#and the delivery in the cast recording is just perfect

[ryderdire]

My absolute favorite line in the Percy Jackson Musical will and always has been

MR BRUNNER?!? YOUR A 

HORSE ?!??!?”

[yaoisex]

The Paraneko for April Fool's was the best thing ever!

My whole face hurts because I couldn't stop smiling while watching that 30 min video. Everyone was SO ADORABLE and every single Nyan was amazing and on point and I just.... love this whole franchise and cast so much. Kudos 😻

The best part, hands down -

XD SO GOOD, their delivery was perfect!

Wish Mikoshiba had more screen time. I was waiting (not so) patiently for him to appear and they kept him almost for last, I was sitting on the edge of my seat! But it was worth it. Sosososo precious and bratty, Thank you Chiaki <3.

Rokuta was SO CUTE I was crying. ChibaSho, how dare you be so cute?! *____*

Satsuki was HILARIOUS! I'm sure Hata had a great time recording that!

[caxycreations]

Tagging @that-one-enby-onyx @moremysteriesthantragedies @thetruearchmagos @mikathewriter and @the-octic-scribe cause I figure y'all will be at least somewhat interested in this stuff ^-^

Some Fun Facts About the Cast

Ryder

Ryder's tail wags independently of his will. He can choose to make it wag, but if he's happy, excited, or otherwise feeling positively, he can't NOT wag.

His favorite meal is Elyr Style Steak (Relanian equivalent of New York Strip) with applesauce drizzled over it and buttered beans on the side (green beans, specifically).

He once let David pick his Halloween costume, having promised he would wear it, no matter what it was, as part of a lost bet. He'd expected David to make him wear something embarrassing, only to find a tuxedo on his bed, and a cheap plastic "ring" to go with it.

He did NOT connect the dots when he, wearing the Groom costume mentioned above, arrived to the party he and David were attending and found David in a white wedding dress with matching ring, and to this day fully believes David was dressed as Selana, a popular pop singer that David enjoys who is known for wearing white, flowy outfits.

David

David can bark, chirp, trill, meow, and purr, and while he can do all of these at will, he has been known to do them on instinct as his immediate reaction to strong stimuli.

He can purr with his mouth full and it does vibrate his tongue heavily when he does. Do with that what you will.

He once had the opportunity to cook a meal for a visiting Kanorian Ambassador passing through Tylvin. He was the only one working the café at the time. The Ambassador remarked that his skill, even with the limited tools of the café, was "On par with the banquets of the royals". David has never forgotten that and his cooking is one of the few things he has a genuine pride in.

He's a LOT faster and agile than you'd think. David ran Track and Field in high school and never let those skills deteriorate. His top speed recorded was 26mph, with average Sentient speed being ~18mph. His agility is solid as well, with David having an innately perfect sense of balance.

Davina

Her culinary skills are on par with a part-time fry cook in high school, and her food tastes about as good. This is why she orders takeout and delivery so often.

She views physical intimacy as a means to an end (that end being relief from her hyperactive drive and her partner's tensions and needs), and not as anything special. She's been known to offer or even ask for it with just about anyone for this very reason.

She can tell at a glance if someone's relationships are mutual, and has a sixth sense for "pure" relationships (platonic or romantic connections that are mutual and equally strong both ways)

Her tail is fully prehensile, and can be twisted and bent however she likes due to a mutation she and her brother share. This IS part of the mutation they share that causes their tails to be slightly longer than twice their heights.

Trace

He can draw WAY better than he lets on. Most of his art is simple and rough, but he is fully capable of drawing in a fairly realistic style.

He's hyper-sensitive to wind direction and air pressure, and can tell differences as small as a single person entering or leaving a room he's in by the addition or loss of their breathing.

He uses his courier job as both practice for his weekly races AND as a way of building up favors with his contacts in Tylvin's illegal free-running league. He offers to deliver packages and letters, no questions asked, in exchange for nothing but "A favor owed", which has made him a very popular courier for the underground.

To add to the last fact, Trace has never asked a big favor. His payment has always come in the form of free meals, replacement clothes when his wear out, or simply free reign to train on buildings owned by contacts he's delivered for. This contributes to his popularity as a courier; he charges no money, and all he asks in exchange is small comforts and freedom to train.

Also

Should I do stuff like this more often? For other characters, for places, or something like that? Or maybe less positive/more positive stuff than this?

[deidremercer]

A Formal Review of Sparkle On, Raven! The Life of Drillgirl. (Episodes 1-3)

I first learned of Sparkle On, Raven! During Dollip Daze's voice acting commission stream. You might know Dollip as the funny blue girl from Twitch and TikTok, or perhaps as the voice of Jet in Realtime Fandub Games and The Necessity of Change (otherwise known as sonic riders dub) or maybe you've ever seen her on hit internet gameshow Act Promptly. Regardless of from whence you might know her, as well as the other members of the cast, I was confused to hear Dollip unplug her microphone on stream so that she could record with her webcam mic, and I was curious as to who this "Raven" character was. So I took a look at it, and I fell in love.

Sparkle On, Raven! The Life of Drillgirl is a webseries on the YouTube channel "these are videos, one, two three" a channel which has miraculously managed to nab the YouTube handle @SquareEnixOfficial the channel itself doesn't really have any information about the channel or the show anywhere, but through context clues you can pretty easily come to the conclusion that the channel is owned and run by Chase of ClownDepot, and if you're familiar with the works of himself or any of his friends from Clownhouse or Realtime Fandub you're likely to see a few familiar faces in the credits of Sparkle On, Raven!

The first episode of Sparkle On, Raven! The Life of Drillgirl, opens with an exposition dump from our titular protagonist Raven, who explains that she is going to have the perfect, perfect school year, despite the fact that she has to manage a bunch of new students transferring to her school due to the other school in the town blowing up, and also the fact that she's a magical girl. This implies to the viewer that Drillgirl is in fact Raven's magical girl alter ego. Almost immediately we learn that this is not the case, Drillgirl is an entirely separate character who is treated as if she is the protagonist despite the fact that she appears for exactly one scene in each episode. This is brilliant, and it's comedy like this that Sparkle On, Raven! really excels at.

Sparkle On, Raven! is very clearly a parody of fanime, a mid-2000s trend that I'm sure many of you are familiar with at least from a conceptual standpoint. While the most famous work from this medium is undoubtedly SoapOpera46's timeless classic Nyan~ Neko Sugar Girls. Fanime were plentiful in the years around 2006, and while many parodies of fanime like Drama At Junior Blossom High seek to replicate the "so bad it's good" factor commonly associated with the artform, Sparkle On, Raven! seeks to not punch down at these works by amature artists and storytellers, but celebrate them.

While Sparkle On, Raven! does contain many elements of these works such as the poor mic-quality, mspaint-esque artstyle, and over-the-top character designs and names, it notably never uses these elements as the punchline. Sparkle On, Raven! is funny because the jokes are good, through clever writing or good delivery, the cast and team of the show actually deliver a show that is legitimately funny on its own and not just funny as a punching bag. Even when it does utilize elements of the medium in its comedy, the joke is never just "we did the thing." Raven's transformation sequence being arguably the worst looking bit of art/animation in the show isn't funny because the art is bad, it's funny because in a magical girl show typically the transformations are visually stunning because that piece of animation is reused in basically every episode of the show. The one joke about the mic quality isn't just "the mic quality is bad," the joke is that Drillgirl is the one character whose mic quality is incredibly crisp and clear because she is treated as the main character, the joke is that they are spending more money on their supposed lead character, and it's a joke only enhanced by the previously mentioned one appearance per episode.

Perhaps the one exception to this rule is ChuppaChups the Alien, whose voice is put through a filter that makes their dialogue almost incomprehensible, but I'm willing to forgive that because in episode 1 the closed captions allow you to very clearly understand what they're saying, and also the CC goes into an unnecessary level of detail that I find funny, and their appearance in episode 3, while very difficult to parse, does not require you to really catch the whole thing and is the setup for one of my favorite jokes in the series.

Sparkle On, Raven! also manages to tailor to one of my favorite specific brands of comedy, that being referring to someone exclusively by one very long name, in the way that I exclusively refer to the creator of Undertale as Tobias "Radiation" "Please Stop Calling Me Radiation" Foxtrot, but I think there's something here for everyone, there's a pretty wide net of comedy stylings that the show casts without ever feeling like it doesn't truly have its own identity.

I feel that a lot of the voice cast's performances speak for themselves, but one thing I've been neglecting to mention in this review thus far is how the show actually looks. Despite its MSPaint-esque line work and coloring, Sparkle On, Raven! Tends to look really good both in still frames and in motions, the team that actually makes the artwork is a pretty large group so the art style does fluctuate from scene to scene, but I think this works to it's benefit. As an example, I think the show's brief dip into a more traditional detailed anime art style as Raven and Slash standoff, preparing to fight adds a sort of weight to the scene, and when the style gets more simplistic as they actually begin to fight each other, it works both comedically and logically, as an action scene with such detail would be far more difficult to animate. I really respect Sparkle On, Raven! for it's ability to use these art style changes in this way. While I think the show both when still and in motion is pretty solid overall there are definitely specific scenes where it's obvious they prioritized one over the other, see that standoff having exactly two frames for talking as opposed to Raven drawing her sword during the fight which is some of the most fluid animation in the show. There are also a lot of really solid visual gags such as the end of said fight (my favorite joke in the series) as well as smaller things like Raven sipping out of a taped together milk carton after her original one gets destroyed in a bit of absolutely unnecessary continuity.

I also think every character, in both design and personality, ranges from pretty good to downright flawless. Slash specifically is so beautiful to me because he manages to strike the perfect balance between the reality and the fantasy of the "while you were talking to girls, I was studying the blade" guy. He somehow manages to simultaneously be exactly what the "studied the blade" guy thinks he is, with his ability to slice through apparently any material, while also embodying the incompetence of every "studied the blade" guy on the planet with his inability to deal with or even touch non-stationary targets. Drillgirl is also on the flawless side of the spectrum because she is the best. On the lower side of the spectrum we have characters like Strawberry whose primary thing just seems to be that their appearance is contradictory to their name on a funny way, and somewhere in the middle is Ryan Sasuke for being an excellent parody of the anime cool guy rival but gets points docked for just being Bakugo from MHA (even though that is incredibly funny)

The last thing I want to talk about is the credits sequences, the team really went above and beyond to make these fun and enjoyable. There's no real depth for me to add here I just think giving your characters a musical number at the end of every episode is really funny and entertaining.

