#and now people are already trying to twist her into some sort of villain about it and i just…

[xspuhurax]

Some of you haven’t been in the trenches for a decade, fueled only by two movies and a dead kid and constantly feeling alone in shipping Jim/Carol, and it shows

[descendant-of-truth]

On principle I don't really like the idea of Sonic being sent after Shadow at the request of G.U.N for two reasons:

It robs us of the god-tier cold open of the original game where Sonic busts out of a helicopter to escape arrest

I always loved the setup where Sonic and Shadow meeting was pretty incidental - neither of them had any idea who the other was, but Sonic thought Shadow was impersonating him on purpose while Shadow just thought he seemed fun to mess with

But depending on what the surrounding context is, I can see how the movie could make this plot point interesting in a completely different way that still complements these versions of the characters, even if I don't prefer it to the original.

So, some ideas:

G.U.N has been the villain of the last two movies, so in order for Sonic to be working with them, they must have a pretty good deal for him. My guess is that they promised to leave him and his family alone - no more schemes, no more kidnapping, nothing of the sort - on the one condition that "Team Sonic" helps them deal with Shadow.

This would already function as a narrative parallel to Sonic enlisting Robotnik's help later for the same thing. The name of the game becomes "we don't like each other, we're enemies, but we need to work together to deal with this guy because he's too powerful," which becomes a triple threat if the whole cast including Shadow gets to team up at the very end to save the world

I think it would also be very fun if Sonic is trying so hard to talk things out with Shadow in large part because he heard that there was another hedgehog on the loose, and wants so badly to be friends with someone like him that it takes at least one full-blown beating before he gives up on that idea

(The other reason he keeps trying is "it worked on Knuckles" of course)

Now, this puts Sonic in a fascinating position, particularly when using the game as a frame of reference. SA2 was very straightforward with how it presented its conflict at first: you have a Hero Story and a Dark Story, and as such you're primed to think of everyone on both sides as either being good or bad.

And most people, I think, were inclined to play the Hero Story first; it's the one with Sonic in it, and the select screen hovers over it by default, too. It tells a very simple story of Sonic and friends stopping Eggman's (admittedly very threatening) evil plan, developing some new rivalries along the way.

It's already a little bit of a twist for Sonic and Knuckles to have formed a respectful relationship with Shadow and Rouge by the end, since you see them as villains initially, but they still remain antagonists by the end. Rouge returns the Master Emerald pieces, but she's still working with Robotnik. Shadow thinks Sonic is pretty impressive, but he still tries to kill him to stop him from saving the world.

But then you get to the Dark Story, and then the Final Story, and you think, oh. It's really not that simple.

For starters, you get to see more of Rouge's bond with Shadow. There's some conflict inherent to their relationship because Rouge is a spy and is only here to get information on Shadow, but after he saves her life, there's a definite shift to their dynamic. There's something genuine there, even if it doesn't get a lot of screentime dedicated to it.

But most important to the story is what we learn about who Shadow is, in part through his interactions with Rouge.

Shadow is cunning and ruthless - heck, his goal is to literally blow up the world. But whether out of compassion or survivor's guilt or both, he can't let Rouge die, so he saves her and then lies about his motivations for it to seem colder than he is.

And even though the things he's doing are definitely bad, his motivations are famously sympathetic; he wants revenge for his best friend, a young girl who was killed by the G.U.N military during a raid.

(It was implied that there was some sort of brainwashing done on him by Gerald after Maria died as well but that part of the story is incredibly vague)

By the end of the game, Shadow comes into his own as a hero and helps save the world instead of destroying it. And suddenly it makes sense why the stories weren't called Hero and Villain, because neither Shadow nor Rouge are especially villainous characters; Rouge is selfish, and Shadow is driven by grief and hatred, but they're ultimately kind at the end of the day. Both of them find people to care about - each other, as well as Knuckles and Sonic respectively.

But y'know, there wasn't a lot of ambiguity about who the heroes were in the Hero Story itself. Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles are pretty clearly The Good Guys, and nothing they do is really questioned because they're always fighting The Bad Guys.

So what I'm seeing here is an opportunity for Team Sonic to not be totally in the right for once. Yes, it's good to stop Shadow from going on a rampage and destroying the world, but look at who they're keeping for company here. G.U.N? Robotnik and Agent Stone? As if either of those groups are trustworthy enough to not stab them in the backs as soon as it's convenient. As if they're not going to find some way to exploit Sonic for their benefit.

And frankly, Shadow is totally in the right to hate G.U.N, and Team Sonic for working with them. Given that his backstory seems to be largely unchanged, it's kind of impossible not to be on board with him fighting the protagonists at least a little bit.

Besides, I don't think it's a coincidence that Shadow is doing the wrong thing for the right reason, while Sonic is doing the right thing with the wrong people (and maybe also for the wrong reason). That has the potential to be very clever if executed well.

I can only imagine the dawning horror on Sonic's face as he realizes just how much he's not on the right side of this conflict; when he learns about what happened to Maria and everyone else on the Ark. Especially if Tom's family was involved in it, like the current popular theory going around.

Also, last-second realization: what if there's something more to that line from Tom, "it wasn't always easy, but you didn't change who you are in here"? Most likely it's going to be used as a way to show how Shadow is different from Sonic, because he did change who he was in response to trauma and it'll be really poetic when he "finds himself" again

But also, consider: maybe Sonic does end up changing throughout the movie. Maybe he does something that goes against his core principles in order to get an advantage in some way, and they kind of play around with the idea that Sonic is similar to Shadow in ways that aren't always flattering to either of them. I want those hedgehogs to make each other worse before they get better

In any case, there's a lot of potential here, and I'm very curious to see what they ended up going with

[serxinns]

Hero's await but a deadly fate...

Yandere villian au x reader (potential series?) This is a rewritten verison

A/n note: this is a rewritten and sort of continuation to the story "Heros vs villains" by @Msmimianime all the credit amd concept go to her so please support! They're making new stories!

Summary: y/n is a pro hero in her early 20s a few years ago she found out about her classmates, teachers, and even some of the students has been in on this as well and working with the LOV!! and now a few years later you are the guardian of Eri by the hero commission and also hide from your past and a bunch of psychopaths!!

Wake up....

You kept running with a crying distressed 6-year-old sobbing in your back wondering what was going on... you trying to ignore the protest from your classmates and running by the confusing teachers seeing you run but quickly chasing after you

Wake up..

your head turned back seeing your former classmate and friend Izuku and his gang who were also your former classmates chasing after you begging you to stop and let them explain their selves your teachers their quicks to retrain you midnight with her smoke, Aizawa desperately aimed his capture weapon towards the two of you and mic telling you to stop but you didn't listen to anything they had to say you just had one goal to run to the police..

WAKE UP

"Nagh!!" You bolted up awake you saw Eri already in her school uniform glaring at you "Uh...I'm sorry.?" "You have been twisting and turning in your bed for the past 30 minutes! We got 20 mins or I'll be late" Eri puffed her cheeks out "Sorry bud I'll get ready in a jiffy" You ruffled her head and went past her to get your clothes and take a quick shower "You had that dream didn't you?" You stopped in your tracks in silence looking back to Eri worried and concerned with a soft smile "Yeah..I'll probably take something of these nightmares don't stop" you said as you walked down the hall to take a shower

After a quick shower, you quickly put on your shoes and your work uniform made breakfast for Eri and you, and went out the door and into the car...

Timeskip cause I want to

When you to work a few people stared at you with pity and confusion and worry you were confused why until you looked at the news "The famous hero known as "a puppeteer" died at the hands of the villain Izuku Midoriya and his group called the "Dekusquad" at the back of the alley in the most brutal way to go too!" You flinched when you heard those names and pictures pop up on the screen

Ochako uraraka

Asui Tsuyu

Tenya iida

Shoto Todoroki

Momo yaoyorozu

Izuku Midoriya

You stared in fear knowing that they were still out there free...ready to get their hands on you ... watching "y/n.."...waiting.her .."y/n!" Taunting you like you were some kid and waiting to nab you and snatch you-"y/n! You finally snapped out of it looking around and it was your co-worker and good friend Mirko "you ok kiddo?" She looked at you concerned "yea yea! I'm fine I'm fine!" Her worried expression quickly turned into a smile "Great! Cause me and you have a new mission we're gonna do and it involves catching dangerous villains tomorrow"

"...what?" "Yep! These villains have been killing heroes from left to right" She dropped the files of each villain their crimes, the place they've been and went to when they killed their victims and victims' bodies evidence, and more each of them having the names you knew very well unfortunately

Katsuki bakugo

Kirishima eljirou

Mina ashido

Denki Kaminari

Sero hanta

Jirou kyouka

"They also have a group..?" "Yes a group just like the "dekusquad" are apparently and it seems like most of your former classmates and teachers, the most powerful 3rd years, and even some of the 1b teachers and his students, and the LOV is also associated with this as well.." You grabbed every file to observe to see if what Mirko said was all true and a sudden chill went up your spine.

Seeing all the names and pictures of your once best friends and mentors being monsters and people becoming their victims all because of your "protection" in their vocabulary, you flipped over each page on each file seeing the names "Mei hastune, Hitoshi Shinso, Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu, Ibara Shiozaki, Aizawa Shouta, midnight, thirteen, present mic, and more it was so disturbing.. so sickening that they would do this just for you!?

The paper you were holding was crumbling up in your grip shaking in anger confusion in frustration you didn't know why. Why would they do this to you why are they hurting innocent people just for your thoughts and questions were running through your head "y/n.." Mirko grabbed your shoulder and looked at you sympathetically

"You know why don't you go home for the day it's already close to closing time.." Mirko said, "No really I do I can help nothing bothering me!" "Are you sure? Cause this seems like a very dangerous mission and you're already a tar-" "No I can do it im mentally and physically capable plus I trained with you and Hawks right beside me right?" The bunny hero sighed and looked straight at your face "I'll think about it but please get some rest.. tomorrow PLENTY OF IT" you chuckled and rolled your eyes at her stern tone "fine fine!"

You went out the door in your car humming to yourself unaware that an certain someone was watching you giggling to herself with cat like eyes

[flicklikesstuff]

Hazbin Hotel Ep 8 Ramble and Theory

⚠️ SPOILERS!! ⚠️

Surprisingly, the show’s first season really got me hooked with its storyline and I can’t wait what’s in store for the upcoming season 2.

I’ve had my suspicions with Alastor since the pilot, and it just keeps growing with every episode. Even then, his real motivations are just hard to really see and it’s what makes his character intriguing. One moment, he’s lurking in the shadows like some sort of villain, and then the next, we see him maaaybe caring for his friends?? If he even considers them that. Idk 🤷

I’ve always thought that maybe he’s sticking around and playing nice to get Charlie’s guard down in the long run. Waiting for her to get desperate so he can strike a deal with her. So he could ask her for any favour in the future. And guess what? That’s what he exactly does in Ep 7.

And if I’m recalling correctly, Alastor helped Charlie with the war, but Charlie is yet to grant her own end of the deal. Alastor STILL is owed a favour from her.

(Where am I going with this theory and analysis? I’m getting there-)

At one point, maybe he did genuinely care for the hotel and the people in it. Regardless what his motives were. He even admits it’s a “surprising thrill” to watch them form connections. But the word choices he uses in this scene are just sooo…weird?

“Almost??” “Could get accustomed??”

It sounds like he admits feeling attached to the other characters but at the same time, doesn’t want to commit to it. Does he have far more nefarious intentions in mind for them and that’s why he’s so distant?

Alastor probably noticed this in the ending of Ep 8 too. His altruistic self almost got control of him. He almost risked his life to help his “friends.” And he didn’t like that one bit. Perhaps, he sees this trait as a weakness.

It really sounds like the verse“Great Alastor Altruist died” is equal to him stating that “there’s no more Mr. Nice Guy” from now on. He’s disconnecting and staying firm to whatever his highly vague motives are. And it’s highly likely that whatever’s holding him back from his full power is the deal he made itself. And he’s going to try anything to get out of it. Maybe that’s the reason why he approached Charlie in the first place.

And I’m going back to Charlie’s deal with him here. The only condition she has is that she won’t harm anyone for him. But knowing Alastor, he’s going to twist the words a bit there. Maybe he won’t harm them physically. But maybe in some other way. Indirectly. One that Charlie won’t see in the long run. Maybe he uses this one favour to help him break free of this deal or loosen it in some way.

And Charlie already has so much trust in him after the battle, she most likely won’t see it coming. It’s perfect.

(Not exactly sure how these soul contracts work buuut, she’s the princess right? Maybe she’s powerful enough to do smth about it? Maybe that’s why Alastor was so interested to gain her trust and potentially free himself?)

…….

But anyway! Onto the second part of my theory!

Alastor’s probably going to optimise his one chance of freedom through Charlie’s owed favour. But I have a feeling he’s not only going to use just Charlie.

Who else is at the hotel that the other main cast members trust? Who he could freely command under his control? To show up at his will? Answer his beck and call? Whose souls that Alastor owns?

I swear. It is NO ACCIDENT that these two were standing side by side. NEXT TO ALASTOR. In the ending. (Or maybe I’m overanalysing, but whatever. This is MY ramble)

When Alastor comes back from the “dead”, everyone was happy to see him. Especially Charlie. And surprisingly Vaggie? I guess she’s warming up to him. Idk if that’s good or not.

Everyone except Lucifer and Husk. Lucifer’s still bitter on the whole ‘dad’ thing. But I just really felt sooo bad for Husk here. 😂 My guy had maybe a few happy hours of what he thought was freedom. Then he sees this guy come back and he’s just: “Ahhhh… SHT-!”

