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earthstellar · 7 months

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More Thoughts on Prowl in Earthspark

I think it would be fun if Prowl has a little bit of a tough time integrating with the Terran Team, which I talked about previously in another post

Like, if it starts out rough, understandable-- And then the "lesson" for the intended audience (kids) can be something along the lines of learning how to get along with others that may be different from yourself, how to integrate into a different culture by trying to make friends and being open to learning, how to meet people halfway when you might be personally hesitant, etc.

But I have some more thoughts...

Real World Concerns: ACAB Still Applies

Keeping in mind that Prowl's a cop and there are some real world implications of that which are even more highlighted as the Maltos are a non-white family who live in the USA, I can understand the concerns I've seen some people have about bringing a "tough cop" type of character into a show that has heavy emphasis on diversity and reflecting that diversity fairly realistically.

I've been wrongfully detained back when I was a teenager and was taken across a state border then had to sleep in a cell overnight thanks to the NYPD myself as a trans person, which happened only four weeks after my black partner at the time was harassed by a police officer when a cop straight up just walked into my dad's house with no warrant because apparently a black person and a trans person gardening together is "suspicious behaviour".

My dad's house is in Pennsylvania, which is where Earthspark takes place. Me and my loved ones have been harassed by cops that are quite literally the actual cops you'd see in Earthspark, in Witwicky. Same police department/region in Pennsylvania, given their proximity to actual Pennsylvanian locations in the show.

So I know these fears well and I understand-- Nobody has a good experience with the American police. Every interaction is terrifying, and those of us in any minority group are far more likely to have experiences like this having never committed any crime or wrongdoing at all. Seeing any cop, even a fictional one, can trigger some bad memories or prior trauma for a lot of us, and it might be hard for them to work around.

I'm thinking that's part of why they've changed his alt-mode, from what we can tell from the toy photos.

Earthspark Handles Real World Issues Fairly Well: Writing with Sensitivity

At the same time, the themes of the show are fundamentally family, friends, learning, growing, and teamwork, with some emphasis on developing emotional intelligence and social/cultural awareness.

It's important to remember that Prowl is a Cybertronian cop who took a cop car alt-mode back in the G1 days because it was simply what fit his own role best and made for the most effective cover while on Earth-- He may not be working with local human police forces, but if he is, we'll see how the show handles that.

I think it's notable that they've changed up Prowl's alt-mode design here, despite having shown him in his police vehicle alt-mode in the G1 flashback sequence. You don't see "POLICE" written across his doorwings, these days. They're not selling him as a "cop car toy" anymore, which I think most of us can agree is a good thing.

I think Prowl absolutely has a place in Earthspark, and it'll be interesting to see how they utilise his character-- For all we know, it'll be a totally unique take on the character unlike any specific prior iteration of him, which would also be interesting!

But I do think that they know they have to be careful with introducing a cop character. They've handled subjects like xenophobia in Earthspark very tactfully in a way that suits the intended audience of children, and hopefully they continue to use the same tact when interpreting Prowl's character for this same audience, given that he's a cop and there are implications to cop characters in general that are going to lead a lot of people to be a little less forgiving and a little more suspicious of him.

More Conjecture/Thinking Out Loud, Since All We Have is a Photo of a Toy At This Point

That having been said, almost no story can happen without a hero's journey in some shape or form, and it would be interesting to see Prowl have some initial difficulty dealing with the Terrans and humans in general (or something similar that might cause some level of conflict) to be resolved as time goes on.

It would be interesting if the show touches on Prowl being a cop and how American kids realistically react to that.

I was always taught to never speak to a cop and how to do so very carefully if I ever absolutely had to etc. when I was a kid, and I'm sure the Maltos have had that same conversation with their children. It's a safety issue; Unfortunately, most American kids get "the cop talk" pretty early.

Maybe Prowl shows up and Robby immediately grabs Mo to get her behind him and he tells his Terran siblings to "let him do the talking", since he's the oldest one and a little more aware of the risk that police officers can present. Since Mo is usually outgoing, and she might be more quiet here because she would understand the potential risk whenever cops are involved, the Terrans would take the hint and be wary of Prowl.

Or perhaps Prowl is introduced as an "enforcer" by Optimus, and when the kids ask what that means, Optimus translates it as "police officer", which might be what causes Robby and Mo to react a little negatively/suspiciously to Prowl. So it wouldn't be as immediate of a reaction, but once they find out he's a cop, they react appropriately-- With caution.

Which might serve to alienate him a bit, as he wouldn't understand why they were just outgoing and friendly and now they're suddenly not-- From Prowl's point of view, he might not fully understand their reaction.

If he'd been working on trying to investigate the bot fighting rings etc., then he'd be aware of the general public's xenophobia towards Cybertronians and how that can manifest as real violence, and might think the kids were being biased against him. Which might be worsened by the fact that to him, as far as he knows, they evidently don't like enforcers specifically-- Which may even lead him to overthink it, as he is technically designed to do in most continuities, and he might assume their anxiety around him comes from some kind of criminal history on their part.

This could be handled partially comedically, as the audience knows the kids are good and haven't done anything wrong (and this would also introduce Prowl's capabilities as an investigative officer while framing him as a "silly adult bewildered by kids just being kids" for the younger viewers)-- -But it needs to be treated respectfully and with reasonable seriousness as well.

This type of assumed guilt is often what leads to wrongful arrest, miscarriage of justice, and serious abuse from actual police. There is a real world body count for this exact kind of assumption, and these assumptions are often based in racism, homophobia, transphobia, etc.

And this is a kid's show, so I don't think they'll go too deep-- But I do think they'll address the "cop in the room" in some kind of way.

There could be some serious misunderstandings that go both ways, as the kids might then interpret any upset from Prowl as being inherently hostile.

It would take work to get them to trust him, and Prowl would need to come to understand why being an enforcer in this context is something that registers as a threat to the Maltos and by proxy the Terrans as well-- Who haven't had good experiences with authority figures either, given the whole GHOST situation.

And given that he might not start out too enthused about the situation altogether (we don't know how he might be coping with being forced to live on Earth), it might be interesting if they take this approach (or a similar one) to introducing Prowl.

Keeping in mind this is a show for kids, and you don't want kids to implicitly trust cops. In America especially, that's just not a safe lesson to teach.

So it would be hard for them to pull something like this off, in a way that both 1) solidifies that cops can't be safely trusted and also 2) Prowl is good not because he's a cop, but because his genuine interests are to protect and serve in his own way, and it's not just some kind of fake creed that he doesn't follow like every other cop.

But like I said, you can't teach kids that cops are good. So it'll be interesting to see how they handle his role as "enforcer".

He might be misguided sometimes, or he might need some fine-tuning, but Prowl shouldn't be directly malicious or intentionally mean to the kids. Maybe he's accidentally rude, or doesn't understand how he comes across to others (especially humans/the Terrans). Maybe he's having a hard time being on Earth, and it shows in his behaviour or demeanour.

But he can learn, and adapt as best he can over time. The show is about learning and growing with each other.

I Don't Think He'll Dislike the Kids Too Much: Teaching Time with Prowl

It'll be interesting to see how Prowl gets along with the kids, but I do think he eventually will, at least to some degree.

I don't think Prowl is a child-hater. I think he might need time to acclimate and socialise a little more effectively and understand a little more. And the kids might need the same, when it comes to Prowl.

I can't see him as being mean to them, not once he realises the Terrans are essentially sparklings and the human kids develop and grow on a totally different scale. We don't know what interactions Prowl might have with humans in general, or how experienced he is with younglings of any kind.

There might be a learning process, or Prowl might even take up helping to tutor the kids a bit-- He could help teach them investigative techniques, or logical problem solving, or how to evaluate complex situations (like calculating battle outcomes and assessing threats in the field-- a safety lesson as much as anything else). Things along those lines.

We've already seen the kids learn from various adults, so why not Prowl too?

I can see him wanting to protect them and do what he can to help them, but he might not be a super-involved parent-type, and that's totally fine.

He would likely make for a strict but effective teacher, using his skills of observation to notice when the kids need some extra assistance or would benefit from a different approach.

He might also struggle to teach at first; Maybe he attempts to treat it like an enforcer academy, which the kids might not respond well to. Bumblebee could provide some input to help Prowl adjust his approach, as he has the most experience with training them so far.

He Might Not Be a Cop at All

Maybe he's not an enforcer at all anymore, in this continuity.

Maybe he's struggling to find an identity for himself after realising the enforcement system on Cybertron was corrupt (as Megatron in Earthspark has given us some hints that the background setup to the war might be similar to IDW 1 in some regards), and after finding Earth's police are no better, he's at a loss for how to make himself useful.

He could possibly be working as a kind of private investigator, carrying out missions assigned to him by Optimus. He doesn't wear the GHOST badge, so it doesn't seem like he's been working with them somewhere this whole time.

Part of any irritation from him might be, essentially, an identity crisis. What does he do now, and how does he do it, with almost no resources and very few Cybertronians left to collaborate with? Does he even want to collaborate with anyone at all, at this point?

He might be more of a solo actor in Earthspark, off doing his own thing. With or without missions assigned from Optimus.

But he does still wear the Autobrand, which is interesting if this is the case.

More Disability Representation: Prowl is Essentially Neurodivergent With a Syncope Disorder

He might not be too good at socialising, but this shouldn't be taken as a sign of being a "mean cop"-- Prowl is canonically neurodivergent in some continuities (owing to his unique tactical/statistical processing, he is also prone to crashes), and any social problems he's depicted with are at least in part a result of his thought processes and perception of things being fundamentally different.

It would be interesting if they brought this aspect of his character back for this iteration of Prowl; Maybe he sees the Terrans for the first time and his processor struggles to understand what's going on and what they are at first, and it might trigger a crash.

Of course, the kids would react like how most kids do; Sort of panicked and worried that it's their fault somehow. Prowl could provide some situations that would be a good opportunity to teach kids a little more about disability and provide further representation for any neurodivergent kids watching the show, which would be great! And a "crash" could be comparable to anything from some types of seizures to syncope disorders to narcolepsy etc.-- Any health condition where fainting or collapse might occur.

We rarely see syncope etc. disorders portrayed in media, let alone kid shows, so it would be great to see in Earthspark as an opportunity for both inclusion for disabled audiences and education on disability for non-disabled audiences.

It would be interesting if a "crash" were portrayed somewhat realistically, no immediate recovery, maybe some dizziness, lingering fuel tank upset, maybe he even sustains some damage from falling over. It might take him a bit to fully reboot. He might regularly need to be a little more careful, to avoid processor loops or logic system issues that could lead to a crash.

Maybe he has a crash at a critical moment, and is out of commission for a battle or situation where he could have been helpful. If the kids are lukewarm towards him at this point, maybe seeing him laid out on a berth still recovering after they return from the fight would encourage them to step up and reassure him that he's not any less capable-- They would understand.

They've likely seen their mother struggle now and then on days where the phantom limb nerve pain is too much for her to go on that hike they had planned, or days where the prosthetic just isn't the vibe so she goes without and gets around the house a little differently on those days, or maybe even days where they see Dot looking at her prosthetic with a little sigh, and that's just how it is. Not every day is a feeling good day, some days the prosthetic just isn't wanted, some days the prosthetic is harder to put on than others. Disability is variable, and how people deal with disability fluctuates.

The kids would be good about understanding that Prowl has "those kind of days" too.

The show's not about Prowl-- There is an ensemble cast and plot/storylines to progress. But it would be a nice little scene if they want to do a one-off bit about this, that could also serve to show that Prowl, as hard-ass as he might come across, does actually have some vulnerabilities.

It could be the thing that encourages the kids to at least try to work with him, if they have any initial hesitancy-- Especially following their experiences with Robbie's illness previously.

If the kids might think Prowl's demeanour is a little off-putting because he's not as outwardly emotive, might be more literal than others, etc., maybe one of the other adult bots could help explain to them that Prowl's processor just works differently, and that he struggles with being social. The kids would likely be understanding of this, and it would be a nice parallel to teaching abled kids how to interact with autistic peers, while also making Prowl relatable to autistic kids watching the show.

(This would also provide a potential opportunity for a medic character to be introduced... I'm just saying. We all want Ratchet to show up, lmao.)

Earthspark is good about disability representation so far, and it would be nice to see that it's not just humans who can be disabled.

----

Anyway, yes, there's a lot of potential for Prowl in Earthspark, but it will have to be handled with tact, which I think the writers have proven themselves to be pretty capable of so far.

So, we'll see! We have no information right now aside from the toy photos, but the hype is real, and it will be interesting to see how they bring Prowl into the show and what, exactly, he'll be doing.

#tfe prowl #earthspark spoilers #long post #just thinkin'#tw police mention #tw police violence #tagging this stuff just in case #maccadams #maccadam #disability in media

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keycrash · 2 years

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Do you have a special process for picking colors for a piece?

totally changes per piece! but there's some different strategies and lines of thinking i do come back to fairly often

-i try to avoid Straight Up local color as much as possible. (local color being the plain, untampered color of objects in white lighting, no reflections, et cetera.) everything deviates, whether that be completely oddball colors (such as making skin green or pink or something) or just hue shifting things just enough to set it apart

-if i see a photo, piece of art, or whatever else with a color scheme i like, i'll save it to my camera roll or pinterest board or whatever. that doesn't mean i'll like, color pick it and port it over to my own piece thoughtlessly-- it may just instead be a matter of "oh, green-toned greys play well with warm yellows and warm purples," or something, and even if a piece i do is inspired by a photo, for example, it won't be 1:1. something that's a small accent color in an inspiration photo may become my main color

-on that note: when making color palettes, if you choose to do so, it's very helpful to denote color proportion when noting it down. in my narrative color class we had to make SO SO SO many palettes... and you had to have large blocks for your main color, smaller ones for your accents, et cetera. proportion and distribution of color across a piece is very important; applying compositional rules of balance to your color distribution is what makes things feel "right" a lot of the time. for example, having a large wash of one color in one area will feel a bit less arbitrary and odd if you have smaller accents of the same color further away

-on another note: i will often put down some basic colors, make sure the colors still look okay with each other even they aren't mind blowing or anything, and then go to fucking town with gradient maps. gradient maps are color adjustments on photoshop, clip studio, and procreate, though i think they're easiest to work with on clip studio. basically i'll slap down a fuckton. and maybe i'll set the layer to difference or exclusion or subtract, since it gives super weird color combos. and then i just... steal the colors from my adjusted piece and make sure the values are still right. it forces me into some color choices i really wouldn't normally make

-color balance and tone curve (specifically adjusting each color's tone curve individually) is also a way to mess around with colors. i personally recommend doing the bulk of your color adjusting before putting down your flats, by making a really rough under-color thing; doing it after you're done your image is also fine, but if you do it when things are still malleable, it gives you the opportunity to fine-tune a bit during the process. for example, gradient maps can sometimes desaturate a certain color group really hard, and if you're transferring it to your flats manually you can choose some more vibrant colors for that

-something i've been doing more recently: sometimes doing your piece in black and white first (if applicable) is super helpful. if your colors feel wrong, check your values; your values are more important to reading your image at a glance than hue is. (the best way to check values is to make a new layer, fill it with black, and set the layer mode to "color"; other methods of converting to b/w, such as b/w filters or desaturating your image, can fail to take into account inherent value differences of certain hues, such as 100% blue being darker than 100% yellow, and so gives you a skewed view of your colors.)

-this sucks and i hate this advice but... if you're a digital artist, learn to mix colors traditionally. you don't have to MUCH. but digital color picking/mixing and traditional color picking/mixing are so severely different and the times i've been forced, sadly, to mix colors traditionally, has helped me a lot especially in terms of seeing undertones of colors and playing with saturation. learning to tell when a yellow is a warm yellow or a cool yellow, etc, expands your mental vocabulary, and having a mental vocabulary for color not only literally helps you see color better, but it also gives you a framework to more easily notice patterns in art and palettes you like. maybe you'll notice that this grey works in this piece because it's a cool grey. maybe you'll notice that this orange works in this piece because it's desaturated and reddish

-try limited palettes lmao. tried and true ones, of course, ones from color websites or something, ones you get from analagous or triadic or etc schemes, but try it, it really helps you learn to solve color problems

-another way to choose colors is a gamut mask. it's a bit annoying digitally, but if you have a color wheel in front of you, you can choose a shape-- typically triangles, squares, ellipses, et cetera-- and block off part of the color wheel. notice in the picture that the space left denotes your HUE and SATURATION. it does not restrict your value. you can take the brightest yellow and lower its value in your art program (HSV bars are helpful for this), you can take a desaturated green and heighten its value, but you cannot touch saturation. this naturally restricts your palette; it's especially helpful for paintings and makes everything feel a bit more harmonious (and helps you learn to handle desaturated colors!)

-and another strategy: dead palette. this is also a bit easier traditionally; traditionally you'd take a yellow ochre, burnt sienna, and a cool-toned black, plus white. (some landscape painters used to add in ultramarine blue but that's an aside). yellow ochre, which is a bit duller of a yellow than primary yellow, becomes your "primary" yellow; burnt sienna, which is darker and more orange than primary red, becomes your "primary" red; and black, which is... truly just black, often lightened with white for your "primary" tone, becomes your "primary" blue. this is similar to a gamut mask in that restricting your colors to only the ones that lie between these new "primaries" helps ensure harmony between your colors, and you can still emulate pretty much any color because your brain will fill in the blanks. purple can still look purple even if it's actually a mix of burnt sienna, black, and white, because within context, the other colors inform that that color is purple. you can take this idea and put another spin on it by choosing your own primaries-- dark teal, a gold yellow, and a magenta-red or something, for example, and seeing where that takes you. a helpful way to emulate this digitally is to take the color mixer square in clip studio and slap your primaries in the corners and only choose colors from the middle. (you can change value how you wish, though.)

some resources i like are color and light by james gurney (a book; he also wrote imaginative realism, which i've also heard is good) and color.nerd on tiktok (color expert that really opened my eyes about social constructs of color, where they fail, how these conventions came to be, mixing curves, etc)

lol this is... probably off topic but i have a lot to say about color and hopefully at least some of it was useful :)

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its-me-im-coraline · 3 years

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NSFW Alphabet // Ethan Torchio

words // 2383

warnings // smut, clearly its nsfw headcannons

pairing // Ethan Torchio x GN!Reader (might be mentions that seem like they are for f reamer but comeon theres lingerie for every body 👁️👄👁️)

author's note // if you want to be on the tag list let me know. an apology to the people on my tag list i think i accidentally have not been tagging you this whole time i am so so so sorry omg

request // yes, it was a reblog i cant find it right now

summary // self explanatory

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

Regarding you, Ethan is the king of after care. As rough as he can be in bed, that’s just how sweet he can be once you're done with it. Goes full on dad mode (don’t know how else to explain this). He will have water, painkillers if you’re now in pain, a washcloth to clean you up, new clothes, and of course the cuddles.

“I’m alright, Ethan. I can do it on my own,” you say as Ethan walks to you with the wet cloth ready to clean the mess he made on your body.

“I know you can, amore. I just want to take care of you,” he says as he leaves a kiss on your lips.

I can also see him being the one to make a big fat breakfast the morning after, or at least get up early to pick something up.

Now I also feel that he is in need of some aftercare. It depends on the day really, if he’s had a pretty rough day and all I feel like he’d ask for some backrubs after. In this case he’d fall asleep so quickly like omg. But on the biggest part I see him feeling the need to reassure you that the things he said (i think we already established that this man would call you a slut) are not how he feels about you and will be asking if you feel the same.

“Do you love me?”

“Wha- of course I do, Ethan! Where is this coming from?”

“I don’t know… I guess - I guess I am worried that you don’t after what I said.”

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

When it comes to himself I feel like he really likes his chest and arms. Like I don’t know but I see him really getting off with you pretty much mastubating on his chest. Ya know what I mean? (i think you do you little sluts). He pretty much enjoys anything you do on his chest. I can imagine him looking at the mirror after you two had sex, seeing the cum on his chest along with the marks you have left and just smiling.

“What are you looking at, love?” You ask, seeing as the man is standing in front of the bathroom mirror from your spot on the hotel bed.

“Nothing, just the mess you made.”

“Mhm, and I bet you like it, huh?”

“You have no idea… Hey, are you sure you got tired? Cause I think I can do another round.”

As for his arms, as I said, he simply really enjoys that he can man handle you anytime, get you in any position he likes and feel you scratching them from the pleasure.

When it comes to you, Ethan is an ass guy. Say what you want but the man is an ass guy, end of discussion. He loves anything that involves your but. It does not explicitly have to be something like anal. He simply enjoys seeing your butt and holding it in his hand. It does not matter if it’s big or not, if it has stretch marks or whatever. Wear lingerie that he likes or that itty bitty teeny weeny bikini if you wear them or even some tight pants that make your butt just poìp and he can not contain himself.

I think I have said that to someone here (i think I had sent an ask to zodi @ icouldbeyourputtet) before but I feel like this man is very into spanking, like not even the rough malicious way. but this very wholesome chill way.

You had been talking about it all day, not having had a minute alone with each other for days, you could only dream what you could do that night after everyone left.

A playlist was playing in the background and a cigarette was burning on the ashtray next to your legs, you assuming a similar position, as said cigarette, bent over Ethan’s lap as he caressed your ass cheeks and back, playing around with the lingerie set he had gifted you a while back. (Did I just go to search my fave porn vid, lol exposing myself, and get disappointed because I can’t find it and translate it into fanfiction? yes yes i did, so bare with what i can remember)

“It’s okay, baby, you can take a little more, come on,” he praised, leaving a spank and yet another soft rub on the very red cheek.

He continued, going with the music, a very nice pattern, not very rough spanks but just enough to cause pain, pleasure and redness all over. Accidentally the man landed a few very rough ones causing a gasp and a series of giggles as you practically fell off his lap.

“Ethan, what the hell?” You laughed getting up from the floor and this time sitting on the man’s lap, sharing kisses with him.

“What,” he copied your action and laughed, “it was not intentional. I got carried away by how nice your butt is.”

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

He is and is not messy. He will not want the cum to be in every surface possible you know, he will be careful but at the same time this man just loves to see his cum on you, whether it’s your back or your stomach, or in you if you’re ok with it. I bet he has a teeny weeny breeding kink but not necessarily because of the idea of breeding you but rather because he looooves seeing his cum run out of you… I'm not sure if this falls in the breeding kink category but alright

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

He likes to fuck you while watching porn.

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

I feel like he is pretty experienced. From what they band has said in interviews and stuff, he seems to be getting some pretty often (no one, NO ONE, is surprised at that). He is not acting arrogant tho (not unless that’s the dynamic of the night), he is willing to learn what works for you and you specifically

F = Favorite position (this goes without saying)

As I said this man is an ass guy so I’d say anything that involves having the view of your ass. Humor me but i think he’d really like 69 with a female/afab partner (don’t know if this works very well with two dick-baring people lol). It has it all, eating you out,

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

I think it can be both with him. He will not exactly try to make jokes but if something like the previously mentioned spanking incident happens it’s def welcome.

Now as a general rule I see him being pretty serious. I will be honest, I’m getting brat tamer vibes from this man so it’s all pretty serious when you really get into it.

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

Considering he’s an Italian man and if you look at a lot of photos of him he def fit the ‘mediterenean’ man type. I see him just barely grooming. I don’t see him really shaving or whatever but he also wouldn’t want you to choke on pupic hair, he much rathers you choke on his dick

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

It all depends, really. He can be quite intimate with you but it all depends on the moment. There are different occasions for everything. For example, and this is a paradox that I hope I’m explaining well enough to understand, he is not very rough (will not be very aggressive and stuff, like to the extreme those tik tok boys want to pretend they are with their * growling * ew) but he will be rough. intimidating looks, spanking just enough to make you feel pain and redden up your ass cheeks. He’s like that mostly when you are being bratty.

Most of the times, like we’re talkin kind of lazy sex moments, it more wholesome ig, like very intimate and just comfortable and almost comforting. Ok, but like why do i see him having sex and having casual conversation (not the most common, i see this as like lazy day off, having nothing else to do and not being like super horny but being more like h o r n y … am i making sense?)

Setting the scene, you two are at home, both have a day off but it’s kind of raining so any of your plans are ruined. At this point it’s at around 10 am, not early, not late. You have missed each other and both have made it obvious but you are both in a very tired state so you opt for something not too much.

Plain and simple missionary is what goes around this time, Ethan on top just holding your legs around his waist,, going at a pretty medium pace.

“It’s a pity the weather is bad today,” says Ethan staring out the window.

“I know, we were going to go to the beach… I’m bummed about it,” you say, short of breath as the man continues his pace fucking you.

“Mhm, true. But this is better, amore, no? I’ve missed you so much,” he breaths out the last part, moans interrupting his words.

J = Jack off (masturbation headcanon)

He does that pretty often, especially if you are not around to help. Sometimes it’s because of you that he needs to. I would def see him exchanging naked pics with you and at first he does that to tease you but he ends up teased when he sees a video you sent of you masturbating.

Bets that he’d be taking photos and vids of you fucking on occasion so he goes to these when he misses you on tour.

K = Kink (one or more of their kinks)

As I mentioned previously I see Ethan to be a brat tamer. That I see to be the main kink that kind of works around everything else.

“Can you stop this, slut? It has gotten exhausting. I told you no noise but here you are,” he ordered, looking down at you trembling below his finger tips.

His face was quite stoic, voice never wavering from the strict and cold tone he tended to have when scolding you on the daily. Most times it was leaving a cup out of the sink but this time the scolding came from misbehaving. As if it was not enough that he was punishing you for being a brat and riling him up all morning, now you had to disobey orders. It was getting to him for sure.

“I’m sorry daddy,” you whisper, Ethan seeming satisfied with the response.

“Aw, why so tame puppy, now you decide to be nice?” His tone stayed the same, his words imitating a joke but the whole ordeal was not even close to it.

Now as for other kinks (did I open a site because I could not think? yes, shut up), as a result of being a brat tamer dom there are some few more kinks accompanying specifically that. He is def into bondage, both tying you up but also being tied up on occasion.

“Puppy, I have told you that is not a way to treat me. Untie me,” he says calmly, wrists tied on the headboard of the bed, eyes fixated to you.

