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papers4me · 3 years

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Fruits Basket Manga Review , ch 109

-The Tragedy of a an episodic format attempting to connect narrative in a series: (Tohru’s Background or Kyo’s Focus?)

One of my issues with se03, ep6 (other than it being 3 chapters combined horribly with new material added for shock value) is that it was weakly undecided who would be the focus? who would the narrative follow?: Is it tohru’s own pov abt herself? is it the gramps giving boring exposition abt tohru over weak still images of flashbacks or is kyo thinking abt tohru’s pain?

The truth is, it was all the above in the manga, but the manga gave each a chapter focus so that the chapter is well-directed with focused narrative. The anime weakly jumbled the 3 chapters together as they always do. You mix chapters & tada~ you got an ep, you only need a broad weak theme that connects the dots! here: it is tohru! & that’s it. As long as the 3 chapters discuss tohru in any form & manner, nothing will seem off if we put them next to each other in a 20 minute ep! right? riiiiiight ????

.. this was never a correct way. Just like a chapter needed a narrative direction, the ep is the same!!

ch 107: The beginning of tohru’s pov on her realization abt loving kyo.

ch108: tohru’s full pov of shock upon reaching the conclusion that she loves him & the beginning of her mom’s issues & abandonment.

ch109: Kyo’s pov abt tohru’s pain & his involvement, guil & the sheet hug.

ch110: (completely cut from the anime!!!!!!!!!!!!!) Kyoru’s part: the aftermath of kyo & tohru crossing the line of being in the most vulnerable & intimate, building towards a more crushing impact of the climax. The stronger & more painful their love is, the more it will hurt. Also a yuchi buildup?!!!!

-so, you see each chapter has a direction i& a narrative it follows independently that is weaved together to make a connected tissue of the overall plot. The anime puts the 3 chapters next to each other & we are lost on who to follow? kyo or tohru or the gramps. That’s why it feels tohru is weak & her two chapters worth of pov is stolen from her cuz it cut or shortened to include the grandpa, kyo, isuzu, shigure & let’s not forget (kazuma, yuki & haru) at the beginning, the dramatic shock value addition & OP & ED. All these take valuable screen time. The ep shocks us by moving from tohru to kyo. One minute she’s crying with him on the streets, next he’s at the grave & she’s visiting isuzu.

Kyo said he isn't going to the grave in the ep, upon seeing him actually going, I just assumed he wanted to avoid, hana, cuz I’m so invested in his story that I remember sth happened in se1, ep 14.. ages ago, The anime didn’t even allow kyo to inner talk abt avoiding hana... In their weird mind, kyo only inner talks in dramatic situations..See the difference!

Not only the writer (a) reminds us why kyo avoided the grave visit, she also (b) seized the opportunity to shine lifht onto an issue that will be the center of kyo’s struggles: Running away!

The anime introduce this in kyo’s pov only when kyo confronts tohru. Only when it was needed & couldnt be avoided. This is sth that will be the core of all the climax & the aftermath as well! Kyo running away.. How bad are you if you avoid inserting one line only that can be said in few seconds & establish great deal & foreshadow plenty!!!!!!!!!! I can’t for the life of my understand why short lines are cut from kyo when in the anime they have him be standing silent in the graveyard. Like slap the line above the silent scene!!!!! But doing so means the anime team understands tohru & kyo’s issues. They don’t. Not the slightest.

-Ep 6 signals the beginning of the anime moving from episodic format of se1, 2 & 5 eps of se3 & entering a connect plot. The anime doesn’t know how to do that & screwed tohru in the process. The protagonist’s main issues are one ep worth only. The antagonist main issues are one ep only (ep7). Ep 6, was treated as a stand alone ep (minus the inserted shock scene to create a lingering issue that needs a following ep to explain. TOLD YOU they don’t know how to make a series!). Thus the following ep 7 is akito’s focus. Everything that was established in ep 6 was pit on hold until akito reaches the craziest mindset for the climax. See why ep 6 was so bad? it is Should NOT be a stand alone ep.

-The plot connects kyoru emotional & physically: (Kyo’s chapter with a tohru’s focus:

Unlike the anime, the chapter knows what it’s presenting 7 where it’s going. Kyo’s issues. This ch focuses on him uncovering parts of his past as it connects with tohru’s. Unlike the anime, we know why kyo's connection to kyoko’s past. The anime is hiding this for the climax, no problem, it can still work both ways. However, hiding kyoko /kyo connection doesn't necessarily mean hiding kyoko/tohru connection. But the anime is cutting this to milk it in an ova or series next year~ no problem, it can still work if you handle this ep’s flashback better. for all the artistic creativity they inserted in the added scene, they failed miserably in tohru’s flashback portion. how?

By choosing a frontal pov shot in tohru’s grandpa flashback as if the audience are the ones who abandoned tohru or opening the door to find her alone. it does NOT work at all. why? the audience are encouraged to be like tohru since ep 1 as tohru is the mother, angel, fixer & endearing hopeful girl. The audience will NEVER abandon tohru, that’s why tohru’s story felt disconnected & weak in the anime. Not knowing what kyoko did, who would abandon such child?! differently not us. so why use the frontal pov shot? -_-’

-tohru confesses her pain to kyo without being ushered by isuzu, without any outside factor. She simply visited the grave & came home. hiding her pain. once again. like she always do. One question by kyo, prompts her to “ complain a little” call back to se1, ep5 as he advised. we see tohru get out of her shell little by little. NOT SCREAM OR SLAP. She opened up. why? cuz the story is abt “ opening the lid” not abt “ snatching the lid”. No need for shocks. Yuki opened his lide slowly, tohru even slower, kyo is resisting opening his altho it is cracking in this chapter. When your story focuses on character buildup it pays!

-I’ll give the anime credit when it due. The hug scene is so good both in manga & anime. but so awesome in animation, colors, music & voice acting. It’s breathtaking & painful. The most beautiful kyoru scene in the whole anime.

-It represents their mutual vulnerability, understanding, pain & determination to love the other but not also let go. kyo has made his mind to be locked in order not to hurt tohru & tohru has made her mind that she can’t let go of her mom.

You see, the scene’s meaning hits different between manga & anime; In the anime: tohru has already challenged the sohmas & screamed to be with kyo, while kyo is still decided to leave her. In the manga: they’re both at the same spot (undecided). I like both interpretations but I’ll choose the manga’s version. Simply cuz it means tohru is still uncovering her issues which means more focus on her, & more explanation of why cant tohru love her mom & kyo at the same time.

-This expression on tohru’s face is a the complete opposite of the shock value expression in ep 6! T_T. I do’nt even hate the shocked scene addition itself that much, I just think (a) this is NOT its time! Tohru deserved better spotlight! (b) kyo didn’t friggen forget! ah! THIS I HATE! (c) the whole shocked scene was so wasted in ep 7. tohru return to her stupid dumb lalala~ land, cooking & forgetting kyo. what growth? what determination & screams to isuzu? what enduring kagura’s slaps? nope! just happy & cooking, lalala~ no one was freaking over her mom’s picture~ lalala~ & kyo just slept it over~ shhhh... its okay. he’ll forget again... see? totally wasted!

The anime knows nothing abt connected narrative! augh!

Side Notes:

We see kyo asking the gramps why he’s offering him info abt tohru which is so logical! XD. I love it.

I’ve read ch 110 & wanted to insert the kyoru scene in ch 110 here, & put yuchi alone in a different post, then I realized I’ll need to talk abt it again once I analyze yuki’s own expressions! XD. so, I’ll put all ch 110 together in one post. It kinda half written by now, so I’ll publish it very soon in two days time. I didn’t read ch 111 yet tho.

I hope ch 110 is the last I feel this much disappointments in furuba’s anime & by ch 11, it hopefully be be minor changes altho I doubt that cuz the manga needed to dwell into tohru’s mindset & the anime kinda stopped after ep 6. so, yup! more big changes coming!

The sheet hug is so brilliant in theory & application! so romantic & so endearing! love it so much! The anime did it so well, too!

I love kyo’s narration & pov cuz it’s so refreshing change from the anime where he rarely does!

I really wish they kept the kyoko abandoning tohru part in the anime... sigh~ it has nothing much to affect her story with katsuya. so it won’t ruin the spin off/ ova or whatever it’s called.

I love the light focus on tohru in this chapter & how organic & natural it is opposed to how forced the plot seems in the anime....

#Anime Only #manga spoilers #Fruits Basket #fruits basket manga #disappointed paper

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baronessblixen · 4 years

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Some angst with fluff at the end? "Please. I don't think I can do this anymore."

So this was inspired by yesterday’s rooftop anon and @mypanicface. Thank you. It has angst, fluff and is a journey through their life together. Tagging @today-in-fic and @xffictober

Fictober Day 10

“Please,” Scully says, squeezing Mulder’s hand, looking at him with unshed tears in her eyes. “I don’t think I can do this anymore.” And Mulder can’t let go. He can’t let go of The X-Files or the search for his sister, the truth. Most of all, and it hits him violently in the gut, making him dizzy, he can’t let go of Scully. One year ago, she strolled into his basement office with a soft smile and no idea what she’d gotten herself into. Now, his little spy has become his greatest confidant. The thought of losing her is unfathomable.

“I have an idea,” he says, entwining their fingers, and bringing her to the place that up until to now, has been his and his only.

“I didn’t even know your building had a rooftop.”

“Most people don’t.” He grins at her. “I have a key.”

There’s not much space but it’s always just been him, so it was enough. He motions for Scully to sit down on the beat-up chair he found in a corner the first time he’s come up here. She sits with a thankful smile and he crouches next to her, his knees uncomfortable on the cold, hard concrete.

“The sun is setting,” Scully says, her voice as soft as the colors stretching over the sky above them.

“I know,” he replies, watching her instead. “I come here sometimes to think. To watch the sunset and remind myself that the world isn’t all bad. I thought maybe I could… get a second chair, a second set of keys.”

Scully turns to him. There are still tears in her eyes, but the ashen look of desperation in her face has vanished. The last rays of sunshine tangle in her hair and caress her cheeks.

“I would like that, Mulder.”

There are two chairs now and only one of them here to use them. He stares at the empty, silent seat beside him. Up above him, the sky is grey, as listless as he is. The sunset is hidden behind dark, angry clouds. Hope is dwindling with every passing day. The hope that they’ll find Scully. That they’ll find her alive.

A sliver of blue finds its way through the layers of bitter clouds, cracks it open just one bit. He clings to that small promise, to the possibility of faith.

Where are you Scully? he thinks, holding her cross between his fingers, trying to find the strength to go on.

“Hey,” he says, drawing his chair close to hers.

“I didn’t know where to go,” she says as a way of apology.

He shakes his head. “I told you this place is as much yours as mine.” Her knuckles are white from gripping the armrest. He touches the hand right next to him and she startles.

“I’m just so angry, Mulder. And my mother she… I couldn’t stand the look on her face anymore.” She lifts her head to the clouds. “I can’t believe I’ll never talk to Melissa ever again.”

“I’m sorry, Scully. For your loss, for… everything.”

Their fingers intertwine on their own account. The sun sets right before their eyes, a last hurrah for the day. Tomorrow, they will do this all over again. Just a respite before another fight, before another injustice. Before another loss. Neither of them lets go of the other, not for the longest time, not until they’re engulfed into complete darkness, the night’s cold nipping at them and reminding them that they, against all odds, are still alive.

“You can’t keep doing this,” Scully says, standing next to him, and even though he’s not looking at her, he knows she’s frowning. She’s bundled up in a thick coat, needing the warmth, needing to hide her diminishing body away. No amount of layers can cover up the truth they both know.

She’s dying.

Mulder looks straight ahead at where the sun bleeds red into the sky. What does it matter to her? Why does she care what happens to him once she’s gone? His thoughts buzz in his head, like a swarm of angry bees. He wants to throw the chair away, to hide the keys. How can he ever return here once she’s buried in the cold earth?

“Mulder, I mean it. What you did… why did you do it? Why did you let someone drill a hole into your head?” Her voice rises with every word she says. He doesn’t have answers for her. He can’s save her and so he doesn’t deserve to be saved. Definitely not by her.

“I can’t- Mulder, please look at me.” He can’t deny her when she’s pleading with him. How can he deny her anything now when she’s dying? With force, he turns his head towards her. “I can’t bear the thought that you hurt yourself. You need to start taking better care of yourself.”

His nod is an empty promise, but she sits next to him anyway. He holds her tiny, cold hand in his and squeezes it tightly before he interlaces their fingers. Maybe some of his warmth, some of his life, can seep into her. She needs it more than he does.

“You said you wanted to talk to me?” Mulder is hesitant in sitting down. There’s a gentle breeze in the air, a hint of summer palpable in the rich bouquet of new beginnings.

“Hmm.” There’s a soft, albeit shy smile on her face that disarms his heart. He sits down, glances briefly at the early sunset, not yet in full procession, coloring them in golden hues.

“I must admit I was a bit, um, worried when I got your message because-“

“I want a baby, Mulder.” The smile is still there, now mixed with determination. She wants this. She really wants this. He swallows hard, his mind rushing through all the implications. Scully wants a child.

“That’s um…”

“I got a second opinion for the ova you’ve stored. There’s a good chance that IVF will work for me.”

“That’s incredible, Scully.”

She nods, watching him. “There’s just one problem. It’s not a problem, just- I need…, you know…”

“A father,” he supplies.

“So to speak. I don’t want you to answer right away, Mulder, because I know this is a big decision and one that neither of us should make lightly. I’ve spent all week thinking about it. You were my first thought when Dr. Parenti said there was a chance. During the week, I realized that… I don’t want you to feel pressured or like this is something that you have to do. I want you to think about it, okay?”

“You want me to be the…” now he can’t say it. Father. Scully wants him to be the father of her child.

“Please think about it. I’m going to leave you alone now.” She squeezes his shoulder and he sits there, frozen and shell-shocked. His eyes are trained on the sky where soft, pale blue and pink stripes frolic together. There’s no decision to be made. His heart pounds in his chest.

They’re going to try and make a baby.

She doesn’t say a word as she hands him a key. The key to the rooftop. He stares back at her, dumbfounded.

“I thought maybe you’d like it back.” Her voice is clipped, as neatly coiffed as her hair.

“Why?”

“I figured you’d like to share it with someone else.”

“Scully, no.” But she’s already leaving. He catches her right when her hand lands on the doorknob. “This is our place,” he says. “Diana doesn’t even know it exists. Neither would I want her to. Please stay? Look at that sunset.”

She doesn’t. She’s staring at her own hand, wrapped around the knob, still ready to leave. He couldn’t blame her if she did.

“Hey?” He touches her chin, making it impossible for her not to look at him. There’s a glimmer of anger in her eyes. These days, no matter what he does, he’s only making things worse. “Just one sunset. It promises to be pretty tonight.”

