rerun episode of The Office. Normally, he’d be laughing along to the show no matter how many times he had seen the episode, but today he was quiet & agitated. He had been overwhelmed this past month with intense rehab for his wrist injury; on top of which he had his off-season workouts every day which had also been incredibly vigorous. He was mentally and physically burnt out and needed something to take his mind off of everything. He noticed that you also had been swamped with work which caused you to be on edge the whole week, preventing you two from having any real 1 on 1 time like you usually do, and he wasn’t having it.

You were typing away on your computer, another idea that would probably lead to nothing, before you heard the TV turn off.

You turned your head to Joe and saw his blank face. “Everything Okay?” you questioned while reaching for his hand.

“Wanna get out of here?” he asked while interlocking your hands, still looking expressionless.

“Joey there is literally a monsoon happening outside right now,” you deadpanned as you squeezed his hand.

“Not out there. I mean do you wanna get out of Ohio?”.

“Who are you and what have you done with my fiancee,” you laughed.

“What?” he asked, looking quizzical as if he had no idea why you said that.

“You, the same man that never leaves his house unless it’s business or football related. And sometimes due to a forced social activity, or occasionally to have fun, wants to leave Ohio? You’re practically a turtle that stays in its shell all day,” you say before going back to your work project.

Joe is slightly taken aback by what you said. Deep down he knows you aren’t wrong, he doesn’t go out very often, which made what he said next even more necessary.

“Let’s go to the Bahamas this weekend. I can call up Ted and get a jet here and we can leave Friday morning. I’m thinking we stay at a lowkey house on a private beach for maybe 4 days,” he says.

You think he’s just messing with you but when you look over at him, he looks serious.

“Where is this coming from?” you say with worry in your voice. In the 5 years, you and Joe have been together, he’d never sprung an idea of a vacation on you by himself, it was always mutual. And you’d never left the States before either. You close your computer and turn to face him.

“I’m just so fucking tired,” he says with a sigh. “These past few weeks have been really intense and I just need a break.”

Your face drops as he continues. He’d been under so much pressure lately with OTA’s slowly approaching and training amping up; plus all the background noise. He’d start throwing in the next month or so and deep down he was nervous. He didn’t know how it was going to go and if all this rehab was even worth it if he was never going to be able to get back to where he was.

“And you’ve been stressed out all week because of work and it feels like we haven’t had just ‘us’ time,” he adds.

Joe was right. He’d be gone all day with either rehab or workouts and the only time you two would get together would be dinner. And by dinner, you’d be too exhausted to do anything but eat and rush off to bed.

You spend a few moments contemplating his offer. It would be nice to get away for a few days and you both needed the change of environment badly.

“Okay, let’s do it," you say with a smile as you pull him in for a hug.

“But just so you know, since we’d be leaving in 2 days, I’m going to be an absolute nightmare when it comes to packing,” you say before planting a kiss on his cheek.

“Oh, I'm well aware. You only get 2 days to stress about packing and not a whole week like usual,” he laughs.

Thursday Evening

You both spent the majority of the day planning your impromptu vacation. You found the perfect beach house on the other side of Nassau, away from the main part of the island. It was hidden by palm trees and had a private beach which made it easy to unwind without any prying eyes. You would spend the week there and pick out a few activities nearby to occupy your time. You also chose a few places to eat although you both decided to cook at home for the majority of your stay.

Currently, you were sitting on your closet floor attempting to pack your suitcase but were majorly failing. Packing was never your strong suit, especially if you had to pack the day before a trip. The closet looked like a war zone, things were everywhere.

“This is the wrong time to not be able to find anything,” you say to yourself while getting up once again to hunt for missing items.

Joe walked into the closet and saw you frantically pacing back and forth looking for something.

“Babe, are you Okay?” He asked while sitting down on the stool.

“Have you seen my new white bikini? Or my sunglasses? Or my tank tops?” You asked, aggravated that you couldn’t find your stuff.

“I literally cannot find anything,” You added before giving Joe a look. He knew that look all too well, you were 1 misplaced item away from having a full breakdown.

He got up from the stool and walked over to where you were, put his hands on your shoulders, and said “Y/N you could wear a potato sack and still look amazing. Stop stressing about it, this vacation is supposed to get rid of the stress. Not add onto it,”

You let out a deep breath and say “You’re right. It’s just us anyway. I’ll just pack some nice dresses and stuff whatever in the suitcase,”

“The fewer clothes the better,” Joe smirks and says before leaning in and planting a kiss on your lips.

“You’re insatiable,” you say against his lips.

After you finish packing your suitcase, you get ready for bed since you have a fairly early flight. It took Joe about 15 minutes to pack his things, which came as no surprise since he is the biggest outfit repeater you know. You’re just about ready to doze off before you feel Joe’s hand creep up your leg and squeeze your thigh.

“Mmm Joe not right now,” you say half asleeply. “Go to bed,”

“Not that,” he states. “I can’t fall asleep,” he mumbles.

You let out a sigh before turning to face him. No way you’re getting any sleep now. “What’s wrong,” you say as you move his messy curls out of his eyes.

“I don’t know, I just can’t fall asleep,” he says.

You knew Joe too well to know when something was bothering him. His confession earlier was only the tip of the iceberg. Something was bugging him and you needed him to talk to you.

“What’s going on in that brain of yours,” you say as you play with his curls.

He stayed silent for a few heartbeats, not knowing if he should unload his heavy thoughts on you right before a vacation. But he knew that it was just you. You’d always listen to whatever he had to say, no matter the time or place.

“Just everything.” He says, meeting your eyes. “Rehab has been going great and training has been too, and I should be happy about that but I just can’t get rid of that feeling,”

“What feeling?” You question.

“Feeling like I won’t be good enough. I know what people are saying; overpaid, overrated, no rings, injury-prone. And they aren’t wrong. I don’t have anything to back up why people think I’m a top 3 quarterback,”

Your heart breaks as he continues to talk. The fact that Joe feels like he isn’t good enough is mind-boggling to you. He’s one of the best damn players you’ve ever seen and you wish you could do something to get rid of his doubts, but you knew that that was something he had to do on his own.

“But you do have things to back it up. You had one of the greatest college football seasons ever. Winning the Natty and the Heisman was only the start of your legacy. You were drafted by an organization that was in desperate need of saving and you made an impact that not many could have done,” you say as you see a small smile on his face.

“You had a shitty rookie season with tearing basically everything in your knee, but you worked hard and came back better than ever fucking before. You went on and led the team to their first playoff win in 30 years and went to the fucking Super Bowl in your first full season,” you add.

“Yeah, you didn’t win. But you put the entire league on notice and showed them who the hell you are. And then you did it again next year even though you didn’t go all the way. This past year was rough and didn’t go the way anyone would have expected, but this is part of what makes you, you.” you say with a smile as he stares deeply into your eyes.

“You thrive when there’s adversity. It makes you work harder for what you want and it always pays off one way or another. You always come out better and stronger. You are a great quarterback and are absolutely more than good enough. You’re going to have your moment soon, and I know it,” you conclude.

Joe stares into your eyes for a few more heartbeats. You knew exactly what to say to bring him back down from whatever cloud he was stuck on and he was so thankful for you.

“I love you,” he said as he pulled you onto his lap, pressing kisses all over your face.

“I love you more, always,” you laugh as he kisses the hell out of you.

You two spent the rest of the night in each other's embrace. You finally felt at peace once you heard Joe’s soft snores fill the room and finally got some sleep.

Friday

You both got up pretty early for your flight, taking a quick shower before packing the car and heading to the airport. After boarding the plane you both took off your shoes, pulled out your fav blanket, and got comfy.

“Are you excited?” Joe beams.

“Excited is an understatement, Burrow,” you smirk. “Getting you out of Ohio might be my favorite part,”.

“I’m so looking forward to getting some sun and swimming in that big pool,” he says, referring to the massive pool that’s a part of the house you rented.

“It’s like you’re a whole new person,” you smile while leaning your head on his shoulder. He smiles and kisses your forehead before pulling out his laptop to turn on a movie.

“Oooo what are we gonna watch?” you excitedly question.

“I was thinking of either ‘Grown-Ups’ or ‘21 Jump Street’,” he responds.

“Hmm, let’s do Jump Street, it’s been a while since we watched that,” you say.

You spent the rest of the flight watching movies, playing a few card games, and eventually taking a small nap before the plane landed.

A few hours later

After the plane landed, you both drove to your house for the week and it was like something out of a fairytale. The house overlooked the beach and the crystal blue water. Lush green palm trees surrounding the house provided ample privacy, especially for the large open pool in the backyard. You two settled into the house before changing into your swimsuits for a nice afternoon dip in the pool. You did end up finding your new white bikini, which was perfect for the occasion.

Joe walked out of the bathroom and saw you brushing your hair in the mirror. His eyes trailed down to your bare legs, up to your perfect ass, then to your toned stomach, and straight to your chest. You looked so sexy and he was in heaven. He walked up to you and hugged you from behind, his warmth causing you to melt into his arms.

Your eyes met his in the mirror, “Like what you see, Burrow?” you teased.

“Absolutely,” he chuckled as he swayed you two back and forth, pressing a kiss on the back of your shoulder while sliding his hand down to your ass. Joe was grinning like a love-struck fool as he watched you close your eyes and melt into his embrace. He was making you feel more relaxed than you’d ever been before and you both were loving it.

You both ventured out to the pool and sat down on the pool chairs, hoping to get a quick tanning sesh in before a swim. A few minutes in, Joe found himself staring at the pool when he got an idea.

“I’m gonna jump into the pool,” he casually said.

You quickly turned your head to him and said, “Are you crazy, the water will get everywhere,” You gasped.

“It’s just us though, nobody around to complain. Besides, I can’t do it in the pool at home since we spent way too much money on redoing the backyard. At least here there isn’t any vegetable garden at risk of being destroyed,” he smirked before quickly running back to the patio door and launching himself into the pool, not giving you a moment to lecture him.

The water did in fact get everywhere but it was worth it when you saw Joe come up from the water. He shook his head back and forth to get the water out of his hair before he took his hand and attempted to slick it back. Your eyes navigated to his muscular chest which had stray water droplets sliding down his abdomen, back into the water. God, he looked so hot like this.

“Like what you see, Burrow,” he teased as he noticed your expression.

“Yes, in fact I do. Very much actually,” you say while getting off the chair. “And I’m not a ‘Burrow’ yet, still gotta wait a few months before that,” you say as you make your way into the pool.

“Well, you’re practically already my wifey sooo,” he trails off before swimming over to the steps and helping you into the pool.

You giggle at his words. He couldn’t wait to marry you and he never failed to make it known.

You immediately latch onto him when you're in the pool. This was pretty normal for you both. You’d always use him as a floatie and make him do all the work while you just lay on him and relaxed.

A few moments later you release yourself from his embrace, making him slightly confused at the sudden loss of contact.

“Y/N come back,” he whines out.

“Someone’s clingy today,” you say while playfully rolling your eyes and swimming away from him.

He stared at you for a few moments, a sad look on his face while you continued to swim around and away from him. You felt bad that you’d left him hanging but you were having too much fun teasing him.

“Come and catch me shiesty,” you yelled. He hated it when you called him that. That nickname was only for football-related individuals to use and he thought it was a little cringe whenever you would use it. Not in a bad way, it’s just he preferred you calling him other names that football-related people can’t use. You knew how he felt about it but you also knew that this would for sure set him off.

“Oh you’re done for,” he playfully growled before swimming after you. The pool was massive so you had just enough space to get away from him.

You two were swimming circles around each other, occasionally splashing water into each other's faces in hopes of catching each other off guard. Your arms began to get tired of swimming around so you stopped by the ledge to take a breather while Joe was settled on the other side of the pool.

Before you knew it, Joe had swum over to you and pulled you back into his arms.

“Got you,” you whispered against your ear.

“I guess you did,” you whispered back.

“You look absolutely gorgeous by the way,” he said looking down into your eyes. “I love this bikini on you,”

You blushed at his sweet comments. He never failed to tell you how pretty you looked.

“Ya know, I look even better with it off,” you tease.

Joe’s face dropped immediately when you said that. He’d been horny since he saw you in that bikini but had to compose himself since you both were looking forward to swimming in the pool. But now that you’d gotten your swim time in, nothing was stopping him.

He slowly pressed you against the wall of the pool and kissed his way up your neck right up to your sweet spot.

“Joe,” you moaned out.

“What baby?” He asked, knowing exactly what you wanted.

“I need you,” you whined.

He looked at you momentarily before lifting you out of the pool and rushing you inside to the large bedroom. You let out a squeal as he pushed you back onto the bed. Joe climbed over you and situated his body in between your thighs, capturing your lips in a passionate kiss. You stayed kissing each other for a few minutes before you felt something hard poke at your stomach.

“Getting eager now aren’t we,” you tease.

“Please, I’ve been waiting to get you in this bed since I saw you in this bikini,” he grinned.

“Then I suggest you do something about it,” you replied.

Joe smiled and started to untie the strands of your bikini top before tossing it to the side. He kissed his way down to your perfect breasts, swirling his lips around your sensitive bud which caused you to let out a breathy moan.

“Joe,” you moaned out while shoving your hands in his hair.

He spent a few moments sucking on your breasts before he continued his way down. He pressed a few sloppy kisses on your stomach before eventually making his way down to where you needed him the most. He slowly peeled off your bottoms which was driving you insane.

“Joe please,” you whined out.

“Patience is key, baby,” he teased.

He threw your bottoms to the side as he made his way back up to your heat. “You’re so wet,” he says while ghosting his fingers over your folds.

“Joe I swear to god-,” You suddenly felt his warm tongue lapping at your folds which caused you to let out another moan, “Ohh Fuck”.

He buried his warm tongue inside your core as he continued to eat you out like a starved man. He moved one of his hands up to cup your breast as the other was firmly on your thigh. Joe moved up and started to rhythmically suck on your clit which made you see stars; something which he made you see often. “Joey, fuck don’t stop,” you said breathlessly.

“You like that?” he chuckled against your core, sending vibrations throughout your body. Those 3 words always managed to get you more horny than you already were. "Yeah," you whispered.

He went back to lapping at your folds as he used his thumb to rub your clit. The combination of his mouth and fingers was sending you over the edge. You started to arch your back which caused you to lift your hips slightly but Joe pushed them back down as he continued to send you into a frenzy. You fisted your hands into his hair and started to pull on the loose curls which caused Joe to let out a soft moan against you.

“Joe I’m so close,” you whispered as you pushed his head closer to your core. You felt a familiar warmth in your belly as you were moaning Joe’s name out (which was driving him insane). Joe thrusted one of his fingers into you, causing the imaginary rubber band in your lower belly to snap; feeling a familiar gush of liquid pool below you. You were overcome with a feeling of pure pleasure and satisfaction as he cleaned up your mess with his skillful mouth. He pressed delicate kisses on the insides of your thighs before moving back up and pushing his lips against yours again.

“You’re so hot,” he said in between kisses.

You felt a blush creep up on your face. “I’m flattered Mr. Burrow, but have you seen yourself”.

“Shut up,” he chuckled before going back to kissing you. You stopped kissing him after a few moments and said “Joe, I need you inside me.”

“Your wish is my command babe,” he replied as he pulled down his swim trunks and threw them to the side. His cock was rock hard and the sight of it had you sizzling with anticipation.

Your core was slick with your arousal which made it easy for him to push his dick into you. The tip slowly teasing your folds before he buries himself inside of you, causing you to let out a loud moan. You will never get tired of the feeling of him inside you.

He started slowly thrusting into you which made you wrap your legs around him, wanting him deeper asap.

“Joe, Fuck,” you moaned out. “Faster baby,”.

He began snapping his hips against you, faster & harder than before. “God, you feel so good Y/N,” he moaned out. You brought him in for another kiss, this time quick, messy, and sloppy. He continued thrusting into you and you bucked your hips each time to match his movements. The sound of your arousal and skin-hitting skin filled the room as you two were caught up in the euphoria that was happening between you.

Joe buried his face into your neck, sucking on your sweet spot, as your hands found themselves in his hair again. You were on Cloud 9 right now and it was all because of him.

“Joe, don’t stop. Shit, you feel too good,” you moaned. You felt him move deeper inside of you as he repeatedly hit your cervix.

He continued to pound into you, making you feel like nothing else mattered but this moment. You both felt your arousal building up, begging to be released.

“Fuck Y/N, I’m close,” he panted as he slowed down.

“Me too,” you whimpered.

He picked up the pace of his thrusts once again, this time moving one of his hands down to your heat, toying with your clit. “Fuck,” you moaned out for what seemed like the hundredth time. “I’m gonna cum,” you whimpered. You felt your walls clench around him, signaling you were almost there. Joe felt you clench around him and pinched your clit which set off your orgasm. Your chest heaved up and down as you whimpered out his name while seeing stars again. He continued to thrust into you, chasing his pleasure.

“Y/N,” Joe moaned out. You knew he was close by the way his thrusts started to become sporadic.

“Come on baby,” you encouraged while pulling at his hair and kissing his neck.

After a few rough thrusts, Joe let out a loud moan as you felt hot spurts of his cum fill you up. He collapsed on top of you as you both panted, needing a moment to recover after the workout you two just had. You moved one of your hands to his back, softly sliding it up and down to help him relax.

“I love you,” he softly said as he kissed your cheek, making you smile.

“I love you more,” you whisper in his ear as he buries his face into your neck again.

The next day

The next morning was pretty chill for you both. You had breakfast at the local beachside cafe, stuffing your faces with delicious fresh fruit from the island before embarking on a pleasant morning walk on the beach.

“This is nice,” Joe says as you both walk hand in hand alongside the water, a content look on his face.

You look up at him and smile, “Very nice,” you giggle. “Although, I don’t know how you’re not uncomfortable with walking on the beach in shoes,” you question while looking at your bare feet and then his shoes.

“You never know when a crab might come up and pinch your toes,” he says with a straight face.

“Righhhht,” you say while relishing the feeling of sand between your toes.

“So, what should we do today? We pretty much have the whole day since we’re cooking at home tonight,” he says while squeezing your hand.

“Hmmm,” you wonder for a second. “We could go out on one of the boats?” you carefully question while looking up at your fiancee.

Joe did not like going on boats. He hated the idea of being out on the open water with no way of getting back to shore other than using the boat. He always questioned what you would do if the boat broke down or even started sinking. You always told him the sinking part was highly unlikely, but you blamed yourself for that worry because you’ve made him watch Titanic with you one too many times. He also didn’t like how you couldn’t see what was in the water. But lucky for you, the water in the Bahamas was crystal clear.

