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bangchansgirlsblog · 6 months

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My Biggest Regret

Part five:

His arms wrapped around her as fast as they could. Pulling her against his body. He couldn't believe it. She was there.

The nights he would cry himself to sleep because of the lonely feeling that no one seemed to fill except her played in his mind. The days where he would pick up his phone to try to call her but knew he couldn't, played in his mind.

She was right in front of him.

"I missed you so much Aya," He whispered to Y/n. Her scent filled his nostrils and all of a sudden he was the 14 year old boy running around the playground with his girl bestfriend. So innocent, so happy and so in love.

"I missed you too Channie," she whispered back to him. She was trying to keep her tears in but she totally failed. The tears slowly wetting his hoodie. Just like at the airport but he didn't care, he never did.

"Hey, don't cry, you're too beautiful to cry," his touch was so soft. He wiped the tears from her eyes and kissed her forehead.

"Yuck gross!" Hannah exclaimed when she had realized the two were now just staring and smiling at one another.

"Hannah, Stop it! I've been waiting for years to see this happen!" Chan's mum smacked Hannah on the back of the head before admiring the two lovers who were both in their own world.

Unlike Hannah who was rambling in anger while her mum and dad just admired the couple in-front of them.

The rest of the boys sat in confusion. Trying to understand what was going on because they were very sure that their leader was in a relationship back home. They were sure that their leader was getting all the girls and screwing them every chance he could get so why was his mum calling them love birds? Did they miss a chapter? Did any of them know what was going on back home?

Han looked over at Changbin trying to communicate with his eyes, trying to get answers but Changbin, being his slow self, couldn't understand what was going on.

"Shall we show you guys to your room as these guys catch up?" Chan's dad interrupted the little chattering that was going on.

"Yes please," I.N replied and they all got up and carried their bags following right behind.

"Okay Chan, I'm going to say it. I.N is smoking hot!" Hannah exclaimed and collapsed on the couch. He looked over at his little sister and chuckled. He wasn't surprised at her reaction because when he was away she would always make such comments to piss him off.

"I don't think you want to mess with him, his quite the player," Chan responded.

How ironic Chan because aren't you the same person screwing other girls while you claim to love with your bestfriend?

Hannah whined and looked up to her older brother. "Ugh you’re no fun,"

"You missed me though," he teased back.

"Sure," Hannah stuck out her tongue and laid back down on the couch.

"I'll go take a shower and we can catch up yeah?" Chan hadn't let go of Y/n's hand. He was still holding on and he didn't let go. He refused to let go but if he did want to shower he eventually would have too.

"Okay that's fine, I need to set up the snack table anyway," she smiled at the older boy. The light in her eyes was brighter than ever and her skin was glowing. Chan couldn't take his eyes off her. Not at all but again he knew he had too. He finally let go and grabbed his suitcases to head to his room.

The living room was now boy free. Chan's dad came back to start on the grill and Chan's mum was by his side helping. They wanted to get everything ready because they knew the boys were hungry. Who wouldn’t be?

Meanwhile Hannah was complaining about how living with 9 boys (including her dad) was going to be the most excruciating pain ever.

Y/n on the other hand was in lala land. Chan was more handsome and the most beautiful. His muscles were bigger and he was way more taller and his jawline was sharper than ever. He was just perfect.

"Y/n dear, will you help me bring out the drinks?"

"Yes, sure auntie," she replied politely then made her way into the kitchen and she grabbed the beers and soft drinks out of the fridge. She then put them in the coolers and started making the punch and put it in jugs.

"Do you need help?" A low voice makes her jump. She quickly turned to look at the door where she saw non other than Hyunjin.

His hair was wet indicating that he had came out the shower and he was dressed in sweats and a shirt. He had a soft smile on his face.

"Um, no not really. You should go sit down. You've been traveling for hours," she smiled and continued to pour the punch into the jug.

"Yeah but I'd rather help. You all have already prepared such a nice meal. You might have been in the kitchen all day,"

"Not really no, would you like something to drink maybe?" She asked the boy who was now leaning on the counter watching her in awe. He was admiring her. Who wouldn't? She was so beautiful.

"Hm, what about some of that punch. Did you make it yourself?"

"Yeah I did, my mum taught me how too," she grabbed a cup and poured some punch and passes it to the older man. He took a sip and quite literally moans.

"That's really good," he said while his eyes were wide in shock.

"Thank you," she giggled and walked over to the cooler to carry it.

"No let me," Hyunjin said realizing how heavy it was. He didn't mean to get close to her the way he did but in a way he did mean too. He wanted to feel her and he was slick with it.

"No it's fine-" but before she could protest his body was against her back and his hands reach over her carrying the cooler over her head and out of the kitchen.

She stood there in shock. His body was against hers and she couldn't help but turn red. If anyone had seen that it would have been a problem.

"Hey Y/n? Mums wondering if you could bring out her wine for her," Hannah's head popped around the door.

"Okay, coming," she grabbed the bottles and made her way to the living room where she finds a few boys sat on the couch watching football while Chan's dad was setting the stuff on the table.

She handed the bottle to Chan's mum and sat next to Hannah who was now sitting next to I.N.

The two were talking about something, totally in their own world while mama Chan was getting to know the boys better.

Slowly by slowly the whole living room was filled as more of the boys came out of their rooms. Chan came out last but was eager to talk to Y/n.

He wanted to know where they stood. He wanted to know how she was. He wanted to know if she was better. He most importantly wanted to apologize but he wouldn't get the chance to because his sister grabbed him once he walked downstairs.

He was confused. Why did his sister need to talk to him? Did he do something wrong?

Y/n knew what their talk was going to be about so she wasn't surprised. She was just worried about Hannah. She Was praying that she would get her closure and that she would stop being mad at him.

The two disappear out back brining Y/n’s attention back to the living room and the people around her.

"So Y/n, You and Chan..." Seungmin spoke up over the noise. "Are you guys a thing or something?"

"Uhh," she didn't know how to answer this, "we used to be? I geuss," she takes a sip of her drink.

"Uhhh, so how long have you guys been bestfriends?" Felix joined the conversation now interested as well.

"We were born two weeks apart. So ever since I was born," she let out a small laugh and smiled over at the boys who were so intrigued by her, "How's straykids?" She asked them.

"A lot of work, just really busy. But really fun. A lot of parties a lot of events-"

"A lot of girls," Han interrupted earning him a huge smack on the head.

"Ow! What?! It's true!" Y/n looked at them suspiciously but decided to shrug it off.

"Maybe one day we can take you to an event with us!" I.N smiled cheerfully.

"Uhh no! I don't do parties." She shook her head and put her drink down. Eager to know how Hannah and Chan were doing.

"Um...I'm going to check on those two, I'll be back," she informed everyone in the room and headed to the back yard. She spied on them. Trying not to be seen but when she looked at both of them, her stomach started to turn.

The both of them were in a heated argument. It was clear. It looked like Hannah was the one yelling the loudest. Y/n knew she had to step in or it could go left.

It took guts but she walked out to the garden. Their conversation becoming clear to hear.

"You weren't there Chan!"

"What do you expect from me Hannah?! I'm busy! I have a life and I can't keep coming back to Australia just to see you do little things that you're probably going to forget!"

"Oh wow! Chan, you know in my lowest times I thought you would be there. You weren't. Y/n was and she is the best older sister I have ever had and you will never ever be half the women she is, I don’t even know why your back after all these years! We were fine without you!"

#skz imagines #skz comfort #skz angst #skz x reader #skz drabbles #skz fluff #skz stay #skz x y/n #stray kids drabbles #skz x you

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partypoisonzz · 2 years

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we must never be apart (gerard way x drummer!reader smut)

Kinktober 2022 Day 12: Hickies/Lovebites/Quickies

Era: Projekt Revolution (2007)

Reader Pronouns: None, but Reader has AFAB anatomy and there's one "Mistress" use.

Content:

- Backstage quickies againnnn

- HELLA subby Gerard

- Pegging mention

- Free use mention

- Established but secret relationship, fuck it we ball

Word Count: 2,435

Disclaimer: This explicit story was written by an adult for consumption by other adults only. If you are under 18, please do not read or interact in any way.

Gerard lets out a quiet whimper as the door closes behind you. You lean in to whisper a warning in his ear as you back him up against a wall.

"Quiet," you murmur before leaning in further, pressing a kiss to his neck. A soft albeit high-pitched sound breaks up from his throat as he relaxes underneath your touch.

You pull back, looking at him in the dim light of the venue's supply closet. He returns your gaze, swallowing hard.

You can't help but give him a sly smile. He's ruined already.

You're about to make it a whole lot worse.

"That's my good boy."

Before he can fully process the praise, your lips are pressed hard against his. He moans against your mouth, desperate. You can't resist making a comment about it when you pull away.

"So needy," you say. Then, because you always love to hear him say it: "Tell me what you want, baby."

He lets out another shaky whine before obliging you. "W-want you to keep touching me."

You giggle. "That's not very specific, is it?" You press an open-mouthed kiss to the edge of his jaw, working your way up until your lips rest just below his ear. "You could have me however you wanted," you whisper to him. "My hands... My mouth... My pussy... It's all yours."

As soon as these words pass your lips, you busy yourself with kissing him again, your mouth trailing back down his neck. He throws his head back, letting out another desperate groan.

Your eyes flick upwards, taking in the look on his face. His eyes are closed, ringed by eyeliner that has yet to be ruined by sweat, — or tears, if you had it your way. His mouth hangs open slightly, lost in the feeling of the meager touches and kisses that you're giving him. You're tempted to shove your fingers inside, make him suck and gag on them, but you figure it's best if that comes later. He still has to sing tonight, after all.

"Hurry up and tell me, baby," you urge him between kisses. "The show starts in thirty minutes. We don't have much time."

Judging by the way that Gerard is reacting to mere foreplay, you know that half an hour is more than enough time to get him off and continue going about your night. Still, there's something about the urgency that adds

another layer of thrill to the situation. The nagging notion that you shouldn't be doing this right now makes it all the more fun.

"Don't care what you do," Gerard finally manages. "Just want you to make me yours."

These words draw your attention to the insistent throbbing between your legs. Of course, knowing that you're in charge, you have to keep your composure.

"Just wanna be mine, huh?" you echo sweetly. "You wanna show everybody? Let everyone who looks at you know that you're my bitch?"

The degrading nickname elicits another pathetic whimper. "Yeah," he says. "Want them to know... Want them to see..."

You chuckle. "So they can picture how you look underneath me every night?" you ask. "You want them to hear all those dirty noises you make and wonder if that's what you sound like when I suck you off? Want them to talk about whether or not I'm the one fucking you?" You teasingly nip at his neck, inspiring a beautifully shrill cry that leaves you smiling against his skin.

"You know that they'd wonder," you go on. "The way that you bend over the amp... How you walk over to my drumset sometimes and mess with me, like you're just trying to piss me off... Everybody knows you're just begging to get fucked." You let out another laugh as you suck a hickey against a particularly tender spot on his neck. "God, I wish I had my strap. I'd fuck your brains out, right up against this wall. Ruin you before the show even starts."

These words cause him to let out a full-blown, desperate moan, leaning in to press his face against your neck. "Fuck me," he mutters.

You push him away from you, pinning him against the wall again. You give him a sly grin as your eyes rake over him, taking in his flushed face, the look of wanting in his eyes, the already-purpling marks on his neck.

He gives another shaky gulp, looking up at you with pleading eyes. Your smile fades away as you slowly shake your head. "You know, baby," you say. "I'm not sure you deserve that."

You swear that you see the hope draining from his eyes instantly. "What?" he huffs out, his voice high-pitched and whiny. "Why?"

In truth, you want nothing more than to sink down on him and ride him, quick and dirty, let him fill you up with his come before you walk onstage. Still, something tells you that teasing him before the show and spending the rest of the night getting him worked up will be much more fun in the end.

You hum, absentmindedly stroking the side of his face, — a gesture that is both condescending and affectionate enough to have Gerard melting against you. "You just haven't been as patient as you usually are," you explain. "You're usually so compliant, but tonight, you're being a bit... bratty."

He whines slightly, squirming slightly against your hold. "Sorry," he mumbles. "Was an accident, I swear. I—" He lets out a high-pitched sound of surprise as your hands travel down to his chest, pushing him up against the wall.

His eyes meet yours, pretty and coal-lined and filled with an unmistakable emotion. Fear.

You bare your teeth at him in the form of a dazzling smile. "Feeling ungrateful, are we?"

"N-no," he stammers, shaking his head back and forth pathetically.

"Hmm... I don't know." Before he can attempt to further explain himself, you lean in, giving him another deep, blistering kiss.

He kisses you back fervently, like he's afraid it's the only contact he'll have with you for the rest of the night. You're far too wet for that to be case, but that doesn't mean that you can't mess with him a little bit.

"You have two options," you tell him when he comes up for air, gasping for breath. You lean in so that your foreheads touch. As innocently domestic as the gesture may seem to others, the eye contact between the two of you is filled with white hot intensity. "Option number one: you get off from just my hand..."

One of your hands wanders down his body, landing on his belt buckle. You smile to yourself as you feel his breathing hitch.

"Or option number two..." You idly run your hand over his bulge for a moment before suddenly pulling back. "I go and fix my makeup right now, and leave you to take care of this by yourself."

"N-no," Gerard blurts out. "No, please..." You feel him shifting against you, desperately searching for just the slightest bit of friction.

You raise your eyebrows, pushing harder against his shoulders. "Behave," you caution him.

That one word is enough to make him go completely still, looking up at you with those sad doe eyes again.

You laugh softly, leaning in to kiss his cheek. "Good boy." Without warning, your hand returns to the fly of his jeans. Though you hear his quiet gasp, you are pleased to find that he remains motionless.

"Why don't you beg pretty for me?" you ask him, pressing your hand ever-so-slightly harder against the denim.

It doesn't take him any time to comply. "Please," he whimpers.

"Please, what?" you ask, beginning to rub your hand up and down, slowly, oh-so-fucking-slowly.

"Please, Mistress," Gerard pants without missing a beat. God, he's so fucking good. "Please let me use your hand to get off."

"There we go." Your lips return to his neck as you finally reach for his zipper. You continue sucking at that sensitive place as you tug his jeans halfway down. You pull away when you realize that there are no underwear for you to discard.

"Little slut." You reach out, grabbing his ass quickly before pulling your hand away again. "What's this for, huh? Easy access?"

"Hah... Maybe..." Gerard's head falls against your shoulder again as your hand crawls ever-closer to where he needs you.

"Aww, baby, don't be shy," you gently chide. "It's alright. You can tell me. You just want me to be able to have your cock whenever I want it, right?"

He cries out as you suddenly wrap your hand around his aching cock, slowly rubbing your hand upwards. "Mmm-hmm," he hums, face buried in your skin.

You run your thumb in circles around his head, collecting precome. "Louder, sweetheart."

"Y-yeah," he manages, lifting his head slightly. "I... I do. Want it... Want you... All the fucking time..."

You give a satisfied hum. "That's because you're my whore, isn't it?" Suddenly, you begin moving your hand faster, resulting in a beautiful series of strangled moans.

