#I'm over here bullet-dodging spoilers

[sunlitriddle]

I might be a little excited for this game

[janeaustenbrandysmuggler]

The Hitchhiker (you can run...)

Apologies if someone has already pointed this out. I'm new to tumblr, and I'm still digging through all the amazing Good Omens metas!

Shax-in-disguise appearing and reappearing on the side of the road at the very beginning of The Hitchhiker felt really familiar to me, and I finally figured out why. I think we can add a Twilight Zone episode that's (conveniently) called "The Hitch-Hiker"* to the list of film and tv references we get in the season.

*I felt especially dumb when Google told me this episode literally has the same title as s2 ep4. In my defense, I don't know the names of any of the other Twilight Zone episodes I've seen, either.

Not sure you really need a spoiler alert for a 60+ year old tv episode, but I'll put a break in anyway. Go watch it if you can - it's properly creepy.

A brief summary: Nan Adams is on a road trip from Manhattan to Los Angeles. She's gotten as far as Pennsylvania, when her tire blows out and she runs off the road. The mechanic who comes out to put on her spare tire comments on how lucky she is to still be in one piece. (More on that in a minute.) As she follows the mechanic into town for a replacement tire, she sees a man in a hat hitchhiking on the side of the road and passes him by. She sees the man again at the service station after getting a new tire and mentions him to the mechanic, but the mechanic doesn't see him. Once she resumes her trip, she sees the hitchhiker on the side of the road again. And again. And again. And again. The farther she drives, the more she sees him, and the more frightened and paranoid she gets. At the height of her fear, she's convinced the hitchhiker is trying to kill her, and she attempts to run him over in order to make it all stop. She finally decides to pull over to a phone booth in Arizona and call her mother to try and ground herself back in reality, and we get one final big twist to end the story.

When I realized that hitchhiker!Shax appearing and reappearing in front of the Bentley reminded me of this episode, I decided to watch it again because I hadn't seen it in years. What do we hear almost right out of the gate?

So lucky! You could even say she dodged a bullet there. Oh wait...

(I think he says "Chalk up a win to the side of the Angel" here, but close enough.) Interestingly, "the side of the angels" really just means "the good guys" these days. In both these scenes, setting aside the fact that Aziraphale is actually an angel, it's used in the context of "you survived something that could have killed you."

One other thing I didn't know before is that the Twilight Zone episode is based on a radio play, also called "The Hitch-Hiker," written by Lucille Fletcher and first presented on The Orson Welles Show in... 1941. Probably just a fun coincidence, but really, why does it feel like all roads lead back to 1941?

As for the final creepy twist in Nan's story? Her mother isn't home when she calls. The woman who answers the phone tells Nan that her mother is in the hospital. She had a nervous breakdown when she found out her daughter had been killed in a car accident in Pennsylvania - caused when her tire blew out and she ran off the road. Nan goes numb and walks back to her car. She pulls down the visor to look at herself in the mirror, and she sees the hitchhiker sitting in the back seat. He says, "I believe you're going... my way?"

So there we go - a wink and a nod to a tv episode with the moral that you can't outrun your fate/Death, in a season that sure seems to have a lot of references to death in it. By the time Nan sees the hitchhiker for the first time, she's already dead, she just doesn't know it yet. She tries running, but it all catches up to her anyway. By the time Aziraphale sees the hitchhiker, Shax is just about ready to trigger the events that lead to where we are at the end of the season. The precious, peaceful, fragile existence of the last few years is already dead, and no matter how much Aziraphale tries to outrun that idea by acting like There's Nothing Wrong...

...it all catches up anyway.

I have a more nebulous set of thoughts about the "side of the angels" line being seen in the 1941 flashback, and if I can get them in any type of coherent order, I'll link to another post or put them here. Something about that line referencing a lucky escape that isn't so lucky after all for Nan Adams, and how 1941 so far looks like a series of narrowly averted catastrophes for Aziraphale and Crowley...and how it really feels like we haven't seen all of the 1941 story yet.

[xxcrystalinerose]

In celebration of me officially reaching 100 HOURS of fucking around in Hades 2, here's a couple of general gameplay tips from yours truly!

Preface

I am not the best Hades gamer out there, but I'd like to think I'm doing pretty good considering my still-standing 25+ win streak in the Underworld and 16 Fear clear on all weapon types, so this tip is meant for you guys who find Hades 2 weirdly difficult compared to the first game (I've been there!), or those who still haven't figured out good build and aspect combos. However, I will not be doing a deep dive of all the bosses except for the final bosses!

Obviously, spoilers abound under the cut, so tread with caution!!

Part 1: General Questions, Comments, Complaints, etc.

Q: Playing Melinoë is so difficult compared to Zagreus!

A: First of all, you are playing Melinoë, not Zagreus. Second of all, you are playing Lv. 1 Mel after being so used to Lv. 100 Zag (if you've spent an unreasonable amount of time playing Hades 1 like I did). These two have different playstyles! I myself am guilty of this mindset in my first 20 hours of gameplay.

Mel is all about using everything in your disposal to dispatch enemies. Additionally, the devs have designed the kit in such a way that none of your moves are an afterthought that you occasionally use every other room. The biggest example of this is Cast, which remains useful as a crowd control (CC) move even without a Boon attached to it. Use your Cast all the time!

Additionally, in case you haven't realized it, you can still move while charging your Omega Cast; however, the AoE will not follow you unless you have Local Climate (Demeter).

Don't forget that you can hold down Dash to Sprint. Lock enemies in place with Cast then sprint away if you need breathing room. However, do remember that you do not have i-frames while sprinting, only when dashing.

I have to concede that as of the current EA patch, dashing to dodge attacks still feels janky without the Swift Runner card, mostly because of the dash start-up animation being slightly but noticeably slower than Zag's dashes. However, after several runs with the Judgment card (where I can't activate Swift Runner, and that it might not activate further in the run), the rhythm of dashing with and without it is just muscle memory now. Keep practicing!

Q: Melinoë feels so squishy/slow/weak/etc.!

A: Hades 2 does feel much more Early Game Hellish™ than Hades 1, which imo is mostly because of the Arcana system's complexities.

You need various resources to unlock an Arcana, then you need sufficient Grasp to actually use the Arcana, THEN some Arcana have prerequisites for activation so you can't just use anything and everything you want. Very unlike H1, where you can just dump exactly one resource type into levelling the Mirror upgrades and the only true constraint is choosing one side of the Mirror over the other.

To mitigate the squishiness, Frinos with a fully upgraded Life Bond gives you a free 40 base HP. I prefer him over Toula because I fucking suck at bullet hells and Frinos eats up all those projectiles without flinching too much, and some enemies are really fucking annoying with their projectile attacks. Looking at you, hourglass thingies in Tartarus.

Another thing to note is that The Wayward Son card is a buffed version of Zag's health regen on room exit. At max level it heals 4 HP (8 if you're low), which also makes Chaos gate health drains trivial in Erebus and Oceanus, so go grab those Chaos boons.

If you think surviving against Chronos/Eris is difficult, try having at least 200-220 HP (adjust depending on Fear settings) before entering the fight. The Centaur and Titan cards are useful to achieve this. If you run a Hephaestus build, the Boon that adds HP based on Magick is also great!

Q: The Bosses in Hades 2 are more difficult... please help!

A: I see this observation often, but in my experience, the H2 bosses bar Chronos and Eris are actually significantly easier than the H1 bosses. Your experience gap between dealing with H1 and H2 bosses could also contribute. But anyways, here's some tips for each boss:

Hecate

The transformation Hex counts as a projectile and can be blocked by Frinos. If you haven't unlocked Frinos, simply dash back and forth into the hex (essentially abusing your dash i-frame) and it will eventually dissipate. Don't try to outrun it.

(Frinos ate the hex before I could fully demonstrate the dodging lol)

If you DO get transformed, dash and attack repeatedly to prevent Hecate's attacks from hitting you, because your attack in sheep form is a charge forward that helps add extra distance while waiting for the dash cooldown to end.

Scylla and the Sirens

They killed me an unreasonable amount of times early game because there's so damn much going on the screen, so my tip for that is kill the drummer first. The guitarist's arsenal is much less dangerous and her dash attack is heavily telegraphed. Even if the guitarist is the featured artist, I would still kill the drummer first. Additionally, the Night Bloom Hex* works in this fight. Have fun!

Infernal Beast

Mostly immobile boss that can't really turn around with heavily telegraphed attacks, so the easiest trick is to just stand behind it for free backstab damage and don't get hit. Paired with the massive hitbox, the boss becomes very vulnerable against Apollo/Zeus cast and Omega specials with Pan aspect on the Sister Blades.

Polyphemus

Sometimes he has sheep in the fight; if he eats them he gets healed. Gold sheep will block Omega moves in the radius indicated around them, while black sheep will charge at you. I find his most difficult attack is the boulder slam if he spots you. When he leaps, sprint away first for some distance, then dash into the shockwaves because they move FAST and staying near will guarantee you get hit.

Eris

All of her attacks count as projectiles, so Hestia's Soot Sprint turns the fight into a total joke. She also turns relatively slowly when firing; when she does the spread shots, stay directly behind her. The forward charge is also telegraphed by an animation where she rises a bit before charging, so dash towards Eris to avoid getting hit (because it also stuns you).