He stayed silent for a few moments, making you a little sad since you wanted to experience something new with him.

“Let’s do it,” he says while flashing you a smile.

You looked up at him, a little surprised. “Really?” you beam.

“Yes, now let’s go before I change my mind,” he says before stopping to pick you up. He doesn’t give you a moment to respond because he throws you over his shoulders causing you to let out a squeal. He leads you both back to the house so you can get freshened up.

You both got changed into your swimsuits before walking over to the docks and renting a boat for the day. You weren’t sure how you managed to get Joe to go on the boat, but you certainly were not complaining.

The driver had taken the boat not too far from shore, which kept Joe’s mind at ease. You swam in the water for a little bit and enjoyed a few drinks.

“Mmm, this like the best Mai Tai I’ve ever had,” you say while taking another sip. Joe was currently in the water in front of you, while you were seated on the steps of the boat, legs partially in the water.

“Come in the water,” Joe says while splashing some water onto you.

“Mmm, I think I’m good up here,” you tease while placing your drink to the side.

Joe swam closer to you and said “Nope.”

You were confused at what he meant but then you felt his wet hand wrap around your wrist.

“Joe, don’t even think about it,” you playfully growled, knowing exactly what he was about to do. He didn’t listen and pulled you into the water, causing a big splash. You came back up to the surface with a frown.

“Someone’s mad,” Joe laughs. You swim over to him while he is fully anticipating an ass-kicking but is pleasantly surprised when you wrap your arms around his neck and kiss his cheek.

You laugh and say, “If this is mad, let me be mad more often,”.

A few hours pass and you both are sitting on the boat in the net seating area that was right above the water. Joe had put on one of his many bucket hats and shades and was laid flat against the net, soaking in the golden sun. You were applying another layer of sunscreen before noticing his chest turning red. You knew he’d be a pain in the ass if he got sunburnt so you took the bottle and moved closer to him.

You squeezed out a dab of sunscreen and started applying it to his chest. He flinched at the sudden contact before realizing it was just you.

You felt him flinch and laughed, “Daydreaming, Burrow?”.

“Maybe,” he smiles while taking off his shades. He looks down and sees you applying sunscreen on him, “Oh, thanks,” he says while meeting your eyes.

You let out a playful sigh and say, “What would you do without me,”.

“For real,” he says. “I’d be walking around like a tomato,” he laughs.

After applying the rest of the sunscreen, you lay back against the net and Joe lifts one of his arms, motioning for you to curl up next to him. He rests his hand on the small of your back while you tangle your legs with his.

You lay there briefly, soaking up the perfect scene before breaking the silence. “Are you enjoying this? I know boats aren’t really your thing and I hope I didn’t force you into this,” you softly say.

“Of course, I’m enjoying this. I will admit, I was a little nervy when getting on but you’re here with me so I’m fine. Besides, If the boat breaks down at least we’d be stranded together,” he jokes.

“I guess that’s true. Better than being stranded with a bunch of randos too. I’m glad we could get a boat just for the two of us,” you reply.

“Yup. This isn’t as bad as I thought. I can see everything below us too so no risk of a random shark popping out,” he deadpans.

“Like that would actually happen,” you say while softly hitting his chest.

“You never know,” he says while shaking your shoulder in an attempt to scare you.

You spent a few minutes messing around with each other before the driver came out to tell you that you were heading back to the island. You both got up and sat on the bench, your back pressed into Joe’s chest and stared out into the open waters, taking in the view before it was time to go back. You were mindlessly sliding your hand along Joe’s leg while he had his arms around your waist, gently squeezing your soft skin. Everything about this moment was peaceful. Joe felt at ease for the first time in a long time and he had his favorite person to thank for it.

Once you got back to the house, you both took a nice shared shower before starting your dinner prep. Before arriving at the house yesterday, you had stopped at the local market to pick up some groceries.

“So, what are we making tonight,” Joe asked as he sat down on one of the barstools.

“I was thinking of shrimp-avocado tostadas and some of that wine we picked up yesterday?”

“Sounds delicious,” he said while rubbing his belly.

You let Joe fry the tortillas and make the avocado mixture while you cooked the shrimp and assembled the tostadas. While you were assembling the dish, Joe found a few candles in the cabinet and got an idea. He went outside to the backyard and set up the candles on one of the patio tables, setting the scene for a nice sunset dinner. He picked out a few flowers from the front of the house and put them in a vase to use as a centerpiece. He then poured the wine into 2 glasses, setting one on each side.

You had finished plating the tostadas and didn’t see Joe anywhere. “Joe? Where are you,” you yelled out.

“Out here! Bring the plates outside,” he yelled back.

You were a little confused but went along with it. You walked outside with your dinner and saw Joe setting the table and your heart melted.

“Joe, this is so romantic,” you cooed while putting the plates on the table.

He gave you a warm smile before pulling out one of the chairs for you to sit in. You sat down as he settled into the chair across from you. You both devoured the tostadas while making small talk about your plans for tomorrow. After you finished eating, Joe took the plates and set them inside; he suggested you both finish up your wine on the daybed since you would get a comfier view of the sky.

Later that night, per your suggestion, you and Joe were sitting in the bathtub surrounded by bubbles and a few candles. You felt so relaxed even though you’d only been here for 2 days, and it was all because of Joe.

“I’m glad we finally get to have ‘us’ time,” Joe says while rubbing your thigh under the water. “I missed just being able to sit with you and do nothing. This past month felt so repetitive, I feel like we barely saw each other,”

“Me too. We needed this,” you said as you pressed yourself into his chest a little more. Your back was to his chest and both your legs were tangled under the water. This was your favorite position; the warmth radiating off of his body felt like a big hug.

“Thank you for doing this by the way,” you add.

“Doing what?” He questioned.

“This trip. I needed it more than I thought I did. Getting away from home and the change of environment was much needed. I think if I stayed in Ohio for another day I might have spontaneously exploded,” you joked, causing him to let out a soft chuckle.

“Anytime,” he replied while kissing the nape of your neck.

“Do you feel better?” You asked. “I hope you were able to get your mind off of things. Your stuff was a lot heavier than mine,”

He lets out a content sigh and says, “Actually, yeah I do feel better. I think I just needed to get out of the chaos and get out of my head. This trip has helped me decompress and realize that not everything has to be so stuffy all the time,” Joe says.

“Exactly,” you chirp as you lean your head back to place a kiss on his neck.

“I can’t do anything about what people are saying, they’ll always talk. But what I can do is work hard to get back to where I’m supposed to be. And I won’t be able to get there if I’m constantly pressuring myself,” he says. “Letting loose and having fun is a part of that journey. I need that balance,” he adds.

“And this is a great start,” you say while smiling up at Joe

“Yes it is,” Joe says while pressing another kiss to your forehead.

You both had spent the rest of the night talking about the rest of your exciting activities planned for the final 2 days of the trip. You even talked about a few fun things you could do around Cincinnati when you get back home so that you could keep the work-life balance that you both so desperately needed.

“This impromptu vacation might have been the best idea you’ve had so far,” you tell Joe as you both are about to fall asleep.

“We should get away more often,” Joe grins.

--The End--

#joe burrow #joe burrow x reader #joe burrow fic #joeburrow #joe burrow imagine #nfl imagine

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firstkanaphans · 4 months

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Hello Sarah sorry to bother you. I'm a new fan kinda but I'm done with watching all the firstkhao dramas (together and individual) but tbh I'm kinda lost on how I will get to know them better. I have no idea about their irl personalities that much. Maybe you can give a little introduction for me if it's not too much of a bother? Also like how they met and why are they doing so many projects together? And are they good friends irl too (my friend told me a lot of time pair actors don't really get along with each other which is why I got curious about their dynamic) Sorry if these questions are a bit dumb I'm altogether very new in bl fandoms so don't have a lot of ideas.

Oh, Anon. I don’t think you know what you’ve signed up for here. If you want a FK primer, I can give you a FK primer!

Both First and Khaotung started working for GMMTV back in 2018. I’m pretty sure talent agents simply slid into their DMs, so there was no formal audition process, but I could be wrong about that. They were both in university at the time. I’m not quite sure what they were doing that attracted the attention of the talent agents. I know First had been in at least one commercial prior, but I don’t believe Khaotung had done any acting. He had, however, had a picture go viral because he’s just so stinkin’ adorable. I think maybe this one?

Or it could have been one of these…

Either way, they ended up in an acting workshop together right after they joined. Khaotung talks about how he didn’t like First at first because he was too friendly and talkative, but I think that must have only lasted for like a day because it was during this same workshop where he discovered that his heart beats to the sound of First’s name—“FirFirFir”—and yes, that is a real thing that he has admitted out loud on multiple occasions. They have been best friends ever since.

From there, the two of them began to act in individual projects—mostly BLs—and although I have no proof of this, I am entirely convinced that they were playing a long con to get themselves partnered together. They did way more fanservice before they were partnered than they do now. Feel free to watch this live from 2020 where they alternate between staring lovingly in each other's eyes and just outright flirting for an hour straight.

Look, they’re smart boys. They knew that their best path to success in this industry was to be in a fixed pair and they wanted that pair to be each other. How do I know? Because these two adorable idiots were showing up to events in matching outfits.

This picture was taken in January 2021 when Tonhon Chonlatee was actively airing! There's a picture from this same event of them with Podd, who Khao was paired with, and Podd looks like the odd man out.

They were finally paired together for The Eclipse in 2022 and spent the entire press tour either talking about how excited they were to finally work together or crying about the possibility that they might never be able to work together again. I would highly recommend you watch The Eclipse special episode if you haven’t already. In it, First talks about how there was one scene where Khao wasn’t supposed to cry but he kept crying anyway because First was crying and he cared about First so much.

And speaking of crying, if you want to watch a compilation of FK crying about how much they love each other (and other things!), you can find that here.

One thing I would recommend if you want to get to know FK better is to watch a bit of Safehouse Season 4. It’s unscripted, so you’ll get a sense of their personalities, but First was also in an arm cast at the time, so you’ll get to watch Khao dote on him for seven days straight.

Oh and you have to watch this! If you ever see people talking about the voices in First’s head, that's why.

Obviously, we can never truly know what goes on behind closed doors for any of these BL couples, but I feel pretty confident in saying that FirstKhao are genuine besties. They literally do everything together. You can find a collection of some of their lovestagram pics here although there are so many more now. It never stops.

Actual things they have said to each other un-prompted:

First to Khao: I want to build a house with the same fences as you.

Khao to First: As you grow up, you will meet many new friends. Leave them and stay with me.

I’m wracking my brain for anything else that feels important for a new fan to know and am coming up blank, but I’m sure I’ll probably think of something right after I post this. They’re both just super sweet individuals who have never been involved in any controversy and I think what people love most about them is just how much they care about each other. They’ve got that whole platonic soulmate thing going on and we're all super jealous.

#asks #first kanaphan #khaotung thanawat #firstkhao

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hyunestrella · 6 months

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★༉‧₊˚✧ 𝐇𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐁𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐊𝐄𝐑 . EPILOGUE .

★༉ SUMMARY. Growing up you were never shown exactly what the correct example of unconditional love, leading you to believe it wasn’t real, and simply did not exist. So why was this kinda nerdy guy making you feel things you never knew existed?

★༉ PAIRING. Han Jisung x AFAB! Reader.

— warnings. fluff. i haven’t proofread this so idk:

— ss count. 2

— notes. & that’s the end!! i’m so happy that i finally got to share this project with all of you who was willing to read. if you didn’t know this fic is severely self indulgent, almost every aspect of the fic has been taken from my life in some shape or form so it is incredibly important to me. thank you so much for reading, and i hope that you can take a lesson from my story, and if not i hope you had some sort of entertainment from it. you are incredibly loved, always remember that!

— notes. with that being said, feel free to check out any extras that i have added to the masterlist, and check out my other works too! thank you for reading <3

previous masterlist end

It had been a few months since you had gone on your first date with Jisung. It was a cute, quiet date that truly embodied his extroverted introvert personality; the two of you sat, watching his favourite shows with him pausing them every fifteen minutes to talk about the plot for about half an hour.

Since then, the two of you continued to go on dates, taking the time to get to know, and learn to love each other. On one of the many dates, Jisung had asked you to be his partner, he expressed that his fondness, his adoration for you had blossomed into love and he wanted to continue to explore that beautiful feeling with you. The floodgates hit, tears falling as you nodded, happy to finally become Jisung’s girl. Once you had calmed down, you explained to him that you couldn’t say that you loved him just yet, you were thankful for his patience with you.

In present time, you were getting ready for yet another date with your boyfriend. It was your treat this time, having planned something with the staff from the restaurant you were planning to take him to. Facetime was open on your phone, your two best friends sat watching the nerves and excitement flowing through your veins as you got into your glam.

“I don’t understand why you’re getting all dolled up, Y/N, Jisung already loves you as you are.” Minnie muttered off camera, sounds of cluttering leaving the speakers of your phone. “All this to drop the bomb on him as well.”

You watched in amusement as Kai rolled his eyes, muting Minnies mic, “do you think I should cancel then?” You asked, looking in the mirror, checking over your eyeshadow, before looking back at the camera.

“No!” The blonde huffed messing with his freshly blonde hair. “I think it’s cute.” He smiled, putting his phone down for a moment to pull his hood over his head, fed up with his hair. “Plus, it’s been a while since you dressed up — you look nice!”

At his words, Minnie unmuted herself as well as turning on her camera to a view of her cooking. “I agree,” she spoke loud over the sound of boiling water. “Also I didn’t mean it in a bad way. I just meant that Jisung’s homebody self would literally be thrilled to have you say it on the comfort of his sofa.”

You hummed at her words, you knew it was true, Jisung would be ecstatic to have you tell him that you loved him anywhere, however, you felt like you needed to treat him to this — to show him how much your love ran deep for him, to show him how much you appreciated him.

With a text from Jisung letting you know he was on his way, you hung up the facetime call slipping into your outfit of the night. You were ready on time, able to take a few pictures before your boyfriend arrived with a bouquet of your favourite flowers for you, helping to place them in a vase before the two of you headed out.

The restaurant you had taken him to was a semi-fancy restaurant. The layout was quite nice, and yet odd at the same time — the kitchen was downstairs, meaning the staff had to walk up and down stairs with many plates in their hands, along with the toilets, and a little photo booth that you’d definitely drag Jisung into later. The bar was beautiful, many different alcohol lined up across the shelves, the hanging lights above giving it a warm welcoming glow.

When you and Jisung had been seated, you talked him through the menu, letting him know what you thought he’d might like and what he’d might not. “I’ll just have whatever it is you’re having,” he smiled at you, pushing his glasses further up his nose. You smiled back at him, ordering for the both of you when the waitress had come over.

Your plan for this evening was to happen after dinner, before dessert and you were shuffling in your seat in excitement. When you had finished both your starter and your main course, a member of staff had come to grab you about your surprise — making it seem like there was an issue. “Do you want me to come with you?” Jisung blinked, getting ready to stand and defend you in case he needed to, but you brushed him off saying that you’d be okay and you won’t be too long.

When you came back, you tried to hide the smile on your face looking down at the plate in your hand. “Sungie?” You asked softly, gaining his full attention. “I don’t think I’ve ever felt something like this before, especially not for another person. All my life I’ve only accepted what I thought was love, from family, ex friends, ex boyfriends, they all led me to believe that the fairytale, unconditional love did not exist. And then I met you.”

You took in a deep breath before continuing, “You’ve changed my life for the better Sung and I that’s why I know I can say it, and mean it.” With that, you placed down the plate that you had been holding. The plate had ‘I love you’ written on it with white chocolate sauce, a few berries in one of the corners, and flower petals in the opposite.

“I love you, Jisung. I love you so much I want to be better for you, I want to protect you, I want to see your smile everyday. I love you so much seeing you upset makes me feel upset, it makes me want to wrap you up in a hug and never let you go. I love you so much that I’m excited to wake up in the morning, I’m excited remembering that I’m yours and you’re mine. I love you so much it’s a little overwhelming sometimes.”

When you paused, you heard a sob from the other side of the table. You looked up to see tears slowly falling from Jisung’s waterline, his teeth biting his lower lip. He stood up, walking to your side of the table, his hands finding purchase on your cheeks as he pulled you in for a kiss.

Jisung’s lips were soft against yours as the moulded together, proving even further that you were made for one another. When he pulled away, he laughed softly and you blinked slightly dazed, “That’s the first time you’ve ever said it…” he muttered, sniffling.

“I know.”

“I’m happy you said it.” He smiled down at you, sitting back down in his seat, grabbing your hand, intertwining your fingers, “I love you too, sweetheart.”

You smiled bashfully, looking down at your hands, “thank you for never giving up on me Jisung. Thank you for being patient with me, despite all I put you through, and for helping me on my journey of healing. Thank you for loving me.”

chapter fourteen — epilogue.

previous masterlist end

★༉‧₊˚✧ 𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐌𝐀𝐍𝐄𝐍𝐓 𝐓𝐀𝐆𝐋𝐈𝐒𝐓

@liknws , @l3visbby , @hyunverse , @sunboki , @choiwonder , @nebulousbookshelf , @cosmic-railwayxo , @sunshinesquokka , @jiisungllvr , @shakalakaboomboo , @viviixlyy , @thediaryofalover , @fxckingshame , @lovestayforev , @skz-streamer , @dollschan

@chengmeiauau , @hanjisunginc , @lolob , @vixensss , @ivyannemarie , @lixie-phoria , @notsomono , @ylixbok , @m1ngismile , @bbygrlhannie , @skzpvol , @ch4nn13luv , @whyisaah , @fiqire , @aalexyuuuhm , @theblindhag , @ecliiipsee

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purity-town · 6 months

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No update today...because I just graduated from college!!! It's been a wild weekend with my graduation ceremony and moving apartments and all that, but from here on out I'm officially free!

We're also just past the third anniversary of Purity Town! I had started working on the comic towards the end of my first semester at college, during one of the lowest points of my life -- so suffice to say, I'm so glad to see how far we've come since then, and many thanks to everyone for sticking around for so long and making this such a fun experience to work on!

And with all that, after ages, I've finally got ask responses all typed up under the cut!

And thank you for reading!!!!! Seriously, it makes me so so so happy to see people enjoying this comic so much -- I'm getting to draw things and get excited about my lore ideas and present NPC interpretations and OCs and it's wonderful that other people are just as hyped about it. I adore Chris and Andrew a lot and I'm glad other people do too!

Haha, yep! The Dryad gets to see That Guy again after 450 years, the townsfolk get to see the equivalent of a mythical fairy show up to bless their town, and Andrew has to deal with the Literal Actual Dryad in town and up in his business. Everyone will be happy about this and there's no way it will end messily!

