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pollyanna-nana · 5 months

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“I can’t help anyone…”

An analysis of Kieran and how it relates to his most controversial scene.

Warning for Indigo Disk DLC spoilers ahead

——————

Greetings! I’ve made it no secret that, despite what some people think of him, I am very fond of Kieran Pokémon’s little emo ass. As a result, when perusing the tags I’ve been bombarded with a lot of very… questionable takes regarding his personality and character, which I simply do not agree with. In particular, I’ve seen a lot of interpretations of a specific scene that I don’t think get at the heart of the story and have some fundamental misunderstandings of the subtextual clues we’re given about how Kieran and Carmine were raised, and I wanted to take the opportunity to present my own interpretations and how I have come to understand this young boy’s complex journey to self acceptance.

This scene, right here, has been the source of many specific complaints I’ve seen regarding Kieran’s character. I’ve seen people saying that his actions here make him a bully, that he’s shaming a fellow student for having troubles at home, and generally is an unpleasant, entitled person. And while I think there’s definitely some truth to those points (and they make him all the more interesting…) I don’t think a lot of these people are thinking about what this scene is really trying to tell us.

Yes, it’s showing the player that Kieran has changed since we last saw him. That his shy, kind demeanor has been supplanted by a stark cruelty that was hinted at in the end of Teal Mask, and that we have reason to fear and fear for him. However. I would argue that it also serves to tell us more about what Kieran himself has dealt with as a student at Blueberry academy. Specifically...

Kieran’s struggle with identity and self worth.

From the earliest segments of Teal Mask, we get strong indications that Kieran has quite the inferiority complex. Worse still, said feelings are reinforced by the people around him, knowingly or not. Here, when Carmine tells us that Kieran's "nearly as strong as she is", we know she simply means to compliment us in her own Carmine-ish way. However, purposefully or not, it reinforces Kieran's idea as someone who is always, at best, almost good enough. Almost as strong as his sister. Never as or more.

He tells the player that he'll hang back, not wanting to get in our way. With no prior prompting, either. How many times has he been made to feel that he was a burden? I adore Carmine, but one of her most pressing flaws is her struggle to make Kieran feel loved and wanted. Which, is actually pretty normal between siblings as she herself is a child. But still, given how much Kieran clearly loves and respects her, her words hold a lot of weight. And it's only Carmine who we get to see treat Kieran this way. While it's possible it's coming almost entirely from her, I'll discuss later why I think it may be more complicated than that. For now, though, it's clear that Kieran himself thinks very lowly of his abilities and would rather stay out of people's way, lest they berate him for perceived inadequacies.

He's had problematic behavior modeled for him by Carmine.

Here, too, we see how Carmine's treatment of him reinforced some very negative ideas of interpersonal conflict and resolution. All throughout Teal Mask, Carmine is telling him to shut up and be quiet, and does what she thinks is best for him without consideration for how it may make him feel. No physical violence, but emotional abuse is abuse all the same. While we know that she was ultimately trying to do what was best for him, and had very good reasons for keeping secrets, its undeniable that the words she used only further reinforced the idea that the strong will push around the weak, and that they have no need for anyone who falls behind in some way.

This scene in particular is fascinating, as we get to see first hand the kind of dynamic that pushed his feelings of inadequacy towards the breaking point. Here, after the player and Carmine run into Ogerpon for the first time, he thinks her weird behavior is because they were making fun of him. It's already sad that he would jump to that conclusion, but then Carmine smiles through his entire dialogue and says nothing. No reassurance, no denial, nothing. Kieran walked away from this conversation thinking that his sister and his new friend were talking about how much they dislike him. Speaking from personal experience, constantly feeling like people are talking about you behind your back at a young age can lead to you becoming brutally honest in a maladaptive way, and it can lead to people thinking you're cruel and unkind because you refuse to keep your thoughts to yourself.

Generational trauma, neurodivergence and cycles of abuse.

Here is where we leave screenshot land for a bit and I talk more about things that I suspect to be true, but cannot ultimately prove. However, I ask that you bear with me here and consider what may be going on above the heads of the child protagonists in a children's video game. (After all, if some people can write whole essays comparing Kieran's behavior to some very serious real-world events... I think I am within my right here!)

Kieran and Carmine, to me, match very strongly with the idea that they came from a bad home life. I don't necessarily mean their grandparents, as they seem nice enough (though flawed), but instead that their parents, whoever they were, contributed substantially to their strained relationship and problematic behavior. This post may seem very Carmine-negative, but I actually do not blame her for what she's done, not really. I do think that she has the agency and experience to take responsibility for how she's treated her brother, but I also think that it is something that was modeled for her by her parents, caretakers and teachers. I think it's very important to keep in mind in all conversations about these two that negative behaviors like these rarely manifest out of the ether. When I see child characters acting this way, I think less "wow, what horrible people!" and more "who in your life is modeling this kind of behavior for you?"

Full disclosure: I am an older sister myself, and my younger sister is very close to me in age in the same way that I see Carmine and Kieran as being. I see a lot of myself in her, which is why I deeply understand her frame of mind in everything here. Being expected to be the emotionally mature one in a sibling dynamic is difficult when you're so close in age, and it can lead to a lot of frustration as you feel like you're made to grow up too fast while your younger sibling is shielded from responsibility. It also doesn't help if the adults in your life model a lot of negative behavior, especially power dynamics, and if you have any sort of neurodivergency.

Speaking of... I wholeheartedly agree with the interpretations of the siblings having some combination of autism, ADHD, BPD or several other potential conditions. I won't go into depth, but without question there's something going on with them that's both untreated and misunderstood by those around them. Which, makes a lot of sense considering where they come from. Kitakami is a small nation, mostly agriculture based, and Carmine in particular is very resistant to the idea of it becoming a tourist destination for wealthier countries. They may not have the resources and infrastructure, along with cultural awareness, to properly diagnose and treat certain mental health conditions. Kieran doesn't even have a phone!

Something I don't see mentioned often is how Kieran and Carmine being at Blueberry is more than likely a very isolating experience for both. Being at a prestigious school in Poke-America, when coming from rural Poke-Japan, must've been a very difficult transition. Given that it doesn't seem like ANY of the adults in their lives are interested in their mental and physical well-being, I can only imagine that exacerbated their already existing issues. Not to mention that the culture of BB seems to be overly concerned with strength in battles, it's no wonder that both children's worst traits were made to fester over time.

Entitlement and disenfranchisement

Okay, enough of that. Back to screenshots. Here I want to talk about how some people interpret Kieran as being bratty and entitled, and while I don't necessarily disagree, I think with the context of everything previously laid out in this post that it's a lot deeper than simple entitlement. We know, from his own words, that all he wants is acceptance, independence, and meaningful human connections. To him, that comes in the form of strong pokemon (acceptance at the academy), going anywhere he wants (feeling empowered and self-confident), and being able to make friends with "anyone". Any friends at all, really.

While his "I worked so hard, and for what?! I STILL lost in the end!" can feel petulant and whiny, it also cuts deep for anyone who has grown up without. I think it's very important to note that Kieran is at precisely the age when systemic inequalities really start to weigh on someone, and before the brain and life experiences are developed enough to handle it in a healthy way. While some cope better than others, for many around this age the weight of knowing that there are people out there who simply have more than you ever will not by any sort of effort or triumph, but rather than the dumb luck of birth into a wealthy, privileged setting... well, it can be crushing.

It's something most grow out of, but for a kid like Kieran, who was so obsessed with the story of a genuine injustice (Ogerpon vs. the 'loyal' three), is it any wonder that he would react this way? The player is a particularly extreme example, of course, as protagonist powers are some real bullshit. Coming to terms with the fact that the system has failed him, but he can still achieve great things and become a person he can be proud of, is something that will probably only come with time and wisdom as it does for most of us. In the interim, though, petty teenage tantrums are to be more or less expected.

Feeling powerless.

In case you think I'm extrapolating far too much, I think it's important to note that, after the severe shock that was Terapagos breaking out of its own ball, Kieran reinforces all of these ideas himself. Here, when Carmine is begging him to help you, he refuses not because of hatred of you but rather his own self-doubt and loathing. Which, ultimately, has always been the core of everything Kieran has done up to this point in Indigo Disk's plot. He believed so strongly that if only he could become stronger, then he could prove to everyone, and more importantly himself, that he was worthy of taking up space and achieving his own dreams. But it's here, when everything truly comes crashing down around him, that the facade slips and shows Kieran as he truly is- a little boy who feels helpless in his current circumstances.

I've seen people say that when he cries after becoming determined to help you defeat Terapagos, it's out of jealousy or anger. However, I couldn't disagree more. The light returning to his eyes shows, in my view, that Kieran feels hope for the first time since he had his dreams crushed back in Teal Mask. That, even though he feels powerless, even though he's hurt people and hurt himself, he's still wanted. That he can do something meaningful, even if it's just cleaning up the mess he helped to make. (Briar don't think I've forgotten about you. You're the most culpable in this situation given you're the only adult- but I digress.)

In conclusion.

He bapy.

No but really, what does all of this even mean? I think going back and reading the conversation at the start of the post, especially if you were initially put off by it, with the context outlined here changes a lot about how one can interpret Kieran's behavior. Note that I am not trying to justify anything he said or did, but rather point out that this fictional child has some serious, unresolved issues that deserve time and thought turned towards them, especially in the way that they reflect real-world individuals and systems. Ultimately, if you want my opinion I think Kieran would be a pretty nasty person to know in real life if I was in school still, but you know what? So was I at his age. And so were most people, if I'm being honest. But that doesn't tarnish a person forever. All of life isn't high school, even though Kieran- or you, reading this right now- may feel like it is. He has a lot of growing up to do, but that's life. And in the meantime, he sure is one hell of an interesting character to follow.

#polly speaks #polly writes #pokemon #pokemon scarlet and violet #indigo disk #indigo disk spoilers #teal mask #pokemon kieran #rival kieran #pokemon carmine #kieran posting #character analysis #tw bullying #tw abuse #ask to tag #im tired. anyway im going grocy shopping anyone want anything from tjs

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autisticlancemcclain · 1 year

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“—Lance isn’t even paying attention!”

Lance looks up from his phone, noticing Pidge whining to Coran for the first time.

“I’m paying attention,” he lies.

Pidge ignores him. “It’s not fair! He should forfeit his movie vote! He’s not even gonna watch, anyway.” She turns to Lance, glaring. “He’s gonna be too busy texting Keith and making ga-ga eyes at his phone.”

“I will not!” he says, rapidly trying and failing to delete the ‘wish you were here, Dropout’ text he just sent. “I don’t — I wasn’t even texting Keith! I haven’t talked to him in days!”

Not a single person is fooled. Even Coran, who can regularly be counted upon to be on Lance’s side, is raising an eyebrow.

“Honest!” Lance insists.

“Ugh,” Pidge complains, glaring at him before flopping back on the couch. “I still think your vote shouldn’t count.”

Regardless of her petulance, Lance does get a vote, thank you very much. Unfortunately it comes with an abundance of teasing and wiggling eyebrows from the rest of the team, but whatever. At least his point was made, and he doesn’t have to watch whatever nerd documentary Pidge was gunning for.

To his credit, he does actually try to pay attention to the movie. It seems mildly interesting, at least, some kind of Altean classic, and usually he’d be able to at least appreciate the costumes. He really does try.

Fifteen minutes in, his phone buzzes slightly.

Absolutely not, he tells himself. Do not Pavlov yourself to his ringtone, because that would be humiliating. You can go two hours without talking to him. You’re basically a grown-up, for fuck’s sake. You barely even like him mostly. Plus, if Hunk reads over your shoulder and sees the messages you’re sending to him you will never recover.

Nodding resolutely to himself, he shoves his phone deeper in his pocket and returns his attention to the movie. There’s some kind of conflict happening, maybe between the two romantic leads?

Whatever. Lance is paying attention. The movie is just…unclear.

