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oneprompt · 3 years

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ITS ME AGAINN HI LOVE!! I love your writing I cannot resist <3. Maybe, a one night stand with ace ? (Nsfw I’m down bad yes….) and female reader. it’s kind of like the typical one night stand, you meet somewhere and things get heated quickly…. BUT ALSO LIKE you’re literally the best he’s ever had and he’s pretty surprised UMM IDK IF THAT MAKES SENSE 😭😭 IK IM KIND OF AWKWARD HAHA but I hope you’re having a good afternoon 🧡

authors note: hello , dolly <3 im deeply sorry for doing this so late ;; hopefully this makes up for the wait... please indulge yourself to the fullest + i just realized how short this is .. my apologies ;; i’ll make sure to make your next request the best i possibly can ..

NSFW WARNING BELOW , DO NOT READ IF SUCH A TOPIC IS DISCOMFORTING.

Ace x F! Reader , One Night Stand Oneshot

tags : ( brief mentions of ) alcohol , vaginal sex , rough sex , ( brief + slight ) masochism

All it took was a few cups of vodka to have you two landed upon each other, limbs tangled up, pleasure coursing through your veins. It had all happened so fast, you could hardly remember what had happened.

You merely attended a party full of different crews, a banquet of sorts. Not a fancy one, no. A fun one, one that disregarded the need for cotton shirts and newly shined shoes. you had met Ace, chatting up a storm with the young man. Well, less chatting and more so flirting. Wether it was through seductive purrs or the occasional rub of a palm against his scorching skin. You two didn’t bother to hide your shameless flirting throughout the party. Not that it was a huge deal, most people went there trying to make their way into the pants of others

You had no shame as you and Ace went off to a more private area. I mean, what was there to be ashamed of? Who didn’t want to sleep with Fire Fist Ace?

And now, you laid down upon your stomach, Ace’s hands wandering your body. One spread out your soaking hole, your greedy pussy dripping with excitement. His other hand stayed gripping your hip tightly, preventing you from squirming away.

“You’re so wet, Y/n... what’s that all about?” Ace cooed out in a rather teasing tone, showing zero regards for the blush that perked upon your cheeks after he said that. He knew exactly what it was about, he just wanted to hear you say that.

You buried your face further into the depth of the pillows that laid atop of the bed sheets. “You know exactly what that’s about,” you huffed, which caused a raspy laugh to fall from Ace’s well sculpted frame. You could just tell what face he was making, just from the tone of his voice. An endless plane of smugness splayed across his freckled features. What a dick.

You were about to snap back with a snarky remark but your thought process was cut off as soon as you felt a sudden sense of fullness intrude the depths of your cunt. God, he was big. Was he in all the way? You couldn’t help but wonder. Part of you hoped so, as his dick was already pressed firmly within you but you also couldn’t help but wonder what pained pleasure could come from it being even larger.

A loud moan was swallowed by the pillows your face was pressed into, the cotton absorbing the noise you made as Ace slammed balls deep into your warmth. He was far bigger then you could’ve imagined. But again, what should you have expected from the son of the late Pirate King? You should’ve expected nothing but the best.

You continued producing lewd noises, ones that consistently were swallowed by the pillows. Ace really didn’t hold back, never ending the blunt force of his hips, his hips quaking desperately to fill you with every inch of him. You felt so god damn good, the way your insides clutched upon his shaft made Ace’s body tremble with ecstasy everytime he pulled back to push further in.

You were so good, almost too good. You were merely a one night stand, a woman who could surely extend into a friend after this night. Just a friend and nothing more. Well, that’s what Ace had planned. Ace wasn’t low enough to have sex with a girl and never speak to her again but he had planned to just become your friend, nothing like a boyfriend or anything of the sort. But with the way you writhed and tightened on him, it was giving him second thoughts. You were far too delicious to only feast on once, he knew that.

The view of your ass shaking with the needless pounding of his dick was a view he couldn’t pass up. Everything about you was perfect. The moans you let out were painfully erotic and the way your body was highlighted with sweat was far too sexy for him to ignore.

Perhaps... you’d be happy enough to be his fuck buddy or better, his partner. Ace wasn’t sure about status yet but all he knew was that he couldn’t let you go, he couldn’t let this type of sex slip through his fingers so easily.

And so, he didn’t. Even if it was just for tonight, Ace would use you to the fullest, pumping your pussy full of his musky semen, filling you to the brim. You were too good, certainly the best woman he had ever done such a thing with, upon all of his voyages.

And you were so hot. Everything about you made him go crazy, it seemed. It was that way even as the night was young. The way you fluttered your lashes at him as your hand would playfully collide with his shoulder made him tent in his pants every so slightly. You were too much for him. Ace wanted you more then anything. The thought of you screaming his name through the entire night never ceased to be. When you approached him in your rather skimpy outfit, Ace could only imagine bending you backwards upon the bar, taking you then and there. Now, he could. And there was no way in hell he would pass up the chance to milk this.

Even if he wasn’t aware, the feeling was just as mutual. You had been purposefully rubbing up on him all night, wether accidentally letting your thighs rub against Ace’s as you would get up to talk to your friends or placing your hands on his arms to ‘feel’ his muscles and inspect his tattoos. All of that had made your crotch ace and drip, every inch of him was infatuating to you. You couldn’t believe Ace would even do such a thing with you.

Many women could only imagine being plowed by Portgas D. Ace, son of Gol D. Roger. And you were one of the few women to have him inside of you, that feeling alone was electrifying. You could only imagine the jealous glares you’d receive if anyone found out. Part of you wanted that, yearned to see people jealous over you, over the fact you were drenched with Ace’s cum and repeatedly rocked back and fourth by his girthy dick.

“Ace!” You cried out, throat growing dry and tight from the strong strain of your vocal chords. This was too much for you, it felt so good. The way Ace used his hips with euphoric, he was one of few men who knew what to do with their bodies, surely. It was magical, running from your overstimulated brain to your curled toes. “I think...i’m going to cum!” You whimpered our, voice filling the room, pillows no longer capable of containing the beast.

Beads of sweat dribbled down Ace’s well built chest, grazing the hues of his nipples. He looked down at your body, feeling your walls close upon him, squeezing him as if they were yearning for his seed.

The sensation of Ace’s thick cum shooting into you triggered something deep inside of you, breaking your self control in two pieces. The way it reached your deepest parts made your eyes roll back, long lashes dotted with hot tears.

Your fluid coated his dick, slinking it’s way downward to his balls. Your arousal painted his shaft and the sheets that held you two, becoming damp with both sweat and cum.

Ace hadn’t bothered to pull out, yet didn’t move. The room was merely full of nearly eternal panting and gasping, shaky breaths acting almost endless. It took you quite a bit to muster up the energy to speak, your brain still rendered useless from all the pleasure.

“That was amazing...” You looked back at Ace, giving him a tired smile. Your heart sunk as you noticed Ace smirk widely, snickering ever so slightly. Oh boy....

“Who says we’re done, Y/n?” Ace whispered huskily, pushing his black curls backward, wiping sweat from his brow as he stared down at your nude form.

#one piece #one piece x y/n #one piece x you #one piece x reader #one piece reader inserts #one piece smut #portgas d ace x reader #portgas d ace x you #portgas d ace #portgas d. ace #ace x you #ace x y/n #ace x reader #smut fanfic #ace smut #fanfic #oneshot #one piece imagine #one piece imagines

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thefanficmonster · 3 years

Text

Take That!

Corpse Husband & Reader (Female) ft. Streamer Gang

Warnings: Mentions of Depression, Suppressed Sadness, Swearing

Genre: Platonic Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, RPF (Real Person Fic)

Summary: What is a friend? Your smile through the tears. The umbrella over your head when it starts raining. The ointment to your wound. But if you wanna put it in a more literal manner, a friend is something that doesn’t have a concrete definition. It can be the person you sit next to in class or the person who’s hundreds of miles away from you and you’re connected to through a Discord call.

Requested by Anon. Hello dear! Thank you so much for your request, sorry it’s taken me so long to complete and post it but here it finally is and I hope you enjoy the read if you happen to come across the fic. Love, Vy ❤

There are those days when I wake up excited for a new day. There are also those days when the thought of playing Among Us with my friends is all that gets me out of bed. And then there are those days when not even that can get me to budge. Today is one of those days.

I’d still be in bed right now had I not needed to use the bathroom. On my way back to hide under my covers, I heard my cat’s meow from the kitchen, reminding me she needed to be fed. After tending to that task I just sort of lost will to return to bed either. Speaking truthfully, today is a will-less day. The type of day where I have no idea what to do with myself because I feel so odd and uncomfortable: heavy and bustling head, motivation below zero no matter whether I have zero tasks to tend to or a mountain high pile of work. It’s a laying on the floor and letting my mind eat away at me type of day and I can’t say I appreciate it.

The only thing I have to look forward to is the game of Among Us Corpse invited me to yesterday. Had I known I’d wake up feeling like absolute shit, I wouldn’t have accepted. I just know I’ll be a downer the whole time because I suck at covering up how I feel - my smiling masks and faux happiness don’t cut it but staying quiet is even worse because I’m typically and energetic and bubbly person, always having something to say or a comment to add to the conversation. Always looking to make people laugh.

Well, it’s hard to make people laugh when you feel like a deflated balloon.

I can’t describe the feeling any better than that - I feel empty, maybe a little sad somewhere in the mix, unmotivated. I keep these feelings to myself cause whenever I bring them up people just blow me off, saying I’m describing laziness but more dramatically. Either that or burnout which is sometimes the case, but I’m more than sure that it’s not the culprit for today. You can only blame burnout so many times.

Anyway, I make a mental note, promising myself I’m not gonna bail on my friends regardless of whether my mood gets better or worse. Who knows, maybe a gaming session with them is exactly what I need.

* * *

Not much has changed with my emotional state - I’ve spent a good chunk of the day surfing through TV channels and my socials with nothing else to occupy my mind but the overwhelming knowledge that I’m not feeling ok and that hyperawareness of a void that I feel but cannot describe. At one point, Corpse sent me a text to confirm I’d be participating in the gaming session and I was this close to saying no. This close to coming up with some bullshit excuse and bailing but I didn’t, thankfully.

Here’s the thing about this drop in mood of mine - I know it’s gonna be gone by morning. It bullies me, beats and batters me for only twenty four hours - never more, never less. Like clockwork and as precise as a Swiss watch. And so fucking annoying. No matter what I do, I can’t end it prematurely and I can never wake up feeling down and unmotivated the next morning - there’s always a surge of motivation coursing through me and it drives me to be super productive as if making up for what I didn’t do the previous day when I was in the dumps.

It’s a twisted way of it showing me I’m powerless and at the mercy of a force that, despite being mine and existing within me, I’m completely unfamiliar with. It’s so fucking unfair, it’s disheartening.

“Hi everyone! Sorry I’m late.“ I greet the five people who have already gathered in the Discord call and the Among Us lobby.

Yeah, sorry I’m late, I was contemplating not showing up at all last minute

“Don’t worry about it, many people are running late as you can see.“ Rae replies reassuringly, “How’s your day? Anything spectacular happen?“

I can’t help but scoff, “Yeah sure, a TON of spectacularism in my life on the daily. From the large stack of papers I couldn’t bring myself to touch, to the dusty surfaces all over my apartment I didn’t convince myself to clean - it’s all fabulous over here.”

Fuck, that was too real

“Whoa, where’d all this sarcasm come from?“ Rae asks, sounding genuinely baffled rather than teasing, “It’s never been your strong suit.“

“Neither has unproductivity.“ Corpse, my best friend, chimes in, “Everything ok?“

Well, I admit, I should’ve known better than to have an outburst like that in front of people who have known me for a while now and can probably gauge my emotions even without me admitting to them. I truly don’t know where it came from. Hell, I didn’t even see it coming.

“Nah, it’s ok. I’m just being lazy, I guess.” I’m quick to withdraw and brush off any suspicion. The last thing I want is to worry my friends or, even worse, receive the same response from them: that I’m being dramatic, that I’m attention-seeking, that I’m just lazy and unmotivated as are most people of my generation.

“You know, what people often self-diagnose as ‘laziness’ often turns out to be something more serious. I don’t mean to scare you, but it could be depression.“ Corpse says after a brief moment of silence in the call, his voice soft and cautious as if explaining a complex problem to a kid who’s bound to be hurt by what it’s told.

I can’t help but chuckle. He has no idea how much he’s relieved me by saying that. I always ‘don’t want to talk about it’ and ‘want to change the subject’ while what I truly need happens to be the complete opposite. I need someone to hear me out, I need someone who will not brush me and my concerns off like we don’t matter. I need someone who’ll understand. And if these people who have openly struggled with anxiety or depression don’t get me, who will?

“Yeah, I genuinely thought I thought of myself as a lowlife while I was in college cause I started losing motivation for everything and started fearing what was to come. I began avoiding going out and talking to people cause I felt like I was the sore thumb in the friend group I had - the only one without any specific goal or a dream.“ Leslie says out of the blue, “Turns out I suffered through a burnout so bad it turned into an anxiety/depression combo that I just blamed on being a lazy college student.“

“Same here!“ Toast pipes in, “I was bedridden for a while during the first days of my streaming career, for a very ridiculous reason - I believed I didn’t deserve the attention I was getting and I wasn’t doing as well as people gave me credit for. So that had me crippled with self-doubt for a long while.“

“I still don’t believe I’m doing as well as I get credit for, but oh well.“ Leslie laughs, “I already told you all about my dumpster-fire of a brain, so I’m instead gonna say: what you need is an appointment with a therapist. Also - you need to stop underestimating your struggles. Invalidating yourself and what you’re going through is gonna make things only worse for you. You need to love yourself.“

“And you need us!“ Rae exclaims, “You need the best support you can get and, lucky for you, we’re the best in the business. Count on us always being there for you, Y/N. Cause we always will be.“

“You’re never alone. We’re all just a call or a text away. Especially me.“ Corpse adds, “I’m basically at your service 24/7, just like you’ve always been for me. What are best friends for if not sharing mental struggles and lifting each other up afterwards?“

I don’t know when this smile made its home on my face but it seems to be rather happy with where it is and wants to stay. Something tells me that thanks to these guys, it will indeed stay there for quite some time. And every time it tries to slip away, they’ll be there to bring it back.

“Then let’s lift each other up, shall we? I mean, what better way to do it other than killing each other and getting away with it?“ I attempt a giggle, hiding my emotions behind it like my life depends on it. Chances are they heard all I’m feeling in my voice, but I can only hope they’re not gonna mention it.

“Y/N, hun, I’m sorry to burst your bubble but....you never get away with it.“ Corpse wheezes, causing me to narrow my eyes and frown.

“Oh, you’re so gonna get it now!“ I exclaim, cracking my knuckles before getting my hands on my keyboard, “Start the game! I have a point to prove!“

And just like that, in what felt like the blink of an eye, the clouds have shuffled aside to make path for the sunshine to grace my brain with positivity I was not expecting to feel until tomorrow morning. I can’t give myself the credit for that though - it all goes to these amazing people I have the honor of calling friends.

I may have no power over it on my own, but with the gang’s help, I can take full control of it. And as a middle finger to the melancholy, I’ll do it all with a bright smile on my face.

Take that, brain!

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phantom-curve · 4 years

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find the strength, find the melody pt. 5

this is still a working title. I just can’t decide if it fits or not, so feel free to offer any suggestions! once I finish this fic I’m going to go back and reblog it in it’s entirety and I promise I will finalize and update the title for all the reblogs to make it easier to find in the future. I’m probably also going to post the completed fic to AO3, possibly with some slight editing updates. I’ll add the link once that’s active.

also, I want you all to know that I almost missed a typo in this chapter that would have had Julie biting her nip instead of her lip so you’re welcome for that.

also also, this chapter solidified my decision to write this fic from Luke’s perspective once I finish Julie’s. my god, the things happening in this boy’s head during this scene had me taking a bath and calling my husband for cuddles at 2pm. HE’S JUST TOO SOFT. Reggie and Alex will be more prominent in his story. their characters are so fun to write, but harder to work into Julie’s story until it’s closer to the end.

to be fully honest, I’m not entirely happy with the cut-off on this chapter, but I felt like y'all deserved all 3,084 words after a 6 day hiatus so I had to pick a slightly more awkward end spot. hope it makes up for taking so long to update!

tag list (lmk if you want me to add you!): @blue-hat-girl, @lwhoscribbles, @bluefyoto94, @5sosmukefan, @moonlightxnder, @leahthewonder, @kat-maybe-not

Julie didn’t expect to see Luke the next day. When her alarm went off at 6:45 that morning, she woke up with a start, heart racing as memories of last night flooded back. She had been ready to defend herself and Luke to her father, but it had been business as usual in the Molina household. Her father had gotten up like normal and gone about his morning without any hiccups from a very cute, unexpected teenage boy showing up. Julie could hear him leaving for work now, calling up a loving goodbye to her in between shouts at Carlos to hurry his butt into the car. When she peeked out of her window at the studio it looked exactly the same as it always did, empty and still. For a moment, she was sure that she dreamed the entire thing.

Something felt different in her soul though. Realigned, like a part of her she didn’t realize was missing had finally made its way back home. Everything in her body felt lighter as she got dressed and floated down the stairs to grab her breakfast. She was riding high on cloud nine, humming actually humming! under her breath as she moved around the kitchen, when a loud rap at the back door startled her. Flynn would have just walked in so it couldn’t be her. Her dad, too, would have simply run inside if he had forgotten something. It wasn’t until she was already reaching for the door handle that she recognized the electricity sparking in the air. She opened the door to a now familiar pair of puppy dog eyes waiting on the other side.

“I thought I told you to leave by 6:30 so my dad wouldn’t see you.”

Julie tried to make her voice snappy, but it was so hard when he was standing there, bobbing and weaving in the early morning sunshine, eyes shining, lips curved into the sweetest smile. He took her words in stride. His smile stretched as his head dipped with a charming amount of bashfulness. She realized with a jolt that he had been doing that for days now, ever since she ran into him after her meeting with Ms. Harrison. Just rolling right through every punch she threw at him like it was nothing. Her walls slipped a little lower.

“I thought I could make you breakfast. You know, as a thank you for last night.”

Her brain short circuited. Luke Patterson...wanted to...make her breakfast? She had to turn the words over in her mind a few times before they began to make sense. Julie studied him for a moment, noticing that he seemed much more like his normal confident self this morning. Gone was the unsteady boy that had stood in her mom’s studio doorway last night. Still, one shoulder was hitched a little higher than the other, his fingers flexing against the backpack strap slung over it. His face was open and eager, but she could detect the hint of nervousness that he was trying to cover up. She caught a faint whiff of jasmine as a slight breeze blew past them and immediately zeroed in on the damp wisps of hair curling around his neck. The thought of Luke in her shower, using her soap was almost her undoing. Desperately trying to get a hold on the situation, she leaned against the open doorway, crossing her arms across her chest in what she hoped was a nonchalant movement.

“I thought we were going to pretend last night didn’t happen.”

His smile faltered a little bit, his free hand flying up to scratch at the back of his neck. His bouncing shifted to rocking, and Julie felt the change in his demeanor like a punch to her gut.

“Yeah...okay...I mean if that’s what you want. I’ll uh, see you around, Molina.”

His voice lacked its typical singsong quality, rejection flattening the lilt she had become accustomed to. Pain bloomed in Julie’s chest, familiar and foreign all at the same time. It wasn’t like the pain she was used to, wasn’t connected to her mom or her music. This pain was all about Luke and the fact that she had just hurt him for no reason at all. Shame rolled through her stomach in a nauseous wave. Luke was already adjusting the bag higher on his shoulder, turning away from her, body language all but screaming “leave me alone”. It didn’t stop her from reaching out and laying a hand against his shoulder.

“Luke.”

His name was a plea and an apology rolled into one. She felt the ripple of his muscles as his body reacted to it, dropping her hand only when he turned to face her. Their eyes caught, the air sparking between them.

“What were you going to make?”

His brow furrowed in confusion, his eyes never leaving hers. She knew she had to do better, but God, it was hard to face your feelings after bottling them up for so long.

“For breakfast. I usually just grab a Pop-Tart to eat on my walk to school. Do you actually cook every morning?”

Luke was still staring. Julie bit her lip, the tail end of a nervous giggle that she couldn’t quite suppress all the way slipping out. The sound seemed to jolt him out of whatever trance he was in. In two seconds, he was back to bouncing on the balls of his feet, arms loose at his sides once more.

“Yeah, I do.”

The shy smile on his lips did something to Julie’s insides that she wasn’t willing to investigate just yet.

“Usually eggs, but sometimes waffles or pancakes on the weekends. Bacon if the boys are coming over. It’s the most important meal of the day, ya know.”

His eyes were bright again, practically glowing like they usually did when he started talking about something he was passionate about. Julie had only ever seen him like this when he was going off on another music related rant in class. Who knew breakfast foods could be so inspiring?

“Well, that sounds a lot better than strawberry Pop-Tarts.”

She turned, leaving the door open as she started to walk back towards the kitchen. She could hear Luke hesitate in the doorway, but all it took was one look over her shoulder and he was rushing in after her, quietly closing the door in his wake. They walked to the kitchen in silence, Julie trying to figure out what the hell was happening in her head and heart the entire time.

