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aguinhaac · 10 months

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Do you guys remember when I said illusion was the worst miraculous episode of all time? I take every single letter of this phrase, this one, THIS EPISODE IS GARBAGE, MANURE, SEWAGE, WORST OF THE WORST. I’m dead fucking serious.

Look I love the pharaoh, it’s an amazing villain, it has minions, it has super strength, IT CAN FLY, I think the villain idea was incredible and I wouldn’t have problem bringing him back, but every single villain that is brought back in this show it makes a bad episode.

Well, I guess is time to start, today I'm going to review the eighth episode of miraculous season 5 Reunion. I’m gonna need therapy.

The episode starts with Alya and Marrinete in the history museum, I know it has a name, I just don’t care enough to search it, we find out that Marrinete and Alya were searching more about the holders and I thought to myself “oh wow, cool, Marrinete trying to improve herself that’s rare” but I didn’t knew the physical pain I was about to experience, they find out that one of the ladies in the painting was the rabbit miraculous holder, how did they found out she used the rabbit? Because in the painting she was holding a bunny,

We then have this amazing piece of dialogue.

Marrinete: miraculous holders were always pictured solo but there had to have some love stories between some of them.

Marrinete: a ladybug and a chat noir in love it must have happened at some point, right?

Alya: or maybe they just focused of their job and kept they “lovey dovey” stuff out of their superhero life, like you should

Thank you Alya, THANK YOU FOR SUTTING THIS SIMP UP, we are literally 1:20 minutes in, and I have so much to talk about it

First up, tell me why? WHY THE HECK IT IS THE BIGGER TOPIC? SHOULDN’T IT BE idk, GETTING THE JEWELS BACK? MARRINETE WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU? JUST IN THIS SEASON YOU ALMOST LOST 4 TIMES (evolution, jubilation, determination and passion) THE REASON WHY YOU LOST WAS BECAUSE YOU WERE SIMPING ADRIEN. THEN WHY DO YOU THINK BEEING IN LOVE WITH CHAT NOIR WOULD BE ANY DIFFERENT? WELL GOT SOME NEWS FOR YOU MARI SU, IT WILL MAKE THINGS EVEN WORST! WANNA KNOW WHY? BECAUSE THEN YOU WILL JUST GET DISTRACTED IN BATTLE, WHEN YOU WERE SIMPING OVER ADRIEN IT WORKED BECAUSE YOU WERE NOT IN SUPERHERO MODE SO THERE WASENT ANY LIVES IN DANGER, BUT HERE? 2 MILLION PEOPLE ARE DYING IN THE STREET, AND SHE WANTS TO FLIRT- “Oh BuT YoU cAnT cOnTrOl FeAlInGs sO tHaTs aCtUaLlY rEaLiStIc” guys, a rule of good writing that everyone should know is, BEEING REALISTIC ISN’T THE SAME AS BEEING GOOD, EVEN IF MAYBE, SOMEWHERE AROUND THE PLANET, SOMEONE WOULD BE THIS STUPID, THAT DOSEN’T MEAN IT IS GOOD, MARIENTTE STILL JUST LOOKS LIKE AN SELFISH STUPID PIECE OF SHIT.

And don’t even get me started on Alya, “oh mix u romance life with ur superhero lif-“ OH YEAH? SHE SHOULDN’T MIX ROMANCE AND SUPEHERO STUFF? THAT’S FUNNY, FROM WHO DID YOU GET THIS LINE ALYA? NINO? U BOYFRIEND? YOU KNOW, THE GUY YOU REVEALED YOUR SECRET IDENTITY? EVEN WHEN YOU KNEW YOU SHOULDN’T? AND IT’S NOT EVEN LIKE “hey don’t make the same mistakes I did” NO, SHE IS JUST AN HIPOCRITE. AND NO ONE IN THE WRITERS ROOM REALIZED THAT, and considering that she will only get more of a hypocrite throughout the season, I can see more clearly than the crystal lake, that I am going to talk a lot about you miss,

Mari su then asks Tikki if a Ladynoir even happened before and Tikki says that she is being supid, ok I am not such a fan of Tikki but that line made me increase my respect for her, good job writers

Tikki: maybe she could answer if you asked her yourself.

Marrinete: can we do that?

Tikki: yes, Marrinete with you kwagatama.

Tikki: just touch the sew with your kuagatama and say reunion!

Ugh. I had just increased my respect for Tikki, and she- I- what- but- the- WHY? IN SEASON 4 MARRINETE WAS STRUGLING ON BEEING A GUARDIAN, AND THE WHOLE TIME, SHE COULD TALK TO PAST LADYBUGS, AND YOU JUST SAID NOTHING? I- I don’t know what to say at this point can we just skip to the next scene? Thank you

Marrinete then bumps into a painting making it fall and activating the alarm, mari then find a letter to alix father and gives it to him. Inside of it there’s pictures of alix traveling across time, and I think it's super funny that it’s said that in the time the pictures where take there was no photograph, imping that or alix phone battery can take traveling through time and space, or she straight up stole someone’s camera XD

We then have a scene with Adrien but it’s pretty much just to tell us he will be a part of the episode. The scene then cuts again to the class seeing the pictures and then the conflict of the episode starts,

Alix brother asks his dad why, his sister, was running around time, maybe in danger, forced to live a life that she didn’t choose ( yes alix choose this but his brother didn’t knew it) just because ladybug lost the miraculous, because of ladybug alix had to give up of her friends, her dreams, her family, of him, and everyone is just so calm about it, no one looks like gives a shit, and now she’s gone, he probably will never see her again, He is trying to get his sister to get back home, he tries to tell everyone of how messed up is that, but no one cares, he fells like he is the only one that cared about her, he just wants his little sister back.

Or at least I wished it was like this, what really happen was like

AB (alix brother) : sis has been brainwashed

AD (alix dad) : no she was not,

AB: she was,

AD: she was pround to help

Marinette: she is helping ladybub

AB: how is she helping if she’s not even here? Dosent make sense to my ginormous brain.

AD: where u getting stupid theories?

AB: from internet

Ugh, why? The message is good, “don’t trust everything you see in the internet” but the execution is garbage, instead of this looking like “hey the internet is full of fake news so be carefull” its goes more like “everyone that complains about anything is wrong, and if you form an opinion basseting on something of that crap you are a little stupid baby boy too innocent to do anything” and I hate it so much. Why instead make the lesson about acceptance? Jalil were upset that his sister is gone and no one seem to care, making him feel angry about the person that toke his lil sis away from him, ladybug, from that he could get akumatized into Horus, the Egyptian God of justice, known as a protector who fought evil. But then after a hard battle, ladybug would call for help from the only miraculous holder still available, bunnix, bunnix could talk to him and explain that she did this because she wanted to, but Horus wouldn’t accept this so easily, his little sis would NEVER ABANDON HIM, right? She wouldn’t had left him, right? We could then have a flashback of the two of them when they were little, playing, happy, alix would then de transform and say she now has a new life, one she likes living, and that he needed to move on and be happy just like she was now, he would then reject the akuma, and then in tears, they would hug, knowing that probably this would be their last.

But nop, let’s make an episode bout joe and Marrinete doing some stupid quiz for 22 and a half minutes.

Marrinete and Alya then rush to use reunion, Tikki says it is a bad idea but they do it anyways. Also, I just want to point out how stupid it is that you need the statues to activate it, like what the hell?

Marrinete then activates reunion in a in a very well animated scene ngl, and just to break the clime Marrinete jumps in a scene that the writers thought would be hilarious but it isn’t.

Marrinete then is able to summon joe and we find out that others can’t see joe just mari su in a very forced way but whatev, and I gotta admit joe is very charismatic and I honestly felt bad when she thought was giving advice for a ladybug with a real problem but it was just stupinette asking for love advice.

Tikki then starts to tell joe how stupid Marrinete was being and was the only part that I laugh, but not because the scene was funny is just because I’m stupid and that kinda stuff makes me laugh, no credits given >:(

Marrinete: come on Tikki I’m not running away from my feelings

Alya: you’re running like you had an army of supervillains on your tail.

Marintte: fuck you, you ran away from your feelings for nino in season one so shut up.

Joe then gets sick of it and tells Marrinete to just undo the reunion, that I totally agree, Marrinete didn’t knew she was just a memory of the past ladybugs, she genuinely thought she was reviving a dead person just for love advice.

The scene then cuts to alix brother reading some reddit theories, look I know he’s name is Jalil I just don’t care- he appeared in like- 2 episodes, I couldn’t care less about him, at least the reporter always appears so I can give a shit about her, but him? He is just a door character, a character that is so plain that there’s nothing to say about him, he doesn’t deserve a Wikipedia page.

no really who is the non-lifer that really research the life story of a BACKGROUND CHARACTER?

alix brother then tells to monarch akumatize him and Gabriel does because villain, transforming him into the pharaoh and giving him the power of the turtle, man don’t you know that the turtle lost its value 2 seasons ago? What comes next? You’ll give an akuma the dog miraculous?

OH, HELL NO-

He then activates his powers, creating a shield around the akumatized object which would be smart if the turtle had some value, and creating a magical pyramid around a part of the city, which no one can enters or leave- WAIT A MINUTE, DIDN’T HE WANTED REVENGE ON LADYBUG? THEN WHY DID HE LOCK HIMSELF UP? “Oh, it’s because then ladybug will try to enter and will get captured” NO, THERE’S LITTERALY NO ENTRANCE, WHAT IF LADYBUG WEREN’T CLOSE THERE? AND ITS NOT EVEN LIKE ONE OF THOSE AKUMAS THAT “I don’t care about getting the miraculous I just want revenge” NO, THE PHARAO WANTS REVENGE ON LADYBUG, SO THAT’S JUST THE WORST PLAN OF ALL TIME

Also, can I comment on how stupid it is that his concept is true? It’s not like Jalil wanted to confirm that ladybug was lying, he KNEW ladybug was lying, his objective was bringing his lil sis back and get revenge on ladybug, yes, he tried to warn everyone but omg wouldn’t it be a Brazilian time better if his concept was like revenge? Or longing? Or how I mentioned before acceptance? Writers, w h a t ?

The scene then cuts and Marrinete…. This stupid moron tries to use the LADYBUG kwagatama to talk with the RABBIT holders.. the writers think that everyone watching this show IS A 5-YEAR-OLD, actually no, EVEN FIVE-YEAR OLDS COULD FIGURE THIS OUT BY THEMSELFES, WHY ARE YOU EXPLAINING THIS? THE WRITERS THINK WERE STUPID. Iit is OBVIOUS that this wouldn’t work, the writers really want us to belive, that Marrinete, the person that was able to that “tHe PrOfFeSsIOnAl lIeR LiLa” were lying, the same person that was able to figure out 100+ lucky charms, THE PERSON THAT TURNED A SEWING BOX INTO A FUCKING PASSWORD SAFE

THIS PERSON, THAT DEAL WITH MAGIC FOR 10 FUCKING MONTHS, ISN’T ABLE TO USE HER TWO BRAINCELLS, AND THINK THAT THE LADYBUG KWAGATAMA, COULD ONLY SUMMON THE PAST LADYBUGS HOLDERS? Because of that for the rest of the review your name will be stupidnette and stupidbug BECAUSE I AM LAZY TO INVENT CREATIVE NAMES

That’s another big problem with this show, the characters just can’t stay consistent, the show claims that max is a super genius, capable of creating an robot with emotions, but at the same time he believes he can get hurt by a napkin, in an episode chloe and sabrina have a toxic friendship but chloe still cares about her, in the other sabrina is just chloe’s slave, in an episode stupidnete wants to be a better hero, and in the other she is just simping over a fury-boy.

Adrien and stupidnete then transforms, but joe still there so we have to deal with her for the rest of the episode, what? The animators did a whole 3d model just for this scene, did you really thought she would appear just for a scene? NAAH

Alix’s dad then tries to enter and talk to jalil, kinda late to that? Look there’s some worst father ever trophies, I was thinking to give em all to Gabriel but, if you want you can get some.

But really, he just appears to show us how pharaoh new powers work, the book gives you a question, answer is right you can pass, answer it wrong you gets captured and… really? Look I love the pharaoh, he had a cool contempt and the powers? AMAZING, he has minions, he can put other people in slow motion using bubles, he has super straight, HE CAN FLY, you win me just in the slow motion bubbles, but this.. his powers are nothing, in a cartoon of action I thought it would have… action… but the episode is just a quiz, that’s all, this is so stupid, like in the next scene chat noir answers correctly and he can just pass, and pharaoh just stands there like, oh no!

ALSO, why the heck are all the questions about Europe? shouldn’t it be like idk.. EGYPTIAN QUESTIONS? LIKE HIS WHOLE COMSEPT IS ABOUT OLD EGYPT, WRITERS? WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?

We then see what’s going on with stupidbug, the books give her the question who was the king of France in 15 march 1423 and then joe starts to WASTE TIME. WHAT? WASEN’T JOE SUPPOSED TO BE A SERIOUS HERO? THEN WHY IS SHE JUST WAISTING TIME? THAT WAS CLEREALY A SERIOUS SITUATION, AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Kill me

Stupidbug then is able to pass the door meets with chat, for a moment chat thought stupibug was going crazy but she explains that she is just talking to a ghost, they send alix a letter and helps them answering the question, there’s more but it’s so unnecessary that it isn’t worth mentioning, a true waste of time.

Stupidbug and chat noir encounter pharaoh and joe TRIES TO ATACK HIM, WHAT? SHE KNOWS SHE IS JUST A GHOST, WHY DID SHE TRIED DOING THIS? IS JOE STUPID OR SOMETHING?

Then they start fighting which takes like 5 seconds and chat noir tries to catalysm the turtle shell which is protecting where the akuma is. But pharaoh just creates another one, dude you can just use your cane, u did it before, JUST DO IS AGAIN.

Pharaoh then grabs chat and threat taking of his miraculous, and Gabriel screams that he got her, dude she can’t hear you, you’re just making a fool out of yourself,

Stupidbug then tells pharaoh if he wants so hard to find the truth about ladybug why don’t he ask in the book, no man he just wants to prove that you’re lying he wouldn’t release the cat boy and check the book just because you said so- AND HE RELEASED CAT BOY TO DO WHAT SHE SAYS, WOW, NOW THATSSSSSSS SOME BULLSHITTTTTTT

Pharaoh then asks the book and it answer that ladybug was telling the truth, making he break free from the akuma, stupidbug then uses the miraculous ladybug and gives Jalil a letter that alix wrote for him. And the three idiots do a pound it

The scene then cuts to joe complementing stupidnette and she tells her story, I’m gonna resume it because it is pretty much useless anyways.

Dark grimwalker was the black cat holder which fought for the United Kingdom, his king told him to attack France, to protect her country joe was given the ladybug miraculous becoming scarlet faith, they fought for years until they realized were being manipulated by both king of England and France, and ended up falling in love, they tried to keep a secret but they ended up caught, joe was sentenced to death but was able to escape, then they both gave up their miraculous and runed away, I wished the cartoon was about this instead of being about AND ANOYING PIECE OF SHEET.

Tikki then tells that this wasen’t the real joe but a memory of her when she was a holder.

The scene then cuts to Adrien where he is simping and Plagg gives him a kwagatama and that when the episode ends

Wow what a hot mess, this episode was trash, really I didn't remembered this episode was so bad, everyone is a moron, the timing is bad, the new character is interesting but the show don't do anything with it, alya is an hipocrite, Adrien is in the episode just to say he's there, stuppidnette is a simp, the episode is boring as ass, what can I say? This was torture, this episode caused me physical pain, I'm giving it a 1.5/10 monkey balls. Thank you for seeing, see you in the next post.

#miraculous ladybug #mlb #miraculous #miraculous salt #mlb salt #ml #mlb sucks #miraculous ladybug salt #ml salt

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mirkwoodshewolf · 2 years

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You’re an asshole, but you’re my asshole; Stephen Strange x reader

*Author’s note*

Hey guys well this was one of the first tumblr requests I had gotten since I started opening requests up. And with MOM now out, this fic was SLIGHTLY inspired by it plus Ep. 4 of Disney+’s WHAT IF...? And yeah it’s a long one but I hope the anon who requested this loves it in the end as well as the rest of you guys.

Warnings: SLIGHT SPOILERS OF DSITMOM (again nothing MAJOR just America Chavez and her backstory but if you’ve read the comics I guess it’s not really a spoiler? idk I’ll still include spoiler tags if need be), kidnapping, OBSESSIVE YANDERE STRANGE!! angst ends to fluff, talking sassy kitty-cat (you’ll find out).

Taglist:

@plethora-of-things

@waddles03

@queensdivas

@psychosupernatural

@ixchel-9275

@peter-parkers-cullen-nerd

@jd-johndeacon-or-jackdaniels

@queen-paladin

@austynparksandpizza

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God Stephen Strange is the most arrogant, egotistical, hypocritical asshole that has ever walked the universe! Always with me he’s gotta find some sort of flaw and compare it to his ex-lover? Partner? Whoever the hell she was, Christine Palmer. Now I get you can’t ever really let go of your first love but come on Strange. You were the one who fucked it up and I was there to pick up the pieces for you.

And even once we managed to get together, you still had to compare me to her. And even as you forced me to go with you to her own wedding (to SOMEONE ELSE MIND YOU!!) you had the gall to lie and say that you were happy. Yeah I know when he lies.

When his hands flinch and try to clench up at his side and his adam’s apple bobs up and down quickly. That’s how you can catch the great Doctor Stephen Strange in a lie.

And now once again after we got into a huge scuffle about something else. He had the nerve to say to me that he wished he hadn’t screwed things up with Christine, cause then he wouldn’t have to be dealing with my constant nagging. After giving him a hard falcon punch across the face that’s when I had stormed out of the London sanctum (since I am the Head Guardian of it) and stormed across the city.

I went over to my favorite cat café (yes a real cat café) and got my usual drink plus big chocolate chip cookies, all the while my favorite cat, a Calico named Demeter came up to me and she sat down in my lap. She was a beautiful 6 year old cat that was tri-colored of black, yellow and white. She had piercing green eyes and was the most skittish and cautious cats in the whole café, the owners even said that until I had come in, she never associated with anyone else but me.

As I broke apart my cookie but could barely enjoy it, my other hand was stroking down Demeter’s back.

“What else does he want from me De? Am I really not good enough for him? Is it the distance? I know that things have changed since he was last here but—is it the distance that’s forcing him to think about her? Or is it just me?” her tail curled up around her and her ear twitched as she just stared up at me. “Must be nice to be a cat. No worries, no expectations. All you really demand is pets, food and a clean place to go to the bathroom.”

“(Y/n)?” I didn’t even need to look up to see who it was.

“I thought I told you to not come after me!” I snapped as I took a sip of my expresso.

“I—” he paused.