Wordlessly, she lets go, trots over to her chair, and sits down. She moves it away from his own, widening the distance. As soon as they’ve both settled, as soon as he dares, he reaches out to take her hand. She lets him hold it and he knows they will be okay again, in the end.

“We should have done it like this from the start,” Mulder says grinning up at Scully. She’s perched on his lap, her arms around his neck, and her head leaning against his. It won’t take long tonight, the sun in a hurry to set in the frosty autumn air.

“We weren’t ready then.” Scully’s giggle disappears into his neck where she nuzzles him with the tip of her freezing nose. He can’t wait to get back inside, to warm her up. Who needs sleeping bags when you have a warm bed and the hottest woman on earth?

“You’re not even looking at the sunset, Scully.”

“I’ve seen it before,” she says with a yawn.

“Are you tired? It’s only afternoon.”

“Well, we were busy last night.” Another giggle and a kiss against his jaw. He loves this Scully, the playful one. Sure, he loves every Scully he’s ever encountered; from the bossy badass to the one who needs help reaching the cupboards in his apartment.

“I plan on being busy again tonight,” he says into her hair.

“Can we skip the sunset tonight, Mulder? Maybe we can even see it from your bedroom.”

“You’re right. We should definitely check that theory.”

There are no certainties, only a sea full of possibilities, but Mulder knows this is the last time he’ll be sitting here, watching the sunset from the rooftop of his building. His bags are packed; everything he needs ready to start a new life somewhere else. Where that will be, he doesn’t yet know.

“I thought I’d find you here,” Scully says softly, cradling her heavy stomach. He can’t help but smile when he sees her, overcome with love for her and their baby. If only there wasn’t the nagging feeling of fear, too. What if they can’t keep their child safe? What if?

“I thought I’d say goodbye.”

“You don’t know that, Mulder.” She takes her hand in his, their fingers automatically entwining.

“Hmm,” he replies. He does know. This chapter is over. “We’ve had some good moments up here, didn’t we?”

“We did.”

“Sad ones, too.”

“No more sad ones,” she says, putting their entwined hands on her stomach.

If only life were that easier. But as he looks at the sky, the same sky it’s always been, the familiar colors that still find ways to surprise him now and then, he knows that they will be fine. No matter where he is, where she is, the sun will set every day, sleep, and rise again. There’s always going to be hope.

#fictober2020 #early post today!#i like this one #msr #xf fanfic #my writing #my fic #Anonymous

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come-on-shitty-boys · 3 years

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why i’m obsessed with daishou suguru: no, it’s not just his biceps

I’m sure that it’s no secret. We are all well aware that I am completely and utterly head over heels for this man *looks around at my nohebi inspired theme*. But, I’m sure some, most, if not all, look at Daishou Suguru and his character and say, “Maddi, why?” This is an excellent question and I’m here to give you my maybe excellent answer. So, to everyone who has ever wondered why I love him as much as I do, here we go:

I have a long track record of falling in love with characters who tend to interest me with motives and their actions, blame the literature fanatic in me. Of course, there are some that don’t delve as deep, but for the most part, that’s the common denominator of most of the characters that I love; they intrigue me.

Draco Malfoy? Interesting. I could write an entire novel on why he deserves a lot better and why he isn’t just a complete asshole + a brat. don’t get me wrong. he’s both of those things, especially as a child, but i would stand to say that we’re pointing fingers at the wrong person when it comes to draco

Oikawa Tooru? Amazing. Brilliant character. Love him with my whole entire being because he’s just such a beautiful constructed antagonist. The kind of antagonist that you genuinely struggle to hate and I love that about him. He’s so goddamned interesting and I adore him

Makoto Tachibana is arrafjfsjioaijosfiojsf so incredible. i love his backstory and his connection to haru how essential he truly is to the story mwah chef’s fucking kiss + back that rivals bokuto’s

but are we here to talk about any of those? n o.

We are here to discuss Daishou Suguru and why he is my everything: from a stance other than the fact that I think he’s pretty.

To put it simply- he’s interesting. I love the entire Nohebi team because of that reason. They’re interesting. Think about Johzenji. A big reason why they stuck with us, especially Terushima, was because they were something new, something completely different than what we had been used to seeing up until that point. We had fun watching their game.

But, Nohebi is interesting for a completely different reason. They are designed to be hated. Most people who watch Haikyuu!! do develop an attachment to the main teams, so when you meet Nohebi, you immediately want to dislike them due to the fact that there is some attachment to Nekoma. We see Nohebi through their eyes. Even the lighting that is used throughout that match screams “BAD GUYS”. We’ve got the classic Disney villain green thing going on, you know? And really, up until the end of the Land vs. Air OVAs, there isn’t much that redeems them as a team. But, at the very end, there’s a really short moment where we get to see them for who they really are, just a group of high school boys.

This is the first moment where you get to see them as someone other than Nekoma’s rival and that’s where they finally get their chance to touch your heart.

Daishou Suguru is built to be the ultimate antagonist for Kuroo Tetsurou, a character that holds a place in everyone’s heart. I genuinely cannot think of a single other antagonist that he reminds me of other than Deloris Umbridge. Not in his actions and I don’t think he wears pink suits (although who knows 👀), but in the fact that he walked on screen and you immediately want to hate him. It’s even in his character design! He l i t e r a l l y looks like a snake (the teams being personifications of their mascots is a whole other topic that we could discuss some time). His eyes are designed with the intent to make you distrust him and it works, doesn’t it?

I can fully admit that he is one of the most morally questionable characters in Haikyuu, which tends to be the main reason that people dislike him. He is a dirty filthy cheater, that is no lie, but I can’t help but admire him. Daishou is so incredibly intelligent. He knows where to poke to make the opposing team to make them lose their cool. He plays an incredible mental game and that’s so?? interesting?? He is fully aware that he is not the strongest player. He is lacking in stats and stature. At only 5′10, he’s not much compared to most of the other players we’ve met through the series. He only has a power level of 2 and a speed of 3. He knows that he can’t compete on a physical level with other players, so he plays mentally. His game sense and technique are both 4/5, and we can even see that when he’s up in the stands at the national games. He’s constantly talking game sense and he can see what the opposing team is doing and understand why they’re doing it. You can see that that is what he really loves about volleyball. He loves the mental and calculating portion of the game and I just think that’s so cool?? Daishou has learned to adapt and use his strengths to be an incredible captain to his team. Yes, the way he uses those strengths isn’t the best by any means, but I genuinely don’t think any character could pull off what he does. He thinks so quickly on his feet, but not in the same way that someone like Kageyama does. He’s predatory and he can see the weakest links in the opposing teams chain and will directly target them. That goody-two-shoes act? Absolutely infuriating, but smart. It’s essential for him to be able to pull off what he does on the court and he knows that.

Daishou Suguru is intelligent, calculating, and different. He is a beautiful antagonist who does exactly what he’s designed to do in such a short amount of time, something that isn’t really seen from any other character that we meet. When you initially meet him, he genuinely seems to have zero redeeming qualities, but as we see him more and more throughout season four, we start to see him as someone who loves the game and who has just as much passion about volleyball as every other character we’ve met. We see him humanized through Mika and how he interacts with her, when we see him get all blushy and apologetic about rambling (another topic that I talk about here).

I love him because he’s different, because he is so incredibly built from a literary stance just like every other character that Furudate has given us. Daishou Suguru is genuinely unlike any other character.

and he has great biceps.

#haikyuu #daishou #daishou suguru #no I'm not sorry for writing 1000 words about my love for daishou and nohebi

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welcome-to-green-hills · 3 years

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Hello mystery. :) I've got 2 things to say.. 1. I love your account and your AU of the Sonic Movie. It's super cute and I've always looked these posts before I even made this account. IDK if that's important tho. 2. I've noticed that you liked making headcanons for Movie!Sonic and some other characters. So let me ask you this: Do you have any headcanons for how Movie!Sonic might act around the other Sonics? (Modern!Sonic, Boom!Sonic, etc.)

Awww! Thank you very much, friend. I’m very glad that you love my blog. I appreciate you sharing your voice with me as well! I’m very glad that you’ve made an account as well, welcome to Tumblr! It’s very nice to see ya! I hope that you’re liking it so far!

I shall honor your request, I lhink that it’s a great suggstion! It’s unique and I like thinking outside the box on this one, Here are my headcanons for them all:

I can definitely see Sonic Wachowski viewing all of the other Sonics as his older brother... even Classic Sonic is viewed as an older brother. Every alternate version of Sonic--yes, I include STC!Sonic in this scenario--views Sonic W. as this sweet little kid who just wants to be seen and to make friends.

The alternate Sonics also happen to be very protective of Sonic W., sometimes they can be too protective, like pick him up and carry him around if Sonic W. accidentally hurt himself or if they see Sonic W. start to tear up and cry, but they love him. Boom!Sonic won’t ever admit it, but he’s the most overprotective one out of the group.

Sonic Wachowski is the only “Sonic” that can break STC!Sonic’s exterior shell. He’s also the only one who really treats STC!Sonic as a human being--I mean hedgehog. (Sonic W. figures that STC!Sonic just needed to be seen). In return, STC!Sonic is kinder and much more considerate to Sonic Wachowski.

IDW!Sonic can relate more to Sonic W.’s PTSD, anxiety, and nightmares. Even though their experiences are different, they are very commutative and both come up with strategies for coping mechanisms. They work hard to build each other up.

Archie!Sonic (Before and after the Genesis Wave) thinks that Sonic W. is the sweetest little baby in the whole universe. He acts a bit more of a parent to Sonic Wachowski, but he loosens up a bit and often takes him to do some fun stuff in New Mobotropolis. The same can be said for OVA!Sonic, but there’s always fun things to do at the Land in the Sky and on the beach.

Both Modern and Classic Sonic love to challenge Sonic Wachowski to races. Together, they’ve raced across the planet at least 1,000 times this month. (Classic gets a kick out of Sonic W. the most due to the streak of blue and lightning that he leaves behind. Classic thinks that it;s the coolest thing). They also like to take the child on adventures, such as Mystic Ruins or to Seaside Hill for the afternoon.

Sonic!X and and Sonic W. are obsessed with flower picking and hiking in the mountains. They also have a large garden that they constantly work on and they love to make flower crowns.

Zonic the Zone Cop (Am I the only one that remembers Zonic?) is like Tom Wachowski, but a bit more strict. However, Sonic Wachowski can get Zonic to release some of his stress and open up a bit. Zonic doesn’t have super speed like the rest of the other Sonic’s but he enjoys some friendly competition from him. Sonic W. is also the only Sonic that can get Zonic to smile.

All of the Metal Sonic’s but Shard try to capture him. Shard protects Sonic W. from the other counterparts and treats him like royalty. Sonic W. thinks that he’s cool because robots are cool, therefore, he’s good in his book.

Gremlin!Sonic and Sonic W. are like brothers. Even though Sonic W. is the youngest, be often sticks up for his older brother and thinks highly of him. Gremlin!Sonic does the same in return. He’s also very gentle and caring to Sonic W. In the end, Sonic W. is very fortunate to have an older brother like him.

#mystery anon #off topic #space hog #tom wachowski #my headcanons #I think that’s all of the Sonics at the moment #I might be missing some #Oops!#❤️❤️❤️

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karmotrinedreams91 · 4 years

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Nine Legacies: The Balefire Rekindled Masterpost

Prelude: Magic’s resurgence has changed almost every aspect of life. The “mundane” world cannot deny magic’s existence, and is both fearful and all too curious about its capabilities. Despite public and private pushback against the forces of Olde and Arcane, society must come to accept the presence of Fae and other magical phenomena as something “normal,” just as it did during the golden age of magic. But with the benefits of magic’s return comes the many horrors fueled by it: Vengeful dead have begun to rise, monsters stalk the lands, and legends of old reveal their long denied truths to the “modern” world. Luna Nova itself faces one these emboldened threats now, as a shadowy coven that has plagued the legacies left behind by The Nine Old Witches for centuries plots their destruction yet again. The New Nine and their companions stand firm against the darkness, but it will be the dare-devil firebrand Amanda O'Neill, and the reserved and calculating Constanze Amalie Von Braunschbank-Albrechtsberger who must first answer the call of Olde Legacies. When fate calls them to action, they waste no time in taking up the torch, and light Luna Nova’s way to a brighter tomorrow.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/22429150/chapters/62068246

Author’s Note: Hello, and thank you, first off, for reading this post! I hope that I’ve piqued interest! To explain further though, Nine Legacies: The Balefire Rekindled, is the first installment in a series of fanfiction I plan to write, titled under the series name Nine Legacies, as one might expect. This fic, and all of the fics that follow it in the series, are/will be a deep expansion and exploration of the Little Witch Academia world. The main focus of the OG series/ovas was never world building. It was focused on Akko and her journey, and that’s amazing. The original series is possibly one of my favorite and most beloved pieces of media. But it leaves much for the viewer to ponder on, doesn’t it? Who were the Nine Olde Witches? As in, who were they as people? What were they like? What was life really like during the golden age of magic? Where do the Fae come from? How did magical societies organize themselves? How will they do so again now that magic is returned, and how will non-magical, or “mundane” society, as I call it, react to such a sudden paradigm shift? These questions and more are what drove me to write this fic/series. It’s not just an exercise in world building, of course. While that may be one of my great loves when it comes to writing, Nine Legacies is primarily a story about Found Families, love (for the self and others), and how those two things are tested by a world around us that, at times, feels wholly uncaring and apathetic to your very existence. It deals in the above themes as well as in political struggle, fighting for the right to live as you are, with trauma and how to overcome/live with trauma, and especially with the first installment, Balefire, with Vengeance.

It features some horror elements, lots of action, and cosmic horror elements (IE Lovecraftian horror elements; think Cthuluhu, if you’re not aware).

(Credit for above image goes to Alexis Kennedy, and all of the artists who worked on the Weather Factory game named: Cultist Simulator)

It’s not all gloom and doom though; I’m not here to write an unsatisfying story. It may be gritty and grim at times, but I try to balance that out with humor and fluff, both dark humor, and much more light hearted fair that you’d expect from LWA. And yes, it is VERY gay (I’m a trans lesbian woman, if this wasn’t extremely gay then I would have failed myself). This might sound like quite the departure from what you usually read for LWA, and it probably is, but I hope that this is an enjoying and stimulating experience! While it is very much my own canon, I’ve based just about everything I’ve done with the setting on the original series’ material, as well as materials adjacent to the canon, such as mangas, light novels, and the OVAS.

This series will be a four-five part installment of novel length fics. Nine Legacies: The Balefire rekindled, is currently, as of August second 8/2/2020, unfinished, as I write chapter 20 of what will like be 27-28 chapters in total, and it is already the third longest LWA fic on AO3 (archive of our own) at 442,068 words. I began properly writing this fic in full in January, for reference, and started planning out the whole story/what I wanted out of it in november of 2019. I try to update every other week, or every week if possible, and do weekly/two weekly updates on my progress, all posted to this tumblr.