The second time the phone rings, reasoning with himself is much harder. After all, Shiro isn’t even trying to pretend he’s not falling asleep into his popcorn — he’s not paying attention. And Hunk is intently braiding Allura’s hair, so he’s not paying attention either. The point of family movie night is to spend a few hours in each other’s presence outside of training or missions or meals, so it totally counts even if Lance is on his phone, right?

He has to physically sit on his hands to keep himself from checking his messages. Pidge will needle you about it for eternity, he reminds himself, increasingly desperate.

The third time it buzzes, he gives up. His hands fly to his phone so fast he cringes at himself.

How embarrassing.

Fully aware his ears are bright red, he clicks on the notification, opening his and Keith’s communication line.

mullet-head:

lance? you there?

mullet-head:

did you fall asleep during movie night

mullet-head:

are you pulling an old man shiro

Lance smiles to himself, glancing over at the snoring leader of Voltron, drooling on Coran’s shoulder. Keith never misses a chance to clown on his brother, even if Shiro can’t even see it.

loverboy:

i did not fall asleep u butthead

loverboy:

i’m not shiro

loverboy:

i’m not six i don’t need naps

Keith doesn’t respond for a second, and Lance pictures him with his head thrown back, eyes squinted shut and mouth open wide in the startled way he laughs when he unintentionally finds Lance funny. It makes something warm and simultaneously bitter churn in his belly, thinking of how many lightyears away he is from that brighter-than-the-sun laughter.

mullet-head:

stop making me laugh i’m going to get caught

mullet-head:

i’m on some boring patrol i’m not supposed to be on my phone

Lance narrows his eyes in alarm. If that dumbass is texting him instead of paying attention on a mission, he swears —

loverboy:

patrol where??

loverboy:

please don’t tell me ur dicking around on ur phone on a GALRA BASE

mullet-head:

no no no it’s some supply centre

mullet-head:

look

The texting bubble spins for a moment, loading, then a video comes through. Lance glances around the room surreptitiously, but no one is paying any attention to him. Pidge is chatting quietly with Allura, Coran is totally wrapped up in the film, Shiro’s still sleeping, and Hunk has moved to Allura’s other side to braid the hair on that half of her head. Still, he turns the volume as low as he can, angling the phone away from the others.

The video footage is shaky at first, eventually settling on Keith’s face. He looks good — well fed, healthy.

Handsome.

Embarrassed, Lance pauses the video, taking a moment to observe Keith’s face. It’s stupid and gay and sentimental, but — Lance has been looking for a reason to ask Keith to send him a picture, a video, hell, a voice message. Something to confirm, aside from texts, that he’s alive and well, something for Lance to hold on to, a glimpse of the face he’s missed so dearly (not that he’ll admit it). He’s been too embarrassed to ask, but wanting to feel like he’s in the same room as Keith again.

“I thought the Arizona desert was boring,” video Keith says, exasperated. “But at least it has cool lizards. This place has nothing but rocks, sand, and more rocks. Look.”

The video flips around, showing off Keith’s view. He slowly moves the camera to the side, presumably so Lance can see just how boring the rocks and sand and more rocks is.

Lance squints.

Hang on a second.

Is that flurexonomite?

He rewinds the video slightly, pausing it when he sees it again. He brings the phone close to his face, looking as closely as he can, and lets out a delighted little laugh when he sees it.

It is! It’s flurexonomite!

loverboy:

GET ME THAT ROCK

loverboy:

PLEASE

He screenshots the frame with the rock in it, circling it and sending it back.

loverboy:

THIS ONE

mullet-head:

are you serious

mullet-head:

i send you a video of this boring ass desert that i’m stuck in

mullet-head:

and you focus

mullet-head:

on a rock

mullet-head:

you massive nerd

Lance pouts, even though Keith can’t see it and feel properly guilty. That’s not fair. He’s not a nerd. Rocks are just cool! And he hasn’t been able to find flurexonomite, possibly the coolest of all space rocks that Coran has ever told him about, anywhere!

loverboy:

PLEASE JUST GET ME THE ROCK I WILL LOVE YOU FOREVER

mullet-head:

i cannot believe what i am reading with my own two eyeballs

mullet-head:

you

mullet-head:

who calls hunk and pidge a nerd every single day for any reason

Lance can’t help his defensive scoff.

“Everything okay, buddy?” Hunk asks, beyond amused. Lance shoves his phone in his pocket, or tries to, but he’s flustered, so somehow in his panic the phone goes flying out of his hand and onto the floor, face-up, messages clearly displayed.

Lance has never moved so quickly in his life.

He scrambles to the floor faster than he can even register he’s doing it, rolling right off the couch and throwing himself at the device. Unfortunately, Pidge reaches it first, scooping it up with a cackle and tossing it to Hunk.

“Read it out loud!”

“No!” Lance screeches, lunging after the device. Hunk is quick, though, standing on top of the cushions and holding the phone far out of his reach.

“‘Wish you were here, Dropout —’” he starts, gleeful.

“Stop! Shut up! That was a typo!” He attempts to climb Hunk to no avail; the man simply holding him away with one big arm. He’s not even struggling.

Lance knows how embarrassing some of those messages are. He cannot let them see the light of day. The time has come for drastic measure.

Somehow anticipating Lance’s impending violence, Hunk tosses the phone to Allura, who catches it easily and runs to the other couch.

“‘Saw someone dressed in all black on our last diplomatic mission and thought of your emo ass,’” Allura recites.

Lance screams, collapsing to the floor. He won’t be able to wrestle his phone away from her. She could kill him with a toothpick, probably.

He is doomed.

Allura clicks a few buttons and then laughs particularly evilly, making something ice cold shoots through Lance’s veins.

She hasn’t found his notes app, has she?

He can’t risk it. If anyone finds out what he’s written on there — oh, God, there are angsty song lyrics. About Keith. He is going to die. He is going to melt into a puddle of humiliated goo. This cannot happen.

With an ear-splitting war cry, he jumps to his feet, sprinting at her at tops speeds and tackling her to the ground. Before she can react, he yanks the phone from her hand and scrambles away at the speed of light. He dashes out of the common room before anyone can stop him, speeding to his room and locking the door behind him. He walks over to his bed and flops onto it, screaming into his pillow as loudly as he can, face the colour of a red star going supernova and just as hot.

“Every part of being alive is a prison,” he laments to no one. He vows to wallow in his own self-pity for all of eternity.

His phone buzzes.

He gets up to check it so fast he honestly has to take a moment to consider if being this gay is truly worth it.

mullet-head:

video.attachment

He brightens. Two videos in one day?!

Being this gay is worth it, apparently!

“You are truly the biggest nerd I know,” video Keith tells him solemnly. His indigo eyes are bright in amusement — soft, even. He takes two steps and then bends down — Lance keeps his eyes firmly on his friend’s face, he does, he does — and picks up the brown, dusty rock.

Lance heart skips a beat when he realizes it’s the exact right rock, the first time. Keith must have looked very carefully at the photo to get the right rock, for all his teasing. The rock is as tiny as a pinky nail, and it doesn’t exactly stand out.

God, Lance loves him so fucking much.

Video Keith slips the rock into his pocket. “You’re lucky you have me, you goober.”

The familiar banter makes Lance smile wider. It took he and Keith a long time and a lot of understanding to come to the point where they are now, the familiarity, the comfort he knows Keith must feel around him to let his guard down so blatantly, to be so transparently teasing and playful.

It makes his heart hurt, a little. He wishes there wasn’t a screen and a bajillion miles between them.

———

The worst part about the Blades, Keith thinks, is that there’s absolutely zero in between. He’s either bored out of his mind, polishing his sword while patrolling some random supply station, or he’s running for his life, barely making it out of an exploding Galra warship in time to keep all his limbs. There are no middle moments, no time for him to be anything but praying for death to at least put him out of his mind-numbing misery or praying to make it out of a situation alive. No family meals, no strange space mall supply runs, no training with Altean superhumans.

He misses his family.

But he knows he can’t go back. At least not permanently. He made this decision for a reason, and that reason is more important to him than a little bit of boredom or some measly mortal peril.

(Lance is more important to him than a little bit of boredom or some measly mortal peril.)

He sighs as he stares at the bunk above him, tracing the shadows of the bed for the zillionth time. He’s not tired at all, but there’s fuck else for him to do in between now and his next mission. He’s already trained all day today, and there’s only so much he can do with a sword before he wants to put it through his own head.

He misses training with a partner.

He shifts around, looking for his phone. It’s late, and he can’t text Lance — the dumbass is in a healing pod right now because he pulled a Keith and tried to fight a nine foot tall Galran commander with his own two hands to cover for someone — but maybe he can send him a couple messages, anyway. Just for when he wakes up.

It’s not like he has anything better to do.

He leans over as far as he feasibly can in his bunk, trying to reach his uniform. He manages to hook his finger around the sleeve, pulling it closer until he can reach his pocket. He thinks he left his phone in the right one, if he can just pinch the corner —

His hand runs over something small and rough, and he stills.

He pulls out a rock, and for a minute he’s confused — he just washed this thing and he’s been on base for three days, how the hell did a rock get in there — then it hits him.

He smiles. This is Lance’s dorky rock.

He leans back onto the mattress, holding the rock out in front of him. It sparkles slightly in the low light of the barracks, it’s many minerals catching the glow of the Balmeran crystals. It looks like a tiny little jewel in his hands, like a sparkling piece of amber.

Like Lance’s eyes.

Immediately he’s embarrassed with himself for thinking it. It’s so — it’s such a fucking gooey thing to think, to compare this sparking crystal to the deep brown of his teammate’s eyes. It’s not even the right brown, anyway. This rock is on the lighter side — Lance eyes aren’t as ambery orange. In the right shadowy lighting, they’re more of a black, so endlessly dark that you could lose yourself in them, that you could be swallowed right up in the look.

Not always, though. Keith lifts the rock up a little higher, holding it right in front of one of the crystals, and squints, letting his eyesight go blurry.

Once, when they were on a planet startlingly like Earth, Keith and Lance snuck off from a gala and ran to the beach to watch the sunset. Lance has smiled so wide, then, squishing his whole face, and when the golden rays of the settling sun had hit his eyes, they melted into a honeyed amber the exact same shade of the crystal. Keith remembers his mouth going dry, his mind going completely blank. He’d been so starstruck by the sight that he hadn’t even dared to breathe.

Lance had thrown sand at him for staring, and cackled as Keith cussed him out.

Keith pulls his blanket up to his chin, smiling. He closes his eyes, rhythmically rubbing the roughened crystal.

He falls asleep faster than he ever has before.

———

The castle is buzzing with excitement.

Most of its resident are too excited even for words. Breakfast is a mess, everyone bouncing in their seats, grinning so wide they can barely eat. Pidge inhales her food so fast she chokes. Hunk sporks himself in the nose, not paying attention.

It’s visiting day.

In less than two vargas, Keith is going to land a pod in the hangar, here to stay for two full days. One of those days will be a mission, sure, but after that they’ll have several hours to just hang out with their friend for a while, catch up, remember how much they miss him. It’s exhilarating.

They all gather in the hangar when he messages to say he’s close, practically vibrating in place. None of them speak, too pumped for words. They all watch the doors with wide eyes, reading to sprint the moment they open and Keith lands safely.

Only, one of them is too impatient to wait that long.

“Keith!” Lance cries, sprinting forward when the pod is a foot from the ground. Before the pod even lands, the hatch is thrown open, and Keith comes tumbling out, half falling to the floor.

“Lance!”

They crash into each other so hard it’s a miracle they manage to stay standing, embracing so tightly it has to be painful.

“You know, I was once married,” Coran remarks. “I went on a two-decaphoebe exploratory mission in that time. When I returned, I was not embraced that tightly.”

“That’s because you didn’t have an intensely homoerotic rivalry and then a weird half-friendship half-romantic relationship you refuse to acknowledge as such that racketed up your sexual tension to levels that cannot be recorded,” Shiro explains.