Chronos, in general

God I hate that bitch ass scythe throw attack SO MUCH. I find the most reliable way to dodge it is to dodge towards Chronos but in a counterclockwise direction because it always travels clockwise. DO NOT DODGE AWAY FROM HIM.

The thrown scythe counts as a projectile, so projectile slowing effects like Demeter's Cyclone debuff or Hard Target (Hermes) affect its move speed.

Additionally, Chronos himself is immune to any time-slowing effect, including from the Sorceress card, the Phase Shift Hex, and Hermes' legendary Boon. He can still damage you during the time stop in the Hex casting animation.

Lastly, the ring explosions that come after his slashing attacks are unblockable by any "Block" move e.g. Axe special.

Chronos, 2nd phase

He always begins the phase with a full screen attack that does 999 damage unless you stand in the highlighted safe spots... or if you have Coarse Grit (Demeter Infusion) that lets you take no more than 15 damage per hit (lol). The clock hands will also kill you this way, so stand well clear of its radius. When he does this attack he will stand in place, which if you're lucky lets you get a guaranteed Omega Cast or Total Eclipse strike, and even one or two fully charged Pan aspect specials if the "safe spot" is near him.

(* Night Bloom has an unintended interaction with the Judgment arcana that causes its effects to be triggered multiple times in the Scylla fight. I've reported this as a bug, but I guess you could abuse it until the next patch lol)

Q: What is your Arcana setup?

A: This! I find this to be the easiest setup for activating the Divinity card and also the "safest" build, with the drawback of being unable to change room rewards/Boon and Well of Charon offerings.

If I wanted more challenge, I would activate everything in the third row, and use the remaining 3 Grasp for either The Huntress or Death, depending on weapon:

When I do a Judgment arcana run, I only activate The Wayward Son, Eternity, and Excellence; the bonus with Judgment is that it also automatically activates The Queen, and keeps it active no matter how many more cards it activates later.

If you have yet to max out your Grasp and want to play it safe, the cards I recommend to prioritize are Eternity > Excellence > Origination > The Swift Runner/The Sorceress > The Titan > The Furies/The Moon/The Huntress/ > Night/The Unseen.

Extra tip: The Moon synergizes very well with pure damage Omega Casts e.g. Apollo, Zeus, Poseidon because it adds to the base damage. Naturally, this makes Apollo cast busted as hell.

Q: What are your recommended Keepsakes? How do I use them?

A: The ones from Hecate, Odysseus, Nemesis, Moros, and Narcissus. If you're good at not getting hit, Arachne's because it continuously stacks Armor per location as long as you stay above 1 Armor. Recently I've also been messing around with Chaos', which has been fun.

To elaborate:

Silver Wheel (Hecate) lets you regen Magick automatically, which was great for me in very early game until I got the hang of every Gain boon and evaluated which are the best ones. Essentially, it's a good crutch for learning how the game works. However, do note that the Keepsake regen is prioritized over any other Magick regeneration effects.

Knuckle Bones (Odysseus) is also a similarly useful early game crutch if you have difficulty against bosses or need to take a run to analyze their moves (very appropriate). It also gives you all-damage reduction against bosses. And fun fact: bring it to the Polyphemus fight multiple times for some unique interactions!

Evil Eye (Nemesis) is just a straightforward free ~30% universal damage bonus against the last enemy that killed you. Since mine was Chronos... well, let's just say I almost never spend a single DD in his fights ever since.

Engraved Pin (Moros) is functionally a better Stubborn Defiance. Triggering its effect will be prioritized over consuming a Death Defiance, and it works ONCE PER ROOM which is fucking amazing as a learning crutch and in high Fear runs. One of my favorite strategies if 1) my HP falls below the Pin's healing threshold, 2) its effect has not been triggered yet, and 3) I am 100% sure the encounter is about to end, I just die on purpose, kill everything that's left, and get a free heal.

Aromatic Phial (Narcissus) rarifies a random Common boon when you drink from a Fountain, which helps massively in no-Arcana runs or runs without Excellence/Divinity. It could also help if you grabbed Hera's Uncommon Grace but are unable to activate it because you have a Common boon. Lastly, the extra Fountain heal helps with survivability.

On the topic of Keepsakes, I encourage you to use the Olympian Keepsakes, because they now have the ability to increase the rarity of non-Infusion/Duo/Legendary Boons up to a certain rarity threshold and not just help you aim where your current build is going.

Rarification works especially well with Demeter's Rare Crop; one time Heroic Rare Crop managed to rarify my Attack, Special, and Cast somehow and I ended up blazing through Tartarus and Chronos like it was nothing.

End Notes (For Now)

I have some more tips prepared, but I'd like to know before I compile the next one:

Aand that's it for now. If I got something wrong or you know anything relevant to what I've shared above, do tell me in the replies so I can edit!

TL;DR: Don't forget to use Cast, get used to dodging with and without Swift Runner card, grab Chaos boons in early regions, be patient with grinding for upgrades, keep practicing, and have fun :)

[mbrainspaz]

Christians going "Yeah I'm christian, go ahead and persecute me! I'm used to it!" is so sad and funny at the same time. Especially in America. You're not gonna get that from me hun. Like I'm gonna waste my energy talking to christians after I had to spend a decade deconstructing my own faith. Either you'll figure things out eventually or you'll double down until you're fully entrenched. As long as you leave non-christians alone that's your business.

I know if some burned out queer cowboy hobo had told 20 year old christian kid me what their adult life was really gonna be like...

"kiddo, I know you're a vaguely nationalist christian fundamentalist now but just wait until every aspect of your blessed social order fails you and you spend a little time homeless. Oh—you thought you couldn't be homeless if you just worked hard enough? Honeyyy. Your first 'christian' bosses won't even give you lunch breaks even though they live in mansions with their trophy wives. You got a degree so you could sell their scammy fake diet pills and live on instant potatoes with hot dog bites and sleep on the floor by the fireplace in your first drafty apartment like it was 1813. Also you have mental illnesses. Spoilers. No, you can't just power through ADHD. Yes it is a real thing. So is the family history of chronic depression your dad hasn't told you about yet. You think that's bad? Wait until he disowns you during the pandemic. Don't worry about the pandemic yet, but yeah, that's how you ended up homeless. Why didn't you just buy a house? With your christian husband? Ohhhh. Ooooof. Well let's gloss over the next few economic disasters but basically you're gonna nearly marry a guy next year until he loses his temper and destroys your trust. It's for the best though because he kinda turns into one of those right wing gun nuts a few years down the road. Dodged a bullet there! Literally lmao. Oh you... you want to know why you didn't become a missionary? So the church actually doesn't let 'single women' do mission work. Yeah... yeah it is to stop you from leading the single male missionaries astray. You kind of already knew where that was going. Don't worry, the misogyny only gets more blatant from here. Just wait until you're 25. Hey, remember how fun it was to sit with your parents in church? You get to do that for so many more years because there are no other unmarried 20-somethings in fundamentalist churches. If you leave and go to a different church your dad will disown you. He does that like 6 times though, so it does lose its sting. What were the other times? Um... okay so it was 'going to a church he didn't like,' 'being too single,' 'not praying enough' (don't ask me to explain that one, I'm still confused), 'having too many pets that might scare away the men,' and 'not voting for trump.' Oh! By the way, if you get a chance to go to a state fair and throw tomatoes at that guy in say... mid 2015, don't pass that up. You'll regret it. Especially while you're stuck living on a ranch with looney white nationalists in the aftermath of the 2020 elections. Oh shit—right! You don't even know white nationalists really exist! Wow. You've really never had to overhear a single conversation where white boomers fantasize about going downtown to do armed 'patrols' of black neighborhoods. By that point you'd realized you were very alone in a southern town that had already tried to off you in a multitude of disturbing ways. They weren't keen on the idea of you being queer either. I know you already know but you—yeah, you just assumed it would be easier to hide and go along with the status quo. Naaah. Nope. Not worth it. You only really wanted to do that so your parents would love you and that was a loss from the moment they put conditions on it. You could never have done enough to earn their love. They don't have it to give. That's on them though. Ok big question time: Do you still believe in god? Yes and no. Give it like... 14 times of people saying 'it's god's will' whenever something goes their way and another 20 of them accusing you of consorting with demons whenever you disagree. The pattern becomes pretty clear. Maybe you do still believe in god but definitely not your parents' god. And definitely not any god that would be on the side of empires and bigots. In fact, not any god that would let those powers claim him... if he had any power to stop them."

"But I do at least get a bunch of animals?"

"Oh yeah. Smeags is still alive. Right now I've got three dogs and a freaking horse that looks exactly like our favorite childhood stuffed animal."

"A HORSE!?"

[tribow]

I did it! I beat Violet Detector!

Honestly, I found it easier than Shoot the Bullet. I was expecting to get bullied more, but ZUN really toned down the difficulty of many patterns when two bosses were at play. Some of the fights against a solo boss were harder than any of the duo boss stages.

It was a tad bit of a shame that many spellcards were actually recycled from previous games, but now you gotta dodge them under a whole new context!

Bosses don't share health bars, so you have to figure out which one to defeat first. When one boss is down, the other increases the difficulty of their spellcard. Which boss would you want to deal with last? Maybe you can defeat both at the same time!

The score chasing could be pretty fun if I cared...but I don't. I just wanted to complete it.

