#Sorry to everyone who was looking forwards to this comic only to find out I put WWX in the ugliest outfit.

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Kiss Kiss Fallen Tree!

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[pucksandpower]

Never Have I Ever

Charles Leclerc x Sainz!Reader

Summary: a game of Never Have I Ever leads to revelations your brother wishes he could forget (and half the grid running for their lives)

“Alright Y/N, it’s your turn!” Lando says, turning to you with an impish grin. “Give us a good one!”

You bite your lip, looking around the circle of F1 drivers sitting cross-legged on the floor of Charles’ palatial hotel suite. It’s a rare night off for everyone during the season, and Charles had suggested a casual get-together for some bonding time. That, of course, led to drinking games, and now here you all are, a few rounds into Never Have I Ever.

“Hmm...” you say slowly, tapping your chin as you think. Your brother, sitting to your left, playfully shoves your shoulder.

“Come on, hermanita! Don’t go easy on us,” he says with a laugh. You roll your eyes but can’t help smiling.

“Okay, okay! Never have I ever … raced in Formula 1,” you declare. A chorus of groans goes up around the circle as everyone except you drinks.

“That was just mean, Y/N!” Lance protests, though his eyes are twinkling with amusement. You grin and give a nonchalant shrug.

“All’s fair in Never Have I Ever!”

The game continues, the questions getting more and more outrageous and personal. Though you’re the only non-driver here, you feel completely comfortable around these guys. You’ve known most of them for years now through your brother, and they welcomed you into the F1 family immediately. It’s fun to sit back and observe their antics and camaraderie.

“Alright, I’ve got one,” Daniel says, leaning forward with an devilish smirk. “Never have I ever … slept with someone on the grid.”

You feel your eyes widen slightly at the implication, but force yourself not to react. Still, you can’t help but notice Fernando slyly taking a sip of his drink out of the corner of your eye. The rest of the drivers turn to look at him in surprise.

“What?” Fernando says with an innocent look. “Have you seen Mark Webber?”

The others burst into laughter at this excuse, the tension effectively diffused. As all eyes stay focused on Fernando, you slowly lift your own glass to your lips and take a subtle sip.

Just as you’re lowering it though, you feel Carlos stiffen next to you. Uh oh. You chance a glance at your brother and immediately regret it at the sight of the shock and anger flashing in his eyes. Before you can say anything, Carlos is on his feet.

“Alright, which one of you was stupid enough to touch my sister?” He demands heatedly.

Instantly, almost comically, Charles, Max, Lando, Pierre, Alex, Oscar, and Logan scramble to their feet and take off running in different directions.

Carlos’ eyes nearly bug out of his head before he takes off after them, yelling Spanish profanities. You sit there stunned for a second before dissolving into laughter. Only Fernando and Daniel remain seated beside you, chuckling and shaking their heads.

“Carlos! Hermano, calm down!” You call after your brother fruitlessly. Still giggling, you turn to Fernando. “I should probably go deal with him before he actually hurts someone, huh?”

“Probably wise,” Fernando says with an amused smile. “Good luck, chica.”

You give him a grateful smile before jumping to your feet and hurrying after Carlos. You find him in the next room, gripping a cowering Lando by the front of his shirt.

“Please don’t kill me!” Lando squeaks out. “It was one time!”

“Carlos, stop!” You cry, rushing over and grabbing your brother’s arm. “Let him go!”

Carlos drops Lando immediately, who scurries away like a frightened mouse. Your brother whirls on you, face still red with anger.

“Y/N, what the hell? You never told me you’ve been with these pendejos!”

You hold up your hands in a calming gesture. “I know, I’m sorry! It just sort of … happened. With everything going on in the paddock, it’s hard to avoid getting close to people. A girl has needs!”

Carlos drags a hand down his face, looking positively murderous. You place a gentle hand on his arm.

“Carlos, listen to me. I’m a grown woman, I can make my own choices. I know you want to protect me, but I’m okay, I promise.”

Your brother’s expression softens slightly as he looks down at you. He pulls you into a tight hug.

“Lo siento, hermanita. I just worry about you, that’s all. The grid is like a family, but still ...”

You hug him back reassuringly. “I know. But you don’t need to go all Spanish Inquisition on them, okay? I can handle myself.”

Carlos sighs but finally relents with a small smile. “Okay, okay. I’ll try to restrain myself from beating them all senseless.”

You laugh. “Much appreciated. Now come on, let’s get back out there and pretend this never happened, yeah?”

Carlos winces slightly but agrees, allowing you to lead him back out to the others. Most have returned to the circle now, shooting your brother wary glances. You give them a reassuring smile as you sit back down, Carlos settling tensely beside you.

“Right!” You say brightly. “Whose turn was it?”

There’s a beat of uncertain silence before Logan clears his throat.

“Uh, I believe it was mine,” he says. “Never have I ever … had a podium finish.”

There’s a communal exhale of relief as the game gets back underway. You catch Carlos’ eye and give him a pointed look, reminding him of his promise. He sighs but gives you a subtle nod and an apologetic smile.

The questions continue on, ranging from silly to risqué, though nothing quite as explosive as before. You’re relieved to see your brother laughing and back to his normal self.

As the night winds down, you’re struck by a feeling of gratitude and affection for this group. Despite the drama and tensions of the season, at the end of the day, you’re all a family.

These guys welcomed you with open arms, and you know Carlos is just looking out for you. You lean against your brother with a contented sigh, smiling around at the drivers joking and chatting happily. No matter what happens on and off the track, you know you’ll always have each other.

***

“Alright everyone, glasses up! We’re doing this again!”

You grin around at the drivers gathered once more, this time to celebrate the one year anniversary of your first Never Have I Ever night together.

“Who’s starting us off this time?” Lando asks, bouncing excitedly in his seat.

“Ooh me, me!” Alex volunteers, raising his hand eagerly. Everyone chuckles.

“Alright Albon, give us a good one,” Lewis encourages.

Alex strokes his chin thoughtfully. “Hmm, never have I ever … raced in F1 before 2019.”

A majority of the group drinks at that one. “Trying to knock out us old farts, eh?” Fernando jokes, elbowing Alex.

The questions continue on, each one prompting laughs and cheers among the group. You’re filled with the same warm contentment as last year, smiling around at your dear friends.

About halfway through, you clear your throat. “I’ve got one! Never have I ever … been an uncle.”

Most of the drivers take a drink between smiles and coos about nieces and nephews. You notice Carlos doesn’t drink and turn to him with a playful grin.

“Uh, hermano, I think you forgot to drink for that one,” you say pointedly.

Carlos looks at you in confusion. “What? None of my sisters have kids.”

You simply keep staring at him meaningfully until realization dawns on his face. His eyes go wide, flicking down to your still-full glass of untouched alcohol.

“Y/N … are you ...” he breathes in disbelief.

You nod again. “I’m pregnant.”

For a moment Carlos just stares at you in shock. Then his face starts turning red, hands clenching into fists at his sides.

“You’re pregnant?” He repeats through gritted teeth. The other drivers fall silent, exchanging uneasy glances.

“Who did this to you? Who’s the cabrón who touched my sister again?” Carlos demands, voice rising.

You shrink back slightly, smile fading. Maybe you should have told him privately.

“I … Carlos, please, just calm down,” you say weakly.

But your brother is beyond calming down now. He whips his head around the circle, glaring daggers at each driver.

“Who was it? Who permanently defiled my innocent baby sister?”

You open your mouth uncertainly, not quite sure how to answer. Before you can though, Charles abruptly jumps to his feet.

“WellwouldyalookatthetimeIgottagonowbye!” He blurts out hurriedly before turning and sprinting from the room.

“LECLERC!” Carlos bellows, tearing off after him. You can’t help the laughter that bubbles out of you at the sight. Some things never change.

The other drivers are cracking up too. “Think we should go make sure Carlos doesn’t actually kill him?” Lando asks with a grin.

You wave a hand dismissively. “Nah, let them work it out. Charles will tire him out eventually.”

Still chuckling, you lean back against the couch next to Fernando, who has an arm draped casually around your shoulders.

“Those two, I swear. Will Carlos ever stop seeing me as his baby sister?” You muse with a smile.

Fernando grins and shakes his head. “Doubtful, chica. But that’s how brothers are. He’s just watching out for you.”

From the other room, you hear a crash followed by yelling in multiple languages. You and Fernando share an amused look.

“At least he didn’t try to fight the whole grid again,” you point out. Fernando barks out a laugh at the memory.

“Give him time. The night is still young,” he says with a playful wink.

You laugh again, cuddling into Fernando’s side. Even with your brother’s antics, you truly feel so lucky to have this group in your life. Friends turned family.

As you hear Carlos’ angry shouts getting closer, followed by Charles’ panicked apologizing, you think to yourself that there’s nowhere else you’d rather be.

[iwaoiness]

In the Argentine volleyball team, arriving late for training comes with the Blanco's famous penalty of thirty-three laps around the block, and captain Javier's fifteen-minute reprimand. Oikawa has only been late on rare occasions, yet even his most charming flutter of eyelashes couldn't exempt him from the punishment. He endured it, unfortunately accompanied by the teasing of Matias and Bruno—those two, inexplicably, are the only ones who are punctual alongside the captain.

However, that day, when Oikawa arrives ten minutes late at one of the Olympic Village gymnasiums, almost out of breath, his hair disheveled and still wet from the quickest shower he has had in his thirty years, he doesn't hear Javier's ché, boludo tardón that always starts his reprimands, nor does he hear Blanco loudly instructing Tomás to get ready with the stopwatch and the punishment sheet.

That day, everyone stares at him with wide, blinking eyes. The ball Bruno was holding slips from his grasp, the sound of its bounce being the only thing breaking the sepulchral silence.

Oikawa frowns, tilting his head slightly.

"What?"

"Hermano," Matias arches an eyebrow with genuine curiosity, though his eyes sparkle with amusement, putting Oikawa on high alert "since when do you play for the Japanese national team?"

This further confuses Tooru, who blinks.

"The hell are you talking about, boludo?"

The libero points to his shirt and Oikawa looks down.

Oh.

He's not wearing his favorite blue training shirt, but a slightly baggy black one at his shoulders, with the Japanese flag stitched on it at his heart.

And then he remembers this morning. How they woke up late, almost stumbling because neither of the two damn alarms went off. How they rushed to the shower, too small for two tall and strong adults. How Tooru had a fit of giggles when Hajime mistook the cherry lube for his after-shave lotion. How they quickly got dressed in the first things they grabbed, barely glancing at their clothes, before kissing, wishing each other a good day, and running off to their respective teams.

Oh, la concha de la lora.

Oikawa's eyes widen comically, and he ignores the tug on his neck as he quickly raises his head. Feeling the heat boiling on his face, he now meets the playful gazes of his teammates—even Blanco coughs to hide his smile.

"This has a completely logical explanation!" he stammers, glaring at Matias as his devilish grin widens.

"Really? And that logic is tall, dark skinned, and part of Japan's technical team, Toto?"

But when Tooru, his face now completely red, opens his mouth to protest, a solid knocks on the door interrupts.

Everyone turns to look, and Oikawa sees Iwa-chan standing in the doorway, just as embarrassed—if not more so—than him. Instead of his regulation black shirt, he’s wearing Oikawa's blue one, tight around his torso, with the Argentine flag in the center.

"Sorry to interrupt," he apologizes with his accented Spanish. "Can I borrow Tooru for a second?"

"All yours, Hajime!" Bruno chimes in, nudging Tooru forward playfully, sticking his tongue out as the setter glares daggers at him.

"But don't keep him out too long. The penalty waits him" José Blanco requests, widening his smile as Hajime nods firmly before taking Tooru's hand and pulling him outside, ignoring his childish protest.

...

i love them with my whole heart

u can find me on my ao3 🍉

[nights-at-crystarium]

Fragments - episodes 31-35 author notes

You can find similar breakdown posts on older episodes in my pinned!

The chasm in their understanding of what makes Vivi tick.

The stakes in this scene seem low and the twins are just overdramatizing the danger for the sake of unwinding and being silly, right? Yesn't. One wrong move or word, and they join those leafmen scattered all over the place.

Finding the line between bad actor and caring sister.

Of course Alisaie wants to hang out with Vivi. She doesn't want to admit that to herself, let alone risk looking desperate in her brother's eyes. Tsundere moment. It's been a while since they've. Had a rest. Between rescuing Minfilia from Laxan Loft and making their way to Il Mheg. Alphinaud, at least in my hc, isn't as physically durable, but definitely as stubborn and proud as Alisaie, so he wouldn't simply agree to chill out for a moment. Alisaie makes him tunnel-vision her bad (?) acting and openly throwing the game for supposedly selfish reasons, while she gets what she wanted, AND forces Alphi to sit his ass down.

I’m sorry but I really need to point out that her ahoge did, in fact, launch into the stratosphere.

More under the cut~

....Can you blame her tho.

Vivi’s shirt’s a bit more plain than usual, he needed to wear something practical under his crystarium guard disguise in Laxan Loft.

The flashback in episodes 32-33 has no dialogue per se, only monologues, to emphasize how disconnected they are.

Technically both vivis are real, but Exarch’s memories are definitely heavily skewed. He’d only known Vivi during the CT quests, in this story it’s a month or two in summer, during which literally nothing bad happens, sans the finale. Alisaie, however, got lucky to experience Vivi during Stormblood, his absolute low.