I've definitely thought about it! Particularly having her being Andrew's maternal grandmother, and then working elements reminiscent of that into Andrew's mother's design -- I even have a general idea for how she looks based on that, though I don't have anything to show for it as I haven't tried properly drawing her out.

I think there are several interesting hooks that could come of it, depending on how you spin it. Big problem with all of that being that, at least off the top of my head, there's hardly any in-game lore surrounding the nymph -- she's just someone (some creature? a type of creature? a unique being?) that exists.

I did see a note on the wiki pointing out the similarities between the Dryad and the Nymph's designs, but I'm not totally convinced that's intended; they just happen to both be showing a lot of skin. The definition of "Dryad" including the word "Nymph" nudges me towards them being related, but I'm still just...not sure. Maybe Nymphs (or Nymph, singular) are a handful of Dryads who were not outright killed in the war but instead mutated beyond recognition by the eldritch powers they fought against? Much to think about; I'm open to ideas if anyone has opinions on the matter!

Here you go! And a sta.sh link again in case of Tumblr-image-quality-shenanigans.

Thank you!!! The Aether is an incredibly fun location to draw in general; it's so strange and magical and gives me an excuse to add stars and sparkles everywhere. Add in the Shimmer and it's just- such a delight, haha. It's rainbows and starlight and it was really interesting translating the in-game side view we get of the Shimmer pond to the top view in the comic.

Thank you :) This was quite the semester, and working around other folks' schedules for groupwork and sudden project requirements changes and so on and so forth left me with a busy and unpredictable schedule. But I was able to wrap up the semester with solid finals and a great GPA, so it worked out in the end -- and now I'll finally be settling into a more regular work schedule. No more all-nighters (hopefully)!!

I’ll admit that I haven’t really thought about this much. If anything, I’ll probably handwave it a bit to be more general -- main reason being that there are plenty of reasons for someone to be on edge during a Blood Moon, and that can be an interesting thing to explore without making it into a “haha menstruation” joke.

(Also, considering the Zoologist transforms during a Blood Moon regardless of moon phase, I think the idea of the moon warping the mind and that being amplified during Blood Moons in general is a more interesting take. But even if you remove that element, Blood Moons are scary and characters being snappy or on-edge is reasonable given the circumstances.)

I don’t have a good response to this bit, but please know that it made me laugh quite a lot.

First off -- I’m so sorry for taking so long to answer this ask; I hope you’ve gotten good info elsewhere in the meantime but I’ll add what advice I can give! Here are some general tips below -- some may be more useful than others depending on your situation and approach to drawing, but I hope it helps in some way or another!

Start small. Purity Town started as a 2-page mini-comic, and then expanded into a 10-page chapter as I got used to the comic-making process and decided whether I wanted to stick with the project or not. Purity Town ended up snowballing into a larger narrative comic rather than the "small comic snippets accompanying a more typical fanfic" as I had originally been thinking of, but starting small helped me ease into it nonetheless. By the time that I had finished the first chapter, I had gained enough experience working with comics to feel comfortable/confident enough to continue on to chapter 2, and things just kept rolling from there.

Pace yourself. I'm quite slow at drawing, so I generally do my best to set aside time every Saturday just to work on the comic, as well as working on it whenever I feel like it over the week. This keeps me from burnout (and repetitive strain injuries). Importantly, having a set update schedule also helps me remember to actually work on updates, as leaving me to my own devices = never getting anything done (see: how long it took to answer this ask). However, many folks do just fine updating entirely on their own time, so take this one with a grain of salt and figure out what works best for you!

Plan ahead. This applies more to making longer, narrative-focused comics. Because comic-making is so time consuming, every page should count. You don't need to have the entire thing written out before you begin (see again: burnout; it's also nice to have some level of flexibility with the story to see it grow alongside your skills), but planning out at least the current story "segment" is a big help. I like to script out the current chapter, starting with a pile of out-of-context dialogue snippets and overarching chapter ideas and boiling it down to a proper dialogue script with notes for panel ideas. It helps a lot with figuring out how long the chapter will end up being and lets me freely move events around until I'm happy with how they fit together, rather than doing it all on the fly.

Do what you can to save time. If you're a digital artist especially, look into what tools your art program of choice has to help make your illustration process smoother, like paint filling tools or vector lines. If you want to re-use backgrounds or character art, then do so! It's okay! Do whatever makes you enjoy what you're doing and happy with the end result!

Stay organized. This was touched on in a number of the other points, but it's so important that I'm giving it its own slot. I make liberal use of folders and layers -- personally, I use three layers for lineart and every layer has at most two colors. Text gets its own folder and special effects have color-coded labels. My layers are always organized in the same way and I keep often-reused materials (like the lineart for Chris' staff) in separate files for easy access. Of course, the specifics are dependent on how you draw, but this has made a world of difference for me personally.

It's okay to experiment and change things. Figure out what works for you -- some folks do comics entirely as sketches or lineart without coloring, you'll see book-style vs. scrolling/vertical webcomics, and all that. It's okay to swap things up if you find that something isn't working out. Don't get too caught up in everything being "perfect," just experiment and see what makes you happy.

(Side note, but if anyone here specifically uses Clip Studio Paint and wants to talk about platform-specific details like brushes or using certain tools, feel free to send me a message on Tumblr/Discord about it. I am by no means a master of Clip Studio, but I am at least familiar with the particular tools I frequently use and can give info on them!)

Based on personal experience, a random cave halfway down to Hell. 90% chance that it’s completely enclosed and filled with random monsters, haha. Luckily the Dryad was there to stop him!

#purity town #not an update #pt asks

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nickcarr-scoutstories · 6 months

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Hi everyone, I hope you've had a good year. It's been quite a while since I was last posting here regularly - I think maybe February or March. A number of you have written to me over the past many months to ask if I was OK and if I’d be returning with daily updates about scouting, and I’m sorry I haven’t gotten back sooner.

The simple answer for why I haven’t been sharing stories and pictures from my life as a movie location scout is that, since March of this year, I haven’t been a movie location scout.

As you may have heard, the film industry had two major strikes this year. The first kicked off on May 1 when the Writers Guild decided strike; the second on July 14, when SAG joined them on the picket lines.

But if you look at the timeline, something’s off. If the strikes didn’t begin until May, why have I been out of work since March?

When you work in film and TV, you go from project to project, as opposed to working directly for a particular studio. In January, I was just wrapping up the final season of FX’s Snowfall, one my favorite shows I’ve ever scouted for (you really get to explore your dark side when you’re asked to find creative places to stage murders and drug deals on a weekly basis!).

Typically, there are always a number of new productions gearing up at the beginning of the year, and it rarely takes longer than a few weeks to hop on something. Except, as I started reaching out to see what was on the horizon, something became starkly clear: there was nothing.

It quickly became apparent that the studios, anticipating that the strikes were likely to happen, opted to simply halt all new productions. That meant that by the time you heard about the writers strike in May, thousands of below-the-line crew like myself had already been out of work for months, with many more months to go.

I know hindsight is 20/20 and all, but I still kick myself for not predicting what was likely to happen in advance. Ha, in fact, as proof of my ignorance, when my five-year-old camera finally broke toward the end of Snowfall, I decided it was the perfect time to treat myself to a brand-new Sony set-up. That new camera has sat unused on my shelf laughing at me ever since.

Once I realized the severity of the situation, two things became clear: one, the strikes were going to last for a long time. And two, there was absolutely nothing I could do about it, other than to find a way for my family and I to survive until everything resolved.

As part of this effort, I made the conscious decision to focus my attention only on things I could control, and that were positive influences in my life. For that reason, I had to turn away from anything industry-related (a good decision in hindsight, as roughly 95% of the media predictions and insider sources about the strikes turned out to be wrong).

And by extension, I also stepped back from posting here. It was just too sad to try to write with my normal enthusiasm about scouting and exploring when everything about my work was in such upheaval.

Both strikes have now come to an end, and despite all the pessimistic naysayers, both unions wound up with extremely good deals that the studios initially swore were simply not possible. Though I’m neither SAG nor WGA, all of the benefits and protections I have from being a Teamster only come from working in an industry with extremely strong unions. If there was any question, 2023 made it undeniably clear.

My family has made it through, our credit scores bruised but otherwise happy and healthy and looking forward to a much brighter 2024. I was able to accomplish several projects that would have literally never happened if not for the strikes, including one creative endeavor that may be the best thing I’ve ever written and I can’t wait to share with you.

Hollywood has been slow to re-open, and I’m still waiting to put that camera to use on the first post-strike feature or TV show. Thankfully though, some print advertising work in the past few weeks has given me an excuse to finally take it off the shelf and wipe the dust off. And there are growing rumblings that the TV/movie floodgates should burst soon.

Finally, I wanted to end the year on a positive note by putting out the delayed third issue of my Scout Stories publication. This one is for you Scouting NY fans, and focuses on my all-time favorite “hidden in plain sight” locations and finds on the streets of New York from my ten years of scouting there. I’ll have the big announcement with purchase links up either later today or tomorrow, and they will definitely come in time for Christmas, should you be looking for a unique stocking stuffer!

So that’s what’s happened, where I’ve been, what I’ve been up to, and what’s ahead. If you asked me to sum up 2023, I’d say that financially, it was terrible! But in all truth, it was a happy year, simply because I made it a point to focus on the things that brought happiness.

Sharing my work as a scout with you has always made me happy, and I’m very much looking forward to doing a lot more of it in the coming year.

Happy holidays!

Nick

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plasticbag3207 · 2 months

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Alastor and Vox Possibly Knew Each Other in Life

I recently started writing/planning a fic centering around how Alastor and Vox met, and how their friendship turned sour into what their rivalry is today. I’m sure people have already written fics like this but I haven’t seen any (not that I’ve been looking) with this as the main plot and without heavy shipping.

Until literally this morning I wasn’t ever quite able to peg down Alastor and Vox’s ages. I assumed they were at least in their 30s, though it didn’t seem out of the question to say they were older or maybe even a little younger.

That is until I found the leaked character sheets of them. Apparently a year (or two?) ago someone leaked a lot of the character sheets/voice sheets for most of Hazbin Hotel’s cast. Obviously leaking is bad, don’t do it. I also don’t know if everything on those sheets is still canon, so I’m only going to talk about the ages. Also massive thank you to my friend for talking about this with me and helping me come up with stuff :)

(Theories, Headcanons, and Spoilers for the fic below the cut)

According to Alastor’s character sheet, he’s roughly in his 40s, and I’m going to say he was born in 1891. Assuming sinners don’t physically age at all after going to hell (because I’m 90% sure they don’t), that’d make him 42 at his death in 1933. Vox on the other hand, I’m saying was born in 1902, and died in 1955, making him 53 when he died. With these dates Vox and Alastor were only 11 years apart.

In my headcanons Alastor landed his job as a radio host in his mid 20s (1913), and built his way up to being the most popular radio host in New Orleans. By 1918 (27 years old) he had his own full show, which ran for 15 years until his death—and was wildly popular.

My headcanon for Vox on the other hand, is that he started as an actor. He always loved attention, and soon by his early 20s (1924) became a big hit on the silver screen. Very quickly he climbed to the top, becoming beloved by Hollywood and starring in many more movies over his lifespan.

I don’t think Alastor had such a massive disdain for television or visual media yet, though I’m not going to say he loved it. He saw Vox as some attention hound, constantly desperate for more with an insatiable appetite—not unlike himself.

Vox at some point stumbles apon Alastor’s radio show, and instantly loves the guy. He laughs at every joke, loves the creativity of the sound effects, and such. After some tugging of strings he meets Alastor in person and offers to interview him on one of his late night shows. Alastor reluctantly accepts, though the two can’t help but be put off—and even annoyed at times by each others’ presence.

The interview, to say the least, does not go very well. Alastor found it a bit humiliating, Vox being too caught up in the spotlight and not all that willing to share it with Alastor. After that, Al decided that “this face was made for radio” and radio only.

They potentially saw each other in passing, but beyond that their interactions were limited.

Eventually Al dies, and is outed as a serial killer. Vox becomes ever more popular with televisions becoming a household item of the 50s until he dies.

Yippie :)

I’m not 100% sure how much of this is canon compliant, but whatever it’s my fanfic I’ll do what I want with it. Also don’t worry I didn’t spoil the entire thing, just aspects of their human lives. Most of the fic will probably be in Hell. (When/if I post the fic on Ao3 I’ll link it here aswell)

EDIT: I started the fic, it’s a little rough but I’ll polish it up eventually. I also can’t promise I’ll stay 100% true to everything I talked about in this post but it’ll probably be pretty close. Anyways, I hope you enjoy :)

#plasticbag3207 #hazbin hotel #hazbin hotel headcanon #hazbin hotel theory #hazbin hotel vees #hazbin hotel vox #vivziepop #alastor the radio demon #hazbin alastor #hazbin hotel alastor #vox hazbin hotel #fanfic

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incorrectpizza · 7 months

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Hehehe know how I said literally 72 hours ago that I wouldn't be posting anything for @sabezraweek because of my concussion and general life chaos?

Fic also available under the cut for anyone who would prefer to read here on Tumblr. :)

Ezra’s cleaning up the tower when he finds the holoprojector.

He’s halfway through a drawer of seemingly sentimental junk - an old comm of his, one of Ursa’s hair clips, Sabine’s own paint sprayer - when he spies a puck he doesn’t recognize. Curious, he flicks it on

He’s greeted by a younger Sabine, not much older than when he’d left. Her hair is the same dull dark purple as when he’d left with Thrawn all those years ago. It’s a bit longer though. Sabine sighs and runs a hand through it.

“So, it’s been a while since I’ve dyed my hair. I haven’t been able to since- since you and Kanan. But, well, things go on. I hoped you would be back by now but still no leads. So, I decided today would be the day.” Holo-Sabine holds up a can, shaking it. Then the image flickers and she returns with flaming pink hair. “Not bad for my first dye job in a year.”

Ezra’s eyebrows scrunch A year ? Sabine Wren, Mandalorian artist extraordinaire who dyed her hair at least once every six months, if not more, had been so out of sorts she hadn’t dyed her hair for a year ?

In their brief reunion, he’d gotten the sense she’d missed him a lot. But not dying her hair?

Before his brain could come to any dramatic conclusions, the hologram glitched, faded, and returned. Sabine’s hair, a solid, shimmering lilac shifts into a gradient, the tips darkening to indigo. She tilts her head and spins to show all the angles before disappearing.

Holo-Sabine reappears with a full head of indigo holding a hair tie, a single odd lilac strand hanging down. A padawan braid?

“So, it’s been two years.”

She gathers her hair together as she speaks, knot nearly reaching the nape of her neck.

“I decided after the last dye job to let it grow out a bit. What do you think?”

Holo-Sabine smiles, but the expression is hollow.

“So much has happened. Hopefully you’ll be able to come see yourself soon.”

The image fades and for a few seconds there’s nothing before Indigo Sabine reappears.

“I’m going to try something new. I’ve never done any sort of red hair because I dyed Tristan’s red once and he looked hideous. It doesn’t mesh well with the Wren complexion, but I’m feeling creative and I think this shade might be just the ticket.”

She pulls out a box of chestnut dye and sits it directly in front of the holoprojector.

When she pulls it away, her hair is an odd shade of red slightly akin to the sky on Atollon.

“That was a very bad mistake.” She shakes her hair out of the ponytail.

“Unfortunately, I can’t fix it for at least a week, and there’s a big banquet coming up soon.”

A static image displays next. Red brick haired Sabine in a floor length gown unlike anything Ezra had ever seen her wear.

A meow from Murley alerts him to the fact his jaw is no longer aligned with the rest of his face. He clamps it shut, quickly, biting his lip in the process.

“Lesson learned.” A blissfully dark haired Sabine says. Hair the color of caf dangles past her chin, brushing against her shoulders, a few strands hitting her collarbone. “Worst two weeks of my life so far. I am never dying my hair anything close to red again."

The image shifts to Sabine sitting with a towel wrapped around her hair.

“I wish you were here.”

Sabine closes her eyes and yawns, leaning her head back against the back of the coach.

“Force, Ezra. I just don’t know what to do without you around sometimes. I don’t see much of Hera or Zeb these days, which doesn’t help. I’m not sure how much longer I can wait.

“I guess I have to, though. I can’t go anywhere or do anything until this dye is done. And there’s still so much to do here on Lothal.”

The hologram pauses and skips forward to Sabine unwrapping her freshly-dyed hair. It’s a damp teal blue fading into white.

The next image to appear is not Sabine, but Jacen. The little boy’s face takes up the entire span of the hologram, one lock of green hair brushing against the recorder for a moment before Sabine yanks him back.

“I told you to be careful, Jacen.” She scolds, teasingly, setting him on his lap.

“Do you want to tell your big brother what you did?”

“I helped Aunt ‘Bine dye her hair!” Jacen giggles, hands gathering some of her hair and tossing it in front of the projector. Her brilliant green hair. Then he scampers down to go find Murley.

“Don’t worry. It’s temporary,” Sabine laughs and tosses it around, too.

Her hair is blonde next - kriff , it looks so weird on her - and then purple again. She doesn’t say anything in these brief clips; Murley’s in the second one, playing with her padawan braid.

Then a Sabine with a purple and pink gradient comes into view.

“It’s been five years now.” She sighs, and Ezra can practically hear the weight she’s carrying. He has some idea what she was going to say next, from what first Sabine herself and then Hera had told him about what happened. It doesn’t make it any easier.

“The Empire’s gone. So that’s nice. Well, almost gone. A few stragglers but Hera and Zeb’s recruits will finish them off soon enough. And Jacen, if he has his way.” She smiles, slightly.

The fond expression quickly disappears and as she turns her head slightly Ezra notices her padawan braid is conspicuously absent.

“But the Empire struck one last blow. A retaliation against random worlds. Hera says one of the defectors called it Operation Cinder.

“They bombed Mandalore.”

“I haven’t heard anything from Krownest. I’m not sure if that’s good or bad. But still, millions. I wasn’t- I couldn’t save them. My people.”

The transmission cut out and stayed quiet for several seconds.

Sabine reappears with jet black hair, pinned up in a bun with the Clan Wren clip Ezra found earlier.

“Krownest’s gone.” She sniffles, wipes her nose on the back of her orange shirt. “Mom. Dad. Tristan.”

“I wish you were here. I don’t know- I don’t know how you did it.”

Seven more hairstyles appear in rapid succession, solid pictures, flicks of hair. Black with pink tips. Black with green tips. Black with blonde tips. Brown, the color of her brother’s hair. Her natural color? Ezra wonders, absently. The same brown, but faded into pale pink. Then a whole head of pink, slightly darker. Pink into orange.