“Well, why not? You do it all the time,” you whine, placed on all fours, facing Ethan as you lean towards him on your hands, “I want in on the fun.”

If only he was not tied… Ethan’s mind was already going places, figuring out exactly how he would punish you after you untie him -or after he escapes the restrains, whatever comes first. You knew that, very well - in all honestly that was the plan, that is always the plan.

“Amore, let me go. Let me go and your punishment will be tame,” he voiced looking at you, now positioned on top of his lap, touching yourself right then and there.

“I sense you want to be punished puppy, don't you?” You simply nod your head, eyes closed in pleasure.

“You see, the problem is you will not enjoy what I am thinking.”

“Mhmn.”

“Well, get yourself off now that you can, cause after I get my hands on you… You’re not getting to cum for days, amore.”

L = Location (favorite places to do the do)

Honestly, anywhere. I can see him having a preference to the luxury of either of your houses or a hotel room but if you push his buttons just right, some restaurant’s bathroom it is.

why can i imagine him having sex at a weeding venue’s bathroom….. omg…..

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

Honestly, both. I feel like he would be extremely good at giving it, but would never opposed to receiving

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

He’s ok with them but he doesn’t love them, ya know?

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

Is surely try to do new things but it will always depends on what it is.

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

Come on. This goes without saying. He is a drummer for a living. He can surely go on for long…

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

I def feel like he has a fair amount of toys. Some for himself, some for you… He looooves using them to punish you.

(small mention to my last fic little puppet)

“Beautiful, puppy! You have been doing so good for us, taking your punishment so well, but we are not done yet.” A buzz sound is what concerned the girl, eyes widening at the toy.

It was a small remote virator, imitating sucking on the clit. The drummer placed the girl over his knees, stuffing the toy between his leg and her clit, shocking the sensitive bud. “I think you can take a few more spanks,” said the man, landing one at the expanse of her thigh, the skin giggling at the contact.

“Damiano, count,” ordered the assertive man, seeing his friend kneel in front of Y/N, kissing her and then doing as he was told.

“I think we were left on twenty-three. Twenty four,” he began, counting all the way to forty before the ordeal was over.

The whole time Y/N was shaking, just about to fall off the edge, asking for permission to cum but her wishes were not granted just yet. She was exhausted, overstimulated, frustrated, and now unable to move on her own. But, oh man did she need more. The two men were more than willing to assist her.

U = Unfair (how much they like to tease)

A ton! It’s his specialty. Maybe one of his most common punishments is edging and teasing. He can drag it on for days

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

He is not very loud but is surely encouraging you to be.

tag list: @bieberhoodforever @tabi-toast @ginny-lily @moriro-da-regina @the-killer-queenie @makapaka11 @teenyweenynightghost

#maneskin imagine #maneskin fanfiction #maneskin #måneskin x reader #måneskin imagine #måneskin fanfic #måneskin #ethan torchio imagine #ethan torchio

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pinnochiro · 3 years

Text

pinn reviews - final fantasy xv

a long ramble about final fantasy fifteen that sort of looks like a review, as written by someone who finished the game fifteen minutes ago and needs to get these words out of his head. spoilers inbound.

i'm a pretty big fan of video games. i don't know what my first was, but it was probably either banjo and kazooie or mario kart 64, at my cousin's house when i was very small. i think that video games as a medium are so interesting, since the fact that video games are inherently interactive changes the way that they tell any story. it's a shame that despite loving video games so much, i'm absolutely terrible at them.

i'm absolute dogshit at video games. whenever i boot up something new, i always play on easy mode because. i'm that bad. unfortunately, this means that a lot of video games are simply. impossible for me to beat. that's fine, as at the moment i live with my good friend lizz, who is certifiably Good at Video Games, and so we've been playing video games together for a little bit now. typically this means that she will actually play the majority of the game while i sit with her and watch, but occasionally i'll have a go, but she'll end up with the controller as soon as a boss fight or puzzle or a mechanic i just can't seem to grasp shows up. we recently played through the entirety of the kingdom hearts series together, and this was an absolute blast of a time. i'm glad to say that i adore kingdom hearts now, and it's become one of my hyperfixations, which you might be able to tell from my icon. but we'd finished the kingdom hearts series, and we were left to move onto something else. we'd also played final fantasy 7 remake, so in my wisdom, i suggested that we play another final fantasy game.

we looked through the ff games that were already purchased on our consoles thanks to lizz's uncle, and eventually, we decided that we should play. all of them. however to start, we were going to play final fantasy xv, 15, and work our way backwards through the mainline, single-player games.

i'd heard that xv wasn't very good, but honestly, i was still quite curious. one person who i'd been following on twitter for years was pretty obsessed with the main party members, to the point where i knew their names and what-not even though i didn't have much of an idea what the game itself was about. i remember watching a video by supereyepatchwolf a few years ago about how the game sucked, but i couldn't remember much of the details, and i knew, based on my obsession with kingdom hearts, that xv had started as a different game called final fantasy versus xiiv. i don't know all the details about versus thirteen, but i do know that it was originally helmed by the creator of my beloved kingdom hearts, mr tetsuya nomura, and that after many years, the vast majority of the game was thrown out, nomura wasn't in charge any more, and the whole thing was rewritten and reworked, which sounds like a fairly rough development cycle. but so what, i don't care about gameplay. i want to play the video game with those cute guys that i see fanart of on twitter, and lizz seemed happy enough to play through it with me.

and so we started final fantasy xv. i've been told that since the game was practically dead on arrival, they threw in a bunch of new content and reworked a lot of the early game before i got my hands on it. so my gameplay started with a scene of the four guys fighting some demon dude on fire and they're all old and grotty. whatever, that cutscene ends and we're put into a combat tutorial. that's over and we're on the road in what looks to be central america, pushing a car.

our four leading lads are noctis, the prince of the lucis empire, his best friend prompto, his bodyguard, gladio, and his chef and other things, ignis. i do quite like the main four members of the party in xv. prompto is quite easily my favourite, voiced by robbie daymond of goro akechi fame and with a bunch of fun little animations and quips that make him very likeable. he gets extremely excited at the idea of riding chocobos and has what i considered the best scene of the game, where he and noctis meet on a motel rooftop and discuss prompto's imposter syndrome, since he's only part of noctis' official retinue as his best friend. noctis is a fairly typical main protagonist, he's in love with a woman he hasn't seen in eight years and needs to go marry her or something, i don't care. gladio is a tough macho man with a mullet who wears leather jackets and wields a greatsword, and is apparently only 22, which is at least 10 years younger than i assumed. ignis is a strategist and chef, who takes on the most authoritative role and constantly tells noctis to not drive his car at night. i was not a fan of ignis at the start, but he grew on me, especially with how hard the game hit me with his personal arc. the four boys are off, driving to noctis' wedding in a different country across the desert when their car breaks down. we then run into the first issue of the game.

cindy is a mechanic. she also has her ass and tits out constantly, like your sleazy uncle's shirt with a naked woman was instead semi-alive as a video game person. she fixes your car and acts fairly sexual and it's just like. why do we have to do this. aren't we over overtly sexualised women in video games who have no reason for the way they dress other than the character designer was horny? whatever, i like women as much as the next guy, but cindy's design just. makes me feel so uncomfortable.

anyways you get to do a little driving around with the boys, until you stay the night before catching the boat to your fiance. overnight, you find out that noctis' kingdom has been basically destroyed by an invading empire called niflheim, and practically everyone noctis knows, including his father, are dead. you learn that noctis and his bride to be are also assumed dead, with noctis hearing his own death announcement on the radio. the game has a bunch of added cutscenes that are actually footage from the three-hour-long prequel movie that came out after the game, are extremely hard to follow and honestly i had no idea what i was looking at. anyways, noctis' family is dead, so it's time to do some hunting sidequests.

that brings us to the combat, i suppose. rather than the turn-based or even active turn-based combat that the series is known for, xv opts for more modern action rpg-styled combat. i was, naturally, terrible at this, but i managed to get around it with the fact that. it is almost impossible to die in this video game, provided you have enough items. the game allows you so much time to heal yourself that there's practically no way to have your entire party wipe unless you're doing absolutely terrible, and even then, your party members will probably try and heal you themselves before that happens. lizz tells me that the combat is boring, you just push the same button over and over and then you win. i do appreciate that, for someone like me who is terrible at reading enemy movements, there is a giant button that pops up on screen that tells you when to push the block button, but even then i was prone to fucking it up. whether that's the bad game design or my terrible gaming abilities is up to you to decide. anyways, the game is fairly easy but has annoying combat, your teammates limit breaks will only land about 50% of the time (or never, if you are gladio) and i was still bad at it, so i didn't have all that much fun.

instead of an active levelling system, the game will only tally your character's level ups when you either make camp or visit a hotel. camping is, in my opinion, the only saving grace of this game. each time you make camp, you get to see the characters doing fun little camping activities together and just hanging out, ignis will cook up a new meal in a dramatic fashion and everyone will compliment him and eat it off their coleman's branded plates, it's just very fun. you also get to see what pictures prompto has taken, which is one of my favourite gameplay features. prompto's passion is photography, and while i support him in this wholeheartedly, his picture taking skills are, quite frankly, awful. the game will randomly take shots while you're on the move, which leaves you with a delightful selection of awkward poses, characters hidden behind bushes, pictures taken while someone is half-dead in combat, and snaps where the natural lighting absolutely makes it impossible to tell what's going on. it's hilarious and going through prompto's collection of photos each night is honestly the best part of the game. we managed to wind up with a few shots that, even despite being scripted events, turned out absolutely terrible, and i will cherish those forever.

anyways, since noctis' father and fiance are dead, that leaves him the king of lucis. the only important person to make it out of the capital alive tells you to drive to the middle of nowhere, where he randomly springs on you. hey. go into a bunch of these dungeons and absorb a bunch of swords, this is your destiny as king and how you will defeat the empire. noctis goes, uh, alright i guess, and you're set loose again to wander around for a bit collecting the 'royal arms'. this plot point wasn't explained well but hey, whatever, we're collecting the glowy swords and that's fine.

you're introduced at some point to ardyn, the main antagonist. he's old, kind of groady and wears a fedora. he's a dick to you and talks about his automobeeel. apparently my friend miri thinks he's hot, she is wrong.

i can't remember what happens specifically but you're told that your fiance is still alive and in fantasy venice, and she's talking to the gods on your behalf to borrow their powers. there's a mission where you follow some purple trees that are electric, and you do that i guess. i enjoyed riding the chocobos around, but couldn't care much for the plot at this point. ardyn leads you to a volcano, where you fight a giant lava god. he tries to step on you and i, a denizen of the internet and with an active fear of foot fetishists, was extremely uncomfortable. noctis becomes friends with foot man and a lightning god who lived in those trees, and ardyn steals your car.

very upset by this, noctis and his gang risk everything to sneak into a military base and steal it back. because this is a video game, this works out fine.

there's a little mining city which is all about Girl Power, because all the Women run the Mining Industry like Girl Bosses, and you hang around there for a bit. because all the women are so Empowered, they wear bikinis all the time with overalls over the top. gladio decides he needs to fuck off for a bit, i have no idea what he does since i haven't played the dlc, and then he comes back with another scar. you hang out with his sixteen year old sister, who has a crush on the engaged and 20-year old noctis, and then you drive her to a lighthouse. when she's in your party, she can't really fight, but she gets a pink chocobo and i thought that was very cute. we turned out own chocobo white and lizz named him 'jones' after a mount she has in ffxiv.

eventually, you have a long boat ride over to fantasy venice. this is the part where the game stops being 'fun with a few issues in combat and a rushed and poorly told story.' the open world, which was a main feature with a bunch of little areas to find where noctis can fish, little hunting sidequests and random photo spots where prompto takes touristy photos, is now gone, and it will not return for the entire rest of the game. you can 'go back in time', but the open world was the most enjoyable part of the game, and it kind of really sucks that the main story doesn't let you have any more freedom like that.

after arriving in fantasy venice, you have a talk with fantasy hillary clinton and beg her to let your girlfriend summon a god into the middle of her city. hillary agrees, and you don't get to meet up with your fiance, because even if the game is constantly telling you how much noctis loves her, there is. barely any interactions between the two in the entire game. from what i can tell, they met when noctis was a child and they haven't seen each other in ten years but are still fantasy dog pen-pals. noctis marrying her was supposed to make an alliance or something like that, but her brother has betrayed her to the army. noctis' girlfriend is also an oracle, which means she can heal people, i guess? everyone talks about how important she is and she's constantly telling people that she needs to use her powers to help noctis but she's practically a non-entity.

as can be expected of most female love interests in a game primarily focused on men, noctis' fiance is killed while summoning a god for noctis to befriend. noct gets very mad about this, and turns super saiyan and kills the god back, but his girlfriend is dead and that's super sad you guys. there's a beautiful prerendered cutscene where she says goodbye to noctis but since we barely know her, and we've only been told over and over that they're in love without anything to actually well, show this, it didn't have much of an impact. fantasy venice is destroyed, and ignis is blinded while trying to help calm the giant raging god.

iggy's blindness and how the game makes you account for this and grow to care for him was one of the highlights, in my opinion, as well as crushingly depressing. while i'm not disabled and have no right to say if this was 'good disabled representation' or anything like that, i believe that the game handles it decently enough. the group falls apart as noctis is upset about his girlfriend, gladio is extremely mad that noctis won't care for ignis, and prompto just wants everyone to get along. there's a mission where gladio constantly yells at you passive aggressive things to noctis about how he's a cunt for running, which is obnoxious, but the character arc itself is fairly strong. when you make camp, ignis can't cook anymore, so everyone eats cup noodles in a depressing ass cutscene. ignis remains in your party for the rest of the game despite his disability, and he doesn't magically regain his sight like other fantasy media would do, which at the very least i think is good. i'm not sure what the opinion of actual disabled people is of the character, considering how often disabled characters are either turned into misery porn to make the abled audience be glad that isn't them and if ignis' arc falls into this trap, but i hope that it wasn't handled too poorly, as that would just be another terrible mark in this game's list of bad moves.

the characters eventually make it to the evil empire's capital, which is abandoned and filled with daemons. the characters learn that ardyn is super evil and taught the king of the empire how to turn humans into daemons, which has now happened to the entire city. the 'magitek suits', presumed to be enchanted armour that fights as the empire's infantry, actually house the souls of the human-turned daemons. honestly i like this as a plot point but the game handles it pretty terribly. there could have been more lead up to this, the explanation is pretty lacking, and prompto's Big Plot Twist is. terribly handled. turns out that prompto was born in the empire and was going to be one of those empty soldier daemons, but he was rescued by people belonging to noctis' empire. not that the game tells you that. instead, prompto goes 'turns out i'm one of ... them' and Does Not Elaborate. The game doesn't tell you shit, not about prompto's past, not about how he feels about this, not about how anyone else feels about this either because the other party members just go 'oh that sucks, good thing you're not evil' and the scene ends. robbie daymond tries so hard to sell these terrible, terrible lines, and it almost entirely fails, i'm so sorry prompto. fortunately because i'm a nosy ass, i read prompto's wikia page and knew the plot twist ahead of time, because i don't think i would have even registered it if i didn't.

anyways everyone in the evil empire is dead and ardyn starts talking about how he's immortal and an ancient king of noctis' country but the gods thought he sucked because he's too evil. i missed most of this because the cats got the zoomies and were dashing across the couch right in the middle of his speech so i can't tell you anything else. noctis tries to get a big magic crystal to fight him and instead. gets schlorped inside.

TEN YEARS LATER

yes then ten years actually pass while noctis is asleep. the game shows this by switching the head on noctis' character model to have a beard, but that's it, no changes in animations or whatever. the sky is permanently night and only one human civilisation remains, the rest destroyed by daemons. as a plot point, this ends up feeling. extremely worthless. why was noctis asleep for ten whole goddamn years? so we can wake up and go 'damn it sucks out here'. but it's barely even a like, incentive to fix everything, because you have a long talk with a former child you were friends with where he talks about how humanity is still going fine and everyone's okay and the world has moved on without you. it feels. pointless. when you meet up with your party members, they are exactly as you left them, only with slightly different character models. there is no change in the voice performance, the character's movements or how they talk to show that they've been without you for ten years. they barely mention it. i'm just. so confused as to why they decided that a ten year timeskip was the way to go? since nothing really changes, couldn't you have made it like, two years? one year? six months?? have the characters react a little more? something??? at least if it was only a year or so i wouldn't have to deal with the fact that noctis looks like norman reedus with his shitty facial hair now.

anyways after that there's a bunch of long and boring boss fights. you fight some dead kings for some reason, your party members get a little bit to talk about how cool they are and how much they love noctis, and then you meet up with ardyn. there's another boring boss fight and god this was only a few hours ago but it's already gone from my head. you summon the gods and the old kings to beat the shit out of him after you both go super saiyan again? there's incredible music but it feels barely earned and just kind of eh. anyways, noctis dies, which was the price of using the crystal of light or whatever the fuck. his ghost marries his fiance's ghost finally, and they smile as they look at one of prompto's pictures. you can pick any picture you want to go here, and then the credits roll, showing all of the pictures you saved of prompto's shots. showing me all the pictures at the end is honestly lovely, but it really only served to remind me of how much more fun the game was in the first half. and that's the end, of final fantasy xv.

so what did i think of the story? it's terribly cobbled together and struggles to get you to feel anything and play out all the plot beats. you feel awful for the countless employees who spent years working on the beautiful cutscenes only to have them be in this game, which sucks and the story barely gets through. there were parts that i enjoyed, mostly the thing about the daemons being people, but honestly the rest of it is a mess. it's hard to follow at the best of times and just awkward and terribly written at the worst. the ending is cheap, and it doesn't feel like you've actually accomplished anything. i left that game feeling numb and empty, sad that i'd wasted so much time to end up with such a colossal failure of a conclusion.

i had fun with the game when it was my four little guys running around doing sidequests and camping together. after the midway point of the game, there's none of that, and you're bogged down into a plot that just pushes you from point a to point b and boring overlong bossfight to boring overlong bossfight. the character moments between your party are a lot of fun, but the second you hit fantasy venice, everything is pretty much on rails and you can't do anything except what the game tells you explicitly to do.

should you play this game? no lol. if anything i've mentioned about the story interests you, you'll be better off watching a lore video or reading the wiki. if you do want to play it after all that, just don't proceed after the myrthril refining quest, it's pretty much all downhill from there. will i play the dlc? unlikely, i think lizz and i will just watch a cutscene movie of those.

this game left me feeling empty and numb and not in a fun way. i wanted, so, so hard to like this game, and it all crashed around me in a beautifully overproduced and confusingly written cascade. i love you prompto, but even your cute little freckly face and terrible photography can't save this trainwreck of a game.

tl;dr - final fantasy xv sucks. i hope that 13, our next ff game, will be better.

#ramble #review type thing #did you read all of this? im impressed #i did not proofread #so if its a mess #just pretend thats a meta commentary about the game itself #i wrote this for like an hour trying to understand the feelings this game gave me #final fantasy xv

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love-and-anarchy-au · 3 years

Text

Love & Anarchy: Chapter 18

good morning!!! it’s almost 2021!!(i know there are still 22 days of 2020 but i dont care xd for me we’re one blink apart from the next year). if you thought the last chapter was sad, just wait till you read this one!!!xd i believe this one is more painful than the last one as this one is the grief after the death of a beloved one. i have nothing else to say, i hope you cry with this chapter as much as i cried writing it JJAJAJA.

(ps: the songs that alec and james listen to is this one and this one; i personally recomend you to hear them to understand more what alec’s talking about <3)

REMEMBER THIS AU HAPPENS IN THE SAME UNIVERSE THAT THIS ONE

Find out what this AU is about here

Masterlist

Tag list: @healing-winston-pratt @dawniebb @obsidianfr3sk @nodrianbcyes @everyone-has-a-nightmare @magykaldealings @nobellrenaissance @cerenoya @cassin-the-assasin @cindersnightmare

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Words:

14,449

Part 2: A teen named Ace Artino

16 years old Alec

“James!”

“Ace?”

Alec collapsed in relief in James's arms.

“Oh God, you're alive,” Ace murmured against his friend's chest.

“Who isn’t?” James asked, anticipating where this conversation was heading towards and the reason for the impromptu visit. The boy gulped, and inhaled, as if preparing to face the news Alec was about to give him.

Alec lifted his chin and looked James in the eyes. Those gray clouds, streaked with lightning and thunder, so full of memories and perspectives. He saw phrases, fragments, images and memories, made of honey eyes and dark eyes; he saw himself and his girlfriend, like a mirror, a reflective photo album.

It was in that moment when his eyes filled with tears, again.

That was enough for James to understand who had died.

“That girl…” he whispered in a broken voice, and Alec hugged him, burying his face in his chest once again, this time to give James the minimum of privacy so that he would release his rainy tears without feeling observed. His chest contracted and relaxed a couple of times, until James pulled away, running his fingertips over his tear ducts. He sighed and returned his gaze to Alec's.

“You were there, weren't you?” James said, as he went to the kitchen to make coffee. Alec didn't need to answer, not with words nor gestures.

He had ran at the speed of lightning to James's apartment, moving everything around him with his powers, not caring if anyone realized how unusual it was for a door to open on its own, or for cars to stop abruptly, or Alec practically hovering a few inches above the ground. None of that mattered.

Nothing mattered now that Alexandra was dead.

Alexandra, with her bubbling, hiccuping laugh, her courage of steel, her raw honesty, her unbreakable loyalty. Alexandra, the angel and the devil, her music impossible to ignore, her genuine smile that was almost identical to Julieta's.

Alexandra, burned like a witch.

Cause I was a witch, Alexandra whispered.

More gallons of tears rolled down Alec's eyes, and he began to sob. James put aside his coffee and went immediately to look after him, to guide him to the couch and sit next to him to comfort him. They didn't say anything, because it wasn't necessary; they just stayed releasing pieces of soul tainted with pain, until the coffee pot whistled and James went to pour it in mugs and bring it to them.

Alec took the cup and sipped the bitter coffee. It was boiling, but he didn't care. He collapsed further onto the couch. James took a deep breath and stated:

“We will avenge her.”

Alec didn't frown, he just turned his stance to be looking at James and not at the ceiling. He took another sip of coffee as the remnants of his soul slid down his face.

His tears looked like glaciers.

“How?” Alec asked, his voice hoarse and rough as sandpaper. He sounded like his father and felt oblivious to himself. At least he wasn’t drinking beer.

James put the hand that wasn't holding his coffee on Alec's shoulder and rubbed it, comforting him. James's lips formed a sad, comforting half smile. His hair was still flawless and his posture too, he was not collapsed like Alec.

Alec admired James for how he remained untouchable even when the worst stones were being thrown at him.

He was just shrinking more and more alone with a small pebble thrown at his chest.

“We will start our revolution,” James announced, not smiling, because not even him was that callous. There was no encouragement or happiness or motivation in his words, only thirst and need: it was what they had to do.

To other people, James would have been a cold and cruel being (which he was) and they would have been offended, but Alec had known James for more than ten years now, so he knew that was his defense mode: pretending that nothing happened, turn anger sadness, and sadness into gasoline to fulfill his vengeful goals. That's how James was and always had been. He didn't seem willing to change, so he wouldn't.

Maybe Alec should learn from James. Be colder, more calculating. Choose his words as carefully as you chose your annual serving of tiramisu.

“Alexandra gave me this,” Alec said as he pulled out what Alexandra had thrown at him from her death cradle. It was a cassette, slightly burned in one corner and with the inscription, in Alexandra's round and unintelligible handwriting:

Listen to this until James dies (including his funeral).

James laughed, with a sad smile, as Alexandra’s last will was to bother him ‘till his death. He sipped from his coffee and said, in a lower voice “Put it on the speaker, please.”

Alec obeyed. He took the cassette with his mental hands, turned the speaker on, and placed the cassette in its corresponding slot. It would be a little in memoriam for Alexandra.

He pressed play and a thunderous guitar chord echoed through the apartment. Drums followed. The bass. The raspy voice. The sad lyrics disguised as anger to the rhythm of the song. Music as pain in its rawest state. Synchronized noises, thought and adored by who had been Alexandra Onitraze.

James and Alec interlocked hands, and never separated them. When the singer gave an agonizing scream, they shuddered because they felt as if that had been Alexandra’s voice and not the vocalist’s. That stinging feeling pricked their tear ducts and more rainy tears overflowed from their darkness and their clouds. They listened to the cassette, one, two, three, four, ten times.

Until Alexandra's soul told them that enough was enough.

Although nothing was ever enough for her.

It was four in the morning and James had managed to fall asleep. Alec was static as a statue, watching the fleeting, slow passage of time. There was no coffee left. There was no music anymore. It was just Alec and his depressing thoughts, drowning him in himself, as if his body was a sea and his soul, a mere human who couldn't breathe underwater.

Until someone knocked on the door and rescued him from the deep water.

Alec jumped to his feet and headed for the door, confused, scared, hopeful, feeling indescribable things. Who could it be at that time of night? James’ moms? David?

He didn’t know.

Alec opened the door and so did his eyes, which were narrowed so far. A skinny woman, with more bones than skin and eyes yellow as honey, was watching him from the doorway. The woman was wearing a rabbit fur shawl, probably, and was made up garishly. Her expression was tired and her lips were tight. In her arms, she held a large cardboard box.

It was Alexandra's mother.

“Alec?” she asked, as if she weren’t sure whether the name was correct.

“Yes, it's me,” Alec replied, trying to react as fast as possible.

The woman nodded and handed him the box. Alec took it, without a second hesitation. He remembered that he couldn’t use his powers in front of that woman, so he didn’t.

“My daughter, Alessandra, wanted me to give this to you,” the woman explained, briefly and concisely. Perhaps she had to work at those hours.

“Thanks,” Alec said, his voice cracking. “I'm very sorry for the loss of your daughter.”

The woman's lips tightened even more.

“Her destiny had been written since we moved to Gatlon. She was going to die in the streets, where she belonged,” said the woman and turned to leave. Alec said nothing about her opinion, and the woman left without pain nor glory.

Alec closed carefully the door and returned to the couch next to James, taking precautions not to disturb him.

