#andrias speaks

[dantevhell]

Ask you about Amphibia season 3? Okay.

What did you think of the decision to have Marcy in a coma and then possessed for 90% of season 3?

Oooh. Now that. Now that is what I call a sore spot, buddy. Warning: this is gonna be a long post

Simple answer? It was okay-ish

More real answer: it was a disappointment

I genuinely was very excited to see possessed marcy, I was excited for it since the little s3 opening preview after true colors official airing and well... it felt like for me things peaked at olivia and yunnan... and then went absolute downhill from there on.

I love the possession trope, I love possession arcs, I think marcy being possessed would be a very good writing idea bc it represented SO WELL how abuse worked. Like tell me what screams "marcy was groomed by an adult and is being abused" than her after being almost killed, having her bodily autonomy being ripped away from her! It was a good metaphor! It was perfect!

Like LOOK AT THIS. LOOK AT THIS AND TRY TO TELL ME THIS DOESN'T LOOK LIKE AN ADULT GROOMING AND ABUSING A CHILD! YA CAN'T!!

Olivia and yunnan brought a lot of interesting stuff to the table: how olivia and yunnan felt about marcy (and this is another can of worms to me to rant so let's not even begin), how ANDRIAS felt about marcy, how marcy was healing from her almost death experience and how her body was dealing with it, how she was dealing subconsciously with her guilt, what made andrias and the core think about making marcy the host etc etc! Like so many good stuff! And i felt like after this ep. All these things there were little snowballs that could become an avalanche of events... instead turns into dust.

I HATE how darcy was a character that instead of being used to showcase how marcy feels about all those events and instead of showing MARCY'S emotions about being betrayed ... it was used to showcase andrias emotions and to make him look sympathetic and allow him to have an atonement arc... I hate it so much.

Like don't get me wrong I loved the complexity of him being part of cycle of abuse so intense that it affected all his other relationships, I loved that he cared about marcy! I love that he cared about her because it showcased how abuse is complex! How an abuser can care about his victim but still feel such pleasure in hurting them!

I love these scenes because it shows exactly that:

Care

And sadistic pleasure:

Like these scenes were great! The complexity of him loving her but also still torturing her and having a mixed reaction of loving/hating seeing her suffer. Mwah chef kiss! But every scene where he was around darcy was made to showcase how he was regretting his choices and making him look like an poor man who had no other choices then kill and torture this child like...that's obviously not true...

These scenes? Oh I hate these scenes:

I wished marcy's possession was used to show how MARCY felt about herself and her guilt, about how she felt about her relationship with andrias and his pain towards him, about how she losing her autonomy felt, i wished they showed her escapist fantasy created by the core waaaay before the finale!!!

If yall wanted to show a scene that focused on marcy while still showing andrias complexity why not create a scene of how their flipwart match went? Or any bonding scene from >> HER << point of view? From a scene that focused on >> HER <<

Now at fear of repeating myself too much a resume of everything i said: marcy s3 arc was not truly about her but only a device for us to create sympathy towards andrias, her abuser, and all the scenes of him reminiscing about her and their relationship (like this one)

Should have been scenes focused on her point of view instead.

The only moments where the core/darcy was used to truly further marcy development/emotions were:

- during the beggining of the end where darcy told Sasha and Anne about how they rejected marcy's interests

- during her escaping her fantasy land

- and in the ending where she told everyone what was the cores intention with becoming the moon

But aside from that? It was wasted potential in my opinion

Ps: (Andrias should've died and marcy deserved to show even the slightly amount of anger towards him as well. As a little treat)

[ledatoons13]

I need Keith David and Haley Tju to work together on a new project IM BEGGING

[bowlofmeat]

I mean there’s nothing in canon that disproves that the Core is super goofy. so why not

...

In Amphibia episode "the Beginning of the End" Darcy captures Anne and others and intends to "do what [Andrias] could not: kill Anne." This is easily the scariest Darcymoment to me, because of the ease of which Darcy does that and because Darcy makes this face:

This is not a Marcy expression. This is about as far from Marcy as you could possibly get. Marcy would never make this expression in this context. Why?

Well, know that Darcy has all of Marcy's memories. Marcy has known Anne since they were toddlers, and they hung out after school every day. She probably knew Anne's favorite foods and Anne's favorite color. They probably watched movies together, huddled under a blanket with moonlight streaming in from the window. Do you know what it takes to know all of that and still wear this expression? You'd have to be a special kind of fucked up to do that, and I don't believe that Marcy is that fucked up.

So. This image would singlehandedly convince me that Darcy really, really, isn't Marcy, and isn't influenced by Marcy in this way at least. Because if Marcy had any amount of say in this - the Core wouldn't be able to kill Anne. At least not with this expression.

Sidenote I actually kinda like that Marcy is completely powerless in controlling Darcy's actions. It makes her slapping away Aldrich's hand all the more meaningful because Aldrich takes away everything afterwards, leaves her in a dark room with nothing, just herself, some lonely little girl in her school uniform and not Marcy the chief ranger of the Newtopian Knight Guard. And she still rejects him.

Anyway. Where does Darcy's quirkyness come from? Well, Darcy says it might've "inherited some of [Marcy's] quirks" but it clearly doesn't get influenced that much from Marcy (see the above). From what I can identify "inherited some of her quirks" might mean that ol' Darce here enjoys Marcy's favorite foods more and falls over a bunch. I can't say anything conclusive on like, personality changes because the Core doesn't have a canon personality that isn't Darcy to compare and contrast to, which is honestly such a shame.

But. There is one thing the Core does when it has yet to become Aldrich-as-the-Core or Darcy-as-the-Core. And that is this:

It gets really close to people just to mess with their heads. This is a consistent character trait displayed both as the Core and as Darcy. This does imply that it has a consistent personality.

Besides, the Core literally named itself “Dark Marcy” because “the name appeals to us,” implying that that thing is canon goofy I refuse to believe otherwise!!

EDIT: Also the Core's first reaction to meeting Marcy is to demand Andrias kill her. Immediately. It's first reactions as Darcy to meeting Anne is to 1. mock her, 2. declare the rebellion over, 3. fecking kill her!? That's a very short path to killing, displayed both as the Core and as Darcy. Darcy is extremely hardcore and has no chill dot png.

Again, the Core doesn't have much of a personality, so I'm afraid the analysis has to end here. Sorry guys.

also this consistent character trait

[incorrect-fnaf-quotes]

A bunch of things being thrown around involving the Game AU that I wanted to mention? Yes. Yes indeed. :) @universewolfpup

RXQ/Shadow Bonnie is basically like... a character that one of the villains/bosses made at some point, hoping that they would help with their plans.

...Though the villain/boss was quickly proven wrong. Very quickly. Because RXQ was genuinely just like: “No.” and left, and eventually joined the team (Freddy, Crimson, etc).

Earlier, I was basically like: “What would Jack-O-Bonnie sound like?” and right now, I’ve just kind of settled on King Andrias’s VA from Amphibia. Might change, might not.

Jack-O was the first one who actually happened to find Crimson once she arrived. No matter if he actually had been or not, though, Crimson still becomes attached to him quite quickly.

There’s... just so many father-daughter things that I’m imagining with these two. And just little things here and there. He’s a decent singer, and will occasionally sing her lullabies.

Crimson just... absolutely doesn’t know how she’s supposed to get out of the game. She assumes, for a short time, that it’ll happen when she wins... but she has no idea.

And, even then, as she spends more time there, she honestly doesn’t really want to leave all that much, and is kind of starting to dread the eventual day. But, she knows she has to go.

Speaking of her being in and out of the game: In a previous post, I (think) I mentioned how her consciousness gets sent into the Game Avatar, while her body remains, and is simply unconscious/in a coma.

By the very end of it—when she does go back, her body has basically been like that for a couple of months at that point.

There would be game-overs that could be experienced—but they technically aren’t death ones. So it’s not like Crimson would repeatedly deal with that happening.

Instead, if she and the others were in a fight, and they all lost, they’d basically faint, and wake back up somewhere else (like Pokemon? There’s other comparisons.)

It doesn’t stop her from being anxious during battles, though. As also mentioned before, Crimson can see a lot of the stuff—text boxes, health, etc. So, when one keeps getting low... she keeps getting scared.

Mangle wasn’t torn apart by kids here or anything. But, for quite some time, she’s still sort of hesitant around Crimson—it just takes some time.

Crimson likes to get piggyback rides from Jack-O.

Whenever she does eventually leave, I keep comparing it to the endings of the Mystery Dungeon games—it’s angsty, but there’s still way more to it. She never returns.

Except for a smaller AU of this AU—where she does, and there’s less angst. She just sticks around 👍. Happy times, I guess.

While the other characters, in battle and everything, do have moves to use, Crimson doesn’t. At least, not immediately. So, she focuses on healing them with the items she has.

She does eventually start calling Jack-O “Dad.”

...This was a lot—anyways, I think that’s it. It’s late.

[mdhwrites]

I’ve been watching Amphibia while studying. I should definitely do a rewatch during the summer, but it’s occurred to me that Amphibia’s strengths are criminally underrated.

Amphibia feels like a more focused show than TOH. It has its flaws ofc especially in Season 3, but Amphibia’s cast comes across as a lot more developed than TOH’s cast. I mean, Andrias got a dedicated flashback episode and Belos didn’t???

Amphibia’s execution of the found family trope is one of the best things I’ve seen in animation. In contrast, I always felt that King, Lilith, Eda, and the Hexside crew are plot devices to get Luz where she needs to go. Eda has some depth but generally speaking TOH never “got into their heads,” unlike with the Plantars, Sasha, Marcy, Grime, and Andrias.

And I gotta praise Amphibia’s ending!!! I wish more kids cartoons embraced the idea of permanent, bittersweet change. The idea of letting things go but not forgetting them.

So while I agree Amphibia is more focused, I actually don't think that's what the bigger difference is between TOH and Amphibia that I think needs to be highlighted. No, instead, I'm interrogate something you said: Does Belos not get a dedicated backstory episode? For that matter... Does he potentially get MORE time spent on backstory than Andrias?

Andrias literally only gets The Core and the King. He actually gets VERY little screentime, mostly because the effects of his cruelty are more important than what he does himself. So for backstory, he gets 11 minutes. MAYBE you could stretch to like 12 or 13 if you want to include hints to Lief but that's all post her time with him. So 11 minutes because Andrias only gets one segment, not two.

What does Belos get?

Well... I think everyone just forgets about Elsewhere Elsewhen. That IS backstory. That is previous characterization. It's not a flashback but it is still interacting with a Belos earlier in the timeline, like a backstory exposition dump or a flashback does. And interacting with Philip is the main purpose of the A plot of the episode, even if it takes a bit to get to him and then he dips out before the end.

As the author of the journal though, he also counts for backstory whenever passages of the journal are told to us. It's unreliable but it is still previous characterization. So stuff like Eclipse Lake and the end of Looking Glass Ruins adds a little here and there.

Then of course... What the fuck do you call Hollow Mind if not a dedicated backstory episode to Belos? The majority of the run time is literally go through his brain, and his memories, to show his rise to power. His backstory. And while there is technically a B plot, it doesn't take up much time so probably at least a third of the episode is spent on this and these are 22 minute episodes. If just two thirds get spent on backstory, that's more than Andrias gets.

So why doesn't it feel like that? Why does it feel like we get a VERY complete version of Andrias' backstory, despite seeing cumulatively three days in a row of his life, while it feels like we were never told Belos'?

Efficiency. Amphibia is a VERY efficient work. It crams a LOT into its run times. It's part of why the episodes are so satisfying because they actually manage to tell complete stories with morals, sometimes their own A and B plots in an 11 minute segment and actually move the characters forward a full step within the span of that time. It does this while also being hilarious and action packed, much more than TOH or, honestly, a lot of cartoons. Not every episode segment counts for this but ESPECIALLY the important ones do and The Core and the King should be taught in classes for how to get across a character's motivations and backstory in a nuanced, breezy way while also being DENSE. AS. FUCK.

In eleven minutes, we get a clear idea of the utopia that Andrias used to live in, the cost of that utopia, the pressures upon him as a prince, how deep his relationships are with two other characters, Lief gets some genuinely good characterization that helps explain her choice, a logical progression of events that matches with the sillier side of Andrias we know of, an escalation and then a climax. We can VERY clearly see what Andrias lost, what he is trying to get back, and why he would want it back on multiple levels, both societal, familial and even personal, that will motivate into being a MONSTER for a thousand years. All while still being a lot of fun and having some really great jokes. It introduces so many elements but it never feels bogged down by any of this. Instead, it chose the PERFECT moment to get across everything it needed to and left very few questions that you as an audience couldn't figure out yourselves. This also all while being explicit about much of the motivation and what not instead of relying on background details.

