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dangermousie · 3 years

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2020 End of Year Post - cdrama edition

This is only going to cover cdramas that aired in 2020; if I had to make a post about all the cdramas I watched this year, I would still be doing it in three months...

Overall it’s been a fairly decent cdrama year (certainly better than the very lacklustre kdrama year.) It’s no miracle that 2019 was (so many excellent dramas!) but overall pretty solid.

DRAMAS WATCHED

(In order of liking from least to most as opposed to pure quality; I am including if I’ve seen enough to make up my mind; yes I realize that’s inaccurate, but that’s my list)

44 The Legend of Jing Yan - the worst cdrama I have seen this year, and possibly the worst drama of 2020, period. The hero and heroine were both uncharismatic, incapable of acting and saddled with such shrilly moronic characters, the only suspense was how they haven’t both perished long since from forgetting to breathe. Nor was anyone in the rest of the cast much better; the screenplay was written by a lower mammal and the cinematography was the best a third-rate wedding cinematographer could offer. Stay the HELL away from this one.

43 Unicorn Girl - the only unicorn about this bland yet irritating piece of pap was the fact that I was supposed to believe the leads are hockey players.

42 Autumn Cicada - I like spy stories, Allen Ren, and Republican Era settings. I can tune out Communist propaganda with the best of them. Yet, the propaganda ate the story to such a degree that there was nothing left; pre magic change Pinocchio was less wooden then this narrative.

41 You Complete Me - no you do not.

40 Skate into Love - the only positive thing I can say about this is that at least it’s better than Unicorn Girl, if for no other reason that only one of them is supposed to be a hockey player.

39 Irreplaceable Love - how do you make a story about fake siblings with a mad mother falling for each other boring? I don’t know, ask the makers of this.

38 Eternal Love Rain - I hate to rain on their parade, but these two actors cannot act, have about as much chemistry as a piece of bread, and are trapped in a story perfect for entertaining the mental abilities of the leads of Jin Yan.

37 For Married Doctoress - ummmm, you could do worse I guess. It only made me break out in mild hives. The sadistic ending did make me laugh though.

36 Dance of the Sky Empire - why you get Xu Kai and waste him in this insipid mess of a story is beyond me.

35 Love Designer - it’s inoffensive except to my sense of entertainment. There is nothing wrong with it but oh God is it bland.

34 Love a Lifetime - It felt like a lifetime watching this, but I didn’t love it. The story is incoherent, the actors have no chemistry and it’s all an epic waste of time.

33 Love is Sweet - so sweet it gave me diabetes. I like Luo Yunxi and Bai Lu, but there is literally no plot. I don’t need to sink into a plotless morass to watch pretty people engage in PG-rated make-outs. I am an adult with access to stronger stuff if I am thus inclined, though to be fair they could get x-rated and I still wouldn’t be able to sit through so many episodes of plotlessness for that.

32 Fake Princess - I love Zhao Yi Qin, but the guy needs to pick better projects. The female lead in this one has the voice and personality that can strip paint but the story is also doing nobody any favors.

31 The Changan Youth - I lost my brain checking this out. I had to go and read a dense treatise on medieval coinage or Mayan farming to try to recover it.

30 My Dear Destiny - kinda cheesy fun. It honestly shouldn’t be as low except it really feels like community theater.

29 Handsome Siblings - why is the Nic Tse version so good and this one so bad? True mystery for the ages. Chen Zhe Yuan is the sole reason this isn’t lower, because that kid tries SO HARD to make this drama bearable and almost succeeds. I can’t wait to see him in Sha Po Lang which actually will give him something to do.

28 In a Class of Her Own - see my comment on The Changan Youth. But at least Song Weilong is gorgeous to look at.

27 General’s Lady - inoffensive, pretty and so utterly pointless.

26 The Blooms at Ruyi Pavilion - those two leading actors are a no go to me but at least they considerately acted with each other instead of ruining two dramas for me. It’s very pretty though.

25 Jiu Liu Overlord - it’s a mess and I bailed, but I placed it this high merely due to the fact that Lai Yi finally gets a leading role and he’s sexy as fuck and I am shallow. Whoever styled Bai Lu should never work again except at a circus, however.

24 Cross Fire - not my genre and Luhan will always look too much like my cousin for comfort, but it’s a surprisingly gripping and dark drama. I liked it!

23 God of Lost Fantasy - if you want to watch a mediocre wuxia/xianxia, this is not a bad choice. Probably better than Legend of Fei actually, because at least it doesn’t have an A-list cast to waste and gives us Sheng Yilun himbo and shirtless.

22 Renascence - the insane cuts (it went from 70 eps to 36!!!) made a fairly cheesy story into a total mess. But I had a good time until I finally bailed mainly because of the male lead (Chen Zhe Yuan yet again carrying a not-good 2020 drama on his shoulders; the guy should be nicknamed Atlas) and the insane but in a fun way story. The female lead (both the character and the actress) were not up to par but oh well.

21 Legend of Fei - only this high because objectively there is nothing I disliked it. But there is nothing I liked either. The most uninspired drama on the list. If you could eat cardboard, this is what it would taste like.

20 Ever Night 2 - compared to EN1, it’s a waste of film. On its own merits, it’s not very good (the cast replacements are uniformly inferior and Dylan Wang is so wrong for Ning Que I cannot even put it into words; the script is useless.) But it had some parts I loved so very VERY much (all the shippy stuff was perfection) so I don’t feel too bitter.

19 Castle in the Sky 2 - a lovely if not too complex fairy tale. It is inferior to its prequel because it doesn’t have Zhang Ruo Yun who elevated it, but it’s still a solid bit of fun.

18 The Great Ruler - it’s very high fantasy, very pretty, and surprisingly involving.

17 (tie) Legend of Two Sisters in the Chaos - the secondary couple steals the show but the rest is not too bad if not too involving.

17 Legend of Awakening - a solid bit of fun with a seriously BDSM streak (theme this year apparently - but come on, the lead’s powers only activate when he’s in extreme pain!) It’s a bit generic and the costuming is done by a blind person, not to mention the OTP is a NOTP, but the rest of relationships (romantic and platonic) are wonderful (I live for the found siblings story in this one) and I like most of the characters.

16 Consummation - a rare modern cdrama I liked; a sweet coming of age story (and love story) even if wrapped in a pretty weird virtual reality concept.

15 Oops the King is in Love - this is how you do a low budget, sweet, silly piece of fluff. Our heroine pretends to be a eunuch and crosses paths with a powerless young king and they are adorable, even more so than the drama.

14 Song of Glory - pretty solid, though draggy and I didn’t love the toothpaste filter. But A+ cast, excellent leading couple chemistry, Li Qin being a BAMF and a leading man (Qin Hao) who is actually an adult.

13 And the Winner is love - objectively kind of a mess (and the heroine has the brainpower of a gnat), but the OTP chemistry is excellent and Luo Yunxi fighting and flirting with a fan as finally a leading man is worth the price of admission.

12 Miss S - snazzy and snappy and stylish and whatever else starts with S.

11 Eternal Love of Dream - I don’t know if it would work for you as well if you weren’t a hardcore shipper for this OTP in Three Lives but I was and this was such a darling, wonderful, shippy delight; plus I love this type of high fantasy.

10 (tie) Maiden Holmes - solid and sweet and a wonderful OTP. Proves that functional doesn’t have to mean boring. If you watch one cross-dressing drama this year make it this one.

10 Qin Dynasty Epic - srs bsns history epic. I am not far into it but it’s so good and smart and visually stunning (if you love battles, this one is for you.)

9 Love Lasts Two Minds - I adored this so much more than I should objectively have, but it’s so beautiful (and no I am not just referring to Alan Yu’s face) and the OTP has wonderful chemistry and the story is solid, and the whole trope of her memory being wiped but falling for him all over again while he’s constantly and utterly devoted is a fave; plus he’s in pain and semi-dyng for most of it so sluuuurp (happy ending, don’t worry)

8 To Love - yes, a modern drama is this high! But it involves intensity, tragedy, genuine adults and sexiness that is Lin Gengxin. And there is an actual plot and darkness OMG!

7 Legend of Xiao Chuo - so beautiful, so fun, so full of gorgeousness of Shawn Dou. Plus, Liao is a rare setting for a cdrama and there are a lot of characters and stories I liked a LOT. Less ship content than I wanted but more than I expected.

6 The Romance of Tiger and Rose - so so delightful. I was literally laughing out loud. I have no idea if it will work as well if one isn’t a seasoned watcher of period cdrama/reader of web novels, with bonus for watching/reading Goodbye My Princess, but it was a complete delight for me (and yes, I shipped for real, as well. Best of both worlds.)

5 Twisted Fate of Love - Jin Han gets a leading period drama role! And he’s enjoying it to the hilt, excellent as a smart, twisty bastard who is also charming and so madly in love with heroine. Sun Yi is beautiful and tough and her chemistry with JH is on fire, the story never drags, and it’s so twisty and fun and just awesome.

4 Love In Between - the most underrated drama on this list. It has no big names or big budget, but it’s wuxia that’s clever, driven, tragic, hopeful and so beautifully shot. Three separate (amazing) OTPs, a leading man who is so not typical (a doctor who cannot fight and who never acquires this ability) and who is intense and smart and damaged, a heroine who puts her quest ahead of her emotions, an unhealthy degree of involvement by yours truly. This is a drama Fei should have been.

3 Love and Redemption - such a lovely, addictive, utterly romantic fairy tale. I was obsessed with it for a reason. All the tropes you love and some you didn’t know you did, a star-crossed OTP to the nth power (and a secondary OTP I hardcore love), a twisty yet coherent plot, some insane chemistry and so much whump and hurt/comfort they must have bought blood packets in bulk.

2 Go Ahead - yes, I can’t believe it either. A contemporary slice of life cdrama made it this high on my list. But the way it feels so real, the found family perfection, the characters I love and loathe, the perfect cherry of a wonderful OTP that hits my narrative kinks on top, and just a perfect storm of loveliness all around with this one.

1 The Wolf - is that any surprise to anyone who’s checked out this tumblr for the last couple of months? Tragic, intense and gorgeous; so romantic and angsty and passionate it made me lose my mind (though some of it was gone the moment the camera panned to Darren Wang) - all my favorite tropes and then some; this is a drama that may not be perfect but it is 100% and then beyond perfect for ME.

FAVORITE DRAMA

The Wolf - I have seen objectively better cdramas; even this year. But it has been literal years since I have been this hardcore obsessed, this utterly pleased, this emotionally catered to and devastated at once. A beautiful dark fairy tale that manages to own me despite the storytelling gaps due to censorship, it took me for one of the biggest emotional roller coaster rides of my drama watching career. Visually gorgeous, poetic, intense, and so romantic it took my breath away, this is not just my favorite cdrama of 2020, it’s my favorite drama this year period, and the one cdrama this year to make it into my permanent Top 10 cdramas list.

WORST DRAMA

Legend of Jin Yan - see my write up for it for why as I refuse to waste more time on this stupid mess.

FAVORITE MALE CHARACTER

Wolfie, The Wolf - he is such a haunted, tormented, complex, dark mess; loving and violent, severely damaged and with a hidden yearning softness, longing and aloof. And the amount of charisma and sheer masculine sex appeal Darren Wang brings to the role is insane and not something I see much of in a cdrama. Plus, that character arc with its rapid fall and slow painful redemption is A++++

Runner Up: Sifeng, Love and Redemption - has a male lead ever loved more utterly and selflessly, suffered more thoroughly and beautifully, and managed to have such chemistry with both his leading lady and his leading man (that his leading lady temporarily turned into) at once? The answer is no.

Almost made the cut - Feng Xi, Twisted Fate of Love, Han Shuo, The Romance of Tiger and Rose, Qing Ci, Love in Between.

FAVORITE FEMALE CHARACTER

Xiao Qian, The Romance of Tiger and Rose - so funny, so much the reason this drama was such a delight. I adore her beyond words.

NEEDS TO BE MURDERED

Murder Daddy, The Wolf - I am sad the censors robbed us of seeing him die on screen. He was fully human but nonetheless managed to be the worst monster in a drama full of literal ones.

Ling Xiao’s Mom, Go Ahead - I hate her so much I don’t want to look up her name. She abused the kid, the disappeared and came back to abuse him some more. I mean she literally gave her child mental health issues. She is the WORST.

FAVORITE SHIP

Xing’er x Wolfie, The Wolf - are you kidding me? Who else could it ever be for me? They destroyed each other and saved each other, sworn enemies and childhood lovers, soulmates and epic messes, they couldn’t live with or without each other. The longing, the passion, the intensity, the angst, the epicness. LIKE THERE ARE NO WORDS!!!!

FAVORITE SECONDARY OTP

Si Yuan, Shen Manqing, Love in Between - I loved them as much and often more than the main OTP. So much angst and passion and a happy ending! She is a seeming sect darling (except the sect is horrible and also sexist so her only worth is as a marriage candidate) and he’s an information broker who is actually one of the members of a destroyed sect that’s blamed for the massacre of her family. That chemistry and yearning is insane. The scene where she touches his face when he’s unconscious was in serious running for my favorite scene of 2020.

NOTP

Legend of Awakening - I have never seen a couple that didn’t just have no chemistry but exhibited actual revulsion towards each other before watching Chen Feiyu and Cheng Xiao try to act as lovers in this one. It was almost entertaining to be honest.

FAVORITE SCENE

It’s a tie and both are from The Wolf. One is a sequence where Wolfie marches to the walls alone, seeking death at Xing’er’s hands and the whole sequence with the battle and rescue follows. The other is the intercut between Xing’er going to her wedding and Wolfie going to his execution, and the auto-da-fe being intercut with her wedding.

BIGGEST CRUSH

Wolfie, The Wolf - Ummm have you seen this tumblr lately, it’s basically a drool shrine to the man.

BEST SCENE STEALER CHARACTER

Yelü Yansage, The Legend of Xiao Chuo - I have loved this actor since The Myth and he continued to competently steal every scene he was in.

NEEDS A SEQUEL

To Love - come out of the coma, dammit!!!!!!!

NEEDS A DIRECTOR’S CUT

The Wolf - duh. It started out as 59 eps and got cut to 49. I reaiize some stuff is never gonna get put in due to censorship, but some of the stuff that got cut got for time reasons because they were deluded and hoping to get a TV broadcast so ep count had to be under 50. I mean I doubt the censors would care if they kept scenes of Wolfie building her a swing or whatever. I really really want a director’s cut the way Goodbye My Princess did even if like with GMP it’s only three extra eps. Hell, I will take extra three minutes, as long as those three minutes are Darren Wang shirtless or with a sword. Ahem.

NEEDS SCISSORS TAKEN TO IT

The Song of Glory - it’s a fairly solid drama but honestly it didn’t need to be as long as it was and kind of got draggy and I got lost interest. (I could have gotten snarky and said all the dramas I didn’t like needed scissors taken to them in their entirety but decided to play nice.)

TOO MANY SCISSORS TAKEN TO IT

There are a number of dramas I could complain about with regard to this (hi there, darling The Wolf!) but this award goes to Renascence - poor Renascence was never going to be a masterpiece, but it had the potential to be a bit of good cheesy fun until it had its run time cut by more than half and became an incoherent piece of insanity.

TROPE THAT NEEDS TO DIE

Dumb shrill innocent heroine who can’t tie her shoes - see basically all the cdramas I didn’t like this year.

FAVORITE TROPE WE’VE SEEN A LOT OF

Male lead torture - I mean it’s always open season on that in cdramas, but between Love and Redemption, The Wolf, Love Lasts Two Minds, Love in Between and so on, it was a banner year!

BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT

Legend of Fei - what a waste of that cast; what a waste of our finite time on this Earth. What a waste of my intelligence to hope for something better and stick with it for a dozen eps. I have had stale wonderbread that had more personality than this drama.There is absolutely nothing that stands out about this drama in any way, from half-dimensional characters, to actors who are sleepwalking, to a plot that moves at the speed of an arthritic snail, to uninspired cinematography and direction, to lack of any chemistry between anyone in the cast. If paint-by-numbers was done by a group of particularly linear robots, it might come across the same way as this drama.

BIGGEST GOOD SURPRISE

The Wolf - honestly, I did not expect it to come out AT ALL EVER let alone to become my favorite drama of 2020. I was not familiar with the leading man (hahah), I liked Li Qin but wasn’t yet obsessed with her, and Xiao Zhan was excellent in The Untamed but I was hardly going to follow him from drama to drama (and I don’t do SLS any way.) And the trailer was enjoyable but unlike seemingly everyone, I didn’t think it was going to be some epic masterpiece. And then it came out and while it wasn’t objectively an epic masterpiece, it pulled out all the favorite tropes, shippy and narrative kinks from the deepest darkest recesses of my id. And I fell harder than I have in years.

2020 DRAMAS I HAVEN’T SEEN THAT I MOST WANT TO WATCH

None. Covid Year gave me PLENTY of time

BEST NON-2020 DRAMA I’VE WATCHED IN 2020

Novoland Eagle Flag and Joy of Life - they are in my Top 10 dramas from anywhere now. They are quite different except being smart and giving me protagonists to obsess over.

ETA: Also The Untamed because @idlewilds3 pointed out I actually watched it in 2020 even though I didn’t think so because this hellyear has lasted about three decades.

MOST ANTICIPATED IN 2021

I am gonna limit it to dozen and leaving out ones that aren’t necesarily supposed to air next year (Joy of Life 2, Love in Flames of War, Novoland Princess from Plateau.)

Monarch Industry, Novoland Pearl Eclipse, Silk Washing Stream, Dream of Changan, Sword Snow Stride, Wu Xing Shi Jia, Ancient Love Poetry, Immortality, The Long Ballad, Mirror Twin Cities, The Imperial Age, Fall In Love

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pi-cat000 · 3 years

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BNHA: Kakashi dimension hops crossover (5)

Summary: Kakashi gets dumbed into the My Hero Academia universe through random plot devise.

Characters: Kakashi Hatake

Fandoms: My Hero Academia and Naruto

WARNINGS: Mentions of violence/injury

START / RREV / NEXT

Ms Iroi always tries to engage him in conversation whenever she comes in, asking questions and chatting to herself in a fruitless attempt at helping him recover his 'lost' memories. Most of the time, Kakashi is indifferent to her presence and always has a magazine handy as an excuse not to talk.

Today, Iroi is in a particularly good mood, humming to herself, greeting him with an energetic, “How are you doing today!”