Now I’m just saying, I don’t think Alastor can just casually go up to Charlie and just easily demand that favour. Especially now that Lucifer might be staying around(?) Also, Alastor sounds like someone who would strategically play the long run if it means benefits. Albeit, less truly altruistic than before since that approach almost costed him highly.

He’s maybe going to have to pull some strings to really make Charlie feel like she HAS to do him a favour. To better solidify his chances and so she’s less likely to be hesitant/reluctant/suspicious. After all, Alastor is only owed ONE FAVOUR. Maybe he’ll pull some strings to win over Lucifer’s own trust too so he won’t be stopping Charlie? (I’m not sure, these two are not in good terms.)

(Look me in the eyes and tell me this is the face of someone who’s definitely not going to use this hotel for his own personal gain. Things are going to start getting ugly with Alastor’s new approach. I’m also still like 80% sure these 3 characters are placed together for a reason. It CANNOT be a complete coincidence, right?)

Now I’m really curious how Husk and Niffty would react under this sudden new approach. The angst potential here is smelling strong. It’s obvious that they’re starting to get highly attached to the hotel and really consider the others as friends. Something Alastor didn’t allow himself to.

And it’s not like they have a voice in the matter either. No matter what Alastor tells them to do to secretly manipulate things around the place so he’ll appear like he’s “helping out more.”

Who knows really? What kind of errands he’ll force them to do? “Mr. Nice Guy” is really no longer an option here. That guy is dead. Adam killed him.

And all at the same time, Alastor wouldn’t be breaking Charlie’s condition. He’s not making her hurt anyone at all. Just helping a good old pal, who’s done so much for her, to maybe loosen the constraints his deal has. Or whatever else he wants, I don’t fcking know-

(But Srsly though. The angst??? Niffty and Alastor are fond with each other, but Niffty is also starting to like her new friends too. Will that create some sort of rift? Niffty actually being hesitant??

And don’t even get me STARTED on Huskerdust. Like wtf-? Husk has already stepped out of line before and it left him completely shaken. What else could he do? And a heartbroken Angel finding out he’s behind all this when Husk is the first person to truly reach out to him? Husk not being able to meet his gaze out of guilt?? THE FCK-???)

Yeaaaahhh, can’t wait what Season 2 has for us all….

Remember fellas, this is just a theory. A Hazbin theory! :))

[cellsshapedlikestars]

Don’t worry about answering this is you don’t want to. I know you don’t like fandom wank. But, if you feel like it, do you think someone could make those endpoints work? Bran as king and Jon at the Wall even though there’s a big old hole in it and Dany deliberately burning King’s Landing before Jon or Arya kills her, is that an ending any writer, no matter their skill, could sell to the hardcore fans? I don’t think the fandom would accept it even if GRRM wrote it.

lololol I deleted my post already anon, so for those of you who didn't read it - I was once again whining about how d&d fucked up the last bunch of seasons and every character. it's not a new take, just something I was high thinking in the shower, so I deleted it bc it wasn't productive.

But I'll answer this, because I think it's interesting.

In short - no.

(Beneath the cut for a longer explanation and just a whole bunch of my ranty thoughts. pls remember I am no asoiaf scholar and I haven't studied every aspect of the books or read every meta. These are just my opinions.)

Longer - at this point, too much time has gone by, there is literally no way George can please... probably even half of his fanbase, no matter what he does. From what I can tell, the fandom too divided and there's so much hatred between stan groups (which I do find ridiculous, but it is what it is). People have cemented their own ending in their heads after decades of the fandom existing without an official ending, and I can see a lot of them not liking that they're wrong. Some people have spent 30 years with their theories, it's sunk cost fallacy. Case in point, the show ending being written off as fanfiction by a lot of fans.

which, tangent, I get. I GET why d stans don't believe the ending, because it was so poorly executed. I truly do understand their denial, because the show gaslit the audience for soooooo long that she was the girlboss hero and then seemed to do a 180 at the end. What was that post I just reblogged the other day? I don't hate villains, I hate when the narrative tries to convince you the bad person is actually good.

now, you asked if anyone could make those endpoints work, but I don't actually think most of them are the real endpoints? I think they were D&D giving up and not trying, or going for Shock Value™. But for fun, I'm gonna go by endpoints I think are most to least likely, and my thoughts on how they could happen and how D&D fucked them up.

Bran as king: Confirmed by grrm. How he'll make this work, I have no idea. I genuinely didn't see it coming tbh. I thought the "bittersweet" ending would be Jon being forced to take the crown in KL. like it's a good ending for everyone else, but for him it's misery. I'm sure grrm has his plans, and I'd be interested to see how he pulls it off. This end point does not disappoint me and I'm not mad at being wrong, but I can see a HUGE swath of people HATING it. specifically D stans.

D&D blew this hard. They cut Bran out of an entire season, making him seem to the audience like a lesser character and not important. They made him a robot. Why am I rooting for show!Bran? Also, I will never, ever get over that line - who has a better story than Bran the Broken? I don't know Tyrion, literally everyone else?? JON DIED AND CAME BACK TO LIFE. ahem.

(as far as I'm aware, Bran as king is the only ending grrm has confirmed?? correct me if I'm wrong.)

D as the big bad: I guess grrm hasn't officially confirmed this, but... he's sort of confirmed it, riiiiight? He compared dragons to nuclear weapons. The show has her as the villain (poorly executed or not). When I gave hotd a shot, literally the opening lines were about the Targs bringing themselves down immediately after name dropping her. Seems pretty solid to me. D&D just refused to commit to her villain arc because they didn't want to alienate their audience that they'd gaslit into thinking she was the hero, and they were seemingly obsessed with Shock Value™ twists.

Dany burning KL: I think the burning of KL is going to happen, and it seems like Dany is the only one to really do it? Unclear how it will happen, I'm sure people have theories. What the show didn't have was Aegon, so who knows how he'll factor in.

Arya sailing west: I think there's a lot of foreshadowing for it. It fits her nature. I think this is very likely to happen and I guess D&D handled it ok. They did ruin her character, though, by making her a literal mass murderer. But yayyyyyy feminism I guess.

Theon sacrificing himself for Bran: Theon's was the only arc I think the show did well. They ruined it at the end by having Theon literally throw himself onto the Night King's sword, which was so fucking stupid, but the arc itself is poignant and fits his character. While he can't ever redeem himself to Robb, he can redeem himself to Robb's siblings, and considering he once pretended to kill Bran, I think this is solid.

Cersei and Jaime dying together: this was my theory even before the show ending, and I think it fits their characters. They cannot live without each other, no matter if they hate each other. They're too deeply entwined in each other. Now, I personally wanted Cersei to be taken captive and put in the black cells to be publicly burned later, and then Jaime shows up and mercy kills her and then himself bc he can't live without her.

But I guess getting bonked on the head by some avoidable rocks is also a way to do it

Sansa as QitN: I'll be honest and say I hated this ending because she ended up alone. Sansa, who has wanted nothing more than family and safety since book 1, ends up completely alone. Even Brienne, her sworn shield, leaves her. but she's a queen, so yayyyy feminism I guess.

I can see her as queen, but I can also see her ending up as queen regent for Rickon, because I'm not totally convinced Rickon dies? like in the show he just randomly shows up and gets captured by Ramsay and it just feels like that isn't his arc in the books. Maybe I'm wrong. But I could see D&D having the endpoint of Sansa as regent, but they killed Rickon off already for Shock Value™, and so they went oops! and made her queen.

Now, there is a part of me that thinks she will not be queen or queen regent, because how does one break off and declare independence from their own brother? Feels like that would destabilize his rule and not give people much faith in him. It just seems really strange to me, but I guess it could happen, since Northern Independence is such a huge theme and it would be weird if it didn't happen?? Does Bran just let her secede? And it doesn't make Dorne or the Iron Islands try.... That's the part in the show that literally did not make sense to me. Sansa was like bye, I'm taking the north, and no one else spoke up about that.

I'd be totally fine with her as queen (if she has someone!!) but I can see a gooooood chunk of the fandom absolutely hating this. surprise.

Brienne as Kingsguard: while I like it for narrative purposes, because she deserves it, I just can't see her leaving Sansa, if she becomes as close to Sansa as she does on the show? If Sansa is queen, I could see her as Sansa's Queensguard. But what does she have in KL? The south didn't ever respect her, why would she want to go back. I think D&D put this in so they could have the ending shot of her writing in the book about Jaime for the shippers

Jon at the Wall: the only reason he went to the Wall in the show was because Grey Worm demanded it? And then left. So. You know, real enforceable. So stupid. Genuinely the worst writing of all the endings, I think, the logic made zero sense there. Now, that could be because they'd written themselves into a corner, but knew Jon ended up at the Wall, and had to force it?

But to me, it's like - what was the point of his resurrection, then? In the show, he doesn't even kill the Night King (we'll get to that). He kills D, sure, but... He's also the reason she succeeds in Westeros to begin with. So what, he gets resurrected, causes havoc, fixes the havoc he caused, and then is sent away to a Wall that serves no purpose anymore? WHAT PURPOSE DOES THE WALL SERVE. The Others are defeated, there's a big ol' hole in it, and they've allied with the Free Folk to an extent. How does the Watch continue on?

I guess he could self-banish. I know the show sort of makes the implication that he goes off with the Free Folk, but in the books, he doesn't really like FF culture? He's appalled by a lot of the violence in it. I can't see him wanting to live that way.

Brai.me: don't get me wrong, I like Brai.me. I think it's cute, in fanon. In canon, I think Brienne is too good for him. I don't see their relationship going romantic or sexual. I think Brienne is who Jaime desperately wants to be (but Cersei is who he keeps being pulled back to). Them having sex was 100% for the shippers

Jo/ner.ys: I'm putting all the punctuation in that. don't need them finding me somehow. Anyway. I don't think this happens, at least not as a true romance. They're on opposite continents and there's not a ton of time left, but more than that - and I know I've said this before - I can't see Jon "hates seeing people burned alive" Snow falling in love with D "loves to burn people alive" T. Could it be a political thing? Maybe, but I also could see her having an alliance with Aegon.

I think there's 2 possible reasons for this being in the show and presented as an actual romance. 1) it was supposed to be that pol!Jon theory, but they chickened out (same with jonsa & a love triangle, I think they chickened out bc of the incest. I think now with hotd being incest central and fans loving it, they wouldn't balk anymore). 2) just the spectacle of it? people have been theorizing this for years, why not give it to them? see above, brai.me

Tyrion as Hand: bleh. I know the fandom loves him and he was clearly D&D's fave, but grrm has said Tyrion is the most morally gray character, and I can't see him letting Tyrion get everything he's always wanted, you know? People think asoiaf is grimdark, but I can't imagine grrm punishing Jon with banishment while giving Tyrion a cushy position with lots of power.

I've read the theory that Tyrion ends up at the Wall, which I like thematically, but again, WHAT PURPOSE DOES THE WALL SERVE. Is it just a penal colony at that point?? someone smarter than me, tell me.

Grey Worm & Missandei condoning/encouraging D: hated it. Take the only characters of color to have speaking lines (i'm 99% sure) in the last season and turn them vengeful and murderous (especially grey worm). Throw their characters under the bus to absolve D of blame

Arya killing the Night King: no. he doesn't exist in the books, first, and even in the show it made zero narrative sense. It was just a Shock Value™ twist. You thought it was gonna be hero Jon, hmmmmmm? WRONG. I've said it on here before, but my hope is that it's Sam that brings down the Others in the book somehow.

.

Did I forget anything, anon? This probably veered wildly from the point of the ask, but oh well, it was fun. (I had a jonsa section in here at first, but then I remembered this is show canon ending stuff and that was not canon sorry fellow jonsas. I obvioulsy want it to be the ending bc the shipper brainrot is real, buuuuuut...)

[twistedtummies2]

The Price May Be Right - Number 4

Welcome to “The Price May Be Right!” I’ve been counting down My Top 31 Favorite Vincent Price Performances & Appearances! The countdown will cover movies, TV productions, and many more forms of media. We’re getting closer to the end now… Today we focus on Number 4: Prince Prospero, from Masque of the Red Death.

Alongside “Comedy of Terrors,” this is quite possibly my favorite Vincent Price movie of all time. It is, without any doubt, my favorite entry in the Corman-Poe Cycle of features from AIP. Combining elements of the titular story with another tale from Poe, “Hop-Frog” (here referred to as “Hop-Toad,” presumably so the character doesn’t sound like a children’s game), “Masque of the Red Death” is easily the most thought-provoking and philosophical of all the Poe movies. It’s a film that seems less interested in outright scaring you, and more interested in posing a lot of interesting and unnerving questions. It’s a film about faith, corruption, mortality, ethics, and karmic justice, and the way it presents its different themes and ideas is still just as interesting today as it was back when it was made. In fact, in some ways, I would argue this movie is stronger than it ever was before. Released in 1964 – the year after “Comedy of Terrors” – the story focuses on Price’s character, Prince Prospero. The Prince is the cruel and sadistic ruler of some unknown province in Italy, and the leader of a Satanic cult. When a plague known as the Red Death – which makes people sweat blood till they die from exsanguination – strikes his kingdom, Prospero summons all the members of his cult to his palace, and locks them all away inside his castle to try and escape the plague. Also involved is a young lady named Francesca, whom Prospero kidnaps after her father and fiancé each try to stand up to him. Prospero has all three brought to his castle, to try and devise some unusual punishment for the two men, all while he tries to teach Francesca the truth of the world, as he sees it. Prospero is a truly fascinating villain. In some ways, he is one of the most evil characters Price ever played: he is callous to the core, willing to stab virtually anyone in the back and showing neither pity nor remorse for any of the evil acts he commits. When people who think themselves his friends die either directly or indirectly due to his actions, he shows no recognition of the relationship they used to share. But at the same time, there is a deeper philosophy at work with him: Prospero’s belief is that people are inherently wicked, and that the world is a cruel place of injustice and despair. He believes that God is dead, and that Satan already rules the universe. So, he behaves in a manner he believes would please Satan, just the way any Christian tries to behave in a manner they believe would please God. There are glimmers of something less than totally evil inside Prospero, however. He seems to value true innocence, in a backwards sort of way, and shows respect for anyone who can match the fervor of his own horrible faith. His relationship with Francesca is truly intriguing: it’s a sort of twisted and warped take on “Beauty and the Beast,” as Prospero admires Francesca’s faith and purity. And it is true admiration: when one of his allies suggests he enjoys corrupting her, Prospero replies, “Not corrupting…instructing.” At the same time, while Francesca is frightened of Prospero and appalled by his actions, she does come to have a sense of understanding towards him and his cynical outlook on the world. She is the closest thing to love Prospero has ever felt, and he is someone she realizes is more than just a monster. Prospero also shows other signs of right thinking: he refuses to harm children, and whenever he kills people who might be afflicted with the red death, he seems to consider it a mercy. In my opinion, Prospero is one of the greatest movie villains of all time; an underappreciated cinematic titan of tyranny that really deserves more credit. And it’s just as much a testament to Price as an actor, as well as the writing and direction, that he is such a uniquely depraved and yet intriguing character. Vincent plays the character absolutely pitch perfect, rarely hamming anything up too much (I say “rarely” because…well…it’s Vincent Price), and giving Prospero an elegance and calculating intellectuality that belies his more sinister qualities. He balances the character’s vulnerabilities and cruel heartlessness splendidly, so that we do come to empathize with Prospero, despite his unholy and horrid ways. When this villain meets his defeat, it is satisfying, yet also saddening. That is a sign you have created a truly magnificent evildoer. Tomorrow, the countdown enters the Top 3!