[sakebytheriver]

What did you like most about everything everywhere all at once?

Oh god 😭😭😭

How can I even begin to answer that question? I mean there are just so many aspects in that movie that are absolutely incredible, from the cast to the costumes to the special effects it's all a bunch of exceptional pieces of a puzzle put together to make a work of art that is possibly one of the best films we've ever seen

But if I was forced to pick just One Thing about the movie I like the most, I would definitely have to say the writing

The script and the writing behind it are the main reason this movie is as good as it is, without it this movie would have been nothing, I mean there's a reason why it took the Daniels almost a decade to write this thing. They started coming up with the premise and doing research all the way back in 2010 and there is no doubt in my mind that those years taken to perfect the script before ever starting production are completely responsible for this movie being so incredible.

They didn't put their first draft on the screen. They put their 50th draft on the screen

How many movies can you think of with great premises that have absolutely shit execution? And it all begins in the writer's room. The writing process is so important to making a film or TV show successful and the reason why Everything Everywhere All At Once is so good is because the Daniels took that process seriously and took their vision seriously, unwilling to press record on the camera until the script was as perfect as they could possibly get it and be proud of their work

It took the Daniels 8 years to write this script, and then they filmed everything within a production schedule of only like 30 days (before reshoots) and then about a year of editing and post production before the film was in theaters. That is a ridiculously fast turn around for a movie and without those 8 years of perfecting the script there's no way on earth the production schedule would have been as easy and as fast as it was

I could wax poetic about basically every aspect of this movie till I'm blue in the face, but the writing is the framework and the solid foundation that allows every other bit of the production to stand as tall as it does and I will forever be chasing that kind of brilliance in all of my own writing for the rest of my time on this planet for sure.

I mean there's a reason why this movie doesn't have just one singular overly famous quote, but in fact has like 20, from "In another life I would have really liked just doing laundry and taxes with you" to "No one is unloveable there is always something to love" and "You think because l'm kind that it means I'm naive, and maybe I am. It's strategic and necessary. This is how I fight." and "Please be kind, escpecially when we don't know what's going on" and "We can do whatever we want. Nothing matters" and "Right is a small box invented by people who are afraid. And I know what it's like being stuck in that box" and "I'm useless alone. We're all useless alone, it's a good thing you're not alone" and so on and so forth, there is line after line of dialogue that reaches straight into your chest to physically touch your heart with their words. How many movie quotes can do that without the actor's inflection and performance backing it up? How many lines can break you just from reading them the way half the quotes from this movie do? How many movies even have a singular line that can hit you the way ALL of these lines in EEAAO hit you? The cast and their deliveries are absolutely incredible and 100% aid and elevate the source material, but these quotes were already powerhouses when they were just print on a page, putting them into the talented mouths of the movie's cast only elevates them even further

Actors are taught how to make shit writing sound like good writing, the amount of actors I've seen having to fight an uphill battle to make garbage dialogue work is basically every film put out these days, but the writing in EEAAO isn't forcing these actors to fight with reality to make their lines sound like words a real human being would say, it's already so incredible that the actors can play and discover a different kind of truth within every word instead of forcing themselves to find the truth within words no real human has ever passed through their lips

Bottom line, I suppose to me, the best part of EEAAO is the writing behind it, because without good writing, you would have absolutely nothing

[these-violet-delights-fic]

For my ​ @daredevilexchange gift, I’ve made an album cover and fanmix inspired by @youveneverbeenalone‘s marvelous fic Ghost Within A Ghost.

I Put a Spell on You - Creedence Clearwater Revival An easy one for any poor victim under Kilgrave’s control, and I’m a fan of this particular cover.

Just One Yesterday - Fall Out Boy ft. Foxes Matt is Kilgrave’s puppet. He unwillingly leads a double life, harming people against his will, struggling with his faith, job, and friends, all the while wishing he never met the man in the purple suit.

Tell Me I’m Okay Patrick - Crazy Ex-Girlfriend Season 2 Original Cast Recording The idea of poor Matt having to pal around with Kilgrave because the piece of crap has no friends is darkly hilarious and pathetic to me. Granted, Rebecca is being more honest and vulnerable with her delivery guy than Kilgrave could ever be with anyone, but if he were being a touch more honest, I think this his how that would go. Also, Charlie Cox and David Tennant lounging on a piano like vintage starlets is a fantastic mental image.

She’s Always a Woman - Billy Joel One of those Perfect Jessica Jones songs, imo. Nearly every lyric fits her, and as Matt gets to know her better, I think he would agree.

I’m Still Standing - Rocket Man Original Cast Recording He went through Hell, but our DareDevil is free. The relief Matt feels when the purple fog is lifted is lovingly written, and while I almost went with the original Elton John version of this song, Taron Egerton’s portrayal of Elton recovering from his battles with addiction quietly before jumping into an iconic music video fit just a touch better.

Friends Will Be Friends - Queen Jess and Matt likely palling around in the future brings me joy and the note of friendship this fic ended on was an excellent bow on this gift of a fic.

Bonus Track!

Fit Hot Guys Have Problems Too - Crazy Ex-Girlfriend Season 3 Original Cast Recording This can apply to any of the male Defenders, but Matt has the most angst, so it fits him even moreso. This is mostly a joke, but come for the abs, stay for the character development!

[Image Description: Matt Murdock, his back to the viewer, holds his arms out as though he is being crucified or puppeteered, his scene all in red. Kilgrave and Jessica Jones are ghosted above the title, all in purple. The title “Ghost Within A Ghost” is in the center, dividing the groups.]

[aworldforastage]

my first danmei playlist -- part 4: "I like these voice actors about a normal amount"

[see more in this series are under the tag #my first danmei playlist]

Every song in this post is recorded by the voice actors (or at least such a version exists but cannot be streamed for free).

There's always something special about the actors' versions. Maybe it's hearing the music in the character's own voices, or maybe it's their enunciation and delivery that really helps make the lyrics and emotions stand out. There are obvious repeating names on this play list. If I say I only like them a normal amount, is it remotely believable?

Whisper by 文森, from FOG, Season 1

"You whisper in my life"

"You whisper in my life" may not be grammatically sound in English, but you know exactly what it means in this quiet song, through a bittersweet journey of separation and reunion, coming back together for the love and dreams they never stopped believing in.

玫瑰星云/"Rosette Nebula" by 大C, from 我只喜欢你的人设/Rose and Renaissance

为你点燃星辉 / 拨开夜的黑 For you I can light up the stars, to push away the darkness of night

Sweeping, dramatic, but uplifting: this is one of my favorite romantic ballads of all time. Sometimes it's just nice to believe in love that feels like starlight. (Cast version is performed by 文森/Wen Sen.)

溺/"Drowning" by 饭卡 , from恶性依赖/Morbid Addiction

是我饮鸩止渴 溺毙你的温柔 相撞一刻将我枯竭灵魂掏空 I drank poison to quench my thirst, and drowned in your tenderness The moment of our collision emptied out my parched soul

The CV version is unfortunately not free on Mao'er, but it's one of my favorite cast performances. The lyrics shed light on the perspective of the laconic and stoic love interest who often does not express his feelings clearly. 文森/Wen Sen's delivery really makes the words pop, and it hits differently in the character's voice.

七百个日夜/"Seven hundred days and nights" by 奇然, 大C , from FOG, Season 2

是无双星火 是热血永恒 他是我 爱的最终 He is unmatched starlight, is eternal passion He is my love in its ultimate form

The Season 2 theme for FOG is still about their rekindled love for each other, but with emphasis on their fiery energy and competitive spirit as teammates gunning to become future world champions, together. Kind of like a "Shonen Anime Opening Theme." (Cast version is performed by 文森/Wen Sen and 马正阳/Ma Zhengyang)

人间有灵/"Spirits in the Human Realm" by 文森, 马正阳, from 我开动物园那些年/The Years When I Operated a Zoo, Season 1

是幼稚的任性的小小伎俩 是敏感的欲盖弥彰 是柔软的真挚的热切渴望 是圆满的人间世上 They are childish, stubborn little tricks And poor attempts to hide sensitive feelings They are gentle and sincere passionate desires That completes this perfect human realm

This song perfectly captures the essence of one of my favorite novels, which is mostly a series of funny anecdotes with no real villains or arguably even a plot. The tone is silly and funny, but the romance that blossoms from these chaos and antics is both hilarious and seriously sincere.

你替世界吻我/"Kiss me on the world's behalf" by 胡良伟, 马正阳 from 到了30岁还是童贞的话，好像就会变成魔法使/Cherry Magic

想鼓起勇气牵一次你的手，让世界借我向你袒露温柔。 Want to have the courage to take your hand, so the world can show you some kindness through me.

One more entry in the happy pop love song category! I remember the original TV drama taking the BL fandom by storm in 2021 because it's so sweet, and soft, and comforting. The AD doesn't feel quite as complete as the drama, but like this song, still has those soft and sweet vibes!

[aspiringsophrosyne]

Episode 4: Those Who Walk Away

There's a long line at the concession stand. Think you can get something before the show starts? Traffic was pretty bad.

Because trust me, you don't want to miss the beginning of this one.

The Good.

There's no end to the praise Liam O'Brien deserves just for the first couple of minutes of the episode. I knew what was coming; how devastating it would be for these characters and how painful it would be for them all. 

Especially for Vax. 

And still. Still. Vax's desperate "Somebody do something!!" stabbed me right in the goddamned heart. And the delivery of his line to the Queen of Death, the one that every critter who watched Campaign one knows, the words that changed Vax's destiny forever...perfect. 

The visuals for the ritual were really cool, too. It was hard to imagine how they would communicate what was happening in the show; as in the stream it was down to dice rolls and rituals. The gold dome over Vex, the Queen's claw piercing it and then causing it to shatter....it calls up dread from the deepest pit of your heart.

And then Vax just having the armor on when they turn around...quick, efficient and spooky as hell. Very good move there.

Those shots of the Calamity in the vision. My God. For the record, and I touched on this before, I love that the peeks we've gotten into that period of Exandria's history have been broad and unspecific. They are meant to be grandiose to mind-bending proportions, and you can ironically lose that effect by trying too hard to get that idea across. It also leaves the impression that as big and crazy as this all looks, what we've seen (Osysa's story in S2E2 and now Vax's vision) is only the tip of the iceberg. 