"Yeah. Yeah, it is." He throws his head back again, bucking his hips against your hand. "Fuck..."

You chuckle. "Bet you'd let me use you whenever I wanted, if you could." Your lips return to his neck, this time trailing the hollow of his throat. "What would you think about that, baby? If I just climbed on top of you when you were doing something else and took what I wanted?"

"Yeah. Fuck, yeah. I'd like that." He lets out another surprised cry as you speed up your movements even more. "Ohgod, please..."

"You just wanna be my good little whore all the time, right?" Your teeth scrape against a mark you had previously left on his neck, causing those pathetic little noises to grow even louder. "Just wanna be mine, in every single way?"

"Please," he begs. He's actually fucking your hand now, though you can't exactly bring yourself to mind. "Please, please make me yours..."

You laugh softly. "You already are mine, baby," you tell him earnestly. "And I'm all yours, too. But you want everyone else to see that, don't you?"

He nods frantically. "Uh-huh."

You grin, nipping lightly at one of the bruises. "That's so sweet, baby," you purr. "You're so good, you know that? I'm awfully lucky."

"Th-thank you." He wraps his arms around your waist, attempting to hold you as close as he possibly can as your hand speeds up and your tongue flattens against the side of his hickey-strewn neck. "Oh, fuck..."

You simply hum against his skin, now moving your wrist at a breakneck speed.

You continue your ministrations until you feel his breathing falling out of time, his chest heaving against yours in a series of frantic gasps.

At that point, you pull back.

"Wh-what're you doing?" Gerard asks, eyes flashing with that look of panic once again.

You grin up at him as you sink to the floor. You know that getting on your knees for him sort of defies your dominance, but...

"Look at me," you order him as your hand returns to his cock.

His breath hitches as his eyes flick downwards, meeting yours.

You keep your eyes on his as you speed back up.

"That's it," you encourage him. You take note of all the signs that indicate that he's right there, ready to explode on the pull of a fucking hairpin trigger. His eyes look hazy, — clouded over, almost. His breathing comes in uneven gasps. "My good, pretty boy. You look so gorgeous, fucking my hand like this..."

Your praise causes his hips to buck harder against your hand. At this point, you aren't even sure if that's voluntary or not. "Oh... oh, please... God..."

"Feels good, huh?" You abruptly slow your movements, building up to what you think is a teasing pace as your hand moves along his shaft. "My good boy. Can't believe I get you all to myself. Can't believe that you're mine..."

Suddenly, his hips buck harder against your hand, a strangled groan breaking up from his throat. "Oh, fuck!"

You gasp as the first spurt of come spills all over your hand.

You milk him through it until he finally collapses against the wall, body twitching slightly with overstimulation.

"Mmm... Such a good boy." You bring your hand up to your mouth, eyes never leaving his as you lick the mess away from your fingers. Gerard's face manages to turn redder, even in his rosy afterglow.

You look down for a moment, only to find that your hand wasn't the only thing that had gotten messy.

"Motherfucker," you curse, regarding your now-ruined T-shirt with dismay. You rise slowly to your feet, tugging at the fabric.

"What the fuck am I supposed to do about this, Gerard?" you ask. "We go on in ten minutes. I don't have time to change..."

"Here." Gerard quickly tugs his vest off and holds it out to you. "Just wear this."

You cast a curious glance over your shoulder at him, now just wearing his plain black T-shirt. "You want me to go onstage wearing your clothes?" you ask. "Wouldn't that make people... speculate?"

He shakes his head. "Don't even care."

You can't help but smile at this declaration. "Alrighty. Singer's definitely fucking the drummer. Got it." You allow him to help you into the jacket before holding up a finger. "Now, just give me a sec..."

He regards you with a curious look as he redoes his pants. The look of confusion on his face never ceases when you remove the bandana from around your neck. "What..."

He suddenly goes silent as you wrap the bandana around his wrist, fastening it with a loose knot. "There," you say as you proudly pull away. "Everyone can see that we belong to each other now, right?"

For a moment, he just looks at you, eyes swimming with affection. Then, his hand comes to rest underneath your chin, pulling you closer to him.

You kiss him for what seems like forever, growing dizzy from the feeling after getting so fucking wet for him.

When he finally breaks away, Gerard offers you a question, so quiet you can barely hear it. "Marry me?"

You chuckle, pulling away. "Ask me again when you aren't so fucked out."

Little do you know as you step onstage that he fully intends on trying again later.

Maybe later tonight, at the hotel, he thinks as the roar of the crowd fills his ears. You turn to smile at him, your fingers brushing just slightly before the lights come up.

Taglist (Ask to be included!):

@mysunfishpeedinmyroom @xocasper @clichedlovers @enchantinghouseofwh0res @yachiiko @dangerouslittlefairy @deadlovers

#gerard way imagines #gerard way x reader #gerard way smut #mcr imagines #mcr x reader #mcr fanfiction #mcr smut #my chemical romance smut #my chemical romance imagines #my chemical romance x reader #/rpf #my chemical romance fanfiction #kinktober 2022 #my writing

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thewalkingwillowtree · 1 year

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Hmmm haven't really made requests before so feel free to disregard this is you don't feel it UK?

Maybe something like unrequited love? I'm a sucker for some angst. Maybe Neteyam and a fierce warrior who he feels he doesn't deserve? Idk I suck a this😭. Hope you're doing good💛

Ahh! Thank you hun, you're the best. I hope I did it justice, you and me both here with the 'new to requests' thing. Fingers crossed.

Part 2

A blow to the gut made you stumble and large hands tried to pin you but you were too quick. Pushing yourself, you skilfully dodged your attacker’s punch, then gripped their wrist in a fierce grip, twisting it behind their back.

With a grunt they landed hard on their stomach when you swept their feet from under them, signalling the end of your match. Applause and laughter broke out from the rest of your team, who had been observing and you whooped happily in success.

“That’s two out of three Sa’ott. Ready to admit defeat now?”

Sa’ott grinned at you and accepted your help in getting up then shoved you playfully, “Fine, I’ll let you have your win this time boss.”

“Sa’ott!” The Na'vi's face went pale, grin slipping right off at the sound of Neteyam’s voice and the rest of your team all clammed up, their easy going demeanour turning composed and disciplined once more.

“Is this how a warrior behaves?!” Neteyam’s booming voice stilled the male, turning him into a stuttering mess.

“N- no. N- no S Sir.”

“Then stop playing around and get back to your drills! All of you!” He barked.

Neteyam’s words were directed to your team, but his anger was all for you and it sent a jolt of chills down your back. Without a glance in your direction they all ran off, leaving the two of you alone.

Ticked off, you glared at him, “Was that really necessary? He’s one of my men! How I choose to train is my choice!”

“That....was not training. The hell is wrong with you? Since when did you start acting so childish?” His jab angered you.

“Childish? Oh that’s rich coming from you. It’s not a crime if I let loose sometimes! It helps, and my team becomes stronger and closer that way. It can’t be all about drills and orders.”

“Tough! That’s all it is. You’re a unit leader, you’re supposed to be leading by example, not having a pissing contest with dumbasses in the middle of drill training for Eywa sake!” His lips curled in disgust “He was flirting with you.”

You knew for sure that Sa’ott wasn’t, he had a mate of his own who he was completely obsessed with. With a quirk of an eyebrow you said, “So?”

“So?” His jaw ticked. “Aha, well you sure move on quick, considering...” His words were mean but you took it in stride.

“You almost sound jealous.”

His face hardened. “Well I’m not! It’s not happening. We’re not happening…or have you forgotten our conversation already? I told you-”

Now it felt like a slap in the face. “Stop. I was there, I don’t need a reminder. It was mortifying enough that I confessed my feelings for you and you rejected me…but I won’t allow you to make me feel bad about it.”

Turning to walk away, frustration bubbled. You couldn’t seem to help yourself though. Answers. You needed answers.

Facing him again, you wiped a bead of sweat off your brow. “I don’t get it, Neteyam. You act as if you care about me, you shoo away any male that even comes near me but yet you say you don’t want me? You can’t have it both ways!”

His face remained passive. “You’re right. I apologize if my actions showed I cared because I assure you…I don’t.”

Ouch, that hurt.

“So do whatever you want, I won’t get in your way again.” He turned to leave but your hurt got the best of you and you shoved his back, hard, causing him to stumble.

When he turned to face you with an angry snarl on his face you shoved his chest this time, cutting off his speech. You knew it was probably childish but you so what? You had finally snapped.

With a frustrated cry and another furious shove, you questioned him.

“What is the matter with you? Why do you keep pretending?! I am not blind. I know what I feel between us! Why are you fighting this huh? Tell me the truth already Neteyam because I am tired of the circles we’re going in, I don’t know how much more of your rejection I can handle. So what is it? Am I not good enough for you or something?”

“Aha!” He let out a loud sarcastic laugh which simmered into a bitter chuckle. “Not good enough….that’s funny.”

He closed the distance between you two and gripped your jaw in a firm grip forcing you to meet his eyes as he glared down at you. “It’s quite the opposite sweetheart.” He spat the nickname as if it were a curse.

You gripped his wrist trying to pull free from his grasp but he only held tighter and a pang of fear mixed with something else erupted in your chest.

“You are the bane of my existence, everything you do irritates me and your presence is completely and insufferably suffocating…is what I want to say…”

You licked your lips, trying to ignore the hurt his words inflicted upon you, “What do you really want to say then?”

His eyes danced between yours, flickering left, right, left, right as he contemplated what to say.

“…I’m the one that’s not good enough for you, I don’t deserve you.”

Silence.

“Nete-”

He released you then stepped back as if your touch burned him, wiping his palm on his thigh. “Don’t read into it. Just drop it alright. From now on I’ll leave you alone, I won’t chase off your little boyfriends. I won’t interrupt your roughhousing or comment on your training tactics. I won’t act as if I care."

That’s the last thing you wanted. You weren’t a crier but right now your emotions were all over the place and you wanted nothing more than to hide and bawl your eyes out. Rejection was a wretched feeling, it stung bad.

He pinched the bridge of his nose looking pained. “Forget about it sweetheart. I’m no good.” When he looked up again, his emotionless mask was visible once more. “We’ll just go back to how we used to be, right?”

Refusing to beg or show him how much he was hurting you right now, you swallowed down the lodge in your throat and gave a jerky nod. “Right. Whatever you want, Sir.”

You knew the ‘Sir’ would get to him, judging by his flinch. You reported to him and from day one he had refused to have you call him Sir. But if this was how he wanted it then so be it.

“Is that it? Can I be dismissed?”

He hesitated, then nodded. “Yeah. That’s it. Dismissed.”

And with that you walked away, head held high.

I'm sorry if there were any errors.

Please reblog, like and let me know if you enjoyed it in the comments :)

Take care for now.

#neteyam x reader #neteyam x you #avatar neteyam #neteyam fic #neteyam sully #neteyam #neteyam angst #neteyam x omaticaya!reader #avatar twow

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inkblackorchid · 7 months

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I watched this duel again yesterday and I honestly wish I had any sort of fresh take or unusual perspective on it, but I think the truth is that I just don't. This duel is three things for me:

Proof of concept for a very intriguing larger narrative (whose execution sadly doesn't land all the way for me)

The introduction of a character who has several interesting key aspects to them (and who could have, perhaps, been handled a bit better)

Emblematic of all the issues I have with the WRGP arc's writing.

As I said, I don't think I have any truly revolutionary things to say about this duel, but I feel like getting my thoughts out, so expect a fairly non-structured, stream-of-consciousness post below. There are multiple things here that bother me and I finally want to dissect them. Feel free to follow along if you also like examining stuff like this in more detail than it perhaps needs to be examined in. And I really mean examine them in unnecessary detail. Be warned, this post could count as a dissertation in terms of length. But I'm passionate and like analysing things, so no attempt to control its length was made.

So, I won't mince words here. The Team New World duel is absolutely where several major aspects of the time-travel-Iliaster plot completely fall apart for me. I want to make it clear that this isn't the fault of Aporia's character writing or what this duel is building up to, though. Nor do I think that the concept of a secret shadow organisation using time travel to influence world events is too out there. Lbr, this is yugioh. The time-travelling-cyborg-shadow-organisation is absolutely not the culprit of why I think some things don't work here. (And by here I mean specifically the WRGP arc.) Moreover, I'll be the first to admit that the finale this duel builds up to, with everything from the Ark Cradle beginning its descent to Yusei's final duel with Z-ONE, is stellar. So there are several things that do work here—but I think that may be exactly the reason why the other things piss me off all the more.

So what are the "other things", then?

Well, simply put, a lot of this arc's supposed setup and worldbuilding falls apart as soon as you start asking a few simple questions, first and foremost "why". And again, I will likely not be treading new ground here, but this just irks me to no end. However, so this post doesn't devolve entirely into unproductive whining about a part of the show I wish had been better than it was, I'll be doing another thing here: Trying to provide solutions for the things that irk me as I go along. As a kind of thought exercise, and because it's not hate motivating me here, merely extreme frustration about an arc that feels like it was fumbled like a hot potato. So, let's start digging through this mess.

The elephant in the room.

This whole arc (and in fact even the pre-WRGP arc before it) hinges on the concept of antagonists using monsters that can absorb synchro monsters, which is treated as such a monumental problem that we see Yusei, our protagonist, in downright anguish about it not one, but several times. Like, this eats at him.

(Pictured: A troubled boy brooding about his synchro summoning issues.)

And look, I know everyone and their mother has brought this up at this point, but this is already the first bit that falls apart under the weight of the question "why". Why is Yusei so hung up on the fact that duelling against Meklords means using synchro monsters becomes pretty risky? Why is this enough of a problem to supposedly drive the plot for a not insignificant stretch of episodes? Now, I know Yusei uses mainly synchro monsters as his heavy hitters, and I have seen someone bring up the fact before that even irl, completely altering the strategy of your entire deck is a pain in the ass, to say the least. And I do want to admit that this is a valid argument. If Yusei genuinely had to change his whole deck to accommodate the new circumstances, that would be a Herculean task, to say the least. However. While I can see the merit of that argument, I have to raise two counterpoints: One—who said he had to permanently change the entire structure of his deck? The show never gives us reason to believe that anyone other than the cyborgs will suddenly jump out of the woodwork and also use an anti-synchro strategy, and it doesn't show us anyone else who uses a strategy like that, either. And two—note the framing of this issue. The show never suggests that Yusei needs a new deck, or that all his old tricks are completely invalid now. It harps on and on about how he needs a new strategy, yes. But is that the same thing? In my opinion, nothing really demands that Yusei needs to restructure his deck completely. If anything, he only needs to keep in mind that this is now a possibility when duelling people, and thus start keeping a backup plan. And unfortunately, he kind of does, which is where I need to address the Dragon Knight Draco-Equiste-shaped elephant in the room, because it sadly undermines that sensible argument something fierce.

(Yeah, remember this thing? Because I do and sometimes wish I didn't just so I wouldn't have to get frustrated about it all over again.)