“What Strange? What do you wish to say to me now, hmm!?! Does my (h/c) not match up to her strawberry blonde or whatever the hell they call it. It’s red hair for Christ sake! Or maybe it’s the fact that I’m not a doctor and could never get the hidden jokes you both used to share.”

“No! No that’s not—You were right.” I looked up at him puzzled. Okay now this is a first. Stephen never admits he’s right. “I….I was a fool. Better yet I was an arrogant, shit-faced asshole who screwed up big time. I know I don’t deserve your forgiveness but can you at least hear me out?”

I raised my brow skeptically at him but allowed him to sit down. At first he went for the chair next to me but I snapped my fingers and it moved away. I then pointed to the one in front of me and he softly nodded in understandment.

“You have 1 minute.”

“Wow. You—really mean business don’t you?” he softly joked.

“50 seconds.” I snapped.

“Comparing you to Christine is—the worst thing I could possibly have done. And I shouldn’t have done that. It’s just….you never forget your first love.”

“You’re really not starting off on a good foot.”

“Wait, wait. You didn’t let me finish. I took you for granted and I should never have done that to you. To us. I’m sorry. From the bottom of my heart I am truly, deeply sorry.” I pondered and pondered on his word and I said.

“Well Stephen. Even through your stupidity and ‘ignore all rules’ attitude, that apology would make most girls fall to their knees and make them fall in love all over again. And I might’ve been one of those girls. If it was the real you.”

“What? What are you talking about? I am real, see?” he knocked on the table which produced a knock. Behind my back I summoned out my Sais of the living Tribunal.

“I’m not saying you’re an illusion or a projection of Stephen Strange. You may have his face but you’re not him. Plus don’t think I haven’t noticed how frantic Demeter’s tail has gotten, or the fact that she’s met the real Stephen Strange and never acted this way towards him.”

Demeter let out an angry hiss before growling defensively whilst still in my lap.

“Now I’m going to say this one time. Who the hell are you and why do you have Stephen’s face? Are you a shifter from the Dark Dimension? Or a changeling sent by Nightmare?” at that moment the Stephen before me dropped the niceties and his voice grew into a more darker, menacing tone.

“You always were too clever. That’s what always drew me to you. Even in my own dimension.” Demeter immediately hopped off my lap and I stood up holding my sais toward him.

“No games! I want answers fraud!”

“I am as I appear my dear (Y/n). My name is Stephen Strange, just not yours.” His normal clothes then morphed into his sorcerer clothes, but there was a huge difference, even his face looked different.

Dark circles underneath his eyes, his beard was more gruff (like he didn’t trim it). He almost looked like a ghost or a demon if anything. His normal blue robes looked more dark purple with some black mixed in, but the biggest difference was the Cloak of Levitation. The friendly, soft red material had been changed to a straight menacing black satin that almost appeared to have an edge about them. Even the collar was spiked upward almost or even stocking out past his head like a crown.

“The name is Strange Supreme. And I have traveled through multiple universes to find you. And at last I have.”

“What are you talking about?” I sneered.

“It would seem your Stephen takes you for granted. Whilst I and—” he trailed off, I saw a glimmer of what may have been tears (crocodile tear or not I couldn’t tell). “In my universe, I had an (Y/n) (L/n). She—was my everything. My life, my heart, my soul. And I never took her for granted. Until the day she was taken from me. I’ve tried every spell, every ounce of magic to prevent her death but—she was gone. But now—now I see that if I can’t bring her back. I could find a new one to take her place.”

“Sorry to tell you this psychopath I’m not going anywhere. Especially not with—” my vision went fuzzy. I shook my head briefly. “Especially not with—” suddenly I lurched forward dropping my weapons.

“I knew this would happen. I knew you wouldn’t be willing to come with me by your consent. So I slipped a small spell in your drink that would activate if you rejected my offer.” What? No but the barista was a she and she—hold on. I looked up at him and I saw how he morphed into the barista for a split second to say in her Edinburgh accent. “Sorry dearie, guess I might’ve made it a bit too sweet for yah.” Before he morphed back into himself.

“You…..son of a b……” I collapsed and my world went black.

*3rd Person POV*

Strange Supreme walked over to (Y/n)’s body and gingerly stroked her cheek.

“100 years and finally at long last. I have you once again at my side my beloved. And I swear, I will never let you go again.” He picked her up and before summoning a portal with just a simple thought and he walked through it holding an unconscious (Y/n) in his arms.

From the corner, Demeter watched intensely before she looked around and saw the aftermath of what this ‘Strange Supreme’ had done. All the coworkers were frozen in their spots and as for the other cats, they had all been knocked out and were in a deep sleep. She raced towards the back (and by some string of luck) one of the employers had been frozen right by the door and had left it opened.

She dashed out and ran through the streets of London. Knowing of the stories ever since her favorite human arrived of the London Sanctum, she ran as fast as she could to the London Sanctum and when she got to the door, she proceeded to scratch at the door meowing as loudly as she could.

Inside the real Stephen Strange was now sporting an icepack as part of his recovery from facing the wrath of the current girlfriend.

“Hate to tell you this bruv, but you deserved it.” Taron, (Y/n) second in command born and raised in Wales said as he came passing by Stephen.

“Yes, yes I know. I’ve already been told that by half of the London Sanctum already.” Stephen snapped before sighed and holding the icepack close to his cheek. “I don’t even know why I said it. I was angry and it just—”

“Slip of the tongue?” Taron replied as Stephen nodded. “Look mate, when you blipped for five years. (Y/n) was a wreck. Especially after you two had recently gotten together. When you came back and all you thought about was Christine after Stark’s funeral, it really hurt her. She and your ex stayed here for the Blip, what made you think it was okay to think about your ex-girlfriend instead of your current one who had poured through every scroll, every page at Kamar-Taj to try and bring all who were blipped, mainly you, back?”

“Like she’s said. I’m an arrogant, selfish asshole.”

“And a number of other things but I’m keeping that to myself.” Taron muttered.

“Oi Taron!” a voice exclaimed. A young blonde haired boy with piercing green eyes came running forward.

“What is it Ben?” Taron asked.

“Okay, umm….this is gonna sound crazy but you might wanna open the doors.”

“What?” questioned Taron.

“Look not even I can explain it just open the bloody doors.” The three men went down the steps to the front door and Taron waved his hand to unlock the doors and soon bursting in meowing frantically was Demeter. She lunged towards Stephen and leapt at him. Awkwardly he caught her as she was meowing and pawing at him.

“You know this cat Stephen?” Taron asked.

“Hoe she’s not an ex too.” Ben muttered before snickering to which Taron kicked him in the shin.

“Demeter?” she let out a loud meow almost as if saying yes. “She’s one of the cats from the cat café (Y/n) liked to go to. But they—they never let you guys out at least not unsupervised.” She then started up her frantic meows and squirmed in Stephen’s grip. He set her down and she paced around him, rubbing up against him and pawed at his boots, almost as if telling him to go. “Okay this is insane, I’m talking to a cat. I mean it’s not like there’s a—” he paused before turning to Taron. “Please tell me there’s a spell to make animals talk.”

“You…..want to talk to the calico?” Taron sounded out suspiciously.

“Look Taron I know it sounds crazy, hell even insane but trust me when I say this cat does not normally act like this unless something is really wrong. And I have a sickening feeling that there is, and that it involves (Y/n).”

“There might be something. Not necessarily Kamar Taj material but an old Inuit spell from America. The Ancient One kept various spells based on different cultures here in London due to our sophisticated filing system. Follow me.” Taron led Strange, Demeter and Ben into the archive wing of the library.

Taron levitated through shelf after shelf until he found the book of Inuit spells and skimmed through the book until he found the spell he needed. Together with some basic ingredients like hair of creature needed, 2 tsp. of vinegar, 1 cup of water, 1/4th tsp. of food dye, a drop of honey and 3 grams of salt.

Taron mixed the ingredients together before pouring it into a cup. The potion now looked like a liquid formation of Demeter’s fur pattern and he handed it to Stephen.

“Once you drink this all down, say these words exactly. I even phonetically sounded them out for you in case you couldn’t get it.” Stephen glared at Taron who merely shrugged and handed Strange the cup.

“The things one does for love.” He then downed the entire glass like it was a shot and grimaced at the taste. He let out a couple of coughs before taking the paper from Taron and began to say the spell. “Deila hér me. Dag eru nou rar vitur orum.”

They waited for a few minutes to see if anything would happen. And they waited, and waited, and waited. Stephen let out a growl before throwing the cup to the wall and snapped.

“The longer we wait the longer it’s going to take to find out what happened to (Y/n)!”

“Maybe we missed something, here Taron let me see the book mate.” Ben said taking the book.

“So I drank that nasty shit for nothing. Great, great just great.” Stephen snapped before sitting down in a huff.

‘No wonder why she can’t stand you.’ A female voice spoke up. Stephen looked around but there was no female in the room, only he, Ben and Taron. He then felt a light pressure on his lap to see Demeter standing on his lap. She cleaned herself up before saying to Stephen again. ‘Not only are you too hung up in the past, but you’re too impatient. And I can see what she meant by your temper.’

“D-did you just……you’re talking?”

‘Well talking as in you can hear my thoughts, yes. How you ever became Sorcerer Supreme I’ll never know.’ Demeter hopped off his lap and onto the table, her tail wagging and curling up into a question mark point every now and then.

“Hold on Stephen, are you—”

“Shh!” he hissed at Taron and Ben before turning towards Demeter. “Look I’ll let you insult me all you want later, what is it you came here to tell me?”

‘Normally I’d never go running for a human, but (Y/n) has treated me like a cat should be treated, and not like some fragile glass doll.’

“Focus! (Y/n). What happened to her?!”

‘Okay Mr. Pushy. Look, I couldn’t even explain it myself. The guy who took my (Y/n) looked just like you. Only if he hadn’t gotten some sun in all of his life.’

“You’re saying he looked like me?”

‘Yep. Right down to your weird, Stark-copy beard.’

“I do not have Stark’s—besides that. What else happened?”

‘It all happened so fast. My brothers and sisters had somehow been knocked out cold, and everyone became like the statues you see outside. Still and frozen. Then just before my (Y/n) could fight back, she was knocked out. I think he said he put something in her drink. Then they both disappeared into one of those portal things you guys always love to make.’

“Did he say why he wanted her?”

‘Something along the lines of wanting to find her after so long. If you ask me, the guy was eyeing her like how Butch eyes that mouse that’s been sneaking into the café. Like he really wanted her and was going to do anything to get her.’

“And that’s it?”

‘Next thing I did was find a way out to try and come here. Of course I was hoping it wouldn’t be you because you hurt her Stephen Strange. Big time!’ Demeter swiped at him with her paw and let out a hiss as she said that. ‘If you don’t bring her back unharmed, you’re gonna regret ever having met me.’

“Alright. Alright.” Stephen stood up and faced Taron and Ben.

“What’d she say?” asked Ben.

“Take some sorcerers and investigate the café. I need to get to Wong and ask him if anything else has been disrupted since this look-alike has come into our world.”

“Wait Stephen are you suggesting that this is a Multi-versal threat?” asked Taron urgently.

“I can’t say for certain. But I can’t just let (Y/n) be kept prisoner from this other Strange.” He opened up a portal which had opened up to Kamar-Taj where Wong, and by sheer luck, America Chavez was also there standing close by.

“Strange, what’s going on?” Wong asked.

“It’s (Y/n).”

“Tía (Y/n) is in trouble? What did you do now Stephen?!” demanded America.

“It’s a long story but it would seem we got a visitor from another world, and by world I mean multiverse. Another version of me kidnapped (Y/n).”

“And how do you know this was another you?” asked Wong.

“You’re gonna think I’m insane.”

“Not the first time.” Wong muttered. Stephen glared at Wong and that’s when Demeter came through the portal right as it closed and she let out a meow.

“Aww what a pretty kitty.” Cooed America as she knelt down and tried to get Demeter to come over to her. “Come here sweetheart, come here.”

“Don’t waste your breath America, Demeter doesn’t go to just any—” but Stephen was interrupted as Demeter actually walked up to America and nuzzled against her hand and let out a purr.

“Demeter. Like the Greek goddess of harvest and agriculture. Ohh that’s a beautiful name for a beautiful cat like you.” America said as she continued to pet Demeter.

“You mangey little—and why did it take you months to get used to me?!”

‘(Y/n) has talked about this girl a lot. Shown me pictures, plus she has a good aura. You however are too arrogant and reckless.’ Demeter said as she allowed America to pick her up in her arms and continued to pet her.

“Strange. Are you—talking to the cat?” Wong asked hesitantly.

“And Inuit spell Taron found in the London Sanctum.”

“Are you serious? There’s a Doctor Dolittle spell? I wanna try it!” America proclaimed.

“No, you don’t trust me. Alright now wait we’re getting off topic here!”

“Even if there were another Stephen Strange here, what would be want with (Y/n)?” asked Wong.

“I think I might know.” America spoke up. The two men turned to her and she set Demeter down on a nearby table. “Can you ask Demeter if he had a black cloak on? That was spiked at the end and collar reaching up to his head?”

‘Yes. Yeah it did.’ Demeter said as she sat down and stared at America.

“She said yes. America do—do you know this version of me?”

“Briefly. He uhh—when I jumped into his universe by accident, he promised he’d help find my moms, but only if I told him where to find his (Y/n).”

“Find her?”

“He told me of a battle he and his (Y/n) fought a long, long time ago in his world. I don’t really remember much of who this foe they fought was but—he told me that the fate of their world collapsing was at large. But his (Y/n) didn’t hesitate. She and their foe broke through their reality and ended up being lost in the multiverse. Just—just like my mamás.”

Wong and Stephen sighed heavily.

“I told him I couldn’t help him find her, and like others have in the past he tried to take my power but I quickly got the hell out of there and never went back.” She stroked Demeter’s head and Demeter nuzzled against America’s forearm to comfort the young girl.

“I know you said you’d never go back, but do you think you can take me there?” Stephen asked.

“Stephen you know the laws of what multiverse jumping could cause.” Wong warned him.

“Yeah, yeah, conversions of our worlds mending into a multiversal war. Not like anything we haven’t faced before. But tell me this, Sorcerer Supreme. Are you willing to let (Y/n) die or worse in that world should it perish because of what that Stephen Strange has done?”

Wong sighed heavily. (Y/n) was his dearest friend, she saved his ass more times than he could count and now he had the chance to finally repay that debt, but would he risk two worlds potentially colliding that could either destroy one or both their worlds?

“You take the cat with you.” Wong said.

“What? Why?”

“Because that cat seems to knows to keep an eye on you and will keep you in line of you don’t.”

‘Oh I like him too.’ Demeter said as she walked over to Wong and let out a meow and raised her paw at him. Wong extended a hand out and Demeter gave his thumb a soft lick and purred once more.

“Is this a gang up on Stephen day or what?” Stephen questioned out annoyed.

“Probably. Especially after what you said to Tía (Y/n).”

“I—how do you know that?”

“She’s always told me. Ever since we first met. When you were still butthurt over Christine. Like I said I’ve seen more of yous and hers together than you and Christine. Even the creepy yandere version of yourself.”

“Yan—what’s yandere?” Stephen asked. America and Wong looked at each other and America spoke in Spanish.

“Should I?”

“It’d probably be best not to.” Wong responded back in Spanish. “Now if you’re going to go into this other world you’ll need to get in, find her and get out. The convergence can happen by a simple change in two variants of the same person being there but the effect of the convergence actually happening can either be instantaneous or prolonged.” Wong explained.

“Well let’s hope it’s the latter. America, do you remember where this other world with this Stephen Strange is?”

“A bit yeah. But he could sense you coming before the portal even opens. He’s that powerful. Last time I went, he was at the exact spot I would land.” She said.

“Okay so brute strength and power isn’t going to stop him. Guess I’ll just have to outwit him and I am good at that.” Wong and America looked at each other but chosen not to say anything.

“If the world you enter doesn’t start to collapse the second you arrive, give yourself an hour at most to find (Y/n) and then get out. America will open the portal for you to come through no later than that.”

“One hour, okay.” Stephen and Wong stood back as America stepped forward and she concentrated on summoning the portal to Strange Supreme’s universe.

“I’ll try to open it at this exact spot after the hour. And…..please be sure you have Tía (Y/n) before I do.”

“I’ll try. Come on Demeter.” Demeter hopped off and got up on top of Stephen’s shoulders and the two of them quickly hopped through the portal before she closed it behind her.

There was nothing but darkness surrounding them. As Stephen walked along, soft creeks sounded off with each footstep.

‘Could you be anymore louder than you are right now?’

“Okay one more insult out of you and I will throw you across the room.” Stephen threatened her in a quiet voice. She hopped off of Stephen’s shoulders and she sniffed around.

‘I can’t seem to find a trace of her scent.’

“Nothing?”

‘As I said, nothing. You sure we’re in the right place?’ As they walked further along they now stood before what almost resembled the main hall of the New York Sanctum, however the aura in it was dark and ominous.

Books were scattered all over the floor, candles by the mile decorated the floorboards ahead, and a large opening into what looked like a wormhole stood behind where the large window overlooked Bleeker street. As they walked along, Demeter suddenly stopped and she lowered herself briefly as she let out a soft but menacing growl.

“So……” a deep, gravely, possessive tone spoke. Stephen turned around and soon a grand fireplace lit up and sitting in a large red chair was Strange Supreme. “You did come.” Strange Supreme said. “And you brought vermin with you.”

Demeter let out an anxious meow as Stephen stood in front of her and the cloak of levitation picked her up and hid her behind Stephen’s back.

“More like a friend.” Strange Supreme scoffed.

“My (Y/n) did adore strays. Cats especially were her favorite. Even when I’d tell her we couldn’t have one, they were always drawn to her. She even took care of one that looked exactly like the one you’ve got.”

“I didn’t come here to make small talk. Now where is she?” Stephen demanded.

“Surprised that you still care. Why don’t you just go back to your world, patch things up with Christine. After all that’s who you truly love right?”

“What I said was…..”

“A mistake? A slip of the tongue, a sudden outburst of anger.” Strange Supreme mocked as he stood up. “I’ve seen her mind and her heart. You don’t know how good you’ve had it Stephen. Christine never treated us right, she never understood us, especially after our accident.” Strange Supreme showed Stephen the same scars on his hand from the car accident. “But (Y/n) did. She picked up the pieces, she taught us how to love again, and to see the light in everything. And you threw her out like trash.”

“I came here for her didn’t I? If I didn’t truly love her, I would’ve turned away and tried to go back to Christine like you claimed. But no, I’m here. I won’t ask this again, where. Is. She?”

“The only (Y/n) that’s here is mine. I worked too hard and sacrificed soo much to find her.”

“Look, I don’t know if your (Y/n) looks anything like mine, but if she does, She’s not yours. Her face may be the same but it’s not her. Plus even if it was her, what would she say if she saw you like this?”