Lastly, and most importantly, there are two things to note about Balefire, and about Nine Legacies as a whole: I give antagonists their own scenes and perspectives quite a bit. I feel it is imperative to my story that the antagonists all get screen time to help better flesh them out. And secondly, each installment in the series will focus on 2-3 of the “New Nine” witches (The New Nine in this case being Red, Green, and Blue teams. Chariot and Croix are NOT New Nine in this, but will play important roles for various characters throughout. Think of them more as mentors for the New Nine). Balefire specifically focuses on Constanze and Amanda, but it also sets up the plots and development for just about every other New Nine witch, and you can expect to see other OC characters in important side roles that will develop and enhance the story, as well as lesser used characters from LWA, such as Wangari making appearances as important side characters. I can’t say much more on the specifics, but I’ll leave this section off with something to entice you: ALL of the Nine Olde Witches (as written by my own canon, essentially) will be fleshed out in full. Their origin, who they were, why they were important, all of that is crucial to the story, hence the series title, Nine Legacies.

“Perhaps they, the new blood.... Perhaps they hold the strength to rekindle our flame.”

I hope all of this has you interested and ready to read! ITS FINISHED NOW! All the main chapters are done, but I intend to go back and do a FULL re-edit, with criticisms, suggestions, and corrections in mind from YOU GUYS, the readers. PLEASE: Never hesitate to send me asks, comment, leave kudos, etc. ALL of that stuff shows me whether or not I’ve done good work, and even if I haven't, telling me HOW I may have failed will always be helpful. I want to make this the best fic it possibly can be, but I can’t do that without reader participation.

Without further adieu: Nine Legacies: The Balefire Rekindled

https://archiveofourown.org/works/22429150/chapters/53589904

#lwa #Balefire LWA #Nine Legacies LWA #Little Witch Academia #fic #fanfic #au #read on ao3 #long reads

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somegirlsnerdywords2 · 4 years

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Anime i’ve Watched

That begin with a K (Part 1)!

Yep this is how i’m going to bring over all the anime and manga i’ve watched and posted about on the old blog. It’s not so detailed but it will have to do. Anything new I watch or read from this point on will have their own posts.

Kamigami no Asobi:

Genres: reverse harem, supernatural, romance, fantasy, shoujo

Synopsis: After discovering a mysterious sword in the storehouse of her home, third-year high school student Yui Kusanagi finds herself suddenly transported to a different world. While exploring her new surroundings, she meets five strange yet handsome men before coming face to face with Zeus: the king of the gods. In order to restore the deteriorating relationship between the gods and humans, Zeus has created the Academy of the gods and has chosen Yui to be its one and only instructor. She has one year to educate the young and reluctant deities—including the five strangers she met earlier—on what it means to be human while learning about the gods herself; otherwise, they will all be trapped in Zeus' realm forever. [Written by MAL Rewrite]

My Rating: 7/10

Finished airing in 2014 with a total of 12 episodes.

My Thoughts: Reverse harem featuring gods! Was it great? According to my rating not really, no. Mind you, i’ve mentioned before that reverse harems are rarely great.

Kamisama Hajimemashita:

Genres: comedy, demons, supernatural, romance, fantasy, shoujo

Synopsis: High schooler Nanami Momozono has quite a few problems of late, beginning with her absentee father being in such extreme debt that they lose everything. Downtrodden and homeless, she runs into a man being harassed by a dog. After helping him, she explains her situation, and to her surprise, he offers her his home in gratitude. But when she discovers that said home is a rundown shrine, she tries to leave; however, she is caught by two shrine spirits and a fox familiar named Tomoe. They mistake her for the man Nanami rescued—the land god of the shrine, Mikage. Realizing that Mikage must have sent her there as a replacement god, Tomoe leaves abruptly, refusing to serve a human. Rather than going back to being homeless, Nanami immerses herself in her divine duties. But if she must keep things running smoothly, she will need the help of a certain hot-headed fox. In her fumbling attempt to seek out Tomoe, she lands in trouble and ends up sealing a contract with him. Now the two must traverse the path of godhood together as god and familiar; but it will not be easy, for new threats arise in the form of a youkai who wants to devour the girl, a snake that wants to marry her, and Nanami's own unexpected feelings for her new familiar. [Written by MAL Rewrite]

My Rating: 8/10

Finished airing in 2012 with a total of 13 episodes.

My Thoughts: Give me romance or give me nothing at all, especially romance with a fantasy twist. Where’s my attractive fox eared man to sweep me off my feet... sighhhh. In all seriousness, pretty good series though! Loveable characters and an enjoyable story. I’d suggest it.

Kamisama Hajimemashita◎:

Genres: comedy, demons, supernatural, romance, fantasy, shoujo

Synopsis: Nanami Momozono and her familiars Tomoe and Mizuki have survived quite a few challenges since Nanami took up the mantle of Mikage Shrine's patron god. Naturally, the wind god Otohiko comes to invite Nanami to the Divine Assembly in Izumo, the home of the gods, and Nanami chooses to take Mizuki with her, leaving Tomoe to pose as her at school. However, she has an ulterior motive for attending the Divine Assembly: to discover the whereabouts of the missing Lord Mikage, the former god of the shrine. After her adventures in Izumo, Nanami meets Botanmaru, a tengu child looking for someone she knows all too well—tengu turned goth idol Shinjirou Kurama. Botanmaru needs Shinjirou, their prince, to return home to Mount Kurama and stop the tyranny of Jirou, who has taken over the rule of their hometown. However, Nanami soon discovers a force much darker than Jirou is at work on the mountain. As a fledgling god becoming more accustomed to divinity, Nanami finds herself dealing with a tengu rebellion, her blooming feelings for Tomoe, and a strange man with ties to both Tomoe's past and Nanami's future. [Written by MAL Rewrite]

My Rating: 9/10

Finished airing in 2015 with a total of 12 episodes.

My Thoughts: The second season was even more enjoyable than the first! A must watch for fans of the first season, though I doubt you’d have to take my word for it... Comedy, romance and a great story. Love it!

Kamisama Hajimemashita: Kako-hen:

Genres: comedy, demons, supernatural, romance, fantasy, shoujo

Synopsis: While playing in the snow one day at her shrine, the land god Nanami Momozono witnesses her familiar—the fox youkai Tomoe—collapse, with dark markings appearing on his body. Tomoe's former master, Lord Mikage, appears after his long absence and places Tomoe into a magical pocket mirror in order to stave off his ailment. Mikage explains that long ago, before he and Tomoe had met, the fox youkai was in love with a human woman. Seeking to live as a human with his beloved, he made a deal with a fallen god, but he only ended up cursed and dying. When Mikage discovered Tomoe, the god made the youkai forget his human love as a quick solution. However, something has changed recently to reactivate the curse; Tomoe has fallen in love with his new human master, Nanami. Since there is no way to stop the curse, Nanami wants to stop Tomoe from getting cursed in the first place by traveling back through time, even if it means they may never meet. As Nanami travels back hundreds of years to save her precious familiar, she discovers that she is far more closely bonded to Tomoe than she previously thought. [Written by MAL Rewrite]

My Rating: 9/10

Finished airing in 2016 with a total of 4 episodes.

My Thoughts: An OVA. Epic and wonderful. You’re going to watch it is you watched the previous seasons so what more should I really say?

Kamisama no Inai Nichiyoubi (Sunday Without God):

Genres: fantasy, mystery

Synopsis: God has abandoned the world. As a result, life cannot end nor can new life be born, and the "dead" walk restlessly among the living. Granting one last miracle before turning away forever, God created "gravekeepers," mystical beings capable of putting the dead to rest through a proper burial. Ai, a cheerful but naïve young girl, serves as her village's gravekeeper in place of her late mother. One day, a man known as Hampnie Hambart, who is supposedly Ai's father, arrives and kills all the people in her village. Having lost her village and with no plans for the future, Ai decides to accompany the mysterious man on his journey. As she travels the land, the young gravekeeper strives to fulfill her duties, granting peace to the dead and assisting the living, while at the same time learning more about the world that God left in this tragic state. [Written by MAL Rewrite]

My Rating: 7/10

Finished airing in 2013 with a total of 12 episodes.

My Thoughts: I feel like I found this really intriguing when I originally found it but judging by the rating it must not have been amazing considering how generous I tend to be with my ratings.... maybe I just thought the title was interesting. Can’t really say if you should give this one a go or not. Anyone else watched it and have a better memory than me? Also had a special.

#kamigami no asobi #kamisama hajimemashita #kamisama hajimemashita: kako-hen #ova #kamisama no inai nichiyoubi #sunday without god

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maiji · 4 years

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I Heard A Cicada Cry (part 4 of 4) A YYH North Bound story

The end... for now.

A lot (a looootttt) of historical and actual Yu Yu Hakusho series commentary below the cut.

The opening page is based on the “Tsuki no yotsu no o” (The Moon’s Four Strings”) by Tsukioka Yoshitoshi, the piece I referenced for Semimaru’s appearance. I already shared a link to the image in Part 1, but you can see it again at this site alongside all the other beautiful works in the 100 Aspects of the Moon series, which uses the image of the moon to highlight 100 Japanese folktales and famous figures. (Tsuki no yotsu no o is #98.)

Otake’s comment about the bamboo is a reference to his own name (“Great Bamboo”) - more on Otake at the end of this post. Catching dragonflies was done by putting sticky stuff on the end of a bamboo pole so that when the insect lands, it gets stuck. Great fun for kids, probably not much fun for the dragonfly.

The poem is another Anonymous waka sometimes associated with Semimaru. Again, the version here is my attempted rendering for this comic, referencing many other much more skilled translators’ works. This one was really challenging to me. Compared to the two previous waka, there’s so little kanji to reference plus the really old kana, and the translators diverged quite a bit on the rendering of the last two segments.

Kokinshu 989

風のうへにありかさためぬちりの身はゆくゑもしらすなりぬへら也 kaze no ue ni / ari ka sadamenu / chiri no mi wa / yukue mo shirazu / narinu beranari

A speck of dust / Tossed aimlessly / on the winds, / It seems I've become / One with no known future. (Susan Matisoff)

Blown upon the wind, / With no settled place to dwell, / This dust, my body, / Is doomed to an endless journey, / Destination yet unknown. (Edwin Cranston)

I have become a / speck of the dust carried in / helpless flurries by / the dancing winds I who know / no destination no home (Laurel Rasplica Rodd and Mary Catherine Henkenius)

Fate seems to decree / that my wandering must soon / lose all direction -- / I who have no more roots now / than dust floating in the wind. (Helen Craig McCullough)

At last, the introduction of another existing Yu Yu Hakusho character. This is my attempt at Captain Otake from when he was a lot younger and before he grew a mustache!! Otake will (eventually) play a very important part in the creation of Raizen’s territory. I wanted to bring in an existing Yu Yu Hakusho character for this role, and after scouring the cast decided he fit the bill perfectly. He’s interesting - and by interesting I mean scary - because he straddles the line between loyal military man (in some aspects not dissimilar from Hokushin’s loyal retainer archetype) and reasonable-sounding extremist. The latter being IMO one of the most dangerous things in the world, and one of those challenging personalities Togashi seems to love writing. Not that we get to see much character development for Otake in the actual series. His depiction in the manga VS the anime diverge a bit - he’s a little more sympathetic in the latter. But we know he ends up leading that terrorist group in volume 19 of the manga after Enma Daioh is overthrown, and the OVA Noruka Soruka didn’t bother doing anything different. Otake’s age isn’t given in the series, but he comes across as being older than Koenma (it could still go either way, but nothing in the series makes it impossible). He clearly knows more than any of the other SDF members about the situation with the Demon World barrier and what’s really behind it. Sure, maybe he was just briefed about it because he’s the captain, but it’s more fun to imagine he was actually there when it all went down. If it came down to a fight: it’s clear actual series Yu Yu Hakusho Hokushin (S-class) would crush Otake (A-class) easily. But North Bound takes place around 700 years before the modern era, possibly centuries before the Spirit World has even developed its energy classification system! (At the very least, Kuroko didn’t know about it, so it was never used to brief her. Then again, Yusuke wasn’t aware of it ‘till the Sensui arc either so who knows when it came to be... aside from the fact that it uses the roman alphabet lol.) In other words, I have a lot of flexibility for my purposes.

If you recall previous bios I made for Hokushin, you'll notice I’ve lumped Heian-Kamakura era Otake and Hokushin into the same (wide) power class range. I imagine Hokushin being on the lower end. As explained in this post, rokurokubi in the North Bound universe are very weak demons. Hokushin’s unique experiences - thanks to the interventions of his first lord and Raizen in Mirror Most Dark and A House That Holds Long Limbs, respectively - are what enable him to gradually break the common limitations of his type. Until then… we know Hokushin can be formidable even when he’s locked down to D-class. But that might be thanks to several centuries worth of accumulated battle and psychological experience, which he doesn’t have yet.

The final version of Cicada Cry is pretty close to the original script I had years ago, tweaking as I went along and revisited details with a critical/more experienced eye and a better sense of where the rest of North Bound had already gone. Still lots of things to improve on, but I can also see/feel improvement from where I've come from since beginning North Bound and having all those building blocks behind me. This might be the fastest I've ever gotten through a (more) sustained serious story, and I was able to try some new things in terms of art workflow, as well as narrative development and paneling. I really enjoyed getting to blend in many of my favourite things (ukiyo-e, ancient poetry, etc.). I hope it gave off that elegant classical vibe, despite the conclusion.

#yu yu hakusho #hokushin #semimaru #otake #fanart #japanese history #japanese literature #comics #fancomic #art by maiji/mary huang #yyh north bound

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scullyfemme · 4 years

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Timing -- Ch. 5

“I wouldn’t want it to come between us.”

While waiting to hear about Scully’s ova, Mulder takes her to Kansas to investigate some weird weather.

(Covers Rain King, SR819, and part of Tithonus)

Tagging @today-in-fic and @suitablyaggrieved | Read it on Ao3

<- Previous Chapter | Start from the Beginning | Next Chapter (TBP) ->

---

Scully took the ova to some doctor named Parenti, whose practice had cropped up in the time since Mulder had been investigating the ova himself. He apparently had glowing reviews from his previous patients in another city.

She had needed some space from Mulder for a couple of days after hearing the news. Room to process. Things were difficult between them at work; Scully barely looked at him or spoke to him. People noticed. No doubt the rumor mill was buzzing about why, though that wasn’t exactly high on his list of priorities.

After a few days, he answered a knock on his door to find her, arms crossed and visibly ticked off.

“You should have told me,” she said, marching past him and into his apartment without invitation.

“I know.” He watched her with a somber expression.

“Even if I was dying, even if it would have killed me faster.” Her voice rose and she thrust her fist towards the ground with each point, tears in her eyes. “I had a right to know!”

He nodded. “I know. If I could redo it, I would.”

