#and cooperation for a loved one

[oh-hell-help-me]

Day 7: Claws

Bowser was antsy.

More so when he knows that Luigi was visiting the town square. ALONE.

(And with four guards, but STILL.)

There was very little work scheduled today, and there was absolutely NOTHING to take his mind off it!

Not his family (who were vacationing in Bubbline).

Not his army's hijinks (literally, they are in the middle of a mass recruitment process for

Not even the sight of Mario pouting in front of his desk-

Wait.

Looking back up, he locks eyes with the unwelcome visitor.

"Aren't you supposed to be pacing the foyer?"

After getting medical attention, Mario Mario (seriously, what kind of name is that?) had been stuck to his brother's side like glue. Every meal, meeting, and shower, the guy had dogged Luigi's steps to the point that it became annoying.

How the hell was Bowser supposed to have 1-on-1 conversation with his friend when his brother is constantly there?

And then, at the end of the meeting, Luigi asked to go to the town square.

Alone.

The request made his brother (mostly recovered, just having trouble moving his shoulder) pretty much threaten to ground him if he steps foot outside without at least four guards.

(Bowser is a bit insulted that Luigi would think to ask to go out AT ALL. Never mind that the Koopa King thinks there should be a platoon of six AT LEAST.)

It is then that Bowser learned several things about Luigi:

One, he can -and has, at that moment- put his foot down. Angrily.

Two, the brothers can -in fact- argue about something. Even if it’s in that gobblygook they call a language.

Three…

Well, the third is that Luigi had somehow guilt-tripped the likes of HIM, the King of Koopas, and Mario in a single look.

If it weren't for the fact that he was an ambassador, someone not completely in his jurisdiction, he would have ordered the green bean to plant his ass at his office and STAY there!

Alas, he went.

With only FOUR guards. Practically alone!

Mario was left behind at the castle's doorstep, anxious and pathetic-looking as the Green Bean's silhouette grew smaller.

He would never admit that he did the same thing while standing right behind the man.

Bowser left him there, notifying the guards to keep an eye on him (if HE can't go, then neither can the red menace!)

Except. Now he's here. Staring at Bowser like a particularly suspicious kid in a candy shop.

"I figured you'd be the first to know when Luigi gets back."

"Ha!" Bowser reshuffled the papers in his hands, although there wasn't much need for it. "What makes you think I'll tell you?"

"You killed for him."

"So what?" He won't admit that he clenched a bit too hard on the papers, there. "You saying I'm better at taking care of problems?"

Mario gives him a look so painfully not-like-Luigi that Bowser looked away. "You killed for him. Do you know what that means to him?"

It takes a smoke-filled second for Bowser to not burn his mustache off.

Of course, he does!

He knows EXACTLY what it meant to kill for him!

It doesn't take a genius to notice how Luigi switched to wearing black, or how he adamantly refused to eat any cooked meat!

It doesn't need to be spelled out how Luigi started to not look him in the eye!

"Of course!"

"Well, maybe NOT!" Mario stands up, not that it helps his height situation, but Bowser couldn't help but listen. "Do you really know how hard it is for Luigi to make a friend? To keep one?"

The Koopa wasn't sure where Mario was going with this.

"Bowser." He's looking him in the eyes again. "You are one of the few friends Luigi has been close to! One of the few that have actually stayed by his side!" He hates how the pipsqueak looks gutted. It used to be something he would revel in, maybe even rub some extra salt in that open wound. But now...?

What would be the point?

The look morphs into something more determined, more fierce. More like Luigi, when he realized their plan is on an unfortunate time limit. "If you dare give up on him-"

RAGE-

"LIKE HELL WILL I FAIL HIM AGAIN!"

...

He's not sure which one of them slumped back into their seat first, but he's honestly too exhausted to care.

Like it or not, Bowser knows exactly what he did, what Mario meant for Luigi to be failed so many times.

He knows why Luigi spends so much time trying to connect with others, why he makes the effort to be so damned nice.

He knows why Luigi asked Bowser, of all people, to be his friend.

Honestly, he has no idea what he did to deserve the green bean.

"Heh." Mario glances up from his hands, giving the Koopa a wary glance. "You know, I didn't realize that I'd be agreeing with a short stack like you."

"Ha, ha." He doesn't look the least bit amused, which -of course- makes Bowser snort.

"We won't fail him." He sets the papers down, not seeing a point in them anymore as he gets up. "Do you want to come?"

He hasn't reached the door before Mario is right ahead of him, eagerly opening the double doors.

"Let's-a go!"

Luigi barely held himself from squirming in his seat.

The old Koopa, Hacktor, was very direct in his questions.

'What did Hackson do?'

'What happened when Luigi was taken to the castle?'