The instant Luke entered the kitchen it was like she was seeing a completely different side of him. He was quick and sure with all of his movements, taking only a few minutes to find everything he needed without even asking her for guidance. The muscles of his forearm rippled as he whisked the eggs together, the flick of his wrist just as mesmerizing now as when he played guitar. His confidence on stage had always been awe-inspiring, the way he moved and the energy he gave off undeniably cool and sure, never an ounce of doubt that he was anything other than amazing. It was a way for him to prove he was the best of the best, show that he had fully earned the title of “Rockstar”.

This moment in her sunny kitchen showed a quieter confidence. Nothing flashy or showy, just Luke doing something he clearly enjoyed for no other reason than the fact that he liked it. The rock god attitude had always been surface-level hot, sure, but this kind of domestic comfortability was an entirely new level of attractive. Julie felt her mouth go dry, the tips of her ears growing warm the longer she watched him. He hummed under his breath, the sound reverberating in her soul and sending little shivers up and down her spine. It wasn’t until he was sliding a plate of steaming scrambled eggs and toast in front of her that she finally recognized the melody. Her breath caught and he met her eyes with a gentle expression.

“I told you already, it’s an incredible song.”

He grabbed his own plate and lowered himself into the chair next to hers at the bar. He immediately began shoveling eggs in his mouth. Julie took a few bites of her own food, pleasantly surprised at how good it was. Then an ugly thought took over her brain. She dropped her fork, turning to stare at Luke with a dark intensity she couldn’t control.

“Did you...did you play my mom’s song?”

She couldn’t keep the betrayal out of her voice. It echoed in the room, low and hollow, like the sound of tomb closing. Luke’s own fork fell with a clatter.

“Julie, no.”

His voice was just as desperate, filled with pain and apology.

“I swear to you, no. I wouldn’t do that. I knew what it was as soon as I found it. I couldn’t hurt you like that. I never even showed it to Reggie or Alex.”

She believed him. The look on his face, the tone of his voice, proved to her that he wasn’t lying. Then, his cheeks turned a very light pink.

“I just...sometimes...I would read it. Not around the guys.”

He was quick to add that part in there, like he was assuring her he could protect the things that were important to her. Like he was promising to protect her. She could tell he was a little uncomfortable with the revelation, but he pushed through anyway.

“Just like...at night before bed...or when I was stuck on a song and needed some inspiration.”

His eyes rose to meet hers, some tender emotion she couldn’t identify lurking in their oceanic depths.

“I meant it when I said you’re an incredible songwriter. Sometimes...”

His cheeks darkened, ears flaming red to match.

“Sometimes...it was almost like I could hear you playing it.”

The last part was said so quietly she almost missed it. She felt her face go slack. Who was this guy and what had he done with the normal, cocky Lucas Patterson? The gentleness of his words, the way his eyes were drilling into hers like he could see all the way down to the depths of her soul, had her blinking against the sudden emotion clogging her throat.

“Last night was the first time I ever played it.”

The confession sprung from her lips without second thought. She had to do something, anything to break whatever tension seemed to be thickening between them with each passing second. Luke tilted his head, another warm smile gracing his lips.

“You were even more amazing than I could have ever dreamed. You’re like a human wrecking ball, Julie. It’s insane how talented you are.”

So much for breaking the tension. Julie sucked in a breath, her heart stuttering in her chest. It was only then that she realized how close their bodies had become, each one leaning farther into the other as their conversation went on. There were only inches between them now, Luke’s lyrical voice curling into her ear with a delicious intimacy she couldn’t help but crave. If she got any closer to him their foreheads would touch, their nose would brush, their lips would...

And just like that she was on the ground, her backside stinging from slamming into the hardwood so abruptly. Luke blinked down at her, eyes still swimming with that damnable affection, but also tinged with confusion. In her desperate attempt to bail, she must have leaned too far back, falling off the barstool before she could even realize what would happen. She shook her head to clear the spell Luke had been spinning before looking past him to the clock on the oven.

“We should probably leave for school now unless we want to be late.”

She ignored the breathy way her voice came out, pushing herself to a standing position. Without making eye contact, she wove her way around Luke. He was like a block of ice in his chair, still poised to lean into her completely. She scooped up their half-eaten breakfasts, plopping them loudly into the sink before slipping her arms through her backpack straps. Nowhere left to hide, she turned back towards the brunette boy.

He stared at her for a long moment, the hot frustration in his gaze burning through her and making her want to squirm. For a second, she thought he was going to push it, but then his eyes closed for what felt like an eternity. When they opened again, he seemed resigned. She could detect just a hint of his previous fiery intensity, the rest of it shrouded behind an almost forlorn veil of acceptance.

“If that’s what you want.”

There was a deeper meaning to his words that Julie wasn’t prepared for. Her breathing faltered, the silence between them heavy with the things he was leaving unsaid. She almost gave in. Almost asked him just what, exactly, he wanted right now. But she didn’t need to ask him because she could read it plain on his face. It terrified her. And Julie had become an expert at avoiding things that scared her in this past year. So, instead, she gave him a tight nod and zipped out the front door to wait for him outside.

In the clear sunshine of another beautiful LA day, she was finally able to breathe again. Out here, away from the thick tension of the kitchen, it was easier to tell herself Luke was just being nice. Easier to pretend their little moment inside was just some friendly banter. Easier to ignore the implications of Luke’s serious words and caring tone. She gulped in deep breaths, willing her head and heart to cool down. She heard the click of the door latching shut behind her, turned to see Luke standing there, a small pout on his lips, face entirely unrepentant. Good lord she was in trouble.Then a realization hit. She clung to it, desperately hoping it would get them back on a more neutral page, pull them out of whatever had been simmering between them all morning.

“Where’s your car? I know you didn’t drive over here last night.”

Luke’s face changed immediately, chagrin taking over every feature. His mouth opened and closed a few times before he shoved his hands in the front of his jeans.

“I uh...I only live a few houses away from you...”

Now it was Julie’s turn to gape like a fish. Luke Patterson was her neighbor? Since when?

“My parents...we moved to the neighborhood a couple years ago. I...uhm well...”

His hand rose again to scratch at his neck, and she had never wanted to grab at him more than in this moment. That movement was slowly beginning to drive her crazy. He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and blurted it out in one garbled sentence.

“Iusedtohidearoundthecornerandlistentoyouandyourmomplayinthestudiopleasedon’thateme.”

Julie was so stunned she nearly tumbled off the top step as she staggered backwards. Only Luke’s quick reflexes saved her from falling flat on her back for the second time that morning. His eyes darted around her face, clearly trying to figure out if she was about to lose it on him or not. Julie struggled to process the info dump she had gotten from Luke in the last couple of days. All of her preconceived notions were slowly being proven wrong and she wasn’t entirely sure how to deal with that. Life was easier when Luke was just another selfish, swaggering upperclassman. How long had she been in his orbit? Years it sounded like. The realization was staggering.

“You...you listened to us play? Why?”

Luke still had his hands wrapped around her wrists. Julie couldn’t find it in her to break the connection. Her voice came out more broken than she intended, memories of sunlit days singing with her mom invading her mind. Luke remembered those days too?

“Haven’t you been listening?”

His voice was strained, his eyes boring into hers like he was trying to telepathically force her to understand. His fingers flexed against her skin, the movement causing a flurry of butterflies to erupt in her stomach.

“You’re a star, Julie Molina. I couldn’t help getting sucked into your orbit.”

Julie felt her eyelids flutter, her chest squeezing like it was going to burst from the rapid inhale/exhale she couldn’t seem to calm. He said her name like a prayer, his lips turning it into something holy and sacred. She was drowning in Luke’s gaze, a riot of emotions swirling around in her brain. Somehow, because he was Luke and apparently he knew her better than she ever expected him to, he could tell that his declaration had gone a little too far. Easing back, he released his hold and rocked away from her just a bit to give her the space she so desperately needed. His eyes were still impossibly soft, bordering on adoration as he watched her come to terms with his bold announcement. Finally, once Julie was pretty sure she had come back down to Earth, he jogged down the front steps.

“We can still drive if you want to, but I think it’s a pretty nice morning for a walk if you’re up for it.”

“Okay.”

It felt like the smallest possible acceptance she could offer him, but the way Luke lit up in response made her want to melt. Head still swimming, she made her way down the steps on shaky baby deer legs. Luke didn’t push, just fell in step with her as easy as pie. Every once in a while, his fingers would brush against her hand, and it took every scrap of will power to keep herself from just reaching out and linking their hands together.

They passed a house bursting with flowers out front. Julie’s eyes caught on an explosion of bright red in the corner of the yard. Dahlias. Her mother’s favorite. It felt like a sign, and another part of Julie’s soul slipped quietly back into place. The next time Luke’s hand knocked against hers she shyly allowed their fingers to tangle. She didn’t need to look to see the smile break out on his face. She could feel the warmth of it filling the air around her like her own personal sun. He squeezed just once. Just enough to acknowledge the move for what it was. She didn’t let go until the school appeared in the distance.

#y'all know the EXACT pout face I'm referencing in this one #also i love working show dialogue into fic dialogue #also also soft boy Luke is going to be THE DEATH OF ME #FUCKING KILL ME WITH YOUR SOFTNESS LUCAS I AM READY #Mads writes #Mads speaks #bless these babies for giving me less angst and more fluff this time #julie and the phantoms #jatp #juke #julie x luke #luke x julie #palina #julie molina #luke patterson #juke fanfic #jatp fanfic #find the strength find the melody

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pixelatedrose · 3 years

Note

read this and respond (if you’d like) when you aren’t in the car anymore, i don’t want you to get sick :0 !

you don’t apologize for not be able to write a lot! you didn’t have to answer my ask in the first place but it means a lot to me that you did :) also! i wanna say two things! one, i think i’ve said this before but i really like how you explain things. i’ve tried to learn how to play d&d and i think i’ve got a solid understanding of it, but it’s still hard when people say things like “10 AC”. but i don’t have to worry about that when you explain things cause you sorta dumb it down in a way that doesn’t make me feel dumb.. if that makes sense. two, i love how you showed callahan being healed in your drawing cause it just adds so much more weight to the picture. and i can’t even imagine how that fight was, dancing with death the whole time, that must’ve been so stressful. anyway! that’s about all, but you still have a lot of explaining to do (if you want and when you’re ready) mister >:0 i hope you had a lovely day and you enjoy the rest of your night, love you ro :)) !

1st: dw bout me answerin asks in the car lol I have no fuckin self control sksjshs

2nd: thank you sm m8!!! I know you've mentioned in the past that you don't play d&d or know a ton about it so I try and give little explanations where I can and it's great to hear that I do it in a non-patronizing way

3rd: heheheee okay so imma go into some more detail on the Callahan & Shade training session-

Okay, so.

To understand how we got to this point in time, we have to understand where he was

The party entered the Shadowfell- a mirror plane of existence where everything is contorted and dark and just about everything wants to kill you. This is where we were trying to get to when Callahan first joined the party.

Now Callahan didn't have a full grasp on what the Shadowfell was, really, when he went through the portal. The only one who did was Sylas, and by all the gods did he try to warn us.

Callahan was still so very very unprepared...

The very first fight in the Fell- one of the first battles Callahan has EVER been in in his life- he gets one-shotted by this monster and drops below zero hp.

When you drop below zero hp in d&d, you're Ina state of in between life and death, right on the cusp of either one and a breath's wrong move could send you toppling over the edge. You stay in this state of dying until one of three things happen. 1) you get healed. 2) you succeed three death saves and you stabilize. Or 3) you fail three death saves and you die.

Callahan had succeeded two saves, but he had also failed two. One last roll would have determined his entire fate, and I'm not known for having the best of luck when it comes to dice.

Sylas, our lovely amazing wonderful cleric boy, barely made it in time and slapped Callahan with a healing spell right after the monster died and he regained consciousness.

This...messed him up.

Callahan was absolutely shaken to his core at this very close encounter with death and he did not handle it well.

He got furiously angry, ignoring the fact that it was him that brought him to the Fell, and instead shifting the rage to the rest of the party and blaming them for his being there and, by proxy, his almost dying.

He...said some things...that shouldn't have been said. At least not like that...

And the worst part? It didn't get better. He was fitful and angry and upset at everyone for weeks.

Finally, Haru was done with Callahan's baby-bitchfit and when Callahan snapped at Monty (again), Haru got up and dragged Callahan out into the forest a little ways away from the rest of the party.

And what did he do?

Well he punched him.

Well, more than that. He told Callahan to fight back too. Soon fist-fighting turned into hitting each other with sticks, which turned into Haru having to tackle Callahan to the ground, leaving Cal the perfect opportunity to steal the dagger off his belt and ramming the pommel into his ribs.

Cal would like to say he won that fight. Haru would have something else to say.

After laying there on the ground for a moment, Callahan started to laugh. A sound that Haru had not heard in weeks, and one he didn't know he missed.

Haru explained that he wanted to teach Cal to fight so that what happened with that first monster? Where Cal nearly died?? So that that would never have to happen again.

Something about it- maybe it was something about Haru- calmed Callahan down.

And then it really hit him.

Oh fuck.

I've been a jackass for weeks to literally everyone.

It also started to hit him just how weak he really was in a fight if it ever came down to melee.

So they came back to the party together, Callahan happier than ever with little scrapes and lookin very roughed up (I won't say but the rest of the party did not in fact think they were sparring-)

Callahan apologized to Monty the next morning. The things he said specifically to him were...well...let's just say it hit harder for Monty than the others.

Monty wasn't as quick to forgive and forget. Callahan doesn't blame him.

However, that night Callahan and this new party member- Shade- were on a watch together. Now Shade is a much higher level than everyone else in the party, and is far far more powerful. He's a Hexblade Warlock, but he's also a fallen paladin (or cleric I can't remember) as WELL as a fallen Aasimar (kinda like a fallen angel but watered down). But...also probably a Shadow sorcerer?? Listen Shade is an amalgam of magic and power and idk where all of it comes from-

In any case, Shade is big powerful lad.

Now Cal and Shade are on a watch together, and Shade begins talking about Callahan's magic. He picks up a small opal stone from gauntlets he wears and focuses his magic into it. The opal glows with a black light and swirls with shadows of purple and black. He then hands the opal to Callahan and instructs him to focus his magic like he did.

When he does, the opal changes again, but this time, it swirls with bright, ever-changing array of fantastical colors. A rainbow of things that have never quite been seen before. It's extraordinary.

Shade explains that his own magic is that of the Shadowfell, it's dark and thus his magic is sewn from the shade. And then he explains that he's met other mages- ones with powers of the storm, magic of dragons- but he has never seen someone with magic like Callahan's.

Why?

Well, cause Callahan has pure, unfettered, untained, raw magic inside him.

It's an inferno of unbridled magic and it is completely and utterly entirely untamed. It cannot be controlled and it is as wild as the wind and earth itself. And sometimes, that uncontrollablity lashes out and surges forth, and sometimes things that Callahan doesn't exactly want to happen, happen.

And Callahan listens. And his heart sinks. Uncontrollable? Pure?? Absolute chaotic force of magic??? He can't stand the thought of not having a handle on his magic, because if he can't control it, how the hell is he supposed to use it to protect people??

He expresses this to Shade and the "older" man tells him that he can and should use this to his advantage.

At that moment, Callahan's magic goes wild and he surges. The wooden log they are sitting on, under Callahan's hand it starts to faintly smoke. Callahan doesn't notice, but Shade does. He cuts a small piece of rope and asks Cal to hold it for him. The rope errupts into flames and Callahan drops it in vibrant shock and distress.

Shade calms him down and explains that he can use that. He gets Callahan thinking. Asks how he can use this to help in in battle- he can set things aflame with a touch, for God's sake, what can he do to use that?

And Shade looks at Callahan's small scratches and bruises and scuffs on his clothes and turns and says "I know that look...you've been sparring, haven't you?"

Callahan nods his head. He says that Haru said he'd teach him how to fight, that he wants to- needs to- be stronger.

Shade asks if Callahan would like Shade to help him as well, help him learn how to use his magic to fight.

Callahan says yes.

They start small, Shade borrows Haru's sword in his sleep and gives it to Cal to use. Shade goes through the motions of explaining how he uses his magic to help him wear armor and wield weapons- how he manipulates the pull of power inside him into his blade, into his armor, how he makes them seem lighter and easier to use and wear.

And Callahan follows suit. He goes through the motions of swordplay, focusing and directing his magic into it. And slowly, it seems the blade gets lighter and light in his palm.

After a little while of this, Shade says that he would like to try something to really help Cal in the middle of a real battle. And he summons a demon.

Now, as Shade summons this demon, he explains that he has control over it. That the demon cannot do anything that Shade does not want it to do. The demon is not pleased with this.

In fact, with shadowy chains around its neck and wrists and ankles, it seethes and hisses and spits that it will tear and murder and shred Callahan and Shade to scraps. Shade reassures Callahan that he won't let it kill him. But he asks one last time if Callahan wants to do this.

And with a glance at this horrible creature with blood and murder in its eyes, Callahan's grasp tightens around his borrowed blade and he nods yes.

And so the fight begins.

Callahan uses his magic and filters it into the blade in his hands and tries to strike the beast. He hits it a few times, but the monster keeps hitting Callahan back, and he drops down to 1 hp.

As the demon cackles and pulls back for one final attack, Shade pulls down on the shadowy chains and restrains it. It howls in fury at this.

Shade asks Callahan if he wants to stop, that if he really wants, Shade knows a way to help Callahan keep going.

Callahan, bloody, sliced up, fighting for consciousness and blinking red drops from his eyes, hands on his sword in a white-knuckled grip, the blade digging into the ground as the only thing keeping him upright, looks Shade deep and deadly in the eyes, his goggles hung slightly cracked around his neck. His eyes have a burning flicker to them and with no hesitation to his words, he speaks. "I need to be better."

Shade takes a moment and the faintest ghost of a smile flitters onto his face and he says "That was the right answer." And he begins to heal Callahan with Greater Restoration.

Now, I could be wrong either with what the spell does or what spell he actually cast, but what happened with this spell was this: he could restore an incredible amount of hp to Callahan, but he would TAKE half the hp he restored as damage to himself. So if he healed Cal for 10 points, Shade would take 5.

This first time he ended up healing Callahan all the way back up to full.

And back to the fight they went.

This happened four more times, where Cal dropped below 10 hp and Shade had to stop to heal him for a moment.

Finally, Shade asked Callahan one last thing.

"I can do one more thing to help you learn the movement of battle, but it would mean releasing him. You don't have to do it, but-"

"You're wrong. I do have to- what would that make me if I backed down at the first sight of risk?"

"...you've made a good choice."

With that, Shade released the Demon, who was battered and torn and nearly as destroyed as Callahan himself, if not far far more. And he let out a ravenous cackle, full of craze and bloodlust and victory. And he looked Callahan directly in the eyes and told him "This is where you die!!!"

Four more rounds.

Callahan had messed up his magic once before in the fight and his magic had surged, giving him the ability to teleport short distances for the next minute.

And his magic messed up once again, poisoning a random creature near him. Luckily, it wasn't Shade, but the Demon was immune to poison anyway.

But as Callahan took hits, he dropped below 10 hp again, but there was no more looking to Shade for help anymore.

He took one last swing, a move of the blade that felt more dance-like than any sort of movement to kill, and he cut the demon clean a sunder- a trail of the blade that ran from one shoulder across to the bottom of its boney hip- and the demon let out a croaking, creaking, collapsing gasp of air that could have been mistaken for a strangled last cackle of defiance.

And then it fell over, a position of defeat that Callahan may have been had he not made the surer move.

And Callahan stood above it all.

Alive.

Alive and by his hands alone was his enemy gone.

Alive and by a blade he used with magic in his veins was he that way.

Alive and the victor over a demon.

Shade healed Callahan one last time, nearly collapsing himself from the loss of life energy. He managed to gain some of it back by summoning small imps that he then proceeded to suck the life out of, but it still took a bit of a toll on both of them.

They went back to the party where everyone lay sleeping, none knowing the exchange that had happened that night.

The spoke for a while longer, Shade telling Callahan of his past while casting the mending spell on his destroyed and torn clothes.

Their shift ended and they woke up the next pair for watch and went to bed.

And now did Callahan forget to tell anyone else about what had happened?

Yes absolutely.

Did Haru end up finding out because 1) Callahan had a fresh magical scar on his cheek and 2) Callahan forgot to give Haru back his sword?

Yes absolutely.

Was Haru pissed off that Callahan basically almost died multiple times and go into full protective boyfriend mode after he found out?

Yes absolutely.

Anyway long story time but I hope you liked it ;D

#spooky-scary-bumblebees #Bee!!!#the Weave of Silence #Callahan McBlithe #Shade Walker #ask me things #LISTEN I REALIZE I HAVEN'T BEEN THE BEST AT UPDATING Y'ALL ON THE ONGOINGS OF THE WOS CAMPAIGN #BUT ITS REALLY FUCKING COOL I PROMISE #i mean this is literally something that happened IN THE GAME so yeah I'd say its pretty killer #anyway sorry for the long read but i hope it was worth it !!!

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hpdabbles · 4 years

Note

MORE FOR MAGICAL RAMEN PLEASE! I WOULD LIKE TO SEE NARUTO'S DEDICATION IN SEEING REMUS AGAIN

Naruto- who refuses to go by Harry no matter how much it would have meant to his new parents- allowed himself to laugh as yet another bully stumbled away. His cousin had attempted to have him jump but the civilians were sadly way over their heads if they thought they could take on Naruto, who had finally worked his body up to chunin levels.