Listen. We're all not stupid. Even before the Team Unicorn match, the vast majority of people watching 5Ds would have been aware that tribute summoning, ritual summoning, and fusion summoning are very much methods to get around the dreaded synchro-killers that already exist in the card game and don't require any supernatural shenanigans to be acquired. But speaking only for myself for a moment, I was still at least a little bit willing to suspend my disbelief and accept that not being able to synchro summon would be a categorical impossibility for our beloved motorcycle family before this scene. Except, then Draco-Equiste comes out. And naturally, you're left to wonder "ah, so this is the solution to the synchro problem, then"? But no. No, it very much isn't. Because unfortunately, this is the one and only time Draco-Equiste even shows up. Immediately before and after this duel, this card is treated as though it never existed. Even though this thing could have posed a serious threat to the Meklords, what with being able to absorb the effect of a dragon synchro monster in the graveyard and being able to bounce back effect damage. (Can you imagine how differently the Team New World duel might have proceeded if Yusei had summoned this again?)

So, of course, we're left with the question: Why the fuck was this even here? And on the surface, the answer is super simple: To sell copies of Dragon Knight Draco-Equiste, naturally. But narratively? Narratively, this card's appearance is a disaster. It's a miscalculation of such insane proportions I can hardly find the words for it. Because it proves the assumption many viewers, especially TCG players, would have had from the start: Fusion, ritual, and tribute summoning are still a thing and would definitely work against Meklords. To say this takes the wind out of the sails of the central problem of "oh no, what are we going to do without synchro summoning" would be an understatement. And that's without addressing the fact that the actual "solution" the show provides against the Meklords, as cool as Shooting Star Dragon and Red Nova Dragon are, is, on paper, ludicrous: In a bind because your synchro monster gets absorbed? Just synchro summon harder! And I just. Please. We can agree that this is silly, right? Even if they're very cool dragons and I definitely appreciate them, this is almost looney tunes logic.

Swinging around to a more productive discussion, could they have done their "uh oh, synchro summoning is now impossible"-bit in a better, more coherent and less silly way? Probably, but depending on how they might have handled it, they would have probably needed to sacrifice some other things. The issue here is the thematic element. Synchro summoning is hated, and thus punished, by the emperors of Iliaster because to them, it's a symbol of humanity's greed and subsequent destruction. And originally, the show ends up vindicating its use despite their warnings about the destroyed future in a sort of awkward "with great power comes great responsibility"-way. As in, synchro summoning still has the potential to ruin humanity by the end of the show, but Yusei and the others "earn" their right to use it anyway because they and humanity as a whole learn the lesson not to overdo it. Supposedly. The metaphor is, frankly, a bit wonky, which might be another problem in and of itself. But what's relevant here is that any attempt to fix this conundrum would thus have to keep the thematic element intact. To do that, our protagonists would therefore have to rely on synchro summoning at the start of the arc, as they did before, and would also have to rely on it by the end of the arc (again). The in between is, I think, where more interesting things could have been done with the concept, though—moreover, it's where I think the plothole of "hey why doesn't anyone tribute/fusion/ritual summon" could have been addressed. Say the gang learns that synchro summoning might now get dangerous and actually tries to shift gears. Say they do try out fusion, ritual, and tribute monsters to account for that—only to run into an in-universe meta wall and realise that sure, these monsters might not get absorbed by Meklords, but their effects and strength can't keep up with the synchros their opponents use, or that they're flat out too cumbersome to summon! It could have been as simple as showing scenes where trying to get tribute fodder onto the field or play a fusion or ritual spell card would have been too slow, too inefficient in a duel. They could have also gone an even simpler route and flat out made it so that Meklords could have absorbed any extra deck monster. Would this have made them stupidly overpowered? Sure. But wasn't that kind of the point, anyway? The Meklords were supposed to be a nigh insurmountable obstacle that ultimately required discovering not one, but two new, unique ways to synchro summon—and even then, the solutions still weren't perfect because Shooting Star and Red Nova can still get absorbed under especially tricky circumstances. So I doubt making them that much more powerful would have mattered. (And they had to be heavily adjusted for the irl TCG as is, so there's not really a need to factor in that concern, either.) Finally, and I admit this pains me a little to say, I think that any version of the synchro dilemma that wanted to make sense should have flat out removed Draco-Equiste. The card does nothing except open plotholes, and especially if we want to keep the themes intact without opening the can of worms that is alternative forms of summoning possibly being a better solution than Accel Synchro or Burning Soul, its presence just becomes a hindrance. Sorry, Dragon Knight Draco-Equiste.

So much for the synchro dilemma, then. But unfortunately, this is not the last aspect of the worldbuilding surrounding the three emperors of Iliaster and especially their Meklords that's built on a shaky foundation, to say the least. Onto the next one.

2. The Meklord genocide and the many questions it asks (and never answers).

I'm gonna roll several points into one here because they're all related to the Meklord genocide—that being the supposedly unavoidable catastrophe in the future where Aporia received all his trauma from. And I want to preface this with two statements, one good and one bad. Firstly, Aporia and the way his backstory gets exposed, quickly getting us intimately acquainted with the utter devastation of the Meklord genocide, is extremely compelling. You really get a sense of the terror at play and it gives him a perfect, understandable motivation for wanting to avert that future at all costs, even if human lives have to be sacrificed along the way.

(Ahhh, the lovely smell of childhood trauma in the making.)

Secondly... The Meklord genocide makes zero sense, and it has everything to do with the fact that once again, several major aspects of it buckle under the weight of a few simple questions. But let me roll that back first and examine what those major aspects, which the Team New World duel introduces us to, are.

Number one: I went back and checked, and this is the first time in the series that we are introduced to the concept of synchro summoning resonating with Moment reactors. Previously, the reactor itself, through the concept of planetary particles, and, by extension, the Moment energy itself was only implied to be something like a perpetuum mobile, infinitely producing its own energy.

Number two: Now, we have heard of Moment rotating backwards and exploding in the show before. But there are two new things here, one being that the Iliaster trio explains that in this instance, it caused a chain reaction, and that, for some reason, all the Moment reactors began exploding one after the other. The other, more crucial part being that they claim the Moment reactors responded to people's hearts. This ties in with another small thing introduced much earlier, where Bruno/Antinomy explains that Clear Mind, Yusei's accel synchro technique, is a way of "controlling Moment". Both link the reactor and its energy, which are pillars of 5Ds' worldbuilding, to human emotions. And I already need to say this here: This doesn't make lick of sense. But more on that later.

Number three: We don't get an outright explanation for this in this duel, as in, it's not stated verbally, but right after Moment supposedly "responds to people's hearts", the Meklords show up, heavily implying that the reactor, for some reason, summoned a robot army to destroy humanity.

Now, I'm going to give you the quick-fire round of questions these three concepts immediately sparked in my mind when I saw these scenes, because I think that will illustrate just fine why I have such a problem with all this: Since when is synchro summoning linked to Moment and how? If humanity already knew through the Zero Reverse incident, which is the foundation for 5Ds' canon, that Moment reactors could spin too fast, gain a negative rotation, and subsequently explode, why on earth did nobody think to install safeguards against that? Why are the Moment reactor and its energy linked to people's hearts now? How does that even work? And how is a human supposed to "control" a sodding energy reactor that was implied to stay in perpetual motion through a set of gears, which famously know how to read hearts, through achieving a clear mind? And why, oh why did the reactor—independently of its human creators, apparently—have a killer robot army at its disposal to let loose on humanity when it grew sick of their shit?

This plot has so many holes, it may as well be a net instead. And you know what the worst part is? The show answers none of the questions above. Moreover, the implications behind the concepts introduced for the sake of setting up the Meklord genocide are buckwild, to say the least. Let me run with this real quick to highlight the absurdity here.

Taking the idea that an energy reactor can respond to people's hearts and summon an on-demand murder robot army of apocalyptic proportions when humans around it grow too evil at face value honestly makes me wonder how the Moment reactor in NDC hasn't exploded five times over since its creation. You mean to tell me that between Goodwin's Iliaster goons, the Arcadia Movement, the corrupt security forces, and all the duel gangs in Satellite, there weren't enough evil people there to make the reactor go crazy? Plus, all of these people were already synchro summoning as if their life depended on it! Synchro summoning is basically ubiquitous from the moment the show starts, to the point where it's more unusual to see a duellist who doesn't synchro summon than one who does. But somehow, that wasn't enough to affect the reactor yet? Or is the implication here supposed to be that the part where the man-made machine meant to produce limitless energy can suddenly see into people's hearts was added later into the reactor's development? That humans for some reason decided, "yeah, that's what our new energy source needs! A way to shame and punish us with violence on an unimaginable scale for our transgressions!" And that's without addressing the robot army. Who built these things? And who decided it was a good idea to put them at the disposal of the very reactor itself? Do you mean to tell me some team of utterly cracked up scientists decided that the best entity to put in charge of the robot army that was constructed for some reason was the reactor system supplying the world with energy, "computers can't be blinded by human error and would thus never deploy this army for selfish reasons"-style? (Honestly, I almost wish that had been the idea here, but I'm absolutely certain it wasn't.)

I can already hear two major criticisms to the above, purposefuly hyperbolic extrapolation in the back of my head here. Allow me to talk about them for a moment.

One—"Okay, so the WRGP arc has plotholes. Didn't the dark signers arc have those too, though? It's not like they explained everything about all that stuff."

You're right! It did! As much as I love the dark signers arc, it hardly has the most tightly-written worldbuilding of all time, either. There are lots of things, some small (why was Rudger/Roman somehow a signer and a dark signer at the same time), some not so small (why on earth did Rex' plan to summon the king of the underworld and remake the world seemingly hinge on one of the signers failing to seal their tower, which he could have never guaranteed in a million years) that the DS arc never properly takes the time to explain. But even so, the dark signers arc doesn't fall apart under questions such as "why" and "how" nearly as easily as the WRGP arc for a reason that is as simple as it is stupid: The DS arc has a much less ambitious premise, and though its antagonists are cool, they don't actually pose a greater, moral dilemma. Think about it. The premise of the DS arc is a run-of-the-mill prophecy thing. You've got your chosen heroes, your destined enemies, and a battle for the world using supernatural shenanigans. And a lot of questions of "why" or "how" are relatively quick to be brushed aside with "magic" (or rather, Crimson Dragon/Earthbound Immortal shenanigans). Moreover, the dark signers themselves, while having interesting stories relating to the heroes on a personal level, are still, fundamentally, pure evil. They're not fighting to prevent a devastating, apocalyptic future, they just deadass want to get revenge and destroy the world. And all the more complicated, major themes the arc has (class discrimination, police brutality, how societal alienation can lead teenagers to join cults, poverty, etc.) are actually not really tied in with the Earthbound Immortals, instead happening on the sidelines or only being tangentially related to the dark signers (such as when Kiryu becomes a dark signer through the abuse suffered in prison). The only major theme that ties in with the dark signers is destiny VS. freedom of choice, which also gets resolved in the battle with Rex Goodwin. (Interestingly enough, all the more complicated themes on the side were also dropped after this arc, but that's a rant for another time...) Perhaps the arc still has some inconsistencies here and there, but largely, it stays fully coherent. Thus, the DS arc makes it way easier to suspend one's disbelief, making the unexplained parts seem much less egregious.

Two—"Calm down, this show was made for twelve year-old Japanese boys. They don't need to explain any of this."

If you honestly think children don't deserve well-made entertainment whose concepts and worldbuilding can hold up to scrutiny, I have nothing to discuss with you. Sure, children will swallow some concepts much easier and will suspend their disbelief much longer and more artfully than any adult on average, but that doesn't mean "kids are dumb anyway so why bother putting as much effort into worldbuilding for their shows as for adult shows" is the hot take you think it is. I am fully congnisant of the target audience for this show—that doesn't make me any less convinced that said target audience deserved a show where things made sense while they were watching it and where things could still make sense if they decided to rewatch it years later. Because, you know, that's what I think a good show should be able to do.

And with that, I can come back to the WRGP arc and an issue that ties in with both things I just addressed: The WRGP arc's actual story premise, buried beneath the well-known, equally beloved and beloathed tournament arc format, is a lot more ambitious than the DS arc and has several, fairly heavy, core themes that it sets up and tries to resolve by the end, among them: learning how to cooperate as a team (during the WRGP) and learning how to be independent (by the end of the show), destiny VS. forging your own path (round two), and, most importantly, taking responsibility and fighting for one's future. That last one especially is not only a good topic to address in a show specifically made for 5Ds' target audience, it is also represented by both Team 5Ds and Team New World in-story. Spicier yet, both teams are actually fighting for the same thing. Team New World, having seen the supposedly unavoidable, tragic future and thus decided to take action against it, is fighting for a future that doesn't have to be marred by such tragedy, by whatever means necessary. And Team 5Ds, young, hopeful, and trusting in their connection to one another and humanity as a whole, is fighting for a better future because they believe that tragedy can be avoided. The future these two teams want is almost the same—the only, crucial difference is that Team New World has embraced the use of drastic measures to bring that future about, while Team 5Ds hasn't. To Team New World, the future presents something like a trolley problem, if you will: They think doing nothing will lead to that inevitable tragedy and erase humanity, whereas sacrificing New Domino City in the present will still kill people, but preserve humanity in the long run. And they have firmly decided pull the lever and set the course so the trolley runs over just one person instead of many. Team 5Ds, meanwhile, isn't even thinking about the lever, instead insisting there has to be another way, and that even thinking about getting anyone killed for this is stupid. The whole conflict is, on paper, wonderfully compelling, because you can see where both sides are coming from. Sure, Team New World's members still act like absolute dickheads in true yugioh-tournament-opponent fashion, but ultimately, their goals make sense. Viewers can put themselves in their shoes and perhaps think that, faced with a horrible dilemma like theirs, they would make the same, awful choice to set the course and cause suffering now to avoid greater suffering later. For the greater good.

Unfortunately, the questions I listed above undermine all this somewhat, because as good as these antagonists are on a character level, it's incredibly easy to poke holes into their backstory and especially the circumstances surrounding the horrible, distant future they want to avoid so desperately—which, in turn, undermines that terrible future somewhat, because this is a narrative that demands weight (in my opinion). But if the supposed threat at the end, the terrible thing even our protagonists briefly aren't sure they'll be able to avoid, begins falling apart at the seams in terms of logic when you think about it for more than two minutes, where is that weight supposed to come from? There is also another question to be answered here that I need to discuss so I can touch on a central aspect that hampers the plot in this arc somewhat later:

Why are they so convinced that horrible, destroyed future is utterly unavoidable?

I want you to really think about this question, with me. Canon... never really gives us any direct proof that they're justified in being this certain. However, that doesn't mean we don't get an answer, per se, though the answer is a bit vague.