Which TOH can't claim for Belos. In Elsewhere Elsewhen, we see that Philip hates witches, that his journal is unreliable and that he has ALWAYS been an asshole and a manipulator. That's befitting who he will be but doesn't actually tell us jack shit. It also includes I guess how he met the Collector but that's moving plot, not expanding on your villain. Because the journal is unreliable, it tells us very little to nothing about him except for some reason he donated his journal to the people he fucking despised. Then Hollow Mind shows how he came to power... But not who he is. Not his motivation, what he actually wants to accomplish besides murder, etc. like that. The paintings in the background tell you far more just by being far more suggestive of what he's been through.

TOH is fucking awful when it comes to density. Most episodes, not even just Belos, have the problem of only taking half steps. Each of Belos' parts are those half steps. Revealing only one or two elements when it easily could have shown more to be more satisfying. As an example: Amphibia has a GREAT episode between Ivy and her mom about rebellion, the consequences of fighting what your parent wants for you, why they might do the things they do, etc. like that. In 11 minutes, we get a genuinely complex relationship between Ivy and her mom who haven't had much talk about each other or their relationship up until now. Meanwhile, TOH decides to focus on Luz being expelled for the episode about Amity and Odalia, meaning Amity is in like... Three, maybe five minutes of that episode? A full minute of that being the intro to the episode where she's just showing off the abomaton?

Because it isn't actually focused on Amity, the relationship between Amity and Odalia isn't actually explored. Because they can't explore that, they also need to now make Odalia cartoonishly villainous so as to fit the fact that Luz also spends very little time with her due to making the conflict be about Hexside so we have to waste some time with a stock standard montage of Luz, Willow and Gus trying to get back in. And by the end, what is the resolution between Amity and Odalia? "Get in my way again and I will kick your fucking ass."

Much deep. Very brave.

There's TONS of stuff like this where Amphibia is genuinely the work trying to do more interesting, more meaningful and deeper things than TOH and managing to do it in literally half the time. If not even less. That breakneck pace is part of what makes Amphibia feel like a kids show but it's also what makes it just more enjoyable to watch.

Which actually makes TOH fit in better with our current era of streaming television. TOH is constantly baiting you for the payoffs it promises. It keeps swearing that its elements are deeper than they appear so make sure to tune in next week because this SURELY can't be all there is to, right?

Unfortunately, that is all there is to it. And once you realize that and look at the show with that sort of lens, it starts falling apart. It's part of why TOH should be thankful it was shortened. It lets people more easily claim that it just needed another season. Another fourteen episodes. That TOTALLY would have solved all the problems with episodes that happened even before the shortening.

That is extremely rarely how this works everyone. Sorry.

======+++++======

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I also have an Amazon page for all of my original works in various forms of character focused romances from cute, teenage romance to erotica series of my past. I have an Ao3 for my fanfiction projects as well if that catches your fancy instead. If you want to hang out with me, I stream from time to time and love to chat with chat.

A Twitter you can follow too

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[mid-sweettalk]

Memories (Amphibia - Sashannarcy) Rated M

Summary: Sasha and Marcy come to see Anne for her 23rd birthday, after having lost touch over the past few years. While hanging out together, Anne is bombarded with confusing memories and emotions from their past, but a simple drinking game helps her start to make sense of it all.

Rated: M (for alcohol usage, sexual themes, semi-nudity)

-----

The aquarium had been Anne’s safe space for a few years now. She did an internship here during her last couple years of undergrad, during which she’d demonstrated her true love of frogs and educating everyone she could about them. Once she’d graduated, the director basically handed her a job as a keeper for the herpetology department. 

It always brought her right back to Amphibia, being here, even before she’d gotten the go-ahead to remodel the exhibit. She’d gotten almost all of her coworkers to start using phrases like, “Thank Frog,” and got to make jokes about eating centipede stew without it being (too) weird. Sometimes, if she squinted, she could even pretend that the children running around the building were actually Amphibians. 

All this to say that Anne felt a calmness here that she never truly felt anywhere else on Earth after returning ten years ago. Today, however, that calmness was hard to find. 

Sasha and Marcy were coming to see her. 

They’d all lost touch once college came around. Marcy leaving before high school was kind of the beginning of the end. 

(Flashes ran through Anne’s mind of tears, Marcy and Sasha inches away while they were all in a group hug, a hand in Anne’s hair, Marcy darting forward—)

After that, Anne and Sasha stuck together as long as they could before normal maturation sent them in different directions. Childhood friends rarely lasted through high school, anyways, right? 

(Sasha crying—she never cried—and blushing—even more rare—then yelling, panic, a slamming door, the way Sasha’s eyes would dart away when their gazes would meet in the hallway…)

No, it felt weird, how their friendship had lasted through war, near-death, robot possession, and alien invasion, but it couldn’t handle their teenage years. Anne always felt like there was something she could’ve done to save it, that if she could have kept certain things from happening, then maybe they’d all be fine. Maybe they’d still be best friends. 

That was the thing though: she still thought of both Sasha and Marcy as her best friends. No matter the new bonds she’d made over the years, none of them ever compared to what she shared with the two of them. 

And now she was going to see them, speak to them beyond a “happy birthday” text for the first time in years. Anne’s heart felt like it was going to hop out of her chest. 

Her last tour of the day was coming to an end. She let herself get lost in her presentation a tiny bit. Her little Sprig wowed the kids like he always did. Normally, bringing him out would simply give her a warm-hearted feeling, maybe some flashes of memories or imagining how the real Sprig would be doing now. Today, though, it was hard; her heart felt heavy more than anything else, and she was suddenly fighting back tears so she wouldn’t cry in front of the children and scare them away for life. 

“Thanks, frog lady!” the children chorused as they walked away. Anne waved goodbye and looked down at little Sprig in her hand. 

She sighed. Miss ya, buddy, she thought to herself before putting him back in his enclosure. As she shut the glass door, the reflection caught her attention—Sasha and Marcy were here. She whipped around to face them. 

(Finding Sasha in Amphibia the first time, and the second upon Anne’s return with the Plantars. Finding Marcy in Newtopia, nights spent together laughing with the two of them, then the three of them, all falling asleep together. Andrias’s glowing sword sticking through Marcy’s chest—)

Those tears Anne had been holding back immediately started falling. She ran to the girls— women , now—and swung an arm around each of them. “Hi,” she choked out through her tears. 

“Anne!” Marcy said loudly in her ear. “Happy birthday, oh my gosh! It’s so good to see you!” Her voice started trembling towards the end, just like Anne’s had. 

“God, guys,” came Sasha’s voice, ever confident, “you can’t seriously be crying already. ” But when they pulled back from the hug, Sasha was wiping tears from her own eyes with a smile on her face. 

Anne laughed and lightly shoved Sasha’s shoulder. “Yeah, yeah. I just… didn’t realize how much I really missed you guys until just now. You’re both so grown up!” She reached out and placed a hand on one of each girl’s arms. 

(Leaning on Sasha’s shoulder while they watched movies, Marcy’s head in her lap while she played on her Switch, feeling fingers twirling her hair and swearing that a kiss had been placed upon her head—)

“You’re one to talk!” Marcy almost squealed. “Talk about a big-girl job; this place looks amazing!”

“For real,” Sasha cut in. “You’ll have to give us a tour while we’re in town.”

The reminder that this was only temporary hit Anne like a truck. She tried her best not to let the disappointment show—she didn’t want to spoil the happy reunion—but Sasha definitely noticed, even if Marcy didn’t. 

“Hey,” the blonde said, lifting her right hand to place over Anne’s own, “we’re gonna have a blast. It’s your freakin’ birthday! ” 

“Oh, exactly!” Marcy chirped, catching on that something was getting Anne down. “Plus, we’re totally adults now; we have to be good at the whole communication thing by now, right?”

(Marcy’s voice saying, “I have to tell you…” Sasha’s eyes darting between the two of them, the cold air hitting the chapstick that was suddenly on the corner of her mouth—) 

“R-right, yeah,” Anne said, forcing a chuckle and wiping her eyes. “We’ll be fine. This’ll be great.” With both Marcy and Sasha’s eyes and smiles directed at her, it was a bit too much. “Come on, let’s go get some grubs.”

“Oh, no,” said Sasha, “you totally still say, ‘Oh, my Frog,’ don’t you?”

“Maybe!”

Dinner went fine. Anne showed Sasha and Marcy her favorite takeout place–aside from her parents’, of course–and then they went to Anne’s apartment to watch War of the Warlocks while they ate. It was honestly just like old times, although instead of Anne and Sasha falling asleep during the movie, they were all talking through it. They spent most of the movie just catching up on what they’d each been up to over the past few years.

Empty takeout boxes now littered the small coffee table Anne had in front of the futon in her living room. The three of them were on the couch together, Marcy in the middle, laughing at a story she was telling.

“I swear, I hyperfixated on that game so hard ; you guys think I was bad as a teenager? Once I got to college, it got, like, ten times worse,” Marcy waved her hand through the air as she spoke. “I pretty much failed my first semester.”

“Aww, Marbles,” Anne said pityingly. 

“No, no, it’s fine now,” Marcy continued, still chipper. “I went to the school psychiatrist and started my ADHD medication. My life has been so different since then, you wouldn’t believe.”

“I get that,” Sasha cut in. “My ex was the same way; she went undiagnosed most of her life. Honestly, I think you were as much of an inspiration to get into psychology as my own issues were, without me even realizing. It kind of just solidified once I went through my own therapy.”

Anne could barely process anything Sasha said after the word “she”. Her heart skipped a beat painfully, making her breath catch in her throat. “Wait, you–you dated a girl?” she said before she could stop herself. 

(Panic in Sasha’s watery eyes, heat in Anne’s face, screaming, Sasha’s ponytail swishing as she left–)

Shock and confusion colored both Sasha’s and Marcy’s faces. “I… honestly can’t tell if you’re being serious, right now,” Sasha said with a forced chuckle. “I’ve dated a few…? Is that… surprising?”

I mean, yeah , Anne thought to herself. She just barely refrained from saying it out loud and instead shook her head. “No, I mean, I just didn’t know… for sure, I mean. But it’s not like it’s a bad thing, pfft.” Anne tried to play it off by waving her hand and rolling her eyes, forcing a smile on her face. “Come on. Just caught me off guard, is all.”

Sasha and Marcy looked at each other for a moment before they both burst into laughter. “Jesus, Anne, really?” Sasha chuckled. “You seriously didn’t know I was gay?”

Marcy wiped a tear from her eye. “Next thing you know, she’ll be saying she thought I was straight, too!”

Sasha and Marcy laughed, and laughed, then noticed that Anne wasn’t laughing with them. Their laughter faded out as they registered the look of bewilderment on Anne’s face. 

“Wait, seriously? ” Marcy said incredulously. 

(“I have to tell you…” A hand in Anne’s hair, chapstick smudged on the corner of her mouth, Sasha’s crying, shocked face with a chapstick smudge of her own as Marcy got into her parents’ car–)

“I don’t know what you want from me!” Anne exclaimed, trying to keep her tone light but failing to keep the panic from edging in. 

Sasha and Marcy looked at each other again. Sasha looked back to her with a light chuckle, “You mean to tell us that you didn’t know we were both pretty much in love with you? In, uh, middle school, I mean.” Sasha tucked a strand of blonde hair behind her ear, and Anne could swear that her cheeks were turning red. 

“Anne, I…” Marcy started, leaning against the back of the couch and crossing her arms over her stomach, “I kissed you goodbye!” (Chapstick smudged on the corner of her mouth–)

“What? But you kissed Sasha, too!” Anne threw her hands in the air.

“Well, duh,” Marcy said, sitting up, “I was obviously in love with her, too!” Immediately after the words left her mouth, she slumped back into the couch, face beet red. “In middle school, I mean,” she tacked on, echoing Sasha. 

“Wait, really?” Sasha asked surprisedly, eyes now turning to Marcy.

Marcy threw her hands up now, exasperated. “ Seriously? ”

Sasha went to throw her own hands into the air, but caught herself and ran a hand through her hair instead. “I thought you just didn’t want me to feel left out when you said goodbye!”

Marcy sighed exaggeratedly. “Well, now you know that I really just wanted to kiss you both, like, all the time. Happy?” She crossed her arms with a pout. 

Sasha’s eyes seemed to glint in the TV light as she smiled softly at Marcy. “I mean… honestly, yeah.”

Anne could hear Marcy’s breath catch at the same time her own did, and she suddenly felt like she was intruding as the two women stared at each other. She was about to make an excuse to leave the couch when Sasha’s grin turned wicked.