I like that Purrvan got to shine a bit here. Partially this is because I can sympathize with Matt over that name; (Vox Machina's reaction to it was pretty much the cast's in the stream) and also because it makes sense. Funny name or not, the Matron doesn't hire chumps. In the watch-along for this episode, the cast mentioned that they originally had Matt record grunts, sounds of effort, and reactions to getting hit...and then decided the scene was more striking without them. It was a good call. It gets across just how beyond Vax this former Champion is. And it foreshadows just how formidable a being Vax will one day become. 

As I've said before and will say again, titmouse knows how to do a good fight scene. I was surprised the monster was savvier than it looked, angling its tentacles around Keyleth's obstacles to get at her and Percy. Some damn good lines here too. Pike's understandable exasperation ("Son of a bitch!") and Percy's testy incredulousness ("Oh, just petrified!?") are incredibly relatable.

Perhaps the scene only feels this way to me because of hindsight, but Vax's acceptance feels like a crown being placed on a head under a guillotine.

I didn't immediately realize what they had done with the Deathwalker's Ward. I had honestly forgotten what it did: aside from its most obvious perk, which we'll see in a future episode. In the game, it's mostly a defensive item. Ironic: a Death Goddess's artifact that made it harder for you to die. But what they did in the show was combine it with another magic item Vax had, the boots of haste, which the twins fought over incessantly. They let him cast haste on himself without having that spell, and with it, he could haul ass like a motherfucker.

This allows us a demonstrative visual for the ward's power-up, and it gets those boots in the show without them being in it. Plus, the ability they grant fits Vax as a speedy, stealthy guy.

Not only that, but it also shows us in very little time just why Osysa sent Vox Machina after these things. Seeing the whole crew get trashed by this monster, only for Vax to take it down alone, cements how powerful the Vestiges are and how essential they'll be in defeating the Chroma Conclave. Another great use of show-don't-tell.

And that shot. That shot. Reactors and the cast alike can't help but cheer when That Shot happens, where Vax leaps into the air and is framed by the Matron's mural above him before he delivers the final blow. Like Liam O'Brien's acting, I can't say enough good things about that shot. It looks cool, but it also has weight; it suggests that Vax has taken his place as a figure in history who will have murals in temples dedicated to him that other adventurers will stumble upon one day.

The new implementation of the necklace is clever. It makes sense a bounty hunter would have something like it. And Wil get's one more good line out before he and Zahra exit.

The Bad. (Or at least not great.)

You're hot, then you're cold.

Zahra is the one to vocally oppose Vex's attempted resurrection. This contrasts her with Kash, who leaps right in to try to help when Pike's efforts don't work. This behavior comes across as somewhat inconsistent.

Zahra was the one who had a personal relationship with Vex, even if it ended badly. Zahra was the one who supported and saved Vex in the battle with the Adaro, even if it was at least partially to show her up.

I could see Zahra cautioning both Kash and Vox Machina that what he's trying to do for Vex has a minuscule chance of succeeding. Or even warning Kash against it for fear of drawing Vesh's attention. (Vesh is Kash's goddess, and she is bad fucking news.) But Zahra just unemotionally writing off Vex as dead and declaring it useless to try to help her seems disproportionally cold compared to how she'd acted up to that point.

No Drama is Better Than Bad Drama?

Previously, I was pleasantly surprised to see the Take included at all, let alone so well integrated into The Legend of Vox Machina's story. Likewise, Zahra and Kash were a delight, and the passion for their characters comes just as strong through Mary's and Will's performances as it does for the rest of the voice acting cast.

But the Onlooker fight is where the momentum stalls.

Zahra specifically says this to Kash after Grog is petrified:

Kash: Shit.

Zahra: Would you relax? As soon as they're restrained, I swipe the armor, you unfreeze your new friends, and we get the hell out of here.

So we have a clear scheme here. Let the Onlooker turn Vox Machina to stone, steal the Deathwalker's Ward from Vax, de-petrify everyone, then book it.

As far as plots to steal an artifact go, it's pretty tame and harmless. It probably wouldn't have even worked because after Vox Machina was restored, they would've been pretty pissed about the theft, and then it would've been a two-on-seven fight. One on seven, if Kash decided he wasn't on Zahra's side.

But as the battle continued, more of the other group succumbed, and Kash got upset and said he wouldn't be a party to Zahra's plan.

...Why?

Later, after Vax Awakens the Deathwalker's Ward, Kash says this to him:

Kash: Look, I'm sorry. We didn't mean for any of this to happen, I swear.

Yes, you did!! You absolutely did. Or at least Zahra did. That was her whole plan.

The script treats the fight like an escalation from what Zahra planned. That her recklessness and stubbornness let things get out of her control. That she put Vox Machina in danger.

By every indication, that is not what happened.

Things were going exactly as planned before she tried to put the monster back in her necklace on Kash's objections, and Vax Awakened the armor. 

Not only that, but Vox Machina would've been perfectly fine if everything had gone the way she'd wanted. They would've been rightfully pissed that their Vestige was stolen, but they would've been unharmed otherwise once Kash restored them.

The crew said in the Q&A that they wanted this monster fight to have more drama than its stream counterpart. I like drama. But I'm most satisfied with drama when it makes sense. When it's consistent with what we're seeing and hearing on screen. What I'm not impressed by is a drama that's introduced for the sake of it and thus ill-conceived and ill-implemented. That brings nothing to the table.

This isn't the first time the script of The Legend of Vox Machina was at odds with what we were actually seeing or had seen on screen. And sadly, it won't be the last time this season.

A Question of Motivation.

Something else harms the deployment of the monster. Beyond the disconnection between what's happening and what is said, Zahra's motivations, or lack thereof, hold things back.

Zahra's clearly irritated that Osysa told Vox Machina about the Ward instead of anyone at the Take, but how does this motivate her? Is she acting out of envy? Greed? Worry? A sense of responsibility? A feeling of betrayal? Her old bitter feelings about Vex? Does she feel Vox Machina could be worthy of the Vestige, but she won't accept that unless she sees it for herself? Or all of the above?

We'll probably see Kash and Zahra again. And future episodes could shed some light on this. But as of this episode, it's hard to tell how you're supposed to feel about her, the fight, and Vox Machina more or less letting her and Kash off the hook after. We can guess how she's feeling, but it isn't made explicit, so we don't know why she does what she does or whether or not we're supposed to find her actions understandable or sympathetic.

Here are two possible ways I think they could've done it better.

Option A, have Zahra announce to Vox Machina that although they found the Vestige, one of them would've died getting it if it wasn't for Kash (as far as those two know). The others will be similarly hard to get, and even if they manage to get them through pure dumb luck the way they got this first one, that doesn't mean they're worthy of them. Vestiges are incredibly powerful and dangerous; they shouldn't go to just any bumble fucks. So they must pass one last test to keep the Deathwalker's Ward.

And then Onlooker.

This approach makes for a smoother transition, firmly establishes Zahra and Kash's priorities and motivations, and gives the audience and Vox Machina a chance to understand their perspective. Because once we see Vax Awaken the Vestige and take the monster that had petrified the rest of the team down all by himself...we can understand why Zahra and Kash were trepidatious about letting someone outside the Take walk away with this thing.

And when Zahra and Kash see Vax do that, they relent, heal the others, and admit he's worthy to wield it.

Option B, we could've had the thing just be there like it was in the stream. But, we could have had Zahra and Kash be involved in its ambush of Vox Machina in another way. After the Adaro fight, while they're by themselves, the two mention that the fish people usually don't gather together unless they've got something bigger than themselves to latch onto. Similar to remoras and sharks. We could even add an image of the Onlooker drawn in the fresh blood from earlier for foreshadowing. But the two keep that to themselves; the monster attacks and everything plays out like in option A. 

Nitpicks

Let's look at Vex's line at the beginning of the episode.

Vex: Whatever happens...it's out of our control.

For anyone, for Vex, and especially for a kid, the line feels unnatural. In fact, it's obvious she says this not necessarily because it's in character but to set up Vax's Awakening of the armor later.

And you could argue that someone who didn't know what would happen wouldn't feel that way, but people will watch this show more than once. On a re-watch, a newbie might feel similarly.