Kakashi grunts a noncommittal response which doesn’t do much to discourage the woman’s good mood as she runs through a check-up routine.

“You should try watching U.A’s sports festival tomorrow. I hear it’s going to be particularly spectacular this year,” she says as she pulls the blinds on Kakashi's window, blocking out the distant city lights.

U.A? he recognises the name. Kakashi glances up over the pages of HERO!! MONTHLY BREAKDOWN. It is the third time he has read this issue.

“You know, since you like reading those hero magazines, I figured you would be interested in watching the ‘next generation of heroes’ debut,” she continues, noting his attention, “U.A always puts on a good show.”

Kakashi frowns. The problem with his amnesia cover story is that he is still trying to figure out what he can get away with not remembering. So far the doctor’s seem content to chalk up the disappearance of his long term memories to a ‘quirk’ accident but were always more concerned when he failed to recall basic factual information. Something to do with different parts of the brain being responsible for different types of information.

“Watch how?” He settles on asking. U.A. was supposed to be a hero-training academy so whatever this ‘sports festival’ was was worth checking out.

“Oh,” Iori pauses to think, “I, ah, think channel 2 with be covering it?” she hesitates, “You know what. I’ll look it up and let you know later. Sorry, I can’t carry my phone around with me while on shift.”

“Thank you.” He smiles and makes a show of returning to his magazine to dissuade further conversation.

Later the same evening, just before the end of the evening shift, Iori pokes her head into his room again. She is out of uniform, long hair untired, waving to catch his attention.

“The coverage is on channel 2 and starts at 11am,” She holds up her portable communication devise like it means something. It probably did mean something. The frequency by which people checked them suggested it had a function beyond basic communication. He has held off attempting to steal one because, unlike pens, people would notice and care if one went missing.

“Have fun watching! Oh… also, I forgot to ask…”

Kakashi raises a brow.

“I have a bunch of old gossip magazines. Mum used to read them all the time and there are a few hero-themed ones in the mix. I can bring them in if you want more stuff to read.”

“If you want.” Iori must have noticed him re-reading the magazines.

"I'll bring them on Friday!"

Iori had been unsubtly hinting that Kakashi might have had a history in heroics. It definitely wasn’t because reading information on a page just made sense when compared to the barrage of conflicting reports the television gave him. A few weeks with only the television as his information source has him writing off most of its information as useless or propaganda.

…

...

“HEELLLOOOOO, LISTENERS!”

Kakashi stares dully as the video footage, which had been giving him a bird’s eye view of a positively massive stadium, changes to a sweeping shot of what must be thousands of people crammed into seats. It almost makes him claustrophobic just watching it.

“WELLCOME TO OUR ANNUAL U.A. SPORTS FESTIVAL! THE HIGH SCHOOL ADOLESCENT RODEO YOU ALL LOVE TO WATCH. CAN A GET A ‘OH YEAH!’”

As if of one mind, thousands of people leap to their feet screaming. The camera angle changes again to show a grinning blond-haired man, seated at a desk and pointing enthusiastically at the camera. All these shot changes are going to give him a headache. Kakashi is already having reservations watching this and its only10 minutes.

“Thank you! You’re an AMAZING audience!”

It almost reminds him of the final Chunin Exam stages -if the Chunin exams had had three times the audience - which always involved some sort of combat display. There hadn’t been any public Chunin Exams recently for reasons such as a large portion of Konoha being flattened by Pein.

“FIRST UP ARE OUR FIRST-YEAR EVENTS! And what an exciting round of events they are, perfect for debuting our newest students! Give us a shout so they can feel your support!”

Another loud shot as thousands of people yelled in unison.

“Come on! Louder than that! These are your future Heroes I’m talking about! SHOW THEM SOME LOVE!”

More yelling. Kakashi turns down the volume.

“But! Wait just a minute!! We're not only here for our Hero students! As I'm sure you all know, behind every great hero is a hardworking support team! GIVE IT UP FOR our Support, Management and General departments who are also competing for a chance to face off in the finals!”

Kakashi sighs. He is getting the sense that this might be more for entertainment than utility purposes, conforming to the general trend of Hero-related stuff being flashy. Different from the Chunin exam which had deadly consequences if not taken seriously.

“Hey. Hey! HERE THEY COME NOW! OUR STUDENTS PARTICIPATING IN THE FIRST YEAR STAGE!”

What follows is an overly dramatized race where the only thing of interest to him are the obstacle types, including robots, - mobile mechanical weapons of some sort that produced a lot of environmental damage but were taken down fairly easily- and explosive devices that acted a lot like explosive tags. Then there was a team elimination round and one-on-one tournament fights after which the coverage shifts to the second year and third year stages.

He uncovers the sharingun only to discover that, while its memorisation function worked fine, the part that translated the movements into muscle memory felt off. Perhaps, the replication and copying component of the eye didn’t work when viewing a technique through a screen rather than in person. Interesting. As there wasn't anything particularly impressive technique-wise during the events he counts the new information as a net gain.

The student-heroes – he is not sure if there is an official term for a hero in training – barely match Konoha’s academy standard in their taijutsu and physical conditioning though there was marked improvement between first, second and third-year groups. These students were what...between 14-18 years old...and yet most had the skill level of an academy students and fresh genuin with only a few notable exceptions?

Sure, there were - honestly ridiculous- versatile and powerful bloodline abilities being thrown around like nothing, but ninjutsu techniques only took a shinobi so far without a strong base to work from. He shakes his head, reminding himself that these kids - because what else did you call combatants who hadn’t graduated yet- weren’t shinobi in training and would be policing civilians and engaging ‘Villains’ of similar skill levels. It was obvious that the students favoured non-lethal takedown methods and put little to no thought into stealth and misdirection during fights.

Different words…different priorities.

As Kakashi has yet to see any evidence that the country, Japan, was at war with another he thinks the skill level displayed might be serviceable. There were also no major conflicts between the country’s large cities over farmland, water sources and the like. Obviously, this place had sorted out the resource and distribution issues usually encountered when supporting such large populations. Or, who knows, maybe everything on the television was a carefully constructed lie to lull people into complacency.

Now he has seen an example of hero-students, he better understands the low combat ability demonstrated by the police. It also gives incite into the blurry recordings of Hero/Villain confrontations which played on repeat across the various ‘news’ reports. They all tended to hover around Chunin or maybe Special Jounin in terms of skill. He knows generalisations are dangerous so, until he saw the combat in person, he would exercise his usual level of caution. There were bound to be outliers after all-the impressive brute strength of the number one hero comes to mind- and there was no telling what advantages a bloodline ability might provide. Absently, he makes testing the susceptibly of people without chakra to genjustu as something to figure out sooner rather than later.

He sighs. This is why he hated the television. Whenever he watched it, he came away increasingly confused, with more questions than he had answers. Not to mention anything useful being constantly interrupted with information detailing one of the many products that he could apparently buy here. It irritated him to no end.

...

The chakra collecting seal is ready before the week is out. Mostly ready...it was ready enough.

Kakashi returns to the roof. Sitting cross-legged, back against the stairway entrance, he works his way through the 100 or so pens, cracking them open and tapping out ink into a large bowl, stolen -like the pens -from hospital staff.

The mix of black, blue and red ink is gluggy, forcing him to add water to thin the solution out. Once satisfied he pulls out an appropriated scalpel – one of a growing collection hidden alongside his pens because having a stash of weapons is never a bad thing- pricking his middle finger, watching the blood drip and curdle with the mixture. The blood would be absorbed into the ink, allowing it to conduct chakra. He mixes everything with pair of disposable chopsticks, taking care not to spill it on the ground or stain his hands.

The whole process reminds him of other insistences where he had improvised fuinjutsu ink in the field. The last time being during his final Anbu missions where he had created a body storage scroll from scratch after unexpectedly losing a squad mate on what should have been a simple intel retrieval mission. Not a particularly fond memory but a memory he was stuck with.

Since his demotion to Jonin-sensei there had been fewer of those sorts of missions. Not that being a Jonin-sensei had been easy – considering all his students had gone off to find other teachers he didn't even think he had been particularly good at it - bringing with it its own special brand of stress, culminating in a stint as Hokage, a fourth war and him stuck here. He is pretty sure his experiences aren't universal. Team 7 was just cursed to fail in increasingly spectacular ways.

He lets out a heavy sigh, leaving his airways open to a sudden gust of cold wind which carries the scent of cleaning chemicals from the hospital and oil from the road straight up his nose. He exhales forcefully and mentally bumps finding a face mask up his list of priorities. It would be good for hiding his features and dulling the artificial smells of a city housing over a million people.

The sound of wind whistling around the building almost blocks out the echo of feet in the stairway, approaching his location. In one smooth motion, Kakashi stands pushing the remaining broken pen back into the vent, nudging the cover back in place with his foot. Carefully he holds the bowl of ink in his injured arm and a scalpel in the other. Kakashi steps back against the entrance so the outward opening door would hide him from whoever came out.

A crying kid comes barrelling through the door.

Well, not completely crying, more like sniffing loudly, eyes all shiny. He even recognises the kid from the U.A combat demonstration, as improbable as that was. It is the first year hero student with the speed-enhancing ability which, seeing him up close, probably had something to do with the strange growths coming out of his caff muscles. High speed movement put enormous strain on the body so he could reasonably conclude that the kid was physically resilient to acceleration stress and similar forces. Not resilient to stabbing though....

Kakashi forces himself to relax, his scalpel lowering ever so slightly. Lucky he had heard the kid coming or he might have accidentally hurt him. A few weeks of reduced sleep coupled with a lot of time to ruminate on past missions and failures has put him on edge. This was exactly why he disliked taking extended breaks.

Maybe, Kakashi should start relocking the stairway if he was planning to make regular trips up here because the young male probably hadn’t had the roof in mind as a destination. Kakashi knows from experience that, unless you were injured or a member of staff, there were few good reasons to wander around a hospital at odd hours.

With the hero-student distracted sniffling into his arm, Kakashi slips around the door and back down the stairs. He hadn’t planned on applying the seal on the roof anyway. Too exposed to the elements and the concrete was too rough for the delicate line work.

He continues mixing while he walks, having mentally mapped the hospital well enough to know which hallways to use and which to avoid. There is a surgeon with some sort of heat-sensing vision who works late most nights that he must be careful around and a nurse with a weak proximity based empathic ability working in paediatrics. Both obstacles force him to take a meandering detour on his way to the ground floor and the larger shower blocks which housed cubicles the size of small rooms. Enough smooth floorspace for the expanded seal design and easy to clean afterwards. He supposes he is lucky, some complicated fuinjutsu required several meters worth of floor space. The containment on Saskue’s cursed seal comes to mind and he is glad that this seal is infinity smaller.

Not one to waste time knowing that nurses and patients regularly used the space even this late in the evening, he immediately slips into a cubicle upon arrival. Flopping onto the floor he pulls out the paintbrush he had had scour the hospital for and eventually to steal from the children’s ward. Carefully, he begins the slow process of application.

…

The final seal design is circular, about the size of his splayed hand, positioned on his uninjured shoulder just above where his Anbu seal had previously sat. The sleepwear provided by the hospital had sleeves that extend just past his bicep. It hid the design, for the most part. The final visible seal is a bit bigger than he had predicted or planned for. If this were a proper infiltration mission, where blowing his cover came at the price of death, he would be in big trouble. If this were a proper mission, he would have waited before applying this. An unnecessary risk. He itches the back of his head, turning from where he is craning his neck to see the seal, gathering up his supplies to be thrown in one of the hospital’s many rubbish bins. Kakashi lets out a breath. Maybe, this whole ‘trapped in a different world’ thing is affecting him more than he was willing to admit and making him sloppy.

He pulls down the sleeve so it mostly hides the design. Not like the doctors here would recognise the significance of fuinjutsu, he reminds himself, even if their questions would be annoying to deflect.

He pumps chakra into the seal and a jolt akin to lightning runs down his limb. It activates without issue and Kakashi grimaces as his chakra is slowly drained and collected. The rate of the drain is pathetically slow. Three years too slow. But, between this and his sharingan - which was always active and draining chakra- he can’t risk making it quicker. Despite the relatively low-level threats around him, Kakashi is, first and foremost, a Jonin in an unknown territory who is already taking risks simply making and applying the seal. He can’t afford to impair himself with poor chakra management on top of everything else.

Kakashi pops his head out of the cubical, scanning the shower block. Nothing of note has changed and he darts out, intent on returning to his room. He is tired and it would be a long, tiresome week as his body adjusted to the strain as well.

#bnha #bnha fanfic #naruto #CrossOver #dimension travel AU #hatake kakashi #kakashi headcanons #cultural shock #Iida makes a breif cameo #fanfiction #my hero academia #plot continues to move at a glacial pace

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chaseatinydream · 3 years

Text

pirate king (39) || atz

You aren’t sure whether you heard her wrongly.

“No?” The word bounces around in your head several times, as if mocking you over and over again. You’re stunned into disbelief. You’ve traveled the ocean, battled a furious storm, got chomped through the arm by a crazy siren, all to be told that the sea witch before you does know everything about who you were before, but is unwilling to tell you?

Your captain scowls, fingers tightening on the hilt of his cutlass as he glares at the sea witch in the eye. “You said that you’d answer her questions.”

She doesn’t flinch in the least, even when he draws the weapon on her. Instead, her eyes merely darken like a stormy sky, and suddenly, the winds around her starts to pick up as if in response to her anger, rising to a whistling howl that whips your hair into your eyes and stings your skin. “Correction. I said that I would answer the questions to the best of my ability. Fortune shines upon you, mortal, that my lady’s blessing protects you. Do not test me. It is only by her grace that you can even step foot on this beach.”

Hongjoong doesn’t back down, cutlass still raised.

“Wait, wait, wait-” You’ve been completely ignoring their little face off for the last few minutes, trying to fully understand what on earth is happening. You want to rip out your hair and scream, but now’s not the time for that. “Why… Why?”

Eldoris’ expression remains completely neutral, as if her features have been carved from stone. Her pokerface could give San’s a run for its money any day.

“I agreed to answer all the questions you had for me within my power. This one is one I cannot answer.”

Your face goes flat as you battle to keep from swearing in front of this supposedly powerful sea witch, you’re tempted to smack her in the face and shake her back and forth, screaming in her face. The words tumble out of your words before you can stop them.

“So you know about me before I got into this body,” you gesture to yourself frantically, “and you know how I came to be in it, you also know why I lost my memories, but you just don’t feel like telling me?”

The last words are spat out with fury and for a moment, you swear you can see the sea witch flinch a little, guilt flitting across her face. But she breathes in deeply and answers your question with an even voice.

“I wish to help you in any way I can, but I cannot tell you the answer to this.”

She’s as unhelpful at answering your questions as San when it comes to steering the ship and you literally on the verge of throwing a hysterical fit when something finally strikes as odd at the way she has replied to you so far.

“You won’t tell me…” You ask hesitantly, studying her face for a change of each expression. “Or you can’t tell me?”

At that, her shoulders relax slightly, as if relieved that you’ve finally gotten it. She nods, neutral expression closest to earnest you’ve ever seen.

“I cannot.”

You feel like you’ve been smacked across the face with a dead fish.

“Then can you tell me why you cannot?”

Those words seem to lift a weight of her shoulders, even though the light in her eyes remain grim as ever when she nods once more. The next words that leave her mouth have you even more shocked than you were before.

“I am bound by an unbreakable oath to my mistress with my very soul as collateral.” She says softly, each word serious as grave. Your eyes widen in stunned disbelief. “To not reveal or impart knowledge of who you were before you came to be in this body to you, or anyone else, no matter how desperately they beg for it, in case you ever regain your memories.”

What? Her soul as collateral?

“Wait… this mistress you’re talking about…” You force out, trying desperately not to hyperventilate. This is honestly getting too crazy for your brain to handle. “Who is she?”

At those words, a proud gleam comes into her eye and she straightens her back, meeting your gaze with a look you don’t quite understand.

“What the mortals call the sea goddess.”

At that, you do choke. You’ve been hearing these terms being thrown around so casually, sea witch, fortune teller, ancient magic, but hearing Eldoris say the words with so much confidence and surety seals everything for you. Magic is real. Then the meaning of what she’s just said hits you like a tidal wave.

“What would the sea goddess want with me? Why does she not want me to regain my memories?” You sputter out, burying your hands in your hair as you try to make sense of it all. Have you offended the sea goddess herself in the past? Is she playing some sort of sadistic joke on you?

But Eldoris merely shakes her head once, her eyes pleading for you to understand.

“It’s for your own good, Chin Hae-” She begins, but you’ve finally had enough. Everything in you snaps like a caving dam and anger floods through you, the wind howling in your ears furiously as the waves break against the reef barrier to swirl around your feet.

“Why? How can losing my memories possibly be for my own good? Curse the sea goddess, I’m going to freaking murder her, I-”

Eldoris’ next words are as clear as the sky.

“If you recover your memories, you’ll die.”

Every part of your body seems to turn to ice simultaneously, blood freezing in your veins as you stare at her, unmoving. Your mind is completely silent except for that one sentence, resounding again and again in your head.

If you recover your memories, you’ll die.

You can barely register Hongjoong’s arms pulling you to him as he tries to reassure you, but his words simply drift past your ears like the whistling of the wind.

You’ll die you’ll die you’ll die-

“What do you mean?” You hear your captain demand, and you desperately try to pull the shreds of your focus together so you can hear her explanation.

Eldoris stares at you gravely.

“Regaining her memories means her death.” The sea witch says gently, a pitying look in her eye as she shakes her head in response to Hongjoong’s question. “A degradation of the physical body that now contains her essence, to be more exact. They are trapped within the body she resides in. If you free them, her body dies too.”

The fortune teller’s words come back to you hauntingly.

You will never find what you so desperately seek as long as you live.

You stare at your own hands in horror. This cursed shell, this body of clay, it’s the thing that’s keeping you apart from your memories? For the first time ever since you discovered you’re a golem, you feel truly hollow, a gaping, empty hole in your chest where your heart lies, where your memories are held.

A muffled scream breaks free from your throat and your knees feel weak, your legs crumple and you hunch over the ground with your hands tearing at your hair. You feel like you want to physically rip your brain from your skull and demand for it to spit out your memories now, because you’d rather regain your memories right this second and die, in comparison to the agony of living the rest of your life without knowing who you are.

Your breath catches as you stare at the cutlass hanging at your side.

Maybe… maybe if you just…

You’re so tempted to, gods, your memories are just within your reach. It’s all you’ve ever wanted the second you woke up, and now you can finally have them. It’s in your grasp. It’s all in your hand.