“You liiiiked me,” she singsonged teasingly. “You wanted to kissss me!”

Marcy barked out a laugh and grabbed a throw pillow to swing it at Sasha’s face. “Shut up!” 

Anne let out a breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding. Things were seemingly back to normal, although the pounding heartbeat in her chest would say otherwise. She turned away to look at the TV and noticed that the credits were now rolling. “Welp, the movie’s done,” she announced, grabbing the other women’s attention. “What do we do now?”

That mischievous look was back on Sasha’s face. “Do you have alcohol?”

Anne never did a whole lot of drinking in college, so this was a fairly new experience for her. She didn’t have any beer, to Sasha’s disappointment, but she did have a couple of bottles of tequila and store-bought margarita mix for when her small handful of friends would come over for binge-watching parties. 

Sasha made a drink–a strong one–and placed it on the table. They tried playing Kings first, but none of them could remember all of the rules for each card. They moved on to Ring of Fire, for which Sasha and Marcy had two very different sets of rules–so, obviously, they played both. Marcy’s version involved one of them dealing cards out one-by-one, and if a card was dealt that matched one of its neighbors in suit or number, those players had to drink for a number of seconds determined by the number on their card. Anne didn’t mind this version; they each got surprisingly tipsy by the time the drink was finished.

Then came Sasha’s version, for which she made another whole drink and placed it in the middle of a ring of cards. If you drew your card and broke the circle, you had to chug the entire drink. Of course, Marcy, in her inherent clumsiness, was the first to break the circle. When she almost choked a third of the way through the cup, Sasha changed it to taking a shot instead of chugging a whole drink; she downed the rest of the margarita, herself. 

Anne liked this version significantly less. 

“ Frog , how do you guys do this so easily?” she groaned before pinching her nose and downing her third shot. She could feel her whole body scrunch up in a wince as the tequila burned its way down her throat. Her head was starting to feel hazy, and she had a feeling that, if she were to stand, the room would start spinning a bit. She was definitely approaching drunk, if not already there.

Sasha and Marcy were both smiling widely. “Practice,” they said simultaneously, looking at each other and laughing. Anne got that weird feeling of being left out, again, tightening her chest. 

Sasha ran a hand through her hair, pushing it off of her face and smoothly leaning on her elbow against the back of the couch. “Okay, I think we’ve had enough of this game,” she said with her words spoken slightly slower than usual. “Wanna up the ante?” She wiggled her eyebrows in a way that made Anne scoff and Marcy crack up in laughter. 

“Whatcha thinking?” Marcy asked before Anne could decide on a response. 

“Truth or dare,” Sasha said with another eyebrow wiggle. 

“Oh, yeah? Not a Scare Dare?” Anne said with a smirk. 

“I mean, if you want ,” Sasha said, “but I’ve found Truth or Dare to have more possibilities for drama since we were younger.” Sasha leaned against the back of the couch and crossed her arms, raising an eyebrow. “Unless you’re more scared of a little truth ?”

Anne’s heart skipped a beat for unknown reasons. “Pfft, nah, I’m game,” she said, instantly regretting her words. 

“Sweet. Marce?” 

“Let’s do it!” Marcy cheered, throwing her fists in the air.

“Okay,” Sasha continued, “rules: we take turns being in charge.”

Marcy snorted. “‘In charge’? Is that the rules-as-written?” 

“Shut up,” Sasha said with a roll of her eyes, shoving Marcy’s shoulder. “Whoever’s in charge asks the questions or gives the dares, okay? Okay.” She sat up straighter, a familiar, bossy energy protruding from her stance. “Once you pick truth or dare, you can’t switch to the other choice. If you don’t want to answer the question or do the dare, you have to take a shot. Deal?” Sasha poured out said shot of tequila as she spoke.

Marcy nodded firmly, and Anne hesitated only slightly before nodding, herself. 

“Cool. I go first, since I chose the game,” Sasha said with a mischievous smile. Anne rolled her eyes, and Marcy groaned in half-hearted protest. “Hush. Okay. Eenie, meenie,” Sasha singsonged while pointing back and forth between the two of them, “miney, mo!” She landed on Marcy first. “Truth or dare, Marbles.”

Marcy rolled her eyes, but looked utterly relaxed, leaning back into the couch. “Truth. Lay it on me.”

Sasha’s eyes glinted. “Who was your first crush?” Anne’s chest hurt.

Marcy just shrugged. “Henry Warbecker. I was four; he gave me a sucker he didn’t want, and I immediately started planning our wedding. Easy. Is it my turn now?”

Sasha’s jaw dropped open, surprised at how simply Marcy had answered the question. Anne guffawed at how her plan for drama had backfired. 

“Fine, yes, it’s your turn,” Sasha said, mildly grumpy but not truly upset. 

“‘Kay, well, Sasha,” Marcy said, giving her own devious grin, “who was your first crush?”

Sasha immediately turned red, and Anne noticed her eyes looking back and forth between the two of them rapidly. Anne wasn’t sure if she wanted to hear the answer, seeing Sasha’s reaction. Had it been someone they knew in school, someone Anne and Marcy didn’t like? Well, there weren’t many people they didn’t like, but still–

“God, you’re really gonna make me say it?” Sasha said, half-groaning. 

“Yes,” Marcy said, planting her chin in her hand and batting her eyelashes. “Yes, I am. You can always, you know, chicken out and take the shot.”

Sasha let out a full groan now and threw her head back. She brought her knees up to her chest as she answered. “Fine, if I had to choose, I guess Anne was first.” She leaned down to mumble into her knees, “She asked if I wanted to swing with you guys and I was pretty much done for. Happy?”

Marcy giggled. “Honestly, yeah,” she said, echoing Sasha’s earlier statement.

Meanwhile, Anne was frozen in disbelief. First, both of her best friends confess to being in love with her as teenagers, and now she finds out that she was Sasha’s very first crush? She didn’t realize how long she was sitting in silence until Sasha and Marcy both turned to look at her. 

“Dude,” Sasha said worriedly, “you okay?” Her face was still red, and Anne could tell that she was worried she’d said the wrong thing. “Did I break you or something?”

Anne forced a laugh and shook her head to snap herself out of the daze she was in. “Ha, no, it’s fine–just… surprising. Again.”

Marcy smirked but kept her tone lighthearted and teasing when she said, “Wow, and I thought I was the naive one.”

Anne’s face heated up as she got defensive. “Well, I bet you didn’t know that you were my first crush, did you?” Wow. Anne didn’t even know that was true, but now that she’d said it, it felt right. She’d probably be embarrassed about admitting that fact later on, but for now, she just wanted to one-up Sasha and Marcy.

Marcy’s cheeks turned red, but she still kept a smile on her face. “I mean… you don’t remember telling me, before we even met Sasha, that boys were stupid and we should get married instead? I’m pretty sure that was your response to finding out I had a crush on Henry.”

Anne froze, embarrassment official. 

Sasha chuckled, sitting up a bit from her hunched-over position. “I wasn’t dreaming about that pretend wedding the three of us had at school one time, right? Like, that happened?”

Marcy barked out a laugh. “You mean when we wore our nicest dresses and picked flowers for each other by the playground?”

“God, I hated that dress! I thought that was just what you were supposed to wear; I wish I’d known women in suits were a thing.”

Anne wanted to join in on the laughter. She did; she wanted all of this to be as lighthearted and joyful for her as it was for Sasha and Marcy. However, a lot of these things they were bringing up Anne had apparently either repressed or just had thought about in a completely different light. Until she’d said it out loud, she’d even forgotten that Marcy had been her first crush, if she’d ever realized it in the first place. Suddenly, she was questioning everything she’d ever felt about anyone. 

(A hand in her hair, smudged chapstick on the corner of her mouth–)

When Marcy had given her and Sasha those kisses goodbye, Anne hadn’t realized that was a confession. Had she wondered why it had made her stomach twist with butterflies? Sure. But she’d been kind of distracted by the sadness at Marcy leaving, as well. Besides, that’s how it would feel if anyone kissed her, right?

Well, no. Joshua Ngam had kissed her once, at the Thai temple, and it hadn’t given Anne butterflies; it had made her feel sick to her stomach, made her feel wrong , so she ran away from him and avoided him for years. 

(Sasha holding her hand, not unfamiliar. Anne turning to look at her and questioning why Sasha was so close. Sasha yanking her hand away, panic and tears in her eyes. “God, why’d you have to make it weird? ” Blonde ponytail swishing as she runs away–)

…Was Sasha going to kiss her back then, on that last day before things were suddenly not the same? Before Sasha could barely meet Anne’s eyes anymore, before the only conversation they’d share was a small smile and wave in the hallways?

Anne was questioning everything, now.

“Anne?” Marcy’s concerned voice broke through her reverie. 

Anne shook her head, snapping out of the daze she’d entered. “Huh, what?” she said dumbly. 

“Are you okay?” Marcy’s eyebrows furrowed. Behind her, Sasha seemed equally as concerned. 

“Look, I know we’re joking a lot about this stuff,” Sasha said in a low, calm tone of voice that Anne assumed came from her counseling work. “If it makes you uncomfortable, we’ll stop.”

“Yeah, honestly,” Marcy cut in, “it’s more like it’s just funny to us, now that we’re older and understand ourselves more. We’re not trying to tease you—not too much, at least.” Marcy gave a soft smile, trying to keep things light. 

Should she talk to them about everything she’d been thinking about? Anne’s instinct was to just bury it all inside (again) and avoid it, but where had that gotten her over the years? Here, panicking with self-realization in front of the two women for whom she was now pretty sure she had feelings . Like, romantic feelings. 

Anne could do nothing but open and close her mouth like a goldfish. Sasha and Marcy looked to each other before Sasha made to stand. 

“Oh- kay , maybe that’s enough of the drinking games—“

“Wait, no,” Anne said, reaching a hand out to grab Sasha’s. “It’s okay, I want to keep playing. Just a lot of… memories , today, is all. Sorry if I’m making it weird.”

(“God, why’d you have to make it weird ?”)

Sasha settled back into the couch and gave a small smile, turning her hand over in Anne’s grip to squeeze it softly. “You’re not, no worries. Anniversaries are a weird thing, and ten years is a lot.” 

“We just want to make sure you’re really okay,” Marcy said, putting her hand on top of Anne’s and Sasha’s. “It’s your birthday, after all. We gotta make sure it’s a good one; that’s our job.” 

Anne smiled, trying to shove down her panic so it didn’t show on her face. “I’m having a great time, guys. I just love spending time with y’all.” That much was true; Anne really did miss hanging out with them like this. She’d known that she missed the girls to some degree, but now that they were here, she wondered how she’d ever lived without them. “Now, whose turn was it?”

Sasha leaned back into the couch again, but she didn’t move her hand away from where it rested with Anne’s and Marcy’s. “Well, technically it’s mine again, since Marcy asked me the question last. But you can have a turn, Anne. You’re in charge.” Sasha winked at her.

Anne was just going to ignore how that made her breath catch in her throat, for now. 

She cleared her throat. “Okay, um… Marcy, truth or dare?”

“Hmm…” Marcy pretended to think hard by scratching her chin with her free hand. “Let’s go with dare, this time.” She grinned at Anne, which somehow made her even more nervous. 

“Uhh, I dare you to… to…” Anne’s eyes darted around her small living room, willing some idea to come forth in her brain. “…wear my clothes for the rest of the night.” 

Marcy and Sasha each raised an eyebrow. “Pff, easy . Like, the clothes you have on right now, or…?” She gestured toward the bedroom. 

Anne choked on her spit a little. “No, like, pick out some clothes from my closet, duh.” She gave a half-hearted chuckle. Why was she regretting this all of a sudden?

Marcy shrugged. “Sure thing.” She hopped up, dislodging their three conjoined hands, and disappeared into Anne’s room. 

Anne looked down at her now-solitary hand. She glanced at Sasha’s own and had the urge to hold it again. But it would be weird to just do it out of the blue, right? 

She was staring for too long; she looked up and saw Sasha staring back at her, eyebrow still raised. “You sure you’re good?” she asked softly. 

It was sweet, how much Sasha cared. She was a lot better at showing it, now that she was older. Anne’s heart melted a bit because of it. 

“Yeah,” she answered with a soft smile. “I’m good.”

Sasha smiled back. “Good.” Then, she reached out her hand and squeezed Anne’s own… and didn’t let go, after. Anne’s heart skipped a beat again. 

Before she could say anything else, Marcy emerged from Anne’s bedroom. “Ta-da!” she announced with her arms in the air. “I thought I’d go ahead and get comfy, since I’m apparently wearing this for the rest of the night. How do I look?”