Anyway, spoiler-y talk from here on out if you care

So the Sumireko you play as the entire game is actually the one from the dream world. What a twist! This does explain Doremy's dialogue with Sumireko. It makes her words seem a lot more genuine rather than sarcastic, especially since she made herself be the last obstacle to overcome before Dream Sumireko learns that she isn't even the real one.

However, Dream Sumireko takes this news like a champ and decides that she'll just defeat the real Sumireko and take over! I like how Real Sumireko compliments herself. The confidence is on full display, character development intact.

Now, to my knowledge, Sumireko ceases to be relevant after this game so this currently concludes her story with Gensokyo. I guess now that she has dealt with her doppelgangers and has even garnered a little occult following online her ability to easily enter Gensokyo is gone.

Correct me if I'm interpreting anything wrong, but it seems like Dream Sumireko was entering Gensokyo all the time after the events of Urban Legend in Limbo. Since she fully believed she was the real Sumireko it was as if the real Sumireko was really there.

This only became a problem when Antinomy of Common Flowers started and this resulted in ANOTHER clone. Perhaps Doremy could have solved Sumireko's problem herself if not for that incident, cause now Dream Sumireko doesn't even make it to Gensokyo, she just stays in the dream world while still fully believing she's real.

So....Sumireko can't enter Gensokyo by herself anymore. Even after she defeats herself and ends the nightmares her means of entering Gensokyo are now severed. She'll dream like a normal person now....right? (I'm aware she shows up in Curiosities of Lotus Asia so I need to catch up on those chapters and see if she appears after the events of Violet Detector)

That must be why she's irrelevant as a character as of now, but it's not like she isn't aware Gensokyo exists. There are still some Gensokyo characters that can contact her, like Yukari. In fact, Yukari is probably the only reason why Sumireko could enter the dream world to fight herself.

But then....what was Okina's motive? It certainly appears like she was just instigating the problem for her own amusement, but that can't be it right? Did she just want Sumireko to be aware of her? How was she even keeping tabs on Sumireko that closely? Was she using her as a backdoor to outside Gensokyo and the Dream World?

Strange. Okina's actions are strange, but very interesting.

I wonder who even told Yukari what was going on. She couldn't have known unless Doremy or Okina said something...or Yukari talked to Sumireko herself after noticing something was wrong with her in the outside world.

Well, regardless of how things played out, that's Violet Detector! I finally get to try Wily Beast and Weakest Creature now. I've been wanting to know what the deal is with those characters and I'll finally find out soon!

[boneforts]

callisto isn't a terrible game but like...idk here's my criticisms thus far (i'm not done but relatively close to the end so spoilers)

the dodging system is booty ass. like i hate it. couple it with how janky the moving mechanics are and it's a nightmare. there've been times where i'm like six, seven feet from an enemy and they swipe at me and bc the dodge mechanic is so dominant in the game i STILL GET INJURED when they were nowhere near me. like come on!

there's one boss fight they basically copy paste into the very next segment and legit half of it is repeatedly dodging over and over. dodge shoot dodge shoot wallop the boss, wash rinse repeat.

there's a tooon of dead space (🥁) that LOOKS cool but is just...empty. devoid of anywhere to interact. it's just spooky and There. i don't need every little nook and cranny to worldbuild but there's so little of it here it has almost a soulless feeling to it.

i know this was like...the spiritual successor to dead space. but it feels like they laid the base comparisons and then made the bare minimum effort to make it their own after that. if that makes sense. it's like writing a love letter without any heart!

the dialog can sometimes be great and other times you're like why...would he say that. he's also trauma bonding with npcs which is understandable but they are SPEEDRUNNING that shit and it's so forced at times. there's never any REAL discussion with dani about them boarding his ship and getting his first mate killed and jacob imprisoned - probably bc they separate you CONSTANTLY. which is annoying and it happens over. and over. for the stupidest shit.

i Will. admit the falling scene after the ship is exploded was cool. but it's so frustrating that he'll shuffle and slide and craaaawl to where he needs to be and them they'll be like (◡‿◡✿) jacob lee go fall down again hehe. like it just happened AGAIN and it's lost all of its shine i'm just irritated.

he often rubs at his neck thing, the core? w/e and at first i thought it was a neat idle, but he does it so. fucking. much. and at the worst times. i wish they'd done more than just the one idle animation and didn't beat you to death with it.

the sightless creatures in arcus are cool and obvs like a hat nod to tlou but they're kinda lame ngl 🥴 like clickers are scary af these guys i'm literally shimmying beside them and my britches are dry. mid af.

i also died once bc during a boss fight and all of the loot dropped from the enemies i'd killed in the first half (it checkpoints after the first half) just. absolutely fucked off. like damn it's already hard af out here, got no monies to spend at the reforge, and then you steal my shit?! bitch 😩

OH ANOTHER DEAD SPACE THING like obvs this is another dooms day death cult thing but dead space made it a THING, it was pervasive and cool, and here they're doing something similar but again without the LOVE. like there's that conference room you just stumble on with ONE vague audio file. jacob had visions and they're stress induced partly but like it's never...talked about, really. :-| come on.

i'm not sure if the ferris situation will resolve but him popping up behind jacob and elias while cool was very ??? and if it DOESN'T get addressed i'll be irritated. may update this bullet if it gets resolved.

[the-dominoo-effect]

I just finished Stormblood! (Contains spoilers for Stormblood!)

-Inhales-

OH MY GOOODDDD okay so everyone told me that the story just gets better and better with each expansion and I believed them. I just... didn't know how much I was going to enjoy SB! I thought Heavensward was going to be my favorite for a while because I liked the theme of tearing down years of lies and generational hatred. In fact I loved it! I also love dragons! And Ysale, Aymeric, Haurchefant, and Estinien are really dear to my heart. STORMBLOOD JUST KNOCKED IT OUT OF THE WATER! I really like the theme of SB. I like the areas, the music, the characters. I thought at first some of the characters were just like /shrug. But then they came in and stole my heart. I loved the stuff with Hien. I loved the story arc for Lyse. It was so satisfying seeing her grow and turn into the leader she became! I liked Yotsuyu and I feel for her. I found myself really charmed by Gosetsu and I was excited to learn more about Yugiri and to see her personality come out. Raubahn's story was excellent and seeing him interract with Pippin was so nice. It also makes the death of Ilberd hard to swallow. Liberty or Death indeed. I could go over the relationship between the two and just my feelings on it but that'd be for another day I think. Also just Krile! Thancred! Minfilia! Magnai! Sadu! Hancock. ALISAIE! There's so much I can say and I feel like I'd be here for hours just talking about how much I liked all the characters. But the main one I knew I'd love was... Zenos. Now. Liking ff14 and being on Tumblr is difficult because avoiding spoilers is like dodging bullets. I have seen some things and I'm trying really hard to forget them. I knew some things about Zenos going in. I'm honestly running out of time before I have to run to work but... Zenos is such a good character. I remember seeing some of the cutscenes and going to my friends like "Oh, he crazy crazy." Like DAMN just- HHHHH. I could make him slightly better pls give me a chance squeenix- I am excited to see him return. I could gush about him for a looong time. Also like most of the things I knew about him happened in this expansion! Which was really nice because like now I have NO idea what's coming except for a few things.

It gives my character, Domino, a lot to think about. A lot to reflect on with Zenos' words. (WoL Domino, not RP Domino haha) What is the title of the Warrior of Light if not a heavy burden? How much can Domino take before he breaks? Anyways! Stormblood took the place of my favorite expansion so far! There was one spot I dragged through because I just... wasn't interested in it though I knew it was important to build some story up for later. Post Heavensward MSQ was my favorite so I can't wait to see what post Stormblood has to offer.

[the-widow-bear]

Slight Black Widow Spoilers

Protecting Natasha

Summary: Y/n has been following the group of caps fugitives. What happens when nat finds out.

Category: Angst with a fluffy ending?

AN: Uhhhh, this is set in between blackwidow and infinity war, so after Civil War. Also, part of this is inspired by deadpool, i tried not to copy the entire scene so yeah. If it's not great, idk. I tried lol. Also im not good at summary's. Ignore any typos, I tried my best lol. Enjoy!

Pairing: Natasha x Avenger!reader

Word count: Around 3k

Warnings: Uh, cussing, guns, Y/n kinda goes nuts in the beginning so yeah, so SLIGHT dark!y/n ?

-------------------------◇----------------------------

"Listen man, I have no idea what you're talking about." 

"This is 1048 Rickels Drive right?"

"Yeah."

"And you're Mikael Jameson?"

"Thee Mikael Jameson, and yet I didn't order the fucking pizza."

"Then who did?" Asked the pizza boy, confused about the situation.

The two men arguing heard the toilet flush, turning their heads in the direction of the sudden sound.

"I did." Y/n came from the bathroom, drying her hands with a rag. She eventually threw the rag behind her and approached the delivery man.

"Medium, with bacon?" Y/n asked while the boy nodded.

"Sweeet." Y/n drew out the word as the owner of the apartment walked up to her.

"Who the fuck are you?" Y/n turn her head to look the man in his eyes. "And what the fuck are you doing in my crib?" 

The man seemed to back off as soon as Y/n withdrew her gun from the holster on her side, aiming it at his face. She turned her head to face the pizza boy once again.

"Is there burnt crust?" She asked the now terrified boy.

"God, I hope not." The boy responded, shaking slightly.