While we could change the line, we might not even need one here. Just have Vax flashback to the twins and the bear while he's fighting Purrvan, only with him in the place of the mother bear with his young sister's hand soothing his cheek and his younger self's dagger at his throat. That gets across exactly how Vax's feeling in an instant with no dialogue at all, and it informs his letting go.

~~~

Instead of this at the end of the episode:

Vex: And what about my debt to the Slayer's Take?

Zahra: What debt?

I like something like this better:

Vex: And what about my debt to the Slayer's Take?

Zahra: Well, you did say you wanted to speak to Osysa because of four incredibly wealthy dragons didn't you? You better not fail in slaying them, then.

Zahra basically going put up or shut up here. You said you wanted a Vestige to kill dragons? Well, go kill some dragons. But it's not unkind, as it shows that now she thinks they might actually mean to try, and they actually might even have a shot at succeeding.

That's episode 4 down. It's only getting more interesting from here folks.

[crazistudio]

Voice Over Artists in Delhi

In today’s digital world, attention spans are shorter than ever. To truly connect with your audience, you need a powerful voice that can grab their attention and keep them engaged. That’s where Crazistudio, a leading provider of Voice Over Artists (VO Artists) in Delhi, comes in.

Our team of talented and experienced Voice Over Artists can breathe life into your project, whether it’s a corporate explainer video, an eLearning module, a captivating audiobook, or a dynamic explainer video. We understand the importance of finding the perfect voice to match your brand and message.

Why Choose Crazistudio’s Voice Over Artists in Delhi?

Wide Range of Talent: We have a diverse pool of Voice Over Artists in Delhi, each with their own unique voice and style. Whether you need a warm and authoritative narrator, a friendly and engaging explainer voice, or a character voice with personality, we can find the perfect fit for your project.

Experienced Professionals: Our VO Artists are seasoned professionals with a proven track record of delivering high-quality voiceovers. They understand the nuances of different project types and can adapt their delivery accordingly.

High-Quality Recordings: We use state-of-the-art recording equipment and studios to ensure your voiceover sounds crisp, clear, and professional.

Fast Turnaround Times: We understand that deadlines are important. That’s why we offer fast turnaround times without compromising on quality.

Seamless Integration: Crazistudio can handle all aspects of your voiceover project, from scriptwriting and casting to recording and editing.

Elevate Your Project with a Professional Voiceover

A professional voiceover can make a world of difference in the impact of your project. Here are just a few of the benefits you can expect:

Increased Engagement: A captivating voice can keep your audience hooked and ensure they retain your message.

Enhanced Brand Image: A professional voiceover adds polish and credibility to your brand, making you stand out from the competition.

Improved Clarity: A skilled voiceover artist can deliver your message clearly and concisely, ensuring your audience understands exactly what you’re trying to say.

Ready to Take Your Project to the Next Level?

Contact Crazistudio today to discuss your Voice Over Artist needs in Delhi. We’ll be happy to help you find the perfect voice to elevate your project and connect with your audience on a deeper level.

[brigidafarleigh]

Once I Played With That Thing

Water guns are a summertime staple that brings many hours of enjoyable to children and adults of all ages. You’ve possible fired some liquid ammo yourself a time or two, but have you ever considered when and the way water guns first started? You is likely to be shocked to study that water guns have been around for fairly a while - they were even mentioned during the American Civil War. The historical past of water guns is in depth and crammed with fascinating details, so let’s attempt a fast blast into the previous and study more about these warm-weather toys. Based on records and quotes from Abraham Lincoln relating to "a squirt Orbi Gun," it's believed that these toy guns had been round earlier than the American Civil War. The unique water guns weren't in any respect just like the plastic ones you see in backyards all throughout America today - they have been made out of cast-iron, tubing and a squeeze bulb.

Fast, FREE Delivery is obtainable to Prime members. To affix, choose "Try Amazon Prime and begin saving at the moment with Fast, FREE Delivery" beneath the Add to Cart button. Important: Your bank card will not be charged when you begin your free trial or in the event you cancel through the trial interval. If you are pleased with Amazon Prime, do nothing. At the end of the free trial, your membership will automatically upgrade to a month-to-month membership. Free returns can be found for the shipping handle you chose. Learn extra about free returns. Sorry, there was a problem. Sorry, there was a problem. Sorry, there was an issue. Sorry, there was an issue. Free returns are available for the transport address you chose. Learn extra about free returns. Free returns can be found for the transport tackle you selected. Learn extra about free returns. 【Electric Automatic Mode】 Upgraded Electric Automatic Gel Ball Blaster could make the capturing sooner and smoother, bring you a real experie

The following evolution of Surge! Full size rifle blaster that comes with 3 variable firing modes to take blasting to the next stage! The subsequent generation of fun is here, introducing the Gel Blaster Surge XL! Gel Blasters blast eco-friendly, water based mostly ammo known as Gellets! You'll be able to play anytime anywhere, even indoors! Gellets disintegrate on contact and instantly begin to dehydrate, leaving no mess and no clear up. Created to get households outdoors once more, Gel Blaster provides simply sufficient sting to make backyard gameplay exciting! Gel Blaster Starfire Gellets are small, water based mostly self absorbing balls or water beads that glow at the hours of darkness. Starfire Gellets, when fully hydrated, attain the perfect measurement of 7.5mm which is ideal for having fun with evening time gameplay with official Gel Blaster Starfire merchandise. Gel Blaster Starfire Gellets disintegrate on impression and the glowing particles begin to dehydrate leaving no mess, no cleanup, and no worries!

The Starfire Blaster (or Starfire Activator acessory) is important to totally charge your gellets for extreme night time play, providing you with a glowing tracer impact. Gel Blaster Starfire Gellets are a specialized formulation and should be soaked in water for at the least 4 hours to totally develop in size. You will want half a gallon of water to completely hydrate a single 5,000 pack of glow in the dark Starfire Gellets. Failing to fully hydrate the Starfire Gellets may cause your Gel Blaster to operate poorly. Gel Blaster Gellets increase 10x their measurement so make certain you utilize an enormous sufficient container. A one gallon bucket works nice for hydrating a 5,000 Gellet pack. The specialised nature of Starfire Gellets might trigger them to lose their full glow functionality over time, so be certain that to only hydrate what you plan on utilizing. Gel Blaster Starfire Gellets are small, water based mostly self absorbing balls or water beads that glow at the hours of darkness.

Which is an easy machine that converts rotational motion into movement in a line? How a lot is 159 pounds in stones? What are the essential portions and provides their units? Why is the inside of an oven black? What is going to a north pole and a south pole do if brought collectively? What's acceration? Can radio waves be deflected? Why do you float magnetised needle to a cork floating in water? What occurs to a sound as the thing making the sound moves further away? Was the nuclear reactor at Chernobyl the same as other reactors around the world? Why is static friction known as self adjusting power? Does a ball fly farther at high altitude? How is power produced in nuclear power stations? What colour of mild does a purple filter allow to go by it? What is the electrical conductivity of potassium? What number of pounds 1 gallon weigh? Where do nephrologist work? How does a hair dryer evaporate water from the hair? What is the Smallest amount of a property corresponding to energy? What is supposed by free falling objects?

[bigmouthvoices]

Unlocking the Power of Voiceovers: From Script to Sound

In the vast world of audiovisual content, voices overs play a pivotal role. Whether you're watching a commercial, a documentary, an animated film, or even using a navigation app, the chances are that you've encountered the magic of a well-executed voiceover. These versatile vocal performances bring scripts to life, connect with audiences, and enhance the overall impact of a piece of content. In this article, we'll delve into the fascinating realm of voiceovers, exploring their importance, the process behind them, and their various applications.

The Significance of Voiceovers

Voiceovers, at their core, are a means of conveying a message or telling a story through spoken words. They serve numerous purposes, such as:

Narration: Voiceovers are often used for narration in documentaries, guiding viewers through the narrative and providing essential information.

Branding: Many companies use distinct voices to build brand recognition and convey their identity in commercials and promotional materials.

Characterization: In animation, video games, and audiobooks, voice actors breathe life into characters, making them relatable and memorable.

Accessibility: Voiceovers are crucial for making content accessible to individuals with visual impairments. They describe visual elements and provide context.

Educational and Training Materials: Voiceovers are commonly used in e-learning courses and training videos to explain complex concepts or procedures.

The Voiceover Process

Behind every compelling voiceover is a meticulous process that combines talent, technology, and creativity:

Script Preparation: The journey begins with a well-crafted script. This script outlines what needs to be conveyed and sets the tone for the performance.

Casting: Selecting the right voice actor is crucial. Factors like tone, style, and delivery must align with the project's goals.

Recording: Voice actors record their lines in a studio. Here, sound engineers ensure the audio is clear and free of background noise.

Editing and Post-production: The recorded audio is edited to perfection, removing any mistakes or inconsistencies. Sound effects and music are added if necessary.

Integration: The final voiceover is seamlessly integrated into the visual content.

The Versatility of Voiceovers

Voiceovers are incredibly versatile and find their place in various forms of media:

Advertising: Commercials rely on persuasive voiceovers to sell products or services.

Entertainment: Animation, video games, and audiobooks use voiceovers to engage and entertain audiences.

Informational Content: Documentaries and educational videos depend on voiceovers to convey knowledge and maintain audience interest.

Business and Training: Corporate videos, explainer videos, and training materials employ voiceovers to educate and inform.

Accessibility: To ensure inclusivity, voiceovers provide descriptions and explanations for the visually impaired in movies, TV shows, and online content.

The Future of Voiceovers

As technology advances, voiceovers are evolving as well. With the emergence of artificial intelligence and text-to-speech technologies, synthetic voices are becoming increasingly convincing. However, the human touch and emotion that voice actors bring to their performances remain irreplaceable.

In conclusion, voiceovers are the unsung heroes of the audiovisual world, adding depth, emotion, and clarity to various forms of content. From creating a brand identity to educating and entertaining, they continue to be an integral part of our multimedia landscape. The power of a compelling voice, whether delivering a sales pitch or narrating a heartfelt story, is a force to be reckoned with, reminding us that sometimes it's not just what you say, but how you say it, that truly matters.

[globusinfocomlimited]

Which Digital Board is the best?

In recent times, digital boards for teaching have gained a strong place in the teaching-learning process. The smart approach to learning has been encouraged by schools where innovations have given new meaning to education.

The audio-visual learning method provided by digital board increases students’ attention span time leading to the rise of engaging & interactive sessions in the classroom. Students can practice more, learn more, and adapt more easily with the very attractive features it offers.

What is Digital Board for teaching?

A digital board is a touchscreen board that is the more defined version of any electronic learning device. The wall-mounted device gives users complete autonomy to use, run and do hands-on it.