Anne turned to look at Marcy and felt her brain short-circuit. Marcy was wearing one of Anne’s flannels atop a spaghetti-strapped tank top (sin bra) with some very tiny pajama shorts Anne never even wore because of how they bunched up on her. On Marcy, though, they were perfect. Something about seeing Marcy comfortable in her clothes was making it hard for Anne to form words. 

“Great,” Sasha said, voice cracking. She cleared her throat, and Anne noticed a light blush heating up her ears. “You look great, Marce.” 

Marcy beamed before skipping back to the couch. She vaulted over the back, plopping ungracefully back between Anne and Sasha, which made them unlatch their hands to avoid getting their wrists snapped. Marcy, however, wasted no time in grabbing their hands back and placing them in her lap, under her own hands. 

The feeling of bare thigh against her palm made Anne squirm. Looking at Sasha, it seemed like she was in a similar boat. Instead of pausing to unpack this, of course, Anne chose to blurt out, “Okay, Marcy, you’re in charge now.”

Marcy giggled at the use of the phrase, but started pondering her options. “Okay… Anne! Truth or dare?”

Anne wasn’t sure why she was shocked to be chosen; she was the only one who hadn’t answered a question yet. “Uh, truth?”

“Hmm.” Marcy hummed, narrowing her eyes at Anna and scratching her chin dramatically again. Something flashed in her eyes before her expression fell just the slightest bit—if Anne wasn’t staring dead at her, she probably wouldn’t have noticed. Marcy seemed to kind of shake herself out of it, though, before saying, “How many people have you dated over the years?”

Anne let out a breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding. She’d been expecting a harder question. “Well, that’s easy: no one.”

Both Sasha’s and Marcy’s eyes went wide. “Wait, seriously?” Sasha said.

“No one, ever ? Like, not even one date?” Marcy jumped in. 

“I mean…” Anne was questioning things again; it was fairly normal for a 23-year-old to have not had a relationship yet, right? “There were kind of… accidental dates? Like, I’d make friends with a guy, and we’d hang out, but it turned out they liked me and I didn’t know, and the ‘hanging out’ was supposed to be a date. Do those count?”

Sasha and Marcy looked at each other, then back at Anne, before simultaneously shouting, “No!”

Anne reared back a bit and brought her free hand up to rub the back of her neck. “Well, then, uh, yeah… none.”

Anne just had never been interested in anybody. She’d had Sasha and Marcy, and again, all the other people she’d met since high school couldn’t hold a candle to either of them. Dating any of them just hadn’t ever crossed her mind. 

Sasha narrowed her eyes at Anne. “We’re fixing this. We need to take you on a date tomorrow.”

Anne’s stomach flipped. “What–what do you mean?” she spluttered. “I mean, if those other ‘dates’ didn’t count, why would this one?” She forced out a light laugh, still rubbing the back of her neck with her free hand.

Now, Sasha was at a loss for words. Marcy looked back and forth between them with raised eyebrows. 

“Because,” Sasha finally said, “it–it just does! You’re aware it’s a date, this time, duh.” Sasha went to curl her knees up again, but Marcy refused to let go of either of their hands, so she stopped herself. “Whatever, it’s stupid, forget it.”

“Whaaaat?” Marcy whined. “Noooo, I wanna go on a date! Please, Anne, just as, like, a continuation of your birthday?”

Anne’s eyes darted between the two girls in front of her–Marcy’s puppy-dog eyes and Sasha’s embarrassed hopefulness made her heart melt. Something about it did sound really nice…“I mean, of course, I’m down! I just wanted to understand your weird logic.” She smiled at Sasha and squeezed her hand beneath Marcy’s in reassurance. 

“Yay!” Marcy squealed, picking up their conjoined hands and waving them around. “I’m excited!” She pressed a light kiss right where Sasha’s and Anne’s hands met. Anne stopped breathing for a second. “Okay, I’m in charge now, right?”

Sasha cleared her throat before speaking. “Uh, yeah, Marce.”

“Okay, then Sasha,” Marcy sat up straight, narrowing her eyes briefly at the aforementioned blonde before dramatically saying, “truth? Or dare?”

Sasha rolled her eyes. “I guess I’ll do a dare this time, but you better make it something exciting. That poor shot is just sitting there, unwanted.”

Something glinted in Marcy’s eyes, and Anne got nervous again. “Fine! I dare you… to kiss me.” Marcy got a wicked grin on her face. Sasha’s eyes widened, her mouth dropping slightly open. Anne wasn’t sure how she hadn’t had a heart attack yet, with the way this night was going. “And it can’t be just a peck, either; I mean a real –mmf!”

Sasha leaned forward and used her free hand to pull Marcy in by the neck for a kiss. A serious kiss. Anne stared in awe as Marcy’s eyes fluttered shut, one of her hands leaving her lap to cup Sasha’s cheek. Anne watched as their lips moved together smoothly–was that Sasha’s tongue darting out into Marcy’s mouth?

Anne’s underwear suddenly felt very uncomfortable. She got that “intruding” feeling, again, but couldn’t make herself stop watching. Strangely, she didn’t feel jealous like she would have expected to with all of her newly discovered emotions tonight, but instead just insanely turned on. 

Anne’s hand twitched in the pile on Marcy’s lap, and Sasha quickly pulled back from the kiss with a pop . Marcy’s and Sasha’s lips shone in the TV light–wow, that was still on?--and they were both breathing a bit heavily. (Anne was, too, if she were to be completely honest.)

“Wow,” Marcy breathed. “I wasn’t expecting you to actually… do that.”

Sasha blushed brightly and tried to deflect by rolling her eyes. “Like kissing you is such a hard thing?” She chuckled half-heartedly before shaking her head. “Screw it, I’m taking the shot anyway.” She removed her left hand from the pile and downed the shot quickly, wincing only slightly. She poured another immediately after and replaced her hand in the pile on Marcy’s lap. “Alright, my turn. Anne, truth or dare?”

“Dare,” Anne said before even thinking about it. Marcy and Sasha raised their eyebrows, surprised at her quick answer. “I mean… well, yeah, dare.” She couldn’t really take it back, now, or she’d have to take the shot. Her heart thumped in her chest. “Don’t go easy on me, either.” Frog, what was she trying to do? Where were these words coming from? 

“Okay…” Sasha looked at her suspiciously but continued. “I dare you to dance on the table to a song of my choosing.” She used her free hand to pull out her phone. 

Anne scoffed and stood up, slightly relieved. “I thought I said not to go easy on me?”

Sasha grinned deviously. “You haven’t heard the song, yet.”

Anne’s heart thumped wildly as she stood on the coffee table, careful to avoid the shot glass sitting there. Hopefully, the table doesn’t break , she thought. “Alright, play it, then.”

Sasha smirked as she pressed play. When the first notes to a slow, sultry Rihanna song started playing, Anne’s face started burning. “Seriously?” she said, suddenly regretting all of her life choices. 

Sasha shrugged. “You can always just take the shot,” she sang. Marcy was leaning back with wide eyes and pursed lips as she glanced between the two of them.

Anne took a deep breath and actually contemplated just taking the L for this one. But then, she noticed Marcy’s eyes moving down her body before darting back up to her face. Suddenly, this seemed fun. 

Anne started moving her hips to the slow beat, still feeling a bit awkward at first. After a moment, though, she started moving her arms as her whole body got more into it. She was sure that the alcohol was helping her, here. She glanced up and saw Marcy and Sasha staring, riveted, and felt confident enough to go a little further. 

As she danced, Anne played with the hem of her shirt, slowly lifting it up higher and higher over her stomach. Seeing the girls’ wide eyes fixated on her, Anne got the urge to take the whole thing off–so, she did. She tossed it at the girls before twirling around, and they didn’t even seem to notice, since they weren’t taking their eyes off of Anne. She ran her hands over her body as they watched. Anne had never felt more confident, more wanted, in her life. 

This is what Anne wanted, she realized. She wanted both of them: their attention, their affection, their love. She had probably wanted this since middle school, if not earlier. 

(Chapstick smudge on her mouth, Sasha’s face inches from hers–)

Frog, she could’ve had this all along, if she’d just opened her eyes and not been so close-minded. Sasha and Marcy had both given her chances, and she’d failed them, made them feel unloved and unwanted–when the complete opposite was true, and Anne hadn’t even realized. 

The song ended, and Anne hopped down from the table. Both girls still stared at her topless form, bolstering her forward to do what she now knew she had to. “I’m in charge, now, right?” she clarified.

Marcy slowly nodded, while Sasha cleared her throat and choked out, “Uh, yeah?”

Anne took a deep breath. “I dare you both to kiss me.”

Both girls’ jaws dropped open. Marcy let out a squeak. 

“Anne,” Sasha said, bewildered, “are you… sure?”

Anne laughed, mostly at herself. “I’ve never been more sure in my life. I want you; I want both of you, and I’m so sorry that it took me so long to realize–mmf!”

Mimicking Sasha’s actions from earlier, Marcy jumped up and quickly pulled Anne down by the neck into a hard kiss. Anne’s hands hovered for a moment before settling on Marcy’s waist. The kiss started out simply as lips pressing against each other, but the boldness from Anne’s dance carried over and gave her the courage to press her tongue forward. She lightly ran it over Marcy’s bottom lip, and when Marcy gasped, she pushed inside. Their tongues pressed against each other, Anne’s grip on Marcy’s hips tightening and pulling her close. 

(Chapstick smudge–)

When Marcy let out a moan, Anne pulled away, breathing hard. She glanced over at Sasha to see the blonde death-gripping Anne’s shirt and staring with a mad blush on her face. 

“Is this real?” Sasha breathed.

Anne chuckled and reached a hand out to her. “If you want it to be.”

Sasha slowly took Anne’s offered hand and stood up next to Marcy. “Okay, I see why you were so quiet when I kissed Marcy; I’m kind of at a loss for words, right now.”

“Pfft, who needs words?” Anne said before bringing a hand up to the back of Sasha’s neck. She was shocked to feel the buzzed-short hairs of an undercut and couldn’t help but run her fingers over the softness there for a second. “It’s your turn.”

Anne could’ve sworn she saw tears in Sasha’s eyes before the blonde leaned down to kiss her. It was a much softer kiss than Anne and Marcy’s, brimming with all the emotion Anne had bottled up over the years. 

(Ponytail swishing–)

When Sasha pressed her tongue into Anne’s mouth, Anne couldn’t hold back a moan of her own. Sasha pulled her in by the waist, making her press against both herself and Marcy, since the three of them were still right next to each other. One of Anne’s hands remained on Marcy’s waist and squeezed there, to which Marcy responded by reaching up to play with Anne’s hair, all while Sasha kissed her breath away. 

It was perfect.

Anne pulled away from Sasha’s kiss and pressed their foreheads together. She smiled, and Sasha chuckled. 

Marcy cleared her throat. “Soooo, that date tomorrow is definitely a real date now, right?”

They all laughed, and Anne pulled Marcy in close until all of their heads were touching. “I love you both so much,” she whispered. Tears were definitely streaming down Sasha’s face now, and she felt her own eyes well up with emotion. 

“We love you, too,” Sasha and Marcy replied in unison, giggling like school girls afterward. 

There were so many possibilities for new memories, now. Anne couldn’t wait to start making them.

-----

Thanks for reading! Let me know what you think here, or leave kudos and comments on Ao3 here!