Exarch and Alisaie sit on opposing sides of the bias, one wears pink glasses, delusional and bluepilled, the other one’s (heh) redpilled, perhaps a bit too much. Hence Alisaie feels the whiplash when her jerkass woobie friend suddenly acts mellow (back in the present), still she has the expertise to tell that he’s not affected by a fae spell or anything.

Full page because I’m so proud of the paneling here, simple as this trick is, these speech bubbles blocking Vivi from sight neatly illustrate that Alisaie just babbles away, paying no heed to his state.

With the power of flashbacks and stories told by one character to another, I’m able to revisit any moment in their past whenever I please. I didn’t commit to a linear story because there was no story! Well, just the outlines. Vivi as a character began in ShB because I really needed to fuck that old man, I started writing down the lil scenes loosely connected by the canon plot, and that’s how the whole concept of Fragments came to be.

It may not work for everyone, but my secret sauce’s that you don’t have to begin at the beginning. Make a guy, put him in a situation, then ask a lot of whys and hows to expand his story backward and forward.

Keeping the past events for later allows me to flesh things out at a leisurely pace. This Alisaie flashback is actually an iteration, originally I’d planned to have Vivi stand alone and just think the broody thoughts, and that was supposed to be the transition between ARR and ShB arcs. I grow more writing muscle as I go, and I’m infinitely happy that I avoided that angsty infodump.

Okay this’s becoming a big fat tangent, but I wanted to acknowledge another pitfall: overusing a character as a mere exposition tool. I wouldn’t do this for, say, Tataru or Y’shtola. Being THE flashback haver makes sense for Alisaie because a) they’re close with Vivi, b) her worldview and opinion on Vivi are changing in ShB, she’s a smart lil thing who would slow down and reflect when appropriate, c) she has a distinct arc in my comic, and knowing what’s going on inside that elf brain will give you the most entertainment out of her actions in the present moment.

I’m new to writing and very excited about the story that comes together as we speak, so I like to show around my kitchen. Please lemme know if you enjoy this. I don’t know if I’m parroting the boring 101s, or if this’s actually useful to someone.

“Meals made for me” YEA HE CAN’T COOK. Well, barely.

New sharp outfit, procured by our most magnanimous branch. The “tail” will help me draw the upcoming Titania fight, it adds fluidity to his movements.

*presses the upgrade button*

There's a lot happening in his head that's not being shown. I hope at least some readers wonder who or what he leaves behind in his mind's eye in this moment. What we know for sure is that he doesn’t take too long to make a decision.

Not sure if subtle, but I did try the breadcrumbing:

Unfortunately for everyone, including himself :’>

I love this one especially because, instead of telling that about himself, Vivi asks Ardbert, kinda gauging his wol experience against the other wol’s.

Episode 34 really shook people awake and reminded that we’re off the msq rails with this story. I loved the response it evoked in the tags, lots of thoughtful rambling about being a hero.

Fae temptation jokes and all, but Feo Ul really says what Vivi needs to say out loud to himself.

Normalize prioritizing self-care over world-saving.

Vivi genuinely cares about Feo Ul. That’s unusual. It might be my storytelling mistake that I didn’t show much of his typical indifference before this scene, unless you count the episodes where he does this

instead of hurrying the fuck up with the msq. Or, perhaps, it’s okay, since this gets plenty of attention later on. You won’t miss the fact that he isn’t eager to set himself on fire to keep others warm. Feo Ul just lucked their way into his heart, and, as a result, he approaches the Titania fight with unusual consideration.

/srs mode on ^

Remember how I just talked about developing this story in all directions at once? I planned Vivi to have this demeanor during the early days of writing Fragments. Like, most of the time. He’d be a broody bitch, get slowly thawed by Exarch’s kindness, and... That’d be it. In veeeeeery broad strokes, this’s still the case, but the current iteration has much more nuance.

Vivi and Titania’s likeness has no deep meaning, take it or leave it. Vivi cares about appearances, he was bound to notice this. Feo Ul can see souls, visuals are secondary to them. But Vivi, being himself, must doubt and question everything.

He moves fast and thinks a lot as the adrenaline speeds him up.

Notice how he lets Titania speak and remains quiet. This’s common in most fights: he doesn’t indulge with chats or banter those who he sees as mere targets to destroy. There’s like a point of no return, if an enemy poses no threat and can be talked out of dying, Vivi will speak, sadly he enters this fight knowing that Titania has to die no matter what.

Once he’s familiarized himself with the situation, and realized that Titania’s more than just a mindless husk, things change up a bit. But for now, he just runs in circles, analyzes the situation, and overthinks about their visual resemblance :’>

Sorry not sorry but unintentional reference x’DD

To be fair Vivi IS being a magical boy in this miniarc so this works lmao.

Wrapping up on this note, thanks for sticking with me and reading till the end~

[neevblanc]

„spiders and scarves” ♡

a/n — hi hi! miguel is such a complex character and my feelings for him are similarly complex lol. i hope i did him justice!!

૮꒰ ˶• ༝ •˶꒱ა ♡

-ˋˏ’✄┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈

Miguel O'Hara x GN! reader

Tags— fluff, pre-relationship, christmas time cuz yay!! (ur spider name is azure bite cuz i imagined ur suit to be blue)

CW/TW— implied boss x worker...thats it

“Oh, please!” Spiderbyte whines, clasping her hands together. Her eyes presumably widened under her mask as the stylized eyes widened comically in a version of puppy eyes you’d seen many times before. You gave her a look and shook your head.

“No, dude. It’s not my fault you didn’t finish that report. I did all of my work and won’t do yours.” You replied, leaning back into your office chair. Spiderbyte, or Margo, whined and deflated. The younger girl hid her face in her arms, crossed on the desk before her. The girl was smart as a whip, but might as well have been allergic to formal paperwork. 

“Not even as my Christmas gift?” Margo pleaded, her voice muffled. You smiled, biting back laughter.

“Nope. Already got you one.” You said, leaning forward to turn off your hologram desk and log out of the Spider Network. Margo perked up at the mention, her mask disintegrating into little pixels and exposing her face entirely.

“Really? What is it?” She asked, grinning widely. You gave her a baffled look as you hung your bag on your shoulder, putting on your scarf and gloves.

“Why would I tell you that, Margo? You’ll see on Christmas, like everyone else does with Christmas presents.” You laughed, disregarding the dismayed whine that left the girl.

“I’ll see you next week, bye.” You said, sending Margo a little wave as you left the area. Pressing your palm to the reader next to the door, the door slid open easily. 

You grimaced at the amount of light leaking from the windows in the main area. Spiders bustled around, some running and some lounging around the chairs and tables laid out. The door closes behind you, leaving you in the hall surrounded by other spider people (and a hilarious number of Peter Parkers!)

You settled your headphones in their place and started walking, thumbing at your phone screen to find the playlist you were feeling most for the bus ride home. Well- home. You’d be making a trip to your apartment in this world to get some things in order before going back to your earth. 

It’s just your luck that only two minutes into the search, your spider-sense goes wild, and you’re turning on your heel faster than you could even think of. 

You stumble backward, face contorting in surprise when you come face to face with a…horse.

31913- or Cowboy Spiderman- stared back at you, sheepishly trying to get his horse to back up from where it was whinnying two centimeters from your nose. Begrudgingly, you shove your headphones down to rest by your neck. 

“Sorry, Azure Bite. Got a little too close there,” he drawled, patting his horse’s shoulder as it finally took a few steps back and allowed you to crane your neck upward to look at him properly.

“You’re good. Is there…anything you need?” You asked, starting to feel the awkwardness settle in the interaction. Your brain had just started preparing for no conversation, and the interruption left you reeling slightly.

“Uh...have you happened to see Miguel around?” He asked, voice growing small and nervous.

“Nope. Not for a few hours; he should’ve gone home at 3. Why?” You frowned, shaking your head. Cowboy nodded, tongue clicking in dissatisfaction.

” Ah, I had a question for him. Pav and Jess said they hadn’t seen him leave. Sorry for botherin’ ya. Happy holidays!” He said, nodding his goodbye and taking off at a moderate trot. You stood still, mouth pursed.

‘Miguel isn’t the nicest boss,’ you reasoned. ‘He’s a grown man. It really is none of my business. He likes to be mysterious, and who am I to interrupt?’

…

You turned around, shoving your headphones back on, and quickly approached the center elevator in the middle of the floor. Other spiders send you waves and quick acknowledgments, and you do your best to answer them slightly despite being on a mission.

You rush into the elevator, closing the doors before anyone else can enter. Pressing your palm to the reader on the console and waiting for the extra buttons to show up, you hoped no one needed to get on this specific elevator.

The panel lights up, and five extra buttons quickly emerge from the metal, sliding into place seamlessly. You quickly pressed the second one and waited for the elevator to jolt to a start before tilting your head toward the ceiling.

“LYLA, you there?” You called, squinting at the bright light of LYLA’s projection despite having anticipated it. LYLA hovers near the button panel, on a special little square section just for her. She grins, crossing her legs as she files her nails.

“Yessum, Bite?” She crooned, fluttering her eyes from behind pink-tinted glasses. You waved lightly, leaning on the back wall of the elevator.

” Is Miguel in his hiding hole again?” You asked, to check. LYLA paused her filing and pursed her lips, tilting her head.

“Not sure I can tell you that! The boss said no one should bother him.” LYLA hummed. You gave her a look, vaguely amused.

“Since when have you listened to Miguel?” You laughed. LYLA grinned sharply and nodded, her holographic form standing up as soon as the elevator doors opened with a ping.

“You’re right! He’s up here, ‘been moping for hours. Have fun.” She waved cheekily, the hologram quickly shutting off as you stepped onto the floor.

The five extra floors you had clearance to were Miguel’s personal floors. Few other people had access to them (including Margo and Jess, to name some), which made them prime real estate for when Miguel needed to run from people.

“Miguel?” You called, cautious of how dark the living space seemed to be. You almost thought LYLA had lied when a gruff voice startled you out of your head.

“What are you doing here.” He answered, voice low and angry the way it usually was. Your ears quickly clock the direction it came from, leading you toward the balcony part that wasn’t visible through the floor-to-ceiling windows. The door was left open, cold air billowing into the room. The chill immediately nips at your nose and cheeks when you step out.

“Sorry. People were looking for you, apparently. I thought you left hours ago.” You shrugged, shoving your hands in your coat pockets. Miguel glared at you from where he sat, slumped into an oversized patio chair. He’s nursing a glass of whiskey, the knuckles on his hands turning a prominent pinkish tone due to the freezing air.

“Who?” He asked, bringing the glass to his lips. His cheeks and nose are flushed from the cold, too. Despite his black knit sweater, Miguel had foregone any essential layering that would have saved him from the cold.

” 31913. Didn’t tell me why, though. He seemed a little nervous.” You said, clenching and unclenching your fists in your pockets. ‘Shit, it’s so damn cold out here.’

“You didn’t ask?” He said accusingly, face sour. Your face screwed up.

” I’m off the clock. Whatever he’s got going on has to wait until I come back in next week.” You defended, disregarding the scoff Miguel let out. Your brow furrows, making a point to let your eyes rove over his form. 

” You should head inside, you know. You’ll get a killer cold out here with no layers.” You said, not unfamiliar with his unhealthy habits. Miguel ignored you and brought his cup back to his mouth, lowering his head.

You sighed heavily and stepped closer to him, ignoring how Miguel stiffened and shifted to face you like you were a threat. With one quick motion, you unloop the scarf around your neck and weave it around his, leaving it folded neatly and covering his mouth.

“I really don’t want to deal with you sick. Merry Christmas, Miguel. I’ll see you next week.” You say, leaving the stunned-still man on the balcony and making your way back to the elevator.

You hear the chair screech backward just as the elevator doors click shut, and LYLA’s back on her little perch without prompting.

“Thanks, he’s been brooding outside for hours. He’s the worst when he’s sick.” She whines, pulling at her short hair. You laugh, nodding. 

“Of course. I hate him sick too; it’s like he’s four years old when he’s got a runny nose.” You say, grimacing. LYLA beams.

“Yeah, yeah! Exactly. I’ll remind him to give that scarf back, by the way. Have a Merry Christmas!” LYLA yells, waving bye enthusiastically as you arrive on the ground floor and start your trek back to the bus station as initially planned.

You walk to the station with the wind biting at your face, and when you return to the HQ a week later, you adamantly refuse to tell anyone about the snotty nose you had the entire week prior.

ago.

note — there's not much miguel in this, ironically. i had a ton of fun just writing the spider world so, sorry!! i think it fits, though. Miguel is a very guarded man and this little fic is sort of a view into how you manage to worm through his walls (without even trying to, really.) p.s i love lyla

©neevblanc 2023 // do not plagiarize or repost

[magicalmysteries777]

The Bloody-Handed and The Anguish of Loving Them - Chapter 5.

Summary: Almost a year has passed since Eddie Munson died and it feels like the only person that isn't moving on is Steve.

After spending the night studying a Dungeons and Dragons handbook, Steve is convinced he's figured out how to bring Eddie back. Not only that, but defeat Vecna once and for all too. Now he just has to prove it.

Pairings: Steve Harrington x Eddie Munson

Masterlist: Here.

Chapter: 5 of 10.

Chapter WC: 3538.