And then purple faded into white, the reverse of the dye job she’d done after Malachor. The one she’d let him pick, that day she forced him to snap out of his trance with Maul and be himself again, if only for a few hours. It’s braided up into a severe bun, almost like the one Ezra remembers her mother wearing all those ages ago.

This Sabine sits still in front of the camera for a few seconds, then speaks.

“Ten years.” She said. “What are you like now, Ezra? Have you changed your hair at all? Does the Chimaera have any razors or do you have a scraggly beard?” Ezra scratches his chin, fingers deep in his magnificent beard, and he scoffs slightly at Sabine’s lack of faith in his ability to grow facial hair.

“I miss you.”

Then she shakes her head, letting it out. Hair spills past her shoulders, past her elbows, almost to her waist. Ezra gasps. Murley opens one eye and looks over at him, annoyed.

Ezra doesn’t care.

He’s transfixed, wondering what it would have been like to run his fingers through Sabine's long hair, and how much she’d experimented with that much canvas.

He doesn’t have to wonder long.

Sabine appears again with hair dyed four different colors: Orange into yellow into pink into purple.

“Pretty cool, huh?” She asks. “I think it’s getting a little too long, though.”

She chops it off, live, on screen. She doesn’t say much - just a bit about how she misses even Chopper but doesn’t get to see any of the old crew often.

“I miss you the most, though.” She confesses. “Hera told me that maybe recording would help, and I think it has. But I’m ready to start looking for you. Really looking. Not just researching and waiting on Ahsoka or Hera to find a lead.”

She finishes with her hair still well past her shoulders.

“Not yet, though. I still have a piece of artwork to finish.”

One last Sabine pops up, with freshly dyed purple-pink-orange hair. “Almost done.” She says.

Then a much more familiar Sabine pops up - shortly cropped, dark purple hair. A bit of makeup. And armor.

“It’s time. Ahsoka found something, just after I finished my mural in Capital City. I can't wait to bring you home."

The holo goes still, fades, and Ezra's sure it's done.

He bends down to pet Murley and nearly falls over when Sabine's voice came back a solid thirty seconds later. He scrambles back to his feet, grabbing the counter to pull himself up. He found himself staring right into Holo-Sabine’s eyes.

“If you’re seeing this, I guess I’m not there to hit pause and I owe you an explanation.

“I knew you were counting on me, and I knew you needed to come home. There’s so much in the galaxy you need to catch up on. And you have a little brother to meet.” Sabine smiles, a hint of sorrow lacing her expression.

“But most of all, I needed you. Whatever it took. If I’m not here…I don’t have any regrets. I’m just glad you’re home.”

She pauses a moment, runs a hand through her too-short hair, lets out a shaky breath.

“Ni kar’taylir darasuum, Ezra Bridger.”

Ni kar’taylir darasuum ?

Ezra furrows his brow as he pulls out a datapad and types in the best approximation of Sabine’s words. Murley jumps up and meows, and Ezra pushes him aside gently to reveal the confirmation of the hunch he's had she held him on Peridea like she never wanted to let him go.

“I hold you in my heart forever,” literally.

Or, in plain Galactic Basic, “I love you.”

#star wars #star wars rebels #star wars rebels fanfic #sabezra #sabezra week #sabezraweek #sabezraweek2023 #sabezra week 2023 #i am the worst ever at titles #oops

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violetlunette · 1 year

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So, this may be controversial but in the PnF universe, I think the Universe hates Candace the most. (Not taking into account MML as I haven’t been able to find a site to safely watch the whole series, and I ain’t paying 50$ for Disney Plus.)

(Edit: Okay, I may gotten the pricing wrong for disney plus as I was looking at the yearly option, but I digress.)

For those who may be unaware, Candace is a character in Phineas and Ferb who plays an antagonistic role as she is constantly trying to “bust” her brothers by showing her mom their inventions. Unfortunately, the “universe” (or the mysterious force, as Candace dubs it) will always make the inventions disappear at the very last moment. And usually in the most ridiculous ways possible such as it getting up and dancing away or having her eat or clean up the project herself (both times against her will). This has often led to Candace (and others) questioning her sanity and to her feeling emotionally depressed and defeated every day. Candace is quite literally the universe’s punching bag.

Now I’m people are going to argue and say, “Have you seen Doofenshmirtz’s backstory?” and yes, that is an excellent point.

To recap Heinz Doofenshmirtz is the main villain of the series who fights with a semi-aquatic egg-laying mammal of action, who happens to be the brother’s pet. Growing up he had a comically abusive childhood where he was bullied, his parents favored his brother and he was forced to stand as a Lawn Gnome every night. On top of that, he has a history of his love life going terribly wrong and gets his ass beat by a platypus daily. (Down, Perryshmirtz shippers.) Compared to the rest of the Phineas and Ferb cast it would seem that he and Candace are tied for having the worse luck, hell some would say he has worse luck than Candace.

However, I disagree as Heinz’s misfortune isn’t caused by random events like Candace’s. Everything bad that happened to him was a direct result of other people being jerks or caused by Heinz himself. (Minus his love life but we’ll get to that later.)

All of the humiliation of Heinz’s childhood was a result of his parents. The reason he was bullied to the point where his only friend was a balloon with a face on it was because his mother forced him to wear the dresses she made when she thought Roger was going to be a girl and because at night he was forced to stand watch as a lawn gnome by his father to protect the garden.

His failures with his inators are because Perry comes by and wrecks everything.

Now it’s true that Candace had a loving childhood with a loving family and great friends. Yet I stand by the statement that the universe hates Candace the most in the PnF universe because the way Phineas and Ferb’s inventions vanish isn’t a result of anything she or anyone does. It’s a random act of fate. True, most of Phineas and Ferb’s vanish because of Heinz’s inators, however, he never intends to do. More often than not, he randomly bumps the button and it just so happens to hit Phineas and Ferb’s invention or Candace herself without any rhyme or reason.

Plus, there are times when Heinz wins and gets everything he wants without punishment.

The entire Across the 2D Dimension movie and the Quantum Boogaloo special show that Heinz could take over the Tristate area and get everything he wants. In the MML’s timeline, he becomes Professor Time, in The OWCA files he gets to become an agent and gets to work with Perry (something that appears to have always been his secret desire), and in Doof 101 (and Act your Age) timeline he becomes a teacher that allows him to bond with his daughter and is so happy that he has to make an inator to give him a midlife crisis.

With Candace, the best future she seems to get is a dull suburban life that’s a copy of her mother’s life. On top of that, despite appearing serene, one can argue that she’s not as content as she looks. It’s obvious she still holds deep resentments in her life as she immediately breaks out of her tranquil demeanor when she sees the past version of her brothers. If Candace was truly happy and had moved on, she wouldn’t have cared or reacted so strongly.

And whenever she gets her goals, it turns often out worse for her. In the Quantum Boogaloo special, Candace finally manages to bust her brothers and it results in a dystopian future, the loss of everything she loved and even her own name.

Even in other universes, Candace gets the short stick compared to Doofenshmirtz. In the 2nd Dimension Candace may be a rebel leader but it’s not until her brothers join the fight that they make any progress. Not only that, but they quickly begin to do better than her even though they literally just joined, and she had been fighting for much longer. It doesn’t help that by the end it seems that they’re better leaders than he.r Their actions led to them getting one up on Charlene and rescuing some of the agents, while Candace’s allowed Doofenshmirtz to escape.

In the Star Wars Universe, this Candace gets yanked pretty hard. Whether she was kidnapped or ran away to join the Empire, it is obvious she was brainwashed into believing their rhetoric. (Buford flat out states that orientation is brainwashing.) It’s hinted she grew up pretty lonely and is constantly disrespected by her superiors. Even though she does have serious talent, Candace is only allowed to do things like sock duty. But she puts up with it because she believes she’s doing her part. And in the end, she discovers that she’s been fighting for the bad guys and that she’s the villain. Doofenshmirtz isn’t much better here, but he can use the force and is recognized by the rebels to be enough of a threat to send one of their best agents to fight him, so at least he has some respect.

And here’s another thing that makes Candace’s pain feel less earned; she doesn’t do anything wrong.

Even though Heinz’s inventions vary on levels of danger they are usually used to humiliate, harm, or cause destruction. (Hell, some even kill.) The make-up-your-mind-inator is a good example of this as he was planning to use it on anyone that couldn’t make up their minds and destroy them.

The reason varies but more often than not he’s doing something wrong, so you can argue his bad luck is karma. In the canon verse, Candace isn’t technically doing anything wrong.

Yes, tattle-tailing is annoying as nobody likes a snitch but not only Phineas and Ferb are not only breaking the rules but they’re also placing themselves in danger. In the first episode, we see how reckless Phineas is in the first episode as he shows everyone how to use a seat belt as the coaster is climbing at a vertical angle up the tracks (and he doesn’t even put one on once he sits down). Another other example of this is with the Tower of Phineas which almost kills them. (And now is slowly killing everyone in the universe if it’s still doing that oxygen thing.)

Even when she’s not even trying to bust anyone, Candace is constantly yanked around by the universe. This is shown most clearly when she tries to get a Ducky Momo collectible;

It was something cute Candace wanted. She made deals for it, worked hard and no one would have been hurt if she got it it would have made everyone, even her, happy. Then when she is seconds from getting it, boom! The universe takes it at the last moment just to yank her chain.

A more prominent and remembered example is in “Candace Gets Busted” where she is pressured into having a party. She doesn’t even get to enjoy it as Candace spends the whole time keeping the house clean and protected. And even then, everyone is more interested in Phineas and Ferb. To top it all off, the universe gives Candace hope that it’ll let her get away with it like her brothers do all the time. Then at the last moment, for no reason, it sends the party back and gets her in trouble.

And the universe pulls that shit on her all the time. It gives her hope that she’ll reach her desires only to go “nope” at the last minute and ruin everything.

In the Temple of Juatchadoon, the Candace there isn’t even trying to get anyone in trouble; she just wants to report on Ohio and Rhode Island to share their adventures. If anything this would help the boys and make them more famous but because Candace is the one who wants to share their story, the universe goes out of its way to make sure that doesn’t happen.

The only thing where everything goes well for Candace--without Phineas and Ferb--is her relationship with Jeremy and Stacy. This is one of two things where Candace has better luck than Doofenshmirtz. (Though again on his part most of them are a result of incompatibility, him being rude, or karma. I don’t think any relationship was ruined because of a random act of fate. [Except with his date in evil love with whom I hope he gets together again.])

But even then, Stacy moves all the way to Uruguay in the future and with Candace’s luck, I find it very worrying that Jeremy is nowhere to be seen.

In conclusion;

While Heinz has had a sadder and harder life, the bad things that happen to him are usually a result of his actions or others. And even then, there are times when he succeeds and get what he wants. Heinz may have to work for it but we have seen several futures where he gets everything he wants and is happy (even when no one else is). On top of that in other universes, he usually has a position of power (however low it may seem), but not Candace.

In the best-case future scenario, Candace lives a reflection of her mom’s life where she still harbors past pain and resentments that are so strong that she was willing to put everything at stake to change the past. The fact that she’s willing to do this hints that she’s not as happy as she appears.

There’s also the fact that when she does get what she wants it usually comes with a heavier punishment. The biggest example is that whenever she busts her brothers, it ends with an apocalyptic future.

In other universes, Candace may get to show off her stuff more but she clearly isn’t happy and either finds herself in the wrong or quickly outshined.

And finally, there’s just how the universe likes to taunt her all the time. It waits until the very last minute to take away Phineas and Ferb’s inventions, or something she likes. (And in the most ridiculous ways too. Again, an invention literally just danced off one time.)

And there’s not even a reason for all of it; At least with Milo, we know it's because of Murphy’s Law. We can’t even say that her bad luck is because of the Phineas and Ferb effect because of the bad luck that happens away from Phineas and Ferb.

The only reason we have is the reason Candace always states; the universe is against her.

#Candace Flynn #pnf Candace #the universe hates candace #Phineas and Ferb #heinz doofenshmirtz #pnf #pnf universe

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aphrodites-garden · 2 months

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Honestly just wanna vent right now because my brain fog has been so terrible and debilitating. Between the bpd, adhd, and chronic migraines it’s a hell I can’t seem to get out of.

Every project I write I have to look up a thousand synonyms to figure out what I want to say because I can’t find the words. Then I have to go back to the page again because I’ve immediately forgotten what I read. I used to keep a journal for fun, I just call it my notebook because I also make lists and shit that aren’t diary entries. Now I have to write anything I want to remember in it because otherwise I’ll never remember it again, whether or not it was fun. It could be one of the best experiences of my life and I’ll still forget details.

I’m exhausted, my brain hurts constantly, it feels hopeless because I’m in constant agonizing pain and it never stops. I can’t even describe how I feel it’s so awful, it feels like the energy that’s making my blood boil is crawling through my skin. It feels like I’ll never get back to how I was before. I know I’m a great writer but it’s just not the same anymore. I can’t feel like myself. The words just disappear, it’s like I just can’t make connections in my brain anymore. I’m in a place where I have help and I know what to do when it gets bad and I get help, but it doesn’t really ever feel better. My head literally feels like it’s almost heavy or something.

I want to be able to enjoy my life again. I want to feel as smart as I used to. I have all the knowledge but it just won’t connect. It’s like I read an entire instruction manual and have all the knowledge, but when I go to put the project together I just can’t do it. Like my hands are just too heavy and tired to even pick up one piece. It feels like I just want to sleep for a year or something because it’s so tired and needs a break. But I can’t because I have school and work and need to survive on my own. I have a thousand problems almost no one else has to deal with and I have to fix them in a body that doesn’t work anymore.

I’ve been called a compulsive liar because I can’t remember anything and people think that saying I forgot is just an excuse. I have to use it so much I don’t blame them if they don’t know. But as soon as I try to explain why no one gets it. They think it’s just lies on top of lies and it just makes it worse. I just want to finally be believed and loved. I’m dating this girl who l really really love and I think she understands, but she’s going to school to be a cop and I haven’t had a chance to explain to her why it’s not something she should do. She wants to do it to help people and we’re very similar in that way, but I think it’s just because she doesn’t understands how the system works. I’m hoping she’ll understand when I explain it because I do it calmly and try to give good points as I always do, but I love her so much I’m worried it’ll just end. We’ve only been on 2 dates and I might see her again tonight which means I probably have to explain it.

I’m just afraid she’s gonna turn on me and think I’m a criminal because of the things I’ve done. I’ve had to steal before to eat, and also a few times something small because I did something well and couldn’t get any nice things if I didn’t do that. It’s like I work so hard so I deserve a little treat once in a while like everyone else, like a cool pen or something. Basically nothing but even a few dollars is a lot sometimes for me. I’m big into social activism which means people often call us criminals for giving advice on what to do in protests to avoid police. We avoid them because they target us and try to arrest us because we disrupt what the government wants, because we want BASIC HUMAN RIGHTS AND FOR A GENOCIDE TO STOP. Because they want power and control. And I’m afraid she won’t get that and it feels like she’s the only one who understands me right now. All of our experiences together have been so good that it literally feels like a dream and when I see her again it finally feels like reality. A bunch of my shitty friends turned on me and I don’t fucking care, I hate them, it’s just that I don’t have anyone else to talk to now besides my coworkers and a few teachers.

So I just need to find a way for this to get fucking better because I can’t stand it.

#I’m fine and get help for my mental health so no need to worry #i just need to vent #bpd #brain fog #borderline personality disorder #adhd #activism #chronic migraine

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theowritesfiction · 5 months

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Okay, so I have been watching The Bear, and I eventually got into the show over the course of S1, but now watching S2, it’s really pissing me off, I think it’s one of the most disappointing sophomore seasons in the history of TV, and I want to rant about it.

But first I wanted to address the rave reviews this show is getting on RT, especially the glowing audience reviews (I don’t give a rat’s ass about the critic reviews, there’s too much group think, peer pressure, conformism and paid shilling going on there that it’s not worth looking at). I looked at the audience reviews in more detail and immediately realized that the ‘people’ giving this show 5-star reviews all follow the same naming convention like Adam F, Christina V, Sam R, etc. In short – almost all of them are bots posting AI generated tripe. The 93% audience review aggregate is a complete sham.

Anyway, why do I hate S2? Well, I found this web article 10 Unpopular Opinions About the Bear and figured I’d look at them to see whether I agree or disagree. So, here we go.

10. The Bear Should Have Continued With The Beef, Not Gone Fine Dining

Yes, fuck yes. The chaotic atmosphere of a greasy spoon/rundown sandwich shop was what made the show. Transitioning to fine dining creates this immediate pretentious vibe that’s completely at odds with S1 mood/themes. And while shows always need to keep evolving, I feel like this was way too radical shift from one end of the spectrum to the very opposite end. Also, I haven’t been to Chicago and don’t know too much about the city, but I have a pair of eyes that still work, and they tell me that this is not a fucking fine dining location, like, it’s just not.

9. The Bear Should Have Stopped After Season 1

Why? Just make a season that doesn’t suck.

8. The Bear Symbolism Is Too On The Nose

I don’t care about the symbolism. It’s handled so ham-fistedly that it literally adds nothing to the show.

7. Ayo Edebiri Is Not A Good Sydney

Disagree. I know Sydney is a polarizing character (although if you want to find out actual valid reasons why someone might not like her, do expect that you’ll have to wade through a disturbing amount of hatred for ambitious black women), but her ‘problematic’ jerk moments are interesting to me, and I think are well acted.

6. Marcus Was Right to Keep Working on his Donuts

Obviously not, Marcus is a part of a brigade, work shift is no time for his pet projects. That said, the episode of Marcus in Copenhagen is the most boring episode in recent TV history. 35 minutes on basically telling me that he leveled up his cooking skill. That could have been an e-mail.

Also, this is why I hate fine dining. Instead of making delicious donuts, this guy spent months training how to prepare pretentious desserts that only the rich 1% will be able to afford. Good job, Marcus, you’re now ready to lick the boots of the rich elites.

5. Richie Was The Real Victim Of The Bear Season 1, Episode 7

No, and triple fuck Richie, the worst character of past decade in TV history. I remember reading one of the anti-Sydney threads on reddit hellhole, and people were posting in masses about how ‘well at least Richie isn’t as bad as Sydney’ and ‘at least Richie gets his redemption’. I’m now at S2E7 and I’m still waiting for this asshole to show any redeeming qualities. I don’t know, maybe I’ve had one too many toxic coworkers like Richie, but I hate this guy an unreasonable amount, I want to stick ice picks in his eye sockets and leave him to bleed out as a service to humankind.