[scottpetersen]

Honestly, I think that Launchpad McQuack from the DuckTales (2017) TV series would get along surprisingly well with Marcy Wu from the Amphibia TV series. After all, both of them are very passionate when it comes to certain works of fiction to the point that they think about it even during a heated battle. As shown in the episode ‘Let’s Get Dangerous! Part 2: A Case Of Mistaken Reality!’, Launchpad was very passionate about Darkwing Duck TV shows and comic books to the point that he was knew the Fearsome Four’s weaknesses very well and was able to help exploit them to take them down. And, as shown in the episode ‘The Hardest Thing’, Marcy was ecstatic about anime to the point that she was very excited about the way she, Anne and Sasha were using their Calamity powers since it looked like anime. Also, both of them have tried to form bonds with other people based on their passion for their favorite fantasies. As shown in the episode ‘Friendship Hates Magic!’, Launchpad did try to bond with Bentina Beakley by watching a Darkwing Duck TV show with her. And, as shown in Entry 14 of Marcy Wu’s Journal, Marcy did try to bond with Javi, Kettle and Femur by playing a role-playing game called Creatures And Caverns. And I think that Marcy would appreciate some of Launchpad’s occasional words of wisdom. After all, as also shown in the episode ‘Let’s Get Dangerous! Part 2: A Case Of Mistaken Reality!’, Launchpad is surprisingly wise when it comes to what being a hero is about to the point that he gave Gosalyn some advice by saying: “Anyone can do the right thing when it’s easy. But it’s what you do when things are hard that makes you a hero.” I think that those words might really speak to Marcy because, as shown in the episode ‘All In’, Marcy found it in herself to stand up to The Core to try to help Anne and Sasha and she rejected her fantasies of having Anne and Sasha by her side and doing what she wants despite the fact that she knew that she probably wouldn’t get what she wanted at the end of it. After all, at that moment, Marcy did the right thing despite it being hard. And I think that Marcy would design some pieces of armor to help Launchpad as well as Darkwing Duck and Gosalyn with their fight against crime since, given her aforementioned passion for works of fiction, Marcy would probably be very passionate when it comes to superheroes and, as shown in Entry 12 of Marcy Wu’s Journal, Marcy is pretty knowledgeable when it comes to armor. Another thing Launchpad and Marcy have in common is that someone they looked up to turned out to be evil. As shown in the episode ‘The Duck Knight Returns!’, Jim Starling, someone Launchpad looked up to, turned out to be evil and, as shown in the episode ‘True Colors’, King Andrias, someone who Marcy looked up to, turned out to be evil. Also, another thing about it is that Jim Starling and King Andrias at least somewhat cared about Launchpad and Marcy respectively before that part of them was ultimately eclipsed by their evil side. As shown in the episode ‘The Duck Knight Returns!’, Jim did risk his life to save Launchpad before ultimately becoming completely evil and insane and, as shown in the episode ‘All In’, Andrias did have some reservations about hurting Marcy at first before, as shown in the episode ‘True Colors’, he stabbed Marcy.

[heart-wit-strength]

Speaking of Marcy’s approach to Amphibias politics, she’s probably the most competent person in the newtopian government(fixing the sewer system, rescuing civilians, supporting farmers, and is down for societal reforms)

Ah the only shitty politics I'll ever talk about on this blog ✨racist newts✨

Speaking of newt politics...

Idk it's just...vague what Marcy exactly thinks of the system itself I just feel like I can't make a direct call on this, it's so left out open ended in the journal too. Plus all with how she values farmers as underappreciated backbones of society

I agree Marcy is the only competent person with a braincell in this government. I doubt how much she involves in them at all though. Surely theme song takeover shows she even writes royal verdicts while Andrias snoozes and all that

In tc her response to the toad rebellion is to 'redesign the political system' and make sure 'this kind of uprising never happens again.' Her first instinct is the approach she took for Wartwood, changing the political system overnight like fixing sewers, part of me wonders Marcy even has a clue why the rebellion happened to begin with. She doesn't know Andrias purposefully made things this way, she knows what Andrias lets her see. She has faith she talk him out of changing things.

Yet somehow there's still the ranger oath that tells her a newt's life should matter above the rest—

Should've been her first red flag if I were honest. She knows casteism exist she doesn't understand the problems of it bc the newts don't make it out to be. Let's admit, she's 13 freaking years old. The journal also shows she was actively being kept away from learning truths.

Toad to Redemption is one episode that talks about the oppression on toads by Newtopian authorities, and my biggest focus here that Marcy is still in Wartwood while this happens. Coincidentally, she's purposefully made busy in an outhouse with Frobo for this very episode. This is one of the weirdest things to me bc it's like the show itself is trying to keep her in the dark and short-sighted. Keep her from having reasons to question her faith in Andrias.

She has been limited to the ruling class view in this new world. And that makes sense because it was one of the things that could perhaps bring her to disagree with the King, had she seen the other side of the story.

[justinewt]

Pugna Inter Fratres - THOSE ABOUT TO DIE REWRITE Chapter Five

[THOSE ABOUT TO DIE MASTERLIST]

Previous Chapter / Next Chapter (08/30/2024)

Summary: Being reunited with her brothers was the best gift Aldea could have ever asked for. Some tensions here and there rose amongst them after things didn't turn the way they expected, especially between Elia and Fonsoa. They disagreed over the way to handle things after something happened to their horses and Andria and Aldea were kind of in the middle of it, but the latter would soon move on from that after that - though momentarily - after the arrival of two numidian women in her home.

Words: 6.9k

Warnings: title means "fight between brothers" // Those about to die spoilers (episode 2 "Trust None"), fluff

The moon was higher in the sky when they reached Aldea’s house. No one was standing outside the front door. Tenax must have dismissed Dacia and Noro already. She and Scorpus climbed a flight of stairs, his toga slightly slipping off his head as he began pounding on the door. Aldea joined her hand at her waist, looking around, waiting for Tenax to come open the door and they finally heard the lock slide open on the other side. They leaned back in surprise when they came to face with Tenax brandishing a butcher knife. He realized it was just Scorpus and Aldea and he lowered the blade, stepping away from the door.

“By the Gods. What are you doing?” The charioteer walked in, looking at his friend as the latter put away the knife. Aldea followed Scorpus inside. The door creaked as she pushed it behind her, and she quickly went in the bedroom to put her cloak away and combed through her hair with her fingers, proceeding to braid them for the night as she glanced at the two men.

“What do you want?” Scorpus pulled out something to show him and she heard a thud as he placed it on the table. Tenax shrugged. “What’s this?”

“One cotter pin, cut halfway through. My racing partner is dead, and I would be if I hadn’t switched rigs.” Tenax walked towards him, picking up the cotter pin to take a closer look. “Was this one of your fixes? Scorpus loses, you collect big. I break a few bones or my neck to make it look real.”

He frowned, putting down the pin, “No, of course it’s not. I told you; I have much bigger plans for the both of us than a few more rigged races.”

“Then find out who sabotaged my rig and kill them.” Tenax acquiesced, letting out a quiet sigh. Aldea slowly approached them upon hearing Scorpus pick up something else from the table, noting how it apparently looked a lot like his horse Incitatus with a chuckle. She saw her husband took a little gold horse figurine from the driver’s hands and dismissing him, telling him to take his winnings on his way out. “Aldea.” He gave her a nod and as he put one foot on the landing, he turned towards Tenax, pointing at him. “Don’t take me for granted.”

“I don’t.” He replied with a tight smile before locking the door and turning to Aldea, shooting up his eyebrows, spreading his arms open in despondence, urging her to explain herself and she knew he wanted to know where she had been and why she was coming home so late. And yet, she still asked a stupid question as if she hadn’t understood. She didn’t think before speaking. “Well?”

“What?”

“Where have you been?”

“I told you. My brothers are in Rome, so Nica took me to them. We attended the race, and I spoke with them before Scorpus offered to walk me home.” She got closer to him and slid her fingers over the collar of his tunic, locking eyes with him. There was a bright smile stretching her lips. “I never thought I’d see them again, and they’re here, in Rome. I can see them everyday now.”

“That’s great, Aldea. I just want to make sure that you’re safe.” He placed a gentle hand on her stomach, and she put her hand on top.

“I am as safe with my brothers as with Dacia and Noro. And Gavros and Scorpus were there too. I'm alway well surrounded.” Their faces had gotten close to the point of being mere inches apart, the tip of their noses rubbed together. They shared a tender kiss, and she went to bed while he left the apartment, having to take care of Scorpus’ sabotaged-rig problem. She slept soundly that night, with no nightmare, dreaming of her youth. She was around 6, compelling a then 8-year-old Fonsoa to play mom and dad with toddler Elia. He had always been such a sweet, angel-looking boy, even more so then with his big eyes, staring at her and following her and Fonsoa everywhere. In the early years of her brother’s life, it was more of an innocent game for her, but she realized over time that ever since he was born, even though she was only 4 then, she had always taken her role very seriously and loved taking care of him. There were only two things she truly loved doing, caring for her baby brother and being with their horses. She was happy with living this life forever.

The memory she relieved in her dream changed, it was a few years later, Elia and she were laughing bubbly, rolling in the tall grass to go down the hill and she woke up. She felt as though she was on cloud nine as she took her time to get out bed and put on her stola and cloak. Those memories put her in a state of absolute peace of mind. She was so used to Tenax being gone the whole night that she didn’t even notice he still wasn’t home, and she left for the Circus Maximus, to meet with her brothers at the stable. It wasn’t the afternoon yet, she would have some more time to spend with the three of them before they had to show the horses to Scorpus later on, and she would be with them then too. She didn’t have to work today as there wasn’t any races or fights, and in any case, if she didn’t want to work one day, Tenax wouldn’t actually care. He only let her work because she wanted to keep herself busy. If she felt like spending the day at home or at the bath or the theatre, she could.

She arrived at the Circus during hora undecimal, about half an hour before noon and they walked together to Tenax’s tavern to eat together. They got quite a few glances as they exchanged in Spanish the whole time, speaking at a fast pace too, as they asked their sister about her life in Rome, how she came to know Tenax – whom they still had yet to meet – and she told them the whole story. She told them how she followed this young sailor she thought she was in love with and got stuck on a merchant’s ship and was sold as a slave upon arriving in Rome, bought by Tenax and made a freedwoman a couple months later. She said the merchant never returned to Rome, keeping it to herself that Tenax had the later killed because of what he had done to Aldea. They would get scared for her, knowing Tenax’s doing, and she would have to reveal details she wanted to keep secret. It wouldn’t do anyone any good to know that she was forced to have intercourse by and with the merchant for over a week and that he broke her collarbone because she tried to fight back. She wasn’t hiding the latter under a cloak for nothing.

“You were sold as a slave?” Elia reacted instantly when Aldea said it, raising his eyebrow in a mix of utter shock, worry and anger.

“It’s okay now, I’m free. Tenax lets me work and do basically anything I want. He only asks me to be careful where I go. Rome can be dangerous.” She took a sip of her wine, looking down at her plate. “But he has over a dozen men working for him, and I know that he asked them to keep an eye out for me so I’m safe anywhere I go.”

“He seems to be a good husband.” Andria noted while Elia squinted his eyes, slightly frowning. He still doubted that whoever was her husband was a good enough husband for his sister and it made her smile amusedly. She gave her older brother a nod. Tenax proved to be a good husband indeed. She went on to tell them about their time as a married couple and it was enough for Fonsoa and Andria to hear that she was happy and well treated, or they wouldn’t have let her go back to Tenax, maybe even dragging her back home to Baetica if she needed to be saved from her marriage, but there was no need, and they could see that. Even Elia understood she was happy in her relationship. And now she had her family with her. It felt as though life was smiling on her once again. Ever since she became her own woman again at the end of summer 75 CE, four years ago, almost only good things happened to her; she eventually got into a relationship with Tenax, they got married and now she was expecting a child, and she was reunited with her brothers. She let it slip, during the conversation, that she was pregnant and the shock on Elia's face, his eyebrows raised as high as possible and his wide eyes, made her burst out laughing. He let his cutlery fall on the table, clattering against the wood.

“What— estás realmente embarazada?” He exclaimed, asking her if she was actually pregnant, grabbing her arm. Fonsoa and Andria chuckled, proceeding to congratulate their sister. Fonsoa, sat next to her, giving her a broad, proud smile, putting his hand on her back.

“Your child will be blessed to have you as a mother.”

“You were a natural.” Andria added, a soft smile on his face.

“You see, Elia, we’ll become uncles. You need to grow up.” He teased him, stretching his arm behind Aldea to push his brother’s shoulder with a chuckle. Elia dodged his hand, leaning to the side and let out a groan, annoyed to het pushed around by his brother. Fonsoa gently squeezed Aldea’s shoulder, insisting that she will be a great mother, and they finished their meal. A few minutes later, during hora quartadecima, a couple hours after they started eating, they met with Gavros at the Blue faction’s stable and prepped the horses for the try out on the tracks. They geared up four of their dozen Andalusians, attaching them to a rig and Andria warmed them up, making them run for a round in the arena. Fonsoa leaned against the door, his arms crossed while Elia, his hands on his hips, was growing impatient and aggravated by Scorpus’ delay. He still wasn’t there, and they had been waiting for what felt like an eternity. Aldea looked at the sun, up in the sky, indicating it must have been hora sedecim, and if she wasn’t home by the next hour, she thought that Tenax was going to wonder what she was doing out there that was making her so busy that she was missing dinner.

“Where is he?” Having to wait so much made Elia snappy. Gavros put his hand on his shoulder, assuring the driver was coming and he did a few seconds later. Scorpus appeared behind them as the chariot was approaching and Andria brought the horses to a halt.

“They’re small, your Andalusians.” He walked past Andria and stepped on the rig.