All you have to do is take it.

Your fingers inch for your cutlass.

“Chin Hae, no!” Hongjoong catches your wrist before you can clench your fingers around the hilt and you’re jerked out of your trance to stare at him, still dazed. His bright green eye is terrified, swallowed by concern and fear, and then a painful, heart wrenching sensation twists in your chest.

Hongjoong’s cries when he endured the whipping for you, the sound of skin tearing with every lash and the metallic scent of blood in the air.

San’s bright smile as he held your hands in his, healing the scrapes on your palms, softly guiding you through each step of the process.

Yeosang’s shudder as three bullets hit him in the back, ripping through his flesh, blood gushing from his wounds.

Mingi’s gaze as he sat with you on that pink, sandy beach, telling you about his captain and crew with a fond smile on his face.

Seonghwa’s laughter as you burnt yet another steak and he ate it anyway with a smile on his face, praising you for your improvement under his tutelage.

Yunho’s sigh when he stood in that crow’s nest with you, the story about him and his brother falling from his lips as the sun rose before you.

Jongho’s chuckle as he swiped a cream bun straight from your hands before popping it into his mouth, laughing at the pout on your face before dropping his cake into your lap.

Wooyoung’s earnest smile as he hands you the silver hairpin with hesitant eyes, your fingers brushing as you stare at it in awe.

Through your tears you laugh in despair, burying your face in your hands. On one hand, ever so enticing, lie your memories, your history, your identity. You so badly want to take it, more than anything else, but on the other hand…

“I name you Choi Chin Hae, family of the ATEEZ crew.”

Your heart splits in two from the sheer pain of the choice you have to make. For a moment, when you close your eyes, you see someone staring back at you in your mind.

It’s the green eyed man.

You’re back on that beach once more, sky dotted with stars. There are tears running down your cheeks as you feel the breath of the wind in your lungs, the steady beating of your heart in your chest for the first time. He smiles at you so fondly as you reach out and hold him close, his hand running through your hair.

“I believe it, I know it, I can see it. I trust that you can make your path the right one. You will find a name deserving of you, given to you by those who love you. Take this and go to the town of Raguza. Your journey begins there.” He whispers into your ear and you nod, sniffling and moving back as he presses a kiss to your temple. Around your shoulders he puts a coat of land cloth, something that has not touched you in millenia. A red rose is embroidered on the back. “Your fate intertwines with a mortal once more.”

You turn towards the sea, one foot touching the waves, and you hesitate. It’s as if your eyes are drawn to him, you glance over your shoulder to meet his gaze one last time. But you cannot linger for long, already you can feel your new body beginning to crumble ever so slowly into clay once more.

He hasn’t moved from the beach, although his smile turns sad.

“You don’t have much time. Go, and don’t look back.”

His name swirls around in your mind like a final memory, before it spirals into the air and vanishes with the wind.

Don’t look back.

Like a breath of air, the vision fades and you’re staring into your captain’s eye once more, his arms tight around you as he begs you desperately again and again not to leave them.

He’s trembling against you, his fingers digging into your wrists as if he’s trying to physically prevent you from doing anything rash. Incoherent mumbles fall from his mouth, all beseeching you to stay, not to do anything foolish, and that’s when you have your answer.

It hurts you so much to give up on your memories like this. But you know, deep within you, that giving up on them would be a fate worse than death.

So, closing your eyes one last time, you imagine the you from before in your mind.

She appears, standing upon the ocean waves as she looks at you in the eye. Both of you are eerily identical, though her skin seems to be luminous and crystal-like as a figment of your imagination, her eyes shifting colours like the mermaid you had seen on the stone wall outside. She smiles at you, a quirk to her mouth that seems both happy and wistful at the same time, her hair flying with the sea breeze as you make your choice. You raise your hand in farewell, reluctance tearing at every fibre of your being.

“Goodbye.”

With those words, she closes her eyes and simply melts away into seafoam, swirling with the waves and disappearing from sight.

“Chin Hae? Chin Hae?” Your captain is shaking you now, and you stare at him for a moment, trying to remember who you are and what you’re doing. Then you see wetness starting to gather at the corners of his eyes and it suddenly hits you.

“I’m not-” The words get caught in your throat, so you pause to swallow and before you try to speak once more. “I’m not… I’m not going to leave all of you behind.”

At that, your captain visibly sags in relief, slumping against you, but it’s nothing compared to the weight that falls from your shoulders. The moment you declared that, it became the truth. You would stay with the crew no matter what. You understand how Seonghwa could leave Nassau behind and stay on the Treasure instead now, because the crew were his family.

Eldoris’ eyes pierce yours like a blade, although something in her seems relieved.

“So, what will you do now?”

You shrug as Hongjoong picks himself off the ground, reaching out a hand to help you up. You take it.

“I’ll go wherever the Treasure goes.” You say, and the words are light, as if you’ve been freed from invisible chains that had been holding you down. Your memories are well and truly out of your grasp, you have no more goal to chase after. Hongjoong takes your hand and squeezes tight, fingers locking with yours.

Eldoris nods, although a little hesitant this time. Her deep blue eyes meet yours.

“I’m glad that you found what you had been searching for this whole time, Choi Chin Hae.” She tells you, but her words are solemn, and something tells you she’s not talking about your memories. You frown, but you’re honestly not in the mood to play anymore mind games with the sea witch.

But you do have one final question you want answered before you leave this island behind you forever.

“The name of the green eyed man… do you know it?”

You at least want to know the name of the mysterious man who has been in your dreams for so long. Eldoris shakes her head, and you feel your heart sink in disappointment.

“He has no name.”

At that, you’re a little startled. He doesn’t have a name? How can anything on this earth not have a name? But the sea witch continues speaking.

“For divine beings such as he, he is omnipresent, the closest thing to all powerful any conscious can reach.” She says the words with such reverence you almost feel like you should bow before her. You flinch at the word divine, brows furrowed in confusion. “But they have no souls as the mortals do, they are merely consciousnesses formed of great power. In the end, when this world dies, they will fade away and cease to exist, even when the souls of humans dwell on forever. Thus they have no names, for they have no imprint upon this world.”

Your heart sinks in your chest as you think of the green eyed man, his gentle smile lingering in your mind. The thought of him simply becoming… nothing… it scares you, even though you barely know him.

“But they do call each other by the words that the Creator called them into existence with.” You startle a little in surprise when the sea witch’s voice takes on an almost melancholy tone. “I cannot speak the words myself with this human tongue, for only creatures created at the beginning of time can, such as the Kraken. I so dearly wish I could do the same and address my mistress with spoken word, but...”

Now you’re just confused.

The sea witch trails off and shakes her head, bringing herself back to the present. “Either way, they have no souls as the humans do, thus they cannot be named. Mortals have attempted to name them many times, but their simple, spoken words can only capture the physical aspect of them. No mortal can ever name a divine being.”

You have absolutely no idea what she’s saying at this point, so you merely nod in an impression of understanding.

“Thank you, Eldoris, for the body you have given me.”

The sea witch pauses and looks at you straight in the eye. Something about the way she’s does so makes you shiver uncomfortably.

“I wish you all the best.” Her eyes burn into yours with the intensity of a million suns. Swallowing uncomfortably, you let Hongjoong take you by the arm and the two of you walk back to the cave, hand in hand.

He squeezes your fingers and you look at him, his eyes gentle on yours.

“What are you going to do now?” He asks again, as if he needs to hear it from your lips once more. You smile at your captain, taking a deep breath as you imagine the faces of all of your crew who are waiting for you back on the ship.

“Let’s go home.”

And the two of you leave the beach behind, never looking back.

#ateez #ateez fanfic #ateez fanfiction #hongjoong #seonghwa #yunho #yeosang #mingi #san #wooyoung #jongho #ateez pirate king #w; ot8 #w; pirate king #w; fanfiction

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thenexusofsouls · 3 years

Text

Muse: Marie Sebastian

[Bio and other information below the cut!]

Type of Character & Fandom/Source Material: Canon character from the 2013 American remake of the Korean movie Oldboy

FC: Elizabeth Olsen as Marie

Race: Human

Age: 23-24ish usually, after the events of Oldboy, unless we wanna go back in her timeline

Occupation: Nursing student, licensed nurse practitioner (LPN), registered nurse (RN), and/or volunteer nurse, depending on her age. She studied to be a LPN and then went on to get her Associates’ Degree and become an RN. From there she was employed at a local clinic near her home and also volunteered at a mobile clinic, both of which specialized in homeless and domestic violence shelter care.

Family: Adoptive father (deceased); adoptive mother (deceased); biological father (alive but permanently imprisoned and she never knew he was her father); ex-boyfriend, Tom Melby

Potentially Triggering Material in Threads: Incest, torture (These are things involving her father that she was never made aware of in canon… I guess these themes could potentially come to light depending on if any canon muses ever interact with her, but honestly it’s really not likely at all, I just wanted to warn people); drug abuse and attempted sexual assault (These themes are a bit more likely to come up since these things actually pertain to her, if she should happen to want to discuss them with your muse); homelessness; cancer; and medical supplies and techniques.

Negative Personality Traits: Being a former drug addict, Marie can have an addictive personality with regard to smoking, wanting to use drugs again during times of stress, and eating junk food, and she is also incredibly hard on herself in just about every way and takes every bad thing that happens or downturn of her patients’ health as a personal failing on her part. She’s also really, really stubborn, heh.

Positive Personality Traits: She is hard-working, determined, selfless, kind, once she sees someone in need she really can’t turn away from them, and she has a compulsion to help “the little guy” and “lost causes.“

Background: (This is all as far as she knows, since there was a lot going on behind the scenes that was never revealed to her. So this is what happened from her point of view only. If it becomes necessary to get further into the controversial plot of the movie, or if you want to ask about it, feel free to hmu in messages.)

Marie was adopted at age three by loving parents, and she never known any other parents. Her father died when she was ten of pancreatic cancer, but he had been sick for a long time. Marie’s mother was not able to deal with this very well, and so Marie at a very young age had to do a lot for her dad. Her mother became an alcoholic, and Marie came out of it wanting to take care of people and ease their pain like she did for her dad.

She’s very smart and was a good student, but her mother’s alcoholism took a toll on her. By the time she was eighteen, she moved out and was addicted to heroin. For a couple years, she was a functional addict, even starting nursing school while still maintaining her habit. While in school she met a resident named Tom Melby, who eventually became her boyfriend. He did a lot for her, including getting her to rehab and helping her stay clean, but his patronizing tone with her and constant insinuations that she would go back to using really got on Marie’s nerves and she broke up with him. They are still friends, and work together at the mobile clinic she volunteers at. He is still in love with her, but she is definitely done with him romantically and sexually. He’s forever friend-zoned, heh.

During the events of Oldboy, Marie helped an older man named Joseph Doucett clear his name and locate his kidnapped daughter, whom he had not seen in 20 years due to being imprisoned by someone with a vendetta against him. Marie helped him figure out who the man was who imprisoned him and why, and Joe was supposed to go meet this man and recover his daughter. During their investigation, Marie and Joe fell in love and even slept together.

But then… he never came back after supposedly meeting with this man they had researched. All she got was a disturbing phone call in which she heard a man she didn’t know and Joe begging for something on the other end, but no one answered her and the call ended. Besides that, Joe sent her a little gift, a cute trinket from one of those carts in Chinatown that sell little squeaking Buddha statues, heh… and a letter. In short, it said that he had done something unforgivable and needed to be punished for it, and that he was out of her life forever. He thanked her for making him happy for one brief time in his life, and hoped that she would find someone to be with who would treat her well and be a good man, not one like him. Marie was heartbroken and confused, but she still has the Buddha on the dash of her van…

Because of the dangerous people Joe had fought against and an attempted kidnapping and assault on Marie that took place in her own house, she decides to move away, packing everything she owned into her van and starting over in another city.

Potential Starter Ideas:

She could be moving to your muse’s town or city.

Your muse could need medical help that she can provide as a nurse.

There is always a casual meeting in a bar, on the street, or while out for a walk scenario, heh.

If you want to get dark, Marie could need help hiding from some of the people associated with Joe, or could already be hurt by them and in need of medical help herself.

Marvel Verse: In the MCU, Marie was still adopted by the same parents, but is not Joe Doucett’s biological daughter. So this detaches her from his story, but keeps her background, personality, drug addiction, history with Tom, and occupation as a nurse intact. She is a third Maximoff sibling, four minutes older than Pietro and sixteen minutes older than Wanda. She’s identical to Wanda, but Pietro is fraternal.

Like Wanda, Marie is a natural born witch, and her magic manifests in similar ways to Wanda’s, except that hers is golden orange. Her powers involve supernatural healing of others (healing outright with no negative effects to her, much like how Wanda healed Vision but instead of just sealing wounds, Marie can actually heal them fully); healing by “acceptance” (taking wounds or illnesses onto herself to save someone else, which is much quicker but more dangerous for her); offensive magic via “transference” (the wounds and illnesses she takes from her patients she can turn back around and give to others as a way of attacking them or just defending herself, including the pain and all associated symptoms); soothing of negative or overwhelming emotions; memory recovery from injury or illness.

Marie was raised a devout Christian, and when she was little and first began displaying her magic, her mother told her they were “witch’s gifts from Satan” and that she should never ever use them. Marie took this very seriously, but still didn’t understand how healing could be bad, so she sometimes still heals when no one is looking, especially when lives are at stake. For the most part, though, she hides her powers, thinking they are wrong and that there’s something evil about her.

Most often, I imagine that Marie would be found by Pietro, Wanda, Vision, or someone else looking for her after discovering files that mention the twins were actually triplets. Marya and Django (or whichever set of parents we use for the twins), simply could not afford three children and had to make the painful decision to give up one of them, when Marie was three. She was adopted by an American couple after spending time in an orphanage in Transia.

Fun facts: Marie likes to garden in her spare time, she loves animals, and she’s very good at crossword puzzles!

#muse: marie sebastian #about the muses

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effieduan · 3 years

Text

GIVE RIO JOB 🔪🔪🔪🔪🔪 | Rio & Effie

TIMING: Present

LOCATION: Vulpine Voltage Repairs

PARTIES: @3starsquinn & @effieduan

SUMMARY: Rio’s ability to afford groceries is called into question.

CONTENT: No Triggers!

Effie sat at the counter, tinkering with a giant black box. It was a monster, a dinosaur, and an absolute disgrace to modern computers. But Florence wanted it back in suitable working condition because it was “so simple”. Effie learned early on in this business that it was important to give the customer what they wanted -- even if she thought she could give them a better experience. Florence was elderly, and she could understand wanting things to stay the way they were. And truthfully, after Effie was done with this big old dinosaur, there wouldn’t be much to complain about other than its size and heavy weight -- that reminded her. She would have to schedule a drop off at Florence’s apartment. Watching the little old woman waddle in carrying that thing had almost given her a heart attack. She was working on replacing the cooling fan when she heard the door jingle as someone entered.

She would have preferred to be in the back sitting in her workshop, but that meant she would have to constantly be getting up from her work to come out front whenever a customer came. Annoying. She poked her head up over the harddrive to get a look at her customer. “Just a second,” she said, swiftly hopping off the stool, placing her tools on the counter, and grabbing her lime-green gloves. She looked at the boy. College student, most likely. “Can I help you?” she asked. “Did something break?”

In a lot of ways, a shop like this should make Orion feel right at home. Ever since he was old enough, he practically lived on his computer if he wasn’t reading. Nowadays, he did a lot of his reading on the computer anyways, with the scribe archive coming along. It was slowly but surely growing, and Rio was starting to find it easier to find information through the database instead of skimming through the books like he always had to before. Of course, there were probably thousands of books still unaccounted for, but he had tried to prioritize to get some of the most common books translated first.

If his pastimes weren’t enough, then his old second major made a shop like this feel even more familiar. Computer science had always felt like more of a means to an end than an actual passion, but he had still picked up on a few things in the first two years before he had dropped it to focus on history and mythology. After all, the groundwork for the database had already been built thanks to Winston’s help. That was what Rio had wanted the degree for in the first place.

Now, Rio just needed work. Money wasn’t exactly tight. His parents had left behind a generous amount split between himself and Athena, and despite the size and grandeur of the home that he currently lived in, his living expenses were surprisingly cheap. Perks of only paying utilities he supposed. Still, a steady income wouldn’t hurt. And despite the change in majors, Rio still knew enough about technology that a place like this could be a potential job option. If they were hiring that was. “Hey there.” Rio gave a small wave when the woman behind the counter spoke to him and slid closer to the counter. His fingers began tapping against it rhythmically as he considered his words, “Nope. Nothing broken here. Not technology anyways” Rio rattled off, letting his words slowly fade as he realized this was not the best conversation starter, “I was actually just wondering if you knew if this place was hiring? I’m sort of looking for employment.”

Effie stared at Rio, mouth opening slightly in surprise. “... Employment…” Effie said slowly, as if she didn’t quite understand. Truth be told, she didn’t understand. She was quite clear that she was not looking for any other staff for her store, even if Eva told her she was being ridiculous because she would get so much more work done if she had someone watching the front counter while she sat and worked on orders in the back. And what did this boy mean by nothing broken - at least not technology. Was that a Gen Z thing? Was she so old that she was starting to call things gen z things? Was she going to rage war on middle parts and baggy jeans next? Effie had to shake herself out her head, reminding herself she was going to live long enough to see Gen Z 10.0, to stare at the boy. He was… Skinny. And polite enough. Effie’s snarky comment of why didn’t you check the website’s F.A.Q before coming in here died on her lips. “Uh -- “ Effie coughed. “I own this store,” she said. “My name is Effie Duan. And I’m not - I mean, I’m not really looking for employees.”

The woman, who turns out was the owner of the store, didn’t seem especially thrilled about the idea of Orion asking if she was hiring. Apparently, that wasn’t something she did a lot of. Or maybe at all. Rio had passed by the store on a few occasions, had only actually popped inside once or twice to check the place out, but he clearly remembered her face from each visit. Did she have any other employees, or was she running this place all by herself? “Oh! That’s awesome. Hi there. My name’s Rio. Technically it’s Orion, but nobody calls me that except my family.” Rio exclaimed, holding a hand out towards the woman as a means of introduction. He quickly backtracked to correct himself, “Er- well I guess my family used to call me that. Now nobody really does.” Well that was awkward. Definitely not the greatest first impression. “Oh, sorry. Didn’t mean to bother you or anything.” Rio bit at his lip. Well there went another option. Was he cursed to live on his family’s money in that oversized home forever? Could that even be counted as a curse? “Do you uh- run this place all by yourself? Because that’s crazy impressive. How do you have time to do everything?”