"Look man, if this was about the poker game the other day, you can tell jack I dont have his- ya know what, here take my wallet, take whatever you want." The man rambled while Y/n accepted the wallet with a small 'thanks' while pocketing it, before the pizza boy spoke up again.

"Hey man, before you do whatever to this dude. D'you mind if I get a big tip?" The boy had a slight smirk as she looked back at him.

"uhhh, names Jeremy, right?" The boy nodded, his smirk becoming wider as Y/n held up her fist. 

"Y/n L/n" She said, introducing herself as he accepted the fist bump.

"Yeah, that's a no-go on the tip Jer. See I'm not here for him." Y/n took out a golden card, her old X-man card with her free hand.

She still kept the card with her even after she left the organization, it proved itself useful ever since the Avengers fell apart after the Sokovian accords incident.

"I'm here for you." Y/n turned her gun at the pizza boy and watched as his sly smirk dropped into that of a fearful frown.

The man beside them laughed in full relief.

"I guess I dodged a huge bullet there." His obnoxious laughing halted as Y/n hit him in the head with the tip of her pistol. 

"You're not out of the woods yet, so stop being a douchebag." Y/n says turning to the man that fell over.

"And yes I'm keeping your wallet, you kinda gave it to me."

He got up on his couch, mouth opening to say something but was stopped by Y/n, who was suddenly in front of him, raising her voice while holding the gun to his head.

"If you dont shut the fuck up, I will kill your fucking hamster." Yes, the threat might have been unusual and cruel but it worked nonetheless as she heard a small gasp come from the man.

The man shut his mouth while Y/n holstered her gun, grabbing the knife from her other holster and twirling it around her fingers.

"Anyways." She walked back to the pizza boy.

"Now tell me, what situation isn't improved by pizza?" Y/n asked, while opening the pizza box with her knife and staring into the boy's eyes, now continuing what she came here for.

"Do you happen to know a Natalie Orflosky, is that right?...Orflasky…Orlovsky?" At the last name the boy nodded at Y/n's question.

She let the pizza box close as she took a bite at the slice she grabbed.

"Good, because she knows you." Y/n walked and dropped her slice at the other douchey man's feet.

"Jeremy, I used to belong to a group of guys who charged a pretty penny to beat a fella down." Y/n began walking back over to the boy, continuing talking. "Now, little Natalie isn't made of money."

She approached the boy, staring deeping into his eyes, her knife still twisting between her fingers.

"But lucky for her, I have a soft spot." Y/n Patted her chest with the knife while the boy's face turned even whiter than it already was.

"I-I'm not-" The boy was interrupted.

"A stalker." Y/n glared at Jeremy as she spoke.

"Threats hurt Jer, but not nearly as bad as serrated vibranium." Y/n narrowed the knife, pointing at the boy.

"So Keep. Away. From Natalie. Got it?"

"Yes-yes ma'am." 

"Good, then we should be done here." Y/n said, finally pocketing her knife as the men in the room looked at her in shock.

"We are?" The pizza boy asked.

"Yeah, we're cool." Y/n said before she busted out laughing, pointing at the other man sitting down. "You should've seen your face."

The dude held up his hands laughing along.

"I was so scared." He admitted and the pizza boy slightly laughed, still a little on edge.

"Soft spot, remember?" Y/n still had a smile on her face… until she didn't. 

Suddenly, Y/n quickly hit the pizza out of the guy's hands, and pinned him on the wall by his neck. The kid looked absolutely petrified, shaking and on the verge of hyperventilating.

"You even look in her general direction again and you will find out in the worst of ways, that I have some hard spots too-... That came out wrong… Or did it?"

All of them were in shock.

What did the team just see?

Natasha, Steve, Wanda, and Sam had been searching for Y/n for a long time. 5 Months to be exact.

They had finally gotten a signal from the tracker Nat implemented on your phone the last time she saw you, leading them here.

Witnessing you threaten someone they've known as the guy who delivered their pizzas for the 3 out of 5 months they've been searching for you.

Unbeknownst to them, he has been stalking Natasha for quite some time. Mostly likely thinking she was extremely attractive to the point where he would creepily go out of his way to see her.

Also Unbeknownst to them, you had been on their trail the entire time they've been on the run, covering their tracks. Not that there's much to cover.

"What in the hell just happened?" Asked Wanda.

"She just assaulted our pizza guy!" Sam stared at the security cams they have been watching in their van for the past 30 minutes.

"I've gotta get down there, we need to catch her while we can." Nat went to get up but Steve stopped her.

"Maybe one of us should go with you." He tried.

"You and I both know she won't come willingly if you're there." Nat immediately got up and rushed out of the van they were watching in while Steve just sat and sighed.

Natasha took the elevator to the 5th floor and followed the sound of a door closing. She hid behind the wall, identifying it was Jeremy leaving the apartment in a rush. She could tell it was him as he didn't have the same weight to his step as you did when you walked.

A couple minutes later Natasha then heard your voice and the door close harshly. She popped around the corner to see you not even surprised by her presence.

She tugged you by your arm into the nearby maintenance closet, making sure to lock it.

"What in the hell was that?"

"What do you mean?" Y/n asked while tilting her head, looking like the poster of innocence.

"You just broke into some guy's apartment and held them both at gunpoint!" Natasha said, staring at you with pure fury in her eyes.

"For good reason." You retorted.

"And that reason issss…?" Nat trailed off waiting for your answer.

"He was stalking you, I needed to take precautions."

Nat thought and faltered for a moment.

"Was he on to us?" She asked.

"No, but he could've been later on. I didn't wanna risk it." Nat sighed at your answer.

"Where have you been all this time?" She asked, staring deeply into your eyes.

"On your tail, in the shadows. Pretty much just following wherever you guys go."

"What?"

"Ever since you kicked me out of your trailer in Norway, I've been trying to lead Ross off of you."

"Why?"

"I know how it is on the run."

"And you think I don't?" Natasha asked, she had experience and you knew that. But you still needed to protect her, you only cared for her.

"Being on the run from The Red Room and being on the run from the government are very different, Natalia." 

Natasha sighed. What was she going to do with you?

"Let's just get you in the van, 007." She tugged you by the collar of your hoodie to the elevator.

As you both walked down the stairs of the apartment building Natasha could help but feel the relief of finding her.

The last time Natasha had seen you, you were sleeping on her bed in the Norway trailer. 

She had only kicked you out because she thought she was better off alone, little did she know… she wasn't.

She missed you every second of everyday, not being able to stop the thoughts of you floating in and out of her mind.

Of course you two had history. You had kissed a couple times. You both felt for each other, but right as things were progressing the Sokovian accords happened.

Both of you were on opposite teams. She signed the accords, while you didn't but you weren't exactly on Caps team. In fact you had a lot of anger towards him and his choices. 

You had gone on your own, still keeping contact with most. Being satisfied that at least Natasha would be safe. That was until you found out about what happened in the Germany Airport. 

You had grown absolutely infuriated at the thought of your family fighting each other. People who were supposed to be the good guys, family, had decided to betray the other.

You broke all contact with everyone. Even Natasha, but you immediately went to find her. It took you days, but you knew Natasha. Better than anyone. You found yourself in Norway, waiting for her presence. And boy did you get rudely awoken.

"Steve with you?" You asked, venom in your voice while Natasha sighed.

"You know the answer to that." Natasha replied while you just nodded.

Both of you exited the apartment complex through the back door, where a grey van layed.

Suddenly the door opened and out came a red headed witch.

"Where have you been?" Wanda asked, her arms crossed, standing in front of you and Natasha.

"A lot of places." You answered vaguely.

"She's been stalking us." Natasha chimed in.

"I haven't been stalking anyone." You turn towards Natasha, slightly offended at her tone.

"What do you call it then?" Natasha turns towards you, crossing her arms. Her stance mimics Wanda's moments ago.

"I was protecting you!" You raised your voice slightly, not yelling but definitely not just talking as you felt your anger rise.

"I don't need your protection!" Natasha matches your volume.

"Well obviously you do!"

"What the hell's that supposed to mean?"

Their arguing got cut off by the door to the van opening once more.

"Guys, why don't we just-" 

You interrupted.

"Stay out of this, Steve!" You then continued.

"I've been protecting you since I met you, Natasha!" 

"I never asked you to!" She shouted, finally breaking the silent agreement of no yelling.

"You never had to!" You paused for a minute to compose yourself but eventually continued.

"God, Natasha. He was fucking following you everywhere!" 

"I could've handled it." Natasha lowered her volume.

"You would've been too late. He was this close to finding out exactly who you are." You made a pinching gesture with your fingers.

You heavily sighed, dropping your hands to your sides. There was no point in yelling anymore. What's happened can't be changed.

"It's already done. There's no use in arguing about it." You walked back into the van with your head hung low, feeling the dread of your argument at full force.

You and nat had gotten into a few fights before, none to this extent though. 

All you wanted was her safety. You would sacrifice your entire life to hydra if it meant Natasha could live a long, happy life.

God, you hate arguing with her.

-------------------------◇----------------------------

It had been a couple of hours since everyone had gotten to the new motel Steve said would be a good idea.

He had gotten concerned about the creepy pizza delivery boy wondering about, worried he'd figure them out so he moved everyone to a new motel a couple of hours away from the previous one.

Now you were laying at the bottom of the bed, half on half off just staring at the ceiling.

Your mind was racing, as usual. After everything you have been through it's hard to stop the intrusive thoughts. Especially when it's your job to keep them going.