The implications here are... something, to say the least. First, as our basis, we have to assume that every "correction" Iliaster has made has been to avoid humanity's destruction in the future. Because frankly, that's all we get as far as Jose, Placido, and Luciano's definition of the "correct path" goes. Then there's the second bit. Apparently, they've been merrily "repairing" history for a good while already, yet, for some reason, they always get the same outcome: The Meklord genocide. This, in turn, has led them to take more and more drsatic measures to try and avoid it. And I want to point out the very obvious, mind-boggling implication that comes with this: Apparently, after every "correction" they made, these three have either let history run its course to see where it ends up this time, or have quickly zipped over to their own time to check whether things were still shit. Meaning Iliaster's whole deal of fixing history to make sure the Meklord genocide never occurs has been a very, very long run of trial and error. (I want you to think of all the possible "fixes" this could have included for a moment. We know from BBT that killing Pegasus was one of the ideas they had, for example. Did they also try to kill the presumed Industrial Illusions employee who came up with synchro monsters? Did they try to kill Yusei's dad so Moment would never be invented? Could they not have tried to simply inhibit the creation of the robot army, then? Or made sure someone installed some bloody safeguards on the reactors, as Yusei later does in-canon, which somehow works when he does it? The list goes on.) Now, we know that in canon, their newest idea is that the future can be fixed if they just destroy New Domino City altogether.

Here, the questions begin again (you may sense a running theme): If Moment is already invented and internationally known, why would destroying its place of invention do anything? If synchro summons are already a thing, doesn't that mean destroying NDC would only slow the catastrophe down, at best? And most importantly: Why are these guys so utterly convinced that this "repair", of all the ones they've already done, will save their future? How can they know that this particular plan will work when they've supposedly already tried everything?

(There is, of course, the tragic possibility to consider that perhaps, they know that there's no guarantee this will work. They've tried everything, after all. So maybe they know this won't fix things, either. But we know that Aporia, like Paradox, like Antinomy, and like Z-ONE is, somewhere at the bottom of his despairing heart, still desperate for a shimmer of hope. And maybe, just maybe, he has reached such a point of desperation that he'll watch an entire city getting destroyed if it has even the faintest chance of succeeding. But unfortunately, this is purely speculative—the show never states this, and so, I can only leave it in the realm of fan interpretation.)

The show never answers this question, either, instead relying on the audience to suspend their disbelief some more and assume that Iliaster has put in the work and is 100% certain that the future can and will absolutely end in disaster unless they destroy NDC now. It almost acts like they have some sort of supernatural foresight; they know things nobody else in the show's world does, and due to this (and their non-human status) they label themselves as superior to the "foolish humans", who, without their guiding hands, will only bring about the apocalypse. But their superiority and the internal consistency of their actions is already wobbling under the weight of all the half-assed worldbuilding I mentioned above, which is an extra big problem due to another, major difference between the WRGP and the DS arc: While the DS arc stylised itself as a sort of funky genre mix between cyberpunk dystopia and urban fantasy (in a very broad sense, given that ancient Inca gods are very much real and their prophecies come to fruition in the modern day, yet we are not presented with any sort of magic outside of the conflict with the dark signers), the WRGP arc, aside from its tournament format, stylises itself much more as science fiction. The antagonists are no longer ancient, evil shadow gods, they're cyborgs from a destroyed future. Their motivation isn't as simple as wanting to destroy the world, either! In fact, they want to save the future! And they don't pose a threat to our antagonists through shadow duels in rings of fire and giant, magical monsters that sacrifice human souls to be summoned. No, they have advanced technology like high-tech robots that cut our protagonists off from one of their go-to tactical options, and they send out duel robot armies, and they travel through time by means of sophisticated wormhole-technology.

...But do they?

Now, I said I don't just want to complain here, I also want to provide solutions—and I intend to stick to that. But first, because these two things are so intrinsically tied together, let me address the final aspect that puts Team New World as antagonists and the WRGP arc on such shaky ground from a writing perspective.

3. Wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey, magic-science cyborg nonsense.

So, I've talked about the strongly differing methods the Iliaster trio uses in comparison to the dark signers. Sci-fi is the name of the game now, so we've got robots, cyborgs, advanced tech and... time travel. But amidst all this, you may have noticed something. Even though our plot is supposedly decided by futuristic tech now, the magical/occult element that was there in the first half of the show doesn't actually get dropped. Why? Because it can't be. Because the signers, our protagonists, are defined by their status as a group of magical chosen ones, hand-picked by an ancient Incan deity. Regardless of what the writers of the show wanted here (and my personal guess, based on hearsay and what I've read on forums, is that they wanted to hardcore-pivot to sci-fi because they hoped it would engage audiences more), this was an element they couldn't erase. (Or, well, technically, they could. The signers do lose their marks at the end of the show, after all. But perhaps they thought doing that earlier was too risky.) So genre-wise, we've got a bit of a situation here. From the pre-WRGP arc on, 5Ds is more of a sci-fi show, yet, we've still got all this occult stuff wandering around that can't be cut out of the narrative and still influences it because it's too intrinsically tied to our main actors not to. And you might have noticed that this actually doesn't just extend to the signers. As in, they're not the only ones where sci-fi and magic elements mix. This happens for the Iliaster trio, too. Placido gets a sword that can randomly cut a hole in space-time (and it's never explained how). The Meklords can cause real damage in duels even though they're supposedly not supernatural. Moment reactors can suddenly read people's hearts. Not one, but multiple cyborgs get a magical girl transformation where they change clothes and runners, or even combine from three people into one. And for some reason, the Crimson Dragon, even though its "own", central enemies, the dark signers, are already defeated, doesn't take its marks away from our heroes until after the cyborgs are taken care of, suggesting that the ancient, magical entity recognises the robots from the future as a supernatural threat of some sort. None of this is presented with any sort of attempt to get it to make sense, yet, we're supposed to believe it isn't magic, because we're all about robots and time travel now.

(Insert the magical girl transformation song of your choice.)

And I want to make one thing clear: I'm not saying this weird genre-mix couldn't have worked. In fact, I think it's hilarious and low-key brilliant even in the wonky state we got. Sure, let's make the antagonists robots from the future while keeping our protagonists the agents of an ancient Incan god on the mortal plane! If nothing else, you absolutely can't argue the idea wasn't original.

However, even with all the love I have for the show, I can't help but feel like there's an issue here, and the only way I could put it into words would be genre dissonance. We are supposedly in a sci-fi show now, yet the central antagonists, who are also the fundamental reason for this genre shift, seemingly can't decide whether they're actually using technology or magic for their schemes. And this becomes a problem insofar as that seemingly no effort to meaningfully fuse the fantastical elements with the pseudo-scientific ones is made, yet at the same time, they aren't properly separated, either. Specifically the latter might be harming the show even more than the former. Let me explain what I mean.

I'm no stranger to the fact that sci-fi sometimes likes to use technology that's supposed to be so advanced that to an outsider, it begins looking indistinguishable from magic. And in all fairness, that is probably what the 5Ds writers were gunning for. What hampers this a little, though, is that we're just coming from an arc that had actual magic in it, which leads to the allegedly scientific elements sending some mixed messages. Especially because they're never explained. And I'm not saying we needed super hardcore, internally fully consistent sci-fi worldbuilding here. Frankly, with all the weird nonsense 5Ds has already mostly handwaved by the start of the pre-WRGP arc, that would have been absurd. But I think a few explanations here and there, hell, even just the occasional off-handed remark, could have done a world of good for this arc, and especially for the Meklord dilemma and the setup of the ruined future. I don't need a whole breakdown on how exactly a reactor knows about the greed in people's hearts, but a remark somewhere on the side about how, for example, the particles that are the central player in that reactor also happen to be copious within the human heart (which would be impossible to prove, but ignore that) would have been nice. And I don't need a full breakdown of how the robot army was built; a throwaway remark that humanity created it as weapons in their supposedly endless, petty wars could have been cool, though.

My point is, fundamentally, that unlike the occult nonsense, which can skirt by on prophecies and simple, black-and-white, good VS evil stuff, the sci-fi elements feel like they demand a surface-level justification for their existence, at least. A surface-level justification they didn't get. And this is without addressing the much, much bigger problem that may actually be the root cause of most, if not all the things I've listed above so far: The time travel.

I don't think it's any sort of new, groundbreaking opinion to say that time travel is a notoriously finicky worldbuilding element that many writers, regardless of medium and/or skill, have already massively shot themselves in the foot with. And unfortunately, I feel like this has happened in 5Ds, too. Specifically because the time travel has seemingly absolutely no limits. The Iliaster trio (and even Paradox) can seemingly be everywhere they want, in any time period, and do whatever they want/deem necessary. Worse yet, the time travel is actively shown to have massive consequences more than once. And I think it's under the weight of this massive, utterly uncontrollable element that the plot really begins to collapse. Because frankly, with the implications we're given, things just really don't look good in a universe where limitless time travel can be used! Let me circle back to two questions from above to really emphasise this: Why are these guys so utterly convinced that this "repair", of all the ones they've already done, will save their future? How can they know that this particular plan will work when they've supposedly already tried everything? In a universe with limitless time travel, these questions become an absolute mess to deal with. And the real problem is that canon never even entertains the idea of answering them. Sure, you can begin to fill in the gaps for yourself if you feel like it. Maybe it's not that all the previous "repairs" Iliaster did truly didn't work, maybe they brought about even worse futures and that was the reason why they were discarded. Or maybe there's a hidden in-universe rule that people from the future who go back to the past actually don't have the power to change anything, as in, no matter what they change, it will never affect their present, because their actions will always loop back around to causing the same things they already know. But there. Precisely there is the problem. I'm not getting this from canon, I'm making it up from scratch. And sure, all stories have gaps—that's where a lot of fanfiction lives, after all. But when you reach the point where you have so many gaps that the audience can no longer suspend its disbelief over these gaps, that's when there's a problem. And the WRGP arc, for all that its antagonists are extremely compelling, pose genuine, moral dilemmas, and for all that it resolves in one of the best arcs of 5Ds, has precisely this problem for me. The worldbuilding is stretched too thin, and my suspension of disbelief breaks and leaves me wondering why so many good themes have to be buried in an arc that is this frustrating to watch sometimes.

*deep breath*

Okay. So now I've aired all my grievances and laid out all the problems that make me shake my fists in frustration at this arc, at the Meklords, and at the Team New World duel. What about the productive part, then, you might ask. I did say I wanted to provide solutions, as far as I can, anyway. How would I try to solve this mess?

Well, honestly, I think the solution here, at least to me, would be fairly basic: More consistency. Make it make sense. The genre mashup can stay exactly the way it is, but maybe tone down the magic on the cyborgs a bit. Make them actual cyborgs. Even if their tech is justified through bullshit, at least justify it. Why does Placido have a reality-splitting sword? Oh, it's actually the Moment Express wormhole technology in miniature. Why can Moment reactors see into people's hearts? Well, duh, they contain the same, special particles as human hearts. Why is there an army of robots in the future to begin with? Humans built it. For war. Like they did so much else. And why did the reactor use it against them? Because it was just responding to their own negativity. Their own, constant desire for strife and petty conflicts amongst one another made them actually turn the weapons against themselves (or rather, against the people they personally didn't like, which ends up being everyone when everyone has a grudge against someone) through the reactor. (The show almost does this one, but not quite.) How do the three emperors of Iliaster know destroying NDC, specifically, will fix the future? They don't! They're doing this on trial and error, and more importantly—and I think this would work best if it was introduced purposefully late—they can't actually save the future by changing the past, because they're not from the past. They just don't actually know that this is a rule of time travel.

None of these fixes would have to be big, episode-spanning things. Off-handed remarks would have been enough. But I think just that could have saved many points from becoming the plotholes they did.

And with that, I think I'll finally leave you be, I've rambled quite enough. To anyone who has made it all the way to the end, I can only give a sincere, heartfelt thank you. I realise this is a LOT of words. Moreover, I'd like to leave you with one more statement: Though I can absolutely understand if this post comes off as me getting on a soapbox and cupping my hands around my mouth before yelling, it's not meant to be. I absolutely invite discussion about the the handling of, the themes behind, and all the arguments I gave regarding the Meklord worldbuilding and the Team New World duel. So, feel every bit as free as I did to yell about this. This post encourages yelling.

#yugioh 5ds #ygo 5ds #5ds #yugioh meta #Team New World #Aporia (5Ds)#meklords #orchid rambles #I just realised this post reads like a whole-ass youtube video essay #shows what I've been watching recently #anyway this isn't getting any more coherent than this #I have too many thoughts to be able to stay coherent at this point #so just take it

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strawberryfairi · 1 month

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“I loved you then…back when I knew you”

Synopsis: 💎 When your old high school best friend, and admittedly, first love randomly shows up at your door one morning after a bit over ten years apart, your memories of him that you once locked away comes flooding back. Are you open to hearing him out after all this time? (In other words…will you take your man back or nah?)

♕Pairings: Kazutora X Black Fem Reader 🤎 (ANYONE CAN READ)🛑Content: 18+ Eventual smut, Some grief, Some angst ~Crossposted On: Wattpad ONLY ~Updating WEEKLY

w.c. 3.4k💠 Released March 29, 2024

NOTE🧚🏾‍♀️: Omg finally y'all we made it to the present!!!! This chapter is literally what started the entire idea of this story so I'm so excited! Also just a pre-warning/disclaimer THERE WILL BE MOMENTS OF SMUT FROM THE PRESENT ON! But of course...I'll have chapter warnings so never fear.

Previous | Next Chapter: Pending…. Chapters Masterlist

CHAPTER 10; THE PRESENT

The Present Recap

"Hi, I-

Whatever sentence you had come up with in your head instantly evaporated. You stood completely frozen, heart racing. The door was only open just a bit, but you immediately recognized the face in front of you.

He stood there, eyes wide, lips slightly parted just like you. You blinked rapidly as nine thousand different emotions and thoughts coursed through you.

"Hey, it's-...it's been a while." His tone was so soft, so cautious.

✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧✩₊˚.⋆☾₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧✩₊˚.⋆☾

"-it's been a while."

You stand there, your mind still trying to determine if this was really who you thought it was standing in front of you. The big, honey brown eyes, the tattoo, the earring, even the voice all was nearly the same.

"It's..been a while?" You question, your brows raised as if you genuinely heard him wrong. Instantly, his eyes avert downwards, feeling too nervous and honestly ashamed to hold your gaze. He didn't want to admit it to himself but part of him saw this coming. It was beyond foolish to think you'd just jump into his arms with a wide smile as if nothing happened; as if no time had passed.

"You disappear for a literal decade and some months, then you just randomly show up at my door talkin' 'bout "it's been a while"?!" You spoke in a bewildered and slow tone, your right hand resting against the door while the other animatedly helped you express your feelings. Mind-blown couldn't even begin to cover the way you were feeling inside right now.

It's not like you weren't relieved or even a little bit happy to see him, it's the way he just decides to casually pull up on you out of nowhere that's the problem. Not only that, it's also the pitiful, puppy-dog look of complete hope and nervousness on his face that's slightly pissing you off for reasons you can't really explain.

"I know, I-I didn't wanna be away from you for this long, but-

"Oh, you didn't want to be away this long?! If you didn't wanna be away you simply would not have left, like, I'm confused." You cut him off, whole attitude skyrocketing by the second.

"It wasn't by choice! I never woulda left you on purpose!" He spoke desperately, grabbing onto your free hand. Your eyes widened, looking down at his hand holding yours like a ghost was touching you. It sure felt like it given the current situation. "It wasn't by choice?! You literally came to me and said you wouldn't see me again!" You argue.