He flexes his hands, fingers thumping in the familiar ache of his knuckles releasing the tension they had been placed in for throwing punches. He leans back on his heels, his chakra humming and causing extensive amounts of energy his young body couldn’t control yet, which has him in consent movement.

His aunt hates that he can’t keep still but so did many of his instructors back at the academy and like then he merely sticks out his tongue, all while keeping his sunny disposition.

The Dursleys are at their wit's ends with him. His uncle had tried to be big and intimating but Naruto has taken down foes just as large and twice as strong. His aunt tried to lock him in a cupboard with no food, but Naruto picked the lock and hunted his own meal- though it was rather hard with nearly no forest near him.

They threaten to throw him out in the street which he cheerfully informs them, that would be nothing he couldn’t handle and he would be taking his dead parents money with him. Naruto had learn how to save his funds, and budget from a lifetime of being a scorn orphan, which meant he knew just how much power gold really held.

He wasn’t sure how he would go about getting the child services to give him the money that belong to the Potters since this new world had ridiculous child protection laws but he was sure he find a way. His uncle and aunt knew it too, after seeing his never wavering stubbornness.

It didn’t stop them from spreading rumors about him and his parents, rumors that turn him into a trouble making burden but again, Naruto was used to the sneers and looks of distain. It hurt but it wasn’t going to stop him from finding the three men who were more like family then the two adults and chubby child he was dumped on.

It finally came down to a a agreement. The Dursleys pretend Naruto didn’t exist if he keep up with his chores- D rank missions really- and they turn a blind eye to everything off about him.

Like the fact that while “unusually” intelligent for his age he detested any paperwork and especially classwork, he self-taught himself his personalize Taijustu in the park under the amazed eyes of the neighbors impressed despite themselves and out of many preying eyes he regain his Justus.

The chores were much easier to do with his shadow clones. Though the first time he summon them his Aunt threw a fit, trying to tell him “magic” would not be allowed in her house.

Naruto and his clones had laughed at her, simultaneously until she fled back to her room, urging Dudley to stay in his until Naruto finished with the chores. He agree not to use it in public- as even he knew civilians didn’t react well to ninjas making a prolong stay among them especially when they used Justus. It made them unlikely to hire the Leaf for missions. A ninja that couldn’t get missions was a ninja that failed his village.

It was a bit strange to be the only ninja with a functioning chakra system for miles and miles. Naruto tried to find others like him for years but no matter where he went none of the people had tapped into their chakra’s. Sometimes it felt like they didn’t even have a system which went against everything he was taught as Naruto Uzumaki.

Naruto did not let any of this get in the way of his search for ‘Emus, Dog-man, and Rat-man. He created flyers from the foggy memories, and placed them everywhere. He asked random people in the street. He sent out clones to near by cities and broke into any government building he could find- their security is terrible- but nothing had come up.

His attempt to gather information from his guardians yield the same results though he got the sense they knew more then they let on. Back in the Leaf village Naruto’s team had always been more of front line combat then information gathers or trackers and his lack of support from those departments were making his search that much harder.

He finally understood what Iruka-sensei meant when he used to say every role a Leaf Ninja played was a role needed for the success village.

It was during one of his daily on foot searches that Naruto had a owl land before him carrying a letter. He paused from where he was stapling a poster of Dog-man, a terrible drawing and a brief description of the last time seen, were the only thing on the poster with his house number as a place to contact should anyone have any information.

The owl hoots, sticking out it’s leg at him.

“A messenger bird...” Naruto breathes stun. It’s not much but it’s been so long since he had something familiar like what his life as a Leaf Ninja in this new world that he thought he would never see a messenger bird again. It feels like a small part of him, of his old life, had been return.

Carefully, while licking his dry lips, he reaches out to take the letter. Years of animal care kick in as he gently unwarps the string holding the envelope, and hands over bits of the granola bar he had in his pocket for the bird to eat.

He waits until the Owl finished picking the bits form his palm, smiling when it climbs onto his arm and runs up his forearm to rest on his shoulder. The talons are digging into his skin, the dull pain a breath of fresh air as he suddenly remember the same type of feeling when he send back reports to his village.

Carefully he opens the letter.

Naruto reads the lines over and over again. It’s a letter congratulating him on his acceptance to a magical school, a list of supplies and a map to where he can find them. He tries to search for lies but he can’t figure out what is and isn’t though written form. It’s only because they sent a messenger bird, a form of communication he knows is not common place, that he doesn’t crumble up the strange paper and accepts the fact.

Harry Potter is a wizard and Naruto is Harry Potter.

He sends back a agreement to be present the first day of school and races home, his stack of posters flying behind him in his red wagon. He doesn’t bother with letting his aunt and uncle argue that they won’t allow him to go because this may be the closest he’s ever been to finding ‘Emus, Dog-man, and Rat-man.

He stares them down, unwilling to back off or crumble until they agree. He is bouncing all over the place, excited even when his aunt takes him to a strange pub hands him a wallet of money and tells him to buy what he needs before speeding away.

Naruto likes the Leaky cauldron even though it goes dead salient when he walks in. His eyes run over the stun customers down right gleeful he has finally, finally , found the chakra users.

Sure the systems feel slightly different like the samurai felt different but not exactly the same as the honor based sword swingers. The people in this establishment had tapped their chakra’s and that alone gave him new found hope.

“I say, Harry Potter! As I live and breath! Sir it’s a honor” A gruffy old man says stepping into his line of sight and shaking Naruto’s hand. The dark hair boy- still after all these years he was not used to not seeing sunshine bright hair- blinks up at him but he smiles anyway.

He likes meeting new people, after all a stranger could be his new friend and his new precious person .

“Hi there!” He chirps signature grin springing to life on his lips. The man looks blinded. “It’s nice to meet you. Call me Naruto please.”

As if though that was a signal everyone around him leaps to their feet racing over to introduce themselves as well and Naruto can’t fandom why. He always wanted a warm hero’s welcome like this but he hasn’t done anything to earn it yet. Not here. There was no war or grand fight he part took in to earn the kind of awe and devotion of the population like the aftermath of Pain’s attack did.

It while he meeting everyone that his eyes land on a family of red heads half sitting and half standing in the corner, looking as if they all want to get closer too but aren’t sure if they should. There is a woman, a man, five children- four male on female- and Naruto has to crane his neck to keep them in sight as the crowd around him grows.

He doesn’t know what about them caught his attention but his eyes zero in on the one in the glasses.

Or more specifically on the rat resting on the teenager’s shoulder. A quick scan with his chakra confirms what he already knew. He pushes the hands trying to shake his own and breaks though the crowd faster then what the people are expecting. Ninja speed is still faster then what these wizards are used to.

Before the red-head teenager knows what is happening Naruto has reached out and taken the rat, holding the squealing creature to his face smiling widely. Maybe even madly. “RAT-MAN I FOUND YOU!”

Everyone stares at him.

“Um...that’s Scabbers” The red head around his age says slowly. “He is Percy’s pet.”

“No this is Rat-man!” Naruto corrects breezily, he pulls the thrashing animal closer gently petting it’s head. “He used to visit me as a baby. I never forget his chakra. Rat-man have you seen ‘Emus or Dog-man? I can’t find them anywhere!”

The boy is staring at him with the kind of look one would give a screaming man in the street. Weary and unable to look away.

“Stop shaking Scabbers!” The red-head with glasses Percy he thinks, yells. He holds out his hand. “You’re scaring him! Give him back!”

“No! I just found him! I’ve been looking for years for him.” Naruto yells back pressing the animal to his chest and sticking out his tongue at the rapidly red face turning teenager.

“I think there may have been a mistake.” The man who looks like all the children, their father, says stepping in and holding a stick. “Scabbers has been in our family. He isn’t a man.”

“He is!” Naruto argues.

The man has the kind of look Kakashi-sensei used to wear. The one that says he only agree to amuse Naruto. “How about I cast Animagus reversal spell. Then we can see if he is a man or my son’s pet.”

Naruto fingers tighten around the suddenly much more violently thrashing rat. “It won’t hurt him? He is my parents’ friend.”

“He won’t feel a thing.” The man swears and Naruto nods keeping a weary eye on the man’s chakra in case he tries anything but feeling nothing but good intentions from him and holding out the rat. A light blue light zaps out of the man’s wand landing on the Rat-man and at once his features change. Naruto doesn’t let go, not even when the body out grows his hands and the man turns back into a human.

He keeps a tight hold until the man is sitting before the gasping audience. Naruto doesn’t care for the rapidly paling face of the red headed family or the scrambling of people who try to get away. He throws himself around Rat-man’s neck and squeezes. “I knew you were okay! I knew you haven’t been caught even when Mom and Dad got killed. Where have you been? Why are you hiding like a rat? Do you like ramen? Hey hey, do you still have that skull and snake tattoo?”

His celebration and rapid firing questions is cut short by a couple of wizards in red robes called Aurors body slamming Rat-man into the ground.

Naruto finds them very rude.

#Anonymous #magical ramen #Part 2 #Naruto enters the wizard world #With the same crazy luck as he did the element nations #Crossover: N/HP #The weasleys were not prepared #No one was #Peter gets caught #Naruto just wanted to see the cool tattoo

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itsblissfuloblivion · 4 years

Text

Torch - Chapter 8: April

Ao3 / FFnet versions

we’re nearly there!!

After Ron and Harry’s respective failures in apparition and persuading the ever reluctant Slughorn it feels as though they’re destined for a sorry evening spent moping. Until Hermione pipes up with her small critique of Twycross and suddenly they’re lost in that heady silliness of unstoppable shit-talking that mends the ailing heart. It’s always fun, but somehow Hermione’s added eyerolls and high-class vocabulary offer an extra bit of umph to the whole thing.

Harry swipes at the tears running down his cheeks while Hermione leads the way to the Great Hall. Ron tosses his arm around Harry’s shoulder. “She’s somethin’ when she’s all riled up, eh?”

“Er - sure?”

“Gets that look - then does something amazing and barmy like sticking Rita in a jar,” Ron shakes his head, blue eyes going all dreamy, “S’ times like these I see where her crazy Gryffindor streak comes in.”

Biting back a grin, Harry silently wishes a certain Gryffindor Chaser wasn’t missing this and nods along with Ron. “Gryffindor streak?”

“Yeah, everybody’s got one,” Ron says while Hermione guides them towards a place at the tables, “Know what I mean, Hermione?”

Inwardly, Harry wonders whether telling Hermione she’s great ‘cause she’s barmy is a good idea. But then Ron surprises him, “Y’know how you’ve got that brave, loyal thing where you’ll mess up anybody who crosses your friends?”

Hermione flushes, “I-”

“Well my theory’s that everybody’s got one of those - it’s their crazy unstoppable Gryffindor thing.”

Harry’s really getting close to excusing himself when she pats at her curls and licks her lips. “Those aren’t exclusively Gryffindor traits - I sometimes wonder about the sorting process altogether,” she pauses, “But I - that’s very sweet Ron. And I do understand the sentiment. Harry’s would be ‘obsessive with an inability to exercise any sort of impulse control.’”

Unable to resist, which does lend some credibility to Hermione’s proclamation, Harry grabs a slice of crusty bread and gestures toward Ron, “What about King Weasley over here?”

“Brave idiot with no sense of self preservation,” Hermione grumbles. Ron’s ears grow red.

Ginny’s arrival is only indicated moments before she actually turns up at Harry’s shoulder, and he sounds a bit creepy because he smells her first. “Hey, Gin.”

She rests one hand on his shoulder and he might almost faint. Ginny throws one leg over the bench and rests her elbow on the table. “Hi all, what’s up here?”

Harry focuses on buttering his roll carefully and answers, “Well, see, Ron has this theory.”

“Never a good thing to hear from a Weasley.”

Hermione laughs and Ron scoffs, “All I said was that I believe every Gryffindor has their Gryffindor streak . That thing that’s just a little bit wild.”

“Sounds like a weird pick up line,” Ginny murmurs to Harry. He buries his chuckle in a mouthful of mashed potatoes. Then for the group at large she asks, “Well, what’s mine?”

“Zero impulse control and a wicked temper,” Hermione supplies easily.

“You’re just reusing one of mine,” Harry accuses, slanting his knife at Hermione, gravy dripping from the edge.

Ron snickers and shares a glance with Hermione - maybe Ginny’s right about the pick up - and says, “You’re forgetting Hermione and I found you two in your little attempt at surfing brooms over the summer.”

Winking at Harry, Ginny adds, “She’s right anyway, I’m very fiery.”

Then she proceeds to swipe his buttered roll and take a mouthful of a bite. “So what brought this little philosophical discussion up?”

Once they give the basics on Twycross’ obnoxious Percy-esque antics that afternoon, Ginny wholeheartedly agrees and joins in their abuse without hesitation.

Ron grabs his pumpkin juice and raises it in salute, “Your loyalty is valued.”

“I’m the only one who’s allowed to act superior to you,” Ginny says, indignant.

And when Harry snickers, Ginny adds, “Well Hermione too, but she’s a given.”

That earns her an eyeroll from Hermione, though she does laugh along with the rest of the foursome.

Harry can’t help but bask in how easy it is, how perfect it feels, just the four of them. So when Ginny rises and says she’s going to meet up with Dean, he can’t really trust his judgement that she seems unhappy at the prospect.

He’s so caught up he nearly misses Hermione’s mutterings about Weasleys needing to ‘take their love lives in hand.’

___

Operating under Felix Felicis is a heady sort of feeling and even after the effects are worn off, Harry feels like he’s riding high. Until his emergency meeting with Dumbledore, which is certainly serious but doesn’t deflate him - it’s more like a sense of focus settles in and Harry feels like he finally has direction. For so much of his life at Hogwarts, he’s been fumbling his way along to trying to stop various antagonists all connected to Voldemort. And now he’s closing in on what it’s all really about.

It’s a small relief to know he’s been on the path to stopping this since second year. The part that’s still somewhat foggy is all Dumbledore’s poetics about Harry’s ability to love. Odd and confusing as it was, Harry’s worried about becoming like Voldemort since seeing snippets of Voldemort’s life as a normal wizard - relatively - at Hogwarts, reading his diary, the visions that feel more real each time, and being told so plainly that he’s different is comforting in a way.

And lately, things have stirred in him that are more than simple infatuation, feelings he doesn’t quite feel ready to name. But they’re strong enough, powerful enough, that he feels just a bit of that strength, the tether Dumbledore seems so sure of.

It’s hard to sort through his feelings when he hears that Dean and Ginny are no longer together, even harder when Hermione slyly underlines she’s the one who’s ended it. Sure, it’s easy peasy to instantly know what he’s feeling about Ron and Lavender breaking up (a pat on the back and a ‘good riddance’ might have been involved), but with Ginny...eh, that’s a whole other business.

Is he delighted? Yes. Is he relieved? You’d bet. But does this finally make things less complicated? Not in the slightest.

It’s not like he can suddenly kiss her in the middle of the Common Room now that she’s single, right?

The pang of guilt at his Ginny-themed thoughts lessens somewhat after Hermione’s proclamation during Charms. His Ron-related issues certainly remain but with Dean out of the picture, Harry’s really hoping she’s not too upset about the whole thing. Maybe it was all her idea…he has some fairly detailed daydreams where Ginny realized she couldn’t find a match for Harry’s glorious manliness anywhere else. He found himself wondering if he’d been able to replicate even an ounce of Sirius’ coolness. That maybe it’d combine with his relatively superior Quidditch skills and outweigh what Ron terms his ‘specky git’ image.

Ugh. Ron.

___

Harry’s stirring in bed, kicking the sheets to the side then tugging them back again: it’s that late April weather when you’re not quite chilly but it doesn’t feel right sleeping without your covers either.

Quidditch strategies and players (read: player, girl) with flaming red hair buzz loudly through his thoughts as he wills his mind to just shut down, just go to sleep already.

“Reckon all that feminist talk of independence and shit was just her overcompensating for being a bit easy at first.”

Harry’s eyes pop open and frankly there’s a high possibility the same has happened to a vein on his temple if Dean is talking about who Harry thinks he’s talking, the rotten bastard, the bloody git, the -

“Shush, mate, one of her many brothers might hear you,” Seamus laughs annoyingly and Harry’s one step closer to jumping from behind his drawn curtains and knocking the wind out of them in a surprise attack he promises they’d never be able to forget.

Because Ron might be wandering about Merlin knows where but him, Harry, he’s right there, listening, biding his time.

“Yeah, well, they’d better. I was bloody pissed when Ron threw a temper tantrum when they walked in on us snogging but now I take it back. He was right.”

Prick. Nobody put a wand to his head and forced him to kiss Ginny.

“Wow, you sure are salty,” Seamus laughs again and it sounds like Dean scoffs.

“She dumped me because I tried to help her through the bloody portrait hole, mate. She’s mental, that one, I tell you. First I said alright, she didn’t want to go further than some touches and some snogging, whatever, I said I’d give her time. But blue balls and snapping at me all the time for nothing? Bit too much, don’t you reckon?”

Harry nearly rips the curtains as he violently draws them open, eyes bulging and ready to throttle Dean. Or he’d be if he could see anything - bugger his poor eyesight and bugger his Gryffindor temper, jumping into battle without his glasses.

But Ron is quicker than him, appearing next to Dean in a heartbeat and gripping him by the collar of his robes. Harry doesn’t really know when exactly Ron walked through the door but, judging from his similar reaction, he’d surely been there for the whole blue balls bit.

“I know you’re not talking about my sister like that,” Ron growls dangerously, livid, his grip tighter.

“Get off me,” Dean splutters as Seamus tries to reason with a nearly apoplectic Ron.

In the time it takes Harry to locate his glasses and recover his eyesight, a number of things happen: firstly, Neville wrestles Ron away from Dean; secondly, Dean decides it’s a great moment to tell Ron he’s part of the problem, always sticking his nose in Ginny’s business; thirdly, Ron struggles to remove himself from Neville and grunts that only an idiot would trash talk a girl when her brother shares the room and keeps asking Dean if he’s an idiot; fourthly, and Harry vaguely remembers this, he somehow thrusts his wand underneath Dean’s chin and vows to curse his tongue right off if he ever so much as pronounces Ginny’s name.

Then they’re out of there, Ron and him, Ron rambling on about how Ginny has six brothers and how the least scary is a poncey Ministry worker with an axe to grind. Harry’d laugh, he really would, if he weren’t so busy fuming himself.

Hermione nearly has a heart attack when they plop grunting next to her on the saggy sofa, disturbing her studies. She gives them a long look, pats their respective arms and turns back to her reading.

They’ll tell her when they’re done raging. Hermione knows it and they know.

For now, they need to boil individually for awhile and then - oh, then they’ll abuse Dean to no end between the three of them.

Harry’s never looked forward to anything more.

___

Harry feels oddly giddy when he walks onto the pitch, adrenaline running through every inch of his body, from his buzzing ears to his fingertips. He’s finally got his team back and that means nothing’s coming between Gryffindor and the Quidditch Cup.

It also means that Dean’s finally out of the team now that Katie’s back, but who’s focusing on details, eh?

“Alright, team!” Ginny grins, arranging her high pony tail and kicking her broom once, twice before she zooms up. “Let’s focus and give everything we have today. We’re going to skin those Ravenclaw gits!”

And though Harry really does appreciate the sentiment and his team’s new found enthusiasm, he is still the captain and thus must maintain his authority.

“What Ginny said,” he puffs his chest and kicks his broom up too. At least he tried.

He’s well aware of the unsubtle giggling coming from Demelza and Katie as well as Ginny’s sudden determination to fly so close by him Harry’s lungs fill with that flowery scent she carries. Soon enough he’s so dizzy he doesn’t even notice the Quaffle careening straight to his head.

“Wake up, Captain,” Ginny winks and retrieves the Quaffle, immediately pelting it to the hoops with such force and accuracy, Ron’s quite winded when he catches it in his stomach.

“You did that on purpose!” Ron complains as he angrily rubs at his stomach.

Ginny simply shrugs, “Not my fault you’re such a slowpoke.”

Anticipating a sibling feud about to go down, Harry blows his whistle and calls the team to the centre of the pitch to explain the new tactics and flying formation they’ll use against Ravenclaw. He did channel all his Dean related frustration into drafting them so it’s no surprise when Katie remarks it’s a bit more attack than defence.

“That means we’ll skin them,” Demelza grins, elbowing Ginny.

Harry gets lost in her blazing brown eyes for a beat, then remembers himself and clears his throat. “Right. Peaks, Coote, this time you’ll be focusing on the Keeper. Ginny, Katie, Demelza, you score at full speed while the Beaters keep him busy. Ron, you’re not letting them get into your head; sing Weasley is our King to yourself if you have to but don’t let them mess with you, yeah?”

Everybody nods and from then there’s the most exhausting, gruelling, and rewarding practice Harry’s ever had. He’s completely knackered and entirely chuffed with what they’ve done today, his team.

Once they hit the lockers, steam rising from the small shower cubicles, Harry finally allows himself to relax; his muscles burn as he works every kink on his shoulders, his back. Lather, rinse, towel.

He hears Ron yawn a ‘Later, mate’ before he even gets a chance to get dressed - more than likely running full speed towards the Great Hall for dinner, the ever hungry git.

Harry’s certain he’s the only one left, having heard his team’s cheery goodbyes as they filed out one by one. So he doesn’t think much when he prances around in a towel hanging loose over his hips, plopping on the bench with a satisfied moan as he dries his perpetually messy hair.

“Nice,” Ginny smirks and Harry nearly screams in his decidedly not macho voice.