[imissthembutitwasntadisaster]

Christmas update on my best girl Lailah? If there's anything more to tell, you know

Lailah, the story that this is referencing.

The problem with Lailah is that I very firmly believe that her story is best left open ended - is it a tragedy? Does she survive? Who knows!!! So unfortunately I couldn't give you anything solid as a story per se, but I hope this works? I really enjoyed writing it.

The world ended, but you knew that already.  You’re not new to this, are you? It’s good to see you alive, it’s always good to see you alive.  I hope the winter hasn’t been too cold, I hope the heels of your shoes haven’t worn through.  Mine have but it’s fine, I’ll stitch them up no worries.  Anyway, back to the end of the world. 

I’m sure you know the drill by now.  In the aftermath you’ll find, dotted all over this island, what used to be a country but isn’t anymore, hospitals, office buildings, shopping malls, service stations, all converted into homes for those left behind (although by now most of them are second or third generation, it’s been a while since the end, you see).  People grew, they changed, they gave birth and died, they settled down and formed new communities.  And twisted among these people, snaking through the buildings like wind whispers, like threads of courage, are the stories.  Thousands of stories, repeated over and over until they lose one meaning and gain another.  The heart-blood of the survivors.  Usually I’d tell you one now, something steadfast and winding that might give you hope.  But today I’m afraid I don’t have anything solid, just rumours and gossip.  Not the sorts of things people would tell at firesides, but the short accounts they toss around at midday in the five minutes of rest before they have to be somewhere. 

One community of survivors arose in what used to be a shopping centre.  They call it the Hollows and it used to be under a cruel and vicious leadership.  One dictator rose and terrorized his people for years, spewing bile and blood and rage.  He fell at the hands of another, perhaps less brutal but still ruthless, still merciless.  Like a villain in a children’s book.  Eventually the people rose up against her, unable to live one more day without living, and she was run out of town.  That’s all we know for sure. 

A number of hunters say they killed that Evil Queen as she fled from them, left her body in the woods.  No one knows if they’re telling the truth or not. 

Some say the she got away, that she ran fast enough to escape them all (some even say she did it through magic and more people believe it then you might think).  She’s hiding somewhere now, plotting her revenge.  Parents tell their kids not to go out too far, otherwise she might jump out from the bushes and snatch them and eat them all up.  Some get scared by that but most children just laugh.   

Others, older, who were there when she was in charge, just shrug their shoulders.  They don’t know if she’s alive and they don’t care.  They threw her out once, they say, they can do it again if she comes back.  If she doesn’t, all the better.  She should be getting pretty old now herself anyway, if no one lets her in she won’t be able to enter.    

Sometimes rumours come from the north.  They talk about a woman at a sanctuary that used to be a hospital, a woman who looks very much like an old tyrant.  They say she’s happy now, that she draws little cartoons for the children, that she weeps a lot and laughs more, that she is quiet and kind and has secrets in her eyes that she will take to the grave.  They say if you ask she’ll just tell you that she’s trying to be better, that she’s trying to do better.  They say they’ve heard her thanking God and all that’s good that she managed to hang onto something decent inside her, she doesn’t know how but she did. 

But others say they’ve been there and never saw her there, never even heard of her. 

(If anyone remembers her real name, they don’t say it.)

I’m the teller, so I say she made it there, I say she’s happy.  I say her plan was liberation all along, to incite the people to free themselves.  After all, she used to illustrate children’s books, she knew the importance of a good villain.  She wrote a story of freedom and strength and rebellion that will be told for decades to come.  I think she gets a happy ending for that.  At the hospital her hands have finally started to feel clean again, she has forgotten how it feels to hold a gun, how it feels to wield power over those weeping terrified before her.  She has nightmares often, but her days are peaceful.  She can’t help in rebuilding the houses surrounding the Building much anymore, her back hurts too much now, but she paints the walls when she can and still cries over colours.  She had to build a world out of black and white, you see, had to fight to make sure no one ever saw the grey.  Shades still take her by surprise. 

But that’s just what I think, and there are thousands who would disagree with me.  She’s dead, they say, or gone, or evil, and really what evidence do you have she was even trying to be good? And even if she were, what evidence do you have that she managed to keep a hold of it? How does someone keep their soul when they do all that? It’s hardly possible, not here, not now.  It’s the end of the world, why do you keep telling stories about good things happening? Remember, much more awful has happened here than good, this is a tragedy more than it is anything.  Do you really understand what that means? Do you understand what has been lost? For all it is dressed up in flowery language and fancy metaphor, the fact is billions died, they are dead and gone and people screamed for them and are screaming still.  Their corpses are rotting.  The weeping in the night will never truly fade.  That’s what they say. 

Look, I’m sorry, I know it’s not much of a story but we’re both busy and there’s not time for a real story, not tonight.  And really my point is this, when I say the world has ended do you really think about what that means?  So much of what we take for granted is just what we make, what we choose to build into a world and now look, it’s shattered like ice.  We’re lost and frightened and so often horribly alone.  Things change faster than we can understand, we’re not made for it, not for this sorrow, not for this grief.  But we have to live through it somehow and we do.  So really that’s the point, that’s the choice: the story is yours.  You’re standing here looking at a barren broken world, at a planet with a hole at its centre.  Someone has to fill it up again, someone has to put something in it.  The story isn’t necessarily what happened, what happened is just facts.  The story is what’s true.  Do you want her to be wicked and cruel? Do you want her to have died alone in the woods? Or do you want her to have survived? Do you want her to have had a plan for goodness all along? Do you want there to be kindness hidden at the heart of it?

Then go tell a story that says that, go build a world in which it can be true.  It’s the end of the world and you’re still listening, that means it can be the beginning of one too.  Despite it all. 

[pupkinpumpkin]

FNAF Movie Cast spoilers! If you care about that! I don't but some of you probably do!

Ok ok ok so I've been scrolling through Tumblr due to the wonderful news that FNAF is finally getting a movie!! So, people have obviously been talking about what that movie might entail, and it's possible someone's already explained my thoughts but I'd like to put them out there because they're driving me crazy

So I was scrolling and I saw a user mention that they really hope William Afton and Mike Schmidt are related like in the games, because of that sweet sweet Afton drama and that made me think, "Oh shit ya, I really want that too, but they don't have the same last name, weird" so if they don't have the same last name, that brings in the potential that they aren't related, which sucks because it'd be so interesting to see the Afton family interact!

I mean, they kinda look similar! I'm no face expert, but they do share a similar smile.

Of course I do believe that the movie is going with their own timeline mostly, but I do believe it'll answer some of our questions! Anyway, so I believe I have a theory (A game film theory) about what's going down, but that leads me into my next tangent.

So, who is Mary Stuart Masterson playing? It says female villain, but can we try and figure that out using meta logic beforehand? I have 4 theories

1. She is Mrs. Afton.

Now I kinda do and don't like this one, so let me explain. The title says "female villain" so the movie wants to keep it hush hush on who she is exactly, which means she is some sort of plot twist villain, she's someone we don't know at all, or someone we know little about, just like Mrs. Afton. This actually explains the Schmidt Afton difference. It's possible that Mrs. Afton's maiden name is Schmidt, she divorces William, and changes her kids' last name in the process. Now both Abby (which we all know is an anagram for Baby, come one) and Mike are named Schmidt, so unless Mike has a daughter for some reason, they are most likely siblings, being the in universe Michael and Elizabeth. If we go by this theory, we can assume that the Crying Child incident still happened, causing Afton and his wife to divorce, she takes the kids in the process because he's a psychopath, changes her name back to Schmidt along with her kids, and she gets some of the franchise in the divorce, leading her to want to get revenge on Afton for ruining their family with his animatronics by manipulating the animatronics into attacking security guards so the place never gets restored or revamped. This leads her into being a sympathetic villain, even though this theory is hurt a bit by the fact that if William Afton is a villain, which he probably is, then it makes little sense for the movie to have two villains which are actively against each other plus why would she put her son in danger? I do like this because it gives us Afton lore and drama but it also makes Mrs. Afton a villain, putting hate on her and less on William, which I'm not sure I like.

Leading me to my next point

2. This female villain is Vanny/an animatronic.

This one I like less to be honest. The cast already has a Vanessa, so why would they separate Vanessa from Vanny? What would they gain by doing that weird twist? If this female villain is an animatronic, who is it and why do they get a bigger role? It's most likely not Golden Freddy, since it's much more likely a child plays that role, and putting in a new animatronic would be weird. Even if we guess Springtrap will be in the movie, why would a woman play him instead of Matthew Lillard and that doesn't get rid of Mary Stuart Masterson being called "Female villain" unless they genderbend Springtrap for some reason.

I'm actually now thinking she might voice The Puppet which is an entirely new can of worms which I haven't thought about. It makes sense the puppet would want to attack someone in the FNAF restaurant, the puppet can manipulate the animatronics to do her bidding, this movie doesn't follow all the FNAF lore, so it's possible that they just get rid of the Charlie aspect. Ok I literally just thought of this so feel free to dispute me about this because I haven't thought of it clearly yet

3. This female villain is a person we've never seen before.

This is probably the most likely option in my opinion. What I'm thinking is if this is a stand alone movie, with it's own universe and only some true ties to the game series, then they could go with the classic 'Manager or boss who seems kinda nice but they're either a bit sus or too nice and then BOOM at the end they were behind it all along!' trope. It's possible this female villain is just a manager who works or used to work in Freddy Fazbear's, has some vendetta, and uses Mike to obtain or do something for their own benefit, planning to leave him to die while they succeed in their goal. This does introduce the problem of "Why is this random chick the villain if we've never even met her before?" But it also makes sense for the movie to do this if this movie isn't too close to FNAF's universe.

All in all, I think the "We've never met this female villain" and "Its Mrs. Afton" are the most viable of the 4 theories, but they still have their problems and I'm completely open to these theories being absolutely torn apart, which they probably will if we get more trailers explaining what's going on, I just really want to talk about FNAF and my head is buzzing with ideas! Feel completely free to talk about these with me in the comments, I'm just super excited for this movie (and Security Breach Ruins, but that's a different rant)

[presidentstalkeyes]

In which I take Metal Gear lore and shove it into Psychonauts (Spoiler warning!):

Now, I've never played any of the Metal Gear games, but what I have been doing is reading a lot about Psycho Mantis, AKA Tretij Rebenok, and the nature of his psychic powers. As a child, his telepathy was so strong - and his own sense of self was so weak, being a child and all - that he was basically controlled against his will by others with strong emotions, particularly hatred. This came about after he discovered via his telepathy that his own father hated him and lashed out in a fit of rage, burning down his whole village, which I assume is what spurred on his 'emotional deadness' as a sort of defence mechanism. As an adult, he clawed back some independence and tried to use his powers for good by working as an investigator for the FBI, only to wind up adopting the personality of a serial killer after trying to read their mind, becoming the sadistic, kill-happy villain Solid Snake meets and ultimately kills in self-defence.

Given all the headcanons about Raz having a sense of hyper-empathy and how that contributes to the way he learns and utilizes his powers, I feel like something similar to what happened with Mantis is a very present danger in the Psychonauts-verse and why psychics like Sasha and Hollis place such high importance on self-control.

In particular, it might go a long way towards explaining how Lucrecia and Coach Oleander turned out. In Lucy's case, Ford mentions the experiments that the Psychic 7 performed 'unlocked every door in their minds', which I imagine involved heightening their connection to the Collective Unconscious and thus, their sense of empathy - and given the headcanons about Raz's hyper-empathy, it's possible Lucy's was already high to begin with. So when she went back to Grulovia and got involved with the Gzar, she found herself unwittingly getting deep into the Gzar's headspace and allowing his own personality traits to override her own - something she only snapped out of after the Valermo Dam disaster, at which point it was mixed up with the rage and despair of the thousands of Grulovians affected by the disaster. Not understanding where it came from, *that* became her new default mindset. In a twisted kind of way, she was lashing out against *herself* more than anyone else, the rest of Grulovia just got caught in the crossfire.