“It wouldn’t matter. She’s here with me now and I’ll love her and take care of her ten times better than you ever did.”

“You have a very sick way of showing it.” Stephen sneered lowly. Strange Supreme smirked wickedly as he chuckled darkly.

“Love makes us do strange and crazy things. But it’s all worth it in the end. So long as we’re together.” Stephen noticed how Strange Supreme was fingering what appeared to be a pearl ring on his left ring finger. An odd piece of jewelry especially given the fact that the pearl was scarlet red.

‘Oi Strange. You might wanna wrap things up here with whatever this lovefest is. I’m starting to sense this world collapsing in on itself.’ True to Demeter’s word, the wallpaper was starting to roll upward, the books starting to disappear page by page and the candle were slowly melting away.

Stephen turned back towards Strange Supreme and he told him.

“Don’t think I don’t know what you’ve been planning. I know you can sense it. Even if you do have her, your world is collapsing in on itself.”

“So it seems. But I could care less. The only world that matters to me is (Y/n) and I.”

‘God this poor bastard is even more delusional than I thought.’ Demeter said.

“Not if I find her first.” Stephen challenged.

“And how would you know where she is?”

“I just do. We are Doctor Stephen Strange after all, and if I know myself…..”

“I always got to be smarter than everyone else.” Strange Supreme finished. “Well, produce her.” He challenged Stephen. Stephen looked around until he saw what looked like a small secret doorway right by one of the bookshelves.

“You’ve hidden her behind that door.” He said pointing out to it. Strange Supreme then walked over to the small doorway mocking him.

“Did I, Stephen Strange?” he stood by the small door as Stephen now walked over to the chair where Strange Supreme was just sitting at.

‘Wait, I sense something.’ Demeter told him. Stephen felt Demeter hop off his shoulder and she walked around the fireplace until she stood before a tall purple chair just across from the red chair. ‘There!’

Stephen looked carefully and saw a glimmer of what looked like the mirror dimension.

“Clever man.” He softly muttered. He heard a rough cough and he turned to see Strange Supreme hunched forward as he coughed up a large black skeleton key into his hand. Strange Supreme turned towards Stephen with a questioning yet challenging look. “Yep. Right there, she’ll be there alright.” Strange Supreme softly shook his head.

“You’re wrong Stephen Strange, she’s not there.” Strange Supreme hauntingly mocked as he unlocked the door to reveal an abyssal portal of dust and cobwebs. “Now, to ensure you don’t take my (Y/n) away ever again.” He summoned from his robes, the black dagger of Yama (which had the power to send a person’s soul to the Underworld with just a simple knick of the blade).

“Just allow me to make this one final declaration before you ‘do me in’.” He then picked Demeter up in his hands and he said. “SHE’S NOT YOURS!!” and then as hard as he could, he tossed Demeter right at Strange Supreme.

She yowled and growled as she was thrown through the air until she landed on Strange Supreme’s face. He roared and tried to get the calico cat off his face, but Demeter held firm scratching and biting every square inch of his face.

Using this as a distraction, Stephen quickly unlocked the purple chair to the mirror dimension and there he saw (Y/n) tied up and gagged in the chair wearing a deep purple and black dress, and a crown almost similar to the Scarlet Witch’s.

*My POV*

I watched as Stephen and evil Stephen had conversed back and forth with each other. But when Stephen threw Demeter at the evil Stephen, he took his chance and stood right in front of me and I saw as the mirror dimension was finally opened. He came right up to me and freed me of my chains and gag.

“I know, I know. Not the best idea to throw your favorite cat at my evil twin.”

“I’ll yell at you about that later. Did you get it?”

“Get what?”

“My heart. Stephen that-that psychopath reached into my chest and took my heart. He told me even if you came to save me, I’d never be able to leave this world without it.”

“I think I might have an idea of where he has it. For now let’s get you out of here.” He helped me up and we both left the mirror dimension and he closed the door behind us. Just in time for us to see the evil Stephen literally get his eyes torn out from his skull by Demeter’s claws and he threw her across the room.

But I opened up a portal and she went threw it before ending up back in my arms. Demeter yowled aggressively, baring her teeth at the evil Stephen.

“YOU SELFISH, CHEATING, BASTARD!!” evil Stephen roared as he turned to us, his eyes now hollowed holes and blood pooling out like tears.

All of a sudden the sanctum began to fall apart wood by wood. The floor beneath us became what almost looked like a giant web as we both fell through. I ended up getting stuck along the side while Stephen ended up falling all the way to the bottom.

“Stephen! Are you alright?” I called out.

“I’m fine, how about you and Demeter?” Demeter who was hidden within my dress robe meowed.

“We’re fine.” All of a sudden a monstrous roar was heard from above us. The Evil Stephen seemed to morph into some sort of dragon-hybrid creature as he then fell down into the web to try and get to Stephen. I then watched as Stephen quickly summoned a portal underneath him and he disappeared just before the dragon Stephen could land on him.

“NO!!! WHERE ARE YOU!?!? YOU SELFISH PRICK!!” He looked around trying to feel or hear anything from Stephen. I then felt someone beginning to cut my bonds from the web, I turned and Stephen pressed his index finger quietly to his lips as he continued to cut me free from the webbing.

When my upperbody was free, he allowed me to rest against him as he continued to work on freeing my legs (which somehow proved to be difficult.) I also worked as did Demeter on freeing my legs but one thread soon began to vibrate all the way down towards Dragon-Stephen.

“Oh shit.” I said which caused all of us to stop. Dragon-Stephen ceased his frantic searching and slowly turned towards us smirking maliciously.

“There you are.” He growled sadistically. Stephen then quickly cut the rest of my bonds and threw me over his shoulder as he quickly raced upward with Demeter behind us. “YOU’RE NOT TAKING HER AWAY FROM ME!!” he roared as he got closer to us.

I quickly summoned the sword of Vishanti and sliced him across the face which caused him to pause before growling at me.

“Now that my dear, wasn’t very nice. I was merciful last time but it seems you need a stricter hand.” Suddenly his arms turned into large snakes and they reached up and grabbed hold of the both of us, separating the two of us once more.

The snake that held me kept me high up in the air while the snake that held Stephen brought him towards the Monster-Stephen.

“You pathetic fool. You thought you could get away from the most powerful Sorcerer of this world!?” Monster-Stephen hissed. “Now you look into her eyes, I want her to see you die.” The snake squeezed Stephen so tightly that I could hear his bones cracking from up here. Our eyes locked with each other’s and I shook my head at him.

He-he couldn’t die like this. I just got him back after five years and yeah he’s an asshole at times but I still love him. I’ll always love him. But that’s when I heard My Stephen choke out a laugh. Wait what was he laughing at? I then saw his finger point upward and that’s when I saw the familiar spark of America’s blue portal starting to spark.

“Why are you laughing?”

“It’s just that—we hate to…..leave you high and dry but….our ride’s here.” I then let Demeter out from my robes and she bit Monster Stephen’s snake arm that was holding me and he let out a painful roar which released both Stephen and I.

Soon the bright blue star portal opened and I placed a binding spell on him to keep him bound to his world while Stephen, Demeter and I ended up getting sucked into America’s portal and ended up back on our Earth.

Stephen and I looked at one another before embracing each other. I buried my face into his neck thanking him repeatedly.

“You guys alright?” America asked us.

“Yes mija, we’re okay.” I told her. She smiled and ran over to me and I embraced her as well as did Stephen. “America, you know how you’ve been listening to those ASMR videos? I think you might wanna exclude the yandere videos from now on.”

“I was thinking the exact same thing tía.” I kissed the top of her head and held her tighter.

“I think we all can pretty much say we’ll be staying away from stalkery, obsessive media of any kind.” Stephen said. As we separated, that’s when Stephen pulled out from his pocket the pearl ring that Strange Supreme had turned my heart into.

A simple motion of his hand and the cloaking spell dropped and there in the palm of his hand was my heart.

“Oh my—is that…..” America started.

“Yeah.” I replied bluntly.

“Damn. To be honest though I thought it’d be more—you know bloody? And you’d be—dead? I mean don’t you need a heart to like you know, live?”

“Not if you carefully remove it with magic. A heart is the most powerful thing a person can control. The evil Stephen thought that by taking my heart, he’d have me be under his control forever. To be the (Y/n) that he lost. But how did you—”

“A Sorcerer never reveals his secrets.” He teased me with a cheeky wink. “And unfortunately for him, my (Y/n) is smart to know who the true Stephen Strange is.” Stephen said.

“Your (Y/n)?” I questioned.

“Urm not that you’re my possession or anything god no! I mean, what I meant was you are your own person but uhh—I’m not making this better, am I?” I softly chuckled and kissed his cheek.

“I get what you mean.” A soft smile spread across his face. “Does…..this mean you’ll try to stop comparing me to Christine?”

“I promise. I don’t know why it took me losing you to some psycho-obsessive version of me to realize just how different yet important you are in my life. I know I’ve got some serious making up to do, but I am truly sorry (Y/n). And I hope you can forgive me, or at least give me another chance?”

“You maybe an asshole at times, but you’re my asshole.” We both chuckled before he returned to me my heart. After that we immediately kissed each other and held each other tightly.

*Stephen’s POV*

That night as we lay in bed together (Y/n) had long fallen fast asleep but I wanted to keep watch over her. Not only to see that this was real, but to also ensure that she was going to be safe. From the full moon I saw a small shape come at our window and the sound of a meow was at the window.

It was Demeter, and judging by the tail flickering the way it was and the way her ears were, she was not happy with me. Slowly I got out of bed and went to the window and opened it up.

“Hello again.” A deep but soft growl came out of her. “I’m sorry I threw you at him. At the other Strange. It was the only thing I could think of to distract him to save (Y/n). Can you forgive me?” her narrowed eyes softened and her pupils grew in a more friendlier manner.

Her ears were now fully erect and her tail wasn’t flickering as much as she now began to purr. I slowly reached my hand out and she headbutted my fingers before giving my wrist an affectionate lick. I picked her up and carried her over to our bed and she immediately began to spin around and kneed right near (Y/n)’s feet before letting out a yawn.

I got under the covers and held (Y/n) close to me right as Demeter lay there in what (Y/n) and America refer to a cat’s ��bread loaf’ style. Her purrs had gotten louder as she closed her eyes and fell asleep right at our feet. I lay my head against the pillows but buried my face into (Y/n)’s hair taking in her scent.

She was back with me, and I won’t risk losing her again even by my own hand.

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spinningbuster98 · 9 months

Video

youtube

Mega Man Zero 4 Part 3: Ragnarok continues

There’s honestly not much to say here, these levels are decent (though Cocapetri’s moving blocks can bite me), though Zero 4′s levels have this general sense that they’re lacking in...energy when compared to previously in a way, like they’re decent but also shorter than usual, or maybe they don’t fully take advantage of their gimmick (like Mino Magnus’ stage or Fenri’s) or maybe they have a couple of cheap moments (Sol Titanyon’s stage has a nice gimmick but it feels a bit cheap with the GBA’s screen crunh making you see less when you’re running like crazy between one spot of shade to the next)

So how about instead of talking about what’s here we talk about what isn’t?

Or better yet WHO isn’t

The Four Guardians are nowhere to be seen in this game and this is usually one of the main criticisms pointed at this game

And I...don’t have too much of an issue with this

Don’t get me wrong: they were recurring minor villains who always showed up and the fact that they aren’t even mentioned here with no in-game explanation as to their absence is a sticking point no doubt

....but I don’t think they’re...THAT important...?

I mean Leviathan and Fefnir, as fun as they were to fight and chat against, were pretty one-note villains that contributed next to nothing to the story aside from being obstacles in the way. Zero 3 already didn’t seem to know what to do with them seeing as they were sent to the med bay right after the intro stage and they stayed there up until they briefly showed up in the ending

Harpuia is the only one who had anything resembling some character depth and an arc and yeah his absence in particular is a flaw in the story...

...but I think that Zero 4′s story as it is is perfectly fine with what it’s got. This is a story about humans and reploids finally coming together after centuries of hardship, about humans finally starting to become better people after all the shit with Mavericks and Weil and it’s a story about how this kind of world can twist good people, shown both with the humans and especially Kraft

The Guardians wouldn’t fit too much here. Yeah of course as self proclaimed guardians of humanity they would’ve fit in the sense that they would’ve finally stopped fighting the Resistence and helped humankind get along with Reploids after all this time, which is a path that Harpuia was already starting to head down, so in this sense the story loses some of its potential

At the same time however, unlike Kraft, the Guardians were never really twisted by circumstances to do evil things: remember, they BELIEVE in their whole ideal about serving humanity even at the expense of Reploids. it’s something that Copy X most likely instilled in them but even after witnessing with his own eyes how much of a hypocrite his Master was in Zero 3 Harpuia still proudly declared himself a protector of humanity and refused to collaborate with the Resistence directly and so boltet out of there in a rage. This is what they fundementally are and choose to be, thus they’d be thematically a bit less powerful in Zero 4 when compared to some of the other characters. Not that their presence would have been a negative either, I’m just saying that I don’t think they were strictly neccessary for this story to work properly

Besides, even with its higher narrative focus, the Zero games are still Mega Man games, with their traditional 8 stage structure, and they’re still mostly gameplay first types of games, having more cutscenes than your average Mega Man game but nowhere near the amount of, say, a Sonic Adventure game, meaning that they still have a relatively short length and time to tell their stories.

I suspect that part of the reason why Fefnir and Leviathan were so unceremoniuosly shafted at the start of Zero 3 was because the developers couldn’t come up with something meaningful for them to do within the game’s relatively short narrative length, especially with Weil and Omega requiring more focus

I think this is the main reason why the Guardians aren’t in Zero 4: they simply couldn’t fit in the story as it is and trying to force them in could have probably stolen focus from the human settlement, Niege and Kraft and so they excluded them entirely

Was it a good choice?

In the context of the larger Zero series narrative no, since they are still recurring villains who have many reasons to show up during such conflicts, not to mention that Harpuia’s character arc just stops like this, never really reaching its conclusion in a sense, and that’s definitely an issue

Within the context of Zero 4 specifically however I think it’s a good thing probably, because it’s better for characters to not be there at all than to show up only to get shafted because the story doesn’t have anything better for them to do

So in general I don’t have a major issue with the Guardians not being here and while I would have liked an in game explanation for their absence it’s nothing I’ll lose sleep over

I DO however take issue with the explanations provided by sources OUTSIDE of this game

So when Zero 4 released there was a Japanese web page dedicated to it. It’s no longer up but it basically mentioned that the Guardians weren’t in the game because they were busy being a thorn in Weil’s side and helping humans elsewhere in the world or even in Neo Arcadia itself

It’s a lazy excuse but fine, I think it’s what anyone playing the game would headcanon and it makes some sense at least

However 1 year after this game’s release the Mega Man Zero Official Complete Works was made. In it there’s a developer interview where they mention that the Guardians were killed by Omega’s explosion in the ending of Zero 3

This...is incredibly dumb. And forced. And anti climactic

There is NOTHING in Zero 3′s ending that indicates that the Guardians died in the explosion, hell there’s nothing that even implies that explosion was deadly at all! Robot bosses explode all the time in this series and no one is ever worse for wear! Omega’s explosion looks no different than the others’! Hell he even explodes TWICE during that battle!

I am convinced that this was a retcon tacked on to justify the existence of Biometals modeled after the Four Guardians in ZX, which came out that same year, since Biometals require a Reploid’s “soul” to function and so it’s required that that Reploid be dead.

As if that wasn’t enough later on in I think 2010 another interview was made and one of the main developers at Inti Creates was asked about this inconsistency between the original Web page and the later interview. The answer was that the Guardians disappeared after Zero 3 and Neo Arcadia officially declared them dead, but it was still entirely possible for them to still be alive and acting in secret.

So basically they pulled this explanation out of their asses in order to stitch together those two earlier claims.

It’s Schrödinger ‘s Guardians! They’re both alive and dead depending on the situation!

Except ZX makes it so that they HAVE to have died at some point between games in order to make the existence of their Biometals possible. I guess it’s possible to imagine that they could have died in the 100+ year gap between Zero 4 and ZX, but it’s still pretty damn anti climactic to imagine the most powerful Reploids in the world after Zero just...dying off screen between games to some undefined something. Maybe Serpent, ZX’s main baddie, could have killed them during this period...? Maybe they got killed by Model W somehow?

Sigh... the Zero games are often celebrated as having the best stories in the franchise and I do technically agree as I do believe these stories to be mostly pretty good (especially 4′s), but they are by no means flawless, much like how even the best Sonic stories still have their issues.

Although to be perfectly fair here I’ve noticed that most of my issues with them lies less in the stories as presented in the actual games but rather in all the additional stuff that was later mentioned in external materials after the series ended, either being stuff that they had always wanted to implement in the games but couldn’t for whatever reason, or just plain retcons

And this , ladies and gentlemen, is why you shouldn’t leave too much stuff to external materials and try to tell as much of your story as you can in the piece of media you’re working on

Which, as I’ve already said a number of times, is a franchise wide issue with Mega Man I think

#youtube #mega man #mega man zero 4 #my gameplay

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grayintogreen · 1 year

Text

WIP WEDNESDAY

Since it's an off-week for YCDHN, here's a preview of Chapter Seven featuring Fjord and Beau!

It was hours later, after Fjord had become consumed with Camella’s ledgers and maps, that a courtesy knock on the door to the captain’s quarters heralded Beau’s arrival with a plate of dried sausage and sliced oranges and a look of deeper annoyance than usual etched across her face.

“I’d have brought you something from the mansion, but it vanishes the second you try to take it with you.” She laid the plate at the edge of the desk and then crossed her arms expectantly.

Fjord lifted a brow. “Did I do something wrong?”

She shrugged. “I mean, you kinda became captain and ghosted us a little.”

That couldn’t be the truth… Could it? He squinted at Beau, hunting for any kind of a tell and came up empty, so he dared to throw caution to the wind and call what might be a bluff. “Nah. I don’t think that’s it.” He leaned back in the captain’s chair and it creaked audibly, destroying his illusion of swagger and confidence. “You know what all this is about.”

“Making sure they don’t mutiny five seconds after electing you captain ‘cause they suddenly realized they made a mistake in a stressful moment?” Another shrug. “Sure. You don’t have to kiss their asses and ignore us to do it, though.”

Fjord leaned forward in the chair again, folding his arms on the desk and then suddenly becoming keenly aware of the fact that he just leaned right against fresh ink from his paperwork. It was sinking into his bracers and staining his sleeves and he simply brushed past it as if it wasn’t happening. Just commit to it. “I can’t look like I’m playin’ favorites, Beau.”

“You can’t look like you’re goin’ mad with power either. I’m not gonna say ‘oh you’re making some shit choices lately’ ‘cause we’ve all had moments like that, and so far your last one’s worked out, but isolation doesn’t help for future shit choices that might not work out. You need someone to pull you back.”