She’s at the door, eyeing him smugly, big, cheeky grin on her face.

“What are you doing there?” Harry manages to ask her once he’s finished his double over.

“Enjoying myself,” Ginny shrugs, completely unabashed. “See you later, Harry.”

Harry can bet his broom she winks before she closes the door behind her, leaving him staring awkwardly in her wake, little droplets of water streaming down his face, his chest in rivulets.

#itsblissfuloblivion writes torch #torch chapter 8 #hbp fic #missing moments #hinny #harry x ginny #harry potter #ginny weasley #the romione's also getting stronger #next chapter there's THE MOMENT #fab collab #gryffindormischief #fightfortherightsofhouseelves #itsblissfuloblivion

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ultravioletsoul · 4 years

Text

Virgo Shaka x Reader - N/S/F/W Alphabet

Oh dear lawd, I’ve always found it a little (ok, terribly) difficult to imagine Shaka of all people in a romantic relationship. Out of the twelve gold saints, he’s probably the least likely to be in one. It was already too much effort for my brain to picture him holding hands with anyone, let alone expressing any interest in doing the do, but here I am… writing an adult post about him.

I need to clarify that these headcanons are about Shaka post the Twelve Houses story arc. Honestly, he would have zero interest in anyone before that since he was a little of an arrogant and vain jerk or, if he did, he would be too proud to admit it because how can a god-like figure like him feel that way?? Ludicrous!

Anyways, yes, after the fight with Ikki (what an absolute mad lad that guy is, bless him), Shaka would be more open to the idea of a romantic relationship but I still feel it’d happen under some special circumstances. And he’s going to be a peculiar boyfriend.

This is a very belated birthday gift for an amazing friend because she loves Shaka, ever since I dragged her into Saint Seiya hell ♥♥. Forgive me if it’s terrible *le cri*

Warnings: Sexual content. Possible OoC. Unbetaed. I have no idea how this happened.

* * *

A = Aftercare (what they’re like after sex):

Despite his serene appearance, how collected he acts around others, and the way he carefully reins in his emotions to the point he may come off as cold and detached, Shaka can be surprisingly caring and soft with you after an intimate session between the sheets.

Considering he would only do it with someone he deeply cares about and that it’s not a decision he’d take lightly (people just assumed he was asexual until they learned about you and then were confused as heck), you have to mean a lot to him.

So of course he wants to share the warm afterglow of lovemaking with you, lying together in complete bliss.

He may not be very talkative afterwards, but don’t take it as a sign he is troubled or displeased about something. Your most recent experience is still sinking in his mind and he’s not used to feeling so many strong emotions at once.

Little actions such as playing with your hair, kissing your forehead, letting you snuggle against him, or draping a protective arm around you to bring you closer, are ways in which he would show his affection.

He’d also like to make sure you’re both clean and refreshed before a good night’s rest so don’t be upset if he scoops you up in his arms and takes you straight for a warm bath.

Just let him pamper you while he’s in the mood for some touching and cuddling ;)

B = Body part (their favorite body part of theirs and also their partner’s):

Not actually a favorite part of his body, but he likes it when you gently run your fingers or place feathery kisses across his abdomen. If you tease him and “innocently” draw closer to his cock, he’s going to have hard time resisting you (no pun intended :v) and may turn the tables on you.

Shaka loves everything about you but his favorite part of your body would be your eyes because of the beauty of soul he sees in them.

As a saint who fights to for Athena and justice, he knows there is evil in this world but you are a lotus flower growing in the mud. And it’s because of people like you why the goddess he serves believes humanity is worth saving.

He can easily get lost in them when he’s making love. It’s one of the few times he wouldn’t want to close his eyes and he would gently encourage you not to break eye contact either. He loves gazing into the depths of your soul as you both reach new heights of pleasure in each other’s arms.

Nothing but that moment with you matters to him. When you’re two alone in that room, you’re the only deity he worships in mind, body and soul.

C = Cum (anything to do with cum, basically):

Sorry to break it to you guys, but Shaka wouldn’t do cum play or anything of the like.

He’d actually be weirded out if you even suggested the idea to him, and he wouldn’t understand what’s so attractive or exciting about it.

He’s a guy who has always been meticulous and methodical in everything he does given the teachings he’s received from his mentor (the Buddha :o). As someone who has engaged in lots of meditation to clear his mind from fears and doubts, personal hygiene and cleanliness are important to him, so he would prefer to keep the mess to a minimum if possible. So no, he isn’t in a hurry to see you doing stuff with his semen.

Shaka likes coming inside you. It’s the only place he ever wants to be when he makes love to you.

It’s a wonderful, intimate moment and he would hold you tightly against him as your souls mesh together into a single being.

D = Dirty secret (pretty self explanatory, a dirty secret of theirs):

It has never interested him before but, after starting a relationship with you, out of curiosity, he might have read some texts on the subject of erotic love. It was for science, tho!

Now now, of course he isn’t oblivious to the intimate affairs of couples, and nobody has to explain to him how babies are made. You can rest assured Shaka knows perfectly well how sex works.

He wants to be a better partner for you but, for all his knowledge and wisdom, he’s aware he’s not exactly the most versed man in such matters.

Despite this, Shaka adamantly refuses to ask anyone for advice, so you bet he’s gonna do the research on his own. He can figure this out.

Shaka would keep it classy, however. Nothing pornographic or vulgar is acceptable. That’s not how he wants to treat you.

Shaka’s approach is purely analytical and educational, and he reads it all with a straight face. The others would never guess what he’s actually up to.

It’s a serious matter for him. He wants to make sure he’s got what it takes to make you happy not only on a physical but emotional level as well.

In the past, the thought of sex wouldn’t have even fazed him. Shaka cared very little about it and honestly he didn’t see what the appeal was.

He still doesn’t much care but when it comes to you, he’s not against the idea.

Fine, he digs it.

But he’s a little embarrassed to admit it.

As someone who has trained to let go of his attachment for sensual pleasures and desires, it baffled him a little that the thought even crossed his mind.

That hasn’t stopped his curiosity for learning more about how to please you.

E = Experience (how experienced are they? do they know what they’re doing?):

Shaka is a virgin. Don’t @ me.

That’s the real source of his power. Geddit? *fingers guns*

On a more serious note, it is no surprise that he’s not very experienced.

It’s not that he thinks sex is something dirty or bad per se. He just never had the time or any interest in the pursuit of such trivialities. Lust and sexual craving are not traps he would fall prey to. He devotes himself completely to his duty as a saint of Athena, and so he avoids distractions that would hinder the fulfillment of his mission.

You’d most likely get to be the first sexual experience he’s ever had and it’s no simple feat to seduce the man who’s closest to being a god. He believed himself to be above such worldly affairs until he met you and boy…

He was wrong once again.

Finding ecstasy in your arms is nothing short of divine.

Shaka would take his time to be intimate with you, though. He doesn’t do casual sex and needs to be absolutely certain of your feelings for each other first.

However, don’t let his virginal status fool you. He has made his research beforehand (see letter D), he has prepared and knows where to go.

If he doesn’t get it right the first time he’ll try again and again until he has you writhing in pleasure. His own satisfaction is secondary to yours.

F = Favorite position (this goes without saying):

Lotus. I’m sorry for being so cliché OMG.

Pic (NSFW)

He spends a lot of time in this position when he meditates, so don’t be surprised if at some point he wants you to sit on his crossed legs and ride him.

Shaka would enjoy the intimacy and closeness this position provides.

It’s not a position that allows for frenzied love-making, but that’s precisely why he likes it so much.

Buried deep inside your wet core, he can feel your heart beating against his chest in unison with his as he holds you in his protective embrace, and there’s nowhere else he would rather be.

He loves it when you shower small kisses on his face and happily surrender yourself to him.

G = Goofy (are they more serious in the moment? are they humorous? etc.):

The first times, Shaka would wear a serious expression because he’s concentrating on learning what you like, what makes you tick and curl your toes.

He’s studying you not just on a physical level. Intimacy is beyond simple carnal pleasure for Shaka. It’s a matter of spiritual connection.

He’ll get more playful and cocky (no pun intended) once he learns how to push your buttons.

H = Hair (how well groomed are they? does the carpet match the drapes? etc.):

He doesn’t have a lot of body hair and always keeps his face clean, shaven and moisturized.

His nails are well trimmed. His hair nicely brushed and scented. His body devoid of bad smells.

That being said, he’s not very hairy downstairs (he’s got mostly a patch of soft blond hair), but he keeps things well groomed. Shaka doesn’t like sloppiness.

I = Intimacy (how are they during the moment? the romantic aspect):

It’s gentle lovemaking with Shaka and nothing less.

However, he can get too caught up in the details and in delivering a good performance that it may be a little difficult for him to really get lost in the moment.

He’s too worried about being perfect and bringing you pleasure that he sometimes forgets about the most romantic aspects.

Reassuring him he’s doing a good job will put his mind at ease. Be appreciative of his efforts and give him your undivided attention.

He’ll be the most doting lover ever because sharing his bed and body with you are very special to him.

J = Jack off (masturbation headcanon):

Shaka has an unbelievable control over his sexual urges and, even if he’s in a relationship with you, that wouldn’t change a lot.

He doesn’t usually masturbate, even when he’s been deprived of your touch for long periods of time (which would be when he’s away on missions for the Sanctuary). He can handle it no problem.

That doesn’t mean you’re not on his mind. Shaka always thinks about you with the deepest love and respect.

Masturbating can never compare to the bliss he feels when you’re in his arms. It’s just empty pleasure and would leave him even more frustrated, aching for you.

He would rather show you how much he loves you and missed you the next time he gets to see you.

Mutual masturbation is something he wouldn’t mind doing, if given the chance.

K = Kink (one or more of their kinks):

In all honesty, Shaka is not overly kinky and he’s perfectly content with vanilla sex.

However, he lowkey enjoys being dominated so if you flip him on his back and mount him, he’ll find it a nice game changer.

Ride that boy, seriously. He gets off on being a bottom and the sight of you enjoying yourself so much would drive him to the edge.

Tease him all you want, deny him release or keep him from touching you, he’ll endure it like a good boy.

But if you think you can run the show for too long, get ready because Shaka will get his due.

You’ll have to learn you can’t play dirty and expect him to show you mercy.

Bad girls like you deserve divine punishment ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

L = Location (favorite places to do the do):

He’s a bit old-fashioned, so he prefers the privacy and quiet of his own bedroom. Discretion is Shaka’s middle name.

It’s very practical and convenient too.

There’s no better place than his bed: clean, fresh, comfortable and quiet. He can relax and get in the mood without worrying about anything else.

He also won’t mind doing it on the floor, provided it’s pristine and there’s a plush mat with lots of cushions on it.

If he’s in your place, your bed and environment have to be clean and neat or else he’s not going to feel up for any sexy times.

M = Motivation (what turns them on, gets them going):

As someone who spends a lot of time inside his head, he needs a stimulating conversation to get him going.

It doesn’t even have to be sexual. You could ask him about his life as a saint or engage him in some philosophical talk. He’ll be happy to share his knowledge with you and will be interested in what you have to say.

Stroke his ego a little but don’t make it obvious.

On the other hand, witty banter turns him on, too. He’s got a sharp sense of humor but if you can turn around his jokes and roast him, leaving him speechless, he’ll want to get even through other means.

And you can imagine how ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

Shaka loves foreplay. The more foreplay you have, the more aroused he’ll be. He can spend hours just kissing, cuddling and touching.

A nice bath with him can also get him in the mood. He’ll feel more comfortable if you’re both clean and fresh. It doesn’t matter if you’re about to get dirty again.

If during foreplay or sex you whisper sweet nothings in his ear and praise him, that’s a sure way to turn him on. Praise that boy if he’s doing an amazing job, he’ll try to do it even better.

On the other hand, don’t be shy to tell him if something isn’t working for you. He’ll know if you’re faking it and that will kill his inspiration. He’ll start doubting himself.

He likes it when you talk dirty to him, even if your words make him blush, but refrain from being vulgar. He will find it in bad taste.

N = No (something they wouldn’t do, turn offs):

Anything that involves humiliation or degradation of you or himself.

Any weird kinks.

Don’t ask him to get into hard-core BDSM. He won’t do it.

Edgeplay. Anything that would hurt you is a big no for him. He loves you too much and wouldn’t bear the thought of bringing any harm upon you even if it’s consensual.

He won’t do it in public places.

Poor hygiene will definitely turn him off.

O = Oral (preference in giving or receiving, skill, etc.):

He may not be very keen on the idea of oral sex at first, whether it’s giving or receiving. Poor bb is still shy even if he doesn’t want to look like it.

But he may be open-minded about it once he gets more experience with you.

He’ll get there with gentle guiding and reassurance, but don’t rush him if he isn’t ready yet. Let him go at his own pace.

Once he gets past his initial shyness, he’ll be more confident to go down on you.

He won’t mind receiving but he prefers not coming in your mouth or any other part of your body.

P = Pace (are they fast and rough? slow and sensual? etc.):

Let’s be honest. Shaka doesn’t fuck. Ever. He’s not gonna rip off your clothes or manhandle you or use you like his plaything. That’s not his style.

Don’t get the wrong idea. Despite his cool exterior, he’s still a passionate man. It’s just that his passion burns slower than most.

He will take his time to make sure everything’s perfect so you both can take delight in the experience.

His mindset is one of enjoying the build up and the journey rather than desperately rushing to his destination.

He wants to relish in every kiss, every caress and every sound of pleasure you make, he wants to feel all of you— to reach into your soul.

Q = Quickie (their opinions on quickies, how often, etc.):

Quickies aren’t his thing. Shaka’s sex life isn’t very spontaneous, so suggesting him to pull off a fast one isn’t going to appeal to him.

He can control his urges and expects you to do the same. He can wait until a more appropriate time for intimacy.

Shaka needs preparation to have sex. He wants to be in the right state of mind, he needs to plan the details of that special night with anticipation, he doesn’t want to leave anything to chance or else he’ll find it difficult to be at ease.

Let him have it his way, it’ll be worth it.

Conversely, you can teach him how to be less uptight and not to fret over being flawless.

R = Risk (are they game to experiment? do they take risks? etc.):

Shaka is game to experimenting as long as you talk about it beforehand, but don’t expect him to go outside his comfort zone. It’s a feat in itself that you even managed to get him laid.

He prefers sticking to what works for you both, so keep in mind he’s not very adventurous.

But he’ll do his best to please you and will be open to suggestions on how to spicy things up in the bedroom.

S = Stamina (how many rounds can they go for? how long do they last?):

It may not look like it but Shaka has a surprising amount of stamina.

Though he’s a bit slow to warm up, his passion will burn longer.

He won’t tire out easily but if you’re exhausted already he’ll let you rest. If you want to go another round, he’ll be happy to oblige.

He can last for a very long time without releasing inside you, but he’s also learned to have orgasms without ejaculating.

All that meditation and self control stuff? Well, turns out it’s helped him have a wonderful sex life with you :v

Bae can keep going all night long. You’ll sooner get exhausted before he does.

T = Toys (do they own toys? do they use them? on a partner or themselves?):

He doesn’t own any toys. The only toys he knows are the ones kids use to play.

Blindfolds and restraints are okay. He’ll use them on you if that’s what you want.

He still prefers simple, intimate, vanilla sex. Less is more for him.

U = Unfair (how much they like to tease)

Shaka can be a big tease when he wants to so don’t expect him to be very merciful if you provoke him.

He loves it when you beg him like a god tho.

V = Volume (how loud they are, what sounds they make, etc.):

He’s not very loud. Shaka is always restrained about how vocal he is, but you’ll definitely hear him grunt and sigh and moan often.

He prefers listening to the sweet sounds you make.

Once he’s close to an orgasm, he can get noisier and will try to muffle his moans by biting his lips or kissing you.

W = Wild card (a random headcanon for the character):

At times when tending to his garden in the house of Virgo, he’s thought about making love to you under the night sky and among the flowers he’s cultivated.

Your hair covered in petals as the light of the universe shines in your eyes is a sight he wants to see in this life.

Though maybe he’ll never have the chance to tell you.

X = X-ray (let’s see what’s going on under those clothes):

Ideal size. Not too big, not too small. Proportional to the rest of this body.

He’s got a pretty cock, honestly. Its texture is silky and when he’s hard it turns a rosy color.

Y = Yearning (how high is their sex drive?):

Shaka’s sex drive isn’t very high actually and, if it’s up to him, he won’t have sex very often. He’s for quality before quantity.

You may start wondering when was the last time you even had intimacy.

Don’t be surprised if it’s been 84 years.

He might as well look at the calendar and think “we haven’t done it in a while, next week may be a good time to get it on”.

His training taught him not to grow attached to his desires and he’s tremendously disciplined at that.

It doesn’t mean he doesn’t have sexual desires. He just doesn’t let them control him and is not animalistic about them.

Sex isn’t the most important aspect to have a fulfilling relationship. It’s just the icing on the cake, so to speak.

What truly matters is the emotional bond you two have forged.

You’re not an object for him.

He can live happily without any kind of sexual intimacy if that’s what you want. He won’t love you any less for it and you’ll never hear complaints or reproaches from him.

Shaka doesn’t feel guilty about wanting to make love to you. Just don’t expect him to be a sex beast ready to pounce on you any time. That won’t happen.

Shaka would have no problem if you have a higher sex drive than he does. He’ll strive to make you happy.

If you take the initiative and try to get in his pants, as long as he’s in a private and comfortable environment where he can let go, he’ll give in. Otherwise forget it.

Plan ahead if you intend to get naughty with him. Shaka will appreciate the thoughtfulness.

Just don’t take advantage of him because as much as he enjoys sleeping with you, he’ll quickly get bored if all you think about is undressing him when you’re with him.

Don’t reduce him to a sex object for your personal gratification, he won’t be comfortable with it. Respect and love him like he does with you.

Z = Zzz (how quickly they fall asleep afterwards):

Shaka doesn’t fall asleep immediately.

He likes cuddling after making love.

He may have his eyes closed but he’s still awake and he’s listening to your every breath, your heart beating, he’s basking in the warmth of your gentle and blissful cosmos.

He can’t believe he has the most wonderful person in the world by his side.

Even if you both know it may not last, that the next holy war approaches fast and he’ll have to fight, you’ve made peace with it. You accept what the future holds in store for both.

However, that thought still keeps him awake at night.

But he’ll never tell you. He’ll just kiss your forehead and stroke your hair until you’re fast asleep.

* * *

Well, that’s it. I can’t believe I did this. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed (?

#virgo shaka #shaka de virgo #saint seiya #knights of the zodiac #shaka de virgem #virgo shaka x reader #the things i do for love #ayyy

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anditendshowyoudexpect · 5 years

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There remains a stigma attached to the word ‘breakdown’, when actually it’s a very legitimate response to life in the early twenty-first century. We are not designed for the non-stop world we live in, the pressures put upon us, and those we bring upon ourselves. For young people, especially, those pressures are becoming ever more intense. Social media, the battle for jobs, the speed with which we judge – it’s a lot easier for kids now to be made to feel inadequate in so many different ways. I worry about what any child picks up in their subconscious just through their daily interaction with the world. Societal pressure has got worse for children, and I hope my own experiences will make me better able to help my children tread that difficult path.

Billie was magnificent as Rose. I knew she was good at the time but looking back now I can see her absolute brilliance. It reminds me how much we loved working together, which is palpably obvious on screen. Actors work at chemistry; it doesn’t just come with a snap of the fingers, but we were fortunate enough to have something there from the start. We were also professionals and knew how to achieve on-screen banter. What truly amazes me is I know how nervous Billie was at the start. She thought I was some big serious performer and she didn’t have the belief in herself as an actor. She proved herself, of course, to be way better than any of the rest of us. Her luminosity on screen comes from herself, not those around her, and instinctively she made Rose exactly the person she should be. When Doctor Who won a BAFTA for Best Drama, it was Billie for whom I was truly delighted. The reception she got when the show was screened made any lingering reservations on her part about her ability evaporate. It was admirable in her that she had zero arrogance that she could do it. The work she has done since has shown her to be worthy of every accolade that comes her way.

Watching our characters now reinforces what I concluded at the time: Russell enjoys writing more for women than he does for men. If so, I’m glad – there’s been a lot of writing for men. Rose arrives on screen fully formed, one of the strongest female characters of any show of any year, painting a solid line leading directly to Jodie Whittaker. If you think about it, the relaunch in 2005 was actually the chance to create the first female Doctor. Why not do it then? Perhaps, really, we should be looking back on Billie Piper not as Rose but as the Doctor.

The attitude exists that, in the relationship between producer, director and actor, they are the adults and we are the children. I agree, actors can behave like children, they can be spoilt – but not this one, and not a lot of others I know. A working relationship can’t operate on a basis of master and servant. If a director, or anyone else on set, comes in and has bad manners, then chances are they’ll hear from me.

This idea that actors can be manipulated and pushed around to suit the agendas of others irritates me. On Shallow Grave, prior to the shoot, myself, Ewan McGregor and Kerry Fox lived in a flat together for a week. We rehearsed, read scenes, and got to know each other. I considered it to be a budgetary and practical arrangement, but after the film came out Danny talked about it as being a social experiment, which I objected to because to me it was like the director playing God. If Danny wanted to conduct an experiment to gauge our reaction and interaction to one another, he should have told us. Had I known, I would doubtless have gained something from the situation. Danny, I expect, would argue otherwise, that the actors wouldn’t get it. Well, I’m more intelligent than that. As it turned out, Danny’s plan was counterproductive because all it did was give myself, Kerry and Ewan a week to realise we didn’t like each other very much and didn’t get on. We had entirely different backgrounds, approaches to acting, and sensibilities. All three of us were also very, very ambitious and insecure with it. Danny would probably argue that that tension then manifested itself on screen. I think that’s bollocks. This idea of pitting one actor against another is dangerous, manipulative and patronising. The film would have been better without all that nonsense.