You had been at shield for longer than most on the team, besides maybe Fury and Clint. You were there when Clint found Nat. You were there when The Avengers Initiative was put into place. Hell you were one of the original few. 

To put a long story short, you were abandoned as a child. Used as a method of payment towards Hydra. They used and abused you to their full capacity until a horrific accident occurred in one of the jobs they put you on and they pronounced you dead on site. Next thing you know, you're taken into the X-Men, being treated as a play thing, a human shield with vibranium katanas. Eventually, they became corrupted and you were found by shield after they took down the organization. And that brings you here.

Harsh knocking brought you out of your daydream.

But an eerie feeling flooded your bones as you weren't expecting anybody.

You unholstered the pistol at your side, slowly walking towards the door. Aiming the gun at the door, not looking through the peephole knowing some shady motherfuckers could kill you that way. 

You put your back to the wall, fastly opening the door while moving to point the gun toward the person on the other end.

"Woah, chill. It's just me." You let out a sigh at the sight of the green eyed blonde.

You dropped your hands back down to your sides in relief, putting the gun down on the table next to the door.

"You here to pester me again?" You question raising an eyebrow while Nat closed and locked the door with the deadbolt.

You noticed her holding a plastic bag behind her back and you eyed it suspiciously.

What could she have?

"No, I'm here to make amends." She took the bag from behind her back, placing it on the bed in front of you while she sat on the bed in front of you. 

You looked from the bag to her, wordlessly asking if you should open it and Natasha just nodded.

You untied the plastic bag with shaky hands, taking out a couple of take out boxes.

"Chinese food?" 

"It's the best I could do, plus I know you're probably hungry."

"Thank you, Nat." She smiled slightly in admiration when you opened up one container and started eating.

"How long were you following me?" Natasha asked no malice in her voice this time while placing her hands innocently on your knees.

"Since you destroyed The Red Room." Nat hummed in response as she just stared at you eating.

After a moment of silence, she drops a bomb. 

"What does this mean?" She questioned and you froze as she motioned between the two of you with her fingers. Your chewing stops abruptly for a moment, eventually swallowing harshly.

"What do you mean?" You decided to play dumb, not wanting to ruin things more than you already felt they were but Natasha just sighed.

"God, Y/n. You know we- this argument isn't just friendly! There are feelings behind this… behind us." Natasha's volume decreased the further she spoke.

Your head dropped, while you debated what to say next.

"I didn't know you kept your feelings towards me." You whispered, anxious to say anything that may weird her out.

"That's why I kept my distance, I didn't want to bother you." You continued, finally meeting her eyes.

"Oh Y/n," She put her hands on your face, gently,  caressing your cheeks with her thumbs. "You could never bother me."

"That's not what you said in Norway." You sadly smiled at her while her heart broke a little.

"And I am so sorry for that. I was afraid and I pushed you away."

There was a moment of silence while you both just stared into each other's eyes, basking in the warmth of light teenage-like love.

"I love you, Natasha. . . With everything in me." You whispered, moving closer to her, resting your forehead against hers.

It was the first time you ever crossed that line. The line of admitting your attachment to the assassin in front of you. 

The first time Nat ever thought she could even feel these emotions, or at least acknowledge them. The first time she's felt safe enough to utter those three words.

"And I love you, sweetheart." 

Now the only thing you could even focus on in the moment were the feeling of her hands circling your neck, pulling you in but stopping just before your lips met hers.

"And you're the only one I'd ever apologize to." 

One last tug on your neck is all you felt before Natasha put you into a complete euphoria.

[being-worthy]

Sunday Home Cinema: Army of the Dead!!

I haven't done one of these reviews in a long time (thanks to Covid-19 ¬¬) but I'm glad this film was the one to get me back in doing these reviews.

Honestly, I found out about the film about two weeks ago when I clicked on it on YouTube out of curiosity. It looked good and I'm an all big fan of zombie films and series and every zombie-themed film/series, even if it's extremely bad made (e.g. Z Nation but it's so funny to watch).

Sorry for any mistakes or things that make not much sense but I'm writing this at 2.30am and I just wanted to write this down while it's still fresh (I might review it later on if I feel like it).

> SPOILER ALERT AHEAD!! <

Apparently, Zack Snyder's Army of the Dead (here's the trailer), which can be watched on Netflix, is the prequel of Dawn of the Dead from 2004 also directed by him, which was a remake of the George A. Romero classic. I've got a hard time seeing this due to the zombies being so different but well, let's just roll with it.

Scott Ward (played by Dave Bautista) is offered/hired for $50 million by Bly Tanaka (villain/businessman played by Hiroyuki Sanada) to break into a walled Las Vegas after it was overrun by a zombie outbreak starting at the outskirts of the city with patient zero aka alpha zombie Zeus (more to the different zombie types later on) to "apparently" retrieve $200 million that is stashed in a safe at the casino's basement. Basically, it's like Ocean's Eleven but with zombies giving the film a nice touch.

I knew from the moment Tanaka offered Scott this job that there was going to be more to it. Why else would a stinking rich guy like Tanaka need to have a group to retrieve some money when: a. the insurance paid him some of that money back. I know he mentions he can't use it but come on, people like him know how to find either a way around whatever rule there might be or even wash it. And b. he looks like a guy who understands how business works and is well off, so you're telling me he wants to send a group there just for $200 million? B*tch please, I'm sure that's just petty cash to him, and there's surely more to it, especially after one of his goons (Martin) "invites" himself to tag along with the group to "make sure" they get the job done.

If I was offered that kind of money to go to a completely sealed city ruled by zombies, I wouldn't accept it no matter how bad my situation might be. The probability that something might go sideways is too high not to mention the risk that the virus spreads out to the rest of the world, I wouldn’t be able to live with that on my conscience.

In order to pull off this heist Scott assembles a team for the mission:

Vanderohe, the tank and chainsaw man. There'll be a little paragraph for him since his fate doesn't make entirely sense to me.

Marianne Peters, the pilot.

Maria Cruz, the mechanic.

Kate Ward, a volunteer in the quarantine zone. She's Scott's daughter and the only (human) survivor in the film.

Geeta, the mother. She ventures into the zombie-infested Vegas to find money in order to pay for safe passage out of the quarantine zone for herself and her children. I believe she dies in the helicopter crash but we don't see her body, so she might be alive somewhat?

Ludwig Dieter, the thief/safe expert, and I love how he questions everything lol!

Lilly "The Coyote", "the one who knows her stuff" aka zombie expert. Somehow interesting that she's got a conscience/good heart.

Martin, the inside man, and Bly Tanaka's right hand and got the death he deserved by kitten Valentine.

Mikey Guzman, the Sharpshooter and a YouTuber.

Chambers, the muscles and Guzman's sidekick (sort of). Her death was very predictable and her own fault! Girl, why the hell would you tell Martin that you don't trust him directly to his face?! That's such a rookie mistake!!

Burt Cummings, also the muscle for like 5 minutes before turning into the bait/bargain chip for a "deal" with the zombies in order to pass their territory. Overall, he's just a big jerk.

We see the first five people are survivors of the outbreak when Vegas was "freshly" being overrun by zombies and barely made it out of the city before it was completely sealed off. The rest of them are new characters. Almost none of them have any deep character story/feeling/development, most of them are quite plain and you don't care whether they survive or not. I've got also a hard time seeing any father-daughter relationship between Scott and Kate. I get that they haven't talked to each other since Scott had to put down Kate's mother after she got turned into a zombie but if I hadn’t seen the beginning I'd say they're just two strangers who met during the outbreak and he saved her at some point.

I very much like the fact that they introduce different types of zombies! On one hand, we've got the standard zombies aka shamblers who move slowly and are dead if you blow their brains out and if they bite you you become a shambler too. Then, there are the alphas who are fast (so fast that they can dodge bullets), they can also think, take orders, and are very organised. If you're bitten by one you become an alpha too but they also die if they're shot in the head which is easier said than done! We've also got a zombie horse, that's more bone than anything else, and a big tiger kitten called Valentine who used to be part of Siegfried & Roy's show (which also throws in the question, during which year is this movie set? They've both already passed away and they haven’t been retired from the entertainment world for a while before they passed away, and we see Tanaka carrying a modern mobile, so it must be during the past 2-3 our years.)

Their leader is patient zero aka Zeus who we see at the beginning being transported by a convoy of soldiers from Area 51 to somewhere else but never makes it there because he breaks free due to part of the convoy crashing into a car of a recent married (while the guy gets a blowjob and doesn’t watch the road!). He also takes the Bride as his queen (later on she's beheaded and her head still alive), who we see to be pregnant!! HOLY COW!! This throws in sooo many questions! For instance, how do zombies reproduce? The same way as we humans? What will the baby look like? Full zombie? A hybrid, half-human half-zombie? What power would they have? Do I even want to know or see this? Probably. Probably not. How many times did I wish they'd have introduced something like this in TWD (before I stopped watching it). At some point the virus that makes people zombies is supposed to mutate, every virus mutates at some point. We did already see a zombie baby in Dawn of the Dead but that was different since the woman was already in the late stages of pregnancy when she got bit. This one was one that was produced from zombie sex. I’ve got a feeling that their sex must be quite violent to say the least. Also, they way how the care for each other, especially Zeus for his Bride and child and seeks vengeance for both their deaths showing they’re capable of feeling and caring for their people. Maybe, just maybe want to find a way to survive without having to turn people but I think they’ll still need humans as a source of food. I don’t think they’re capable to live from eating normal food.