Then there's Oleander - I imagine one effect of the Psitanium at Whispering Rock was that it 'captured' the thoughts and emotions of everyone around it, and stronger negative feelings tended to overpower more positive ones. This effect was self-reinforcing, as people affected by it fed back into it and made it even stronger, and over time it became so strong that even non-psychics were affected, reaching its worst point when the asylum was founded. The Psychonauts managed to 'contain' it by sealing it under that glass floor, but it was still there. When Morry came along, over a hundred years' worth of anger, sadness and confusion reacted with all his pre-existing traumas and insecurities to, again, basically override his sense of self and turn him into a conduit for all those bad feelings.

Which also sorta explains why his world domination plan was so poorly thought out. How was he gonna get those brain tanks across the lake, again? :V

[theloniousbach]

BOOKS: SAYING NO TO AUTHORIAL HERO ABUSE!

I am within 150 pages of wrapping up Lawrence Block’s Matthew Scudder novels with the asterisk that there was a novel set early in the timeline that was published after this one as well as a collection of similarly situated stories and an “Autobiography of Matthew Scudder.” These are hard boiled detective stories set in NYC, a bit like the Parker/Spenser novels with the interesting twist that Scudder sobered up early on and stayed that way thanks to AA meetings. There’s moral ambiguity and violence but until, this point mostly, it’s been melodramatic enough to be bearable and, more importantly, I’m not reading them or any series for that. I like the arc of a series, how characters grow and the communities they inhabit. Brother Cadfael in his monastery, Steven Saylor’s Giodornaus the Finder, and, of course, the various Holmes pastiches that imagine him married/a father/subsidiary to his brother or The Woman, or, in one version, the protege of Charles Darwin with a brother and sister-in-law continuing brother Erasmus Darwin’s project of advising the Crown and parliament independent of whether Whigs or Tories from the government.

So it is with Block/Scudder and yet a foe is resurfacing and picking off people close to him and, already foreshadowed, is that at least one very very close to him will die. Will others? Will he? Will he be devastated and go back to drinking? I want to know those answers but I literally can’t look now.

I’ve set it aside and maybe I’ll reopen it on my Kindle some day.

I’ve started a series where the hero and her law partner are appealing, her clients vulnerable, and the villains are powerful, corrupt, ruthless, and from New Jersey. Two books in and the tension has given me pause. I’ve convinced myself that if I spread the remaining two out and then wait for the series to unfold as the books come out might make them a seasoning not a regular meal.

I am about to read the last book Ellen read in Patrick O’Brian’s Jack Aubrey/Stephen Maturin British Navy in the Napoleonic Wars/War of 1812. She stopped there, halfway through, for reasons she can’t remember specifically but hero abuse is probably right. But I’ve not reached that tense point yet.

I gave up on the Chronicles of St Mary historical research in real time (it’s not time travel) series because of what I would now call hero abuse and, like the New Jersey series and the sociopath menacing Matthew Scudder, an unrelenting evil.

Mysteries are meant to be cathartic and heroes can’t simply solve nice crimes unthreatened. Two recent sort of British cozy series have put their heroes, both women PhDs, through tense paces.

All this to say, I’m taking a break and probably not just from Lawrence Block. There are Arthur Lovejoy’s Raffles the Gentleman Thief stories on the kindle. That’s the immediate alternative. I’ve wanted to try Balzac, Stendahl, Zola, and, no longer a college student, Flaubert, but there’s the classics meets recovering English major problem. I’ve got a history of science book to review and teaching to shift back to.

Ah, yes, what about PG Wodehouse to the rescue?

[glngrbred]

LAZERHAWK IS ASS DUDE (Review from a grimdark apologist)

IK that those are some fighting words, but in a "few" sentances.

first off, this show is not worth your time. now, onto the potatos and shit

Grimdark mess that is purely self indulgent doomerism about omg wouldn't that suck, haha corporations bad, very cheap and obviouse "Twists* eyeroll level fanfic edgyness from Hawk**. representation that is, yes, better than having nothing BUT

More shows to be added later on the diagram

As the Gay representation Ven Diagram clearly shows, though Lazerhawk Allows it's characters to (occasionally) be happy, and be in Lead not Gay BFF roles, It fails to give these [characters fears, desires, relationship webs, or the necissary interests]*** to let us beleive that they are a real person. and therefor it fails at representing queer characters equally with its other characters.

However, something that is actually hillariouse, is LazerHawk forgets to do any sort of characterization to basically anyone OTHER THAN JADE! WHO THEY KILL IMIDIATELY???? even then, it still is inadequit in my opinion, as having characters merely interact for 2 seconds in a tv show is all you need for the basis of a relationship to form. Case in point, the bear, Fack and Sydney interact, once, maybe and that builds their entire relationship for the first season. you can easilly fit some type of effective relationship into your people with 2 lines of diolouge, with sara you could easily have had her not just be the skyrim NPC that gives you a quest by having her introduced earlier, having a reference to her somewhere to set up this character (Like Nimona's villains) or give her 1 meaningful relationship somewhere early. But Laserhawk instead spends 3 whole episode of filler to info dump grimdark worldbuilding instead of just making an effort in characterizing Hawk or Sara. you have another season to worldbuild, it takes 2 seconds to write characters, but all of the budget of this show was apearently spent making that gross pixelated rotoscope. So yeah, /rant over on the topic of character writing

*(sara turns evil 4 times or smthn. everyone who gets a staring roll in an episode is then set up to die, immidiately),

**(ther's a place for that type of character, but it stops working when there's nothing else in there besides exposition dumps. )

***( occaisionally not all listed are needed for beleivable likable hot gay guys.)

The show is a grimdark mess that can't help but try and make you take it seriously, so the writers rely on absurd plot twists that pile up into a mess of a narrative that fails to accurately depict a grimdark cyberpunk future.

The over reliance on character death isn't a problem at first glance, but once the cast is whittled down to 3 poorly developed and frankly 2 dimensional anti heros and villains (Ramon, Sara, Lazerhawk) The awful character writing really starts to show, and the freudian backstories become this uneccissary excuse for the writing wich frankly makes each character seem worse, and worse, and worse, until sara is UWU brainwashed villain who is a good liar (as in the show doesn't even try to depict manipulation and instead just doesn't even attempt to depict a manipulative character) Ramon is just fucking digital circus meme and crazy faild actor. 2 very easy tropes. And lazerhawk is sad boi who want vengance :(

there is no functional characterization that happens in this show, and it just makes what should be high impact deaths seem cheap, and the saving of other characters seem dull.

the fight scenes are pretty good though, and the varrying art styles are (mostly) good. The pixelated rotoscoping of the actors is frankly lazy and clearly just greenscreen through a filter. and for a show with this huge of a budget wich already attempts 3d integration it falls flat and makes episodes 4-6 (subjective) unwatchable for me.

Also just generally, I'm sick of grimdark, it's this mess of wannabe popular shows that just want to be cool to all the marvel fan general public guys who wanna get popular fast like a second GoT success story.

Review of show

writing 1/10. Poorly executed wannabe grimdark that thinks breaking tension is constituted by frog saying Juice or gay hotties kissing. insulting execution of this horrid attempt at representing genocide that makes me sick. infantalizes and removes agency from anyone who isnt a dominant culture hoe or MC. feels very, very individualist in they want everyone to feel like they're lazerhawk or they won't relate to our world. basically turning Hawk into a blank slate whose only character trate is pining after Alex.

animation 10/10. Amazing, only reason to watch this show besides the memes

visuals 5/10. Animation =/= visuals, and the actual editing, lighting "use" (they dont try, wont elaborate if you don't know what I mean), and character designs generally suck Frog and ramon good, everyone else feels like a cyberpunk trope

action 6/10. Mostly good, but after the~3rd moment where some fast MC runs around real fast it feels samey. carried by the amazing animation

Garbage show, just watch arcane again. Or like, Bee and puppycat after Ep.3

Final note YOU DONT NEED TO SEE THIS RANT

, Grimdark is a wonderful storytelling -tool- that can help explore worlds and societal structures and draw parralels to our own one. It is NOT HOWEVER A FUCKING SETTING???? LIKE NO? scifi DOOMER SHIT isn't THE POINT OF GRIMDARK IM GOING TO GO INSANE IF I HAVE TO TALK ABOUT THIS EVER. GRIMDARK. IS. NOT. A. SETTING. ITS A TOOL THAT IS USED POORLY OVER AND OVER AGAIN TO JUSTIFY BAD WRITING, BECAUSE "oh they sad because they live in bad place and time :( they dont have other feelings or motives :( they are only worthy of our engagement if they rebel :(" LIKE NO? THATS JUST BAD WRITING NOT SOME EDGY COOL THING????

grimdark, my beloved, you graced us with the worlds of (not) bladerunner and (not) Warhammer 40k and (also not) snowpeircer, but you sure as hell enterd the zeitgeist after people missunderstood the ENTIRE POINT OF YOU AS A WRITING FEATURE AND TURNED IT INTO AN EXTENTION OF CYBERPUNK DOOMER CLUBZ.

cincerely, someone who thinks people in midevil times, probably loved eachother, an lived happy, insular lives, and that NOT EVERY FUCKING THING HAS TO BE EDGY JUST BECAUSE ITS COOL AND IN A WORLD THAT SUCKS? if we applied that logic to everyday modern day hell we should've all caught the bus a LOOOOONG time ago, but noooo we are still here, thriving. and people in grimdark worlds should to. '

if you like grimdark, props to you for suffering through the manotiny of this reverse escapism that doesnt even try to make you think anymore. Also, if you play warhammer, you probably aren't a notZ but don't come here using slurs if you are, its tumblr. not X

[theveryworstthing]

So over on patreon Trevor asked for my take on the Addams Family and I grew up LOVING the Addams family movies so here we are. Instead of doing a straight up style interpretation, I decided to do a full on design challenge, using the characters as bases to make a black southern gothic Addams au. I actually drew the kids first, using the character bases of Wednesday and Pugsley to create some delightful kiddos I'm calling Sunday and Blanche. I of course then redesigned Gomez and Morticia into Carlisle and Mortesha.

The Addams have a very specific high aristocratic goth aesthetic (they've got a butler and nobody really works among other things) so in this re-imagining I wanted to go with vibes that run a little more middle class/upper middle class.  I thought it would be interesting to think about what would be considered weird and off-putting in an entirely different culture, and how being a big ol' goth is way less controversial than it used to be.

I tried to keep this short (HAHAHAHAHAHA) so I didn't spin off into an essay about villain coded families, black people in the horror genre, and normalcy as it pertains to social survival, but just...bits of that are in these designs and lore. Keep that in mind.

Also I made the kids twins because they've flip flopped in age so much in different media and also twins run in my family (i'm the daughter of one). And let's face it, I'm pulling a lot of their southern gothic traits from living as a southern goth so *shrug*.

10 thousand pounds of lore incoming loooooooooool.

The Parents

From the moment he saw her he knew that there was a 50/50 chance of him either never making it out of that swamp alive or marrying the figure that was creeping out from under the distant willow tree in a black cocktail dress. The third time she found him trussed up in one of her traps, he complimented her rope work and asked if she'd like to go out sometime after his head wound stopped bleeding.

Or while it was still bleeding.

If she was into that.

Some kids and a mysteriously burnt down Piggly Wiggly later, their love is still as strong and inescapable as a bear trap in a sink hole.

Carlisle Guillermo (now Addams through marriage but I wanted to give him two first names for a name since Gomez has two last names) makes a vaguely described living practicing ‘law’ around town. A loophole king, people come to him from miles around with contracts signed in blood, fights over chunks of hair buried in their rivals’ yard, dehydrated primate hands, memories that seemed like dreams until the evidence of their happenings became too real, and other regular Legal Items asking for counsel which he is all too happy to give. For a price. Sometimes that price is a homemade pie and sometimes it’s a million dollars, depends on who you are. Whatever you’re asked to pay it’s worth that price, and if you try to scam him out of work or he just plain doesn’t like you? Well. He knows how to twist a contract better than anything at the crossroads.

And he always gets his due.

He doesn’t just serve the local (living)humans though, there are many things that need proper legal representation in this day and age. You wouldn’t believe how many city councils try to build on sacred burial grounds even after he lets them know that his ghostly clients are totally gonna haunt the FUCK out of the ensuing shitty condos and curse their families for all eternity. At least 50% of his energy goes towards dealing with real estate bullshit.

Carl is an excitable and good natured(?) man who loves his family, cigars, dancing, and his many knife-based hobbies. People find him very charming once they get past the feeling that they’re talking to a sultry gator badly disguising itself as a human. I didn’t put a ton of deep thought into designing him, mostly I wanted to make a middle aged dude who looked like he would have been voted ‘most likely to smooch the literal devil’ in high school. Tbh he probably has, but no demonic ex’s can compare to his lovely wife~

Mortesha Addams(her name was already perfect so I just tweaked it)is a woman of many talents. A self proclaimed homemaker, she prides herself on a greenhouse full of Concerning Foliage, a beautiful wasp apiary, and a coop full of what are probably chickens that she keeps for what are probably eggs. She’s also an avid creator of the outsider art that can be seen around the estate. She has taken on the family business of selling her homemade goods in a little stall by the road just outside the swamp with her mom, and makes pretty good money doing so. A surprising amount of poison gets bought in quaint southern towns.

Speaking of poison, people who come out to the edge of the swamp to buy it are usually carrying a lot of secrets around, and Mortesha knows most of them. It’s not like she pries the truth out of people, it just so happens that many nervous hellos eventually turn into the tragic backstory power hour if she’s alone with a client for long enough. She supposes that’s just how people are. Despite the fact that the Addams are very active in the community (whether the community likes it or not) she especially, as a direct descendant of the first Addams matriarch, is seen as…Well not an outsider because the community feels A Certain Way about outsiders and despite it all the Addams are their people, but maybe something like an exception. They feel like whatever weirdness they’re hiding can’t be weirder than any given Addams, so they get a little loose with their words.