I’m not alone in feeling dismayed at misplaced directorial interference. Anthony Hopkins once arranged for the cast of Frankenstein to go for a Chinese meal during rehearsals. Anthony received a message from Francis Ford Coppola: ‘Francis doesn’t want you to go for a Chinese meal,’ it read, ‘because he feels it would break the atmosphere.’

Anthony Hopkins’ reaction was simple – ‘Bollocks, we’re going for a Chinese meal.’

In a way, Let Him Have It was an example of the British film industry bowing to American values. I hate Forrest Gump. I would like to burn every single copy of that film for the way it treats both mental health issues and women. A sexually free female character who ends up with AIDS? That tells you everything. I wanted to make an angrier, more polemical, more complicated film about a young man who deserved more than just to have the label ‘simple’ pinned to his lapel.

That presence, that intensity, that some people, not just Peter, have identified again comes from growing up, like most working class children, with the institutional message, ‘You’re stupid’, as did my father, as did my brothers. If you’re working class in this country, you may be able to shovel shit or push a trolley, but, ‘You are thick. You do not emote.’ ‘You are thick. You are not worthy of a decent education.’ Those central messages of unworthiness become so ingrained that they are self-perpetuating. Come up with a big word and not only are you mocked – ‘Oh, where did that come from?’ – but you mock yourself. So yes, I am intense, and that’s because there’s a lot of fierce concentration on trying to be articulate, rather than that laid-back public-school attitude to intellect that some people seem to have.

My dad had definitely shared with me a very visible masculinity. His appearance and actions shouted standard maleness, but the way I viewed him was different. It seemed obvious to me that, at his core, causing his outward behaviour, was a great femininity and vulnerability. My view of maleness was formed from how tyrannical my dad could be and yet how gentle. Through him, I learned to accept that the two things could coexist. I too have a masculinity allied to an intensely female side. Perhaps the difference is I’m aware of it. Dad, I think, found his sensitivity a source of conflict. For many years, I was the same. I resented it. I resented the part of me that made me different. If you are a late-twentieth-century male, traditional working-class, you are not going to like that side of yourself. I wanted to be black and white. I didn’t understand that it is the sensitive side that offers true insight in life – intuition and empathy.

Similarly, there’d be no bunches of flowers from Dad – none of that – and he didn’t like dancing – he was too self-conscious, too embarrassed – so Mum would always dance with somebody else.

I once went into my mum and dad’s room and saw a book, The Sun is my Tormentor, a Mandingo-esque novel of love and adventure, by Mum’s side of the bed. Seeing my mother in middle age and her desire for romance moved me deeply. It made me cry. I felt for her emptiness and also because I knew there were greater romantic novels that, because of her conditioning as being unworthy of such literature, she perhaps felt she couldn’t venture into.

We wrapped the production on Friday, had a party, and then on Saturday morning I’d arranged to go to Old Trafford with my dad. I was really looking forward to it – and he turned up with the season tickets from two years before. I’m disgusted with myself thinking about it now, but I gave him a bollocking. I was pissed off because I couldn’t go to the game. More than that, though, I was pissed off because he had dementia. That is shameful on my part, but genuinely that is the case. Maybe that shame is something others in the same position will recognise, an occasional presence of a selfish internal voice, one that so desperately craves ‘normality’.

I put my anger at his illness down to coming straight off the back of Flesh and Blood, with its fictional narrative so unflinchingly similar to my own non-fiction life. Amid that emotion, present as he always was whenever me and my dad knocked heads, was that little boy who was frightened of him. I definitely harboured residual anger towards him, a straight reflection of the anger he’d exhibited towards me. Sounds harsh, but he was getting back the temper he taught me. I was in control now. I’m not proud of that, and I’m not saying it’s right, but that’s how I justified it to myself.

I looked into his eyes and could see him trying to process what was going on. He was staring at the season tickets, semi-computing that they were the ones from two years ago, while trying to work out what the situation meant, and what should happen next. For ten seconds, my peripheral vision was blacked out, blinkered. All I saw was this big, fierce bird-like face looking around lost in confusion. I put Dad on the bus home, the route being familiar to him, and walked away. I rang later and explained to my mum what had happened. And then I started crying. I cried for four hours. That night I had a date with my girlfriend. I told her about it and cried all over again. I broke my heart like I’ve never broken my heart since. That moment of seeing his confusion had left a mark – not a bruise, but a deep, lasting weal. Until that point, I’d understood intellectually that my dad had dementia because we’d been told. But emotionally I hadn’t understood it at all. And then there, in the street outside Old Trafford, I’d been given a window into somebody going mad. Becoming demented. That’s the truth of it – demented. It’s a shocking word. We used to talk about demented dogs, and we shot them. When we say dementia, there’s no hiding the truth. It means people are demented. We can dress that up however we want, but there’s no denying the naked reality beneath. That day I had been presented with the stark vision of a man floundering in a maze of his mind’s own making. Not knowing who and where he was. And I’d just been horrible to him. And he was my dad.

Esme asked me the other day, ‘Daddy, do you like Mummy?’

‘Well,’ I said, ‘when me and Mummy met, we fell in love and had you. Having two children very quickly is hard on parents in a relationship and then Mummy and Daddy started to not like each other. Now, Esme, as you’ve seen, we are trying to be friends.’

As a child, I would have liked that level of honesty and candidness with my parents, but it was no more part of Ronnie and Elsie than it had been their parents, and so on and so on before. I completely understand that the openness switch was neither at their fingertips nor was it socially reinforced. Emotion could hold a working-class child back, make them unready for what was to come – what they were for. I am thankful to have been given the opportunity to have a more grounded relationship with my children. Before Albert and Esme, playing football, wrestling, doing a crossword or mock-boxing with my own dad were the happiest things I could ever imagine in my life. They go right to the heart of me. Now, I have a new happiness with my own children. And it is a happiness born of honesty.

The blight on that happiness is that I don’t live with them. I know I’ve yet to come to terms with that fact. This book will help, the increasing distance from the hospitalisation will help, but it’s something that will always hurt inside. The legal system could certainly help deliver balance for parents and children involved in separation and divorce. Hopefully, we are in the dog days of the Victorian view of men and women and their role in their children’s lives, which has led to institutional and historic bias. In the twenty-first century, an authentic emotional relationship can come from a man as much as a woman.

I wanted to throw a spotlight on the generations, the millions and millions, for whom ‘success’, defined as anything other than the basic survival of themselves and their family, was a concept of which they were denied to the extent that they were chained, leg, wrist and neck, to an institutionally blessed mindset of zero expectation. To those in charge of those institutions, the working class is as it describes. A production line of workers, nothing more, nothing less. People? With character, hope, intelligence, ambition? Forget it. Get back in your box and shut up.

I was asked a few years ago to go on the BBC genealogy show Who Do You Think You Are? I agreed and they started looking into my family tree. It says everything that the project went nowhere. They tugged aside the leaves on those branches and concluded, ‘Nothing to see here.’ Generations of working-class people dismissed. Individuals with their own hopes, dreams and stories. Not army generals, industrialists, vaudeville singers, but factory workers, farm labourers, cleaners, nothing in any way ‘sexy’ enough for TV.

No doubt if someone like me had popped up in the dim and distant, all would have been good. But why? My father had all my abilities, linguistically, physically, and then some. So, no doubt, did generations before him. I get that my life has been far more fulfilled than my father’s and those before him, but for me that makes him the far more interesting story. What do I know of life? I’m not driving stacker trucks all day at Colgate-Palmolive and then going to Bulmers and driving stacker trucks there all night. I’m not cleaning floors in a launderette like Mum. And yet how often is the story of the working class ever told on TV? I don’t mean the dross that is soaps. I mean properly told? The answer is less and less. Working-class stories don’t fit in boxsets. They don’t make money. They don’t fit the business model of selling to global TV. And yet they are the lives that talk to me, define me. They are the lives I find endlessly fascinating.

Christopher Eccleston, I Love the Bones of You

#christopher eccleston #i love the bones of you #books #such a honest sincere book he wrote #i love him even more for it #i want to quote every sentence #and i would if i wasn't listening to audio #dw #mental health

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thunder-the-ranger-wolf · 5 years

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Self Preservation Level: Zero (Forging a family ch 2)

It wasn't every day you ran into All Might. Izuku was on the way home after a very irritating day that only got worse when a villain tried to use him as a hiding place. How does that even work?!

He'd been terrified. Not too long ago, some former friends told him to wish for a Quirk in his next life and now it looked like he might get the chance to do that.

A whoosh of air was the last thing Izuku felt before he blacked out, and he hoped desperately that it meant help would arrive.

Forging a Family

"Young man!" A voice that was used to being loud was currently hissing in his ear, and it was enough to break through his thoughts.

If not that, then the fact that someone is slapping him awake.

"Five more minutes, Oji-san. School is over. I get a nap."

"School is indeed over, young man, but this is not the place to nap."

Izuku scrambled blindly to his feet, lurching forward as he tried to steady himself.

"All Might!" He realizes breathlessly. "You're-."

"In the middle of capturing a villain, my boy, for which you have my sincerest apologies. I should have caught this man long before he got to you."

"Wait, no, why apologize?!" Izuku blurted out. "I'm sure you did everything you could!"

"You'd certainly think so, but if you remember anything else, remember that even heroes make mistakes."

"I can't imagine that. You're Number 1! The Symbol of Peace!"

All Might shot him a warm yet amused look.

"My boy, if we had the time I would tell you exactly what I think of hero rankings. But I must get this villain to the police."

All Might was preparing to take off but Izuku had questions! So many questions…

At the last minute, he grabbed onto the hero's shirt and was yanked high into the air by the single greatest leap he'd ever seen.

And it was terrifying. He barely managed to keep his mouth shut, gritting his teeth for fear of choking, but internally he was screaming his head off.

They landed on a roof, All Might having plucked Izuku from his lower side in midair and held him close as one would a baby.

Now, Izuku staggered upright after tumbling head over heels from such an abrupt landing.

"Young man," All Might ground out lowly. "That was dangerous, and it is inappropriate to invade one's personal space. You have a reason for doing so, yes?"

Izuku bobbed his head, struggling to catch his breath.

"Can I be a hero without a Quirk?" He blurted out.

All Might stood frozen at the question and Izuku knew that somehow, he'd gone too far.

Maybe it was because he'd grabbed the man out of nowhere. Maybe it was because he'd impeded All Might's plans for such a stupid, stupid question. Of course you couldn't be a hero without a Quirk, why would you bother-?!

"I should tell you no." All Might began slowly. "I should tell you that there is no making a way in this world without something to back you up. You would have to prove yourself a million times over for even a chance at what others have… but I will not tell you that. Because I am out of time, and have no idea what to say other than I see you going very far in life no matter what you do."

Smoke billowed from the taller man's form as he said those last words. All Might hunched over as he seemed to shrink in on himself, and then collapsed to the ground, coughing viciously.

Izuku narrowed his eyes. All Might was sick?

Izuku only ever heard that terrible cough from one person in his life. His uncle's partner looked American but spoke like he grew up in Japan. He was the oldest of his friend group, and whenever he came over to visit Inko and Izuku, he was fed a variety of strange dishes that Izuku's mother wouldn't normally cook.

"Oji-san…" Izuku whispered to the crumpled man before him. "What happened to you?"

Yagi Toshinori looked miserable as he attempted to respond.

"Nevermind." Izuku determined. "You're coughing up blood. Kaa-san said you shouldn't be doing that even with your stomach issues. Do you have your medicine with you?"

Yagi dipped his head in a nod.

"Pocket below the sludge bottles." He rasped. "I'll take them later."

"You should have something now. You can't say you aren't in pain, after what just happened."

"Transforming takes a lot out of me, yes, but I'm old and injured. Meds won't help me any more than if I took them later."

"You're not that much older than Naoki-ojisan." Izuku snorted. "But if you insist, can I at least escort you to the police station?"

"If you must, my boy."

Izuku wasn't sure how he missed something as obvious as Yagi being All Might. They spoke the same, they were the same ridiculous height, they both had blond hair and eerie blue eyes… the only conclusion he could come to was that he was a fool.

"No one knows what to look for." Yagi offered quietly as if reading his thoughts.

"So when you said you were a secretary at a Hero Agency…"

"Yes, I am my own secretary. It seems weird when I say it aloud, but I like having some measure of control over my life."

"So, why keep being a hero if you know you're injured?"

"Because I am a hypocrite, dear boy. Your mother has insisted that one must know their limits. This is what happens when you surpass those limits and keep going. Eventually, I will be forced into retirement, if I make it that long.”

“Of course you will, Yagi-san.” Izuku said, stopping in front of the older man so that they stared at each other. “You’re one of the smartest men I know. And All Might is an amazing hero. He’s been Number 1 for so long, is it any wonder he would think of retiring?”

“You are a smart one, my boy. Your mother raised you well.”

Izuku dipped his head in acknowledgment and they walked in peace for a while longer.

It wasn’t long enough, though. Up ahead was a large crowd. From the shouting that Izuku could make out and the number of heroes on the scene, someone was in trouble.

Forging a Family

"I got your number from your sister so please don't hang up yet."

"Five minutes."

"I messed up and I need you to yell at me."

"What?"

"You heard me the first time." Yagi ground out.

"Hold on. Have you talked to Naoki about this? Please don't tell me I'm the first person you called-!"

"He's working, I left a voicemail. On top of which I'll see him later today. What kind of fool do you think I am?"

"The last time you had a problem he could have solved you two didn't talk for weeks."

"Because he was being an asshole and invading my privacy. There's a difference."

"There's a… Okay. There's no time to unpack any of that so moving the fuck on."

"So I ran into your nephew today-."

"Huh. I haven't contacted Inko this week at all. How are they?"

"Good, fine. Inko seems happy."

"Well that's always a goal. But you ran into Izuku?"

"He was attacked by this pile of sludge that might have been a person-."

"He what?"

"I handled it… sort of. I captured the villain, Izuku woke up, that would have been that but I just knew something was up with him so I wanted to make sure he got home alright. I go to leave and this little shit decides to grab me at the last minute. I ended up sticking around to make sure he was okay but somehow the sludge pile escapes and kidnaps someone else. One of his classmates. So this kid… God, Shou, this fuckin kid… he tracked the sludge to a crowd that wasn't doing a damn thing and fired the first shot!"

"Wait a minute, he did what?! We're there other heroes on the scene?"

"Newcomers who couldn't think their way out of a paper bag, apparently!" Toshi snarled. "Just standing there and literally letting a youngster die!"

"Not everyone is quick to react. But go on, how'd he do it?"

"Threw his bag at the villain's face and scraped the boy out when All Might did a Detroit Smash."

"All Might did a-? Is he crazy?!"

"No, no. He times the attack perfectly. The kid knew what he was doing and All Might saw an opportunity and went for it. The villain was captured a second time, the kid actually got to go home."

"So what's the problem?"

"His mother recognized me. Didn't say anything, but she knew. And before that…"

"Yes?"

"I-considered-giving-him-my-quirk!"

"Repeat that?"

"I almost told the boy everything right then and there."

"Why?"

"He was so brave, my friend! He acted when no one else was able to! And before, on the way to the police station, he asked if he could be a hero."

Aizawa laughed, a short bark of a thing.

"Literally only that kid would ask his hero without knowing exactly what that means… gods above. But how does that lead to the boy getting your power?"

"I almost told him everything."

"But?"

"I remembered this is Inko's boy. She would flay me alive and have me for dinner if I tried such a thing!"

"Of course."

“So I kept my mouth shut but I seriously considered it. Which is why I need you to yell at me.”

Forging a Family

Naoki was not a happy camper when he got home from work. Nowadays it seemed like he rarely ever was. He never smiled, his jokes fell flat with most crowds, and he had this… knowing air about him. Like he could tell your deepest secrets from a single look. Granted, that wasn't far from his actual Quirk but he required contact to activate it. And it was foresight, not hindsight. The only secrets he would know are the ones that come back to bite you. And even then, he's not one to go looking. That was a lesson he's learned many times over, once at the cost of his livelihood.

It was taking everything he had not to scream as Yagi described the Sludge Incident.

“Just so we’re straight-.”

“We’re not.” Yagi snickered.

“This is no time for jokes! Some days I still can't believe I married such a dork.”

“Well, it certainly wasn’t for my looks.” Yagi deadpanned. “Perhaps for our mutual love of all things All Might.”

"Yagi, what happened out there?!"

"I wasn't on the scene, but I hear there were quite a few heroes trying to determine the best course of action while a young man was held hostage and slowly suffocating."

"They likely did their best. Not everyone can afford to be as quick and reckless."

"You think your former boss reckless?"

"Undoubtedly, but in this case it proved effective. So All Might swooped in and saved the day once more but I'm not seeing a problem."

"Your nephew has seen All Might's civilian form."

Naoki groaned, a deep and frustrated thing that had Toshinori laughing into his arm.

"You seem so burdened by the world's events that it's a winder you get any sleep."

"Some days, I wonder myself. You cannot honestly believe that this is anywhere near alright."

"Midoriya-san knew me already, and though I offered to stick around, she assured me it wasn't necessary. It's not like I intended to reveal such truths to the boy."

"And yet."

"Indeed… Izuku is a smart boy, and he's already got secrets of his own. If anyone had to figure out All Might's civilian form, I'm glad it was him."

"But we are definitely talking to Inko."

"Oh yes, absolutely. If only to make sure she doesn't chop my head off next she sees me."

#forging a family: the aizawa siblings fic #yagi toshinori #midoriya izuku #aizawa naoki #aka sir nighteye #aizawa shouta #nightmight

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bbclesmis · 5 years

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Lily Collins Gets Candid: GLAMOUR’s December cover star on Les Misérables and success on HER terms

2018 was the year of fearless female performances but THE TV Christmas blockbuster, Les Misérables, saves the best for last with Lily Collins’ star turn as Fantine. Here she navigates the minefield of millennial dating, -13°C locations and a late-twenties crisis with GLAMOUR’S Josh Newis-Smith.

“I’ve been ghosted more times than I care to admit,” Lily confesses, as we discuss the minefield that is millennial dating. Adorned in a slouchy black hoodie with her hair scraped back into a care-free ponytail and barely a lick of make-up, Lily could be any twenty-something in debrief mode.

In fact, the only indication that this is a Golden Globe nominee who since starting to act at the age of two, has carved a place for herself as a go-to starlet – in such varied roles in Rules Don’t Apply, Mirror Mirror and Love, Rosie- is the vast Hollywood home that plays backdrop to our interview and her GLAMOUR cover shoot.

About to hit our screens in her career-defining role as Fantine, who is dumped unceremoniously by her lover - Victorian ghosting if you will - and left to fend for her child alone, we are musing on how, just like the iconic character, Lily has navigated her own fair share of heart ache. “There are times when I’ve [been on dates and] thought we had a great time and then I’ve never heard from the guy again,” she continues. With this level of ‘gal pal’ magnetism it’s no wonder she has garnered 11 million Instagram followers, and counting. “Sometimes that happens after one date, a couple of dates or one month. I would prefer people to be honest with me, as I live like that. I don’t think it will be something I can ever figure out. The good thing is that we all have the same issues.” Alexa, play Thank U, Next by Ariana Grande...

Both 29 years old, we quickly bond over that late-twenties crisis, too. “Everyone in their late twenties goes through it a bit, because we’re heading to the big 3-0,” she reassures me. “But I think I had a quarter-life crisis at 25 where I kept asking, ‘Am I at where I wish to be at?’ I never really set out as a kid with markers of when I want to get married or have kids. But I got to the age where you constantly compare yourself to your friends or other people in your industry.”

It’s this level of realism that makes her performance as the ultimate fallen female, Fantine, so damn relatable, despite the fact it was shot in inconceivable sub-zero conditions in Brussels over a grueling five-month period. One scene, in the opening episode, sees a thoroughly modern-feeling Fantine squatting in the bushes alongside her wing women, discussing the gents on offer. “When our director, Tom (Shankland) was describing it as, ‘You are going to be squatting, having a chat,’ I thought, ‘Well, I can’t say I haven’t done that,’” Lily laughs. “People have been doing this for centuries – that camaraderie between women and men going to the bathroom and having chats, where it’s all about the subtext and the looks.”

Alas, poor Fantine didn’t have a rival nightclub to the local tavern, or Tinder, in her weaponry to help find a knight in shining armour to rescue her from her inevitable fall. Swiping right isn’t something that interests Lily, either. “I’ve never tried a dating app,” she exclaims with her trademark eyebrows alive with energy. “Lots of my friends have, but it’s just that I don’t know how I would. LA is very much where I spent most of my time growing up, so I know the places I am not going to go to meet somebody and I also realise that when you’re not looking, you find it.”

Lily is grounded, which is no mean feat given that she grew up surrounded by fame as the daughter of the Easy Lover hitmaker, Phil Collins. There’s no name-checking of famous faces, only her closest pals, a pool of Californian friends from Harvard-Westlake School who have enabled her to achieve that much-lauded term: balance. She has worked hard to have her Destiny’s Child ‘Independent Woman’ moment.