CW: Swearing.

A/N: (see end of chapter for notes.)

This story can also be found on AO3 here.

Taglist: @ohmeg 🖤

March 24th, 1987.

Steve had always thought that the phrase “they locked eyes and it was as though time had stood still” was bullshit, nothing more than a heavily recycled trope used by romance authors to sell their readers on the ideology of ‘true love’ - a lie, a fable, pure fiction. Yet there he was, with Eddie Munson’s fiery, red eyes locked on his while the world around them stilled.

“Eddie?” he asked, cautiously. The party spun around, a well-earned number of muffled “what the fuck?!”s and shocked gasps escaping from their lips as they too set sights on the winged man staring down at them. The younger members of the party all began asking their questions at the same time, rambling over one another in a wave of emotion. Steve couldn’t form a coherent sentence, his mouth opening and closing comically like a fish as he tried to find words. Eddie remained silent, his eyes still locked on Steve’s as the rapid-fire questions kept coming at him.

“How did you get out of the grave?”

“Why didn’t you come back through the gate?”

“I can’t believe you’re actually alive.”

“Did the bats turn you into a vampire?”

“Do you drink blood now?”

“Does this mean you can be our Dungeon Master again?”

“Wait until we tell Jeff and Gareth.”

“Wait until we tell Wayne, he’s going to be ecstatic.”

“What’s the wingspan on those bad boys?”

“Are you going to help us kill Vecna?”

Eddie didn’t answer, his eyes still locked on Steve’s with his expression blank. Dustin stepped forward to approach Eddie and his babysitting instincts leapt into overdrive. Steve’s hand shot out and clasped onto Dustin’s shoulder before he could think about what he was doing, eagerly pulling him back to the group despite his protests. “Get off me, Steve. He’s right there. Eddie’s right there,” he pleaded.

“That’s not Eddie,” Steve replied in a hushed whisper, his eyes narrowing.

“What are you talking about?”

Steve felt his stomach drop as he watched the corners of Eddie’s mouth twist into a wicked, devilish grin.

“Little Stevie is right, boys and girls,” Eddie announced, his large, bat-like wings beating rhythmically to keep him suspended in the air looking down at them. “No Eddie here.”

“I’m looking right at you, man. What the hell are you talking about?” Dustin asked.

“You left Eddie Munson to rot, in that hole right there,” Eddie spat, pointing to the ground behind them. His eyes darkened. “He sacrificed himself for you, for everyone, and you left him.”

“We-”

“Don’t try to fucking justify it!” Eddie yelled. “You couldn’t even give him the decency of taking his body back through the gate. You left him in another fucking dimension!”

“I’m sorry, Eddie. We couldn’t-” Dustin began.

“Enough!” he bellowed, silencing Dustin in an instant. “Your pitiful excuses mean nothing to me.”

The party said nothing, waiting with bated breath for him to speak again and fill the eerie silence. Steve felt Robin slip her hand into his and give it a reassuring squeeze.

“Do you know how long it takes to claw your way out of a six-foot-deep hole?” Eddie asked, his voice growing more maniacal with each syllable that ushered from his lips. “Days. It took him fucking days to get out of that stupid hole and who should he find waiting for him as soon as he gets out? Vecna. Turned out he had a little proposition for dear old Eddie. Go back to rotting in the hole or join him. Eddie refused, of course. Said Vecna was “out of his goddamn mind” if he thought for one second that Eddie would join him. Swore blind he’d never betray his friends. Didn’t need all that much convincing in the end.”

“Come on, man. What is this? Some sick joke?” muttered Mike.

“Does it sound like a fucking joke to you?!” Eddie spat furiously. “Vecna can be quite convincing, you see? He told poor, little Eddie all about how his sacrifice was useless. How he died for nothing because his precious friends failed to get the job done. How you all left him to rot while you went about your lives, letting everyone believe that Eddie Munson was the satanic cult-leading freak who killed a bunch of Hawkins High students. But Vecna could help. Vecna could make it all worthwhile. He could change him, give him power - enough power to make all those who had wronged him pay.”

Eddie’s wings slowed as he flew lower, allowing the party to get a closer look at him in the dim light. His skin was pale, almost white, void of all colour and signs of life. His once deep brown irises were now blood red, the skin around his eyes dark and sunken. The corners of his mouth twitched into another cruel smile, revealing a long, pointy pair of fangs where his canines used to be.

“Eddie Munson is gone,” he began, “and I am what remains.”

“Bullshit!” Steve cried, unaware he was about to speak until the words had already left his mouth. Robin’s grip on his hand tightened.

“No bullshit, Stevie.”

“Eddie wouldn’t do that. He’d never become a monster, he’d never join his team. I know he wouldn’t do that to us, to me,” he argued, choking on his words a little, fully aware of how in denial he sounded.

“The Eddie you knew was a scared, pathetic child who ran away at the first sign of trouble. All bark but no bite. I am not.”

“You’re Kas, aren’t you?” Dustin asked nervously.

“You always were the sharpest tool in the metaphorical shed,” he replied, gesturing to the rest of the group.

“Just answer the question.”

“Kas the Bloody-Handed, the Lich King’s Lieutenant, at your service.”

Kas flew higher into the air before lowering himself into a taunting bow. Steve let out a stifled sob, his stomach dropping further than he ever thought possible.

“Everything you’ve done so far, every choice you’ve made, every battle you’ve fought - it was all for this. This was his grand plan all along. It was me who sent the army of the undead to greet you at Karlach’s cave. Me who gave the orders to finish you all off. I’ll admit, you’ve all gotten a little tougher since last year but it’s no bother. That was just a small taste of what’s in store for you all - I’ll get you next time. We’ll be seeing each other again soon.”

And with that final taunt, Kas flew off into the dark sky and out of sight, leaving the party to ruminate on the events that had just unfolded.

Fifteen minutes passed in utter silence before Lucas finally spoke. “We’ve got to kill him too, right?”

Steve felt sick to his stomach. He couldn’t do it, couldn’t sit there and listen to them debate on whether or not they were going to kill Eddie. Eddie who they’d all come back here to save. Steve excused himself and rushed into the trailer, making a beeline for the bedroom and slamming the door shut behind him.

Steve collapsed against the door, sliding down it and landing in an exhausted heap on the floor. Tears began flooding out of him like a burst dam, far too strong for him to keep contained. His throat burned as he wretched and choked on his sobs, his watery eyes locked on a rather distressed-looking Hellfire Club shirt strewn on the floor. He felt like he was losing Eddie all over again. Every word that Kas had taunted them with was just another knife to Steve’s heart, shattering more and more with each syllable.

“Hey, man, you okay?” came Jonathan’s voice from the other side of the door, trying the handle as he spoke.

“Go away,” Steve croaked.

“Talk to me, man. You can’t hide in here forever.”

“I said go away, I don’t want to talk to you.”

“Steve, open the fucking door.”

Steve pried himself off the ground and sat on the bed, looking like a child that had just been scolded by its parents, waiting for Jonathan to enter the room.

“You know,” Jonathan began, sitting next to Steve on the bed. “It’s okay if you’re not okay.”

“I’m fine. Just… a bit rattled, I guess?”

“Cut the crap, Steve. You’re a recovering alcoholic who just found out the love of his life is a fucking vampire, but not only that, a vampire that tried to kill us all.”

“He’s not the love of-”

“I know. Before he started with all that ‘Kas’ crap, you were looking at him the same way Will looks at Mike.”

“Oh. Does Nance know?”

“No, she just thinks you’re having a mental breakdown, and I’m about ninety percent certain most of the kids still think you’re doing this for Dustin. Will might have an inkling, though.”

“Robin figured it out too. It was only a matter of time.”

“So, are you okay?” Jonathan asked sincerely.

“No,” Steve admitted, the tears from earlier trying desperately to make a reappearance.

Jonathan pulled Steve into a hug, holding him whilst Steve let his tears fall freely once more. A couple of minutes later, Steve pulled away.

“It’s just not fair, you know?”

“I know.”

“He was supposed to graduate, he was supposed to get a record deal and go on tour but then he fucking died, and I thought I’d figured out how to bring him back but now he’s a vampire. What the fuck am I supposed to do with that? It sounds crazy. It is crazy. He’s a vampire,” Steve rambled, his left foot bobbing up and down on the spot. “A fucking vampire, Jonathan. How do you cure vampirism? Can it be cured?”

“Steve-”

“Maybe Lucas was right. Maybe we are going to have to kill him. We could take the spears apart and shave them down - stake to the heart and whatnot. Does silver work on vampires? Or is that just werewolves?”

“Steve, stop,” Jonathan interjected, his hand covering Steve’s mouth. “You’re spiralling.”

The door to the trailer opened and Jonathan scrambled to his feet, ready to jump into action for another unwelcome surprise. He visibly relaxed, letting out a deep sigh when he heard Robin’s voice calling from the living room.

“Guys, Will thinks he’s found something.”

Steve sprang into full babysitting mode when he exited the trailer, opting to ignore the knowing look Robin gave Jonathan when she’d seen Steve’s puffy eyes, and began laying down the first few steps of their new plan.

“Before Will says anything, I think we need to get out of here. I don’t know about anyone else but I need a shower and a hot meal before I can do any more thinking. I reckon we go back through the gate and meet up at my place. We’ll take showers, order food, start our new plan, and get some sleep. You little ones best call your parents too, so they don’t panic. Sound good?”

“We’re sixteen, you asshole. Stop with the little ones crap.”

“Sounds like Dusty-Bun needs a nap.”

-

Steve was the last of the party to make it back to his house. They’d filtered out of Eddie’s trailer one by one; it was too risky to travel as a group until they’d showered. The sheer amount of blood, sweat, and tears that were caked onto every one of them was bound to draw unwanted attention. He wasn’t sure just how long it had taken them, but as he hung his car key onto its hook he realised it was long enough for the ‘happy families’ charade they were all putting on to break.

“What did I miss?” Steve asked in a hushed tone as he took a seat next to Dustin and Will at the breakfast bar.

“They’ve been at it for the last fifteen minutes.”

“You don’t get to tell me what to do, Mike. Nobody does. Not anymore,” El yelled.

“I’m not trying to tell you what to do, I’m just saying-”

“You’re just saying what you think I should do and not listening to anything else anyone has to say!”

“It’s too risky.”

“What other choice is there?”

“We’ll come up with something.”

“There isn’t enough time!”

“Would you please help me out here?” Mike prompted, turning to them.

“I think-” Steve began.

“Don’t drag them into this!”

“I think,” Steve repeated with a little more authority, “everyone needs to take ten minutes and calm down a little bit. Mike, go outside and cool off.”

“I’m not a fucking dog,” Mike grumbled, making his way to the back door.

“You okay, El?” Dustin asked. She stormed upstairs and slammed the door behind her without saying a word.

“I’ll go check on her,” announced Will, already halfway out of the room.

Steve folded his arms on the table and dropped his head into them, both mentally and psychically exhausted. “What’s gotten into her?” Robin asked, pointing to the stairs behind her as she entered the kitchen.

“Mike doesn’t want her to face Vecna again,” Dustin answered, finally giving Steve some context clues to go off.

“Well, none of us want her to but we might not have another choice,” answered Robin.

“That’s what El said but Mike isn’t listening to her.”

“That boy is in for a harsh reality check. Anyway, the shower in Steve’s bathroom is free.”

“Dibs,” Steve interjected before Dustin could even open his mouth. “There’s some cash in the kitchen, order pizzas.”

It was the best shower he’d ever had in his entire life. Hot but not scolding and very, very long. Steve scrubbed his skin red raw until he finally felt clean and then he just stood there, letting the hot water rain down on him in the hopes that it would wash away his sadness too.

“Sadness comes in waves. If you’re scared of the wave, you can run away and wait for it to go back out - never really knowing what the ocean feels like. But if you’re brave, you can ride it out and let the wave wash over you. The water will pass and the calm will follow, as will another wave - but you’ll probably find that it won’t be so scary next time,” Robin told him. “Something my Grandpa used to tell me when I was feeling down as a kid.”

Steve’s sadness didn’t feel like dipping his toes into the ebbs and flows of a gentle wave. It felt like he was out in the middle of the ocean, treading water like his life depended on it, with no signs of land in sight.

A series of quick knocks and a muffled yell of “food!” grabbed Steve’s attention who, in turn, inhaled deeply, put on some clean clothes, and went downstairs with as much of a grin as he could muster. Perhaps he would drown those sorrows later.

-

The ten of them, significantly less cranky now they had full stomachs, gathered around the crackling fireplace in Steve’s living room, books out and ready to plan.

“Who wants to go first?” Nancy began.

“Things have gotten a lot more complicated than just killing Vecna. Kas gave us a warning and I think we need to make that our priority. If we’re going to kill Vecna, we’re going to have to kill Kas first,” Lucas answered.

“Well I think we need to cure Kas before we fight Vecna. It’ll be a hell of a lot easier to defeat Vecna with Eddie on our side than it will be to defeat Vecna and Kas at the same time,” Dustin interjected. “Any objections?”

“Sounds simple when you put it like that but what would that actually entail?” asked Jonathan.

“Most of the folklore ends in killing the vampire to cure it,” Robin answered, earning a scorned glare from Dustin.