“That would be the quartermaster’s job.” He almost moved his arms to check his notes, realized what would happen if he did, and doubled down by leaning forwards just a bit more. “You want it?”

She wrinkled her nose. “I saw Camella’s running around all the time before he got ganked. Sounds like it might interfere with my barrel making.”

Fjord jumped upon the little detail, half out of curiosity and half to keep her from talking about him, like she might, well, barrel over his thoughts to get to the meat of the issue. “Yeah, what is with that? That’s not usually a job people are gunnin’ for.”

“It’s so stupid.” She collapsed into the extra chair in front of the desk. “When I was a kid and nobody could keep up with me, my dad would make me make barrels for the wine. It ended up being really soothing. Kinda like therapy for a shitkicker kid who couldn’t just sit still and wear dresses. He had, like, these really specific kind of barrels that were just for Lionett wine.” She paused. “And then when I got really good at making them- like absolutely fucking amazing at it- I could fill that shit up with grape juice and siphon the good stuff into shitty barrels and sell it on the sly.”

Fjord slowly blinked several times. “And you’re the one who pulls people back from the edge?”

She snatched a handful of the rock candy that was sitting in a conch-shell bowl at the edge of Camella’s deck (well- it was his desk now, he supposed). “Shitty is relative. If we wanted a moral guardian for all our shady calls, we’d have Caduceus on our asses all the time.”

Fjord did have Caduceus on his ass, albeit subtler since the Abundant Terrace. And then, of course, there was Molly who was half a hypocrite and the other half a self-righteous asshole to a degree that Caduceus could never compete with. What he needed, in this moment, was a middle ground. “So you wanna make barrels?”

Beau tossed a piece of candy into her mouth. “Helps me meditate.”

“All right. How about this- First Mate.”

“Wouldn’t that rank higher than the quartermaster?” She shifted the candy into her cheek so she could talk around it.

“Not exactly. A first mate would be more of a captain’s assistant on a ship like this, someone to keep me in check and keep tabs on the temperature of the crew. You can’t make barrels all the time.”

She considered that. The idea of being able to integrate herself among the crew and keep tabs would probably appeal to her and he really and truly wanted someone to fill that space, someone who would be discreet. Beau being unfriendly to the average person meant that most wouldn’t take her for a spy. Honey and vinegar and all that. “Okay, fair. I can do that.”

“That still leaves me short a quartermaster. None of the crew want it, so I’d need someone in the Nein to step up. Someone who’s got leadership qualities, who’s responsible…”

“Caleb?” Fjord made a face and Beau relented. “Yeah, he would laugh in your face if you asked him. What about Jester?”

“Jester? She’s not-“ He shut his mouth before he could say anything that Beau might punt him off the ship, mutiny be damned, for. “I don’t know if that’s a role for Jester.”

“But did you never consider asking her because you don’t think she’s qualified or because you’re avoiding her?” His cheeks started to burn. “Yeah, see? That right there? That’s suspicious face. What’s going on with you two?”

Nothing. Because I’m avoiding it until I can be sure I won’t break her heart again. He ducked his head so that he cough against his chest without lifting his hands. “That’s, uh… That’s not what we’re talkin’ about, Beau. There’s gotta be someone-“

A shadow darkened the light of the half-cracked door and Fjord heard a familiar, soft contralto voice singing just under her breath as she passed.

”I’d wait my turn on the broke stair Get me the girl with the gold hair.”

Fuck. Fuck. Now there was an idea. Forgetting his ink-stained arms, he leapt to his feet and darted for the door before Cree could slip away. Beau watched him go without getting up, yelling at him as he fled.

“Talk to Jester, man!”

“Don’t eat all my candy! Or my dinner.”

#cr fic #wip wednesday #you can't deny high noon

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azulirawrites · 3 years

Text

Favors of A. Blight Ch. 1

Rating: High T/Low M Word Count: 2,821 Contains: Mentions of Drug Use and Abuse, Mentions of Child Neglect, Domestic Abuse, Heavily Implied Character Death by Suffocation (You don’t see the death, but you do see the actions leading up to it) Nobody went outside when it rained on the Boiling Isles. To do so was extremely dangerous, even if one had the proper protections. Needless to say, the residents of the Owl House were surprised when Hooty swung open, announcing, “Luz, that mean friend of yours is here! And she brought friends for me!” On the other side of the threshold, only barely inside the barrier Lilith had managed to conjure that afternoon, were the Blight siblings, huddled together, underneath a massive Abomination.

“Amity!” Luz shouted, vaulting off the couch to latch onto her friend, “Are you ok? It’s raining!” She quickly pulled Amity inside, with Amity’s grip on her elder siblings dragging them in after her.

“Baby Blights?” Eda questioned, “What's going on? Did Odalia see sending your kids out to get mauled by the weather becoming the latest fashion in that busted crystal ball of hers?" When there was no response, beyond Luz shooting her a glare, Eda prodded more, "Seriously kids. What possessed you to come here in this weather? This place isn't exactly 'Blight Appropriate'." As Eda made air quotes, Amity practically collapsed into Luz on the sofa, and so did her Abomination, loosing three bags just inside the doorway as it collapsed into a puddle of goop and boiling water. "Ah, crap. Bug out bags."

"Bug out bags?" Luz questioned, worry creasing her brow as she laid Amity safely on the couch.

"I guess," Edric mumbles, his eyes focused on Amity as he and Emira huddled together tightly.

"How long have you had them?" Eda asks, watching the twins.

"Father packed them," it was Emira who answered, perhaps slightly too loudly, as she quieted her next words, "he gave them to us today. Before he sent us out in the rain."

"Hooty, wake Lily," Eda commanded.

"One Lulu, coming up!" Hooty agreed, almost gleeful as he shut himself.

"Luz, go pour three glasses of apple blood."

"But-" Luz tried to argue

"Now," Eda didn't leave room for argument, and Luz reluctantly got up, casting a look at the gently displaced form of Amity, and then the twins, before making her way to the kitchen.

"We don't drink apple blood," Emira said, before quietly adding, "Mother doesn't allow it."

"Hypocrite," Eda muttered, before saying, "it's not for you. It's gonna keep me up, wake up Lily, and hopefully keep the kid from the worst of the burnout." Neither of them argued against her, though Emira cast a worried look at Amity. "What's going on?"

"I don't know," Edric mumbled, reaching into his pocket, “but father gave me a letter, for you.” He pulled out a plain white envelope with ‘Edalyn’ written on it, in handwriting that almost rivalled chicken scratch in decipherability, extending it to the Owl Lady.

“And I have one for Lilith,” Emira said, producing a similar envelope, with Lilith’s name on it, as Eda unceremoniously ripped open hers with her nail. The room went silent for several moments, as Eda quickly scanned her letter.

The silence was only interrupted by Luz’s entry, carrying three mugs, “I got the apple blood,” she announced, placing the mugs on the coffee table. Eda’s hand quickly shot down, grasping the “30 and flirty” mug and bringing it to her mouth, taking a long, slow drink. Then, she pulled a straw out of her hair, placing it in one of the mugs, a plain black one.

“Give this one to the kid,” Eda told Luz, adding “It’s just to give her bile sac a little boost,” when she saw Luz’s hesitant look.

Luz grabbed the mug,moving to sit beside Amity, who hadn’t moved since Luz had left. “Amity,” Luz said, gently shaking the witch with her free hand, “You need to drink this.”

“I don’t wanna.” Amity mumbled, barely audible, “it smells bad.” She almost burrowed deeper into the couch, as much as she could in her exhausted state.

“Eda said it would help,” Luz promised.

“Medicine?” Amity questioned, her eyes squinting open to look at Luz before shutting quickly

“Yeah, medicine,” Luz agreed, pushing it yet closer to Amity. Amity, seemingly reluctantly, took the straw.

“Disgusting,” Amity commented as her face seemed to pale from the taste, before drinking again as Luz held the mug.

“I paid for that,” Eda grumbled, before gesturing to Edric and Emira. “You two, take a seat. We need to have a serious talk when Lily gets down here.”

“A serious talk about what?” Lilith asked from the hall door as the twins sat down beside their sister. “Why are the Blight children here?” She yawned, leaning against the doorway.

“I have a letter for you,” Emira answered, extending the letter over the coffee table, though careful as to not extend so far as to lose contact with her twin.

“A letter is hardly a good reason to be out at this hour, in this weather,” Lilith said, taking the letter. She looked at the letter, adding, “And I doubt Alador would send all three of his children if it were just to send me a letter.”

“Read the letter Lily,” Eda said, notably somber. Lilith gently opened her letter, pulling out the pages within. The next few moments were silent, broken only when Lilith shifted the papers in her hands. Then again, she shifted the papers, almost frantically seeming to double check something.

“What’s going on?” Luz asked, watching Lilith flip between the pages.

Eda looked at her own letter, then back up to Luz. "I'm not gonna say it twice," she nodded towards Amity, who seemed only present enough to slowly sip the apple blood Luz held for her, "and I think everyone would prefer to be rested to hear it. The baby Blights are gonna be rooming with you tonight."

"Like a sleep over," Luz tried to be cheerful, smiling at the twins, both of whom returned the smile.

"Right, one of those," Eda agreed, "now take them up there." Luz nodded, putting Amity's mug of apple blood in Edric's hands before scooping the exhausted girl into her arms.

"Come on," Luz said, "you can help me make an Amity burrito."

"I don't know what a burrito is," Edric said, following Luz and dragging Emira with him, "but it sounds like it will inconvenience Mittens."

"Shit," Eda said, once the coast was clear.

"That is putting it lightly," Lilith agreed, taking a seat on the now free couch. A moment later, after grabbing her mug of apple blood "What are we going to tell them?"

"Hey kids, we got some good news and some bad news. Good news is Odalia's getting the stick up her ass removed, bad news is Alador's the surgeon?"

"Edalyn!" Lilith nearly spat out her drink as she quietly yelled her admonishment.

"What? We're going to have to rip the bandage off somehow!” “No! Not like that! This needs a delicate touch!”

“That was delicate,” Eda answered, to a shocked look from Lilith, “I’m not telling you the not delicate option because you’ll get judgy.” There was a brief pause, before Eda amended, “Judgier.”

“Take this seriously!”

“Take what seriously?” King asked as he made his way into the living room from the hallway, “Also I’m sleeping in your nest tonight. Luz invited over the cupcake smasher and two new minions and the room is small as is.”

“Crap. That’s right. We’re gonna need a lot more room,” Eda realized, with some frustration.

“For what?” King asked, before noting the three bags just inside the doorway, “Ooh, bug out bags. Did one of your exes figure out how easy Hooty is to bribe again and we’re gonna leave Lilith to deal with them?”

“He can be bribed?” Lilith questioned.

“No, I fixed that when I told him he could take the bribe and still have his fun,” Eda answered, “The bags are-”

“Wait, no, I got it,” King interrupted, “tax collectors found us and we’re gonna leave Lilith to deal with them?”

“Why am I the one getting left behind”

“No, King,” Eda said, “These aren’t our bags.”

“Then whose,” King began to question, before looking at the bags, and then to the hallway, and finally back to Eda, “No. No? You can’t be serious.”

“Afraid so King,” Eda confirmed

“But I don’t want the cupcake smasher here! The two big minions we can put in a shed, but the little one needs to go. I mean, think about how Hooty feels, she beats him up every chance she gets!”

“Yeah, think about how I feel,” Hooty agreed.

“Shut up Hooty,” Eda and King said in unison, causing the tube to grumble. Eda added, “And while you’re here, grab those bags and take them upstairs.” She signalled the bags on the ground, which Hooty began to devour, causing everyone to look away. “Besides, we can’t send them away. Lily’s their legal guardian now.”

“Well then kick out Lilith,” King suggested.

“Hey! I’m right here!” Eda reminded the demon

“I’m not kicking out my sister,” Eda said, “and I’m not kicking out the kids either. Or putting them in the shed.”

“Why not?” King demanded

“Because I said so,” Eda responded, making King grumble and stare at her. Eda returned the stare, and eventually King looked away, making his way back to the hallway.

“As much as I hate to admit it,” Lilith sighed, “the little demon does have a point. There’s not very much room as is.”

“I’m not gonna make you move out Lily,” Eda said, before looking up at the ceiling.

“Alador left more than enough money for a modest home,” Lilith protested.

“Which is more than enough to get the Construction Coven to do some off-the-books work for a lot more space.” Eda suggested, “And I’m sure Hooty wouldn’t mind the expansion.”

“So you want to keep them here so you get a bigger house?”

“Of course not Lily! It’s just… I know what it’s like to have your whole world shaken apart,” Lilith looked down and away from her sister at the comment, “and the last thing you need at a time like that is to have your world shaken more.”

“Edalyn, I-” Lilith tried to apologize.

“Not what we’re talking about right now,” Eda said, finishing off her apple blood and setting her mug on the coffee table, “I’m too sober for more than one serious conversation tonight.” Eda paused for a moment, eyeing the empty mug. “I would have done anything for the kind of stability they can have here. I’m not gonna rip it away from them.”

“Thank you,” Lilith said, adding, after a moment, “I’m sorry for snapping at you. All of this happening at once is… Overwhelming. I would never imagine Alador to do what he says he’s going to. He’s always been more gentle.”

“Withdrawal can do a lot,” Eda commented, “Add in the guilt and all the other emotions he’s got to be feeling. It’s not so unimaginable.”

“Withdrawal? Withdrawal from what?” Lilith questioned, turning to her sister.

“Did your letter,” Eda asked slowly, “not mention anything about it?”

“Obviously not,” Lilith focused on her sister.

“Distraction spell!” Eda yelled, pulling a bag of Hex Mix out of her hair to throw at her sister, and jumped up, only to be caught at the last moment by Lilith.

“Edalyn, that hasn’t worked since I was eight,” Lilith complained, “Now what do you mean by withdrawal?”

“You know how Oracle magic can really start to screw with your head if you’re good at it?” Eda asked

“Yes?”

“And you know how memory wiping potions can help?”

“Edalyn!” Lilith was scandalized, “Those are highly illegal!”

“So is everything else I do!” Eda answered, “and he’s hardly the only person who bought them. I thought he was doing it because Odalia was too uptight to get it herself. I didn’t think he was taking it! Let alone mixing it with alcohol.”

“He was mixing an illegal memory potion with alcohol?” Lilith looked like she was ready to feint from shock.

“Should we just trade letters and see what he didn’t tell both of us?” Eda suggested

“No!” Lilith snapped, “He obviously intended us to keep the letters private. Otherwise he'd have sent only one, addressed to both of us."

"Who cares what he intended? It's your letter now," Edalyn reasoned, "Besides shouldn't we both know everything we can about what we're getting into? I thought you'd agree with the smart thing to do."

"I don't think it is the smart thing to do," Lilith answered simply.

"Why not?" Eda demanded, watching her sister.

"I just don't," Lilith stood her ground.

"You're hiding something," Eda stated.

"That's ridiculous."

"Oh yeah? Then why won't you tell me why sharing our letters is a bad idea?"

"Because it's personal, Edalyn!" Lilith snapped.

"Who cares? Do you think I'm gonna judge you for whatever Alador told you about looking after his kids?"

"Yes!" Lilith said, to which Eda responded with a curious, almost scheming, look. "Edalyn, no!" It was too late. Eda pounced, grabbing at the letter with one hand and using her other to hold Lilith down by her face. Holding the letter out of Lilith's flailing reach, Eda began to read.

(Line break)

"Alador," Odalia called into her husband's workshop, "where are the children?" When no answer came, she proceeded down the stairs, into the workshop proper. "Alador, answer me," Odalia commanded, approaching her husband, hunched over the work bench against the far wall, placing her hand on it's shoulder

"I'm tired, Odalia," Alador's voice called from beside the stairs. Odalia turned to look, seeing Alador step forward from behind one of the workshop's numerous tarps. Odalia took a step towards Alador, but was stopped when her hand refused to move, beginning to sink into the form slumped over the workbench.

"What is the meaning of this?" Odalia asked, struggling to remove her hand from the Abomination as Alador's features melted away from it.

"I told you, Odalia," Alador's voice was steady, "I'm tired." He grabbed her free hand, pulling it away from her trapped appendage. "I'm tired of this life," he told her, forcing the hand deep into the Abomination.

"Where's your coven mark?" Odalia whispered, her eyes fixed on her husband's bare forearm.

"I left the coven, Odalia," he answered simply, "Didn't you already know?"

"What are you talking about?" Odalia's voice grew more frightened, as she failed to recall any such memory.

"We were going to discuss it, this morning," he crouched down, beginning to move Odalia's legs into the Abomination, "And then I gave you your coffee, and you seemed to just… forget."

"Alador, what did you do?'

"What I had to, Odalia!" He shouted, breaking his calm facade, angry tears beginning to well up as he knelt before his wife. "I've spent the last ten years of our marriage forgetting every moment we spent in the same room. I can't stand you, Odalia."

"Alador!"

"SHUT UP!" he roared, "I'm so tired of hearing your Titan damned voice!" He stood up and turned away from her, "I used almost the last bit of my memory potion in your coffee. To get you to shut up and just leave!"

He took a deep, shuddering breath, before he continued, more steadily, "And you left. And I was alone with my thoughts. About you. About us. Our children."

"Alador," Odalia said meekly, "where are the children?"

"Don't pretend to care now," Alador's voice rumbled.

"I'm not pretending!"

"YES YOU ARE! NEITHER OF US CARE FOR OUR CHILDREN!" Before Odalia could respond to the accusation, Alador started a barrage of questions, "What kind of glasses does Edric need? Who's Emira's favorite bard? What is Amity's favorite book series?" When Odalia failed to answer after one second, Alador shouted, "I didn't know either! I spent hours learning about our children by snooping around their rooms to get them what they need! What kind of father does that make me? And what kind of mother, that you've never even wanted to learn."

"I am not a terrible parent," Odalia defended.

"Do you remember our children ever smiling in front of us? At us? I don't, but I can blame that on the memory potion. You can't."

"A Blight doesn't-"

"WHY DO YOU CARE SO MUCH FOR A DAMN NAME THAT DOESN'T EVEN BELONG TO YOU?" The tears of anger rained freely as he shouted at her, "OUR CHILDREN SHOULD MEAN MORE TO US THAN THEM BEING SOME STUPID LEGACY!" It was a moment before he added, "That's why I sent them to the Owl House. I trust Edalyn Clawthorne to look after our children better than us. And Lily."

"I thought you agreed to stop calling her that."

"I lied. She's the only bright spot I have in these last ten years. I'm not giving that up. Not for you."

"Alador!"

"I'm done," he began to walk away, before adding, "Abomination, suffocate."