Effie’s gaze shot down to the hand he outstretched to her as if it was going to bite her. She did not like contact, especially with humans. Well, especially with anyone. Still, that’s why she wore the gloves. They were the solution and the reason she could be around people. Effie quickly recovered and reached out to shake his hand, hoping he didn’t mind the feeling of rubber. “Orion,” she said. “Rio.” Only his family called him Orion -- had called him… Something flashed in Effie’s memory about the doctor and business owner that were brutally murdered, leaving behind their children. She didn’t remember the girl’s name, but she did remember Orion because it had been one of Eva’s favorite constellations growing up. Then again, Eva’s favorite constellation changed every week - maybe she just remembered Orion because she would get poked in the side with a stick shrieking and giggling. Now that was a reason Effie never wanted to have kids. Her demeanor softened though, realizing that this kid was on his own now. She felt that familiar, heavy feeling in her chest -- like whenever she looked at a frustrated old woman who just wanted her dinosaur hard drive fixed or a man that just wanted a stupid gaming system repaired because it meant a lot to his father. Effie cursed under her breath, straightening slightly. How hard must it have been to have your parents murdered and now had to provide for himself?

“You’re not a bother, Rio,” she said shortly. “It’s just - I mean, I do run this place by myself. It’s my store - my business, I mean. I’m open Monday through Friday, from 9-5 and then on Saturday’s from 9-12.” Officially, at least. More often than not, she was here, open late or early because it wasn’t like she did much. “So … Well…” Effie looked at Rio. God, could he afford groceries? He was so skinny! “What - What experience do you have?” she asked, lamely.

Orion tilted his head curiously as Effie repeated his name, followed by his nickname to him. “That’s me.” Rio responded quietly, trying to figure out what Effie was thinking about. Clearly something was processing. She was still looking up towards him, but she wasn’t meeting his gaze, instead staring past it. She must have been lost in her thoughts, the same way Rio did. “That sounds busy.” Rio agreed, listening to her hectic schedule. While RIo tried to keep himself busy too, none of his hobbies were exactly time sensitive besides his classes. She was bound to this schedule to run a business. Owning a business in general was way more stress than Rio thought he could handle. Being the sole employee was another thing entirely. She surprised him when she asked about his experience. Hadn’t she just said that they weren’t hiring? “Oh well uh-” Rio considered her question. Technically, he didn’t have much. Not officially. “Well I used to be a double major with computer science as one of those. I’m still a double major, just not computer science anymore. But I learned quite a bit in the first couple of years. I’m pretty decent when it comes to like coding and stuff.” Rio scratched at his neck nervously. It wasn’t like he could exactly show off the database he and Winston had built. Not without looking completely insane. “And I also worked as an assistant in my old job, taking calls and talking to people that came in. It uh- burnt down last year.”

Gears were churning in Effie’s mind as she stared at Rio. He certainly had a series of unfortunate events happen to him. Parents murdered and his job burnt down. Other than making sure some poor college kid could afford groceries, she would get her sisters off her back. It wasn’t only Eva that thought she worked too much. Not to mention if this kid could code, he was likely smart enough to learn how to fix phone screens and the like so she didn't have to waste time with those while she worked on her larger products. Not to mention, if she didn’t have to answer the phone or talk to people… Temptation was something Effie learned not to engage with a long time ago because it only led to disappointment and more self loathing than she could handle. What would she do about this kid’s safety? Make him wear gloves? “A couple of years in computer science is certainly better than nothing,” Effie said finally. “What do you study now?” That seemed like a decent question to ask. She could put him in a full rubber suit, though she wondered if that would be considered cruel and unusual punishment. It wasn’t like the feds would believe it was just her version of wrapping him in bubblewrap.

But how many incidents did she have in her shop? She was comfortable here in her shop and her apartment. Other than making the lights flash when frustrated, she never had done anything dangerous. The danger happened when she inevitably had to go outside. “Look, Rio,” Effie started. “I think -- Why don’t we try it out?” The words fell out of her mouth, surprising herself that she was going through with it. “Obviously, you’re a college student, and I don’t expect you to work all the hours my store is open. We can adjust to your schedule so you can have a healthy class life and social life as well as adequate free time to decompress.” Now she sounded like Eva, who frequently lectured her about what it was like to actually live. Not an option for her. She looked at Rio, before remembering something. “Oh, and I should… Probably check your references.”

#wickedswriting #para #para rio #rio

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thefracturedmosaic · 3 years

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Memories

Mentioned: @divergent-lines

On the first night, Nairus sat upon a cut log with the skies shaded through tree tops, a cool wind brushing through the leaves, and night time bugs chirping and singing in a cacophony of sounds that, in a sense, shouldn’t exist during the cooler times.

But they did. These creatures that should have been long dead or hibernating were still carrying on; they were a good white noise to let his thoughts take him. Too which Nairus reflected on how his routine had become comfortable and almost enjoyable to him in the last week and a day. He was now longing for the sense of comfort that came from knowing what the next day would bring, but that routine had been shaken thanks to Mey’s visit only a few hours ago. Meyorin.

Nairus shook his head.

How was it that this person, a person he had no recollection of or any positive experience with, could draw his attention so much; draw his heart in a way that he felt he would never forgive himself if he let her go into the Shadowlands without aid?

Yet she had known him, and he had known her, deep down they had a relationship. The irony that both their memories were faded and missing, and yet, still know down into their souls that they knew each other.

Clearly, though, her’s was returning and his was a black wall.

A deep breath drew Nairus back to the world around him, the trees rustling, the wood sighing; a storm was approaching.

Upon returning to work the next day, patients had recovered enough that they were sitting, talking, and thankful to be alive. Nairus gave them nods, asked a few additional questions, before giving them a slip of paper and telling them the directions in order to check out of the camp. They thanked him, leaving him with the few remaining that hadn’t yet woken.

New patients came in to replace the old ones; all bore physical wounds and organ trauma that required immediate attention. After several long minutes of restoring the wounds and internal damage, he gave each patient a shot filled with minerals and vitamin that would give their bodies the last remaining boost to stay alive.

There was one patient that came in where his screaming was followed by pained gasp of breath; his skin was blackened, peeling, dying. Instinct carried Nairus to heal the man without any emotion or thought. The task being checked off as first he numbed the nerves in the body, looked inwardly, before going to the outer. Skin repaired itself, the pain of nerves relaxing and easing without the extra magic to close them off, and the tension in the patients muscles relaxed at last. In the end, scar tissue formulated around the areas that were worse, deeper, and as Nairus checked him over one last time, he cleared the patient of any additional physical damage. Anything else would be need to fix by someone else.

Some come back in ways I cannot help them. His words echoed from last night dinner.

He noted the man’s name, and number, wrote it on a piece of paper and called out to one of the guardsmen patrolling the area; he took it and off he went to the healers that knew more about soul and body. By mid-afternoon, the man would be transferred to his next set of treatments.

This was Nairus routine, and in between all of that, he would sit down in his chair, allowed his mind to relax, listen, and wait.

Normally, he would rest and only awake if he heard a shuffle or a groan. Today, his mind wandered back too Meyorin, to her request, to the imaginings of what he would see if he went to the Shadowlands, what he would endure, how she would return from that place, damaged or broken or both; would she be one of the many that came into his tent crying for help, begging for the pain to stop, if he didn’t go?

Of course, who was he to think he needed to go specifically? He was no savior. Only a simple healer. There were hundreds of capable, and more trustworthy, healers in these tents, and even more looking for jobs that would happily help her with a little gold, too which he was certain she wasn’t hurting on based off the smooth steel of her weapons.

But she wanted his help, someone had prompted her to find someone to help her, and despite the rage and anger Meyorin had presented the first time, she had cooled, and even amused herself with a short conversation with him before leading onto her statement of the debt he owned her, that he had claimed he owed her.

Nairus shook his head. Why couldn’t he let that one phrase go? She was baiting him, putting words into his mouth he hadn’t said. Was that the reason that phrase bothered him so? No one had been so obvious before. Then again, it proved how much she really didn’t know him. Debt was never a word he ever used.

But why had she chosen him out of all the other healers? Yes they clearly shared a history that neither could remember, but she spat at him, threaten his life, and curled her lips at him. Why would she choose him when clearly she didn’t trust him?

As his mind mulled over the question, he eventually jumped back to reliving the whole conversation. How she appeared, the timing of her appearance, the way she sat in the chair leg over knee, leaning with an air of disinterest but confidence. The way it seemed she could have cared less if he was dead or alive, as long as he was useful.

It didn’t make sense.

Meyorin had made it clear she didn’t want to see him except when she came to collect her debt on him. So why then had she twisted her own words to sounds like he had asked to pay the debt back? And who had asked her to bring a healer?

Nairus paused upon the thought, replayed her words in his mind. She had been careful with her wording the entire time. Perhaps then, it wasn’t just his words she had been twisting but another’s as well. What if they demanded her to bring a healer despite her arguments.

Whoever that might be, clearly, Meyorin required them to get what she wanted from the Shadowlands, otherwise, he could see her disagreeing and moving on.

His smile came amusingly and with a chuckle as the reasoning he had then chosen him settled in like a puzzle piece. She chose me because if I died, got lost, or anything of ill will fell upon me, she wouldn’t feel any regret about betraying or letting me die. Someone else would be a burden. A hindrance. After-all, she had wanted to kill him the first time.

His eyes closed to that thought, his body relaxing finally as the question to his puzzle was finally answered.

A short second passed before a new trail of thoughts entered his mind. He didn’t necessarily want to die for her, or be left behind in a place that caused people to return broken and hurting, but he remembered his own words to her in the forest that first night. He would prove to her that he was not the same person as before and this was a good enough time as any to show it.

Still...

“We have another burn victim, do you think you can take one more?” A deep voice prompted his eyes to open just in time to see one of the other doctors walk in backwards carrying in a stretcher.

Nairus raised from his seat and ushered them over to the far end of the tent, he had two more spots before there would be only a pathway to the tent among beds.

They set the stretcher down between two posts, cradling the person as the sheets sunk but steadied. “This Kal…”

The man’s voice kept going but it faded into the background and all he could feel was his heart racing, pounding like drums in his ears, his breath sharp and quick, and his body moving backwards.

A female elf laid on the stretcher, blackened, leather pieces still attached, a small rational part whispered those needed to be cut off quickly before he could start mending the flesh again, and her hair was naturally black, with little groans escaping startled by a faint silver dull light coming from her eyes.

A pressure landed on his shoulder, tightly, drawing his attention to the hand resting on him, “--right?”

Confusion flickered through Nairus as his eyes drew towards the man.

“Are you alright?” A pause. “How long have you been working?”

Nairus' attention flickered back to the elf on the stretcher, silent, clearly from the initial treatment. No silver eyes faintly glowed back towards him, no armor laid on her skin, just a recently laid blanket, and her hair was a deep violet…

“I, I need a moment.”

He easily shook the man’s hand off and brushed through the tent flap; he heard the man call out after him, but no footsteps followed.

It didn’t take Nairus long to find a place where it was quiet and no one else was around. A stone wall stood before him and the tents were twenty feet behind. His whole body rested against the wall, forehead touching, hands resting, as tears streamed down his face.

He couldn’t get the image out of his mind of the silver-eyed elf, blackened, with leather clothing.

It wasn’t long until he was on the ground, robes collected around him, crying and sobbing as quietly as he could.

The pain drained from his heart and radiated into his chest. There were memories, he knew, tied to this pain, but there were no visions, no images.

Nothing! His fist slammed against the wall in frustration as tears continued.

All he had was Meyorin's name coming into mind for the woman laying on the bed burnt to a crisp and her voice filled with rage and anger, “I know what you are.”

“What did I do?” He whispered just as he heard someone call out his name. He gathered himself up, wiping away tears, as he heard a young woman gasp his name thankfully and ran over. She gently touched him, asking him, what was wrong and if maybe he should take the rest of the day off.

#nairus #mey #writing #story

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spockandawe · 4 years

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It’s time for the weekly training that I already know, but they want us to participate so okay, I guess, but that means it’s ALSO time to listen with one ear while I yell about another gay webnovel.

So, okay. I yelled a bit about Yuwu (or Yu Wu) before, but when I started reading it this summer, there were only 30-something chapters translated, and as of last night, I think it’s up to eighty (the current translator is working like a beast, and i’m honestly in awe). Yuwu is by meatbun, the author of erha, and is technically set in the same universe, just significantly removed in time. This doesn’t have too-too much bearing on things (Mo XI and Mo Ran are not related), and you run into concepts like the ‘butterfly bone beauty feast’ in both novels.

And as a meatbun story, this book has hilarious highs and horrifyingly dark lows, and I love every minute of it. I’ll try to bold relevant warnings as I go!

The story stars Mo Xi, a cold, upright, proper nobleman, and one of the foremost generals in the kingdom of Chonghua. Years ago, he fought alongside another general, Gu Mang, until Gu Mang turned traitor, stabbed Mo Xi right over the heart (symbolism!), and defected to the enemy kingdom of Liao. As the story opens, Mo Xi has just received word that Liao... is giving Gu Mang back.

Yeah, the story doesn’t beat around the bush for long, they were absolutely 100% banging. They were having a long, passionate, extended love affair until Gu Mang turned traitor, and Mo Xi is still absolutely not over it. I’m no longer positive in what order the information is revealed, but Gu Mang was a slave, and the first slave in Chonghua to be freed and promoted to the rank of general. Does this have anything to do with his later decision to turn on the country? Mayyyyybe! But back in the day, even as a slave, he met Mo Xi, at that time, a child of a disgraced noble family, and as his shixiong, took it on himself to protect and care forthis sad, lonely little shidi. The latest chapters have been revealing the moment this transitioned from a platonic relationship into a distinctly not-platonic one, but there was really, really a lot of genuine love, admiration, and respect between the two of them.

But, back to the present! Mo Xi gets word that this notorious traitor is being extradited to Chonghua, but he’s out in the field with the army. Gu Mang is being sent to the capital. He can’t do anything about this right now except stew in private, unhappy emotions.

Smash cut to two years later, and Mo Xi’s return to the capital. Finally, he can find out what Gu Mang’s been up to. Prison? Probably? HA, no, this is meatbun, and meatbun goes harder than that. Content warning: sexual slavery, because apparently it’s standard policy in Chonghua for traitors to be placed in a brothel specifically for purposes of clients taking out their anger on them or humiliating them in whatever way they so desire. For bonus D: points, the brothel is owned by the same nobleman who used to own Gu Mang. Things are not completely dire for Gu Mang, for reasons I’m not going to try to describe here, but when Mo Xi finally can’t stand not knowing, and goes to see him, Gu Mang is... not the same shining, bright, clever man he once knew.

Yeah, so his mind and sense of self are literally fractured. I’m not too-too familiar with the philosophical(?) concepts driving this, but it’s similar to how Mo Ran had to collect all of Chu Wanning’s souls when he almost died. Gu Mang is missing a number of souls, and he doesn’t remember who he is, he doesn’t remember his history, he’s even lost most of his vocabulary. When Mo Xi finds him, he struggles with basic communication. The story hasn’t explained what happened yet, or what can be done to fix it, but the Guoshi of Liao Kingdom is sketchy as hell, and this sure feels like something that was done to Gu Mang.

So, relatively early on, Mo Xi extracts Gu Mang from the brothel and brings him back to his estate. This isn’t necessarily a happy development, because Mo Xi is still incredibly angry and incredibly betrayed, but now, it isn’t even like he can ask for an explanation or find closure. Gu Mang is... slowly recovering bits and pieces of his memories, but this isn’t necessarily a happy development either, because the emperor has said that he’s going to pursue content warning: sketchy human experimentation/torture. He said this outright to Mo Xi, and Mo Xi goes ahead and communicates it to Gu Mang, and honestly, the whole outlook is so focking bleak, but for some reason, Meatbun balances incredibly dire situations with just enough optimistic flavor that I never quite lose hope.

I’m not going to try to describe the supporting characters, because their storylines are just starting to blossom, and I feel like I’d cause more confusion than I’d resolve. But honestly, I’m having a delightful time right now, and I’m getting probablyyyy two chapters with every three days, and it’s been SO tasty.

The tragedy of the old relationship was really tasty to begin with, but the additional class-related tragedy that fuels it? Honestly, that’s not usually my cup of tea, but this story leans into the difficulties of a relationship between a noble and a slave, even once the slave is free, even once they both become generals, and it all hurts so good. And we still haven’t gotten a full accounting of all the ways Gu Mang suffered, but we’ve gotten so much, and he’s such a sweet boy, and it hurts in all the best ways. It hurts to see the way Mo Xi is hurting, and then it hurts to see the way Mo Xi treats Gu Mang.

But then, in terms of the characters themselves, it hurts Mo Xi to realize Gu Mang is coming back to Chonghua, and to know that Gu it hurts Mo Xi more when he learns about everything Gu Mang has been through, and it hurts him when Gu Mang can’t remember the history that is still so, so, so important to Mo Xi, but then!!! It hurts him even more when Gu Mang does start to remember! This is all the angst I could ever ask for, and it’s set up so that no matter how someone breathes, it’s virtually guaranteed to hurt Mo Xi.

And I would Die for Gu Mang, honestly. We only get to see bits and pieces of him in his prime, before everything went to hell, but he is really truly the best of boys, and he has so much suffering ahead of him. I have no idea how quickly the story is going to explain what exactly led to the specific decisions he made (we’ve seen enough to understand why he would make a decision, but not this decision), and still know almost nothing about what happened to him while he was in Liao, or how possible it is for him to recover what he’s lost, and I’m honestly so invested. This is probably a little more incoherent than most of these rambles that I’ve done, but this is a surprisingly difficult story to describe, haha. It’s a very tragic experience, but especially if you’ve read and enjoyed erha, it’s one that I highly, HIGHLY recommend

#yuwu #long post/#i'm so worried but so invested #i just want them to be happyyyyyyy #also i want my two terrible sons and my two good sons to be happy #murong lian and murong chuyi and yue chenqing and jiang yexue #two not-good boys and two very good boys

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hyruviandoctor · 5 years

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Okay so theory time.

The mummy in the trailer, the one that is very clearly Ganondorf (probably). It twitches, it moves, it looks at Zelda and Link when they enter. What if that mummy wasn’t dead and was just revived by malice? What if it had been alive all this time, sealed below Hyrule Castle?