He put the heavy box on the ground with his habilities and opened it. There were many things, probably all of Alexandra's belongings. He took them out one by one, with his mental hands: two red glosses (one matte and one liquid, according to the labels), chains (those Alexandra used on her jeans), two pairs of jeans (one full of patches and the other torn), three dresses, a black blazer. Alec took each one of the items, once again and infinitely, using his mind and not his hands.

All the way to Alexandra's blackish blue sweater.

The one with an “A” painted on it.

Alec squeezed it against his chest, not staining it with his sadness.

Or maybe yes.

Alec put it on, smelled the perfume that Alexandra used to wear, which was still present on the cloth, and continued.

At the bottom of the box, there was music.

Vinyl, cassettes, CDs. Many, many CDs. There were vinyls of Italian music, classical music, old rock & roll, modern rock & roll, orchestras of works, symphonies of violins, grunge, pop, drums, cumbias, maracas, strings, basses, everything everything everything. The CDs were less varied and were limited to what Alexandra used to listen to: out of tune guitars, shrill drums, low bass, scraped vocals.

What Alec wasn't expecting were the cassettes.

They had no specific genre. They were mixes. Pop with classic, cumbia with rock, grunge with violins. They were unthinkable, strange, singular mixtures. Sides A and B, intertwined, each with poetic and apt names like “When the clouds swallow you”, “For the waves of the coast”, “Bbs” or (the one that generated a lump in Alec's throat, and a burning in his eyes, as well as an irrepressible emotion in his chest): “For those who know that coffee is drunk with fries, and flying is only possible near the sea.”

It was an exclusive mix of piano and metal.

Alec laughed, and lost control of his tear ducts.

All this time...

I know, Alexandra laughed.

Alec sighed, soul touched, and realized there was only one thing left at the bottom of the box.

It was an envelope.

Alec approached it with his flesh and blood hands, and spread it open using his mind. There was a piece of school paper, translucent, drawn by Alexandra's tangled calligraphy. The date was from one month ago.

“Aceyyy,

How you doin ', darling? If you are reading this, then I must be dead (I don't think you've been in my room looking for this, as it was very well-hidden; and if I'm not dead, then stop reading this pleaseee) . Whatever, let's suppose I'm dead as prodigies rights so, this letter is a proper goodbye after my (probable) non-proper death. I knew I was going to die young, as I was a free woman and a prodigy. Chances were against me. Luckly, I had enough time to face my imminent death and make some good friends that will became my family.

Oh Ace, my love! I hope you didn’t watch me die; it must have been so painful…! Anyways, I just wanted to say that I love you. Thank you for absolutely everything. When my days were dark and awful, you were a ray of light that shone in my heart. When James and I discussed 'bout music, you chose music for us (though you sometimes betrayed me and chose James' music, that wasn't nice Alec>: ”(). You're so incredibly and amazingly powerful, you could build this world to your own desire. I envy you, as I wanted to change this world but I guess I won't be able to…

Don’t be sad, Ace. You’ve already been sad for the last ten years (or, from my pov, your whole life). Besides, you’ll always have James by your side, right? He might not be as warm as I am, but I know he loves you as much as I do so, if you need anything, just ask him. Though he will be there for you at any moment, please stop him from committing some insane thing he threatens to commit in order to free prodigies (we all know you’re the sane one in this family, Ace; he can’t deny that xd). You two are different, but so alike in many aspects, I mean, you both are so clever, handsome, lonely...dear Goddess of the Skies, I love you both a lot. When I say "a lot", I mean A LOT. You guys are my whole world, thank you for being my family.

Look at me now, I'm sobbing so hard. I hope you never have to read this letter but I know the probabilities of this are so little ... I just have one thing to ask: could you keep my records? My mother shall give all my stuff to you, but I'm just asking you to keep my music. I know you aren't a big fan of the music I listen to, but please, please, could you keep them safe? I don't trust anyone else to have them and treat them with the care that they deserve, so, Ace, my love, just keep them with you, OK?

I guess I have nothing left to say. Don’t forget me, maybe ..? I know, I'm just your first girlfriend of many (probably, you're so handsome and intelligent that you'll find a girlfriend in three seconds counting from now) however, I believe you cared about me as much as I care about you. Ace, honey, just ... be yourself. Do it for me. For Julieta. For James. But mostly, for yourself. Don’t let anyone tell you what to do. Please don't get killed (let it be for being a prodigy or for your beloved revolution). You have still a long life to live and you deserve it. Do you still have to change the world, right, my love?

You’re so full of dreams, hopes and expectations and power: you can do anything you propose to yourself. You are a little man with a head full of ideals of liberty and anarchy and rights and everything. The world is yours, my little Acey.

I love you! I love you!

Always yours, from hell to heaven and back,

Alexandra Onitraze.”

Such a sad and happy smile was on Alec's face.

His tears were urban stars now; Alec was sick of having his cheeks wet from the pieces of his aching soul dripping from his eyes, but he knew that made him a human and not a monster.

Oh my Alessandra, Alec thought, sad and happy.

He would always have something to seek comfort from, at least.

Julieta's rosary, worn over the years, but always hidden beneath his clothes; although every day he believed less in God and no longer went to mass, he did want to feel his sister next to him. The rosary represented that.

Alexandra's letter, ready to be worn out over time, read and reread millions of times.

Alec knew many things, but at this very moment he had only one certainty.

He would not let the world forget Alexandra.

He looked at James, who was sleeping peacefully next to him.

And he knew exactly how to avoid that.

#love & anarchy #love & anarchy au #ace anarchy's backstory #alec artino #ace anarchy #alexandra onitraze #james roselo #ace artino #before renegades #renegades au #renegades fandom #marissa meyer #my au #au #reblog #writer on tumblr #read #fic #fanfiction

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recentanimenews · 4 years

Text

INTERVIEW: Witch Hat Atelier's Creator on The Legend of Zelda, The Lord of the Rings' Influence

Kamome Shirahama's Witch Hat Atelier has spellbound readers ever since the series started in 2016. With exceptionally detailed art and storytelling, Shirahama has brought an incredible world to life to tell the story of Coco, a young girl who wants to be a witch. The series also earned enough acclaim to recently win the Eisner Award for Best U.S. Edition of International Material—Asia in July. Crunchyroll Germany's Social Media and PR Manager had a chance to speak with Shirahama to talk about just how long it takes to write and draw a chapter, watching a lot of Game of Thrones, their dreams for an anime adaptation and more!

Note: The following is translated from the original German.    Your drawings invite the reader to dream. You take them on a journey through fascinating landscapes and show them, beautiful creatures. Where does all your creativity come from?

I love to travel and the places I visit and the people I meet inspire me. When drawing I like to combine elements of different places I saw with my own eyes. Each place has its own expression – like where plants grow, how the shadow falls, how the wind blows, how big the sky seems, and so on. It doesn’t matter where on earth I am; everything is interesting and a source of inspiration.    

You have mentioned before that the world of Harry Potter has influenced you. Are there any other fantasy works that have played a role in your creative process?  

Of course, there are many works that influenced me. I practically devoured The Lord of the Rings, The Chronicles of Narnia and The Never Ending Story, and watched the corresponding movies as well. During my studies, I also learned about the works of the French comic artist Moebius that knocked me off my feet. And recently I’m downright addicted to Game of Thrones and watch it all the time while working.

As a child, I read many works of Japanese fantasy, like Record of Lodoss War or The Knights of Alfheim. I’ve never been much of a gamer, but worlds like the ones in Tactics Ogre or The Legend of Zelda did put me under their spell.  

Image via Kodansha Comics

We found that in Volumes 4 and 5 of Witch Hat Atelier your series gradually becomes a little darker. Can we expect more storylines with a darker tone in future chapters?  

I’ve been writing Witch Hat Atelier as a serious story from the very beginning, but since Coco has to face more challenges it probably seems like it gets darker now. Even though Coco and her friends now have to go through many trials and serious things are developing — there is more to it. I also want to draw the entertaining cultural aspects of the world and the positive evolving relationships between the characters and hope that the readers enjoy them as much as I do.     Can you tell us about your workflow? How much time do you spend on research, how much on drawing, how much on plotting?

  I draw one chapter each month. After a briefing with my editor, I need about a week for the scribbles and for the complete manga chapter about ten days to two weeks.  

Would you like Witch Hat to be adapted into an anime? Have there been any approaches by anime studios already?  

I’ve been dreaming of having my own anime since I was a child, so of course, I would be overjoyed. I would love to see Coco and company in movement.

【NEWS!!】"Witch Hat Atelier" won the Best U.S. Edition of International Material-Asia at #EisnerAward. This is the same award as "Cat in the Louvre" by Taiyo Matsumoto. This is thanks to everyone who loved and supported my work. Thank you! #WitchHatAtelier #Δ帽子 #ComiConAtHome https://t.co/XtHjuWCVI6

— とんがり帽子のアトリエ7巻発売中????白浜鴎 (@shirahamakamome) July 25, 2020

For which parts of your work process do you prefer to work in a team? And which things do you prefer doing on your own?

  After the briefing with my editor, I work on the plot and the scribbles alone. For the final artwork, I have assistants for backgrounds, speed lines, and screentone that support me.  

What qualifies an idea to be incorporated into your story? Does it need to excite you or make you think? How do you select the ideas that end up being Witch Hat Atilier?

 It’s important to me not to support stereotypes. Coco may be a young girl, but I make sure not to dismiss something just because she is a girl or a child. It still happens far too often subconsciously, and I hope to learn from it every day so that I notice these things sooner.

 Image via Kodansha Comics

All of your characters grow through their own effort but also because they discuss and share their challenges with others around them. Is this mode of development something you take from your own experience?  

I studied at a design college where we had to do many group tasks. These experiences left an impact on me: To tackle difficult tasks with a group of people that all have different strengths. If you combine ideas, you can find solutions you never would have figured out on your own. From my own experience, I would say that you achieve better results when you work with others and share ideas than if you fight each other and the only thing that matters is who gets first to the top.   You are very active on social media, notably Twitter and Instagram, where you post your sketches of both Atelier and Comics that you love and also travel photos. What does this way of communication mean to you?  

I like it myself to see the work progress and posts of my favorite artists. Therefore, I post things myself and hope that my readers enjoy it as much as I do. Not to mention give me the messages and comments under my post much energy for work. I’m also always overjoyed to see when someone posts fan art or photos of my manga.  

#Δ帽子 pic.twitter.com/qWXn2jLOu3

— とんがり帽子のアトリエ7巻発売中????白浜鴎 (@shirahamakamome) August 2, 2020

Do you already have an ending for your story in mind? Or do you prefer to let your stories and characters grow like flowers in a garden instead of planning them out like an architect?  

I have a rough outline in my head, but I cannot tell yet if the story will actually develop like that. Even if you worked out your setting with all its rules, your characters sometimes act in unexpected ways and you have to adjust your story accordingly. I hope my readers are looking forward to upcoming developments.     Do you have a message you would like to send to our readers?  

With the story of Witch Hat Atelier, I want to show that there is magic in everyone, the power to change the world. I hope that all my readers across the globe – even if they maybe haven’t noticed themselves yet that they are wizards – discover that they have this kind of energy inside them. Thank you very much for your support. I hope that you will continue to enjoy the story.

 We would like the German manga publisher Egmont for their cooperation in organizing this interview.

René Kayser works as a Social Media and PR Manager for Crunchyroll Germany. He tweets under @kayserlein where he likes to annoy people to read the visual novel of Umineko When They Cry.

By: [email protected]

#Anime #News #Latest in Anime News by Crunchyroll!

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echo-bleu · 4 years

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Oct 19-21 is the Good Intentions WIP fest ( @goodintentionswipfest ), the time to let go of abandoned WIPs and post them as is. Given that I’ve written a lot in the last year and also recently moved fandoms, I thought it was a good time to clean up my WIP folder(s), so I’ll be posting a few things that I started and gave up part way through. This means that each snippet is unfinished and not meant to be a full fic.

RNM, Alex & Rosa 2x04 (I think) coda. 1496 words.

“Hey, Rosa,” Alex sighs, laying down the cleaning supplies he's used to scrub the heinous tag off the gravestone. Absently, he aligns the two bottles and the sponge and bucket in front of him on the floor. His leg is on fire from kneeling over the grave for too long. He had the forethought of bringing his crutch, but being down one hand means he'll need several trips to bring the supplies back to his car, and he's not ready for that yet.

Instead, he sits back, manually moves his leg into a position that doesn't put pressure on his stump, and stares at the now mostly clean gravestone. “I miss you. I haven't been here a lot since I got back and I'm sorry.” He closes his eyes, and Rosa's face is there in his mind, less clear than he'd like now after ten years, even though he has pictures of her. “Recently I feel like I'm seeing your ghost everywhere. Someone's been tagging the walls around town again. Not like...this,” he waves a hand at the grave, frowning in disgust at whoever took it upon themselves to spray-paint it. “It looks exactly like your stuff. I don't know if I should be angry that someone is stealing your art or if it's supposed to be some sort of homage.”

He looks around. The cemetery is mostly empty, at dinner time on a Thursday. He saw the tag when he came earlier, on his way back from work, and he had to come back to clean it up. The only living being he can see is a person with a baseball cap on, crouching by another grave and looking away from him. He wonders idly what loved one they're mourning, if it's a fresh loss or one that has long scabbed over, like his.

Lost in thought, he doesn't see the person approach until he hears their footsteps, far too close to him. He turns around in alarm, thoughtlessly trying to stand up on his aching leg. He falls back on his ass immediately, and finds himself in a particularly embarrassing position, especially in front of a potential threat.

“I was trying to come up with something a lot snarkier than this but, are you okay?” the figure asks.

Alex chokes on his breath. He knows this voice. He knows this face.

It's not possible.

“Hey, I'm really here,” Rosa says with a half-smirk, worry edging into her face.

Rosa, who looks exactly like the day she died.

Rosa, who died ten years ago.

Alex bites hard on his finger, and when that doesn't help, he scoots back in an undignified way, until his back hits the gravestone.

“Please don't react like Maria,” Rosa says, crouching down to his level.

Alex wheezes for a moment more, before his brain turns fully into danger mode. The shock can be dealt with later. Right now, all that matters is the threat.

“Rosa,” he acknowledges coldly, shifting his weight until he's reasonably sure he could stand up fast if needed. “How?”

Rosa looks a little wide-eyed at what must be an obvious change in his behavior. “Whoa, I think I preferred the panic,” she says.

“How?” Alex repeats, ignoring her.

“I know you know about the aliens. Max Evans healed me.”

“You were dead.”

“And now I'm not,” Rosa shrugs. “What's wrong with you?”

“Rosa, you were dead. For ten years,” Alex works his jaw, unable to say just how much this isn't possible.

“I know. Look, I know it's weird, okay? It's been over a month, and I'm still not used to this.”

“A month?” Alex frowns. “Does Liz know?”

“Yeah, of course. She's the one who told me everything that happened. And that Max is an alien.”

“Right.” Alex carefully stands up, using the gravestone as a crutch, even though it feels a little sacrilegious. The grave is apparently empty, since the person it belongs to is standing in front of him, so he can probably be forgiven.

Once up, he picks up his crutch and leans on it. It makes a good weapon, if needed, and a better support, since his legs feel wobbly from shock.

“Who else knows?” he asks, assessing the threat.

“Kyle,” Rosa answers. “Isobel and Michael, and Maria, since yesterday.”

Alex doesn't let the pang of sadness−anger?−that he's apparently the last to know get to him. He can think about that later. “Maria's been told about the aliens?”

“It was an accident,” Rosa admits. “But now she knows.”

“Okay. I'm going to need to confirm this. Give me a minute.”

Rosa frowns. Alex takes his phone out of his pockets, goes to take a picture of Rosa, but he thinks better of it. His phone is encrypted, but Liz's probably isn't. They don't want a photo of a dead girl to end up in any government database. Rosa? Over a month? he texts her instead.

“Alex, I don't−what are you doing?” Rosa asks nervously. She has the same tilt of her head, the same frowns as Alex remembers.

But it's becoming quite clear that the aliens have powers much further reaching than any of them thought. Up to resurrection, maybe, if this is real. But Alex knows for a fact that mind manipulation is. Texting Liz probably isn't enough of a check, but it's the only thing he can think of. “Wait,” he raises a hand.

I was going to tell you, Liz texts back.

I just need confirmation, Alex writes. He'll deal with the rest later.

Then yes. She's real.

Alex takes a deep breath and looks up at Rosa again. “We can't stay here,” he says. “Where are you staying?”

“Max's house,” Rosa answers.

“How's that working for you?”

“Well, Liz comes over twice a day and she can't leave without touching his hat. I'm mainly just bored.”

“Um.” Alex doesn't want to intrude into Max's space, even though he saw the man naked in a pod just a few days ago. “Let's go to my place.”

Rosa obediently picks up the cleaning supplies Alex can't hold in one hand and follows him back to his car. “What's with the crutch?” she tries once more.

Alex bites down the brutally honest answer he would probably give someone else. “I got hurt in Iraq,” he says instead.

“Liz said you enlisted,” Rosa says.

“She said that, uh?” Alex can't help the thought that he wasn't even told Rosa has been resurrected.

“I asked what you'd become. This is all very strange to me, you know. I last saw you a month ago and you were an emo teenager.”

Alex swallows. “Yeah. It's strange for sure,” he says, for lack of something better to tell her. His emotions are a jungle he's not entering. Rosa died the same day that changed everything and set him on the course that led him here. He's only recently learned that her death was actually connected to some of these events, but even when it had seemed like a separate incident, it affected him greatly. She was once one of his best friends, the rebel, free teenager he wanted to model himself after, and her death caught him at one of his lowest points.

They don't talk at all during the short ride to Alex's house, or while Alex fishes out his keys and opens the front door. He wants nothing more than to go remove his prosthesis and lounge in his armchair in sweatpants after a long day, but he doesn't want to deal with Rosa's shock.

He doesn't know how to deal with Rosa, period. She sits like a cat on his couch, legs tucked beneath her, her gaze expectant, and he doesn't know what she expects of him. Probably nothing he can give her.

“So you've been back a month,” Alex states, sitting down on the piano bench. The armchair looks inviting, but he can't get out of it fast enough if something goes wrong, not with how much his leg aches. “Max resurrected you. I assume that had something to do with his death?”

“Yeah, it killed him. Now Liz is trying to resurrect him. I'm pretty sure the world's gone crazy in the ten years I was gone.”

“No argument there,” Alex shrugs. Roswell has certainly gone crazy in the time he was gone. Or maybe he's the one who's changed. “Are you the reason Liz was so ready to leave town again?”

“Yeah. Apparently I’m not dead if I’m out of state. Or something. And she needed a change of scenery.”

Alex sighs. “She’s had a rough time.”

“But now she’s decided she can bring Max back too. I guess if anyone can, it’s Liz,” Rosa shrugs. “I just don’t really get what’s the big deal with that guy.”

“Me neither,” Alex mutters, too low for her to really hear.

“What was that?”

“Nothing. I just…” He runs a hand through his hair. “I can’t believe you’re back.”

#roswell new mexico #alex manes #rosa ortecho #unfinished #good intentions wip fest #mine #echo's fanfiction

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aquariusrunes · 5 years

Text

The Superfriends AU (part 2.5)

It had been a long day.

That was Nino’s only thought as he laid along one of the benches in the boys locker room. His arms dangling off the side as he stared at the ceiling tiles.

The day started out with him waking up to a text from his best friend informing him that he would not be in school for the next week and a half. Apparently Adrien’s old man had been in deep talks with some sort of fashion god from America, and now Adrien was going to be one of her star models in her next collection.

The deal closed last night and the Agreste crew was on a jet at five in the morning to get to Steel City USA as quickly as possible. Gabriel had apparently decided it was fine to not even tell his son about it. Adrien’s text had explained that he learned he would be going to America roughly twenty minutes before they left for the airfield.

Nino, of course, told Adrien to have a good time, keep him updated, and that he would email Adrien every assignment and all the notes he missed. And because he was a good friend like that, Adrien promised him lots of photos and a cool souvenir.

But Nino hadn’t been prepared for class without Adrien.

Going to class in general he rarely felt prepared for anymore. It was a full on warzone the minute the seats were filled. With Marinette and her crew taking up the back of the far side of the classroom and Lila and her girls sitting towards the front on Nino’s side. Adiren and he still have their original seats though, as did Chloé. But today, Nino was the only one in the front row.

No one really commented on Chloé’s absence, the girl’s appearances were getting fewer and farther between as the year went on. He suspected she might be working on a transfer of some kind, seeing as how she and Lila didn’t get on well and the blonde would rather die before joining Marinette’s side. Of course everyone asked were Adrien was, and Nino happily informed any who asked.

But then he made a mistake.

Nino had mentioned how Adrian was going to be doing this new collection with Damian Wayne. And as expected, Lila went off.

Apparently, Lila and Damian were childhood best friends. Her parents had known Bruce forever and the two couldn’t wait to set up their children on playdates whenever they could. In fact, Lila was practically an honorary Wayne. Bruce called her his future daughter-in-law because she and Damian were practically engaged. Though Lila wasn’t sure if she had romantic feelings for the notoriously stoic boy, he was very much in love with her. Damian had been chasing after her for years, apparently.

Nino was so done.

He then mentioned the campaign was for one Edna Mode. Now, Nino knew very little about fashion, he would admit this to anyone who asked. He would never pretend to know about fashion. But he did know that Edna Mode was the biggest name their was. Not only did she design the highest end clothing, she also designed superhero costumes! And she was well known as some kind of god to all in the fashion world.

Cue Lila mentioning how she, of course, new Edna. They’d met during Milan Fashion Week several years ago. Apparently Edna drew immediate inspiration from the Italian girl. Lila had been Edna’s personal muse ever since. Edna would fly her to fashion shows all over the world. Lila would be Edna’s star model, the face of Mode, if her mother hadn’t thought Lila too young when they first met. Also, Edna liked to send her cloths, you know, Mode exclusives that literally coast more than all of Paris!

Apparently, Edna was like a grandmother to the girl.

The worst part of Nino’s day so far had to be the fact that, while Marinette’s crew tried to immediately disprove Lila’s statements, Marinette herself wasn’t in class. Nino still wasn’t sure where the girl was. He hadn’t seen her all day, and he was honestly a little worried. He texted her a few times but his messages didn’t go through. His mind was racing with possibilities of what Lila could have done.

And now, he was sitting in the boys locker room. Alya, Rose, Mylène, Juleka and Sabrina were out in the cafeteria, hanging on every word of Lila’s story. It was about how she saved Ace, Bruce Wayne’s personal therapy dog, from oncoming traffic in Gotham City two summers ago. Nino had needed a break. And the boys locker room was perfect, seeing as all the boys Nino knew, and thus would interact with him, didn’t believe a word that came out of Lila’s mouth.

“You look rough bud.” Nino’s head lifted slightly, seeing Kim leaning against the set of lockers to his right.

“Feel rough dude.”

Kim laughed before sitting down next to his friend. “Needed a little break from the rat queen and her pack?” He asked.

“Yeah…” Nino closed his eyes. “Please do not call my girlfriend a rat.”

“Sorry.”

The two sat in silence for a few moments. Kim was the first person, after Marinette, to find out that Nino was working undercover for the girl. He’d even changed Nino’s contact name in his phone to The MoleTM. And the two had rekindled their childhood friendship rather quickly. Kim was the person Nino had known second longest out of everyone in Bustier’s class, the first being Marinette.

Kim also took the liberty of informing the rest of Mari’s crew where Nino’s true loyalty lied. It was nice having his old friends back, especially because he missed hanging out with the boys. Still sucked that they had to keep up an act anywhere Lila could possibly be though.

“DC texted me last night.” Kim said. “Asked me to spread the word. She’s gonna be out of town for a little while.”

Nino slowly sat up, removing his hat as it began to fall and placing it in his lap. “Out of town?” He asked. “Where’d she go?”

“America.”

“Dang.”

“Yeah,” Kim scratched the back of his head. “She said that she had totally spaced about letting anyone know. Apparently she’s got a Great Aunt who lives overseas and she’s gonna go spend some time with her. She’s also gonna get to see one of her cousins. She sounded really pumped.”

“Why didn’t she just text everyone?” Nino asked.

“Mari said that when she hit my contact, she thought she was texting in the groupchat. She only realized after she sent it, so she quickly asked me to spread the news. Apparently she was texting from the plane before they took off. She left real late last night.” He shrugged. “Anyway, she doesn’t have international coverage, so it’s gonna be radio silence for the next ten or so days.”

“Ten days?” Nino questioned.

“Hey, she got permission from her parents, and all the work she’ll miss from teachers.” Kim twisted to be facing Nino directly. “More importantly, I overheard that sunshine’s gone too.”

Nino nodded slowly, unsure of where this was now heading.

“Adrien, despite taking a stance as Switzerland, is one of Lila’s biggest buffers. Still not sure what the kid’s got on her, but whatever it is, it keeps her a least a little in check. And with DC gone, who knows what she’ll do.”

Nino nodded, suddenly aware of just how serious this could get. Of course if Lila said anything Mari’s crew would come to her defense, but rumors involving Marinette always seemed more potent and to have a harsher affect when the girl wasn’t around to directly defend herself. This would be a very dangerous week.

“I’m on guard.” Nino said sternly. “Everything I hear, no matter who it’s from, is going straight to you guys.”

Kim gave a sad half smile. “Remember when school didn’t feel like some sort of secret war?” He asked. “When all we had to worry about was if Chloé would accidently akumatize someone and if whatever they were serving in the caf was edible that day.”

Nino responded with his own half hearted smile. “Ah the good ol days, may they return to us at some point.”

Kim stood, patting Nino’s shoulder. “Keep us posted my dude, you’re our only life line in these trying times.” He watched his friend walk out of the locker room. He’d give it a few more minutes before he left and returned to that most cursed lunch table.

This week was going to be hell. And something absolutely awful would happen before it was up, he could feel it in his gut. And despite what most people thought of him upon first glance, his gut was never wrong.

He pondered briefly about what would have happened had he listened to it when the Liar first showed up. Oh how different things could have been.

…

His knee bounced rapidly, foot tapping against the carpeted floor of the Wayne Enterprise Jet. His fingers rhythmically pounding against the small table set between his seat and the two across from him. His green eyes glaring back at him in the reflection of the window. It wasn’t that he hated flying, or that it really even bothered him, he just enjoyed it more when he was the one in control of the plane.