He sighed deeply, instantly taking note of your reaction, letting your hand go and looking into your eyes with the most sincerest expression he could muster. "Look, I'm sorry I messed up back then, I really am! I know you're still pissed at me, but I want you to know I genuinely miss you." His eyes searched yours desperately, trying to capture even the faintest hint of happiness to see him. He was getting worried, scared that you wouldn't forgive him, or even at least hear him out.

His words immediately had an affect on you, utterly shocking you that he's being so open and honest. You clenched your jaw, feeling more annoyed that he was getting to you as he always would just like back then. It'd be a lie to say you weren't glad he missed you just as you had missed him all this time. "Get your stupid ass in here." Your voice shook with emotion as you grabbed a fistful of his olive colored shirt, pulling him into your apartment. His eyes widened as he stumbled inside rather ungracefully. A wide smile instantly spread across his face, taking it as a sign of great progress that you allowed him to come into your place.

"I-..there's so much I've been wanting to tell-

"Hush up with all that, now you listen here", You glare sternly, cutting him off with a finger to his chest. "I'm very, very upset with you. How you just gon' show up at my home like this outta nowhere?! You left for ten whole years-I'm still not even understanding how you found my apartment! I ain't get no explanation, nobody told me nothin'! It was like days, then months, then years! I had to just go on like, 'oh ok, he doesn't care about me anymore, we must really not be friends anymore'." You ranted, starting to tear up a bit. Kazutora stood there with a broken expression, trying to gather his own words so he could finally explain himself. "You have every right to be upset with me; I messed up big time. I was young and dumb, I just-...I ended up getting myself into some deep shit, but I want you to know you've been on my mind for the past ten years. That's why I came to find you!"

You stayed quiet, your expression softening just the tiniest bit at his words. Kazutora took it as a good sign to continue. "You never deserved how I treated you, and you definitely didn't deserve for me to leave without any explanation. You were the only friend I ever needed; honestly."

You shook your head, your expression going right back to how it was previously. He'd rubbed you the wrong way again.

"You didn't act like I was the only friend you needed! The night before you disappeared you just hit me with the whole 'I might not see you again' thing, and I really thought maybe you'd come back, or text, or something, but I deadass did not see you again!" You ranted, brows furrowing while you frown, taking a step back from him. Kazutora frowned, the memories of that night flashing through his mind. He made the biggest mistake of his life that night, deciding to walk away from you and go through with that fight against Toman.

"You're right. I-..I was just-...I should've stayed with you! None of this would've happened if I'd just stayed with you, but I couldn't. I got myself too deep in this situation with a rival gang at the time, and ended up hurting you. I just really didn't want you to know about it 'cause I was scared you'd hate me, and then leave me for real." His tone lowered by the end, eyes looking to the side vulnerably.

"Kazutora..." You trailed off, facepalming with an exasperated sigh. He was scared you'd leave him?! You were probably the only person that was ever truly down for him back then!

He sighed defeatedly. "I know. You probably think I'm messed up, but you gotta believe me, I really do miss you. I wanna make up for everything." He pleaded, looking at you with hopeful eyes.

"I don't think you're messed up, I think you're a fool, as per usual." You grumbled yet your tone was slightly playful, raising a brow as you pursed your lips at him before continuing. "You know, I'd always think about you. Even in college when I was in a whole new world, you still made your way into my head." You admitted, looking away from him shyly. His eyes widened, heart warming at the fact that you still bothered to think of him. "You really still thought about me; all this time? I figured you moved on by now and forgot all about me."

"Don't get me twisted, I wanted to. I wanted to forget you 'cause I was so mad and hurt that you left me, but I really couldn't, just like right now. I wanna be pissed and maybe even slap you right now, but I can't 'cause I care about you." You explain softly, looking at him with mixed emotions. "I care about you, too! I've thought about you every day and night! That's why I came back for you, to make things right between you and me." His tone was soft and sincere, grabbing both your hands in his as he stepped closer to you.

"Please don't back away..." He added, looking down at you with sparkling, puppy-like eyes. "Are you really trynna be cute right now?!" You question slightly shocked, narrowing your eyes halfheartedly. Even though you still had your guard up, you didn't bother to pull away from him this time. "I mean..." He lets out a nervous chuckle, not really sure how to respond. "So, you really thought about me..day and night?" Raising a brow you looked at him skeptically, warming up to him just a tad more.

"Yeah, I swear! When I ended up going to prison...I decided once I got out I'd come find you. It took me a while because, I'm not gonna lie I was terrified to face you, but I'm here now. All I wanted to do was make up for how I acted towards you back then; I wanted you to realize I never once forgot about you."

"Mmhmm." You pursed your lips, trying not to come across as moved as you really felt by that. "I know you won't forgive me right away, probably, but I just needed to see you. I want to show you I can still be a good friend to you. Uhh, so...do you mind if I stay here for a bit today? Just so we can catch up? It took a lot for me to come here. You can keep being mad at me later, ok?" He pleaded, giving you the sweetest, most charming smile he could muster. You knew you weren't strong enough to make him leave, honestly you really didn't want him to.

"Ok...fine." You nod, tone soft. "Let's sit on the couch for now." You add, gesturing to the living room. Kazutora followed behind you, discreetly checking out your apartment before he sat next to you, making sure to maintain a distance that wouldn't annoy you. He figured he'd been playing his cards pretty well for now, he just had to keep it going then maybe you'll be more warmed up to him, and maybe you'll wanna be friends again. "So, you were in jail this entire time? Do I...wanna know why?" You question cautiously, looking at him with a worry-filled expression. His face fell, a mixture of shame and discomfort. "No, but...you probably deserve to know." He sighed.

"What happened?" You murmur softly, turning to face him on the couch now. Your heart started racing just a bit out of anxiousness to hear his side of this story. Ten years is a long time, so obviously this wasn't just any old crime. "Well the day after our.."fight" we had, Valhalla got into a brawl with this other gang called Toman. I used to be a part of Toman a really long time ago, but some things went down so I left. To make a long story short, I-..I ended up killing one of Toman's members; one of my best friends."

Your brows furrowed, looking at him in full out concern. The silence was loud and hovered heavily in the room. Kazutora casted his gaze downward at his hands folded in his lap, too ashamed to really look at you anymore. He never wanted you to actually know about why he was gone all this time, but he knew you had to know. If he was going to be friends with you again he knew he had to be fully open and honest with you, unlike last time. "I-...I really don't know what to say, I mean, it definitely explains why you were gone. Did someone force you to do it? Was the fight that bad?" You questioned cautiously. You weren't sure if asking about those things would be too painful for him. "No, no one forced me." He muttered, eyes still downcast. That was all he had to say for you to understand.

"Are you scared of me now?" He frowns, his tone completely defeated as he turns his head slightly towards you. "I-..I mean, I'm not sure. It seems like you regret it and don't want to do something like that again. Is that true?" You question, leaning over to try and meet his gaze. "Yes, I'd never do anything like that again, honestly. It was a huge mistake and I regret it to this day. Most importantly, I'd never hurt you, ever." Finally he met your eyes, looking at you with a serious, highly sincere expression.

"There goes the Kazi I know. I know you wouldn't hurt me, I just wanted to hear you say it." You smiled softly, placing your left hand over his folded hands. A small gasp escaped his lips, shocked that you remembered that nickname for him from way back, and even more shocked that he's actually hearing you say it now. "I should probably tell you now that I'd forgiven you a long time ago. I don't hate you, and I'm not holding any kind of grudge against you. It was just a lot of emotions over the years that came to the surface after seeing you all of a sudden." You explain. "And...I've missed you; a lot." Your voice shook, eyes quickly build up with tears and slightly blurring your vision.

Kazutora doesn't even bother to say anything, and without hesitation he wraps his arms around you in a deeply affectionate hug. Instantly, you wrap your arms around him, reciprocating the same level of emotion. His head fell on your left shoulder while he squeezed you, trying to get as close as possible. This is the first hug he's experienced in years, the last one he received being from you as well. It didn't even feel real having his arms around you, as this was something he'd only ever been able to dream of. It was real now, and your embrace was even more comforting than before, even more special.

"Can you please say that again?" He asks desperately in a quiet voice. "I really missed you, K." You repeat with a warm smile. He felt you lean your head against his as you spoke, making his heart strings pull in his chest. Small, hot tear droplets were falling from his eyes before he even realized it. "I missed you so much too. I don't wanna be away from you again." He murmured into your shoulder, slightly muffled by your top, but you still understood perfectly.

"Noo, don't cry, you're gonna make it worse!" You whined, nuzzling your head into him as your own tears began spilling down your cheeks. Your right hand lifted to gently stroke his hair, trying to calm him down so you could regain your own composure. It seemed you were only making it worse though, as his body lightly shook in your arms.

"Ok..." You murmured, feeling him rest his full weight onto you, pushing you backwards on the couch and into a laying position. The memories were invading your mind while in this nostalgic position. A few times he'd come to your place solely for you to comfort him just like this when he was upset about something, running your hands through his hair until he'd fall asleep on top of you in this same way. You briefly took your hand away from his hair just to wipe your own eyes, finally calming yourself, before going right back to soothing him.

"'M sorry." He mumbled, rather cutely in your opinion. "You're alright, K." You smile softly. "But look at this, your hair is so long now! I just noticed." You change topics, trying to get him calm. "Mhm." He nodded weakly with a little sniffle, making you chuckle lightly. He's still just a big baby, exactly like back then. "I like it, a lot, and you still have your blonde highlights." You add, continuing to stroke his hair gently. "Mhmm." Kazutora sighed blissfully, relaxing more onto your chest, no longer shaking from crying. Your voice was so soothing and soft, something he still loves to hear to this day. You've always been the only person to get him so calm and tranquil when he's upset. The only person that could soothe him to sleep.

"By the way, you're way heavier than before, K. Lowkey strugglin' down here." You let out a strained chuckle, tapping the crown of his head. He let out a little disappointed groan, clearly not wanting to move from his comfortable spot, but he gets up nonetheless. Hesitantly he pulls himself away from you, lingering just a little as your hands slide off of his head.

"I was actually just in the middle of making tea and stuff, do you want anything?" You offer, standing from the couch while gesturing towards the kitchen. Kazutora knew it would sound cheesy if he said it out loud, but he didn't want anything except you in this current moment. Nonetheless he nods anyways, accepting anything he can get from you in this moment. "You still like tea, K?" You call from the kitchen. "Of course! I like anything you make." He says plainly. Your cheeks heat up a little, feeling a bit caught off guard by that statement. He comes over and joins you in the kitchen, trailing into the room like a lost puppy. He really hasn't changed at all, it's so cute.

"You know what? It's something I wanna show you after we have breakfast!" You beam, remembering something from a long time ago. You were sure he'd remember too once he sees it.

💎

With an excited smile, you lead Kazutora to your bedroom by his hand. It took everything for his heart not to burst out of his chest at the way this looked. You were still, to this day, the only girl whose bedroom he's ever set foot in. "Ok, here's my room! I'm really proud of the design." You beam, just as you opened the door. It was a girls room that's for sure, and cute just like you. The room was luxurious looking though it wasn't an enormous space. Crystal bedside lamps in a warm light sat elegantly on either side of the queen sized bed. Instead of a TV, you had a projector that shined a white light against the wall opposite of the bed. Speaking of the bed, instead of facing forward you had it to the side.

He already knew why, you love beds being against the wall so you had something to put all your pillows against. It was just more cozy to you than both sides leading to the floor, and after he'd spent so much time lying with you, he understood why you loved it so much. The walls were a neutral champagne color, the furniture being used for the accent color. Vibrant pink which was different from before. Your favorite color was blue back then, he figured it must have changed over time. "You just gon' keep standin' there? Come inside!" You chuckle, pulling on his hand and bringing him over to your bed. "Wait here, I gotta get it from the other room." You say, speeding out of the room and out of sight. Kazutora truly felt like he was dreaming. He was really here, sitting on your bed, in your apartment.

"Ok, I'm back!" You pop your head in with a goofy smile.

"That was fast." He chuckles.

"Look what I got!" You jump into the room, holding out that stuffed bunny he won you all those years ago. Kazutora's jaw drops, looking between you and the bunny in shock.

"You-...you still have that?!" His tone is quiet as he speaks.

"Mmhmm! I ended up naming her Mimi!" You beam, snuggling your face into it as you rejoin him on the bed. "I remember...how happy I was that night." You add in a soft voice, looking down at your bunny as you fiddle around with it's frilly red dress. Kazutora's heart skips at your words. Something about the way you said that made him wonder which parts of that night made you most happy. "I was happy that night too."

"Remember we went on that one rollercoaster together? I couldn't believe you'd never been on one before that." You chuckle lightly, finally making eye contact with him. Ohhh yes, that was one crazy ride. Neither of you realized it was the kind that stops right at the top, dangling all the passengers before finally dropping down the tall slope. "Yeaaah! That was so much fun! And those characters that'd chase us around the park; I remember that too!" He beamed, a wide smile on his face.

"I think...my favorite part of that night was when we all went to the haunted house. Remember that?" You murmur cautiously, your eyes fixated on his face to see his reaction. His face breaks out into a deep blush, eyes slightly widening as he recalls what happened specifically in the haunted house. He swallows nervously. "Uhh, I-I remember." He stutters cutely. You giggle lightly to yourself. That was just the response you were hoping for.

"Good. I would've been mad if you didn't." You joke, nudging his side playfully.

"I haven't forgotten a single memory with you..." He admits, his tone much softer than he intended.

#strawberryfairi🧚🏾‍♀️#back when i knew you #kazutora x reader #kazutora x black fem reader #black female reader #tokyo rev #Kazutora #kazutora hanemiya #kazutora hanemiya x fem reader #kazutora x you

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muffinrecord · 10 months

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Mirage of Alexandria rambling

alright, having rewatched Ebony's event, it's a little better than I remember, but it still has some issues for me and it's probably my least favorite of the PH stories (and no, not just cause of her design).

I feel like it has a lot of really interesting ideas presented throughout the writing but I'm just not a fan of the execution. Like, on paper, I dig the idea of a ruler taking as much power as they can from their servants and using them disposably until that ruler has made an entire mess of her own head, while those they subjugated rise up to live their own lives. With so much magic and wishes focused on the ruler, they feel more like a witch with tenuous human form messing with powers that they don't fully understand, and having that ruler come undone by their own greed feels pretty cool. I also think that having the Tokime Clan be the ones to say "fuck tradition, do what you want" is pretty nice considering their whole shtick.

But like... it kind of doesn't feel great that Cleopatra was used for this character assassination as it were. I guess they had to use some historical figure, and for the story's purposes, you would want one that had impressive feats to speak of-- you wouldn't want to choose a "historical villain" for it because that goes against the point of this story. But man, it also doesn't feel good. I think also it REALLY doesn't help that Cleopatra has this cloth over her face, so we never see her have any expressions or anything like that. She's emoting with her body but it would have really helped to have seen her eyes so that she feels like a person at least-- all her greed and madness makes her feel less like a human and more like a comical bad guy from an afternoon special.