The best way to keep your enemy from reincarnating and coming back just as strong as before would be to keep him alive - imprisoned and weak and helpless, but alive. Keep him from regaining his power in any significant capacity. Ganon didn’t attack for 10,000 years - an absurdly long length of time - because Zelda never killed him the last time. She is very clearly said to have defeated him. As in, she weakened him significantly, then used her powers to seal him up deep below the surface. They built Hyrule Castle as a lock over this vault, which would help explain why it was so easy for Zelda to keep Calamity Ganon trapped within the walls of Hyrule Castle for 100 years by herself without experience using her powers - Ganondorf was already sealed there, Zelda was just helping keep him stuck behind a locked door. (And just a side note about the word Imprisoned - ringing any bells?)

This would mean that every reincarnation of Hylia is tasked with resealing Ganon while ensuring he stays just barely alive. The reason he gained enough power to break free like we see in the memories in the first Breath of the Wild is because Zelda’s mom died young. She died before she could fully complete her sealing duties, and she died before she could train Zelda to do the same. So Ganon went nearly two decades where he was able to grow his strength much more easily than he had been able to for the last 10,000 years. And I don’t know about you, but I know that when you’re completely worn out and beaten down it’s a lot easier to do crazy feats of strength with even just the smallest amount of rejuvenation.

So Ganondorf is able to muster up just enough of Demise’s strength to break loose as Calamity Ganon, a raw and pure and unfocused wave of evil. He’d spent the last 10,000 years thinking about how to deal with the Divine Beasts and the Guardians, and Ganondorf is known to be absolutely brilliant in strategy, so he did what he could to counter them by focusing the malice as best he could at them. Corrupting them would allow him to defeat Hyrule more easily while he saved up his strength for the big jailbreak. Except the jailbreak didn’t get to happen as planned because Zelda’s powers awoke just enough for her to keep him trapped while Link recovered. I think if Link had had to sleep for much longer Ganon would have been able to break free.

Remember that when we get to Hyrule Castle in Breath of the Wild we find Ganon cocooned in a heart-shaped sack in the highest point directly in the center of Hyrule Castle. I would bet you anything that the mummified Ganondorf we saw is directly below that sack, just miles below it. And don’t forget, you can hear a heartbeat when you’re near that sack in Hyrule Castle (like if you manage to get above it), and you can hear that same heartbeat throughout the new trailer (especially clearly at the beginning and ending).

But now that Calamity Ganon was defeated, Ganondorf is desperate to break free. Whenever all 3 Triforce pieces are in the same place, they resonate and grow more powerful. So if Ganondorf can trick Link and Zelda into both finding him, he can use the brief power surge to break free of his bonds and grow to his full strength again. We know Zelda was able to hear Fi within the Master Sword during Breath of the Wild and in the memories, but she states clearly at the end of that game that she can “no longer hear the voice within the sword.” Fi and Zelda (Hylia) are both very closely related to Demise and Ghirahim, being each other’s counterparts. Perhaps it’s possible that Fi is picking up on Demise/Ghirahim’s essence and is guiding Link to them to end this once and for all. Or maybe Ganondorf has managed to highjack Fi just enough to guide them there, maybe using Ghirahim to do so? When you listen to the new Breath of the Wild 2 trailer forwards, you can hear what sounds like Fi saying “Be careful - Ganondorf,” almost as if she’s warning Link to be careful because Ganondorf is near, even though Link wouldn’t really know exactly what that means since the name Ganondorf seems to be lost to history. When you listen to the trailer backwards, you can again hear what sounds like Fi, only this time it sounds like she’s saying “Find the body,” again as if guiding them to find Ganondorf’s mummy.

Directly above Ganondorf, where the green text that literally says “Seal Ganondorf” in Gerudo (according to people who know more about the different languages than I do), is a conical structure incredibly similar to the Shrine of Resurrection. I would hypothesize that it’s actually the reverse of the Shrine of Resurrection, and is acting as a stopgap keeping Ganondorf from returning to full life.

Literally as I typed that last paragraph I had a brain explosion. In her diary in Breath of the Wild, Zelda notes that they don’t know how the Shrine of Resurrection works, but that it seems to restore life force over time. What if it’s connected magically to the one below Hyrule Castle? What if the power that brought Link back to life.........was Ganondorf’s? Would that explain why the green hand on Ganondorf’s chest seemed to grab onto Link? Did it mistake his life force for Ganondorf’s? Man, now I’m really thinking hard about this stuff, my brain is turning every which way.

I’ll definitely post more theories once I think of them and can flesh them out, but definitely let me know what you think of all this in the notes. I’m super curious about y’all’s thoughts and want to be a part of the discussion around this incredible game. I cannot wait for more info to be dropped. Please Nintendo.....give us more soon....please

tl;dr Calamity Ganon wasn’t killed last time, he was captured and sealed below the ground to prevent him from reincarnating and coming back stronger. Hyrule Castle is a lock to keep him from escaping, and all the Zelda’s in the last 10,000 years were tasked with keeping him alive but weak and imprisoned. He manages to break free because of Triforce Resonance boosting his power.

#botw2 #botw 2 #botw sequel #breath of the wild 2 #ganondorf #ganon #breath of the wild sequel #calamity ganon #ganondorf dragmire #zelda theory #legend of Zelda #zelda #link #triforce #okay I'll stop with the excessive tags lol #but seriously let me know what you think!#I'd love to get a discussion going #drop by my ask box too if you want!#I love theorizing

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sdottkrames · 3 years

Text

The Codeword is Rochambeau (Dig me?)

@comfortember prompts 24 (Panic Attacks) and 25 (going back to school)

Peter had always been Ned’s best friend. He’d moved into Ned’s school after his parents died, and they’d bonded quickly over their love of Star Wars and lack of other friends. They did everything together, except Spiderman. But it wasn’t long before Ned found out about Peter’s secret identity, and then they did that together, too. And when half the universe crumbled, they even did that together. Although it sucked that it had happened, Ned was just grateful that neither of them had had to endure 5 years without each other.

Unfortunately, there were other repercussions from their brief hiatus on life.

Notes: These two idiots loving Hamilton is definitely inspired by me and my friend @thomasjefferson-official. She literally downloaded the album onto my phone and insisted that I listen to it. I did, and fell in love (in her words: "remember when I pushed you down the Hamilton hole and you KEPT DIGGING!?"). She's obsessed with Thomas Jefferson, so I'd always sing Hamilton's part during the Cabinet Battles so she could sing his :P

Read on AO3: Here

Unfortunately, there were other repercussions from their brief hiatus on life.

***

Ned’s eyes searched the hallway. Students chatting excitedly, milling about. Everyone was excitedly talking about the blip. What happened, where everyone was when it happened, how they were feeling being back.

But Ned wasn’t really paying attention. He was looking for a very particular person, dread filling him when he didn’t see the familiar curls and science pun t shirt. Had Peter not blipped and gone on to college? They hadn’t talked much; there hadn’t been time. Ned had heard about Tony, and knew Peter would be busy helping the man recover, and wanted to give him space. So aside from a quick check in to let each other know they were safe, the two hadn’t talked. He didn't know what he would do if Peter wasn’t in his class anymore.

He gasped in relief when he saw the mop of curls, matching relief filling the eyes on the face beneath those curls.

Ned didn’t know why he was crying, but suddenly sobs shook his body as the pair collapsed into a hug. He continued to sob as the enormity of the situation hit him. He’d lost Peter. They had died , then came back to life, then Peter could have died again fighting in yet another battle. Ned was suddenly very scared for his friend, but took a steadying breath, forcing his fears back so Peter wouldn’t see.

“Hey man, you good?” Peter asked, concern written very clearly across his face.

“Yeah, yeah. Just glad to see you. Glad you’re safe.”

Peter smiled, softly, slinging an arm around Ned’s shoulders. The contact helped ease the fears even more, grounding Ned and reassuring him that his friend was okay. “I think we have History together first period. It’ll be strange to see who is in our class now!”

“Yeah, man. I heard that Brad is in our class now. Remember that skinny little freshman?”

“Davis? Yeah, I remember him. I heard he's a star on the basketball team now. How crazy is that?”

The pair continued to chat as they made their way down the hall to the classroom, and quickly took their seats next to each other, quieting as the teacher stood at the front of the room.

“Hello, and welcome back class. I know that it’s been a very strange time, and even stranger from recent events, but there is no better comfort than learning history!”

The teacher dove into the syllabus, going over the class and the assignments. Ned zoned out; he’d heard it all a million times before, and began playing tic tac toe, hangman, and other games with Peter. His attention was pulled back in when he heard the name “Rochambeau” and he immediately wanted to finish the phrase with “go man go.” He had listened to Hamilton, then insisted Peter listen to it as well. Before long, both boys were singing the lyrics together, performing duets featuring Peter as Hamilton and Ned as Jefferson (or Burr or Washington).

Ned let out a chuckle at the memory, earning him a grin from Peter, and knew they both were singing along in their heads.

Ned’s eyes lit up. “Hey, Peter. What if we had a codeword for when you were in trouble. You know, red and blue kind of trouble. Then if anything happened, you’d just say the word and I’d be able to help or get help.”

“Yeah, man, that’s a great idea! It would definitely have to be Rochambeau, though.” Peter grinned.

“Of course. What else!”

Ned smiled. He just wanted Peter safe.

***

Ned called Peter. And called him. And called him. Even texting him once (or twice, or a hundred times). Peter just wasn’t answering.

Even though Ned had tried to hide his fears from Peter, he knew that his friend could tell. At least a little bit. And every day, Peter had called Ned on his way home from patrol. Or texted. Just something to let his friend know he was safe and okay. But now it was past midnight, approaching 1 PM, and there hadn’t been any word from Peter.

Ned tried every trick in the book. Breathing exercises, looking at the anxiety help posts he’d saved, distracting himself with his favorite game. Nothing had worked.

All he could think about were gorey images of Peter bleeding, maimed, injured, dead, alone . He wouldn’t know what to do if he lost his best friend for real. Suddenly, breathing was very hard, and Ned had to sit down from pacing his room.

His phone rang, Peter’s face lighting up his phone.

“Peter,” he said breathlessly, barely able to speak. “Where were you?”

“Sorry, Ned. Streets were a bit busier than normal today, and my phone died on my way home so I had to wait for it to charge. I’m okay, dude, I promise.”

Ned took a breath, but it was labored and noisy.

“Ned?” Ned just sucked in another breath, but no air was coming in. Fortunately (or unfortunately) Peter knew what was happening. He’d had a panic attack just last week, after all. “I’m coming over right now, man. Stay with me, okay? Listen to me breathing.” He took an exaggerated breath in, then out, then repeated. “I’ll be there in just a couple minutes, just listen to my voice, to my breathing.” Another breath in and out, repeat.

Peter kept talking and breathing with Ned, and by the time he swung up to his friend’s bedroom window, the panic attack had lessened significantly.

Peter let himself in, Ned’s window was always unlocked for such times when Peter needed to sneak his way in for help, and walked gently over to his friend, who was sitting on his bed.

“Hey, man. I’m here, just like I promised. Can I touch you?” Sometimes Peter’s attacks made him not want any contact, and he wanted to make sure he didn’t do anything to make Ned feel worse. Ned nodded, and Peter wrapped his arms around the boy, going back to exaggerated breathing until the last vestiges of the anxiety were gone.

“Sorry, man,” Ned said, softly. “I don’t know what that was about.”

“Dude, you did nothing to apologize for. How many times have you gotten me through this exact situation?” Ned gave a watery chuckle, and Peter tightened his hold. “Wanna watch something?”

Ned nodded again, too tired to talk or do anything else, and Peter flipped on the TV in Ned’s room, scrolling through Netflix to find something to watch, and they both ended up falling asleep. Safe and together.

***

“Hey, man,” Peter mumbled sleepily, blinking the sleep out of his eyes to bring Ned, who was sitting up at the edge of the bed, into focus. “How’re you doing?”

“I’m alright,” Ned whispered.

Peter sat up and took his friend’s hand.

“It’s just...being blipped and coming back made me realize I don’t want to lose you. You’re my best friend, Peter.”

“And you’re my guy in the chair! The best one in the whole world, by the way.”

Ned gave a weak smile. “Thanks. I just worry about you, man.”

Peter sighed and squeezed Ned’s hand. “I know. And I can’t promise to always be safe, but I do promise to always let you know when I need you, okay? And I texted Tony about upgrading your computer so you can track my suit as well, so you can look at it if you get worried. Just promise you won’t stalk me,” Peter joked. “And that you will still call me if you ever get worried like that.”

“I promise,” Ned said and hugged his friend tightly, relief washing over him like a tidal wave. Peter was the best superhero in the world (though Ned would never tell Tony Stark that), but he was an even better friend.

#comfortember #comfortember 2020 #mine #guy in the chair #Peter and Ned friendship #TW anxiety attack

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michelles-garden-of-evil · 3 years

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Episode 36 Review: The Séance

{ YouTube: 1 | 2 | 3 }

{ Synopses/Recaps: Debby Graham | Bryan Gruszka }

Welcome back to my Garden of Evil and thank you for patiently waiting for me to return to reviewing Strange Paradise. It’s been a wild and chaotic past few weeks and I’ve just gotten around to returning to the course of events on Maljardin. And Great Serpent, this time we have one hell of a wild episode!

Because I already miss the bad puns in the earlier episodes.

Of all the episodes of this show, this one is my #1 favorite. It embodies everything I love about Maljardin-era SP: it stars Colin Fox as both Jean Paul and Jacques, features some delightful Jacques scenes, and is genuinely suspenseful and scary. There are also unintentional laughs as usual, but somehow none of them detract from the frightening moments. If I had to introduce SP to someone who had never seen it before (say, my mom, who only knows a little about it), I would use this episode, not the pilot which (IMO) is less scary and far more ridiculous. The magic of Ian Martin’s SP is on full display here. Although he doesn’t leave the show immediately after this episode, it feels like a last hurrah, and a spectacular one at that. You know you want to read about this episode, so what are you waiting for?

We open with Vangie napping on the couch shortly after the events of the previous episode. Over her, Jean Paul and Alison are arguing about whether to go through with the séance to contact Erica. Alison begs him not to because of the risk of death, but Jean Paul insists on pushing through with it anyway because, as Raxl recaps, “The Conjure Woman didn’t see her death, only [Jacques’].” Jean Paul interprets this as meaning that he himself might die, but it’s not clear if he truly believes this or if he’s trying to cover up his frequent possession by the handsome devil.

Vangie recovers and announces that she plans on going through with it, no matter what happens. Still angry from last episode, Matt protests and Jean Paul gives him this nasty smirk that reeks of passive aggression:

Either that, or Colin is trying hard not to laugh. I can’t tell.

“This is not your concern, Reverend,” Jean Paul spits, and Vangie agrees with him. Although she knows that she will one day die on the Island of Evil, she feels that the séance is her duty as the Conjure Woman.

Matt once again reveals his status as the Fool (or, rather, le Mat) when he remarks that Jean Paul and Jacques are indistinguishable “except by [their] manner of dress.” Evidently, he hasn’t considered the possibility that THE DEVIL JACQUES ELOI DES MONDES can possess Jean Paul and thus wear the exact same clothes as him. In fact, Padre, he’s worn that same extremely flattering blue suit before when talking to you, and you don’t even know it.

Jean Paul orders Vangie to begin the séance and we get a lovely overhead shot of the glass-top table. I’ve already posted high-quality photos of the table, but I love it so much that the laws of obsessive fandom require me to post it again:

Oh, how I love that table and those chairs. Actually, I love the whole Maljardin set.

Jean Paul volunteers to help Vangie, Raxl, and Quito set up, which seems to surprise them because otherwise he spends no time cleaning up after himself and all his time brooding, throwing glasses at priceless artifacts, and--of course--getting possessed. Elizabeth and Holly see them setting up, and the former heads down the stairs to watch.

Elizabeth is wearing this fabulous ensemble with a checkered dress and a red scarf pinned with a brooch in the shape of a dahlia. It most likely came from her actress Paisley Maxwell’s own wardrobe, as she mostly wore her own clothes on the show and even provided some costumes for the other actresses. (LINK CONTAINS SPOILERS THROUGH THE END OF MALJARDIN)

A shot with a better view of her brooch.

Vangie tells Jean Paul that the room needs to be dark, and that the only light in the room during the ceremony should be candlelight. Cue Jean Paul glancing up to the chandelier precariously suspended directly over the glass-top table:

If this isn’t painfully obvious foreshadowing, then I don't know what is.

The chandelier even sways ever so slightly as he stares at it!

Holly asks if she, her mother, Dan, and Tim can attend, and Vangie tells them no! According to her, they are all “disruptive influences” who will derail the séance, which will likely be too frightening for her anyway. Jean Paul tells Elizabeth to go, too, which she takes as a personal attack because Jacques has tricked her into believing that he’s in love with her.

LMAO

They are almost ready to begin the ceremony, but first, we need more blatant foreshadowing! We need Jean Paul to glance up at the swaying chandelier again, apparently without thinking of the slight chance that it might fall and cause an accident:

Seriously, Jean Paul? You have an IQ of 187. You should know better.

This is some heavy-handed foreshadowing, even for a show that constantly reminds us that Jacques Eloi des Mondes is THE DEVIL and cuts to close-ups of him every other time THE DEVIL is mentioned. I think you can guess what will happen about halfway through this episode. I normally try to avoid spoilers and to warn about any that I include or link to, but let’s face it. You know that chandelier is going to come crashing down at some point in the episode, because of all the emphasis that the script and the cinematography have already put on it. It’s a foregone conclusion. And I’m sorry, but Jean Paul with his alleged super-genius IQ has no excuse. Move the table! Have Quito tighten the chain! Replace the chandelier with a single candle or small candelabrum on the table! Do something to lower the chances of the accident that we all know is coming!

Vangie begins the séance to contact Erica.

After commercial break (hence the lack of the Drive-In Classics logo), the séance begins. We have Jean Paul, Vangie, Raxl, and Quito, plus Alison and Matt and an empty chair for Erica’s spirit. It’s a marvelous scene with just the right amount of eerie atmosphere, which Vangie’s hypnotic voice only enhances. They bridge the divide between the worlds of the living and the dead and all seems like it will succeed, but then

The third one is my favorite.