He had asked, of course, but his father had said no. Even though he knew how, and his father was perfectly aware of how good of a pilot Damian was.

Yes, he didn’t like this pilot. The flight to Smallville had been fine, he supposed, they only hit a minor patch of turbulence that he was sure they would have avoided if he had been piloting, but it was fine. They had gone to Smallville to pick up Jon who was helping his grandmother with some big event happening at the Kent Farm. All the supers were there though, so when Bruce had called and asked Clark if Jon could tag along this week, his father agreed. He was already out of school anyway.

Now they were flying to Steel City so he could be forced to model with some famous Parisian and his lovely cousin and some other girl who’s name he’d already forgotten. Damian never really modeled before, but Edna seemed confident in him. It was also an excuse to see his cousin. He hadn’t seen her in person for a long time.

The knot in his stomach tightened and the rhythm of his fingers increased.

Finally his ears popped, just as a hand softly rested over his own. His fingers flattened out against the table as Damian slowly glanced to his side. Sitting next to him was a sixteen year old boy who was rarely pegged for his age.

Colin Wilkes looked almost nothing like his ten-year-old self that Damian had met six years ago. The venom coursing through him had long since began to alter the boy’s body, making him function as a better host. He was very muscular, with a physique that rivaled that of a professional football player. He had also gotten taller, coming just an inch or so above Damian’s new height. Colin’s face was the one thing that never seemed to change, still round and doughy with stubborn baby fat persistently clinging to his cheeks. His tan skin coated in freckles, the number of which would very depending on the season. His scraggly bright orange hair still hung in his eyes, the bright hazel irises were currently searching Damian for something, some sort of chink in his armor.

Colin’s eyes were very good at finding chinks in his armor. That is, after all, how they got into this whole mess.

“Everything okay Damian?” His voice was soft, it didn’t sound like it belonged in his body, but Damian knew just how low and threatening it could become.

“Course.” Damian tried to break eye contact but found himself failing. Colin’s own eyes squinted as he pushed his bangs out of his face. He knew Damian was lying, he was good at that, he just hoped the boy wouldn’t push it.

With a sigh the red head removed his hand. “Okay,” He breathed, standing from his seat next to the darker skinned teen. “We can talk about it later.” Damian’s eyes remained trained on him as he raised his hands above his head and stretched before saying “I’m going to run to the restroom.”

Damian watched as Colin walked back to the jet’s small bathroom. Once the door was closed, he turned back around, immediately locking with a set of wide crystal blue eyes. “You alright Damian?”

Why was everyone asking him that today?

“‘m fine, Jon.” He looked away from the half Kryptonian, back out the window. After many years of knowing the boy he’d discovered that Jon’s lie detector only worked when he was making eye contact with his target.

“Colin sure didn’t seem to think so.” The boy murmured. “Are you upset that I tagged along?” He asked, eyes downcast.

“Jon I invited you,” Damian scoffed out. “Why would I be upset that you are here when it was my idea?” He crossed his arms instead of going back to tapping his fingers.

“I don’t know, maybe you wanted to be alone with Colin…”

Damian and Jon had a very unique relationship. While Colin had been the first friend Damian ever made, Jon was his second, and more importantly he was the son of Superman. Damian and Jon shared a legacy, a duty to their neighboring cities. They were both very much like their fathers, and very much stuck in the mens’ shadows. Ever since they met though, Damian found that they only ever help to pull one another out of those dark casts.

Clark and Bruce were friends, of course, but not like Damian and Jon were. Jon, like Marinette, felt very much like the other side of Damian’s internal coin. They balanced one another so nicely. He was also one of the few people Damian actually cared for, let alone trusted. Jon was the third person he ever came out to, the first being Tim and the second being Marinette.

Jon was also the one who encouraged Damian to pursue his feelings for Colin. That had been almost three years ago. Now the two boys were rapidly approaching their three year anniversary, and Jon was still their biggest supporter.

The knot in Damian’s stomach tightened again.

“I just,” He sighed leaning his head back. “You’ll be meeting my cousin.” Damian began, pausing to check and see if the boy was listening. Jon’s eyes were wide and attentive, as they typically were when Damian spoke. “She’s, very, how do I put this?”

“Is she mean?”

“No.”

“Hard to get along with?”

“Hardly,” he laughed. “I’d say she’s the easiest person in our family to get along with. Easier than Grayson, and that’s really saying something.” Damian undid his arms. “She’s just got this sixth sense, she can read people. It’s eerie sometimes.”

“What do you mean?” Jon’s head tilted slightly. No matter how old they got, the half Kryptonian always had this look, it was that of a lost puppy. Tim often mentioned that it was the reason Damian decided to be Jon’s friend, because he reminded him of his animals. Jon had also filled out the older they got, taking on the more traditional physique of the super family. His face was chiseled and square, like his father’s with a softer nose resembling his mother’s. He adopted the traditional Kent glasses and was even currently wearing a red flannel, but the one thing that helped him stand out from the rest of the family was how he gelled his hair up into spikes Damian found the hair choice a tad ridiculous but often opted not to comment on it.

“The last time I saw Marinette in person she happened to meet one of Grayson’s girlfriends. Her name was Kattie something, I don’t really remember. But I do remember how much Grayson liked her, even thought he loved her.” Damian recalled the day in his mind. “She met her for ten seconds, tops. Shook her hand, they introduced themselves, Grayson and Kattie left.” Damian’s eyes moved downwards, focusing on the table between him and his friend. “After they were gone, Marinette turned to me and told me that Kattie was cruel and would break his heart before the month was up.”

“And?”

“Two weeks later Grayson woke up and she was gone, along with all the money in his wallet and his credit cards. All of the watches Bruce had bought him over the years were gone too. She also took his car.” Damian shrugged. “Course, it didn’t take us long to track the bitch down, but still. Grayson was heart broken.”

Jon nodded slowly. “You’re afraid Marinette isn’t going to like Colin.” It wasn’t a question. Another reason why Damian thought their friendship was so strong, Jon had learned how to read him.

“It’s not that I think she won’t like him, I mean it’s Colin.” Damian’s hands pulled at the bottom of his jacket. “But, I don’t know, she’s predicted at least four breakups in my family and she didn’t even meet those people! It was just based off my brothers describing them. Hell, she even predicted Stephanie and Tim’s break up.”

“What has she said when you’ve talked to her about Colin in the past?” Jon asked leaning heavily on the table.

“I, well, I have talked to her about him before but, briefly. It’s not like I’ve gone into long exaggerating details about him. I’m not exactly a gusher, Jon.”

“Well I know that.” Jon’s head tilted again. “She knows you have a boyfriend though, right?”

“Yes.”

“And that it’s Colin?”

“Yes.”

“What else?” Jon sat back in his seat, Damian could see Lois Lane in his eyes.

“She knows how we met, that he’s a meta, and that he’s a redhead.” Damian tried thinking back to whenever he had mentioned the boy. “She knows that he doesn’t have any family ties, that I like him, and that we do vigilante stuff together.” Damian’s eyes raised to see an unimpressed look on Jon’s face.

“You got to get better at expressing yourself Dami.” He said flatly.

“Something I’ve been telling him for years.” They both looked up as Colin retook his seat, quickly taking Damian’s right hand in his left. “What are we talking about?”

“Noth-”

“Damian’s worried that his cousin isn’t going to like you.” Jon said, voice mostly flat but slightly amused.

“Kent, are you aware of what my family does to snitches?” Damian asked, eyes narrowing as he felt Colin squeeze his hand.

Both of the other boys laughed. “I only ever snitch to Colin though! And that’s Colin! Usually it’s fine! And only the important stuff, I know when not to repeat you to him.” Jon’s laugh grew, catching the attention of Bruce who was sitting on the opposite side of the jet.

“I appreciate it Jon. Your information is always good.” Collin mused. “And Dames, you don’t need to worry. If your cousin doesn’t like me, then she doesn’t like me, not a big deal.” He shrugged. “But, since it is obviously important to you, I will be on my best behavior.” Colin leaned over and kissed his boyfriend’s cheek. “Everything will be fine, you’ll see.”

“Famous last words.” Damian grumbled out, face quickly returning to the window. While his friends laughed and began a new conversation Damian’s grip on his boyfriend’s hand tightened. The knot in his stomach felt like it was going to explode.

_______________________________________________________________________

(part 1) (part 2) (part 2.5) - Here (part 3)

If you have any questions about the story / AU feel free to ask! And if you want to be tagged, let me know! I have no set posting schedule I just upload whenever I get something done, I doubt updates will come this fast in the future, but it helps when I see everyone’s interest in it! Makes me really excited to write and keeps my mind flowing with ideas! Also, I know not everyone is a fan of Damian and Colin as a ship, and if that is not your thing that’s totally fine, but please do not be rude or send hate about it just because it isn’t your personal preference.

Also this is part 2.5 because it still involves the key players for this au getting to where the story is actually taking place and I wanted to wait for Part 3 to be when they all start actually interacting with one another.

@graduatedmelon @northernbluetongue @violatiger8 @bamagirl513 @vixen-uchiha @beaversuenightly @tumbling-down-hills-and-stuff @todaylillypads @laurakinneylance @vgirl-10123

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lisatelramor · 4 years

Text

Truth and Lies

I’ve wanted to write something for FF15 since I started playing the game and reading fic, but hadn’t had any ideas my brain latched onto. So here, finally, is something it deigned to write. @vulcansdarkest, hope you enjoy <3 (It’s not detective!Ignis, but it is Ignis-centric ^_^ ) To everyone in quarantine or living their lives, hope you can keep safe!

***

“I’m bored,” Noctis groaned, flat on his back in the tent. It was raining outside as it had been all evening. Ordinarily, this would mean a round of King’s Knight, but their phones were on the last dregs of battery life after days of hiking in the wilderness. Their second-best option would have been a card game, but a mishap during one of Noctis’s fishing marathons had taken away that option.

“Read a book,” Gladio said, tossing one of his paperbacks at Noctis’s head.

“Ow! Not all of us are into whatever historical epic-romantic whatever you’re reading at the moment,” Noctis grumbled tossing the book into the Armiger.

Ignis was about to suggest Noctis help go over their inventory and funds if he had such a dire need to keep himself engaged when Prompto sat bolt upright with a wide grin.

“Ooh, I got an idea!” He pulled something out of the Armiger and set it on the tent floor with a soft thump. “Ta-dah! We could play a drinking game!”

“Prompto,” Ignis said looking over the bottle of high proof vodka he’d pulled out. “Where did you get the funds for that?”

“Psh, I didn’t raid our budget, Iggy,” Prompto said with a wave of his hand. “I sold off some bits and bobs I collected a while back. Sometimes you can find neat stuff near all those fishing spots. I figured it might be nice to relax and have a drink once in a while.”

“I’m not sure we can really afford a night of drunken revelry,” Ignis said, though it was tempting. They’d been working hard lately, pulling hunt after hunt to gather up a better buffer of money. And when they weren’t doing that, they were looking for any hint of a royal tomb around them. It was wearing them ragged even when they weren’t roughing it camping for over a week straight.

“Please?” Prompto asked with the puppy eyes that were far more effective on all of them than they would ever admit to Prompto lest he abuse them. “It doesn’t have to be drunk-drunk, just like, a few shots?”

Gladio examined the bottle. “Vodka’s crap, but you got a less shitty brand so, sure, sign me up. Noct?”

“Sounds better than staring at the tent ceiling,” Noctis said.

Outnumbered three to one, Ignis sighed. “Very well, but we’re not drinking straight vodka.” He had a can or two of fruit juice in the Armiger to water it down with.

“Yes!” Prompto did a little seated dance. “Ok, what’re we playing? Never have I ever? Buzz? Most likely?”

“Dude do you just have a list of drinking games you want to play?” Noctis asked.

“Uh, maybe if you’d have come to one of the parties in school you’d recognize them.”

“Yeah, that was never going to happen back then and you know it.”

Prompto pouted and Ignis and Gladio exchanged an amused look. Ignis pulled out juice and a carafe and started mixing the alcohol. “Well it’s not like we can do the games with other props,” Prompto said after a moment. “No cards. No cups and balls for beer pong. Not drunk enough for the games like Thump.”

“I can’t even remotely imagine what any of those games are with names like that,” Noctis said with a yawn. “Hey Ignis, what game do you think?”

“Well, considering there’s only four of us and we don’t have props, games like never have I ever are probably the better choice. Although given how many shared experiences we have here…” Everyone grimaced. Between growing up together in the citadel to running around all of Lucis on this trip, Prompto would likely get them all drunk very fast on the sheer principle that he had more unique personal experiences that the rest of them lacked. But a game that involved talking was more or less a given. “How about… two truths and a lie?”

“Not truth or dare?” Prompto asked.

Ignis gave him a look. “With everyone’s competitive streak and magic to fuel drunken shenanigans, I think not introducing the possibility of wild dares is the best option.”

“Ok, yeah, fair enough.”

Ignis still remembered a memorable occasion where Noctis got stuck on a roof when he was still new to warping thanks to one of Gladio’s dares. They were not going that route. “Besides, two truths and a lie will be a good test to see how well we actually know each other.”

Prompto sighed. “Dude, you guys all grew up together. Kinda rigged.”

“And yet we have very little knowledge of your life,” Ignis countered. “So if any of us has an advantage, it’s Noctis for knowing all of us.”

“Ooh, good point. Guess it works in the name of bonding.” Prompto grinned. “Gonna know you guys better than I know myself at the end of this trip.”

“Quite.” This hadn’t been what any of them expected when they left but leave it to Prompto to find a glimmer of brightness in the mess. “Here’s how we’ll play: we each have a cup, no more than two helpings of the drink to work with, and will take turns telling various facts and lies while the next person in the circle guesses which was the truth or lie. If they guess wrong, they take a drink, if they guess right, the person whose turn it was takes a drink. When you run out of alcohol, you’re out of the game. Does this seem fair?”

“Geeze, Iggy, that’s a lot of rules for a drinking game,” Prompto says. “But sure, sounds great, gimme the booze!”

Ignis rolled his eyes and handed around glasses of vodka mixture.

Gladio sniffed it. “Smells more like juice than vodka.”

“The point is not to have a debilitating hangover tomorrow,” Ignis said drily.

“Ok, but those two are lightweights and I have an iron liver.”

Ignis rolled his eyes again and added a shot to Gladio’s cup. “Is that satisfactory?”

Gladio grinned. “Yeah, that’s a bit more like it. Now who goes first?”

“Specs,” Noctis said, sniffing his own cup with a wrinkle of his nose. “Since you chose the game.”

“Very well.” Ignis sat in their loose circle. Two truths and a lie… “I speak six languages, I stabbed a man when I was five, and I can do a backflip in heels.” He looked pointedly to his left at Prompto.

“Damn, starting things out on hard mode,” Prompto said with a grimace. “Uh… The flip in heels is the lie?”

Ignis smirked.

“Aw man.” Prompto took a drink. He at least didn’t seem to dislike the taste. “Wait, you can do a flip in high heels?” A beat. “You’ve worn high heels?”

Ignis kept smirking.

“Iggy!” Prompto groaned. “What was the lie?”

“He only speaks three languages,” Gladio said. “He can read six. I don’t remember you stabbing anyone when you were five though.”

“It was an accident learning how to use daggers.” Ignis’s lips tilted into a real smile. “I never said I stabbed someone purposefully.”

“None of you are surprised by the heels?” Prompto asked.

Noctis and Gladio exchange a look. “A bet,” they said in unison. “Though only Ignis would take it as a challenge to master movement in high heels in general,” Noctis added.

“One never knows if that skill might be useful,” Ignis said. He wasn’t exactly going to admit that he’d liked how they’d accentuated his legs.

“The more ya know,” Prompto said. “Okay. My turn! Uh, lesse…” He tapped his cup absently. “My first kiss was with Jessia from eighth grade, I love cucumbers, and I have a whole USB filled with nothing but dog pictures.”

Noctis pointed at Prompto. “The first kiss is the lie.”

“Bzzzt,” Prompto said.

“What? You’d have told me if you’d had your first kiss!”

“Dude, I had it before we were friends. Also, like, it went horribly and she never talked to me again so I don’t really bring it up much.”

“Wait, so either you don’t have a USB of dog photos—which you totally do—or you secretly hate cucumbers? I thought you liked vegetables.”

“I eat healthy cuz it’s healthy not cuz I like all of it,” Prompto said. “You should try it.”

“Pass.”

Ignis made a mental note to avoid giving Prompto anything with cucumber in the future. “Drink up, Noct,” Ignis said when Noctis kept giving Prompto a look like he’d just destroyed one of the pillars of his understanding.

Noctis rolled his eyes and took a swig. “Whatever. Ok, Gladio. My favorite character in King’s Knight is Toby, I once pet a cat that had ten toes on each paw, and I caught a two-headed fish one time.”

Gladio raised an eyebrow. “That’s not even hard. You’d have talked our ears off if you caught a two-headed fish.”

“Eh, fair enough.” Noctis took another swallow of his drink.

“You just want to get drunk, don’t you?” Gladio said, amused. “My turn. I can bench a hundred and twenty kilos, on one of my camping trips I hiked forty kilometers in one day, and I once ate eight cup noodles in one sitting.”

Ignis hummed, turning the numbers over in his head.

“You know,” Prompto said, “I honestly would believe all of those actually happened. You’re not normal.”

Gladio snorted. “Thanks for the backhanded compliment.”

“You’re welcome.”

“The hiking one is a lie,” Ignis said after a moment. “I know your average bench press numbers and I remember you trying to prove something stupid with how many cup noodles you could eat in one sitting—and definitely remember you throwing them back up.”

“Worth it.”

“So the hiking distance has to be the lie.”

“You would logic it out,” Gladio said, snickering. “Yeah, you win.” He took a drink. “Your turn again Iggy.”

“Wait wait wait,” Prompto said. “I’m not going to have to guess Ignis every time am I? He’s like, way too good at deadpan for that.”

“Hmm, you have a point,” Ignis said. “Noctis and I can swap positions this next round and then you can swap with Gladio and by alternating like that we can keep things fair.”

“You’re making this way too complicated,” Noctis said, but he obligingly swapped places in the circle with Ignis.

“It makes things more interesting,” Ignis countered with a sharp grin. He had every intention of playing this game to win—by which he meant he intended to stay as sober as possible while watching his friends fall into drunken antics.

“Whatever, just get on with it,” Noctis said with a sigh.

Ignis glanced at Gladio. Gladio was privy to far more of Ignis’s private life than perhaps anyone in part because while he couldn’t always talk to Noctis—because friend or not, there were still the occasional professional boundary lines—Gladio was someone who shared a responsibility in caring for Noct and as such someone who could commiserate over some of the worse aspects of their prince’s personality. Still, he didn’t know everything about Ignis’s life. “My favorite knives are a gift from my uncle, I’ve always loved the taste of Ebony…” He pretended to put an extra second of thought into this, like he was hesitating over a lie. “One of my earliest memories is of reading a book.”

He could see Gladio labeling the knife fact as truth; Ignis hadn’t been subtle about his preferred weapon choice in combat and the topic had come up before. But Ignis was also banking on Gladio’s association of Ignis and Ebony; he’d been drinking some form of coffee since his early teenage years, and for as long as he and Gladio had any significant interaction.

“As hilarious as the idea of baby-Iggy reading is, I’m calling that out as a lie,” he said after a moment.

Ignis smiled triumphantly. “While not my earliest memory, I was reading full sentences by the age of three, so yes, it is one of my earliest memories. I actually detested Ebony the first time I tasted it and poured the can down the drain. It was only the lure of caffeine that ever got me to pick up another can.”

“No kidding.” Gladio didn’t look the least upset by guessing wrong, but he was probably happy enough to be ingesting some alcohol. “Sometimes I think you pretty much run on the stuff like the Regalia does gasoline.”

Ignis snorted. “It’s not an inaccurate assumption.” Thank goodness for caffeine for his overworked, frequently sleep deprived body.

Gladio took a larger-than-necessary swallow from his cup. “Right. So. I ran away from home when I was six, I tried to give Iris away when she was first born because she kept crying, and I can’t float when I swim.”

Noctis frowned. “I’m pretty sure everyone can float. That’s swimming 101.”

“Take a drink because I can’t.” Gladio grinned, then grimaced. “It’s actually a downside to muscle. It’s dense as hell and sinks more than my lung capacity can make me float. I can swim just fine, but it’s kind of hell trying to tread water for long.”

“Huh. You learn something every day,” Noctis said taking a drink.

“Did you really try to give Iris away?” Prompto asked. “Because I can’t see it.”

“No. I mean I was tempted because she was the worst, colicky baby ever but I was old enough that I wasn’t that impulsive.” Gladio picked at the edge of his cup. “Now if I was a couple years younger at the time…”

“I remember hearing your dad complaining to my dad,” Noctis said. “She was only quiet when she was asleep and even then that was almost never the first month.”

“Yeah, I feel so lucky she grew out of that.”

“Noctis’s turn!” Prompto chirped. “Go easy on me, buddy.”

“You wish,” Noctis said, sticking his tongue out at him. “Okay. I’ve killed every plant I’ve tried to grow, I broke three priceless vases as a kid and told no one, and I set Iggy’s first boyfriend on fire once.”

“Noctis Lucis Caelum!” Ignis said, scandalized and more than a little annoyed. “That was you?!” Ignis had been dumped very soon after that incident.

“That guy was a jerk,” Noctis said.

“I could have dumped him myself instead of the indignity of it being the other way around!”

“Uh,” said Prompto. “I’m guessing that’s not the lie.”

Ignis huffed, and Noctis waited.

“Plants are the lie?” Prompto said tentatively trying to steer things back toward the game.

“Nope. Actually it was Gladio that set the guy on fire.”

“Way to throw a man under a bus, Noct,” Gladio grumbled. He held up his hands when Ignis turned his glare on him. “Hey, he’s right. The guy was a dick.”

“Gladiolus!”

Gladio leaned a bit away from Ignis, a sheepish grin on his face. “I mean, no one got permanently injured.”

“Which of you ran off my next boyfriend, then?” Ignis demanded. Neither of them met his eyes.

“Uh,” Prompto said again into the tense silence. “So… Iggy, you like dudes?”

And Ignis had the horrifying realization that Prompto didn’t know.

“Oh shit,” Noctis said. “Uh, sorry Specs…”

“It’s fine,” Ignis said, hoping that it actually was fine and this revelation hadn’t just made their current close-quarters living arrangements strained. He’d forgotten for a moment, too comfortable with Noctis and Gladio being in the know, that not all of his friends actually had the knowledge that he was more interested in men than women.

“No, hey!” Prompto waved his hands frantically. “It’s cool, I’m fine with it, shit, I wasn’t trying to make things weird!”

“Prompto…” Ignis took a breath. “If this is—”

“My turn next,” Prompto blurted over him and Ignis frowned, trying to cut in only to have Prompto keep talking over him. “I’ve only kissed girls,” he said, which stung a bit considering what was just revealed, “I’m bi,” oh, “and I’ve never, uh, never had a crush on anyone here,” Prompto finished, his confidence draining into nerves. There was a faint blush on his face.

“Prompto,” Ignis said softly, “you didn’t have to do that.”

“What, continue the game?” he said with a forced smile. “Uh yeah I did, we still have booze so…” His gaze pleaded for Ignis to play along.

And Ignis couldn’t refuse considering his friend had chosen to out himself just to make Ignis feel less uncomfortable. “I take it the last one wasn’t a lie,” he said gently.

“You got me there.” Prompto took a large swallow of his drink. His cheeks were pink and he couldn’t meet anyone’s eyes.

“Shit,” Noctis mumbled. “…I wasn’t trying to make this real, I just wanted to tease Ignis.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “Full disclosure, you’re not the only one who’s had a crush on someone here, Prom.”

Prompto’s jaw dropped. “Wait, is Gladio the only one here that’s straight?”

Gladio snorted. “I mean I’m mostly straight,” Gladio said. “But if we were playing a game of never-have-I-ever, the only one of us who wouldn’t drink to having a crush on Ignis is Ignis.”

Ignis went bright red.

“There was more than one reason we didn’t think your boyfriends were good enough,” Gladio said with a snort of laughter.

“…Did either of you approve of any of them?”

“Uh, the one Glaive was okay but…”

Noctis finished for him, “You weren’t into him half as much as he was into you.”

Ignis pinched the bridge of his nose. He was going to have to reevaluate so many previous interactions with a new perspective.

“Wait, Prompto, is that why you keep taking ass shots of Gladio?” Noctis asked.

Prompto sputtered. “I do not take ass shots! Of anyone!”

Gladio laughed. “Uh, hate to break it to you but you kind of do. Don’t worry, I don’t mind.”

“You take ass pics of Gladio, Ignis whenever he’s doing acrobatics, and usually half of what you take of me is mid-warp.”

“That’s just because you’re always warping, Noct,” Prompto said, settling into an embarrassed pout. “And Iggy’s usually doing backflips or setting something on fire like a boss so…” His shoulders hunched. “Also Gladio’s always rushing in so of course I get pictures from behind in battle.”

“Keep telling yourself that,” Noctis said with a shit eating grin.

“Well,” Ignis said, feeling vaguely uncomfortable and ready to finish the game, “I think we’ve learned enough about each other for one night.”

“No, no,” Gladio said. “Prompto’s right. We still have booze. Also you and Noct haven’t interacted yet and I haven’t traded lies with Prompto.” He swished his cup around. “Besides, we’re still bored. Scared you’ll get embarrassed more?” he teased.

Ignis rolled his eyes. “Not at all.” It was just that if things continued along the current lines of affairs things could get complicated in ways that their trip didn’t allow for. From the way Gladio gave him a teasing eyebrow wiggle, he was thinking along the same lines without considering the fallout. He sighed. Ignis was not going to let things run in even more flirtatious directions thank you very much. “Noct.” Coming up with something for Noctis was about as hard as Gladio. On the one hand, Noctis could be unobservant. On the other, when he did use his powers of observation, they were uncannily accurate and stuck in his memory. “I choose to keep my accent,” he said after a moment of thought, “I had tutors before I was chosen to train to be your chamberlain, and I hated cooking when I first started learning.”