I've to make a special mention about Vanderohe. Besides, the fact that he's very attractive, there are a few things that don't make entirely sense to me.

He survives the nuclear blast of Las Vegas since he was looked inside the safe, which I can see being possible but (a little more possible than Indiana Jones seeking shelter in an old-fashioned fridge from a nuclear blast in Indiana Jones and Kingdom of Crystal Skull)... the whole city was nuked! And I mean big smoke of mushroom nuke! So, shouldn't the place, I don't know, be radioactive or something like that? And shouldn’t he find the nearest decontamination shower? Furthermore, it doesn't make sense that he gets infected, i.e. bitten. He gets into a fight with Zeus while they're in front of the safe and I watched that part several times and in slow motion too and we don't see Zeus bit him. There's one time where Zeus almost bites him but his teeth don't end up sinking into the flesh. He has Van in his hold, dislocates his right shoulder, and almost bites him there but only almost! In that same moment, Dieter hits Zeus in the head and pulls Van into the safe closing the door behind him (and most likely gets killed/turned by Zeus). I repeat there's no "visible" scene of Van being bitten by Zeus or any other zombie in another scene. So, where the f*ck did he get the bite and from who? I've also read that there's a theory of Van being immune because he's not turning as quick as the soldiers at the beginning of the movie when Zeus escapes the convoy (he still might be able to infect others though). He starts to feel lightheaded/dizzy and his body feels cold to the touch on the plane, and around the bite we see the veins turning black but that's it.

As much as I love the concept of the movie, it's very predictable as well as easy to figure out who makes it out alive and who makes it out the other kind of "alive" and it also reminded me a bit of Resident Evil (the first film was good and the rest just a waste). Tanaka wanting a fresh sample of an Alpha to make a virus that enables him to create an army of zombies he can control and take over the world. He could be Wesker's twin and his company the equivalent of the Umbrella Corporation. It's worth to watch but it doesn't compare to other zombie films such as 28 Days Later or even Dawn of the Dead (the classic and newer version), and many others.

[knives-out20]

Magnetic Push - Erik Lehnsherr x Male!OC - Part 9

Fandom: X-Men: Days Of Future Past (2014)

Pairing: Karmel Rosenstein (OC) x Erik Lehnsherr

Warnings: Swearing, Gay, Spoilers for X-Men: Days Of Future Past,

Notes: Welcome to the 9th part! Only one more to go.

Erik and Karmel, donning the same costumes they wore the day they broke Emma out of her confinement cell all those years ago, made it to the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium. Erik simply floated his way down, but Karmel shot his vines out of his hands and torso, planting them into the middle of the stadium.

Karmel grunted, catapulting himself into the arena, his vines pulling back into him once he landed by Erik's side. He noted one other person in the stadium; some janitor. Karmel scoffed, walking in the opposite direction with Erik. He glanced down at his costume; it's been a while, but he was thankful it still fit.

This costume, per se, had a green colour scheme like Erik's was red. Karmel's cape hung off of one shoulder as opposed to both of them, and was shorter than Erik's; this way it wouldn't get in the way of his vines. Thorn-like spikes spun around the ankles of his boots, vines crossing over his torso in an 'X' shape. Not because of X-Men, Karmel just thought it looked cool. 

At least, that’s what he’d tell if anyone asked. The real reason was because the ‘X’ resembled Erik’s and his arms around one another when they hugged for the very first time; completely enveloping each other in their upper limbs.

His whole outfit resembled leather armor, all the way up to the dark green shoulder plates, down to the screw-like studs of silver metal on his boots.

It was Erik's idea for metal to be scattered over Karmel's costume, because if Karmel ever fell into danger, Erik could pull him out easily using his own mutation.

The janitor saw them. "Can I help you?" He called.

Karmel rolled his eyes, turning to Erik. "Can he help us?" He joked.

Erik stopped walking. "No, you can't" he answered, messing with the janitor's radio so that only static came out. Erik outstretched his arms, eyes falling closed as he focused on the stadium.

Karmel watched as huge marketing signs fell from their posts, the concrete level of the stadium cracking along.

The bars of lights broke off, crashing into the dozens of coloured seats that surrounded the stadium. It all came tumbling down, thanks to Erik's amazing powers.

“God, you’re ethereal.”

Erik cracked a slight smile as he slowly floated upwards, Karmel growing vines out of his body to follow Erik up into the air. He gestured his hand towards the White House, Karmel using his vines as long, long legs to walk alongside him.

"See the robots?"

"Uh-huh" Erik nodded, fingers curling inwards. Doing so, he activated the Sentinels, each one blasting into the air.

Karmel grinned in delight. "Get 'em, babe" he ordered, shooting vines out from his sides to wrap around the floating stadium, in order to help Erik with the weight of carrying it. Karmel didn't stop pieces of the stadium from falling like debris, crushing the road and cars in its way.

"Don't have to tell me twice, dear" Erik grumbled, balling his hand into a fist. 

Over at the White House, the robots rapid-fired bullets into the police cars, sending all the humans every which way. 

Erik gestured for the Sentinels, which came flying over to Karmel and him, forming a line in front of them. "Ever wanted a robot army?" He asked, raising his eyebrows at Karmel. Erik flashed him a smile.

"Only in my dreams" Karmel giggled. He pulled his vines that carried the stadium back into his body, watching as the stadium came crashing down, perfectly entrapping the White House in a circled barricade. He slowly retracted his other vines back into his body, feet touching the ground at the same time as Erik's.

Erik looked up at the Sentinels he sent over to different points of the stadium, making one stop behind Karmel and him.

Karmel heard a roar, and turned his head in the direction it came from. "You gotta be fucking kidding me- Erik, Hank" he warned.

Erik panned his head over, groaning under his breath. He turned further around, to the robot behind them. "Do what you were made for."

The Sentinel started up again, aiming an arm over at Hank and Logan and immediately firing in their direction. 

Erik closed his eyes, outstretching an arm and slowly scanning the arena. "Where are you?" He whispered, stopping when he picked up something metal from inside the White House. Erik opened his eyes, both hands reaching for the White House. 

"Logan, nine o’clock" Karmel nudged Erik, who looked over.

Erik nodded his head, a block of metal being thrown over at Logan- he dodged it. He repeated this action, Logan's claw tossing it out of the way. A few more times before Karmel rolled his eyes and stepped in.

Logan finally got knocked to the ground from behind, Karmel gesturing his hand up; vines grew from out the ground and looped over Logan's body, restraining him like a straight jacket.

Erik copied Karmel's motions, metal rebars shooting out from the block he had used, and twisting into Logan's body.

Karmel cringed, "nice."

"I know, right?" Erik agreed, turning his hand so that his palm was facing downward. "Now, let's see if the puppy can swim, eh?"

As Logan screamed in pain, Erik lifted him off of the ground.

"So much for being a survivor" Karmel hissed, Erik taking the advantage and unfurling his fist.

This sent Logan flying far, far away, landing in the Potomac River.

Now that Logan had been taken care of, Erik reached his hands out for the White House, once more. He focused on the metal he detected earlier, pulling it out of the ground and busting it out of the front of the House. "A bunker."

"Must've been fuckin’ underground, then" Karmel tilted his head.

The black bunker hit the ground, sliding to a stop in front of Erik and Karmel. Erik inhaled slowly, pulling the door of the bunker clean off. He made a pulling motion, which ripped the front wall of the bunker off, throwing it aside.

Karmel's vines sprouted out from his hand, using them along with Erik's powers to grab the men's guns and pull them away. Together, they made the guns float above their heads, and aimed them all down at the men in the bunker.

Erik slowly turned around, twirling his hands gracefully to make all the cameras face Karmel and him. He looked back at the government officials, who Karmel hadn't taken his eyes off of. "You built these weapons to destroy us. Why? Because you are afraid of our gifts."

"Because we are different" Karmel spat, steely gaze lying on the President. "Humanity has always feared that which is fucking different."

"Well, we are here to tell you, to tell the world-" Erik spun Karmel and himself around to face the multiple cameras, "you are right, to fear us. We are the future! We are the ones who will inherit this earth!"

"And anyone who stands in our way, will suffer the same fate as these men you see before you" Karmel shook his head, vaguely gesturing a hand back at the men in the bunker.

"Today was meant to be a display of your power. Instead, I give you a glimpse of the devastation our race can unleash upon yours" Erik explained.

"Let this be a warning to the world," Karmel started back up. "And to our mutants family out there...we say this" he said, placing a fist over his heart. Karmel locked eyes with Erik, nodding.

Erik nodded back at him, the two speaking in perfect unison.

"No more hiding. No more suffering. You have lived in the shadows in shame, and fear, for too long" They both urged.

"Come out!" Karmel called by himself, cupping his mouth with his hands. "Join us. Fight together, in a team of our kind."

"A new tomorrow, that starts today" Erik spoke. Hearing the President's voice, him and Karmel turned back around.

"You want to make a statement?" The President asked, pointing two fingers over at them. "Kill me, fine. But spare everyone else."

Karmel furrowed his eyebrows, hesitant. "I don't trust this" he mumbled.

Erik shrugged, approaching Nixon. "Very heroic, Mr. President" he started. "But you had no intention of sparing any of us. The future of our species begins now" Erik growled, all the floating guns locked and loaded on Nixon.