“This-” A small sob escaped her and she took a deep breath to prevent more. “I mean, I don’t even know how to feel about it! It’s- It could be my only chance, or it could be nothing!” She swallowed and looked upwards, trying to blink back her tears. “And- And it’s possible none of this will even matter because- Because they’re probably-” She lost the fight with her tears then, breaking down into sobs and stepping forward to hide her face in his chest. She sought his comfort even when he was the one she was mad at.

He wrapped his arms around her and held her tight, resting his chin gently on her head. “I know,” He murmured. “I’m sorry.”

Her voice came out muffled as she spoke against his chest. “I just- I don’t want to let myself hope for anything…in case it gets ripped away from me.”

“Scully…” He let go of her to cup her now-blotchy face in his hands, looking into her watery eyes. “You can’t give up yet. Not while there’s still a chance.”

He wiped at the tear tracks on her face with his thumbs and she searched his face, looking like she wanted to believe him. She let out a long, ragged sigh and he pulled her back into his arms.

“I’m still mad at you, by the way,” she mumbled into his shirt.

He chuckled. “I deserve it.”

“You really think I shouldn’t give up?”

He sighed, then kissed the top of her head. “Never give up on a miracle,” he murmured into her hair.

—-

Despite her insistence that she was still mad, Scully warmed back up to him after that. Within the week, they were close to normal, save for the looming possibility of the test results.

The results from Dr. Parenti’s office were delayed for some reason, which only served to make Scully more anxious. In an attempt to distract her, Mulder took her on an off-the-books trip to Kansas for a case. He put on a face of overzealous delight at the sight of the mayor personally greeting them along with a young baton twirler. In return, Scully gave him a reluctant look.

She tried to keep a more positive outlook. Not just with the case, but in general. Like Mulder said, she couldn’t give up yet.

The fact that the mayor assumed she was Mulder’s wife and not his partner irked her. She hoped it wouldn’t be a recurring issue in this small town.

—-

To Mulder’s credit, the case did successfully distract her. Well, more like everyone in the town distracted her. Nearly every person they met seemed to have larger-than-life personalities, from Daryl’s assistant to Sheila to the so-called “Rain King” himself.

It was a curious case, she’d admit that much. But there wasn’t anything particularly unusual going on in this town. Droughts and sudden rains weren’t unheard of, and the fact that it had started raining when Mootz was doing his “rain dance” was just a coincidence. The idea of a single person controlling the weather was absolutely crazy.

And then a cow fell from the sky and landed in Mulder’s room.

The manager followed Scully as she went to find her partner. “Oh, Miss, we moved your boyfriend’s things into your room.”

Scully sighed. “He’s my partner,” she corrected. “And we’d prefer separate rooms.” Technically a lie, but they’d agreed to keep separate rooms on cases.

Practically everyone in this town had assumed she and Mulder were together, and it was starting to bug her. Were they being obvious? It didn’t feel like it. No, they were acting normal. Everyone in this town was just weird.

“Oh, old-fashioned, are you, huh?” The woman seemed like she couldn’t care less. “Well, we’re booked solid with the high school reunion. You can take it or leave it.”

Scully sighed as she walked away from the hotel manager and went to check on Mulder, using his possible head trauma as an excuse to run her hands through his hair. She supposed a cow crashing through his ceiling would be a decent enough reason for them to have to share a room.

—-

That night, Scully sat in the chair in her motel room, her face deadpan as Mulder rambled on about his new theory. He now thought that Holman Hardt was the one controlling the weather. Which was impossible.

“Most people will admit that the weather plays a significant role in the way they feel, right?” He asked. “There’s even that disorder.”

“SAD — Seasonal Affective Disorder,” she said.

“Well, who’s to say it doesn’t work the other way around?” He asked. “That the way someone feels can affect the weather? That the weather is somehow an expression of Holman Hardt’s feelings, or- or better still, the feelings he’s not expressing?” He raised his eyebrows as if expecting her to be impressed with him, which he should know better by now.

Scully gave him an impassive look. “Mulder, that is not the same thing at all. People can’t control the weather.” She stood up, getting into their debate. “I mean, it-it doesn’t work like that! Weather is based on a large number of variables that are completely out of the control of any one person! We are done with this case and we’re going home in the morning.” She stopped when she realized he was smiling at her. “What?”

He shook his head, but the smile was still on his face. “Nothing.”

Crossing her arms, she tilted her head, giving him an annoyed look. “What?”

“Oh, I just- I just realized that I don’t have my own room to go back to.” There was a certain glint in his eye. She knew what that meant, and she hated that her body immediately reacted at the sight of it, betraying her.

She watched him as he put the case file on the nightstand and stood up. “Mulder.” Her tone was a warning, but she couldn’t ignore the jolt that went through her. She’d be lying if she said she’d never fantasized about the two of them in the same motel room on a case. Many times.

“Yes?” He had the audacity to try and sound innocent as he walked up to her, looming over her.

Fighting against the energy that was thrumming off of him, she kept her arms crossed and looked up at him indignantly. “Mulder, we have rules. Remember? You agreed to them.”

“Oh, I know,” he said, standing much too close to her now. “Separate rooms. But, the, uh- The universe seems to have intervened on that one.”

“Oh, I think you mean Holman Hardt," she teased, quirking a brow.

He smiled. “C’mon, Scully.” His voice was that low murmur that sent an involuntary shiver down her spine. “I think this qualifies as an…extenuating circumstance.” He cupped her elbow, silently asking her to uncross her arms.

After a moment’s consideration, she uncrossed one arm, reaching out to play with his tie. “I don’t know, Mulder,” she huffed. “If people can suddenly control the weather, and if I agree to that this is an extenuating circumstance, then we might have an epidemic of cows crashing through motel roofs.”

He smirked. “Well, if that’s what it ta-”

She cut him off by pulling him down by his tie into a kiss, wrapping her other arm around his neck as he relaxed into it. She was about to pull away when — without warning — he scooped her up and gently tossed her on the bed. She yelped as she landed, and had half a mind to chastise him when he got on top of her and kissed her again.

—-

“I mean, you spend every day with Agent Scully; a beautiful, enchanting woman.” Holman shook his head in disbelief. “And you two never…?”

Mulder shook his head, his face neutral despite the fact that they had just had sex the night before.

“I confess, I…I find that shocking,” Holman said. “I- I’ve seen how you two gaze at one another.”

Mulder’s shoulders tensed at that. They gazed at each other? Was it that obvious? Ignoring it, he slung an arm around Holman’s shoulder and led him towards Sheila’s office. “This is about you, Holman. I’m here to help you. I’m perfectly happy with my…friendship with Agent Scully.”

He sent him in, wishing him luck. “And Holman,” He called after him. “I do not gaze at Scully.”

A while later, Sheila left her office followed by Holman, who explained that she was actually in love with Mulder before leaving to sulk. Mulder then happened upon Sheila in an argument with Daryl.

“Hey!” Mulder called out, interrupting. “Hey, Daryl. Cut it out, man.”

They argued and fought. After Mulder pinned him to the wall and cuffed him, Sheila surprised him by grabbing his face and kissing him passionately, pushing him up against the wall before he could react.

Holman and Scully rounded the corner just then, both equally shocked at the scene before them. Holman quickly left, but Scully just stood there, mouth agape. Mulder spotted her with wide eyes as he repeatedly tried to push Sheila away. When he finally succeeded, Scully had to press her lips together to prevent from laughing at the sight of red lipstick smeared on his face.

“Um,” He scratched the back of his head, looking nervous. As if Scully would actually be mad at him for being ambush-kissed.

She cocked a humored eyebrow. “Mulder…the fog has lifted and if you’re ready, the plane is waiting.”

He was about to agree when he saw the red spots on the weather radar.

—-

“You love him, don’t you?” Sheila turned away from the bathroom mirror to give Scully an accusing look.

Stunned, Scully could barely get out a “What?”

“You’re jealous because Agent Mulder and I have a special connection and you’re trying to divert me to Holman.”

Scully had to fight back her laughter. “What?”

Scully proceeded to tell the woman that she was not in love with Mulder and that there was nothing between them. Never had been. The lie wasn’t so difficult after so many years of it being true.

“Not even a kiss?” Sheila asked in disbelief.

Scully shook her head.

Sheila sighed and turned back to the mirror. “Trust me, the man knows how to kiss.”

Oh, I know, Scully thought to herself, last night on her mind.

“I just never thought of Holman that way, you know?” Sheila continued, looking at Scully’s reflection in the mirror. “He’s my closest friend. And to not even suspect…”

Scully hesitated, thinking how Sheila almost reminded her of herself. How she’d been so afraid of risking her friendship with Mulder if they got involved romantically. She tried to think of what she would have wanted someone to say to her.

“Well,” She started hesitantly, worried about saying something that would give her away. “It seems to me that the best relationships — the ones that last — are frequently the ones that are rooted in friendship.” She thought back to when her partnership with Mulder began. How they became fast friends despite their differences, immediately loyal to each other.

She thought of laughing in the rain with him. Of bailing him out of jail and taking him to a diner. Of him reaching over to wipe barbecue sauce off her face without thinking. How he’d fought desperately for her life countless times, and how she’d done the same for him.

“You know,” she continued. “One day, you look at the person and you see something more than you did the night before.”

She remembered him handing her cross back to her after her abduction. How it had been warm from his hand. She remembered how he had advocated for her when she was trying to adopt Emily, no questions asked. How he’d brought her stolen ova to a specialist before telling her, hoping to give her good news. Everything they’d both done for each other. It had all built up over the years until-

“Like a switch has been flicked somewhere,” she said. “And the person who was just a friend is…” She smiled to herself fondly. “Suddenly the only person you can imagine yourself with.”

—-

Mulder and Scully stood side-by-side, watching as Holman and Sheila — and many other couples in the gym — danced and kissed to “Somewhere Over the Rainbow.”

“I never knew reunions could be so…” He trailed off, not able to think of the word.

“Wet?” She finished, her eyebrows raised.

Holman and Sheila approached them, arm in arm.

“Well, how’d it go?” Mulder asked, already knowing the answer.

Holman smiled at Sheila, then leaned in towards Mulder conspiratorially. “You should try it sometime,” he said, loud enough for Scully to hear. They walked off, leaving the two agents standing in the middle of the gym.

Scully turned to Mulder with a humored smirk. “Well, Mulder, what do you say? Think you’ll try confessing your love to me sometime?”

He smiled and took her hand, pulling her close to him as his other hand took her waist. She smiled back, placing her free hand on his shoulder as they swayed to the music.

—-

Days later and back at home, Mulder and Scully sat in the waiting room of Dr. Parenti’s office. Mulder felt awkward being here. He felt like this should be a personal matter for Scully. A private matter. But she had invited him, and the look in her eyes had told him that she wanted him there for support.

Scully’s hand searched for Mulder’s as she saw Dr. Parenti enter the waiting room, clutching it tight. Parenti smiled and Scully felt her breath leave her chest. A smile meant good news, right?

“Ms. Scully?” He approached them, barely glancing at Mulder. “Got a good report for you. I’ve looked at the ova you’ve given me and consulted with some of my colleagues. We all feel that with the proper approach, we might be successful.” He smiled again. “Got a good chance to get you pregnant.”

“Oh…” Scully let out a shaky breath. She felt overwhelmed. “It’s- That’s too good to be true.” She glanced at Mulder, who looked equally surprised.

Dr. Parenti continued. “I don’t want to lay odds, but it’s not out of the realm of possibility if we start soon.”

They both looked up at him in amazement. “We can start right away?” Scully asked, incredulous.

“Well, you need a father, of course,” Parenti said. “I don’t know if you want an anonymous donor or if you…” he nodded towards Mulder. “Have someone in mind.”

The word “father” hit her in an odd way. She looked over at Mulder, whose face was carefully neutral, as if he was waiting for her response and would gauge his own appropriately. She knew he would do it if she asked. There wasn’t a lot he wouldn’t do for her at this point.

But it would mean he’d be a father. And she’d be a mother. The idea of having a child had suddenly jumped from an abstract concept to a potential reality. If she did this, she’d eventually have a baby — an actual baby that she’d need to take care of. And while it was still something she wanted, it wasn’t something that she thought either of them were ready for. Not yet, at least.

“Do we have to start right away?” She asked, surprising both of the men.

“Well-” Parenti hesitated. “No, we don’t,” he said carefully. “But the longer you wait-”

“I’d like to wait,” Scully said, interrupting what was bound to be an argument about viability and biological clocks. She was a doctor; she already knew all that.

Mulder gave her a confused look. “Scully-”

“It’s okay, Mulder.” She turned to him and placed her free hand on his arm, giving him a look that told him they’d talk more about this later. “Really.” She took a deep breath and turned back to Parenti. “Right now, just…knowing that I have the option is enough.”

“If you’re sure…” Parenti sounded reluctant.

Scully nodded and stood up, squaring her shoulders. “I’m sure.” She registered Mulder standing up next to her as she let go of his hand to shake Dr. Parenti’s “Thank you so much. I’ll be in touch.”

Mulder waited till they were in the car to ask. “Scully, are you sure you want to wait? I wouldn’t mind-”

“I know you wouldn’t mind,” she said. “It’s not that. It’s…” She trailed off, trying to figure out her wording. “Our lives are… A lot is up in the air,” she finally said. “But we…we’re in a good place right now. With this.” She gestured vaguely between the two of them. “And as weird as it might sound, I wouldn’t want it coming between us. I’d rather wait, if we can.” A brief, firm nod punctuated her sentence.

He nodded back, giving her a brief smile as he squeezed her hand. What she didn’t tell him was that as soon as she found out that her ova were viable, she realized she didn’t actually want kids right now. She wasn’t quite at that stage yet. More than anything else, what she’d wanted was the option. To know that it was a possibility.

“And besides,” she continued. “I don’t think either of us are really ready to be parents.”

He chuckled and leaned across the center console. She met him in the middle for a kiss. When they pulled away, he smiled at her fondly “Well, I’m here for you. No matter what. If you change your mind and decide you want to do it, I’m with you.”

She smiled.

On the way home, though, Mulder started thinking. It was strange that Parenti had suddenly found the ova viable after repeated negatives, right? Mulder wasn’t a scientist, but that seemed suspicious to him. He glanced over at Scully, who was staring out the window with a small smile on her face. He thought of everything that had been done to her. The experiments, the cancer, the infertility. What if this was somehow part of that? A continuation of the nightmare? It seemed crazy to suspect a random OB/GYN of being involved in a government conspiracy, but it would be far from the strangest thing they’d encountered.

He decided not to voice his concerns to Scully. Not right now. He didn’t want her to think that he was just trying to back out of what he’d said, or discourage her from doing it. No, he’d investigate it on his own. He’d only let her know if he found something. If there was nothing, then no harm done, right?

He owed it to her.

Mulder’s investigation was delayed by Skinner’s sudden, mysterious illness. He and Scully both threw themselves into the investigation in hopes to save him. She investigated the disease from a scientific perspective while he sought out the man who had poisoned their boss. Skinner’s abrupt and ungrateful treatment of them at the end of it, though, surprised them. They wondered what was up, but decided not to press it.