The other problem is that for a story where Ebony is leaving for her own path, she doesn't really... I dunno. The girls show up, they give her a pep talk, Ebony is convinced by them, Ebony tells Cleopatra she's leaving, Cleopatra thinks that Ebony is leaving to get more sacrifices (so it's easy on her to leave), Ebony goes to the Met clan to say goodbye, Met clan is like "yo cleo was kidnapped so go get her and then you're free of service," Ebony is convinced, Ebony goes to Cleopatra who is pissed, Cleopatra dies to an assassination, Ebony goes back to Met Clan, Met clan leader dies to a witch's kiss, Ebony kills witch, everyone leaves.

The last couple of events (Cleopatra's death and the clan's leader's death) I think really hurt the event for me, because neither of them happen thanks to Ebony's actions. I mean, Cleopatra dies because the Met Clan was following Ebony around, but it's not Ebony who has an affect on her own story. Things just kinda happen to her and keep happening to her.

And yes, I know that's part of the point that she's passive and stuff. But hmmm.

I think my issue with it is best illustrated with the Viking event actually. I'm surprised by how similar "Mirage of Alexandria" is with "Valkyrie of Vik" though. Both deal with characters learning to take steps on their own, agency, choices, etc. And both protagonists are passive in the beginning and things happen to them as opposed to them doing things.

But the viking event, when it ends, it genuinely feels... uplifting? That's not right. Maybe it feels more like the protagonist is genuinely going to go somewhere. It's so bittersweet and Olga has lost everything, and it feels like the last few episodes are just hammering in the misery there, but it also feels like Olga is really, FINALLY, ready to step on onto her own.

But Ebony...? I dunno. When it ends I just get this overwhelming feeling of emptiness.

I think part of it is that Ebony doesn't have a moment like Olga does. Olga's big triumphant moment of choice is when she makes a wish and sends her sister off to Valhalla. Yuna leaves Olga alone, knowing that Kyubey will be there to make a contract with her... But it's still Olga's moment, and her moment alone. She has to be given a pep talk (a pep kick?) at the very end to kill the witch, but still, I feel like she's the one holding her own reigns at that point.

Ebony meanwhile... Where is her big moment? I'm not saying she needed to kill Cleopatra or the Met clan leader herself, but I feel like all of her big moments were more afterthoughts. Her deciding that the met clan leader's death was deserved isn't really good enough for me. Killing the witch isn't good enough for me either, because all magical girls do that and it's not like Ebony was having issues killing witches to make this particular witch's defeat all that notable. Ebony deciding to leave Cleopatra feels like the closest "moment" that she gets, but it's hampered by the Tokime clan's shenanigans and then watered down by her running around between Cleopatra and the Met clan back and forth.

Maybe the point of the story is that her beginning starts at the ending. Like she ends the story by finally taking steps of her own, without Cleopatra, the Met Clan, or the Tokimes to guide her. She's finally all alone and able to make her own decisions. I can buy a narrative structure like that I think.

I think one big difference between Olga and Ebony is that while both girls lost everything, Olga still has memories of Gunhild and her dream to guide and propel her. What does Ebony have? She loses her Pharaoh, she loses her clan, and she loses the only friends she's ever made.

I guess again, that's the point. Ebony starts clean and fresh and new. She gets a new start.

I'm just talking myself in circles akfssaklfa.

Anyways, the event wasn't bad, it just doesn't sit well with me either and it's frustrating me like a fly buzzing around a room.

...

I think what I would have liked for this event would be for Ebony to make a choice that was against what Cleopatra, the Met Clan, AND what the Tokimes wanted. Something that really says that she's under no one's rule now. Not that she needs to be bad or anything, but like-- a choice that she really made and wasn't coerced into. Cause it's nice that the Tokimes were hyping her up, but I also think that they overshadow her real fast. Something that makes Ebony stand out against them and as her own person.

Anyways I could talk in circles about this all day so I'll stop here. Genuinely curious as to what other folks think, even if you disagree with me.

#Mirage of Alexandria #Valkyrie of Vik #Ebony #I wont put this in the tag because it's so long and unfocused #Olga

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safely-in-vhagars-belly · 9 months

Text

Delicously dark!aemond x oc (Snow falls, chapter 5: Escape)

CONCEPT: You make your first escape attempt after becoming aemonds wife.

WARNINGS: Forced marriage, graphic description of violence and graphic descriptions of sex, Forced sex, dub-con, non-con, pain play and abuse. Dark Aemond

Hubby after getting his wifey back and planning messed up punishments.

You are still awake as night falls. Aemond fell asleep next to you and he snores very loudly. You try to get some sleep as well, but it's difficult.

You get up and walk to the window. There is snow outside in the dark courtyard. You used to like snow. You used to go outside and play with your family in the snow. Throw snowballs at your brother. Now he is dead. All thanks to the man that lies next to you, still snoring on his belly with his face in the pillows.

You walk to the door of the room and try it. You don't assume it will work. You think he won't be that stupid. But the door unlocks. He has forgotten to lock it. You slowly sneak back to your clothes and pull them back on.

You also grab a cloak and inspect the coat that belongs to Aemond in search of coins. You find one golden dragon. That should be plenty.

You don't risk the stairs. You instead take a secret passageway that ends near the stables. You don't get a horse. You just calmly walk away from your home. You know if you'll run you won't make it far.

The Snow becomes more and more dreadful as you finally come into the first village. You sigh relieved and drag yourself to the nearest tavern. You show him the golden dragon. 'Can I rent a room?' It's way too much for the terrible room you'll get but it'll do for now.

You go to sleep in your clothes and sleep better since that monster became your husband.

--- The next morning you awake because of hard shouting. Brutal shouts and horses that cry out. You walk to the window and peek outside. Villagers are rounded up and questioned by Targaryen guards.

You piss yourself nearly. They are already hot on your trail. Aemond marches ahead of the two guards and barks orders at them.

The door of your room is opened before you have the chance to process what is happening. The ward that took you in grins and grabs your arm, dragging you with him. 'Don't! He'll hurt me!' You beg.

He just grins. 'He'll give me thousand golden dragons for you. I don't care if he raped your body bloody and made his dragon fuck you: I'm getting my reward.'

He brings you to an angry Aemond. He spots you and gets that little smug annoying smile. You want to smack it off his face. The ward drops you in front of him. 'I assume this is her?'

He claps his hands delighted to see you and you bet he is already imagining that your head was stuck between his hands. 'There she is! My sweetest little wife.' He says, smiling but his eye is deadly. You take one look at him, and your legs take off running far away from him. He chuckles before following you.

You never run. He does. You never train. He does.

It's no surprise he catches up with you and tackles you to the ground. 'You're such a naughty little thing. Walking away from me.' He grins. 'I can be naughty too. We had such fun times yesterday. I loved fucking your body. Perhaps I'll fuck you right here. You seem to be eager for my attention.' He says with a dark chuckle.

In front of everyone? In the cold snow?

You start to kick and push. He lets you take out your aggression. It doesn't hurt him. You don't even hit him. You just wildly attack and barely do any damage besides tiring yourself out. When you are finished and catching your breath he grabs your wrists and pulls you close to him. You sniff his scent and try to break free again.

'I hoped I'd capture you again.' He whispers darkly in your ear. You spit on him. He growls before flatting his hand and slapping you across your face. Your lip rips a bit of blood drops down as you quietly sob, avoiding his gaze.

'We might need to do something fun first before going back to the castle.' He says, grabbing your arm. His grip is cold as stone.

-------- You enter a suspicious-looking cabin. You two rode for a while with the carriage. Aemond has a map with him and you know you are at the right place when he chuckles.

An old man is cleaning what looks to be a sharp knife. There are bottles of paint surrounded by a chair. 'Excuse me, do you take commissions?' Aemond ask. You find it a bit weird time for a tattoo but you do find it very attractive. It might create more spark between the two of you.

'Do you have gold?' The man asks with a chuckle. 'What can I help you with, Valyrian boy? I haven't seen your kind here in a long time.' He doesn't sound half as hateful as your father.

Aemond proudly grabs your arm. 'I'd like a tattoo. For her.' He says with a dark smirk.

You rip your arm free instantly and back away shaking your head. 'I don't want a tattoo.' You eye the door but a guard makes sure you can't escape again.

Your husband hands the man a bag with gold. He whispers in the man's ear and gives him another dragon.

You are pushed by him in what looks like the torture chair.

Aemond sits next to you and patiently waits. You whimper, shaking like a leaf. 'I'll give her something that won't make her able to speak or move for a time. We can start on the tattoo after.' He says.

'Come, sweetling. Open your mouth.' The old man says, holding a bottle of strange transparent liquid.

You refuse. 'No! I don't want to. He already took so much!' You see compassion and sympathy in his eyes.

Aemond sees it too and is very quick to act. 'Swallow it or I'll order the execution of every remaining man and woman in your family home.' He growls.

You don't even have the energy to cry. You take the bottle and take a sip. 'Good girl.' The man cleans two big sharp little knives and selects paint colours for your tattoo.

After a few moments, you can't even lift a finger. The man sits next to you and takes hold of your face. He dips the knife in the ink and starts cutting, creating a tattoo.

You just whimper. You cry. You sob and you can't even lift a finger to defend yourself. Aemond shakes the bottle, eyeing the stuff at the bottom. 'This is good stuff. Where do I buy a few crates of this?' He wonders out loud.

It hurts. The constant stabbing and the colouring of your skin with the thin needle. You want it to end. Your body eventually gets used to it and you black out.

It takes him a whole day to make the tattoo. When you are finished you can nearly move your fingertips again. 'She is done.' He finally announces to Aemond.

He gets up from his seat and looks at your crying face and red puffy eyes. 'She is beautiful. Thank you.' He says with a smitten smile. You look around for a mirror. You are curious as to what they did.

He chuckles. 'You'd like to see? I don't think you'll like it very much. But if you want to, I won't stop you.' You think back to his first warning. When you stumbled upon the massacre. You fear you won't like what he did with you.

You finally notice a mirror close to the door. You get up and walk to it. Facing the truth and your fears. You look into it.

There's a sapphire near your right eye. A small tear ends in what looks like a sapphire.

'I don't understand-' you stutter. It looks pretty. You softly touch the numb skin. It's very sensitive and you regret it right away, hissing.

'You've never met someone from Volantis. I have. They are very interesting people. They mark their toys there. Tiger stripes are for soldiers and whores? Whores get teardrops beneath their right eye.' He says. 'Slaves get tattoos. You are my slave.'

You freeze as the realisation hits you and you don't find it as pretty anymore. Everyone will see. Everyone will know. 'Why?' You whisper your voice breaking.

He grabs your chin as you try to hide from the truth. He forces you to face it. 'The next time you think of running, you think of freedom or something else I won't like: Just look in the mirror and see this permanent reminder of who you belong to now.' The sapphire is his symbol. His name is written on your forehead. Everyone will know now. No matter where you'll go. You'll always be his.

You thought you knew him. You had no idea. 'I never...I thought there was some good in you.' You stutter and you feel dumb for ever thinking that.

There is something in his smile that breaks you. 'There is. You just shouldn't have run from me. That was your mistake. Now you'll live with the consequences. And trust me: This is nothing compared to losing an eye.' He says joyfully before giving the poor man another golden dragon.

The man forgets how miserable you are very fast and thanks Aemond eagerly. You glare at him so much that he cowers and looks at his shoes. You see his toes coming out of the worn-out leather. You feel bad. You hate it. You hate yourself for feeling bad for that horrible old man who mutilated your face.

--- Aemond has dressed you in a sleeveless green gown. You have your head lowered. His hands are on your hips and he keeps you close scared you'll vanish if you are let go a moment.

Aegon is the first to notice the new tattoo. 'Did she meet with that Volantis girl? She has a matching tattoo.' He says with a grin. Alicent looks up from her dinner and drops her fork once she sees your face. She pales and looks like she got a kick in her gut.

Otto looks worried and disgusted even more than usual. 'Explain.' Aemond says, to you to appease his grandfather.

You feel ashamed. It somehow feels like your fault. Good thing you know it isn't. You did what every sane person would do. And you will do it again. Until you succeed...

Or until you die. 'I...I disobeyed.' You hope that that is enough.'This is my ..my punishment for running away.' You say softly.

Otto is even more disturbed than he used to be. Aemond laughs nervously. 'And?' He uses some pressure on you with his hand on your hips squeezing you.

You break, your voice a whisper. 'I'll never do it again.' He smiles and kisses your cheek.

'That's what I wanted to hear. Wait here like a good girl.' He leaves you standing and joins his family for dinner.

You wait. And wait. Assuming a chair will be added. Assuming you might sit on his lap if need be. Assuming you still get food.

'How long am I to wait?' You finally ask him, after the desert is brought out.

He laughs delightfully at you and licks off some chocolate from his fingers. You feel something confusing happen as you watch him do that, following every moment eagerly. You think back to your first time and wonder what else he can do with his tongue and fingers. 'If you think I'm feeding you tonight you haven't been paying attention.' You break free from your fantasy quickly.

You already didn't eat yesterday. You left the castle without food and didn't eat in the village either. 'I left the castle late. I didn't eat yesterday. It was cold and my body is hungry.' Surely he understands.

He slowly takes a strawberry and dips it in the chocolate biting it down until the cap is. 'Perhaps you should have thought about that before you ran from me.' He can't be serious.

You are stunned.' You'll survive a few days without food.' He says very calmly. 'If you won't...Oh well. I am starting to think you're more trouble than you're worth, anyway.'

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craby-bouquet · 6 months

Text

Over The Wall {Crowned Heads}

~part 1~

Choi Seungcheol x Reader

Romance, Royal!AU

1314 words

Masterlist | svt masterlist | crowned heads masterlist

1 | 2

You walked to your usual hangout spot. Eventhough you were very late, again, you were walking slowly and peacefully. You knew what your friends would say about it and you knew you wouldn’t care. You’d apologize and move on, just to be late again next time.

Even before turning around the corner, you could see the cigarette smoke coming from where your friends were standing.

“… so I told him to piss off.” Liza said, blowing smoke out of her mouth while leaning back nonchalant.

“No you didn’t,” Jayda chuckled, “He has you in a chokehold as always. You can’t get enough.”

Even without context, you knew exactly what this was about. You turned the corner and joined them without saying anything.

“No. No. This time I was serious. He has to pull his weight, or I kick his ass out and he can go live with his mom again.”

Dura rolled her eyes, “Even if you do kick him out, you’ll let him back in a week later when he buys you gold or something.”

“I mean, yeah. Obviously. Gold is gold.” Shrugged Liza.

That made the group laugh. That’s when they finally noticed you.

Jayda pushed herself away from the wall she’d been leaning against, “Well, well. See who finally decided to show up.”

You looked straight at her, not afraid of anything she’d do. She hadn’t had anything yet, so you knew she wouldn’t crawl your eyes out. Jayda has always looked very tough, but she was harmless. Unless she’d mixed her alcohol with weed again.

“Lost track of time.” You explained, shrugging it away while taking a beer from the cooler.