Digital boards for teaching allow users to experience the best of audio-visual learning methods and acquire conceptual clarity like never before.

Let’s check the list of below-mentioned ed-tech companies that provide Digital Board for classrooms. comparing that you can find the best feature for your use.

Which companies are providing the best digital boards for teaching

With the innovations comes change and there are leading edtech brands in India that with continuous innovations, the process is bringing change and revolutionizing the way

Globus Infocom Digital Board solution

It is one     of the most user-friendly and best digital boards available     in the market supporting a hybrid learning model of learning. 

The     AI-enabled tool is the inbuilt software of the display that allows users     to doodle on the whiteboard & convert them into google sourced images     referring to better clarity.

4k     resolution of the digital board provides better picture clarity     ensuring excellent views.

Globus     Digital board comes with wireless screen mirroring and casting features.

It     comes up with a complete digital board solution incorporating     interactive displays, digital teaching devices, multimedia controllers,     and many more.

Sizes of the screen are available in 65,75,86     & 98 inches providing power-packed performances.

The visualizer provides perfect visual aids of     graphs, charts, tables, & images to display on the screen.

There is an available option for k-12 content created     by academic experts for better delivery of lessons.

With cost-effective prices you can avail the     best tool for your classroom & utilize the best of features enhancing     academic performances.

Know more: www.globusinfocom.com

 Digital Interactive Panel

It provides a 75-inch screen along with an LED display. With a 7th-generation     CPU and 8 GB RAM, it ensures high-performing qualities.

one can use an electromagnetic pen and your finger as well to write     on the screen.

For the most successful delivery of your lecture, you can plan it     and include graphs, charts, tables, photos, and other audio-visual aids.

The inbuilt speakers of The MAXHUB digital board provide     rich audio quality and help in wireless casting.

BenQ Wireless Smartboard

The 4K UHD BenQ digital board is the best option available for     learning experiences. 

It also has handwriting recognition, video recording, and     multi-device collaboration features. 

The BenQ duo window feature allows you to run two applications simultaneously.    

There are two 16W speakers installed in it which provide a better     sound experience. 

The Final Word:

Innovation transforms education, it’s not just about bringing change, but it’s related to solving real challenges in the simplest ways to promote equality in learning.

Bringing accessibility to education is what require today, with the help of leading edtech brands in India we can bring revolutionary changes in education with the best digital learning solution like a digital board for the classroom.

[botls]

my fav underrated line from tlt musical is during drive when the trio is fighting and after percy mention’s grover buying snacks annabeth says “wait a minute you bought snacks?! you were only supposed to buy me a t-shirt - maybe one for you, maybe one for percy” i think it just so perfectly fits her character and it’s just so funny and is a wonderful nod to the titan’s curse other than the dam jokes but bc it shows how invested in the hoover dam she was like in their convo ab the facts she taught them it’s just. excellence

[glossolali]

TLOVM Watch Party EP 2 Summary:

- Matt (and Marisha) voiced many many background NPCs

- Scottish David Tennant is Matt's favorite

- Felicia Day wasn't told what she's voicing but she did great as the leader of the army, but she got burned - Bye Felicia!

- Liam and Marisha were instrumental in creating the intro, and it's beautiful!

- Emon's design looks tiring to climb with full plate armor, but there's a magical elevator

- Indira and Stephanie are incredible for Allura and Kima - Indira Varma recorded in her closet, David Tennant recorded in his attic

- Trinket (Matt) had to be there in the room for all the group recordings to do his voice

- There's a contractual minimum for the number of chest hairs on Scanlan, they think it's 6 right now, and every season he gets a 10% boost (LMAO)

- In early designs Gilmore was a little skinnier, and Matt asked for him to be larger and says "he's a big beautiful boy"

- Another Matt NPC sighting! Matt says "I am Exandria's cabbage man"

- Another one of Marisha and Laura's glorious belches, Matt thinks it's an air elemental plane rift or something

- Grog is so cute

- Grog's sandwich used to be way grosser and included human body parts, but they decided to go with a 'nice sandwich' instead

- The painting is so absurd [the tiefling portal painting in Krieg's home] and it's perfect

- David Tennant is SO good! He's makes a great bad guy

- Liam is so good at the sardonic Vax delivery

- Lots of deep cuts like Painter Jameson, and some they ask for, some the design team put in themselves

- In Japan, they had to blur the troll dick (LOL)

- Benefit of finishing a campaign is they can leave Easter eggs and storylines hanging to tie up at a later time

- Vax telling Scanlan to shut up is actually just Liam saying "Shut the fuck up Sam!"

- Stepping away from cartoon violence and making it visceral comes from being a huge admirer and fan of anime, important for the characters to feel like they're in danger, there are consequences to their actions, and it's an adult show

- Percy's Naruto run was completely on purpose!!

- Grog raging was incredible and it was actually the first hit he successfully lands in the first 2 episodes

- About Vax flipping the blood coin into the dragon lair and "We got them, kid." Liam takes lines and makes them sound so good

- Grog's blood looked like dookie at first but they decided to keep that for another episode (lol)

- The Briarwood's carriage design is really great, it looks like a skull with wheels

- We love this show! Hope everyone does too

- End credits have beautiful painted backgrounds, please watch them!

Q&A:

Q: How did you adapt the early part of the stream to this show?

Matt: Characters aren't fully established as heroes, or don't know each other that well, so the Briarwood's arc is a great jumping off point for the show. Initially had a mind control arc that showed each character's greatest fears that just didn't work that well

Q: How did you assemble the show's cast?

Travis & Matt: We made a dream wishlist!

Sam: Vin Diesel said no (joke), but we got a lot of our first choices and they loved how the show became the show, and the love and support of the critters is what made the show - they connected to that story and wanted to be part of their dream

Matt: I can't wait to meet these people in real life and cry in front of them

Sam: Voice actors said "Your fans are awesome!" they felt the critter hug for sure

Matt: My Grandma and Grandpa loved the show, but I can't stop thinking about how they've now listened to Sam sing about anal beads

Everyone: it's fine all grandparents have seen balls (and then they lose it for 5 minutes)

Q: The Dragon design!

Travis: Important for us to have a unique and scary dragon that wasn't like any other dragon in media, was a fun process to workshop it

Q: How much is improv, how much is not?

Sam: We didn't have to improvise much but when we're in the same room it happened naturally, characterisations didn't really change - had to worry about acting instead of just saying it in character on the table

Matt: All scripts get tweaked by everyone so that the character's voice is more like they imagine, despite the writers being amazing, since we've all lived in these characters for so long

Q: Were the rolls honored in the show?

Travis & Matt: Just honoring story beats that make sense and were exciting like Vax's Nat 20 with the dragon fight, or a goof being a 3 and creating a fun situation

Q: Let's talk about Gilmore's Glorious Goods and the glorious zaddy himself!

Matt: The catwalk and dressing rooms on the top floor are so great

Easter eggs: Witch's Hat, The Broom, Sam's Flask

I was really precious about finding the right Gilmore, and Sunil is the perfect casting!

[cinematicct]

The Jungle Book (2016)

Based on the collective tales by Rudyard Kipling, this live-action remake of the animated movie by Walt Disney features record-breaking computer animation and integrated elements from both Disney and Kipling themselves.

The story tells of a boy named Mowgli who was raised in the jungle and sets out on a journey of self-discovery with his animal friends as he avoids a ferocious tiger named Shere Khan.

The voice cast for the animals include: Bill Murray as the sloth bear Baloo, Ben Kingsley as the black panther/guardian Bagheera, Idris Elba as Shere Khan, Scarlett Johansson as the python Kaa, Lupita Nyong’o as adoptive wolf mother Raksha, Ginacarlo Esposito as alpha wolf Akela and Christopher Walken as monkey leader King Louie.

These actors have just the right vocal qualities to match the defining personality of each wildlife character. Bill Murray’s mellow voice is absolutely perfect for the laid-back, sleepy Baloo. He’d even unleash his deadpan delivery as Baloo. Ben Kingsley’s smooth, golden voice for the wise Bagheera (who also narrates the story) is spot-on. Idris Elba’s booming baritone voice is well-suited for the fearsome Shere Khan. Scarlett Johansson’s seductive voice is an excellent fit to the alluring nature of Kaa. Lupita Nyong’o puts the precise touch of emotions to a nurturing wolf. Christopher Walken’s distinctive voice is brilliant for his performance as a looming figure.

The animation is made from the groundbreaking visual technique of CGI to make the animals (including the backgrounds) look very real. Each character is designed by combining animal behavior with both the motion capture and recording of the actors. The animal movement, muscular structure and texture of fur, skin, scales, etc. are also just as real. Moreover, some physical mannerisms from the actors are incorporated into the characters to authentically convey their way of speaking. For example, Bill Murray’s raised eyebrow is inserted in Baloo’s facial gestures. Another is the inclusion of Christopher Walken’s blue eyes and facial expressions to the design of King Louie. A few changes are made to some of those animals as well. Kaa is a fortune teller who reveals to Mowgli (via hypnosis) how he came to live in the jungle while clarifying Shere Khan’s hatred against man. King Louie (an antagonistic character in this version) is a prehistoric primate called a Gigantopithecus. He was an orangutan in the Disney cartoon, but that particular species is not native to setting of the story (India). His deranged behavior is even reminiscent of Colonel Kurtz in Apocalypse Now, hence his appearance is more intimidating. At the same time, Mowgli comes up with inventive tricks to accomplish things. Best of all is the bona fide interaction between Mowgli and his animal companions. The film won an Oscar for Best Visual Effects as a result of the overall technology.

Another piece of animation in this movie is the depiction of fire (the “Red Flower” as the animals call it). That heat-induced chemical reaction serves as a powerful, destructive weapon to the delicate balance of nature. As such, Mowgli is warned not to play with or go near it.

The film (along with the soundtrack) has several songs from the animated movie performed by the actors themselves. Bill Murray sings “The Bare Necessities”, Scarlett Johansson performs “Trust in Me” and Christopher Walken performs a more sinister (but still upbeat) rendition of “I Wan’na Be Like You”.

The movie provides a friendly entertainment service as much as any Disney project while maintaining the mature aspects of Rudyard Kipling’s work. Just a warning, this film may frighten younger kids as it has some intense moments of peril, so wait till they’re old enough before you can show it to them.

Finally, the message is to embrace your own identity as it doesn’t matter how different anyone might be from everyone else. What’s more, home is wherever you’re truly happy. That said, I totally recommend this thrilling, jaw-dropping cinematic experience to everyone.

[mammonshuman92]

- Watched - Pt.4

(Mammon x GN!MC)

** TW: swearing, kidnapping, religion, abuse, blood, death (if I missed any I do apologize!)

He smiled wickedly as he turned around, going back to the table he’d been at earlier and picked up the same knife he’d held to you when he kidnapped you. The only other weapons you could see on the table were a baton and a taser. There was also a thick book you could only assume was a bible and a large jar of water. The most concerning however, was the gas can, thick work gloves, and what looked a lot like a body bag.

“This may call for a more extensive purification.”

-

Your heartbeat quickened, breathing becoming slightly erratic. Your eyes widened at the scene laid out before you, but you tried your best to hold your resolve. 