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indigosprite · 3 years

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In another ask, you shared your thoughts on why you didn’t like 6996 etc. do you think 2795 share the same problem? I think while Tsuna and Kyoko doesn’t seem as weird as 6996 on the surface upon further speculation and reading works where Kyoko becomes this bamf vongola tenth wife who does anything for Tsuna, it sort of treads the same vibe as Chrome and Mukuro in some way. Idk I just want to hear your thoughts on maybe 2795 and maybe 2786 as well.

Hi hi

Had to search these because I literally did not have any ships for this show until I rewatched it and just merged my favorite characters into one pair that happened to be a ship. I forget the others exist...With that being said, take this with a grain of salt because I honestly don’t even think about these ships a lot, forget they even exist. How KHR was written will always make the the very idea of Tsuna with any of the female characters feel weird or odd unless you’ve managed to read or create enough Fanon that changes your characterization of the original dynamic. I don’t think they share the same problem but maybe a similar one ? Tsuna and any female character compared to Mukuro and Chrome is very different in my opinion. (funnily enough it’s also because Mukuro isn’t a misogynist shsjsjsj) 6996 could work, they actually have a relationship that’s very personal to both parties and unlike 2795 they’re both aware of it and have a distinct unique connection with each other that consists of shared interests trust and mutual respect. it’s just odd to think about because chrome looks up to Mukuro and the power imbalance feels weird, he’s literally keeping her alive. (Which I know is disgustingly sweet I find it very heartwarming. )

2795 is this one sided crush with zero redeeming qualities. There was nothing remotely romantic or intriguing happening between Tsuna and Kyoko the entire series. If we took out Tsuna’s inner thoughts we honestly would’ve thought she was just this nice girl he knows from school. If we took out Tsuna’s thoughts in general and left it up to the fandom pulling this ship out of their butts it would honestly be 1000% cuter. All their interactions read like

“this girl is so lovely I really like her and she’s talking to me that’s amazing”

“Thanks for the pencil. Do your best on the test okay?”

I’m not swooning over the most lackluster interactions on the planet because he is over romanticizing it. Even the reason why he likes her is not that interesting or convincing. Which I mean I get it he’s only 14 he’s not thinking about all the small stuff like emotional support or validation or like not wanting to be alone etc. It’s still just you’re pretty let’s be happy all the time while you hold my hand forever. He deserves that he’s literally a kid. but even when i was younger i didn’t see it between them ever. On top of their interactions being boring they never give us things that make you go “oh wait she might actually like him hmmm” . they could have tried a little harder to make it a little more romantic? sometimes they show us Kyoko in a pink background hands clasped surrounded by hearts and I forget she’s supposed to be viewed in that light. I forget we’re supposed to actually consider her liking him too but what are we supposed to think Kyoko is looking for in a guy that makes Tsuna a possibility when she doesn't exist past eating cake and worrying about her brother and Tsuna. I think it’s also fair to note that they never imply that Tsuna actually thinks about her beyond his image of her but we see how caring he is with his friends to the point where he can point out their flaws and work through them anyways and accept them. Tsuna realizing Yamamoto was not himself during the Guardians trial is a perfect example of this, it establishes the relationship they built with one another. another example is Tsuna acknowledging that Gokudera is overwhelming and short tempered but he wouldn’t trade the guy for anyone because he is loyal and a good friend. he cares for Kyoko as a person in general but he never reaches that depth when it comes to her. he doesn’t have to either because it’s just a crush, how you manage to take that through the next ten years of his life I honestly don’t know.

TL;DR : My ONLY problem with 2795 is the fact that there is nothing to work off of but the implication that Tsuna likes this girl and that’s why they are endgame. she matters very little, just a figurehead of his normalcy. she’s written just as badly in fics, can I blame you? no you were probably like 14 writing them. do a lot of people still do this ? yeah so i’m just not interested until the fanon has changed her character for everyone.

I know I sound super hypocritical because “Sprite what the fuck does 6918 have that’s soooo intriguing they actually canonically hate each other how is that any better.” the answer: Mukuro and Hibari have a more established relationship with mutual feelings than those two, even better they’re actually really strong feelings (of pure hatred). Bonus, despite being aloof both characters also have fully developed personalities and Opinions/Behaviors that we can mold however we please. they actually have a relationship to play around with that's what makes it fun and lets you have those “actually they’re pretty similar in this aspect” because you know shit about both of them individually.

Now for 2786,,, as i sit here and think about it Haru and Tsuna make so much more sense for all the reasons him and kyoko don’t .

Kyoko and Haru were already made solely to be Tsuna’s love interests (specifically Kyoko) , but then it went on to be something they didn’t even bother hiding when they reduced their characters and their interests to looking after kids and repeatedly worrying over Tsuna. The reason I don’t find it appealing is because there really wasn’t any dynamic there at all. This boy liked this girl and that’s literally all it was. She has no depth , and despite being written for him nothing about Kyoko screams you’re perfect for this kid. Nothing says, You’re compatible, You have common interests, you two can rely on each other. She was pretty and nice and polite and that’s all they shared along with half the cast. With Haru they went the completely opposite direction, this girl likes him and is upfront about it. she's not a better candidate just because she's not the typical pretty girl whos quiet and polite and caring,(She’s not the better written female character either, this is reborn. they all lose here.) she’s the better candidate because we actually have a personality to compare to Tuna's. she was purposely given this big personality because he was never going to be in love with her because she’s like all the other intruding figures of his life. Again we have this one sided crush, know he doesn’t like her at all but you can actually see where they do go right and wrong. she’s a complete person.

Haru can handle a little wild in her life, she was the first one to know he would be a mafia boss and it didn’t phase her at all. Tsuna might need that later in life.

In the future when Tsuna finds her crying she tells him not to think her feelings have anything to do with him, completely different dynamic from kyoko whos emotions are always directly related to male characters and what they are doing.

Haru and her cosplays are so perfectly absurd and she does not care how weird he finds them, she has this big embarrassing trait to her that Tsuna comically responds to but just grows to overlook and accept.

she actually talks to Tsuna quite a lot and helps him out whenever she can, because he doesn't like her she's allowed to actually exist in his world and he sees her fully because of it. It makes sense to see his significant other who will be involved in the mafia as an asset who he wants to protect and not just...something he needs to protect bc they honestly don't want this.

she interviews the entire cast of the show because haru just fits there, in a yamamoto like way, she can just handle it.

Tsuna and Haru could have been perfect friends or a couple. they had the grounds for it. it’s just not what he wanted but I can totally see them working out for each other later in life. they make so much sense! i’ll have to think about them more sometime soon.

Hope I answered you questions, this got long.

#long post #khr #katekyo hitman reborn #mailbox #sawada tsunayoshi #Kyoko Sasagawa #Haru Miura #2786 #2795

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echoes-of-the-clockwork · 3 years

Text

Book One: Gold (Prompto x Reader) Chapter XXXIV

Noctis pushes open the doors to the throne room, flanked by Gladio, Prompto, (Y/n), and Ignis. Looking up, he gritted his teeth as he sees corpses hanging from the ceiling.

Prompto gasped in horror at the gruesome sight. "What is that?"

Ardyn sits above, on the throne of Lucis, with Callyx by his side. Facsimiles of the corpses of the emperor, Regis, Lunafreya, and Nyx Ulric hang from chains before the throne. Ardyn smirks as the group walks to the center of the room to stare him down. "I'm afraid you're out of luck. The throne brings you here? It seats only one."

Noctis glared at the man. "Off my chair, jester. The king sits there."

Ardyn stands and places one foot on the throne before scowling down at the king. "Oh, Noct... How I have waited for this. Longer than you could ever know." He slowly raises his hand into a fist. "Tonight, the dreams of the blood royal...come to an end."

"Spite's all that's kept him going," Gladio grumbled, eyes narrowed as they focused on Ardyn.

"Talk about a grudge," Prompto muttered.

Ignis lowered his head, his tone of voice dropping. "Ardyn sits the throne?"

"Not for long," Noctis scoffed. "This is my ascension."

Suddenly, Callyx summoned his sword as his eyes focused on Noctis. With a running start, he leapt into the air and targeted the king. Before any of the men could move, (Y/n) had already summoned the Creator's Blade and stood in front of Noctis. She blocked the spirit's sword and pushed him back. He glared at her, lowering his blade. "I've been waiting for this for ten years."

"I can tell. You've aged horribly," she sneered. She smirked in amusement when seeing her insult irked him. "How about we take this outside where we can unleash our true powers?"

Callyx bursted out with laughter. "You'll regret that decision."

"We'll see about that," she spat. Without hesitating, both spirits vanished. They reappeared in the streets of the city, not too far from the Citadel. Facing off against each other, they readied their blades. (Y/n) twirled her sword around with a grin. "To think you hit on me when we first met... Makes my stomach churn."

"If you honestly believe I was interested, you're wrong," Callyx snarled. "I was only hoping to lower your guard and stab you where you stood, but that damned human kept getting in the way. What's sickening is spirits like you who fall in love with humans. They're weak and gullible."

(Y/n) rolled her eyes. "You're such a hypocrite, you know that?"

"Oh, really? And how's that?"

She raised her blade and pointed it at him. "I know who you really are, Callyx."

His eyes narrowed. "Like hell you do." He lifted his sword, infusing it with lightning. "Enough of this chatting. Let's get this over with."

"Took the words right out of my mouth."

Callyx was the first to attack. He charged towards (Y/n) and slashed at her numerous of times. Their blades clashed over and over again, sparks flying around them. When their sword clashed for what felt like the hundredth time, they tried to push each other back. The girl took advantage of their situation and kicked him in the chest, causing him to stumble back. She raised her hand and sent a fireball at him, but he sliced it in half. Lifting his sword, he manipulated the spell he casted on it and sent the lightning towards her. She sidestepped just in time to avoid being electrified. With the others gone, she would have to be extra careful because she didn't carry around any curatives.

The emerald-eyed guardian released a war cry when he enhanced his body. Two wings grew from his back and green stripes covered his face and exposed areas of his arms. Using one wing, he swatted at her and sent her sailing through the air. Her body slammed against one of the crumbling buildings with a grunt of pain. Pushing herself free from the indentation in the bricks, she landed on her feet. Her legs shook slightly from the pain. Pushing through it, she performed another sidestep just as Callyx appeared and tried to stab her. She kicked him in the back and caused his own body to collide with the building. A few bricks from where she made impact rained down on him, hitting him but causing no real injuries.

Putting some distance between her and Callyx, (Y/n) ran down the street. She turned around at the sound of maniacal laughter. The male spirit was sauntering towards her and clearly wasn't in any hurry. Two black horns sprouted from his forehead, eyes glowing brightly. The moment she blinked, he suddenly appeared in front of her. A soundless gasp fell from her lips as he grabbed her throat and lifted her body up effortlessly. She gasped for air as her throat was crushed in his hand. She weakly glared at him as she latched onto his arm with both her hands. In his eyes, she could see the psychotic glint in them.

Having no other choice, (Y/n) enhanced her own body. Tails grew from near her tailbone and her nails turned into sharp claws. She plunged them into Callyx's arm, which forced him to drop her. She coughed, trying to regain her breath. She manifested a single throwing knife and threw it at her fellow spirit. It pierced the man in the shoulder. Then, she formed a fiery vortex around him and casted her own lightning spell, weaving it around the flames.

Callyx chortled in amusement. "Look at you. Now you know how to wield lightning. Never took you for a spirit to learn another element."

"Yeah, and I didn't take you for a spirit who would betray his own master," she snarled.

"Ardyn is my master," he spat.

"No, he's not." She jammed her blade into the ground. "Your true master is-"

Callyx's eyes widen when he heard the one name he hadn't heard in centuries. "No..." He dropped his sword and grabbed his spiky hair with both hands, yanking on the sable locks. "Don't you dare say his name again, you bitch!"

"Touchy subject?" She asked.

"Damn you!"

The male guardian released another battle cry. He morphed into his spiritual form and roared as loud as he could. It echoed through the empty streets of the city. He emerged from the vortex, breaking through the flames and the lightning. It caused him pain, but nothing too severe.

(Y/n) took a few steps back before also transforming. She screeched threateningly at the winged tiger. Forming a ring of fireballs, they spun around her. She ran around the street, hurtling the fireballs one by one. Callyx dodged most of them expect for one. It nicked him in the side and wound up resulting in him to lose his balance slightly. Some of his fur was singed and his skin was burnt. Fueled by anger, he flapped his wings and took to the sky. He flew overhead and created a large storm. Lightning struck near the fox and forced her on defense. She leapt around, trying to predict where the bolts would strike. However, she was nailed in the back by a single one. She shrieked and searched for a way out of the storm.

(Y/n) escaped the vicinity of Callyx's spell and hopped on the roof of some of the buildings to get a higher vantage point. She leapt from rooftop to rooftop across Insomnia, hearing the tiger flapping his wings as fast as he could. He may be able to fly, but her agility made it difficult to keep up. Reaching a tall enough building, she immediately spun around and pounced on the flying tiger. She sunk her teeth into his neck as her weight dragged him and her down. Blood spurted from his neck as he wriggled around in mid-air to try and escape.

Eventually, the guardians' bodies crashed through the roof of one of the buildings. They pummeled through floor after floor until reaching the bottom level. The building came crumbling down around them. (Y/n) unlatched her jaw from Callyx's neck and jumped to safety. He, on the other hand, wasn't so lucky.

With a thunderous roar, half of his body was buried underneath a pile of debris. He felt shards from the metal support frame of the building pierce his body, pinning him to the ground. When he tried to move, a fierce amount of pain ripples across his entire body. Forced to revert back to his human form, he coughed up a large amount of blood. The crimson liquid trickled from the corners of his mouth as he weakly glared up at his opponent with his one good eye. "D-Dammit... After ten years, and I...fail..."

(Y/n) changed forms and kneeled in front of him. She wasn't happy about her win, especially after learning from Brahma who Callyx truly was. "You fought well, Callyx. I'm sorry it had to end like this. If only you were on our side..."

"Don't pity me," he spat. "Dying like this is the least I deserve after all the shit I've done. Are you happy to see me go?"

"Of course not," she sighed. "Not after learning the truth."

"Who told you...?"

"Brahma. Those ten years I was asleep, he spoke to me." She stared intently into his good eye. "You are Callyx Vespertine, the guardian of the Founder King, Somnus Lucis Caelum. After Ardyn was branded a monster by his own brother, you wanted to help him because you didn't agree with Somnus' methods. You tried desperately to save him before he was consumed by the scourge, but it was too late. When Aera died at the hand of Somnus, the rage over her death caused Ardyn's infection to fully manifest. At the time, you didn't know he had infected you with the Starscourge which bound you to his soul. You were no longer Somnus' guardian but Ardyn's."

Callyx chuckled weakly. "I was a damned fool... I chose my master's brother over him..."

"Do you wish to make up for what you've done?" She questioned.

"It's too late for that..."

"No, it's not. Are you willing to hand your own soul over to the Astrals to undo the wrong you've done?"

"Yes..."

(Y/n) summoned the Creator's Blade and jammed it into the ground in front of Callyx. "If you're truly ready to pay for your sins, touch this blade and Brahma shall see to your soul himself."

The emerald-eyed guardian thought back to his life with Ardyn and Somnus as he gazed melancholically at the sword. A single tear trailed down his cheek as he reached out to touch the weapon. The moment his hand grazed it, he could feel his soul leaving his body. "Thank you, (Y/n)..." He whispered with his dying breath.

She watched in silence as his soul left his body. His body, now lifeless, gradually began to vanish. She watched sorrowfully until there was nothing left of Callyx. "Farewell, Callyx..." she whispered. Grabbing Brahma's sword, she headed back to the Citadel. Stopping for a brief second, she looked up at the sky as it began raining. She heard the creator address her.

The price has been paid, Child of Pneuma.

"Thank you for granting such a selfish wish, Brahma," she smiled before continuing forward.

Back in the courtyard at the Citadel, (Y/n) saw the men standing by the stairwell. They had yet to notice her presence as she strolled up and listened to their final goodbyes.

"So this is farewell," Ignis spoke up.

"Yeah. Here we are," Noctis muttered sorrowfully.

"It's all you," Gladio said.

Noctis nods, turns, and begins ascending the steps just as Prompto melancholically mumbled, "No turning back now."

However, Noctis does indeed stop and turn around. He addresses each of his friends in turn. "Prompto. Gladio. Ignis." He then spotter the girl standing a few feet behind them. "(Y/n). I leave it to you. Walk tall...my friends."

All are silent for a moment. Ignis was the first to shatter the silence. "Godspeed...and take care." He, Gladio, and Prompto all put their hand over their chest and bow. "Majesty."

Behind them, two iron giants begin manifesting up out of the ground. Noctis puts his own hand over his chest. "The time has come." He turns and continues ascending the steps.

Prompto, Ignis, Gladio, and (Y/n) turn to face the approaching daemons as more iron giants begin manifesting. The men raised their weapons and were ready to attack, but were stopped as the guardian strolled past them with her sword resting by her side. She could hear Brahma's voice as he spoke to her.

Our bodies shall become as one. Our fused powers shall smite all those that dwell in the dark.

Coming to a stop, (Y/n) eyed the approaching daemons. She then jammed the Creator's Blade into the ground. The cosmic glyph appeared underneath her as she was enveloped in a column of light. From the light emerged a large fox that towered over the daemons. Its body was composed of the reflection of the galaxy, its eyes glowing a pure white. A golden halo floated around its neck and many more were hovering around the tip of each tail.

The fox lowered its head as the cosmic glyph from earlier manifested underneath it. Hues of purple, white, green, and blue shone from the glyph as a large cosmic rift appeared in the sky. A powerful gust of wind began pulling on the daemons. Their bodies were lifted into the air and were swallowed up by the rift. The daemons that were fortunate to escape the rift were sliced in half when a large ring of light pulsated from the fox's body. Their corpses slowly decayed, leaving nothing behind.

The streets of Insomnia were purged of daemons. The cosmic fox's body discorporated, the glyph fading with a blinding light. As the brightness subsided, (Y/n) stood where the beast once did. In front of her loomed Brahma. The god kneeled down as he addressed her.

You have served me well, Child of Pneuma. Not only I, but the True King himself as well. I unbind our souls. You are free.

She smiled up at the Astral. "Thank you, Brahma. What will you do now?"

Return to the stars from whence I came. This world no longer needs me.

Her smile fell. "So you still wish to remain the forgotten one..."

You seem sad, Child. Why is that?

"You've been a part of me for so long. It feels like I'm losing a piece of myself," she said.

Look to the stars for I shall be there. Farewell, Child of Pneuma. I shall be watching over you and this star for all eternity.

Brahma stood up, his body slowly fading from existence. (Y/n) watched the god vanish before looking towards the Celestial Crescent. Her smile returned seeing just how brilliantly the stars radiated. Turning around, she saw Prompto, Ignis, and Gladio stand there. Before any of them could say anything, the rays of the rising sun caught their attention. The darkness was vanquished as the rays of the sun casted across all of Eos for the first time in ten years.