Liza looked away, pursing her lips, “Well, I’m glad you have enough free time to be late. Some of us don’t have that luxury. I have kids to pick up in less than an hour.”

You couldn’t help but smile, “The consequences of your own actions, I’d say.”

Dura waved everyone to silence, “Shut up. Did you remember to bring beer or not?”

Today had been your turn to buy beer for the group, which is why they were more annoyed than usual that you were late. Sadly for them, you had decided you didn’t like drinking with them and therefore didn’t bring anything.

You didn’t say anything, just looked Dura dead in the eyes until she understood that that meant no.

“Are you serious?” Liza acted like you just told her you stole her phone and ran it over with a train.

Jayda just shook her head disapprovingly, you knew she was thinking about killing you and you believed she might.

Meanwhile all Dura had done was walk away. Clearly annoyed, sighing loudly.

You didn’t get the big deal. You’d think they wouldn’t trust you with this anymore. You ‘forgot’ to bring beverages last time as well and sort of figured someone else would take care of it as a precaution. Over the last few months this group had really started to annoy you. Maybe you decided to not care anymore because you hoped to get kicked out, maybe it was just to be mean. Who knew, really? But the thought of them telling you to leave and not come back did seem great right now.

It seemed like Dura finally got back to herself again as she turned around and walked back towards you, “The only day in the week we can all get drunk, and not only do you turn up late, you forget the most important part?”

You placed your hand on your chest like she just offended you, “You mean… I’m not the most important part?”

“I’m gonna kill her.” Liza said under her breath, making you laugh.

Dura shook her head, clearly to calm herself, “Alright. Okay. Well, there’s not enough time for you to run to the stores and get some. And I don’t trust you with that anyway. So you messed this up for all of us. If this happens one more time, you’re out.”

You shrugged and checked out your nails.

Liza decided to open her mouth again, “No, no, I’m sorry, but I'm not cool with that. Something has to happen right now.”

Jayda leaned back against the wall she was standing against before. This was a castle wall, on the other side was part of the big royal garden. But no one ever came to this side of the garden so it was safe to do whatever.

Jayda seemed to have the same school of thought as you did. She looked at the wall and then to you. A faul grin appeared on her face, “Why don’t we play a game?”

That’s almost the exact opposite of what you’d expected her to say.

No one was as confused as Liza, “What?”

“She has to climb the wall and bring us back some nice flowers or something.” Jayda continued.

That was a dumb idea even for this group. You had clearly forgotten once again you were the only one here with more than one brain cell.

“I would like a rose.” Liza said, suddenly agreeing with Jayda’s crazy idea.

Dura was the only one who seemed hesitant, “You guys know that’s an actual criminal offense right?”

Jayda shrugged and brought her cigarette back to her mouth, “Make sure you don’t get caught then. But don’t worry, she’s too scared to actually do it anyway.”

She knew exactly how to light your fire. A dare. The only way to prove you were not scared was to actually climb the wall. You looked at the stone structure, the ivy all over it would make it very doable to get to the top, you’d just have to trust on the fact the other side had ivy or something similar as well. Without saying a word, you started climbing.

“Bring me a rose. The prettiest you can find!” Liza yelled as if you were a hundred meters away.

“Shut up.” You hissed. The last thing you wanted right now is to get the attention of a cop or palace guard.

“Come back down.” Dura said, she clearly hated the idea. She was the only one thinking of the real consequences there would be to this.

You peaked over the top into the garden. You didn’t see much but you could already tell it was gorgeous. This side was fairly sheltered from the palace so going down would be quite safe.

“Be right back.” you said right as you jumped over. You couldn’t pass up a challenge.

You knew this was stupid and the moment you stood on the soft, green grass, you regretted everything. But there was no turning back now. Time to find a flower.

“Come back.” Dura hissed loudly, clearly very annoyed.You weren’t going to respond and started carefully walking alongside the wall. Going away from it seemed like a dumb idea, at least if you were to be seen now you could quickly climb over. You were grateful for the hedges shielding you from the sight of the palace, getting caught would be a big issue seeing as you were trespassing. The more you thought about it the dumber this whole thing was. Stupid Liza and her dumb roses. If you could find a flower you were going to shove it down her throat.

Why were there no flowers? None whatsoever. You’d think the royal garden would be filled with flowers as far as the eye could see, but there were none whatsoever. Maybe on the other side of the castle? But you were not walking that far.

You decided to just go back to your group and climb back over. You turned around and froze where you stood.

A curse word left your lips before you could think about it. You were so screwed and you knew it.

You looked right into the confused eyes of prince Seungcheol.

Masterlist | svt masterlist | crowned heads masterlist

#seventeen #crowned heads #prince #choi seungcheol #seongcheol #s.coups #fanfiction #romance #fanfic #fluff

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dothwrites · 10 months

Text

clip show is crowley at his most evil and unforgivable. i can excuse many things but murdering sarah blake? UNFORGIVABLE

no idea why dean is quite so pissed at cas here? like okay cas messed up, but in terms of bad things, it's really not that awful. idk. dean is just bringing the HEAT on cas, and it's sad because cas gives him the poor little meow meow face! cas is just doing what he thinks is the right thing, and every time it blows up in his face. also i would gladly watch at least 45 minutes of cas going grocery shopping. he is DELIGHTFUL in what he prioritizes. he needs PIE!

it's so painful to see cas with metatron and see how easily metatron is manipulating him. metatron plays to cas' desire to do good, and to his pride. one of cas' flaws has always been his hubris and his belief that, because he has free will, he can see what the other angels can't. and that's how metatron grabs him. he makes cas believe that only he can save the angels from themselves and that it's the right thing to do. cas' road to hell is paved with only the best intentions and it's so so easy to lead him down it.

the winchesters release abaddon into the world through a series of bonehead moves, and you don't hear anyone ripping them a new one! (not that i'm bitter about only cas' decisions being criticized by the narrative)

though i am glad that dean finally got his dungeon. he's been looking forward to it for so long! he's so excited about his sex torture murder dungeon.

#doth watches spn

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scratchandplaster · 1 year

Text

FEBUWHUMP 2023 DAY 6 - Secrets revealed

CW: recapture, mentions of a cult, reference to non-con touch (non-sexual), drugging, alcohol, Whumpee being awkward

・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・

The bass nearly deafened all other noise surrounding them. He took two full hours to let his longing gaze finally turn into a pickup line, a stuttered mess about fallen angels or whatever corny phrases he googled beforehand. He had thoroughly prepared for this, even written it down on his forearm to not mess it up.

Embarrassing, but she still laughed. Maybe about him, but she did nonetheless, until they laughed together.

Now their bodies were moving closer on the dance floor, basking in the beats drumming from the speakers, which acted as an ever thinning layer between them. Everything around them was like a new taste hammering onto his senses: the music, the drinks, the people…

God, he didn't know any of them, different faces hitting his eyes like a refreshing splash of water, clearing his view. Everything adding up to outline the person now mere inches away from him, inviting him closer to dance, to touch-

He waited so long for this, to finally decide for himself when and how he would show his affection. But there was something that stopped him from moving closer, a very familiar sensation: Fear.

"So what are you looking for tonight?", she practically screamed into his face, when his movements started to turn into more of a tense flinching than anything else.

"Umm...just some company." he replied nervously, probably way too quiet, judging by her lost expression.

Instead of sputtering further, she pulled him by his sleeve and off to the side, between the cocktail bar and the toilets.

Very nice, I bet the stench of piss will make me look more sympathetic, he thought with a sour expression.

Careful to pull his cheap dress shirt down to cover the notes, that were currently getting smeared around by a combination of sweat and iridescent glitter, he felt like the biggest idiot in town.

"Um… I thought about getting one of those," he pointed at an electric blue chalice of unknown contents, currently held by a woman dressed in the shortest skirt he'd ever seen. It looked like the fur of some animal.

A tiger maybe, he pondered, or a cheetah, they are known for-

"Ah, yeah. They're great. Ever had one?" The little reflective umbrella on top almost waved at him.

"No, but if you recommend them, I'm sure I'll like it!"

Her round face turned avid at that comment. Dragging herself through the crowd, she made her way up to the counter. He continued to look for her between the illuminated shapes that swayed and jumped all around him, using her glitter-freckled skin and wild red hair as an anchor in this unfamiliar environment.

It was calming to know that he didn't waste his evening tucked away in a corner watching, like he used to often enough.

Don't be such a freak, act normal, the desperate voice in his head kept yelling at him. It never revealed something new, even when following him across state lines.

Lifting his gaze off the bar, he took the time to take in the view. Hundreds of people, all different in the most unique ways he'd ever seen: hair, clothing, make up. Now collected in one place for the sole purpose of having fun, being free to express that in any way they liked. He still wasn't part of that mob, but gradually learned how to better take part in this life, the life he always wanted. Finally, finally being on his own, escaping his so-called life and moving far away to start living-

"This is a Blue Lagoon," she explained, ripping him away from his line of thought.

She leaned against the wall holding a bulbous glass in each hand, gradually moving one towards him. Bright liquid sloshed around inside the glass and made the ice cubes softly clink against each other.

"I can't wait for you to try it!" she kept on going, all the while the nauseating presence at the back of his neck started to make itself even more present, "But be honest, it's not for everybody."

Danger. Danger. Danger.

"Mhh...can we...can we maybe switch?" he finally pressed out.

A long stretch of silence followed, he could see her face gradually starting to lose its smooth features. He was not able to place the expression that slowly turned her smile into a grimace of aversion...disgust even? He knew that he ruined it, every chance of living out here was just a thinly veiled lie.

You know where you belong, don't fool yourself.

Wordlessly shrugging, she outstretched her other hand, now holding nearly the same drink as before.

Stop acting like an asshole was the only thought left in his mind, as the thick tension between them was getting worse and worse by the second.

"Sorry," he tried in a last attempt to save himself from being ridiculed, "I just really like the green one."

His fingers grabbed the drink out of her hand, the cursed quiet between them slowly began to dissolve, as her eyes started to widen with insight.

"It's okay, really. It's not a big deal." She looked down at her own glass, decorated with a purple umbrella tucked between an orange slice and a maraschino cherry, and back at him.

"Suits you. So, what are you doing here in Nashville? You don't look like a tourist."

Tell her something, don't be a fucking idiot.

What was he supposed to say: Escaping a cult in Cincinnati? Google didn't encourage that kind of chit-chat.

"Just visiting an old friend." Come on, keep it going.

"Sounds fun!" It was apparent that she was trying her hardest not to turn around and dump him on the spot. A beat of uncomfortable silence started to announce itself again.

"Thank you for being so patient with me, I'm not really great at this kind of conversation," he admitted at last, slowly sipping the alien liquid through the funny shaped straw. Being honest was the least he could do.

A sudden punch of sugary alcohol hit him, making his nostrils burn from the inside out and letting him cough like a high schooler trying their first beer. It truly was great.

"That's alright," she smiled, followed by a quick wink and slurp of her own drink, "It's not the small talk I'm here for."

--------

"I'm so glad I met you tonight."

They hadn't stopped after one cocktail, he could feel the fruity aromas the bar had offered them still enclosing his tongue. She showed him all her favorites, each coming with their own ornament he secretly put into his pocket, evidence of his adventures.

Now, sitting on the passenger's seat of her old Ford Fiesta, he never felt so free in his life.

"Me too, I waited so long for this!" he breathed through a pleasant shiver, the tingly heat all across his body slowly sinking deeper into his bones. She sat on his lap, straddling him while holding his heavy head between her palms. The copper curls framing her sparkling blue eyes lovingly stared back at his, searching his gaze.

He hugged her waist softly, dragging them both close once again, but not moving down any further. He would never do anything she wouldn't request, exactly as he hoped he would be treated.

She would stop; if I'd tell her that I didn't like it, she would stop.

A notion he never had dared to think back then.

The little voice that mocked him for a good part of the night finally shut up, being replaced by the bliss now warming him from the inside. His vision had long turned fuzzy from the vodka or whatever juice the barkeeper had filled them up with, little black dots dancing up the in the air like TV static. Motionless in their embrace, they remained. She was better than any company he could have hoped for.

"Oh, I have to pay you back still-" he slurred, his hands suddenly breaking contact with her soft skin to fumble for his wallet, "...the drinks, y´know?"

His fingers tucked at the zipper of his fleece jacket, but slipped every time they got a hold of the little slider. If he'd known that being wasted would make him this weak, he would have abstained from one Malibu Sunset...

But only one!, he silently smiled to himself.

"Don't worry about that," she whispered, her weight lifted off his thighs as she placed herself back into the driver's seat, "I just hope you had fun tonight."

He did, but couldn't find the strength to tell her that. His mouth wasn't moving on his command anymore, he felt himself weightlessly sinking into the darkness creeping in at the corners of his heavy-lidded eyes.

"We all missed you so much!", was the last thing he heard before gently drifting towards the void of unconsciousness, thinking nothing at all.

・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・

Thanks for reading 🤍 [Febuwhump 2023 Masterlist]

@febuwhump

#whump #whumpblr #creative writing #whump community #whump drabble #febuwhump #febuwhump2023 #febuwhumpday6 #drugging cw #implied drugging #cult #recapture #kidnapping #alcohol #whumpees fashion sense is terrible #going clubbing in a dress shirt and fleece jacket!#its awful i love him #i hope he doesnt give yall incel vibes that wasnt was i was going for

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amatres · 7 months

Text

update on game so far, found the rest of the potential murder victims, stole from one of them before saving him. had the dream scene with the emperor and pissed him off

Emperor: You are my puppet. Make no mistake. Without me, you have no value.

also got the night ambush scene from the other spawn

Narrator: You sleep, but the wicked don't. Someone is here to disturb your rest.

when isn't someone disturbing my rest

Astarion: What a mess. Well, at least you've met my family now.

i'll put the full dialogue out below the cut, if you'd like to see balaerra making the worst choices forever

The Emperor: They say that home is where a person can be their truest selves, without guile, without pretense. You did well to see off the githyanki who had invaded mine. And now that you have seen where I come form, you know all there is to know about me. At least all that matters. The very first reward I gifted myself on completion of my first adventure. The garments with which I concealed and later constructed my appearance as the Emperor. We spoke of my relationship with Duke Belynne Stelmane - a story I have told no one else. I have no more secrets from you. No need to resort to subterfuge. We are true allies now, working towards a common goal. Balaerra: You do a great impression of a human. But you're not fooling me. The Emperor: Your distrust of me will be our undoing. Would it make a difference if I let you read my thoughts? Balaerra: You're an expert at mental manipulation. I wouldn't trust anything you show me. The Emperor: I will take that as a yes. Did you like it - the truth? This was the alternative relationship we could have had. Aren't you glad I finessed my methods? But since you insist on thwarting my craft, let us be blunt. You are my puppet. Make no mistake. Without me, you have no value. You will take me to the brain because you have no other choice. And once we are there, you will do exactly what I tell you to. And you would do well to reconsider unlocking your potential. Your puerile attachment to your material form jeopardizes us all. If I must, I will force you. Balaerra: Finally the mask drops. And you put so much effort into it. The Emperor: We are done here.