Noctis frowned. “I could see you keeping the accent because you like it and it reminds you of home. I know nothing of your life before you came to the Citadel more or less, and knowing you you’re probably banking on that. So, weird as it is to think of you hating cooking, I’m calling the second one a lie.”

Ignis smiled ruefully. It figured that he’d apply logic to it. “You’re correct.” He took a swallow of his drink and was pleased at its flavor, the alcohol a faint aftertaste on his tongue.

“If you didn’t like cooking, why’d you stick with it?” Prompto asked.

“Because it’s a useful skill,” Ignis said. “Knowing it is an important life skill as well as useful for caring for others; it was non-negotiable to learn. It just took a bit of a learning curve to get good enough at it that it wasn’t troublesome. Once I started looking at it as a puzzle made of ingredients it was a lot more enjoyable.”

“You know, you’re allowed to like or dislike something based on other things than usefulness,” Noctis said with a slight edge to his voice like he was somewhere along the lines of sad and exasperated.

Ignis, of course, knew that. But when growing up with a large job to fill, there had never been much room for non-useful things. Even his hobbies were chosen to be practical. “I can also enjoy things that also happen to be practical,” he pointed out. He liked languages. And while he couldn’t say he liked cleaning, it gave him a sense of satisfaction. Cooking was similar. These days it was one part puzzle, one part challenge, and the satisfaction of an end result. Baking on the other hand… “I do enjoy baking though.”

“Oh?” Noctis said.

Ignis smiled. He’d started because he’d hoped to make Noctis smile. And every time Noct ate one of his desserts and looked a bit happier, it had made Ignis happy. “I’d have to to make the same dessert over and over with slight changes for years.”

“Wow, that almost sounds like you’re accusing me of something,” Noctis joked.

“Accuse? Never,” Ignis said, grinning back. “I am surprised you never got sick of me trying though.”

“They were good,” Noctis said. “Even the worst of the failures. And they were…”

“They were?”

Noctis looked faintly embarrassed. “They were part of how you showed you cared so… it meant a lot.”

More than the cleaning and cooking or giving condensed reports ever did if Noctis’s embarrassment meant anything.

“And this is getting weirdly emotional,” Gladio cut in. “I know Noct drank a bit, but you only took a sip.”

Ignis rolled his eyes. “It’s reminiscing and nostalgia, Gladio.”

“Uh huh. Sure.” Gladio gave him a look that had Ignis blushing slight enough that hopefully no one would notice. “Anyway, Noct, either you go or I’m going next.”

“Fine.” Noctis drummed his fingers for a moment. “I like traveling and helping people out. I don’t like how crowded we are. I sometimes wish that things could always be this simple.”

Ignis had the strong desire to give Noctis a hug, like he’d done when they were children. There was vulnerability and defensiveness warring under his attempted nonchalance and if they still had the sort of uncomplicated relationship that children had, he’d already have Noctis in an embrace. But they were adults and Noct might accept side hugs and slaps on the shoulder from Prompto and Gladio, there had been a wall of propriety between him and Ignis for a while. A wall that he should really start to take down. Propriety was pointless when there wasn’t anyone left who would care.

“The second one is a lie,” Ignis said softly.

Noctis smiled, lopsided. “Yeah.” He took a drink.

“Aw, we like crowding you too,” Prompto said, nudging Noctis with an elbow. “I mean, sometimes a little privacy would be nice, but honestly you can’t feel lonely like this and that’s been good.”

Left to their own devices they weren’t the sorts to spend every waking moment with another person, but they had been spending more or less that for months now. Ignis, if asked before their trip started, would have thought that they’d have gotten on their last nerve at some point or another, but they hadn’t. There was quiet, introspective time on car rides, or brief moments at havens to break away from the group and have a private moment, but surprisingly they hadn’t needed more than that so far. It was almost nice if Ignis didn’t think about the circumstances. And for Noctis who had never really had enough time to spend with friends with his busy life… Well, Ignis, having a busy life of his own, could more than understand why the lifestyle they’d been living appealed.

“We can’t forget our purpose though,” Gladio pointed out.

“Dude,” Prompto said, “I don’t think any of us could no matter how many fetch quests people send us on.”

“I’m just saying,” Gladio grumbled.

“And I’m just saying that tonight’s time to not think about the things that are always looming over us,” Prompto said, pushing back more than he normally would. “Please? Like we’re all strung out, that’s why we gotta relax and recharge sometimes or we’ll just burn out.”

Gladio rubbed a hand down his face and took a drink even though it wasn’t part of the game. “Yeah.”

“I haven’t forgotten,” Noctis added in a quiet voice. “I promise.”

“We’re really missing the point to this game,” Prompto said with a sigh. “Getting too real, guys. On that note, Gladio—Two truths and a lie. I’ve always wanted a pet, I bought my first camera with allowance money, and I am naturally a morning person.”

Gladio took a second to switch gears but when he did he relaxed in a very deliberate looking manner. “Well considering how you go on about chocobos, I wouldn’t be surprised if you always wanted one as a pet. And how you’re friends with Sleeping Beauty over there, it’s a mystery because you don’t need coffee in the morning like Ignis and you don’t sleep in like Noct. So, how’d you actually get your first camera?”

“I bought it with money from a part time job,” Prompto said after taking a drink. “Technically I had a phone camera before, but I was kind of frustrated at the limitations and after taking a photography class… Yeah, I was hooked.” He smiled. “So I saved up and bought this beauty,” Prompto said patting his camera. “It’s not like high end, but with multiple lenses and filters and a hella good zoom, it’s a pretty dang good first camera, you know?”

“I commend your work ethic,” Ignis said, though Prompto’s work ethic had always been good, even if he and Noctis were enablers in indulging in their gaming interests at the expense of other tasks at times. Prompto had gotten decent grades his whole life, and worked from no prior combat knowledge to full-fledged Crownsguard, pulling his own weight on this trip purely because he cared for Noctis. It wasn’t really surprising that he’d seen the goal of a nice camera and put the effort into getting it.

“Thanks, Iggy,” Prompto said with a pleased grin.

“Now if only Noct had a bit more of that,” Gladio joked.

“Of all of us, I think Prompto and I have the best work-life balance,” Noctis shot back.

“Besides,” Ignis added, “Noctis is hardworking. Unfortunately he just has a tendency to drop less pressing tasks in favor of immediate ones.”

“Is this about not sewing the button back on my shirt? Because I’m going to sew the button back on my shirt.”

“I’ve actually been impressed by how much help you’ve been with tasks like dishes and laundry,” Ignis said, a bit mean to do, but it was a sore point between them. Then again, Noctis was more likely to drop what he was doing and help than Gladio. Prompto was fine if given directions at least. Goodness knew Ignis couldn’t run every minutia of their lives no matter how much he wanted to.

Noctis groaned. “You’re never going to let high school go are you?”

Ignis smiled. “If it was only high school, I would.”

“He’s got you there, dude,” Prompto said. “You’re kind of a trash master when you get distracted.”

Distracted being anything from work, to a gaming binge, to one of Noctis’s occasional depressive episodes. Ignis was sympathetic to the latter and exasperated by the former.

“It’s Gladio’s turn,” Noctis said pointedly turning the conversation away from himself.

“Fine,” he sighed. “I am a dog person, I kill houseplants no matter how I try to keep them alive, and I kind of wish I’d gone to college.”

Prompto squinted at him. “This is the sort of thing I was worried about playing this. I have no idea which of those is a lie.”

“Guess,” Gladio said unhelpfully.

“Plants?” Prompto asked more than stated.

“Bzzt. I’m not a dog person. They’re cute and all but they’re high maintenance compared to cats.”

“Harsh, dogs are great,” Prompto said taking a drink. “They’re loyal and hard working. Don’t get me wrong, cats are adorable, but they’d abandon you for a sardine.”

“Lies and slander,” Noctis said.

“Dude, they’re super picky and you fall for their begging every time.”

“You feed every dog that looks your direction,” Noctis countered.

“Uh, no, we’ve seen like three dogs and one of those is Dave’s. You’re the one busting out super expensive cat food. Anyway, we can all agree chocobos are best.”

Noctis laughed. “I think it’s just you there.”

“Nah, chocobos are more useful and better fighters than either of them,” Gladio said, “so they win in my book too.”

“Why didn’t you attend university?” Ignis asked.

“You think I’d have had the time? I don’t know how you did it, honestly. I had my plate full learning everything I needed to protect Noct.”

Ignis could see a small, guilty twitch from Noctis. Ignis’s own university years had been…hmm, eventful. And the largest reason for his caffeine addiction. “Out of curiosity, what would you have studied?”

Gladio shrugged. “I dunno. I like history, and some of the stuff I’ve talked with Sania about’s pretty cool.”

“Oh yeah, you are friends with her aren’t you?” Prompto said. “Are frogs really that exciting?”

“Okay, the frogs are just one of the things she studies,” Gladio said. “Her greater research is on wildlife in general and you’d know that if you listened to what she said when we help her that she’s been looking into the change in daylight and the increase in scourge infected wildlife—”

“Holy shit have you been hiding a nerdy side this whole time?” Prompto said with the expression of a man who’d just witnessed something life changing. “Gladio, are you a science nerd under all that muscle?”

Gladio frowned. “Could you not say it like that? Also, I haven’t been hiding anything. I already know a lot about physiology from training, and nature is a thing I clearly enjoy as you guys love to complain about how I like camping. At least one of the books I’ve read on this trip was Sania’s research.”

“Well shit, man.” Prompto downed the rest of his drink. “The more you know. I think we all learned something today.” He blinked. “I should not have drank that all at once.”

Noctis laughed. “So we’re all on board to just drink now, huh?” He took a pointed swallow of his drink. “Might as well.”

“Really?” Ignis sighed.

“Eh, let ‘em,” Gladio said, taking a drink from his own cup. “As you guys keep saying, we’re trying to relax. Besides we were getting nowhere fast with the game.”

“That’s the point,” Ignis said. “To not get drunk.”

“They can’t get that drunk,” Gladio pointed out. “You made sure of it.”

Ignis pursed his lips, but Noctis and Prompto were elbowing each other and laughing and no one was going to end up so inebriated they were hung over the next day. It was almost like back in Insomnia…

Gladio slung an arm around him. “Don’t think too hard.”

“I am trying not to but…” They hadn’t really given themselves any proper time to grieve had they? One moment they were watching Insomnia burn and the next they were throwing themselves into seeking out royal arms and helping random strangers and going on hunts with barely any time to breathe because if they relaxed too much it might all fall apart. Ignis was used to setting how he felt aside, and so were the rest of them, but that didn’t necessarily make it healthy. Noctis and Prompto could laugh like this, so they would be okay. But sometimes Ignis wondered if he would be. That if he ever stopped he’d pull himself back together again.

“Drink if you think it’ll help,” Gladio said softly under the shriek of Noctis engaging Prompto to an impromptu tickling fight. “If you think it’ll be worse, leave it. Be in the moment, not the past.”

“I know that,” Ignis said. “I have been.” But the game had been about the past. On automatic, he saved the alcohol from getting spilled all over the tent floor as the tickle fight got wilder. Gladio gave his shoulder a squeeze.

“How about we team up against them, hmm?” Gladio offered.

Ignis pushed the mess of feelings back to deal with another day and managed a smile that almost reached his usual standards. “Would that be fair?”

“Anything’s fair in a tickling fight,” Gladio said. “Noct or Prompto first?”

“Noctis; Prompto is easier to subdue.”

“I’ll get his arms.”

“And I’ll handle his feet.”

Noctis and Prompto jumped when they entered the fight and Noctis yelped as Gladio caught him and Ignis exploited his weak points until he was gasping. Prompto laughed at his misfortune. At least until Ignis and Gladio shared a glance and turned to him, leaving Noctis to recover.

Later, much later, after more alcohol and Gladio ultimately emerging the victor of the tickle fight—he was only ticklish on his neck and that was hard to reach even when he wasn’t guarding it—they collapsed into a comfortable pile of bodies, curled up around each other, propriety and personal space be damned. They needed this, Ignis thought hazily on the edge of sleep. The laughter. The contact. The reassurance that they were still friends and close even after—or perhaps because of—everything that had happened.

“I haven’t done something like this in ages,” Gladio said, breaking the silence. “Not since… Hell, I don’t know. When I was a teenager?”

“Same,” Noctis said.

“Do our elbow fights over racing games not count?” Prompto asked. “Because we did that less than a year ago.”

“Yeah, but that’s… different,” Noctis muttered. “For one, Ignis joined in this time.” He lifted himself on one elbow long enough to fake-scowl in Ignis’s direction. “You’re brutal, by the way.”

Ignis laughed and had to stifle it on the nearest surface, which happened to be Noct’s thigh. When the laughter ran out though, he felt a bit drained, happy and sad at the same time. “I don’t think I’ve let go quite this much before.”

“Eighteenth birthday?” Gladio countered.

“Mm, but not everyone here was present for that.” And it hadn’t ended in a cuddle-pile on the ground. This was much better and would hopefully have less hangover-induced nausea the next morning.

“Well we’re all here now,” Noctis said, and like that was all that needed to be said, they went quiet, just the soft sounds of breathing and the occasional shift of limbs as they got comfortable.

Ignis ended up with Prompto’s head on his stomach and his own in Noctis’s lap. Gladio was both Noctis’s pillow and a heat source in how he managed to curl around Noctis and half of Prompto in the process. They were all going to wake up with limbs asleep and cricks in their necks, but for the moment it was all terribly comfortable.

Ignis drifted, letting the familiar sounds of his friends existing lure him toward sleep.

He was almost there when Prompto shifted against his chest.

“Ignis?” Prompto whispered, easily heard above the whistle-y start of Gladio’s snores and Noctis’s softer breathing.

“Mm?” When Prompto was silent, Ignis let a hand curl against his back, reassuring.

Prompto breathed out, relaxing minutely. “Do you think we’ll do this again someday?”

Ignis hummed. They didn’t have much downtime, though playing games happened when they did, but he knew that wasn’t what Prompto meant. They’d all shared parts of themselves tonight and boundaries had been crossed in other ways too, or they wouldn’t be curled up like this. But would it last beyond the morning?

Altissia loomed in their future and Ignis, for all that he would be glad to reach the city safely, equally dreaded it. It was one more step along some pre-destined path Noctis had laid out for him that only seemed to grow more burdensome the more Ignis let himself dissect what little he knew about Noct’s fate.

No, Ignis didn’t think that they would do this again. Not with this level of uncomplicated friendship, with their burdens as easily set aside. Those burdens only grew as days trickled by.

But he knew that wasn’t what Prompto needed to hear though, so for the moment he pulled on comforting hopes instead of his more realistic fears.

“We will,” he said, making himself sound sure.

“Promise?” Prompto asked.

He was so young, all of them were, but Ignis felt it in this fragile moment. All the more so because Prompto didn’t come from a life where things were predetermined. He’d forged his own path here, and perhaps that made him the most driven out of all of them. But because of that, he didn’t hold the same assurances. He didn’t see that he’d forged his own bonds here or that they were just as strong—if not more—as anything Ignis or Gladio shared with Noctis. Or with each other truly.

They were all friends and more than by this point. Comrades. A family of a sort, the last that each other had.

Ignis wanted to protect that with all his heart.

“I promise,” he said gently.

“Double promise,” Noctis slurred, patting randomly in Prompto’s direction. “Now go t’sleep.”

Prompto stifled a giggle. “Back at you, dude.” Noctis, apparently, fell truly asleep at that. Or perhaps he was already asleep and in one of his odd, in-between lucid moments.

“You’re one of us,” Ignis murmured, “and we’re going to stick together.”

“I’m holding you to that,” Prompto said, getting comfortable again.

As Ignis relaxed again, letting sleep pull him under, his last thought was how lucky they were to still have so much in each other.

#final fantasy 15 #fanfiction #my writing #chocobros #i was gonna hold off on posting this #but i like validation and was asked to post :p #hope you like it mae #i like ignis very much yes #also i am incapable of writing anything entirely happy and i accept this by this point #hope i got their voices down ok

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calliecat93 · 5 years

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It’s been a long and chaotic hiatus period folks, but at least we’re here. RWBY Volume 7. There’s been a lot of hype in the leadup to this. New outfits. New setting. New characters. Old characters making long-awaited comebacks. There is so much to be excited about this season, and the absolutely insane opening only added more fuel to the fire. I’ve done a review/analysis on the opening already, which if you’d like to check that out, you can find it here.

But for now, after nearly ten months of waiting, it’s finally time. Review season is in full swing. So why wait any more than we already have? Let’s kick the Volume 7 Reviews off with Chapter One, The Greatest Kingdom. Because of course, that would be the title of an Atlas-centric chapter. Of course.

Overview

We begin exactly where we left off before. RWBYJNRQOM have reached Atlas… but Ironwood’s fleet is armed and ready as though expecting an attack. Everyone is taken aback by this, especially Weiss. This causes complications. With Atlas this high alert, if they dock in an unauthorized ship, they’re going to be in a lot of trouble. Weiss also worries that if that happens, they may very well return her to her family, and to her father. But she then remembers that since they’re now back in Atlas’ range, she can contact Winter. Thus, Maria steers the ship downward, towards the city of Mantle.

We get our first glimpse of the former capital, and it’s telling. The location has a New York kind of vibe. It’s big and industrial but also run down. One reason for that may be because of the number of troops and drones in the city. They’re making people afraid or rebellious, even children as we see two throw a rock at a drone. But even more telling is that the holo-screens have Ironwood talking, claiming that this is all for their own safety. Everyone is unnerved by this, and worst? Winter is also spewing out the propaganda, shocking Weiss. Due to this, the plan is to ditch the ship and join the masses in Mantle.

Thus, the ship is parked… somewhere. We never see where. But the gang walks through the city, and get an even better look at how rundown that it is. Thre’s political posters around, namely featuring some kind of pale blonde-haired figure. We also see some headlines highlighting events like the Embargo, the discovery of a dead journalist, and damage to the border. Drones are going all around and take photos of Yang, which earns a kick from her and then it gets run over. Oops. We even see graffiti that says “Show Your Teeth”. Best guess is that that’s the White Fang’s doing. Life looks awful in Mantle, and Blake expresses this out loud. This earns her getting told off by two drunkards, who go off about Atlas being great and all that kind of stuff that we’ve heard before. But when one starts to make racist Faunus remarks at Blake, Weiss responds by gravity Glyphing into a dumpster. This attracts security attention, but it was worth it.

Maria knows where they can go, and she takes them to some kind of clinic. This is where she had intended to go in order to get her eyes adjusted. We, therefore, meet the man who runs the place. An elderly, wheel-chair bound man named Pietro. He is a well-known scientist who has made various advances for Atlas and Ironwood, but he volunteers in Mantle to get away from the stuffy atmosphere and to help the people below. The gang has questions about Atlas, so Pietro explains how Ironwood’s paranoia has gone into overload. Not just because of the Fall, but because of how badly his forces were hacked and made Atlas look like both terrorists and buffoons. But we do find out that they still don’t know who hacked their systems, but they /do/ suspect that it may very well be one of their own. With everyone blaming Atlas for the Fall of Beacon, the council is so scared that they’re just doing what Ironwood says. So needless to say, Atlas is in utter chaos and isn’t as safe as our heroes previously thought.

Pietro begins to talk about Mantle’s representatives taking action… until he recognizes Weiss. Yang tries to get things back on topic, only for Pietro to recognize her arm. He sounds… kind of offended that she painted it, haha! But he soon recognizes Team RWBY, having heard of them from his daughter. Who is his daughter? Well before Ruby can find out, a warning siren goes off. A group of wolf-like Grimm that I believe are called Sabers are attacking, so our heroes fight back. It’s a pretty good action sequence, full of a lot of high-paced energy and an awesome guitar riff in the background. Poor Blake’s sword is still broken, so she’s forced to stick to the gun mode. Fortunately, our heroes are ripping the Grimm apart with ease… but they ultimately don’t defeat the Grimm themselves.

A series of lasers blast away the remaining Grimm. We see a figure flying up above. A very… familiar looking person. Green color-scheme… red hair… a pink bow… freckles… wait… the figure lands, and we get to see them in full. Ruby’s eyes widen in shock as, for the first time since the Fall of Beacon, she sees Penny Polendina.

You read right folks, Penny is back! Pietro tells her to say hi to her friends and… she recognizes them! She recognizes Ruby! She flies right into Ruby to hug her! That probably gave Ruby a concussion, but eh she’ll live. But only one thing matters right now: PENNY! PENNY IS BACK!!! SHE’S ALIVE!!! WHOO~!!!

As it turns out, Pietro is Penny’s father/creator. After Amity Arena was brought back to Atlas, they were able to recover Penny’s core and Pietro was able to rebuild her and even better. She is now the official protector of Mantle. Penny is excited to catch back up with Ruby… but another siren goes off, and she has to go off. Everyone has questions, but fortunately, Pietro is more than happy to answer them. So successful Grimm fight, they made it to Mantle, and they found a friendly face. Two friendly faces! Sure we had the rough patch with Ironwood’s forces and his propaganda, but hey! So far things are going pretty well!

Well, let’s ruin that!

The gang is suddenly captured and bound down by a group of blue and white-clad soldiers. This is a security force known as Ace-Ops. Qrow argues that he’s a licensed Huntsman and was doing his job, but Ace-Ops take their weapons and, even worst, the lamp. Pietro questions the meaning of this, and their leader named Clover Ebi reveals the list of charges. The unauthorized ship, disobeying commands from Control, and fighting Grimm despite all but one of them being unlicensed. As such, they’re being arrested and taken to Atlas. The episode ends with everyone loaded up into the back of a police van with Qrow hating himself for jinxing everything up. Stupid Bad Luck Semblance.

Review

So this was a bit shorter than the previous couple of premieres, but really? That’s not a problem whatsoever. This premiere was really good! Not the best, but certianly does its job and does it well. We get to see Mantle after so many years, get to finally meet Professor Polendina, and we get a big surprise in the return of Penny. We get a fun action scene as well, which is always nice. And it has a solid ending in everyone getting arrested… well okay, that sucks for them, but it was an appropriate place to end.

Before we go into more detailed stuff though… let’s talk about the elephant in the room first. That being Qrow’s new voice. For those unaware, Vic Mignogna was fired and I don’t feel like going into it any more than I’ve already had to. But long story short; Vic did a lot of gross, horrible stuff and he deserved to be kicked out. As such, voice actor Jason Liebrecht was cast to take over, and so far… I think that he’s good! It was a tad bit spotty, but he’s still new so I’m not expecting perfection. But it still feels like Qrow and the voice honestly sounds like a cleaner, healthier version of Vic’s Qrow. Which if Qrow starts to sober himself up, it will fit very well. So yeah, I am perfectly happy with Jason’s rendition and I am looking forward to hearing more of him going forward~

Okay, got that out of the way. So let talk about good stuff now!

Mantle looks amazing. IIRC, Miles and Kerry said that Mantle and Atlas are based on different periods of America’s evolution. Mantle represents the Industrial Era, in particular New York, and it certianly feels that way. It’s a big city, but it’s not happy. The place looks run-down and dirty, there’s tons of unrest, and they have to watch as Atlas stands above them in all of its glory. It was meant to be a symbol of hope, but now? It just represents the oppression of Mantle and how Atlas stands superior to them. One of the most telling scenes is when we see a wagon of miners pass by. All of them are covered in soot and just look sick and miserable. It paints a very harsh picture, and it’s only going to become all the harsher as we learn more in the future.

But there is a bright spot. We FINALLY get to meet Pietro. He’s as I expected, a kind old-man, if a bit scatter-brained and forgetful. He very much fits the image of a Gepetto-inspired character. Though him being wheelchair-bound and his frequent coughing certianly has me concerned for him… and I have a very bad idea about his final fate by the time that this arc is over. Still, we get a very clear image of his character and there’s a lot of Easter Eggs in his office. Like the whale statue on his shelf, another allusion to Pinocchio. It’s that attention to detail that makes me appreciate CRWBY so much. Also fun fact, his voice actor is David Fennoy. Which this isn’t his first time working on RWBY. The other time? As Dr. Merlot, the antagonist of RWBY: Grimm Eclipse. Who, if you don’t know, was a mad scientist… so great casting gag there CRWBY!

But speaking of Pinocchio…

Well everyone, we knew that it was coming, but we weren’t ready. Yes, indeed, Penny is back. So… there’s been some debate over her re-introduction. While everyone is happy to have her back, some have questioned the under-whelming execution and lack of reaction from Ruby. Now I will admit that it is more subdued than I was expecting, but Ruby? I don’t at all get her so-called ‘lack of reaction’. You can see how wide her eyes are and how stunned she is, but it quickly evolves into over-whelming joy. Not every reaction has to be tearfully breaking down, guys. Ruby processed it quickly and was just overjoyed. Then after the tackle-glomp, you can hear her struggling to find the words to say as she starts to ask what happened since she thought that Penny was dead for at least a year. So no, Ruby’s reaction was perfectly IC for her and he DID have a reaction.

But yeah, Penny is back! But unlike what we all assumed, she has her memory! I was confused on how since we saw the Nevermore stomp on her remains… but considering that the area was sent back to Atlas, I can buy that they dug around enough to find the core and repair any damage that it had. I admit her return is a lot less dramatic than I thought it would be… but I really have no issue with it. For one, there’s plenty of things with her that can be touched on later. How she felt about dying. Her status as Mantle’s protector. What’s happened with her since the Fall. Plus after everything that’s happened, I think that we deserved this one break regarding Penny and her having her memory still. So yeah, maybe the execution could have had a bit more substance, but I really have no problem with it. Penny is back, and that’s all that matters.

Thre is a lot of good setup here. We have Ironwood’s paranoia on full display as well as the results towards Mantle due to it. We get a look at the mindsets of people like the kids throwing rocks at drones and the drunkards shitting on Blake for her comments about Mantle. But we also have Weiss Glyphing the one guy, which while it was oh so deserved, she did cause a fuss due to it when Blake was trying to deal with the matter peacefully and had even previously stopped Ruby when she was about to argue back. It’s good to see Weiss not dealing with any racist garbage thrown at Blake, but it was not the best way to deal with it when Blake had it under control, and that may very well be something that we see touched on more and more with the plot as a whole. Not just regarding Faunus racism, but regarding the conflict of Mantle vs Atlas.