4. The Bear Season 2 Was A Letdown

Yeah, no shit.

3. (ignored as it deals with S2 finale spoilers)

2. People Should Ship Sydney & Marcus, Not Syd & Carmy

Hard disagree. People can ship who they want, but both of these pairings will be dysfunctional. As someone who’s all about shipping, I will be the first to say that this show shouldn’t be about ships. All of these people are completely toxic workaholic assholes who have no time for relationships and should never consider entering one. Syd/Marcus and Syd/Carmy is essentially marrying your job for the second time.

1. Claire's Story In The Bear Season 2 Didn't Work

Again, no shit, and what I’m going to say shouldn’t be taken as an insult to Claire, I have nothing against her character, but rather to the way she was used. Claire is pretty much used to show that Carmy is unable to have normal healthy romantic relationships. But I already knew that from everything the show told us about Carmy before introducing Claire, so I feel like the show is treating me like a child by talking down to me and repeatedly pointing out the obvious. In the end, Claire is reduced to being a completely unnecessary story vehicle to tell us something we already knew, with no agenda of her own.

So yeah, as you can tell, it’s been a very rough watch. I definitely do NOT recommend The Bear to anyone. Do yourself a favor and stay well away.

#the bear #anti the bear #flaming anti bear rant #which sucks because bear is my spirit animal #but this show is irredeemable #bear critical

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astridthevalkyrie · 2 years

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standing at the crossroads: chapter 7

Captain Levi is your lover. But more importantly, he’s your superior, and you’re well prepared to follow him to hell if he needs you to. And when people start turning into titans, and every bloody death is one step closer to the truth, hell may be exactly where you’re going.

Chapter 6 | Series Masterlist

taglist: @whore-for-anime, @macaronnv, @sparklython, @marciabito, @rintarhoes, @honeycakiee, @dracq, @welcometofunkytown, @tokyo-banana, @andsothemonsterscrept, @c0urtn3y, @rukova, @deadlyaffairs, @yellowminb, @sempiternalxmusic, @lacheri, @midaribaby, @rawritzrobin, @meeraaa-17, @atinyarmyx1, @kissalix, @inaaavae, @castellandiangelo, @ackermandick, @missyasma, @tenaciouswritersheep, @notgoodforlife, @sakurashell, @lqme, @affection-thief

chapter warnings: female!reader, canon-typical violence, character death, torture, dark thoughts - pretty much the same as the last chapter

a/n: so i regretted it at first but i was definitely right to split this arc into two parts LMAO there are some slight changes from canon in this chapter during the fight scenes (and by changes i literally mean minor timing changes). all for storytelling reasons, my loves. enjoy!

You’re forgetting something important.

Except, you remember it just in the knick of time, so actually, you’re not forgetting anything at all.

“Hitch!” You call out to her before she disappears into the woods completely. The girl pauses, and turns to you with her brows raised. You need to work on how much you’ve been projecting onto others, but something about her reminds you remarkably of yourself, almost like staring into a far off mirror. Maybe in an alternate universe, this would have been you, so you think she’ll understand your request.

“If you come across Major Millie Shackel, I’d appreciate it if you passed on a message.” Taking her hand, you hold it up between both of yours. “Could you tell her that Ricky and (F/N) are both okay?”

Actually you’re not totally sure about the Ricky part, and it kills you. At best, he managed to get away before they arrested him, and at worst—the unimaginable. But you know Ricky is skilled in his own right, and you shouldn’t underestimate him. Still, you haven’t been able to have actual contact with him in months, only a few letters back and forth that Moblit was kind enough to deliver. And now that you’re a fugitive, even that isn’t an option.

You hope he’s giving them hell, wherever he is.

Hitch salutes, with her thumb touching her chest. “I’ll see to it, Lieutenant. I wish you all the success on your…mission.”

From her doubtful look, you can tell she’s still not completely sold that she’s doing the right thing by helping the Scouts—and who knows, maybe she’s not. But you’re grateful either way. “Thank you. Now the two of you get somewhere safe. Go.”

She nods before taking off and you watch her leave, hoping Millie gets the message. Knowing her, she’s worried, even if she won’t show it to anyone else.

“Alright,” Levi commands once you’re all situated, “this time, we’re picking the fight.”

And this time, you’re ready to do exactly that.

It takes a while to find an area that’s secure enough to question the prisoner the squad manages to capture. In fact, it’s late into the night by the time you locate a tree that’s just out of the reach of any MPs, even if it’s not as well hidden as you or Levi would have liked. Still, if you dawdle any longer, Eren may very well not make it. The thought makes your stomach twist into knots.

Before Levi can start, though, your hand jerks up, as though to stop him. He pauses, looking at you sharply.

What is it?

You clench your fists, remembering your newfound disdain for torture.

Let me talk to him first.

It’s the most you’ve questioned Levi’s orders in months. He gives you a hard look, then steps back.

Knock yourself out.

Stepping up, you kneel down in front of the man and turn on the charm. As charming as you can be to someone who’s a hostage, that is.

“My name’s (F/N) (L/N).” How the tables turn; now you’re praying once more that your mother’s influence reaches far and wide. “I’m asking you to tell us where Eren Jaeger and Krista Lenz are, please.”

“(L/N),” he repeats back to you, and then, more venom in his voice, “(L/N). You’re that uppity bitch’s sister, then?”

Eh. Not the worst thing she’s been called.

“Her daughter. You know her, that’s good. If you know her, then you know that she’s not someone who's bad side you want to get on. If you help me out, I’m sure that—”

He interrupts you, not by speaking, not by moving, but by sucking in a breath and then spitting straight onto your face.

Your jaw sets as you use your thumb to wipe it off, murmuring coolly, “Well, that was disgusting.”

“Burn in hell,” he seethes, “neither you nor your loudmouth mother frighten me. I’ll die before I give you shitheads what you want.”

Goddammit, you’re trying to help him, doesn’t he see that? It’s like he wants Levi to take over and make him cry. Staring him down, you try to get him to crack, to no avail. You can almost feel the silent anger from Levi behind you (although whether it’s because the man disrespected you or because he chose such a filthy way to do it, you’re not sure). But if he’s not going to cooperate with you, then you don’t have any other choice.

So you stand up with a resigned sigh, and step back as Levi takes your place. Immediately, he shoves his shoe straight into the man’s mouth, and you wince, looking away. “What really gets me is this mouth of yours,” he drawls, though you detect a hidden rage under the faux boredom. “I’m gonna suggest that you start talking while you’re still able to use it.”

Once, twice, thrice, he asks the same question. Where are Eren and Krista?

The first two times, the man finds it in him to snark. Before he can do it the third time, though, Levi breaks his arm, and that seems to break at least some of his resolve as well.

“I—I don’t know! Nobody told me, I swear! Kenny Ackerman doesn’t like to make his business known!”

Mikasa’s head jerks as yours lifts, and your eyes meet. Kenny Ackerman? Is he some relative of hers? You’d always had a slight suspicion from what Levi told you that Kenny was related to him in some way. But to learn that he’s related, or at least somehow connected to Mikasa instead…Mikasa, who you’d always thought had a resemblance to Levi…

The answer is screaming at you, but you’re too busy thinking about everything else going on to verbalize it right now.

“You best try to remember.” Levi grabs the man’s arm, twisting it behind his back. Your hand raises of its own volition—don’t do it—but no words come out. “You still have plenty of bones left for me to break.”

“Dammit!” the MP cries. “Are you insane?”

After a brief moment of consideration, Levi speaks, his tone the verbalization of shrugging.

“Maybe.”

“Somebody’s coming towards us!” Sasha raises her bow, preparing to aim. A second later, when the sound catches up to you, you raise your gun as well.

Your heart pounds. You’ll have to shoot. Whether it’s an MP or any other threat, you’re going to have to shoot. Can you—will you—?

Everyone kneels down, barely breathing, and you think, all considering the same question as you.

Until, that is, the stranger takes off their hood.

“Hange!” Sasha’s cry is partly surprised, partly relieved, and conveying exactly how you feel when you lower your gun gratefully. “It’s Hange!” she repeats to Levi, as though he can’t see for himself.

“And Moblit.” You don’t hesitate to hug him, and he pats your back as Hange delightfully chirps that she appreciates Sasha’s warm welcome. Normally not a common form of contact for the two of you, but you’re so relieved that you didn’t have to shoot someone that you don’t really care.

“I have something for all of you.” Hange holds up a piece of parchment, and you see her smile, in a way that’s so strange that it takes you a second to process it.

It’s a victorious smile. On a member of the Scout Regiment, it’s very odd indeed.

She hands the newspaper to Levi, and you immediately step behind him to read over his shoulder. Somehow, this becomes an invitation for everyone to read over Levi’s shoulder (a relatively easy task for most) and you find yourself completely squished against Levi as everyone’s eyes skim over the words.

And the more you read, the more you understand why Hange looked so victorious.

“In short,” she claims gleefully, “we’re no longer criminals.”

There’s a pause as everyone takes this information in.

And then, in the blink of an eye, the squad erupts. Jean whoops so loudly that Armin staggers back, crashing into you. At the same time, Sasha leaps onto Mikasa, who somehow doesn’t fall over. The same can’t be said for you and Armin, who topple towards the ground unceremoniously. You shield Armin’s head, tucking him into your stomach as you both fall, and all the while there’s a strange sound in the air.

The sound, you realize, is everyone’s laughter, including your own.

Surely it’s not this foreign. Surely it hasn’t been that long.

Whatever. You don’t care how long it’s been. It’s a good feeling, and you want to hang onto it for as long as possible. Giggling, you look down at Armin. “A-are you okay?”

“Fine,” and he looks like he’s fighting off a bright smile, “we’re not being hunted anymore, Lieutenant! We—“

He trails off, and you know exactly what he’s thinking.

“But we were before.” You say it low enough so that only he catches it. “Remember that, yeah? Don’t be angry at yourself for what you had to do in the moment.”

A sly voice, sounding like your own, wonders if maybe you should take your own advice.

But for now, you’re content to watch Armin nod, trying to make peace with himself.

And when you catch Levi’s eyes, he looks surprisingly…soft. His gaze, for once, isn’t downcast, or strict, but so familiarly affectionate, and it’s solely for you.

It’s been a while since you laughed, but even longer since you’ve laughed in front of him. And for the first time you consider it’s quite unfair that in punishing yourself, you’ve somehow begun to punish him too.

So you summon your every happy thought and give him a bright, dazzling smile. As everyone cheers, you look at him and he looks at you, and you see him swallow as he takes in what he’s seeing.

What you’d give to—to just jump in his arms and let him kiss you.

If he initiated it, you wouldn’t resist. Even though the squad’s here. Even though Hange’s watching. If Levi wants you, he has you. All he has to do is say the word. But he’s not the type for big romantic gestures like that, and the two of you agreed not to do something like that. And you forced yourself away.

You shake your head. If there’s anything you’ve learned, it’s that Levi is anything but predictable. The only thing you are certain about is that he’ll go out of his way to surprise you if that’s what the situation calls for, if it’s what he deems a necessary way to show you that he cares.

There is no way you could ever pay him back for all he’s given you. But Levi, bless him, seems satisfied just to see you smile at him, so you make a promise to yourself that you’re going to do better, which is a far easier promise than the rest.

By the time you reach the Reiss estate, it’s almost nighttime. The sun is teetering right on the edge of daylight and darkness, and a sort of luminescence bathes the mansion, leaving it naked and completely vulnerable. There are few guards in sight, and what’s more is that these guards are taken out almost too easily by just Mikasa and Levi alone.

Watching Mikasa kill only strengthens your resolve. If she, a child compared to you, can take another’s life, then what are you so afraid of? If she can do it, then what’s making you hesitate? For people who have turned their back on you first?

People like Traute Caven?

Gaze hardened, you get off your horse, knocking your canisters twice. No more hesitating. No more pussyfooting around. Traute killed Nifa—or at least enabled it. She assisted in the murder of one of her own. She’s been in the military as long as you have, and she’s done the unspeakable, so you will too.

Finally, you’re as ready as you possibly can be. Your promise to do better, and this is where it starts. You’re going to kill Traute Caven tonight, no matter what. Every step inside and down towards the cavern makes you more certain.

The captain stops at an entrance, where you can hear voices on the other end. “Barrels,” he demands at once. “Hange?”

“Ready.” She tosses you a canister of oil, which you generously spread across. “(F/N)?”

“I’ve got a good angle.” Rearing back, you get ready. “Sasha?”

With a whoosh, Connie lights the arrow in her bow on fire. “I won’t miss,” she promises. “On your signal, Lieutenant!”

“And everyone else? You guys prepared?”

“Yes,” Mikasa and Jean both claim in unison, and Mikasa adds, “Enough waiting. Let’s go.”

Levi flings the door open, and you kick, then move forward. The barrels roll down, but that’s not what catches their attention. It’s you following in right after, leaping down the stairs.

You have about two seconds to observe.

Rafters at every possible location. Plenty of easy areas for hooks to grip onto, left with several ways someone could still swing a sword around freely.

This fight is absolutely one that this squad can win.

“Now!”

As promised, Sasha doesn’t miss. Her arrow hits the barrel true to aim, and all at once everything explodes. You catch the glimpse of blonde hair right as the flames go up, and before she loses sight of you, you raise your sword, hoping she sees.

Everyone else is fighting to kill. You’re fighting to kill her.

“You accuse me of being responsible for a comrade’s death, but I’m not the one who led four of them straight to it.”

You’re going to kill her, right here, right now. You’re going to kill a person for the first time ever, and it’s going to be her.

Everyone attacks at the same time. The element of surprise will only last you so long, even with Armin’s brilliant tactics. You fly freely, almost recklessly, through the smoke. There is no hindrance. There is no stopping. There is only your advance.

Behind you, you hear a bone crunching, a sound you’d thought you’d only ever hear outside the walls. You wonder if it’s Connie or Jean that have just, for the first time, taken someone’s life.

But it’s neither, it’s Mikasa, and you know because she sweeps directly under you, not even stopping before she’s hunting her next victim. When you turn your head, then you see Jean, his sword stained red.

And a man behind him, raising his gun.

Oh no he won’t.

With a burst of speed, you ram forward, spinning your sword back in your hands. The same way Levi wields his swords, except he does it because it’s easier for him to kill that way. You do it so that the butt of the sword faces forward, so you can take that end and jam it straight into the man’s stomach.

He buckles over in pain, and before he can recover, Jean stabs him clean through the chest. His blood splatters on your face, but you don’t flinch, keeping a hard look at the man as he falls down to the ground below. He didn’t see Jean, so you were the last person he saw before his demise. It’s only fair you scorch his face into your mind too.

Why didn’t you kill him? Why did you let a child do your dirty work? Are you hesitating?

Don’t hold back, Levi had said.

I’m not the one who led four of them straight to it.

A gunshot rings out, it burns your ears, bleeds the questions out with one thought. Levi, Levi, Levi.

There’s no time for questions. You move forward, desperate to find him. On the way you assist wherever you’re needed, and your uniform stains, your face stains, and your chest is painted crimson, but your hands remain as they always have been.

All without any sign of Levi or Traute.

That is, until you hear Hange cry out.

You whip your head to the right, the smoke mostly gone by now, to see Hange, a bullet lodged in her arm, being thrown against a pillar like a common axe, before falling to the floor in a pool of blood.

The wire traces back to Traute.

You see red.

She doesn’t see you coming, how could she? You don’t give her time. Let’s see, you think, and it’s the only thought in your head, let’s see how you like it.

With one hand, you slice her cable. The other hand wraps around her neck, with the only choice you have being to choke the life out of her or to slice her neck open. Slicing is easy. Slicing will be instantaneous.

You’ve never considered yourself a sadist.

You want to kill her slowly.

Somewhere, Levi might need your help.

Somewhere, your teammates, your friends, are lying in a ditch.

You press on her jugular with wild eyes. Let her fucking suffer.

Traute finally catches on, clawing out of your grip. She frees herself, but you wrestle her guns out of her hand and toss them aside, losing your grip on your swords in the process.

Together, the two of you topple towards the ground, neither giving the other a chance to use their wires to fly away (not that she really can, considering you sliced them). At least she understands what this is. This time, both of you will not walk away alive.

Both of you hit the ground with a thud, rolling away. You scurry up just as she does, and she narrows her eyes at you, a bug on her shoe.

“Stop talking to me. I don’t like you.”

You don’t fucking like her either.

And you’ll kill her with your bare hands, if that’s what it takes.

She lunges, but you sidestep, kicking the back of her knee. She topples over, but sweeps your legs as she goes. You recover and attack again, this time on the offense. You throw a punch that she blocks with her palm, enclosing her hand over your fist. With that comes her counterattack, a swing at your jaw that you dodge.

She graduated with you. Promising to serve humanity and all that fucking noise.

Liar. Liar.

“Where was this passion when you were up against the Female Titan, huh?”

She’s trying to rile you up.

“Were you this angry when you let her kill them?”

She’s trying to rile you up, and it’s working.

“Shut up,” you seethe, “shut the fuck up, Caven.”

Finally, you sock her in the jaw, and she stumbles back. There’s a cut on her lips, which trickles blood onto her chin.

This seems to flip a switch in her. She leaps, knocking you on your back, giving you a perfect view of the battle up above. Reminding you that you two are dancing in a playground of growing corpses, even more feral than everyone else. Everyone else is fighting a stranger—almost everyone else—but this is personal.

“Did I hit a nerve?” she seethes. You attempt to push her off, but she holds you steady, her fist coming down to box your ears. The pain has everything ringing even louder than before. “Where was the camaraderie when you killed them, (F/N)?”

“I told you—“ You grit your teeth, trying to beat out the pain. “To shut—the fuck—up!”

Traute sneers. “Or what?”

Or I’ll kill you. Just like you killed the squad.

“I didn’t do it.” It’s poison on your lips, that’s how painful the words are. You don’t even know who they’re for. “I didn’t kill them!”

You manage to roll the two of you over, trapping her in between your knees and grabbing her by the collar.

“You didn’t protect them either!”

This time, you shriek.

“That wasn’t my fault!”

You land a blow on her face. Once, then again.

“Why couldn’t you save them?”

“It wasn’t my fault—it wasn’t!”

You punch her again.

“I tried to save them! I had no idea what would happen, I couldn’t—”

Another punch to her face.

“—but it wasn’t my fault! I tried. I tried!”

They’d been so, so, so dear to you. They’d been snuffed out so fast. No time for goodbyes, or to tell them you were sorry.

“There was nothing I could do! It wasn’t my fault!”