This is amusing to her, since Addams’ don’t naturally keep the kind dramatic secrets that their surface level prim and proper neighbors do. It’s much more fun to openly talk about those things.

Do they have a sadly decrepit yet terrifying grandma up in the attic? Yeah, like three. They got a tv, all the creepy porcelain dolls they could want, and they’re close to family. Where do you keep your gram-grams?

Any bodies buried on the property? Yeah some, but most are thrown to the gators.

Any creeping through the balmy summer night with ill intentions? Yeah dude, everyone loves a nice family stroll.

What about dangerous forbidden love? If an adult Addams isn’t incorporeal then they’re either queer or in a torrid romance with some person/thing mysteriously drawn to that awful swamp. Sometimes both at the same time. Most times actually.

Mortesha would know.

The current head of the Addams family is just as outgoing as her husband but a lot quieter and harder to read. She never really seems to get mad about much and always has a genteel smile for everyone whether they deserve it or not. A seven foot tall human shaped “Oh, bless your heart”. A perfectly composed Lady even when she’s, oh I dunno, burning down a Piggly Wiggly. You know. A regular southern mom. Chat her up at the hair salon for 50% off a jar of wasp honey with your next purchase of a mysterious but foreboding packet of herbs.

Designing her was pretty easy because I just drew a lankier Grace Jones and called it a day. I had some problems with her outfit simply because if we were going HARD southern gothic then she’d probably be wearing a white/cream dress with a fuller skirt but I thought keeping the silhouette and the black was more important. She’s supposed to be an anti southern gothic southern gothic character anyway. A woman who looks like she has a million secrets who is actually the most open person you could meet. For better or worse. The red hair came from a coloring error that I really ended up liking (my mom had red hair her whole childhood that only darkened up in high school so I can buy that an Addams can be naturally fire engine red) and the veil was to get more of that classic Morticia silhouette in there.

The Children

Sunday and Blanche are the twin children of Carlisle and Mortesha Addams. Some say the Addams clan got their cursed homestead when a wealthy local businessman made a deal with the devil and lost, leaving his grand mansion to his least favorite maid and cutting his losses once he realized that the swamp would do everything it could to drag the house into the water and take what was owed with its horrible curse. Others say that the family has just always squatted there and no one really cares because man, fuck that particular swamp. Have you been in there? Absolute horror show.

Anyway.

Blanche is the more outgoing sibling and quite the engineer/mad scientist in the making. He started going grey at 2 weeks old but considering he was also rocking some extra fingers, toes, and a tiny tail (he takes after his dad), his parents just put it on the 'not life threatening' pile and decided not to worry about it. He's the kind of smart that teachers find utterly infuriating, less a dog eagerly learning and obeying commands and more a hyena who keeps teaching itself how to pick locks. He has a few friends in his school's robotics club (which they honestly allowed him to make so the school could contain his... creations) but mostly hangs out with his sister exploring the swamp. They find all sorts of neat things in there! wedding rings, suspiciously lumpy garbage bags, cloaked cultists who can't read private property signs, it's an adventure every day!

Blanche is all about experimentation with his creations, his look, and his tether to this mortal coil. Is lipstick a cool thing to try? Let's find out. Can he get out of a strait jacket fast enough after being pushed into the depths of the swamp by his sister? let's find out. He's not dead yet and confused local doctors can attest to the fact that he's rarely attained more than a bad bruise so he's pretty set on continuing to kiss rattlesnakes on their cute little heads and have his sister practice her knife throwing at him until that fact changes.

Blanche is very much a country goth. Cowboy boots (customized by his mom), knife, and lighter are daily accessories. He likes to wear the crusty swamp jewelry they find (the rust adds a splash of color!) and despite appearances he does try to keep himself neat. He's just got  natural Grunge Colors and a tendency to wear clothes he likes until they fall apart. Pugsley always seemed the most modernly styled to me (which might just be because little boys clothes have been the same for a long time) so I wanted Blanche to be the most purposely fashionable Addams. Everyone else is goth by nature, but he's the only one truly familiar with goth as an alternative fashion.

I got really into designing Blanche because honestly, I find Pugsley to be the most boring member of the family. And he was hard to design! I had to mess with his vibe a lot to get him looking how I wanted. I know he's supposed to evoke an " 'evil' little boy next door who's parents never reign him in", but that's just goth Dennis The Menace.  I's 2020. We can at least go queer goth Calvin.

Sunday was much easier to design. Wednesday was my favorite as a child (of course) and I really wanted to keep the spirit of her look while adding things like billowy sleeves (it gets HOT down here), big poofy twists instead of braids, and a nice tie. She's a professional after all, been running the local pet cemetery since she was 6 and the previous groundskeeper met with an unfortunate accident after telling her that tarantulas don't have souls. Her specialty is creating beautiful naturalistic animal funerals similar to those that Maquenda (https://linktr.ee/artofmaquenda) makes, and she takes pride in creating miniature dioramas of her subjects after each burial which she uses as a kind of 3D catalog for future clients.

She really wants to try out her skills on humans one day. Well. Publicly try out her skills. Lotta random bodies float into the swamp. None of them have turned down her requests for diorama models so far. Most seem downright flattered. Plus, she usually figures out which graveyard/crime scene they floated over from and gets her parents to give them a lift back. She'll even help enact terrifying revenge from beyond the grave on whoever put them there if she's not, y'know, busy.

Besides arts, crafts, and pet based funerary arrangements, Sunday is an avid lover of archery (any ranged weapon really), books where little fantasy adventure animals die dramatic deaths, and history. She is That Kid who eagerly raises her hand when asked who Christopher Columbus was and ends up being sent out of class after 15 minutes for making 'a scene'. Her favorite party trick is just picking an item in the room and talking about how it relates to either some obscure historical figure with a buck wild life or a horrible disaster. At least one charity pancake breakfast ended with children in tears after her vivid description of the Great Molasses Flood of 1919.

Social-wise, while Wednesday is the girl that people ask to smile because they think she'd, "look so pretty", Sunday is rarely asked anything at all. People just kind of assume from her quiet nature (in between horrible history facts) that she's angry all the time and that she hates everyone. This is untrue. She hates some people but she's ambivalent to most everyone else and even downright friendly if you bother to talk to her like a person instead of a terrifying cryptid. Like, she IS a terrifying cryptid but she's also a little girl.  

That’s about it for now. One day I might do the other family members but for now I’m happy with the four I’ve redesigned. Making an au! Lurch in a family that doesn’t do butlers could be interesting. Over on patreon I put forth that he could just be Motesha’s mute little brother (similar bone structure) but Amy Crook had the nice idea of quote: “ a mysterious "cousin" that "helps around the house" whose origins are both long in the past and faintly unsettling. He's good for lifting heavy things, like that tank of propane you're about to throw into the burning Piggly Wiggly... “ which i now consider canon. Who's kid is he? How old is he? Not important. Anyone willing to commit arson with you is family.

Annnnyway.  This challenge was a lot of fun! I love indulging in AU’s.

[jennagrinsoverml]

do u have any really good fic recs for mlb enemies to lovers

Do I ever! Some of these have already been recced in my AU rec list, but since this isn't part of my "undiscovered gems" series, I'm going to let myself rec all of the popular enemies to lovers fic I've been enjoying too 😊

A Series of Meets: Reach by @damagectrlwrites

Paris is safe, except from the rivalry of its two superhero guardians: Ladybug and Chat Noir.  Since they were teenagers, the two have raced around Paris, trying to out do-good each other.

After Chat Noir saves a bus of people from falling into the Seine before Ladybug can even get there, Adrien is in high spirits.  He helps a young woman reach some chips high on a shelf, kicking off a friendly conversation that ends with a coffee date.

It’s a terrible day for Marinette.  First she had a hectic day at work, then Chat Noir gets all the praise for saving a bus of people, and then she nearly topples over trying to reach some chips.  At the very least, a nice guy helps her and asks her to coffee. Surely, things will get better, right?

Ladynoir Enemies AU. Never met AU. This one is absolutely amazing and hilarious and YOU NEED TO READ IT!! Ladybug and Chat Noir are superhero rivals, always trying to outdo each other, and being annoyed at the other. Marinette and Adrien get a meet-cute and fall in love. The juxtaposition is perfect and ridiculous and THAT IDENTITY REVEAL OMG.

Dearly despised, (I love you) by @snacc-noir

Marinette could go on about why she hated Adrien Agreste—to his pranking tendencies to ineffable attractiveness—ever since he had the audacity that day with the umbrella.

And yet, here she was fake-dating him while in love with a superhero.

Adrienette Enemies AU. Warning: This is a WIP! But it's so much fun. Basically Adrien and Marinette never sorted out the misunderstanding with the gum and instead just dug themselves deeper and deeper in hate with their miscommunications. Meanwhile ladynoir are totally in love with each other. Add in a whole bunch of sexual tension and seeing just where the author teases out these missed chances and it's beautiful.

Curiosity and Satisfaction by @imthepunchlord

When Adrien agreed to this line of work, he thought all his focus would be on the job of catching the elusive Lady Luck. It never crossed his mind that someone else would catch his attention.

Ladynoir Enemies AU. Although this is a ladynoir enemies AU, this dynamic change bleeds into all of the different sides of the love square and it's so different and interesting! I loved how the changes made actually affected other aspects. The story feels very real and believable.

like poles of a magnet by @rosekasa

ladybug spat her blood at chat noir. invincibility was only granted to the ladybug and black cat that worked together. not even the miraculous cure could heal them, otherwise.

(or, five times they didn’t hate each other, and one time it was love).

Ladynoir Enemies AU.  The enemies dynamic here is AMAZING!! Adrien is so in character even when he’s a “bad guy”, and the backstory of how he ended up working with Hawkmoth is perfect. (Also, how is Gabriel even worse??) I love the way the identities are played with, and especially the repercussions of Chat working for Hawkmoth on what Adrien is allowed to do.

Unstuck by @ominousunflower

Chat Noir, notorious supervillain of Paris, experiences a wardrobe malfunction in the best and worst possible place: Marinette Dupain-Cheng’s balcony.

Heart pounding, Chat pins Marinette’s wrists to the balcony. She stares up at him, her blue eyes kaleidoscopic from the lights hanging overhead, her features twisted into a scowl.

“Why are you trying to take my Miraculous?” Chat hisses.

“Because—you—I—” Marinette splutters, her eyes dipping down below Chat’s face. “Why is your suit unzipped?”

“I—well…” Chat sighs. “My zipper got stuck.”

Ladynoir Enemies AU featuring Marichat. I'm an absolute sucker for villain!Chat who just needs someone who's willing to care for and believe in him. And, even as a villain, he's still so recognizably Adrien here. My hearttttt!

out of the woods. by @anxiouscupcake​

“I- I have a… Someone I care about very much,” Adrien admitted. “I’m only doing this because my father gave me no choice.” “Well,” she said, lips pursed. “I don’t have it in me to fight The Gabriel Agreste, right now. My hands are tied too.” “I’m sorry.”

To his credit, he genuinely sounded a little remorseful. She even resented him a little for it, because she had so much more to lose than he did, but he just wanted to stay in Daddy’s good books.

She grimaced. Marriage, for one year, they agreed. And a painful few months of “courtship” to convince the press of the authenticity of their “marriage”.

In eighteen months, her father would be hale and hearty, and she’d divorce Adrien Agreste and be nothing more than his business partner.

(...In which Gabriel is an asshole, Adrien is trying and Marinette's stubborn but gives in eventually.)

This is a 2-part series that isn’t finished and that I desperately hope is continued. It’s not EXACTLY enemies AU per se, but it hits the same sweet spot. Ladynoir are in love, but can’t be together. Adrienette are forced to marry because of circumstances and Marinette resents Adrien for it. It’s got Enemies to Friends to Lovers vibes, even if we haven’t gotten that last part yet, and I love it!

i have found someone (like a nomad finds a home) by @hanaasbananas

After Stoneheart, Gabriel figured out who Chat Noir was, and forced him to work for him, rather than with Ladybug. Years later, Adrien is miserable until one night, he meets Marinette Dupain-Cheng.

Ladynoir Enemies AU featuring Marichat. Sort of a Never Met AU in that Adrien doesn't start attending school until after he's been a villain for some time and after he's gotten to know (and fallen for) Marinette as Chat. I love it when Chat's a villain and his love for Marinette/Ladybug helps him make better choices!

This Red Love by @hanaasbananas

In another world, he loves her. Would lay down his life for her without a second thought. Would be devoted only to her. In another world, they are partners, fighting side by side to keep Paris safe from Hawkmoth. Ladybug and Chat Noir, heroes of Paris. In this world, Ladybug is his enemy; the only thing standing in the way of what he most desires. In this world, he is not a hero.

Or the one where Adrien and Marinette are dating, but Chat Noir works for Hawkmoth. Angst ensues.

Ladynoir Enemies AU featuring Adrienette. This one has so much tension and the identity reveal and the ladynoir conflict really impacts the adrienette relationship and it's fantastic!

[elvenmother]

Context and Perspective: Sneaky Assistance

Pairing: Marcus Moreno x F Reader  Rating: Teen. Warnings: Swearing Chapter: 5/15 Word count: 1922

Summary: The newest member of the Heroics has gone missing and as one of the better-known Villains on the scene, you are blamed. Then your sidekick goes missing. You must go after the Heroic’s leader to try to get them back and clear your name.

Note: This has not been beta read so apologies for any mistakes.  This is my first time writing for We Can Be Heroes and Marcus Moreno. More mentions of Marcus in this chapter! We’re getting close.