When Scully was given a case that was no doubt an X-File, Mulder pushed down his jealousy and tried to view it as an opportunity to investigate Dr. Parenti without her noticing.

Still, he was curious. He pulled up the photos of the crime scene and was studying them when she returned from her meeting with Kersh.

“Mulder…” Her tone was a mild warning as she saw what he was looking at.

“Hmm?” Innocent.

“What are you doing?”

“Being nosy.” He turned and looked at her wistfully. “Eating my heart out. They’re sending you on an X-File.”

She shook her head, packing up her briefcase. “It’s not an X-File.”

“That’s not what I’m reading.” He leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms. “I’m thinking murder by telekinesis. I’m thinking…maybe a shamanistic death touch.”

She gave him an unamused look.

“I’m thinking about the Muslim superstition that to photograph someone is to steal their soul.”

“Thank you,” She said, giving him her Mulder, you’re an idiot look. “All very helpful.”

He hesitated, afraid to speak his fear. “So, they’re splitting us up, huh?”

Her expression softened. “No.”

“No?”

“This is a one-time thing,” She reassured him, but it seemed like she was also trying to reassure herself.

“Who told you that?” He asked. “Obviously, if you do a good job, they’re not gonna stick you back here.”

They looked at each other for a few moments, both afraid of whether he was right.

“Right?” He asked, a bit softer this time.

Scully broke eye contact as she saw Agent Ritter enter the bullpen, and she stepped around Mulder’s desk to turn off his monitor.

“Agent Scully, we’re all set.”

Scully smiled tightly. “Peyton Ritter, this is Fox Mulder.”

Ritter nodded at him. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Fox.”

Fox? Mulder’s eyebrows rose and he and Scully exchanged looks. The greenhorn was pretty bold to use his first name without any formality. No doubt he’d try to call Scully “Dana.”

Making a point, Mulder stayed in his chair as he shook the younger man’s hand. “Pleasure to meet you…Peyton.”

—-

After Scully and Ritter left, Mulder decided to get cracking on the Parenti investigation. He figured he’d better start with a background check since that was his job now.

One hour of research later and the background check revealed nothing immediately suspicious. James Parenti had no priors, graduated from a regular med school, and had been working as an OB/GYN for years. No medical malpractice, no suspicious activity. Just an abundant amount of current and former patients who gave glowing reviews. Even his IVF program was astounding, boasting a ninety-percent success rate.

Mulder sighed and leaned back in his chair, feeling defeated. Maybe there was nothing here. Maybe he was being paranoid. Not everyone was out to ruin his and Scully’s lives and use them for a dark conspiracy. He stared at the computer screen, letting his eyes go out of focus as the numbers glared back at him.

And then it hit him. Ninety-percent? He sat up straight. He wasn’t a scientist, but that was cause for suspicion, right? He vaguely recalled Scully saying a while back that IVF treatments had something like a forty-percent success rate. So how was Dr. Parenti’s so high? Did he have access to something?

Mulder printed out the page and went to leave, then stopped and returned to his computer. He grabbed Ritter’s contact information from the database and set his computer to intercept anything sent from him to AD Kersh. He silently thanked Byers for the nifty little program that he had given him as a gift a while back. Despite having his own investigation, he was curious about Scully’s case. Plus, at this point in their partnership, she’d probably be suspicious of him if he didn’t call with unwarranted opinions on the case.

With that done, he grabbed the paper and left on a late lunch, knowing exactly where to take this information.

—-

“Mulder, long time no see,” Byers greeted him at the door.

“Shouldn’t you be chained to your desk doing background checks right now?” Langly asked from where he was leaning back in the desk chair, hands behind his head.

“I’m just dropping by, I-I need a favor from you guys,” Mulder smiled — hoping he didn’t look awkward — as he walked in.

“When do you not?” Frohike was seated at the drafting table, tinkering with some gadget Mulder didn’t recognize. He barely even glanced up when Mulder came in.

“What do you need?” Byers asked.

Mulder handed him the folded paper. “I need your help looking into someone. Dr. James Parenti. You guys heard of him?”

They exchanged shrugs. “I assume he’s a doctor?” Byers said, looking at the paper.

“Yeah,” Mulder said. “An, uh, an OB/GYN to be exact. With a suspiciously high success rate for in vitro fertilization.”

“How high?” Langly asked.

“Ninety-percent.” Byers read off the paper with raised eyebrows.

Frohike finally looked up from the gadget with raised eyebrows. “That is high.”

Mulder nodded. “Yeah, it’s usually, like, forty-percent, right?”

“Depends on a lot of factors,” Langly explained. “But yeah, that’s the general number.”

“Why are you looking into him?” Byers asked.

Mulder opened his mouth, then hesitated. “Routine background check,” he lied. “I couldn’t find anything suspicious about him except for this, so I was hoping you guys could look into it more.”

“Think it’s an X-File?” Langly sounded intrigued before Byers pushed him aside for access to the computer. “That he’s using alien technology to up his success rate?”

Mulder’s jaw tensed. The thought had occurred to him, but he hadn’t wanted to voice those thoughts out loud. “Could be,” he answered shortly, then checked his watch. “I gotta get back to the Bureau.”

“Okay. We’ll contact you or Scully if we find anything.”

Mulder, halfway to the door, stopped and turned back. “Uh, just me on this one, boys. Not Scully.”

The Gunmen exchanged looks, suspicions piqued. Great.

“Scully doesn’t know about this?” Byers asked.

“She- She’s on another case,” Mulder explained. The three exchanged looks again, none of them voicing the fact that that sort of thing had never stopped the two of them from consorting before. “Look,” Mulder stepped towards them again, a serious look on his face. “Just- Just keep this between us, okay? Promise you won’t bother Scully with it.”

He knew he was being suspicious. It wouldn’t be hard for the three of them to figure out the connection between an OB/GYN and Mulder’s barren partner whose ova he had found (with their help, to boot). But it was important. He didn’t want to concern Scully with this until he was sure something was wrong.

The Gunmen gave hesitant nods and he breathed a sigh of relief. “Thank you,” he said. “Let me know what you find, okay?”

“Mulder,” Frohike called after him, causing him to stop and turn around again. The older man had put down his gadget and gave him a serious look. “If this involves Scully, she deserves to know that something’s going on.”

“I know,” Mulder said grimly, not bothering to deny it. “But first I need to find out if something is going on.” He left without another word.

Frohike was right. Scully deserved to know. But she also deserved proof that this wasn’t just a crazy Mulder theory, especially in a matter this serious. He would tell her as soon as he knew.

#kai.fic #xf fic #msr fic #timing fic

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suckerforsmylex · 4 years

Text

I Think I Made You Up Inside My Head - Pt. 7

Harley giggles and hangs up, and you aren’t sure what to think. Part of you is pissed that The Joker had to leave to tend to Harley’s bullshit. He answered her call earlier while he was in between your legs for god’s sake. The other part is mad at yourself for being so insane. I mean – here you are swooning over your attacker like a dumb school-girl.

I still don’t believe that this is real! Why the fuck is this happening to me?

You decide that you’re going to leave. You have to see what’s going on outside of your apartment where apparently, it’s Gotham City. You put on an all-black everything outfit, and set out for the city.

If I’m going to sneak out, I’ll have to blend in with the night.

You glance at your wall again and see a cut out of the front page of The Gotham Times with a photo of Harley and a team of other criminals propelling off of a building. Shaking your head, you leave the room quickly, and finding that the bathroom door is still open from your medicine cabinet discovery earlier, you run inside with the intentions of taking your medication. You shake out a pill into your palm and stare at it and then close your eyes. The memory of The Joker bandaging your bleeding foot with his shirt comes to your mind and that’s all it takes for you to dump all of the pills into the toilet and quickly flush before you can think twice.

If I’m going to figure this shit out, I’m doing it as me, not a sedated version of myself. How much crazier can it get anyway?

You grab your car keys from the glass bowl and turn on your remote start. The engine purrs to a start and you open the hall closet door to grab your purse and…

KaaaaaBOOOOM!!!!

The car is in flames and you almost feel it before you see it as you thrust the door to your apartment open. Shutting the door quickly, you lock it and put the chain on just as your cell phone rings. It’s an incoming facetime from The Joker. You’re afraid to answer, but even more afraid to let it keep ringing. When you answer, the picture-in-picture display shows you dressed in black on the tiny screen and The Joker appears on the main screen, wearing a maroon button-down shirt, half unbuttoned and a platinum blazer. His clothes are covered in blood and he’s got it spattered on his face as well.

“Cupcake,” The Joker drawls out as he rolls his head around in frustration, “…what part of DO’NT LEAVE YOUR APARTMENT did you not understand?” His chest heaves up and down and it looks like he’s going to have a heart attack. “Answer me,” he demands as he gets up from the chair he was sitting in and removes the blazer, throwing it down to the floor brusquely. “I…I’m sorry…I just wanted to see what was going on outside. Did…did you just blow up my car,” you ask with tears welling up in your eyes.

“Did I…blow up your car? Did I blow up your car?” The Joker turns to a henchman behind him who’s wiping blood off a wall. “She wants to know if I blew up her car.” He’s got full on crazy eyes and the henchman lets out a nervous chuckle. “YES! Yes, sweetness. I asked one of the twenty men guarding you to point a fucking bazooka at your car the moment you started it.” The waterworks are in full effect on your end now and you’re sobbing.

“Stop blubbering. We’ll steal you a new one,” he says, waving you off with a ringed hand. The thought of you and The Joker stealing a car together makes you grin from ear to ear, even through your tears and you force yourself to take a deep breath. “I remember now, Mister J. I met you in the court.” Saying that to him only makes you grin more, until you’re laughing. “That’s where I met Harley and we robbed that expensive department store. I broke you out of Arkham. I have the jewelry heist stash!” The tears are streaming down your face but you’re laughing between almost every word. The Joker cocks his head to the side, grins and slaps his thigh. “Oh…she’s back. My naughty, little thief is back! I don’t know what I like more. When you’re a naughty girl or when you’re a sweet angel. HARLEY! HARL!” You hear Harley before you see her on the screen, and then she comes bounding in, almost knocking the phone out of J’s hand. “Hiya’, Puddin’! You need me?”

Both of them are now on the screen, and Harley is also smeared with blood. Her baseball bat it leaning against the wall and gunky with some kind of bloody, clumpy matter and she’s got droplets on her face and her Daddy’s Little Monster shirt. “Hey, hot stuff!” Harley seems genuinely happy to see you and she keeps nudging J out of view in her haste to speak with you. “I got a little nutty ova’ here and beat the living shit out of someone! Okay, it was more like someones. Five someones to be exact!” She wrinkles her nose, smiles and puts her fists up in a boxer’s pose and starts shadow boxing. “When I get going, I don’t know when to stop. We had to get rid of the bod….”

The Joker bats her away from the phone. “Daddy is gonna’ leave Harl with Frost and come and pick you up. Be ready to go out the back patio in ten minutes. We’ll have some company to respond to that little explosion. Get the jewelry and get out. We’ll get you new things tomorrow. DO NOT make me wait.” The last thing you see and hear are The Joker’s finger waving in a “no” motion and Harley singing a nonsense “la…la…lala…la” in the background.

This is it. I guess I’m quitting my day job and joining the circus.

Obeying his directive, you run and stuff all of the jewelry into a black duffle bag and say goodbye to all of your pencil skirts and your steno-graph. You grab the news clipping off the wall and stuff it into the bag too. The sirens blare as they come down the street. In a moment your apartment complex will be swarming with fire trucks, police and maybe even The Batman. You open the patio back door and hop the small fence landing in a short bush.

Smooth. Real smooth.

The Joker pulls up in an unmarked car, just in time to see you brushing twigs and branches off yourself and out of your hair, and you jump into the passenger seat with the duffle bag. He’s dressed in a GCPD uniform from the police badge right down to the hat. “Oh, I love a man in uniform,” you purr out as you look him up and down. He growls and tosses you a uniform too and the two of you speed off into the night. “Feeling frisky, sweetheart? Put on that uniform.” The Joker’s eyes are locked on you as you change. His hands are steering erratically, weaving in and out of traffic as you take off your top and jeans and put on the uniform. “Sure, Mister J, I’m up for anything. What do you have in mind?” You finally feel like you. Untouchable. Unstoppable. It’s alarming how good it feels to be a bad guy.

When the car stops you look up and see you’re at the Gotham Museum of Classical Art. The Joker turns and grabs you by the throat. “You’re a work of art, sweets.” He pries your mouth open with his and covers it with a kiss. “Mmmmm. You’re my little cherry bomb. Sugar and spice and everything nice and then, KABOOM! All that explosive heat.” The Joker has a hand snaking its way down your GCPD uniform pants. He lands on the outside of your panties, stroking your wet lips with two fingers through the sheer fabric, leaving you breathing heavily and trying unsuccessfully to suppress a moan. He leans in close and whispers in your ear. “Youuuu…are dripping right through your panties, officer.” He gives your ear a nibble and pops out of the car, leaving you gasping.

He pulls out a briefcase and starts walking up the museum steps. “Come on, let’s keep popping your criminal cherry.” You jump out of the car and run after him and he rings the security door, telling the desk guard that you’re responding to a report of a disturbance. The guard buzzes you both in and you proceed to handcuff him and his partner and then bind them with duct tape. Lastly, you lead them both down the stairs and secure them with a second set of handcuffs to pipes in the museum basement.

The two of you move fast, climbing the museum’s main staircase and walking down the second-floor corridor that overlooks the courtyard and into The Dutch Room. You both fill large bags with pieces of art that you lift from the walls. It’s easy because you have a list of requested items with each piece’s exact location within the museum. He cases The Early Italian Room and you make your way through the The Raphael Room and reconvene in The Wayne Gallery.

There are so many diamonds and jewels in this room that it makes you stop dead in your tracks, remove your police hat, let your hair down and put on the first ornate tiara you see. The Joker takes one look at you and clears a large marble table of relics and they crash to the ground. He lifts you by your waist and drops you down onto the table. “If you don’t have a collection of tiaras already, I guess we’ll just have to start one, princess.” You squeal and The Joker starts peeling off your clothes.

Laying on the cool marble slab in your black lace bra and panties, wearing the newly stolen tiara and your black booties is surreal. “I’ve been dreaming about this moment since we locked eyes in that courtroom,” he snarls as he unzips his pants and releases his massive cock. It’s a struggle for him, to take his thick shaft out of the fitted pants and you blush and turn away for a moment. The sight of him is enough to make you almost come on the spot. He grabs your chin and turns your head back to face him. “Oh no. No shyness. Look at me. I want you to see how hard you made, Daddy.” Looking at his cock makes you clench and whine. “Daddy, please…” You’re squirming around on the hard surface, helpless and needy. “Daddy, please what,” he says with a chuckle. His thumbs hook into the lace waist band of your panties. “Daddy, please…” The Joker has his eyes locked on yours and it’s quite clear by the way his cock twitches that he’s enjoying tormenting you.