Karmel gulped, aiming the guns his vines held down, pointed at the President. He looked over, "Erik, robot-"

Erik shot his head to the side, holding up a hand at the approaching robot. Piece by piece, he broke it down until it was nothing but a torso with an arm.

Distracted, he didn't notice the 'President' pull a gun out and aim at it at Erik- but Karmel did.

"Erik!" He yelled, latching onto Erik and pushing him down.

"Karmel-!" Erik called, watching as a bullet entered then exited the side of Karmel's neck, practically grazing it. 

Karmel gasped, falling to one knee, then both of them, holding himself up by one hand as the other held the side of his neck. All of his vines reeled back into his body, dropping the guns.

Erik focused on Karmel’s unconscious body, dropping the guns he previously influenced. "Karmel-? Karmel! Karmel-" he called repeatedly, the other robots under his control shutting off, as well. Erik glared up at Raven (who had shapeshifted into Nixon), kneeling at Karmel's side. "You used to be a better shot- I'm glad it's used to, you-"

"Trust me, I still am" Raven cut him off, running over and knocking Erik out.

Erik fell back, knocked out at Karmel's side.

After Charles' intervention, Raven took Erik's helmet off of him. "They're all yours, Charles" she called, walking away and dropping the helmet.

Erik and Karmel's eyes snapped open, the two of them getting up while under Charles' control. Erik and Karmel outstretched their arms, using their mutations to pull the bars off of Charles, pushing them aside. 

Hank helped Charles up, taking Karmel and Erik out of Charles' influence.

Erik softly furrowed his brow, turning to Karmel. "You-"

"I'm alright" Karmel nodded, gesturing to the vines he quickly used to stitch his wound closed. "It's safe, don't worry."

Erik nodded, pulling Karmel in for a quick hug- one Karmel wasted no time in returning. He pulled away, glad that Karmel was okay. Erik turned to see the government's eyes on them. "If they weren't watching, I'd kiss you right now" he whispered, cupping Karmel’s face.

"Do it later" Karmel purred, smirking slightly.

Erik shakily exhaled, nodding. "I treasure you, Karmel" he mouthed.

"I treasure you too" Karmel mouthed back.

Erik and Karmel turned, watching Hank carry Charles over to them. "If you let them have Karmel and I, we're as good as dead." he noted, dropping his arms at his sides. "You know that."

"I know" Charles replied.

Erik frowned. "Goodbye, old friend."

"Goodbye, Erik" Charles replied, defeated. His head snapped over to Karmel, who was still at Erik's side, for some godforsaken reason.

Karmel stared right back.

"So that's it, then? You're still going with him?" Charles asked, dumbfounded.

Karmel's eyebrows knitted together. He squinted, "what-?"

Erik stepped closer to Karmel.

Charles scoffed, tilting his head. "After all this time, all this destruction- you're still siding with Erik? Endorsing his- his violence, his faulty views? What happened to the Karmel that worked at the peaceful library, huh? Helping anxious teens, reading to little kids? Don't tell me you're going to put your feelings above doing the right thing."

Karmel crossed his arms defensively, blinking his gaze down at the ground in thought. He side-eyed Erik (not in a nasty way, of course; more in a “are you hearing this?” Sort of way), before locking eyes with Charles again. "I'm with Erik because it's what I believe in. I'd still be standing right here even if I didn't feel for him, the way I fuckin' do."

"You should know more than anyone what Erik's capable of, Kar. Look at this, look at JFK, look at him-" Charles pointed right at Erik. "Old friend or not, it's very clear to me what corruption he could cause. Don't...Don't do this, Karmel. Come with Hank, and me. Stay with us" he begged, eyes pleading. "We can help you, just like we always wanted."

Karmel's tongue traced his teeth, turning his head to look at Erik.

Erik stared back at him, jaw clenched.

Karmel took Erik's hand in his own, bringing it up to his lips and softly kissing the knuckles of Erik's glove. He dropped Erik's hand, and made his way over to Charles and Hank.

"Karmel-"

Karmel held up a hand, silencing Erik. He walked towards Charles and Hank, looks of relief washing over their faces.

"Oh, Karmel" Charles praised, smiling happily. "I knew you'd come to your senses."

"Karmel!" Erik repeated, outstretching a hand. This couldn’t really be happening, could it?

Karmel stopped in front of Charles, his expression a blank slate. He turned his palm up to face the sky, and grew a vine out of it. This vine grew out a lush, purple flower. 

Hank arched an eyebrow, looking at it.

Karmel gulped, using his other hand to pluck the flower. He winced softly; the pain of plucking leaves or flowers from his vines was the equivalent of plucking eyebrow hairs. Karmel took Charles' hand, opening it up and placing the flower on it. He looked between Charles and Hank, swiftly turning around and walking back over to Erik.

As he did, Charles' face broke. "Really?! You're going to abandon your second chance at a real family, turn your back on doing the right thing-"

"I am doing the right goddamn thing" Karmel barked, hands tightening into fists.

"No, no you're not! You're doing this because of what, mate? Erik gives you pleasure? Huh? He makes you feel good? Millions of people may die in any bloody plan he mixes up, and you don't care because your brain is too full of what your pants is telling you, to comprehend the crisis we face?" Charles called.

Hank looked damn near betrayed.

Karmel groaned, rolling his eyes. "What the fuck did I just say? I'm doing this because it's what I believe in, Charles" he outstretched his arms. "It's what I've always mostly believed in, from the day my parents died, to the beach in Cuba- where YOU let me go with Erik- and up to where we are, right now. Whatever crisis we fucking face is because of the humans, Charles! After all these years, you're still blind to it?" Karmel scoffed. "Deep devotion to Erik or not, I'm doing what I need to do. I hope you can fucking see that, one day."

Charles grit his teeth. “Your experience of Erik’s attention is so profoundly harmful, yet so irresistible, it undermines you ability to think rationally” he spat, basically saying that Karmel likes Erik so much, it actually makes him stupid.

"Goodbye, Charles" Karmel waved, his face stone-cold. "Beware- it goeth before the fall."

Charles weakly inhaled. "Goodbye, Karmel" he huffed, not saying anything else. From this moment on, he truly knew how much Karmel cares about Erik. He just didn't want to believe that Erik was right, with what he said on the plane; Karmel's morals always fell closer to Erik's, even before he met the man. And Charles couldn't change that. But, in the future, that wouldn’t stop him from continuing to try.

Erik turned to Raven, as did Karmel. He outstretched his arms, slowly floating back up into the sky.

Karmel gave Charles a final glance, slowly growing his vines out from his back and using them as long legs. Now at Erik's level, he walked alongside his lover, glad that they were both free. But for how long? Karmel didn't care, as long as he was with Erik. He doesn't know what he'd be without Erik with him.

Erik floated by Karmel's side silently.

Karmel turned his head to face him now. "Where to, Erik?"

"Away, Karmel" Erik answered blankly. "From each other."

[lananiscorner]

I'm a huge fan of your writing and even though I don't 100% agree, I understand your distaste for comics. And I'm really not trying to start something here, but isn't it a little... hypocritical of you to criticize the recent issue of Rhato #25 when you haven't read the series at all? And when you write fic after fic where Jason is tortured, beaten and broken down, often by the hands of Bruce himself? Again, not trying to start something, I'm just curious.

Thanks for your ask, Anon.

I haven’t “read” RHATO Vol 2 (or Vol 1, for that matter), but I have kept up with the gist of what’s happened, mostly through summaries, through friends ranting at me about what’s going on, and through the panels/pages I’ve seen on tumblr. I don’t mind the spoilers. As a matter of fact, I think I dodged a bullet. I’m sure there are redeeming moments in RHATO as well. Hell, the panels I reblogged for washing down the taste of RHATO 25 are apparently also from RHATO 25? Like... there was apparently an AU story attached in that issue as well?

The point is, I don’t have to read the entire series to know that certain things are just horribly OOC and/or extremely problematic in their message. For example, Jason suddenly getting all emotional and defensive about his dad to the point of shooting Penguin when Willis Todd, within that same canon!, was an abusive asshole who threatened to shoot Jason when he was a kid and beat him black and blue. Like... it smacks of this “you gotta make peace with your abuser, because faaaaaamily” bullshit that survivors of child abuse so often have to hear. No. You don’t. Nothing will ever undo what those people did to you and you don’t owe them jack-shit.

Or Bruce, casting Jason out and giving up on him... this is the same man who regularly goes out of his way to save the lives of people who have killed thousands of innocent civilians, who actively lobbies for and supports mental institutions to help the criminally insane... and yet this is how he treats his own son? Whom he took to the site of his own death to trigger memories of said death in an attempt to save his “blood son”? Fuck DC. Just fuck ‘em.

As for my fics... I do really put Jason through the ringer, but here’s the thing:

1) Most of it is based on actual canon things that happened, such as Bruce throwing a batarang into Jason’s face, Dick calling him a delusional crackhead, both of them locking him up in Arkham, Tim and Dick luring him into an ambush and laughing at his pain - basically everything that I mentioned in “The Calling” is canon. For Arkhamverse, we have relatively little information on what exactly Joker did to Jason, but pretty much everything I wrote in “Red” is based on actual dialogue from the games. Many of Jason’s pre-Robin backstory hints are based on things that were mentioned in comics canon. The emotional trauma he’s going through post-Red is a result of his CPTSD and the anxiety and trust issues it created. It hurts, but to skip over it would, imo, be a disservice to the character and to anyone who’s been through CPTSD in real life.