Four pairs of eyes blink at him.

“Nobody is as gay as they are,” he simplifies.

“Well, gay or not, I’ve lost patience. Lance does not get to hog all the Keith time, not on my watch.” Hunk marches towards the couple (couple of besties) and lifts them both off the ground in a hug that looks to have rearranged their spinal cords. “Keith! Buddy! We missed you!”

The rest of the team rushes in soon after, hugging and holding and generally just piling Keith with all the love they’ve pent up in his absence. Keith is bright red by the end of it, but visibly pleased, obviously flattered.

“I missed y’all too,” he says. “Seriously. Blades aren’t the same.”

With a herculean amount of strength, they manage to pull away to give Keith some space, heading towards the briefing room to prepare for their mission. They have a fleet to destroy, after all, and an Empire to cripple.

And, of course, the faster they complete their mission, the more time they can spend together with no obligations looming over their heads.

They debrief quickly, making sure not to miss any important information but determined not to dilly dally. They split up to suit up, then run off to their respective hangars, ready and rearing to go. Keith lingers for a second next to Lance.

“Good luck, Sharpshooter.”

Lance grins. “I don’t need it, Samurai. I’m going to kick your ass.”

“Wrong ass to be kicking, dontcha think?”

“Oh, shut up.”

“Keith, you’re with me,” Shiro reminds him, when neither fool looks to be focusing on the impending mission, gently knocking his brother’s shoulders.

Keith nods. “Yeah, coming.” He jogs away from Lance, flashing him one last smile. As he turns to corner, he pulls out the crystal from his pocket, gently pressing it to his lips before slipping it back where he got it.

“What’s that?” Shiro asks, gesturing to the pocket.

Keith looks shifty, like he was caught doing something he shouldn’t. “Uh, just a good luck charm.”

“Since when do you believe in luck?”

Keith shrugs. “Since I started feeling lucky, I guess.”

Far behind them, stopped to tie his bootlace, Lance stares at where the brothers disappeared into the Black Lion’s hangar, wide-eyed.

He recognises that rock.

———

Several hours later, six paladins dock back on the castle, exhausted but satisfied.

“Man, I missed having a full team. That mission was way less horrible than usual,” Pidge says.

“Indeed,” Allura agrees tiredly.

“Almost like we had a good luck charm,” Lance whispers to himself, too quiet for anyone else to hear.

Shiro smiles at them all. “You did great, team. This was by far the most successful mission we’ve had in months.” He turns his smile to Keith in particular, who grins right back. “We missed you, buddy.”

“Missed you too,” Keith murmurs.

“We’ll have plenty of time to catch up tomorrow,” Coran says. “Right now we are all exhausted. Off to bed, my dears.”

They all comply without protest, stumbling out of the bridge and down the halls to their rooms. Keith and Lance walk together. It makes Lance smile, remembering when they used to walk each other to bed, everyone else long asleep, stupid tired after a late night of planning. He doesn’t miss the stress, but he does miss leading with Keith, more than he’d like to admit.

“Hey, wait,” Keith says as they approach their bedroom doors, hand on Lance bicep to stop him.

“What’s up?”

“I, uh, have something for you.” He digs around in his pockets, looking panicked for a moment when he can’t find whatever it is he’s looking for, then visibly relieved when his fist encloses around it. He holds it out to Lance, who accepts it without question. Onto Lance’s palm he drops a sparking brown crystal.

“The flurexonomite,” Lance says, grinning.

Keith rocks back on his heels. “Yeah. I’ve been keeping it safe, you nerd.”

Lance looks up at him softly, unable to summon any playful exasperation at the tease. “Thank you, Keith.”

Keith smiles softly at him. “‘Course.” He puts his hand on his lockpad, opening the sliding door. “Night, Bluebell.”

“Goodnight, Willie Nelson.”

———

The next day is as crowded and energy-filled as expected. To avoid fights over Keith-time, the paladins had made a schedule: most of the day will be spent all together, but each person gets one designated hour of one-on-one time to do as they please. Keith gets dragged from person to person, blushing every time someone grumbles about not having enough time, from sparring with Shiro, swimming with Lance, and painting his nails with Allura.

He cries four separate times. It’s nice to remember how loved he truly is.

As days tend to do, however, it eventually comes to an end. Supper is a somewhat bittersweet affair, everyone knowing that once it’s over, Keith has to head back to his pod, and they won’t see him again for weeks, even months.

They try to make the most of it.

Hunk and Lance cook up something to honour the occasion, Pidge at the kitchen door with Lance’s gun to prevent Shiro, Coran, and Keith himself from so much as looking at the food so they don’t fuck it up somehow. Allura serves her solemn duty as taste-tester, ensuring all food is fit for a royal feast.

It’s amazingly thoughtful, even though Pidge is way too trigger happy. Keith cries again halfway through supper, and half the table joins him.

By the time the team walks him to his pod, they’re all pretty cried out, and determined to put on a happy face. They all hug Keith for way too long and with way too much force, each making him swear to call and text frequently, and to not do stupid things or get himself killed. Keith promises to do one of those things.

Eventually they all, with very knowing and smug looks, wave goodbye and head out, leaving Lance and Keith alone. Both pointedly pretend that they’re not embarrassed about it.

“I have something for you,” Lance says, when Shiro finally exits.

Keith glances at his gigantic care package of collective gifts from the rest of the team, raising an amused eyebrow. “Will I have space for it? The barracks at the Blade are small as shit, you know.”

Lance huffs a laugh, nervous smile pulling at his lips. “It’s, uh, pretty small. Promise.”

He takes a deep breath, steeling himself, then grabs something out of his pocket, holding his fist out to Keith. In his outstretched palm, a mirror of the night before, he drops a silver chain, attached onto a small —

A small, brown stone.

The flurexonomite.

“Good luck charm,” Lance explains quietly. He hesitates for a moment, then powers on. “And a piece of me to carry with you. If you want it.”

For a moment Keith gapes at the precious thing in his palm, the chain Lance must have made by hand sometime when Keith was hanging out with the rest of the team today. It’s simple, just the chain and the rock, but to Keith it’s more valuable than all the universe’ riches put together. To him it’s everything. To him it’s a message.

It is, without even a sliver of a doubt, a manifestation of Lance’s feelings for him. Of his feelings for Lance, too, having picked up the stone at all.

Keith decides to hell with the waiting. To hell with the war, with the consequences, with the long-distance. He grabs Lance’s face in his hands and kisses him as hard and fast as he has been wanting to for longer than he’s willing to admit.

“I fucking love you so much,” he mutters against soft, ful lips. He feels Lance’s smile.

“Yeah no shit, stupid. I gathered that when you kissed the rick I begged you to pick up for me before a mission, like it was a picture of your sweetheart in World War Two.”

Keith huffs, but can’t resist kissing him again. “Are you physically incapable of saying I love you back like a normal person, you dickhead?”

Lance laughs loudly enough to disrupt the kiss. “Yes.” A beat. “I love you too, mulletbrain. If that wasn’t abundantly clear.”

Keith smiles, kissing him one last time before pulling away. “It was.”

He lets Lance clasp the necklace around his neck, relishing in the touch of Lance’s cold fingers on his skin, committing the feeling to memory.

“I’ll miss you,” he says from the pilot seat. “I’ll call you.”

“If you don’t, I’ll fly Red to the Blades and kick your ass,” Lance informs him.

Keith feels like his heart is going to burst. “I don’t doubt it.”

When he finally takes off, castle shrinking to a dot behind him, the weight of his good luck charm around his neck makes leaving feel like less of a goodbye.

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loren91 · 10 months

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Young Royals and the three act structure, Part one

Seems like there was some potential interest in a full three-act story structure analysis, so I’m taking this opportunity to indulge myself by going full nerd. I’m going to attempt to make the argument that limiting the show to three seasons is actually perfect for Young Royals, by highlighting the pattern the story follows.

A few things to keep in mind before we start.

This analysis is not about the characters deep inner emotional lives. We are not here to pass judgment on their actions. We are simply identifying the beats of the story in a neutral and objective manner, for the purpose of analysing the structure of the story.

As you will notice, the points I have identified are all from Wilhelm’s perspective. That’s because he’s the point-of-view character, the main conflict is shaped by him and his emotional state. He’s the protagonist. Each subplot however, will follow the same pattern and has its own purpose, but I’ll get more into that another time.

I’ll be referring a fair bit to Lindsey Ellis’s video essay on the subject, because I like how she describes the structure pattern in sequences. So I’m gonna borrow some of her language. Also, note that the examples she uses to describe the tree-act structure are all feature films. Since Young Royals is a series, it’s gonna divert slightly from her description. But that’s what is so great about this structure, it’s flexible. It’s not meant to be set rules, but rather guidelines to help keep your story relevant and engaging all the way through. If you find this stuff interesting, I’d highly recommend watching her videos!

The three act structure is absolutely not the only way to tell a story. There’s many different formats that works just as well! It’s really about finding what structure works best to tell your story. The three acts however is the most common format you’ll find in more commercially viable works, such as Disney films for example.

And finally, I’m not a writer, but an animator, and I have studied film theory/structure. I’ll do my best to motivate the plot points I’ve identified, but if you’re a proper story expert and disagree with me, I’m happy to discuss!

Okay, let’s get to it.

A three-act structure is constructed of just that, three acts, and roughly looks like this. Essentially, a beginning, a middle, and an end. Or the set up, the confrontation, and the resolution. These acts may vary in length, act two usually being the longest and act three usually being the shortest. But what truly defines them is the tension of each act, meaning what drives the conflict forward at that point. A story will have a main conflict yes, but that conflict will take on many forms depending on where we are in the story. Lindsey Ellis describes each act as consisting of multiple sequences, and defines each sequence by its individual tension as well. Though all points of tension should always stay related to the main conflict! So the main points we’re looking to identify in the story are the main act tensions and the main sequence tensions.

Let’s go through season one of Young Royals and talk about each story beat.

Act 1

Act tension - Wille has to attend Hillerska.

Sequence 1

We start with the Set up/Hook. The purpose here is to establish the world and the protagonist along with their internal conflict, such as their flaws and/or desire that makes them feel incomplete - The way Wilhelm’s character is introduced informs us that he is royal, but struggling with his role, because royals have set rules to follow.

“Why can’t I decide how the hell I want to live? I want to live a normal life!”

The thing that sets the story in motion is the point of attack. Something happens that is outside of the protagonist's control/knowledge - That would be the royal court deciding to send Wille to Hillerska without his permission. This gives the protagonist something to react to.

Sequence tension is established - Wille does not want to go to Hillerska. The rest of episode one reinforces Wille’s discomfort at the school.

Next, we get to the inciting incident. An event that disrupts the status quo, and our protagonist has to get involved - The initiation party, particularly when Wille and Simon almost kiss at the end. This leads him to acknowledge his attraction toward Simon and become more proactive in his pursuit of the boy.

The sequence tension is resolved. Notice how in episode two, Hillerska is no longer the main focus for Wille, but Simon is. The seeds for what will become the central conflict have now been planted. The conflict is usually driven by character motivation. This is where we can consider the protagonist's Want vs Need. The want drives the main tension - Wille wants to be with Simon. But we’ll find want he needs later on in the story.

Sequence 2

The purpose here is to build up the creation of the main tension of the story. The main antagonist can also be established here - August keeps getting on Wille’s nerves. Especially when he’s trying to hang out with Simon.

That’s our sequence tension - Wille is working to befriend Simon, but August keeps getting in the way.

The end of the sequence sees the first major plot point, the Lock-in. Where our protagonist makes a decision that changes everything. Usually, something they can’t come back from - In Young Royals that would be the first kiss. Wille and Simon’s relationship has fundamentally changed. The main tension is now established.

Act 2

Act tension - Can Wille be with Simon, despite him being a prince?

Sequence 3

At the start of this sequence, the protagonist has most likely achieved some kind of milestone or learned something - He’s definitely like that.