“I need to hear you say it, sweets. You know what Daddy likes.” You moan out hungrily. “Daddy, please fuck me. I need you inside of me.” There is no room for shame. You’re desperate for him. There is no room for coyness. He grins but doesn’t remove your panties. Instead, he slides them to the side with his thin fingers, poking digit into your pussy, and then pulling it back out and sliding it into his mouth. “I’m going to fuck you until you forget your own name. Did you forget that too earlier,” he asks with a low laugh. Before you can respond he slams himself into you, filling you with the thick weight of his dick, pounding into your wet slit. It feels like he’s ripping you in two and the tears well in your eyes as your body is thrust hard into the stone. You grip both sides of the table tightly with both hands.

“Awww, baby? Does it hurt?” When he says the words, you lose it completely and start bucking your hips back against him, feeling your orgasm building and your inner muscles clench the full length of him. He rips your tits out of your bra and roughly tugs on both of your stiff nipples. Your body is hot and loose now, writhing all over the table and you know you are about to come. You manage to lick your lips and tell him, which makes The Joker pull himself entirely out of you.

“Nooooo! I was about to come,” you whine, and it makes him give you a terrifying smile, licking over his metal teeth. “You have to earn it first, greedy girl.” He walks around the table and you can see him hovering above you. “Taste the mess you made.” You open your mouth and engulf all of him, sucking sloppily back and forth, the sound of spit and your wet arousal on his cock and in your mouth, bring you back to the edge. You can taste the sweet tang of yourself mixing in with his own taste. “You better ask for permission before you come,” The Joker warns, and with that, you start waving your arms wildly as a signal that you are close, as he continues to fuck your mouth. “Do you need to come?” You nod as best you can with him filling your mouth. “Let me hear you ask me nicely.” Looking up in desperation, you ask as best you can. It sounds pathetic. “Caaghh I peeess cunnn, daahh deee?

He cackles and removes himself from your mouth with a wet pop and you gasp for air, while he leaps onto the table, straddling you and thrusting all of himself inside of your pussy. You cry out, frantic for release and he grips your throat, his face inches from yours. “Come. Come now. Come all over my cock.” You explode all over him on command, shockwaves running through your body as he thrusts as hard as he can. “Give me what’s mine.” With one last hard thrust, you can feel him filling you, and the pulse of his balls as he empties himself inside you, and you collapse back onto the table.

It’s only now that you hear the alarm has been tripped on the first floor. He hears it to and there’s no time to savor the exquisite way he’s cream-pied you. He pulls out and tucks his ruddy, wet dick back into his pants, while you scramble to put all your clothes back on. It’s a miracle that you don’t end up with your bra on the outside of your shirt, at the speed you’re going. You both run and manage to escape out of a hole The Joker laser cut into the second-floor back window and propel down to the street. You jump into the nondescript car with the stolen art and ride off, still wearing the tiara from the museum display.

The Joker turns to face you, smiling broadly. “You’re mine now, and you’ll have anything your little, crooked heart desires and that includes plenty of tiaras.”

You smile at the thought of being his favorite and of having a new crime family to come home too. Harley was like your sister from another mister, after all. After looking in the rearview, you lean over to give him a peck on the cheek but he turns his head quickly and the kiss lands on his crimson lips instead, making a genuine giggle rise from your chest. It was easy to laugh with him and he laughed to, his infamous, “Ha, Ha, Ha, Ha,” echoing into the impending sunrise of a new morning. This was the start of your new life with the Clown Prince of Crime, and you were ready for whatever was going to come next.

#the joker #joker #leto joker #leto joker fanfiction #joker x reader #fairy tale endings #i reworked this chapter so much #because some of the things I used to write #are super embarrassing!

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alarawriting · 5 years

Text

Inktober #8: Frail

This was delayed a day because it’s longer than any of the others. Relates to my WIP “No Drama”, aka “Q is an investigative journalist researching whether God is a corrupt politician of his people”.

So the first thing I need to explain before I tell you about meeting Heph is his name.

Humans call me John Deer (it’s a joke. Their name for a man who has no name is John Doe, but a doe is a female deer. I don’t technically have one of their genders, strictly speaking, and if you go by the body I’m in, it’s not female, so I thought I’d go by John Deer. Turns out the joke’s on me; add a silent e to the name and it’s a company that makes tractors. Go figure.) However, as I hope would be obvious, that’s not my real name. The Aleph don’t have physical bodies and aren’t made of matter and the pure information we are made of doesn’t translate to syllables you or anything that makes sound can pronounce. If I were to translate my name, it would be impossibly long to convey in words; an Aleph’s name is, essentially, a hash function of our personality, the defining nature of our being. I’m not going to stand here and recite my entire personality to you, or anyone else’s entire personality, either, and don’t expect any other Aleph to do so.

So when we walk among pre-eschatonic species, we generally go by the names of gods in their language, or animals of symbolic value (which on most planets, for many groups on that planet, are indistinguishable from gods), or Virtue Names like “Patience” (that one is definitely not mine). And then, when we speak to one another with our meat mouths because we’re in meat bodies, we use those names, the use-names specific for that planet, that culture, that language. On Earth, in English-speaking languages (as well as a significant number of the other ones), I’m known to other Aleph as Fox, Ferret or Weasel, depending on their current opinion of me. My opponent goes by the Lion, or the Ape. But Heph doesn’t use animal names; for the past several hundred years, when he walked on this planet, he called himself Hephaestus. The Greek God of engineering, smithing and invention – technology, in other words – who also happened to be crippled. I think it would be hard to find a myth better suited to be Heph’s use-name.

You see, Heph was born damaged. (We aren’t “born” like you’re born, messy screaming infants coming out of a parent’s orifices. A seed is woven by an entire team of Aleph who’ve chosen to procreate and gotten permission to do so, and then that seed grows fractally. So we are a little less random than spinning the Wheel of Sperm and Ova like you guys do… but not much less random.) By the time he was grown enough that anyone was able to notice the damage, it was too late to correct him without making major changes to his essence, and most Aleph would have to be dying before they’d consent to that (if then. Personally I’d rather die.) It’s hard to explain what the problem is to a non-Aleph, so I need to draw an analogy. In essence… his bandwidth is too low. He cannot quickly upload anything to the Host, and he doesn’t have the storage capacity for the energy we draw down to do our reality-altering things. Where the rest of us are gods, Heph is barely a guardian spirit.

Back when we were both living in the Host most of the time, I am… ashamed to admit that I overlooked Heph, the way almost all the Aleph do. He can’t join with one of us – well, he can, but it’s shallow because of his low bandwidth. Not to be crude about it but it’s as if one of your males was trying to make love to a woman with the vaginal depth of a tea saucer. It… doesn’t do a lot for most Aleph. He can’t participate in most of the things we do because he can’t store enough energy to do it. So he isolates himself from us, and we let him do it because we’re all kind of at a loss as to how you include a guy who can’t do 90% of what you take for granted.

Heph, however, is very smart. All Aleph are by human standards, but Heph is by our standards. So he found a way around the problem.

When I met him on Earth, I was dying in a gutter. I’d been sentenced to a decade of being locked down to a single mortal body, and since I’d been on Earth when they grabbed me and put me on trial, it was Earth they sent me back to. Specifically, Victorian England. Naked, and with no money. Or antibodies. I ended up in a workhouse, where as you can imagine I did fantastically well since I’ve always been so eager to do pointless busywork and follow orders. The main punishment for disobedience was not being fed, followed by being held in a cell for a day and then given clothes that were supposed to shame you. I had no sense of shame, but I got a lot less food than the body I was in needed, and I was surrounded by people who were not in the best health. When I couldn’t work anymore and I was delirious with fever, they threw me out to be picked up with the rest of the refuse, assuming I’d be dead by morning.

Heph was on Earth too. He tracked me down, using technology he’d created. That’s Heph’s thing. He creates technology to compensate for his weaknesses. We have safeguards against anyone or anything but a recognized member of the Host drawing on power, so his tech can’t do all the shiny things a full-powered Aleph can, but we have plenty of access protocols to reach the database of knowledge. So he was able to find me. No Aleph was supposed to render me aid, but Heph was not afraid of pulling the cripple card to get away with doing anything he’d been forbidden to do that he nonetheless decided was the right thing to do. He may be one of the smartest of us, but most Aleph treat him as if he’s not particularly bright, just because he can’t output his thoughts as fast as the rest of us, or fork himself and multi-process. And he made sure not to give me any aid that only an Aleph would be capable of. He fed me bread mold, a powerful antibiotic – you know it as penicillin – that humans happened to not have discovered yet, and pumped sugar, water and saline solution directly into my veins with a sterile glass tube ending in a needle, which humans would later refer to as an IV once they’d invented it. It was all with materials that could be found on Earth, that humans could have discovered (and in fact did, later on.)

I didn’t know my sentence was for a decade. Nobody had told me there was a time limit. I thought they’d left me on Earth to die. Heph restored meaning to my life. The Host as a whole may have abandoned me, but one specific Aleph still cared, and went well out of his way to take care of me. Heph’s not known for being a fluffy, love and compassion kind of guy; he’s cold, aloof, introverted, with difficulty outputting his emotions in a format most Aleph can read, and his shallow bandwidth means that if an Aleph tried to probe him directly, it would cause him a lot of pain. Which, since we are a compassionate species, meant no one was allowed to probe him without his permission. Which he never gave.

In those days, Heph had been tall and broad-shouldered, still going with the whole blacksmith motif. He was never ripped like a bodybuilder, but his upper body had some substantial muscle to it. He’d affected black curly hair and bronze skin like the Greeks he’d named himself for. And he’d worn thick spectacles and walked with a cane. I’m not sure whether he does it on purpose or whether it’s a subconscious compulsion, but every body Heph creates for himself in matter has damage to mobility and damage to perception, representing what he suffers in his true form. I tend to think Heph identifies so strongly with being disabled, he can’t imagine having a form that isn’t.

Ten years before I’d even learned the sentence was finite. Heph had known, but hadn’t been allowed to tell me – and while obviously he thought he could get away with saving my life and being my companion and showing me how to survive as a human, equally obviously he didn’t want to disobey the Host in the matter of telling me my sentence. Their logic was that it was hardly an aspect of being mortal to know for a fact that if you just survive long enough you’ll get your immortality back. The truth was, of course, the Lion had had the judges in his pocket. We hated each other even then; that’s why I started investigating him. He had them do it to be pointlessly cruel, and they came up with a rationalization to the rest of the Host. Well, in those ten years, Heph became my best friend. Raven and Cat and Monkey, my other close friends, hadn’t come to visit. Even Isis, who treated me like I was her little brother and used to watch out for me when we were millions of years younger, left me there. Heph was the only Aleph willing to risk the displeasure of the Host to be my friend.

So as soon as I came back to Earth, I looked him up, of course.

I’m kind of in the same boat he’s always been in; I have my powers, but the moment I draw down energy to do anything major, or even upload any complex hand-rolled query, my memories upload to the Host. And I’m absolutely sure that the Lion is going to honor the law and not seek to obtain illicit access to privacy-locked memories. Yup. Positive. So the moment I use my powers, my enemy gets to see exactly what I’ve been thinking and planning up to that point. Which means I can’t use my powers for anything short of “my physical body has just been killed and I need to upload or I’ll actually die.” But locating a fellow Aleph is such a common query, we have a wizard for it, which can be triggered without uploading – and while my privacy lock keeps that particular simple query from finding me, Heph’s never felt the need to hide.

But I gotta admit I was kind of shocked when I saw his new body.

He recognized me, of course. “Fox. Come on in.”

Heph was living in a farmhouse that he’d converted to his brand of tech wonderland, probably because he wanted to have enough land between him and his human neighbors that no one called the cops for strange noises or mysterious lights. I stepped over several gadgets of unknown function, following Heph to the kitchen. “You still drink tea?” he asked me.

“Uh, yeah, what have you got?”

“Oolong, chai, green with ginger, peach chamomile, Earl Grey, and hibiscus.”

“Gimme the chai.” The last time we’d met, chai had been something you’d only get if you were actually in India.

I made my way to his kitchen table, which was covered with papers and had what looked like two laptops sitting on it. I happened to know they were laptops the way desktop computers are abacuses, but humans probably wouldn’t have been easily able to tell the difference, unless they knew the Unix operating system well enough to know that Heph was not running a variant of it. Heph pushed the papers out of the way on one of the chairs, giving me a clear spot to sit down, as he remote-activated a teakettle with his mind.

“What brings you back to Earth?” he asked.

“Before we get into that, I need to address the elephant in the room, Heph.”

“No one here goes by Elephant.”

If I hadn’t known Heph as well as I did, I might not have guessed he was telling a joke; he was completely deadpan. “Yeah yeah. What have you done to your use-form?”

Like I said, the last time I’d seen Heph, he’d been built, matching the crippled blacksmith stereotype. Now… he was still tall. That was about the only point of resemblance. He’d gone for a pasty white, skinny form with long blond hair in a ponytail, thick glasses with a tint to them so I couldn’t really see his eyes well, and his body looked like it would blow away in a strong wind. There was a visible brace on his left leg, and he dragged it very slightly when he walked. Heph had always made his use-forms disabled, but there’s disabled and then there’s “looks completely helpless.”

“This is the new look for the 21st century technologist,” Heph said.

“It looks like the consumption chic that was going around in Byron’s day. Do you eat? At all?”

“Sure. Chips, pizza, burgers. All of the fatty, unhealthy stuff that modern technology gurus poison themselves with when they’re crunching on a project, which is all the time.”

“Great, so you’re not just incredibly skinny, you also probably have a dozen vitamin deficiencies. Heph. You gotta keep that body running! With your upload time—”

“Thanks, I’m aware of my upload time. And I’m pretty sure you didn’t drop in on me just to tell me I’m too thin.”

“I’m worried about you. You look like one high fever could do you in.”

“They’ve invented a lot more antibiotics than they had around when you got sick. Listen, Fox, I get that you’re worried, but I’m not trapped like you were. If something goes wrong with this body because it’s too fragile to survive, which is highly unlikely anyway, I’ll have enough time to upload. I’ve got plenty of equipment to scan it for health.” He got to his feet with some difficulty and limped over toward the singing teakettle.

“What was wrong with the old one?”

“Firstly, too many photographs got taken of it. I had to fake my death so I didn’t have uncomfortable questions about why I looked exactly like my great-grandfather.”

“Maybe you should have thought of that before posing for photographs right after they were invented.”

“It’s not the Victoriana I was concerned with, it was more the World War II era stuff. And secondly, it’s the aesthetic. Today people don’t think of blacksmiths when they think of technology. They think of autistic white men with bad vision.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Did you actually give yourself autism or is that just a metaphor?”