We have the propaganda being spewed in Mantle not just by Ironwood but also from WInter. Something that Weiss is clearly unhappy about, and something that may cause friction down the line. We have the Ace-Ops, who going by the opening is going to play a major part in the volume. Which funny how they showed up to arrest the gang… but none of the vast amounts of security forces were around to stop the Grimm. Sure Penny was there and she is officially Mantles protector, but a good chunk of the Grimm were stopped by our heroes. So much for looking out for Mantle’s safety, huh Ironwood? Clover doesn’t even listen to Qrow or ask to see his license for proof of it… okay yeah, Qrow would still be arrested for the unauthorized ship, but still. There are so many small things that show us exactly how oppressed the people of Mantle are, and we’re probably going to see even more of that unrest and protest as we go on. Especially with this Robyn Hill character that we see is running for Council, and against an Atlesian tycoon. And I have a good guess at who that tycoon may be…

Chapter Two Predictions

Introducing a new section to the reviews! Which I will also add to the Red vs Blue reviews when that starts up again (2020, hurry the heck up!). But yeah, I’m gonna start doing predictions and see how well I do… or more likely, how badly I do. It’s all for fun though, so keep that in mind.

So the gang has been arrested and is going up to Atlas. So we’ll probably get to see that and get to compare it to the worn-down Mantle. We see in the trailer that Ruby and Ironwood are talking, so chances are Ironwood will recognize them and hear them out. If we’re lucky, he may have gotten the letter that Qrow sent as well. Now whether hell license the kids or not I’m not sure, but he clearly is going to allow them to work with Ace-Ops (likely under his strict rules) so it could be that or he’ll mark it as Community Service to make up for the charges against them. I can also see him deciding to take Oscar under his wing both for his own safety due to Ozpin, and/or to properly train the kid since even with Oz’s muscle memory, he needs all that he can get. After that, the gang is able to get their new gear, get some haircuts, etc. Only one IDK what’s going to happen to is Qrow… but he’s likely gonna do whatever the Hell he wants or Ironwood’s gonna give him the harder jobs. But we’ll find out soon enough.

Episode Stats

Favorite Character: Pietro and Penny Polendina Favorite Scene: RWBYJNORQ vs The Grimm Least Favorite Scene: The intro before they went into Mantle since it was just re-establishment exposition. Favorite Voice Actor: Taylor McNee (Penny Polendina) Favorite Animation: Either the Weis and Ren combo on the Grim or Ruby slaying the Grimm. Final Ranking: 8.5/10

Final Thoughts

We are off to a very good start! We get to see Mantle and understand exactly the state that it, as well as Atlas, are in. We get a nice action sequence. We get a lot of setup for things later, like the propaganda and introduction fo the Ace-Ops. But most of all, we have Pietro finally appearing and, of course, the return of Penny. Not my favorite premiere, but it did its job and was a very satisfying watch. So I say job well-done CRWBY! It sure as Hell makes me excited for what’s ahead!

#rwby #rwby7 #rwby reviews #callie reviews

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fightevilandthengetblownup · 4 years

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OT3FIC: Galentine’s Day

Watching from the bar over the top of her glass as she watched the pair banter back and forth - a hand tossing hair back here, another hand rubbing over the top of the other’s there - Abigail felt a true sense of achievement and happiness at switching out the original plan.

---

When Shada had suggested a Girl’s weekend for the three of them - all single and well and truly wanting to avoid how sickeningly sweet Abigail’s new family could be - she’d jumped at the idea to get out of the house, give them some private time and also bond with her quasi-aunts who felt more like potential best friends she would never have to hide her past from.

Ombre had been so giddy, spinning about the hotel lobby crazily when Abigail’s taxi had pulled up and she’d entered. The blonde had been running about from place to place, speaking rapidly in French over and over exclaiming over this shiny object or that vase of flowers and taking photo after photo of everything and herself like she did every day. Abigail had laughed when she’d first been asked to see the blonde shadow’s Instagram account and had since spent forever laughing at both the goofy images of the other woman and the endless number of comments asking how a young woman like her could live the life she could that never got answered.

Abigail had been swept up in a hug immediately, and a pair of sunglasses slid over her eyes before the blonde took a snap kissing her cheeks, the color rising to a bright pink to match the bright pink lipstick left on the apple as the blonde span away with a squeal at an older woman walking past with a tiny toy poodle.

“I see Ombre caught you first.” The older shadow said with a laugh, the warm honey sound that Abigail could pick out of a crowd these days the same as any of her adoptive family. She rubbed at her cheek nervously, wiping the lipstick off as she slid her sunglasses onto the top of her head as she turned to greet the mastermind of the original weekend plans. “Hey Abby, how did you go getting here?”

“Not bad. Easy enough to get a taxi from the cinema.” “Oh good! I would have taken you with me-” “But you know I’m not a fan of your mode of travel.”

“Exactly. Can’t have you getting motion sickness in the first hour of the night!” Shada exclaimed in agreement, nodding as she pulled back from the tight hug she’d pulled the other into, and Abigail smiled back at the other. The shadow really was very accommodating, and she always seemed to focus on what was best and important for others. The same as Abigail knew the plan for the weekend was to get herself more comfortable in crowds with the comfort and support of the two shadows, as well as to give the trio back home to privacy for their fun. It was a shame, as she always thought, that the dark-haired beauty had no luck in finding someone who could appreciate how lovely she was. “Besides, we’ve got an amazing suite for tonight, and massages and a makeup artist and hairstylist and just an overall pamper session planned for tonight. I wouldn’t want you feeling unwell and miss it.”

“So, that’s the plan for this evening. What’s the rest of the weekend?” Abigail asked as she was guided along towards the gilded elevator as Ombre span about and twirled in her skirt with her phone recording in front of them and behind the two brunettes were two porters pushing a trolley loaded with bags that included Abigail’s one suitcase for the few days. “Are we staying put or-”

“Oh Abs, we’ve got plans to go to the beach for a few hours of sunbathing, and then Ombre wanted to go to some restaurant-” “Let me guess, its French?” “How did you guess? Anyhow, dinner for three and then perhaps some flirting at a cocktail party that we weren’t invited to.”

The brunette girl let out a laugh at the last one, shaking her head as the elevator closed behind them and the bellhop pressed the button for the penthouse suite. Abigail didn’t want to think how much this weekend was costing. Not the shadows and not her, but every place they were likely to go. It was something she would have once found unsettling and distasteful - her father’s frugality would cause him to shake his head at the excesses around her as the trio and the bag-man moved off of the elevator on the top floor; Hannibal would find the literal theft to be rude, and the few times the shadows had shown up laden with bags for themselves, Jo and Abigail the looks on Will’s face echoed those of her father - but after the way that the world had turned on her over her father’s factions and her fear? She no longer cared that the lavish surroundings and luxurious fabrics were essentially grasped without permission for the three of them this weekend.

“Your room is this way, miss.” The hotel worker spoke quietly, turning down one of the long halls from the elevator entry, and Abigail followed after him quietly while the other two girls made their way around the main living space of the suite and unpacking bags upon bags of something around the place.

Abigail settled in quickly, and the man left without even waiting for a tip with the same slightly glossy look that Abigail once remembered had covered her own eyes from a completely different form of manipulation. Her bags unpacked, the warm flannel sleep pants and t-shirt that Jo brought her for Christmas last year with a hunter's scope emblazoned across the front switched into, and her hair pulled into a messy bun before she looked out the windows of her suite with a sigh. Life had certainly changed.

---

The makeup artist had been phenomenal and there for hours, working in conjunction with the hairdresser to do look after look based off of anything any of the girls thought of. Their every whim was suddenly transformed, and Abigail had found herself sighing repeatedly at the sheer number of photos being taken around them as a waiter continued to refill the snack bowls with fresh fruit and dipping sauces, waffle slices to be slathered in fruit and syrup, and the cheese platter that Abigail knew was all types of French only cheeses specifically chosen for the youngest of them. There was music playing and Shada even initiated a brief dance competition with the stylists and the sisters for Abigail and the very pretty redheaded waiter to pick out of.

As the hour closed towards midnight, the makeup artist and hairstylist were finally sent on their way - eyes glassy but at Abigail’s request their purses filled with cash - and the waitress finally produced bowls of popcorn and refilled the snacks section one last time before leaving in much the same way. Abigail had watched sadly, trying not to stare obviously, as the young woman left without even a glance behind her with the same dull look as the rest.

“Oh Abby, don’t worry - I’ll make sure not to make her forget about seeing us at breakfast in the morning.” Shada piped up from her spot on the chaise section of the lounge, laid out and gorgeous in a way that would have made the brunette girl flush to see in the short lacy black and purple nightie if she was still nursing that awkward crush on her like a few months ago. “Perhaps we can even see about if she gets the night off tomorrow-”

“Shada!” “Oh oh, does mon petit ami have an interest in the jolie serveuse?” “Yes, Ombre, she does have a little crush on our waitress!” “Shada!”

The two shadows giggled conspiratorially as Abigail felt her cheeks heating up more and more, and watching the two’s gigglings soon had her joining in even as she found herself shaking her head ruefully before deciding to flip the tables on both.

“At least I’m woman enough to acknowledge it. What about you two!” Abigail cried back, pointing a French manicured finger at each of the now surprised shadows. “I get Ombre’s still very young and not quite looking yet-”

“Hey!” “You better not be, little sister, you’re far too young for boys and girls and all that nonsense.” “But-”

“But what about you, Shada?” Abigail interrupted and continued, staring back at the startled and then shifting to uncertain look on the other woman’s face. It was something Abigail found most interesting about the shadow, just how expressive her face was when she’d heard from Jo over a late-night drink that it was a learned behavior rather than one born of growing into it, but blinking unphased at the slightly sad shift to the woman’s face she didn’t want to back down right now. “You’re beautiful, you’re loving, and you’re far more caring and good-natured than a lot of people I know. There’s no reason you should be isolating yourself like you do, and avoiding the opportunities that come your way.”

“I don’t-” Shada began responding, rising in a sharp jerk from the previously relaxed and languid position she had draped herself across the couch in, eyes darting from the fiercely loving one’s of Abigail’s into the curious concern from Ombre. “I don’t avoid opportunities.”

“It’s fucking Valentine’s weekend, Shada,” the brunette girl responded, leaning forward across the small gap between their chairs to rest a pale hand atop the tanned and slightly shaking one of the other. “You deserve to have something special this weekend.”

There was a sharp inhalation of breath, before the sad look that flashed across the dark-haired beauty’s face suddenly swirled and twisted into one of happiness looking back and forth between the other two women. Abigail thought she might have pressed too hard, or said something too rough for a second before a tan arm was wrapped around her neck and she was jerked forward from her chair in a fierce hug, smooshed against the blonde’s side as the eldest of the three dragged them into a bear hug.

“Don’t you see, Abby?” Shada said softly, rocking the trio back and forth a little as she let out a small hiccup of a giggle. “I already have something special this weekend. I’m getting to spend it with my best friends.”

---

That hadn’t been explanation enough for Abigail though, and after Ombre had cried some and waxed poetically as she sipped on what the brunette was beginning to suspect had been spiked cherry juice rather than just the tart-sweet juice the girl liked so much, and after Shada had scurried off with the blonde in tow to get some giant bubble bath or hot tub or something along those lines from the high pitched giggling that Abigail had struggled to understand though, she found herself sneaking off back to her own bedroom for a moments peace.

A moment's peace to call the one person she knew would be able to come up with a solution and answer to the ideas that were bubbling up in her mind.

The first call went unanswered, and glancing at the clock, Abigail bit her lip uncertain if she should try again. They were probably back from dinner, or maybe just driving home, so perhaps it would be the worst time to call them given just how active she’d found they could be left to their own devices the few times she’d made it home earlier than expected or that week her noise-canceling headphones have broken and she didn’t want to bother anyone about getting her some more when she’d only been home for a few weeks. But if she left it any later, it would have to wait until morning - and that was far too late to be able to do anything about it.

Calling again, Abigail sighed quietly to herself hearing the tinny voice through the other end of the phone.

“Sugar, what’s wrong?!” “Nothing’s wrong, Jo, I’m okay.” “You’re fine? You’re sure?” “Yes, I’m good. I promise. You don’t need to sound so worried.” “Yes, you scared me-”

Abigail let out an audible sigh at that, smiling ruefully to herself as she moved to sit down on the end of her bed, looking out the window at the black night's sky and the twinkling lights of the city around her. Trust Jo to have jumped to the worst possible conclusion. All three of them were so protective of her, ever since she’d been driven up the driveway the first time and felt Will’s arms wrap around her. It had been a learning curve for all four of them to work out how to live together and just breathe when the others were away from home after her escape from Hannibal’s capture, but the inability to truly pin the doctor’s crimes on him made all three older adults jumpy if Abigail was away from home for too long without checking in. Or in this case, checking in earlier than expected.

“I’m fine, I just had something I wanted to ask you about. If it’s a good time-” “No, it’s okay now. Why are you calling?”

She wasn’t sure how to start but found herself quickly blurting out the first thing that came to mind. “I’m trying to get Shada a date for the weekend, or a treat that actually isn’t all fake. And I just don’t know where to start.”

There was a long pause, before the tone through the phone turned slightly wicked and amused, the humor running through the woman’s voice that Abigail somehow knew she was smirking slightly to herself in glee. “Oh, yeah, sure. I can help with that.”

---

And help Jo did.

It wasn’t a jump at all for the blonde to suggest the man Abigail was now watching flirt a little too obnoxiously with the dark-haired woman. In fact, it was the first and only person that Jo had said that they should try to get the shadow access to over the weekend. If she had been trying to organize it herself, she never would have thought of the hunter - him being a hunter and all, and the way he would sometimes scowl a little too harshly towards Grey the few times the brothers had visited the farm since Abigail arrived, and the way he seemed just a little too gruff and rough around the edges from Shada’s own polished and sophisticated ways - but Jo was adamant he was the perfect person to spice up the weekend for the shadow without the secrecy that other men in random clubs would entail. Without the falsehood of making up a fake job, or talking about fake family members, or even just not talking about herself at all.

Watching the two, Dean’s hand laid firmly atop the back of the barstool Shada was perched in, and the way the shadow’s legs were crossed at the knee and pointed and pressing firmly against the man’s torso, she knew immediately that this had been the right call. The way if Abigail lent a little further back to the side she could see the thumb of his hand stroking against the open patch of skin at the back of the dark-haired woman’s backless dress. And hilariously enough, the way that the much taller brother came walking over with a tray of drinks for the remaining three in their little sequestered booth - a rum and coke for her, a Shirley Temple for Ombre who was still busy taking photos of herself and the thin gold chains that made up the privacy breaks between them and the next booth, and a gin and tonic for himself - to say quietly, “You know, whoever thought of this was a genius.”

“You mean bars or for that?” The dark-haired girl replied, jerking her head towards the bar where she could see Shada tossing her hair back with a laugh she couldn’t hear over the crowd to be immediately set back in place behind her ear by the hunter’s other hand. Abigail smirked a small smirk to herself as she could see the color darkening in the shadow’s cheeks before she seemed to giggle over something else. “Because I can’t take credit for either entirely.”

“You mean you’re not centuries-old and created the concept of drinking ale in a tavern?” “Unfortunately not!” “Ah, too bad. I’d have had so many questions about how to draw a pint from one of those old casks.”

Abigail laughed to herself at the joke, shaking her head as Sam relaxed into the other side of the booth all by himself. She was surprised as usual how much space one man could take up and glanced back across at the pair they were spying on as surreptitiously as possible as she took a sip of her drink. “Too bad indeed. I can’t even take credit for the idea to get you and Dean here tonight-”

“Yeah, I figured the frantic late-night call last night was not your own thought process,” Sam replied, leaning forward to see past some of the gold draping chains to watch his brother and the shadow flirting up a storm, a small smirk in place. “Jo?”

“Definitely all her idea. Or at least, the idea that, uh, Dean might be a good, um-” Abigail trailed off, not sure exactly how comfortable she was suggesting she’d been trying to use the man across from her’s brother as a stud for her friend until she caught the wicked grin on the other’s face. “Well, she thought they would match well together. Or something.”

“Or something.” Sam parroted back, sinking back in his seat with a shake of his head and an uncomfortable look on his face. Abigail spotted the cause of it immediately, as she noticed Dean crowded a little closer to the other’s stool, if that was even possible, and his hand had moved fully off of the chair’s back and onto the exposed skin of the lithe woman’s lower back while Shada had a hand stroking behind his ear as they continued to talk about whatever it was they were clearly faking an interest in. “You know why she’s done it, right?”

The question threw her off, looking in confusion across at the other as the booth seat next to her dipped and rose a little as Ombre chirped quietly that she wanted to check the lighting in the bathroom and disappeared into the swell of bodies in a way that seemed entirely unnatural for a girl as tall as her. If she wasn’t back after half an hour, Abigail would need to go look for her, but the shadow was good at keeping out of trouble and taking out any trouble that did come her way. Instead, it left her mind whirling around what on earth the hunter across from her, sipping at his drink pensively, could mean.

“Why?” “Yes, why. Why Jo thought those two would flirt up a storm, potentially even disappear up to one of those hotel rooms you girls have-” “We got a suite actually.” “Well then, disappear up to there, and have themselves a good time. Why she thought that.”

Abigail frowned to herself at that, tilting her head slightly to look back at the pair who very much looked like a loved up couple from the outside or if not that, then an exceptionally good looking pair that had just met and were radiating out from them that nobody else should dare to approach either party despite the many other men giving Shada the once over and the few women nearby that ran an eye across Dean’s back as well. They looked like something out of a movie, where a man orders a drink and looks to his left to see the woman of his dreams sat right there - or perhaps more aptly the woman of his dreams for that night. And from the sultry eyes she could see the shadow directing towards the hunter, Abigail figured that was exactly where they were headed as she watched the dark-haired girl slide off of the barstool, Dean’s hand now firmly held in hers as they weaved towards the cocktail bar’s exit.

“Okay, I can’t think of it.” “It’s because of what Shada is, and what Dean is.” “Huh?”

Sam took another long sip of his drink, his eyes moving from the doorway that his brother had just disappeared out of towards her own wide-eyed blues, a look on his face that Abigail had never seen before. Something between anger, appreciation, and longing that she knew had nothing to do with her.

“Shada, as you know, isn’t human. And Dean has always had objections to the mixing of humans and those who aren’t. Like Grey and-” Sam spoke softly, swirling his drink in his hand, the lime and ice cube spinning gently around the crystal, as he bit the corner of his lip thoughtfully. “Jo and Will. Like Bobby and this woman he was once with. Like... Like me and Ruby.”

She found herself frowning at that, not recognizing the name at all, and reconciling that perhaps this explained how harsh Dean was sometimes to the man who was so sweet and kind and forgiving. To the man that was nothing but polite to the hunter every time that he was around, despite the almost hostile reactions that would sometimes follow him before Jo would chime up with ‘Bad hunt? Let’s talk’ and draw him away. It wasn’t always, and it was barely even often anymore, but it had still been there enough that Abigail had always wondered if he was an exception compared to Jo and his brother Sam, or if he was more the rule and Jo and Sam were the odd ducks out.

“So.. she suggested Dean to...” Abigail started, a small frown of her own forming as she realized she might have just been included and played in a game of Jo’s own matchmaking or scheming. “To make him more okay with Grey’s relationships?”

“Sort of. Though I think it was also possibly in order to make Dean more comfortable with the idea of that sort of relationship for himself.” “What?” “It’s a long story, but if he keeps up his prejudices then he’s going to miss out on the love of his life.” “I hardly think-” “Not Shada, Abby, but someone else. He’s got enough issues working through the fact it’s a guy, I think Jo might be trying to pull the non-human bandaid off with Shada’s help.”

“Well, that’s just using Shada!” Abigail jerked upright in her seat, affronted to have been played and manipulated all over again by someone she thought she trusted, blinking her eyes a few times as she tried not to let the prick of teas she could feel starting up fall. “That’s just-”

“Shada is a big girl, and I expect it’s going to take Dean a long while to work out his feelings. She’s also a lot better and more willing to read people, Abs, than Grey is.” Sam said soothingly, reaching across a large hand to rest against hers on the tabletop. “Shada will be absolutely aware that there will one day be an expiration date on this, but she gets to have some fun, she gets to be with someone kind and respectful in the meantime, and she gets to help her brother out as well.”

Abigail found herself shaking her head a few times, trying to see past the tears and think as calmly as she could. Sam was right, she knew that. And she knew that Jo loved Shada very very much and wouldn’t have said anything that might have hurt her. But it just stung a little that perhaps she, herself, hadn’t been let in on the larger planning but even then, she knew she didn’t know everything there was about the hunter and his history - so it made sense. She just wished there was a way to know that Jo wasn’t trying to hurt Shada, or herself, with her idea.

That was right up until her phone buzzed, and pulling it out of her pocket, Abigail felt her cheeks flaring up as she read the message flashing up on the screen - Jo ‘Hey, hope everything is going to plan! You’re so sweet to want to help Shada like this, I’m so glad we’ve got each other to help her now. PS - the name is Felicity and she finishes at 10pm, so get out to the lobby!’

Frowning at the last bit, Abigail looked up as she looked up at the blonde shadow’s return, Ombre looking far too innocent and sweet and a little out of breath that could not have been all from going to the bathroom and taking a million selfies. There was a second before she felt the other girl’s hand wrap around her forearm and tug her up.

“Abby, mon petit ami, I have a surprise for you in the lobby!” Ombre’s voice was the same sing-song tone she would get whenever she was being crafty or up to something that was sprinkled with mischief, and looking at her phone again, Abigail found herself smiling as she realized that Shada wasn’t the only one getting a set up that evening. Though she expected that the other brunette was well and truly having a much more scandalous ending than her own.

#abigailpov #ot3 grey/jo/will fic

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peggysousfan · 4 years

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Conman AU

Hi guys! I saw a post about a fic they wouldn’t write, several post actually, so I decided to pick them up and write them out. I give credit to that person who came up with these and the photo collages. All I did was write the story. The story is: Peggy and Daniel are con artists trying to get back on the straight and narrow. Then their old boss, Joe Manfredi, pulls them in for one more job. The target: billionaire Hugh Jones. Hope you all enjoy! :)

As the night begins to turn into day, the birds sing their morning serande, waking the two lovers in bed. The woman stirs first, snuggling closer to her man as he wraps his arms around her tighter. She rests her head above his heart and her arm to his chest; grazing a hand within his hair. He chuckles and tenderly kisses her head.

"Morning, Peg." He smiles.

"Good morning, my darling." She says in return, placing fervent and slow kisses over his torso. He chuckles again and brings her body flush with his.

"So what's on the agenda today..." Peggy reaches up and brings her face to his, catching his lips in hers. They kiss until they are out of breath, leaving Daniel to embrace her closer.

"I'm not sure...I thought we agreed to take it easy for a while. No more rough jobs."

"That we did," He caresses her back, making her moan softly and arch into him, "But we're running low on cash. And neither of us has found an actual...normal job yet." As he says this, she laughs lightly.

"Normal? Honestly Daniel." She rolls onto her back an turns to face him. "We're so use to this life, its much more difficult to go back." He turns on his side and kisses her neck.

"I know. But we gotta find something soon. We can't keep living in these run down motels." Peggy closes her eyes and sighs, asking him why not. "Because, Peg, you deserve better." And this brings another laugh from her. Daniel hovers above her as he speaks, both hands on either side of her face. "It's true, amor. You deserve the world. And I can't give it to you if we're living like this, struggling to make ends meet. I know we said we should leave our old life, start over together... but I think we need the money."

"Daniel...we agreed. I cant see you get hurt again. It nearly killed me seeing you like that." He lays his own head on her chest and places his hand over her waist. Bringing her some comfort before she indulges in that horrific memory.

"I know." He kisses her softly as he sets up on his elbows, looking down to her again. His hand playing with the necklace he stole for her. A small, golden, circle with an engraving. It reminded her of her old home in London so he took it while they were on an old assignment. Now he can't do that anymore. "No more thieving, manipulating, or conning. Just us and the real world."

"Together." She says, lacing their hands together, placing one more kiss on her lovers lips. When he pulls away, she chases after his lips, bringing a laugh out of him. They get out of bed and dress for the day. Daniel wears a plain, beige office shirt with a blazer, and some khakis. Peggy wears her lower cut pink blouse and her navy skirt. As the two walk about the town, getting ready to enter a diner, they're stopped by an old college... Joe Manfredi.

"Well this can't be good." Daniel mutters as they follow him to his covert cover of an italian restaurant. As they enter the building, they walk to the back and sit down at the table.

"I see you two have gotten...close." Peggy and Daniel share a smirk, but don't indulge in his observation. "Oh I see how it is. No kissing and telling. Alright, I'll respect that." And the two lovers chuckle. "So. Let's get down to business."

"And what business would that be, Manfredi? We told you we were out."

"I know. I remember." He looks at Peggy. "But I got one more job for the two of ya. And then that's it. I won't bother you again after this."

"Why us?" Daniel speaks. "You have dozens of guys who work for you. Why bring us back?"

"Well Danny boy...that's because you two are the best at what you do. And none of my guys would be able to pull this job off half as cleanly as I need it to be done."

"And what job is that?" She asks, leaning back in her chair, arm against the back.

"How does a billion dollar job sound?" Daniel and Peggy straighten up and share a glance. "Now of course, me and my guys get most of it. But you two can walk away with a million each. At the least." They perk up at their strike of luck and listen to the plan. "The billion dollar man himself, Hugh Jones. He's got an estate that we need to get into. Heavy security and of course...its locked up nice and tight. The only way in is with his special access key."

"Can't we duplicate it?"Peggy asks, brow raised as if its the most logical option.

"Unfortunately no. It's impossible to remake something as unique as this one. You'll never get a good enough replica to pull it off." At this they both curse under their breaths. "But, I was thinking you two can do your thing and sneak into his main office, steal the key, and be on your way."

"Sounds easy enough." Daniel exclaims. "We've dealt with a lot more than breaking and entering into a billionaire's front door." And Peggy hums in agreement. "So when do we start?"