Astarion: Get the hells away from me! Aurelia: Peace, brother. We're here to take you home. Leon: The master needs all seven of us at the ceremony. Come with us and be reborn. We'll live again. Balaerra: How did you find us? Aurelia: Master Cazador has known where Astarion was the entire time. He knew he would return. The Rite… The master needs him. He must attend. Astarion: Oh, I'm well aware of what the master needs. But don't we deserve better? Leon: Better? What do you mean better? Astarion: After all these centuries of torment, I know what you all want. More than power. More than to walk in the sun. You want to see him dead. The Rite of Profane Ascension will be mine, and he won't see a scrap of it's glory. I am going to complete the ritual as the Ascendant, and then I am going to kill him. This is your chance. Stand with me. Name me your new master. We will get our revenge, and you will all live again. Narrator: His liar's smile spells danger. He knows full well his kin will die in the ritual. But if any of the bearers of the scar die before the ritual begins, he will lose his chance to perform the Rite himself. He needs them to run willingly to their deaths, thinking they stand a chance against their master. Balaerra: He's free of Cazador's command. You should follow him. He will save you. Leon: He is different - stronger, fire in his eyes. Maybe he could take Cazador's place. Maybe he could free us.

#ama plays baldurs gate #balaerra (oc)#were getting so close to the worst thing this girl is probably going to do im so excited tbh #time to go become someone else's thrall after mouthing off to the mindflayer in my purse ✌

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cahmilo · 2 years

Text

Fragile ㅡ pt.2

pairing: camilo x gn reader genre: angst to fluff word count: 2.7k tags: reader has a gift, glass manipulation, mentions of scars and blood, developing relationship, sweetheart camilo

request: hii could i request camilo x reader who also has a gift but when the reader uses it they get hurt and they go too far kinda?? they also tend to hide it from others sometimes? angst to fluff please!! btw i really love your kpop themed fics hehe!! (also feel free not to do this if you’re uncomfortable:) thank you very much!!

part 1

ㅡ

Camilo had mixed emotions, having no absolute part of the room to focus to as his eyes were looking everywhere at the now ruined dinner table.

Glancing at the window where you ran away to, he felt uneasy. Not because of your powers, but because of how he thought you would feel at the current situation. It was not everyday you find someone having gifts like your family, let alone showing it in the most messy way ever.

"Senora, what was that?" Alma could only whisper in a soft tone, face still in disbelief. "Was that.."

Your mother sighed and replied. "Yes, only she has a gift.." she paused before a sigh leaves her lips as she continues.

"glass manipulation."

Your father immediately shooed away the glass particles, finding it easier to do so since you already swooped it out in a corner before you ran away.

"I'm really sorry about her, Senora, it's a long story but I apologize for the mess she made."

Camilo's eyebrows furrowed. Finally being able to speak, he stood up.

"Sorry but with all due respect, Senor. It wasn't her fault. She was stressed and it led her to break down. By any means, do not blame it on her."

Felix grabbed Camilo by the shoulders, urging him to stop. "We're all fine right? Camilo, why don't you go look for Y/N and help them calm down okay?" After receiving a nod from the boy, he turned away to the direction of the open window to follow you. But all of a sudden, he was stopped by your father.

"You can't go to her, Camilo. She's dangerous and unstable."

It took all of Camilo's might to avoid snapping at your father. At this point, he was pissed.

"Y/N isn't dangerous, and they will never hurt me."

—

Looking for you didn't take that much effort. Your glass trails practically what made Camilo find you a lot easier. While he stood beside the track of glass beads, he noticed that they were glowing in a red color. Picking one up carefully, he inspected the glass.

"Dark red.... for anger?" He asked himself. He figured that emotions were also a factor to drive your power, similar to how different kinds of weather work with particular emotions in his mother's gift. He noticed that the glass bead suddenly glowed to a flashing blue.

"Blue for sadness?" Camilo's eyes grew worried. Tucking in the glass bead in his pocket, he ran faster to find you.

Halting his footsteps, he took notice of a rather large spherical object in front of him, made of glass. Inching closer, he saw that it was indeed your creation of a glass bubble, with a glow emitting the same color as the glass beads around him.

When he finally reached the large dome, he couldn't picture the image within because of the foggy tint. His heart broke when he heard muffled cries from you. Are you inside the glass dome?

Putting his palm against the glass bubble, he whispered.

"Y/N, can you hear me?" He mumbled against the clear and cold surface.

Hearing his soft voice, you responded. "Camilo, go away, I don't wanna hurt you."

"I know you won't, Y/N. Do you wanna talk?"

The color from the glass slowly faded, turning transparent. You finally saw each other, and the sight of you in tears brought pain in Camilo's heart. His eyes softened, reflecting sadness and worry. You at the other hand, reached out your palm to line it with his through the thin glass.

"What if I hurt you?" You whispered, leaning your head against the glass.

"I'd be willing to get hurt if it means getting to you."

You can only sob, hugging yourself while turning away from him. Hiding your face in your knees, you tried to make the bubble disappear, not sparing Camilo a glance to see your vulnerability.

You thought that he would be away by now, but it took you by surprise when Camilo engulfed you into a small hug from behind.

Immediately, you pushed him away. "Why aren't you scared of me? Why aren't you in fear? Why are you-"

"Because I care for you, Y/N!" He said, hands slowly finding its way to yours and kissing your scratched knuckles. "I don't fear you, because I know you. I know your gift is driven by your emotions. I know you well enough that being afraid of you is the least you would want after tonight."

He sat down in a cross-legged position, and urged you to do the same. Sitting beside him, his hands slid back to yours, his thumb tracing circles on the back of your palm.

"Don't feel forced to explain right now, I know how messy you can get when you're overwhelmed." Camilo brought his other hand up to boop your nose while you scrunched in response, leaving a light laugh. He smiled in glee when he looked beside him and noticed the glass beads turning from blue to a yellow glow.

I made them happy... Camilo thought. The corner of his lips not having any plans to go back down.

"I kind of feel calm right now, and I trust you the most.." You trailed off, leaning your head against his shoulder when you started to catch him up on the story of your gift.

—

"Mi abuela got a miracle when she gave birth to mi mama. It was 2 years before the Encanto came along so, my mom is older than yours. But because of the conditions in the village made it dangerous for the family, the miracle gave her the gift of enhanced vision, being able to see past further the human eyes and more colors than we can identify and since then, mi mami was obliged to look over the family.. but-"

You tried to hold back a sob but you couldn't. Camilo on the other hand, kept his hands at your back, tracing shapes and figures that brought tranquility in the middle of your cluttered mind. Slowly, you continued.

"She hated the burden, she hated her gift. When she got married to my dad, he helped her hide and pretend like it didn't exist and then years later, her gift faded."

Camilo hummed, "It's not easy.. with that kind of gift." He mumbled, thinking about his sister with enhanced hearing which can sometimes be too overwhelming to handle. It wasn't easy.

"How about your brother?"

"Julio was like Mirabel, he was giftless. Supposedly, it was a wake-up call for my mom that their miracle was dying but she didn't care, not until I came along." You trailed off.

"It's awful, milo. Back when I was little I was told to hide my gift and never tell anyone, not even you." After hearing the pain in your voice, Camilo reassured you by embracing you even tighter.

Looking up at him from his shoulders, you took in the sight of the boy. His features were gleaming against the moonlight. I'm sorry I hid this from you. Unspoken words from you seemed to travel effortlessly, seeming like he understood every non-verbal gesture you sent.

Quickly looking down from your lap, you moved your hands rhythmically, trying to form a glass image. Camilo looked down with you, trying to observe. As much as he loved the sight of you fiddling with your hands, his eyes never leave the site of light scars and scratches all over your arms from the glass shards back at the dinner table. How he desperately wanted to kiss those scars away, heal them and see you in your best condition.

But he knew you. He knew how much you get overwhelmed. If you had a problem, you were the type to solve it one at a time. And in this moment, Camilo knew you would do the same.

As much as it hurts him to see you in pain, he, too, should deal with it one at a time.

Trailing back to your fiddling hands, Camilo's eyes converted from worry to admiration upon glancing at the beautiful figure your magic has made. It was a glassy chameleon, surrounded by glowing particles as if it was a real chameleon come to life. A smile escapes your lips as the chameleon drifts and moves close to Camilo. You pulled away from him and sat back, letting him grab the glass chameleon for himself. Eyes filled with glee, his eyes fixated on how it moved. How its eyes move in different directions, its tail wrapping into itself.

"I never told my mom I still had my gift. If I was given a blessing as beautiful as this, who am I to waste it away, right?" You thought out loud, admiring the sight in front of you.

Camilo nodded as he cradled the glass chameleon in his hands. "This is beautiful, Y/N. Of all the years I've known you, you always seemed mysterious on the inside, like you had a dark secret or something."

"Yeah" You responded. Fiddling your hands once more, you attempted to create another 3d image made from glowing glass until-

"Y/N! Where are you?" In a split second, the familiarity of the voice calling your name brought shivers to your spine as both of you stood up. Immediately, Camilo brought you closer to him, careful as to not touch your injuries. As shuffling of the bushes gets louder, you raised your hands up, creating another dome-shaped bubble but this time, it was larger to fit you and Camilo together.

"Wanna see what else I can do?" You asked with a sly smile. Camilo had a confused look, but he nodded nevertheless.

Instantly, when your mother came into both of your view, she looked back and forth as if she was still looking for you. Camilo thought for a second. If she couldn't see you when both of you are literally just in front of her, then,

"Did you just make the glass bubble invisible?!"

With a proud smile, you nodded. Looking back at your mother who now cannot see you, she stomped her foot as she turned back probably looking for you in another place.

Camilo had his mouth wide open, still being new to this whole thing. From how happy he is, he forgets everything and engulfs you to a big bear hug. Unfortunately, he accidentally grazes upon your scars, making you jerk and flinch away as you hiss in pain.

He immediately backed off, muttering apologies. "Oh shoot- I forgot- I'm sorry"

"It's okay, Camilo."

You glance at him shuffling through the pockets of his pants and he pulls something out. It was a warm arepa wrapped in banana leaves. He hastily places it in the palms of your hands, urging you to eat it. "It's still warm, I brought it before I went to find you."

Thanking him, you took a bite of the arepa while he holds your hand and both of you look at your scratches and scars fade away. You pulled Camilo into another embrace as he wraps his hands around your waist and brings another to your hair, stroking it.

After a long period of warm silence, Camilo gently lifts your chin up to face him. "While we can't stay here for long, why don't you stay at my place for a while? Until your mom calms down."

"But your family-"

"-loves you. My family loves you Y/N. You are a joy to them and whatever happened earlier won't change a thing." He reassured you. Putting his hand on your cheek, he used his thumb to stroke and wipe away a stray tear leaving your eye.

"I promise, I'll help you control your gift. I'll always be by your side. You will never hurt me, and I will always protect you." With admiration in his eyes, he gently leans down to plant a kiss on your nose, leaving your heart fluttering and asking for more.

But before you were able to speak, the once invisible glass bubble around you went from transparent to opaque. You and Camilo glanced sideways to see that the color of the surface slowly turned bright pink.

For Camilo who knows what color depicts which emotions, he is sure having a party in his head right now. Mentally he thanked Isabela for teaching him the language of color and flowers and Mirabel for teaching him the language of colors through her paint and fabric.

"Pink glass.. I think I know what it means" Camilo smirked, squishing your cheeks playfully.

"Shut up."

"Come on, I wanna hear it from you! Pink glass means......?" Oh he was full-on teasing you, just like what you both used to do a lot as kids. Heck, even until now.

You pursed your lips, trying to hide the grin and fluster in your face. With a low tone, you grumbled and dropped your shoulders.

".....love"

Camilo couldn't hide the grin in his face. He knew this wasn't the end, and unfortunately you do too.

"And rosy pink glass specifically means.....?"

"... romantic love."

"I KNEW IT!" Camilo yelled. While you sulked in the side cursing your gift for telling on you, Camilo was all over the place, jumping up an down and fist-pumping the air, a thing he does when hes happy, not just happy, but extremely happy.

You were still pouting, playfully rolling your eyes at the childish boy inside the glass dome with you. You tried fiddling with your fingers to alter the glass, but you yelped in surprise when you were suddenly lifted from the ground, hands on your waist gripping hard while you were being spun around.

"Dios mio, Camilo! I'm getting dizzy!" You screamed, digging your face in his hair while closing your eyes. After you had enough he let you down, both of you in a laughing mess.

"Still can't believe my own gift would rat me out." You sighed, fixing your hair and removing the glass dome, exposing both of you to the outside world.

Camilo only laughed "But it's adorable!" You only rolled your eyes, taking a seat back on the grass beside him as he sat beside you and opened his arms for an embrace.

Sooner or later, the rest of the night unfolded with confessions, new relationships and sharing of feelings. You couldn't be even more happier. Even if it happened in such a rush, all that mattered was that the boy you had eyes on for years, the boy that never failed to make your heart flutter, the boy that always made you smile,

that boy in a yellow ruana,

that boy was finally yours.

And you were his.

—

"Are you sure this is safe? I thought glass wings were like, supposed to be heavy" Camilo trailed, unsure about his life decisions as he looks behind his now-glassy wings that you made.

"Luisa can lift your entire house and your biggest concern is if these big ass wings can carry your small ass body?" You grabbed his hand as you inspected your own set of glass wings. He only stuck out his tongue in response. Like a chameleon, I swear this boy is adorable. You thought.

You glanced back at him and laughed at his terrified state. "Hey, we had a game and you clearly lost."

"I didn't actually believe that you were the one that trolled Bruno with the boogeyman vision? How was I supposed to know you can make glass duplicates of his visions?!" Camilo yelled, his competitive side refusing to acknowledge that he lost the 3 truths 1 lie game that resulted to the 'glass wings' compromise.

Clicking your tongue, you cupped his cheeks and gave him a big peck in the lips. "Well you clearly didn't know me well enough. And never speak about this to him or the next vision you'll get of me from him is a grave."

"Yeah I clearly don't know you well enough" Camilo mocked your tone. "But now I have the rest of my life to find out now that you're mine, right mi vida?"

"Oh, Shut up Camilo"

"It's actually 'I love you Camilo' but it's okay we can practice again lat-AAA!!" His words got cut off by him screaming as his newly put glass wings (controlled by you) practically dragged him off the ground while you scoff and giggle at your now partner whom you love dearly.

"You're an idiot Camilo" You said out loud, using your magic to fly catch up to him. Despite the distance, you can still hear each other clearly.

"Still the wrong words, mi amor!"

—

taglist: @thegirlwiththebangs @mirabelleza @carcat-02 @brushofease @camilos-luna @kitasgloves @ducky-is-dead-inside @elegantkidfansoul @moon-cakiie ++ join here | pt.2 extra tags: @ekkoismyhusband @little-rckstar

#camilo madrigal #camilo my beloved #camilo supremacy #camilo x reader #camilo #camilo x female reader #camilo madrigal x reader #camilo fluff #camilo x you #camilo fanfic #camilo madrigal fanfic #camilo madrigal fluff #cahmi fics

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