Jean Paul contorts his face again as he tries to resist Jacques’ possession of him, but ultimately his efforts are in vain:

Jacques’ beringed hand attacking Jean Paul. This also means that the chain created when the séance participants joined hands has been broken.

Matt asks Jean Paul what’s wrong and Jacques answers. “Everything is under control now,” he whispers with evil relish.

“No! Not now! NOT NOW!” Vangie screams, and then comes the inevitable:

Well, there goes one of Jean Paul’s astrological sign tables. Good thing he has another in storage.

I’m not going to lie: the first time I watched this scene, I shouted “No!” when the chandelier fell, even though I could see it coming. Somehow, despite the foregone conclusion and Jean Paul’s ridiculous headache faces, the scene creates enough suspense and horror to be effective. Plus, if you’re like me, you care about Vangie and don’t want to see anyone hurt her, even if that someone is 6′4″ with amazing cheekbones, a devilishly sexy smile, and the most beautiful hands on any man living or dead.

The power also goes out at the same time, and the handsome devil denies all responsibility for it despite his history of screwing with the electricity:

Classic Jacques sarcasm.

Conveniently, the lights come back on a moment later. They come just in time for Alison and Matt to tend to Vangie, whom the chandelier has knocked unconscious:

You can tell her injury is serious even before her close-up, because the Reverend is in shirtsleeves.

A close-up, showing the blood on Vangie’s forehead.

Jacques tells Holly that there was nothing seriously wrong with the electricity, and Dan flips out on him, insisting that “one day you’re going to blow us all up.” (Does he suspect that Jean Paul is somehow playing with the lights?) Jacques insists that even he can’t afford to buy a nuclear weapon. The fact that he knows what a nuclear weapon is serves as yet more evidence that he’s really the Devil and not a ghost from the 17th century (although, if he were a ghost, perhaps he would have overheard Jean Paul talking about nuclear weapons before).

I think that this is one of maybe two times that I ever envied Holly.

Vangie stands up, but doesn’t say a word to any of the characters, just stares blankly ahead of her. She doesn’t even react when Alison slaps her. Jacques cruelly snaps his fingers in front of her, which Alison demands he not do because it might cause her to be “destroyed, locked into a world of darkness, less living than dead.” She adds that “[she] can’t help but thinking that what happened to her is so like [Quito],” and turns to face the zombie who is watching the now cataleptic Conjure Woman, horrified:

It makes you wonder what sort of traumatic memories from Quito’s human life the sight of Jacques turning Vangie into a zombie evoked. Also, we never learn who turned Quito into a zombie in the show canon, but this scene shows that Jacques knows how and is therefore a possible candidate.

This is yet another point where the plot of the aired episodes differs from the original story as indicated in the Lost Episode summaries. In the original Episode 36, Vangie would have revealed Jacques’ possession of Jean Paul to all the participants at the séance, thus confirming for Raxl that Jean Paul is two different men. I suspect that Matt would refuse to believe it because of his lack of belief in devils and Dan because it sounds irrational and like a cover-up for Jean Paul’s alleged crimes, but Raxl, Vangie, and possibly Alison would have the evidence they needed.

Anyway, Jacques and most of the others leave Quito to clean up the mess while they have some drinks in the dining room. Mostly, it’s Jacques trying to pressure everyone into drinking while trying to gaslight them into believing that there was a storm outside even though there wasn’t. They’re not buying it, least of all Dan, who now has yet another reason to be suspicious of him.

I should also add that Part 3 of the YouTube version of this episode (which contains this scene) is out of sync, meaning that most of the subtitles are combined with the wrong shots and the wrong characters. Sadly, we don’t get anything on the level of “NO NO NO YES YES YES,” but the out-of-sync audio does make Dan’s accusation almost look like Jacques is confessing to making the chandelier fall:

YES YES YES

He offers brandy to both Matt and Holly, but Matt tells him not to give it to either of them, so Jacques brings the glasses he just filled over to Elizabeth instead. He starts talking about how no one was hurt, meaning that she has to remind him that Vangie was injured. Still, “she wasn’t really seriously injured,” so I guess for him it doesn’t count. He sends her away and starts to drink, which I guess lets Jean Paul recover his body because he de-possesses him, finally letting Jean Paul see the mess he left behind.

I already posted a lot of headache faces in this entry, so here I’m just going to include my favorite from this scene.

For a moment, Jean Paul looks like he’s going to cry, but his sadness turns to shock when Quito shows him the writing box. The wooden box which previously only held sand, now bears a message written in grains of rice in the shape of the symbol of the Great Serpent. Quito appears terrified by the message, but sadly he can’t translate it for Jean Paul. Raxl, too, freaks out when she sees it and says it’s “from the Conjure Man, but he needs the Conjure Woman to translate it and she’s still in a trance!”

Apparently, the Conjure Man communicates in grains of rice.

Although she can’t translate the whole message, she can tell Jean Paul, “It tells of more accidents. Spirits are very angry...with you!”

This final scene, like the scene with the crashing chandelier, is genuinely chilling, resulting in one of the scariest episodes of the Maljardin arc. This is one of SP’s finest episodes and certainly one of Ian Martin’s finest from his nine-week period as headwriter. I’m not certain what led the producers to decide to have Vangie enter a trance instead of revealing Jacques’ possession to the other characters, but most likely it was to increase the suspense and the terror. Also, I’m starting to wonder if perhaps Quito isn’t actually undead, but instead is an immortal like Raxl (and Vangie?), but stuck in a magically-induced trance. Perhaps when he recoiled in fear over Vangie’s transformation, it was because Jacques (or perhaps the Conjure Man) did the same exact thing to him three centuries ago.

Coming up next: Jacques continues to meddle in affairs on Maljardin while Raxl struggles to interpret the writing box. (But before then--hopefully--the next part of my review of Shadow Over Seventh Heaven.)

{<- Previous: Episode 35 || Next: Episode 37 ->}

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cupcake-michaela · 4 years

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At a Crossroads- Chapter 4

"Will you at least tell me where we're going?" Belle asked, crossing her arms across her chest.

Poe glanced at her from the drivers side, she looked pissed. He dropped one hand off the steering wheel, almost gripping her thigh but grabbed the gearshift instead. He grinned at her in answer to her question, speeding up the car. She was starting to panic and he could read her like a book.

"Seriously Poe, where are we going?" She said, grabbing his arm to get his attention (as if she didn't already have it.) "I'm supposed to be at my moms."

He glanced over at her when she grabbed his arm, hand tightening around the steering wheel. This all felt far too familiar. "You'll get to your moms. I promise."

Still refusing to answer her question, she sighed throwing herself back against the seat. Poe rolled his eyes at the childishness of the entire situation. Everything about the situation he had put himself in, kept reminding him of the past. "Do you remember the time we drove out to Naboo? To visit your grandparents?"

"Naboo?" she asked brows furrowing, a blush spreading across her face. "Of course I remember that trip. It's the first time we said 'I love you'."

Poe grinned as her voice turned into a mutter. "I'm sorry, what was that? Can you speak a little louder?"

"Oh shut up." She said exasperated, a matching grin spreading across her face.

Belle studied him, the way his hair fell, the stubble growing across his face, the way he kept tapping his fingers against the steering wheel and the relaxed way he was sitting in the seat. It all reminded her of days well past. Days she simultaneously wanted to remember and forget. Especially the trip to Naboo.

~~~

"Okay, Okay," Poe said, laughing at the absolute nonsense that was coming out of her mouth. "So you're telling me that your grandmother was a Princess."

"No." Belle said, shaking her head. "She was a Queen."

"That can't possibly be true Belle." He said, shaking his head as they pulled off the highway. They were currently on their way to see said grandmother. This was the first time Poe was meeting anyone in Belle's family besides Leia and Han, so Belle was giving him a little bit of history.

"It is!" She insisted, reaching over to feed him a fry. "You know how each district has their own laws and regulations."

"Yes, but Naboo is a democracy. They fall within the guidelines of the Republic." He reminded her, taking the fry between his teeth.

"Yes, while Naboo is a democracy and they do have an elected leader, they elect Queen's not presidents, and they have an extremely young age requirement. It's kind of ridiculous actually, I mean grandma was only 14." She said, pulling another fry out and popping it into her mouth.

Poe snorted, not believing a word she said, "What, so that makes you a princess?"

"I mean, no." Belle said, rolling her eyes at his amusement. "Technically, while she still holds the title Queen, like a president would, it's not a monarchy so the title doesn't travel down. Although, people did used to call mom Princess Leia."

"Okay Princess, if you say so." Poe said laughing as he took the turn leading to her grandparents home.

"You're going to be eating your words Dameron." She said as he parked the car outside of what can only be described as a castle.

His eyes widened when he saw the house, which was settled beside a lake. "You grew up here?"

"No, mom and uncle Luke did." She said, grinning at the disbelief on his face. "I grew up in Alderaan, in a house a little smaller than this."

Poe looked at her with wide eyes. "Your mom grew up here?"

"Yeah?" She said, unbuckling her seat belt.

"But she's so down to earth."

"Apparently she used to be more uptight, but then she met dad and chilled out a bit." Belle said shrugging.

"I mean yeah, Han's pretty hard to rile up." Poe said as they got out of the car. "I can't believe that he married into this though."

"Yeah, my grandpa hated him at first." Belle said, glancing at Poe. "He thought he was after mom for her money. Dad used to have a lot of legal problems." Poe raised an eyebrow. "Smuggling over district lines. Grandpa thought he would make mom look bad, her being a senator and all. He tends to forget he wasn't the best person before meeting grandma, but that's Anakin Skywalker for you."

"This man is going to hate me isn't he?" Poe asked stopping in his tracks.

Belle glanced back at him. She grinned as she took his hand, pulling him forward. " He'll love you because I love you."

Belle watched Poe, slightly nervous as they haven't said the L word yet. She was happy to see his reaction, while shocked, wasn't unpleasant.

"I love you too." He told her after a moment.

Belle grinned at him. "Besides, it's grandma you have to watch out for."

~~~

"We're almost there." Poe said quietly, pulling her out of the memory.

Belle nodded, looking out the window. The scenery wasn't much to look at, it looked like a place that still hadn't recovered from the war. There were still a lot of places like that out there. Belle had originally planned to go help out in the more war torn districts, cleaning up the mess that she had helped to create. However, after everything happened between her and Poe, all she wanted to do was disappear. So that's exactly what she had done. Her grandparents had passed away in a bombing that had hit Naboo's capital, wiping out several of the higher ranking officials and had left the home in Naboo to both her and Ben. She hid out there until Ben had shown up on the doorstep and practically drug her back to civilization. She still felt bad that she had never done her part in cleaning up after the war, another thing she blamed Poe for.

Having gotten so lost in thought, she had almost missed the district sign as they passed it. Poe was even hoping she did, knowing that the likeliness of her killing him for this was high. Unfortunately for him, even lost in thought, Belle was observant.

"You have got to be fucking kidding me." She said angrily, turning to glare at Poe. "Kijimi! What the fuck are you thinking?"

"I was thinking that we have a problem that we can't get past and that this will help." He said staring straight ahead, refusing to look at her.

"And you think that taking me to see your fucking girlfriend is going to solve it?" She yelled, throwing her hands up.

Poe sighed, "She's not my fucking girlfriend. This is your problem Belle, you get an idea and you get stuck on it. The hell with what everyone else says, because you have to be right. You never give anyone the chance to explain. You got this idea that I was in love with Zorii and let it come between us. I've known Zorii since we were kids, that's it."

"Look me in the eye and tell me you've never slept with her." Belle said sharply.

Poe hesitated, glancing over at Belle. She was glaring at him, her arms crossed tight across her body. Her face might as well have been a blank mask, the only thing giving away her emotions was the anger radiating off of her. He sighed, shaking his head and looking back at the road.

"That's what I thought." She said turning to sit straight in her seat.

"Fine." He said staring at the road. "I've slept with her. We were always together and everyone expected it, so we did it."

"You don't have sex with someone you don't care about." Belle bit back, "Maybe some people can, but not you. At least you didn't use to."

"Rey needs to keep her damn mouth shut." Poe snapped, turning to glare at her.

"Rey doesn't have anything to do with this conversation!" Belle snapped back.

"Fine!" he yelled, "Of course I cared about her. She's one of my best friends, but I didn't love her."

"Is that supposed to make me feel better? That's supposed to make it okay that she was always around?"

"Just because..."

"Don't interrupt me." Belle snapped, "I've let you drag me out here, the least you could do is give me to courtesy to finish fucking speaking."

"Fine." He said, teeth gritted.

"I get that guys and girls can just be friends. I can take that at face value, but when you start finding things out about said friends, it makes it a little more difficult. Poe, you never answered my questions when it came to Zorii, so forgive me if I was a little insecure about it. It was obvious that you two have known each other forever. She knows things about you that I never will. That's something I could be okay with, but with you two, you could never let anyone else in. When you're in a relationship like the one we were in, you don't get to keep secrets with someone else. I was supposed to be the one you talked to, not the girl who very obviously hated me."

Poe was quiet for a few moments. "Are you done?" Belle nodded. "Okay, I get that you don't like Zorii and sure, maybe she didn't like you at first. But Belle, you're not the easiest person to get to know either. Sure, Zorii kept my secrets, she was my best friend for years, but after you and I got together I wasn't telling her anything that I wasn't telling you. Except maybe the fact that I wanted to fucking marry you. But you had to let something so fucking trivial get between us. For fucks sake Belle, you ended us because of Zorii fucking Bliss. The fact that you were jealous."

Poe parked the car in front of an apartment building, turning to look at her. Belle still had her arms crossed, she rolled her eyes, glaring at the windshield in front of her.

"For fucks sake Belle, you're still jealous of her. So now, we're going to go in there and talk to her so we can finally get over this shit."

Belle jumped when a knock sounded on the window. She glanced out and saw a tall, willowy, blonde woman waving at them. Zorii Bliss. Poe got out of the car and hugged her. Belle watched them talk for a few moments, Poe glancing at Belle every few moments. Poe obviously hadn't told the woman why we had come all this way judging by the look on her face. She glanced at Belle still sitting in the car, a hard look on her face before turning back to Poe and giving him a stiff nod.

Poe walked around the car, pulling Belle's door open. "C'mon."

Belle ran through the options in her head, before unbuckling her seat belt obviously realizing that there wasn't any escaping this. Stepping out of the car she nodded at Zorii before following her up to her apartment. Poe following behind her. Almost like they were afraid she'd take off running if they didn't cage her in. Belle stifled a laugh at the thought, because it's quite possible they were right.

~~~

“He didn’t tell you why we were coming did he?” Belle asked from where she was sitting on the couch.

When they walked into the apartment Belle sat down and hadn’t moved. She watched as Poe and Zorii caught up, being able to tell they hadn’t seen each other in a while. She looked around the small apartment. While it may have been small, the way it was decorated made it feel much larger than it was. It felt very homey.

“No, he didn’t.” Zorii responded in a clipped tone. “I didn’t even know he was bringing you.”

Belle nodded as she watched the blonde leave the room to join Poe who was in the kitchen. Belle got up and wandered around the small living area that was only able to fit a couch and small chair. She wandered around the room looking at the pictures hanging on the wall, a small smile gracing her face at the ones of Zorii and Poe at different stages in their lives. As she moved around the room, she noticed a petite Asian girl show up in the later photos. Something about the girl looked familiar.

“You know Paige don’t you?” Zorii asked from behind her, causing Belle to jump.

“I thought she looked familiar.” Belle said, turning around to look at her. “I didn’t realize that you knew her too.”

“Yeah, she’s my girlfriend.” Zorii shrugged, moving to sit down.

“I’m sorry, what?” Belle asked skeptically.

Zorii grinned at the disbelief in Belle’s voice, gesturing for her to sit down. Belle frowned, but sat down across from her, waiting for her to speak.

“Yep.” Zorii said, pulling out her phone and showing Belle pictures of her and Paige. “I’m super gay.”

“Since when?” Belle asked her, handing her phone back.

“Well,” Zorii shrugged. “I’ve always been into girls and there for a while I thought I was into guys, but then I met Paige.”

“So, you’re bisexual?”

“Technically.”

Belle and Zorii sat there staring at each other. Belle wasn’t sure where this conversation was going, and Zorii was waiting for Belle to make a move.

“So, how long have you and Paige been together?” Belle finally asked, leaning back into the couch cushions.

“About 2 years.” Zorii told her, a small smile gracing her features. “But that’s not what you want to ask is it?”

“I don’t…”

“You want to ask me about Poe.” Zorii finished, interrupting her.

Belle stared at her, her face going blank. Zorii watched the emotion leave Belle’s face, realizing that this is how Belle has dealt with the separation, by shutting down every time someone mentions it. She also noticed that Belle glanced at the kitchen door when she had said it, showing that she still finds some comfort in Poe.

“Maybe we should wait for Poe if we’re going to have that conversation.” Belle said, turning her attention back to Zorii.

“I sent him to pick up Paige.” Zorii told her, getting up and moving to the liquor cabinet. “I thought we should have this conversation in private.” She handed Belle a cup full of amber liquid.

“Of course you did.” Belle said, taking the cup and downing its contents. Zorii refilled her cup as the two sat down.

“So,” Zorii started, nodding at Belle. “I think we both know that you didn’t end things with Poe just because you were jealous of me. I’m not saying that wasn’t a part of it, but that wasn’t the reason.” When Belle didn’t say anything, Zorii asked, “So what was it? And why is Poe convinced that I’m the reason?”

Belle sighed. “I’m not getting out of having this conversation with you, am I?”

“Nope.” Zorii said, popping the P. “Not if you ever want to make it to your moms.”

“Fine.” She said sighing. “He thinks it’s your fault, because he’s an idiot.”

“Well yeah.”

“Do you remember the night before I ended it?”

“Yeah.” Zorii said frowning. “It was so stupid. My ex was pretty abusive, and I hadn’t heard from him in a few months, but I had gone out that night and saw him. I called Poe because I needed calmed down. He came up and spent the night with me. Obviously, nothing happened, he was so in love with you that you’re all he talked about that night. Why?”

Belle sighed. “I didn’t know that that’s what happened, and I’m sorry that you went through that, but I’m not sorry for how I feel about it.” Zorii nodded, still confused. “That night was our first night off in months. It was near the end of the war and mom didn’t want to give anyone time off because we were so close to getting done. We had made plans a few weeks before, because we obviously never got to celebrate any of the holidays or birthdays because of work.”

“And he blew you off for me.” Zorii said, finishing off her thought. “And not for the first time.”

Belle nodded, biting her lip. “I get that you went through a shitty thing, and I would have been fine if he had just called you, but he cancelled a date that we had planned for weeks, and like you said, not for the first time. It didn’t help that I kind of hated you.”

“The feeling was mutual.”

Belle snorted. “I know why I hated you. You have a part of him that I will never get to have. Why do you hate me?”

Zorii grimaced, “I hated you because you blew into his life and he wasn’t the same. I realize now, that maybe it wasn’t such a bad thing, especially since he regressed so much after you two split. He was different, you’re all he talked about, and I blamed you for him changing. I think that’s why I interfered so much. You might have been jealous, but so was I. I don’t hate you anymore if that helps.”

“Zorii,” Belle sighed, “Looking back, I don’t think it would have worked out between me and Poe anyway. He was too invested in his job and you for anything else to matter as much. And I’m the type of girl who needs to be important enough for somebody to choose them.”

“He’s a fucking idiot.” Zorii said, rolling her eyes, “And so are you.”

“What?”

“You really don’t get it do you?” She asked. When Belle just stared at her she continued. “That man was getting ready to ask you to marry him. He had the ring and everything. He was choosing you.”

“Then why…”

“Why did he blow you off that night?” Zorri finished for her. “Part of it was his stupidity and me being a bitch. I knew how he felt about you and you never made it secret that you hated me, so I was being petty. When he was here that night, he was telling me how he was going to propose to you, and well I told him that he was making a mistake, that you’d just break his heart. I knew that I had went too far. Belle, he was ready to cut me out of his life.”

“Why didn’t he tell me any of this?” Belle asked quietly.

“From what he’s told me, you didn’t really give him the chance to.” Zorii said shrugging. “You ended things and had your mom move your point of contact, so you didn’t have to see him. The war ended not long after and you disappeared. No one knew where you were until about 6 month ago.”

Belle nodded, staring at the carpet. Both girls were silent, each lost in their own thoughts. They both looked up when the front door opened and in walked Paige followed by Poe, both laughing.

“Belle!” Paige yelled when she noticed her, throwing herself at the girl. “Where have you been? I haven’t seen you in forever!”

“Hi Paige.” Belle said laughing as she wrapped her arms around the girl. “It’s a long story, but I missed you too!”

Paige pulled back, giving Belle a once over before nodding. She pulled out her phone and handed it to Belle, “Put your number in here, and give me your phone.”

Belle laughed but did as she asked. When she was done putting her number in Paige’s phone she glanced up at Poe, who seemed to be having a silent conversation with Zorii. Paige noticed that she had lost Belle’s attention and announced that she was going to go take a shower.

“We need to make a date!” Paige said giving Belle another hug. “It was so good seeing you, so don’t disappear on me again.”

Belle nodded, making eye contact with Paige who seemed very sincere. Silence engulfed the room as Paige left. Everyone was waiting for the other to speak.

“You two are fucking idiots.” Zorii finally said, breaking the silence.

“What did I do?” Poe asked defensively.

Belle and Zorii both turned to look at him. “You’re kidding right?” Zorii asked him. “You know what, no. You two need to work your shit out. At this point, it has nothing to do with me. Belle, if you two work your shit out, and end up back together, just know that you don’t have to worry about me. As far as I’m concerned, we’re good.” The girls shared a smile as Zorii turned on Poe, “Poe, take this girl to her mother’s before she sends out a search party.”

“Are you throwing me out?” Poe asked, gawking at her.

“Yes I am.” Zorii told him matter-of-factly. “I know I caused a lot of this, but next time leave me out of the drama, and don’t just drop this kind of shit on someone. If Belle and I weren’t fucking adults, this could have gone a different way. So yes, get out.”