“‘You touch a creature that has been dead for no longer than 200 years and that died for any reason except old age. If the creature’s soul is free and willing, the creature is restored to life with all its hit points.’ True Resurrection,” Will read aloud, not looking up from his handbook. “Cleric, level nine. Nancy could cast this on him.”

“Okay, now we’re getting somewhere,” Dustin grinned, clapping his hands together.

“One small problem,” said Erica, all eyes landing on her. “The book said ‘if the creature’s soul is free and willing’ so that would mean, for the spell to work, Kas has to want to be cured. Sounds to me like he’s pretty set on being a vampire and killing us.”

“Eddie’s still in there,” answer Dustin, calmly.

“Bull. Shit.”

“We all heard him give the same speech, right?” Dustin asked, receiving a couple of nods in response. “He was talking about himself, Eddie, in the third person - as though they’re two different people. If that was the case, he wouldn’t have Eddie’s memories or anything like that, would he? He’s just a little… brainwashed. All we have to do is convince him that he wants to be cured.”

“You have a really bad habit of making complicated things sound way too simple, you know that right? He’s more likely to attack on sight rather than stand there and listen to us. We’re going to have to trap him or something,” Steve added.

“I can help with that,” El told him. “I can use the vines to restrain him.”

“Brilliant. So how do we kill Vecna?” asked Nancy.

“Will, didn’t you think of something earlier?” asked Robin.

“So,” Will began, snapping his book closed. “It was more like a three birds, one stone kind of plan. When a wizard dies any magic he cast will die along with him. So, in theory, if we kill Vecna the spell he used to turn Eddie into Kas will be null and void.”

“That’s only two birds, what’s the third?” asked Robin, stifling a yawn.

“Max.”

“How do we kill him?” asked Lucas, a look of determination spread across his face.

“It has to be me,” El announced.

“No,” Mike argued instantaneously.

“You’ve been awfully quiet so far, Mike. I don’t see you coming up with anything better,” defended Jonathan. “El’s tough, she can do it.”

“And she won’t be alone this time. She’ll have Will’s powers and the rest of us as backup,” added Steve.

“No,” repeated Mike, rushing out of the room.

“Mike, come back! I can help her,” yelled Will, following Mike from the room.

“I guess we vote, right? To make things fair?” Steve shrugged. “Nance?”

“I’m on board.”

“Jonathan?”

“Me too.”

“Rob? Robin?” Steve asked, not gaining a response. He turned to face her and found her drifting off to sleep, her head on her shoulder. “Right, everyone go to bed. We’ll carry this on tomorrow.”

-

March 25th, 1987.

Steve waited until he was sure everyone was asleep and tiptoed to the entryway, grabbed his car keys off the hook, and very cautiously closed the front door behind him. He’d tried to sleep, really he had, but the image of Kas glaring his fangs burned into his mind was too much for Steve to bear. He had only one destination in mind when he turned the key in the ignition - the twenty-four-hour gas station.

“Well, hello handsome. Hair cut suits you,” greeted the Clerk, the bell above the door diverting her attention from the magazine she had been reading at the desk. “Not seen you for a while.”

“Thanks,” smiled Steve, making his way over to the shelves. “I’ve cut back.”

He grabbed the first bottle of vodka he saw, not caring about the brand or price as long as it got him to sleep. He placed the bottle on the desk and searched his pockets for his wallet.

“Any smokes tonight, darling?”

“No, I’m good,” Steve answered. He produced a few bills from his wallet and tucked the vodka into his inside pocket before muttering his goodbyes to the woman behind the counter.

Steve argued with himself the whole way home.

He knew he shouldn’t, but what use was he to anyone if he didn’t get any sleep? He could miss something. Mess up an important part of the plan. Yes, it was vital that Steve got some sleep - even if that meant having a drink to do so. Or was it? What if he drank too much? It was hard to have ‘just the one’ these days. No, no. He’d be fine. He’d have one (maybe two) shots and go straight to sleep, wake up feeling slightly less zombie-like, and be ready when it came time to face Kas again.

With the front door locked and his keys hung up, Steve turned to make his way upstairs for a night of blissful sleep - instead, he almost jumped out of his skin. “Will? What are you doing up?” he asked in a whisper, gaining no response. “Will? Hello? You sleepwalking or something?”

He reached out and grasped Will by the shoulder, turning him around so that they were face to face.

“I’ve been waiting for you, Stevie,” Will growled, the voice coming from his lips not his own. His eyes rolled upwards, eyelids fluttering violently as he was placed under Vecna’s trance.

Author's Note: There’s a lot of dialogue in this chapter but I felt like we really needed to bond with the characters as well as have them bond with each other (and give Steve a hug, jfc) after that battle.

-

I can’t believe we’re halfway through already! Four more chapters and an epilogue to go. 😲

Just want to drop in and say a huge thank you to everyone who’s been reading, liking, reblogging, and commenting thus far. It’s super appreciated and I love finding out your thoughts on the fic. You’re all amazing.

[rrahuntersblog]

So as everyone knows Elta weasled her way into the Wales comic con. That has me questioning what was the con promoter/booker thinking?! I think Misha was originally supposed to go but backed out. So they got Elta to fill that spot. Which out of the 2 I would have preferred Misha. Cause we all know Elta is going to go for the cringe PDA kiss like she did at the con she went with him to last year. She has no reason to actually be there her character was useless. It brought nothing to the plot taking her character out changes nothing. She has nothing to contribute since she was in only 5 episodes. Also despite what she says when she claimed she knew all of Cas’s lines we all know that is a lie. Why is it a lie? Cause Jensen exposed her saying she basically only watched 5 episodes which knowing her it was the episodes she was in. Elta was in Supernatural for 2 reasons first reason she didn’t want to be a liar. Fans had asked her when was she showing up in Supernatural. She replied on Twitter if Supernatural made it to season 13 she would appear. Her character shows up Sesason 13 episode 13. Also her saying if it made it shows she had no faith in the show or her husband. The main reason she was on there is cause Gen was on there in season 4 and people talk about how she fell in love with Jared. We all know Elta tries to one up Gen every time. So she begged Jensen to get her on there. I still think someone hated her cause her character Anael take out the e it’s Anal which she can be at times. I just know Jensen’s joy will not be there. We won’t see that eye crinkling beautiful true smile of his we will see the fake one he gives when he is not feeling it.

I know I am rambling I am sorry just miffed she weasel her way into a con. But what I find hilarious is the pics they used to advertise her looks like two different people. One is her as Anael the main pic is from her early days before all the fillers and Botox. I believe it’s from her OTH days. But it looks like 2 different people there. Her “fans” want to say oh she is just getting older she didn’t have work done. Uh yeah she did have work done. If you get a picture of Danneel from OTH to now you can literally see she has work done cause she looks unrecognizable. If Jensen wasn’t with her people wouldn’t know who she is. Can’t wait to see what new face, horrible clothing choice and messy hair style she has then.

Hi anon!

Also another apology to be issued for the lateness. Life, y'know? But thanks for the message!

Now to respond/address what you've said.

I don't know if Misha was supposed to go, as I had never seen anything about him going to Wales. But it's possible. Or Elta insisted on having her own little European vacation after seeing Jared and Genevieve having fun.

That's the hard choice--which one do we want, Misha or Elta? Can neither be the answer??

God, that PDA kiss at last year was AWFUL. Cold fish kiss. Zero love, passion or chemistry.

Yeah. Anael/Sister Jo had zero reason to be in the plot. And the writers had to have known what they were doing by making Anael a materialistic bitch.

Yeah. Elta basically forced Jensen to get her added to Supernatural because she wanted to be involved, and used the Destiel fandom to harass and abuse her husband as well. She wanted the attention and loved how uncomfortable it was making Jensen. It's also why she kissed Misha's ass and gave him a lap dance.

Yes… Jensen will be miserable in Wales. I'm not looking forward to his sad smiles.

It's okay to ramble! I do it all the time! That's why my blog is titled "Ramblings of a Writer". I ramble!

Yes! No recent photos of her for them to use? Really? So they use unrecognizable ones? Haha!

Yep. She absolutely had work done, numerous times. Her hairline moving north means numerous facelifts. Her smile--called the Joker smile for a reason--shows other work having been done as she looks horrific.

She needs to lay off black. Black emphasizes nothing good on her. She needs color. She needs an actual stylist because if Marcus is responsible for past choices, he's an awful one. Get a vocal coach because her voice is just AWFUL.

And then, y'know, therapy to fix her narcissistic soul. If that even works.

I feel you, anon. I'm not looking forward to her being there at all.

I only hope Jensen will be okay.

[drowninginblox]

Season one

Season two

Season three

God.. this season… so much in so little time fr. B u t. I am a committed woman, and I will continue what I started.

So. Let’s get into this.

Keith’s heritage

I’m beginning to take back what I said in one of my prior posts about how I want to redo Keith’s heritage. Specifically about it being a secret to everyone on the team. I’m learning to love the way the show reveals that fact about him to the audience. Truly.

But I think he should know. Not everything, just that he's not fully human. And I still stand by the fact that his galra side should be more physical. Fucking love the galra Keith HC so much wE WERE ROBBED MEN-

Growing pains- Heavy spoilers. Watch Voltron already if you haven't bc I will be talking about (arguably) the best arc of the series

This is going to be something.

As of starting the third season, I really like the change. Purely because of how uncomfortable it is for everyone involved. It’s gonna be painful. The best kind though. Because even though we aren’t expecting it, we know that through the context of the show- this could’ve happened at any time, to any of the paladins

Voltron is out here saying actions have consequences, and that is very compelling. Both in concept and in execution.

I think this plot point is fucking amazing.

The question of where tf Shirio is after the season 2 finale is great, the natural progression of the lions is a stark but needed change (love prioritizing the narritive, I hope this keeps happening in the future), hell- the character growth is fucking phamominal (will talk about that after this point)

WE ALSO GET THE JOURNEY FUCK I LOVE THAT EP-

Also- THE INTRO CHANGES WITH THE CHANGING OF LIONS SO YOU DON’T KNOW WHO THE BLACK PALADIN IS- UGGHHH!!!

I fucking love it man. I'm rocking with what season 3 is giving me. But I'm afraid of what season 4 has to offer. I remember how Shiro's missing/dead arc resolves itself (in season 4ish) but i dont fully remember the indetween bits and the stigma of Voltron falling off by that point is blarring through my mind

Looking forward to that Shiro/Keith fight tho!

Now let’s take some time for the characters during this transition

Keith... god what can I say about him that hasn't already been said? probably nothing honestly. His responce to all of this is so natural and realistic. Of course he doesn't want the responciblity of the Black lion. Shiro was qualified to be leader, not him! Just because this is what Shiro wanted, dosent mean it's what he wants for himself. The struggle is delicious!

Lance is really mature about this AND I AM LIVING FOR IT. Its moments like this that reminds me that Lance is a wonderful addition to Voltron. A needed addition even. (I really wanna ramble about the five man band dynamic, but I'll link a video about it when I find it again right here) I want to see more of this!!!! Give me serious Lance for more than just a minute!!

Hunk and Pidge are bystanders. I’m sorry but other than comic relief and voices of reason, they are secondary to Keith, Lance and Allura. Bless them both. They deserve better. I can feel it as soon as the first episode- they are slowly being ushered into the background. It leaves a sour taste in my mouth with hindsight.

Allura is radiating vibes that I can’t describe other than- “o k a y girl I see you.” In all honesty, the more I watch the show the more distain I have for Allura comes out. That bratty privileged princess that acts on impulses rather than thinking things through is grating. Now this could easily be fixed with intervention in the form of someone more mature than her- for the first two seasons, it was Shiro. But now that he’s gone, that aspect of her is showing more and more and no one is actually going against her like Shirio did. When it was at its worst, Shiro was the only one to put himself in danger as a kind of surogate bodyguard while the rest of the group is on standby. But ever since Keith became leader, there’s this mentality of “if the princess is going we’re all going.” And it’s Stupid. Stand your ground man! Be the stuburn dude you are!! Pleasae, ctually think about this for a moment! The worst part is that if anyone brought up Allura's implusivity then it would be amasing character development to the person that dose and to Keith and Allura as well! Keith would have to repremend/ talk to Allura about how dangerous that is to her and the team and Allura would have to learn the consequences of her actions!

Coran, Im so sorry that you are given crumbs my man. I love you so much- You are THE FUCKING FATHER FIGURE WE NEED!!! IM SO SORRY YOU ARE TASKED WITH LORE DUMPING, YOU ARE MORE THAN JUST A PLOT TOOL

Forming voltron

Bitches got this down too quick ngl. More team bonding rather than trauma bonding please

FOR THE LOVE OF FUCK COLOR COORDINATE!!!

Make LANCE RED

MAKE KEITH BLACK

M A K E ALLURA B L UE

It’s fucking irritating

And yes, I think it’s cool that Allura wears pink and pink is a color that Alteans used to honor those who fought for them. That’s cool. But it pisses me off to see Allura with a freaking blue bracer, and in the blue lion wearing pink like it’s Wednesday. Get with the program bitch. There is a uniform.

IF ANYTHING- give these bitches highlights for the lions they used to pilot. For example, give Keith a black uniform with red highlights along the shoulders or arms

Lotor

Mans said reading is fundamental 💅✨

I love his introduction. Manipulating the people into this unification that’s obviously distinct from his fathers but at the same time so traditional. Dude knows what he’s doing and he is going to do it for as long as he can.