Whatever he plans to do, even if this is where your time on this Earth comes to an end, you didn’t plan to give him the satisfaction of conforming to his insane, backwoods ideologies. For your most beloved demons, and the love of your life, you were ready to fight until the bitter end.

After leaving the coffee shop, Mammon made his way back to your house to come up with a plan. As he rushed back, he got a brilliant idea and immediately made a phone call. 

Given their status and connections, he was sure that at least a few of his brothers would be able to dig up info on this Alex dude and the ATA, however he couldn’t risk any of them finding out what was going on, for fear it’d get back to Lucifer, so he had to be extremely careful.

“Ugh, what do you want, Mammon? I’m in the middle of a raid right now.”

Levi seemed like the least likely to get too curious and ask questions, especially since Mammon was the one asking. No way would Levi want to end up being part of one of his usual schemes. And since he rarely comes out of his room or socializes with others, Levi was definitely the best one for the job. 

“I need a favor.” Mammon could hear the slight clacking sound of Levi’s controller in the background.

“Nope. No way. Your “favors” always end badly; for everyone involved. Goodbye.” He declined immediately, wanting to hang up and get back to his raid.

“Wait, Levi! It’s real important!” The second born begged. Levi could hear the desperation; the emotion in his brothers voice. His interest was piqued now, along with an uneasy feeling in his stomach.

“What is it?” He asked with a sigh, casting his controller aside.

“I need ya to dig into a group called the ATA.”

“ATA?”

“Yeah, it’s the “Anti Treaty Association”, they’re in the human world. And see if ya can find anythin’ on a guy named Alex who might be associated with ‘em.”

“Anti Treaty..? As in the peace treaty? Mammon, what did you-”

“I’ll explain everythin’ later, okay? Just.. please, Levi? I need ya to look into it.” The level of sheer desperation in Mammon’s voice was concerning, but he didn’t push the issue.

“Okay, okay. Hang on..” 

The sound of Levi’s fingers rapidly clicking across his keyboard flooded Mammon’s ears for the next few minutes.

“Okay, so the group was founded not long after the Devildom exchange program was formally announced. They started small but grew in number quickly; looks like mostly religious extremists. They hold protests at any event involving relations between our world and the human world. Let’s see..” Levi  went quiet for a few seconds as he scanned his monitor.

“It looks like some of the members have a clean record, aside from a couple parking tickets, but there are a few bad apples. Most of the charges consist of harassment, disorderly conduct and destruction of property, all of the incidents taking place at protests. All of them were first time offenders, and have stayed out of trouble since then.”

“Anythin’ about an Alex?”

“Hmm, nope. Do you have a last name maybe? Or literally any other info? I can’t do much with just a first name, especially a common one.”

“Umm, he drives a really old car and he works at a take out place as a delivery driver.” Mammon proceeded to give him the name of the restaurant.

Levi began tapping away on his keyboard again, scanning all the social medias and websites associated with the group and the take out place, looking for anything related to the clues Mammon gave him. Without much to go on, he wasn’t very hopeful and began to lose courage, then he finally got something.

“I got a hit on a few social media accounts related to the ATA. I was able to find some pictures with a crappy older model car in them that were taken at some of their protests a few months back, one of the pictures had a shot of the license plate. After doing a quick search of public record, the car came back as registered to a John A. Smith, who actually died a few years back..” 

Mammon sighed, feeling dejected. That information was all he had, and it may not have even been enough to be helpful.

“Wait..” Levi suddenly said, pulling Mammon from his thoughts.

“His obituary says he had one child; a son named John Smith Jr. I can’t find him on social media under that name, but if we assume the middle initial “A” stands for say, Alexander, then I may have something. I found an Alex Smith, and it’s honestly gotta be him. He’s a member of the official ATA group page, and several others like it. His profile picture has a crappy looking car in it, granted it’s mostly cropped out, but it looks a lot like the one I ran the license plate number on. I’m confident that this is your guy.”

Mammon felt like he could breathe a little easier. Another piece of the puzzle had, hopefully, come together.

“Where do I find him?”

“Not sure. His last location was near the middle of nowhere, but it hasn’t pinged anything for quite some time. I’ll send you the coordinates.”

“Thanks, Levi. I owe ya big time.”

“Yeah. Uh, Mammon? I know you said you’d tell me later, but is everything alright? You’ve never asked me to do something like this before. It kinda feels like you’re looking for someone..”

He waited for his brother to stutter out some kind of excuse to explain it away like he always did when he got himself into some kind of trouble, but he didn’t. Which only made more red flags pop up for Levi.

“If anyone asks, especially Lucifer, this never happened and ya haven’t heard from me, okay?”

“Yeah. Okay, Mammon..”

He didn’t like the feeling he had, the gut instinct and the hair that stood up on the back of his neck that told him something was seriously wrong.

After he hung up with his brother, he decided to dig a little deeper. He traced Mammon’s phone and found him at a location nearby the restaurant he’d had him research. His awful, suspicious feeling was confirmed when his brother’s location came back as one in the human world. A little extra digging of public land records and it pinged as your house. His heart sank as he thought about the urgency and desperation in his brother’s voice. 

He traced your phone, but it just showed the same location as Mammon. But, if you were there, why would he be so frantic? His stomach churned when he realized that there were only a few things that would cause Mammon such distress, and seeing as how he was apparently in the human world, at your house, desperate to find some random dude, it couldn’t be good. Whatever was going on definitely involved you. That thought alone made him sick to his stomach.

“I hope I’m wrong. Please be okay, MC.”

-

*bzzz* *bzzz*

Mammon opened the new text message from Levi, which contained the coordinates to Alex’s last known location.

“MC has gotta be somewhere near this location. If not, maybe I’ll be able to pick up their trail.” 

He was pacing around the living room, going over possible plans for his next move. Thankfully it would be dark soon and there was also a pretty big storm rolling in, which would provide the perfect cover for him to scout from the skies. Heavy wind and rain would make it nearly impossible to pick up your scent though.

He went into your bedroom to retrieve something of yours that would be heavy with your scent, like your favorite jacket or maybe a pillowcase. As he looked around the room, he spotted a strip of pictures shoved in the frame of the mirror on your dresser. A warm smile spread across his face.

It was of the two of you, not too long after you’d officially started dating. He remembered that particular day very well. You’d decided to walk the cobblestone streets of the Devildom, much like you often did together, but this was different. There wasn’t anymore of that “trying to pretend neither one of you had feelings for the other” junk. It was just..real. You were actually his. He reminisced about how warm your hand felt in his, the way his stomach erupted in butterflies when you looked at him with pure excitement after you’d stumbled upon the photo booth. The way you threw yourself at him, locking your lips onto his for the last picture; the shade of red your cheeks turned when you pulled apart.

That day was one of his favorite memories of you. You were so happy and full of life; looking at him with such excitement and love.

The haunting reality came creeping back in on him, sending his beautiful trip down memory lane, spiraling into despair. There he stood, alone in your bedroom, while you were gone. Taken, by some psychopath. His whole world, snatched right from underneath him as he sat down the hall.

The more he thought about it, the worse he felt. How could he? He should’ve been there. He shouldn’t have let you answer the door. He should’ve done something, anything. 

“I knew somethin’ didn’t feel right, and I should’ve listened to what my gut was tryin’ to tell me. This is all my fault..” He ran his finger over the pictures on the mirror, letting a few tears escape before aggressively wiping them away. 

“I will find ya, MC. And I promise that I’ll make ya safe again, I swear it.”

He felt a sudden vibration in the floor followed quickly by a deep rumble from outside.

The storm’s comin’. It’s time to move.

He grabbed the shirt you had worn the day before from the hamper and quickly smelled it to make sure your scent was strong enough. From the way it made his heart twist in agony, he was sure it would do just fine.

He shifted into demon form and headed straight for the door. With the approaching storm, it was dark enough now that he could fly and remain unseen. Since he was by himself and up against the unknown, having the element of surprise would come in handy.

“When I find that piece of shit, he’ll understand why I hold the rank of the second strongest of the Avatars.” He growled into the dark of the night as he stepped out onto the front porch.

With that, he shot up into the night sky, stealthy and silent.

-

“Extensive purification? Is that what the body bag is for?” You asked audaciously.

Naturally, you were scared. This mad man kidnapped you at your own damn house in broad daylight and drug you to what you could only assume was the middle of nowhere to tie you up and torture you. So yeah, you were pretty fucking wigged out to say the least.

But, did that mean you would back down? Let him know you were scared so he had the extra control over you? Make him feel like he was winning?

Absolutely not. You’d never give him the satisfaction. On the inside you were shaking, writhing in terror; begging for Mammon to come and save you. But on the outside? You were taking none of his shit, and playing zero games. If you were going to die here, you planned on going out as uncooperative as you could. Fuck him.

“Hopefully it won’t come to that.” He turned around to face you from where he’d been at his make shift work table, with the taser in his hand. He closed the gap between you, keeping his eyes locked on yours, and leaned down until he was just inches from your face. “The night is still young though.”

“Then why not just kill me now? Get it over with.”

“I want to cleanse you; save your soul.” He said, as if you were crazy for not grasping that concept.

“But why? Why are you so worried about my soul? You prodded.

“Because you have chosen to lay with demons and abandon your humanity.”

“And? Who I choose to love and spend time with isn’t yours, or anyone else’s business.” You snapped back.

“You see, that’s where you’re wrong. Your part in all this; the exchange program, being close with a bunch of high ranking demons; you as a human are committing the highest level of treason by aiding in the progression of uniting the realms. You are opening the door for corruption, chaos and sin to pollute our world.”

You laughed lightly in disbelief.

“When has our world ever been free of any of those things? Do you honestly think the Celestial Realm would be part of the treaty if He wasn’t on board with it? Stop blaming others because you’re close minded. Your blatant hatred for others is your fault, your sin. No one else’s.”

His face turned red and his expression changed into one of anger at the mention of Him. He stormed off toward the work table.

“And by the way, none of this-” You wiggled your fingers around as best as you could in an attempt to gesture around you, “is free of sin. Pretty sure He would frown upon this. Maybe even more so than my relationship with his sons.” You couldn’t help but smirk at your own jab.

He turned back to face you, bible in hand and quickly walked back to where you were hanging, and knelt down into your face again.

“It’s time to begin.” He said with sick, sadistic smile on his face; ignoring what you’d said.

With one quick movement, he lifted you off the giant hook your hand restraints hung from; letting go of you when you were a few feet from the ground, slightly knocking the wind out of you. Although you were being a little mouthy, you still felt pretty weak from being trapped inside that trunk. Not to mention that your shoulders were killing you from being suspended for so long.

He pulled you across the concrete floor by the hand restraint, stopping once he reached the stock tank. He opened up his bible and laid it on a little table near the side of the tank. He picked you up easily and climbed into the water. Even with as hot as it is, the water was frigid. It was only about four feet deep, but being restrained and unable to move freely, you would easily drown if Alex didn’t keep hold of you.