"How's about today." And then they get to work.

Joe Manfredi draws out the plans for the estate and where the load of cash is; along with the main office Jones works at. They go over his day-to-day schedule and talk about when it's best to break in to find the access key. For hours they go over this, learning the ins and the outs of the plan; preparing to finish it all tomorrow. They all are offered plates of spaghetti, all except Peggy. She looks offended by Manfredi's Nona; so Nona says something that isn't in English, points at Peg, and spits on the ground.

"She thinks you're the devil." Manfredi laughs, and she simply rolls her eyes and focuses on the plan. When night begins to set in, Peggy and Daniel leave the restaurant; hand in hand.

"You wanna go out somewhere to eat?" Daniel asks. She turns to him with a smirk on her face.

"What? Are you not stuffed from eating Nona's spaghetti?" He laughs at her and shakes his head.

"You know I hardly ate any of it." She nudges him playfully as the continue to walk down the street.

"Besides, we have no money right now to go out." He looks at her with a sly smile as he stops walking, and reaches into his coat pocket. "No! Daniel!" She squeals. "Where did you-"

"Shh." He laughs, giving her the cash. "I took it off of that lady you bumped into this morning. Before went into the diner." As he says this, Peggy looks at him in wonder, frozen in place. "What?" She laughs and snogs him silly.

"Have I told you how much I love you today?" She chuckles.

"No, not today." He wolfishly grins. "But you can show me when after dinner."

"Why wait?" Peggy grins in return, dragging him back to their hotel room.

As they next day rolls in, the two con artist roll out and into their car. They use the money lent to them by Manfredi to purchase everything they needed for disguises. Daniel wears a plain office suit as an undercover man wanting an interview and Peggy wears a skirt and blouse with a wig, disguised as a secretary. The plan is to have Daniel distract Jones during the interview while Peggy sneaks in his office to find the access key. Everything is going smoothly in the beginning, until Jones appears as she looks through the filing cabinet.

"What's your name, darling?" She startles and turns to him, quickly going into actress mode.

"Good morning, Mr. Hugh- I mean Mr. Jones." Peggy says in her perfected american accent. "I was sent to grad a file for accounting. Something about the bank records being unorthodox and needing this file for a new personnel." "Oh don't I know it. I was just getting ready to do an interview now, but once I get back, I think I can help give you some special attention when I get back. Maybe a more...attentive job than fetching files for those dull slugs." She chuckles and watches him leave.

"Arrogant plonker." She mumbles as she gets down form the ladder and continues to search. For several minutes she looks, but finds nothing. And as if her luck hasn't been tossed already, Jones appears in his office.

"Oh, well hello again." He flirts. "Can I help you with something?" He walks over to her as she smiles. She stares blankly for an excuse, but comes up blank.

"Well I was, uhm..." But then an idea surfaces in her mind, and she half leans against his desk. "I was just waiting...for the special help you said you would provide." She smiles, flirtatiously, as he walks closer. She's trapped and has no idea what to do next; that is, until she reads the sign on his wall. It read 'the key to success is on you'. Peggy then realizes exactly where the key is located; Jones has it on him. He stands in front of her, and raising to her waist.

"I see. Well how about we go look over those...files and get started." He winks. And while he is distracted she shoves him, causing him to loose balance. He looks up from the floor, surprised. "Well if you wanted to get straight to the point then-" But she cuts him off with a solid right hook; knocking him unconscious.

"Disgusting pig," She mumbles as she stands over him looking for the key. She finds it hidden in his belt and takes it. When she leaves, she finds Daniel waiting in the car. "Ready to go?"

"Damn right." Daniel exclaims. "I hate this dull ass office." She laughs at him before placing a kiss on his cheek.

"Our new salary awaits," She smirks. And with that, they drive off to meet Manfredi.

When they get to the cover restaurant, they all go over the plan on the estate they'll be breaking into. It's a large building with tight security, an electrical fence, and vaults with their own lock. They needed the spacial key to get into the front door, then they're on their own.

"Sound like a plan?" Joe says. The lovers exchange a glance, but shrug nonetheless and agree to the plan.

When the arrive at the building, the disarm the electrical fence with a device stolen from the SSR. Daniel ushers Peggy to go through the back way while he takes the front, and then they will meet up inside. Everything seemed to be going as planned, but Daniel still hasn't showed. She starts to get worried and leave her post, when he suddenly appears.

"Daniel?" She rushes over to him and examines the cut above his eye.

"Come on, we'll deal with my injuries later. We have a job to do," He smirks before kissing her, then unlocking the door with the access key. "Ready?"

"As ever." She says, still worried about him. He drags her along and they work their way through the maze of a building, before they finally reach the vault the need. It's the biggest of them all, which means its loaded with all the cash. "Alright...lets get our paycheck." She smirks. Peggy pulls out her lock pick and breaks in without any problems. She looks to her love and they both smile before taking the loot.

"Jackpot." Daniel exclaims. They grab everything they can and make a hasty exit. As they leave, Manfredi and his crew are waiting on the other side.

"Well look what we have here." He laughs. "I knew you two could pull it off." He looks at all the cash and then back at them. "Of course you got nicked." Manfredi shakes his head at Daniel and they all laugh; including Daniel himself.

"Yeah yeah, whatever. Its one cut." They all laugh again and are handed their share of the money, along with a bandage for Daniel. The gang leaves with their hare, leaving the lovers alone.

"Your're hurt," Peggy says, rubbing the bandage above his eye.

"It's okay, amor. I'll live," He chuckles. But he can still see the worry in her eyes. "Hey...we got the job done and walked away with 2 million dollars. 2 million, Peg!. We are set for life. No more run down motels, no more struggles, no more dangerous cons; just us." She looks at him, hesitant, but smiles under his gaze.

"Promise?"

"Promise." And the two meet in the middle for a tender kiss; which only grows hungrier by the second. "Lets go home." She laughs and they get in their car, driving away to start their new lives.

#peggysous #peggy carter #daniel sousa #Peggy x Daniel #au fanfic #not my au #someone elses idea #just my story #peggysous > steggy #fanfic

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mokkoriness · 5 years

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ROCK AND READ vol. 079 - Nao Interview

Photo credit: ROCK AND READ Twitter

Celebrating 14 years since formation. Roughly three years have passed since changing their band name to A9. At the solo live show held in June this year, the members excited the audience by showing us their singing and dancing. However, this may have surprised many people, and left them wondering "Why would A9 do that...!?". To Nao, the fact that he is a band in itself is irregular. We asked Nao, who has the role of A9's "special effect", about the strength of the current A9, who can happily give a performance unbecoming of a band without being afraid of being misunderstood, as well as the intentions behind that.

The theme of this photoshoot was done based on Nao's request. What is behind this theme?

Nao: Though being in our 14th year, including Ken (L'Arc~en~Ciel), we've met a variety of people, and I feel like I've gotten a little more flexible in my way of thinking. The mood in the band right now is that we'll do away with common practice. So the image I had in mind is that I will also take on a new challenge for this photoshoot. In the past, I had this way of thinking, like "We are like this", but it's only because we have self-confidence we can absorb many things and want to take on new challenges. Or rather, we can be dyed any colour. That's the mode we're in.

I think that there is no mistake in saying that Nao was the one who created the turning point to allow the band to get into that mode. Here, I would like to explore the variety of transformations that A9 have recently made, from your point of view. But before that, let me ask you about how you yourself have changed. If you could name a moment that was a turning moment for you as a drummer, what would it be?

Nao: Simply put, it would have to be the point where in order to create an even better release, I thought to learn about recording, bought recording equipment, and created an environment where I could actually record and listen to my own playing.

Oh. And that must also be another reason why you created "Nao Studio", which even now, you still use for recording.

Nao: That's right. When making a release, in order to communicate to engineers in more accurate words, such as "Please make ○○ into xxx instead", instead of in abstract terms like "Make it more solid" or "With a gentle feeling", I thought that I myself had to have the knowledge about recording and equipment. That's why I made a studio. And that is where I learned about equipment.

Did you create the studio after graduating from PS Company?

Nao: That's right.

But after graduating from PS Company, the band had fallen into the danger involving the continuity of the band itself, right?

Nao: That's right. After going independent, we were all optimistic. After that, we hired a manager and did our band activities, but it did not have the feeling that we had imagined. Thinking about it now, the mood we had at the time was a gloomy one. I am always carefree, so I thought "It'll probably turn out okay in the end", but not everyone thought that way. It probably really was a rough time for us. I am also responsible for accounting in the band, so I proposed a new system for doing our band activities.

You proposed it?

Nao: Yes, I did. I drafted something like a business plan and proposed it to everyone.

That's amazing! Why are you responsible for accounting the first place, though?

Nao: Probably because I'm cut out for it. As a person, I'm better at math than I am at drumming. Gahahaha! To be honest, I'm not really the kind of person to be in a band.

Do you mean that you are not cut out to be in a band?

Nao: Yes. If I had to say, I think I'm the kind of person that does not have the traits of a band member or artist. Because I'm the kind of person where people had always said to me that I'm more fitted to be like a researcher who quietly does his work alone. So now, I am living a life that even I had not imagined for myself. To go further, I am living an irregular life right now.

Meaning that while living out this irregular life, the Nao that thought up of a business plan to present is more like the life that you imagined for yourself, or rather, the kind of thing you would be doing in a regular life?

Nao: Yeah! I am better at thing kind of thing. I've always been good at math. My grades in trial exams were really good. I really like math, so for example, just looking at budget plans made in Excel or a list of numbers, my intuition just gets to work, like "These numbers are strange".

But a part of the reason why A9 was able to escape from that danger regarding the continuity of the band, is precisely because there was a competent member like you, who can write up a perfect business plan and manage the financials, in the band, right?

Nao: Hmm... Well, since they leave that stuff to me, I do think that they trust me. If they entrust something to me, I am confident that I can do it. I wanted to allow the members to immerse themselves in music without having to worry about this kind of thing.

So reliable!!

Nao: I wanted the members to work on song-writing without having these worldly thoughts. So if I had to say which, I'm more of a background person. I am more suited to being a staff member. Uhahahahaha!

Even now, do you think that as a band, it was a good thing for you to depart from your management company?

Nao: Yes, I think it was a good thing. We were also able to learn that our band was ignorant about how the world worked. It's only because we have gone through many struggles since going independent until now that we feel even more grateful for the 10 years that we spent in our previous company. When we were in the company, they took care of the things around us, and we were able to freely focus on music only. We also didn't have to worry about our livelihoods, and we also had the time to go drinking with people and such. Now, I don't have that kind of time. Now I'm doing musical activities, accounting, and also managing goods, I've got my hands full.

So when you're not bashing on the drums, are you just sitting at home all the time bashing the calculator?

Nao: Yeah! It's exactly like that! I really do have a full plate. When I'm not playing the drums, I'm summing up all the expenses, and I've also go to draft business plans for our company. I really am bashing on the calculator (laughs).

I would think that leaving your management company would be a big turning point for the band. From your point of view, have the members also changed since going independent?

Nao: Yes. They all look at the reality, and no longer say unreasonable things, so for me, I really feel that it has become easier to talk to them. When we were in the previous company, we didn't see the reality, so we could casually say things like "I want to play a live with a massive LED screen behind us". We've been saying that since over 10 years ago (laughs). Well, the company also listened to the things we wanted to do, and it felt like they had granted us our wishes. Even so, I was on the side that thought "Isn't it impossible, in terms of scale?".

So you were a realist.

Nao: Yeah. But I think that it's more important to chase your dreams. Because if you don't have any dreams, you can't do fun things. The key thing here is balance. Now, the members are more realistic, so it's easy to do band activities. Unlike the past, there's not been a clash between exactly opposing opinions. I think we are now discussing things upon understanding reality a little more. That's why it feels like we were finally able to learn about the world after going independent. And we have gotten stronger, as people.

All of you.

Nao: Yes. When you're in a management company, you have the weird sense of security. But when you go independent, you have that sense of danger of not knowing when things will end. The moment someone says "I'm going to quit", it's over. Because it's not a strange thing for a member to say that, even if you were to do activities with the same direction in mind. In that respect, right now, we have this sense of danger that despite wanting to continue, it will become physically impossible to continue. Unlike when we were in a management company, since everything we do is done out of our own will, there is nothing like any obligation that we have to keep going. You can't say that it won't end. That is why each and every one of us became stronger. The same goes with Tora and working on videography, but I think that it's important to consider what it is that you can do and to build up such skills.

Does the way that you feel like something was worth doing differ from now, when you are doing things of your own will, and when you were in a management company?

Nao: I think in both situations, things are worth doing, but the amount of freedom we have now is different. Now, for better or for worse, we decide on the things that we want to do for ourselves, and we even create a schedule for this, so we have quite a lot of freedom. Now, apart from our band activities that we do of our own will, we are nobodies. Having been in this band for 14 long years, we are having fun now.

Even though it's tough?

Nao: Yeah. But it's fun. I am glad that I can be in a band for this long and still think that it is fun.

Looking back on these last 14 years, were there any times in the past where it seemed like the band would disband?

Nao: I personally didn't feel it, but-- I don't know if it was going to be "disbandment" or "quitting", but there were members that went through a period where these feelings were strong.

When was that?

Nao: That was at the time when we had gone independent and things just weren't working out for the band, and perhaps they even felt that way when were in our management company. I haven't directly heard this from them, so I don't know the whole truth, though. I only accidentally heard about this very vaguely.

Why do you think you have been able to continue for 14 years?

Nao: Even if not in a band, no matter what you do in life, isn't there always going to be at least 1 or 2 things that you dislike? Even so, in the end, it's probably because I think "I need to have the other 4 in my life". Is this answer too positive (laughs)? But I really do think that way.

So you yourself have never once thought that you wanted to quit the band?

Nao: Me? I don't think so. Although if it did end, I would think that it is what it is, but I don't think that I myself would ever want to quit, and I don't think that I would think this in the future either. I have always been saying this, but I have decided that this band will be my last band. I chose the path of music despite strong opposition from my parents, so if I were to not close the chapter of my life with music, having done all I could and with no regrets, people might say that I had made the wrong choice back then. And I would hate that. At that time, I also had my pride, which was music. Thinking about it, I'm bad at giving up. I don't really give up. Although when I think something is no good, I am very quick at deciding to give up on it (laughs).

So you don't take the all-or-nothing gamble.

Nao: I hate gambling. But I like casinos. Because I have the confidence that I will definitely win. It's not good to be greedy. I draw the line myself and stop when I have reached that line. If you just keep doing that, then you definitely won't lose. I don't go all in, but gradually build it up. That's just my personality. I am a cautious person.

It's very interesting that being as cautious as you are, you created the opportunity for A9 to become free.

Nao: Huh? What do you mean?

Because everything started when you did your impersonation of Sunshine Ikezaki. That is where A9 got more interesting.

Nao: Oh~ (laughs). What, really? I'm the one who made things weird?

Yes, without a doubt (laughs). If I remember correctly, you first started doing that on the A9 Tour 2017 "BLACK PERIOD".

Nao: I get the feeling it was around that time.

At the time, you were boasting that you knew of Sunshine Ikezaki many years before that.

Nao: Yeah, that's right (laughs). I learned of him by chance, and I thought "He's really funny! He's probably going to do well". And then he got popular. As expected, it's about the potential. When I first saw him, no one was laughing at his act. The silence was deafening. I thought that it was amazing that he did his very best, despite the silence. It was that attitude that hit me first. I don't want my playing to be influenced by the condition or groove of the crowd on the day. Aren't there also bands that are affected mentally and have their playing affected by the poor response from the crowd? I don't like that. What's important is to not get sucked into the response from the crowd, but to always do your very best to the best of your abilities. In that respect, I think Sunshine Ikezaki is amazing. Regardless of the situation around him, he communicates his craft at 100%. I really think that if there isn't such mental strength and potential in the band, then things definitely won't go well.

I see. I understand that Sunshine Ikezaki's mentality left a deep impression on you. But why did you think to do an impersonation of him on stage?

Nao: I don't know. I probably did it on the spur of the moment (laughs).

And when you did, it was received well. After that, at every live, you had your own "justice skit". When you were playing at events at the time, the band even reduced the number of songs on the setlist to make time for that skit.

Nao: Oh yeah (laughs).

I think the start of the turning point in granting freedom in A9 lives was that.

Nao: Oh, I see. But I think that opportunity was born out of my natural feelings. I have always had a big part of me where I felt that I always have to be calm when it comes to the drums. But I want to get rid of all of that and enjoy myself. Or rather, I simply want to create a fun space, and I think those feelings just couldn't be contained. Because I don't want to do the things I don't like. Although there is not much that I don't like (laughs). So I want to live happily, and I want the people who support us to live happily. I think doing these things naturally came to me from that.

I see. So on that tour, you also played with young bands, and during the set of DIAURA and DEZERT, you barged out on stage wearing your justice sunglasses and started singing. What was that about? You're a drummer, right?

Nao: Oh, yeah. Ahahahahaha. That's true. But I don't want the bands in the younger generation to be more mindful of us than is necessary. Since it's boring if it's just them playing and then us playing, I thought that I might as well take this as an opportunity to be more friendly with them. And that's why I think I ended up doing that (laughs). I also heard that the Visual-kei scene is starting to get more sombre, so I thought that we have to transcend the boundaries of generation and work together to liven up the scene. This is also something that our seniors did.

And you, who was livening things up with your Sunshine Ikezaki impersonation, was especially chosen for this task.

Nao: No! My existence is like a "special effect". Before I knew it, I had this special effect quality, just like the coloured tape you see at live shows (laughs). Among our members, I'm not the cool type, and we have some members that probably shouldn't destroy their character to that extent. I'm not the kind of person who says "It has to be like this". Also, for example, if Show were to do this, he would probably go, "No, I need to make the proper preparations so I can deliver something that is perfect". But I think this is something that was done because I could probably be able to do it on the spur of the moment.

Is that so? But with that performance as an opportunity for your big break, you carry the performance to "UNDEAD PARTY" as well.

Nao: Yes. Somewhere along the way, the song ended up being that way.

It gave birth to the performance where you leave the drums, come out to the front of the stage and egg on the audience.

Nao: I guess it's like that because it's a party song. I think my existence suits the feel of the song.

You're a party animal?

Nao: Yes. Even though normally, I don't give off the party animal feeling (laughs).

What do you think of boldly and heavily featuring in "UNDEAD PARTY"?

Nao: At first, I hated it. I was like "What?!". As a drummer, I don't really want to go to the front of the stage. After all, I like the feeling of sitting at the drums. So I thought it wasn't suitable for a drummer to come to the front of the stage without even holding my drumsticks. So at first, I was nervous. But the mood when you're at the front suddenly changes, and it seems like it goes down well even with the people seeing us for the first time, so it's fine. Even when we played live at Nico Nico Chokaigi, there were many strange comments saying "What is this comedic feeling?" (laughs).

Have you made any discoveries, after actually coming and standing at the front of the stage?

Nao: It feels good at the front of the stage (laughs). Because you can directly feel the heat from the audience. When you get closer to the audience, it's hot! There was something like a barrier there. There was a barrier between the stage and the audience. When I took a step outside of the barrier from the stage side, it was really hot (laughs). All of a sudden it got steamy. I was surprised, like "So this is the true heat of the audience". Also, I could see real clearly all the way to the back. When you are playing an instrument, your nerves focus on performing, and to be honest, there are times where you don't really have the time to look at the audience. But when you're egging on the audience, although it's not like you are having a conversation with them-- and I don't know whether they are looking me in the eye or not, but even so, when you egg them on while making eye contact with them, I feel that you can have a conversation with them. In many ways, I've gotten mentally stronger.

But there are also times when you make eye contact with the audience while drumming, right?

Nao: You know, it's really embarrassing to make eye contact with the audience when playing the drums. Or to think that you are being watched when playing the drums. That's why when we make eye contact, I end up looking into the distance (laughs).

So then why do you make eye contact with the audience when you are at the front of the stage egging them on?

Nao: It's not embarrassing at all when I'm at the front of the stage and holding a microphone. I wonder why. This is a mystery.

And things escalated further during the tour this year. In the song "CASTLE OF THE NINE" on your new album "PLANET NINE", you jumped into a performance where all five members sing and show a full-blown dance.

Nao: Yes. We've come to be able to sing and dance. We also have our own microphones. Just as I talked about at the very beginning of the interview, it's only because we are in the state we are in now that we can do our activities not being bound by common practices.

Honestly, what did you think when you were first told that in this song, you would do a full-blown dance?

Nao: I thought that I definitely wouldn't be able to dance. Well, there, we had an instructor teach us about dance, formations, and steps, spartan style. At first, our time was devoted to practice. Although when we first started, I did wonder if we would be able to learn it in time.

And at EX Roppongi Theater, the early stage of the tour, you performed this dance for the first time in front of an audience. How did you feel at the time?

Nao: I didn't have much time to consider that since I was so nervous.

But it got a huge reaction from the crowd, didn't it?

Nao: Yes. I was surprised, since we got such large cheers, similar to the time we played shows overseas.

Were you also scared that you might have faced some criticisms by setting down your instruments, despite being a band, to dance? Like "What the hell are you doing? You're a band".

Nao: I didn't have that. When I watched a video of the dance that the instructor had sent us, it looked difficult to the point I wondered if I could really do it. I thought that if we were really able to learn the dance, then we would be able to show everyone a proper dance, so I didn't really think about criticism. Since this is a proper performance and not like a random dance, I didn't have any of those concerns. Actually, with this dance, it started off with us thinking that it didn't seem like we could pull it off, and we were thinking about having the instructor make it simpler. But in the meantime, we tried it out. Just when we thought that the instructor would make the dance simpler once they knew that we couldn't do it, in the end, the instructor wouldn't let us leave until we were able to do it (laughs). After that, I'm quite sure we all practiced at home too.

You did too, right?

Nao: I did, I did. I thought that rather than my brain, I had to make my body remember it.

By the way, were there any members that where already good at dancing from the start?

Nao: Hiroto was good at dancing from the beginning. So was Tora.

Ah. The active Hiroto and the person responsible for introducing party songs into A9, Tora.

Nao: Yes. But I really did think that you never know what will happen in life (laughs).

So A9 have achieved a shocking transformation over these last one to two years.

Nao: Have we changed? We don't really feel like we've changed though.

I don't think there are many bands that have been able to undergo such a sudden change right before the band's 15th year anniversary. If anyone else apart from the fans were to know that A9 were dancing on stage, I think they will be really surprised.

Nao: But the five of us just want to have fun. I guess that's all it is. And "CASTLE OF THE NINE" is just one form of that.

Are you a band with that kind of fun element?

Nao: It's something you can't tell about yourself, but people say that we are a "friendship-type" band.

What does that mean?

Nao: That we're apparently the friendship-type of band (laughs). Some of our lyrics are about friendship, and people say that the mood in the band is one of friendship! Somehow, our band exudes that feeling of male companionship. I guess it means that the five of us exude this feeling that we are on really friendly terms.

When it was decided that you would do a full-blown dance, it wouldn't be strange for even one member to be opposed to it, since you are a band. But when A9 made the decision to do it, no one had opposed it, and you all saw it through to the end. Maybe that is where people see the friendship.

Nao: I did think that if I was allowed to dance, I wanted to dance. Hahaha! Huh? If I'm allowed to sing, then I want to sing! That was the feeling. The feeling was that if I was allowed to do such things, and not just be in a band and play drums, then I'd want to do it.

That all members can share that feeling is the strength of A9, and what makes you interesting.

Nao: Really? I don't know about that.

In this case, apart from time to voluntarily practice your instruments, you also made the time to voluntarily practice dancing, and no one had any opposition to it. Why do you think everyone was able to do that?

Nao: For me, I simply thought that it seemed like it would be fun if we could do it. That is all. I could never imagine myself to be able to dance, but I wanted to try it, because it seemed like it would be fun.

In your case in particular, that you are walking this path as a band member and a drummer is irregular, right? Then on top of that, you add even more irregular things, such as standing on stage to sing and dance. To you, A9 must be like a Pandora's Box, which keeps opening up new opportunities in life that you had never even imagined.

Nao: Yeah, that's right! That's exactly right. That's why I never get bored doing this.

So what will you do next?

Nao: We are planning more fun things. We are already preparing for it. When we had a meeting for it, it really started to escalate. "Since we are doing it, let's go all out. It will be more fun that way". On top of that, we are also trying to work on more fun things.

Is that how it always starts off, when you take on new challenges?

Nao: Yes. From someone saying "Won't this be fun if we did it?". Although "something fun" sounds like a happy thing, sometimes, "something fun" is something that not many people are doing. We would like to do those kinds of things. Though we are a band, we would like to do interesting things, not being bound by the common practice of what bands should be like. When we start talking, we get all these ideas that make you go "What?! We're going to do that?". Like if we did this, we would find it fun, and it would surely go down well with the audience.

Since it's something that people aren't really doing, you can try taking on the challenge with feelings of excitement and that it will be fun.

Nao: Yeah, that's right.

Do you get a different kind of joy when the audience reacts well to the songs, dance, and performances?

Nao: It doesn't change. Because I do these performances as a part of the band.

I see. So when you look out into the future of doing fun things without being restricted by the boundaries of being a band, what kind of scenery would you like to see?

Nao: Hmm... Hmm... I want to live the kind of life where, when I've arrived at the last stop of my life, right before my death, I can say without any hesitation that "I played music in this life". That isn't just limited to the drums. So I would like to get the strength so I can continue on with music. With the cooperation of many people. The same goes with the dancing, but I was grateful to have an instructor that was willing to work with the five of us, who have a hard time remembering things, and seriously teaching us how to dance. I think that because the instructor also thought that it would be interesting if the five of us were able to dance, they worked that hard. With the cooperation of many people, I would like to do more new things going forward. At the very end of it all, if I could build up a variety of experiences and be able to think that I really led a rich musical life, then I would be happy.

As you head towards your 15th year anniversary, do you have plans to keep opening new doors, not being bound by the common practices of bands?

Nao: We do have such plans. It's going to be tough though. But if we can pull it off, it will be amazing, and it will be fun. I hope you all look forward to it.