To keep the story interesting, writers will add so-called pinch points in between the bigger plot points. These usually act as reminders of the antagonist or the pressure our protagonist may feel - Wille feels he needs to break it off with Simon because a prince is not supposed to be gay. As we established in the set up, royals have rules.

Sequence tension - Can Wille deny his feelings for Simon? Queer pining ensues.

Sequence 4

The purpose of this sequence is to build up towards the midpoint. We see the protagonist making attempts to achieve their goal - The want never changed, Wille still wants to be with Simon, despite the pressure. Wille invites him to spend the weekend with him.

Sequence tension - Wille is trying to prioritise his new relationship with Simon, but August is still being annoying.

Then the midpoint hits. A major disruption, either from a character action or a force of nature. Can be positive or negative, just something that changes the aim of the quest without resolving the main tension - This time it’s literally halfway through the season. End of episode three, Erik dies and Wille becomes the crown prince. Everything has changed.

Sequence 5

Everybody has to adjust to the new world order after the midpoint disruption. We’ve reached another pinch point - Again we are reminded that royals have rules, and Wille makes another attempt to follow those rules. By embracing his new role, he breaks up with Simon once again, then sort of pursues Felice and joins the society.

Sequence tension - Wille adjusting to his new title while mourning his brother.

It’s common for subplots to advance around this time - Like Simon giving August the drugs to sell.

Sequence 6

Another plot point, where our protagonist may stop and reflect. Maybe have a heart-to-heart with another character, and perhaps make a decision - This is where we see the football field scene and the end of episode four. Wille reaches out to Simon for help, reconnecting with him. This leads them to pursue a relationship once again. They are put in a false sense of security. They are finally together, thinking all is good. BUT, we in the audience know that August has the video of them and the writers keep reminding us of him and the threat he poses. Even if Wille and Simon don't know it yet.

Sequence tension - Can this happiness last?

Sequence 7

(Here’s where the story leaves the classic structure for a bit, and adds an extra sequence for some more drama, as filler. In theory, they could have skipped this sequence and gone straight to the video being released. This part is mainly here to give motivation for August’s character, making his actions clearer)

So we are essentially given another pinch point, a reminder of antagonist or pressure - August tries to break them apart by telling Wille about the drugs, which leads to the music room fight.

Sequence tension - August is becoming more hostile.

Wille saving Simon from being framed for the drugs is more related to August’s money subplot. And the Lucia hug scene is mainly there for character building purposes. I’ll talk more about that stuff in part two.

The plot has advanced to the culmination of the main tension. The crisis that serves as build-up to act three - August releases the video. At the end of act two, the protagonist faces their biggest challenge yet. They’ve hit their lowest point - The aftermath of the video's release and Wille is totally lost.

Act 3

Act tension - Can they save their relationship after the video?

Sequence 8

Begins with the protagonist making a big decision that creates the new act tension. The tension in act three will be different, but still related to the main conflict - Wille and Simon talk in the locker room, where Wille says he won’t do the statement.

Sequence tension - Can Wille avoid making the statement?

We’ve reached our last major plot point, located at the end of the sequence. Sometimes known as the twist in the third act - And what a twist, Wille does the statement anyway. This narrows down the tension further, to focus on a more character-driven intimate place for the next sequence.

Sequence 9

Sequence tension - Can they be together despite the statement?

Climax, the last big fight - Simon tells Wille off for being selfish and breaks up. Wille also finds out that both August and his mother betrayed him. The protagonist’s need has emerged from this journey and is now clear to us - Wille needs to decide who he wants to be. The want and the need should be different from each other, but still connected. Wille wants Simon, but in order for that to happen, Wille needs to break out of this cycle of self-preservation and stand up for himself against the royal court.

The climax will most likely lead to some kind of character growth - Wille is now pissed because he’s lost everything and realizes how corrupt the royal court is. As Lisa so beautifully put it, “A flame is ignited in him”. Hugging Simon in public is a display of his character growth.

And finally, Resolution. The point where the story is usually wrapped up neatly, but if left ignored, you get a cliffhanger - Which is exactly what happens in this season. Nothing is properly resolved at this point. Resulting in an open ending/cliffhanger.

Oof, that was a lot. How are we all doing? So these are the main beats of the plot. Makes sense? Let me know if you need any further clarification 😅 I was gonna get into how the rest of the show fits this format as well, but that’ll have to be in a separate post. Here’s part two!

#young royals #prince wilhelm #young royals analysis #young royals season 1 #film theory #story structure #story analysis #young royals and the three act structure #wilmon #simon eriksson #august horn #my meta #my analysis

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golvio · 4 months

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I think the metanarrative reason for the Princess being put into an antagonistic role in the “intended story structure” instead of being the protagonist is a big hint to her true nature.

While the protagonist gets to have the POV and make the major decisions that determine the story’s resolution, the antagonist is the one who actually makes things happen. Even when she’s not an antagonist and you’re working together, she’s still making things happen solely by being the only visible character present. Her mere presence changes things.

It’s very, very difficult to have a story without some external force or another character acting upon your protagonist and pressuring them to make a move. Even stories told primarily in flashbacks have the main character interacting with something, even if only in the past tense. A story where the main character just sat there, never interacting with anyone or anything, never having any experiences to learn from, would be incredibly boring. Simply having someone else there to talk to and play off of is enough to get things to move again.

Contrast this with The Narrator’s ideal story, which is a Wholesome™️ story where the main character does what they’re told and then never has anything bad happen to them ever because, as the only character left in the story, they’re safe from conflict, change, or heartbreak. Sure, it might not be a controversial story that would upset someone, but it’s also incredibly dull and unfulfilling. The credits roll and that’s it? That’s all we get?

It’s absolutely hilarious to me that, while The Narrator inserted his echo into the Construct under the conceit of being the literary device that’s the vehicle delivering the story to the reader, he really sucks at storytelling. He can’t build rapport with his audience (us) because he doesn’t understand what we want or how to persuade us beyond vague moral arguments with no emotional hooks whatsoever. He’s so inflexible and refuses to allow alternate interpretations that he can’t handle when things go off script, and can’t get the story back on track when we start going off the rails short of pulling a deus ex machina (which only works when the audience still has enough faith in him to take him seriously as storyteller instead of doing their own thing). Things only get interesting when the Princess gets involved. Things only move forward when she forces the issue, particularly in the Nightmare route, where you refuse to commit to a choice out of fear of potential consequences.

A friend of mine who recently did their first playthrough commented on how the underlying quest to collect perspectives for the Shifting Mound was basically an improv session. I think they’re right on the money. Each chapter is like a game of “Yes, And” between you and the Princess that continues until neither of you can think of anything else. The developers mentioned in an interview that Shifty M. only arrives to take the vessel home when the story “ends.” That is, when there’s nothing left to do. Improv is one of the genres of performance that best encapsulates Change in its demand for adapting to circumstances and new information, so of course The Narrator would be against it, preferring simple, linear narratives.

People tend to become fascinated with antagonists because they’re the ones who make things happen. Adding an antagonist who’s also a person is one of the easiest ways to start building a story. By making the Shifting Mound and her fragments our enemy and requiring us to get within talking distance in order to slay her, The Narrator shot himself in the foot by making Her the most compelling and interesting character by default.

#slay the princess #slay the princess spoilers #stp spoilers #the shifting mound #the narrator #princess princess

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banigarubug · 2 months

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i just rlly love the idea of ellie being big on physical play. like, flag football at recess that quickly devolves into an all out tackling brawl. wrestling with uncle tommy and climbing all over him like a squirrel on a tree, sitting on his shoulders and pulling at his hair just to piss him off. jumping on joel’s back without warning and laughing when he grunts, racing him everywhere because the competition and subsequent win makes her smile and joel can’t say no to that grin. in a bad way too; ellie knows how to solve problems with violence first, so she beats the shit out of some bully kid in high school and is suspended for a few days and joel has to have a serious conversation about conflict resolution but tommy is there having just told ellie she’s got a killer right hook and joel can’t deny his girl is strong as shit ..

ellie williams is like a feral cat and thats my truth

#ellie williams #tlou #the last of us #joel miller #tommy miller

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stickandthorn · 10 months

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The thing about Imogen and Laudna’s relationship is that I want to like it so bad. Not just because it’s a very important relationship for two PCs that takes up a lot of runtime, but because there are a lot of elements that could be explored in the relationship that I really like the idea of. For instance, how do you navigate a close relationship with someone who can look into your mind? What kind of trust does that necessitate you build, what kind of boundaries do you have to set and how, and what happens if those boundaries are crossed? Is that imbalance in the relationship uncomfortable for Laudna? For Imogen? How would the circlet have changed this theoretical conflict?

But then those elements just… don’t get explored. Nothing gets explored. The relationship is stagnant, nothing ever changes, and the few conflicts that can’t be avoided get smoothed over without actual resolution so that they can go back to the place they started from all the way in episode 1. And there’s nothing to imply that the reason they’re so conflict free is that they worked out the biggest bumps in their dynamic before the stream, they’ve already communicated a lot and set up the most comfortable form of their relationship, and now it’s mostly smooth sailing (and even then, even the longest and best relationships still have conflicts you need to work through). No, everything signals that they’ve just avoid anything that could possibly cause conflict for years. Conflict or some other interruption of the status quo is how things change, and that’s how people grow, but they avoid any break in the status quo at all costs.

And because they avoid conflicts, they never grow in the relationship, they never explore, they never change it, nothing changes. And because the relationship is so important to both characters, because it takes up so much of their time in general and on screen, it feels like it also keeps Imogen and Laudna from growing individually. Both of them, but especially Laudna, had amazing arcs and great growth when they were separated from each other. Way more than when they were together. And even that feels like it’s getting pushed under the rug again, they’re reverting back to episode 1 status quo Laudna and Imogen.

And the worst part is that every time there’s been conflict in the relationship I’ve loved it. The gnarlrock thing, Laudna expressing her frustration at the other half of the party, those were really really good moments. I genuinely loved their dynamic in those moments, I want more of the relationship those moments imply. But they’re few and far between, and when they happen, the two back away from the issue and revert back to the status quo.

And I don’t think this is bad characterization, I think it makes sense for them, and I’ve made posts before about why I think their relationship is that way. But it is so constant, so unchanging, that it just gets tiring to watch. Especially when no other character ever acknowledges this part of their relationship, they all encourage it. Like, the kiss was cute for sure, but what did it do in their relationship? Nothing. If you removed the kiss there would be no discernible before and after.

I don’t begrudge anyone liking the relationship, if you do that’s great. I do genuinely mean that, I am glad that you like their relationship, I really wish I did. I want to like it so bad. But I just don’t. I’m tired of it. I wish the stuff I liked in the potential of their relationship would ever get brought up. If things do change for them, I will be so excited, but based on how it’s been going, they don’t seem like they will anytime soon. This is very lightly edited and way longer than I meant it to be, but the point is that god I wish I loved them, but god I really really don’t.

#cr stuff #not maintagging because. well.#cr meta

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moonshynecybin · 2 months

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How does vale help and deal with Marc’s pain post reconciliation and would they ever fight because vale doesn’t think Marc is taking enough care of himself.

i DONT think it would be a fight post reconciliation they’ve worked on conflict resolution hopefully A LOT… but the thing about marc is he is only good at conceptualizing himself and his body as something to be protected when others tell him so explicitly. no fucking brakes on that guy people have to look him in the face and FORCE him to reckon with himself as someone whose bodily person and health um. matter. alex giving him permission not to race when concussed type vibe. you may not matter to yourself but you matter to ME

so actually vale in this scenario (so worried about marc he is NAUSEOUS. but at the same time deeply and intimately aware that riding that motorcycle is the living beating heart of him) is mayhaps a positive influence on marc’s deeply weird conception of self! so like. i could see them when it’s late at night, after a race where marc had a scary crash. and he’s fine, just a little sore, but there was a moment when vale saw him— when it seemed like maybe he wasn’t. when he flew through the air and vale’s heart seized in his chest. and now they’re curled around each other, and it’s so dark in the room that they can’t really make out each other’s faces, and vale doesn’t even know if marc is asleep really, but he’s warm and alive and his chin is notched against vale’s chest and it’s been quiet for a long while. and vale’s is just. playing everything over in his head. the aftermath of marc’s arm injury. the crash today. various and sundry other traumas related to their sport that we’ve all perceived. and like. without even knowing if marc is asleep or not, he starts talking softly, the words dragging out of his throat like sandpaper: you have to— you have to be okay. you have to take care of yourself marc. and marc’s fingers dig a little deeper into vale’s side, hands on the contours of his ribs. and vale thinks he heard him.