~~~

“Are you going to tell me what happened?” Poe asked, as they pulled back out onto the highway.

“We talked.”

“No shit.” Poe muttered, glaring at the windshield.

“You don’t get to be angry about this.” Belle sighed, looking out the window, her voice lacking anger.

“Oh, I don’t?” Poe asked, turning to glare at her. “I brought you here to get answers, but it seems like you two figured everything out and I’m getting left in the dark.”

“Poe.” Belle sighed, “I didn’t ask for this. You literally kidnapped me, drug me out here, and forced me into an emotional confrontation that I was not in any way prepared for. I don’t want to talk about this, I want to go home so I can cry in private.”

“Babe,” Poe said, gripping her thigh. “I…”

“Poe, just don’t,” Belle said, gripping his hand. “Please.”

Poe looked back at the windshield, intertwining their fingers. “Okay.”

They drove back in silence, holding hands the entire way. Belle sighed into the comfort of the car, turning to observe Poe. He still looked tense, obviously still wanting to know what had happened between her and Zorii, but not wanting to push the issue. He had never been good when Belle would cry.

“We talked about you. Obviously.” Belle quietly said. “She said you were going to ask me to marry you.”

“She told you that?” He asked nervously.

“Yeah.” Belle said, her grip tightening on his hand. “She was explaining that you were making a choice and that you were willing to cut her out of your life for me. I didn’t want you to do that. I’d never ask you to.”

“I know.” He said, interrupting her rambling. “I wasn’t going to do it for you. I was doing it for me. I’m not stupid Belle, I know you two didn’t get along. I just didn’t realize how much you didn’t like each other until that night.”

Belle was looking out the window, silently taking in his words. She was confused, she was still angry, but, if asked, wouldn't be able to deny the fact that she still loved him. She slid her hand out from under his, causing him to glance at her as she pulled her phone out to call someone.

"Hello?" Came a gruff voice after a few rings.

"Hey daddy." Belle said into the mouthpiece.

"Hey baby girl, what's up?" He asked, "You on your way here?"

"Actually daddy, it's been a long night, I think I'm going to go home." Belle said, pulling at a thread on her pants. "I'll come see you tomorrow."

Han was silent for a beat. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, just tired." She said, glancing over at Poe, who was staring at the road in front of him.

"Okay." Han said after another pause. "I'll let your mom know. Do you need a ride tomorrow?"

"No," Belle told him, still looking at Poe. "Poe will bring me."

He glanced at her, shock on his face. He didn't think she'd want anything to do with him after tonight. He gave he a quick nod, noticing that she was waiting for him to respond.

"Okay baby," Han said slowly, not expecting that to be her response. "If that's what you want. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Alright, love you!" Belle said, hanging up the phone.

Poe waited for her to say something, to at least acknowledge that she was letting him back into her life. After a few moments of silence, he pulled the car off to the side of the road. Throwing the car in park, he fully turned to look at her, giving her his full attention as he asked his next question.

"Are you letting me back into your life?"

Belle's eyes were wide, not expecting him to pull off the road, or to throw that question at her. "I..."

"I just want to be prepared for whatever's about to happen." Poe told her, "I don't want to go down this road with you if it's all going to end the same way. I just can't do it babe."

"Whoa, hold on." Belle said, throwing up her hands as if to stop him, "Poe, I'm saying that we can try to be friends. That's it."

"Just friends?" He blinked.

"Yes." She said, holding eye contact. "And as childish as this is going to sound, I think we should keep it between us for now. I just don't want to have to explain to everyone that all of a sudden we're friends now. I don't even know how to explain it, because I have no idea how we even got here."

Poe slowly nodded, taking in what she had to say. "That makes sense. Finn's not exactly your biggest fan and there's no way your brother is ever going to like me."

"That's true."

"So friends." He asked, tucking a piece of hair behind her ear. "For how long?"

"What do you mean?"

Poe grinned at her. "Babe, when we met, we were friends for about 10 minutes before you decided you wanted to jump me."

"You're a dick." Belle said laughing, "And thank you very much I had some self control. It was longer than 10 minutes."

"Yeah, like 11." Poe laughed, pulling that car back onto the road.

"Oh shut up," Belle told him, rolling her eyes. "That's not going to happen this time. We're just going to be friends. I think we've made it pretty obvious that we can't be in a relationship."

"Whatever you say," He grinned, pausing for dramatic effect. "Princess."

#michaela's at a crossroads #Oscar Isaac #star wars #Star Wars Fic #poe dameron #poe dameron fic #poe dameron slow burn #poe dameron smut #i seriously still have no idea where this is going

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storytimefromthecreed · 5 years

Text

Canon Crimes

“I’m not saying you’re only agreeing with him because he's your favorite, but..." Haytham frowned, but kept the respect in his voice. He was, after all, speaking to his father.

"Grandfather is still upset." Connor grinned at his father, sparing him no expense, clearly enjoying the attention Edward gave him.

Haytham groaned, "Gah, this again? Dad! You've got to forgive me for that."

Edward crossed his arms and shook his head. "You tried killing your own son, Haytham."

"To be fair, he tried killing me also."

Connor rolled his eyes, and Haytham made a move to him but was intervened by Edward who gave him a swift thump on the back of the head. "And have I ever tried killing you? No!" Connor snickered while Haytham rubbed the spot of contact and received a thump from Edward too, resulting in Haytham's smile. He was, after all, his son, Edward thought, best to let him know he was loved too.

Now, both silent, Edward said, "Decide what you'd like us all to do tonight, together, or I'm going to choose, and you can’t be upset if that includes us rewatching the Muppet Frog Prince."

"Grandpa."

"Dad."

Both Kenways groaned in unison and rolled their eyes to the ceiling. Edward couldn't help but smile at how similar they were. The pair began sprouting ideas, so Edward left them and went to relax on the backyard porch with the rest of the Assassins. Shay and Arno were sparring against Alexios and Kassandra; Altair, Malik, Evie, Ezio, Henry, Elise, Yusuf, Jacob, and Liam watched. Jacob pulled up a seat beside him, and Edward sat. Malik passed the plate of sandwiches toward him, but he put a hand up to decline.

"Don't want to ruin my appetite in case they decide we're going to dinner." He explained, and Elise swiped the plate.

"Must be nice to have both your boys with you." She took a bite, munching. "How's it been?"

Honestly, it had been wonderful! When he wasn't spending time with Haytham, he was with Connor. There was some tension between the two which made days like today, where Edward wanted all three of them spend time together, difficult to manage and painful emotionally; but, he was hopeful that they would work through it. Plainly, this was seen on his face, because the corners of Elise's smile pulled down to a frown.

Still, Edward couldn't fix his face, so Altair cleared his throat and said, "Relationships between Templars and Assassins have always been rocky, no matter who they are, but people can work around it, Edward, trust your boys."

As if on cue, Connor stormed out, Haytham right behind him, and he, upon seeing the eyes watching him, relaxed his tense frame and directed his displeasure Edward’s way. “I am sorry, Grandfather, but we can not seem to come to an agreement. Looks like the choice is yours.”

Before Edward could speak, Malik interjected, “Altair is the reason my brother died.” Altair choked on his tea, and Yusuf began feverishly patting him on the back. Malik, undisturbed, continued and raised his left arm. “Oh, and why I lost this, isn't that right, Altair?”

“Yea.” Altair croaked, having not recovered from his fit.

Malik continued, looking sternly between Connor and Haytham. “But he was a different man when he did so, and upon realizing his mistake, Altair worked tirelessly to become a better person. When he apologized for the wrongs, I couldn’t forgive him. The man apologizing was not the man who’d done the deeds, therefore, for me, he did not have to. Would Kadar have died another way or any time soon? Would I have my arm? Who’s to say. What’s done is done. I’m still a capable fighter, I’ve my health, and if history hadn’t taken that course, the Brotherhood would not be what it is today. Guess you could say, that’s why I’m his right hand man.”

Altair’s eyes were watery and his cheeks tinged red when he responded with a raspy voice. “We’ve all done things that we’re not proud of at a time when we didn’t know better. That’s the part of growing, and I’m thankful I’m surrounded by friends just a wise, if not more so, than I.”

Elise said, "If it's any consolation, my being a Templar has proved difficult in my and Arno's relationship, but we work through it by respecting one another and understanding that our Orders require different things from us, and balance them accordingly."

"Even Assassin and Assassin ties can be hard." Liam added, pointing to Shay. "Chased my best friend off a mountain after he’d tried to do nothing more that warn us of our mistakes, didn’t even know why, just that it was asked of me, and pushed him towards the Templar Order. Not that he minds it. He found what he was looking for in the Order, he’s happy, and he found people who listen and respect him. I’m happy for him.”

Shay, wiping the sweat from his brow as he and a defeated Arno rejoined the group with celebratory siblings, Kassandra and Alexios, nodded. "Took years for us to get our bearings. Those years were needed because they determined who we are today, and our friendship is stronger than ever for it."

"Things have to happen for better things to come." Arno added, smiling at Elise. "If my father hadn’t died, would I be Arno you see today? Would I have grown up through the Assassin ranks? Have the hate for Templars branded into my skull? Or would I have found another way? Anyway, I never would've met Elise and my life wouldn't be a thousand times brighter."

"Mon amour." Elise turned bright pink, her grin expanding her whole face. Pulling his face down for a kiss, she chuckled. "This guy. Truly, Arno’s been the best. Helping me find the people that killed my father after he was framed for it, and taking control of the Templar Order so that none could spark fire between the Templars and Assassins as they’d been doing."

"Hey," Shay said to Arno, “I am sorry for that.”

Arno, one hand on Elise, put his other hand on Shay’s shoulder with a kind smile. “You did, and I forgave you. What’s in the past, and all.” The friends smiled at one another, and Edward’s hope returned. Maybe Connor and Haytham could work past their differences.

“Kassandra tried to kill me.” Alexios gave his sister a knowing look that she responded to with a rolling of her eyes. “Multiple times, I might add.”

“I was young, Alexios.” Her tone was annoyed, but Kassandra grinned. “I was raised by some not so nice people. We all can’t have grown up on an island.”

Alexios looked at Connor. “Trust me, family are the most frustrating people to be around, but,” he threw an arm around Kassandra’s neck, messing her hair with his fist, and she fought against him easily. “But they’re family.”

“Guess I was lucky to have a sibling who wouldn’t give up on me, just as he is lucky I wouldn’t give up on him.” She stuck out an arm, and playfully struck his shoulder.

Alexios rubbed the spot and see offered peace with a sandwich. He accepted. “You wouldn’t give up on me, would you, Evie?” Jacob asked from across the table to Evie who sat with her head on Henry’s shoulder.

“The thought of leaving you to your own devices has crossed my mind.” Jacob glared, and she laughed. “I’m kidding, you’ve always been capable when left to your own devices. Well, except that whole Jack incident.”

“For that, I thank you kindly, sister.” Jacob twirled his hat impishly then placed it back atop his head with a smirk. “All laughs considering I never got a thank you after the train incident.” He wiggled his brows devilishly, and Evie shot up.

“You shut your mouth.”

“Say it.”

She rolled her eyes and tossed a napkin at his face. “Thanks, BROTHER.”

“What train incident?” Henry asked when her head returned to his shoulder and she groaned, covering her face in embarrassment.

“Tell ya later, Greenie.” Jacob winked.

“Maria was a Templar, still would be if they hadn’t have abandoned her after they failed to claim the Holy Land. I knew I loved her from the moment I fought her, but I’m not sure love was the first thing on her mind.” Altair looked up to the heavens, lost in thought.

“You fought your wife?” Connor rose a brow.

Altair, pulled from his memories, a ghost of a smile on his lips, explained. “Didn’t know she was going to be my wife until after, but yes, that’s how Maria and I first met. The relationship between Assassin and Templar is vast and complicated, spreading across eras and families, intricately weaving us all as one.”

“Makes one think there might be a world where we could live together, in harmony.” Haytham spoke so low, it sounded as if he was speaking to himself.

“Yes,” Altair said, “maybe it’s time that we do. That we find this better way. This harmony.”

“Like my forgiving Haytham for trying to kill me with Shay.” Adewale, who’d slipped into the conversation from the backyard door, stood behind Haytham and made him jump. “Sorry, door was open and no one was inside, figured you’d all be here. Hey, Shay. How are you? You never checked out my ship like you said you would.” Various greetings were given him, but Adewale was watching Shay.

“Adewale, how good to see you!” Shay left Arno’s side and gave the Assassin a handshake that turned into a hug. “If your ship is here, I’d love to see it.”

“Of course.” Adewale dug into his pocket. “Have to return these to Edward.” He withdrew a set of keys and tossed them towards Edward, who caught them mid-air swiftly.

“Ade!” Edward had left the table and embraced his friend. “It’s good seeing you! Hope the car served it’s purpose. When are we sailing?”

“Considering you keep flaking, why don’t you tell me? Better yet, why don’t you accompany Shay and I today? It’ll be nice to be among like-minded men.” Adewale grinned, but Edward frowned. Only for a moment. He gave his friend a small smile and said, “I’ve got plans tonight with my boys, maybe another time.”

Haytham cleared his throat, keeping his eyes away from Adewale and on Edward. “Father, since Connor and I are unable to meet in the middle for our plans, maybe it would be best you go.”

“I agree.” Connor said.

Both gave him just a serious look with kind eyes, that Edward felt pride in that moment. Turning to Adewale, Edward wiggling his brows. “It looks like my plans have changed.”

“Always room for one more. Now you get to be be my quartermaster.” The trio bid their farewells, and Haytham stood beside Connor.

“You tried to kill your father’s best friend?” Connor asked, a brow raised.

“Thank god he didn’t take notice of that.” Both Kenways chuckled, then Haytham gave Connor a queer look, attempting to appear not stern. “Son, how about you join your mother and for dinner tonight?” Connor’s mouth was set in a tight line. “Tell me all about how I won’t let you kill Lee and maybe your mother and you could murder me for dessert?”

Connor’s stony demeanor cracked, and he shook his head, giving his father a smile. His first smile. “Fine, but you’re going to have to share that story of when the Templars tried to have me hanged.”

“Goodnight everyone. Thank you for your kind words.” Haytham waved behind him.

“See you all tomorrow.”

They headed back the way they’d come, leaving the rest of the Assassins to decide who was sparring next. The last they heard was Haytham saying, “I saved you from that! Doesn’t that count for anything?”

A pause. Then, “Yes, Father, is does.”

Ezio leaned back in his chair. “Love happy endings.”

“I second that.” Yusuf hummed, and Ezio squinted his eyes.

“On the subject of crimes against one another,” Ezio pointed to Yusuf. “Stop dating my sister?”

“Next spar between Ezio and Yusuf.” Jacob cheered, and the two men rose from their seats and headed to the circle.

“I’m dating her either way, you know that right?” Yusuf rolled his shoulders.

Ezio assumed his stance. “Yea, but this will make me feel better.”