Although happy to see the sun, the men were saddened by the loss of their king. (Y/n), on the other hand, had a stoic expression. Her mouth opened slightly to say something, but her eyes darted over to the entrance of the Citadel when the doors opened.

The three men turn around, eyes widening when they saw Noctis walking down the steps to join them. The king smiled at his friends, amused at their expressions. "Sorry I'm late. I thought it would be better to watch the sunrise with you all."

Prompto's legs shook slightly as if he was learning to walk for the first time. He took a couple steps towards his best friend, eyes wide as saucers. "H-How...?"

"This isn't some crazy dream, right?" Gladio asked, his expression matching the marksman's.

"How is this possible?" Ignis gaped.

"Someone already paid the price." Noctis looked over at the only girl in their merry band. "It was you, wasn't it, (Y/n)?"

All eyes fell on the guardian. She clasped her hands together behind her back. "I may have asked Brahma to pull a few strings..."

"The Astrals do not simply change the course of destiny by listening. What did you offer in exchange?" Ignis inquired, curious as to how she was able to keep Noctis from perishing.

(Y/n) met Noctis' gaze. "A soul of the same bloodline. Let's just say I found a small fragment of one of your ancestors and offered it to the Astrals in exchange for your life."

Prompto was the first to react. He grabbed and pulled her into his arms, embracing her tightly. He felt tears of joy cascading down his cheeks. "Thank you for saving him, (Y/n)."

She soon found herself in the center of a group hug. A gentle smile tugged at her lips, enjoying the joyous moment. Her golden eyes trailed up to the sky, her smile widening. "It truly is a happy ending."

••••••••••• A/n: I originally had planned for Noctis to die as like on the game, but I'm a baby and still can't accept that ending. The next chapter will be the last one and it'll just be pure fluff. Love you all!!!

Previous Chapter || Next Chapter || Masterlist ||

#final fantasy xv #final fantasy xv x reader #ffxv #ffxv x reader #prompto argentum #prompto x reader #prompto argentum x reader

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shadows-twilight · 3 years

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RWBY Volume 8 Chapter 6

My various thoughts and opinions on Chapter 6 of RWBY Volume 8, “Midnight”

SPOILERS BELOW:

Oh wow, getting straight into the backstory, I see, I can dig it.

The rythmetic cycle of Cinder’s scrubbing, Cinder getting beat up, and the Madame’s heels is quite the effective opening. Tells us right from the start the good time we will not be having.

Yes, yes, you made the Rooster on the wind vane the same as the Rooster Teeth logo. Don’t worry, we noticed.

So Cinder did indeed grow up in Atlas. I must say, that is one fancy hotel. Clearly the kind of place that only the richest and scummiest attend.

I wonder what the societal implications are that the decorations of this lobby are almost exclusively Grimm. I almost want to say that it’s a sign of just how removed from real-world problem the patrons are here, that these beasts of nightmares and despair are nothing but novelties to them, that they see them as interesting rather than fearing them, but later we see a huntsman here, so I’m not so sure.

God, how mistreated was Cinder before she even came here? That “Food?” line just broke my heart.

NEW SONG!!!

Damn, why do they have to give all of these one-off backstory characters such wonderful designs? This Rhodes guy looks awesome!

So the thing that triggered Cinder’s semblance was intense anger. That tracks.

Jesus Christ, the Madame has a literal shock collar on her? I’d ask how this kind of thing was legal, but then this is the same kingdom where Jacques was able to operate his slave-like business practices with impunity, so I guess I’m not too surprised.

Wait, the “without you” mantra was forced upon her BEFORE Salem? That just got even darker.

Metal skin, huh? Rhodes’s rocking that Ultimate Shield, me likey

Ok, I think I see what Rhodes was trying to do with Cinder here. I can’t say I agree with it, he definitely should have just said “Hey kid, I’m just gonna take that inhumane piece of garbage off your neck and get you the hell out of here, okay?” but think I understand his thought process. As we established earlier, this arrangement between the Madame and Cinder is legal. It isn’t right, and it’s the farthest thing from kind, but it is legal. Cinder is just a ten year old girl, and the Madame is her legal guardian. That means if she were to run, she’d be a runaway, and if Rhodes were to take her, he’d be a kidnapper. They’d have to spend the rest of their lives on the run, even moreso if Cinder had hurt them. Alternatively, she could grin and bear it until she was old enough to get out legally, allowing her to be truly free. The problem is that she would have to grin and bear it for SEVEN YEARS, during her frikkin’ FORMATIVE YEARS! What’s more, while he was there to give her companionship and hope for the future, he got to come and go at his leisure, and probably be gone for extended periods of time (I’m assuming he still performed his Huntsman duties during this time) while she was stuck in the same traumatic, abusive environment 24/7. I understand where his mindspace was, but he did not think this through.

I’m mildly disappointed that the weapon he gifted her wasn’t Midnight. It would have made her destroying it in Volume 3 take on a much greater meaning. Also slightly disappointed that Cinder is indeed her real name. I guess she simply chose the Fall part.

Yeah, I’m not going to spare much sympathy for those bitches. I mean, one could argue that this was straight up self defense (at least with the Madame), and while I know the stock lessons from these shows is “no one deserves death” and “revenge blackens the soul” and yada yada yada, defending abusers isn’t exactly a hill I’m gonna fight on.

That being said, carrying on from my word vomit above, I understand Rhodes’s reaction as well, even if I don’t agree with it. While we can make the argument for abuse and self defense, an yada yada, we also know that in the eyes of the law, this was a cold-blooded murder, and Rhodes clearly seems to be the kind of huntsman that sees it as his duty to uphold the law. Even if he didn’t, and he let her go now or helped her run, they’d be once again in the situation he was trying to avoid, on the run. Personally, I say worth it, and if he had managed to get her to Vale, Ozpin probably would have been understanding enough to help her out, but that’s my opinion.

Oh shit, it’s an Ok Goodnight song. ... OH SHIT IT’S AN OK GOODNIGHT SONG! THAT IS AWESOME!!! Nice choice of song, too, the lyrics work very well for this scenario and Cinder’s story.

I find it incredibly sad that Rhodes immediately stopped fighting the moment Cinder’s aura broke, and even after she stabs him, all he does is give her the same headpat gesture he did earlier. For all his aforementioned faults, he really did care.

I will echo a statement I made towards Adam when we learned about his scar. I sympathize for the girl who went through all of that abuse, she didn’t deserve it. I spare none for the woman she grew into.

And we’re back in the present where we see that modern Cinder is still a sore loser and Emerald is still an overly dependent yes-woman. I feel for her sometimes.

Anyone who watched Infinity Train, is Mercury’s behavior reminding anyone else of Simon? I’m getting some serious Simon vibes from that smugness.

Oscar’s more of a clever little boy than many might have given him credit for. He’s here getting the ass whoopin’ of his life, and he’s strategizing ways to turn them against each other. Far more than just a farmhand, now.

Oh boy, Hypocrite Hazel strikes again! “You let him suffer!” Quite the riot coming from the guy dishing out the suffering.

Ooh, is that...doubt...I saw in Hazel’s eyes? All this time I figured he was so tunnel visioned by his quest for vengeance that he simply didn’t care who he served, but it turns out he’s just following the same logic Roman and Lionheart did. We can’t stop her, so we may as well help her. I wonder if Hazel’s mind might be changed if he knew what the relics really did. Sadly, Salem knew what was up and said NOPE to that train of thought. For now.

I almost want to say it was a little too on the nose for them to flashback to Cinder getting shock collared as Salem hurt her through the Grimm arm, but for some reason it really worked here.

Dear god, can you get even more manipulative than what Salem’s doing right here? Talking about giving Cinder what she wants when it’s convenient for her RIGHT AFTER TORTURING HER!? Cinder really did trade out one abusive step-mother for another, didn’t she?

I’m sorry, Elm, did you just refer to Penny as broken junk? I’mma be honest, the list of Ace-Ops I’m hoping to see survive this is really starting to dwindle. At least Winter’s not having any of it.

Wow, Harriet. You just got informed that there is a massive river of Grimm heading straight for your kingdom, and your first move is to start the blame game. How were we ever fans of these assholes?

The river is now a geyser. What a fun day.

Wow, those defenses didn’t hold for shit, did they? Good thing there’s all those ships are there for extra defense. I’m sure they’ll be helping out any second now. Any...second...

I don’t know if the middle of farmland is the most courteous place to park your world destroying god whale, but at least it’s out of the way.

God, if this is the note they’re leaving us on for the penultimate episode before the hiatus, what the hell are they leaving us with next week? For once, I’m almost glad for the week-long wait in between episodes. We need time breathe at some point!

#rwby #rwby spoilers #rwby volume 8 #rwby thoughts and opinions #rooster teeth animation

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arlakos · 4 years

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Marinette’s list of Parisian Warcrimes (Or why I need to vent about all the bad stuff Marinette has done)

Yeah, I’m doing this.

People be talking on Tumblr about why Marinette is the best character in the show and talking shit about every other character, from Adrien so I think I'll do what I do best and piss off people.

You want another Adrien salt Fic about why he’s a stalker to validate your sensitivity to everything that triggers you?

You want another AU where Chloe goes full-on villain and asshole mode so that you can be just another Astruc stan?

Do you want another Lukanette fanfic because Luka is the ‘Better Adrien’ even though all he does is play a guitar?

TOO BAD! THIS TIME WE BE DOING SOME MARINETTE SALT AND WE GOING IN HARD! WE ARE GONNA BE RUNNING THIS BLUE HAIRED GIRL INTO THE GROUND THE SAME WAY THE FANDOM TREATED THE OTHER CHARACTERS!

THIS IS PAYBACK FOR ALL THE SALT FICS THAT HAVE BEEN FORCED TO SEE THAT DON’T EVEN BOTHER TO USE NATURAL LOGIC!

(And I'm gonna love every bit of it)

So without further ado, Marinette is sentenced to be salted on the following charges:

Having a planner that tracks Adrien's every location/activity so she can stalk him at all times and actively uses (Stormy Weather).

Using her powers to prevent Adrien from dancing with another person (yes, even if that person is Chloe) (Bubbler)

Stealing Adrien's phone (Copycat)

Reading other peoples letters, even if they did throw it in the garbage (Dark Cupid)

Abandoning Paris (Ladybug Origins) (Yes I know people are going to be angry at me especially for this one, but if Everyone gives shit for Chat Noir for doing the same thing in Syren, then Ladybug gets it as well. No double standards on this post)

Literally destroying Max’s hopes and dreams by beating him in a game entering a tournament just so that she could be with Adrien. I don’t care who was better in the game or won, Marinette had no prior interest in the tournament and even knew how much Max wanted to enter, yet still done it anyway the second she realized Adrien was there. Yeah, others will say its cute that she wanted to be with Adrien, but if she really wanted to spend time with him, all she had to do was, you know, ASK LIKE A NORMAL PERSON!!! (Gamer)

Ladybug not listening to advice on where the akuma is all because she didn't like Chloe. who made a small lie before to her. Yeah Ladybug, someone making a little lie to save themselves embarrassment is really valid enough of a reason for their opinion and advice to be worth nothing. And it caused another akuma, good for you. (Antibug)

Oooh, a big one...Marinette stalked Lila and Adrien pretty much all day, under the guise of ‘not liking liars’ (yeah right) and once she had a ‘valid’ excuse to pretty much ruin Lila’s chances of wooing Adrien (whether or not she had an actual chance is irrelevant) she transformed into Ladybug and ABSOLUTELY EMBARRASSED HER AND HUMILIATED HER right in front of Adrien, when she could have just pulled her aside and just told her off in private and quietly so that she wouldn’t do it again. When Adrien questions her says she did it with the excuse of ‘not liking liars’. (Volpina)

Not telling Fu who the book belonged too when questioned on where she got it. I get that this was an excuse to prolong the shows run time, but if you were going to bring this up in the show and pretend that what Marinette did wasn’t a big deal, then they shouldn’t have added it in the first place. (The Collector)

Not bothering to tell her grandmother the truth and sneaking off to hang with her friends. (Befana)

Ladybug leading on Chat Noir. If she really didn't want to go, she could have just outright said No and be done with it, instead of just a ‘maybe’. (Glaciator)

Ladybug Literally not telling Chat Noir about the Guardian or where the hell all these heroes are coming from. There was literally no excuse, Adrien didn’t need to wait ‘until he was ready’, he literally became a hero the same time as Ladybug, it wasn’t like he was ‘the new guy’ and Ladybug was ‘the more experienced one’. I can give this to Fu as well, but I still feel that Ladybug should’ve told him regardless from the get go, she trusted a man she hadn’t properly met until 1 season later more than her own partner who stuck with her since day one. (Syren)

Taking pollen away from Chloe... yeah this really doesnt count. I just simply liked Chloe’s face in Malediktator when she saw Pollen again.

Talking shit about Chloe behind her back then acting all friendly to her as Ladybug when she needed her to become Queen Bee. Not really bad, it's just incredibly rude. (Maledictator)

Again, the same shit as Stormy Weather, instead of being punished for having the planner that details every bit of Adriens day to day activities, she gets rewarded by the writers. Not so much a Marinette crime as it is and ASS-truc crime. (Troublemaker)

Snooping through Marcs Private book, annoying him when he wanted to be isolated, and just straight up not having Marc give him the script himself. She could have tried just bringing Marc to Nathaniel and showing him the script together. (Reverser).

Making a lie about organizing a party when she definitely didn’t plan one. Yes, even if she was going to do it afterwards and planned to make the pastries herself for the party. She really is a hypocrite when she comes to lying, even though that’s a personality trait the writer's press is the reason why she hates Lila. (Season 2 Finale-Catalyst and Mayura).

Sabotaging Kagami’s attempts at being with Adrien. (Animaestro)

Marinette telling her Grandpa that rice bread is better than wheat bread. Anybody who has tasted bread would say otherwise. Although to be fair I blame Tom for this and this isn’t really as bad as the others (Bakerix)

Marinette throws Chat under the bus by pretending she loves him and leaving him to face Tom when the entire thing was her fault. I know she did it to protect her identity, but it still was an ass thing to do, and Chat found Marinette in her own house, Marinette could have used any excuse, including but not limited to, baked goods. (Weredad)

Marinette... LITERALLY... TRIED TO BREAK INTO ADRIEN’S HOME... ALL BECAUSE LILA WAS THERE...if the fireman was smarter than most other characters in the show he could’ve literally called the cops on her, leading to her getting arrested and Gabriel (or even Adrien) filing a restraining order against her. That and she steals Juleka’s bike. Not cool dude. (Oni-Chan)

Marinette not making it very clear to Chloe that she can’t get the miraculous back under any circumstances due to her exposed identity, especially after Chloe claims she’ll need them again. (Miraculer)

Marinette sneaks into the boy’s party despite wanting bro time, all because she wanted another botched attempt to confess to Adrien. (Party Crasher)

THAT CREEPY SCENE WITH THE ‘ADRIEN WAX STATUE’. I dont want to talk about it. You know which one I'm talking about. If you don’t, thank god, but IF YOU THINK THAT WAS CUTE IN ANY WAY OR THAT ITS ADRIEN FAULT BECAUSE HE STOOD STILL, YOU NEED TO GET YOUR HEAD CHECKED. (god i still have nightmares) (Puppeteer 2)

Not really a crime, but talking literally all the miraculi when you only needed a few. What would happen if she screwed up and Hawkmot got all the miraculous, or lost a few for the Akuma to obtain? (Kwamibuster)

Marinette (or Lady Noire) being an absolute dick to Misterbug during the entire time they were fighting Reflekdoll, insulting Misterbug for misusing his power when she does the same thing and claiming Misterbugs usual job is ‘easy’. Yeah...no. Fuck you Lady Noire, go eat a cataclysm to the face (Reflekdoll)

Marinette sabotaging Friendship day for Kagami just because she didnt want the latter to see Adrien.. at all. (Ikari Gozen)

Claiming Adrien is a good guitarist when Luka is an actual one. Not a crime, just dumb (Desperada)

Giving a Miraculous to Adrien when she can’t even control herself around him and could be distracted (Desperada)

Being too cute in that picture Marinette and Adrien sleeping together on the train. Yes i know this isn’t a crime, i do like some stuff about her, i just think the pic is really cute. (Startrain)

(Look at it, they’re adorkable. Awww....)

(Wait, aren’t I supposed to be salty?)

NOW, for the biggest crime of them all...

Literally not confessing to Adrien even once. Aside from the fact its turned the ‘romance part’ of the show into a joke, Marinette not telling Adrien the truth already or lying about her feelings is the reason we have the ‘Marinette is just a good friend meme’. No wonder he thinks you are ‘just a friend’. THAT’S ALL YOU HAVE BEEN TELLING HIM.

My evidence? EVERY SINGLE EPISODE!!!

...

Ahhhh. Much better.

Well, now that I have successfully gotten rid of all that anger and salt and manifested it into a physical memento of my anger for this show and its main character, I’m going to relax while people get mad and triggered that I insulted the ‘Perfect Marinette’ and leave me angry messages. For all those that listened and don’t hate me or even agree with what I have said, thanks for reading my large amount of vented writing. I hope you have a pleasant day.

Let's hope for season 4 of Miraculous to be better now that Zag is back. The fandom knows we don't need another salty season.

#Miraculous Ladybug #Season 1 to 3 #ML salt #A lot of salt #Marinette salt #Probably a lot of Marinette hate #AND FOR GOOD REASON #A bit of writer salt as well #A lot of ASS-truc Salt #Miraculous Ladybug salt

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kob131 · 4 years

Text

https://rwdestuffs.tumblr.com/post/625097351282966528/done-dirty-ironwood

So, the guy who is declaring martial law, and thought to himself “The people who attacked Beacon hacked our systems, but they totally won’t do it again” is supposed to be the “good guy” right?

A. Better than the mass murdering, child abandoning, family endangering woman but then again considering your hard on...

B. Gee, almost like the show is saying he’s not entirely in the right OR wrong...

C. “ Watts: (sighs) While cybersecurity has been stepped up in Atlas, as usual, none of the code was updated in Mantle. “ Wanna try that again Dudeblade.

Okay, I guess we can’t be totally unfair to him. After all, he’s just being paranoid. Paranoid to the point that he’s become a nervous wreck…

And Yang being depressed to the point of doing nothing to help her sister is so terrible of her right? Since we’re mocking PTSD and mental issues here...

How is he not a grimm magnet?- Starting to get the vibe that that whole thing about them being attracted to negative emotions is a load of bull, but whatever. Subject for another time.

Like the subject of him pistol whipping an Alpha Beowolf and surviving a crashing plane in Volume 3 showcasing he’s too competent to die to a Grimm under normal circumstances. Nah that’s show don’t tell and the act of acknowledging that would probably kill Dudeblade.