The smell of blood fills your senses. It could be anyone’s. Hange’s, or Levi’s, or Jean’s, or maybe it was from your own fists, that were becoming redder and redder with the amount of strain you were putting on them. Maybe it was the blood trickling down from Traute’s mouth.

There had been a splatter of blood each time one of them had died. That wasn’t blood you caused, but bearing witness to it had felt all the same.

Fuzzily, your mind slowly begins to catch up with what you’re spewing. Slowly, they start to form into actual thoughts.

“It wasn’t my fault!”

It wasn’t your fault.

“There was nothing I could have done!”

Nothing you could have done. Not your fault.

Tears spring to your eyes, tears that don’t fall. You didn’t kill them. They died, but you didn’t kill them.

And all it took to convince yourself of that was convincing Traute first. Reverse psychology was a bitch. Inadvertently, she had helped you.

The ringing finally stops, and it’s as if someone punches air back into your lungs.

In a terrible moment, in a wonderful second, you remember the time she gave you food off her plate. When she shared with her comrade, in a moment she absolutely did not have to.

Shakily, you release her and let her drop to the floor. She breathes as if in response, and you’re not sure when she fell unconscious, but you know that someone has never been easier to kill, and never have you not wanted to do it more.

And you also know that you didn’t kill Petra, Oluo, Gunther and Eld. To that end, there’s no reason for you to kill Traute either.

What felt like a giant bag of rocks on your back, pushing you down, seems to erupt into something like silk, gliding over you like a cleanser as you stagger back.

Whatever you are, you’re not a murderer. And you’re certainly not going to become one by killing a comrade.

You look up, shuddering, meaning to get to Hange if Moblit hasn’t already, and right in front of your eyes, Levi flies.

From below, you watch him, mouth parted. His teeth are gnashed together in a snarl, and his hair is flying everywhere. There’s blood on his cheek and a few tears on his sleeves. His eyes are narrowed, as though he can only see what’s in front of him.

He’s so beautiful. You don’t want to tear your eyes away.

Especially because as soon as you do, you see his own uncle in pursuit.

It could be a sixth sense? No, it must be. Nothing else explains how you’re up in the air, arm outstretched, even before Kenny raises his gun. Exactly as Erwin predicted.

Tick, tick, tick.

Levi’s seconds. Or yours.

You get the feeling that being shot is going to hurt worse than other things you’ve experienced. Not worse than the time you got a mosquito bite right on the sole of your foot, but it’ll probably be a pretty close second. And you have no idea how much death itself hurts.

Levi catches you from the corner of his gaze, and his eyes widen, wider than you’ve ever seen them. His right hand starts to come up to block you. and with his left, he throws something straight ahead.

You reach him two milliseconds before an explosion erupts, sending you flailing back.

And that’s not the most amazing thing. It’s how a force that sent you back only spurred him forward, and all you can do is watch as Levi flies through fire to slash Kenny in the stomach.

Flies through fucking fire.

He blew it up, you think hysterically.

Maybe he really is immortal.

“All of you, fall back!” Kenny barks, obviously in pain. The remaining soldiers begin to follow him. With smoke still in the air, it takes you a while to make out Hange, who Armin is tending to on the floor. She’s hurt, and unconscious, but she doesn’t look to be in terrible condition. Actually, no one does. Maybe they’re horrified, but physically, they’re not as worse for wear as the other squad is. Least of all, Levi.

He lands in front of Hange, taking a look at her wound. You fly up to the stairs, patting Sasha’s head reassuringly before grabbing gauze from one of the bags. “Who’s hurt?”

“You, Lieutenant.” Jean shows you his hand and you wrap the gauze around the cut on the back of his arm. “Your face is all messed up. Did we bring stitches?”

“Even if we did, there’s no time.” You jerk your head towards Mikasa, who’s already walking towards the other entrance in the cavern. “We have to keep going until we find Eren and Historia. Connie.” You turn to him. “Can you help with Hange? Take the bag. I’m going to scout ahead before we run into a trap.”

As you get back in the air, Levi calls out. “(L/N). Wait.”

Pausing on a wooden stand, you look down at where he’s standing. “We can’t afford to wait. With their retreat, it might speed up their plans.”

“I told you to—”

“I’m going to take a look. Follow me when you can.” You take off before he gets a chance to look at you with his honest, convincing eyes and ask you what you were thinking trying to take a bullet for him.

Because you don’t know what to tell him. There weren’t any thoughts. There was only an urgency. A plea. Don’t die. I’ll die if you promise not to. I love you.

No regrets. His own philosophy is against him.

“Mikasa.” You land, running after her. “Mikasa, at least confirm you’re alright.”

“I’m fine.” She stays quiet for a minute as the two of you run, saving on gas. “Is Major Hange…”

“I didn’t get a good look, but she’s going to be fine. I know her shoulder is cut pretty badly, but it’s Hange—she’s going to be fine.” This one doesn’t feel like a lie. You got close enough to see at least that much. “Look, there’s an opening ahead. Wait!”

Yanking her arm back, you use your sword to point. “They've got their guns pointed from afar. We can’t even try to cut the net without getting shot.”

Mikasa scowls darkly. “Can’t we blow it up from here?”

“We could, if we had more—”

“Gunpowder,” Armin finishes. You both turn to where he’s stepping up, Hange being supported between him and Moblit. Levi pushes on ahead of them as well, stopping right next to you as he takes in the situation. “We used all of it on the barrels. Sorry.”

“Captain. What do we do?”

Levi looks up, contemplating a break in the wall, covered by a gate. If it wasn’t blocked, then it could be a viable escape route, but even then, it wouldn’t help you reach Eren and Historia.

And before anyone can try to pry it open, a yellow light bursts through the cavern.

“Eren!”

He could have been the one who transformed. Or, you realize with a wrench in your stomach, it could be the person who’s about to eat him.

A tremor through the grounds turns into a full on earthquake, making all of you stumble. Levi digs his sword into the ground, and the rest of you follow suit, holding on tight. “Hey guys, this place is about to collapse!” Sasha cries.

“Captain!” Armin points towards the now available escape route. “It opened up!”

“Okay, Armin, Moblit! You two take Hange and find a way out of here!” Shielding his eyes from the rubble, he looks at you. “You go with them too.”

“What?” Maybe you didn’t hear him right. You bring your arm up as well, flinching away from the light. “No, they don’t need more than two people, I’m coming with you!”

“I said, go!

“No!”

“I’m your captain, (L/N)!” His face morphs into a snarl. “Now go with them, that’s an order!”

What the fuck…?

Oh.

Because you were going to take the shot for him. He can’t trust you anymore.

So, you might have a few regrets after all.

The whole squad is watching, waiting. Except with the whole place crashing down, you don’t have the luxury to wait.

Screw this.

Brushing past him, you walk up to the net, where, as you predicted, all of the soldiers are too busy trying not to die to be able to shoot. With an expert slash, you leave a wide, gaping hole in the net.

“This way.” Your eyes lock with Levi’s. “Or are we going to waste even more time?”

Still, no one moves. Not until Levi does first, shoving your shoulder as he goes through the net, beckoning for everyone to follow. Moblit catches your gaze, and you think you see a semblance of realization on his face.

Is it worth it, to dedicate yourself and to help humanity, if you lose Levi’s trust? Have you finally broken something beyond repair?

Of course it’s worth it. Of course it’s worth it for humanity.

But, you resolve, going through the net to continue the mission, that doesn’t mean you’re not going to fix this. No more running away from your problems or from Levi. If you can free yourself from the guilt, then you can fight for him too.

Once you both make it out of this alive, naturally.

Locating Eren and Historia turns out not to be a problem at all, as you follow the light. You find Eren chained up, Historia frantically unlocking his chains, and…

And a fucking titan. Of course.

Another blast throws Historia into Mikasa’s arms. The rest of you dive towards Eren, Connie going for his legs and you, Levi and Jean holding Eren back from plummeting to his death.

Eren is crying as he tries to tell you all something, but you can barely make it out. You’re able to drag him back just as a boulder drops to the spot he was just in, cutting the edge of the ground clean off.

In no time at all, there’s nowhere to stand but with your backs to the wall, to avoid falling off to your dooms, as you stare up at a titan that must be at least a hundred meters tall.

This is a much more fitting way to die, much more preferable to a bullet. The only stitch in the plan is, you don’t really feel like dying anymore. Not until you make things right with Levi, not until you get to see Ricky again and write Millie her three page letter. You know that somewhere, Traute has probably already been buried under the rubble, and you will take the time to remember and grieve for her properly.

“Dammit! We’ll be buried alive!”

“No, we won’t.” Eren is on your left, and you keep a firm grasp on his hand, the other hand stretching far to keep both Jean and Connie in place. “We’re going to get out of this, because I said so.”

Jean looks incredulous, but Connie lets out a little hysterical laugh. Sasha shudders, her hand gripping Connie’s shirt.

On your left, Levi looks at you from the other end, uncertainty dancing in his eyes. You stare back for a second, wanting so badly to grab him, to kiss him, and then to get the hell out of here, somehow. But you don’t, staying rooted where you are. Mikasa holds onto Historia’s arm like she’s scared she’ll fly away, and Eren…

Eren’s hand goes slack against yours, and he sinks down to the ground. “I’m sorry,” he whimpers, tears falling down his cheeks, “I’ve been dead weight every step of the way. This power never should have been given to me. I can’t be humanity’s hope, I’m just too weak.”

“Eren,” you begin softly, but Jean interrupts you, apparently done with the bullshit.

“Come on, stop playing the tragic hero. Of course you’re too weak to accomplish jack by yourself, but no one expects you to.”

“Yeah, calm it down,” Connie chimes, a wry grin on his face, “We’ve been through a lot worse than this, man.”

“Not that I really wanna get used to it!”

“Still, it’s gonna suck trying to fly through that mess.”

“We’ll do it, Eren,” you say, eyes blazing. “I promise.”

Sasha laughs too, breathless. “I’d love whatever confidence kick you’re on, Lieutenant.”

“I’ll take Eren.”

“It’s gonna take all that we have to not get hit, so hold on for your life.”

“Right.” Historia is determined, a much different girl than the one you’d done some morning drills with, or even the quiet shell that’s lived with you all these months. This Historia is a girl that wants to live just as much as you do. She speaks to Eren with all the ferocity of a queen, commanding his presence without even raising her voice too much—and she doesn’t even know that she’s meant to be the queen yet.

But Levi’s words are what makes your ears perk up. “Listen, I really hate that I do this to you all the time, but…” He turns, a care in his voice that you’ve only seen with a rare few people. It hits you that Levi really has found a new squad, as different as they may be from the old one, and that you two have begun to forge a certain type of family once more, in your own different ways.

“You’ve gotta make a choice here.”

Eren, trust us! That’s what Petra had said. That’s what you say to him again, as he looks up at you desperately. The past does not define the future. It’s about time both you and him learned that.

Eren makes his choice. He runs.

“Eren!”

Both of your arms flatten the teens against the wall, as the rubble starts to come down with hard crashes. Mikasa yells, her hand reaching out to stop Eren’s suicide mission.

Another glowing light emerges in the room, the usual orange of Eren’s transformation that then turns into an icy blue.

Icy blue like…ice. Or stone, or titan matter—you don’t really care what it is, just that it’s offering you protection.

“Come on! Get under Eren!” Levi shouts.

From this position, you can see all the boulders falling, and the titan that is slowly going out into the open. A problem that you will have to deal with after the scare of surviving by the skin of your teeth once again.

If possible, your confidence grows even more, because Eren really does never cease to amaze you.

“Holy shit,” Sasha whispers, before passing out into your arms.

Moblit is waiting for you when you all finally make it out of the cavern.

You catch your breath, lying on the ground, as Moblit squeezes your shoulder. “Made it out okay after all?”

“For now.” You do your best, which isn’t very great at all, to stop the quirking of your lips. “Did you get a good look at that titan?”

He groans in a sort of despair. “As long as I’m not looking, I’m going to avoid thinking about it.”

“Good tactic. How’s Hange?”

He sighs, but his shoulders have already sagged with relief. “Already up and forming plans.”

So she’s alright. Thank God. For once, your positive thinking hasn’t let you down.

“The grass is definitely nice.” Moblit pats your hair. “But we have a horse for you to ride on too.”

You open one eye. “Jean’s going to give me a ride?”

From two feet away, Jean’s mouth falls open, as though he’s never felt true betrayal until this moment.

Soon enough, you do end up on horseback, following alongside the titan, which is so huge that it’s crawling its way to the nearest town. Orvud, you’re pretty sure, just outside Mitras. And while you’d love to give Mitras a scare for being pretentious, you have to save all the innocent people and whatnot.

This cavalier attitude is sudden, but not wholly unwelcome. You’re being blasé because you’ll stop that titan with your own body if need be.

The group comes to a pause when Commander Erwin intercepts, giving you a nod from afar. He checks in with everyone—which is nice for him to do, since you’re trying to be positive—before letting Levi fill him in.

Upon a closer inspection, Erwin looks terrible. In a not-shitty way, you hope that he’s the only one who had to face the wrath of the Military Police and (fake) royalty. Ricky didn’t do anything wrong, and neither did the other members of the regiment. If this had gone differently, and you had a failed revolution on your hands, it wouldn’t make sense for anyone but Erwin, Hange, Levi and their respective squads to take the fall for it, and even then you would have felt affronted if exceptions weren’t made for being young (Eren and the rest) or for being hot (you, maybe Levi).

You just hope Ricky’s alright. No matter how much you divert from the point, you love Ricky, and if he dies then a part of you will die with him.

But he won’t. He’s fine, and they probably didn’t even get a chance to think about doing something to him before the Scouts overthrew the government. Best case scenario, he’s not there. Best case scenario, he’s somewhere worrying about you instead.

The commander says he has a plan in mind, and everyone begins the trek to Orvud, debating the whole while. Your head is clearer than it’s been in months. So even when you listen to Historia’s reasoning for killing her own father, you’re able to keep it together.

“I have another point in Eren’s favor, by the way.” You ride alongside the cart, giving both Eren and Historia a reassuring grin. “Your titan isn’t nearly as fear-inducing as that monstrosity. Guess we know you didn’t get your looks from him, Historia.”

She seems shocked, but then, curiously, she chuckles weakly. Eren, on the other hand, looks at you, unsure. You slip your flask out from the saddle bag, offering it to him.

He quirks a brow, but takes a sip, and his eyes perk up a little at the protein-filled, bone-strengthening taste of milk inside.

You’ve always been good at that. Cheering people up. And it feels good to do that again, to bring the mood up even when a nightmare is crawling not too far away.

But you’re also good at fighting, which brings you to the next person you need to talk to.

Riding up ahead to catch up with Levi, you make sure Erwin is too far ahead to hear before addressing him.

“What you did back there, Captain.” More like what he tried to do. His attempt to bench you couldn’t go ignored, unless you wanted to sit out while bringing down Rod Reiss as well. “Don’t—don’t ever do that again.”

Usually, Levi would look ahead when addressing you if he didn’t particularly want to have the conversation at hand. But you suppose maybe he does, because he looks right at you, and for the first time, you see a real anger in his irises directed towards you. Not concern concealed as rage, not mild annoyance, but actual fury.

“You’re giving me orders now?”

Eyes hardening, you don’t back down. “I will if your orders are stupid.”

“Stupid. Right.” Levi is on guard, like he’s waiting for something to blow up. “My next order should just be for you to kill yourself, that’s what you’d like, isn’t it?”

As you purse your lips together, words and justifications fly through your mind. But you only ask him, “Do you expect me to live forever? To put myself above the cause?”

“I expect,” Levi spits, “that you don’t actively search for death. I expect you to remember who you fucking are.”

Who you are? You know who you are. You’re…you’re…

“Despite what you might think, I didn’t put you on my squad just because of how I felt. I didn’t put you on just because of your skill, or how fast of a learner you are. I put you on my squad because I remembered you were the first person to question me in a long time.”

You look up, eyes wide, but Levi is staring ahead again, his tone still coursed with anger.

“And now you, what, want to throw your life away for me like it’s worth nothing? Fucking worship me, compare me to whatever God people believe in? I’m not your God, you don’t bow down to me or anyone else. If you think that I’ll let you do this—die for me, follow every order I say without question—”

“I didn’t,” you say, in one rushed breath.

Levi turns to you, and you spill your heart’s content to him.

“You’re right. You’re absolutely right. I have started to follow you mindlessly. After,” you swallow, “After the 57th, I couldn’t trust myself anymore, so I could only trust you. But…but you’re right, that’s not me. And I realized that in the cavern. Levi, I didn’t obey your orders without question. You told us to kill them, and I didn’t.”

He stares, mouth parted, hanging on your every word. It almost makes you tremble.

“I spared my comrade down there. Not that it mattered in the end—she died anyway. But that wasn’t my fault. I’m done blaming myself. You want to know my limits, Levi? I’m not going to kill other people for you. Especially not other soldiers. I don’t care which side they’re on, we’re all wearing the same jacket regardless of the symbol. And whatever you have to say about that, frankly, I don’t care. Maybe I could die for you, but I won’t kill for you, no matter what.”

For the longest time, he doesn’t say anything, but he continues to stare. You stare right back, remembering how you were hooked on him since the first time you saw him, how you’d been in love for two years without even realizing it. You recall every time he’s slowly rubbed his thumbs over your shoulder blades, kissing in between them and whispering against your back how he was going to treat your wound as long as you could manage to stay still. How even now, he’s angry with you for not being true to yourself, the weirdest thing someone has ever been mad about you for your entire life.

“You just called me Levi,” he says finally, in awe, “even though someone could hear.”

“Yeah.” Gripping your reins tight, you nod. “I’m starting to realize I don’t really care if they do.”

Once you arrive in Orvud, the commander handles communications while you change into less damaged gear. Right as you’re tightening the belts, a small blonde figure approaches you.

“Lieutenant,” Historia murmurs, sitting down, “your last name…is from a noble family, isn’t it?”

You stop in your tracks, because you know where this conversation is going.

“If someone asked you to…to give up the life you’ve made for yourself, and live up to that family name, could you?” She looks up, revealing the terrified fifteen year old under all her bravado. “Would you?”

“No,” you answer immediately, “no, I think they would take me kicking and screaming.”

“Then how can I do this? I promised…someone, that I would live a life I could be proud of. A life where I was happy.” She sits, taking deep, labored breaths. “And becoming queen is not what I envisioned. It’s not a happy life.”

For a minute, you’re quiet, taking a moment to finish putting your gear on and giving her the chance to say anything else. When she stays silent, you slide down next to her.