'Is Luigi alright?'

'How did Hackson...'

Luigi tries to not think about the last question, how easily he choked on the words as he described the interaction with the Koopa King, the look in Hackson's eyes, the fire...

He also tries not to stare as Hacktor (Hackson's grandfather) quietly broke down, gripping his basket tight enough for his claws to nearly slice through the handle.

Luigi reaches a hand out toward him, but stops himself multiple times from actually making contact with his shoulder.

Is it okay to comfort someone grieving a person you're responsible for...?

Still, Luigi pushes himself to gently take the basket, letting it sit on the bench's armrest as he offers his other hand.

Surprisingly, the Koopa takes it, squeezing it as he lets himself crumble. Luigi does his best to not wince as the claws find purchase in his skin -he doesn't want the guards to get even more twitchy.

"I'm sorry..."

Luigi freezes.

Hacktor looks up, meeting Luigi's eyes with his own grief-stricken ones. "On behalf of the Hack-name, and Hackson, I am sorry."

Luigi tries to stutter out a denial, why is he sorry? It was Luigi who- who failed-

"It was not your fault." Amidst the grief, the Koopa's eyes seemed to be brighter now- less dead-

"Even I know Hackson is reckless, and stubborn, and-" He shakes his head. "He was a foolish Koopa, to try to change things like that, but we love him. We love him still..." He takes a breath. "And loving someone means accepting the good and the bad things about them. We -me, my children, Hackson's cousins- all of us love him, but what he did...."

Luigi was holding his own breath, too shocked to notice even as he felt dizzy.

"None of us will hate you for it. Or blame you for Hackson's death. Maybe Bowser, but not you." Luigi feels like crying, or maybe he is crying, but it seems insignificant when he sees sadness take over the old Koopa's face once more. "Most of all, we'll hate that there wasn't a point to it. There's nothing we can do- not without going to war again..."

!!!

Luigi... still has his notebook, stamped and charmed as protocol dictated, but he knew enough about magic to know that the intent to share- that is something he can do-

"If-" The old Koopa startles, but Luigi tries his best to push through his nervousness as his attention is now fully on him. "If I were to show you what Bowser and I were working on- do you -do you think anyone can help? Maybe-"

He takes the notebook, flipping its pages to the beginning notes of the Plan- his and the King's efforts in maybe, somehow, helping the Kingdom....

With shaky hands, he hands the notebook to Hacktor.

"M-maybe it can work, if we have some help?"

He tries to not hyperventilate as he waits, watching the Koopa look at the pages and flip through them, getting faster towards the end where their calculations, percentages, predictions were...

Hacktor looks up, straight at him.

He sees hope in those eyes.

[loneleeghost]

“true that love in withdrawal was the weeping of me”

[hinamie]

色彩 [Shikisai]

[manderleyfire]

cooper howard & lucy maclean + the definite contrasts, the striking similarities (aka ghoulcy foreshadowing)

[theangelofbrahma]

[sethcohnn]

“So the four of us realized that we could, and maybe should, just be… together. At the same time.”

Riverdale Series Finale Scene: Core 4some

[kiwicorgii]

hello twin peaks nation. this show is destroying me,, , i love it :)

[moonwarde]

clone wars screencap redraw 24 - 3.10 | heroes on both sides

[doctorwhommm]

got silly with this one ◡̈

[andro-dino]

The princes of funk ✨

[feralmoonlight]

cowboys are ok I guess @castercassette

[waymond-wang]

when it comes down to it everything is about ghosts except ghosts, which are about love.

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Thank you all for voting in the poll to decide who was going to be the leader of the band! It turned out to be such a close race!

[ghouly-boiiiii]

Does Max give anyone else major twist villain vibes???

Okay I haven't talked about Max much yet, but I think it's kinda wild to see people talking about him like he's just this sweet innocent cinnamon roll when my read on his character was the COMPLETE opposite.

I mean yes, he does seem very sweet. He's very soft spoken. Naive in a way like Lucy, but not as much. Kinda vulnerable. Got a killer smile. And some of the moments with him and Lucy are super cute and adorable. But damn if he doesn't have a DARK side!

Like I've heard people say that Max is stupid or that Aaron Moten's acting is bad, but hell no. Aaron Moten sold me on his acting during the interrogation scene. Max was scared shitless and I FELT that. I think Max was meant to be played as a character who lacks understanding about certain things and seems disconnected from people due to both being brought up in basically a cult and having an inherent lack of empathy.

You think about the fact that he admitted he wanted Dane to get hurt, someone who's supposed to be his best friend. How he coldly sat there and watched Titus die. And before that stood there and watched him get mauled by a bear, almost like he was fascinated by it and wanted to see what was gonna happen. The fact that he tried to kill Thaddeus the moment he became a threat, even though the two of them had appeared to have bonded and developed a genuine friendship. And let's not forget he was willing to let all of Vault 4 get plunged into darkness just so he could keep playing with his power armor.