Part Four | Part Three | Part Two | Part One

You spent all day at work with a strange feeling in your stomach. Orphan Maker hadn’t outright said she knew who you were but the time and place of the meeting definitely hinted at it. She had seemed very friendly when you had met face to face, but her reputation made you uneasy.

There was also the possibility that her reputation, like your own, had been blown out of proportion. The media and the wider public knew you as a villain. You had been accused of crimes you hadn’t committed, along with your good deeds twisted to suit someone else's narrative. Perhaps Orphan Maker has suffered the same fate. All you really knew of her had been based on public perception and gossip from the Server. Context was everything; you knew that. Surely if she really were a bad person, she wouldn’t be helping you. If she really were a villain and knew who you were, she would have already come after you.

By the time 5 pm rolled around, you were feeling a little calmer but still cautious. Getting up from your desk, you cracked your back and looked around, watching as your co-workers left. Were you putting them in danger working here? It crossed your mind every so often but today seemed particularly relevant. Even if Orphan Maker was the nice person she appeared to be, then there was still the matter of two powered people connected to you going missing. And, even if the disappearances were nothing to do with you, if someone was targeting people with powers, then just being here could put the office in the crosshairs of someone.

“You ok?” A soft voice broke you out of your thoughts, making you jump. Looking to your left, you could see your co-worker Dale's round, worried face. 

“Oh, yeah. I was just…” You started to laugh. You had begun to spiral. That’s what you had been doing. “I was thinking and sort of got lost in it.”

Dale nodded. “I do that too sometimes.” He chuckled back. “I can get lost in my own head, thinking up scenarios. It can totally get out of control. You know, I once made myself cry thinking about a puppy I was only thinking vaguely about getting.”

You laughed again, and Dale’s smile grew. “Yeah, I was getting carried away with myself.”

“Yeah. You working overtime?” He nodded thoughtfully.

“Oh, no. No.” You looked around at the empty bullpen and started to gather up your things. “No. Like I said, got lost in my own head. I’m heading out now.”

“Me too.” Dale gestured to his coat draped over one arm. “Walk you out?”

“Sure.”

You made your way towards the elevators silently, pushing the button and then waiting patiently. Other people were still milling about in the break room, their conversation drifting through the empty hallways as the two of you stood waiting. Soon the elevator arrived, and you stepped inside.

“Mondays.” Dale laughed out of nowhere and exaggeratedly rolled his eyes. “Am I right?”

“Erm, I guess.”

“So are you heading straight home or…?” Dale left the question hanging, looking over at you expectantly. 

“No, I have to meet someone.” You replied cautiously. You knew where this was going. Dale had asked out every woman if your department at some point. He was sweet but a little too enthusiastic sometimes. Always managing to say the wrong thing and making simple situations kind of weird. 

“Oh, that’s cool. Cool.” Dale nodded and pretended to act casual. “So where are you meeting him?”

You opened your mouth to answer but stopped. You had no idea if this contact was male or female. You only had a place, and you assumed they would make contact with you once they arrived. But you couldn’t tell Dale any of that. Sighing, you turned to him as the doors opened. 

“Dale, I have to meet a friend of my mom’s.” You weren’t sure where the lie came from, but Dale seemed to buy it as his smile returned as the two of you exited the elevator. You cringed inwardly. Why keep his hopes up like this? You weren’t interested in him, but you also didn’t want to hurt his feelings. 

Once outside the building, Dale was looking at you expectantly again, and you could feel the knot in your stomach growing. You should be preparing to meet a supervillain’s contact, not worrying about upsetting a co-worker who clearly couldn’t read the signs that you weren’t into him. 

“Thanks for walking me out, Dale.” You nodded politely. “I have to go now. See you tomorrow.”

“Yup.” Dale called after you as you walked down the street. “Tomorrow. Bright and early. Good old Tuesday.”

~~~~~

Frozenstar Memorial park was a short walk from your office, and you quickly found there was only one bench next to any magnolia trees. Sitting down, you glanced at your phone, it was 5:23, and you had no new messages. You had thought about letting Jada know your plan but weren’t sure whether to get her hopes up or not. This was a shot in the dark.

The park was moderately busy for a Monday evening, with families and couples walking around the winding paths passing beautifully maintained flowerbeds and sculptures. You had to hand it to the Heroics; this was a gorgeous monument to Frozenstar. 

Frozenstar had been one of the Heroics around when you were growing up. A beautiful woman with frost powers, Frozenstar had died saving an entire town of people when a strange portal opened up in the middle of the town. She managed to get everyone from the town out, but when she went back to check for stragglers, the portal had spat out some weird creature. She killed it but died from her wounds. That was the official story, anyway. Knowing what you knew about the Heroics now and how what was reported and what actually happened were two different things, you weren't sure what had happened to Frozenstar.

“Hey there.” A deep feminine voice said your name, and you spun around on the bench.

“Erm, hey.” You looked the woman over as she circled the bench and sat down next to you. She was dressed casually in jeans and a blue crop top. Her short brown hair was shaved into an undercut with the top section pulled into a rough bun at the back of her head.

“You’re early.” She said simply, staring at you with piercing blue eyes.

“I am.” You glanced around the park again, checking if anyone else was watching the two of you. The woman laughed.

“Don’t be so nervous.” She cocked her head, and you watched as her eyes looked you up and down. You couldn’t help but blink as she said your name a second time. “Pretty name. Better than mine.”

“What should I call you?” You asked, trying to keep the nerves out of your voice.

“Call me B.” She kicked one leg over the other and leaned back on the bench. She draped her right arm over the back of the seat, almost around your shoulders. “So, you’ve got a problem.”

“I do?”

“Er, yeah.” B laughed again. “The dumbass Heroics think you stole their boy. They have no fuckin’ clue where he is, and they only know that he isn’t dead.”

“How do they know that?”

“Every Heroic suit is fitted with a tracker so they can monitor where their guy are. They found Freefall’s suit the day after he went missing.”

“Found it where?” You inched a little closer to B, causing her to raise an eyebrow and smirk. 

“An abandoned factory just a little way outside of the city.”

“OK.” You nodded, pausing to think. “So, they know he isn’t dead. Why has my name been dragged into this? Why are they blaming me?”

“Cos they’re clutching at straws.” B laughed harshly. “They’re basing everything on where he was last assigned, that warehouse. Well, that and he was spotted talking to your little sidekick. The cute girl with the afro.”

“What?” This was entirely new information to you. Chloe had been seen with Freefall? “When? Who saw them?”

B regarded you for a moment before answering. “The day before he went missing, and they were seen by Tech-No. Obviously, he assumed and reported that it was an argument, but I think it was a simple conversation.”

“This makes less and less sense to me the more I find out.” You leaned forward, putting your head in your hands. “Can you put me in touch with Jess Campbell, erm, Violet Giant?”

“Planning a school reunion?” B chuckled. You were once again reminded that she and, by extension Orphan Maker knew exactly who you were. When you didn’t respond to her joke, B sighed. “No can do. She’s overseas. Stupid promo tour with Miracle Guy.” You must have looked surprised because she quickly clarified. “She’s one of the few Heroics who he actually likes.”

“Do you think someone could be snatching powered people?”

“What makes you think that?” 

“I think you already know.” You sat up straight and looked at B. “You know my real name. That I went to school with Jess. You must know about Chloe.”

B took a deep breath and nodded. “I found out probably a little after you did. I was looking into her cos she’d been seen with Freefall. Part of the reason me and the boss agreed to help you was cos of the girl.”

“So?” You felt oddly reassured by B’s admission about Chloe. “Do you think someone is taking powered people?”

“It’s not impossible.” B seemed to mull the idea over. “Perhaps Freefall and Chloe teamed up on something, and it went wrong. They pissed someone off?”

“I don’t know.” You shook your head. “Chloe hadn’t said anything to me about talking to him. I didn’t even know they knew each other.”

“She might not have told you if she was working with a Heroic.” B shrugged. “Maybe she was leaving you to join the other side?”

“She wouldn’t do that.”

“If she was leaving you to join the Heroics, she probably wouldn’t say anything.” B uncrossed her legs and stretched them out in front of her. 

“True.” You couldn’t help but laugh. “It’s not like she could just hand her notice in.”

“Exactly.” B smirked. “However, if someone has taken them both, then we all have a big problem. I’ll keep in touch and keep the boss in the loop, but if you want my advice, you should try working with one of the Heroics to figure this out.”

“Yeah.” You nodded. “That’s why I wanted to talk to Jess.”

“Well, you can’t. Also, she wouldn’t be much help. Too low level. You need someone high up the food chain.” B stood up and adjusted her top. “I would suggest Marcus Moreno.”

“The leader of the Heroics? Are you high?” You couldn’t believe your ears. “You want me, a person they have labeled as a villain, to go and talk to the head cheerleader? He’ll attack on sight.”

“He’s more reasonable than you might think.” B shook her head. “He’s actually quite smart.”

“This is a bad idea.”

“You got a better one?” B cocked her head, put her hands on her hips, and waited. You had no answer for her. Finally, she let her hands drop to her sides. “No? Right then. I’ll send you a message later. Let you know where you can find him.”

~~~~~~~~~~ Tag list: @Anaaaispunk, @littlemisspascal​, @galaxyofmando​, @pintsizemama​, @athalien​, @wondercloud​, @amoriavelton​

[sagurus]

Regarding a Common Misconception of Hakuba Saguru

Lately I've been doing some reflecting on Saguru & the various ways I've seen him portrayed, as well as the ways I've portrayed him in the past. And then I was rereading some MK manga, and had some realizations. I've been feeling like rambling about them! So here I go, rambling.

[Disclaimer: I'm not personally taking issue with anyone's interpretation or impression of Saguru - just sharing my own impressions! This is just for fun <3 ]

Misconception: Saguru is constantly accusing Kaito of being KID

It’s a generally accepted fact in a lot of fics I’ve read (and honestly, maybe some fics I’ve written -- I used to hold this belief too!) that Saguru just unendingly insinuates that Kaito is KID--alone, in front of other people, always.

I won’t cite any here, but I’ve seen nods in fanwork to Aoko feeling a little stressed/frustrated about the fact that Saguru thinks Kaito is KID and makes it known. I’ve also seen fanwork where Saguru explicitly calls Kaito KID, presses Kaito for information, or otherwise makes his beliefs clear, even when others are around.

There are only five scenes in the Magic Kaito manga where Saguru makes direct indication toward his knowledge of KID’s identity.

First, of course, we’ve got chapter 17 - the first chapter where Saguru puts together that Kaito is KID.

For a long time, when I’d consumed more fic than MK canon, I recall an image born in my head of Saguru singling Kaito out in class and making the claim that Kaito is KID in front of everybody. I don’t know if I ever read any such allusion in a fic, or if it’s just an assumption I drew based on portrayals I read, but imagine my surprise when he does nothing of the sort.

Now, to be fair, Saguru is A LOT in this chapter. MK is still heavily in gag manga territory, so his behavior is extra extra played up. But if we take away the visuals, the dialogue between Saguru and Kaito can be summed up thusly:

[First scene where Saguru makes direct indications as to KID’s identity]

Kaito: You look so tired. Haven’t gotten enough sleep after chasing KID for three nights In a row, huh?

Saguru: Hmph. Aren’t you tired as well?

And then, a few beats later in the conversation:

Saguru: I’d like to invite you to the Ochima Art Museum tonight, where KID’s declared his next target. Kaito: Eh? Saguru: Then, you’ll understand why I’m so tired. Or, do you have other plans tonight? Kaito: Okay, I accept your invitation. It’ll be great to see your work in action!

And that’s it, that’s the big class confrontation. Aoko is present for it, but she’s more interested in joining in on the fun, and while I do think Aoko pieces together that Kaito is KID, she prefers to live in willful ignorance of it until it becomes impossible for her to ignore. She’s bright enough to pick up what Saguru’s implying, but because he never brings it past implication, there’s no reason for her to look at it too hard. Anyway, I digress. That’s conjecture and headcanon talking. My point is that Saguru never makes any explicit claims, just invites Kaito along to the heist.

Another neat thing about this scene is that--while certainly not motivated by mercy in this case, Saguru does give Kaito an out: “Or, do you have an excuse not to go tonight?” Of course, if Kaito took it, it would be rather damning, but I do think it would have been enough confirmation for Saguru. I don’t think there would have been any arm-twisting to get Kaito to agree.

But Kaito and Saguru are competitive bastards, so here we are.

Let’s move on to the heist!

Once again, the manga certainly plays up the whole ordeal. Saguru is intense and waiting for his moment, and Kaito’s being, well, Kaito.

At the heist, there are a few points where Saguru has opportunities to make allusions to Kaito being KID in a way others would pick up on, or otherwise make his suspicions known, but he doesn’t.

First of all, is this exchange:

Nakamori: Why are you guys here? Aoko: Hakuba-kun invited us! Nakamori: What’s the meaning of this, Hakuba-kun? Saguru: I thought she might like to see if KID is arrested tonight. Nakamori: You’ll fail if you’re too cocky! Saguru: We’re well-prepared. Besides, who knows… KID may already be here.

Saguru does imply KID could be present, but he makes no indication that he means Kaito. His next opportunity to hint at Kaito being KID or otherwise make accusations is when Nakamori asks him to consult as a magician.

Nakamori: Kaito, since you’re here, do you want to use your magic against KID? Kaito: [laughing sheepishly] Saguru: Oh, I want to see that fight, too. If you really can do it.

Needling, yes. Saguru knows what he’s saying and so does Kaito. Accusations, no. This is well within the realm of something Saguru would have said even if he didn’t suspect Kaito, considering their dynamic up until this point.