He stood at your side, facing you with his hands firmly grasping your arms right below your shoulders. He started reciting scripture from memory, glancing back at the open bible a few times for reference. He began to repeatedly dunk your head below the surface of the icy water. He recited the same passages over and over again, making it easier for you to figure out when to hold your breath. Although, a few times he seemed to hold you under a little too long, leaving you gasping for air when you returned to the surface.

When the never-ending baptizing finally did come to an end, he plucked from the water and returned you back to where you had been suspended. You were shivering uncontrollably and your head was pounding. No doubt from lack of oxygen after having to hold your breath, then gasp for air more times than you could possibly count. The added weight of your dripping wet clothes added to the searing pain in your shoulders.

He went over to the work table and grabbed the big jar of water you’d seen earlier. He dipped his fingers in it and flicked it at you whole reciting scripture. You assumed that it was holy water.

As you listened to him drone on and on, you found it hard to stay conscious. You haven’t really felt right since getting out of that scorching trunk; you most likely had heat exhaustion.

“Does being saved from eternal damnation bore you?”

“No, just you.” You replied weakly, looking up at him and trying to muster a smirk.

“Is that so?” He challenged.

He abruptly turned around and went back to the work table, returning a moment later sporting the thick work gloves you’d seen earlier, carrying the taser in his hand.

“Then I suppose we need to take it up a notch.”

-

Mammon went straight to the coordinates Levi sent him, but found nothing except dirt roads and cow pastures. Even from an aerial point of view there wasn’t much to see. After circling the area several times, he landed atop a tree in a densely wooded area. Although it was pretty dark out here in the middle of nowhere, far from civilization, he still couldn’t risk being seen as Alex could be watching; waiting for him to come for you.

“Where are ya, MC?” He quietly asked aloud, eyes continuing to scan the darkness that enveloped his surroundings.

With every passing minute his heart grew heavier, his chest tighter. It felt as if he couldn’t breathe properly. As cliche as it sounded, you were his literal heart; his entire world. 

Before you came to the Devildom, he thought he had it all figured out. Stealing and gambling, partying every night, spending money like there was no tomorrow, making shady deals with witches. He was living what he considered the luxurious life of a high roller and he couldn’t get enough of it.

Then you came along, and he was forced to be your guardian or sorts and look after you. It was such a pain. You made it harder for him to give Lucifer the slip so he could go on gambling binges and live up to his title. But, being the weak, magic-less human you were, you needed constant protection.

It didn’t take long before being your protector became something more than what he was ordered to do. He needed to be the one to watch over you, the poor helpless human. His human. As soon as he got a taste of what it felt like to be around you, he couldn’t get enough. He was hooked. 

Your smile and the sound of your laughter, the face you make when you’re concentrating or how you pooch your lips out when you’re getting irritated. The never ending kindness you showed him, especially when he was less than friendly at first. Even during those early days, just simply being near you brought him a sense of peace and warmth. The energy you radiated was intoxicating. Before he realized what was happening, he was a lost cause; completely wrapped around your finger.

If someone were to have told him he’d end up completely smitten with a human, he would’ve called them crazy. The Great Mammon would never waste his precious time on something that didn’t involve Grimm and how to obtain and/or spend it, much less a human. Smitten is precisely what he was though, to say the least. Not that it bothered him in the slightest.

He’s been around for thousands of years, and never once has his heart beat the way it does now. He’d always known love because of his siblings, and even the great loss of a loved one when Lilith died. While he would move mountains and do anything for his family, and even lay his life down for them, the way he felt about you was completely different. He would do all those things for you as well, and so much more. You knew him on a different level, a way no one else ever had in all his existence. 

Relationships were never really his thing. Sure, he’d had plenty of flings, but most of them only cared about what they could get out of being with the Avatar of Greed, not that it really bothered him. He pretty much only got involved with people when the bitter loneliness became too much to bear. Love isn’t typically something that happens for demons, not that he was looking for it anyway. But, sometimes it was nice to have someone to hold, to feel the warmth of another. Even if he didn’t remember their name. Not that they, or he for that matter, really cared.

Which is why he was so perplexed by the feelings you stirred up inside him. He was one of the strongest rulers of the underworld, who could probably have any succubus he wanted, so why was he becoming increasingly enthralled by you? A completely ordinary human. Or so he thought, anyway. No ordinary human would’ve been able to knock him off his feet the way you had. You were special. You made him feel.

You were kind, warm, headstrong and funny. You’d even put your own life in danger to save those who were much stronger than you, like that time with Beel and Luke in the underground tomb; not because you thought you would win the fight, but because it was the right thing to do. He’d never witnessed such bravery, such selflessness in a human. Especially not when it came to protecting a demon, someone who would be deemed unworthy of such an act simply because of what he was. This once weak, irrelevant human, was now one of the people he respected most. You’re undying love and kindness for others was one of the infinite things that made him fall for you.

He clutched your shirt tightly in his hand, bringing it up to his face and burying his nose into the fabric. He breathed in your scent, filling his lungs as much as he could. He needed to keep the smell fresh in his mind, in hopes of picking up your trail. Tears began to prick his eyes. All the memories of you were nearly too much to handle. He couldn’t lose you. He wouldn’t.

He had no idea what this freak had planned, but he knew it couldn’t be good. The clock was ticking. The more time that passed, the harder it would be to find you. He looked out into the night again, hoping to see anything that might point him in your direction, but there was nothing. The only sounds came from the cows in all the pastures around the area, and a very faint humming noise off in the distance. He couldn’t see any signs of the car or any other clues, but he refused to give up.

“Alright, MC. C’mon, talk to me. Where are ya?” He said, getting ready to take to the skies once more to scan the area. Then it hit him, sending a shiver down his spine. He whipped his head to the right, and breathed in deeply.

MC!!

He took another long breath in, to make sure he wasn’t imagining it. It was definitely your scent. It was very faint, and muddled with something else, iron maybe? But there was no doubt it was yours. Like a shot, he flew in the direction your scent was coming from. The incoming storm was making it hard to stay on the trail, but he was not going to lose it now. He was almost there. Almost to you. There’s no way he was backing down.

A minute or so later he could see the faint glow of a light in the distance. It looked like it was coming from a barn or something. Your scent was getting stronger and stronger as he closed in on the building.

That’s gotta be it!

He landed on top of the building with a thud; coming in a little faster than he intended thanks to the increasing intensity of the storm. He paused a moment, waiting to see if his brilliant entrance had caused any kind of movement. When he didn’t hear anything, he moved to the edge of the roof to have a look around. There was a lot of overgrowth around most of the building, and some spots in the roof seemed to give a little. If he wasn’t careful he might end up crashing through the ceiling. It wasn’t a barn, but more like a warehouse or something.

He walked the perimeter of the roof, looking over the side for any kind of clues. There was nothing out front, and the sides of the building were all overgrown with vines and other greenery. He peaked over the side of the roof near the back of the building and tensed. He could see the car that matched the description of Alex’s, hidden underneath loose foliage in what looked like a poor attempt to conceal it. 

I knew it He thought, his heart beginning to race.

He remembered seeing an industrial ventilation fan on the side of the building before he landed, and quietly rushed over to it, crouching down slightly on the maintenance access platform. 

By now, the storm was raging full force. The rain was coming down in sheets, the thunder booming as lightning lit up the night sky. The fan was pretty rusted but thanks to the thunder, he was able to crack open the slats slightly without being heard. The sight he was met with made his blood boil, prompting him to let out a guttural animalistic growl that rumbled deep in his chest. The iron smell mixed with your scent he’d smelled earlier, was blood. 

Anger like he’d never felt before burned deep inside his very being worse than the raging storm around him, truly making his demon side come out. He never had any intentions of letting this psycho walk away from this, but now it was going to be a lot less humane. The witch’s words came rushing back to him.

‘Bring me the heart of a mammal, not of our world, that thrives on malice and sadism. If you cannot fulfill your end of the deal, I will place a curse on you until the ends of eternity that will make everything of value you come in contact with turn to ash.’

Mammon smiled viciously. Looks like he’d be able to fulfill his end of the bargain with the witch after all.

-

The “cleansing” quickly shifted from that of something considered somewhat normal, to something very far from it. Nothing about it could be considered holy anymore.

“Are you going to denounce your demonic pacts and sinful ways and conform?”

You lifted your head weakly to glare at him, “Never.” You snarled between staggered breaths. His face twisted in anger.

Blow after blow landed on your weak, fragile body. You spit out yet another mouthful of blood, the wet sounds echoing in the large room as it splattered onto the floor. Needless to say, you were in pretty bad shape.

Blood ran down your face from a laceration on your brow bone. Your lip was busted pretty bad and you had at least a few cuts inside your mouth from your teeth puncturing the skin on your cheeks and lips. You assumed you had some ribs that were at least cracked seeing as it had become pretty painful to breathe. All the spots he tased you in burned like fire, no doubt blistering up badly. He’d held it in the same spot for so long that you could smell your own hair and flesh burning.

There wasn’t much you could do in the way of fighting back, but you sure tried like hell in the beginning. But now you were way too weak, barely even able to scream out in pain. You’d already come to terms with the fact that you probably wouldn’t make it out of here. The reality of never seeing Mammon again swarmed you, tearing away the last bit of resolve you had left. You forced yourself to remember all the time you’d spent with him, making sure he was the only thing you thought of as you began to slowly depart from this world.

You would forever be grateful for the time you had with him and all the amazing memories you were able to make. Movie nights, staying up too late talking and laughing, trying and failing to hide from Lucifer after pranking him.

The way his too big of a hand completely engulfed yours, the way he looked at you when you were both all dressed up for some fancy party at the Demon Lord’s castle and how much he tried to hide his face so you couldn’t see his blush while he held you close on the dance floor.

Sneaking into each other’s beds when one of you had a nightmare, the way his body felt against yours when he cuddled you; his warmth and smell. The way he tried to hide his enormous smile and pink cheeks when you’d gush like a groupie over his newest spread in a magazine.

The time he was a flustered, stuttering mess for three entire days in the beginning of your relationship, unable to hear your name or see you without turning various shades of red because every time he did, flashbacks of loving you for the first time just days before came rushing back to him.