“It is not their size that makes horses fast. And no whip. They run better without it.” Scorpus still picked up his whip and Elia glared at him as the charioteer drove away. The horses went gradually faster and within seconds they were full on galloping. They saw Scorpus give a few snaps with the whip but eventually putting it away and instead only snapping the reins, his dark curls blown in the wind. Elia’s angry face gave way to a cheerful smile.

“They’re fast.” Gavros noted. After a full drive around the spina, Scorpus slowed down the horses and got off the rig, letting out a sigh of relief. He was clearly more than satisfied with the beasts and immidietaly made an offer to the brothers.

“Twenty thousand serteces for the ten. But… the three of you stay on as stable hands to get the most out of them.” Elia’s smile faded after getting excited at the price he had proposed. While Fonsoa and Andria agreed to it, he didn’t seem that excited anymore and looked upset.

“We agreed to go back!” Aldea’s head twitched. She didn’t know they were supposed to go home. They hadn’t told her yet.

“Elia. Look around. Do you really want to go back?” Andria asked.

“Yes!”

“We’re in Circus Maximus, and this is Scorpus, he’s trying to buy your horses and hire us. And we got out sister back.” Fonsoa stepped towards his brother. Aldea held her arms, crossed over her chest and kind of looked around, seeing Fimbria watching them in the distance. He crossed her gaze as he was leaving and she squinted her eyes, wondering why he had been staring at them. Elia kept on arguin, insisting Scorpus wanted to trap them in Rome, which he called “a sewer of a city” and the high price offered to them for their horses didn’t seem to make him budge.

“I will take the money, but we agreed to come here, sell the horses, find our sister and go back! We found Aldea, we can go back.” She bit her lips, listening to him. She would have gone back with them in a heartbeat if she hadn’t met and fallen in love with Tenax, and she was married now, it wouldn’t feel right to simply ditch him after years together.

“We could really be someone here. Make a name for ourselves.” Andria tried to convince him to change his mind. Elia shook his head, briskly licking his lips. “Horses, as many as you want.”

“I have all the horses I want, back in Baetica.”

“Boys. Scorpus is waiting.” He rose his voice, drawing attention to him. Andria gave him a nod, briefly turning back to his brothers, proposing to vote on the matter. Fonsoa was in, of course but Elia, unable to stay put, restless, refused to vote and walked away, nudging Fonsoa as he left. The latter called out his name and took a few steps after him but stopped himself and turned back to Andria.

“I’ll go talk to him.” Fonsoa softly grabbed his sister’s arm.

“He’ll be fine. He’ll come around.”

“We have a deal.” Andria then declared to Scorpus. The latter extended his hand towards him.

“The little shit stays as well, yes?” Andria acquiesced, giving his hand a firm shake. As he was leaving, he looked over his shoulder at Aldea. He was going to see Tenax at their home and waited for her to decide whether she was coming with him. Fonsoa comfortingly rubbed her back, reassuring her about Elia. She gave her brothers a hug and walked back to the Suburra with Scorpus. He jumped up the stairs and pushed the front door open. It had been left unlocked and he directly went inside. Aldea closed the door behind them. He had basically run down the street and was out of breath.

“I have just driven… the fastest horses in my life.” Tenax glanced over at them, sitting in the kitchen at the dinner table while Claudia served him something to drink. He tilted his head, looking at Aldea as she made her way to the table and sat across from her husband before the plate set up for her. Claudia gave her some food.

“Are you sure?” Scorpus leaned on the table and sighed.

“They’re the horses of Aldea’s brothers… they fly with the wings of Pegasus. So, I bought them. Well, with your money.”

“So you’re in?”

“Of course, I’m in.” Aldea followed him with her eyes, not really knowing what they were talking about as Scorpus walked behind her and grabbed a piece of bread from a bowl. Tenax looked aside, leaning his elbow on the table, bringing his hand to his face, thoughtful. Scorpus eventually left, leaving the couple together to finish eating.

“You were with your brothers?”

“Yes. I spent the day with them. I’ll go see if they’re at their place after. I need to check on Elia. He wasn’t too happy about having to stay in Rome.”

“Elia, that’s your…”

“My little brother. I hope he’ll come around… I’ll try to convince him to stay. He doesn’t like Rome, to say the least.” She sighed through her nose, chewing on her food. Tenax didn’t say much else on the matter of her brother being unhappy in the city. She knew he didn’t want her to leave, but he loved her and no matter how reluctant he would be, he would let her go if she chose to go back, but put down her fork and held his hand, hopefully letting him know she wasn’t planning on leaving. She was set on convincing her brother to stay. She wasn’t about to let go of the boy she raised and watched grow into the handsome young man he was today. “What were you talking about, with Scorpus?”

“Come. I have something to show you.” He stood up, wrapping his fingers around her hand and slightly pulling her towards him. She got up in turn and he led her to the bedroom. After pressing on one of the tiles on the wall, he pushed the hidden door open with his shoulder and briefly let go of her hand to go fetch something in the criss-cross shelves at the back of the small, secret room where he kept all his most valuable items and property titles. There were hundreds of those in those shelves, but Aldea knew about all this and had known for a while so she was a little puzzled what he might have to show her. He grabbed a tube and turned to her with an excited smile.

“What’s this?” Unscrewing one of the ends, he showed a scroll inside.

“500 shares of the Blue Faction.”

“500—” She was shocked. they grabbed onto each other’s shoulder. “What? How did you get your hands on 500 shares of the Blue Faction?”

“Rufus made a round bet at yesterday's race, betting his wife's shares on Scorpus to win in the last to second round.”

“Oh, that’s why he pulled back in the middle of the race and stayed behind until the last round? I knew there was something like this going on but, well,” She chuckled in disebelief. “I didn’t know this was what was at stake. What will you do with it now?”

“I’ll sell it to the highest bidder, and with the money, Scorpus and I can start our own faction.”

“That’s great news.” She caressed his cheek, the tip of her finger brushing of his beard’s hair, and she softly pressed her lips on his. He then closed the secret door and they both left home. She headed for her brother’s place, a couple streets away, while he headed for the Esquiline Hill to go negotiate with Consul Marsus over the 500 shares. They weren’t the lead owners of the blue faction, and he knew they would want to have this advantage over the woman who he and his wife had lost the position to, Caltonia. By buying those shares, they could retrieve their position as lead owners and he was going to use this fact to get the consul to buy those shares, giving him enough money to fund his ambitions. He would still need to get approval from the Aedile Ludi, who was no other than the emperor’s youngest son, Domitian. She wasn’t too worried about it. Her husband could be cunning and had a certain way with words, he would probably get Domitian to approve a fifth faction by the time the next race came around.

Aldea went to see if her brothers could be found in the room, they were renting but the housekeeper apologizes to her and told her she hadn’t seen them come back yet. Aldea returned to her apartment and Tenax returned in the first hour of the night. She wasn’t going to wander around town, pregnant and on her own so she would wait for either of her brothers – she hoped it would be Elia – to come to her instead.

“So? How did it go?” She asked, as Tenax walked in the room. He went straight to grabbing her face and kissing her, letting her know it did go as well as hoped.

“I sold the shares to Consul Marsu, nine thousand serterces.”

“And Domitian? What did he say?” His fingers sipped into her hair, his thumb caressing her cheek.

“I piqued his curiosity. I told him he would have half ownership over the faction, in secret, and that a river of money awaits us.”

“Well, I’m sure he’ll approve your faction. He needs money. He’s been spending the empire’s fortune in every single betting tavern across town. With all the money he’d earn from this, he wouldn’t have to care about his debts anymore.”

“Yes.” He kissed her again, more strongly, as he was thrilled by the thought of finally being able to set his plan in motion and get his own faction. It would get them more money and allow him to sit next to his very own faction’s banner and be somewhat at the same level as the patricians that owned the other four. She didn’t share his ambitions, as she had no such ambitions to begin with, but she supported him in his endeavors and he needed and wanted this, to elevate himself socially, though he would probably not say it in so many words. After all he had been through at the hands of the powerful patricians of the roman empire, it felt, to me, as being a rightful revenge and she would be by his side throughout it. That was one reasons, if not the main one, as to why she couldn’t leave. It felt wrong to abandon and give up on him after the life they had built together, and all they had shared. And they were expecting a child. She couldn’t possibly deprive him of his child, and right to be a father.

She moved away from him, approaching the window as she heard quick steps outside their house. She saw the old woman who watched over Tenax’s property where her brothers were staying. The housekeeper was about to walk through the front door until Aldea called out to her, making her look up.

“You wanted to know when your brothers came home.” Aldea gave her a nod and left, after telling Tenax she wouldn’t be long. She walked to the other insula and as she entered, she could hear them argue in the distance. Because of how clear their voices sounded; she guessed their door was opened. She slowly walked up the stairs.

“Elia, how many times do I have to say it? It’s not forever. We’ll all go back together soon.” Andria tried to calm him down.

“When, exactly? A—After you’re grooms instead of stable hands? After you start driving?”

“Give it a chance. One fortnight, then decide.”

“No.” He was quick with his answer. His mind was still very much made up and he was dead set on leaving Rome. He felt betrayed and lied to, and he told them as much. “You’ve lied to me. Both of you. You never intended to go home. Did you? We said, we come here, sell our horses, find Aldea and go back home.”

“Elia…” She heard Fosnoa sigh. “We sold our horses, and found Aldea. You've been talking about finding her every hour of the day for years. We found her.”

“Yes, and I’m sure she wants to go home too.” She quietly sighed, her hand on the railing as she paused in her tracks.

“Elia, she has built a life here.” Andria said. “She’s married and happy, and she’s with child. You can’t expect her to leave it all behind? Don’t you want to stay here, be close to her?”

“You can’t say that’s not all you’ve wanted, ever since you were a child.”

“Take good care of Ferox.” Elia ignored Fonsoa, turning away from him as he finished packing his things, but he must have seen movement from the corner of his eyes because he turned his head and saw Aldea coming up the stairs. She saw him, mouthing her name and he looked down at his bag, almost shameful of the fact he was getting ready to leave.

“Elia.” She spoke softly, but he avoided looking directly at her, darting glances her way.

“You never intended to go home.” It almost sounded like an accusation. She sighed.

“I never expected I could go home one day. And I met people here, in Rome, that made me love my life here. Elia… please look at me.” She put her hand on his back, and he finally made eye contact with her.

“Do you know how much father’s missed you?” Fonsoa spoke his name, but it didn’t stop Elia from speaking. “First he lost… our mother, and then you. Do you know how much your disappearance destroyed him?”

“Elia. Enough.” Fonsoa rose his voice again, grasping his shoulder, and this time, Elia shut his mouth and went quiet, slightly flaring up his nostrils and shaking his head, freeing his shoulder from Fonsoa with an abrupt shrug. Aldea could see on his face that he felt awful for being mean to her but also that how much he felt hurt and let down by his siblings overshadowed the love he had for them, and especially for his sister.

“Please, Elia. Sleep on it. I’ll see you tomorrow.” He wouldn’t look at her and she couldn’t the hurt in her eyes before she turned on her heels and left. As she walked down the stairs, she locked eyes with Fonsoa, still standing in the middle of their room and his eyes told her he was sorry about this. She gave him a soft smile and went back to her home. Tenax opened. He had been waiting for her to go to bed. Seeing she looked down, he stared at her worriedly, caressing her cheek. She took his hand and kissed it. She just wanted to go sleep it off, hoping Elia would at least stay in Rome for the night, or even better, change his mind altogether. The day had started off well and did not end on a high note.

Tenax and Aldea woke up the next morning, got dressed, ate some breakfast quickly and then left, heading together for the Esquiline Hill, hoping to find Scorpus there. But he wasn’t home and so began a search of the neighborhood to find their friend. Aldea stayed on the other side of the street while Tenax went to check if he was in the brothel he frequented but again, he came out of there alone and shrugged, exchanging a glance with his wife. They kept looking and found him at a tailor’s shop, looking at colorful pieces of fabric. Tenax ordered the tailor to get out and he snatched the fabric away from Scorpus after he drapped himself with it and threw it back on the table at the center of the room. Aldea, her hands joined by her waist, waited right by the entrance and could hear them even though Tenax was careful to speak quietly.

“Is this what you call discreet?”

“Word will get out, once we get Domitian’s approval.

“If… we get approval. Come. He’s meeting us at the stables to look at the Andalusians.” Scorpus smirked at the news, patting his shoulder on his way out. As he walked past Aldea, he, as Scorpus does, gave her a flirty look and smile and she shook her head amusedly. Looking back at Tenax as he followed him, Aldea saw his eyes briefly widen in annoyance. They then heade towards the stables of the Circus Maximus and got there about a dozen minutes later. The Blue faction stables’ doors were opened ajar, and they were unpleasantly surprised by what they saw inside. Elia was crouched next to Ferox, Fonsoa and Andria standing nearby. In all the other stalls, the horses were lying on the straw, barely breathing and lethargic. Aldea looked at them in worry while Tenax swore through his gritted teeth.