Max wants to be a knight, he wants to be a hero. And I think he tells himself he wants it for the right reasons, but I think what he REALLY wants is power and recognition. Which is really what every (okay maybe not every, but a lot) good villain wants, right? Because at the end of the day Max wants what Max wants. He's selfish, even though he doesn't think he is.

And sure, he's nice to Lucy. And he went balls to the wall to save her when he thought Vault 4 was gonna execute her. But she's a pretty girl who helped him and offered him a safe home. When she gave him the proposition that if she helped him bring back the head, he would have the Brotherhood lend her some knights to save her dad, he KNEW he couldn't make that promise. But he made the deal anyway. So he doesn't REALLY care about her or what she wants.

And that blank stare he gets when he gets mad? ACTUALLY terrifying. The guy's got serious psychopath vibes. Literal anti-social personality disorder, if you ask me. In fact the first thing I thought about when Max let Titus die is this kids going to end up going to the dark side lol.

And I think that would work really well thematically if they plan on giving The Ghoul a redemption arc beside it. There are so many parallels between Lucy and The Ghoul, and they have such a strong connection to the beginning when the bombs dropped. I get that Max is there to represent the Brotherhood and he's from Shady Sands, the town Hank destroyed, but it felt weird that he didn't seem to be AS important in the grand scheme of things compared to Cooper and Lucy.

But if Max turned out to be a badass twist villain to thematically contrast Cooper's redemption arc, while Lucy remains steadfast to her commitment to goodness and the golden rule I feel like that would really round it out. It would make sense if you consider a lot of people have pointed out that Lucy, Cooper and Max all seem to represent different play styles and different moral alignments. And I think it'd be pretty crazy if the writers of the show set out to make it seem like Ghoul is a bad guy and Max is a good guy, but then it ended up being the opposite.

I mean, there are definitely hints all over the show that The Ghoul isn't as bad as he may seem. And Max has already done some pretty messed up stuff, so I'd say the possibility is totally there, and I'd be here for it!

Who's with me???

[shelleysmary]

sauron is so *sighing facepalm* frustrating. he crawled, walked, sailed across middle-earth, made up the halbrand identity, did a boomer in-person job application tour around númenor, didn't lie to galadriel and he has the mental gymnastics to prove it, sailed back to middle earth with an army, fought a whole ass battle, faced his murderer with a mostly straight face, got impaled... somehow, risked sepsis on a six-day ride to eregion, brainstormed magic rings with celebrimbor, wielded tools and operated heavy machinery after said mysterious injury, clocked that his would-be girlfriend was starting to get the ick around him, took radical action, asked her to be his non-platonic business partner (the business being mass-brainwashing and dictatoring), took the L, regrouped, rode back to the southlands (now mordor) to enact plan b wherein he faces his murderer again, gets beat up, goes on a hunger strike (rage and self-pity are his fuel), relives his murder trauma for The Master Plan, back on a horse, rides from mordor to eregion, sadface emoji because he's not allowed to go in, stands in the square, gets rained on, risks regency-era pneumonia, flatters celebrimbor, comes up with plan b part 2 wherein he is now a representative of the valar with a great haircare routine and possibly a stylist, begins his campaign to gaslight gatekeep manipulate everyone in eregion, balancing a full-time job with psychological warfare...

my guy. you could've lived on a nice farm somewhere. gone on vacation. adopted an elven dog. being "good" is too much effort for you??? what do you call THIS?

[vaultnewt]

☢️ FALLOUT HEADCANON OF THE DAY ☢️

Cooper Howard has a soft spot for children. As a dad, he just can’t bring himself to act snarky towards kids in the way he does with adults or abandon a child that’s very clearly alone and afraid. He’s considerably more patient & playful with them, politely answering their inevitable questions about his ghoulish appearance and going so far as to tell them stories about his darling Janey.

Coop will gladly return lost children to their hometowns or take them to the nearest safe community that he knows of if they’re orphans. In the meantime, he keeps a close eye on his “foster kids” and makes sure they’re fed, hydrated, and will even cover them up with his coat if he notices them shivering in their sleep. If he’s gotta deal with somebody while they’re in his presence, he gently tells them to turn around/close their eyes and cover their ears so they don’t have to witness the imminent bloodshed.

As soon as the kids are in a safe place where Coop knows they’ll be taken care of, it’s back to business as usual. Anybody who says he’s “going soft” in response to having seen him with a child will immediately be met with a gun to the head (followed by a bullet if they decide to keep running their mouth).

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