#marc IS awake but they NEVER talk about it lmaoooo #motogp #callie speaks #rosquez #asks

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kingdaddydaichi · 2 years

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⪼ title: the disciplinarian

⪼ pairing: daichi sawamura x f!reader

⪼ wc: 6k

⪼ warnings: nsfw, mdni, Hard Dom/bratty sub dynamic, Daddy/babygirl dynamic, lots of hard spanking, hair pulling, thigh fucking, orgasm denial/edging, oral (m/f receiving), facial, (mild) snowballing, Dom/sub drop, impeccable aftercare

⪼ notes: ever thought about backtalking daichi just to make him mean and feral? i know i sure have. 🪦rip, pussy🪦

⪼ tagging: @briokayama @lanaxians-2 @citrustsuki

You’d been living with Daichi for a few months and while you’d had a couple of minor disagreements, you’d both always handled it in a mature way and communicated like adults who respected and loved each other.

It was easily the healthiest relationship you’d ever been in and your appreciation and gratitude for Daichi’s patience and conflict resolution skills knew no bounds. You were thoroughly in love with him, but lately it felt like he’d been riding your ass about little things.

Your job had been stressful for the past couple of weeks and Daichi’s shifts kept getting moved around, which had fucked up his circadian rhythm and left him sleep deprived and grouchy.

You had two consecutive days off at the same time - a rare occurrence these days. You’d spent the weekend in bed together, except for the times you got up long enough to get food then become one with the couch together. Going back to work today had been rough on both of you, but at least you had that evening together.

“Hey, babe!” Daichi called out before appearing in the kitchen looking good enough to eat. He was fresh out of the shower, hair still damp and messy, wearing only a pair of sweats with a very visible dick print. “Where is my ju-jutsu kanji shirt?”

“I wore it this weekend, remember?”

“So it's dirty?” he said, putting his hands on his hips while shifting to the other foot.

Without moving your head you looked to the side thinking is he seriously gonna do this right now?

“No, Daichi, I haven’t washed it yet. It’s probably fine for you to wear. I didn’t exactly break a sweat while laying around the house with you.”

“It’s the principle, babe.”

“Ohmygod, you’re acting like I'm never gonna wash it! It’s only Monday, Dad. Damn!” you said, rolling your eyes.

“Did you just roll your fucking eyes at me?” he kept his voice low, but his eyes darkened.

“Yeah, because you’re being worrisome and treating me like a child,” you smarted, marching off to gather the shirt in question so you could throw it in the washer to avoid World War III with your bitchy boyfriend.

You heard him call out from the kitchen, “Yeah, because you’re acting like one!”

You came back through, carrying a single t-shirt in your fist before turning on the water in the washing machine and throwing the piece of clothing inside.

“You’re not gonna run the washer for one shirt,” he said, unmoving. It wasn’t a question.

You ignored him and watched the water start filling the tub.

“Did you hear me?” His voice was a little louder this time.

You whipped around and said “So you want me to go ahead and wash all your shit for you, is that it? Hm? I already do most of the cooking anymore; you want me to be your little maid while I’m at it?”

“Watch it, (y/n),” Daichi warned. “You know damn well that’s not what I meant.” He waited a beat to see what you would do. When you let the water keep running he broke the silence. “I said you’re not gonna run the washer for one shirt. Turn it off.”

You crossed your arms and pursed your lips. “You’re not my daddy. You can’t tell me what to do.”

With his big, buff arms folded across his broad chest, he leaned forward, trying to make sure he heard you correctly. “Excuse me? I’m not your what now?”

You looked right at him, your face calm and unfazed. “You’re. Not. My. Daddy.”

He raised his eyebrows at you. “Oh, I’m not?”

You stuck your tongue in your cheek and shook your head, still giving him the stink eye. “Nope.”

He pushed off of the wall and started towards you, his movements slow and controlled.

“What are you doing?” you said. You tried to back up, but you were only able to take a couple of steps in the small laundry room before there was nowhere else to go. Your visibly frustrated boyfriend closed in on you, shutting off the washing machine. “Daichi. What are y-”

Before you could finish, he had you slung over his shoulder, ignoring your protests as he calmly stalked his way back to your shared bedroom.

“TH’FUCK - PUT ME DOWN NOW, DAICHI!”

He relented, setting you down on your feet but only long enough for him to sit down on the edge of the bed and bend you over his strong thighs.

“DAICHI! STOP! WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING?!”

“Showing you who your fucking daddy is,” he answered with a deep, frustrated growl.

“Daichi. You better fucking not!” You both knew the word and unless one of you uttered it, you knew this was going to continue.

He yanked your shorts down over the curve of your wiggling ass, taking your panties with them and ripping a few threads in the process. You gasped when he used the same hand to grab a heaping handful of your thick butt, your flesh dimpling under his strong fingertips as he squeezed hard enough to leave bruises. You whined in discomfort until he let up and started gently rolling your ass cheek under his old spiking hand.

His pinky fingertip came dangerously close to your dampening pussy before he lifted his open hand and brought it down hard across your ass with a loud crack. Your senses sharpened and every muscle in your body tensed as the stinging pain crept across your skin.

“Owww! Damn it, Daichi, that fucking hurt!”

“Good,” he growled just before he slapped your bare ass again, making you cry out and sympathize with all the volleyballs he’d ever spiked.

“D-Dai-” His name died on your lips when his mean, heavy hand slapped across the fat of your ass again. “Fuck, Dai…” you hadn’t meant to moan, but your mouth and body betrayed you. Your panties were beginning to stick to you where they still touched your folds, which were becoming puffier with every strike of Daichi’s firm hand.

Your boyfriend started massaging your raw asscheek again, pulling your crack open to slip his middle and ring fingers down between your slit.

“Fuck, look at you, babygirl. Getting your panties all wet when I spank you like the little smart-mouthed brat you are. Now…” His cock jumped beneath you; you could feel it pressing against your stomach through the thick fabric of his sweatpants. “...tell me I’m not your daddy.”

You whined a little, still trying to squirm away from him, albeit with much less effort than before. Fuck him for trying to make you submit. As if.

You turned your head to look up at him, your hair falling across your reddened face. The fierce look in his eyes made you cream your thighs, but damned if you’d announce it.

Narrowing your eyes, you gritted, “You’re definitely not my daddy,” knowing full well you were poking the beast. But maybe you wanted to. Maybe you wanted to see how far you could push Daichi Sawamura before he snapped. He was always so cool and collected, always keeping everything under control. But you wanted him to lose it. You wanted him to go feral with you. Just a little, at least.

He easily manhandled you until you were face down on your king size bed. You struggled to get out from under him, but your strength was no match for Daichi’s. He was thick with muscle and professionally trained in the art of restraint. With his heavy weight pressing you into the mattress below, he wrapped your hair around his fist, the heat of his breath fanning across your ear.

Yes, he’s almost there.

Tightening his grip on your hair he pulled your head back, your mouth hanging open.

“Say it again,” he groaned, rolling his hips and biting back a moan when his thick cockhead caught on the waistband of his sweats. His hard shaft was splitting your buttcheeks apart as he dragged it between them, but you wanted him to split your pussy open instead. You were panting and whimpering, but he knew you hadn’t yet submitted when you looked over your shoulder at his handsome face, his once warm brown eyes now stern and dark.

“You’re not my fucking daddy, Daichi…” you hazarded with a smirk, adding a little venom to his name. You’d never pushed him this far before. “My actual daddy doesn't tell me what to do so you certainly don’t,” you sassed.

You opened your watering eyes to look at him again with a glint of mischief in them and a daring grin telling him to keep going. It was a conscious effort on your part at this point. Your pussy was sopping wet and you were purposely riling him up, silently begging him to own you already. To fuck you like you needed to be fucked by him. Like you deserved to be fucked by him.

“Alright, that’s enough.” His tone was unfamiliar, a dark blend and balance of cold and commanding.

He reached between your bodies and pushed the elastic waistband of his sweatpants down to the middle of his thighs. His chubby cock popped out with a heavy slap against his lower abdomen, a string of precum glistening in his black happy trail. As he stroked his length in his fist, his knuckles grazed the sensitive skin of your butt. Poking the thick head of his cock between your legs, he sank his shaft between the apex of your thighs, dragging it up and down your weeping slit.

“So I guess you don’t want daddy’s cock to stretch your pretty little cunt open then, hm?” You could hear how much you’d provoked him by the way he exhaled a long, ragged breath behind your ear.

He knew you loved it when he talked to you like that, and you knew he was smart enough to use it as a tactic to gain your submission. Having no intention of letting him manipulate you and win so easily you struggled, trying to press yourself down around him, but he was just too bulky and strong. He fucked the space between the fat of your tightly closed thighs, the tip of his hard cock grazing your clit with every slow pump of his hips.

“D-Daichi…”

Daichi furrowed his brow, a deep ache lodging at the base of his spine. Your juices were coating his twitching shaft and he had to fight the urge to bury his cock inside your wet, yielding heat.

“What is it, baby? Hm?” he groaned, his hot length throbbing between your fleshy thighs. “Use your words, pretty girl. Tell Daddy all about it.”

“You think you’re slick, trying to trick me like that.” You gasped and sighed when he shifted to one side long enough to whip his hand across your asscheek. “You’re not my fucking daddy,” you slurred. But he heard the way you choked on your whimper when he slapped your bare ass again.

Daichi was done talking. He got to his knees and hooked his hands above your hips before jerking your sore ass up into the air. You started to push yourself up onto the palms of your hands in protest, but he quickly shoved your upper body back down to the mattress.

“Your bratty little attitude is old and tired.” You could feel him shifting his weight behind you as he worked his legs out of his pants before dropping them next to the towel he’d used earlier. “You will submit to me. Do you fucking understand me?” You made a pitiful, unintelligible sound. “Answer me!”

Finally. You had him right where you wanted him.

The pain and pleasure of his fist tugging on your hair shot straight down to your painfully empty core. “Fuck you, Daichi,” you croaked.

The next few seconds were a blur as Daichi yanked and tore your clothes off. Fuck. Yes.

He had you up on your knees with your back pressed against his heaving chest, still gripping your hair with one hand while the other gripped your jaw and squeezed your cheeks in. “No, babygirl…” He shoved your top half back down onto the mattress, “Fuck you.”

His cock filled you up so swiftly and completely that it took your breath away. Daichi made no waste of time and began pounding into you mercilessly.

Slam!

His hips slowly pulled away, nice and languid, willing you to feel every vein in his massive cock.

Slam!

You cried out at the way his cock head pressed through the opening of your cervix with every clap of skin that echoed off the walls of your shared bedroom.

Slam!

“Daichi! Please!”

He ignored your pleas, selfishly driving himself balls deep inside you with every fierce thrust of his hips. No regard for your comfort. No regard for your pleasure or your pain. Whether he was making tender love to you or slamming his hips against you, Daichi had always been a thoughtful, attentive lover. But as much as he liked to be in control in all other areas of life, you knew there was a latent urge to do the same in the bedroom. You’d finally managed to bring out the deeper layer of it tonight and fucking hell, was it hot.

You reached back, putting a hand out in a futile attempt to make him ease up, but it backfired. He grabbed that wrist then the other, forcing your torso off the bed as he fucked into you harder than before, using your arms to pull you back into his rough thrusts.