“Gavros went to get a physician.” Elia told them.

“Why didn’t someone tell me?” They turned around upon hearing Felix’s voice behind them. The young boy came running towards them.

“Domitian, he’s here! Outside!”

Tenax sighed heavily, “As I said… Fuck!” He turned to the brothers. “All right. I’ll divert him. Aldea, I want you out of here.” She wasn’t going to argue with him. He had other other fish to fry – bigger fish. She followed him outside and walked to a piller against which she leaned, seeing him talk with Domitian from the corner of her eyes. He tried to slow him down, to give everyone in the stables, just a little more time to find a quick solution to keep up appearances. On her way out, she heard Scorpus tell everyone to close the stalls’ curtains so they would find a short-term solution. Domitian wasn’t buying whatever Tenax was telling him to keep him out of the stables and he walked inside. She saw Felix come out and Aldea approached but when Domitian turned back to left, she stepped aside, hiding behind the large door. Plebieans bowed as the emperor’s son walked past, followed by Tenax and Scorpus. Before he turned to the other two, all three had their back to her so she slipped inside to go to her brothers. Fonsoa held out his arm, placing his hand on her back, drawing her towards him. Gavros arrived with thr physician and the man with the white beard knelt near the horse, holding a small flame to his eye to take a closer look.

“Augendus, the best there is.” Gavros spoke. “He was once veterinaries for the Greens.”

“You were right, Gavros. Most definitely nightshade.”

“What can you do for them?”

“Bury them.” He shrugged, shaking his head and looked up at Tenax.

“I’m not in the mood for jokes.”

“There’s little you can do. A magnus might say put crows in their stalls for three nights… and use bells to call out the Orci spirits from their livers.” Tenax smirked in disbelief.

“I’m not gonna bet my life on that one. Do what you can.” He then took a step towards the Corsi brothers, glaring and poiting a threatening finger at them. Elia stood up. “No one has seen this. If you tell a single fucking person, you will die in ways you cannot imagine. Do you understand?” Aldea stayed silent as he addressed her brothers. It wasn’t her place to speak, even less to cut him off. She shouldn’t even be in there and was mainly allowed to be present because of her link to the six men inside. Even simpler than that, as his wife, she stayed out of his business, and this was business. The fact it involved her family didn’t matter. she wasn't going to undermine his credibility by speaking when she should remain quiet. “Don't believe my threats to be empty just because you are my wife's brothers. Remember… the only person you have to fear more than Domitian… is me.”

“We understand, sir. We have seen nothing here.” Andria acquiesced. She could tell he was intimidated and took Tenax’s words very seriously, and he was right to do so. A faint smile appeared on his face, like a ray of sunshine managing to break through the clouds momentarily. This was as much a friendly “nice to meet you” smile as it was a threatening “if something happened to Aldea, I’ll kill you” kind of smile. He then motioned for Scorpus and Gavros to follow him outside and left the Corsi in the stables. The poor horses groaned at their feet. Leading his sister along with him, Fonsoa called to his brothers to go talk in private in a stall a little further in the stable.

“All right, little brother, you win. This is getting too dangerous. I say we play along until dark and then slip out of the city.” Aldea frowned, slightly shaking her head. She held her arms, looking around. Elia took his eyes off the ground and glanced at his brother.

“To go where?” Andria asked.

“Anywhere other than here. Home?”

“I’m not gonna leave our horses to die.” Elia argued.

“Now he wants to stay?” Fonsoa smirked in disbelief.

“We have reared these horses since they were foals.” He insisted. “I love them. And I’m not going to leave them behind.”

“The Emperor’s son has seen us.” Andria added. “How far would we get if we run? We have no option. Fonsoa, you said it yourself last night… we can’t expect Aldea to leave the city either. She’s married and with child. I say, we throw in with Scorpus and Tenax.”

“It will be fine if you listen to what Tenax says, Fonsoa.” Aldea then spoke, following Andria as the later walked away. She looked over her shoulder when she heard something slam against wood. Elia was still in the stall, with Fonsoa following in his siblings’ footsteps. She sighed through her nose, quietly. He had been shoved by Fonsoa into the wall of the horse’s stall. She watched her brother walk past her and turned back, going straight to Elia.

“I’m fine.” He said under his breath as she grabbed his shoulder and made him look at her, putting her finger under his chin to lift his head. He softly pushed her hand away and she took a step back to give him some space and sighed before walking to the door where Andria was peeking out, looking at Scorpus, Tenax and Gavros. She arrived as Tenax pointed at her brother, ordering him to keep someone safe and since Scorpus led him away with him, pretending to go fetch some fresh horses, she understood he had sent Andria with Scorpus to go get something. She crossed eyes with her husband after he sent Gavros to get guards to stand.

“Where is my brother going with Scorpus?” Tenax looked around, bringing her towards the wall.

“We’ll talk about this later. Right now, I need to deal with this. I want you to go home.” She stared at him for a few seconds before nodding with a sigh. He saw she wasn’t really pleased to leave so he gave her a comforting look and she walked away. Before she even left the area of the circus, she glanced behind her, thinking of her two brothers and she was surprised to see Fonsoa, carrying a sack, leaving the stables. He didn’t notice her right away, staring into space angrily. She stopped in her tracks and waited for him to look at her which he eventually did as he came closer. He came to a halt.

“Where’s Elia?” At her question, he looked away with an annoyed snort and kept on walking. She called his name and walked with a brisk step to keep up with him. Seeing her struggle, he apologized and slowed down his pace. “Are you leaving?”

“Yes. I’m not spending another night in this city.”

“Fonsoa…” He turned to her, stopping suddenly and grabbed her shoulder.

“You’ve been living with this man for four years? We’ve been here for two days and it’s already getting dangerous. He threatened us.”

“I told you; everyone will be fine as long as you keep this situation to yourself. His threats weren’t empty, but he won’t harm you. He has to be like this. Life in Rome is quite unforgiving.” She tried to explain but he shook his head.

“No. I won't let this be my life, or yours, or my nephew's.”

“You can’t make me leave.” She argued with a scoff, leaning back, starign at him in incredulity.

“Aldea, this man is dangerous.”

“I’m the one living with him, Fonsoa. I know him. I get to say if he’s dangerous. Please, just trust me when I tell you that he’s not.”  She couldn’t believe she was having this conversation with him in the middle of the street and switched to Spanish mid-sentence. They argued all the way home until they stopped by the front door of Aldea’s insula. She looked desperate to convince her brother to change his mind and tired to fight with him.

He sighed, apologizing, “Lo siento, Aldea.”

“Please, reconsider.”

“I’ll see you later.” He gave her a kiss on her temple, and she watched him as he walked away and stood there until he disappeared from her sight, and only then did she enter the insula and get into the apartment where she got to cooking to keep herself busy while Tenax wasn’t home. Claudia came out of her room and proceeded to help her cook, cutting the foodstuffs together in the kitchen by the candlelight. Not long after, the two women stopped when the door suddenly opened, and a young Numidian woman was pushed into the room. Aldea looked at her, squinting her eyes in confusion. Tenax came in after her, closing the door behind her. He asked Claudia and Aldea to leave them and the Spaniard didn’t move for a couple seconds while the housekeeper went back in her room, but after a second look from Tenax, she walked past him and the young woman, glancing at her from the corner of her eyes and she closed the doors behind her, leaving them slightly ajar, peeking out. Tenax stretched out his hand towards the chair, asking the girl to sit but she glared at him, somehow reminding Aldea of herself when she first stepped in his home.

“I said sit.” He pointed at the chair again, with his index finger, the light making his signet ring shine.

“After you take me, sooner or later you will fall asleep, and when you do, I will slit your throat.”

“You’re going to still my throat?” He nodded his head, and she could feel him shoot up his eyebrows in skepticism. The girl gasped as he took a step towards her and grabbed her by the throat. Aldea carefully pushed the door, so as not to make any noise, though she wouldn’t have been punished if he saw she was listening – he expected she would and knew she was – and she approached her ear from the opening as Tenax lowered his voice, speaking closer to the girl.

“I own you. You are my slave.” Aldea frowned, not understanding why he would buy a slave, after not doing so ever since he bought her. He didn’t actually need a slave then; she didn’t know why he would need a slave now. “I can do whatever I want with you.” Someone started pounding on the door. The loud knocking interrupted him and Aldea grabbed the doors handles and opened them entirely, stepping outside of the bedroom as he pulled out his dagger before unlocking the front door and came face to face with another Numidian woman, standing on the landing. Tenax exhaled, seemingly exasperated. “You don’t give up.”

“I’m her mother.” He sighed, inviting her in with a gesture. She rushed towards her daughter, and they threw themselves into each other’s arms. Tenax glanced over his shoulder upon feeling Aldea come up from behind her. The look she gave him was asking for an explanation, but he responded with a wave of the hand, meaning he would deal with her later and he turned to the newcomer as he put away his blade.

“I already told you. She’s not for sale.”

“Everything is for sale. At the right price.”

“Not her.” She stood before her daughter, as if shielding her while Aldea watched Tenax from behind, puzzled by what was going on.

“Why did you buy her?”

“I need to know things about the person who bought your other daughter.” Aldea joined her hands at her waist, nodding to herself, now understanding why he bought a slave out of nowhere.

“I see. You seek to use this daughter as a go-between to my other daughter to spy on your enemy. I have an alternative.”

“I’m listening.”

“I will be your go-between.” She offered. Her daughter parted her lips, about to protest but her mother continued. “But you don’t touch her. And when this is over, whatever it is, you allow me to buy her… at your cost.”

Tenax scoffed, taking a few steps in the woman’s direction, “No. When all this is done, I will consider selling her to you for whatever price I like.”

“I need lodging.” He smiled, amused and chuckled, glancing over his shoulder at Aldea and showed the room at the back of the flat.

“You can stay with your daughter for a couple of nights.” He stressed the last few words and turned around, slipping his hand from Aldea’s shoulder to her back as he led her to bedroom with him. They would finally have some time to talk, just the two of them. Aldea had a lot of things to ask him to clarify the situation. The last thing they heard before he closed the doors behind them was the woman telling them her name, Cala.

[To be continued…]  

Previous Chapter / Next Chapter (SOON)

Published (08/20/2024) by Andrea

[tinydragontoonz]

Ooo I really like your Anne design with the horn-branches! You mentioned the design was for an au, what’s it about?

Thank you!

My AU is a sort of… fantasy AU I suppose? It’s hard to give it a concrete a name since amphibia is already pretty fantastical haha. But it takes more inspiration from some of the beta designs and incorporates the magic of the stones (and magic in general) into daily life. For example, the Plantars specialize in Druid magic to help their crops grow.

This is why Anne’s hair has blue in it: the magic from the Heart gem shows itself much more though her. Also there’s an early design where Anne’s hair was full-on blue like Hilda lol. Each of the trio has magic that they can use. Anne starts to practice hers when she arrives with the Plantars and finds her magic mostly has to do with plant life. Sasha can enter a barbarian-like rage when she gets emotional and this leads to conflict later. Marcy ends up finding a magic staff of sorts with a moth on the end in the woods that she can use to cast magic. It can also speak to her for Lore Reasons :)

I don’t really have a concrete story in place, mostly just bits and pieces. It follows most of the main general arcs the original series has with some key differences. Andrias is known to be a tyrant from the start but he’s also a total recluse. No one has seen him in years so it’s been relatively peaceful (save for the toads and their barbaric ways. They essentially do Andrias’ job for him.) The Core is an artificial god created when the stones were first gifted to the people of Amphibia. The deity had to step in when it got too powerful and, when it was unable to destroy it, cursed the Core to sleep forever. But now that the stones’ power is in the three human girls, the Core begins to stir, especially when Marcy finds that staff in the woods.

Here’s some refs for what I’ve drawn the trio as (Marcy and Sasha refs are old art lol):

But yeah! Thank you for the ask so much, I absolutely adore talking about this AU, as it’s the one I’ve developed the most. Feel free to ask more about it!!

[addison-was-here]

THIS GUY.

YEAH.

LITTLE GUY.

THAT'S MOST DEFINITELY CALEB WITTEBANE.

(Everything I say is a theory, though I could definitely be wrong.)

I've seen people speculating that it's a titan, but lemme explain.

Birds have been en extremely common symbol with the Wittebanes, more so Caleb. Especially golden ones; the Goldne Guard masks heavily resembling birds, on the rebus box (I don't have a pic sorry) which was gold. Even with Dell Clawthorne's palisman, who looks a lot like Flapjack!