2) Even when I write Bruce at his most assholish in the my stories, such as for example in Ill Weeds Grow Apace, when he kicked Jason’s injured shoulder, bugged the manor, and kept on riding on the fact that Jason uses lethal force - even then I do not make him deliberately trigger Jason’s trauma or aggravate his injuries. His actions are selfish and often have horrible consequences, but it’s a question of intent.

Because here is the deal with Arkham Bruce: he is manipulative. He can be an asshole. But at the end of the day, he’d do anything to protect his family. The game flat out states so, both in the dialogue and in the way it plays out. If that doesn’t come through properly in my writing, then I guess that’s a storytelling fail on my part, but the only way I am ever going to write a Bruce who disowns Jason and kicks him out of the family/out of Gotham or throws a batarang into his throat, or deliberately takes him back to the place of his death, is if I’m writing something based on those comic storylines or a version of Arkham!Bruce that succumbed to his Joker-poisoning. Because that shit is no longer manipulative or extreme. It’s downright evil.

[janiedean]

Ok, I know it may come as quite offensive for some people, but it's a real question. I'm upper middle-class, as my parents were before me, I was still living with them during the econonical crisis and I barely felt it and now I have my own job, I have no problem having money for myself. And fortunately or not, all of my friends either come from this social class or got into it with their jobs, so I never had a real talk with someone considered "poor". I'm not trying to brag or anything, (cont)

I'm just explaining where I stand and why everyone in my family (including me) is right-winged (not far-right, thanks god, but very liberal). So there is my question, I see so much talk and post about how the situation is awful for people (and mainly young people) and I don't know if it's an exaggeration (aka the opinion of 90% of the people I know, friends + families) or is there a real problem I fail to understand. Thanks for taking the time to read (and maybe answer) me.

Sure I can answer you XD

So, given that the economical crisis hit differently in different countries so there’s different perspectives to be had, the short answer is: it’s not an exaggeration. Long answer:

if you come from an upper middle-class background it’s highly likely you won’t have felt the repercussions, and if you were living with your parents when the crisis hit because you weren’t old enough for college then I suppose you’re in your early-mid twenties, right? If you are, congratulations, you dodged the millennial bullet, which I will rant about further later. Anyway, it’s not like it’s a fault or anything, but like, upper-middle class = you have some degree of privilege.

Now, I also am middle class, though in Italy, which is a whole different thing than being middle class in the US - now I can’t be knowledgeable about the details of how it works in the US tho I know a few things that might give you extra perspective further down, but anyway, I do have the middle-class privilege that comes with having managed to dodge the economical crisis, but... I’m late twenties/early thirties, which means that I finished studying right when the crisis hit here the worst - it caught up with us a bit later than in the US but when I finished university there was literally nothing for anyone with my background and most people my age I know either are working from home somehow or working jobs that have nothing to do with their skill set or what they studied for or are freelancers or work without benefits and/or it took them years to get to economical stability - like, my cousin got first in this year’s chart to teach middle school in her area and she got two schools (if not three) for one year and is still living with her parents and it took her six years if not more to get there since getting the degree, her brother has worked for an ONG for years but his contract’s is meh and he compensates renting a room in a house his parents bought for him and as far as I’m concerned... it took me two years to get a shitty paid state job for one year and now I have to look again and I might end up trying to end up in a program to get a teaching certification that I don’t even want to do, but it’s STATE MONEY with BENEFITS and after four years and so of working without benefits I’m freaking out about retirement and shit, which brings us to another problem.

My parents’ generation (and the previous one) found jobs in a moment of economical growth. When my mother retires and when my father does, they’re going with the old pension system which means they get 90% of their last paycheck. As it is right now, I haven’t put money towards it at all because I don’t have it, and I’ll have to work until I’m like seventy and I’ll get.... an abysmal amount of money, with the current system, sure as fuck not 90% of my last paycheck. I couldn’t buy a house without my parents’ help or without them backing me up (banks don’t let you have a mortgage if your parents don’t grant for you). And like, the generation before mine all managed to lend decent jobs because the economy was pre-crisis, the one after mine is getting better jobs because we’re out of it and everyone is hiring again, and the one I’m in is fucked because we’re too old or too young or too qualified because if you don’t find work you go back to studying and get titles that then mean you should get PAID WHAT A TRAVESTY or not qualified enough because we ended up taking jobs without proper contracts that you can’t put on your resume and so on. Given that I don’t consider myself old and that I come from a background where I’m more or less covered because the parents have good jobs, the situation for me and my entire age group is shitty af because unless you have uber rich parents and you come from money your retirement money will be shit and our retirement funds are shitty af, and good luck when our parents retire and don’t feed the system with their retirement money.

Like, if I wanted hypothetical children (THANK FUCK I DON’T) I could never afford to give them the same level of wealth/living that my parents gave me and that their parents gave them. I could never. Because even with someone else in the house, if they were my age and in the same work conditions it’d be an utopia.

Now, given all this, I’m still middle class. If I, a person with a relative amount of *privilege*, am fairly screwed when it comes to job perspectives (I mean, in this country you work as soon as you finish uni if you studied engineering or economics and that’s it...), how do you assume someone who actually comes from a low middle class or poor background is faring? Spoilers: a lot worse than me. The unemployment level in between young people here is tremendously high and working jobs without a contract to bring money home doesn’t help either. And like, at least here a lot of people my age just dump everything and leave Italy (and I honestly sort of wish I had when it’d have been easier but never mind) because finding a job tied in some way to what you studied for here is a lottery gamble and then people don’t understand that if all the young people leave who pays for their goddamned retirement money? Anyway, tldr: obviously if I had found a government job at 24 just out of university I wouldn’t be here worrying about my retirement money as much, but I don’t have a government job and the majority of people doesn’t, and given the current times it’s not shaping up to look that much better for us, at least.

On to the US, since I assume you’re from the US: thing is, from what I understand especially right now the part where if you work hard enough you make money and climb into upper-middle class is kind of a myth especially when in order to attend university you have to get loans unless you’re on a scholarship and/or come from money, which means that you end university and you have already 40k of debt to repay on you, which already puts a hinder on anything you do because you’ll have to pay that shit off, same as your car, same as your house and so on, which means that if you’re *poor* it’s a lot less likely to get into college or find a good job unless you go in the military (which is imo another whole level of fucked up but never mind), not counting the people who from what I understand end up in debt or broke because they can’t pay off hospital expenses/insurance expenses if they get sick. Never mind that the entire 2008 crisis spiraled from the Reagan/Thatcher ridiculously terrible economical liberalims that people decided was AMAZING in the eighties, but if I don’t remember wrong, what kickstarted it was basically the fact that a lot of people took loans to buy houses with money they didn’t have and the banks defaulted and it all came tumbling down. Now, the people who lived in those houses basically lost everything and got fucked thrice over, and how do we assume their kids are faring? Not well, most probably.

Now, idk how the situation is there because it looks like by the end of his term Obama had managed to create more jobs and send things back on  a better track (if Trump doesn’t fuck that up obv) but like... Obama was there eight years. It took that long. Anyone who finished college and/or was in my age range and on the job market during the crisis or when it hit most probably got very much fucked, never mind that I’m 99% sure that the US don’t have the same retirement system as here when it comes down to it so people are nowhere near as sheltered when it comes to their retirement. Or to get benefits. Though from what I gathered we have more benefits than the average US worker, government or not, so... a lot of people have real issues finding a job or moving on from their crappy one or meeting the living standards their parents had and which from what I gather they’re expected to have (see the credit cards post I reblogged yesterday). And that’s going to be the majority. And since ‘young people’ are usually considered my age range these days and my group (the millennials of doom) was the one most hit by this fuckery when it came to finding jobs... no, it’s not an exaggeration. I can say it’s not from another country where things are marginally better and coming from a background more like yours, I can’t even begin to imagine how worse it is for people who had it worse growing up and have less welfare to fall back on.

also, we’re talking young people but here a lot of older ones got fucked over thrice because the pension reform hit them badly, and most of them weren’t wealthy and worked time/health-consuming jobs, a lot lost their job and who’s going to re-hire you when you’re fifty-five, and that’s without having lost your savings as it happened in the US. if these people had kids, those kids didn’t fare well, most probably. the crisis was a problem for people from every age, not just for young people.

So, again: yes, there’s a problem, and no, it’s probably hard that you’d notice because if you managed to miss the crisis’s effects and you don’t have the retirement/pension funds problems we have here you wouldn’t have any reason to. However, it’s not an exaggeration at all and like, I don’t want to sound condescending or anything and I have nothing against moderate liberals so like don’t take it as me insulting you or anything because I swear I’m not, and I know it’s hard to know people outside your sphere which is usually someone in your same economical conditions, but if you get the chance to talk to someone who’s less economically well-off than you/your friends/your family is I’d suggest listening to them because a) they’d give you a better idea of it than me since I only know my country’s situation well, b) it’s always a good thing to go outside your bubble (but that’s valid for everyone - all people should, from all backgrounds) and check how things are. I can give my perspective (which is bad) but someone who actually lived it worse than I did could give a better one. Anyway, I hope it was a satisfactory answer - it’s not in any way shape or form comprehensive but as I said I can only speak for what I’m sure of. :)