“Look the definitions up, I am actually the closest thing to autistic the Aleph have ever produced.” He came over to the table with my tea. I didn’t try to help him or intercept him. Quite aside from the fact that he’d find it insulting, he had so much junk on the floor that his knowledge of what to step over and when made him more mobile than I’d be. “But stop trying to sidetrack me. What are you doing on Earth?”

If another Aleph had asked that question, there might have been all kinds of subtext in there. Are you in exile again? Have you gone native after spending ten years as a mortal here? Don’t you have anything better to do? From Heph, it more or less meant exactly what he’d asked. “Can’t tell you unless you’ve run a backup,” I said, taking a sip of the tea.

Heph rolled his eyes. “You’re so dramatic,” he said. “Look at this.” He got up again and dodged some more junk on the floor, making his way toward what the people who’d built this place probably thought of as a family room or maybe sitting room. I followed, feeling like a drunk guy in a china shop. My personal aesthetic has never been tiny, delicate motions, so getting anywhere across Heph’s floor without breaking his stuff was like a minefield, except with fewer actual explosions, I hoped.

It was a metal box. “Very impressive,” I said. “I especially like the craft in the solder lines.”

“Don’t be an ass. Here.” He unlatched a latch I hadn’t recognized and lifted the lid. Inside was a crystalline array of the kind the Aleph used to use before we shifted to encoding our data in neutron stars. “Local backup device.”

I tried not to look impressed. Of course Heph had a local backup device. I was kicking myself for not assuming he’d have created such a thing. “Does it work?”

“I changed my use-form. How do you think I did that without it being a major pain in the rear?”

That was a good point. Heph’s bandwidth was low enough that it would take him a couple of days to upload to the Host. Changing bodies would have involved creating a new form, uploading out of it, and then downloading into the new one… which was a problem if it took you two days to upload or download, because your physical body might very well die on you or suffer brain damage while you were imperfectly socketed in it. I felt a lot better about Heph’s frailty now. “How long does it take to transfer to that?”

“I’m running delta backups every time I sleep, so if the body were to die unexpectedly, I’d only need to transfer at most a day’s worth of memories and experiences. Probably 20 minutes at a maximum. Also, if it wasn’t obvious to you, I’m not doing regular backups to the Host and I can tag data to keep it out of the upload when I do, and there’s no way any other Aleph is getting into my local backup server. It’s not even connected to the Host except when I run uploads from it.”

Okay. His memories weren’t accessible to the Lion either. That meant it was safe to tell him the details of what I was up to. I made my way back to the table with my teacup. “So, this is going to be a long story…”

#inktober 2019 #no drama

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floatingcatacombs · 4 years

Text

In Praise of the Blonde Twink who May or May Not be a Trans Girl

12 Days of Aniblogging, Day 3

There’s been something in the air recently. Last year, the New York Times’ fashion magazine published an article titled “Welcome to the Age of the Twink”, a 600-word LGBT hitpiece arguing that a new wave of “art twinks” are redefining what it means to be an ideal male. The author argues that the term “twink” is being broadened past just gay culture and we should slap it on every slim attractive straight white dude that we see in order to overturn toxic masculinity. Because there’s nothing more revolutionary than, er, fairly conventional western beauty standards.

The internet promptly responded by shitting on the author’s brazen attempt to export twinkness to the straight world. I too think it’s an awful take, but I get the feeling there was a satirical bend to the article that got edited out or otherwise miscommunicated. After all, the author is a gay man; why would he misrepresent and diminish his own community like that?

The broadening and appropriation of LGBT terminology is a touchy subject, so I’ll save it for another day. If taking gay terminology and morphing it into new definitions is en vogue nowadays, I’m happy to join ranks with Nick Haramis and add new meanings to “twink”. Let’s talk about twinks as Schrodinger’s trans girls.

Unfortunately, I have a type when it comes to media, and it’s twinks who I can project transness onto if I desire it. These characters are beacons of androgyny, male-at-birth characters with some connection to femininity via their appearance or their actions. Often, this connection is left unclear by the end of their series, leaving plenty of room for me to imagine “OK so they’re totally gonna be a girl for real now”. This archetype has proven a very useful crutch for me over the years. For so long, media about cis femininity was too intimidating and distant for me to even dream of consuming. During that time, I read lots of manga and played lots of games starring androgynes, allowing myself to project onto them as well as project their character onto girlhood. (see where this leads by transitive property?) Also, a lot of them were blonde (I’m not gonna read into this! My hair is closer to brown tho). With that out of the way, let me rip my heart open and highlight some of those twinks that I’ve latched so strongly onto throughout the years.

Kuranosuke from Princess Jellyfish

I’ve written a whole writeup on Kuranosuke, so if you’ve read that you should know where I’m coming from! Kuranosuke is graced with natural femininity and a desire to perform it, and lands himself into a situation where he must pass on a daily basis while designing fashion for the girls of the Amars house. Kuranosuke’s crossdressing is both effortless and extremely laborious, but it always pays off.

Kaito from Himegoto: Juukyuusai no Seifuku

Himegoto is one of the messiest mangas I’ve ever read. Three characters spiral around each other while desperately trying to negotiate their orientations, gender presentations, and livelihoods with each other and with themselves. Kaito is the standout for me – a ‘guy’ who crossdresses in a desperate attempt to ‘mirror’ his ideal image of femininity. Kaito radiates extremely eggy energies, and it’s increasingly obvious as the plot goes on that all his justification is elaborate smoke and mirrors for his desire to simply be a woman. He begins by projecting his feminine ideals onto his tomboyish friend, but by the end of the manga it all comes collapsing back onto himself. The epilogue leaves it rather ambiguous, but one can only hope that Kaito figured it all out by then.

Alucard from Castlevania: Symphony of the Night

Symphony of the Night is one of my favorite Castlevanias and maybe games of all time. I’ve always been in love with its hand-in-hand elegance and jankiness. Unlike Kaito and Kuranosuke, we’re going to have to stretch out of the canon to justify this placement, but I assure you it will be worth it. In Symphony of the Night, Alucard is a tall deep-voiced bishounen and that’s that. However, the eva problems classic “YOUR ASSHOLE DAD’S CASTLE IS BACK AGAIN” adds a sickening new twist onto the game: what if Alucard wanted to be a woman? This article retraces the full plot and route of SOTN, adding extra backstory and inner thoughts showing Alucard’s visceral bodily discomfort and twisted-up jealousy towards the female monsters of the castle. Eventually, she takes those terrifying first steps towards accepting oneself as a woman. It’s one of the most effective recontextualizations of a piece of media that I’ve ever read, and I’m not afraid to admit that it reassured and helped me with my own transition a few months down the line. Plus, the idea of Alucard But A Girl is somewhere near my ideal aesthetic.

Ryo Asuka from Devilman

--devilman spoilers--

Ryo is a bit of an oddity. A total weirdo, he doesn’t particularly demonstrate femininity throughout most of the series beyond just being kind of fluffy and cute in the 80s OVAs. However, this all changes in some of the final chapters, when Ryo is revealed to be Satan in disguise. Though every Devilman adaptation has a very different artstyle, Satan’s designed has remained the same: an androgynous fallen angel possessing both breasts and a penis. There’s a lot of associations and implications to unpack there, but I’m not going to do that in this article! While it doesn’t necessarily recontextualize Ryo’s human existence, he sure still is a twink with some Gender happening around him.

Venus from We Know The Devil

Ok, this one’s just a girl! No questions about it! Someone get her some hugs and a bottle of estradiol, stat!

Honorable Mentions:

Raiden from Metal Gear Solid 2

As much as I love slapping the “GIRL” label onto any blonde twink I can find, Raiden’s MGS2 arc of intense emasculation works way better if he's actually a guy. If there’s any further gender stuff happening with Raiden, it’s actually to be found in MGS4 and Metal Gear Rising, in which Raiden sheds his twinkish flesh to become a way more masc cyborg ninja. As The Cyborg Manifesto teaches us, cyborgs are one hell of a post-gender tool. Honestly, reading Raiden as FTM may work way better than parsing him as a trans girl, I just don’t have the specific background and ability to do that headcanon justice.

Lio Fotia from Promare

Promare was maybe the first time I saw a blonde twink character and didn’t immediately think it might be better if they were a girl. Amidst all its discussions of immigration, racism, and climate change, Promare finds time to be real gay, in a delightfully masc4fem way. Together, Lio and Galo stretch the full spectrum of male presentation, and I wouldn’t want to take that away from them.

So that’s that! I hope you enjoyed the lineup of twinks who are dear to my heart, and maybe learned a thing or two from my ramble at the start.

#12 days of anime #12daysofanime #twink

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ok-but-what-about-connor · 5 years

Text

Wake Up

Words: 1647

Pairing: Platonic Ralbert, if that counts

Warnings: Gets pretty angsty at one point, mentions of past abuse

((This all takes place sometime before the strike/musical plot))

~~~ = time skip

In the Manhattan lodging house, it wasn't uncommon to see newsies sharing beds together. Many situations, at any given time of the year, would have newsies piling on top of each other and pushing for room beneath the blankets. They couldn't care less about what others thought of it, because at the end of the day, they were all just exhausted kids who needed to get some rest. Rest, plus just an extra bit of love. That was important too.

~~~~~~~

"Heads up!" Jojo, who had been innocently trying to get some shut-eye, had no time to prepare himself before Romeo was being tossed in the air by Race and Finch and landing on top of him. Jojo coughed out a groan into his pillow before rolling onto his back. Romeo, still having not moved off of Jojo, grinned widely. Jojo was lucky the little bugger was lightweight, otherwise he would have knocked all the air out of him. Both Race and Finch beamed with the same mischievous faces.

"Didja all collectively decide today was Use-Romeo-As-a-Projectile-To-Throw-At-Jojo Day?" He grumbled, but couldn't help laughing.

"Romeo only wanted to tell you 'bout his day, 's all." Finch replied. Jojo raised an eyebrow and flicked his gaze back to the short boy, who nodded excitedly.

"Oh alright, but get offa me first." He ordered.

Romeo must not have anticipated how tired he actually was, because he had barely finished explaining how he found a flock of chickens running rampant on the streets before he talked himself to sleep, snoring loudly beside Jojo. Jojo just laughed. It wasn't the first time.

~~~~~~~

"Jack, I'm gonna need you ta take a couple of the littles outta my hair." Albert whispered. A tiny newsboy was curled up in both of his arms. Despite them being asleep, they shivered from the cold.

"I already have my own to deal with, Al." Jack said as he gestured to the two littles snoozing next to him. Albert rolled his eyes, but his face remained serious.

"You'se actin' like there ain't more ova at mine. That cot's overflowin' with kids. They were clinging to the mattress just ta stay on, the seven of them."

Jack snorted quietly. " 'S cause you're warmer than the sun."

"Jack."

"Alright, alright. Hand 'em over." He shifted so his arms were above the blanket rather than under the heads of sleeping littles. Albert handed his two over carefully without waking either of them. A true talent.

"Thanks a bunch, Jackie." Albert murmured before returning to his respective cot. As Jack followed him with his eyes, he could see that Albert indeed had hardly any room to squeeze himself onto. Jack sighed and massaged at his hand that had recently fallen asleep from the kids laying on it for so long.

Most of the time, Jack slept through the night just fine when kids were with him, because he had become so used to it, but tonight he stirred from a tight feeling on his chest. He craned his neck to see that, instead of having four newsies with him, the number somehow accumulated to six. The two new ones, both girls, were piled on his chest and making it rather hard for him to breathe, but he pulled them closer and tugged on the blanket to make sure they didn't freeze. All in a night's work.

~~~~~~~

Race was just beginning to drift off when a noise pulled him from his almost-dream. It was a noise different from that of ruffling bed sheets or the average snoring, although Race couldn't put a finger on what it was. It came from the fire escape, trailing in through the opened window. He strained his ears, listening for another sound, trying to find out if it was a possible intruder, a boy leaving the lodging house when he shouldn't be, a stray cat that had clambered up onto the platform, or anything else he could possibly anticipate. That's when he heard it.

A shaky sob, barely audible, sounded out.

Race had not anticipated that.

Slowly, Race got out of bed and crept over to the window. He was concerned, but still wary of embarrassing the person. He wasn't about to let them sit out there by themself though. Outside, there was a boy curled up on the fire escape with his face buried in his arms. Race couldn't tell who it was for a moment, until one shift of the boy's posture revealed bright red hair visible in the moonlight. Oh.

"Albert," Race whispered, "God..."

The impact from Race's feet jarred the platform, but he didn't care. Upon closer inspection, it was obvious how much Albert was shaking. His whole body looked uncomfortably stiff as well, like he was in a permanent state of waiting to take a punch.

"Albert? What's wrong?" Race frowned nervously as he crouched down to be eye level with him. Albert didn't move.

"Come on Al. 'S me, Racetrack." Race waited for a reaction. Albert's shoulders had stopped shaking, but his restrained sobs could still be heard. Great, now he was just holding back feelings. That's not what Race nor Albert needed at all.

"You ain't Racer. Get away from me." Albert's voice was thick and tremulous. It was so out of character that it caused Race's stomach to grow heavy with fear.

"It's me, Albie. Look at me, please. It's only me." Race begged. His heart absolutely shattered when he saw two brown eyes peek out from where they were hidden; tears dripped off his face and his brows were scrunched up from panic. He watched as his friend's gaze darted around his face.

"Racer?" Albert's voice cracked in a whisper.

"Yeah, it's me Al. What's wrong?" Race asked. So many questions swirled in his head, but they could wait for now. Albert swallowed back a shaky breath.

"I was goin' ta sleep at my place tonight, but when I got home I saw my dad an' brothers fightin'." He sniffed. "I ran back here and- I just got upset or somethin'. I didn't even think of checking the window ta see if it was closed or not."

Race shook his head a bit, still not understanding. "So you planned on sitting out here alone with no one to talk to?"

"Yeah! And then you came out here and decided to-" Albert's hands gripped at his hair angrily and a range of emotions played out across his face, like he wasn't sure how to react. But then, his expression contorted back into one of fear and sadness like before. He was crying again.

"Hey hey hey... it's okay. I'm right here with you." Race said, trying to calm Albert down.

"But you wasn't! Not when I needed you!" Albert yelled. Race almost turned around to see if he'd woken anybody else with his voice, but decided against it.

"Whaddya mean I wasn't with you?" He questioned.

"The Refuge..." Albert croaked. Suddenly, everything that had happened in the past five months flashed in Race's mind at once.

All the way back in the wintertime- it must have been December, since May was just beginning- Race and Albert both got tossed into the Refuge. They may have been together when they were chased by the bulls, but they certainly weren't once they'd arrived. Snyder had them separated on the spot, and it stayed that way for nearly a month until they could both break back out. They had Mush deliver letters back-and-forth to each of their windows, so sometimes they heard from each other, but the letters only held friendly affirmations, little 'You'll be okay's and 'We'll bust out soon's. Once they left, Race never asked Albert about what happened to him during their stay, and Albert never asked Race, and they left it at that. Race hadn't ever thought Albert went through more than a disciplinary slap. Until now.