And then, the most explicit Saguru ever gets in terms of literally calling Kaito out as being KID, beginning when Kaito excuses himself to go to the bathroom right before the heist:

[Second scene where Saguru makes direct indications as to KID’s identity]

Saguru: [handcuffs himself to Kaito] Kaito: Huh? Saguru: I won’t let you do that, Kuroba. Kaito: What do you think you’re doing?! Saguru: I got the report back from the lab. The hair I got from KID indicated that he’s a high school student. After I compared KID’s data with other high school students’ data in the database… Kuroba Kaito came up in the final list. Kaito: That’s a coincidence. Saguru: Really? We’ll see soon enough. Let’s wait until the time KID is stated to come. [Some heist hubbub occurs as officers get into position even though KID hasn’t arrived at the heist time] Aoko: What? KID’s not coming? Saguru: Ha! It looks like I win! You’d better confess who you really are.

And from there, of course, ‘KID’ (Akako in disguise) swoops in and takes care of the heist. That more or less wraps up chapter 17, the first chapter where Saguru understands that Kaito is KID. And I would argue this is the most aggressive Saguru ever is. In fact, rather than persist in trying to accuse/capture/implicate Kaito as KID, he straight up vanishes from the narrative for several chapters.

Saguru doesn’t show up again until the Chat Noir heist, in chapter 25, when he calls from France.

It’s also important to note that at this point, Magic Kaito’s narrative has experienced a slight tonal shift. At the very least, while still often comedic, it reads less like a gag manga. Between the last time we saw Saguru and now, we’ve learned the apparent motivation behind Toichi’s murder, we’ve met Snake (an albeit rather incompetent villain) and Kaito has faced down gunfire and the danger posed by Snake and his men.

The way Saguru is portrayed has also shifted to reflect the shift too. Instead of a hulking antagonist-like character in a Holmes cosplay, he’s dressed primly and presents more as a cheeky but polite character. He’s also more effectively emulating the charm that the story tried to imply he had early on (“Hakuba Saguru, at your service!”, the girls in class fawning over him, the newspaper calling him out as a famous detective making a long-awaited return to Japan).

The interaction is entirely less antagonistic, too. For reference, I’ll paste the exchange (sans Saguru’s massive info dump) below.

[Third scene where Saguru makes direct indications as to KID’s identity]

[At the heist for the golden eye] Kaito: [Hiding in a bathroom stall while putting on a disguise] [His phone starts ringing] Hello…? Saguru: Hi, it’s been a while. Are you still alive? Kaito: [Thinking] This sugary yet obnoxious tone of voice is... Hakuba?! Saguru: You’ve made quite the stir in Paris. They’re all talking about how France’s Chat Noir is going to go up against you in Japan. Kaito: Idiot! It’s not me. It’s Kaitou KID! Saguru: Ha… it doesn’t really matter. I’ll share some information that I gathered over here. [Info dump cut from dialogue] Well! That’s about all I have to say. Do your best. I don’t want to see you lose to anyone until I capture you myself. Kaito: Like I’ve been saying, I’m not KID! Saguru: Oops, it’s almost time for the Paris Fashion Week. See you! Kaito: H-hey…

The only part of this conversation that I could consider to fall into the territory of antagonistic is when Saguru says “I don’t want to see you lose to anyone until I capture you myself.” And more than anything, I think this is less reflective of a real desire to capture Kaito, and more reflective of his competitive nature. Not to mention, within the context of the conversation, it feels much more like teasing than anything.

Saguru’s motivation for making the call is clear: He doesn’t want Kaito to lose, and he wants to help ensure Kaito’s success.

And most interestingly (although I’d like to see the raw manga to confirm this, or otherwise a more literal translation) he never explicitly calls Kaito KID either. Outside of alluding to KID’s actions, Saguru doesn’t explicitly say Kaito is KID or mention KID at all. It’s Kaito who does that.

When Kaito points out that he is not, in fact, KID, Saguru doesn’t argue. He simply brushes off the denial and shares the information he’s collected.

So, to summarize what we’ve covered so far: after Saguru failed to arrest Kaito during chapter 17, he stopped troubling Kaito so thoroughly that the next time he features in the story isn’t until he’s calling from overseas to try to lend Kaito some helpful information. He’s not even playing a part in trying to capture this thief he allegedly wants to catch.

And then, Saguru dips back out of the narrative, although for a shorter period this time. The next arc he appears in is a few chapters later--the Nightmare Heist which he arrives in the middle of. But, there’s not any interaction between him and Kaito, nor any allusions made by Saguru about KID’s identity, so we’ll move on.

The fourth time Saguru makes any indication that Kaito is KID is during the Corbeau arc, when KID is being challenged by a clad-in-black KID lookalike.

Before jumping into that specific scene, though, there’s another interaction I’d like to call attention to--between Saguru and Nakamori. Not because of something Saguru says, but because of what he doesn’t say.

Nakamori: Hahaha! Looks like you let your guard down because you thought I was at home with a cold! Saguru: Our plan succeeded, it seems. Nakamori: But I only told Aoko I had a cold, so how does KID know…? Saguru: Hm...

If Saguru were wanting to make some kind of accusation, even a non-explicit one, he would have made some remark. Instead, he doesn’t say anything at all, which continues to speak to the fact that he isn’t really interested in implicating Kaito.

Anyway, the next time Saguru makes any sort of implication that Kaito is KID he is, once again, trying to help. Last time it was over the phone, so the conversation was private. This time, the conversation is in a classroom, although based on the panels, it seems like Saguru and Kaito are alone at the beginning--or at least, no attention is being paid to them.

[Fourth scene where Saguru makes direct indications as to KID’s identity]

Kaito: [Talking to himself] It must be the case, there’s no other way. There must have been some trick with the case.

Saguru: [Eavesdropping, apparently alone in the room with him] The case didn’t contain any hidden mechanisms. Kaito: Eh? Saguru: No hidden doors or things like that, as are often used in magic tricks. Kaito: W-what on earth are you talking about? Saguru: A new notice from Corbeau arrived this morning. ‘I’ll come and take the real Midnight Crow tonight.’ My name is Hakuba--so I don’t want a ‘white’ person to lose to some ominous black crow. [From here, Akako and then Aoko jump into the conversation.]

Surely a classroom is a risky place to have a conversation about KID, but the nice thing is that Saguru--once again--doesn’t bring up KID at all beyond saying that he doesn’t want the ‘white[-clad] person’ to lose to the black crow. From the outside looking in, all he’s doing is sharing information about the case with Kaito. It may also seem unwarranted from that perspective, but not at all implicating.

Also, another thing I’d like to call attention to is that when Akako joins the conversation (and seemingly blindsides Saguru, as if he wasn’t expecting anyone else to join), Saguru stops talking. He continues to be quiet when Aoko chimes in, and he doesn’t have any relevant dialogue for the rest of the scene.

Once again, Saguru’s clearly motivated to share information in the interest of helping Kaito. He has to share with Kaito’s civilian identity, since he can’t exactly arrange a conversation with KID, and this is likely the easiest way for him to do it. He makes no accusations, and this time he doesn’t even imply he wants KID caught.

So--Saguru is a part of the narrative again, but since rejoining the narrative he seems less interested in actually catching KID and far more interested in helping Kaito. And no accusations or incriminating allusions have been made since chapter 17, before Saguru’s first hiatus from the story.

The final time Saguru nods to Kaito being KID is from the Sun Halo arc. This is probably the interaction that’s closest to what fanon tends to depict when it comes to Saguru making subtle accusations that Kaito is KID. And even then, I tend to take this arc with a grain of salt if only because it felt less like Gosho was trying to add to the story and more like he was just trying to make a Magic Kaito addition that hit various fan expectations while still being wildly disappointing, lmao.

[Fifth scene where Saguru makes direct indications as to KID’s identity]

Saguru: [approaching and commenting on Kaito’s motorcycle] I see, a Suzuki GSX 250R. Akako: Ah, Hakuba-kun… Saguru: You’ve shown me something interesting. Perhaps this might help the police tonight. And could it be that you’ve forgotten… that the only motorised bikes we’re allowed to ride to school are scooters? Kaito: Eh?! For real?!

Once again, Saguru doesn’t explicitly mention KID at all--and segues from his mention of the police to pointing out that Kaito is breaking the rules right now, actually, which helps blend this teasing comment into the conversation.

Yes, later in the chapter Saguru does show up with a team of motorcycle experts. But that also means there’s more disguise opportunities for KID and more factors to account for, thus complicating things for, well, everyone--not just KID.

Also, I tend to dismiss that as Gosho throwing in some comedy, and as less to do with Saguru’s character. Call it cherrypicking if you like :P

To recount--there are five times where Saguru implies Kaito is KID.

The first two are in chapter 17, when Saguru first puts it together, and it is during this chapter that he gets the most explicit about calling Kaito out as KID, as well as the most aggressively he behaves about it. And he backs off so hard after that doesn’t work, that we don’t see him for several chapters.

The next two times he implies Kaito is KID are both in order to help him. No aggression or accusations, just the sharing of information. Even when teasing or suggesting he’s interested in catching KID, he’s good-natured about it, and when he realizes there are potentially people witnessing the conversation, he stops participating.

The final time he implies Kaito is KID is a tiny comment about finding something Kaito has shown him ‘interesting’ and ‘helpful for the police’ before smoothing into gently teasing Kaito for bringing an illegal vehicle to school.

In conclusion, Saguru may start off apparently aggressive in part thanks to early Magic Kaito’s overall tone, but rather than persevering in trying to catch Kaito after cornering him in chapter 17, he actually seems to back off. Once he’s playing a part in the narrative again, when he interacts with Kaito it’s almost exclusively to help him. Yes, he is on the task force and participating at heists, but where it matters, he’s less interested in catching the thief and far more interested in those the thief is opposing (excluding the police force).

[tumbling-darkling]

Miraculous Ghosts

Danny and friends visit Paris and come across trouble, as well as the cities local superheroes.

Lately, Hawkmoth has been recycling villains. There are only so many people in Paris and not everyone gets emotionally vulnerable strongly enough or long enough to be akumatized. Those that do, and commonly like Mr. Pidgeon, usually had a certain fixation that was easy to exploit. The thing was, both Marienette and Chat Noir already knew their weakness, the items that would most likely get akumatized, the whole schtick. So the battles were really fast and easy.

A new face always had to be met with caution, the lack of knowledge regarding the person was dangerous and if the pair wasn’t careful, they could end up losing the battle. And their Miraculous.

With the start of summer came tourist season, and tourists could be victims of akumatization. Which seemed to be the case within the first week. 3 villains, all new faces, but the pair had gotten lucky with the similar powers that the heroes had faced before and the three were all defeated in a timely manner.

There was a short week of nothing happening.

And then all hell broke loose.

—————————————————————

Marienette knew the start of the tourist season had begun just based on the filled streets of strange faces, sunglasses, cameras, and the use of foreign languages. This also was noticed based on how busy her parents' shop had become, and how rarely she was managing to escape outside to enjoy some of summer's freedom. The good thing was she was able to brush up on some of her English, since the tourists usually spoke the common American language and the experience was always welcome to help boost her grades in the upcoming year. Even if it was a few months away.

She’d figured out the best way to sneak off during any attacks was to ‘use the bathroom’ or ‘accidently’ make a mess and excuse herself to clean up. It had worked during the first week and she didn’t have to do anything the past week since Hawkmoth seemed to take a break. She finished serving a young pair of Americans, a tall girl with orange hair, and a lanky boy nearly the same height with raven black hair.

She had to admit, some Americans had a certain charm, but the bustle of the kitchen quickly caught her attention as she was back to serving the next person in line.

Just as Chloe waltzed in, basically knocking the american boy over as she strutted to the front of the line, causing people to cast glares in her direction. The boy hissed when he fell, the American girl offering to help him up in English as he shook his head and stood up, dusting himself off as Marienette went to deal with the walking form of pure rich privilege. “Urg, Dupain-Cheng’s dingy little cafe? Of course she works here, it just smells like burnt bread.” She huffed.

Marienette bristled, but put on her customer service smile, noticing the poor Americans victim to Chloe leaving the shop. She was hoping to offer them a replacement after dealing with Chloe but it was a little late now. “Ma’am, unless you are here to pick up an order, you will have to wait in line like everyone else.” She strained.

“Ma’am? I am Chloe Dubois! I don’t need to wait in line like some sort of peasant! Just give me whatever you didn’t make.”

Marienette had to swallow down any returning insults and put down one of their most expensive items, handing it over with a clearly strained smile, “have a nice day.”

Chloe huffed with her baked goods in hand but left as soon as she appeared, allowing Marienette some relief. Very little damage. A little annoyance but nothing worthy of an akuma-.

An explosion was heard from outside, and Marienette groaned internally.

She just had to jinx it.

—————————————————————

Ladybug dove off to the side as the villain shot out a ray of white, plasma-like energy. Adrien, fighting as Chat Noir, and his partner were having a hell of a time with this dude. He spotted the chaos on the news, the villain calling himself ‘Black Hole’ and giving his poor Lady a hard time. When he finally arrived on the scene, he wasn’t able to do much either.

The villain was basically a godly powerhouse, floating in the air, shooting burning rays of heated plasma, or even ice! Ice and plasma! Sometimes he MIXED the two beams to create an even WORSE beam! Whenever either of the heroes got close enough to land a hit, their punches and kicks would go right through him. Then he would DISAPPEAR. REAPPEARING AND LANDING ANOTHER HEAVY BLOW. He would fly around like gravity was non-existent, and these abilities didn’t stop there. Every so often, he would yank out this thermos looking thing and shoot out these wormholes. Or… possibly black holes. Calling them black holes felt wrong though… since they glowed green and swirled before disappearing after a few moments.