“Oh fuck, Daichi! Oh god yes!”

Your titties swinging, your eyes rolled back as his unforgiving cock stretched out your tight cunt. A pool of heat had gathered in your womb and your snug pussy began to clench down on him. With every stroke he fucked you closer to your end and when you needed only one or two more drags of his cock, he pulled out and let you fall back down to the mattress.

You whipped your head around to see him sitting back on his heels, his eyes still full of that dark fury that turned you on to no end.

“D-Daichi? Wh-“

He flipped you over and spun you around. The feeling of his large hands grabbing and squeezing and pulling on your body made you moan. You crawled to him, lifting yourself and holding onto his huge shoulder with one hand and grabbing his face with the other before smashing your lips against his.

He grabbed you by the back of your neck as he shoved his tongue inside your mouth, quickly dominating yours. You raked your teeth along his tongue, knowing that would drive him up the fucking wall. He growled into your mouth before biting your lip and pulling it between his teeth. You growled back and grabbed a handful of his short, black hair, pulling on it. He easily forced you off him before pushing your head down between his legs.

“Suck it!” your boyfriend demanded, his voice so gravelly you almost didn’t recognize it.

You rolled your eyes up to look at him and pressed your lips closed in defiance.

“I said…” he pulled your face closer to his angry cock, using one hand to squeeze your cheeks until your mouth opened. “…suck my dick!”

Truth was you’d always loved sucking Daichi’s cock. Fuck, it was huge and you’d never manage to take all of him but the sounds you could pull from him while trying were nothing short of magical. You wrapped your relatively small hand around his hot girth and licked the vein that ran along the underside of his length before swirling your tongue around his meaty cockhead. You relished the low hum that echoed in his chest above you.

Daichi’s cock seemed to become ten times more sensitive during blowjobs. He was the only man you’d ever been with whose legs would shake when you got him close to orgasm with your mouth.

You let him slip between your lips; your flavor mixed with his fresh pre made your mouth water. Daichi moaned, his head falling back as you slowly took his length until the tip touched the back of your throat. Over time, giving your boyfriend head had desensitized your gag reflex. You did your best to swallow around the tip before pulling off him long enough to tease his weeping slit with the tip of your tongue.

“Oh shit, babygirl! That’s it. You love Daddy’s flavor, don’t you? Lap it up sweeth-fffffuuuuck!” he groaned.

You’d popped off him and with a hand on each of his majestic ass thighs you pushed yourself up. “I told you. You’re not my daddy,” you rasped, licking your lips.

Daichi pulled you up to your knees and swung his arm behind you to slap your ass. You cried out, sinking your nails into the musculature of his thighs. Holding onto a handful of your ass with one hand, the other slid between your legs. He slipped two thick fingers inside your aching pussy, cupped his palm against your clit, and finger fucked you. Instantly your slick was running down his fingers, coating his palm and making wet slapping sounds every time it hit your clit.

Your cries and moans all ran together as he growled into your ear, “You’re gonna suck my cock when I tell you to, brat. You got that?”

Between his menacing tone and the way he reminded you how much control he really had over you, how easily he could turn you to putty in his hand, you dumbly nodded. “Use your words, baby. Need to hear you say it.”

“Yes,” you breathed, nearly teetering on the edge again as he bullied your needy cunt with his hand.

“Yes what?”

You whimpered. “Y-yes, s-sir mmm-please Daichi. Baby?”

“I don’t fucking answer to that. You will call me Daddy before I’m finished with you tonight. Now…” Just as your gummy walls began to squeeze around his fingers he abruptly pulled them out and forced you down between his legs again. “…be a good girl and suck my fucking dick!”

You were so turned on, loving this little game you were playing with your man, you eagerly wrapped your lips around Daichi’s girth again. He pulled your hair back and held it in place with his hand as a show of dominance but also so he could watch his wet shaft disappear between your lips. You did as you were told, sucking and slurping and choking on Daichi’s cock like it was your last fucking meal.

“Good fucking girl. That’s it, baby, just like that. Fuck.”

He couldn’t keep his eyes open anymore. The pressure behind his heavy balls was too much. You pulled off his cock, and with your hand still tugging on his length you started flicking the tip of your tongue along the line in his ballsac.

Daichi’s head fell back, his lust-blown brown eyes sliding shut again, groaning at the new pleasure shooting up from the base of his spine. You dragged your tongue up and applied pressure to the point where his sac met the base of his shaft, your hand still busy rubbing his throbbing cockhead.

Daichi’s legs began to tremble and you knew he was about to cum. You took his cock in your mouth again, hollowing your cheeks and sucking him hard and fast. He tightened his grip in your hair, swearing, thighs shaking, fucking the head of his cock into your throat - all the signs that he was too far gone.

“Fuckgonnacumbaby,” he breathed, pulling you off his cock and jerking himself the rest of the way off.

With your eyes still closed you wondered why he would deny his own orgasm. That was until you felt the first release of his warm, creamy semen land on your face, then another, and he just kept cumming. Daichi had always blown the biggest, thickest loads. When the last of his cum dripped into your open mouth, he smeared the head of his spent cock around your lips as you tried to lick it clean.

“Damn, sweetheart,” his fist still in your hair, “you look cute as hell with my seed all over your face.” He watched as it dripped down to your naked breasts, your eyes closed tight to keep the cum out. “Fucking beautiful,” he said, panting. He reached over and grabbed the towel he’d dried off with after his shower and began to carefully wipe the mess he’d made, starting with your eyelids. “There you go, got most of it,” he said, tossing the towel somewhere behind him.

A giggle bubbled out of your lips as you slowly opened your eyes. “Damn, baby, you give one hell of a facial.”

Daichi smirked, scooping up a dollop of his cum with his thumb and pushing it inside your mouth. “I told you I don’t answer to that,” he said, kissing you before you had a chance to swallow, a small reward for being such a good sport.

He knew how much it turned you on to swirl your cum-coated tongue around his and he didn’t mind. He’d be lying if he said tasting himself on your tongue wasn’t hot as fuck.

He laid you down on your back, slotting himself between your soft, creamy thighs. You could only briefly enjoy the friction of his soft cock against your clit before his kisses descended along your neck - stopping for a moment to suck a bruise next to your jugular, making you rub your open legs along his sides.

He slid lower down your body, tufts of his black hair sticking out between your fingers as you breathed his name. He kissed your nipples before taking turns sucking on them and squishing the fatty tissue of your breasts between his fingers. Occasionally he dragged one of your taut nipples between his teeth, peppering the soft tenderness of his lips and tongue with little nips and harmless bites.

Down, down he went until you could finally feel the heat of his breath on your clit. Daichi ate pussy like no one else could. You were practically lifting your hips off the bed in anticipation. The pressure of his wet lips on your desperate clit nearly pushed you over the edge. You squirmed beneath him, willing him to devour you already; to make you cum in his mouth like he’d done countless times before. Your boyfriend licked and sucked at your labia, intentionally avoiding your clit. He slipped his fingers inside you, slowly dragging them along your sticky walls and right away could feel how close you were to cumming.

He chuckled, knowing he had you precisely where he wanted you: on the razor’s edge. He’d only been eating you out for about 2 minutes when your walls closed in around his fingers, sucking them in as if trying to prevent their escape. But once again, Daichi withdrew, leaving you clenching around nothing. You wanted to pull your fucking hair out.

“Daiiichiiii! Damn iiiiit!” Tears pricked at the outer corners of your eyes. You’d lost count of how many times he’d brought you right to the precipice only to yank you back to solid ground.

“Something wrong, sweetheart?” he teased, pushing himself onto his knees, his cock half hard again.

You were starting to get mad; genuinely angry at your man for torturing you like this. You knew his fucking game from the start and you had no intention of letting him win.

However, as the saying goes, the road to hell is paved with good intentions.

You were nearly in physical pain from the need to cum. Primal instinct was beginning to win out over false pride. Your urge had gone beyond desire and had crossed the line into agonizing need. You didn’t want Daichi’s fat cock buried deep inside you - you desperately needed it. You needed to feel the drag of his hard shaft along your swollen walls, the friction of his pelvis against your throbbing, puffy clit. Hell, at this point he could probably blow on it and make you cum.

“Daichi, stop,” you said pitifully.

“I did stop.”

“You know what I mean. I need…” you trailed off, your ego in the throes of death.

“What is it, baby? Hm?” He caressed your naked leg, the warmth of his touch driving you wild. “Tell me what you need.”

The first tear streaked across your temple. “Need you. Make m’cum, Dai,” you whimpered.

You would never know the amount of willpower it took for him to not plow into you right then and there. He leaned down, pushing your hair back from your forehead and kissing it before kissing the tear away from your face.

“Shh…it’s okay, babygirl. I’ve got you. All you have to do is accept that I’m your daddy and I’ll give you everything you ever wanted.”

You huffed and crossed your arms over your breasts. “No.”

You were flipped onto your belly again with Daichi’s powerful thighs straddling your plushy ones. His heavy hand, calloused from years of ball spiking, came from the side and slapped your ass like he was trying to hit it over a net. You wailed. That was the worst one yet. Your ass was raw from the earlier spankings, but the numbness had worn off.

“Daiiii! Fuuuck that fucking hurts!” you sobbed.

Behind you, your lover’s eyes widened with worry. “Color?”

“Green.” You were crying, but you’d spoken clearly.

“You sure are obstinate for a little girl that needs to cum so badly.” Daichi’s hand landed on the curve of your ass with a crack, making you scream out for him. “Only good girls who beg for their daddy’s cock get to cum.”

He kneaded your flesh with his big, strong hands, assuaging some of the stinging pain. He reached down and lined his full erection up with your winking pussy. Jesus Christ, he was so fucking turned on that even though he’d just cum a few minutes ago he knew he wasn’t going to last long seeing you like this, your poor little pussy trying to suck him in as you cried for him to let you cum.

He pushed himself through your ring of flesh, both of you moaning in unison, but he only got a couple of inches in before pulling back out.

“Daichi, no! Please!” You squealed in frustration.

“What did I just say, bratty girl? Beg for your daddy’s cock and I’ll let you cum all over it.”

Shit, he was fucking ruthless. He pushed the fat head of his cock right up to your entrance, holding himself there with just the right amount of pressure against your cunt.

“Damn it, Daichi! Fuck, you’re so mean!”

He leaned down on top of you, his hard barrel of a chest pressing against you, the small patch of hair above his pecs tickling your back.

“You haven’t seen mean, babygirl. I fucking promise.” He was so hard, his length grinding along your buttcrack as his breath dusted your ear. “I love you more than anything and I’m willing to give my babygirl the whole fucking world. All I need from you is to call. me. Daddy.”

“Oh god…” you felt the last thread of your dignity snap. “I- I need to cum so fucking bad,” you cried. “Please? Please let me cum on your cock, Daddy?”

Daichi was up, forcing you onto your back and shoving his cock all the way inside you in the blink of an eye.

“Anything for my babygirl,” he promised, pressing your thighs back until your knees almost touched your ears. You were caged between his arms, begging him nonstop as he pounded into you from above.

“Yes, Daddy, fuck me! I’ve been such a bad girl n m’so sorry!”

Daichi felt your walls closing in hard and fast. “Fuck, babygirl, you’re crushing Daddy’s cock. You’re gonna cum for me when I tell you to.”

The pressure that was rising inside you was unlike anything you’d ever felt. “God yes, Daddy! Gonna cum all over your fat cock!” you said through gritted teeth.

Daichi watched as his cock pistoned in and out of your creamy pussy, your knees hooked around his elbows as his wet hips clapped against your butt. He was dangerously close to busting his nut.

“That’s my girl. Let go, baby. Cum for Daddy…NOW!”

You threw your head back, back arching, eyelids fluttering as the massively tight coil inside you finally snapped. It felt like you were peeing but you’d been tossed over the edge so hard and deep you didn’t give a single fuck as your liquid splattered across Daichi’s flexing abs.