“I don’t think I’m living the life others want for me, either. But, Historia,” and here you nudge her to make her look up at you, “I am doing what my gut tells me will help the people I care for. There are always going to be sacrifices made, no matter what path you choose in life. I’ve chosen this one, the life of a soldier, and I’ve given up on riches, a comfortable life, and a family. But…I get to protect people. People I know and people I don’t. And that’s something I won’t give up, not as long as there’s at least one person left.”

Historia’s lip trembles. You see a few tears splash down onto her hands.

“If you want to run, I’ll help you run.” Her head snaps up at your offer, eyes glossed over. “Don’t let anyone force you. What does your gut say, Historia?”

She wipes her tears before answering. It takes a while, more seem to come out as she wipes them away. You even help out, brushing a few away with your thumb. When she looks like she can speak again, she answers.

“My gut says I’m the rightful heir to the throne, and that I need to convince these people of that. And that’s exactly what I’m going to do. And then,” she decides, “with your permission, sir, I’m going to punch Captain Levi really hard.”

Your lips quirk. “If that’s what’ll make you happy, Your Majesty, I fully support you in that decision.”

As soon as she leaves, you stand. Maybe you know nothing about being queen, but you do know when you’re being watched.

Levi steps out from where the dark of night was cloaking him. He’s still in his grey shirt, ready with his ODM gear, and he opens his mouth to give you orders.

Oh no. He’s going to try and bench you again.

“If I don’t see you slash at least five pieces of that bastard when we blow him up,” he warns, “you’ll wish you were still living a life of riches.”

With that, he leaves, right as you feel a rush of affection for him. Direct orders, a not-so-serious threat, Levi being mean just because he can.

Finally, finally, the two of you are back in sync.

It’s fucking insulting how easily Rod Reiss is taken down. That’s what one gets, Levi reasons, when they apparently lick fuck-knows-what off the fucking floor.

All in all, there’s just one loose end that he needs to worry about now. After all, losing isn’t a word in Kenny’s vocabulary. If the man had a dictionary, losing would be replaced with winning after multiple tries.

Maybe that’s what makes it so difficult to see him lying there as he dies.

Levi’s mind reels. Brother. His mom’s brother.

His uncle.

His uncle, dead.

And before he left, he’d still manage to impart some wisdom, as though he was an actual father figure. It was muddled, somewhere in a story about the royal family and titans and the story of how he himself was raised, but Levi heard it regardless. He knows that at the end of the day, it’s a foolish lesson. To always live for something doesn’t mean you’re going to actually achieve it, and Kenny is the prime example. Would he find Uri again, now that he’d joined him in death? Would he find the peace he’d been so desperately searching for? There weren’t any certainties at all.

The walk back feels slow. For the first time, he properly considers the small things—the grass, the sky, the wind—although he supposes those are the big things, and he’s really the one that’s small in comparison. He can practically hear Hange cackling at the thought of him making a short joke about himself.

Levi knows what he’s alive for, to participate and die fighting this shitty war. But he does start to put the pieces together that the things that one stays alive for are not the same things they live for, and that neither of those things have a guarantee of staying.

From a distance, he sees her, and he stops.

Speaking of considering the small things—she’s the duchess of that. Levi thinks she gets a thrill of remembering how small she is compared to the rest of the world. Where other people might find something like that depressing, she revels in it. When she gained the sky, she never let go.

“Captain?” she calls out, concern for him evident. “Are you alright?”

Is he? If alright can be described as feeling the world stop, just because a single person looks at you, then yes, he’s alright. If feeling alright means that just for a moment, he understands the difference between being alive and living, then yes, he’s alright.

She’s too far away.

His feet start to move on their own. Quick movements lead him across the field, with not a single soldier that’s underfoot getting in his way.

Being with this foolish fucking woman takes precedent. They’ve been apart for far too long, because she couldn’t forgive herself and because he couldn’t help her, no matter his best efforts. It was a path she was forced to go down alone, but now that she looks like herself again—with a shining smile lit up in his direction even as she’s asking him a question—Levi finds he can’t wait any longer.

So in front of everyone, with prying eyes on both of them, he walks up to her and crashes her against him, wrapping her up in his arms and burying his face in her neck. (F/N) gasps, but her hands come up immediately to place on his back, her breath soft on his cheek.

He hugs her the way he’s wanted to for ages, resolved that unlike his uncle, he’s not going to wait for someone to die before he shows them that they’re his world.

“Levi.” His name sounds sweeter than it ever has before coming from her confused but light tone. “People are watching, you know.”

“I know,” he says, holding her closer.

“Ah.” Then her hand comes up to rest on the nape of his neck, and she presses her lips to his cheek. “Cool. As long as you’re aware.”

She doesn’t let go, and neither does he.

The cleanup of the Reiss estate does take a while. During this time, you’re sure you see Moblit force Hange to sit down at least a dozen times. Every five minutes, Jean, unable to help himself, makes some dig about how Eren can at least harden one thing, almost as though he’s reassuring himself that as long as Eren bites back or fumes, he’s alright. You demonstrate your handstand to Connie at Historia’s request, but he shows you up by doing a backflip and insisting that it’s more impressive than your right side flip. All the while, Levi’s touch remains ignited on your skin.

The two of you don’t truly get a moment alone until a bit later, when the sun is at its peak. You’d managed to evade most questions about your relationship. Finally, you get a chance to sneak away, and he follows, while the rest of the squad is invited to take a break and eat. You guide him to a tree with a good amount of shade, and you both sit, leaning against the bark.

Only your hands meet, his on top of yours, curled into your palm. You feel giddy, like you’re a cadet with a crush all over again, but it also feels…pure. Sitting here in an open area, holding hands, with not a care in the world.

“Ackerman,” comes his quiet voice. You look questioningly, and he says, “That’s my name. Levi Ackerman.”

It’s almost as if a part of you already knew with the way it naturally falls into his place. Of course that’s his name, it suits him perfectly. As a new day begins, he gets to move forward with an identity finally revealed to him.

“Levi Ackerman,” you breathe, completely, wonderfully stuck between being ecstatic and being smitten, “it’s so nice to finally meet you.”

#attack on titan #aot x reader #levi x reader #levi ackerman x reader #levi ackerman #satc #superior #valkyrie stories

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demxters · 1 year

Note

AHHH CONGRATULATIONS AGAIN!!! 💗✨

Would love to request something for your celebration!!! I just feel like Mickey would be the most supportive boyfriend, like he’s always cheering you on and doing the absolute most to get your spirits up and motivate you 🥹

And from one hot cocoa enthusiast to another, would it be too much to include sharing a cup with Mickey? No pressure though!

(this is def not me projecting while I try to get through this week 😭👀)

ty anna!! <3 sending you so much love to get through the rest of the week. you’ve got this hun!! (also i apologize this got so long... and for what)

Fanboy’s Five Step Plan To A Better Day...

*gif credit: @abagncle

look at this absolute sweetheart. he is, quite literally, your biggest fanboy

mickey is BIG on words of affirmation, in fact it’s one of his love languages

not only is he a supportive boyfriend but he’s also an attentive one

so when he sees that you’re struggling, he pulls out all the stops to keep your morale up

if he can’t be with you in person, he’d send you a text every hour or every two hours with encouraging words, funny tik toks, and silly memes to get you smiling

fanboy: hey honey, just a few more hours left. hang in there! *insert some form of a cat meme*

he’d also send you voice memos and call you when he has the time

“you’re doing great today, love. keep your head up. can’t wait to get home to you. i’ve got a pretty good story about something payback did during training today that i think will make you laugh. love you and see you soon.”

when he finally does get home, his first instinct is to automatically scan his surroundings

he likes to look for things such as dirty dishes and the faint smell of left overs or take out, or the ruffled cushions of the couch. that alone is enough to tell him if you’ve been taking care of yourself or not while he was at work

nine times out of ten, the answer is that you haven’t been and it hurts his heart a little because he hates the thought of you feeling so down that you haven’t been able to take care of yourself

lucky for you, mickey’s five step plan is surely enough to give you the little mood boost you need

step one: queue your comfort show on netflix and run your favorite fluffy blanket in the dryer

step two: find his honey. the second he locates you, the first thing he does is greet you with a soft kiss to the top of your head and a gentle shoulder massage to ease your tense muscles

step three: communication! similarly to our other favorite WSO (hi bobby), fanboy is also big on communication. he knows that there are some days where your mood is so heavy and your thoughts are so loud that you want nothing more than your peace and quiet. so, he’ll ask you how your day has been. he’ll gage from your response alone if it’s a netflix and cuddles day, a sit in comforting silence day, or a day that you want to be left alone

he got lucky that today would be a netflix and cuddles type of day (aka his favorite; though if we’re being honest any time he gets to spend with you is his favorite type of day)

sometimes you can be a bit needy and request for him to carry you downstairs

“as you wish,” he’ll reply, quoting his favorite movie of all time

mickey would place you gently on the couch and tell you to wait right there while he grabs your blanket from the dryer

now freshly warmed, he drapes it securely around your shoulders before attempting to head to the kitchen

you’ll playfully pucker your lips and tilt your head towards him and whisper a soft, “kiss me”

you do this every time, and it still makes him blush every. time.

“as you wish,” he’ll repeat once more before placing the sweetest of kisses onto your lips

then he’ll place a couple more obnoxiously wet kisses all over your face until he gets his favorite sound out of you

“there you are…i’ve been wanting to hear that sound all day.”

he gives you one last kiss on the lips for good measure before heading to the kitchen

step 4: prepare the cups of cocoa

fanboy has a very particular way of making hot cocoa, one that you could never replicate yourself. it’s gotten to the point where you can only drink hot cocoa HIS way

it’s your comfort drink really

he prepares your drinks and heads back to you, carefully handing you your hot cocoa in the hand painted mug he gave you for your birthday (it has little airplanes on it painted in your favorite colors)

step 5: cuddlescuddlescuddles

mickey is the kind of boyfriend that likes when his legs are resting in your lap

he’ll peel the blanket off your shoulders and bring one end across his own while smushing himself as close as possible to you

the two of you sit with your cups of hot cocoa, reveling in the comfort and silence the other brings as the tv runs in the background

neither of you are actually paying attention to the show, instead just basking in each other’s presence

even then, fanboy will let out soft praises and words of affirmation, making all the bad feelings of the day finally fade away

“i’m so proud of you, honey”

“i believe in you”

“just a little bit more, then you can finally rest”

“i love you”

#mickey fanboy garcia #mickey garcia x reader #fanboy garcia x reader #holiday headcanon sleepover

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sxugaryx · 2 months

Text

Confrontation (Fanfic)

New chapter from my main series 🩷

Haneul knew it was dangerous to break into a police station, however, he needed to do this, there is only one true way for him to prove to his sister who he truly is.

The cryptic vessel he left behind for her.

He read how no one had been able to decipher his message, it made sense, it’s already hard to crack, not to mention how most deciphering devices used are only cheap copies of the real ones.

Making his way into the evidence room, he found what he was looking for, this is it, leave now, go find her, and explain. However, seeing the message, seeing how he could only pray to God at that time to save her from any more harm, how he thought he failed her.

It enraged him, how dare Parrot try to end his life? After everything he did for that bastard? He stole the important antiques to sell them, but that wasn’t enough that man stole his identity, he would have ruined his reputation if the truth hadn’t been found out.

Haneul looks at his missing arm, how he refused to die, it’s a miracle he wasn’t killed by the infection he had while recovering. After that entire fiasco, it took him so long to feel at least decent, yet when he found out his sister was alive, it gave him strength.

Parrot is still being detained at the station detention center, his trial has ended and tomorrow he is going to be sent to prison, it’s now or never to talk to him.

Despite his better judgment he decided to sneak into the cells, odd, it’s almost empty, despite the fact that Krat has been having more issues lately, it’s not as if arrests haven’t been made for petty crimes, did they all get sent to prison already? Currently, there is only Parrot and a prisoner who is asleep, snoring loudly.

“I can’t believe this is what I get, I don’t deserve this” Parrot was talking to himself in his cell.

That only made Haneul more enraged, he got closer to the cell, now standing in front of him.

“What do you want?” Parrot was irritated, “Not another damn reporter, seriously even at this time of night you leeches won’t leave me alone?!”

Parrot was without his mask, although Haneul will at least do him the service of not saying his real name, he at least holds that small honor of the stalker code for the man he hates.

“I want to know why” Haneul’s voice was filled with rage.

Parrot’s face became pale, “No, I’m going crazy, this isn’t real, I’m hallucinating him”

“It’s me Parrot” Haneul took off his mask for a moment before putting it back, they knew each other for years and did share their identities at one point “Maybe the next time you try to kill someone, you should verify they actually died”

“But that can’t be!” Parrot looked panicked, “That monster, it grabbed you and-”

“Answer me” Haneul interrupted him.

“What do you mean why?!” Now Parrot was furious too, “You and your damn white knighting”

“What is that supposed to mean?” Haneul was baffled.

“I’m sorry but keeping all those damn antiques didn’t pay the damn bills you know that?!” Parrots shouted, he didn't seem worried about the other prisoner waking up, he knew they wouldn’t wake up, having been subjected to that awful snoring for the past few days.

“You could have literally done so much more before doing that” Haneul wasn’t having any of it, “At the very least you could have talked to me”

“Oh don’t give me that bullshit” Parrot crossed his arms, “What else was I supposed to do? I doubt you would have given me a raise”

“I would have!” Haneul was starting to get emotional, “We were partners for years, I would have found a way to help you pay your bills”

“Sure, Mr. Perfect has a solution for everything doesn’t he?” Parrot sarcastically replied, “You were struggling as well, the economy was going to hell with that damn disease”

Before Haneul could speak up again, Parrot interrupted him.

“Those were only antiques, what were you going to even use them for? They were there accumulating dust”

Haneul took a deep breath, “You don’t get it, do you? I don’t think you ever saw the true value, only the monetary value”

“All I saw, is that Geppetto’s puppet made me a rich man for some time” Parrot laughed, “That handsome idiot, Geppetto made his puppet a good fighter but he certainly didn’t make him smart”

Parrot remembers when he told that stupid puppet the truth, he was furious, grabbing his weapon, for a moment he was scared, only for a moment, remembering that the puppet couldn’t truly hurt him. So he shrugged it off, although he didn’t see the boy after that.

What Parrot doesn’t know is that Pinocchio could have murdered him, the poor boy was just tired of killing, more so after his battle with the Black Rabbit Brotherhood, and for him to kill somebody that wasn’t even attacking him… After that, Hugo the explorer was the one who started selling rare treasures to Pinocchio since he didn’t go back to see Parrot.

In his mind, Parrot was having a great time, his pockets were full, and the alchemists had promised him a way out.

Maybe he is the stupid one for believing the alchemists.

At first, he didn’t panic, Krat was back to normal, so he still pretended to be Alidoro, he even found himself a nice place. Then he was discovered, the simple truth of him not missing a finger, everyone was enraged, he hid for months and months, he saved money instead of wasting it to escape from Krat, but was caught as soon as he got to the station.

“Perhaps that I could have forgiven” Haneul took another step closer, too close to the cell, “But why take my identity?”

“Because-”

“Because you were Parrot? Because of some ridiculous form of imitation?” Haneul was done with him.

“No one knew what you did, yet it wasn’t enough for you” His previous partner could have gotten away with it had he not stolen his identity.

Haneul had murder in his eyes, “Then all the lives you harmed, the people inside Hotel Krat, my….”

He has to control himself, he can’t let his anger consume him.

“I trusted you, we used to be friends” Haneul took a few steps back, “Hopefully, no one else has the displeasure of being a fool like I was”

Haneul turned to leave but Parrot started shouting.

“Please Alidoro!” Parrot knows not to use his real name, which would enrage him more, Parrot had his hands on the cell bars, shaking them in despair “Please you don’t understand they gave me the death penalty!”

Haneul kept up with the trial so he knows about that.

“I don’t deserve to die” Parrot was begging him, “Maybe I deserve to be imprisoned but not to die!”

“They didn’t give you the death penalty just because of what you did to me” Haneul turned around to face him again, “They did it for all the horrible things you did, for working with the alchemists”

“That’s not fair!” Parrot was getting desperate, “I wasn’t the only one that worked for them, the Black Rabbit Brotherhood and those siblings, they-”

“What siblings?” Haneul was intrigued, he didn’t know about that.

“They, I-” The truth is, Parrot bolted as soon as he compromised Hotel Krat’s security, but he does know the Black Rabbit Brotherhood wasn’t alone, he only knows they were siblings because he overheard the female stalker saying the word brother to her partner, “Look I don’t know who they were, all I know is that they helped raid the Hotel, you seem interested in those that were at Hotel Krat, maybe if I-”

“I’ve heard enough” Haneul turned around again, “I hope you rot in hell”

As Haneul left, he could hear Parrot begging him to come back, to forgive him. Then at the end cursing him, he hid behind a corner as he saw a guard approaching the cells.

Haneul left and took a deep breath, did those stalkers harm his sister in any way? He needs to get to the bottom of that, are they still around or are they dead?

For now, he needs to reveal the message to her. Then he can make his plans, although the more he thinks about it, the more he simply wants to leave with her, back to their homeland.

Tomorrow he will reveal the truth, no more cowering out of the situation, he needs to face her, to finally talk to her as siblings. To tell her how much he loves her.

——

“I’m surprised you didn’t know how to braid your hair,” Eugéne said to Pinocchio.

She was braiding his hair carefully, today Pinocchio was wearing his cute pink dress so it seemed fitting. A lot of people thought he was a girl while on his way here; he also got one strange comment.

“Eugéne” Pinocchio was curious he had never heard that word before, and it didn’t seem like an insult, “What’s a twink?”

She covered his mouth to prevent herself from laughing, “Oh um, well…”

Should she tell him? She doesn’t think Geppetto would be happy about that, she is sure the man must have heard at least once someone call Carlo a twink, so he most likely knows what the word means.

“Is it a bad thing?” Pinocchio could tell she was nervous.

“Uhhh…” Depending on what was said to him, although probably it was flirting, “You see…”

“Never mind,” Pinocchio said, he shouldn’t think so much about it, he got a lot of different comments while outside and it’s not as if he should let him affect him.

Eugéne breathed in a sigh of relief as she continued to make his hair, showing him how to do it himself next time and putting the pink bow at the end of the braid.

They were having a great time, unfortunately, Pinocchio had to bring up the subject.

“Have you gotten any calls from him?” Pinocchio had explained to her, as well as his mother what had been going on with Arlecchino.

“No” Eugéne then looked at one of her weapons, “Just in case, I’ve been practicing more and more, I’ve been carrying a weapon with me at all times as well”

Pinocchio was relieved she wasn’t in danger, but he still felt uneasy.