This man also having combat prowess is fucking scary. He feels like more of a threat than his dad.

I also love his task force. Having a entourage that is distinctly other from the majority of the population is such a bold choice, whether it be from an audience or in universe point of view, it shows that the prince isn’t like the king. He is willing to make use of what's given to him with little public fuss.

Only critism I have is that I don't know any of these bitches names. Yall have them- please use them?

Allurance

Believe it or not, I can see more groundwork for the ship at the start of this season

With the passing over of the lions in Shiros absence, it’s allowing more neuance given the current plot.

Even though Keith and Lance don’t like it, they have to change because they’re in a time of change. War forces change.

I wish we can see that bleeding over to Coran, considering that his surrogate daughter is now on the front lines. But c’est la vie ig

Im rambling- Allurance

I can see this ship being built up but I don't know how to feel about the foundation yknow? I understand that the lion change would force Lance to mature. I love that shit. Good shit.

The slight role reversal Lance has with Alurra is refeshing. Love serious Lance

But like I said before- I don't like Alurra this season.

It also doesn't help that lance is still on his loverboy shit. Wich is fine! I have nothing against the trademark! I swear! It's just annoying that Lance has a specail place in his heart for Allura but continues on to swoon to/over every pretty girl he sees.

For the love of god- say dedicated Lance!! If you did maybe you'd get the girl!!

“Hole in the sky”

Desusex Machina the episode but I kind of like it

I hope someone made a fanfic out of this episode

The other reality is honestly v compelling it’s such a waste we only see it once

Shiro

AHHHHHHHHHHHHH

FUCK THE JOURNEY WAS SO GOOD-!!!

Honest that whole episode makes up for the fact that dDeamworks had a Shirio bias my GOD

That episode was such a good lesson in (mostly) show don’t tell

And it still leaves the question of WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED TO SHIRO MY GOD

All of this to say, I’m torn.

Part of me wants the finality of Shiros death but the idea of Shiro clones is so good to me

Eh, I’ll figure it out.

So babes, rather than ramble about how long it’s been since I’ve done this I’d like to get an opinion from y’all.

Anyways that’s it. Take care of y’allselves

[redhoodinternaldialectical]

5, 16, 20?

Linking the original ask post cause it took some digging to find it again lol

Something you see in fics a lot and love:

B-boysss... kissing :3

lol okay uh the overwhelming majority of what I read is jaytim that's rated Explicit, so there's, ya'know, a lot of patterns in there that I've self selected for, but attempting to get into a more meaningful answer, I really like the way that fanfic repeatedly digs up old shit and uses it as a catalyst for characters to gain greater intimacy with each other. The constant reinvention and re-contextualization of Jason and Tim's various fights is neat to me

A tiny detail in canon that you want more people to appreciate:

Oooh I'm gonna throw up the post I already made about the guy Jason manipulated into playing puppet for him

But that feels like cheating so I also want people to appreciate the asymmetrical aspects of the OG spoiler outfit, because I adore it so. I am a SUCKER for shoulder pads/spikes and 80s asymmetrical outfits.

Your very first fandom:

That's... actually pretty hard to answer.

The first online community I truly got involved with is City of Heroes. Loved playing the game when it was live, and I role played in the Homecoming servers for fourteen hours a day, seven days a week, for about five years. I still play every once in a while too! If you see Dread Captain Bones, David Drakal, or Cowboy Cline around, those are me :3 The only issue I have with saying it's this one is that I'm not entirely sure this counts as a fandom?? It really is more a role playing community than anything like a fandom for the game itself, most people only very lightly engage with the setting and it's considered a tad crass to get any of the named canonical characters involved with your character's story lines.

We could very technically count Naruto simply because that was the first one I ever tried to find fanfic for but uhhhhh... I started with ff.net with a super dark E rated fic because I thought E meant for Everyone and bounced off it so hard. I'm very sorry geisha AU naru-sasu fic I read when I was like thirteen, I tried so hard to like you, but my PTSD was not having it lmao

There's also half decent arguments to be made for Marvel comics, Doctor Who, or Vampire the Masquerade simply because my parents are/were such massive nerds lmao

Both of them did a lot of LARP and one of my favorite pictures of my mom is her as either the Sheriff or the Prince of our city ripping someone's heart out via a sponge soaked with fake blood :3 so yeah I def grew up learning about the clans and the lore and such

And this is very much a Marvel household lol My parents used to do story time with me about the X-men, and like they are completely accepting of my metal head and queer stuff, but I feel like it hurts my dad's soul just a little bit that I ended up being so into DC and so uninterested in Marvel. Whenever we talk about some of my (not romance related) plotlines for my DC fics he'll substitute in vaguely equivalent Marvel characters because he simply cannot be asked to dedicate braincells to DC characters lmao

Me: "I'm really looking forwards to writing out how the super geniuses and stuff push the limits of what Jason and Tim did to the diseases."

My Dad, knowing FULL WELL that I am not including any Marvel characters in this fic: "Oh yeah, Reed Richards would go nuts trying to figure that shit out."

My dad also collected Doctor Who episodes, like the ones from 1963 all the way to modernity, I grew up watching the black and white stuff, and for sure tumblr did expose me to Superwholock, through I never felt like I was a part of that.

It might actually be DC comics itself that's my first fandom! I just never really interacted with any sort of online or fandom space directly until Boostle dragged me into DC fandom's sphere of influence.

Anyhow I hope my ramblings were interesting/entertaining and thank you muchly for the ask! :3

[youllallriseintheink]

One For All, Chapter Five

In an AU where the protagonist never fell from the sky, the Survey Corps will have to pull together and make use of every resource at their disposal to face the challenges present in Pokemon: Legends Arceus. There will be surveyshipping.

This is the second-last chapter.

---

The silence in the cave was deafening. Cyllene stepped forward. “Very well,” she said.

T e l l   m e,   h o w   d i d   i t   f e e l   t o   l o s e   y o u r   p a r e n t s?

"Telepathically?" Cyllene asked. She hadn't seen reason to think about that in ages. But as much as she didn't like where this trial was going and feared what else Mesprit might ask her to recount, Hisui needed the red chain. And if she could do it without tarnishing her image to the others, it would be for the far better.

E v e r y o n e   h e r e   w i l l   h e a r   y o u   e i t h e r   w a y.

Cyllene hesitated.

I f   y o u   c a n 't   t e l l   t h e m,   I   c a n   s h o w   t h e m.   B u t   y o u   m u s t   s h a r e   y o u r   e m o t i o n s   t o   p a s s   t h e   t r i a l.

"Show them, then."

The cave walls gave way to an illusion of a house in the countryside surrounded by farmland. The illusion of a tall, armoured man walked through the group and knocked on the door, which was opened by a nervous-looking girl of about twelve with long ice-blue hair.

"Hello? Who is this?" the girl asked.

The man shifted uncomfortably. "My name is General Kamado," he explained in a somber tone. "I've heard that your parents went missing."

The girl nodded. "They've been gone for two days. Have you seen them?"

Kamado hesitated. “In a sense, yes.”

The girl seemed to see the writing on the wall. She let out a nervous laugh as her eyes went wide. “They’re alive. You saw them alive, right?”

Kamado said nothing, but his pained look said everything.

“No. No… No. How…?”

Kamado took a deep breath. "They were found impaled and their bodies dragged into the underbrush. Most likely a random act by Johtonian ninjas. I'm sorry."

For a moment, the girl was in shock. And then she burst into tears and started crying into her hands. A wave of panicked distress hit Cyllene, and, if their faces and wet eyes were any indication, everyone else in the cave. Mesprit was making them all feel how she'd felt.

"Do you have any relatives that would take you in?" Kamado asked. "I'm sure there must be neighbours, at least."

The girl didn't even look up. Kamado took her in his arms and brought her in close, allowing her to bury her face in his chest.

"Come with me," Kamado said. It was something that Cyllene understood as an adult to be a more self-driven act than she'd known back then. Kamado and his wife had been unable to have children, and it would not have been difficult for him to find another place for her. Still, it had been the best thing he could have done for her. She'd needed the oasis he'd provided.

N o w   w e   w i l l   s h o w   t h e m   w h y   y o u   j o i n e d   t h e   w a r, Mesprit explained, and the scene shifted to show an only slightly older Cyllene looking out the window, the deep bags under her eyes visible even in the early morning light.

Cyllene shut her eyes tight. Rei thought of her as so brave and heroic. This would change that. More importantly, it was treading far too close to things she did not want any of them to see.

A woman entered the scene and sighed. "I wish you'd at least try to sleep," she said. "I worry about Kamado not coming back, too. But he's survived every battle he's been in so far, and he's seen a few!" The woman smiled in a weak attempt to be comforting.

Cyllene turned to the woman. "How old do I have to be to help out at the camps?"

"You'd be old enough now."

"Then I want to be where he is as soon as possible."

The scene shifted to Cyllene sitting with a group of soldiers, comically small next to most of them. Kamado was amongst them, and being able to see where he was served as an immense comfort. "Hey, wanna learn how to fight, pipsqueak?" asked a large, red-haired young woman.

"Sure," Cyllene said. Before long they were squaring off in a field, swords in hand. Metal clashed against metal, and Mesprit allowed the others to feel her excitement. Zisu was clearly holding back, but not as much as she was expecting to for a beginner. It had given Cyllene the idea that maybe she could do more than keep Kamado in her sights- maybe she could take revenge on Johto.

The scene shifted again to her and other soldiers in armour, marching toward a similar group of Johtonians in a field- foot soldiers and archers to the front, with the samurai vanguard close up behind them. Thankfully, Cyllene couldn't find herself in their ranks, so it was unlikely anyone else could. But she could feel bloodthirsty excitement in her chest, another emotion forced on her by Mesprit.

No, not this. Not in front of the clan leaders, Cyllene thought as the apparitions of archers and footsoldiers phased through their group. She didn't need them to see her bloodlust.

D o   y o u   w i s h   t o   t e l l   t h i s? Mesprit asked.

Just as Mesprit finished its question, a Johtonian samurai broke formation- perhaps out of panic or suicidal impulse- and ran, pushing through the Hoennian ranks. On instinct, Cyllene drew her sword to defend herself from the attacker, but the apparition faded right through her and attacked instead a Hoennian soldier with a stance almost identical to her own. The soldier struck the sword from the Johtonian's hand, knocked them down, and lowered their blade towards their throat. A distinctly female scream came from the armored figure, whose face was hidden by a helmet. Cyllene was momentarily stunned. She wasn’t expecting a woman. But there was no room for hesitation. She slit the Johtonian’s throat, stood up, and fell back into formation.

I killed a woman. Why does it matter that it’s a woman? Many of us are women, too. Why did that catch me off-guard? Cyllene thought, numb as she marched forward and arrows from the archers began to rain.

Suddenly, Cyllene felt a hard tug at her hair. Mesprit was right in front of her, trying to get her attention.

I   a s k e d   t h r e e   t i m e s   i f   y o u   w a n t e d   t o   t e l l   t h e m   i n s t e a d   o f   s h o w   t h e m, Mesprit explained.

Despite herself, Cyllene took a moment to respond even as the cave once again became a cave. She glanced back at a horrified-looking Rei. She could have saved him from seeing this.

“What is the next question?” Cyllene asked, returning her attention to Mesprit and sheathing her sword.

Y o u 'v e   k i l l e d   p e o p l e, Mesprit stated. H o w   d i d   i t   f e e l?

"The only people I killed were enemy soldiers. It was my duty to Hoenn."

N o t   w h a t   I   a s k e d.

"It... does no good to think of that... but you leave me no choice. I expected to enjoy taking revenge on Johto. I… did, at times. I don't know how many people I killed and how many I merely wounded, but severe wounding isn't always an improvement on death. I've caused screams- men, women, boys, children so young I'm not sure whether they were girls or boys. I hated Johto, but I did not enjoy that. But it was necessary whether I enjoyed it or not. My actions were correct. It shouldn’t matter if my feelings were."

B u t   i t   d o e s,   t o   y o u.

Cyllene remained silent.

T e l l   t h e m   h o w   t h e   w a r   h a u n t e d   y o u, Mesprit ordered.

Cyllene closed her eyes and tried to put it into words she’d be willing to say. It was impossible. "Show them," Cyllene said. It was the only way she was going to complete this.

Cyllene turned her back and walked past the others. She could hear memories play out behind her. The first one was one in which, during peacetime, she’d thought a Johtonian was attacking and Kamado had to hold her down to keep her from hurting anyone. The jolt of panic that Mesprit forced through her shook her up so badly that nothing she heard registered after that. She was a trembling mess, hoping that the others didn’t look back at her. She wanted to tell them that that had been years ago, that she wasn’t like that anymore, that it had only caused her to be dangerous once. But there was only so much faith she could inspire in this state, and regardless, the damage was done. The damage was still being done. And she was too keyed up to even know what it was.

O n e   l a s t   q u e s t i o n,   a n d   i f   y o u 'r e   h o n e s t,   t h e   t r i a l   w i l l   b e   c o m p l e t e.   H o w   d o   y o u   f e e l   a b o u t   t h i s   t r i a l?

Cyllene turned back to face Mesprit, back to her steely professionalism. "It is an appalling waste of time and of my usefulness as a captain. The Survey Corps needs to think of me as a strong and infallible leader, and our allies need to see me as impartial and reasonable. You have helped us to save the world, but there was no reason for the cost."