Well, I’ll say this much: He looks better with a beard.

Now let’s see, what Wizard of Oz character is Ironwood supposed to be based off of?

Ah yes, the heartless Tinman. Fun fact: The Wiki labeled this as “Terminator.Png”, so make of that as you will.

In the original lore, the Tin Man wanted a heart so that he could love. But the story showed that he had that ability to begin with.

You know, like Ironwood repeatedly showing warm emotion throughout Volume 7 and having the right idea but loses it all due to his own human flaws.

Ironwood’s… recent behaviors is troubling. Nora has pointed out that Mantle is bearing the brunt of the burden while Atlas has to shoulder… Nothing.

She talks to Ironwood, not Atlas as a whole dumbass. You’ll even prove it later.

Ironwood could tell Mantle about the plan so that he could hire Hunters there to guard the tower against threats, and also maybe get some programmers to, I don’t know… Keep it safe from hackers?

Nora: I am so sick of secrets! If we just told everyone about Amity, about Salem--

Ironwood: We can’t!

Everyone turns to look at Ironwood.

Ironwood: If we talk about Amity now, we risk Salem’s forces, who we know are here, working to sabotage it. If we tell them about Salem now, we risk falling to the Grimm before we can reunite Remnant.

Stealing argument from the show now are we?

The label the PNG image has is right. Ironwood is the Terminator. Bad under pressure, easily hackable, and only knowledgeable in combat but nothing else.

... So Yang.

Dudeblade: *goes into a snarling fit of rage*

Yeah just as I thought.

Considering that he’s abandoning Mantle with no real plan to actually stop Salem, it’s obvious that he’s doing what Oz is doing: He’s just desperately trying to hold off the inevitable.

Gee, almost like that’s a theme of something...

Which I think is a post for another time.

Can’t wait to see you fuck yourself in the ass then.

Nora here is correct. No matter what Ironwood says, no matter what he tells himself, Mantle took on the burden of completing that tower. Atlas?- They never had to fear grimm attacks. They never had to fear losing their jobs (At least until jacques decided to take them away and blame Ironwood for it). Mantle was a police state once the main characters got there, and all their resources were being diverted to Atlas.

Not pictured- A mention of Atlas.

Also not pictured- Ironwood talking about AMITY, not ATLAS getting the resources.

Atlas had an embargo. But as far as we’ve seen, Atlas if full of a bunch of rich assholes that don’t give a crap about the rest of the world.

Not the point of the embargo, which is to prevent mutual destruction among the kingdoms by killing each other with Dust from Atlas.

Then we consider that Ironwood declares martial law and orders the arrest of the titular team.

So suddenly the team is in the right, even as you love to make the case they’re monsters?

Funny how shit changes according to your political whims...

In all honesty, Blake and Yang made the right call in telling Robyn of the plan, because it got her to back off of stealing the supplies, even only for a bit.

Proof? ... No?

Gee, trying to excuse characters from their actions- Guess that’s something that’ll never change with Dudeblade.

But then we get this bombshell:

Ironwood just wanted to lure out Watts. He had no plan. Just like Oz, he was only delaying the inevitable.

‘Ready to launch’ dumbass. That’s the lie.

What Ironwood is doing is dividing the people. He is basically giving Salem exactly what she wants: A divided humanity.

You know, what the show itself is saying. So how is this a failure of the show’s and not your dumb ass again?

I mean… The is the guy who brought an ARMY to a celebration of PEACE that started because HIS KINGDOM started a war. Are we really supposed to see him as the “good guy” here?

Repeating Ozpin I see.

Ozpin: (standing up) And fear will bring the Grimm. A guardian is a symbol of comfort. But an army is a symbol of conflict. There's an energy in the air now, a question in the back of everyone's minds... (gestures to the display) "If this is the size of our defenses, then what is it we're expecting to fight?"

Say, wasn’t Ozpin ‘done dirty’? How come you’re ripping off his own arguments?

He can keep saying that “it’s the right decisions that are the toughest to make” and all that bullcrap, but as we all know: The road to hell is paved with good intentions. The guy refuses to admit fault in any capacity whatsoever, instead blaming others for his own shortcomings.

Ironwood: I wanted Ozpin's advice.

Oscar: And his advice probably would've been to keep your secrets. When we first got here, you already knew that wasn't the right course. You had a new plan.

Ironwood: It's time to give up on that plan.

Ironwood straightens up, lowering his hand from his face.

Ironwood: It's all falling apart.

Oscar: The panic you were worried about? It's already happening. The secrets you're keeping? They're about to be in the open anyway. It's time.

Ironwood turns and looks at Oscar.

Oscar: Tell the truth.

Ruby: You're not alone.

Ironwood looks over to see that Ruby has approached him with an encouraging smile.

Ruby: We can do this together.

Ironwood nods and smiles.

Ironwood: Thank you. Oscar, I think it's time you get back to the Academy.

Oscar: I think you're right.

Oscar rests his hand on the Relic again. While Ironwood speaks, Winter brings out her Scroll and starts using it, heading over to him.

Ironwood: Miss Hill, Councilman Sleet, Councilwoman Camilla, there are some things you need to know about. Let's figure out how we can help Mantle… together.

You were saying?

He has the “My way, or no way” mentality. He literally shoots a teenager because he’s throwing a temper tantrum over not being treated the way he wants to. It was his drones that got hacked. It was his system that got compromised. It was his lack of empathy that made team RWBY turn against him.

All points (except the temper tantrum you fucking hypocrite) the show already made.

Wanna know what else it made?

‘Team RWBY did the same thing to Ironwood Ozpin did to them’

‘Team RWBY betrayed Ironwood and caused this division too’

‘Team RWBY and Ironwood are both at fault.’

But hey, those don’t fit your politics.

And yet, he refuses to see that he’s become the thing that he fears most.

Here’s another post that also goes in detail about what Ironwood did.

Oh hey, Dudeblade agreeing with the show!

Also: self sourcing. Source denied.

So, remind me again why we should at all trust him when he refuses to trust anyone not blindly loyal to him?

Because he’s not that and you’re being a biased asshat.

Which, I must add:

SOUNDS DANGEROUSLY FAMILIAR!

What, did you listen to yourself for once?

But congrats on making the show look good as you rip points straight from the show itself. Which I’m all but certain of was the opposite of your intention given your series. While also outing the series as your personal bitchings as NONE of this discusses the show itself.

The ultimate self fucking.

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acciotonystank · 4 years

Text

It Comes and Goes in Waves

Read on AO3

Tony had noticed that Peter was acting… off. He kept cancelling their lab sessions, giving vague excuses as to why he couldn’t go, he’d take forever to answer his texts and when they did talk, he wasn’t very responsive. Tony would be the one to have to carry the conversation, rather than hardly being able to get a word in between his barely-comprehendible rambling. And that’s what concerned him the most.

If Peter couldn’t come over as much because he’d started actually having a life (and maybe hopefully a girlfriend or boyfriend?) Tony was fine with that - encouraged it. God knows the kid needed to actually have time to be a kid before he went off to college next month. But it was the sudden quietness that had overcome the boy that unnerved him. It had been a relatively gradual process, which is probably why it took Tony as long as it did to pick up on the unusual behaviour.

Even May had noticed. The woman called asking if he knew what was wrong, because Peter hadn’t been talking to her as much and often wasn’t home. And look, Tony wasn’t proud of the slightly relieved feeling that nudged at him when he found out she was receiving similar treatment - obviously that wasn’t good. But he couldn’t help the relief that it wasn’t personal, that Tony hadn’t fucked up, it wasn’t something he’d done.

Of course, that still meant that they weren’t that much closer to figuring out what was wrong. May insisted that she’d tried to get it out of Peter, but he kept brushing her off and sometimes getting snippy with her. Now, that was concerning. Unsure of what else to do, May asked Tony if he could try. The man had pointed out that he hadn’t even seen Peter in three weeks, to which she had explained that she had a work conference to go to the following week in DC, which a couple of the other girls were planning on making into a girls weekend and had invited her. Realising she could use this as an excuse to get Peter over at the compound for a whole weekend so that Tony could have a chance at getting through to him, she accepted.

“I don’t see why you think he’ll talk to me if he won’t talk to you, but I’ll try,” Tony promised.

“He loves you, Tony,” May stated. “And I know he loves me, but there are some things he might not want to talk to his aunt about.”

Tony pulled a face. “Like… relationship stuff?”

“I don’t know, he’s never had a problem with talking to me about relationships before. That doesn’t mean it’s not that, of course, but I don’t think it is.”

“You think it might be Spider-Man related?”

There was a pause in which Tony was pretty sure she was chewing anxiously on her lip.

“Maybe,” she said after a moment, in a tone that told him she didn’t believe so. “I… I think it might have something to do with college. He kinda… shuts down a little whenever I mention MIT but he won’t talk to me about it. I’ve asked and he always insists everything’s fine, like I’m fucking stupid.”

Tony blinked, wondering why he hadn’t considered that before. He was thrilled to go to college so he’d be away from his dad. Of course, he’d missed Jarvis terribly, the butler being his only friend until that point. The man had practically raised him and Tony had loved him deeply, however, a part of him had desperately wanted to get out that cold house, to get a fresh start. It hadn’t occurred to him that Peter probably didn’t want a fresh start. Why would he? Peter had a loving aunt with whom he lived, all his friends were here, he had a real and a fake internship, both of which he loved, and his super cool mentor for both.

Guilt flooded him when he thought of all his teasing about Peter’s future partying days in college and how he’ll obviously thrash everyone with his genius intellect. He thought the kid was just being bashful, not that he was making him actually uncomfortable and anxious. He could understand why Peter would be anxious about going to college; living in a whole new place with a bunch of new people in a completely different environment is pretty terrifying. Especially for rambling, stuttering, awkward-as-shit introverts with rather poor people skills.

But it still didn’t really explain why he’d been avoiding them. Tony had had plenty of conversations with Peter about anxiety and about going to him when he was feeling anxious, and they’d been doing well for the last couple of years. They’d reached the point where Peter would actually talk to Tony if he was anxious about anything, so he didn’t understand why he’d suddenly cut him out now. It… It kind of hurt.

“I’ll talk to him about it,” he decided finally. “I’ll see what I can do.”

“Thank you, Tony, it means a lot.”

“It’s not a problem, May, really,” he insisted. “He’s a great kid, I just want him to be happy.”

“You and me both,” she sighed. “I’ll talk to you later.”

Tony ran his hands over his face when the call ended. Why did teenagers have to be so damn complicated?

When Peter arrived the following Friday afternoon, Tony was completely thrown off by his stand-offish behaviour. He barely looked the man in the eye as he walked in, just muttering a quiet ‘hey’ and walking past, towards his bedroom as Happy threw Tony a look that indicated he had no idea what was going wrong.

“What the hell?” Happy whispered once the boy was out of earshot.

“He’s been like this for a few weeks,” Tony murmured back. “That’s why he’s here, so he can’t escape and I can actually find out why he’s acting like this. I thought it was about college, but that was… frosty. Maybe I did something?”

“I’m not an expert on teenagers, but I’m pretty sure locking them inside and forcing them to talk doesn’t usually work.”

Tony’s pressed his lips together and nodded slightly. “I know… but frankly, I don’t know what else to do. I feel like I’ve tried everything. Except alcohol, that usually loosens peoples’ tongues but I feel like that’s morally questionable-“

“He’s eighteen,” Happy deadpanned. “Definitely morally questionable.”

“Which is why I haven’t done it yet!” Tony defended.

“Yet?”

“Look, if I get really desperate-“

“Tony!”

“Oh, come one, would you rather he drink at parties with a bunch of irresponsible, drunk, unsupervised teenagers or with me?”

“It’s one thing to have a drink with your underage kid, but in the eyes of the law, you’re not his legal guardian and if you’re just doing it to get information out of him, that’s just wrong.”

“I know,” Tony sighed. “I know. I just… I don’t know what I’ll do if this doesn’t work. He’s very obviously not okay and he’s shutting himself away and I don’t like it.”

“I’ve got to go and pick up Pepper from that board meeting and take her to the office, but… keep me updated.”

Tony knew Happy wouldn’t admit it out loud, but he’d grown fond of Peter - it was hard not to with his baby face and doe eyes and dopey smile- He shook his head. He needed to stop missing Peter’s smile and work on actually getting it back.

After the man left, Tony made his way to Peter’s room and knocked on the door. He was confused when he got no response, but when he strained his ears, he could hear the sound of the shower running. He pressed his lips together and ran a hand through his hair, before shaking his head again They didn’t have to talk as soon as he got there, it’d be somewhat suspicious if he did. He needed Peter to settle in first and they had the whole weekend. Besides, he’d have to eat dinner at some point, he couldn’t stay holed up in his room forever.

When Peter finally came into the kitchen, Tony was beginning to prepare dinner. The boy hesitated in the doorway for a moment before coming forward and sitting at the counter.

“You’re cooking?” he asked in surprise.

“Yep - I’m doing, uh-“ he glanced down at the screen at the recipe he was going off. “Chilli cashew chicken stir-fry.”

“Something with vegetables,” Peter noted in amusement.

Tony hesitated a moment, before seizing the opportunity. “Yeah, I figured I should get some veggies in you before you head off to college and live off ramen for an obscene amount of time.”

It was instant, the way Peter’s face fell slightly and he gave a weak laugh. Bingo.

“You excited?”

It was a cheap shot, but he was hoping that by digging at it, Peter would eventually burst and spill everything. Unfortunately, at that very moment, Peter’s phone started ringing and he jumped at it, jabbering out an apology and walking off with the phone against his ear.

“Hey, Ned, what’s up?”

Tony threw his head back in exasperation, cursing Ned under his breath.

Conveniently, Peter didn’t come back until Tony told FRIDAY to let him know dinner was ready. Tony had spent the rest of the time making dinner hyping himself up for a heart-to-heart, however, when Peter sat down, he started shoving down his food at an inhuman speed, using the fact that his mouth was full to not talk.

“I’m sorry, Tony, but I’m really tired, I’m going to go to bed,” he announced as soon as he was done, already standing to put his plate in the dishwasher.

“Oh, okay,” the man replied, only halfway through his meal, unable to keep the hurt out of his voice.

He noticed Peter pause for a fraction of a second, his eyes glancing back a the man guiltily. “I’ll… I’ll see you tomorrow, g’night.”

“Goodnight, underoos.”

The following morning, Tony made breakfast, hoping to have a proper conversation with Peter this time. Naturally, the boy came bounding down, shovelled the food down and said he was hanging out with Ned and MJ in the city for the day.

Fuck.

“Alright, buddy, but be back by five, alright?”

Peter paused. “Why?”

“What do you mean, ‘why’? I want to have dinner with my favourite intern. I hardly saw you yesterday.”

“O-okay,” he nodded reluctantly. “I’ll see you later.”

Yet again, Peter had managed to escape with merely a few words and Tony was starting to get pissed off. Admittedly, not at Peter. He of all people couldn’t criticise Peter for avoiding something that was troubling him and not telling anyone and letting it consume him - that’d be hypocritical as fuck. If anything, though, Tony had learnt through that experience that pulling shit like that was not healthy at all and- shit, Peter wasn’t dying, was he? Is that why he was getting weird about college? Tony quickly tried to dismiss the thought, swallowing down the oncoming panic that had begun to rise. The only reason Tony hadn’t told anyone he was dying was because he thought (knew) that he was the only person who could do anything about it. If Peter was dying, surely he’d know that Tony would do absolutely everything in his power to stop it.

Right?

When it got to 5:01pm, Tony tried not to get shitty. It was certainly irrational - had it been any normal day when Peter wasn’t ghosting everyone, one minute past the time he was meant to be back wouldn’t be a big deal at all. But Tony had not had a fun day. He’d spent most of it monitoring Peter’s vitals from the high-tech watch he’d given him a year ago with an array of safety features for when he wasn’t in the suit. And despite rationalising that Peter probably wasn’t dying, the idea had seeped into his mind like a stain that he couldn’t get rid of.

God, he was so sick of this and he just wanted Peter to be honest with him, to tell him what was upsetting him so that he didn’t have to face it alone. Tony knew how much that fucking sucked.

So when the boy walked out of the elevator at 5:02pm Tony immediately swivelled around on the kitchen stool and scanned over his figure for any sign of pain or injury, but found none. He couldn’t stop thinking about his days of thinking he was going to die of palladium poisoning and suddenly, Tony wasn’t really sure how to ask if he was dying without sounding insane. Then again, when had sane been something he aspired to be?

“You’re not dying are you?” he blurted out, before Peter even had the chance to say hello.

Peter stopped abruptly, face scrunching up. “I’m not- sorry, what?”

Tony knew that Peter was a great deflector, but he was a terrible liar. So the complete and genuine bewilderment in his voice and on his face immediately filled Tony with relief.

“Sorry, that was a really weird question, I just-“ he cut himself off and took a deep breath. “You’ve been avoiding me, kid, and I don’t know why-“

“Tony-“ Peter began, looking uncomfortable again, eyes flitting towards the hallway to his room.

“You gotta talk to me, Pete, please. I don’t know what’d going on with you, but whatever it is, you don’t have to deal with it on your own. I haven’t seen you in weeks, I haven’t seen you smile once since you got here, you won’t talk to me… you gotta let me in, buddy. I just want to help you.”

Peter’s eyes started to water and he ducked his head to stare at the car keys in his hand.

“This is about college, isn’t it? May and I have both noticed you acting weird about it.”

The kid’s eyes snapped up to him at the mention of his aunt and he chewed at his lip guiltily.

“Is it MIT? Would you rather go to a different college? Would you rather not go to college at all?”

Peter made a noise of frustration, which Tony could tell was directed at himself as he struggled to answer. “Yes and no. I… I really want to go to college, Tony, and I’m really excited about going to MIT, but… I don’t want to leave.”

Oh.

“Kid,” Tony breathed, as Peter wiped at his eyes and slumped down into the seat next to him.

He wasn’t anxious about going, he was anxious about leaving.

“Like… I’m really looking forward to college, and meeting new people will be scary but I’m still excited for it, you know? It’s just… my whole l-life is here. And it’s like… the reason I love my apartment is because it feels like home, but it only feels like home because of M-May. And I feel like this- this city is mine because its Ned’s and MJ’s too. And I love c-coming here, but not because of the tower or anything in it, b-because of you. But I won’t have any of you when I’m there and I feel so p-pathetic for crying about it, but I can’t help but loathe the idea of a life without any of y-you.”

By now, tears were rolling down his cheeks, and his red-rimmed shining brown eyes caused some pull in Tony to stand up and draw the boy into a tight hug.

“That’s why you isolated yourself,” Tony realised aloud.

“I th-thought that if I d-distanced myself I could get u-used to it, you know?” Peter sniffled into his shoulder. “B-but it only made it w-worse and I’m so sorry for making you guys worry about me, but I felt so stupid.”