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sexandwistfulness · 4 years

Text

memoir, as echo

“With the mist, the myth,” I extemporize to her late at night, drunk on screw top sav blanc and sated on spring rolls. “With the fog, the fairytale.”

On a summer Sunday whim she announced a mid-afternoon plan to finish off the fridge’s leftover Vietnamese with the additional flourish of making our own dipping sauces. We linger in bed a little longer first.

My mouth inevitably finds her neck. Her fingers find the tack button of her Everlane jeans. My own fingers skip ahead to the zipper, then brush against laundry day panties. The washer-dryer chugs away, layering rhythm.

An hour later in a Chinatown grocer, pulling fish sauce and hoisin from low shelves, I grin upon unexpectedly finding a little marker of home: Narcissus rice vinegar, colorless but strong, with the sort of glass bottle and colorful stickers you could mistake for next summer’s drink of the season.

“Weird name,” she says when I examine the bottle.

“I don’t know why there’s a brand of rice vinegar named after a guy infamously obsessed with himself. It’s weird,” I nod.

While we walk to the subway stop, with the namesake bottle in hand, I start telling her the story of Narcissus and Echo from the fragment of my memory of Ovid’s Metamorphoses, but my story cuts off because our train arrives just as we’re passing through the turnstiles. This is a Queens-bound N express train. Never mind. I try again.

Beautiful Echo was a nymph as verbose as I am: she used her endless stories to distract Hera from catching her husband, the gluttonously horny Zeus, embarking on yet another one of his affairs.

But one day, see, Hera realizes the truth. And in her rage, the queen of Olympus curses Echo so she might only speak by repeating someone else’s last words. All who meet her think her repetition is mocking. So she’s doomed long before she comes across a beautiful, self-centered young man named Narcissus, a hunter —

“Narcissus, like narcissist?”

“Like narcissist.”

“Okay. What happens next?”

I don’t know why my words have trailed off. I do know that I’ve spent all of the five minutes in the train fixated with her hair: dark Croatian curls, heavy Sicilian frizzes. She hides her ears in that mane except when she has earrings she wants to show off: and even though today her only observer is me, she’s wearing her favorite Afghan gold and lapis lazuli earrings, vivid irregular rectangles. It is an insignificant stutter in time for everyone but me, but days, weeks and months later, I will remember that as our train skidded to our stop, I was lost for words. I open my mouth to say something smart, to recover my composure —

This is 14th Street - Union Square. Transfers available to the 4, 5, 6, L, and R trains.

Again, interrupted: we alight.

Echo falls in love with Narcissus, but Narcissus is only in love with himself. (Spoiler alert: later, long after spurning Echo, he sees his own reflection in a pool of water, and realizing he can’t be with that gorgeous hunk, he kills himself.)

“Okay,” she says as we enter our apartment. Laundry is done. More interested in renewing our drunkenness, we lump the warm clothes on the couch, manically alternating between experimenting with dipping sauces for cold leftovers and sitting in bed trading sips from bottles and cans, until we come to my cheap bottle from Marlborough, which means it’s the last drink left — she doesn’t like white wine unless there’s nothing else to have.

With the mist, the myth. With the fog, the fairytale.

“Fuck,” she laughs, checking her phone. “I have a conference call in five minutes.”

“Ditch it.”

“Ditch it? I can’t.” It’s a delicate act of scheduling involving four timezones, so even if it’s almost ten at night, she has to join the call. No, not has to — wants to. She loves her job. (Let the record show that I know that, even if she always complains about it: “Can you wake me up in an hour? I have a 3am call. Ugh, I hate my job. No, wait, I love my job.” (One day later, but somehow to me not that much later, she breaks up with me citing the incompatibility of her workaholism and a relationship.)) “It’ll just take a little while.”

I always take a walk when she needs the apartment for her call. Tonight is no different. I never thought I would be drunk and delirious in a Duane Reede, starting a group chat with as many contacts as I can add, friends elsewhere on the planet, many of whom haven’t seen me in the longest time. Wondering if this was my way to mirror her work call, I ramble out a voice memo, the first thing that comes to mind:

“Fuck, I love this woman.”

Apropos of nothing, I swear it three times, an oath to some unknown force. The first time with surprise, except it’s not surprise — surprise? I always knew. The second time I say it plaintively, pleading against a premonition of losing her some day. And the third, clutching beers I’ve bought, an annunciation: to the haze of light pollution overhead, fuck, I love this woman.

Within the haze, all hidden histories.

Restless, manic, delirious, and all too aware that she’s probably still on her call, I loop around the block, pausing to look up and see the reassuring sight of the odd wooden house on the rooftop above Kiehl’s. Odd like rice vinegars named Narcissus. There is no magic in saying something a fourth time, so I decide to tell that incongruous cottage my favorite part of that myth, the bit I never got around to telling her, the bit that always catches in my throat.

As beautiful as Echo was, when she finally dares to approach him after he’s separated from his hunting companions, Narcissus is repelled by her doomed infatuation, as he has eyes only for himself.

Emoriar quam sit tibi copia nostri. “May I die before I give you power over me,” ultimately rejects Narcissus.

—Sit tibi copia nostri, echoes Echo.

I give you power over me.

#prose #writing #me #memory #naive new era #mine

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sparda3g · 5 years

Text

Food Wars! Shokugeki no Soma Le Dessert Chapter 2 (315.2) Review

Gather ‘round, everyone. It’s time for a story about a man, who lost his passion for cooking, and a woman, who saved his life. That’s not all this chapter has to offer. We have a growing teenage girl, who is taking a step to be a matured young adult. This is the second part of the Le Dessert, now unveiling the past and a sign for a better future. Unless we don’t have a pairing. Then screw it! But seriously, it’s a good sign.

The flashback covers the moment when Joichiro got his groove back and it happened when he stumbled upon a place called Yukihara Family Restaurant. It’s simple, sweet, and adorable. Joichiro thought he would have recovered after taking some time off, but after he did favors to cook for people, the burning passion he once had was still missing. That’s where love comes in play.

Fate must be set when you have a guy, who is the best among chefs, went to a small restaurant, a place no one would think twice of considering as top quality. In a way, you can say the role is reversed in the present time, with Soma being a “nobody” and Erina being the top chef. Interesting reversed parallel. Anyway, it’s rather funny that Joichiro first met Tamako by ordering a Chef’s Special. Logically, it would mean it’s the best preferable choice on the house, but with everyone reacting like Joichiro signed a will, that’s not the case. I suppose you can say he knows how everyone feels when his friends tried out his “experiments.”

Tamako was a delinquent in the past; sure came a long way. Then again, some of her habit such as smoking occurred once in a while. It’s telling that customers or regulars knew her childhood; smiled like they’re part of the family. Despite her poor quality as a chef (no offense), everyone there were high-spirited; something Joichiro yet to understand completely. I like the fact the more Joichiro come to the restaurant, the more he becomes one of them. Although Tamako was a bit annoyed and envied, he can cook at least; can’t argue against that. Funny how she called it a gang. I guess her side of nature reflected well there.

After taking some time at the restaurant with her, he asked her why does she cook? That’s a valid question. Maybe she got the wrong message from Ratatouille animated movie with “Anyone can cook!” Joking aside, it’s simple: she’s just do what she wants to do. Besides, if it does bring a smile to people’s faces, that’s enough to be proud of. It’s a simple message that Joichiro overlooked; a talented man can forget a simple moral. The satisfaction is enough to feel good, especially with a smile. Who better to show him than Tamako. That’s when he has fallen in love and she promoted him as her special someone. How sweet.

I really like the montage of those two as a family, starting with Baby Soma. Before it, it has to be addressed that Joichiro didn’t want Soma to know about his background. He didn’t want to influence his life and let him to decide. Charmingly enough, Kid Soma was into cooking. Whether it runs in the family or not, Joichiro can’t help but felt joy; possibly the starting point of their rivalry.

The part I like the most is when Tamako decided to get a new hairstyle to look like a lady, public appearance wise. She was going to get a haircut that not only look similar to Current Soma’s, but going against the idea in the first place. Thankfully, I think, the stylist went out of her way and made her a bona fide lady. Say…that haircut looks awfully familiar. She didn’t want it, but Soma loved it. Hm. Finally, the famous chapter one photo was taken and the rest is history.

The story was about Joichiro’s love, so there’s no need to go further than that. I can’t be certain, but it does feel like a parallel address to the present timeline with Soma and Erina. It’s different in terms of direction, but anything is possible. More importantly, this does help Erina to understand more on life and relationship. I find it funny how she wished Nakiri can be closer to Yukihira when it comes to trusting. It can; it’s called marriage. Ahem. The starting point or test to her understanding comes right away when Azami, her father, returns with a shocking news.

I have to admit, I didn’t think we will get more of Asashi after the main series ended, but here he is in the last pieces of the story. He goes back to the graveyard to meet his mother; clarifying that his chapter isn’t exactly over. He has no direction to go; no future in sight. Her old friends, I assume, were there to meet her as well. Although Asashi doesn’t have good memory with her, others suggest she was broken when she’s drunk. In other words, she wasn’t always bad until alcoholism kicks in. That aside, the real point to address the new revelation: his father. It’s like stepping into Maury Show; time to find out who the father is. The answer: Azami.

I know I got mixed-up with SNS (Shokugeki no Soma) and SNK (Shingeki no Kyojin) a long time ago, but now they’re more similar than I remember. Who knew half-sibling is a trend. Anyway, Azami was messed up a long time ago, and before meeting with Mana, he knocked up with Asashi’s mother. In short, the last arc was the hidden Attack on Titan’s Final Arc. Joking aside (kind of), it was basically the Revenge of Azami, only it’s not him. Think as Friday the 13th Part 2 Film. Now, that premise would have worked, but due to time constraint and questionable planning, it never reach its potential. I suppose this pulled a Gundam Seed plot twist to avoid a pairing and simply say, “They’re related.”

Anyway, the idea is Azami has really screwed up big time; a point of no return in a way. He wants to take the blame and go with Asashi to make up for his mistake. That would have been fine, but if he does as he wishes, then what would Erina learn from the story earlier? It would have been like last time, where Erina just let him disappeared. They got lucky on finding him, but now he’s about to go away again. Of course, she calls him a terrible person, and rightfully so. However, the follow-up action is funny but relieving.

You can say that Azami deserved the next part. Rather leave it with an insult, Erina smacks the hell out of him. I like how she did it with a “fierce” face of dominant. Instead of letting things go, she takes a stand and solve the problem her way. The idea of Asashi being related is a test to her development; one that need to prove her understanding of Joichiro’s story. Mana practically said that Erina is on her way for a brighter future.

The last part is nice for what it is. Asashi learned about his father; now knowing the damage he has greatly caused. Well, at least he saved himself from becoming the Lannister. Erina finds him, more dominant than ever. She almost sounds like a tyrant, asking if he has plans or anything. What she wants the most is bring family together and he is no exception. I got to admit, it’s nice to see his expression like a kid who finally received motherly love. I know he’s not liked by fans, but I do like it, especially since Erina took a stand.

It was a nice chapter when all things considered. The flashback was sweet; served its part to introduce the origin. The last half was more of concluding other missing pieces that weren’t addressed before, starring Azami and Asashi. Huh. Their name is almost the same. All that’s left is Soma; wherever he is. I noticed Erina practically took the protagonist’s role in Le Dessert, and I’m not complaining. I don’t know what the next and final chapter holds, but it will be the end. Interesting to note that it’s releasing before the creators’ visit to Crunchyroll Expo. Start gathering all the questions. Who knows if the last chapter would clear out some, but in due time. The dessert is almost over.

#food wars #shokugeki no soma #shokugeki no souma #le dessert #chapter 2 #chapter 315.2 #review #spoilers

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kittenofanarchy · 4 years

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Choleen Part 25

Her eyes were cold and lifeless as she stared at me. “You have no idea who I am, do you?”

I was standing outside the new clubhouse smoking when I caught someone coming towards the building. No one really bothered us anymore unless the deals that we had in place with others started to rock a little, but then we were just there to remind everyone why things were the way they were. It had been four years since Jax had tied everything up and went out in his fathers’ footsteps. Under the front of a semitruck, it had also been four years since Choleen had disappeared. I kept an eye on the person and when they were within a few feet of Red Woody I pulled my gun, I didn’t recognize the person who was hiding in their hood. “Show yourself?” I growled, the hood was lowered and the girl I realized stepped into the light. Her eyes were cold and lifeless as she stared at me, a chill ran down my spine. I had a vague sense that I knew who this was.

She stared at me waiting for me to give another order. Her hands remained in her pockets never moving. There was a knife on her belt one that I recognized as being Clays. “You have no idea who I am, do you?” the girl questioned.

The accent that she talked with instantly gave her away, I knew without a doubt that it was Choleen I just didn’t know why she had come back after so long. “What happened to you?”

“I went home. Found Trinity, Mo was dead already. There was no point in leaving her there. Then I went to find Fiona and Kerri to bring them back to Chibs, but there was a slight problem there. Fiona was dead. Apparently when the IRA imploded on itself due to what Jackson set up bombs went off everywhere. Fiona was caught in the crossfire. Kerri was a bit burnt but wasn’t hurt too badly.” Chol shrugged. She looked dark. There was no light in her navy-blue eyes, something that was always there even after everything that she had been through. The light muscle tone that she had when she left was more pronounce now and I had no doubts that she was armed to the teeth.

“Still why come back now?” I asked not sure if I should lower my gun or not.

“Kerri wanted to see her Da’ I couldn’t deny her that right and I can’t leave Trin in Belfast alone. Too much fighting happening there still. Jackson caused a war before he died that hasn’t ended. You boys are just spared from that fight.”

“So, you just came back for Kerrianne’s sake.” I questioned not believing her.

“Currently I don’t even know if I am allowing them near here. Not until I know that it is a safe thing to do” I heard the warning. She would walk away again if we weren’t following the path that was set for us. I would like to say that it didn’t disappoint me, but it did.

“If you’re asking if we followed the rules your bother set for us then yes. Now you want to bring them in or is it just you right now.” I snapped. I wasn’t playing these games. She was the one who walked away from us. She left the family not us.

“I’ll be back” was all she said melting back into the dark that surrounded the docks. I scoffed and went inside to warn everyone who was coming. Chibs was ecstatic to hear that his daughter was still alive. He had heard about Fiona and thought that he had lost Kerri as well. The rest were glad to hear the Chol was alive. I wasn’t sure how I felt, she had walked away at the worst moment in Sons history. Not to say that we hadn’t cause enough trouble for her, that she hadn’t also been hurt.

I was not happy to be back, as rough as Belfast could be, I would rather be there. This place did not have the memories attached to it that I could handle on a good day. Except what Ker wanted I gave her. And she wanted to see her Da’ so here we were seeing Da’. I went and picked them up from the nearby hotel that I had rented a room in, at least if they were under my name nobody could say anything about them being here in the first place. I drove back to the warehouse that was now the new Red Woody porn studio and took a deep breath. “You sure this is what you want Ker?” I questioned reaching for her hand. I had parked a little away so that if she changed her mind no one would know.

“I am” she said quietly, squeezing my hand.

“Alright.” I sighed. Getting out of the car I moved around and opened the door for her, helping her out I kept a tight hold on her. Pulling her into my side, making sure that Trinity was also out of the car before I locked it. Trin walked on my other side but kept a small space from us. She had lost her boyfriend, the Belfast Prospect a few weeks ago and hadn’t yet recovered. “Trin?” I questioned before we reached the door.

“I’m ok. Just missing Micah is all” she said quietly bumping my shoulder slightly. I gave her a small smile and grabbed her hand as it swung.

“Well I wish he was here too.” We had made it to the door and I just opened it leading the way into the warehouse, never letting go of Ker’s hand. The place looked nothing like she remembered, but then again, the last time she had been there Abby had been killed. She wouldn’t set foot in the building after that. “Where’s Chibs?” I questioned, pulling Ker and Trin closer to me. Not recognizing everyone in the room.

“Who’s asking.” Some dude said. “We aren’t hiring talent currently, but I can figure something out for you to do” he said and made a rude gesture to us.

I had him on the ground before anyone could make a move. Standing over him, knife from my belt in hand I growled. “Woah woah” Trin got in front of me, not something many people would do. “Choleen you know that we are here for something right. Not to kill this idiot.” She placed her hands on my shoulders, Kerrianne was pulling me away. Both keeping me from harming the man.

“What the hell happened here?” I heard a voice I recognized walking down the hall. The man that we had come to see in the first place.

“The bitch just hit me!” the man yelled.

I started to snarl at him before Chibs cut me off, “Well if it isn’t the girls of the hour.” I turned to look at him, he had his arms wide open and Ker let go of me before launching into them with a yell of Da’ along the way.

“Chonacthas an t-ardán sin go raibh muid ag tallainne. Fucking Dick. Ba chóir é a mharú ach amháin le glacadh le cac nach bhfuil a fhios aige.” (That bastard thought that we were going to be talent. Fucking dick. Should kill him just for assuming shit he doesn't know.) I snarled, Trin had kept a hair behind me so I didn’t try to take the man to the ground again, this time with a knife lodged in his throat.

Trinity responded to that, “Tá sé seo le haghaidh cuimhneamh ar Kerrianne. Tá muid anseo léi a fheiceáil nach bhfuil sí ar do shon chun an cac a bhualadh as duine.” (This is for Kerrianne remember. We are here for her to see her Da' not for you to beat the shit out of someone.)

Chibs looked at me then, “Feicim nach bhfuil tú ag athrú beagán leanbh fiáin. An Tríonóide Caithfidh mé a rá go raibh sé tamall.” (I see you haven't changed little wild child. Trinity, I have to say it has been some time.)

“It has been quite some time. Are my nephews around?”

“No, they live with Abel’s mum a few hours from here. They aren’t scheduled to visit for a while. Now Kerri how have you been my girl?” he asked looking down at her.

She stepped away and towards where I was standing with Trin. Grabbing my hand, she took a deep breath, “I have been well thank you to Chol here. She made sure that I was safe after mum. I also am in a relationship with her.” Chibs just stared at the two of us. I moved to stand in front of her if he lost his shit.

“Are you saying that you two have been dating?” he ran his hand across his head, patting down his kutte.

“For two years now.” I said with confidence. He promptly turned and slammed the door he had come out of. “Bhuel a chuaigh go maith mo ghrá.” (Well that went well my love.) I smiled at her. Together we all walked to sit at the bar. The man I took to the ground seemed unsure as to how to handle me which was fine by my standards.

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