(Though I really don't know if that's a valid piece of evidence. He could very well be the palisman intended for Philip to have that he probably rejected - even with the matching nose scar- but that's a whole other theory that I have.)

But anyway, this could be Caleb's spirit, watching them. IN THE PLACE WHERE YOU CAN LITERALLY SEE PEOPLE IN REFLECTIONS. WHICH GOES WITH THIS.

HE'S LITERALLY LOOKING THROUGH THE REFECTION. LIKE LUZ DID. The reflections can reach the human realm, remember?

So why does he look so much different than the zombie we see here?

And why can we even see him here?

Luz could clearly be seen in the rain. It's foggy here. With moisture in the air, he should be able to be seen. Just like in rain. He can probably make himself look differenly because he's a spirit now.

And the looks? Because this spirit is manifested for Belos's guilt, sending a message that clearly says Guilty, while for Luz he's showing her that he's on her side. A benevolent message. He even waves to her! He's saying he's on her side here. Being friendly. Which we can probably see is his true nature, as seen in the mindscape paintings in Hollow Mind.

ONE LAST PIECE OF EVIDENCE?

SAME VOICE ACTOR.

I know he was just breathing in the scene, but that's still Zeno! (If you watched Amphibia, it sounds the same as younger Andrias who's also voiced by him.)

But HOLY CRAP, if he's in the next ep, and he speaks, which he probably will, I WILL EXPLODE HIGUJKHBYTTRDLGHBL

(Someone proposed this theory somewhere else, I'm just building off of it.)

Again, this is just a guess lol

EDIT:

I LIED

THIS IS A TITAN

SCREW ALL THE STUFF I SAID I SAW A PICTURE IN WAYYYY BETTER QUALITY.

IT'S PROBABLY KING'S FATHER

SORRY

BUT I STILL HOPE WE GET CALEB DIALOGUE THO

[fatehbaz]

The SAWP is a temporary labour program that brings foreign workers to Canada for periods between six weeks and eight months annually [...], paving the way for the recruitment of Jamaican workers as well as workers from other Caribbean countries like Trinidad and Tobago and Barbados [beginning] in 1968. [...] The SAWP has been a resounding success for Canadian growers because offshore indentured workers enable agribusiness to expand and secure large profits. Being indentured means that migrant farm workers are bound to specific employers by contractual agreements [...]. First, they are legally prevented from unionizing. [...] Additionally, because they are bound to specific employers, they must ensure that the employer is happy with them [...]. For instance, migrant farm workers are forced to agree to growers’ requests for long working hours, labour through the weekend, suppress complaints and avoid conflicts, if they want to stay out of “trouble” [...]. In “Canada’s Creeping Economic Apartheid”, Grace Galabuzi shows that the Canadian Government’s immigration policy is, in reality, a labour market immigration policy [...].

[Text by: Julie Ann McCausland. "Racial Capitalism, Slavery, Labour Regimes and Exploitation in the Canadian Seasonal Agricultural Workers Program". Caribbean Quilt Volume 5. 2020. Paragraph contractions added by me.]

---

A big finding that came out of the oral history interviews was a much richer tapestry of worker protest than has previously been documented. Speaking with workers – including former workers back in their home countries of Jamaica and Barbados – allowed me to hear the types of stories that often don’t make it into archives or newspapers. Interviewees told me stories about wildcat strikes, about negotiating conditions with employers, and also about protesting their home governments’ role in organizing the migrant labour program. [...] [T]hings did not have to be this way; our current world was anything but inevitable. [...] [But] economic forces transformed tobacco farming (and agriculture writ large), [...] leaving mega-operations in their wake. [...] [L]arge operations could afford [...] bringing in foreign guestworkers. The attraction of foreign workers was not due to labour shortages, but instead in their much higher degree of exploitability, given the strict nature of their contracts and the economic compulsion under which they pursued overseas migrant labour. [...] Ontario’s tobacco belt (located in between Hamilton and London, on the north shore of Lake Erie), was from the 1920s to 1980s one the most profitable sectors in Canadian agriculture and the epicentre of migrant labour in the country [...]. In most years, upwards of 25,000 workers were needed to bring in the crop. [...]

[The words of Edward Dunsworth. Text is a transcript of Dunsworth's responses in an interview conducted and transcribed by Andria Caputo. 'Faculty Publication Spotlight: Ed Dunsworth's "Harvesting Labour"'. Published online at McGill Faculty of Arts. 15 December 2022. At: mcgill.ca/arts/article/faculty-publication-spotlight-ed-dunsworths-harvesting-labour. Some paragraph breaks/contractions added by me.]

---

Jamaican agricultural workers say they face conditions akin to “systematic slavery” on Canadian farms, as they call on Jamaica to address systemic problems in a decades-old, migrant labour programme in Canada. In a letter sent to Jamaica’s minister of labour and social security earlier this month [August 2022], workers [...] said they have been “treated like mules” on two farms in Ontario, Canada’s most populous province. [...] The workers [...] are employed under [...] (SAWP), which allows Canadian employers to hire temporary migrant workers from Mexico and 11 countries in the Caribbean [...]. “We work for eight months on minimum wage and can’t survive for the four months back home. The SAWP is exploitation at a seismic level. Employers treat us like we don’t have any feelings, like we’re not human beings. We are robots to them. They don’t care about us.” Between 50,000 and 60,000 foreign agricultural labourers come to Canada each year on temporary permits [...]. Canada exported more than $63.3bn ($82.2bn Canadian) in agriculture and food products in 2021 – making it the fifth-largest exporter of agri-food in the world. [...]

[Text by: Jillian Kestler-D'Amours. "Jamaican farmworkers decry ‘seismic-level exploitation’ in Canada". Al Jazeera (English). 24 August 2022.]

---

In my home country, St. Lucia, we believe in a fair day’s pay [...]. In Canada, we give more than a fair day’s work, but we do not get a fair day’s pay. [...] I worked in a greenhouse in [...] Ontario, growing and harvesting tomatoes and organic sweet peppers for eight months of the year, from 2012 to 2015. [...] In the bunkhouse where I lived, there were typically eight workers per room. Newly constructed bunkhouses typically have up to fourteen people per room. [...] I also received calls from workers (especially Jamaicans) who were either forbidden – or strongly discouraged – from leaving the farm property. This outrageous overreach of employer control meant that workers had difficulty sending money home, or buying necessary items [...]. [O]n a lot of farms, [...] workers’ movement and activity is policed by their employers. The government knows about this yet fails to act.

[Text are the words of Gabriel Allahdua. Text from a transcript of an interview conducted by Edward Dunworth. '“Canada’s Dirty Secret”: An Interview with Gabriel Allahdua about migrant farm workers’ pandemic experience'. Published by Syndemic Magazine, Issue 2: Labour in a Treacherous Time. 8 March 2022. Some paragraph contractions added by me.]

---

The CSAWP is structured in such a way as to exclude racialized working class others from citizen-track entry into the country while demarcating them to a non-immigrant status as temporary, foreign and unfree labourers. The CSAWP is [...] a relic of Canada’s racist and colonial past, one that continues unimpeded in the present age [...]. [T]he Canadian state has offered a concession to the agricultural economic sector in the way of an ambiguous legal entity through which foreign agricultural workers are legally disenfranchised and legally denied citizenship rights.

[Text by: Adam Perry. "Barely legal: Racism and migrant farm labour in the context of Canadian multiculturalism". Citizenship Studies, 16:2, 189-201. 2012.]

---

Other publications:

Smith. 'Troubling “project Canada”: the Caribbean and the making of “unfree migrant labour”’. Canadian Journal of Latin American Studies Volume 40, number 2. 2015.

Choudry and Thomas. "Labour struggles for workplace justice: migrant and immigrant worker organizing in Canada". Journal of Industrial Relations Volume 55, number 2. 2013.

Harsha Walia. "Transient servitude: migrant labour in Canada and the apartheid of citizenship". Race & Class 52, number 1. 2010.

Beckford. "The experiences of Caribbean migrant farmworkers in Ontario, Canada". Social and Economic Studies Volume 65, number 1. 2016.

Edward Dunsworth. Harvesting Labour: Tobacco and the Global Making of Canada’s Agricultural Workforce (2022).

Edward Dunsworth. “‘Me a free man’: resistance and racialisation in the Canada-Caribbean Seasonal Agricultural Workers Program,” Oral History Volume 49, number 1. Spring 2021.

[scarletgemstone]

how core Stan came to be

(Stan Pacifica Wendy mcgucket and Gideon starer in shock as the core’s eyes open a claw grabs Stan)

everyone “Stan!”

(Stan is placed on a chain and restrained)

Stan”let me go!”

andrias “my apologies but the core craves a host honestly I like you and your family Stan always have each one of you whoued have made a suitable host you just got unlucky “

(Stan try’s to get free as the helmet gets near its know on his head Stan scream as the core takes over Stan goes limp as everyone looks on in shock andrias walks to them)

andrias “it is time for the core to lead us to our destiny but what destiny you may ask well I suppose I shouldn’t let it speak for it’s self “

(Andrias moves aside as Stan sets up and the cores eyes open)

Stan”why hello there”

[sepublic]

So the synopsis for this short confirms Andrias will lead these villains, which seems a bit odd considering iirc he’s the only one who actually redeemed himself lol. Not to show bias but I suppose the only other logical candidate is Belos, since as far as I know, he’s the only villain here who’s currently still alive and operating, whose show hasn’t ended.

And speaking of him! Belos is going to have a double take when he sees Magica. “I heard a witch weighs the same as a duck but this is ridiculous...!”

[discet]

Remember that ask about Marcy not getting any connections in Amphibia (in the show)? I was wondering: why couldn't they just 'give' her Olivia?

I mean, on the one hand yeah, based on her character it's plausible that Olivia would be too aloof and focused on her job to bother with anyone else, but on the other hand?

It's, like, Right There. It couldn't have been difficult to write Olivia and Marcy getting close in the months leading up to 'Marcy at the Gates'. Why not go for it?

Yeah, no season 3 is really bizarre in the context of Marcy's arc. Cause like, True Colors makes it pretty clear imo that Marcy's worse fears about moving away center around losing her connection to Anne and Sasha. Something she felt was unique and replaceable. A really sympathetic motivation. The natural conclusion to which could have been 'No see, you've made a few connections just in the few months you were here.'

Instead, the text pretty resoundingly backs up Marcy's assessment. That she is bad at making connections, and her fears are justified.

Despite spending time together Marcy and Olivia apparently have a purely professional relationship. Speaking brusquely about needing Marcy to oppose Andrias with barely any concern for her well being.

Marcy becomes friends with Maddie, but the latter basically forgets she exists post-true colors.

Marcy forges a connection with Andrias, but that was founded on a bed of lies and manipulation and was ruthlessly betrayed thrice over. So I can't imagine that did her any favors for her fears. If anything that's probably a pretty significant focus of her therapy sessions for a while.

The result is that scene at the end of the Hardest thing where both Anne and Sasha have these deeply emotional goodbyes while Marcy awkwardly makes small talk. It's such a weird energy for a finale.

It wouldn't take much, they had options, it just felt like the writers had a total disinterest in giving closure to her arc. Marcy insists she's ready to move on at the end, but gives very little reason for it.

Marcy's Journal band-aids this a bit, giving Marcy a connection to her Knight Guard companions and her just not recognizing it at the time, but it still feels weird.

[sylsoddsandends]

hey. hey @the-professional-cocomeloner. thanks for tipping me off to this prompt list. I'm doing it sooo out of order and also late but I'm doing it

and as for all the folks in the rsmg server. your fault for getting me in the whump mood. enjoy <3

Augusnippets Day 10

Prompts used: execution, begging for mercy

Tw: Major character death, crushing to death

Andrias snatched up Marcy in one quick swipe of his massive palm. She struggled in his hand, staring down in terror at her friends.

With his other hand, Andrias set down his sword, delicately plucking the Calamity Box from Marcy's hands and shutting it. The portal closed, Anne and the Plantars unable to flee through it.

Andrias slapped Sasha and Grime aside with a swing of his tail, and passed the Box to a robot.

"It seems I have an opportunity to demonstrate how we handled traitors to the crown," he laughed grimly.

Marcy wriggled ineffectually, barely able to speak with the pressure of Andria's hand on her chest and diaphragm. "Please–" gasp- "please no, no–"

"It's too late," Andrias scoffed. "You've taken your side."

The king put his hands together. He slowly tightened his grip.

Grime winced. The Plantars covered their eyes. Sasha covered her mouth. Anne cried.

The scream was short. The snapping and crunching was horrifying.

Blood dripped from between his giant hands.