“You’re not stupid, Pete,” Tony murmured, running a hand through Peter’s hair. “Well… I mean, that’s debatable but not for being upset about leaving. You don’t think I don’t want you to leave, either? We both know I’m going to struggle upholding basic human functions when you leave.”

Peter let out a wet laugh.

“You know that we’re not just going to suddenly stop being in your life when you leave, right? Thanks to this knew fandangled technology we can text each other, call each other, even video chat.”

Peter shoved him off playfully and wiped at his eyes, smiling sadly. “It’s not the same. I… okay, I feel like this is going to make me sound like a serial killer.”

“Well, we both know you’re not and I’ve said some pretty weird shit in my time, so fire away.”

“I.. I have a thing with smells. Like… May has a distinctive smell, and so do Ned and MJ and you. And I don’t know how to explain it, but I associate the smells of the people I care about with safety and comfort and stuff… I know that probably sounds weird-”

“It’s not weird,” Tony shrugged. “I don’t get people who don’t get the smell thing. Sometimes when Pepper’s away, I sleep on her side of the bed because it smells like her. And she takes my clothes all the time for the same reason. It’s going to suck for a while, kid, it’s true. But we can still talk, and unless the world needs saving, I’ll always be prepared to fly over in the suit so you can remind yourself how great I smell.”

“Tony-” Peter whined, causing the man to bark out a laugh.

“I’m just teasing you. But it’ll get better, I promise. No one’s expecting you to be fine when you upend your life like that, but you’ll make friends and you can all distract each other from being homesick and help each other through it. And you can always call any of us, anyway. And I wasn’t joking, if you need, I can fly over for whatever reason.”

“Thank you, Tony,” Peter smiled, letting himself be pulled into another firm hug.

“You feel better?”

Peter nodded.

“Good. Do you want to order some pizza and watch Brooklyn Nine-Nine?”

“Uh, yes.”

“Did you really think I was dying?” Peter asked as Tony was laying out the pizza boxes on the coffee table. The man froze and glanced sheepishly at him.

“I… I didn’t think so, but I guess I was thinking about whatever it could be you were hiding from everyone and why you were isolating yourself and it made me think of the time I was dying from palladium poisoning-”

“You were dying from palladium poisoning?!” Peter screeched.

“Ah… sometimes I forget people don’t know about that.”

“Dude.”

“That’s besides the point,” he waved a dismissive hand. “The point is, your behaviour kinda reminded me of mine when all that was happening and I figured if something like that was happening you’d tell me, but I couldn’t help but… be concerned, I guess.”

“I can promise you now, if I was dying, I’d let you know,” Peter promised softly, wide brown eyes boring into Tony’s.

“Thanks, Pete,” the man said with a slight laugh. “That’s surprisingly reassuring.”

“Can you promise me that you’ll tell me if you’re dying again?” the teenager shot back.

“Sure, underoos,” he grinned, ruffling his hair.

“Do you really think I’ll make friends at MIT?” Peter asked after a moment.

Tony looked at him in surprise. “Of course. I know it seems terrifying, but it’s actually a lot of fun - you get to reinvent yourself.”

Peter’s head jerked back in mild offence. “What’s wrong with the way I am?”

“Nothing, kid,” he laughed. “Nothing at all. I just mean that not knowing anyone there can be a blessing. Everyone there will be meeting you for the first time, they won’t know that some asswipe nicknamed you Penis Parker. They’ll just know you as Peter, the kind, funny, genius, dumbass disaster that I know.”

Peter drew his head back even further in affront.

“Don’t look at me like that. Are you insanely smart? Yes. But did you throw a cup of juice onto your bed instead of your phone? Also yes.”

“That was one time.”

“What about the other night when you turned the TV down so you could taste your mac and cheese better? Or the time you thought your food vanished from the microwave, when it turned out you’d just forgotten to put it in there before turning it on? Now that I think about it, I’m concerned about sending you off to college.”

Peter scowled. “Okay, you know what, you’re one to talk - what about the time you threw a plate in the bin?”

“That was intentional, I didn’t like that plate-”

“It was not! I saw you looking for it later. Besides, it was the same as all the plates that are still in the cupboard. You’ve done plenty of dumb shit and you survived college just fine.”

Tony grimaced. “I really hope your college experience is much better than mine, kiddo. I mean… I know it will be because you’re actually a mature and responsible kid. I was fifteen and drinking and getting high and having sex. Not to say that you can’t do that stuff, but I was far too young and naive. If you’re gonna drink, do it in moderation and with people you trust… I’d really rather you stayed away from all drugs, but I understand if you’re curious, and if you’re going to do it, don’t do any hard stuff and make sure you know what it is and, again, only with people you trust. As for sex-”

Peter flushed. “Tony, you don’t have to-”

“Shh, I’m bestowing wisdom onto you. Some people are very lax about sex, and that’s fine, but it is a very intimate and vulnerable experiment and you should only do it with someone you’re comfortable with and always use protection. If you’re not gonna sack it, go home and whack it.”

Peter buried his face in his hands. “Oh my god.”

“And if you’re with a guy, don’t let him in unless he’s wearing a condom.”

“Okay, Tony, I think-”

“And don’t underestimate the important of foreplay. Especially for your first time, it’s a good way to ease into it and make sure you’re both comfortable. And it also helps your body become physically ready, because if you just go charging to things underprepared, it’s much less comfortable. And the most effective lubricant is actual lube, don’t let a guy tell you spit will work just as well, do it properly.”

“Are you finished?” Peter asked in a strangled voice.

“Oh, that’s another thing - don’t be selfish when it comes to sex. It’s not just about your pleasure, make sure your partner finishes too.”

“Uh, what did I miss?”

Peter’s head shot up the arrival of Rhodey, who was clearly very confused about what he had walked into.

“Honey bear!” Tony greeted cheerfully. “I’ve just been giving Pete some advice about hanky panky.”

“Please save me,” he begged, hope draining when Rhodey’s grin widened.

“No, no, no - this is important,” he insisted and took a seat next to Tony, much to the billionaire’s amusement.

Peter flopped back dramatically with a heavy groan.

“Oh, and consent! Consent is really important. You know how all that works, right?”

“Yeah, but I suspect you’re gonna tell me any-”

“Even if they seem really keen, you should make sure, get verbal consent,” Tony began. “And if they change their mind at any point, you stop instantly. Same for you, obviously - don’t feel like just because you started, you can’t stop. You’re perfectly in your right to say no whenever you want. And if they’re drunk, it’s an automatic no, no matter how much they want it. Don’t sleep with a drunk person and don’t sleep with anyone when drunk. Don’t let anyone try and pressure you or guilt you into anything, you don’t owe anyone shit, let alone your body. And if anyone isn’t taking no for an answer, don’t hesitate to use that spider strength of yours to your advantage. Oh, there’s that too - I obviously don’t have super strength, but I have seen that scene in Twilight, when they’re on their honeymoon and Cedric or whatever-”

“I get it!” Peter exclaimed.

“The point is, be aware of your strength. I know you always are, but it’s common to get a bit carried away during sex and you don’t wanna accidentally hurt anyone.”

“Don’t forget about kinks,” Rhodey chimed in, much to Peter’s horror.

“Oh yeah!” Tony grinned.

“MISTER RHODES!”

“If you want to explore kinks and stuff,” Tony started, ignoring Peter’s protests, “before you do anything, you need to negotiate your comfort range, have some kind of safety system set up, whether it be hand gestures, a safe word, a traffic light system, whatever. Also don’t let anyone you don’t completely trust tie you up, because one time I let this chick tie me up and then she just took my money, got dressed and left. Fortunately for me, I’d ordered room service so -although I probably scarred that poor woman- I wasn’t stuck like that for long.”

“Okay, I think I got it-” Peter insisted, face red.

“Also, don’t do anything illegal, nothing in public-”

“Why would I do anything in public?!” he interrupted in bewilderment.

“It’s all well and good until the cops show up and take you back to your parents and spare no detail. Not that you’ll have to worry about that part ‘cause you’re eighteen, but-”

“Are you speaking from experience?” Peter asked, looking as thought he didn’t really want to know the answer.

“Yeah, not my proudest moment. Never did anything like it again. Dad certainly wasn’t pleased but I think he was more angry that it was with a guy. Look, the point it, don’t do anything you’re not one hundred percent comfortable with, and don’t do anything that your partner isn’t one hundred percent comfortable with. Don’t let anyone convince you or persuade you into anything, always stick with your initial gut instinct. Persuaded consent to anything is not consent.”

Rhodey nodded, and looked back to Tony. “You’ve talked about protection? Shown him how to use a condom?”

Tony pulled a face. “What do you mean shown him?”

“With a banana, you dipshit”

“I really don’t think that’s necessary-” Peter cut in, only to be cut off himself.

“Oh, of course! I’ll be right back.”

The teenager let out a strangled whine and curled in on himself when Tony hurried away to fetch the items. Rhodey turned back to Peter with an amused smirk.

“I don’t like you anymore,” the boy declared childishly.

“You gotta know this stuff, kid,” he replied innocently.

“What if I ran away? Like right now.”

“Then he would go after you in the suit and make sure the entire city hears it.”

“Aw, fuck.”

“I’m back!” Tony announced happily, returning to his spot on the couch and handing Rhodey the banana. “Hold it- there you go.” He held the banana up while Tony tore open the condom wrapper and discarded it to the side. When he started rolling it onto the fruit, Peter rolled off the couch in despair, landing on the ground with a loud thud.

“I just wanna make sure you’re prepared, Pete,” Tony said calmly.

“I am prepared, Tony, and I was when I had sex.”

There was a ringing silence that was only broken by the thud of the half-covered banana hitting the floor.

“I’m flattered by the shock, I truly am.”

“I’m not- I just- …Rhodey?” he looked to the man helplessly.

“What do you want me to say, man? I wasn’t expecting that either.”

“Thanks,” Peter replied dryly.

“But… who? And when?”

Peter finally lifted his head to look at the two men.

“Do you really want me to answer that?”

“Uh, I don’t think so? I gotta admit, I’m kind of curious, but I also don’t want to know… Does May know?”

“Yeah… it wasn’t really intentional, though.”

Tony’s eyes widened. “Are you saying what I think you’re saying?”

“Wait, what? No, that’s not- she didn’t- I told her.”

“You unintentionally told her? How does that happen?” Rhodey sniggered.

“I don’t do well with hiding stuff like that. I did the same thing the first time I watched porn - I kinda just blurted it out, I couldn’t really stop myself. She couldn’t stop me either.”

Peter burned red when Rhodey and Tony both burst into laughter.

“Yeah, I know, shut up.”

Tony looked at him fondly. “God, I love you, kid.”

#irondad and spiderson #peter parker #tony stark #irondad fanfiction

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jzixuans · 5 years

Text

late nights and tired minds

summary: Logan doesn’t work too well late at night, and when one is running on four hours of sleep, their logic falters. At least Virgil’s ready to help. (Sometime between Why Do We Get Out Of Bed In The Morning and Learning New Things About Ourselves because I started this before the new episode came out)

word count: about 1.4k

pairing: ambiguous analogical, read it as you wish

tw: lack of sleep, mild cursing, light talk of threats (but they’re the friendly kind), stress

a/n: analogical is my favourite ship so it is absolutely criminal that i haven’t done anything for them yet

“I hate to break it to you, but you suck at staying up late,” Virgil drawled from Logan’s doorway. Logan gave a start, letting his pen clatter to the ground. Roman’s stack of unedited scripts shifted around on the desk, ruining his organized workspace.

“Virgil! I didn’t notice you standing there,” he coughed, bending down to pick up his pen. When he straightened up, Virgil was standing in front of him, hands stuffed in his pockets. He had scrubbed his eyeshadow off for the night and Logan could see the tired bruises stamped under his eyes. A telltale sign of the weight that he had carried alone all those years.

“Yeah, well, I’ve gotten pretty good at lurking in the background,” he shrugged, and Logan flinched.

“Right, well how can I help you?” Logan asked, sitting taller in his chair. He glanced at the wall clock. “It is rather late. Perhaps another sleep aid?”

The anxious side had started visiting Logan’s more and more during the night, whether it was because of the calm quiet of his room or Logan’s ability to clear cognitive distortions, he admittedly didn’t know.

“You can help me by going to sleep,” Virgil said, plucking the pen from Logan’s hand. “As much as you like to think that you’re well-adapted, you cannot stay up late for shit.”

“Can too,” Logan retorted, albeit childishly, reaching for his pen. “I’ll go to bed once I’ve finished editing this.”

“Dude. Roman’s better at staying up late than you. God knows Pat’s done it a billion times. But I’ve seen you pass out at the dinner table after only five hours of sleep, Mr. ‘Maintain a Steady Sleep Schedule.’” Virgil rolled his eyes, giving Logan a pointed look.

Logan sighed. He hated playing the hypocrite.

“Virgil, I am aware that my performance lacks when I get tired, but the more I finish now, the less we’ll have to worry about in the morning.”

Virgil knocked his fist lightly against Logan’s skull, shaking his head.

“That’s some faulty logic that you’ve got there, Teach. It is morning right now and you are worrying about it. So call it quits for tonight and hit the sack. Thomas will thank you for it later.” He said, voice gentle but firm. Logan couldn’t help but note the stark contrast in tone since the last few times he’s tried to force Logan to go to bed. Since being accepted as one of them, Virgil’s threat count has decreased remarkably.

“I suppose you won’t leave until you’ve ensured that I’ve gone to sleep,” Logan sighed, pushing away from his desk. The motion had him realizing just how heavy his head felt on his shoulders. He blinked, and the temptation to just leave his eyes shut nearly took him.

“Nope,” Virgil said, popping the ‘p.’ “As the Thomas guardian, guardian of the Thomas, I’m obligated to ensure that he’s safe and healthy. And if that means knocking out his logical side for the night, then so be it.”

At this, Logan pulled a sour face. Virgil just laughed.

“I’m not actually gonna punch you, nerd.” He clarified. Logan shut his mouth and nodded.

“Oh. Right. That is good to hear.”

This must not have been the best response, however, as Virgil’s face pulled itself into a frown. But before Logan could correct his earlier statement, Virgil spoke again. Quieter, so soft that Logan had to strain to hear him.

“You know, if something’s bothering you, it could help to talk it out,” Virgil offered. “I’m not saying that you have to, but like, I would understand. I’m Anxiety, I’ve dealt with this stuff before.”

Logan searched his friend’s face. Not for any lies, no, he was plenty good at unearthing those himself, but for any sign of comfort. To tell him that it truly was okay to talk about this. Virgil gave him the slightest nod and Logan let out the breath that he hadn’t realized he had been holding.

“I don’t know what’s wrong,” he admitted softly.

Virgil shrugged. “That’s normal,” he said. It was Logan’s turn to frown.

“Is it, though? I am Logic. I’m supposed to know.” Logan countered.

“Are you, though?” Virgil replied in the same tone, eyebrow arched in question. Like he was challenging Logan.

Logan opened his mouth to argue, but Virgil held up a hand.

“Look, Logan. Humans are constantly making mistakes. And a lot of the time it’s because of faulty logic. Not that that’s anything against you, but that’s why people learn: because they don’t know.” He said. He sat down on the edge of Logan’s bed and patted the space beside him, beckoning Logan over. Logan did, and as he sat down, he felt the subtle warmth coming from the other side’s presence. He almost didn’t notice himself leaning into Virgil, ever so slightly, chasing the comfort that came with Virgil’s hoodie.

“What’s the first thing that you do when you don’t know something?” Virgil prompted, bumping his shoulder against Logan’s.

“Ask questions,” Logan mumbled. He stifled a yawn with the back of his hand and rubbed his eyes. Maybe he could afford to let this project go for the night. No— no they— he couldn't. Not when the work was already piling up so high.

“So?”

“Why am I— why do I force myself to stay up late?” Logan yawned again.

“You already know the answer to that one, don’t you,” Virgil murmured. Logan supposed he did. He didn’t see it when his head was full of grammar and plot holes, but perhaps it was Virgil’s turn to be the clear-sighted one.

“I—” Logan took a moment to collect his thoughts. “What use am I if I cannot be productive?”

“What use am I if I let Thomas relax for a day?” Logan felt Virgil hum beside him. “There’s a difference between productivity and forcing yourself past your limits, Teach.”

As he spoke, Logan’s eyelids grew heavier. Sleep was inviting, but he had work that needed to get done. No, they couldn’t afford to fall behind any longer. He would not fail Thomas again.

With that thought, Logan sat up and straightened his tie, ready to get back to work. Virgil didn’t even have to look at him to reach out and pull him back down.

“Sit your ass down, Logan, because I will personally snap each and every single one of your pens if you don’t let Thomas rest. Consistent sleep schedule, remember? He can’t go into deep sleep if you’re still up and running.” And there was the threat count. At least it wasn’t too drastic this time.

“I hate it when you use my own words against me,” Logan muttered. With a defeated sigh, he reached up and loosened his tie. “I suppose if I wish to be taken seriously, I must adhere to my own advice.”

Virgil tossed Logan’s pyjamas at him, narrowly missing his face. “Damn right you will,” he grinned but sobered quickly. “Seriously, though, you don’t need to worry about us taking you seriously. We already respect you.”

“That is comforting to hear. Thank you, Virgil,” Logan gave him what he hoped was a grateful smile. “Allow me to go brush up for the night. Then I promise that I’ll go to bed.”

“You better,” Virgil yawned, reclining onto Logan’s star-speckled comforter. “I’ll wait here to make sure that you do.”

Logan gave a quick nod, then ducked into his bathroom. Exactly seven minutes later, he was in his pyjamas, teeth clean and flossed, hair brushed, and face washed. When he stepped out of the bathroom, Virgil was passed out on his bed, rolled onto his side at an awkward angle. Logan chuckled to himself. Thomas’ new and improved sleep schedule had its effect on Virgil’s own late-night shenanigans.

“Get up,” Logan whispered, tugging at the blanket underneath Virgil. “I’ll let you stay here, but you’re going to have a sore back if you sleep like this.”

Virgil groaned and rolled over, letting Logan pull the cover back so that he could slip underneath. He kept his back to Logan, giving him his space. Logan didn’t know why the notion hurt more than it should.

“Er. Virgil?”

“Mm?”

“If you— If you wanted, that is, uh, there is no need to keep your distance. We are family, after all,” Logan stammered. Virgil opened one eye to peer back at him.

“Sure thing, nerd.”

At least Virgil got it. It was an understood thing.

#analogical #romantic analogical #platonic analogical #logan sanders #virgil sanders #ts logan #ts virgil #sanders sides #blink writes #spot the vine ref lmao #and take a shot (of water) every time blink uses an unnecessary conjunction #or too many commas #i really don't post enough analogical smh #tw sleeplessness

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