“Growing up I never wanted that to be a part of my story,” Lily confides. “Obviously I’m super-proud of my dad; I love my dad, I’m grateful for all the things I’ve learned, but it’s also something I wanted to define as my own. I always wanted to do it myself and for myself. There are so many people who want to do what I do, a name is not going to get you a job, and it shouldn’t. I can look back and be so proud I did it on my own. People assume it’s a lot easier when you have that name, but if you’re the kind of person who doesn’t want to use it, it’s a lot harder.”

Part of Lily taking control of her own narrative involved her penning her memoir, Unfiltered: No Shame, No Regrets, Just Me just under two years ago, something that she regards as the “most cathartic, therapeutic experience, in a way I didn’t anticipate”. In the emotional read, Lily confesses to hacking away at those eyebrows to fit in with the skinny-browed girls at school, details an unnamed emotionally abusive relationship, discusses a long and winding journey with eating disorders, and contains an open letter, forgiving her father, “for not always being there,” during her childhood after moving from Surrey to LA with her mother, Jill Tavelman following her parents’ divorce. For an industry in which personal lives are hidden by a velvet curtain, it was beyond brave.

Reminiscing, Lily details how the book’s direction took an unexpected turn, “I realised I was carrying so much baggage that, when it came to work, I couldn’t take on the baggage of my character. I felt a bit like a fraud to myself if I didn’t unleash – or at least get off my chest – these things, to move on and go into the next phase of my life. In life, when you dig the deepest and talk about the most uncomfortable things, that’s the time you’ll connect with most people because that’s when you’re being the ‘realest’. The hardest things to talk about will always be the most relatable, because no one wants to show them; they’re awkward.”

Used to shedding excess baggage, Lily had to leave everything at the French border to play what is set to become a career-defining role as Fantine. As she proudly scrolls through her phone to show her transformation from debutante darling to shaven-haired dishevelled wench, her enthusiasm is as big as her brows as she details the most testing part of taking on this role. “The material, the location, the temperature,” she admits were the biggest challenges. But it’s clear she relished getting gritty. “It was so perfect, but at one point it was -13°C in Brussels. It was mental preparation of not just understanding the psychology of what she’s going through, but also the gruelling shooting experience that we were all in. Dressed in little material towards the end, it was about pushing through mentally. Obviously, I saw the end in sight. I dive in 110%. If I’m freezing, tired and bruised from shooting, I lean into that with the character.”

In a year where toxic masculinity has led to outpourings of female empowerment, it seems an ideal time to revisit the treatment of this infamous female character; something that isn’t lost on Lily. “When she falls, she falls so hard. But she’s willing to stay down there if it means providing for her child. It’s very poignant over what’s happening in today’s world. When we’re at our lowest, we still have our sense of self and are willing to fight back and use our voice. That really resonated with me.”

How does she feel in the wake of the year where Hollywood finally got woke on the abuse of power? “It’s great to see the camaraderie that’s come from it. Women coming forward with these issues are being embraced. Whether it’s in the pay gap or having more female directors, writers, and making sure there are just as many women and men on movie sets – hopefully one day this won’t even have to be a conversation. That’s my hope that we won’t have to say, ‘’I’m so glad you’re hired because you’re a female. It should be that you are known for your skill level… Right now, it’s fantastic, but it shouldn’t be why a woman is defined as amazing.”

As a result, Lily is feeling more empowered than ever before. “Yeah, I am, 100%,” she says. “I’ve realised that I can’t control what other people think of what I have to say, but I can control how I say it and where it’s coming from. So many women have come out and spoken about things that people would have assumed would have been the end of them. Now it is embraced for us to speak out. I’m attracted so strongly to people who are brave and outspoken and very much themselves, so I thought, ‘Why can’t I be that?’ It takes practice and I’m not fully there yet, but I’m doing my best to take those steps.”

This self-crafted confidence is exactly why Lily was attracted to the challenge of creating and directing her own GLAMOUR shoot, shot on a mobile phone during a fitting with super-stylists Rob Zangardi and Mariel Haenn. “I love expressing different sides of myself,” she exclaims, referencing her Giambattista Valli gown she wore for her cover. “It’s a process that allows me to constantly surprise myself, rediscover and push myself in ways I wouldn’t have felt comfortable with a couple of years ago.” One thing is for certain, you shouldn’t underestimate this ultimate Hollywood ‘doer’; she curled her own hair and specifically asked for the pictures not to be retouched, too.

Away from Hollywood and couture, Lily will be living her best Cameron Diaz lyf circa The Holiday this Christmas. “It’s my time to switch off from my job, sleep in and be British – I love holing myself away where no one can bother me. I love being in the countryside, outside London, with my mum. We get our tree, we have decorations from when I’m younger. We cook. We have fires and watch old movies,” Lily shares in a manner of an over-excited elf.

It’s safe to say the Christmas cracker that will really bring a bang to your festivities is Lily Collins in Les Misérables. Plus, dear wise men and women, this star with her rare empowering gifts is well worth following, far and wide.

Les Misérables will start on the BBC on 30th December. (x)

#les mis bbc #bbc les mis #Lily Collins #fantine #Interviews #articles

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anwar-2nd-blog · 5 years

Text

youtube

what are we doing here

and where are we gonna go?

it’s like we just woke up one morning

and then it’s welcome to the show

don’t ask any questions

just go with the flow

make as much money as you can

and try your best not to get broke

copy everything you see on the tv from the

hairstyles to the clothes and

don’t think too often

just do exactly as you’re told

and if you ever get confused then just turn towards the alcohol

you still hear your thoughts?

then just turn up the radio

as you, learn to live a lifestyle of

drugs

sex

and

rock n roll

but in all honesty

i just need to know

is there more to the cycle than

growing and getting old

living and dying just to

leave behind a happy home and a

whole lot of property that

somebody else is going to own

i just really need to know before the

caskets closed

cause i’m not

willing to gamble with my soul nor am i

ready to take any chances

these are just simple life questions and i’m just

searching for some answers

like what are we doing here

and what is our purpose

how did we get here and

who made us so perfect?

and what happens once we go or is this

world all really worth it

questions we don’t answer because

apparently, we don’t really have to

there’s no purpose to this life and our existence is merely natural?

then in that case please let me ask you

did you create yourself or was it somebody else who had fashioned you?

cause you’re a being that’s impeccable

faultless and unparalleled

you are a product of Supreme Intelligence and i’m

merely being rational

for there isn’t a camera on this earth that can come close to the human eye

nor a computer that can compete

alongside the human mind

and if the

whole world was to come together we wouldn’t be able to create a single fly

so many signs yet we

still deny

as science tries to justify that

all this could come from none

when it’s a simple sum

zero plus zero plus zero cannot possibly ever give you one

so from where did all this

order come?

for everything has its origins

a Maker, a Creator of its Own

i mean the only reason your watching this video is because somebody had to press upload

so we can believe in the Big Bang but I’d rather

believe in He who caused it

to explode

Allah

the Creator of everything along with every single soul

the Everliving, the Master the only One Who is in control

unlike His Creation, beyond our imagination

and no

He’s not a Man nor does He have any partners in association

He’s on His own

and no, He did not

ever leave us

alone

just like every manufacturer

He left us with an instruction manual

the Quran and Islam and i’m sorry to jump to conclusions but it’s the

only one possible

the Only definition of God as the One and Only

Supreme Being its

logical

a Book with

zero contradictions with

miracles that are both scientific

and historical

all revealed over

1400 years ago

like the detailed description of the

human embryo

…Watch…

Talk Islam - Embryo = Leech | Amazing Quran Miracle | #MindBlow

…Voice-over…

“..the descriptions of the human embryo in the Quran cannot be based on scientific knowledge in the 7th century…”

to the mountains as pegs holding

firm the earth below

and the two seas that

don’t mix in a complete separate flow

to the planets in orbit

alternating night and day as they stay

in float

the expansion of the Universe and the Creation of everything

from H2O

to the stories of the past and the preservation of

Pharaoh

to identifying the lowest point in the land where

Persia defeated Rome

the gushing fluid that

created Man in the glands between the ribs and the

backbone and

not a word has changed it’s still the same so

please explain

how all this was known

over 1400 years

ago?

to a Man, who couldn’t

read or write as he would

recite whatever the Angels spoke

and if you still don’t believe, please try

to come up with something that’s

even close

but you can’t

so we took God as a mockery and His

Messengers as a joke

…Voice-over…

“…Muhammad could not read or write..how somebody who can’t read or write go start a religion..”

dismissed his scriptures as legends and

tales of the ancient folk

as we

live life according to our

whims, desires and hopes

saying this life is the

only home we will

ever know

we will live then die then simply turn to bones

YO..LO

correction

after the grass dies, the rain arrives and it

re-grows

and Allah promises to do the same thing to your

very soul

and bring you back from your

very fingertips to your toes

as the All Seeing Supreme Being watches us so close

and we are surely being tested

in our wealth, our health and our self and

everything that we’ve been blessed with

so believe for we will

surely, be resurrected

and be brought back to our Lord in account for

every single deed as He

hands us our books and

orders us to “Read!”

from the bad to the good

and everything in between

you, yourself are sufficient for your

own accountability so

don’t be mad at Me

You Were The One Who Thought He Wouldn’t Come Back To Me

i gave you a whole life long to

search after Me

but you were busy and all that which was

temporary so

Read

and glad tidings to all those who believed and if you

disbelieve

Read

and don’t let that day be the first day you find out what your

life really means

“Did you think that we had created you in play, and that you would not be brought back to us?”

Quran 23:115

#life #the meaning of life #everyone needs this #we all need this fact #we should all understand those words #Islam #Allah #God #hope #hereafter #heaven #flower #love #I love you #quote

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the-bounce-back · 5 years

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BEING IN CONTROL OF NOT BEING IN CONTROL

To say these past couple months have been and will always be remembered as the most emotionally, mentally and physically draining time of my life would be the understatement of the millennium. Note that I say this confidently, without even having experienced childbirth, planned a wedding, or organised a drama-free group holiday where everyone is actually happy yet.

Those things seem like light work compared to what I’ve been doing and feeling lately. A girl is tired.

For those of you that don’t know me, these past couple months have basically consisted of me dramatically exiting my former workplace, getting and accepting my dream job, planning my move from Nottingham to London with zero time to spare and somehow tying up all loose ends/getting closure before leaving. This might not sound like a big deal, but I guarantee you that most would have crumbled if they knew how many minuscule things had to fall into place for this to work out. Like a game of Tetris... except sh*t, depressing and with no console to dash across the room in frustration.

But we pulled through! My mate Vanessa and I managed to sort everything out in the end, and I’m finally moving down at the end of this week. And on Monday, I finally start my new job. Mad.

Now that I’ve finally had some time to relax and reflect, I admit that the way I handled the stress during this time was absolutely shambolic. I suffer from moderate anxiety - meaning that I am generally able to cope, but that overwhelming situations can make it more severe- and I hate not being in control of a situation. I rely heavily on organising and planning complex situations - such as this move - and I immediately feel uneasy when I don’t know what’s going on or when things don’t go to plan.

In my defence, loving being in control of things runs in my family. My mum will remind me of birthdays or events like a week before they even arrive (and another reminder on the day for good measure), and my grandmother is an event planning/organising guru - never missing a single detail. A million questions get asked so not a single piece of information goes unacknowledged.

The thing is, these aren’t even bad traits to have - quite the contrary. But - when you take a control freak and add a pinch of anxiety, a dash of hypertension, a sprinkle of cheeky panic attacks and finish it all off with a big, fat, unpredictable mess of that needs to be organised and that keeps on changing - it’s not surprising that you end up with a huge sh*t show.

However, somewhere along the way - probably on my thousandth meltdown - I got exhausted from being so tightly wound all the time. I’m still unsure what the hell happened. Maybe I finally snapped and actually am in serious need of help - but recently, I don’t let anything worry me anymore. If you can relate to spending most of your life obsessing, worrying and having crippling anxiety over outcomes to events that haven’t even happened yet, maybe you can understand how oddly peaceful and calm I’ve been feeling lately. It’s a weird and unfamiliar feeling, but I like it so far.

I literally just stopped worrying. That’s it. That’s the secret. Thanks for reading.

I’m kidding. Telling people to “stop worrying” should be considered an act of terrorism, along with telling people to “stop being depressed” and saying “Rah, that’s mad” when they open up to you.

I really wish I had a step-by-step guide to magically reduce everyone’s stress-levels and anxiety that I could share here, but I feel that a lot of reasons for stress or lack of control of a situation vastly differ, and definitely require situation-specific methods of coping. However, you might find it helpful to consider these few points next time you feel overwhelmed and like you’ve lost control of a situation that keeps escalating:

Identify what exactly is worrying you about not being in control.

That is, besides the obvious reason that you’re not in control. Why does it bother you that you don’t know exactly what is going to happen? Where does your desperate need for comfort in unpredictability stem from?

For me, this is definitely the hardest part. Being brutally self-confrontational about things like this often uncover a much deeper underlying issue that might be triggering to think about. (Unfortunately, it is a vital part of understanding and knowing yourself - you might want to consider going to counselling to be able to work through the issues. I’ll be doing a post about this at some stage as well). This is the hardest part of the process - once you have at least a vague understanding of the underlying issue, the rest of it should be a lot easier.

Understand that you choose how to react to situations.

You may have read before that although we can’t dictate how we feel, we can decide our reaction to our feelings. This has become so abundantly clear to me lately that I even feel silly for ever letting myself cry and get stressed out over things.

I get it, though. Certain situations hit so hard that it feels like kicking off is the only way to react to it. For example - we found an amazing flat a while back that would’ve been perfect. The location was amazing, it had a beautiful view, great room sizes… all of that. I really started envisioning my life there and planning how I was going to arrange my bedroom, my route to work, what gym to join, and so on an so forth. Long story short - the agency turned out to be scam after we did some research, so we ended up not being able to take it.

The thing is, when I think about it now and write about it it’s embarrassingly clear that it wasn’t really that deep. The appropriate response would have been to take the L quietly, let go of all the plans I had made and continue on with the flat search, with confidence that we would eventually find something. But oh no - because things weren’t going to plan, I really felt like I had to go all out with the theatrics. I cried on the phone to my mum, kept staring at the pictures of the bedroom I had gotten so excited to design and spent numerous hours in bed staring at the ceiling, feeling sorry for myself (I was jobless. Don’t you dare judge me).

The point is that although it felt like the only way to react at the time, in truth I made the conscious decision to react to the problem in such a tragic and embarrassing manner. If I had the chance to go back to the situation knowing what I know now, I would have decided to force that flat out of my mind, and use the hours I wasted having a self-induced nervous breakdown proactively doing some more flat hunting. At least I can comfort myself with knowing that I’ll never let myself dwell on things that can’t be changed ever again.

Ask yourself if worrying is going to change the outcome.

Is giving yourself hypertension, losing sleep and obsessing about the potential outcomes while you’re waiting to see how the situation pans out going to magically change the final result?

Spoiler alert: No. It doesn’t.

Don’t get me wrong, wondering what’s going to happen next and mentally preparing a backup plan if worst comes to worst isn’t the issue here. The problem is unnecessarily placing yourself under a lot of additional pressure for literally no reason whatsoever. As mentioned above, you can either choose to let your emotions get the best of you, or you can choose to acknowledge your emotions and then put them to the side while you’re trying to figure out the solution. Which brings me to the next point...

Ask yourself if there is any action you can take to affect the outcome in your favour.

When you assess the situation, analyse whether there is anything concrete you can do that will/can give you the desired outcome.

If there is - brilliant. Proceed with figuring out the specifics of this, remembering to be level-headed, logical and calm. Do said thing. Win. Be great.

If not - refer back to previous points again, and wait to see how the situation pans out. Hopefully, when the outcome becomes clear, there will be something within your power to do!

Honourable mention: find ways to laugh about the situation.

You’ve probably heard the saying “A problem shared is a problem halved”. This is extremely true in this case - taking all the stress and pressure and having a one hour rant about it in therapy really helped me find an outlet for how I was feeling, and hearing from someone on the outside of my life that I’m not crazy for having meltdowns was extremely comforting.

However, as much as therapy aided me in normalising my thoughts and emotions, I’m so grateful that I was not alone in this situation and could laugh about it with somebody else. The amount of times I’d call Vanessa on the brink of tears from stress and end up spending an hour just busting up about how messy the situation was and how absurd everything was is actually mad. As you might have realised from my style of writing about my problems - making jokes and being sarcastic really helps me to cope with a lot of hard things going on in my life. Being able to look back on a situation after it’s done and see the funny side is great, but being able to see the hilarity of the sh*t when you’re neck deep in it is even better. Furthermore… laughter literally releases endorphins and has a healing effect on your body, so why wouldn’t you want to laugh instead of being on the brink of a self-induced stroke?

Hopefully there is at least something here that can help you have a more stress-free existence, regardless of the unpredictable turns life has a tendency to terrorise us with at times. Of course, as touched on earlier - learning how to cope with hard situations is usually just the tip of the iceberg. Taking time to understand why you feel so anxious about not having control is imperative for your self-development and improvement.

Anyway. I, for one, refuse to let this calmness and level of being unbothered leave my life again. Consider this post a piece of advice that I’ve *actually* applied to myself.

At least it’s a step in the right direction.

Love,

Liv

#selfhelp #opinions

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hestiasroom · 3 years

Text

just venting a bit

it’s amazing how decisions, behaviors, and feelings you had when you were young will just continue to fuck you up for probably the rest of your life. anyone who follows me knows i struggle with weight. but it’s funny how young this all started for me. i first became overweight when i hit puberty super young and gained a ton before i got taller... that eventually resolved itself, but i was left with the feeling that i was “too big” even once i had gotten taller and my weight truly was ideal for my height. couple that with diet culture and dealing with my own low self esteem issues/depression, and i then truly gained 40 excess pounds in the space of 2 years, all while remaining totally disassociated from my own body because i just couldn’t cope. then because i still hated the way i looked and also felt out of shape, i lost weight. but the thing about losing weight is that unless you break physics, you will likely gain the majority of the weight back within 5 years. so of course that’s what happened to me. but i just stubbornly continued on, going on major weight loss journey in college that basically left me stuck in disordered eating habits and struggling with laxative abuse (gross i know). the kicker was that even though i was destroying my mental health to be physically healthy, i STILL gained the weight back again. I blamed it on depression (ongoing since youth)/anxiety (something new for me that i really only experienced in a way that actually disrupted my life from 21-24 years old), and went on ANOTHER weight loss journey when I also started paying off debt. You know the drill. I gained the weight back AGAIN. I kind of just hovered there after that weight regain, feeling really unsure of why these failures would keep happening to me. finally i read intuitive eating, and then covid hit, and i’m literally the biggest i’ve been in my entire life. i truly hate it and i don’t feel like there’s enough space in my body for all of me. i hate that i’ve done this to myself, and i hate that th problem started before i could even really grasp the hell i’d be in for. i think about weight loss literally every single day, but when those thoughts are immediately followed by the reality that i’ve done everything “right” and was willing to go to the limits of my sanity for this, it STILL didn’t work. it’s the worst feeling to realize that you may actually be stuck with a problem you hate. it’s like that serenity prayer where for a very long time i truly believed that my weight was a problem that fell under things i couldn’t accept but COULD change (PERMANENTLY change, not temporarily change only to gain back again). now i’m realizing that it might actually be a problem that i can’t change and will be forced to accept. this has honest to god been a literal grieving process for me. i cannot believe i’ve so thoroughly wrecked my own body. i cannot believe that i truly have to live with this, look like this, present myself to the world like this. i cannot accept that i will not look the way that i actually want to look. the absolutely bonkers things about this is that my “true weight” (before the weight gain AFTER puberty) was literally my ideal. it’s like that Adele song i really could have had it all. but no. i was so taken over by that feeling that i just wasn’t right, and then of course i was so deep in my struggles with self esteem and self worth at such a young age that of course i turned to food, the only drug available to me at that time, and now i’m stuck with that bad choice. it’s crazy. i can’t imagine that i will ever get over this, be okay with myself, like myself, not want to kill myself. i look to the future and i don’t even see the point in going on when i can’t even feel at home in my own body. anyway. wow. i don’t expect anyone to care about my story specifically, my only hope would be that all young girls get the emotional support they need to never have to experience the low self esteem low self worth depression that i did when you are supposed to be young and carefree, and i can only hope that no young girl ever absorbs the messages of diet culture the way i did hook line and sinker. i really wonder sometimes if things would have turned out different if i hadn’t developed so early? that was such a strong part of why i felt my body was foreign, out of control, and just different in a fundamentally wrong way. especially when i look at my sisters who went through puberty at a normal age and have exactly zero weight problems (just like my mom... i’m by far the black sheep of the family in this respect, lucky fucking me!). this post is going nowhere let me stop but yeah let’s just say i have a lot of feelings about my fat and my attempt to get rid of my fat and the fact that it keeps coming back and the fact that it only adds kindling to the fire of my long-standing self hate problems

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jbk405 · 6 years

Text

The worst part of “Both Sides Now” was that it really had potential

I said back towards the start of season three that it looked like Supergirl had turned a corner. Still not a good show, but at least it stepped its level up to “basically competent” in a lot of areas. It dealt with some lingering plot-threads of season two, introduced new stories that were clearly being seeded for later in season three, and had a level of production quality that put the first two seasons to shame in areas of editing, camerawork, lighting, blocking, and direction.