W e l l   t h e n…

Mesprit plucked out one of its plumes and handed it to Cyllene.

"Thank you," Cyllene said, taking it. Thankfully, the loathesome creature faded away after that.

"Our next location is in the Coronet Highlands. We'll travel on our flying Pokémon and stay low enough to find the rest of the Survey Corps. With any luck they will be gathered at the ruins Cogita described," Cyllene commanded the others, voice steady. She turned to exit the cave and began walking past the others, averting her eyes from whatever reactions they might have had. "Do what you will after the sky is fixed, so long as you do not breathe a word of this to anyone. But until then, you will follow me." There was a moment of uneasy silence as the group left the cave. “Please,” Cyllene added.

"Y-you got it, ma'am," Rei replied, "None of it leaves this cave! And we’re right behind you."

Cyllene didn’t look back.

Outside the cave, the red sky persisted, painting the landscape in its oppressive gloom. It was all the reminder Cyllene needed that now was the time to focus on the immediate.

The flight was short, and before long the six landed in front of Cogita and around two dozen Survey Corp members.

"Ah, there you are," said Cogita. "Did you bring the keys from the lake trio?"

"Yes," Cyllene replied, digging out the plume as Rei and Laventon did the same with their respective supplies.

"Perfect. While you were gone, I led the Survey Corps to harvest enough origin ore to make a few pokéballs from the red chain. We decided that would be the best use for it."

Cogita took the three items and carried them to the center of the Celestica ruins, the Survey Corps as well as the six following along to watch what was sure to be a mystical process. Once she was there, apparitions of the lake trio appeared and levitated the items from her hands. The items spun, bathed in red light, and then transformed into a beautiful chain of red gems that fell back down into Cogita's hands.

Cogita turned back to the group. "There. Now, what do you say, Survey Corps? Shall we do the crafting ourselves and allow these six a chance to rest? The lake trials aren’t easy. And lord knows that you have quite the challenge ahead of you."

"Thank you, Cogita,” Cyllene said.

It wasn't far to the Galaxy Team's nearest encampment, where the group started a fire and put on some food. The cries of Pokémon filled the air as the less intelligent ones played outside their balls and the cleverer ones bayed at the foreign sky. It was loud enough to save the six from attempting to make awkward conversation to distract one another from the reality of facing their allies or fellow Galaxy Team members. The group especially gave Cyllene her space, sensing that she was in no mood for casual interaction.

Laventon sent out the strange trio of Pokémon he’d brought- the specimens he called a rotom-mow, a porygon-Z, and a bronzong.

“Alright, you three,” Laventon called out over the noise, “If you have any special world-saving powers you’d like to share with me, now would be the time! Because time really is of the essence right now, and, well, um… I’m afraid it’s been hard to figure out exactly what you do or how you work biologically, or, well, anything about you, really.”

The three Pokémon looked at each other and appeared to laugh at him before joining the other Pokémon in the encampment at their play.

While Laventon watched the strange Pokémon, he felt someone grab his shoulder. It was Adaman, and Irida was standing beside him.

“You need to talk to Cyllene,” Adaman said.

Irida nodded in agreement. “It makes sense that the trial would shake her up, but she can't lead the mission while she's this fragile. You’re closest to her. You need to either comfort her or make her step down.”

Laventon looked back at the captain, who was tending the fire, apparently deep in thought. “I’ll talk to her,” he said.

Laventon sat down next to Cyllene. “Perhaps bringing those enigmatic creatures wasn’t my wisest move. But I couldn’t have forgiven myself if I found out later that they could have saved us!” he started, trying to keep the tone light.

“You have your typhlosion. That will be enough if you are separated from the group.”

"Do you want to go for a little walk, captain?"

"No," she said firmly, still looking to the fire.

"Please?"

Cyllene sighed. "Fine," she answered, getting to her feet.

Cyllene led the way into the pines, eyes forward.

"You know, you're nothing special to me," Laventon said. "Er, um, I mean, you're nothing different to me. Um, wait." Laventon sighed heavily. "What I mean, captain, is that I studied in Johto. My work had nothing to do with the war, but I met plenty of people who were affected by it.”

“And you can use that information to decide whatever you please once the world is saved. Until then, you follow me regardless of how it bothers you that I could have enjoyed hurting some of those people.”

“That isn’t what I meant at all. You're not anything I couldn't understand. Even if you were, you've proven yourself as a leader. And you didn’t do anything wrong during the war. Your feelings may have been complicated, but-”

Cyllene stopped dead. “I killed people. I chose to fight as soon as I was allowed because I wanted to kill people.” Her hands were balled into fists, and they were shaking. “I allowed Rei to witness a person bleeding to death. I don’t even know what else Mesprit showed you. And the clan leaders- what were they saying to you?”

“That you’re reasonably shaken up. I promise that’s all. None of us fault you for that, I’m sure of it.”

Cyllene looked back at Laventon. At very least, she knew he could trust him on that. Laventon knew how others thought. He was far better at that than she was. If that's what he saw, and if he were telling the truth, then he was probably correct. “Thank you,” she said.

“Do you need a hug?” Laventon asked, opening his arms.

Cyllene stepped into Laventon’s embrace, returned it, and cried, just like she’d cried in Kamado’s arms so many years ago. She’d lost her parents, lost her innocence, and then forged herself into a good and strong leader, both in action and in appearance. But it still felt so good to get the comfort she would have moments ago said she neither needed nor deserved.

After a while, the two separated. "Thank you," Cyllene said, her breathing returning to normal.

Laventon flashed his goofy smile. "Of course. We need you clear-headed for what's ahead, after all! Do you think you’re ready to lead?"

“Yes,” Cyllene said. Laventon could see the fire returning to her eyes.

“Jolly good! Shall we return to camp?”

“Yes.” There was a pause. “No. Before we return, there is something I’d like to tell you.” Cyllene looked Laventon directly in the eyes. "Laventon. You are my subordinate, and as such I wanted to keep an image to you. But, now that there are no secrets... I want you to know that I..." Cyllene squeezed her eyes shut as though bracing for something painful. "I love you. If we survive this, and you feel the same way, I would like to be with you."

Laventon crossed the space between them and kissed her on the lips, to which she immediately reciprocated. 

[bindi-the-skunk]

More notes and my full opinion on the rest of the novel

The movie most certainly gave Jekyll more spine than he has in the novel

He makes a suggestion to just leave during the explosions and leave everyone in Venice to face their fates, and is constantly described as cowering under Nemo and Quartermain's glares and his "No! Hyde will never control me again!" is more of a whimper than him being stubborn and Dorian gets an extended line "But without him, my dear doctor, what use are you?" Gray said with a taunting lilt to his voice "Do you plan to apply bandages and iodine to our scrapes once we're all finished?"

He is not the first one to reach Ishmael before Nemo, who ends up being the one to cradle Ishmael, and it takes Nemo yelling at the doctor to get him to try and treat the wounded man Sawyer is the one who breaks the Gramaphone not Nemo and the novel is hinting more towards SawyerxMina over the JekyllxMina hints in the film

the saving of the Nautilus is still an awesome and epic moment for Jekyll-Hyde though he is described as shell-shocked instead of walking up straight and smiling like in the film

Sawyer is hinted to be the one who will become the leader throughout, again, this is something I'm glad got left out of the film to allow more room for Mina to take up her role from the comics

Unfortunatly it also mentions Jonathan dying during the mission to take down Dracula (and that Mina met Gray five years after the fact meaning no baby Quincy in the novelverse

The tiger is revealed to be REAL here, not a vision as it was apparently tracking Skinner, meaning he saw it too and Mina does not smack Skinner a good one for pinching her butt.

Jekyll's scenes several times read more like the fanfictions, yeah, not a fun image and another happy change for the film to make.

though Huck Finn gets a more proper mention in the novel and Sawyer makes an earlier appearance and is mistaken for a stalking fanboy by Quartermain.

Another moment I liked was a moment where Nemo thinks of his past and even gets in another little moment for Nemo and Hyde

Nemo motioned the fearsome Hyde back as he crouched at the grate and peered into the dungeons below. He saw the hopeful faces of hostages turned up to look at him "These must be the scientists wives and children". In a flash of memory, he thought of his own wife and son, both tragically killed. his fingers clenched, and he had to force the thoughts away. Nemo called upon his philosophy and prayers, just to make his heart go numb again, his past go blank. He put a finger to his lips, and the hostages inside fell quiet, stifling their confusion and joy. "We will rescue you. Do not be frightened." He signaled for Hyde to come forward, and as the brutish man's shadow fell over the grate, Nemo held out a hand to calm the captives. "Do not be frightened of him"

Another interesting add on is Grey offering Mina to join him and to give into her demons and to return to London with him and a small tease of him perhaps being sorry for his actions…only for him to of course say no he's lying about THAT too and enjoyed the treachery

During the fight in the factory, Hyde protects and then sends Nemo's crewmen to go find and help him, planning on fighting by himself despite being strained and he does not call for Nemo's help in the novel either and Nemo finds Hyde by himself and Hyde even stops Nemo from interfearing in the fight against Dante by putting a hand in front of him though Nemo does through himself into it a few moments later and the rapid slashes are shown to be a "death of a thousand cuts" gamble against the dante-hyde

the ending reveals Skinner as a member of the secret service of the queen or some other stuff and Bond appears…it hints at the Martain plot from the comic...yeah a bit of a hasty mess there with the films funeral scene being more of a proper ending

But final thoughts, I did enjoy the novel, I'm glad I bought it and will no doubt read it several more times, do I like it better than the movie? No, but I do feel that if the novel and film had been properly mixed, we could have had a movie bigger and better than the first Avengers film.

So if you are eager for an adventure, go look the novel up and enjoy the ride

[emodialisse]

The guy from GamingWins really gets me, used a whole video just analyze the stupid little details that I tend to notice too.

Not sure about hater, but yeah, it's a bit sad. But at the "bright side" Doc Ock and Spider-Man's origin stories had a bit of instinct to it since the beginning (get it? Animal analogy, hah), both suffered from a radioactive accident that changed their lives but decided to follow their own path after that. And it's amazing how the game managed to bring this together rather than just implying like the comics did.

The exception is that one Tom DeFalco story where he decided to write Otto as someone who views his and Spider-Man's conflict like a cord primal thread to hold their relationship together, something that gives him purpose, to look forward to the next day.

Like Scott Snyder said in a comic con panel on his story "Death in the Family" that Joker sees Batman and him as "these two halves where he says, you love me the way I love you, and they're essential parts of one conflict and it's the only conflict that matters in Joker's mind".

So the game offers us a chance to connect with their relationship, through their mutual project together. And makes sense that said project will always mean something to them even though the concept is deep covered in many layers of hate and regret.

Yuri Lowenthal is really the perfect Peter Parker voice imo. And yet he's totally humble about it. He said in one episode of the podcast Super Conversations With Hero Mentor that he felt "terrified about playing the part and wake up everyday feeling like he was going to screw up something".

I saw many people compare this scene to Far Cry lol. Anyway, it's one of my favorite sections from the game and I have the dialogue between Otto and Peter memorized because I tried to find this full scene in other gameplays.

It's really on the nose, but I love how the sequence changes when we go further into Peter's self degrading subconscious, Bill Salyers voice acting as Doc Ock and my boy Scorpion being a creep.

I think takeout's on Otto, and Peter brings the coffee. He knows the place well, it's the Coffee Bean after all, they give him a good discount.

He gets my humor too. Call me later?

If I stop to talk about this I will get a little Pepe Silva insane, yeah. Like the first scene with Otto, he gets off the power damperer and Peter scorts him away from it, the camera pans out and instead focus on these two as to say "this is their story, yeah the Octopus arms are a product of it but give your attention to these two first".

Or when Otto first rises with the help of his arms, he prefers to hover over Peter instead of talking to an eye level, because when he does it's to give Peter false reassurance. Otto thinks his place is above everyone else, which is why is cathartic to him "for the first time in my life, I don't feel like a failure, I feel like me".

Or the many moments the camera goes back and forth to Peter and Otto like they have some sort of synergy together. Anyway, you get my point.

"I have a father, his name was Ben Parker" lol, sorry. Look, I'm not gonna call out anyone, this just my opinion, but I don't understand why people would view Otto as a father figure to Peter. It's a bit cheeky coming from the guy who ships them, I know. But it's not because of some personal vendetta I have against the trope or fanon headcanons, I just don't see the appeal. Their relationship is already pretty interesting how it is portrayed in comics and I don't think a father/son connection really brings much to the table except being pretty boring.

What I see in their relationship is something entirely transactional, until they start to see each other beyond employer and emoloyee. Otto is a very lonely guy, companionship is important to us dumb humans, so he would love to have someone like Peter to take care of to some extent, to share his knowledge, etc, someone he can be close to.

I kind of get it how the writers twisted some screws to throw in a father/son dynamic, just like Spider-Man 2 did. Not gonna try to argue against it, it's just my preference to think of them as friends and enemies with some benefits. Not saying I'm not into that father/son shit, but it's in the gross way. Sorry not sorry.

So, on the topic of their friendship imma show you another guy, this time WritingOnGames, who sums everything I said better than I can articulate here.

(Meme not exclusive from the video)

Otto has stated in an audio draft from the game that he doesn't want Peter to think he's his assistant, but his equal partner.