“Ohshitbabygirl! So fucking hot, I can’t- I’m gonna-!” Daichi’s hips stuttered. “-nnfffuck!” He buried himself balls deep, still rutting into you when a pang of searing heat shot from the base of his spine and through a singular point of exit. His thick, white cream spilled inside you and began to leak from the snug rim of your used cunt. He lowered your weakened legs back down beside him and slotted his lips with yours, kissing you with a gentle passion.

“Are you okay, baby?” he asked quietly.

You weren’t expecting the tears that seemed to well up from nowhere. You quickly covered your eyes and nodded.

“Whoa, hey…”

Daichi’s deep voice softened as he rolled off of you before pulling you on top of him where you curled into the safety and security of his strong arms. He rubbed your back and talked you through the rush of emotions that inevitably hit after such intense play. You’d never cried after a scene before, but this was the most immersive one you’d experienced so far.

“Baby, listen to me. You’re safe. I love you with my whole heart and I’ll never let anything bad happen to you.”

Your Dom’s aftercare was exquisite and you needed it now more than ever before. Guilt loomed on the fringes of his heart knowing he’d done this to you. It was just as reassuring to Daichi to say these things out loud as it was for you to hear them.

“You are a beautiful, intelligent woman who has all my respect and adoration. I will always protect you no matter what, okay?”

You sniffled and nodded against his chest. He held you like that until you stopped shaking. You’d stopped crying, but your arm was still fastened around Daichi’s neck, not wanting to let go.

Daichi kissed the top of your head and murmured, “Baby, I need to get us both some water. If you wanna stay here, let me know; otherwise, I’m gonna need to lay you down for a few seconds so I can pick you up and carry you.”

You answered with a meek “k” before Daichi gently let you go long enough to slip his sweats back on and wrap you up in a blanket. He hoisted you up bridal style, your arms urgently wrapping around his neck again. Your hold on him was tight, afraid to let go even though he kept assuring you he would never let you fall. He grabbed a glass and pushed it against the water dispenser in the freezer door. Once filled, he had to sit you down on the countertop so he could hand it to you. But he stayed right in front of you, rubbing your legs while you guzzled half the water down.

“Thirsty, hm?”

“Yeah,” you said, passing the glass to him.

He downed the other half in 3 swallows then shoved it back under the dispenser for more. You both finished that glass and he got some more before asking you to carry it so he could carry you back to your ensuite master bathroom.

Daichi set you down on the edge of the tub with the glass of cool water in your hands while he drew a warm bath.

“Listen, baby, it might sting when you first get in, but only for a few seconds, alright?”

You nodded and when the bath was ready, Daichi helped you stand up and made sure you were steady on your feet as you let the blanket fall away.

“Oh fuck, baby,” Daichi buried his face in his hands when he saw your bottom. “I’m so sorry. Shit.”

You reached out and ran your fingers through his hair before pulling his head against your belly. “It’s okay, baby. I’m okay. I wanted this. You didn’t do anything wrong, Daichi.”

He dragged his hands down his face and wrapped his strong arms around your waist, hugging your body close.

“I think I underestimated my own strength though. I didn’t mean to leave such nasty marks on you, babe.”

Still stroking his hair, you smirked down at him. “At least we both know you could still spike the fuck out of a volleyball.”

He shook his head. “Don’t even joke about that right now. I feel awful about this.”

“Daichi, look at me.”

“You haven’t seen what I did to you.”

“I don’t have to see it, Dai. You didn’t do anything to me I didn’t want you to do. I still trust you with my life, baby.”

Daichi wordlessly stood up and guided you to the mirror, turning you around so you could see your butt. It did look worse than you thought it would, but it was still fresh and you knew you’d heal from it quickly.

“Well, damn.” You took a deep breath and exhaled, watching Daichi’s shoulders slump in the reflection as he held the bridge of his nose. “Guess you’ll just have to kiss my ass for the next few days until it gets better.”

Daichi’s shoulders began to shake, which you knew all too well meant he was laughing. Sure enough, he dropped his hand from his face to reveal his huge smile.

“I fucking love you, (y/n), you know that?”

“I fucking love you too, Daichi. I think I always will.” You pulled him down into a kiss.

“Maybe next time you should do it in uniform,” you said, biting your lip.

He quirked an eyebrow at you. “Yeah? You think you’d like that?”

You gave him a slow nod as your fingers walked their way up from his abs to his chest. “Don’t forget your handcuffs…”

His half-lidded eyes darkened a little again as a crooked, mischievous grin formed on his handsome face. “Careful what you wish for, babe…”

Your conversation continued as you bathed each other, occasionally kissing and checking in with one another.

When you were done, Daichi got out of the bath and quickly dried off before helping you out. He dried you off before sweeping you off your feet and carrying you to bed.

He laid you down before sliding in next to you and gently applying lotion to your bottom. You were almost asleep when he laid down behind you, pulling you close with his chest against your back and his arm wrapped around you.

“I love you more than anything, baby,” he whispered, his lips pressing a sweet kiss behind your ear as your legs tangled with his.

“Mmm…” you smiled and intertwined your smaller fingers with his. “I love you endlessly…Daddy.”

“Careful,” he warned.

With a smile and a sigh you melted into his warm, protective embrace.

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lusi-raul · 11 months

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I watched Forever’s pov from Jaiden’s dungeon quest since I’ve been seeing a lot of people upset about his suspicions on Jaiden and I can see why but it all stems down to the meta gaming knowledge we have as viewers and not being allowed to give it to him so that he won’t misunderstand Jaiden.

If you solely watch Forever, his and Maximus’ suspicions are valid. Guys you have to realize it doesn’t matter how sweet and nice she appears to other people in the server, no one knows her as much we do and as much as the few she interacts with the most in the island. If it was Roier of course he is never going to suspect her. Even if he was spying on her and Cucurucho that boat race day, it was out of concern and worry for her. But for Forever, unfortunately theres just too much coincidences going on that just makes his suspicions for her grow worse and worse. She just lost her son and is in a mental state where she can be easily manipulated. She distracted Baghera when Pomme died. She is working for Cucurucho who works for the feds. He sees that she has a good relationship with Cucurucho (headpats). She was seen talking alone with Quackity and a Worker for the federation. She built her house which Forever thinks is a shrine, in the middle of nowhere instead of near spawn but he doesn’t understand the significance of the Bobby fields to both her, Bobby and Roier. The truth of the situation is, he doesn’t know her as much as Roier or Bad or even Philza does that’s why he can’t fully dismiss these coincidences even after Jaiden explained it to him. You guys can’t just expect him to blindly trust someone he barely knows nor is it smart for him to do so. Remember how he still trusts Cellbit when he was in the same position? And the trust never left him until Cellbit broke his xp farm. Why trust Cellbit and not Jaiden when both of them are doing practically the same thing in his perspective? First of all, he knows how Cellbit ended up and it’s reasonable to believe Jaiden will end up in the same ditch. Second, He knows Cellbit on a deeper level than he knows Jaiden.

He thinks Jaiden is obsessed with Bobby and is willing to do dirty deeds for the federation in exchange for her son but the sad thing about that mentality is it implies that he will do the same for Richas. He can’t see Jaiden who is this attached to her dead son as sound minded because he sees himself in her, absolutely losing her mind to the point of taking the opportunity to have her son back at the expense of the life of others because deep inside he knows when Richas dies, he will do everything he can to bring him back just like her. We know Jaiden genuinely did what she did with good intentions because we saw her cope with grief but Forever didn’t and just sees her as a broken mother.

He spied on her and broke into her home with Maximus. Some people were upset that they did that. They are investigating on something they are suspicious about. Is it wrong? Maybe but is it reasonable? Yes. They don’t trust her, they have to find out more information so that their suspicions can either be confirmed or discredited. It’s unfortunate that he was too late both times and was caught by Cucurucho the last time. If he overheard their conversation, some of his suspicions may have been dismissed. If in the end Forever realizes on his own that Jaiden really is trustworthy and their relationship improves, imagine how much deeper his friendship with Jaiden will be after all they’ve been through. He is willing to protect and support Jaiden despite the suspicions, imagine if the suspicions were dismissed for him.

Ultimately a story without conflict is like a rollercoaster on a straight track. In order for the rider to feel thrill and excitement, there has to be ups and downs, fast and slow moments and loops. This type of misunderstanding causes conflict within the lore of the island. It keeps the story interesting and ultimately will make the resolution that much more satisfying.

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sepublic · 8 months

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Hexside was Necessary for S3

Since it apparently needs repeating;

Yes, Hexside actually makes sense and DOES have a purpose in For the Future, within the larger, limited run time of S3, and the show as a whole. For starters, Labyrinth Runners ended with Hunter telling the students about the Day of Unity, so we actually get to see there be payoff from this setup, as knowing ahead of time about the draining spell allowed Hexside to become, unwittingly, a safe haven against the Collector’s spies.

This is important for our protagonists, because they need the memory tweezers to access Luz’s memories, to glimpse Philip’s teleportation glyph combo that will take them to the skull, enabling them to bypass the Collector’s spies and an entire trek up the skull. The tweezers are at Hexside, so a detour there is necessary.

From a thematic standpoint, I’ve already discussed how the situation with the kids lacking supervision and causing chaos is meant to parallel the Collector’s reign over the isles, and emphasize the idea that kids need good adults they can actually rely on for structure and guidance. Continuing off of that thread, Boscha is actually a parallel to the Collector in this way, and these similarities help us characterize the kid when he isn’t on-screen; For the Future gives us a lot of insight into another side of the Collector we haven’t gotten to see up until this point.

Hexside is also necessary for Luz and Willow’s arcs in this episode, as it provides an opportunity for adversity. Because of their struggles against Kikimora and Boscha, this causes them to reach a frustrated lowest point, which opens up Camila and Hunter to reach through to their loved ones and help them come to terms with their vulnerability by accepting their mistakes.

And speaking of Willow, Hexside also has her briefly reunite with Viney, who unwittingly adds to her pressure by mentioning how the kids really need her leadership. Likewise, I suspect that seeing a bunch of kids that are Luz’s age is enlightening for Camila, who is essentially being given a tour of the Boiling Isles, the place her daughter chose; She sees how there are many peers who recognize and like Luz here, an important reminder amidst Camila’s apprehension towards the isles’ more visceral aspects. Amity gets to reunite with her siblings, and helps by getting through to Boscha.

Hexside is also a good opportunity for Belos; With the kids distracted, this gives Belos ample time to be alone with his thoughts… And thus, we get our entire sequence with the ghosts and his failed possession of the Grimwalkers; This couldn’t have happened if Belos was too busy, in his weakened state, trying to fend off the kids. He only held up hours earlier because he was using Hunter as a human shield, but without Hunter nor the integrity that a host provides, I’m not sure if Belos could’ve survived a battle with the kids in that condition.

So we get a real nice moment where we can see how Belos operates on his own, without anyone around to manipulate nor impress; We get an illuminating look at his psyche, that otherwise wouldn’t be possible if the kids were there to distract Belos from his thoughts. And if the protagonists can’t be with Belos, they may as well be somewhere, hence Hexside. And because they’re preoccupied with Kikimora, this also gives Belos a much-needed headstart.

Thanks to his knowledge of a hidden passageway in the skull that he created, Belos is able to access the Archives while the protagonists need the teleportation glyph; And by reaching the Collector before everyone, this enables Belos to possess Raine, and thus manipulate the Collector. This allows the conflict to persist, as the Collector’s progress with King is being messed with, and thus the resolution with them isn’t as cut and dry as it otherwise might be; Without Belos’ lies, the Collector could’ve been talked down much sooner.

This is a parallel to Kikimora emotionally isolating Boscha to control her, which made that conflict more difficult. This is for the sake of Luz and Willow, Camila and Hunter, and again the themes of kids needing adults they can trust, and the juxtaposition of those whom kids can’t rely on, which brings out the worst in children, like we see in Terra and Odalia. This again helps to characterize and set up the Collector’s arc when they otherwise can’t be on-screen and we need to follow our main protagonists.