The villain's outfit was a change of pace too. It was impossible to figure out his age since he was completely covered in a thick fabric material that reminded him of space suits. Yet looked a lot less bulky than actual space suits, thin yet sturdy metal covered his forearms, and formed a backpack that was attached by a wide metal collar that spread to his collarbone and slightly covered his shoulders, as well as a metal strap that wrapped around right under his chest. A plated, metal belt circled his waist with a clip for the green black hole thermos, and thigh high boots with a similar fabric to his suit covered most of his legs, thick plastic looking platform soles attached at the feet. Black bands wrapped around the ankles of the boots. A helmet covered his entire face, a metal frame covering the bottom half like a muzzle while the top was a tinted glass dome following the shape of his head, the inside of it entirely black except for the eerie glow of a single, left eye. The helmet had a tube on the back of the helmet that connected to his backpack, but neither he or Ladybug could figure out if it was essential or for decoration. His entire colouring was monotone, much bleaker than their previous villains. His suit was black, the boots, forearm cuffs, belt, backpack and collar were all a middle shade of grey, the only flash of colour being the glow of the single toxic green eye amongst the darkness of the helmet.

The dude was disturbing. He didn’t make any sound, in fact he seemed to ABSORB the sound around him. Like they were in space.

Paris was getting destroyed more and more by the second and the two didn’t know what to do. The Lady’s lucky charm turned into a thermos, which she didn’t have a clue how to use in the situation in front of them. Maybe it was a hint? A clue about soup? Or getting the villains thermos?

The problem with the last idea was that neither he or Ladybug could TOUCH this villain. And each of them were getting worse and worse for wear by the second. He could tell Ladybug was getting ready to get some sort of help, but who could make something untouchable… touchable? Chat even tried to use cataclysm on the villain's thermos while Ladybug had distracted him, but he twisted at the last moments and grabbed Chat's hand, draining cataclysm before he tossed him aside like it was nothing.

Another blast of plasma sent the two tumbling away from each other, and then a blast of ice caught Chat off guard. Cold shot up his arm as his muscles convulsed, a scream caught in his throat as the ice trapped his arm in such a tight and sturdy prison. He twisted to try and use his free arm to claw the other out of the ice, a shadow in the corner of his vision causing him to twist and jolt in surprise as the villain stood right in front of him. The glowing green eye was cold as it bore into him, and the villain grew closer and closer, drifting off the ground and absorbing every noise around him, the air around them dropping to freezing temperatures. Chats breath formed in front of him as gasps, panic clear in the quick breaths, fear intensifying as the only thing he could hear was his own heartbeat and blood roaring through his veins.

The villain's hand shot out and grabbed his free one- the one with his miraculous.

Chat heard Ladybug cry out as the villain gripped onto the ring, a quick glance showing she too was trapped.

That she was next.

Chat tried to keep his fingers curled, but he was battered and weak, and the villain hadn’t even broken a sweat during their fight. Prying open his fingers was easy, the ring vulnerable. This was it. He used cataclysm too soon and now he was powerless. He couldn’t escape. He couldn’t save anyone. He was a failure. This was the end of Paris.

They lost.

—————————————————————

Fucking. Vlad.

This entire trip had Danny on edge and it was all because of Vlad.

At first, he thought maybe, for once, Vlad wasn’t being a piece of shit when offering the family a fully paid trip to France for two weeks. He was suspicious. He probably just wanted the family out of town to do some shady shit. But a two week trip to France wasn’t the WORST thing a man could do. Especially in comparison to kidnapping and cloning.

But then his parents got sick. A common flu. Right before the trip. And they wanted Jazz and him to experience Paris. Then Vlad offered to be a chaperone.

It was all a play to get Danny alone for two weeks and try and manipulate him.

He did manage to get Tucker and Sam to tag along, something about friends being his family and the two unused tickets his parents left behind. But Vlad knew how to separate the group. How to corner Danny at the worst moments and whisper annoying remarks in his ear as he tried to get away.

He survived a week. He only had one more week to go. Tucker and Sam were off checking out some places for lunch while Jazz and Danny went to pick up sweets for everyone to share after their meal.

Vlad was off doing who knew what so Danny had put him to the back of his mind.

The cafe they found was… well it smelled incredible. There were so many baked goods on display and the air was filled with the warm and sweet smell of the goodies. He let Jazz do most of the talking, she wanted to practice her French and Danny had recently discovered that being dubbed the ghost king meant that now he had a natural grasp on all verbal languages, including the dead ones. This meant his speech in French was almost flawless, and his understanding was like he was listening to someone speak English. He couldn’t read other languages though, just speak them. He was told though by a few locals he had an odd accent. It wasn’t an american one, just… odd.

So Jazz ordered the treats and the pair was headed out to meet Danny’s friends.

Then some blonde girl with way too much make-up basically knocked him to the ground, not even sending him a glance that indicated she knew what she did. It was annoying, but he dealt with bullies on a daily basis back at Amity Park. Well… used to. But he knew better than to waste any thought on some jerk like her. He sadly looked at the ruined cat paw shaped cookies, the icing ruined and the cookies crushed under his weight when he fell.

Standing up with the help of Jazz, they left the shop as Danny insisted on finding somewhere to wash off the icing stuck to his shirt. He liked this shirt too… he hoped it wouldn’t stain too badly. It was better than ectoplasm at least, that stuff needed to be burned out, there was no such thing as washing out ectoplasm.

Jazz asked to help, but Danny brushed her off, telling her he could easily clean himself off by himself.

And then Vlad chose that moment to corner him.

—————————————————————

“Hello Daniel.”

Danny splashed water wildly as he spun around to glare at the older Halfa, hissing out an ‘Ancients!’ in surprise. “What the hell, Vlad?” He spat, “sneaking up on a kid in the bathroom? I should just call the police and tell them about all that stalking you like to do.”

“Aren’t you tired of this childish game?” He hummed.

“Not really, seeing as I’m a child and I love games,” Danny sneered.

“I’m older, more experienced, and stronger. I am also patient, little badger. And it’s easy to wear you down. By the end of this trip, you are going to be begging to be my-.”

“Son? Pet? Little slave that does everything you ask? Sorry, Vladdy, but I ain’t the type to listen to crazy fruit loops. How about you go enjoy the company of your French rich friends like that Agreste dude instead of stalking me and trying to get with my mom and kill my dad. Might do you some good to make more friends than just your cat.”

“Oh Daniel, you throw your petty insults but I know ways to break you even further. You know, a lot of accidents happen in Paris. Terrible things.”

Danny felt his eyes flash as he spun on his heel, “listen to me, if you even consider-!”

“Not to mention your brand new ghostly responsibilities as… the ghost king? Imagine that. A child as the king. You don’t even know everything about ghosts.”

“Neither do you!” Danny spat.

“Oh but I know so much more. And I could easily teach you-.”

“Just shut up!”

“When you mess up, when the ghost zone begins to fall apart, you will wish you took my offer, but I may not be as forgiving when that happens.”

“I said shut up!”

“And we both know the moment the ghost zone falls apart, so will this world. All because a boy became king and didn’t take help he was so graciously offered.”

“SHUT THE HELL UP!”

Something inside him shifted, and Danny suddenly felt his mind cloud, a deep voice echoed his mind.

“A cruel man harassing a young teen that wants nothing to do with him. A shame when someone can’t take a hint.

Black Hole. I am Hawkmoth. I can give you the power to show this old man that he never should consider looking in your direction ever again.

All I ask is for Ladybug and Chat Noir’s miraculous. Do this for me, and Vlad Masters will never be an issue for you ever again.”

Danny’s clouded mind and building rage smirked at the offer, his voice echoing as he glanced up at Vlad who was giving him a confused look. “Yes, Hawkmoth.”

Darkness engulfed him and then his memory began to fail him.

—————————————————————

A boomerang slammed into Black Hole’s head, causing it to jerk to the side and a small crack formed on the glass that was hit. The metal boomerang dropped to the ground and Black Hole slowly looked down at it as a robotic voice cried out from it, “ghost detected!” And then a recorded voice spouted out, “take that, spook!”

Black Hole’s head slightly tilted at the noise it made, a hand subconsciously rubbing the crack it left behind. Then he twisted his gaze back to Chat Noir, going back to taking the hero’s miraculous.

Then a shout came from behind Black Hole and Chat caught the eyes of a teenage girl yelling and holding a bat over her head. Black Hole twisted, his body turning that transparent look whenever Chat or Ladybug had tried to hit him before, and Chat knew that it was useless. “No! Stop! Get out of here-!” He screamed at the citizen, but stopped when the bat connected with the villain's head and sent him flying into a wall.

Chat was at a loss for words for once in his life, watching the villain slowly pry himself from the wall from being hit by a baseball bat when he and Lady couldn’t land a single hit. He looked back at the citizen and shrieked as she raised the bat above her head and swung down at him, flinching and squeezing his eyes shut. She hit something, causing it to shatter and then- his hand was free!

He opened his eyes and looked at his hand in awe and then back at the girl, “who the heck are you?”

She huffed, dropping the bat casually on her shoulder, “Sam Manson. Friend of the idiot that didn’t do his research before taking a trip here. I’m surprised this didn’t happen earlier.”

Chat blinked, “you- you know that’s your friend? And knew this would happen?”

Sam shrugged, “the booo-merang is never wrong. And yeah, my friend there is not exactly the most emotionally stable person on the planet. Sorry it took us a while to get here. You guys really do move fast.”

Chat just opened and closed his mouth a few times, then yelled as she suddenly swung the bat again and smacked the villain in the gut as he got close during their exchange, knocking him sideways but not down like the first time. Black Hole turned again, making a snarling sound before he was blasted by some sort of green ray and sent flying sideways, rolling along the pavement before smashing into a car. Another teen jogged over with Ladybug behind him, dropping his hands to his knees as he wheezed, “I have ran… way too much for this to be considered a vacation.”

“M’Lady-, what is going on?” Chat asked.

“This is Tucker, and his friend Sam, and they know how to help,” Ladybug quickly explained, glancing back at Black Hole. “We need to draw his attention and get that thermos off of him, then Sam and Tucker can use this,” she held up the thermos from her lucky charm, “and we can get his akuma.”

“Akuma is in the thermos, knock it off,” Chat summarized. He heard his miraculous beeping, a sign he was close to his limit.

“Let’s end this fast.”

—————————————————————

Ladybug held the booo-merang in one hand as the two teens and Chat drew Black Hole’s attention, the teens equipped with weapons that seemed to get past some of Black Holes abilities.

She narrowed her gaze, waiting for the perfect moment, then threw the weapon, watching it arch in the air then knock the thermos off of the villain's waist. The thermos clattered to the ground and drew his attention, he quickly twisted and dove to try and retrieve it, which was when a bright beam erupted from the polka dot thermos Ladybug had given the teens. The beam caught the villain's legs and he was tugged back, his form pulling towards it like taffy as he twisted and a horrid scream of anger burst from him. He tried to escape it, flailing and reaching for anything to hang on to, but in a matter of seconds he was pulled into the canister and Sam slammed the lid shut. The screaming stopped and Ladybug made her way over to Black Hole’s thermos, stomping on it and crushing it, releasing the Akuma hidden inside. With a flick of her wrist her lucky charm turned back into its original form, dumping Black Hole onto the street, then the butterfly was caught and purified, and another click of her miraculous, she let the little bug flutter away harmlessly. With a shout, ‘Miraculous Ladybug!’, everything around them was engulfed in black and red as the damages were undone around them.

At last, the villain's form was released of Hawkmoth's influence and it left a lanky teen laying on the street. He slowly sat up with a groan and a hand to his head and she then realized it was the same teen as from the shop. So once again, this was Chloe’s fault. She turned her attention to the two teens that helped her, noticing Chat let out a hasty farewell and thanks and disappeared around a corner. “Thank you, both of you. Without your help… well, without your help we may have lost that battle. But how in the world did you do that?”

“What the fuck just happened?” The teen groaned, “I feel like the booo-merang smacked me in the head like… fifty times.”

“That’s because I may have smacked you a few times with the fenton creep stick,” Sam shrugged as she helped her friend up who gave her wide eyes in return.

“You fucking what?”

Tucker took a step forward to answer Ladybug’s question, “let's just say back in our town, we have very specific supervillains that have abilities that make it hard for regular attacks to land. So we have specialized gear. Sam and I did a bit of research before heading here and figured if any of us got Akumatized, we may reflect some of those traits.”

“I… see…” Ladybug hummed, “and where did you say you were all from?” The three cast a few glances between each other, but before any of them could answer, her miraculous beeped angrily as she quickly realized she was out of time. “Thank you again for your help, if we could meet again to exchange some of that tech to make sure this never happens again-,” she quickly tried to set up a meet up before Sam held up a hand.

“This won’t happen again. A lot of what happened here is very unique to Amity, so once we finish our vacation, you won’t see this kind of thing ever again.”

Ladybug only had more questions but the angry beeping only forced her to nod and bid a quick farewell before getting out of sight to let Tiki take a rest. Marienette held out a few macaroons for Tiki as her thoughts swirled in her head. The questions about the odd American trio and how they knew how to deal with a villain as unique as Black Hole.

She may be able to corner them later. They did say they had to ‘finish their vacation.’

And in the meantime, it was time to do some research on this place called ‘Amity’.

—————————————————————

Danny didn’t remember a lot of what happened while he was the villain, Black Hole. It was like a dream, he kinda remembered the feeling, vague details, but nothing specific.

What he wished he remembered was whatever he did to Vlad. He must have done something because his memories cut out right after Vlad harassed him in the bathroom and after the event, the froot loop avoided him during the entire trip. Even refused to make eye contact!

What he would give just for a few seconds of that memory! Or for someone to have recorded it!

For now though he got to reap the rewards, flashing his eyes green when Vlad would glance over and causing the man to flinch. Oh man, he was going to abuse this newfound intimidation ability till the bitter end.