Albert carried on. "Right when I walked through the door, when I heard my father yellin' at my brothers, every memory from that prison was eatin' me up outta nowhere. How I got thrown around each night without ever doin' anything. And ya just abandoned me like that, and I thought I'd neva see that stupid face of yours again. Dammit Race!" He cried.

Race didn't hesitate a moment longer to pull Albert to his chest and hold him tightly.

"I'm here now. I wish I could have been with you the whole time we were apart. 'M sorry." He whispered, continuing to echo empty apologies into the night air again and again after that, as he and Albert sat curled up on the rickety fire escape together. The tears that he had been keeping at bay now fell and mixed with the already-wet patch on his shirt from Albert.

"You're safe now." Race said once Albert's breathing had steadied out. He felt the redhead nod weakly in reply. The stars were no longer visible. Dark clouds had blocked them out. A few raindrops landed on Race's hair and face, making him flinch.

"We should probably head inside. Weather's pickin' up." He pointed out.

"I ain't got no money for rent." Albert said, pulling away from the boy and running a hand through his own hair.

"It won't cost ya anything unless you're sleeping in your own cot, which you won't be." Race remarked with a coy smile. He pulled Albert up with him by the hands and quietly led him back into the lodging house.

Race didn't ask why Albert buried his face in the crook of his neck when they laid down, or how he grabbed at his shirt in order to pull him closer, or how he muttered a tiny "Thank you" before falling asleep. He didn't have to. He already understood well enough.

Tag list:

@nerdsies

@the-art-ofdying

@kadenistrying

@sadsackofcellophane

@spot-the-brooklyn-pirate

@daveysexual

@gaby-rodriguez13

@wayward-demigod-witch

#newsies #race higgins #albert dasilva #racetrack higgins #jojo newsies #jorgelino josephino de la guerra #romeo newsies #finch cortez #finch newsies #jack kelly #newsies fic #my writing

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tarisilmarwen · 5 years

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Tari’s Top Twenty OTPs - #7

OTP: Lloyd/Colette

Fandom: Tales of Symphonia

Lloyd: An idealist with a strong sense of justice, Lloyd is a lovable doofus just along for the adventure at first. But when it becomes clear how much the journey is hurting Colette, when the truth is slowly revealed and the screwed-up state of the world they live in becomes horrifyingly clear, Lloyd morphs into a determined badass in order to save the world and the people he cares about. He’s book dumb, but he has a lot of heart and compassion, and works hard to improve himself so that he can be the hero the world needs.

Colette: As the Chosen of Mana, Colette has known pretty much her whole life that she has to give up her life in order to save Slyvarant. Taught that she has no worth outside of this singular purpose, Colette nevertheless puts on a brave smile and a cheery facade, and vows to do what she must to protect the world. Colette has abysmal self-esteem as a result, clinging to her friends Lloyd and Genis as they’re pretty much the only ones who have ever treated her like a person, rather than an object of sacrifice. Despite the curse of her destiny, Colette genuinely loves Slyvarant and its people, and is always going out of her way to be kind to everyone. She befriends easily, almost magnetic in her charisma, and as the journey proceeds is brought back from the brink of despair and finds new hope and new things to fight for.

Together: Lloyd and Colette are each other’s Most Important Person, and their primary motivations are driven by a desire to save each other. Lloyd always treats Colette like a human being, irregardless of how much of her humanity she loses on the journey, and his encouraging words keep her going. Colette in turn is always ready to emotionally bolster Lloyd when he’s feeling down, and believes the best of him in all circumstances. They both have an enthusiasm and zeal for life and bounce off each other adorably.

How I Got Into The Fandom: I sort of fell into the fandom in a roundabout way. Reading about some of Scott Menville’s other voice acting stints led me to the TVTropes page on Tales of Symphonia and it sounded interesting so I looked it up. Started by watching the OVAs and a couple Let’s Plays and a few scene clips here and there. And the story and characters kind of sunk their tenterhooks into me and I dove into the fandom for art and fics and stuff.

When I Started Shipping Them: Well the OVA practically starts right with him cutely falling on top of her with cute smiles and blushy faces and we’re like barely into the game before he’s comforting and encouraging her and generally being all concerned and caring about her sooooo yeah it… it did not take long. I was sold by the time he started running up to her every time she collapsed after opening another seal.

Why I Love Them: Lloyd was always, always concerned for her and worrying about her and seeing past her cheerful fake smiles to the pain she was hiding underneath. He went on the journey to protect her. He crossed worlds to find a way to save her and restore her soul. She went willingly to what was seemingly her death because she wanted to save the world he lived in. He was the reason she was able to be happy, able to learn to advocate for herself and her own needs and wants. They were adorable dorks around each other, who loved each other so, so much that they literally rewrote the rules of their universe in order to find a third way, a way for them not to have to sacrifice. How could I even resist?

Three Favorite Moments:

1. Colette regains her soul (OVA version).

I mean this part is in the game too, but it’s not nearly as, ah... dramatic.

Lloyd punches his way into the glass capsule holding a soulless Colette. He puts the necklace he made for her around her neck, now repurposed into the key crest that will hold back the effects of her Cruxius Crystal and, hopefully, bring back her consciousness. He asks her ever-so-gently and tenderly to come back to him, holding her and, it’s heavily implied, kissing her.

It starts to work but then the villain regains enough dying strength to direct the machinery to separate them and remove Colette’s necklace. Lloyd screams her name, reaching out for her, fighting to get to her as a claw slowly pulls on the chain. Colette begins to mumble. The chain breaks but Lloyd can only gape because Colette has reached out and grabbed her pendant.

Her voice gets stronger and stronger as she says, “This... Lloyd gave me this. This is a birthday present that Lloyd gave me! I’m never taking it off!“, opening her eyes fully, her angel wings appearing and breaking her out of the machinery arms.

Lloyd breaks out too and they call each other’s names as they happily reach for each other, in shiny sparkly slo-mo no less.

It was shipper spoilage of the highest caliber.

2. The cooldown hug.

ONCE AGAIN, THE OVA APPARENTLY KNEW EXACTLY HOW TO SPOIL ME.

Lloyd and his friends have crash-landed in Tethe’alla, Slyvarant’s sister world with which it shares its mana flow. Surrounded by soldiers, things are tense, and get even tenser when, sensing danger, Colette’s angel powers turn on.

She’s in danger of burning the plaza to ashes but Lloyd, determined and unafraid, walks up to her, puts his arms around her even though her powers are actively hurting him, and begs her to calm down.

And... she does. Her angel powers turn off. All goes still. From somewhere in the depths of her soulless coma, Colette heard him. And my heart squees.

3. Colette loses her soul.

Whichever version you go with, this scene is just heartbreaking. Lloyd has learned the awful truth about the Journey of Regeneration, what Colette has to do to switch the mana flow into Slyvarant. And he is horrified and begging her not to do it. Colette regains her voice long enough to be able to say one final goodbye to him. And then she gives up the last of her humanity, her eyes turn blank, and she’s gone.

And Lloyd is just devastated. And immediately demands her back.

Sacrificing Colette, even to save millions of others, was too much. And now he will fight for her to return to him.

#colloyd #lloyd x colette #Lloyd Irving #Colette Brunel #tales of symphonia #shipping #talking bout ships #meta rambling #tari's top twenty otps

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curestardust · 5 years

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if you want: mediocre idol anime with a lot of missed potential

It had a promising start and a letdown of an execution.

The first episode is actually quite interesting. We’ve an idol group called “Ongaku Shoujo” aka Music Girls who’re quite unpopular. At one of their busking events in the airport, our main character Hanako runs into them. She is the daughter of two musicians who’re there for their Japan tour. After the girls do their performance they find out that Hanako has an extraordinary ability of learning dances just by seeing them once. However, when she gets on stage it turns out that she is absolutely shit at singing.

So you’re probably thinking: aaahhh, so she will join the group and work hard to improve her singing and then they get popular in the process? Well, no. Hanako is immediately shafted into a staff position and...that’s it. So what IS it about then?

The group getting popular. Obsviously, this is an often used schtick in idol anime but the way they went about it was horrible, you know why? Cause WE DON’T SEE IT!

Ongaku Shoujo has 11 members and this anime has 12 episodes. Each episode advances the “plot” a tiny, tiny bit while it also puts one or two of the members in the spotlight. This formula is fine. I can at the very least list one personality trait of each girl even if I don’t remember their name.

Back to the plot, we’re barely shown them getting popular. It’s obvious from the fact that they’re invited to shows ans given CF opportunities but besides a few moments it really doesn’t come off as them being a “popular”.

Even worse is the second main character of the anime, Ouri who is the leader and the center for the group. She has an incredibly annoying personality. Has a really short fuse, likes to shout at people and act on impulse and doesn’t discuss her problems with her members.

Aaaand the finale episode. Without spoilers: the biggest bullshit of a deux ex machina I’ve ever seen.

Technical side isn’t even worth talking about. Average to laughable art and animation and mediocre music, of which there’s few anyway.

So, yeah. The majority of the cast is kinda lovable but it’s really just. Lame. Not worth watching if you have any standards whatsoever. [4/10] (x)

BONUS: Ongaku Shoujo’s “origin” is worth a few words. A 25 minute long OVA by the same name aired at the Anime Mirai in 2015. And it’s pretty good! The animation is fluid and the artstyle is soft and nice to look at. They manage to fit all the highs and lows of the story, which IS a quite typical idol anime themed but it’s not too jarring. I honestly thought that the TV version was going to rework the story we saw here but unfortunately besides 2 of the characters resembling and having the same names as the 2 protagonists of the OVA, there is no further connection between the two. But if you want something short and sweet idol stuff, I’d recommend. [7/10] (x)

Recommend: HELL Yeah! | Yes | Eh??? | Nope | This anime killed my parents

if you want: family movie / interesting take on the flow of time

Mirai no Mirai is a movie with an interesting basis.

Our main characters are a family, the Ootas. At the start of the movie we find out that the mother has given birth to their second child, Mirai. We mostly follow around their first child, Kun.

The movie presents an idea: what if time was not linear but fluid where characters from other times could visit you and you could visit them? We’re shown this idea through Kun. He is goes through the many problems a boy his age would go through. Jealousy because of his new sister, the frustration of not being pampered 24/7, trying to learn new skills for the first time etc. Each time he dashes out into the yard out of impulse where the tree would light up and throw us into the fantasy side of the story. The first few times he meets the personified version of the family dog and her sister from the future but as the movie goes on these time jumps become more extreme. Kun meets multiple of his relatives in numerous points of their lives where he learns something related to the problems he is facing...or he is supposed to.

The idea of the movie is fascinating and was the reason I decided to watch it, but multiple problems plague Mirai no Mirai which can drastically take away from the enjoyment of the movie.

The most drastic one is Kun’s personality. Making an impulsive, loud, rebellious and rude 5 year old boy the main character of the movie was a questionable desicion. However, this wouldn’t have been as annoying if he showed improvement. Each time he comes back from the other world the tree took him to, he seems like he learnt a lesson. But when we cut into the next scene that’s all gone and he is acting as annoying as ever. It doesn’t really show that his meetings with his other relatives left any long-lasting impression on him.

The others are more technical. Many of the voice actors are rookies and it shows, especially on Kun which is another questionable decision, considering that we have to listen to him throughout the whole movie.

The animation and the art direction are both quite well done, with the background being expecially gorgeous. However, they used CGI with certain scenes and it’s quite obvious due to the different movements of those scenes. When used sparingly, they were fine, but there was a scene near the end with a HEAVY use of quite ugly CGI that didn’t really fit the tone or the look of the movie and it was...weird.

I’m pretty sure that I’m simply not the target demographic for this movie. People who could relate to the struggles of the parents trying to balance work and kids while also being able to find Kun and Mirai’s constant whining adoring would most likely enjoy this more. [6/10] (x)

Recommend: HELL Yeah! | Yes | Eh??? | Nope | This anime killed my parents

if you want:an amazing magical girl anime / one (1) actual healthy romance / nice cast of main characters

Haying reached another milestone, I yet again decided to rewatch one of my childhood favourites and this time I settled on Tokyo Mew Mew.

TMM, Mew Mew Power in English and Vadmacska Kommandó (Wildcat Commando) as I personally knew it, still holds up surprisingly well.

Having aired in 2003, Tokyo Mew Mew sticks to the magical girl themes mostly present at the time which is the story putting just as much emphasis on the romance as the magical girl aspects. The latter of which uses formulas that are still in use today: monster-of-the-week, colour coded characters, the Big Bad etc.

While we have 5 Mew Mews in the team but Ichigo, our leader and pink magical girl, gets the most airtime our of all of them. The other girls get a few episodes mostly focused on them here and there but it’ll be kinda a letdown for those who’re HUGE fans of one of the other Mew Mews.

Which is why it’d be quite a big problem if Ichigo was insufferable but she isn’t! She does have the usual tropes: ditzy, noisy and all-over-the-place. However, she is also loyal, kind, hardworking and strong.

Now I’d like to say a few things about the romance. It’s incredibly rare to get that right in magical girl anime. Almost every relationship I’ve seen was unhealthy or annoying. But not here, oh no! In the very first episode we find out that Ichigo has landed a date with the school’s most popular guy, Aoyama. This makes it so that we don’t have to suffer through the “will they, won’t they” and we arrive when their relationship begins to take root. They go through highs and lows but they support each other all the way and I just love them.

But as good as the Aoyama romance is, the others are....not so much. As usual the romances center around our main character, aka Ichigo. The 2 culprits are Ryou and Quiche. Ryou is the brain behind the Mew Mew Project so he’s sort of like Ichigo’s boss. He doesn’t outright pursue her nor seems too interested in her however he has a bad tendency of kissing Ichigo a few times and NO. I very much didn’t like that. However, while he kinda exists the picture toward the end we have the rapey romance aka Quiche. He is an alien aka the enemy. He become infatuated with Ichigo for seemingly no particular reason and is just generally uhhhh...rapey. Unfortunately, his character doesn’t really go through much of a development which is a shame.

Anyway, before I finish, let me bring up the transformations. U G H. Yes they are much more simple than the ones today but I’m still in love with them. My favourite was Minto’s. The fluidity of her movements, the angles used, the material of her clothes and the pure creativity....they’re just gorgeous.

So, my true score of this is a 9/10 but my nostalgia would kill me if I gave this anything other than a perfect score so there’s that, If you’re a magical girl fan, Tokyo Mew Mew is a MUST! [10/10] (x)

Recommend: HELL Yeah! | Yes | Eh??? | Nope | This anime killed my parents

#dusty reviews #Mirai no Mirai #Mirai of the Future #Mirai #Ongaku Shoujo #music girls #Ongaku Shoujo (TV)#Tokyo Mew Mew #Mew Mew Power

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