“Don’t worry, I’m sure you’ll catch him like you did last time”

“I…” Pinocchio paused for a moment, “I’m worried about my uncle Venigni”

Pinocchio can tell he feels more on edge and hasn’t been acting like his usual self, it must be so hard to pretend he is okay in front of others.

Venigni had to disconnect his phone line because he was having a panic attack each time the phone rang. Arlecchino didn’t stop there, no he did something similar to what he made Pinocchio see, the next two dead bodies found were sown together to resemble Venigni’s parents. Worse is that people noticed that, so the media was talking intensely about it, now everyone in Krat knew his taunting message, Venigni keeps getting questions about whether he knows why the killer did it, not being able to reveal the truth makes it even worse.

“I don’t know how to help him” Pinocchio looked at the floor, “I tried what I usually do to cheer up my father, but it doesn’t work”

“Pinocchio…” Eugéne was trying to find a way to explain it to him, “Anything you do for your father, no matter how simple it is, it’s going to cheer him up because you are his son”

Pinocchio turned to look at Eugéne again, so she continued.

“However even if Mr. Venigni is family, it’s a different type of bond” Eugéne gave out a sigh, “Not to mention how his trauma and your father’s trauma are different”

Pinocchio nodded, he understood what she was saying.

“Do you have trauma Eugéne?” Pinocchio asked.

“Everyone has traumas” Eugéne explained, “Some might be more intense than others”

Watching your parents die or your son die while being completely powerless is pretty intense.

For Pinocchio obviously having to kill even if it is self-defense it’s something extremely traumatic, not to mention all the other dangers he faced.

Lady Antonia almost died from the petrification disease, she can’t imagine what it must have felt like, to have your body slowly start turning stiff as stone.

As for her, she can barely remember her family so maybe it didn't affect her as much, being an orphan was a little tough as she had to deal with some bullying but she managed to overcome it in her eyes. What affected her the most was almost dying in that tower, buried in that rubble before the real Alidoro saved her. It’s… such a shame what happened to him.

“But that doesn’t mean that someone has it better because they faced something less… I guess less intense?” Now she was having a little trouble explaining, “At least I can tell you that pain isn’t a competition, everyone deals with their own demons differently”

“Demons?” Pinocchio didn’t seem to get it, “Wait does that mean-”

“No no no, not literally!” Eugéne has to reassure him his traumas don’t turn into actual demons, she forgets how he doesn’t tend to get sayings like that, “Metaphorical demons, because you know, the past can haunt you”

Pinocchio looked at the time, his father and uncle were about to get off from work and he insisted on being there, he didn’t want them to go back home alone. He is also accompanying them to work as well.

“We should get going” Pinocchio didn’t want to leave her but they could hang out later.

“You are so kind Pinocchio” Eugéne smiled, “To care about your family like that”

“You are family too” Pinocchio also smiled, “I will protect you too!”

Eugéne was glad to know she wasn’t truly alone, not like she was before.

“Gemini let’s go” Pinocchio turned to look at him but couldn’t see the cricket anywhere, “Gemini?”

“I’m up here”

Both turned to look at one of the display weapons on one of the stands, the one closest to the ceiling.

“I’m perfecting my jumping” Gemini proceeded to jump from stand to stand, then landing on Pinocchio’s head, “In case my tiny help is needed, although I’ll always be your guide buddy”

“Aw Gemini you are a little hero now too” Eugéne found it so cute, “The two of you should take care”

—-

Pinocchio was waiting for both of them outside the factory, most workers had already left, it was odd how it was taking them so long.

“Come on beautiful, it's not safe for a girl to stay out this late” A man who came out of the place had been standing next to Pinocchio for a while, he was trying to ignore him.

“Leave me alone” Pinocchio had had enough.

“You sure you don’t need anyone to walk you-”

“Ahem” Geppetto was now standing behind the man, “You better leave right now before I fire you”

It was then that the man realized he was talking to Pinocchio, although he didn’t seem to mind that he wasn’t actually talking to a girl or a human, more than anything he was afraid of Geppetto and turned around running.

Geppetto started going into overprotective mode, asking if the man had said anything else to him, if he had tried to get too close to him, if-

“Father I’m fine” Pinocchio asserted, “I’m here to protect you both, not the other way around”

Pinocchio grabbed his weapon, Puppet Ripper, “If he comes close I’ll deal with him”

Venigni had a faint smile, “That dress with that huge weapon, it’s a little amusing”

They had been taking their time talking about plans for future projects for the development of Krat’s transportation system. Sometimes planning is harder than the building process.

Just after talking a few steps outside the factory, they heard it, a phone ringing, Venigni stopped moving, paralyzed with fear. Pinocchio looked at the public phone, the same phone where he got his first call.

His father stayed by Venigni’s side, while he went and picked up the phone.

There was an awkward pause for a few moments, Pinocchio starting to wonder if maybe it was just a random caller.

“So, finally not going to interrupt me this time?” Arlechino laughed, “Why that just makes me smile”

Pinocchio stayed quiet, just like he stayed quiet when dealing with his first riddle, before it was because the event was confusing to him and because he could barely talk back then. Now it’s because he isn’t going to let him try and make him angry like the last few times.

“Oh dear, I hope I didn’t upset the beautiful girl” Obviously he knows where they are, therefore he knows what Pinocchio is wearing, “Why dressed like that no wonder you make everyone’s hearts twirl”

Since Pinocchio stays quiet he continues.

“The son of Geppetto looking so pretty like that, Unfortunately, an outfit like falls flat; When you can’t enjoy dressing so nicely, In a place where danger is always on time precisely,

So I might have a little surprise waiting in the Mallum District, A secret place that’s restricted; But first, let’s talk about honestly, Have you been a good boy? Yes? No? Probably?; Hopefully, you aren’t lying, Or that might lead to others lying”

A few minutes in silence passed, Pinocchio turned to look at his father and Venigni. His uncle looked pale, he was shaking, is Arlecchino taking longer to speak this time on purpose?

“So for today’s riddle a simple question, Will you be able to understand this suggestion?; If you’ve got me, you want to share me; if you share me, you haven’t kept me. What am I?”

This was a little tricker than the last one, although not that complicated.

“A secret” Pinocchio finally spoke up from the other line.

“You are cheating right?” Arlecchino started to rant about Pinocchio’s supposed cheating for an entire minute.

“Whatever” Arlecchino knew it was time to give out the clue, “At the Mallum District, you will see the usual sign, hurry up, since this surprise won’t last”

As the line cut, Pinocchio let out a groan of frustration, no choice but to go and investigate now.

Venigni tried to speak up, however, he couldn’t find his voice, each time he spoke he couldn’t finish the sentence, looking like would break down crying at any moment.

“Venigni you should go home” Geppetto grabbed the man’s shoulders, “Don’t force yourself to deal with this”

“But-” Venigni tried to talk again, but it wasn’t working as he began to hyperventilate.

It’s a good thing Geppetto had grabbed Venigni, as the man almost lost his balance.

They decided to take Venigni home, Pulcinella was waiting for him. Despite Pulcinella’s usual voice, you could tell he was holding a deep sadness, he thanked Geppetto and Pinocchio for helping his dear Master Venigni and said he could handle this from now on.

Pulcinella wished he would never have to see his beloved family like this again when he first found out about Arlecchino’s death. Now Venigni is experiencing that pain again, it keeps becoming worse, and he is starting to have several nightmares like when he was a child.

He knows what to do to confront him, yet he knows that this won’t fix anything until Arlecchino is truly dealt with, that puppet won’t stop. It seems as if he is even more determined to torment him than before.

Venigni tries going to bed, but ends up breaking down, sobbing because he can’t do this, he can’t handle this anymore.

Pulcinella stays by his side, as he always has. No matter what happens, no matter how hard things become, he will always be there for him.

They are family, he is willing to do anything for his master Venigni, he wasn’t afraid of Fuecco when the puppet attacked him at the factory, almost destroying him, he wasn’t afraid because he did it for his safety.

Sadly he cannot constantly be by his side, because Venigni is starting to get too overwhelmed, Pulcinella has taken over most of his work duties. Venigni only doing his factory duties, other have insulted this decision, they feel as if they should talk to the man himself, not his “ridiculous butler puppet”

Pulcinella takes those insults, Venigni’s well-being comes first, and it doesn’t matter how others shout at him or demand to see Venigni. Even if the workload is starting to become more than he bargained for.

There is nothing he wouldn’t do for him.

——-

Pinocchio and Geppetto were at the Mallum District because neither wanted to leave the other alone in a situation like this. At least being in a dress came in handy, a lot of people from the Mallum District can recognize Pinocchio since they saw him get rid of the Black Rabbit Brotherhood; with the dress, it’s very unlikely someone will notice who he is.

It didn’t take them long to find the place they were looking for, an abandoned house in the slums, it didn’t look like the rundown empty shacks that were around this small area, it looked like a normal house, only in a bad shape.

The door wasn’t even locked.

Pinocchio could tell that for a moment his father almost didn’t want him to go inside, but he took a deep breath and told him to stay safe.

Entering the home, he looked around, nothing out of the ordinary, although it seemed that in the past some homeless people had lived inside there, he could see some old dirty mattresses and empty food cans, as he was investigating the living room, he stepped on a carpet.

Or rather, he stepped on a trap, the carpet was covering a hole in the floor and Pinocchio fell straight into a basement. A loud thud was heard with his body colliding with the floor and suddenly lights shone across the floor. Pinocchio stood up and tried to take a few steps back before Gemini stopped him.

“No Pinocchio stay in place!”

Sure enough, a second later, the floor tile around him became electrified, volts of electricity coming out of the altered mechanism. Before stopping, the light of the electricity fades and engulfs the place in darkness.

He turned on Gemini’s lamp, the dark basement now dimly lit, he could hear something else inside of the place, some strange faded groaning. He looked around, staying in the same tile, trying to find whatever was making the noise.

In the darkness he could see a figure crawling in the walls, moving slowly.

Then the electricity sparked again, revealing that several floor tiles were a certain death with that high of a voltage, finally, Pinocchio was able to see what was in the wall, some strange human-like spider creature, it had two sets of extra arms and legs, its mouth was sealed shut, its eyes were missing, dripping a strange black ooze from them.

The creature had noticed Pinocchio, launching itself at him, Pinocchio barely managed to dodge and jump into another safe tile. The creature stayed glued to the wall each time the traps would activate.

Pinocchio was playing defensively, trying his hardest to find a plan of action, Gemini warning him each time the floor traps would activate.

That’s when Pinocchio had an idea, the creature was blind, it could only hear him, so he stayed very still, not making a sound and even held his breath for a moment, waiting for the perfect opportunity, he grabbed from his bag a sawtoothed wheel, and threw it into the floor.

The creature fell for his trap and when it jumped onto the floor, it was electrocuted, its muffled screams sounding agonizing until it became too much, the creature exploding into a dozen pieces, completely covering Pinocchio with the black ooze from head to toe.

Pinocchio wiped the liquid out of his face, he clenched his fist in anger, there was no way out of this basement, however, he is smart, he used his Legion Arm puppet string and launched into the roof, using it as a grappling hook to get back up.

There was nothing, no clue, no hint, no semblance of new information. Only a graffiti on the walls with the words, “The Floor is lava” with a dumb smiley face.

Pinocchio went outside to greet his father, who almost hugged him before he came out until he realized how dirty he was.

“So that was just a trap, a dead end and we have nothing else” Gemini was frustrated, but they should have known better than to think Arlecchino would always give them clues.

“What are we even supposed to do now?“ Pinocchio was even more frustrated, he felt stupid for falling into his dumb game.

“First you are going to go home and take a bath,” Geppetto said, his son is completely filthy with that strange liquid and he can’t go walking around like that.

For once Pinocchio didn’t argue with his father about the clothes, he wanted to clean himself as soon as possible, his hair was all sticky now, hopefully, his dress won't get ruined and can be saved by a good cleaning, since Antonia picked it for him, that will be the most likely case.

“We should leave now before we gain the attention of others” Geppetto knew that it was their time to leave behind this mess that only got them into more trouble.

Pinocchio couldn’t wait to go home, take a bath, and go to bed. All of this ended up being a waste of time.

As they were both departing, Geppetto started to think out loud.

“Should we get the help of a detective? Perhaps a stalker? Arlecchino is smart, I don’t doubt his traps would be more dangerous” Geppetto then shook his head, “No, getting more people involved will only be a disaster”

Pinocchio walked wondering if there truly was anyone out there who could help them in this situation who would not reveal anything to anyone.

“Besides what are they going to do?” Geppetto sighed, “It’s not as if anyone can get inside the mind of a killer, only murders can do that and where would we even find someone like that?”

—-

“Have you come to see me kind one?” Cecile’s voice was calm, kind, and collected.

The next morning, Pinocchio wasted no time in going to the Cathedral, thankfully asking to see Cecile was something easy. Currently, they are in a separate room meant for private prayer.

“Um Cecile…” Pinocchio wasn’t sure how to bring this up, “You know how you gave me that letter, where you…confessed to killing people”

“Yes of course” Cecile honestly never thought she would survive, even if she had repented many times before the eyes of God and before Andreus, she had felt it proper to write a final confession, “Is it troubling you? Knowing what I did?”

Pinocchio stares silently at her for a few moments, she is the only person he knows who can help, it’s just that…

It’s just that how does he even properly ask this?!

“No, not at all” That’s a lie, he does find it uncomfortable sometimes, “Let me explain”

He gives her a brief explanation of Arlecchino, although she is aware of the killing as all of Krat, like most not knowing the truth until now, Pinocchio tells her how he is looking for him.

“So if you could please, um, tell us how he might act next, me and Gemini would really appreciate it” Pinocchio gave out an awkward laugh.

Cecile stares at him quietly, did he offend her? Is she mad at him? Ugh, he should have never-

“What do you wish to know?” Cecile has a creepy smirk on her face.

Pinocchio could feel shivers down his spine, he showed her Pulcinella’s information, the maps of the killings, media articles, autopsy reports of the victims, and his traps and riddles.

“Mmm,” Cecile was thinking, carefully analyzing what she was looking at, “So you say he was aware of what your clothes were yesterday?”

Pinocchio nodded, Cecile then looked at the map again, then at some pictures.

“Each time he has called you, he knows where you are, one would assume he is nearby however he isn’t going to be an inch closer to any of you” Cecile’s kind voice changed to a serious somber tone.

“What do you mean?” Gemini wasn’t following, “But then how does he know all of that?”

“He isn’t spying on you per se” Cecile kept analyzing the information, rather he is spying on Venigni, considering how he is a public figure, his information is available to almost everyone”

Venigni works at many places and has a full schedule, while outside he is never seen alone.

“Therefore, he only has to know two things: When Venigni enters a place and when he exits it”

That means that when Pinocchio waved goodbye at the factory yesterday morning to his father and uncle, Arlecchino was there looking. At night he didn’t have to be there, knowing that Venigni would leave late at night was enough.

“But then how does he know when to call?” That didn’t make sense to Pinocchio, maybe before when Arlecchino had a connection because of the Ergo in Arche Abbey, but now it should be impossible.

“The first two are easy” Explained Cecile, “Two homes, yours and Mr. Venigni’s; easy to call the number when he is sure that all of you are there”

Cecile then pointed at the telephone next to the factory, “Look at this”

Pulcinella had wasted no time in investigating that phone, in his eyes, he saw nothing of importance, Cecile on the other hand…

“The phone rang 5 times before you picked it up” Cecile then stared directly into Pinocchio, “He isn’t being precise, he didn’t know the exact hour, just an estimate, therefore he was only hoping you would eventually pick it up”

Cecile continued, “No one would pick up a random phone call in the middle of the night, however, you and your family are aware of his tricks, so he knew that it had to be only you who would answer”

She looked at the map more closely, “He is certainly planning something in Lorenzini Arcade by looking at his movements, although I doubt a trap for you is there considering how crowded the place is, there is the possibility it will lead you to a different trap, trying to confuse you”

“Are you absolutely sure he isn't spying on me?” Pinocchio wasn't fully convinced.

Cecile thought about it in more depth, “I think… I think that he does track your activities but maybe after the fact, or while you are about to leave, I do have some doubts, but I don't doubt what I told you about his methods on Venigni”

“Woah” Gemini was amazed, “You can tell all of that? But what about the killings?”

“Aside from his taunting, the murders he commits are of no true importance to him” Cecile went on, “He loves to kill, loves the thrill, loves the panic, it’s only a hobby, his true goal, has always been to torment Lorenzini Venigni”

“How can you be sure of that?” Pinocchio asked.

“Well…” Cecile stared more intensely at Pinocchio with a grin on her face, “It feels good to have others' lives at your mercy, sometimes, it’s not always about sending a message, sometimes it’s because you do what you have to do what you have to make yourself feel alive”

Pinocchio was extremely thankful as well as completely terrified.

Both of them stood up, Pinocchio was ready to leave before Cecile stopped him, hugging him, it felt a little strange to hug someone now with only one arm so she pulled the boy a little closer to her. Pinocchio hugged her back, even if it felt a little strange to hug her after how she was acting.

“Each day, I repent for what I did, I know I can never undo what has been done; I know that taking my life will not solve anything, will not absolve me from this guilt” Cecile cried, “I can only repay those I hurt by doing the opposite, by sharing kindness, by helping those in need”

Cecile does what she can to help the community, give others a better life, help the poor, tending to those who are sick. It’s harder when she only has one arm, although she has been offered a prosthetic before, she declined, saying this is her cross to bear.

She wants to make this world a better place, because she truly is sorry, she knows that there is a chance her sins might never be forgiven, that she might go to hell. Cecile is okay with that, she isn’t doing this only for the sake of salvation, she is doing it as penitence.

Cecile let go of Pinocchio, gently touching his face, “I will always pray for your safety and maybe I am naive, maybe I am projecting my issues, however, I pray that this cruel puppet also repents for his actions”

Pinocchio is aware that will never happen, Arlecchino is too far gone for any reason, however seeing Cecile like this, he no longer feels afraid. Appreciating the bond he has with her.

“I am sure the next time he will call or send his message, will be when Mr. Venigni is by your side, he will communicate with you sooner than later,” Cecile said, “His main goal, is to cause suffering, yet he is cocky, I have a feeling he will reveal his location, when he does, not only will that be a trap, but something more, I have this feeling he will go after someone who is close to Venigni when one would think they would be safe”

It was time for Pinocchio to leave, with this kind of information, he was getting closer and closer to the truth.

Meanwhile, at Eugéne's shop, a certain someone had arrived.

“Oh, hello Mastiff!” She said excitedly she was growing fond of this stalker, “What can I help you with? Do you need a new weapon?”

“Actually” Hanuel took a deep breath, “We need to talk”

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