Although, there's still that invisible barrier, right? I don't think they use to hang out, that's for future fics I didn't finish writing, but I'm certain their socializing takes place mostly through phone calls, e-mails and their Brokeback Lab. He's Peter's boss anyway.

But the way they met was very unusual. Otto didn't even have an internship program, he just followed the word of an old friend (May).

He took interest in Peter and so they spent two years together and have shared many personal stories and dreams with each other. Peter is aware of Otto's habits and personality and vice versa:

Couldn't have said it better myself.

It shows their relationship doesn't revolve just around their work.

And once he finds out Peter is Spider-Man, he doesn't anchor himself on Peter's superiority to humankind right away. He did that later to prove his point right, to make Peter stick to his side.

Otto genuinely shows appreciation for Peter's efforts and genius, but he also admires his good will to do the right thing. In return, Peter strives to make Otto proud of him, but also wants to protect Otto from himself. Which is why he walked so many lengths just to try to take back the Otto he once knew, because it's better if he hears Otto says it was just a miscalculation, right?

Peter knows Otto did wrong to him and everyone else in New York, but still wanted to talk some sense to him, even though Otto insisted he was doing it for the greater good. They're weird, complicated and I love them.

[canmom]

Animation Night 126: Back to France

Hey everyone! Sorry we never managed to get a chance to watch the remainder of Alexander Senki. That’s still planned, hopefully sometime this weekend! Peter Chung’s later works were fascinating and varied and I look forward to writing about them at some point.

For now, though, we’re going to take a different direction! It’s been a long time since Animation Night last visited France, and in that time the French are still very busy creating some wonderful animations. So let’s cast our beady little eyes across the Channel (or Atlantic Ocean, or uh entirety of Asia, I think that covers most of the places ppl are watching from) and see what’s up!

The place of animation in various cultures is... an interesting thing imo. Whether animation is seen as for children or everyone, what sort of animated film story is prized, what sort of techniques are used - it all varies enormously across the world.

France is of course home to the renowned Gobelins animation school, and has since the late 90s pursued a trend towards making more ‘serious’, art- or drama-oriented animated films - something they’re not really alone in, in Europe. Why? I can only speculate (and such things are kind arbitrary). It might be attributed to the influence of Kirikou, or the effect of cross-pollination at the Annecy film festival, or the role of government arts funding.

In any case, the last decade or two, French animators have been really popping off. There is of course Fortiche Productions of Arcane renown, there’s Studio La Cachette, a group of Gobelins grads who went on to make Primal and Love Death and Robots, there’s Balak of Lastman and then Bobbypills productions like the delightful Peepoodo and the Super Fuck Friends. There are the autobio comics writers turned animators, like Joann Sfar (AN 114) and Marjane Satrapi (whose Persepolis we watched on AN 11, but I still owe a better writeup). And rolling back a bit we find the precise traditional animation of Sylvain Chomet (also AN 11). Along the way there’s odd little one offs springing up here and there, like J’ai Perdu mon Corps (AN 32).

So what’s new?

Let’s start with the mountain climbing movie! The Summit of the Gods (Le Sommet des Dieux) adapts a manga series by that, while not especially well known in Japan, found a big audience internationally and even helped to popularise manga in France.

So what’s it about? In 1924, George Mallory and Andrew Irvine tried to climb Everest, and vanished. This story follows a much later attempt to climb Everest: the young reporter Makoto Fukamachi who follows an enigmatic mountain climber Habu Joji who, he believes, found Mallory’s camera. Thus the film is about the character of Habu, and the reason for climbing mountains in the first place.

Everest is nowadays a place you go to exploit the Sherpas and quite possibly die, leaving a colorful corpse to act as a landmark. But it’s also figured in the world’s imagination pretty much as long as someone worked out how bloody tall the thing is. Mountain climbing fiction, with its tale of risking horrifying death for a goal that’s kind of inexplicable (stand on a tall thing), formed the impetus behind Made in Abyss, one of my favourite recent manga. There is something fascinating in watching someone pursuing a spectacular yet self-destructive goal - c.f. the nature photographer in Jordan Peele’s recent film Nope...

So, in an article on recent French animation, Matteo Watzky (drink!) talks a little bit about this film...

Even in France, Imbert isn’t a very famous or well-established director yet. However, the studio behind the movie, studio Folivari, is rising to be one of the country’s most important animation production companies. Indeed, it was created by Didier Brunner, one of the most renowned animation producers of the last decade: he was behind the French movies Kirikou, The Triplets of Belleville, and Ernest and Célestine, but also the more European production Brendan and the Secret of Kells. In 2014, just as he was going to retire, he was convinced by his two children Damien and Pauline, to supervise creating a new studio, Folivari.

(...)

However, the one common element is in the realism: the movie is entirely 2D, and except for one or two scenes where rotoscoped 3D seems to have been used, it maintains a very high level of quality. This is exceptional, as realistic 2D characters acting on such character designs would be a feat anywhere, especially in the current French landscape. This is even more impressive considering that the movie is about mountaineering, i.e., something involving complex physical activity. The animators were assisted by professional alpinists who could provide advice and reference footage to ensure that everything was consistent and believable.

But the real highlight isn’t even this. In terms of animation proper, it is the effects: some of the snowfalls and avalanches are breathtaking in the way they convey textures. More generally, it is the art direction. The movie as a whole is built around it, with impressive sceneries and carefully-planned shot compositions. While today, many animated movies are design or art direction-driven (see, for example, Wolfwalkers or, to remain in France, Calamity), the way The Summit of the Gods is directed is slightly different and is perhaps the best proof and example of anime’s influence over Patrick Imbert and his team: the storyboarding and art direction work hand in hand, at an equal level. This entails that shot compositions and editing, properly cinematographic techniques that anime has always focused on, are polished.

It sounds great - I wish I could have seen in at the cinema, honestly. But I can bring it to you now in bitcrushed re-encoded 720p over Twitch! ...why do I do this to you?

In between our two main features, I’ll be returning to a thread discussed back when we watched Mutafukaz (Animation Night 105): Studio Ankama. They’re known primarily for their Flash-based work, something which influenced Masaaki Yuasa and Eunyoung Choi during their time at the short-lived Ankama Japan to adopt the technology for use at Science Saru. And chief among those flash animated series are Wakfu and Dofus, a tie in to a pair of MMOs also titled Dofus and Wakfu, both of which take place in a 2D isometric world. And both of which seem to be still around, as far as I can tell!

The style of this is probably the thing that makes it stand out: it’s colourful and of course heavily anime-influenced in its approach to shape and line, but with the uncanny smoothness of computer inbetweening. It’s been a long time since I watched any of it, so I’m kind of curious to take another look. With 65 episodes and counting, we will definitely only be taking a sample of it.

Ankama have recently produced their first traditionally animated film, titled Princesse Dragon, but while it seems to have been released in France, I don’t seem to be able to get my hands on a copy right now.

And finally, let’s return to the court of Sylvain Chomet, with his film The Illusionist (2010) about a French magician who travels to Scotland (not to be confused with the 2006 live-action film...).

Chomet is a spectacular traditional animator. Currently 58 years old, he graduated art school in 1982, and went to London where he worked for some years in animation, primarily for adverts. In 1991 he began work on his short film The Old Lady and the Pigeons, a project which ended up taking a full five years, but made such an enormous splash that Chomet got to direct some feature-length films. The first of these, The Triplets of Belleville, (Animation Night 11) introduced the world to Chomet’s particular style of caricature and understated humour, along with technical animation to rival Disney.

In all of Chomet’s films there’s a certain sense of nostalgia, for the old media world he grew up in, and anxieties over the new capitalistic world suffocating it. Such anxieties are more explicit than ever in The Illusionist, which centres on essentially an animated version of the mime and film director Jacques Tati; it’s based on a script that Tati wrote, but never got to create.

The story focuses on an illusionist who, facing a world which is no longer interested in stage magic in comparison to other forms of entertainment, travels first to London, then finally to Scotland - impressing a girl named Alice who becomes convinced that he has real magic after all.

Chomet’s original plan was to animate the film in Edinburgh, at his newly formed studio Django Films, but soon complained about the shortage of well-trained British animators... and then found himself sacked from directing the film The Tale of Despereaux, an early-CG oddity about a food-loving rat in a medieval setting. When the film came out two years later, Chomet raised a stink, saying that Universal used his designs without credit. In the end, though, Despereaux tanked, and meanwhile Chomet’s studio - unable to find funding for what would have been a ‘Scottish Simpsons’ for the BBC - were left to focus all their efforts on The Illusionist, helped by animators in London, Dundee, Paris and South Korea.

But that’s only the beginning of the weird controversies around the film! A lot revolves around who inspired the character Alice. Tati had two daughters; there was Helga Marie-Jeanne Schiel, abandoned at birth, and the younger Sophie Tatischeff, who gave Chomet the rights to the script. In Chomet’s eyes, the film is about Tatischeff, and Schiel is not mentioned in the credits; however, in her account, the script was an attempt to reconcile with her and Chomet’s version papers over her abandonment again. This seems to have ballooned into an argument over whether the film does a disservice to Tati (even constituting a “sentimental watering-down of his art” as one colleague of Tati wrote).

Unfortunately, I don’t know the first thing about Jacques Tati, so beyond pointing to the controversy I can’t say much more than that. In any case, it promises to be beautiful, particularly in its meticulous depiction of Edinburgh.

Beyond that, I also have another little short film from Gobelins. Although it was made in 2001, this one only seems to have been released eight days ago, and it’s extremely stylish and charming, calling to mind 60s animation but decisively its own thing. We also have their crop of Annecy idents, and I believe I haven’t shown all of their 2021 films either!

So that leaves us with The Ilusionist, Wakfu and Summit of the Gods - all very different slices of what’s going on in French animation! Please come to twitch.tv/canmom and we’ll start the programme in about 20 minutes~

[ewzzy]

I haven't made a real list, but since I spend all my time reading comics here's a top ten for 2022. (no particular order) First up is Kyle Starks' I Hate This Place. Kyle is always the best and a couple inheriting a farm only to find out it's haunted by ghosts/aliens/demons/cyptids/everything is a great hook.

Next up is the new Amazing Spider-Man series that brings back writer Zeb Wells and artist John Romita Jr. They're two of the best to ever do Spider-Man and as they tend to do they drag him through the mud along the way.

Adjacent to Spider-Man is Jed Mackay doing more Black Cat stories. He's writing the Moon Knight, Black Cat, and Dr Strange series and has proven to be one of the best and most prolific writers in the Marvel bullpen. Here's a bit from Mary Jane & Black Cat: Beyond.

Too bad for Jed but this was the year Chip Zdarsky hit homer after home with so many great series. Daredevil, Stillwater, Public Domain, and two Batman series that are all comic of the year level. It's been crazy watching the comedy guy known for Sex Criminals become the most prized writer at the big two. Nobody but Chip gets to write Batman and work for Marvel at the same time.

I've been going on and on about writers but the recent Poison Ivy series is all about artist Marcio Takara. I normally wouldn't give a series like this a chance but it's a beautiful horror comic where a lot of folks get torn apart by fungal spores.

I also wouldn't have touched a Harley Quinn series but Riley Rossmo's art will get me to read anything. He just started a new Robin series where Tim Drake is living in a boat house and working as a private eye. So far so good!

I don't care about the Eternals or Avengers and keeping up with the X-Men is exhausting but the A.X.E. Judgement Day event was great. Basically the superheroes create a new god and it decides to judge everyone on earth individually. If it does the math and we're mostly bad the earth goes bye bye. Captain America is the first to get a thumbs down and everyone collectively goes "oh so we're fucked right?" Then when the Eternals wake up some old war machines one reads the whole internet and becomes the secret admirer of a single human writer.

As I said X-Men is exhausting, but it was worth it to get all the jokes in X-Men '92 House of XCII which retells the last few years of X-Men comics as if they were adapted to the 90s cartoon.

A much clearer X-Men comic was Giant-Size X-Men: Thunderbird. He was the first X-Man to die for the cause and now that mutants can be resurrected he's back and not sure he wants to be a part of it anymore. It's co-written by trans native-american pro wrestler Nyla Rose and I was expecting very little but it's great.

Guess this is my last one. I have been shocked by how good the Punisher: King of Killers series is. Writer Jason Aaron and artists Jeus Saiz & Paul Azaceta bounce between two art styles & times. The present where Frank Castle is worshipped as history's greatest killer by ninja assassin cult, The Hand, and the past where we discover he first killed at age 10 and how his family dying was never what made him the Punisher. It's also an allegory about how The Punisher isn't cool and you shouldn't like him and anyone who would use his skull logo unironically is dumb.

Sorry TMNT Armageddon Game, One-Star Squadron, Superman The Warworld Saga, X-Terminators, My Bad, Billionaire Island: Cult of Dogs, World's Finest, and everyone else from this year but I've run out of time and space. Look forward to Spider-Man/X-Men Dark Web on next year's list alongside both of Ryan North's new comics Secret Invasion and Fantastic Four.

[hawkzeyes]

Whats your opinion on Shado?