In particular, it contrasts with Camila as a motherly figure, and how she really comes through for Luz this episode, as do Eda and Lilith as King’s only other companions for two months. Luz and Camila are able to fully rekindle their relationship this episode, as their conflict with one another is framed as THE inciting incident of the series, from the perspective of the audience watching the series premiere.

And because of Hexside, we have the Collector’s interactions with Belos, which inspire him in the next episode to possess the Titan’s heart, which leads to that whole big sequence… Not to mention, Belos goading the Collector to attack the protagonists leads to Luz’s nightmare sequence that she manages to overcome as another capstone to her arc, etc. etc.

#the owl house #luz noceda #willow park #camila noceda #emperor belos #philip wittebane #the owl house collector #the owl house boscha #the owl house kikimora #hexside #analysis

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pinkeoni · 9 months

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Can you talk more about the issues with jancy and why they need to do a lot of talking if it is to be endgame?

Anon, are you giving me permission to once again complain about Jancy’s unresolved problems?

I always took issue with how the fandom tended to view their relationship through these rose-tinted glasses, especially post vol. 2, when there were some major issues regarding their relationship that was yet to be addressed.

I think Jancy is in love and could believably be endgame, but GOD if these issues get brushed off simply and they stay together without these conflicts being resolved, it would be bad writing.

The two main conflicts between Jonathan and Nancy are the same thing that kept them seperated: Jonathan’s daddy issues and Nancy putting her career ambitions before the people she loves.

Jonathan can’t bring himself to do what he wants out of fear of becoming like his father. Moreover, but Emerson isn’t even the college that Jonathan wants to go to, which isn’t even counting the NYU thing from season one. He plainly states that he doesn’t want to go Emerson to Argyle!

For Nancy, I’m in no way trying to say “working woman bad” but Nancy does need to find a balance between her ambitions and her loved ones. In season two, Nancy uses investigative journalism to bring justice for Barb, but in season three her passion for it escalates to where it blinds her and she doesn’t consider Jonathan’s feelings (“Here comes the Oliver Twist routine”) and in season four she doesn’t visit him despite clearly wanting to because she dedicates herself to the school paper instead. I’m not saying Nancy shouldn’t be career driven, but I don’t think it would be very “empowering-girl-boss” if she closed herself off from everyone she loves for it.

For Nancy we do see a bit of a change from her when she opens up a little and lets Robin in. With Robin, Nancy learns to lean on others for help and allow them to influence her work. It doesn’t, however, resolve her miscommunication with Jonathan, and unfortunately Jonathan’s personal issues have not yet seen a resolution either. And at the end of the season, Jonathan has still not told Nancy about not applying to Emerson, and Nancy did still have that whole wierd thing with Steve this season.

My ideal ending for these two would be for them to stay together but go to seperate colleges, although only time will tell for that. I do believe that these two can work out their problems given how much we are shown that they do genuinely care about each other and want to put in the work, but oh god, if all of that goofiness happened last season and it’s just brushed off without even a conversation? That would just be bad writing. What was it all for then?

#you know what?? i want them to have a fight! maybe even breakup and get back together!!#just so long as all of this wasnt for naught #not tagging anti jancy cause its not really anti jancy but also not putting in their tag #asks #anon #stranger things

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anthurak · 7 months

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Funny thing I’ve recently realized: With just two minor changes in events, you could negate basically ALL of the major arcs/conflicts in Adventure Time post-Islands.

First, Finn doesn’t accidentally stab the Finn Sword with the Grass Sword during his fight with Bandit Princess in I Am a Sword.

Second, Patience St. Pim doesn’t walk in on Ice King and Betty while they’re hanging that we see in the flashbacks of Bespoken For.

The first point is pretty easily to explain. No Finn stabbing the Finn Sword means no grass demon corrupting and merging with the Finn Sword to create Fern. So everything with Fern just goes ‘poof’.

The second point on the other hand is a bit more complicated: To start, Patience not meeting Betty means she doesn’t get the idea to use her as a magic super-battery for her Element Awakening spell. Which in turn almost certainly means NO Elemental Apocalypse. Of course, the Elements Mini-series probably still happens in some form. Patience seems quite adept at making problems for everyone else. But it most likely ends up being not nearly as bad as what we see in the show.

So no Elemental Apocalypse likely means our heroes don’t have to hit the LSP-powered elemental-reset button. And that means Punchbowl, Crunchie and Manfred AREN’T reverted to their original forms. Meaning NO Uncle Gumbald and no Gumbaldia arc.

And then we have BETTY to consider. Because looking back at Bespoken For it seems that Betty was just about ready to actually try LETTING GO of her obsession with ‘fixing’ Simon. To finally ‘take him as he is’ as Tiny Manticore suggested. Instead however, Betty ends up getting frozen by Patience and used as an Elemental super-battery, which leads to her getting access to the Enchiridion thanks to Finn, which in turn gives her the idea to try and rewrite history. The failure of which sends her to Mars and puts her in contact with Normal/King Man, which in turn led to her getting the idea to summon GOLB.

Meaning that no Betty getting frozen by Patience means no GOLB, no GOLBetty, and no Ice King being reverted back to Simon. Also, no Gunter becoming Ice Thing either. Instead, we could very well see a Betty who tries to accept Simon as he is now, much like what we see with Marceline.

To really break this down, looking at episodes following a version of I Am a Sword where Finn avoids stabbing the Finn Sword and retrieves it from Bandit Princess, leading up to the Islands arc; most everything plays out basically the same, save for events directly dealing with the fallout of the original I Am a Sword, ie; the episodes The Music Hole and Two Swords which simply have no reason to exist. Though speaking of Two Swords, I do think the events of its preceding and succeeding episodes Reboot and Do No Harm NOT related to Fern play out mostly the same. As in, Finn’s grass-prosthetic still lashes out at a berserking Susan to protect him, though without the Grass Demon seizing remote control over the prosthetic, perhaps Finn is able to avoid hurting Susan quite as bad. Regardless, I imagine Finn’s grass arm does go somewhat out of his control and Susan still gets hurt, which means Finn’s time in Do No Harm can play out unchanged.

As for the Islands arc itself, I can’t imagine Finn having the Finn Sword and Grass arm changes things too much. Save maybe Finn having to convince his mom to not immediately remove his weird magic arm when they reunite. Though considering that part of the big resolution of the arc was Finn convincing Minerva and the rest of the humans that the weird magic/mutant shit of the outside world WASN’T something to be afraid of, I imagine this doesn’t change anything in the long run. It might lead to an interesting situation where Minerva tries to forcefully remove the Grass arm, leading it to lash out at her, which in turn leads to Finn making his mom see that his arm is not inherently aggressive but simply trying to protect him, again trying into the original resolution of the arc.

Now trying to envision a full version of the Elements arc where Patience doesn’t use Betty as her magic super-battery is WAY more than I’m prepared to do for this post. Like at that point I’m just writing a full blown fanfic. So for the sake of argument, I’m just going to be assuming three main points: No Elemental Apocalypse, no Betty trying to hijack the Enchiridion to try and change the past, and no need for the LSP-powered elemental reset-button. Heck, maybe whatever shit Patience stirs up in this version gets resolved before Finn, Jake and BMO even get back to Ooo.

Now one wildcard in all this regards Jake getting reverted to his ‘true’ half-alien form in the aftermath of the Elements arc. On the one hand, this may not happen at all in this version of events, especially if they play out before Finn, Jake and BMO return from the Islands. On the other hand if Finn and Jake are around to participate in this version of Elements, even if there isn’t a full-blown Elemental Apocalypse perhaps Jake still winds up afflicted with some form of elemental contamination. And when said contamination is reverted, this brings out his alien nature just like what happened in the series proper.

So in the latter scenario, the events of Abstract play out unchanged. In the former, they don’t play out at all.

Going into the final four episodes of season 8, the events of Ketchup, Fionna and Cake and Fionna and Whispers play out basically unchanged, save for some of Marceline’s recapping in Ketchup. Whispers is notable here because despite Fern featuring heavily in that episode, it’s worth remembering that he wasn’t able to actually DO much of anything against the Lich Hand. Finn was the one to chase the hand to its lair, while Sweet Pea was the one to battle and defeat it. Fern basically being useless was the point, as it led him further into turning on Finn. So Fern’s absence doesn’t really change the events of that episode.

Now however, things start getting really interesting. As with the setup we’ve made so far of ‘Finn not stabbing the Finn Sword’, ‘No Mass-Elemental Reset by LSP’ and ‘Betty not obsessively chasing a way to fix Simon’, we potentially have only TWO of the remaining fourteen episodes able to play out unchanged. With just two or three others potentially having at least minor changes, a further three or four having MAJOR changes, and a potential SIX episode simply not happening at all.

Because with these three simple changes, we have No Fern, No Uncle Gumbald (and friends) and No Betty trying to summon GOLB. Plus potentially one other thing…

Without Fern or Uncle Gumbald being a thing, Three Buckets and Wild Hunt straight up DON’T happen. No Gumbald also means the second half of Always BMO Closing just can’t happen.

Son of Rap Bear plays out unchanged, and ironically Bonnibel Bubblegum can potentially play out mostly unchanged, with Bonnie still having a reason to explain her backstory to Finn and Jake (I personally like to think Marcy already knew :D). The only change being that Bonnie doesn’t get some dramatic realization that her Uncle has returned at the end.

Speaking of which, no Fern and no Gumbald means the major conflict of Seventeen just doesn’t happen and Finn’s seventeenth birthday party goes off without a hitch. Or at least, without a Green-Knight-and-Gumbald-and-co. hitch. You never know what other shenanigans might happen XD

Ring of Fire is the other episode that can play out completely unchanged by our alterations. Meanwhile, no Gumbald means no Chicle/Crunchy to cause trouble at Marcy’s concert at the end of Marcy and Hunson.

Now The First Investigation can play out MOSTLY unchanged, but this is also where that ‘one other thing’ I alluded to earlier comes into play. Because if Jake doesn’t get afflicted with elemental contamination and in turn draws out his alien physiology, that could potentially lead to Warran Ampersand NOT seeking him out and taking Jake to space at the end of TFI.

Now Jake potentially not being off-planet means Blenanas can potentially play out unchanged (Jake is simply off doing something else leading to Finn hanging out with Ice King), with major changes (Jake goes with Finn and Ice King), or just no happen at all (Finn and Jake are just doing something else).

Of course Jake not being taken off-planet by his evil alien dad means Jake the Starchild and Temple of Mars simply DON’T happen at all. If he is, then the former episode likely plays out unchanged while the latter still undergoes major changes, simply because in this version of events, Betty isn’t on Mars with King Man.

Now we come to the last two episodes of the series, which in this version of events simply CAN’T HAPPEN. No Uncle Gumbald means no Gumbaldia.

And with no Fern, no Gumbald and no Betty obsessed with ‘fixing’ Simon, literally ALL of the conflicts of Come Along With Me simply do not exist. No war with Gumbaldia, no big conflict between Finn and Finn-that-got-possessed-by-a-grass-demon, and no Betty summoning GOLB, no GOLBetty and no Simon being fully separated from the crown.

Now of course, all this isn’t to say everything would be all fine/dandy/boring for our characters and there won’t be anything of interest or conflict in this time. Just that it would be something completely different than what we see in the series proper. In particular, this series of events has Betty not only actually hanging out with Simon/IK, but even gradually integrating herself into the main cast of characters, which certainly would create all kinds of interesting situations (Betty having an actual conversation with Marceline anyone?).

Rather, I thought this would be a fun little thought experiment on how just a couple changes could have massive effects on late-series Adventure Time.

#adventure time #adventure time ramblings #adventure time au #rambling about the butterfly effect in adventure time #finn mertens #finn the human #fern the human #jake the dog #betty grof #patience st pim #uncle gumbald #how to make almost all of adventure time season 9 not happen with two simple changes

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