It has, of course, squandered all of that over the past half-dozen episodes, and that’s the tragedy.

“Both Sides Now” started very strong in the first ten seconds: The simple CGI of having Supergirl fly in was a nice touch of establishing that she has powers, along with the massive DEO support being deployed. It gives the impression that they’re taking this seriously and trying to cover their bases, even though we of course know the grunts aren’t going to actually have any impact on how things play out.

It starts to go wrong when Mon-El jumps into frame.

And this isn’t Mon-El bashing (Not only Mon-El bashing anyway), I’m serious: His presence is a major misstep for the episode in oh-so-many ways.

1) Why is he jumping into frame? It has been established that Daxamites cannot fly, they can only leap great distances, so are they trying to say that he literally hopped here from DEO headquarters? Why not just ride in one of the cars? Kara has several additional senses that would be helpful to deploy before arrival at the location, but he doesn’t have any of those other abilities that would be useful before getting to the destination. Mon-El jumping along the way is...just weird.

2) Why is Mon-El here at all? Again, not Mon-El bashing, but he isn’t a member of the DEO, nor does he have the same working relationship with the organization that he did in season two to just automatically get him assigned to missions. Yes, Mon-El has superpowers, but so do Imra and Brainiac, and they aren’t here despite being critical to defeating Reign in combat the first time. As of yet the DEO has no idea what kind of powers this new Worldkiller might have, so if they decided to branch out and draft other supers, why not all the ones at their fingertips?

3) Though not introduced until later in the episode, apparently at this time Mon-El is in the middle of a spat with his wife that boils down him being a douche (Surprise). Running off to fight a supervillain without even telling her about it is exactly part and parcel of that. Trying to present Mon-El as having grown and become a new person since his doucheiness of the second season falls even flatter by having him ditch his wife to hang out with his ex-girlfriend in the first scene of the episode.

We are only ten goddamn seconds into the episode.

Anyway, let’s continue, because again this post isn’t just about Mon-El bashing.

We seem to recover our footing when they storm the house and find Julia Freeman just casually listening to music, completely unaware of what’s going on. She freaks out when she sees a squad of soldiers aiming weapons at her, but Kara recognizes that she isn’t a Worldkiller and begins to reassure and calm her down, trying for an emotional connection.

This starts as a good scene. Emotional and tense, and sure we (The audience) know that Julia really is a Worldkiller and Kara is pretty sure, but with the genuine fear in her eyes Kara begins to have doubts. And then Alex -- ALEX of all people -- ruins it with violently flaring panic and aggression that spurs Julia to activate the Purity persona.

I recognize that Alex is very tense and scared to be confronting a potential Worldkiller: There’s the immediate personal fear of facing a being which has powers beyond your control, and the much deeper biting fear of Kara facing somebody with powers beyond her control. After seeing Supergirl beaten bloody by Reign, she’s going to be on heightened tension at the possibility of that happening again. It makes sense that Alex be riding high on adrenaline and wire-thin control. So why is she here?

J’onn is a telepath. He should know how close she is to losing control, how close she is to snapping and doing something violent, and since she is carrying lethal weaponry that snap could have permanent repercussions. It is standard operating procedure for police and military personnel to remove members who have an emotional connection to the situation for exactly these reasons. Why is J’onn, who’s supposed to be a competent and all-together supervisor, even letting her monitor the situation, let alone be there with a gun in her hand? Why does he not reprimand her at all when her brazen hostility triggers the fight they were trying to avoid?

...we’re still in the first scene and I’ve written seven flipping paragraphs already.

Moving on, we get Lena and Sam at her office. Zero complaints here, those two together were great. This bit of dialogue not only allows us to empathize with both characters while still tying in to the main plot (Since we know that Sam is Reign and the “blackouts” which have them concerned are when Reign comes out), but it actually fills in some backstory that has bothered me since Sam was first introduced as running L-Corp in Lena’s absence. They finally establish how Sam got such a powerful and high-paying job when dialogue between her and Ruby implied that she had been a struggling worker beforehand. And this is part of what I mean when I say this episode had potential: Here we see characters we already know dealing with the unknown dual identity of being a Worldkiller, which lines up directly with Julia and Purity as the main plot of the episode. If only the writers knew what they were doing.

After this we get Mon-El’s whining punkfest as he works on his car and complains about how hard it is to have a beautiful, kind, caring wife who loves him. This part here is just revolting: I honest-to-god hate his character. I can’t recall the last time I have despised seeing somebody on-screen as much as I despise seeing him. Especially in the self-pitying, blame transferring, petulant shitshow that he offers here.

Moving on again, there’s the interrogation of Purity, and for this you can just scroll up and read my complaints of Alex’s outburst at the house all over again. She shouldn’t be in the room or even watching on a monitor, she is just messing up an effective interrogation tactic because she can’t get a handle on her emotions. And yes, I freaking love Maggie too, and it sucks what you’re going through, and I’m not saying that I would handle it better than she would, what I’m saying is that everybody else should get her a cup of cocoa, sit her down somewhere, and keep her away from the supervillain so that they can stop from killing the world. Not to be callous, but effectively countering the Worldkillers counts for more than letting Alex work through her issues by shouting at somebody.

After this we’re at....I can’t even remember where we are anymore, so let’s jump to Sam and Ruby together. Like with Lena, this is gold. It is adorable and fun and sweet, it gives us a reason to care what happens to Sam because we see that she is loving and caring and a great mom to Ruby, who is also amazing. Sam doesn’t tell us that she Really Loves Her Daughter, we actually get to see it, and none of it is twistedly manipulative or abusive in any way. When Sam disappears because Reign has activated, it’s a great scene, contrasting the Big Scale Danger of a supervillain awakening with the much more personal but very real fear of a little girl who just noticed that her mom has disappeared.

Ditto again the scene with Ruby and Lena, and ditto-ditto Lena and Sam again at the end of the episode. These scenes work, especially when Lena deduces that Sam is Reign and promises to help her. This is Lena recognizing now bad this is for Sam, not about how this affects her. It’s the difference between “I will help you because you need help” and “I will help you because somebody else wants me to”. That is also the fundamental difference between Lena and Mon-El.

Let’s skip over a lot of the “action” of the climax because most of it is just generically bad, and hop over to Alex and Kara having their heart-to-heart to clear the air at the end of the episode. Normally I’d be happy at finally letting these two talk and not having Mon-El involved (Seriously, why is he the counselor over the past set of episodes?), except that all of the scenes focusing on him earlier in the episode -- and especially his absolutely ridiculous pityfest -- meant that this is the only part of the episode where the two of them delve into why Alex was acting out and how it drastically affected their operations. These scenes should have been spread all throughout the episode, with Kara (And also J’onn) trying to sideline her from the activities and dragging out the realization of why she’s on the edge. By pushing it all into one single conversation at the end it means that she’s just acting irrationally without being countered throughout the entire episode.

This episode had real solid material to work with, and even with the trainwreck it became some of the buried worth shone through, but Mon-El’s overpowering story presence and the sheer incompetence of the writers mean that it winds up just being a mess.

#Supergirl #Both Sides Now #Poor Writing #Season 3

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megamanxfanfics · 4 years

Text

S.VI - Ep.3: The Outlier

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INT. UNDISCLOSED AREA – Mobile Lab – NIGHT

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

Caption: December 27th, Last Night

Inside the dim quarters of his Mobile Laboratory, Gate turns off the data stream from his monitor as Isoc slowly walks into the room. Gate turns around with a slight grimace and a clenched fist.

ISOC: I have a report. An investigator was already...-

GATE: ...Destroyed by that Maverick Hunter. I know. It's shameful that they can't beat that mysterious old robot... Isoc! I want you to keep an eye on that Hunter for a while.

He nods with a stern stare.

ISOC: Yes, sir!

Gate turns around to focus back on his monitor. He glances at him from the corner of his eye and changes the subject.

GATE: Oh, how is the experiment going?

ISOC: Everything is going great and the effect is brilliant. We achieved a 99.98% success rate by now. This is an amazing invention!

Gate nods, pleased at the results, as he pulls up an image on his monitor. It displays blueprints of plans to construct a much larger base. At the top of the blueprint, it is reads the title: OPERATION RECOLONIZE

ISOC: (continuing) But, if you use High Max, in just minutes you can control all Reploids on Earth. Even the Maverick Hunter was no match.

GATE: No. Let’s continue the experiment for now. I want you to keep gathering data.

ISOC: Yes, sir.

GATE: By the way, have you found what you're looking for? I can’t imagine it exists in this world...

ISOC: Oh, no. It does. I've seen him/... Besides, he isn't some low Reploid that would die in such a trivial battle.

Gate’s eyes /widen for a second before he narrows his gaze at the monitor and smirks again. He pulls up an image of X.

GATE: I'll admit he's as persistent as X. Alive or not, there are many possibilities.

ISOC: Hm??

GATE: Our outcomes could change with an outlier like him running around. But it’s also possible that they could not…

ISOC: I'll find out for sure.

Gate loses himself in the admiration of X’s specs.

GATE: Hmm. It doesn't matter to me. You are on your own. I don't need the "body of Zero" to conduct our Operation...

Isoc grimaces at the idea of Zero being useless to their cause.

GATE: Anyway, just do the work and keep an eye on X.

ISOC: Yes, sir…

His eyes glow red with interest.

[INSERT TITLE CARD – The Outlier]

-fade to-

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

INT. MHHQ – Alia’s Dorm - DAY

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

-fade in-

Caption: December 28th, the Morning After…

The sun shines peacefully through Alia’s window. As we slowly pan up from the floor, pieces of X’s blue armor and Alia’s pink armor can be seen scattered across the floor. Their underarmor is strewn about haphazardly over a chair by a desk near her bed. His Helmet and her Headband lie at the foot of the bed as we pan over to them. The two can be seen spooning under the covers.

Their cheeks touch as the two rest peacefully with closed eyes. His rustled brown hair compliments her short blonde morning hair. Love marks can be seen across her neck and down her chest.

Suddenly her alarm goes off and she is stirred awake with wide eyes.

ALIA: (gasping) Huhh!

She quickly fumbles over him to shut it off, but it does not faze him one bit.

ALIA: (blushing, beaming) Look at him…. Sleeping through it like a lug…. You’ve earned it.

She brushes her hand against his cheek, enamored. From her touch, he gently breathes in, slowly waking up.

X: (sniffing) Mmmm?

He smiles as he opens his eyes and looks at her. She is sitting up, covering her top as best as she can with the covers. Only her soft shoulders are revealed.

X: Good Morning, Beautiful.

ALIA: Hey you…. Uhh, last night was-

X: Amazing…

ALIA: Oh yeah..! Well, I was gonna say crazy, but I agree with you…!

X smiles.

X: Stranger things have happened…. Do you want to talk about it?

ALIA: (nervous, excited) Well yeah! I mean, no. Well.. should we?? I don’t want to mess anything up. Last night was great, but I don’t want it to ruin anything.

X: (laughing, smiling) Hahha, It’s okay... Last night Was great! Why should it…?

ALIA: Well, isn’t this Unprofessional…? What would Signas say??

X: It’s none of his business. Relationships have occurred within the organization before, multiple times. We live together…. It’s only natural.

ALIA: Okay.. While that may be true, what if I compromise you when you’re out in the field?

X: You won’t. You’re my Navigator. I trust you….

She gasps, feeling adored, but then she frets once again at another thought.

ALIA: Zero was in a relationship with his Navigator. We both know how well that worked out…

X: …As much as I loved him, I did not share his temperament. And you are not doubling as an agent of a rival faction. Our circumstances are completely different.

ALIA: Right, but.. now our relationship has gone deeper. I could still distract you.

X: I promise to keep it professional while I’m out there. Besides, you’re behind the scenes. It’s not like you’re out there with me. Then I’d have a real hard time focusing.

She laughs and takes a breath.

ALIA: Hahahahahaha. Okaaaaay, ya got me.

He reaches for her, tenderly touching her shoulder and neck. She immediately leans in and lays down by him, looking at him right in the eyes.

X: I think we’ve both felt something for a while.

ALIA: This is true, but that’s exactly what I’m saying. I’ve only known you for what…. 3 weeks? Almost a month?? This is Crazy! I wasn’t expecting.. any of that, last night.

He smiles again.

X: Me neither. But sometimes, the heart knows what it wants. I think we’ve been attracted to each other for a long time. Since I met you at Doppler Labs.

ALIA: (shocked) Really??

X: (admitting) I always thought you were very attractive when I visited...

ALIA: (blushing) Heh.. Well, I always thought you were very easy on the eyes too. I mean… you’re X. You’re a Legend.

He smirks.

X: Come here…

The two embrace in a passionate kiss that lasts longer than most. Their tongues entwine as their heads swerve into each other.

X & ALIA: (kissing) Mmmmmm…

They share a long and deep kiss, offering a joint moan through each other’s lips.

After a moment, Alia opens her eyes mid-kiss and looks at the clock.

ALIA: Mm.. Mm!

She pats him hard on the back, three times indicating to stop.

X: What’s wrong?

ALIA: We need to get up! We’re gonna be late for the Morning Brief!!

He looks at the clock which reads: 8:58 AM

X: Oh man, you’re right!

The two of them quickly scramble to find their underarmor and awkwardly dress in a hurry.

ALIA: Let’s put a pin in this until later.

X: (laughing) Hahaha, you got it!

They put on their respective boots, waist pieces, chest plates and gauntlets.

Alia quickly combs and brushes her hair while looking over at him through the mirror with a smile. She briskly walks over to the door as he finishes dressing up. He holds his helmet and walks over to her.

ALIA: Are ya ready?

He leans in and gives her one last kiss.

X: Now I am.

He puts on his helmet.

ALIA: (flushed, smiling) Ohh boy. Come onnn.

She opens the door and he follows her out.

-cut to-

----------------------------------------------------------------- INT. MMHQ BUNKER – Control Area - DAY -----------------------------------------------------------------

In the main Control Area, half of the recruits have been occupied with construction projects. They don’t seem to notice X and Alia when they walk into the room together. When the two reach her console however, Signas and Douglas both share a curious expression.

DOUGLAS: Uhh, hey guys…. Good morning!

SIGNAS: Yes, nice of you to join us. We didn’t hear from either of you last night after X had returned from his mission…

The two immediately look at each other, nervous and embarrassed.

SIGNAS: Is everything okay…?

ALIA: What!? Yeah!!

X: (overlapping) Huh? Of course!

SIGNAS: Uh..huh…

He offers a wry smile and clears his throat.

SIGNAS: Well… Now that we’re all here, let’s commence the Morning Brief…

He opens the file of recent Investigators and their whereabouts.

Commander Yammark’s mugshot has been discolored, while the mugshots of Shield Sheldon and Blaze Phoenix are tinted in red.

SIGNAS: As you can see, despite our win last night, the situation is actually getting worse…

X: What’s the red mean??

She slaps him in the arm.

ALIA: Ugh, weren’t you listening at all yesterday?? When their icons are red it means that the Nightmare is affecting that area!

He looks at her taken aback.

X: (displeased) Heyy, easy…

Signas looks at the two of them wide-eyed. The two become self-aware and immediately regain their composure.

ALIA: U-uh, sorry… This whole Nightmare thing just stresses me out.

Signas nods with a smile.

SIGNAS: Mhm…. Well, have you thought about where you will go next?

X: (nodding) I want to go back to Brazil…

ALIA: What!? But what about the hot spots??

SIGNAS: I agree. Greece and North Carolina are now a concern.

X: We need to think about our strategy... There’s still two Investigators occupying Brazil and considering the state of it, I think they still need us the most.

ALIA: That’s true…. I just worry that if we neglect these other areas, they’ll be in worse shape over time.

X sighs, already weary.

X: I think… we’re damned if we do and damned if we don’t, to be honest…. You both said it yesterday. I’m the only hope. It’s just me…. Which means, that I need to conserve my energy the most, now. We gotta play this carefully…. Otherwise we’re all done for.

SIGNAS: I couldn’t have said it better, myself. In that case, which Investigator will you visit; Infinity Flea or Ground Scaravich?

X: Where are they in Brazil, exactly?

Alia sits at her console and pulls up more data on their location pinpoints.

ALIA: (researching, working) Infinity Flea is occupying a Weapon Center in Boa Vista and Ground Scaravich is in Assu at… the Central Museum?

X: (surprised) Really?? I have a Capsule there!

DOUGLAS: Wait, what?

X: Yeah!! Sometime last year, they made it a new Exhibit, and I decided to honor their wishes, leaving it untouched.

ALIA: (surprised) Whaaat?

DOUGLAS: Why would you do that??

X: We were at Peace! I figured, if I really needed it, I could always get it later. Then the Earth Crisis happened…

ALIA: That.. is.. Crazy!

SIGNAS: For a Reploid with seemingly infinite wells of power at your disposal, you certainly have an incredible amount of restraint and discipline.

X: I don’t want to hurt anybody…. And yet, somehow the World keeps forcing my hand…

He clenches a fist with a grimace.

ALIA: Well, right now we really do need it. Hopefully it helps us defeat the Nightmare.

X: (smiling) It should. Dad hasn’t failed me yet…. I’ve gotta check it out.

SIGNAS: Then it’s settled. When you’re ready we’ll send you there.

DOUGLAS: (interjecting) Before you go…

X: Huh?

Douglas runs over to X and hands him a new part chip to insert into his buster.

DOUGLAS: I made this out of the Nightmare Soul data you gathered last night. It should give you a leg up against those pesky Virus creatures.

X: What is it?

DOUGLAS: I call it the Rapid 5. Your level 1 shots should be faster and hit even harder now.

X: Wow! Thanks, Douglas.

DOUGLAS: (smiling) Anytime. Now get out there and show that Scarab who’s boss.

X: Heh, alright.

Alia punches in the coordinates and gives X a focused look. He returns the gesture with sharp eyes and a nod. Then, he is teleported away.

-cut to-

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INT. CENTRAL MUSEUM – Main Lobby – Section A-1 – Orange Route - DAY

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

X teleports in to the Main Lobby of the Central Museum and looks around with a curious look on his face. A sign reads:

WELCOME TO CENTRAL MUSUEM Attention! Quiet Please Follow the Route

He takes note of an orange stripe on the wall that points down a jagged stairway. Along the stripe, it reads: One Way Only >>

ALIA: (o.s, filtered) You are now in the Central Museum. Its appearance has completely changed.

He walks down the steps as he responds.

X: It's dead quiet. I wonder what kind of Nightmare awaits me...

ALIA: (o.s, filtered) Let's move on.

At the bottom of the stairs, X can see four large monitor portraits which display information on the exhibits to come. He walks through the quiet corridor and admires the previews of the exhibits. One indicates a preview of Ancient Egyptian architecture, the next - Aquatic Life, the next - a Dinosaur exhibit and the last, a Space exhibit. Each of the previews are next to arrows along the wall, that points downward, indicating how far he will need to go to view them.

At the end of the hallway he finds a semitransparent totem pole and stops short feeling slightly nervous.

X: What's this? A totem pole?

ALIA: (o.s, filtered) I can't detect any sign of a totem pole... It must be the work of the Nightmare! Be careful!

X walks up to it and puts his hand through the hologram only to find that it’s disappearing within the pole.

X: (gasping) What the-!?

He quickly pulls his hand back and sees that it’s fine. Then he looks back up at the Totem Pole.

X: It’s a teleporter, of some sort…. Looks like I have no choice but to go through it.

He decides to walk back up to a short wall and take a running dive into the top of the pole with a leap of faith.

-pan to-

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- INT. TOTEM 1 – Ancient Egypt Exhibit - DAY -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

X lands in the middle of a large open room where the checkered tiles on the wall display the history of Ancient Egypt through holographic video screens.

X: Oh, no. What's this place? Alia! Hm? Alia!!

He can only hear static on the other end. His heart skips a beat.

X: ...I'm out of the transmission range? Where am I anyway!?

He looks around at the virtual tour and notices ancient hieroglyphics and a statue of Horus, before he spots a Nightmare Virus and gets spooked.

X: Whoa!

He pulls up his buster and charges up. A random square rock appears out of thin air and is flung in his direction.

X: What the-!? Is this the Nightmare?

He dashes out of the way and shoots the Nightmare Virus down. Then he grabs it’s Nightmare Soul.

Along the way, he can see spike traps and long walls ahead of him.

X: Oh, this is definitely the Nightmare’s doing…

He kick-jumps up the walls accordingly, beyond the spike traps and takes down another Nightmare Soul with relative ease. His enhanced level 1 shots are now a vibrant green color, resembling that of his level 2 shot. Once destroyed, he drops down into an open area and spots a scared Reploid who is running away from two more Nightmare Viruses.

REPLOID 1: Ohh God! Get away!! Get away!!!

X dashes ahead of him and carefully takes them both out with level 1 and 2 shots.

REPLOID 1: Ohh, thank goodness!

X collects their souls and turns around.

X: Are you okay?

REPLOID 1: Yes, thanks to you…

X: (smiling) Good. I’m gonna get you out of here.

He pulls out a teleporter ring and offers it. The reploid accepts it and instantly teleports away. Smiling, X runs along to another long wall that leads up to the ceiling.

X: Wait, what? No… there’s gotta be an opening…

He kick-jumps up to a higher platform and shoots at the top of the wall, which is in a lighter color. Sure enough, after a few shots from his pellets, he can see damage being done to the large block.