I actually really really like Shado! The reason I like her is because she can be an incredibly complicated and well thought out character in the right hands. Here’s the thing with Shado, my interpretations of her is she is rather matter of fact character, heavily dealing with the nuances of honor and motherhood. Her family itself already has some heavy trauma with her mother dying and her father committing seppuku. Her father’s supposed failure would then fall on some pretty young and adolescent shoulders, Shado’s to be precise. Now that’s A LOT for any kid to deal with. So moving forward I think people tend to space that aspect of her and get lost in what she does later on.

She’s raised with this HUGE pressure about restoring her families honor. My heart hurts for her because she never really got to decide IF she wanted to be assassin she was just told this was her only way. So because of this killing is kind of second nature to Shado. Despite what my favs usually look like, I tend to see reason in her killings (not saying it’s great but I can understand)

Now there is that debate according to the retcon about Ollie’s SA and or Ollie willingly cheating on Dinah ultimately ending up with Shado’s son… listen all I have to say about that is it wouldn’t be the first time DC had an Asian woman SA a character… there was an issue during that time. It’s confusing for me as I really do like How Grell writes Shado EXCEPT for this but then that opens the debate of is this something she would have done and I just don’t like it or was it faulty writing from DC slipping through again due to racial prejudices… also Ollie wouldn’t willingly cheat on Dinah. I don’t like that we would have to ultimately hit their morals for either of these paths to work. There is a heavy debate on Ollie cheating but that’s not what this post is about so that is a HUGE mess.

Now I know some will debate whether or not she was a good mother because of her whole world being a sort of dangerous place to have a child involved but she really did try to keep her son safe and… with the Rebirth situation? She ultimately does choose Emiko despite the whole concept of honor hanging over her shoulders.

All in all I think she is flawed obviously given her cold environment she grew up in and dealing with early traumatic situations, but I think at her heart she is a noble woman who really does love her kids and she is INCREDIBLY loyal if she feels you’re in the right even if it takes her a bit to decipher what is right in her mind. I feel like I’m rambling at this point because she isn’t a cut and dry character… but that’s what I actually really like about her. She has had awful things happen to her and has had to do awful things to survive but she SURVIVES none the less and manages to find kindness in herself even if it’s in her own odd way.

So many words I’m sorry LOL but all in all she is interesting for me to read and I hope to see more of her from DC soon.

ALSO DISCLAIMER… not everyone has to feel this way 🤷🏻‍♀️ that’s the great thing about comics. Who knows maybe I’m misinterpreting the comics wouldn’t be the first time, but that’s the nifty thing about them!

[worksinprogress1]

The silence in the cave was deafening. Cyllene stepped forward. “Very well,” she said.

T e l l  m e,  h o w  d i d  i t  f e e l  t o  l o s e  y o u r  p a r e n t s?

"Telepathically?" Cyllene asked. She hadn't seen reason to think about that in ages. But as much as she didn't like how this trial was going and feared what else Mesprit might ask her to recount, Hisui needed the red chain. And if she could do it without tarnishing her image to the others, it would be for the far better.

E v e r y o n e  h e r e  w i l l  h e a r  y o u  e i t h e r  w a y.

Cyllene hesitated.

I f  y o u  c a n 't  t e l l  t h e m,  I  c a n  s h o w  t h e m.  B u t  y o u  m u s t  s h a r e  y o u r  e m o t i o n s  t o  p a s s  t h e  t r i a l.

"Show them, then."

The cave walls gave way to an illusion of a house in the countryside surrounded by farmland. The illusion of a tall, armoured man walked through the group and knocked on the door, which was opened by a nervous-looking girl of about twelve with long ice-blue hair.

"Hello? Who is this?" the girl asked.

The man shifted uncomfortably. "My name is General Kamado," he explained in a somber tone. "I've heard that your parents went missing."

The girl nodded. "They've been gone for two days. Have you seen them?"

"They were found impaled and their bodies dragged into the underbrush. Most likely a random act by Jhotoian ninjas. I'm sorry."

For a moment, the girl was in shock. And then she burst into tears and started crying into her hands. A wave of panicked distress hit Cyllene, and, if their faces and wet eyes were any indication, everyone else in the cave. Mesprit was making them all feel how she'd felt.

"Do you have any relatives that would take you in?" Kamado asked. "I'm sure there must be neighbours, at least."

The girl didn't even look up. Kamado took her in his arms and brought her in close, allowing her to bury her face in his chest.

"Come with me," Kamado said. It was something that Cyllene understood as an adult to be a more self-driven act than she'd known back then. Kamado and his wife had been unable to have children, and it would not have been difficult for him to find another place for her. Still, it had been the best thing he could have done for her. She'd needed the oasis he'd provided.

N o w  w e  w i l l  s h o w  t h e m  w h y  y o u  j o i n e d  t h e  w a r, Mesprit explained, and the scene shifted to show an only slightly older Cyllene looking out the window, the deep bags under her eyes visible even in early morning night.

Cyllene shut her eyes tight. Rei thought of her as so brave and heroic. This would change that. More importantly, it was treading far too close to things she did not want any of them to see.

A woman entered the scene and sighed. "I wish you'd at least try to sleep," she said. "I worry about Kamado not coming back, too. But he's survived every battle he's been in so far, and he's seen a few!" The woman smiled in a weak attempt to be comforting.

Cyllene turned to the woman. "How old do I have to be to help out at the camps?"

"You'd be old enough now."

"Then I want to be where he is as soon as possible."

The scene shifted to Cyllene sitting with a group of soldiers, comically small next to most of them. "Hey, wanna learn how to fight, pipsqueak?" asked a large, red-haired young woman.

"Sure," Cyllene said. Before long they were squaring off in a field, swords in hand. Metal clashed against metal, and Mesprit allowed the others to feel her excitement.

The scene shifted again to her and other soldiers in armour, marching toward a similar group of Jhotoians in a field- foot soldiers and archers to the front, with the samurai vanguard close up behind them. Thankfully, Cyllene couldn't find herself in their ranks, so it was unlikely anyone else could. But she could feel vengeful excitement in her chest, another emotion forced on her by Mesprit.

No, not this. Not in front of the clan leaders, Cyllene thought as the apparitions of archers and footsoldiers phased through their group. She didn't need them to see her as bloodthirsty.

D o  y o u  w i s h  t o  t e l l  t h i s? Mesprit asked.

Just as Mesprit finished its question, a Jhotoian samurai ran, perhaps breaking formation out of panic or suicidal impulse- pushed through the Hoennian ranks. On instinct, Cyllene drew her sword to defend from the attacker, but the apparition faded right through her and attacked instead a Hoennian soldier with a stance identical to her own. The soldier struck the sword from a Jhotoian's hand, knocked them down, and lowered their blade towards their throat. A distinctly female scream came from the armored figure, whose face was hidden by a helmet.

"Stop this. I'll say it," Cyllene asserted. The bloody battlefield faded back into a peaceful cave.

Y o u 'v e  k i l l e d  p e o p l e, Mesprit said. H o w  d i d  i t  f e e l?

Cyllene sheathed her sword before answering. "The only people I killed were enemy soldiers. It was my duty to Hoenn."

N o t  w h a t  I  a s k e d.

"It... does no good to think of that... but you leave me no choice. I expected to enjoy taking revenge on Jhoto. It caught me off guard that it was a woman. I don’t know why. I don't know how many people I killed and how many I merely wounded, but severe wounding isn't always an improvement on death. I've caused screams- men, women, boys, children so young I'm not sure whether they were girls or boys. I hated Jhoto, but I did not enjoy that. It was merely necesary."

T e l l  t h e m  h o w  i t 's  h a u n t e d  y o u, Mesprit ordered.

Cyllene closed her eyes and tried to put it into words she’d be willing to say. It was impossible. "Show them," Cyllene said. It was the only way she was going to complete this.

Cyllene turned her back and walked past the others. She could hear memories play out behind her. The first one was one in which, during peacetime, she’d thought a Jhotoian was attacking and Kamado had had to hold her down to keep her from hurting anyone. The jolt of panic that Mesprit forced through her shook her up so badly that nothing she heard registered after that. She was a trembling mess, hoping that the others didn’t look back at her. She wanted to tell them that that had been years ago, that she wasn’t like that anymore, that it had only caused her to be dangerous once. But there was only so much faith she could inspire in this state, and regardless, the damage was done. The damage was still being done. And she was too keyed up to even know what it was.

O n e  l a s t  q u e s t i o n,  a n d  i f  y o u 'r e  h o n e s t,  t h e  t r i a l  w i l l  b e  c o m p l e t e.  H o w  d o  y o u  f e e l  a b o u t  t h i s  t r i a l?

Cyllene turned back to face Mesprit, back to her steely professionalism. "This trial is an appalling waste of time and of my usefulness as a captain. The Survey Corps needs to think of me as a strong and infallible leader, and our allies need to see me as impartial and reasonable. You have helped us to save the world, but there was no reason for the cost."

Mesprit plucked out one of its plumes and handed it to Cyllene.

"Thank you," Cyllene said. Thankfully, the loathesome creature faded away after that.

"Our next location is in the Coronet Highlands. We'll travel on our flying Pokémon and stay low enough to find the rest of the Survey Corps. With any luck they will be gathered at the ruins Cogita described," Cyllene commanded the others, voice steady. She turned to exit the cave and began walking past the others, averting her eyes from whatever reactions they might have had. "You will follow me until the sky is fixed. Do what you will afterward. But do not breathe a word of this to anyone. Do not speak of it."

"Y-you got it, ma'am," Rei replied, "None of it leaves this cave!"

Outside the cave, the red sky persisted, painting the landscape in its oppressive gloom. It was all the reminder Cyllene needed that now was the time to focus on the immediate.

The flight was short, and before long the six landed in front of Cogita and around two dozen Survey Corp members.

"Ah, there you are," said Cogita. "Did you bring the keys from the lake trio?"

"Yes," Cyllene said, digging out the plume and Rei and Laventon did the same with their respective supplies.

"Perfect. While you gone, I led the Survey Corps to harvest enough origin ore to make a few pokéballs from the red chain. We discussed it and we think that would be the best use for it."

Cogita took the three items and carried them to the center of the Celestica ruins, the Survey Corps as well as the six following along to watch what was sure to be a mystical process. Once she was there, apparitions of the lake trio appeared and levitated the items from her hands. The items spun, bathed in red light, and then transformed into a beautiful chain of red gems that fell back down into Cogita's hands.

Cogita turned back to the group. "There. Now, what do you say, Survey Corps? Shall we do the crafting ourselves and allow these six a chance to rest? The lake trials couldn't have been easy. And lord knows that you have quite the challenge ahead of you."

"Thank you, Cogita, Cyllene said.

It wasn't far to the Galaxy Team's nearest encampment, where the group started a fire and put on some food. There were many noises from Pokémon as the less intelligent ones played outside their balls and the cleverer ones bayed at the foreign sky. It was loud enough to save them from attempting to make awkward conversation to distract one another from the reality of facing their allies or fellow Galaxy Team members.

While Cyllene tended the fire, Laventon sent out the strange trio of Pokémon he’d brought- the specimens he called a rotom-mow, a porygon-Z, and a bronzong.

“Alright, you three,” Laventon called out over the noise, “If you have any special world-saving powers you’d like to share with me, now would be the time! Because time really is of the essence right now, and, well, um… I’m afraid it’s been hard to figure out exactly what you do or how you work biologically, or, well, anything about you, really.”

The three Pokémon looked at each other and appeared to laugh at him before joining the other Pokémon in the encampment at their play.

Laventon sighed and sat down next to Cyllene. “Perhaps bringing them wasn’t my wisest move. But I couldn’t have forgiven myself if I found out later that they could have saved us!.”

“You have your typhlosion. That will be enough if you are separated from the group.”

"Do you want to go for a little walk, captain?"

"No," she said firmly, looking back to the fire.

"Please?"

Cyllene sighed. "Fine," she answered, getting to her feet.

Cyllene led the way into the pines, eyes forward.

"You know, you're nothing special to me," Laventon said. "Er, um, I mean, you're nothing different to me. Um, wait." Laventon sighed heavily. "What I mean, captain, is that I studied in Jhoto. My work had nothing to do with the war, but I met plenty of people who were affected by it.”

“And you can use that information to decide whatever you please once the world is saved. Until then, you follow me regardless of how it bothers you that I could have been the one to hurt some of those people.”

“That isn’t what I meant at all. You're not anything I couldn't understand. And even if you were, you've proven yourself as a leader. Nothing we saw in that cave changes that for any of us. I know them enough to be sure of that."

Cyllene stopped dead. She knew she was a good leader, both in action and appearance, both of which were extremely important. She had not known that she had allies and subordinates so loyal that such a failure in appearance wouldn't shake their loyalty. But Laventon knew how others thought. He was far better at that than she was. If that's what he saw, and if he were telling the truth, then he was probably correct.

"Thank you," she said.

"Of course. We need you clear-headed for what's ahead, after all!"

Cyllene could imagine Laventon's sweet smile before she even looked back to see it.

"Laventon. You are my subordinate, and as such I wanted to keep an image to you. But, now that there are no secrets... I want you to know that I..." Cyllene closed her eyes and grit her teeth as though in pain. "I love you. If we survive this, and you feel the same way, I would like to be with you."

Laventon crossed the space between them and kissed her on the lips. Cyllene relaxed immediately and reciprocated, running a hand through his curly hair. When they separated, she was bewildered for a moment. Soon, they would be heading up the mountain, possibly to their doom. But they had this moment, and that was something worth treasuring.