Those intimate moments were your favorite, for more reasons than the obvious. You got to see him in a different light. He was still his usual goofy, lighthearted, prankster self, but he was so much more than that too. He was so sweet it could make your teeth rot. He was gentle, slow. You could feel the love leave him, his heart pouring over into yours. There were always stars in his eyes; pure adoration. Something you could never quite grasp; how someone who had seen the literal heavens could look at a normal human like you in such a way; with such breathtaking awe.

You always felt like you didn’t deserve to be loved by someone as amazing as Mammon, but you would always be eternally thankful. In such a short time he’d brought so much happiness and light to your life. As happy as those memories were, you wished more than anything that you’d get the chance to make more, but sadly it didn’t look that way.

As Alex was coming in to land another blow, a loud thump could be heard from above you; his fist stopped in the air a few feet from your face.

“What was that?” He questioned to himself quietly. He stayed silent for a moment as he listened for more noise, but there was nothing. “Must’ve been thunder.” He shrugged his shoulders and turned his attention back to you, pulling the taser from his pocket.

“It really is a shame that you refuse to comply.” He said as he jabbed it into your ribs, causing you to use what little fire was left in you to cry out in pain. “You really were a fine specimen, until you wasted yourself on demons.” Another jab of the taser, this time on your thigh.

You choked out a weak, raspy laugh. “And I’d do it again, a million times over you sadistic, psychotic freak.” You spat, voice breaking. He reared his hand back to hit you, but was interrupted by another loud noise, this time near the entrance. 

He turned toward the sound and decided to check it out this time, picking the knife up from the table on his way. He was only gone for a few minutes, but you were grateful for the break. As much as you didn’t want to give up, your body just couldn’t take much more.

He slithered back through the entrance, soaked from the down pouring rain and complaining about hearing things.

“If you didn’t have a guilty conscience, you wouldn’t be so paranoid.” You said between several pained breaths. Your voice was small and frail, but you still managed to lace some venom in your words. He snarled, storming toward you and sticking the knife under your chin, lifting your head up to look at him. You used what energy you had left to glare at him.

“It’s too bad really, that even in your darkest moments, your last moments, what’s-his-name wasn’t here to save you.” He snickered, tracing the knife from your chin to your jugular, applying just enough pressure along the way to coax out a small line of blood.

“That’d be The Great Mammon to you, human.”

Alex whipped around toward the entrance at the sudden voice, the color draining from his face as a look of sheer terror washed over him.

“M-Mammon?” You choked out, a massive lump forming in your throat. You looked around Alex, the most beautiful yet terrifying thing coming into your field of vision.

It really was him.

Seeing him in demon form was nothing new to you by now. However, the look on his face was something you’d definitely never seen before. It almost looked as if there was an aura around him; a definite shift in atmosphere at his presence. His natural sin was Greed, but right now he embodied Wrath. 

It was so easy for you to forget that he really was a demon, as you’d never seen him in such a state before. The sight of him now; raw, malevolent power seeping from him, the low guttural growl, emitting such a heavy, nightmarish presence. He was scary. Even to you.

“MC..” There was pain in his voice; his face distorting in agony when he looked at you.

He charged forward, only making it a few steps before Alex swooped in. He got behind you, reaching around and keeping the knife at your throat; Mammon froze.

“Not another step.” Alex warned. “I have no qualms with spilling the blood of a traitorous demon whore that turned their back on the human race.”

Mammon stared at him blankly for a moment, then burst into laughter. It wasn’t his normal, happy laugh. It was dark, and oozed ill intent. He turned his attention to you once more, his expression softening just enough to not utterly terrify you.

“MC, do you trust me?”

“Since my first day in the Devildom.” You smiled fragilely, noticing the way his mouth briefly tugged up at the corner when your words reached him. He locked his eyes on Alex once again, dark expression returning.

“Close your eyes. No matter what you hear, don’t open them.” He instructed as he slightly crouched, getting into an attack stance; you nodded in agreement, doing as he said.

You could hear Alex huff behind you. “I will slit their throat, or did you hear what I said you filthy, abomina-”

He was silenced mid sentence by a sudden impact that jostled you slightly where you hung. You could hear gasping breaths and Mammon’s same sadistic laughter as earlier, followed by several ear splitting cracks and tearing sounds as Alex screamed out in pain; wet, squelching noises and heavy thuds rang through the room as several things hit the floor. It went on like this for several minutes, until the screams finally ceased.

You pretty well knew just by the sounds, that you were finally free; that psycho would never be able to hurt you again. 

Moments later, you were lifted off the large hook and being cradled gently in arms that you knew all too well. Mammon sank to the floor, his wings wrapping around you protectively, shielding you from the gore you didn’t need to see.

“MC..” He whispered, tears running down his cheeks as his eyes scanned over your frail, broken body.

As much as you wanted to savor the moment of finally being safe, once again in the arms of your demon, the reunion would have to wait. You had been through so much and your body couldn’t take any more. You began to fade in and out of consciousness, no longer able to hold on.

“MC..? MC! Stay with me! Please, please hold on just a little longer.” He begged, his voice cracking as he patted his hand against your cheek gently. You tired to put a hand on his cheek to soothe him, but your arm fell limp halfway to his face as you lost the fight to stay awake. You heard him yell your name a few times as you drifted, his voice fading away slowly.

-

What is that infernal noise?

You had suddenly become hyper aware of an out-of-the-ordinary noise somewhere close by. An alarm clock perhaps? No, it was more of a beeping sound than a shrill ringing.

You lazily opened your eyes, immediately regretting it and squinting them shut because of a blinding white light that was shining in your face. You blinked several times as you tried to adjust.

As you scanned the room slowly, it started to look as if you were in one of the rooms in the Demon Lord’s castle, but it appeared to be set up as a hospital room of sorts. The blinding light was coming from one of the big lights they use at the dentist office. You soon discovered that the beeping noise you’d been hearing was actually one of several monitors you were hooked up to. 

Everything started to fall into place and make sense, memories coming back of the events that brought you here. The monitor closest to you started to sound an alarm, indicating your heart rate had picked up and your blood pressure was rising. Seconds later the door flew open, a figure rushing into the room.

“MC.” He said, breathing a sigh of relief.

Barbatos moved to your bedside and silenced the alarms, opting to check your vitals himself.

“How do you feel?” He asked, pressing his index and middle fingers to the underside of your wrist, checking your heart rate.

“Fine, I guess?”

“You guess?” He repeated, taking a small light from his pocket and shining it in your eyes, checking the dilation of your pupils.

If you remembered correctly, which you’re very sure you did, your injuries were extensive. There’s no way you could forget that level of pain. You felt tired, kind of groggy from sleep, but there was no pain.

“How long have I been asleep?”

“About three days.”

Three days?! You thought to yourself, a little shocked.

That’s still not nearly enough time for your wounds to heal. You must have looked as confused as you felt, prompting and explanation from Barbatos.

“Your injuries were rather extensive, so Mammon brought you here after rescuing you. Lord Diavolo had the best doctors in the Devildom tend to you with magic. Although they healed you perfectly, you weren’t showing any signs of waking up just yet, so we decided to keep you here to monitor your condition.” You nodded along in understanding as he spoke.

He placed the light back in his pocket and moved away from the bed. “I shall notify Lord Diavolo and the others that you have awakened. Please excuse me.” He said as he bowed, then left the room.

You sat up in the bed and criss crossed your legs, careful not pull out your IV or tangle any of the wires to the other monitors. You let out a long, heavy sigh. Before you could be consumed by your thoughts of all the memories of the last few days, the door to your room flung open once more. This time, it was the one person you wanted to see most.

“MC!” He shouted, voice cracking with emotion. Mammon crossed the room in an instant and sat in front of you on the bed.

“Are you okay? Do ya feel any pain?” He asked frantically, his eyes scanning your face then darting to the monitors, hands hovering over you as if he wanted to help but was unsure how. You grabbed his hand, intertwining your fingers in his. It seemed to calm him a little.

“I’m okay.” You assured him. Although you’d been put through the wringer, you felt so at peace. Not only were you in the safest place in the entire Devildom, but the one thing that threatened your peace of mind, was now no longer a problem.

“I-I uh, I was scared.. that I was too late. That ya weren’t gonna wake up, that I’d...that I’d lost ya..” He confessed, voice catching in his throat as tears fell from his eyes. He carefully scooped you up and held you in his lap, holding you as close as he was able to with all the wires and such. You sat up a little and snaked your arms around his neck, pressing your lips firmly to his.

While you were held captive, you had been so sure that you’d never get a moment like this with Mammon ever again. You were happy beyond words to be back in his embrace once again with his lips on yours. Smelling his wonderful scent, and feeling his warmth on your skin.

After a few minutes of your lips moving in synchronization, he broke the kiss, and pulled back to look you in the eye. A serious expression washing over his face. “MC, I’m sorry I didn’t-”

You held up your hand to stop him, “No, Mammon. You’re not going to blame yourself. I won’t let you. Everything that happened was his fault, not yours or anyone else’s. He was sick in the head, with a twisted ideology.”

He nodded, “I know, I know. It’s just..” He shook his head as he tried to choke back more tears that threatened to spill. You knew exactly what was running through his mind.

“Mammon, there is no one else in the three realms I’d rather trust with my protection, than you. As a matter of fact, there’s no else that can even compare to you in my eyes. As I already said, none of this, none of it, is your fault and I’ve never once thought it was. I love you, Mammon and there’s no one else I’d rather entrust my life with, or spend it with for that matter.” You placed your hand on his cheek and smiled at him, tears now streaking your cheeks. He leaned into your touch, his hand resting lightly on top of yours for a moment before pulling your hand away and placing several light kisses on your palm. 

Barbatos returned soon after, with a doctor in tow. Once they unhooked you from all the monitors and removed your IV, Mammon took you back to the House of Lamentation where everyone was awaiting your return.

It felt so good to be back. The HOL was technically your second home, but nowhere has ever felt more like home than here in the Devildom, surrounded by all your favorite people. And thanks to Lord Diavolo extending your stay until further notice, you were on cloud nine.

Although all your physical wounds were gone, the mental ones were sure to stick around for awhile. You expected as much though, having gone though quite a traumatic experience. Although, it made it a little easier knowing that Alex would never again be an issue.

It was clear that his soul wouldn’t be fit for the Celestial Realm, and you had fears of him being reincarnated in the Devildom and finding you once again. But, Mammon quickly laid those fears to rest, informing you of what he’d done that night after getting you safely to the Demon Lord’s castle.

He said he preformed some kind of ritual that ensured Alex wouldn’t be reincarnated anywhere; his soul having been wiped from the worlds. As if he’d never existed. He also mentioned something about Alex helping him to fulfill his end of a bargain with a witch. He didn’t really go into detail about the whole thing, but assured you that everything would be fine, so you didn’t push the issue. He’s a high ranking demon, after all. This surely isn’t his first rodeo. You were just ready to start the healing process and put an end to this awful chapter in life.

And with Mammon by your side; loving you, protecting you, helping you heal; you couldn’t think of a better way to begin such a beautiful new chapter.

~ fin ~