X: Okay, nice…

He charges up and blasts the whole partition away with his X-Buster. He dash-jumps over to the opening through the wall and sees another small spike-trap on the other side. He shakes his head, slightly amused.

X: When will you ever learn, guys?

He slides down the wall and dash-kick-jumps over the spike trap with ease. Landing before two more Nightmare Souls, he shoots rapid fire at them and pulls out the Z-Saber for final strikes as they draw near him. When they are eliminated, he collects their Nightmare Souls.

He drops into a small corridor and hops over a short wall to spot two more Nightmare Viruses.

X: It’s time to go.

From the higher ground, X shoots down level 1 shots and slices at them with the Z-Saber when they come near him. He collects their soul orbs.

X: I like this strategy…

Once he drops down into another short corridor, he is bombarded with random rock attacks and blasts from two more angry Nightmare Viruses.

X: Auuughh, what the Hell??

With narrow eyes and a wounded side, X decides to switch to his Falcon Armor. In a flash, he stands before them and charges up.

X: Damn you…. That one kinda hurt.

He air-dashes towards one, using the smallest bit of his protective aura to damage the Nightmare Virus, before shoving a buster in its chest and pulling the trigger. The piercing charge shot goes through both Viruses as their inner souls are exposed.

X: (miffed) Eat that, you assholes…

He walks up another step to find a small, strange Totem, which stares at him with an angry little design.

X holds up his buster, but notices that it is not attacking.

X: (noting) Hm? You’re not a Mechaniloid? /No… just a statue.

He /relinquishes his buster and touches the statue, investigating the strange object.

X: The room ends here…. I’m stuck if there’s no way to double back…. Unless, you’re some sort of key.

He tries to shift the statue around or spin it into a pattern, but it doesn’t budge.

X narrows his eyes.

X: Hmph… (v.o, thinking) What would Zero do?

He looks at the hilt of the Z-Saber and smirks.

With three quick slashes the Totem explodes and suddenly he phases out of there.

- Cut to-

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INT. CENTRAL MUSEUM – Section A-2 – Orange Route – DAY

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

X phases back into the second corridor, where he originally stood before the Totem Pole.

X: Whoa, I’m back!

ALIA: (o.s, filtered) Look out!!

Now fully transparent, the Totem Pole has been activated. Its top and bottom heads rotate rhythmically as they fire shots up and down at X.

He jumps out of the way and shifts the blue parts of his Falcon Armor into green. His legs become orange as X sets up his new option, Yammark’s Dragonfly Missiles.

X: Try this on for size.

Three Dragonflies surround X in a protective circle as they fire green arrays of plasma shots, along with his own level one pellets.

X grows wide-eyed at the power output as he makes short work of the top set of totem heads.

The middle head of the totem suddenly juts out with an AI of it’s own, flying after X.

X: Whoa!

He jumps back and charges up, taking it out quickly. The bottom portion of the totem pole frantically spins its heads and fires at him as fast as possible.

X narrows his eyes, waits for an opening and shoots it down with the Dragonfly Missiles only.

In an instant, the entire Totem Pole is destroyed.

X: (smiling) Alright!! That worked out!

His Falcon Armor shifts from green to blue as he walks over towards the end of the corridor.

ALIA: (o.s, filtered) You switched to your Falcon Armor…. Did it get rough in there?

At the end of corridor A-2, he can spot an arrow pointing down to the next floor.

X: Only at the end, but I’m fine.

He takes the plunge down to the next level to investigate this Nightmare further.

-pan to-

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- INT. CENTRAL MUSEUM – Section B-1 – Green Route - DAY -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

ALIA: (o.s, filtered) Good.

X walks across the corridor and finds another totem at the end of the hall.

X: Oh man, you’re kidding!

ALIA: (o.s, filtered) What is it?

X: Another Totem!

ALIA: (o.s, filtered) Oh wow, really!? Don’t push yourself too hard, okay?

X: (determined, confident) Don’t worry… I got it.

He dash-jumps into the hologram, headfirst, just like last time.

-pan to-

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- INT. TOTEM 2 – Whale Exhibit - DAY -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

He touches down to a new area, where a virtual tour of Whales can be seen along the tiles.

X: Oh? What's this place? Alia, can you analyze where I am? Alia...

He hears static on the other end again. He purses his lips, getting annoyed.

X: The communications are out...

He looks around taking note of the beautiful Whale Exhibit that is displayed over the tile work.

He spots a bunch of short platforms along the wall, challenging him to climb, then he looks up. A gruesome wave of Nightmare Viruses are floating above him, waiting to attack. Equally pressing, there are a couple more Reploids who need his help.

X: (gasping) Hang on!!

X charges up and kick-jumps up the first two platforms as a series of random Nightmare Rocks appear and drop on him. He takes hits from the square and sphere rocks and blasts a Nightmare Virus with a charge shot, then he quickly turns around and shoots one behind him with fast level 1 pellets.

X: Oh man..

X grabs the two Nightmare Souls they leave behind and dash-jumps up to a higher platform. He charges up and takes a third Nightmare Virus down with a piercing Charge Shot. Then, he air-dashes towards a longer platform against the wall, directly underneath a Nightmare Virus who saunters upwards towards a Reploid in need.

REPLOID 2: AAAAGGHHH. HELP MEEEEE!!!!!!

X grows wide-eyed as there’s no time to waste.

X: Get AWAY!!!

He frantically kick-jumps up the wall with his Saber out and dash-jumps onto it’s back. He gives it a slash with the Z-Saber that does not kill it.

X crashes against the platform and tries to climb up while the Virus persists towards the Reploid.

X: NO!

He shoots it to death with a level 2 charge shot. Relieved, he climbs up and offers the hurt reploid a teleporter ring. The grateful reploid takes it and is sent to the settlement.

Two Nightmare Viruses across the way glare at him with their glowing visor-like eyes. In a moment, they both fire powerful shots at him from their eyes.

Caught off guard, X takes the hits, charges up and blasts the top one away. He air-dashes to the higher platform and looks down at the other Nightmare Virus. He shoots it down with level 1 shots as it floats up to him.

Above him, several more float down towards his position in an attempt to ambush him while another reploid is about to be possessed.

X: Eennoouuughhh!!!!!!

X uses his Giga Attack to spread an array of charge shots vertically across the whole room, ridding the rest of the area of the Nightmare Virus.

X: (panting) Damn it!

X climbs up and collects their Nightmare Souls as he reaches the reploid.

X: You okay?

REPLOID 3: (spooked) I… will be…

X sends him away and looks at the small Totem Statue across the way with a grimace. He stands tall and charges up blasting it away with a single piercing laser.

In an instant, he is transported out of the room.

-cut to-

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

INT. CENTRAL MUSEUM – Section B-1 – Green Route - DAY

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

Taken back to Section B-1, X runs down the green-striped hall with an irate look on his face as he sets up the Dragonfly Missiles once again.

X: Let’s go!! I’ve had just about enough of this.

This time he makes short work of the bottom 2 heads and quickly takes out the middle head.

When the two top heads become frantic, X carefully charges up his X-Buster and dashes around its shots. With his opening he takes a blast a 45 degree angle and destroys both heads, successfully taking out the entire Totem Pole.

X: Hmph…. Good.

He spots an energen capsule waiting for him and takes it. Feeling slightly rejuvenated, he cricks his neck and drops down to the next level.

-pan to-

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- INT. CENTRAL MUSEUM – Section C-1 – Yellow Route - DAY -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

ALIA: (o.s, filtered) Hey, are you okay?

X walks to the end of the empty corridor, catching his breath. His green Falcon Armor fades to blue, once again as he shakes his head, annoyed.

X: I’m expending too much energy…. I already used my Giga Attack!

ALIA: (o.s, filtered, worried) What!? Why??

X: There’s Reploids trapped in there! They’re surrounded by a bunch of Nightmare Viruses!!

ALIA: (o.s, filtered) Oh no, that’s horrible!!!

X: Ground Scaravich must have ambushed them with these Totem Traps, once he brought his followers here…

When he reaches C-2, at the end of the corridor, he drops down to Section D-1, which is a Teal Route.

-pan to-

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- INT. CENTRAL MUSEUM – Section D-1 – Teal Route - DAY -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

ALIA: (o.s, filtered) Oh my God. That’s insane! What does he want with them?

X: I don’t know… but I’m gonna find out.

Along the Teal pointed hallway, X can see that he is on his way to the Dinosaur Exhibit before he spots a 3rd Totem.

X: Here we go…

ALIA: (o.s, filtered) Another Totem??

X: Yeah…

ALIA: (o.s, filtered) Pleeease, go easy X.

X takes a deep breath.

X: I wish I could guarantee that.

He bravely jumps into the top of the Totem.

-pan to-

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- TOTEM 3 – Light Capsule Exhibit – DAY -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The moment, he is sent into the room, he looks around and reports into his coms.

X: I've reached an open area, but there are lots of strong enemies. I guess nothing is easy...

He receives static on the other end.

X: Oh, that’s right…

X runs ahead towards a curious green glow in the middle of the room, then he gasps. In the midst of the Dinosaur Exhibit, his Light Capsule is taking center stage in it’s place.

X: (gasping) I found it!! My Capsule is here!!! Oh man, if only Alia could see this.

A square rock nearly falls on his head as it breaks apart on the floor before him.

X: (reacting) Whoa…. I still have to be careful.

He looks up and sees a Reploid that wasn’t as fortunate. This one is bleeding from the head, clearly knocked out cold from the randomness of the Nightmare.

X: Damn it…

X dash-jumps and climbs up to his small platform. He checks the Reploid’s pulse.

X: You’re gonna be okay…

He sends him away with a teleporter ring and then turns around.

Dr. Light’s Capsule activates while a wave of Nightmares slowly come after him.

DR. LIGHT: Quickly, X.. Let me give you data to the Helmet of the Blade Armor.

Ignoring him, X narrows his eyes and shoots up at a Nightmare Virus with Level 1 shots, then drops down to the ground.

DR. LIGHT: (continuing) It will allow you to consume less energy as you use your special weapons.

X: (charging up) HhyyaaaAAAAGGGHHH/!!!!!!!

At the dash, he blasts the Nightmare Virus away with a piercing charge shot and takes it’s Nightmare Soul.

DR. LIGHT: (concerned) …I’m praying for World Peace and for your safety.

He disappears without a word from X, who focuses on the rest of the Nightmare Viruses that lower themselves towards his position.

X: (annoyed) Damn it, Dad…. This is a Hell of a time for Capsules with Security Locks.

X jumps inside and receives the upgrade to his gem in a flash, while swarms of the Nightmare come after him. He is forced to call upon the power of his Giga Attack once again, which takes out 7 of them, instantly.

X narrows his eyes and dashes out of there, collecting their souls around this partition of the room. Then, he runs back to the left wall as he hears the faint sound of screaming.

X: Hey! Who’s there? Are you okay???

REPLOID 4: (freaking out) Ahhhh! AaaaHHhhhh. AAaaAAhhIIIhhh!!!!!!!!

Along the maze-like segmented wall corners, he finds the Reploid bombarded by circular rocks that break apart and hurt him.

X air-dashes into him with a teleporter ring in his hand.

X: NOO!

X lands on top of him and looks at his bad bruises with a frown.

He holds the teleporter ring in his hand and the reploid smiles with bloody lips.

REPLOID 4: Th-th-ank… y-ooouu…

He rescues the reploid, although, worse for the ware. With a scowl, he kick-jumps up to the top of the room and takes out another Nightmare Virus. He makes his way across the room from the top and spots another swarm of Nightmares by the Totem Statue.

Oh maannn.

X charges up and shoots at the wave from afar. One Nightmare Virus explodes, while the rest go after him. X immediately runs and dashes toward them with his saber out. He hacks and slashes his way through as he dash-jumps across a gap and desperately cuts at the Totem Exit.

-cut to-

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

INT. CENTRAL MUSEUM – Section D-1 – Teal Route – DAY

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

X phases back into the hallway, sweating and panting.

X: God…. This is.. too much!

ALIA: (o.s, filtered, gasping) Huuu- You’re all cut up!!

X: Don’t remind me…

ALIA: (o.s, filtered) Use your Dragonfly Missiles!! Remember that they’re Defensive too.

X: Argh.. It’s hard to think when I’m on the spot!

ALIA: (o.s, filtered) I wish I could help more…. I’m so sorry, X.

X runs across the corridor, setting up his Dragonfly Missiles to take on the activated Security Totem.

X narrows his eyes and charges up the Dragonfly Missiles. When he releases the trigger, more powerful scatter shots emit from the dragonflies that circle around him. He charges his own Buster and aims at the lower heads while the scatter shots do damage to the top of the Totem. When the bottom two are destroyed, the middle pops out. Expecting this, X shoots at it with rapid level 1 shots, while the scatter shots continue their barrage against the top two heads of the totem.

When the Totem explodes, X drops down to Section E-1.

-pan to-

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- INT. CENTRAL MUSEUM - Section E-1 – Violet Route – DAY -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

X shifts back into his X-Buster power set as he lands. He looks ahead feeling tired and winded. At the end of the short corridor there is a gate, guarded by another holographic Totem Pole.

X: (exhausted, drained) Man…. Is this ever going to end?

ALIA: (o.s, filtered) You’re almost there. Ground Scaravich should be behind that shutter!

X: There’s another Totem in the way…

ALIA: (o.s, filtered, shocked) Oh my God!

He sluggishly makes his way over to a Spike Trap and looks down at it as beads of sweat drip from his face. He wipes his brow and looks ahead. His eyes get sharper as he grips his saber and dash-jumps directly into the middle of the Totem.

-pan to-

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- INT. TOTEM 4 – Space Exhibit - DAY -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

X: I knew it!! I’ve been transferred again! How far is it…?

Amidst a star-lit background, X runs upwards along the ramp of the Space Exhibit. He is quickly met with a Nightmare Virus, which he shoots with level 1 shots and takes down with a swipe of the Z-Saber.

X: Hmph.

Further up the ramp, he destroys a large wall-block with two charge shots only to reveal that a Reploid had been trapped up there.

REPLOID 5: Ouupphhh.

The reploid helplessly falls onto X, who catches him before he falls into a pit.

X: Whoa! Aughh!! …Are you alright??

Shaken up, the Reploid can merely shake his head ‘no’, before X gives him an understanding nod. He gives him a teleporter ring and sends him away.

X jumps over a pitfall and ascends further up the ramp, destroying two more Nightmares in the process. Two more await him at another pitfall, where a lighter wall blocks any further passage.

X: Uh huh…

He charges up, unamused and breaks through the wall. With an air-dash he advances further up the ramp.

A new swarm of Nightmares dive after him, to which X uses his Dragonfly Missiles in desperation.

X: (Exasperated, frantic) Come Onnnn!!!!!!

He glares at them with large eyes as he unleashes bullet Hell at the oncoming wave.

In the middle of the next large pitfall, he can see a Reploid struggling to use a jetpack to reach to safety.

REPLOID 6: Help Meeee….

X: (gasping) Oh my God! Grab my hand!!

X slides down the wall with a teleporter ring around his wrist. Then, he jumps over to the reploid and gives him a good grip. He lets the teleporter ring slide from his wrist, down to the Reploid’s wrist while in mid-air. When the Reploid teleports away, X air-dashes over to the other wall and kick-jumps up with a beating chest.

Once he climbs up to the other side, he is greeted by two more Nightmare Viruses.

X: YAAAAGH!!!!

He primitively takes out the Z-Saber and swings it at them, twice while panting. Then he sees a heart-piece which is a sight for sore eyes.

X: Hey!! Another heart tank upgrade. But I don’t… have any more storage for this. …I’d better hold onto it, just in case.

He puts the heart-piece in his compartment belt and climbs up to the end of the ramp, where two more Nightmare Viruses guard the Totem Exit.

X: Let’s end this!

He surrounds himself with Dragonfly missiles once again.

They simply float by the Totem Exit, unwavering. X runs up the ramp and shoots at them until each of his targets explode. As he grabs their Nightmare Souls, he phases out of the Totem Room.

- Cut to-

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

INT. CENTRAL MUSEUM – Section E-2 – Violet route - DAY -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Locked and loaded in Yammark’s Dragonfly powerset, X swiftly walks back over to the Totem Pole and shoots at it from afar.

Knowing a spike trap is ahead, X takes no chances. An upper and lower head are destroyed before the middle head goes after X.

The Dragonfly rays make short work of the mechaniloid, while the top and bottom heads frantically shoot at X rapidly.

X takes a deep breath and charges up.

X: Come oonnnn!!!!!!

He lets out a charged scatter shot while grabbing onto a rope with his wirehook.

The cross-fire scrapes against his stomach and chest, but he focusses on pulling up his buster and firing level 1 shots at the top head, while the scattershot randomly clashes against the room. It blasts away the bottom head, while the top head fires another shot at X. X tries to maneuver back on the rope, but he gets scraped across the face from the Totem head.

X: Aaaaaagggggghhhhhh!!!!!!

X charges up again and kills it with a piercing charge shot.

The final Totem explodes, revealing passage to the Gateway ahead, at last.

X: (sighing) Pheeeeew.

He makes his way over to the edge of the rope with his wirehook, then he jumps down to safety, where an energen capsule awaits him as his award.

X: Well…. At least he was considerate…

He takes the capsule and absorbs it into his chest. Some of the scratches across his armor fade as he feels slightly better.

ALIA: (o.s, filtered) Hmph…

He walks through the first shutter as the gate closes behind him.

-pan to-

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- INT. CENTRAL MUSEUM – Gateway - DAY -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

X walks through the gateway, catching his breath still as his heart rate begins to slow down.

ALIA: (o.s, filtered) It's been a long mission, X. You must be tired. The investigator sent to this area is a sneaky one. All data on Ground Scaravich has been wiped clean!

X: (surprised) That’s because of old his track record. I know! He didn’t want to get caught by our Police Squadron!

ALIA: (o.s, filtered) Stay alert!

He nods with determination as he dashes through the next gate. The shutter closes by a sign that reads: Main Hall.

-pan to-

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- INT. CENTRAL MUSEUM – Main Hall - DAY -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

X walks into the large oval-shaped Main Hall. The previews of the previous exhibits can be seen along the oval wall as a beacon centerpiece shines bright. Most spectacular is the dome ceiling, which depicts an image of outer space. At the other end of the room, Ground Scaravich casually sits on a small boulder, lurking in a corner.

X: Ground Scaravich! You must be the burglar of ruins! What are you doing here?

GROUND SCARAVICH: Well, well, well... What have we here...? Why, it's Officer X. This is horrible! Why do I have to face someone like you here?!

X almost smiles at his fear.

X: (confident) Be a smart Reploid and give me the information on the Nightmares.

GROUND SCARAVICH: Hmph!

He turns around, plants his hands on the ground and presses his feet against the boulder.

GROUND SCARAVICH: I'd rather just see what DNA data you have!

He /kicks the boulder out towards X who guards his face and gets knocked back by the attack.

X: (hit) Whoa.. You’re gonna regret that!

He shakes it off and charges up his buster.

Ground Scaravich runs off and creates a new boulder. He walks it back towards X, but X blasts it away with his piercing laser shot. The shot breaks through the boulder and strikes him in the side.

GROUND SCARAVICH: Yaaaaghhh…

He runs to another corner and creates a larger boulder.

GROUND SCARAVICH: Hmph…. Why don’t you try this on, for size?

X smirks and sets up his Dragonfly Missiles. When Ground Scaravich gets near him, he uses the Dragonflies to blast away the boulder. Three green dragonfly shots dent his armor badly and cause him to jump back in pain.

GROUND SCARAVICH: (aching) UP-upupupup…

He hops back twice and tries to roll away the pain. He juts out tiny blasters from his chest and hips and fires purple shots of his own at X.

X guards himself and dodges the scattered shots easily. Then he retaliates with more Dragonfly shots.

GROUND SCARAVICH: Kauuurrrghhh!

Ground Scaravich creates a significantly larger boulder, which causes X to worry. He kicks it out to X aggressively as the large boulder wildly bounces toward him.

X: Oh man…

GROUND SCARAVICH: You’re going to regret coming here!

X unleashes more Dragonfly blasts at Ground Scaravich and dashes over to him as the Investigator is knocked back to the floor. His body is covered in bloody welts.

X: You’re going to regret hurting the people! What was the point of leading the innocents here!?? Why are you trapping them?

Ground Scaravich looks up at him. X holds his buster out, ready to shoot.

GROUND SCARAVICH: (in pain, hurting) Igh…. Gg-gg.. I’m j-just.. following his orders…

X: Whose!?

Ground Scaravich narrows his eyes and smiles.

GROUND SCARAVICH: Honestly… I don’t mind…. G-gave me a chance to rip their DNA Data!!

X scowls, irate.

X: You MONSTER!!!!!!

He charges up a piercing charge shot, which lays right through his heart.

In another moment Ground Scaravich explodes.

A green orb of Nightmare Soul Data floats around the room and absorbs itself into X’s pores.

As the smoke clears, X slowly catches his breath. He shifts to his X-Buster power set while maintaining his Falcon Armor form. Then, a purple ghost peers out from behind the beacon centerpiece in the room.

NIGHTMARE ZERO: (eerie, familiar) Nice job, X. You’re getting better at this…

He smiles at X with taunting eyes. X turns around and gasps, looking upon the ghost.

-Freezeframe. Grainy Effect.- -Fade to Black-

#MMX Fanfics #Season VI #Episode 3 #The Outlier #Gate & Isoc #X & Alia #Ground Scaravich Stage #Zero Nightmare

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