#A9 #a9 translation #alice nine #alice nine translation #nao #rock and read

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twitchesandstitches · 5 years

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Red Lantern Alighting

In the dark, there was loss.

In ages so often made dark and grim by the selfishness and vainglory of those who measured personal achievement in mountains of the dead, there were plenty who looked up from the bottom of the heap, and found something there.

Jackboots ground down on their faces, and the warlords who destroyed their lives cared nothing for the suffering they wrought. Tyrants, fascists, conquerors and world-wreckers all simply did their thing, and like incredibly inattentive farmers, did not realize what they were sowing.

The people ground down on the bottom learned well what it meant to suffer. To lose everything. And in the pits, in the slave arenas and at the end of an overseer’s whip, they learned the shape of hate.

And one day, on so many worlds stained with suffering, made into something filthy by despair and torment, a red star bloomed in the sky.

And those who suffered the most, burning on the inside, found a clawed hand extended to them.

And in his claws, there was a ring offered out to them.

“Make them pay.”

-------

It was a common rumor, perhaps to pass the time, but there was enough of an edge to it to suggest some panic that remained in the news, all the same:

Ten thousand worlds are burning.

To many across the places touched by the Eunoianet, the magical web of communications, stories, and media that connected the Fleet worlds and kept their culture alive, there was some mild interest. Plenty took the news literally, and organized fire brigade fleets to put the fires out.

Blaster, an Endowed Autobot with a keen interest in xenosociology particularly as related to culture and music, thought something was off the moment she first heard the specific phrasing, and its connections to conflicts on a chain of interstellar empires.

“Ten thousands worlds,” as she told her team, “Is a kenning.” Her team gave her politely incomprehensible looks. With a look of delight, one of her daughters (a minibot named Rewind) eagerly leaned out of her seat, visor shining bright, faceplate wiggling excitedly.

Wicke, possibly one of Blaster’s closest friends in the theoretical engineering sub-sets, opened her mouth to say that she knew what it meant. Blaster shook her head repeatedly. ‘Let Rewind have her moment!’

Rewind spoke up. Like many minibots, she was human-sized; about seven feet tall, but so incredibly thick that she was almost that wide too (at least at the chest-mounted Energon tanks and her impressively massive hips), her heavily plated exterior indicating her preferred alt mode of a tanky attack drone. As she began to speak, her present siblings (both of them beastformers; a moody red robot rhino named Ramhorn and a yellow leonine tracker called Steeljaw) rolled their optics. “Did you all know? A kenning! Is a common term for a culture-specific metaphor, usually tied to folklore. Typically it is a shorthand for a more complicated concept, you see!”

Wicke, shifting about and balancing her gargantuan breasts onto legs easily thick enough to be bust-supporting shelves, nodded. “And what might this kenning refer to, dear?”

The other two of this particular mission winced at Rewind went into a needlessly and painful convoluted explanation with too much time spent on unnecessary asides on cultural context. Bismuth, rolled her temporary optics and tried to nap. A tricky thing considering that to save on space, she had installed her Gem into a fembot shell that at least matched her amazonian, outrageously curvy true form, but one of the things it couldn’t do was sleep. Smaller even than Rewind was arguably the most famous of them all; Toshinori Yagi, better known by his professional name All Might; once a massive tower of muscle and masculine charm, his self-sacrificing job as a Fleet champion had left him an emaciated wreck, his powers too dangerous to access often. Nonetheless, his experience made him a highly skilled mech pilot to channel his spirit. He was doing his best to pretend to be listening but was clearly suffering.

The gist of the lecture, in any case, was this: ‘a thousand worlds is slang, in this little intersection between a dozen or so little empires, for all known worlds’.

“So,” Toshinori said gravely after some thought. “It’s a great deal more serious than even ten thousand individual worlds!”

Bismuth’s fembot shell shrugged its expansive shoulders. “Honestly, you sure it’s even appropriate for us to get involved? I mean, I’m all for intervening, but the people in this area…” Her shell’s emoticon-displaying face cycled through a number of uncomfortable expressions. “They’re not gonna be welcoming or appreciate us.”

“The power structure could use a shake-up,” Steeljaw observed, his voice cultured, deliberately refined. This was the voice of a cat-bot who could somehow hold a cup with his pinky-claw out. It was a strange thing to see from someone who had grown up in a society where setting yourself on fire was considered a good icebreaker. “They’re… well, I shouldn’t SAY they are dreadful tyrants, by and by, but alas…”

“Can we kick their ass?” Ramhorn said hopefully. “Please tell me, we get to do some tyrant toppling!”

They looked at Blaster, to see what her vote might be. She thought about it and shrugged. “Personally I’d rather do what we can if trouble comes to us; I won’t say no to rescue, even if the folks around here yell at us. But actively dismantling their empire, however deserved, is really not a good idea. We’d need to work things out better before we decide if we have the RIGHT to do that or not.”

The ship approached the first world to investigate, and Toshinori’s eyes widened, the modded dark patches around them accentuating his shock. “I… do not believe we will have the opportunity! Look!”

They looked out.

The flames were bright on the windows, even from super-orbit.

They had seen continents, entire landmasses, on fire before.

They hadn’t often seen the landmasses in question rearranged to spell out an extremely crude message.

“...Ah,” Wicke said, wincing. “I suppose the worlds being on fire was not entirely a metaphor, then.”

The ship found stable orbit, relatively safe from most sensors, and with their on-board alchemizers and raw materials, it was a simple matter to build an observation station to live in and wait to come to some kind of a conclusion. If there was a problem with the Fleet’s organization, Blaster mused, it was that waiting for every participating citizen to come to some kind of a consensus took forever, even with cybernetic telepathic stations to work it out. At least with this small group, it was easier to work it out.

Rewind and Blaster were considered the best at stealth to go down and put the fires out; Wicke was undoubtedly the most powerful but her raw power made her inefficient at HIDING her presence, and they weren’t sure if they were ready for confrontation. Bismuth waiting for the all clear (and once she got it, she alchemized terraforming rainfall that put the fires out in days), and Toshinori had many sterling qualities to make him such a paragon, they put his face in the Big Book of How To Hero. Holding back or being stealthy was NOT one of those traits.

Before Bismuth got to work, Rewind gave her report to the others:

“Most strange, so very strange indeed? Did you know, it is very strange for there to be no one left on the planet?”

“The place WAS on fire,” Bismuth had said. Sourly, she had added, “Maybe they were attacking each other… this whole region is a mess of conquerors trying to kill each other. Yeerks looking for better hosts to enslave, elven supremacists, orks that kill everything just to get a better fight out of it…”

Rewind nodded. “Yes, certainly! But, there were NO bodies! Not on the scale that we ought to have seen!” She had paused, looking uncomfortable. “At the very least, those bodies were not killed by the fire.”

Wicke frowned. “What do you mean?”

Rewind was equipped with recording abilities, in her role as a scout. She did warn them first, though, that it would be graphic; Wicke often was employed as a coroner to study the bodies of metanatural encounters, Bismuth was a vetern of many revolutions, and Toshinori had been a hero for a very long time. All of them were acquainted with brutality.

Even so, they were taken aback by the horrors on the screen. “Oh… Arceus’ peg…” Wicke said softly, as they showed them ashen streets and bodies that were by then mostly… pulled apart. Heads were mounted on spikes, and were the only recognizable bit. Everything else had been torn apart, burned so badly and then pulverized into a meaty pulp to coat buildings and streets.

The Fleet was a rough place, and its heroes tended towards extreme fury and ferocity as a rule; nonetheless, this was extreme, even by the standards Wicke knew. “I thought you said fire hadn’t killed them?”

“Analysis indicates that they WERE burned to death, but not by the fires we see. It was a different sort of burning inconsistent with what’s ravaging the planets.

Bismuth had examined several other such photos. She was a ferocious fighter, even by the standards of her Dinobot partners (long since married to them, by this point), but even the greatest savagery of Grimlock or the combined fury of Volcanicus had a point; the shock was intended to terrify the enemy into retreat, or encourage allies to greater morale. This felt more like just randomized lashing out.

Toshinori didn’t much like what he was looking at. “Infighting, perhaps? This is just so… excessive, though. Why would they kill each other so brutally?”

“Rivalries? Combat doctrine?” Ramhorn suggested.

“Or maybe whoever killed them was really angry,” Bismuth suggested. “I’ve done stuff that… okay, not as bad as THIS but… when you’ve been ground done long enough, you’d be surprised what happens when you let that monster off its leash.”

Toshinori considered this. His eyes widened. “Oh…! Rewind, Blaster! You said there were no bodies found, yes?”

“Indeed, sir!” Rewind said. “No bodies besides these!”

“No ashes, then?”

“None that would fit the profile of the bodies, or any traces of incinerated corpses on the scale of an entire population.”

Toshinori looked thoughtful. “Perhaps there are no survivors because they have already been evacuated from the world.”

Bismuth brightened up. “Oh! That’d be a relief.” Perhaps thinking along the same lines as whatever was prompting Toshinori, she compared the visible mounted heads, stabbed on display by whoever had been angry enough to burn the whole planet down, and compared them with all Fleet records of multiversally-wanted villains.

Most of them matched someone on the lists, with the ones who weren’t at least suspected of awful crimes. Bismuth did not much dwell on the evil deeds attached to them; it was sickening to behold, but it was enough to know that very evil men and women had died this day. “Check this out. I compared the skulls to records of some serious bad guys, and they’re all… yeah, the multiverse is better off without them.”

Toshinori nodded. “As I suspected.”

Steeljaw was several times the size of Toshinori (who was tall for a human, but puny by Fleet women standards), but he gave him an adoring look nonetheless. “Sir, do you perhaps have an idea?”

Toshinori looked thoughtful. “Let us at least consider the idea that the downtrodden of this world may have had their opportunity to rise up, at least.”

“You think so?” Wicke said, raising an eyebrow. “This much destruction is rather excessive.”

“People who have suffered terribly, all their lives, often do not have much reason to hold back once they have the opportunity to strike!”

“True enough.” Wicke had turned, and other matters called their attention.

Bismuth’s terraformers conjured forth enough rain, with a mild connection to the Elemental Plane of Water, to put out the fires and render the planet suitable for all of them to at least walk on. Several days onwards, they landed to investigate properly.

As they suspected, there was no life on the planet anywhere. Blaster had flown across the planet in her preferred aerial form with a massive armory of sensory drones, and there was no signs of life; no organic presence, no living movement, no hints of the electromagnetic activity that marked the presence of synthetic life forms. And the ashes of burned things did not account for all the inhabitants being dead, either.

Several days, the mystery continued to deepen as they continued the search on other worlds, and the pattern on the first repeated itself. Uncannily the same, at that.

And it WAS a pattern; Wicke was certain.

Above them, far in the sky, a red star seemed to appear; the figure within watched them dispassionately, weighing their hearts.

They shone bright and good. But, he judged, they did not have the burning anger he sought out.

He contemplated the Gem, however. There was the spark of fury there…. Perhaps later, then.

The red light flew away, leaving the battleground behind.

And in the meantime, unaware of this, Blaster’s team continued to search. Unexpectedly, they found something interesting on one of the cities that hadn’t quite been exploded.

Blaster was over sixty feet tall, her minibot offspring incorporated into her body in cassette forms and channeling their power to her, so she could achieve a far greater size and curve level than normal, and she had to be careful not to let her waist-level bustline demolish things worse. Slowly she leaned forward, studying something on the wall. “I found something!”

Bismuth was in her true form now that she had room to grow, and she stood over a hundred and twenty feet, not even a trickle of her full power being used. SHe wasn’t just an amazon, she was a gigantic gray-blue beauty, her multi-colored dreadlocks shining bright, her gem core just barely visible in the cleavage of two massive breasts with lower slopes extending past her mighty thighs. Power crackled in her hard light body, and she was cheerfully refusing to reign it in. (“This much awesome DESERVES to be on display!” she had boasted, and kissed her biceps.) “Whatcha got there, Blast?”

Toshinori approached. While he did have his own powers, they were so strong as to be a serious threat to his emaciated body, and he preferred to channel them through powered exoskeleton frames; in this case, he operated a mech slightly too large to be considered power armor, but small enough to operate on a human scale, which seemed to be the standard size on this world. It looked like a brightly colored egg, with powerful limbs to channel his energies through and punch things, and a colorful aura of energy created a luminous V-shape above him from the back.

Its sensors relayed it to him. Toshinori studied it. “Graffiti, or perhaps a calling card.”

Wicke, standing at a very far distance from everyone else in case she suddenly needed to grow to fight (and would thus need a LOT of space; she could exceed planetary size without even putting in effort), linked up to Toshinori’s mech to see it for herself. “It IS more recent. I think this was left as a message.”

It was all red against the slag; a bright cherry-red color that would have been friendly if not for it being carved into the collected skulls of, apparently, the most cruel and hateful tyrants in the entire system. It had been burned into them, in fact, possibly by whatever had set the planets on fire, and then painted over.

It looked a little bit, then, like a round circle. Two vertical lines were set on either side, with additional zags moving outwards over that. There was a short message, written in an unfamiliar script similar to the Daedric alphabet. “A curious sign,” Rewind communed to Blaster. “It resembles that of the Green Lantern Order.”

“Green Lanterns?” Blaster said aloud.

Toshinori shifted. “Green Lanterns, did you say?” He looked at the sign. Bismuth and Wicke were running a translation cipher, comparing the letters to the most likely solutions. “They were an ancient order of heroes! They predated the Cataclysm by many eons; I suspect the last of them perished trying to fight that disaster, though they left behind relics and lore.” He patted his chest proudly. “My heroic predecessor, One For All, supposedly refined the power I carry with Green Lantern secrets!”

“So perhaps whoever did this was evoking their legacy?” Blaster said. Well, Ramhorn asked, and she relayed it.

Toshinori considered it. “I think that is possible, but it would be an odd thing. The symbol is different; the Green Lantern sigil was a, well, a lantern, with horizontal lines above and below.” He pointed out another thing: two circles inside the sign, at angles. “Nothing like that there. And it was green, of course. Not… well, red.”

Bismuth glanced aside. “It does look like a lantern, though.”

“Yes,” Blaster said thoughtfully, surrounded by charred landscape, burned by the rage of those suffering for so long. “A red lantern.”

“Got it!” Wicke said triumphantly. “The script originates from Beforus! A curious thing; It hasn’t been spoken since Beforus.was lost; it is similar to various forms that have derived from it since then, but… oh, just a digression, not that important.”

Rewind perked up, eager to hear more, but Blaster was in a hurry. “So why Beforus? It’s not anywhere near here, and these worlds didn’t have a significant troll population.”

“Yes. That is the difficult part. And the language is fairly obscure; there are a few figures who survived Beforus and gained the ability to avoid aging who would still speak it, but I can’t imagine what they would be doing here.”

The Condesce, Blaster thought. The Dolorosa, mother of vampires. The Grand Highblood. The Blue Arrow and executioner of the degenerate. The Psiionic, sailor of the stars. And the others, the founders of modern troll-kind and preservationists of their culture; most were within the Fleet, and all of them had at least spent some time with it, in the past. Most were accounted for.

But not at all.

Bismuth frowned as the translation software ran. “The symbol thing is a bit wonky; someone chipped away a few bits here and there. See?”

“Yes,” Toshinori said. “It looks a bit like like an incomplete circle, then. I wonder if it was sending a message?”

Blaster leaned in. “And with those little circles inside, it kind of looks like the astrological sign for Cancer, doesn’t it?”

“Ah, it does!”

Blaster chuckled. “Now that’s obscure, what does that even-”

Oh. OH.

Bright red colored. Mutant red.

A sign that looked like what trolls called the Iron Manacles, the Crab Claws.

And Beforan script, as would be remembered by someone who had actually lived through the fall of Beforus.

And now, she realized, she had seen this level of brutal destructiveness, this unfettered and passionate rage.

She kept it to herself for now. “Is that translation ready?”

“Yes,” said Wicke. She cleared her throat, and spoke aloud. “Bear in mind, this is quite a rough translation, and the software likes poetic meter, but nonetheless, this should get the spirit across.”

Wicke translated thusly:

“With blood and rage of crimson red,

“Passed on by those long dead.

“Together with our righteous hate,

“We will burn them all.

“No one else will share our fate.”

Wicke finished. “And it is signed… I think it translates as the Anointed. Of… the Red Lantern Corps? I don’t suppose you know anyone by that term.”

“None that fit the situation,” Toshinori said. Bismuth said much the same.

“Kankri Vantas the first.”

Blaster said this heavily, with mounting shock.

The name called to mind a fussy and passive-aggressively angry young troll, a bit older than the likes of Terezi and her generation. “Uh, are you sure you have the right guy?” Bismuth said. “Kankri, you said? Chubby, really pretty? Has a really bad case of pent-up anger he needs to deal with?”

“Not him,” Bismuth said. “The other one.”

“What other one, I don’t- oh.” Bismuth’s eyes widened. “Oh.”

“The Sufferer.” Toshinori said, horrified. “He’s here!?”

“Or he was. It fits his… preference for rising up. But on a bigger scale. And of course, the Anointed is what Beforan religious practices named him. He’s never liked being called the Sufferer or the Signless.”

There was silence, then, for a time.

It was not bad news, exactly. But it was certainly concerning.

The Signless, the Suffferer or whatever you might call him, had come here. He had… slaughtered the worst of these worlds, and had done something with everyone else. The wording indicated numbers; the ‘we’ and all’. Perhaps… he had been recruiting?

For what?

They stared at the sign of a red lantern, shaped to be like the sign of suffering among trolls; an icon of enduring the unspeakable, a sign for those fighting to make a kinder world even if you did it on a tide of blood.

Kankri Vantas of Beforus was the kindest of his people. A living prophet to some, handing down law and covenant to mortals, fulfilling ancient prophecies and setting people free. He was a just man, a good man.

And he was also someone who had waged wars so bloody that even the Condesce, a woman no stranger to cruelty and ferocity, had been afraid of his savagery.

“Let’s get back up and upload our findings to the Eunoianet,” Blaster suggested. “We need to figure out what to do from here. And someone give the word to Karkat Vantas that I need to have a talk with him,” she said wearily.

“We’ve found his ancestor.”

-----

(It should be noted that some elements of this fic aren’t exactly in chronlogical order.

Yes, the Signless is the leader of the Red Lanterns here, rather than Atrocitus. As it is, they are the only extant Lanterns, but the others will soon arise, more likely than not. This much is certain!

However, I’ve planned for Signless’ Red Lanterns to predate the Fleet, at least as a fully functional organization. He may either have been making it during his initial time with the Fleet, or at some point, the proto-Fleet’s founding families discovered relics that the Signless was inspired to create the first Red Power Battery and rings from; it could be that he’s only recently made them fully practical and is expanding his Corps’ reach.

They are intended as heroes; merciless, angry and destructive, but they are good guys all the same. Their job is to make the monsters fuckin’ BURN. They are not antagonists, but the Fleet does not yet know what to make of them!)

#queued #my writing #fics #crossthicc AU #twitchy!wicke #twitchy!blaster #twitchy!bismuth #twitchy!all might #twitchy!su #twitchy!pokemon #twitchy!transformers #twitchy!homestuck #twitchy!signless

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champagnediva · 5 years

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If you want to drive in Santo Domingo “Don’t” . Nerves of steel is an understatement, at least for me.

Red lights ! oblivious. Lanes !! only a suggestion. Imagine you open a room full of crazies and distribute driving licences, cars and motorcycles and just say “go out there and drive, Don’t Worry about the rules , there are none” I know you think I’m exaggerating or being funny, NOT!!!. Utter chaos. Although I must say I didn’t see any bodies on the road so I suppose there must be a method to their madness . Anyway that was my experience . Aside from the driving part it was a good experience. They do have a good transit system ,so if you are not a daredevil maybe you could travel by train or Taxi , lots of people use Uber ( Orange cars). Renting a car is cheap but by the time you add insurance it becomes a bit expensive. Another thing which I think needs mentioning is safety, driving around in Santo Domingo, I was told not to keep my window down, I guess driving my convertible is out of the question 😦 .

Santo Domingo random street photos

train station

Drove around Santo Domingo a bit. fascinating electrical work. How the heck to they figure this out?

The casino next to The Sheraton.

The first night we spent at the Sheraton Santo Domingo on the Malecon. Star quality hotel ,very welcoming staff. I always prefer to eat local but we decided to have dinner at the hotel restaurant with friends ( not a big fan of hotel food). Can’t say I was disappointed, the ceviche was pretty delicious.

Shrimp Cocktail

Cevice

A good night sleep on BTW was the most comfortable bed I have ever slept in, at a hotel.

Breakfast , then off we went to las Terrenas. The purpose of my trip was to go check out the possibilities of buying a property.

On the road keep the speed limit ,radar is everywhere ready to catch you. If you are stopped , they just want money. Of Course we were stopped, they somehow know when you are a tourist. I was told that most people just pay and go, and I did notice that they didn’t really want to give us a ticket. We could have just paid and left but instead we pretended we did not understand Spanish or what they were saying, frustrated the crap out of them, after 15 minutes of frustrations, no ticket, no payola. The words “La Prensa” (my Press pass ) got us on our way. Guess they didn’t want a write up. LOL .

We finally arrived in las Terrenas after more than 2 hours of driving from Santo Domingo.The tolls from Santo Domingo to Las Terrenas are about 25.00 Usd or about 1200 Pesos. Make sure you have Pesos , they don’t accept USD.

Las Terrenas

A resort town on the Samaná Peninsula, in the northeastern part of the Dominican Republic. A beautiful safe town inhabited by lots of European retirees. I found it quite interesting that in most place I went in town, most people spoke French,of course English and Spanish .

The French bakery and of course the local Cigar shop.

Graffiti in las terrenas

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LODGING: Residencia El Balata

A very unique property about 2 km from the beach, you can actually walk to the beach. very Original in design , natural woodwork . The owner is very friendly and very accommodating. English, French and Italian are spoken. Of course Spanish .

its the perfect spot , quiet and very relaxing . The property gives you the feeling of really being away from civilization.They have a large parking and no problems with Wi-Fi. We did not opt for the breakfast but they serve a wonderful breakfast for an additional $5.00 and for an additional $10.00 you can request AC, we didn’t need it, as the temperature was quite comfortable with the windows open and the ceiling fan. Our room was very clean , modern , large and comfortable. The wood theme was carried throughout the rooms and the entire property. The prices are quite affordable. There is also a 3 legged Rottweiler , who is very shy.

On my next visit to las Terrenas I will definitely stay there again and highly recommend it..

What would a beach town be without beach bars and restaurants?.We took a liking to MOJITOS specially for their Mojito Happy Hour. This is a Cuban restaurant owned by Carlos he is originally from Cuba and travels back and forth. you can also get dinner there.

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Most people seem to prefer Motorcycles and ATVs as a mode of transportation. This makes the center of town a bit noisy.

But my favorite for prices and food,is the retaurant Le Tre Caravelle a convivial little spot for Italian food. The decor might throw you off a bit , as it looks more like seafood than Italian,but dont let that sway you, the food is fabulous, and at 0.50 pesos for $1.00 you can have a lovely inexpensive little vacay.

Whale Watching in Samana

we booked a trip with whale Samana with Marine biologist Kim Beddall In Samana Bay. One of the top 10 places in the world to watch whales. The humpback whales comes every year to give birth in Samana Bay making them, honorary citizens of the Dominican republic.

The sea was really rough , I was being thrown around like a beach ball , my friends were like “What the heck? ‘they laugh at me since I seemed to have been the only one flying around. Thank god they gave out sea bands for sea sickness ,usually I travel with my own, but forgot them on this trip. Unfortunatly and before knowing that they were going to distribute sea bands I was given a Dramamine pill ( hate to take those ) since I become sort of a useless zombi for the entire day. Oh Well.)

after ge got back to santo Domingo we still had one more night so we checked into the Crown Plaza Hotel . I would have prefered an older hotel in the colonial zone but the one we wanted was full. Anyway can’t go wrong with the crown plaza.

One more drive around the city to visit and take pictures before heading to the airport.

The Colonial zone is definitely worth a visit. The rum museum Museo Del Ron Y La Cana is fabulous, we got yo taste the various flavored and top of the line aged rums. They even had cilantro flavored rum. I bought a bottle of pineapple rum but had to leave it behind ( no checked baggage ) NO charge for the visit. Unfortunately my trip was very short ,I would have liked to spend a little more time to take pictures in the colonial zone and learn a bit more history.

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As you walk down Calle El conde ,The first commercial street in the New World and a popular pedestrian shopping area, 10 blocks long and cuts right through the Colonial city. The cobblestone road is lined with restaurants, cafes, souvenir shops and also street art vendors selling colorful paintings. There are plenty of historic sights along the way , starting at Calle El Conde’s entrance at Parque Independencia, onto the Parque Colón and first cathedral, to its edge at Calle Las Damas.

The home ofDiego Colon

At the beginning of every block there is a Munecas Limé .

You maybe wondering why the dolls have no face?. In the 1980’s s sculptor Liliana Mera Limé (hence the name) created these faceless dolls. The are called munecas Limé. They represent a people of diverse ancestral blend from the native Quisqueyanos, the Africans, and the Spanish Conquistadores. The dolls, have no faces so as not to show preference to one branch of their ancestral lineage (i.e.. discriminating against the black or native american ancestry). Great souvenir to take back or to collect. they are found everywhere.

Unfortunately my trip was very short ,I would have liked to spend a little more time to take pictures in the colonial zone and learn a bit more history. Next time.

One last little note about tipping;

Another interesting Tidbit . On all bills , restaurant and other purchases , there is a fee added of 10% P/Legal and a service charge of 18 % which they call a tip. You are actually paying an additional fee on your bill of 28% ( You are still expected to tip). Its was very confusing when i first got my first bill in the restaurant. thinking the tip was included. I understand that the wages are very low so even if you give an extra 10%.

I hope that you found this to be interesting and It encourages you to take a little trip. I would really appreciate your comments and recommendations.

Nerves of steel, Dominican driving.It’s more than that. If you want to drive in Santo Domingo "Don't" . Nerves of steel is an understatement, at least for me.

#cigars #colonial Art #Graffiti #las terrenas #Mural Artist #rum #santo domingo #tipping #travel #Travel Art #wellbeing #whale watching #whales

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